KeithJenner

I’ve had the strip a few times in the MDR and it has always been decent. Not fantastic, but certainly not as bad as I often read people saying it is on here. I’d certainly order it again.

If you are booking more meals than you have dining credits for (usually due to latitudes but may be due to buying additional dining packages later) you should make your reservations for fixed price places first. The system only lets you book the number of meals you have dining credits to cover before it starts charging you. The charge for a la carte places is zero, but for fixed price places it is that cover charge. Always make reservations for fixed price places first to avoid any potential charges. You can still decide how to pay for them on the day.

I'm sure that is sometimes true, but not always. When we were last on the Jade they were sitting everyone by the aft window first. I can't believe that all of them were due to Latitudes.

Yes, you do get asked for a PIN sometimes with contactless, but using Apple Pay (or similar I assume) avoids that. Also takes away the limit that exists with contactless.

The rear of Grand Pacific is very nice, although sometimes the sun can be an issue near any of the windows. They often fill the areas near the windows first so I'n certainly get there before they open to give yourself the best chance. You don't have to get there too early, maybe 5 minutes. One other thing to be aware of is that some people (customers in suites and higher latitudes levels) get preferred seating, although that is inconsistently applied, so you may find that they leave some spaces for those.

There are about 21 MDR menus, so on a 25 day cruise there will be some duplication, but not too much. As for seating, there is no effort to seat you in the same place. Every time you turn up you will be seated wherever is convenient (i.e. balancing customers per server). In the example you gave of going there a few times at the start of the cruise and then again towards the end there would be no difference between days 1 and day 2 or day 2 and day 20. Each time they will seat you wherever is available when you arrive. You can request the same place and I'm sure they will try to assist (never tried it myself), but it certainly wouldn't be guaranteed. You may not get the same servers anyway.

Contactless, or Apple Pay/Android Pay or whatever, is probably the most common way of paying in most places these days, I can't remember the last time I used by PIN number.

I can only help with some of your questions. Can't really help with the music. I'm not sure what you mean about the music in the ports, and I assume you are talking about music playing on the pool decks onboard, which we generally avoid. There is no fixed charge for toilets. More places charge in Europe than the US. but this varies from place to place. I've never really noticed how much the charges are, when they apply, but it isn't much. I've don't recall ever being charged in places like restaurants or bars. The ships are the same ones that sail in the US at other times of year. There are both US and European plug sockets. If you are asking about hotels or airports in Europe then they will be European sockets. I don't do many organised excursions, but we have never had to use our own headphones. Anywhere where there have been headphones to help hear the guide we have been provided them. In some places there may be options to use an app on your phone as a guide, in which case you would use the headphones that you have for your phone. If you are happy to use a card for spending (I would recommend doing so) then you don't need many Euros. We usually have about €50-100 just in case, but I usually end up taking it back home with me. Cards are accepted almost everywhere.

They are ones that are charged at a flat rate, rather than per item. As above it is Moderno and Teppanyaki (or whatever it’s called on Prima/Viva). Book these ones first to avoid being charged.

The “welcome to” and “welcome back” cards are also different colours, as mentioned earlier.

For a short while a few years ago, NCL included a carton of water a day per passenger, delivered to your room on day one for European customers. There were three of us on a 15 day cruise. Trying to store that, plus the ones we got for latitudes was a challenge.

I assume you mean the premium plus package, which is the upgraded one. Bottled water (or cartons) isn’t included in the standard package, which is, rather confusingly, called the premium beverage package.

They let you book loads of things before final payment. Why should dining be any different? Also, final payment date is different around the world. We have always booked meals well before final payment date (currently nearly two months before). This is a question which only occurs to people in a few countries, primarily the US.

It’s not just Holland. The whole of Europe changes their clocks at the end of March, a couple of weeks after the US. We also change back at a slightly different time. It’s a pain for those of us who watch US sport, as the times get thrown out. We have been travelling over to the US a few times when they change and it can get quite confusing, sometimes ending putting the clocks back or forward twice and other times missing it completely.

NCL keep to local time so you will set your clocks forward an hour the night you leave Lisbon.

Howl shows are about 4 hours long and the three performers alternate through the show with there usually only being two on stage at a time. When they change over there will likely be the three of them for a few songs, but it is expected that there will only be two for the majority of the time.

Yeah, you will be able to get off very soon after 6am. The ship often arrives before the advertised time so the ship is cleared promptly.

If you are willing to carry your own luggage off then you will be able to get off very soon after 6am. Assuming this is a Med only cruise (not a transatlantic or anything like that) then you will be able to just walk straight through the terminal and out. If you want to use the luggage tags and pick up your own luggage then the earliest non priority (suites, latitudes or transfers) tags will likely be called at around 7am. If you have previously disembarked at Civitavecchia then I assume you are aware of the transport challenges (shuttle buses etc unless you have a transfer or are getting a taxi). Just make sure you have your journey planned and booked if required.

It is basically a valid plan, but phoning to make the reservations could present some issues. We have done this before, waiting until onboard to purchase some or all of the additional dining packages. It is certainly a way of using up the OBC. We do all of our reservations online, so don't have this problem, but there have been reports on here of people being told that they can't reserve latitudes meals in advance. I don't know whether there would be problems with reserving meals for dining packages that haven't been purchased yet either. My suggestion, if you are going to phone, would be not to mention how you plan to pay for any of the meals, and certainly don't mention latitudes. Hopefully they should just book them. Also get them to actually book the fixed price ones first, rather than explain why. Get them booked and then move on to the free ones. Don't give them chance to give you incorrect information. I'm not sure how many fixed price places you will be able to book without charge. Certainly two, but I haven't seen confirmation yet that the system also picks up free at sea plus. It may be that you have to wait until onboard to book all of those, but that shouldn't be a major problem on a 22 day cruise.

Regarding the dress code you are absolutely right. There was no difference between that and any other night. Dress Up or Not night (and Norwegian Night Out) basically served two purposes: They were something of a theme night with things like staff available for pictures and some themes parties. They were a bit of a help to those people who are used to being given a night to dress up, without being a problem to those of us with no interest in such things. Personally I thought that it was a bit against the freestyle spirit where we are able to decide for ourselves which days we want to do things. I’m sure that people still dress up now without being told which night.

The only non refundable OBC that can be used for cruise next is the one you get from the purchase of the certificates. This changed a few years ago (previously all OBC could be used). I can’t comment on whether the systems may still allow certain types to be used, but officially the answer is no.

You are certainly getting past cruises mixed up. 10 years ago on NCL there would have been a “dress up or not” night or “Norwegian night out” which was only ever a suggestion that many people ignored. The actual dress code was always exactly the same and I have never seen a suggestion that people eat in the buffet due to dress on NCL. The lack of those sort of restrictions is the reason we selected NCL for our first cruise over 20 years ago,

In the atrium, port side, next to the shore excursion desk.

Unfortunately this is one of those things that can’t be predicted. How things were working at the end of last season is irrelevant. Things can be fine one week and then there be a problem the next. The biggest issues have tended to be at the start of the season rather than later. The best guess is that it is misunderstandings or paperwork issues when ships move into the area. By July it is likely that any problems will have been resolved, although nothing is guaranteed. This is an issue that has been around at times over the past couple of years and is unfortunately very unpredictable.

They are generally very similar, but it isn’t guaranteed that they will be exactly the same. I have certainly seen some differences between cabin locations on sister ships. As mentioned above it’s easy to check. The deck plans are also on the NCL website.