KeithJenner

You can tip in whatever currency you choose, but obviously it may impact how pleased the recipient is to get it. Dollars have the benefit of being able to be used easier onboard. When sailing in Europe I sometimes tip in Euros as they can be used when ashore. I once asked a bartender if he had a preference and he said it didn’t really matter, but a Euro is worth more than a dollar. This issue I would have with using pounds in your case is how easily would they be able to use them. If Southampton is just a turn around port and there aren’t any other UK stops then they will have to get them converted themselves, which may be a problem. If you have any Euros then I suspect that would be preferable, but I can’t imagine they will complain if you give them pounds.

Cheerleaders = people who don’t agree with me. Always says far more to me about the person using it than anything else.

The dining package and shore excursion discount look like NCLs standard free at sea offers. If so then the dining package is given per person (it shows up on your individual account), so you would just get one meal for one. The shore excursion benefit is per excursion per cabin. Even if you don’t usually do NCL excursions it is worth checking them as it can make some very cheap (we are getting a lift to Pompeii and back from Naples for 1p for example).

Actually, now you say that, we had the singing ladies come round o'Sheehans on the Escape inaugural transatlantic with pastries. I assumed that it was something they were doing as it was the first sailing and it was also fairly quiet. They were fun, but I did often feel that I should take one even though I didn't really need or want any, which I suppose proves my point that I'd rather just get stuff myself than have people coming round.

I have sailed on NCL many times and, as we had our son with us on most of them, we ate in the buffet a lot more than would have been my preference. In all those cruises I have never once seen anyone walking around the buffet offering orange juice, coffee and pastries. Maybe it is what happens on other lines, but I don't see that as any indication that anything has changed on NCL. For what it's worth, I know where the orange juice, coffee and pastries are and will go get them myself if I want them. Given the choice, I would rather I am left to choose what I want, but of course each to their own.

Two of our three cruises are showing all sea days, but the Viva next April is still showing ports.

Just to round this off, I found the FAQ’s for Premium All Inclusive. As you can see, the top item is the beverage package and then the coffee and water are a totally separate item.

We will have to disagree then, but the water was absolutely not part of the beverage package, however it was sold to you.

That isn't quite correct. NCL offered a deal for European cruisers which included water, coffee and prepaid service charge on top of the free at sea offers. However, the water was a specific extra line on the reservation and was in addition to the beverage package, not included in it. The beverage package itself did not include any water. Only a slight difference, but it does mean that BirdTravels was correct. We also used that deal a few times. The 45 litres of water in our room on one cruise caused some storage issues. 🙂

Bottled water has never been included in NCLs standard beverage package. It is included in the upgraded one at an additional cost. They didn’t release the press release explaining whether it was a blatant money grab or otherwise, so it is up to the individual to draw their own conclusion.

You don’t use dining credits when you book, you use them when you eat. I suppose that if you booked online and paid the cover charge then you may struggle to get this refunded if you didn’t show up, but I wouldn’t recommend paying upfront at all.

You won’t get charged. That wording has been there for years and I’ve never heard of anyone being charged (what would be the charge anyway, as it is a la carte?). You should obviously still cancel as early as you can, just to avoid taking a space that someone else could have, but you shouldn’t have any trouble.

We get them at different times. There was a very good offer very recently.

I honestly don't want to argue about this. I have no interest in the sport anyway, but I can't turn on Sky Sports without seeing loads of adverts for the games that are on during the week. As I said in the edit to my last message, every game this week was originally scheduled to be played then. There are also all the other competitions (Cups, European competitions, Internationals) that are predominantly played during the week. Then there are the lower leagues which are well covered on TV coverage. Yes, teams are more likely to play at the weekend than during the week, and if you had said that more games are on the weekend then I wouldn't have disagreed at all, but you said that English football is usually ONLY played at the weekend. That is demonstrably not true. On the BBC website the "fixtures and results" page currently covers the period from 10th April-8th May and there are only five days in that period when no Premier League teams are playing (two Mondays and 3 Fridays). When they aren't playing in the Premier League they are playing European games. Football is a week round sport here. Anyway, that is certainly it from me. Back to something I have an interest in, like planning my cruises.

I am clearly not picking a week when they are rearranged to fit my argument. I have picked this week. To claim that I was "picking a week" for any purpose other than it is the week we are in actually made me laugh out loud. As for rearranged games, every single one of the games being played this week was scheduled to be played then when the fixtures were released last year. We could look at next week then. There are 5 games on Monday-Friday and 7 at the weekend. Was I selecting that one to help my argument as well? The weeks when there aren't a good number of Premier League games played during the week are often those when there is another tournament (i.e. Champions League) on instead. If you still don't believe me then you could just look at the full fixture list for the year: https://www.premierleague.com/news/2646764 Lots of midweek games scheduled throughout the season. It is probably just easier to admit that when you said that English football is usually only on over a weekend you were incorrect (and I'm not the only one to point that out).

This is actually 120 days out (125 or 130 days for some cabins or latitudes levels). If you wait until 30 days out then there is a good chance that you won’t be able to get what you want.

To be fair the Epic is, in my opinion, by far the worst ship in the fleet (that I've sailed on) but I've had a great time all four times I've sailed on her.

No, it is because there is lots of football on during the week. Just this week: Saturday - 5 Premier League games Sunday - 2 Premier League Games Monday - No Premier League Games Tuesday - 3 Premier League Games Wednesday - 4 Premier League Games Thursday - 3 Premier League Games Friday - No Premier League Games. That's 7 games at the weekend and 10 during the week. Fairly standard I believe (judging may all the adverts they constantly show whilst I'm watching other sport).

I believe that the OP was asking whether there is a form required to be completed in order to leave the 14 year old in the charge of the 18 year old. There is no question that the 18 year old can be left.

There is loads of football on during the week.

It is offered on all cruises, but it doesn’t apply to older bookings. We couldn’t get it on our last cruise, as we booked before the cutoff for it applying.

Not wanting to be the bearer of bad news, but whilst football is shown a lot onboard, it has always seemed to be replays. I don’t pay all that much attention to it, but whenever I look at a screen they seem to be showing the same replays over and over. I can’t say for sure, but I wouldn’t take it as definite they they will be showing it live.

I think this may be relatively new, perhaps due to kids club changes. Our son is 17, and we have been leaving him onboard whilst we leave the ship for a few years. We only used to do so when we were staying relatively near the ship. When he was kids club age we would leave him there, and the staff would be fully aware of where we were, as you tell them your location when dropping him off. Since he has been too old for Splash Academy we have just left him in the room at these times, and we certainly did some research before just leaving him and this is the first time that I have seen this wording. We never made a secret of the fact that he was on the ship alone, and have mentioned this to staff members without it ever being raised as an issue. Last year my wife and I went on an NCL tour in Santorini by ourselves, so the evidence was there that we had left him aboard by himself. I originally wrote that it is fine to just go ashore, but maybe something has changed. Regarding a form, I suspect that there isn’t one. If they do show an interest then just the fact that there is an adult with them is likely to be enough. NCL often do so things differently from ship to ship though, so I would do as suggested and enquire onboard. It is very possible that some ships have a form, some don’t and some dont care at all. That isn’t odd for NCL.

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I don't believe that you can get the upgrade offer for the extra two meals once onboard. I think that you will be charged the full rate. Unless you are boarding late you should have no problem getting the reservations you want. They hold back a proportion (the exact proportion varies depending on who you talk to) for onboard booking. We have never had any trouble booking any that we need on embarkation day.