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Just wanted to say that I found this thread very useful. I'm considering something similar. Thank you.

6 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

"Packages must be purchased by all qualifying individuals residing in the stateroom or additional staterooms under the same method of payment for the entire length of the cruise."

 

https://www.ncl.com/terms/premium-plus-beverage-package-full

Thank you for the link. I'm wondering if the rules might be slightly different if you purchase the package onboard instead of online. 

I don't know if this is true for Norwegian, but it seems to be the case on other cruise lines. If you wait until you are on the ship, you can usually upgrade just one person in the cabin. Also, you don't have to upgrade the first day. If you wait until you are out in international waters, you may be able to save a few dollars in taxes. 

I got the impression that you could upgrade your drink package anytime during the cruise. So folks on a longer cruise might be able to do the first half regular, and then upgrade the second half. Of course, things may have changed now, so it would be good to confirm with other travelers. 

9 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

With consent, photos of (or selfies with) crew members from as many different countries as you can find.

I would also add as many ship officers as you can. 

Try to get a pic at the tallest part of the ship and the lowest part of the ship (that you can access). Same for forward and aft. Find the darkest part of the ship at night for the best view of the stars. 

On 7/7/2021 at 3:03 PM, kochleffel said:

One concern that I have about Celebrity is that there is more social stratification: while NCL has the Haven, Celebrity has two classes of staterooms that have their own, private dining rooms (separate from each other). It did strike me, when I inquired in the Celebrity forum about the itinerary, that many people advised me to book only the Retreat or Aqua Class.

 

I was worried about the same thing before my first Celebrity cruise. I didn't like the idea that we didn't have access to certain areas. We booked anyway and I found that there was really only one time I felt excluded, and that was after we met some fun friends that were Platinum, and we couldn't join them in their bar at happy hour. We didn't care that we couldn't access the premium areas because the service on Celebrity was FANTASTIC!!! Seriously, if I had to try to find one thing to complain about, it's that the shows weren't that great. But the cruise directors were amazing, so the events and activities made up for the shows. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I just can't see the value of the Retreat when the whole experience is already so good. We got a great deal, which ended up cheaper than a similar NCL sailing, because gratuities were included. 

I've always wanted to sail NCL and I like that they have way more itineraries to chose from. For our next cruise, we are not in the Haven, and I'm hoping that I never even notice. 

On 5/29/2021 at 11:49 PM, BirdTravels said:

Since you may not name travel agents on CC, let’s just say big warehouse stores offer additional perks on the cruise and gift cards to their store for booking. 
 

Greece still has restrictions on who may enter and testing requirements. Reference state dept info. You need to spend part of your Croatian vacay hunting down a valid COVID test center. 
 

https://gr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/

 

I'd also like to point out that the website at "Mysterious Warehouse Store" was great to use for looking at the decks and available cabins. Some of these online sites have great research tools. 

Hold times can be crazy at some of the bigger agencies right now, because everyone is rebooking. It might be faster to work with the cruise line if your TA doesn't have email. 

When I was on Celebrity, we chose anytime dining, which I'm guessing they started offering because of NCL. We ended up having to wait ~30 min every night and they gave us a pager which had a pretty decent range, so we could wander a little. I'm not sure what the dress policy was, but I think they suggested business casual, and permitted casual. I saw guys wearing polos and shorts, women in t-shirts and capris. It didn't feel to me like I had to dress up. It was more like "be clean and presentable." 

I've never sailed on NCL and I'm really looking forward to experiencing the vibe. How are the cruise directors on NCL? That was one of the best parts about Celebrity, especially compared to Carnival.

On 6/3/2021 at 3:51 PM, trivimp said:

Each line has something, but they vary wildly; you have to read the fine print.  Carnival has the Cheers! program, which was around $35/day when I sailed, if I recall correctly.  Celebrity (which I was going to sail last year but was covid-cancelled) had a beverage program which was a quarter of that price, but was pretty limited.  I wasn't sure I was going to be happy with it, but was willing to give it a try.  NCL, as gets mentioned a million times on this board, offers the standard bev package as a perk, but you have to pay the gratuities.  Still a bargain when you look at the bottom line.  

