KeithJenner

No, there isn’t. The sun deck referred to above is general access. There are no specific suite facilities like that on the Star.

We have stayed in a large balcony room a few times. Yes a large part is uncovered, and if you are standing at the railing or spreading out on the balcony then you are in view of many cabins above. However, there is still a lot of balcony which is covered so you can certainly sit out there without being in view.

I’m assuming that the poster above was in one of the club balcony suites with large balcony on deck 8 (category M6). Those balconies are huge, but most club balcony suites have fairly standard sized balconies.

Interesting, I’d not seen that article before (even though I’m quoted in it) and it does suggest that NCL confirmed the policy. If so then they really have done an appalling job of communicating it, even to their own staff.

It isn’t as simple as that, as far as I have been able to tell. There have been a few instances where there have been notices in the freestyle daily saying that door decorations aren’t allowed, but all the evidence that I have seen suggests that this is a decision made by individual ship staff rather than being an NCL rule. We have asked a couple of times whether they are allowed and have always been told that there is no restriction, and I have never seen anything in writing either on the NCL website or on a freestyle daily for a cruise that I am on. I wouldn’t say that people are ignoring any prohibition, but that either it doesn’t exist or that they are unaware of it.

The new, non changing, menus are on the Prima but haven’t yet moved to the other ships. The OP is on the Getaway and should have different menus each night.

I agree. It is $50 per excursion and I’ve not heard anyone report anything different (at least not recently).

It can happen in Europe. I’ve always found tax charges to be fairly random in Europe, but it is far more common not to be charged than to be charged in my experience.

There are more than 7 menus (I don’t know the exact number, but it’s more like 14). They won’t be repeated on a 9 day cruise. You can get two drinks at a time and don’t need to sign unless you get something that causes a charge (ie a drink over $15 where you pay the difference).

I can’t answer for sure, but from a quick look at the freestyle dailies I don’t see any mention of the dining upgrade. They were actively selling the beverage package upgrade. I wouldn’t risk it personally.

It could depend on where you are sailing from. If you are on a Med cruise then you will likely be off very quickly. There should be no immigration or anything like that on disembarkation day, so you can just walk off, grab your luggage and go. Every disembarkation I have ever done on these cruises has been much quicker and easier than the US. However, if you have sailed from elsewhere, especially if on a transatlantic then it could be slow. It depends where they do the immigration checks, but it could take a while. The 8pm departure for the following cruise doesn’t indicate anything. Med cruises often have later departures and this is usually more to do with the distance to the next port than anything else.

If they book everyone in one room then there will be one latitudes pack (including two meal vouchers). If they book one platinum and one non platinum in each room then they will get a latitudes pack for each room, meaning double the meals.

We have always used taxis from the port to the airport, which have always been very reliable except for one time when there were a lot of large ships in port and there was a bit of a wait. As long as you get off the ship in good time then taxis will work well. Given that flight time you will want to be one of the first off anyway (probably best to carry your own luggage unless you have priority). Also worth checking what other ships are in port so you know whether it will be busy. Unless you are a large group or it is a busy day I don’t think there is any need to arrange transfers at Barcelona.

The only restaurants that have a fixed charge are Moderno (not on the Prima) and Teppanyaki/Hazuki (Hazuki is on the Prima).

This.

Yes, they often substitute ports. It has happened to us a few times, including times when it is very likely the new arrangements would have higher fees. The only price adjustments we have ever had is refund on port fees onboard (on some occasions).

There is certainly a large proportion of meal reservations held back (although people have been told varying percentages by staff, so the actual amount isn’t known). We have never had any problem making reservations on embarkation day.

Ephesus excursions were really cheap when we were there last year, and I’d recommend going there. In Santorini the excursion to Oia is usually reasonably priced. We don’t usually take excursions, but we like doing them in Santorini as it avoids the hassle of the cable car on arrival.

Boarding starts at around midday regardless of departure time.

You play not see the latitudes deduction until you add the excursion to your basket. I think that is why some people report that you can’t get it online.

Any speciality restaurant. In a la carte places you basically get one of each course. The discount is per excursion. If you can fit them in then it can be used more than once in a single port.

We first got the beverage and dining package included in 2015. I don’t recall whether it was called Free at Sea then, and you got a lot more meals included, but the basic deal has been available ever since. They added Wi-Fi and the shore excursion discount and reduced the number of meals gradually, but the standard beverage package has remained about the same.

There has never been any connection between having had to make final payment and being able to reserve restaurants. The dates just happen to be the same in some countries. We are always able to make our reservations despite final payment not being for about a month afterwards and when final payment was changed during covid it didn’t make any difference to reservations.

There is no separate voucher for the wine, so you need to get it when you are using one of your platinum meal vouchers. However, you can take it with you. Many of us ask for the bottle to be unopened. I take mine back to our cabin so I have a bottle to drink whilst sitting out on the balcony.

Nothing has changed. You get two vouchers per cabin, and if there is more than two platinum or above in a cabin then the extra people get vouchers too. This has been the case for years. Before the change to latitudes back in about 2015 it was one voucher per person, so basically the same for most people