jimsig

We just disembarked the Epic Saturday in NYC. We walked off the ship at 945a and the porters were already accepting luggage for those boarding that day. You might be able to check your luggage early and then head to the Intrepid. From the Intrepid site. Does the Museum offer bag and coat check facilities? The Museum does not offer bag and coat check facilities. All belongings, including bags, strollers and luggage must remain with visitors at all times. Strollers, large bags and luggage are not permitted in the submarine or Concorde.

CC has luggage tag holders for sale as well. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/ccstore/luggage-tag/

It all depends on the itinerary. If you are a OW southbound to Vancouver you would looking at all ocean when you are out in the open ocean. Northbound of course you would facing land when in the open ocean. Just about anytime you are in the inside passage it would not matter as you are pretty much surrounded by land. Most people think of the inside passage as the area between Vancouver Island and the mainland but it's also includes Alaska when you are not in the open ocean. If on a round trip from say Seattle northbound you would be facing the land and southbound you are looking out to sea when in the open ocean. If you are cruising Glacier Bay they will turn the ship, usually multiple times when viewing each glacier. I could be wrong but I believe the ships that have commentary the commentary is based on the starboard side, that's maybe why you got that advice of which side to be on. I know I had read about here on CC so hopefully someone will correct me if I am mistaken. However, if that's the case, any time you are viewing glaciers do not stay in your cabin the entire time. Make sure to view them from up high in the ship and also down low as they look so much different depending on where you view them. On our trip in 2016 Seattle R/T on the Pearl they opened the bow of the ship for glacier viewing and it was a great view. Hope that helps.

Here is a video of Club Balcony 11090 with the couch before it was made into a bed. From what I have read since they may not open the doors between the balconies on an adjoining room. I shot in portrait mode so you can see more.

Our upcoming cruise on the Epic is the first time in 3 cruises we got tags sent to us, but to be fair last year we booked the Pearl only 2 weeks out. On both the roll call and FB group for this weeks cruise it was also hit or miss on who got them,

There is no mask requirement for either the port or on board.

Yep, never threaten. If you have already told them you will never sail with them again then what reason do they have to give you what you want. Never tell them you are getting a lawyer because they will just forward it to their legal department awaiting contact from your lawyer. None of those things ever do you any good.

I would go ahead and get the birth certificate this week. It's always a good idea to have a couple certified copies in case something like this comes up again. Also if you get it sooner rather than later you are not running around a day or two before the trip getting it.

Last year on the Pearl to Bermuda the first trip was M-F and that stopped in Bermuda for about 8 hours IIRC. After that the next few were Fri to Fri and were supposed to be Sun to Wed AM in Bermuda and right back to Boston. Starting in either late April/early May they would leave Tue afternoon and head to Bar Harbor. The night before the first Fri to Fri cruise they sent an email out that those on the first few cruises that they would now depart Bermuda Tue afternoon and make Bar Harbor on Thur. Some on that first cruise did not find out until they were either at the port or on the ship as they must not have checked their emails.

Being that it appears Bermuda is your only foreign port NCL will do pretty much what ever it takes to stop there as they don't want to be fined. It's a big fine per passenger that the cruise line has to pay if they don't make a foreign port, something like $800 per passenger. They don't want to lose out on that money.

Yes it is. If you have someone under drinking age in your cabin they get the soda package as their perk. That's how I knew how much the gratuity is.

Be sure to check out this, the 21st post. It was taken this morning: Has there been issues with ships not being able to make Bermuda recently?

How long of a cruise are you on? For a 7 day cruise it should be $152.60 for the drink package service charge. For the soda package it would be $11.13 I based this off my upcoming 8 day cruise that I booked back in January. I figured out what it cost per day and then multiplied it by 7. NCL is pretty firm on everybody in the same cabin having the drink package but there have been people who have posted they were allowed to substitute the soda package due to a need. Hopefully you will find an agent who has the ability to waive it. I know other cruise lines, at least RC in the past, don't make passengers in the same cabin all buy the drink package.

