pantherpaw

On NCL's website they show the approximate cabin sizes and sometimes it's shown as a range like this, "Total Approx. Size 235-370 sq ft" Is there any way to determine which rooms are 235 and which are 370? I realize there's really not much of a difference, in practical terms, but I've always been curious about this

I'm looking for info on the sofa beds on the Viva, specifically in the OV or balcony cabins that hold 3 or 4 people. Are they pull out beds or the kind where the sofa seat becomes the bed when you take off the back? Any comments on comfort of the sofa bed are also appreciated.

I'm sailing on the VIVA in December. We only recently decided to purchase spa passes, but then realized it would be cheaper to bid on a spa balcony so we did that.(With the backup plan of buying spa passes later if we didn't get the upgrade) Now I'm seeing that NCL is doing away with the spa balcony rooms that include thermal spa access. If I go to my upgrade advantage page the option of bidding on a spa balcony is still there, with access to the thermal spa listed as a perk, but spa balcony rooms are not listed on the VIVA anymore.

I'm wondering if anyone was upgraded to a spa balcony, on any ship/sailing, and if so did you get spa access or not?

We will be boarding the Dawn for a Baltics cruise on Wed, 7/20. I just logged into NCL and I see we've been upgraded from an ocean view on the deck 5 to a balcony on the deck 10, in a great location. I put in the minimum bid.

It's not just NCL. When I cruised Carnival in Feb they had no chicken - none, anywhere on the ship. When I cruised in March there was no basil and no lemons. Friends who got back from an RCL cruise a few weeks ago reported there was no milk after day 3

There are specific phone numbers to call to speak to someone about air and hotel

Air: 866-625-1163

Hotel: 800-327-7030

I had no trouble reaching a helpful agent at both of those numbers yesterday. Wait time was less than 10 minutes for both calls.

We sailed this past Thanksgiving day on the Valor. Our check-in time was 10:30am. We arrived at the port around 10am and thought we'd have to wait but no one paid any attention to our time slot. It took about 15 minutes to get through security and another 10 minutes at the check in counter. We then waited about 30 minutes until they called our boarding group. 

One thing we noticed is the check in times seemed to not matter at all because we saw people waiting to board with check in times between 10am and 2pm so they clearly did not prevent anyone from entering before their assigned time slot

Once on board, the rooms were not open until 1:30 - although we did witness lots of people pushing past the crews getting the luggage to the rooms. In one case we watched a guy push the luggage cart back onto an elevator to move it out of his way so his family could get to the hallway to go to their room at around 1pm (There were a lot of incredibly rude people on this cruise)

20 hours ago, txgal08 said:

Any side effects?  I am waiting until after my Thanksgiving cruise to get it just in case.  I was sidelined an entire day after the 2nd Moderna shot

Here's my experience:

1st Moderna shot, end of Nov 2020 - sore arm for 1 day

2nd Moderna shot, end of Dec 2020 - sore arm, body aches and fatigue for 1 day

Moderna booster, flu, shingles & tetanus shots, mid Oct 2021 - sore arms, body aches, slight fever & fatigue for 1 day

I fully expected to feel pretty bad after getting 4 all at the same time and was pleasantly surprised that I had recovered from that 24hrs later

20 hours ago, txgal08 said:

Any side effects?  I am waiting until after my Thanksgiving cruise to get it just in case.  I was sidelined an entire day after the 2nd Moderna shot

Here's my experience:

1st Moderna shot, end of Nov 2020 - sore arm for 1 day

2nd Moderna shot, end of Dec 2020 - sore arm, body aches and fatigue for 1 day

Moderna booster, flu, shingles & tetanus shots, mid Oct 2021 - sore arms, body aches, slight fever & fatigue for 1 day

I fully expected to feel pretty bad after getting 4 all at the same time and was pleasantly surprised that I had recovered from that 24hrs later

I booked under the VIFP bargain basement pricing ($25/person inside) and was approved for shareholder OBC

Final payment on my 1/31/21 cruise is 2 days from now. When I was on the Carnival website 2 days ago my check-in date was Dec 17th. Now it shows check-in is 10 days prior to sailing, on Jan 21.(Cruise is out of Baltimore and I really don't expect it to sail anyway)

Agreed. The first email was precise but the 2nd email is not. Just the usual muddying the waters I've come to expect from NCL

I thought I got two copies of the cancellation email but in fact the 2nd was titled "UPDATE: Norwegian Jewel 12.06.2020 Cancelation"

The first, titled "Norwegian Jewel 12.06.2020 Cancelation" says this: 

Please be advised that a full refund will be automatically returned to the form of payment provided at the time of booking. As we are sure you share our disappointment, we have issued a future cruise credit, worth 10% of the price paid for your previously scheduled cruise. This credit can be used for up to one year from today's date and can be applied towards any of our currently published sailings between January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022. The future cruise credit will be available on June 15, 2020.

