Grimix

And Alaska has no state sales tax.

I should let my neighbor know. He's a big rugby aficionado (played for the Harlequins in Hawaii) but he's also an ex-navy guy so doesn't really fancy going back on a ship...

I hate tipping, but I do it (part Italian so I think it's in my genes...) I figure the few dollars means more to the server than it does to me (and I understand that's not the case for everyone, so I'm not judging if you don't) I also don't really believe that the 20% mandatory tips are really going to the employees. Essentially don't feel guilty either way, the tip has already been paid. Give extra or not, up to you! While I'm here I'll post my fun story (somewhat related to tipping, but not cruising... and definitely more (I think) fun than typical tipping discussions...) My wife and I were staying at the Ritz in Tahoe for an anniversary (we're an hour and a half away so it's kind of a favorite spot) We went to their restaurant for dinner. If you know anything about the Ritz you know everything is $$$$. We ordered a bottle of wine, a salad, I had the steak, and my wife being a vegetarian asked for what they had. He suggested the carrots veloute. When it arrives it's like 5 smallish carrots and a side of rice pilaf (for $30...). The wife tries it and it is delicious, there's just not a lot on the plate. When the waiter comes around and asks how everything is, my wife said it was delicious, but just because she's a vegetarian doesn't mean she doesn't like to eat. She said it in a joking manner, but the waiter was aghast, a few minutes later comes out with the manager. He apologizes profusely, and my wife says it's ok. He insisted on comping the entire meal (including the bottle of wine, wish I had gone with the really expensive one!) and really wanted us to have dessert, but we declined. Needless to say I left a $100 tip. That is good service! (I didn't feel too bad for the hotel, they've gotten more than enough of our money over the years!)

Midnight east coast time. (Since you're east coast midnight it is!) Being west coast we get to check in a day earlier than you at 9pm. 🙂 (Royal you as we aren't on this cruise.)

Wait, you're not my wife are you?

The only other 'levels' of haven are in owners/garden suites. There you get 3 bottles of booze (on a 7-day sailing, more for garden villa I think?) You get a bottle of real champagne (instead of the sparkling wine all the other Haven gets) on embarkation. Also the soda/sports drinks in the mini-fridge are considered mixers and free in those suites. Other than that all the Haven people get the same perks (Ok, I guess the spa suites get complimentary thermal suite passes too, so maybe 3/4 (4 if you count more liquor as another level) different sets of perks in the Haven.)) Too be honest the room is the draw, and not these extra perks! All Haven gets the priority on/off, butler, 'free'-movies, 'free'-room-service, reserved seating at main theater shows, bar and restaurant (on ships with them), access to the Haven pool/sun-deck, and the other stuff that I'm missing.

SNA has cooler take-offs than LAX. Noise restrictions require them to use a higher climb rate than normal to stop making the rich peoples houses so loud.

So with all your cruising you didn't pick up some NCLH shares at bargain basement prices? Don't quote me, but I suspect the streaming upgrade only opens the ports commonly used by the major streaming services (youtube/netflix/hulu/etc, maybe filtering based on IP, don't know. I'm in software, but not networking.) I don't think it boosts your actually bandwidth, so just uploading I think the extra $100 would be a waste. Unfortunately (or fortunately) this will not be live for me because we'll be on our cruise to Alaska. We're going to the airport on the same day, but no big time difference so our cruise leaves the 1st. Have a great one!

Are you referring to room upgrade offers, or upgrades such as unlimited internet, extra 2 meal plans? I think if you mean the latter then they seem to be pretty static. I've only booked 2 NCL cruises, and have had the same upgrades offered. The prices may have gone up, but I don't think they go on 'sale'.

You'll love it! Not great when sailing (probably north) because of wind, but we had hoped to book it for our Alaskan trip, but my brother dropped out and that changed the math. We had the port DOS on Bliss last year for a Mexican Riviera and there was more than enough room for 6 (3 adults, 3 kids) of us even with a Roll-away in the living room. (And don't discount the nice walk-in closet with a raised platform for an open suit-case. No more stuffing things under the bed...)

Unfortunately we're going the following week (Oct 1st) my son would also have enjoyed meeting him! But please make sure you don't steal our good weather! (I know it's a crapshoot at the end of the season, but we all had so much fun on the ship that I'm not going to let a little bad weather get us down. The kids all were born raised in upstate New York so they/we can also handle the cold.) I wish he would eat them plain, but the only sauce he will eat is worse than no sauce. The vile condiment named Ketchup. He actually will eat that with a spoon if you let him... (The pasta is plain of course with butter, not even parm, which as part Italian is also blasphemy to me!)

