KeithJenner

What should we make of this? (I don’t think I’ve heard of any of these people).

For me, the order is: Moderno Teppanyaki La Cucina Cagneys Le Bistro Having only been on smaller ships for the past few years, I've been restricted to those ones. I miss Food Republic (not been on a ship with that restaurant since 2015), and Onda looks good. I also think that the Asian restaurants on the smaller ships are very good. I would probably still go there if there was a small upcharge.

And La Cucina

Reminded me of this thread from a few years ago. 🙂

I think that it has always been one of those things which is decided by ship. Probably the decision is taken by one of the senior crew. I've never seen any mention in the dailies, but I know that others have.

Yeah, I assumed I had misread the OP, but just went back and checked. The concierge said nothing was available but guest services (I assume the restaurant reservation desk) managed to book them in. Which makes most of the subsequent discussion irrelevant.

Thanks. Just make sure that you leave some Champagne for us. 🙂

Self disembarkation takes about as long as it will take you to walk off the ship. There may be a very small queue (maybe a few people) where they scan your card as you get off the ship. Maybe if you are waiting to get off right when they start there may be a slightly longer queue, but you have no need to be there at that time. We arrived at 6am and self walk off was scheduled to start at 7am. We hung around until about 9am before getting off, and were still at the airport not long after 10am. If you get off before 8am (which will be easy) then you should be at the airport around 9am. No problem at all.

We are on the return trip straight after.

We are on the Dawn next month with Premium Plus and are planning on spending some time at The Cellars. I hear that it is often quiet there.

Yes, that is an offer available to people who have taken the free at sea meals. It gives the option of another two meals at about a third off. It won’t help the person asking the question as they are looking to buy meals for someone who doesn’t have the free at sea ones, so there won’t be an option to upgrade that.

It is the same price onboard. We usually buy in advance to avoid having to do it when you are on holiday (when we have done it onboard we needed to purchase the package and then queue up at guest services to get a new keycard - probably took 30 minutes in all. The other potential disadvantage to waiting is in case there is a price increase. You don’t tend to get any warning in advance of that. If you have on board credit then it may be worth waiting to use that. Depending on how old your younger son is, I would keep expectations in check regarding the kids menu. Our son stopped ordering off it when he was about 10.

All dining venues.

I can’t be more accurate than that. 🙂

I saw mention of this once before. I assume it was on this forum.

We were in a non Haven suite on the Jade in April and had a butler.

Original

A couple of hours! I don’t think I’ve spent a total of two hours sitting on the pool deck in all my cruises put together. 5 minutes is way too long.

Yeah, this has been a discussion amongst ourselves for some time. I think most people know that.

No, the Haven is on decks 16 and 17. Other rooms are on 14 or below

You are aware that all of NCLs ships (other than POA) were built and fitted out in Europe? if anything, the large warehouse would be in Europe, as that is also where most dry docks are carried out. In recent years, they have positioned ships in Europe for their dry dock year. I’m not sure what NCL do when they need replacement equipment. I suspect that they are fairly standard items, but it is probably easier to obtain in Europe than the US.

Yes, they are recent changes. These rooms used to be called Mini Suites and didn't have the perks. The changes came into effect post Covid.

It would have an impact if you have upgraded to the premium plus package. The tax on some of those drinks could be significant.

Yes, I’d missed that. It seems to confirm that there isn’t a charge with the beverage package. Still not confirmed whether the tax applies for the whole of the cruise on things not covered by the package (not just in port). I don’t see any reason why that would have changed though.

The majority of the answers you have received are talking more generally about how these things usually work, but they aren’t taking into account the specific issues raised by the ship not leaving the EU VAT zone. Unfortunately, I can’t say what the exact situation is right now as I haven’t done the itinerary for a few years, but it is very likely that any answers that just state the usual rules (tax just charged when you are in port, regardless of whether you have the package) are irrelevant for your situation. We need someone who has done the Eastern Med itinerary recently to confirm what the current situation is.