KeithJenner

I have sailed in Suites a few times, and also had VIP privileges a couple more times, and I find the embarkation process annoying, to be honest. I get that the waiting area is quite nice, but we generally only wait off the ship for a short time. We only snack for lunch, so trying to avoid being frogmarched to the restaurant is a pain and I’d really rather avoid having to deal with the concierge (it’s much easier just to make my own bookings than add someone in the middle). I’d much rather just find my own way on to the ship (it is fairly easy to find), get our bearings if it’s a new ship and then choose a bar for ourselves. Each to their own of course.

It certainly isn’t included in every days Freestyle Daily. I don’t recall ever seeing it mentioned on any Freestyle Daily that I have received (I just checked a sample and saw no mention of it). If it wasn’t for these discussions on Cruise Critic and a couple of dailies posted by others I would be totally unaware of any ban.

We were on the Breakaway last September. Had a fantastic time. Food was great, service excellent (except one time in the MDR where it was good but slow). We didn’t do theatre shows so can’t comment on that, but never had any problem getting into Howl. The buffet was busy, but then they always are in my experience. We don’t spend much time on the pool deck, so not sure how busy that was, but Spice was not too crowded.

We can’t stop NCL making it hard, but individuals can help themselves by trying to understand that this is really just a big one and get one free deal.

Yeah, if you had to spend the OBC on other things then I wouldn’t be buying any more CruiseNext. As it is, NCL get the best of both worlds. They tie in people who want the discount by selling then CruiseNext and they also have the confused people spending the OBC on other things. I can’t see why they would change it.

I didn’t get any choice of the cabins we were upgraded too, even though I did make a request (I did it by email). The first one was not long after they introduced the new levels (but later than yours), and I was happy with the cabin we got so just left that. My wife’s one was about 6 months ago and we got an upgrade from an ocean view to the lowest level balcony. By that time it was clear that people weren’t getting requested rooms so we again just accepted it. Even though it’s a hull balcony it’s still a decent upgrade over the ocean view.

Asking NCL in advance is unlikely to help as they will almost certainly either say no or to ask onboard. The problem with plans like this is that it is ultimately up to the ship staff, so you can’t plan in advance of the cruise in case they say no. If you just go ahead and do it then they will assume that you have missed the ship and will leave all your luggage at the port where you don’t return, and you wont necessarily to be allowed back on again. You would need to make your request once onboard and if they allow it then you would have to make your arrangements then (unless you are willing to take the risk of booking the flight but maybe not using it).

If the items were removed for violating policy then they would be left inside the room.

It will be different if you have sailed from the US, as you are entering the EU. On a European cruise you will have been in Europe prior to arriving in Barcelona. As the cruise being discussed is coming from the UK there may be immigration at some point, but it would likely be done during the cruise.

You can order an Irish coffee with the basic free at sea package (unless something has changed recently, which is always possible.

I think that you may be getting confused with the packages and offers. You get free at sea with tryout booking. Free at Sea plus is an additional charge. However, from what you say, I think that free at sea will probably be fine. You get your basic brinks (non premium wines and spirits for example). You don’t get bottled water or speciality coffees though. As you say you get a time limited internet (free at sea gives you unlimited internet but I’m not sure you need that). The excursion discount only applies to the first person named on the reservation (free at sea adds the second person) and you will get 2 speciality meals each (again , free at plus will add another couple). Unless you want premium drinks, bottled water or speciality coffees or unlimited internet then free at sea plus is unlikely to be worth it. A lot of shore excursions may be a factor with an extra $50 per excursion discount for the second person, but I think that basic offer will have you covered. As for your other questions, the main thing I will say is that disembarking is likely to be a dream compared to anything you may have done in the US. There is no immigration to deal with so you basically just walk off and pick Up your bags. I’ve never queued at all in all the times I’ve disembarked there. There are loads of taxis, but it is just worth checking how many other ships are in port. We once arrived there as one of 4 large ships and the taxis couldn’t cope (we ended up waiting over an hour). All the other times we were in a taxi within about 10 minutes of leaving the ship.

We have used both of ours and they were both used on cruises that were much more than one year out (one isn’t until September 2025), so I can confirm that you can use it to book a cruise more than a year out.

Not sure exactly when they made the change (I don’t carry wine on myself), but it was some time last year I think. Basically, if you have free at sea you can carry on as much wine as you like with no charge.

I have boarded in Barcelona quite a few times and it is about 50:50 as to whether they were scanning bags as you actually board the ship. I’ve seen many people confidently buying bottles from that shop in the port and then having to pay corkage or deposit the bottles as they board. All pre the change to allow FAS people to take wine onboard, so it may be that they don’t check as often these days.

As far as I can see there are no other reasons stated in this thread. All of the responses that I have seen to the question are basically saying the same thing. NCL wants people to buy their own meals. Allowing sharing of dining packages means that people will just end up using larger packages to give individuals just one or two meals whereas NCL wants all those people to buy the packages themselves, at higher per meal prices, and hopefully encourage them to get larger packages for themselves. Everyone seems to be in agreement, with no BS required.

Lately I have had free at sea plus, so unlimited internet is included, but previously I would generally post from my phone using my phones internet whilst in port. Most of my live posts have been done from a train or similar transport or whilst sitting in a bar, either in town or onboard whilst in port.

Be careful in Santorini though, it can take a long while to get down the cable car to the tenders. It’s always worth researching what other ships are visiting and plan accordingly.

No, the ship time will change to match local time.

It seems to allow you to do so now. There was a problem with the system allowing you to book the same restaurant twice. However on our last two cruises, whilst it didn’t look as though it had allowed us to, when I checked my booked meals they were both there. The system still seems to be flawed, but it seems that you can actually make the bookings now, even if it seemed like it didn’t work.

The pricing of your cruise, and additions like free at sea are based on where the cruise is booked, rather than where you sail from, so the fact that your cruise leaves the US is irrelevant. In the UK we get charged the fixed free at see fee, rather than the gratuities, so you can totally ignore any reference to them as long as you booked in the UK. As mentioned above you will be charged taxes in some ports, as can happen in many places around the world (including the UK sometimes).

You log on and off as required to spread the 150 minutes out. In your case, log in, download your emails and then log off. Compose any replies offline and then log in to send them.

The question was whether you can share the free at sea and platinum dining meals, and the answer given said “no you cannot”, which very much suggests that neither can be shared. I was just posting as clarification, as you can certainly share the platinum meals. As is usually the case with this particular poster I got a sarky response.

So it’s odd that you said that they can’t then.

No, for most people this benefit has very little value, as it can only be used on new packages and the resulting price is still more than an upgrade. “Discount is not valid on Free at Sea Wifi Packages Upgrades or time-based Wifi Packages.”

Correct about FAS, but they also referred to platinum meals, and you can take whoever you want with you when you use those.