Also depends on the weather and the direction of the wind. On our Bliss sailing we had no problems with the DOS front balcony on the way down to Cabo. I suspect we were sailing with the wind which does tend to flow north to south at that time (I don't remember looking it up, but living in California I see the weather maps show that pattern all the time). On the way back it was much windier. No one came into our cabin to batten down the loungers, but it wasn't comfortable to sit out there. I tried to get the DOS again for our upcoming Alaskan cruise so obviously it wasn't a deal-breaker for me. (I had to give it up since my brother decided he wouldn't enjoy cruising. I think it's ridiculous because he's my identical twin (verified by 23-and-me. It asked me if I knew I had an identical twin brother when my results arrived.) and I love cruising! (Of course he wrongly loves Pepsi, and I know Coke is the real thing so there must be differences...)

My wife is a vegetarian. She actually loves steakhouses because she tends to love their sides. When we did Cagney's last year my wife ordered her sides & appetizers, and my daughter (13, who seems to be mostly carnivorous) ate her steak. The other two boys (12 & 16) always eat off the kids menu by choice (good for me since I don't have to buy them a meal plan!) While I guess you're not supposed to share the waiter didn't seem to mind. No use letting the poor cow die for nothing.

We also are headed to Alaska this Fall on the Encore with a high-functioner (16 years old as of July 5th.) We've already booked the Haven 2-bedroom (because we have 3 kids and 2 adults going). We did a Mexican Riviera (also in the Haven) and he loved it. He doesn't have allergies, but is very food specific. He will basically eat off the kids menu the whole trip. Pasta and Chicken fingers. (Doesn't even like ice cream because of the temperature. I'll suffer and eat his if any shows up...) We didn't do the kids club, but mostly because we did so much as a family. The priority embarkation/disembarkation aren't just for high-functioning ASD kids, but if you have any kids! The Haven was actually very peaceful and calm for our Mexican Riviera (5-day) and would expect it to be at least as peaceful for an Alaskan trip with school (mostly) in session. As those have mentioned if you want to upgrade the amount you would probably have to bid to win is often more than just calling NCL (or your TA) and upgrading to the Haven.

Have you created an NCL.com account? If so you would go to My Account, and your reservation should be there. Click View Reservation, and then under "Explore and Plan" I think there's usually a button for Upgrades. There you'll find the FAS+ option. If you don't have an account you can register and use the Latitudes number for your current reservation to be able to get there. (You may have to ask your TA for it if you don't have it, but I think you get one created for you automatically when you book a cruise) I think there is also a chance if you've had this booked for more than a year you may be out of luck as I remember it was only available for cruises booked after a certain date. (We wanted to upgrade for our October cruise last year but were unable to as we had booked it around a year before and we booked it before they started allowing people to add it.) I haven't declined the beverage package before but as long as you're more than a few days before sailing you should be able to add FAS back in, but for that you might need to go through your TA, but they do like to sell upgrades so I wouldn't be surprised if it is available to do online.

Yes. I just upgraded from the website and didn't involve my TA at all.

Also wanted to mention that Max bid is different for everyone I believe. Going from a 2-bedroom to owners suite would likely have a lower maximum bid than from a front facing penthouse to owners. Also, the algorithm they use almost certainly takes into account how likely they are to be able to sell/maximize money in upgrades to the room you would be vacating for the upgraded room.

On our sailing the last 'remaining' owners suite is going in/out of sale. I think the owners suites have a lot of people clicking on them to see what they are and sometimes ending up putting them in the temporary hold so when you look they aren't available... Perhaps it doesn't work that way, but I've seen the one on mine change availability several times (after final payment) so I don't think someone is booking/canceling.

I had the opposite experience. They give instructions on where/how you should let faster drivers pass, but everyone ignored them. I'd try passing and then they would just move over and slam me into the wall... It was fun the short time I got some breathing room though.

Just call your butler... I don't think I've seen picking up dog waste in Gary's list of what butler will/won't do...

I did my first NCL cruise last October, so it's been since at least then. We had the FAS and added the upgraded beverage package (our Father-in-law came with us.) All 3 us got the FAS, and had to upgrade to the upgraded beverage package. The 3 kids got nothing. Although the bartenders did make them drinks and not charge them. Your results may vary! (This was in the Haven as well, but other than maybe the kids getting 'free' drinks, I don't think that had anything to do with it.)

I believe every one over 21 in a cabin is required to get (and gets via FAS) the drink package if anyone has it.

If you used your emails for other people in the cabin (like kids) I think you get really spammed. I know I was last year!

Is this really an issue in the Haven? We were at the tail end of COVID last year, so maybe that's why, but we got every reservation we wanted via the onboard concierge which we contacted after boarding. (And there was only one other person in the line...) I was kind of thinking about just doing my entertainment/dining reservations once we boarded (Doesn't hurt that I missed the 125 day window because I switched sailing dates (went from one just outside penalty, to one just inside penalty))

Aboard the Bliss last October my wife had a Pellegrino at every specialty restaurant we went to (with the Beverage+ package). We were in the haven so only walked through the buffet, and never ate in the main dining room, but would be surprised if it wasn't served there.