But did you stay at a Holiday inn Express last night?!?!? 🤣😂

In my case it was not me but for my late wife that we would take out travel insurance with pre-existing coverage. She had a very rare form of cancer called and was treated for it for over 10 year with not only chemo but 4 major surgeries that all required about a 3 month recovery time. For the most part she was able to live a normal life and had good quality of life and no real debilitating symptoms other then chemo side effects and surgery recovery. In 2014 we had an Alaskan Cruisetour booked from Anchorage to Denali and then a 7 day ow from Alaska to Vancouver for our 10th anniversary for just the two of us. She was to have a surgery a few weeks after we got back. Just after the 30 day to go mark she became symptomatic and they needed to move her surgery up so we had to cancel the Cruisetour. With her cancer the tumors are normally very slow growing but in my wife's case they would grow very fast. NCL refunded what ever percentage we were entitled to and because we took out insurance we were made whole for the rest including the airfare we had purchased on our own. We ended up rebooking the trip in 2016 as a round trip out of Seattle and brought our then 6yo DD, again taking out insurance with pre-existing coverage. I know it's not an apples to apples comparison but it ended up being cheaper for the 3 of us then what the previous trip cost. I ended up upgrading us (the old way) to the 2br Family Suite as a treat so in the end the cost was about the same as what the 2014 would have cost. In 2018 our birthday gift to our then 9yo DD was a trip to Disneyland. We are big Disney fans and had been to WDW a few times with her but never DL. About a week before the trip they thought my wife had clots in her legs. It ended up being something else related to clots but she was told not to fly as she would most likely develop clots from the flying even with compression socks. For that trip I didn't bother with insurance because everything was refundable or able to be cancelled except what the airlines would charge. In the end I took our DD and my wife stayed home. I mean how are you supposed to tell a 9yo that you have to cancel her birthday present? While making small talk with the airline ticket agent while canceling my wife's ticket I had mentioned she was told by a doctor not to fly. She then asked what was the Doctor's name was and what hospital he was affiliated with. She asked me to hold and about 2 min later she told me she waived the $150 fee and the entire cost of her ticket would go into a travel bank which was very nice of them to do. I understand it the same way you do about the look back period.

When you posted about a year ago I was 3 days from boarding the Pearl. Today I am 11 days from boarding the Epic

Usually pre-existing coverage must be booked within so many days of making the initial payment on some portion of your trip that you want covered. I've seen anywhere from 10 to 21 days.

Others may get them as well. On my upcoming Epic cruise a lot of non suite guests, like myself, have received them in the mail. First time in 3 cruises I have received them from NCL.

It's a good issue to have 😀

This was posted in our Roll Call for the Epic in the past couple days. It was from someone who is currently on the Epic. Apparently the GM is leaving and is being replaced by Amir but did not get a last name.

I don't think you are on the Epic. The Epic is doing a San Juan to NYC trip departing on April 14 followed by a TA to Barcelona. The Encore leaves on April 16 and ends in LA through the Canal.

yep 😀

One of the reasons for the backlog is due to C19. A lot of people didn't bother renewing as they knew they were not going to be travelling internationally either due to personal choices or their work stopped all international travel. So on top of the normal renewals there are 2-3 years of late renewals and brand new applicants putting a strain on the system. They are getting around half a million passport applications every week and last year they issued 22 million passports and are on track to break that this year. Unfortunately they can only do so much with what they have for people but they have apparently authorized OT and are opening new passport offices. For renewals they have a pilot program so that you will soon be able to do it online after it's fully tested if eligible. At the end of 2021 I had to renew my DD passport. But the first reason was not to travel but so we could see Hamilton on Broadway as not only were they requiring everyone to be vaxed but anyone either 10 or 12 years or older to have a photo ID. It could have been a school ID but her school doesn't issue them. We ended up booking Bos to Bermuda 2 weeks before the cruise last April.

If you want to, do a google search for "NCL On Line Check In Video" you can watch that so you won't have any surprises when you go to check in. As an FYI for each person you check in you will have to watch the muster safety drill video. If you try to forward it to the end it may make you watch it twice before you can continue.

This is something that looks to have just been added very recently. It will probably be one of those things that some people will be able to get on with them and others will have them taken and it will depend on what port and whos checking until the word spreads to port security etc.