The second, updated version says this:

Please be advised that a full refund will be automatically returned to the form of payment provided at the time of booking. As we are sure you share our disappointment, we have issued a future cruise credit, worth 10% toward your future cruise. This credit can be used for up to one year from today's date and can be applied towards any of our currently published sailings between January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2022. The future cruise credit will be available on June 15, 2020. This offer supersedes the previously communicated future cruise credit information.

I had to read through them several times to spot the difference so I've put the difference in bold here

And yet they are still available to book on NCL's website. SMH

11 hours ago, cruzn buckeye said:

this morning, on one of the news networks, they stated that OHIO has 5 confirmed cases.

Yesterday, we actually had 26 confirmed cases and over 250 possible cases.

So the numbers being reported are not correct.  Not sure where they got their info,  but it hasn't been updated like they said they were doing.

To keep up with the numbers I've found this site from John Hopkins to be informative  https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Don't hold your breath waiting. Last year after a botched cruise it was one week short of 6 months before I received a refund. They did finally come through but it certainly wasn't the 5-7 days promised.

Same... I've been trying all morning to make payments on my cruises and I get the "Priority Visitation Page". Even though the wording makes it sound like I'm "in line" and I will get through soon it hasn't changed in over an hour.

4 hours ago, erdoran said:

How can they justify NOT refunding port fees for missed ports and DSC/UBP grats for the two missed days?  That is $ they haven’t earned, and since it is per diem, there is no justification for not refunding, wouldn’t you agree?

18 minutes ago, mainelycruising said:

I asked them that question today. The question was bumped to a higher authority - the answer was vague. It seems to imply that some adjustment would be made (or could be made, if a passenger requested it). 

I have requested it on the 3 phone calls I made, where I talked to 5 different people. Everyone gave the same answer: "that is not in the information I was given about this cruise so I can't answer that question. You can talk to guest services about it when you are on board"

7 minutes ago, Alaskawhovian said:

Port changes are fine, cutting two days off the cruise with 7 days notice is not fine... The issue at hand is that the cruise line has put many people in a fix financially and otherwise over something voluntary on the part of the cruise line for the cruise line’s convenience.   They have given 7 days notice... We can’t cancel the cruise at 7 days without losing everything, and the paltry 25 percent plus fraction of the air refunded does not even allow us to break even...

This is the part that ticks me off the most. We know from crew members currently onboard the Getaway that NCL knew of this change earlier in the week, well before the email was sent to notify passengers. (And yet the change was denied when some of us called NCL to get more info earlier in the week and as late as Friday morning) Then they sent an email informing pax of the change late Friday afternoon, after the executive offices closed for a 3 day holiday weekend. (I was informed that they would not be back in their offices until Tuesday) 

I asked about cancelling and was told that wasn't an option, I would lose the entire amount. I asked about transferring my booking to the Pearl, which leaves a day later on a TA, and was told that was not an option, I would lose the entire amount on my Getaway booking and have to start with a new booking on the Pearl. I asked about subbing the airfare change credit for a credit on 2 additional hotel nights and was denied. I asked about being credited on the port charges for the 2 missed ports and being credited for 2 days gratuities on the drink package and was told that wasn't mentioned in the information they were given so she couldn't say if that would be done or not.

The airfare change amount will not cover what it will cost me to change my flights. The 25% cruise credit will not cover the amount it will cost me for 2 nights hotel, transportation and meals for the additional 2 days in London. Yes, I have trip insurance but my initial contact with them indicates they will not cover this because it wasn't an act of God or an accident, etc... it's just the cruise line decided to make a change. (Note: policies vary widely, and many are state specific so while this is my experience others may have a different experience with their insurance)

This is my 3rd cruise on NCL. The first, an Alaskan cruise in 2014, was fantastic. The 2nd, a Western Caribbean in 2017, was just ok. While I plan to get the most out of this cruise and make the best of it, I doubt I'll be sailing NCL again simply because of the poor customer service I have received over the last few months in planning and now this fiasco.

I found this when I was searching for info about the Spa Pass- which you have help me to make up my mind to buy the pass.

 

Sandy

We cruised 1/8-1/15 and I bought the spa pass online a couple of months before sailing. Unlike Doug's experience, there were always people in the spa when I visited. I went at least once every day, sometimes twice, and at various times of the day. There were several times where there were no unoccupied thermal loungers and both hot tubs were full. That said, I would definitely do the spa pass again.

Interesting that the zip line was operational. I'll be there next week and I got an email from SHOREX last week stating that my zip line reservation is cancelled "due to operational needs". It was still showing available for my sailing on the website so I called to confirm the cancellation and was told that they were having too many problems and had to take it offline to correct safety issues.

Really enjoying your review and looking forward to further posts!

I need to know....exactly what is a monkey la la?

Ditto

The best food I've ever had on a cruise was the mussels appetizer dish in Le Bistro

Yay, another DougOut live review! Following closely as I'll be on the Dawn in early January