We've sailed on Celebrity and Carnival. I have a friend who has a liver of steel and hates Carnival's Cheer's program because it limits you to 15 drinks a day. Here is my take on drink packages:

1. Carnival Cheers. They have a problem with spring breakers getting ship faced. Expect to walk to the bar and stand in line for a drink, especially outside. It can be challenging to acquire all 15 drinks. I had the soda package and had to wait to get sodas as well. 

2. Celebrity. When we boarded, we were offered an upgraded drink package for similar pricing as NCL. I did not take it, but my friend did. The standard included drinks I like, plus fancy coffee and sparkly water. (I think it was an $11 limit, but it's been a while). She wanted the top shelf stuff. We were sharing a room, but I did not have to upgrade as well. The gratuity was included already in the package price. Service on Celebrity was outstanding. We joked that we held our hand up and a drink magically appeared. Ok, not quite, but they were on it. They have older customers who tend to shop more when tipsy. Drinking was encouraged.

3. NCL appears to be a great package, until you realize the decent wines (above $9), coffee and the fancy water are not included. So I'm paying more to get less, even though on the surface, it seems like a better package, what with the $15 drink price. Now I'm considering upgrading, for another couple hundred, because they've excluded just the exact items that many of us will pay to upgrade to get.

I second the chase sapphire card. It is great for travel.

It seems that they are more aggressive about removing wine/booze when there is more of a younger/party crowd, like at spring break. I don't think it's actually about making a profit, but more about keeping excess booze out of the hands of binge drinkers. On the shorter 3-4 day cruises, this is a big problem.

The cruise lines prefer if they can have their bartender cut people off before they get "fall off the ship" drunk.

I was wondering the same. It looks like Nohochay includes them, as does the new one, Jaimie's. I can't say if the water is "pretty".

Awwwww this is a very eloquent post, xfr, and I do hope it softens the hearts of even the most hardened chogs:) I’m especially moved by the sadness of people who’ve survived long, frigid, dark winters with only the bright prospect of their few hours relaxing in the sun to sustain them.

Reading the different chog posts is always interesting. This one from the other day was a new take on it.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2592197

As a person who is not from a time zone that is ship time, and who is not a morning person, it is distressing to come upstairs at 10am and find that all the loungers are occupied by books, sunglasses and flip flops. In that moment, the vision I held close to get me thru those long stressful weeks, the one of me lounging in a poolside chair sipping a fruity drink, bursts with a sad dose of reality.

You bizarrely cheerful morning people (my husband is one), sure you get to enjoy this dream. But those of us who are being forced to chose between sleep or that poolside vitamin d shower, we see chogs as dream crushers. Why does that flip flop get to live the dream? So I wander away, but each day my resentment builds. Perhaps I grab a seat at the bar, but you know I'm watching that flip flop. And after hour, as it just lays there, ordering no drinks, never once using the pool, I think to myself, clearly the cruise line will take care of this, surely they will want to see humans using the chairs.

And after a couple rounds of fruity courage, I decide that the flip flop wouldn't mind sharing. If it's human should return, why, I would gladly get up. But as I approach, I see someone else has this idea. They go to remove the flip flop and suddenly from 8 chairs over, a very angry man says "this chair is reserved". The hopeful user replies "but these chairs have been unused for hours". The argument gets heated and wham, a fist fight breaks out. I slink off, but a small part of me can't help but hope he landed a good one on that chog.

I spend the remainder of the sea days trying to get any staff member to help me, but they are understaffed, and not monitoring as they should. I may find a folorn chair far from the pool, but it's not the same.

Sure, I still had a lovely vacation, but now I'm home and I still carry that resentment. So I seek out threads on CC, looking not only for ways to stand up to the hogs, but also to add my voice if the cruiselines are reading. Please police the chairs, save us from the hogs. Do it, or the flip flop will get it. Or even worse, I'll plan my next vacation on land.

I beleive you can buy the cheers package on the second day, and avoid sales tax.

On a side note, I drink mojitos, and they poured mine as doubles. No way I can drink 6 of those a day and remember the cruise.

Breeze Cabin 2211, a 1A porthole with a sofa and twin bed. Pictures hosted on Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/photos/105022769033398120207/albums/5874975507117267297?authkey=CJrKgbCdocLKpwE

Being all the way forward and on the outside, I did hear the waves when they hit the side of the ship. Sometimes it even caused the cabin the vibrate a little. But I had no problem sleeping through it. Every now and again a wave would hit with a little force and it would feel like someone was shaking me. The noises as we were docking did wake me up some mornings, but if I didn’t need to be getting up anyway, I could probably have fallen back to sleep. I got used to it and even slept through the docking noises as we returned to Miami.

