KeithJenner

Yes, shore excursion discounts are available online. You don’t see it until you add to the basket, which I think is why some people don’t realise this.

One day NCL will correct that confusing statement on the website. You are one of many to be confused by it.

You need to book fixed price places first, as the system only knows about your free at sea at this point so you wouldn’t have had to pay for the first one if you had done it first. Now that you have made those bookings you will have to wait until you board to book Teppanyaki or Moderno without paying (or phone and cancel your bookings and start again). If you do pay upfront then I assume it will be refunded to your onboard account onboard, but I’ve never done this so can’t confirm. The link in my signature has more details about this.

Yeah, a charter is possible. I think that it is doing a few runs back and forth between Lisbon and Rome, so that shouldn’t be a major issue as long as we can get rebooked at an equivalent cost. Will see what happens.

This may be nothing, but we are booked on a Viva cruise from Lisbon to Rome next April, and the name of the cruise both on our reservation and the booking page has just changed from “10 day Mediterranean from Lisbon to Rome” to just “10 day cruise”. The itinerary is currently unchanged. NCL often mess around with stuff like this and it often leads to nothing, but it could be a sign of some upcoming itinerary changes.

Yeah, apologies. I was just trying to make a light hearted comment, but it probably came across as critical. That wasn’t meant.

There is no 120 day out thing with shore excursions. They just update as and when they agree contracts etc with suppliers.

Good job you cleared that up. If only someone had posted this, say, the third post of the thread two months ago. 🙂

From the latitudes FAQs: ”Rewards points are not applied for Cruise Tour nights or hotel stay nights. ”

Yes, the perks are certainly per cruise, regardless of length. On occasion the staff may chose to bend those rules. When it comes to latitudes perks the most likely one that they may bend is the laundry.

As it is one cruise rather than a back to back you just get the standard perks. The laundry is fairly variable though. We have done a few longer cruises (up to 15 days) and we have received more laundry on occasion. I don’t recall how that was communicated to us (or whether we just put it in and didn’t get charged).

I don’t think it has ever really been advertised on the website. The pictures above were from the Dawn last September and there had been quite a bit of speculation before then that it had been discontinued. I think that either it is being gradually phased out (and that process may have been completed now) or that it just isn’t being well advertised onboard so people aren’t aware that it is available. Unfortunately there is little you can do but wait and see. Even if someone does report it being available then that doesn’t mean that it certainly will be on the ship you sail on.

You just complete the form showing what wine you want and hand it in at a bar. Most likely not all bars will be able to deal with it (we used to go to the atrium bar when we used it, but it was much more visibly advertised back then - pre free at sea). They used to give slips that you could redeem later for the wine but some people preferred to take all it with them.

Yes, usually platinum get proority boarding, after suites and people needing assistance. It doesn’t always work like that though, so set your expectations. Just book your meals as normal and take your platinum voucher (which will be in your room) along when you dine. The only thing to watch out for is that as you will likely be booking more meals than you have dining credits for you need to book any fixed price ones (Modernonor Teppanyaki) first to avoid being charged. The link in my signature explains this. It is a bit out of date but that bit is still correct.

That does sound very annoying, but in my experience it is not normal. I don’t recall ever seeing anyone trying to make reservations at the restaurant check in (or if they did then they were directed elsewhere). This isn’t something that I would have a concern about being a regular problem.

The above post is correct, there are reservations that are kept back for booking on the day and you should be able to get what you need as long as you don’t wait too long. The exact proportion of bookings that are released or held back is not known, as far as I’m aware. I often see specific proportions quoted, and they vary greatly. I suspect that this comes from NCL phone staff just making up numbers. Whether it is 10%, 25% or 50% that are released (or any of the other numbers quoted) it still leaves a lot of availability onboard. Just don’t wait until the second day or you may find options limited. We do it first thing after boarding and have never had any trouble getting reservations we want.

No it isn’t. There was a bottle at the wine bar on our last cruise and whilst enjoying many glasses of Veuve there we did discuss the Cognac and how often people buy some. It certainly wasn’t included in the package. The answer to how often they sell any was, as you’d expect, not very often. However I don’t think that your experience is that unusual. It seems that when they do sell some then it can be a few shots so I imagine it is individuals, or a group, getting carried away or showing off.

I’ve not been on the Spirit since the refurb, but (like many older ship), they are very unlikely to have Veuve in the Atrium bar as it is likely to just be a coffee place. Hence why specifying the ship was so important.

On our cruises last year the champagne by the bottle was Moet, with Veuve by the glass. More often than not, if we asked for glasses of Veuve then they bought a bottle over and left it near our table, so we effectively had bottles to ourselves anyway, including taking the bottle with us after the meal on a couple of occasions.

Yes it is.

If you have the beverage package (even the standard one that comes with free at sea) then you don’t have to pay corkage fees.

The problem with questions like this is that there is no way of us answering them. I did two cruises last year where Veuve was available in multiple bars (although not the Atrium bar either time) and we got through plenty of it. Meanwhile, a poster who I trust recently posted that they were unable to get it anywhere other than with meals. It depends on the ship, itinerary, staff, stocking issue, so many factors. As the OP hasn’t specified the ship then it is even harder to give an answer which has a chance of being helpful. As for the “ruining the cruise” thing, given the cost of upgrading it can certainly be something that will impact someone’s enjoyment and their feeing towards NCL. However it is dangerous these days to pin your enjoyment of anything on the availability of one thing at the moment, but relying on NCL for things such as this is particularly risky.

No, you can’t adjust the free at sea gratuities.

When the usual suspects arrive to have a huge discussions about how the service charge isn’t a tip, just ignore them. They have to go through that at least once a month, but it’s irrelevant.

The $20 referred to Is the gratuities.