KeithJenner

You were told incorrectly. You certainly can book the latitudes meals in advance, just as you can book meals that you will pay for a la carte. I have done this many times, including for my upcoming cruise.

You book the restaurants for your platinum meals in the same way that you would any other restaurant. When you show up you will let them know that it is covered by your platinum voucher. In theory what you get is different from the dining package meals, as it just covers one app, one entree and a dessert and there is a dollar limit to the cost of the entree, but in practice you may find that it is different. I've never heard of the dollar limit being imposed, but apparently they will charge any dining package upgrade on certain dishes. When reserving your meals, make sure that you book fixed charge ones first (Moderno or Teppanyaki) as you can only book the number you have covered by your dining package without having to pay when booking. This is more of an issue these days with many people just getting one free at sea meal. I wait until boarding to book any that would cause a charge.

I've heard of Sopranos. I thought Goodfellas made pizza (just checked online and they are a frozen pizza brand here in the UK).

Moderno has become the one which we consider going to twice these days. Mainly because we find it such an enjoyable experience. My one criticism lately would be that sometimes they are a little too attentive, sometimes turning up with offerings even when we have our cards turned to red. If I could change one thing then it would be for the servers to come round a little less often. We usually eat relatively early, and have booked for a later time on our next cruise. Maybe that will work better for us.

It has been available to book on my Beeakaway cruise next year for quite a while now. It was available very soon after it was first spoken about here. Free at Sea plus seems to be the one that is taking a while to come online.

I’ve never seen it either, but my lack of knowledge of Will Smith on another thread probably makes that no great surprise. I have at least heard of it, which is something I suppose.

Just to clarify one thing though, as I stated earlier reservations are supposed to open at 90 days anyway, so not being able to book yet is as expected. As someone has reported they opening early for them then maybe it is worth checking every now and then, but I wouldn’t stress about it.

If you fancy getting more confused then contact NCL again and get a different answer from their random answer generator. If not being confused is your preference then don’t ask them the question in the first place.

Yes, we went for deck 9 for that reason.

Over the years I've had quite a few cruises cancelled for various reasons. Things obviously went a bit haywire due to covid, but other than that the only one I've had cancelled with in year was the Prima cruise that should have started tomorrow (cancelled in April). If there are technical issues then they may cancel closer to sailing than that, and there have been a few of them lately with things like the damage to the Escape and issues with sailing to Japan and the Baltic. Those things are actually quite unusual though.

It will be 90 days for you ( 6 days or less and not a holiday sailing).

I could see the restaurant menus on the NCL app on our last cruise (Jade). I can't remember whether the MDR ones were there, but the specialities were all available.

They have been in a position where they could charge a supplement for months, but haven’t done it yet.

I have sometimes received a refund onboard for any ports that have been missed once you have sailed, but not always. I’ve never received anything back for any changes made before sailing (except once when the cruise was shortened by a day and we got a pro rata refund for that day).

I have found Cagneys to be fine the past few times I’ve been there. We had some average meals there a few years ago, but it’s been a lot better lately in our experience. As for dealing with the free at sea and platinum meals, this has got a bit harder now that many only get one free at sea meal. You can now only book one meal at either Moderno or Teppanyaki without paying up front. I’ve not had a problem with leaving any that can’t be booked in advance until after boarding. I would book Teppanyaki in advance as it can sell out quickly but leave Moderno until onboard as it is often less busy. This is assuming you want both of them. Just remember to book any fixed price restaurants first. If you want more than three speciality meals then it’s worth looking at the dining upgrade where you can get two additional meals for about a third off. You may be happy with three options anyway. One other thing to be aware of is that the system is currently only allowing each restaurant to be booked once per cruise. If you want to go back to the same place then you either have to call or wait until onboard.

Just to be absolutely clear. I'm really pleased for the OP that they like the Haven. From their post it seems to work very well for them. The Haven is a great feature of NCL ships for those people who like to cruise that way. I won't say anything against the Haven, or the reasons that people may like it. Absolutely each to their own. I do however very much disagree with the last paragraph of their post. That's all.

Chocolates on the pillow went many years ago. Not seen afternoon tea either (although it isn't something that would interest me, so I may have just missed it). The Getaway has the Waterfront (deck 8 ) which is one of the best promenade decks. There will be a solo meet up in the studio lounge, which anyone can attend even if you aren't in a studio. There will be lunch served on boarding day. I'm not sure which restaurant, but it will be shown in the freestyle daily. I'm not sure about a dining room being open for lunch. Since the restart after covid it seems to depend on the ship/

No, many people don't do homework before booking. Many don't do homework after booking either. Each to their own. Some people aren't all that interested in the details. They just turn up and go with the flow. Personally, I couldn't do that, but it seems to work for some people

My source is this forum. I have nothing official about this, and the reports started after my last cruise, which is why I was very vague about it but if it is a thing then it could help in the OP's situation.

This is correct. The only thing to add is that with the reported change to platinum vouchers being able to be used in any restaurant, would it be possible to use them both in the same restaurant at the same time? If so then what the OP asks could work. I don't know the answer to this question. Just wondering.

That really isn’t true for everyone. I promise.

Someone else reported recently not being able to add two additional dining packages. I can’t remember the detail, but it seems that the system can only handle the free at sea option and one additional package. I’m not sure whether there was a way round this.

Just to be clear, when I mentioned two itineraries being put together to form one longer one, I am talking about NCL doing this. If travel agents do that then I assume that it would be two separate bookings as far as vouchers are concerned. I don’t know whether there are any at the moment, but NCL have often offered longer B2B cruises as one itinerary. For example, when the Jade was doing alternating cruises out of Venice they offered two week options as a separate itinerary. Taking casofilia’s point, one leg on our booking was cancelled and it was easy for us to move the booking. If we had been on a travel agents created B2B then it could possibly have been harder to deal with.

It depends on how it is booked. If you have just booked two separate itineraries which happen to follow after each other then that is two separate bookings. If NCL have put two itineraries together to form a single, longer itinerary then that is a single booking.

That's correct. 125 days for Platinum-Diamond. 130 for Ambassador.