Just off the Breeze 8 Day. I would buy the Cheers program again.

On boarding, there was a table at the entrance to Lido, next to the Bubbles sign up table. When asked, they said that yes they do charge sales tax on Day 1 while still in Miami. I did not ask how much the tax would be. Instead I waited and purchased the Cheers program first thing on Day 2 at the Lobby bar. ($42.95/day +tip).

There were about 6 of us in our group that had signed up for the Cheers program, mostly because of OBC to burn. Not one person complained that they were ever poured weak drinks. In fact, it was often the opposite.

The bartenders were pretty rigid on how they made the mixed drinks. For example, they were required to make a Gin and Tonic into a small glass. This meant that it was a whole lotta gin to not so much tonic. If you like a different Tonic/Gin ratio, you could not get the drink in a larger or "double" glass. Instead, you had to order a separate glass of Tonic and then dilute the drink yourself.

Me, I'm a Mojito drinker. The "classic" mojito comes with two shots of Barcadi Limon. Personally, I prefer it with one shot, so I ended up asking for them to make it weaker or "half strength". I got some crazy looks because most folks want it stronger. One of our friends did not like Barcardi Limon, and was able to get the bartenders to substitute for regular rum instead.

Another friend liked Martinis, and they automatically suggest she upgrade to Grey Goose at $9.95 from Absolute. She actually had to stop drinking martinis since she would end up drunk after only a few drinks.

At no point did I see a bartender make our drinks weaker because we were on the cheers program. It is true that they had weird rules like we could not have the can of soda, instead they had to pour us a glass of soda. But within those rules, we were treated very well.

One friend did reach the 15 drink limit, but we discovered that a couple of their virgin daiquiris were rung up as real daiquiris. And they didn't try to order any more since they were pretty drunk by that time and took the hint.

It is true that at some of the busy bars, it took a while to get our drinks. I found that at the Aft Lido bar, I could get a drink pretty quickly, but the Red Frog and Blue Iguana would take forever. By day two, we ended up hanging out at the Red Frog Pub (on Promenade) before dinner. The service both inside the pub and outside by the hot tub was excellent. The Red Frog Pub (and the promenade deck outside it) became our favorite hangout.

Here's something I discovered, the "classic" drinks receipts can turned in for a $5 match play at the casino. Unfortunately, I discovered this on day 3 (after a bartender mentioned it), so I didn't know to save my receipts. After that, I saved all my classic Mojito receipts for the rest of the week and went nuts the last day at the casino playing craps.

For me, I didn't end up breaking even, Carnival won. But I would do it again. I enjoyed trying different wines at dinner. (Okay, so did my friends when I didn't like what I ordered). I drank a lot of club sodas with lime instead of regular water. I tasted many different drinks and had fun discussing what drinks we would try next. Of course, I ended up ditching some mostly full drinks, but I didn't feel guilty about it. I also tipped a little extra as I went, which might be why I felt that I got great service from the bartenders and waiters. We even asked one of the bartenders for an empty bucket and several of us filled it with beers (every 5 min) and took it to the hot tub.

We did discover that if you take your sign and sail card into the hot tub, the sticker will come off.

Overall, we found the bartenders willing to be flexible and help you get the best bang for your buck, especially if they know it might earn them an additional tip. I didn't drink as much as some people, but I enjoyed being able to drink without wondering how much I was spending first.

I shared a PDF of the main drink menu on Google Docs. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9xyBYjaQbc9d3A3UjB6ZnF2bVk/edit?usp=sharing

You do not get 25% off a bucket of beer, correct?

Hmmm...good question. Someone should call Carnival and ask and then post their reply. :D

It would be cool to be able to buy a round for friends at 25% off.

 

We finally found the lighthouse at the north end of the island.

 

...Lighthouse (HDR)...

 

...Another one of the Lighthouse (HDR)...

 

Love these lighthouse pics. Would you mind sharing them? Thanks for sharing the one of San Juan.

Also, you mentioned the dessert (the WCMC) was a bit “overdone” the first night. What did you do to fix this later on? Also, did you ever find a way to reward Monica?

Great job, wonderful pictures! Really appreciate the time you took to post this (and to reply to everyone)!