PATRLR

OMG - At the end he refers to it as a "modern spiritual" - I wonder if he had any clue what it was really about? I guess it all depends on your version of spiritual.

That must be interesting when you consider all of the other boat traffic zipping in and out of Circular Quay.

Agreed. I've never looked into this, but, I wonder if it has something to do with provisioning. Is it significantly less money for them to take on provisions in PC vs NYC? That's the only thing I can come up with to justify an otherwise truly wasted port stop. It doesn't bother us, we picked this itinerary because we wanted to do absolutely nothing.

Obviously, I don't know what you saw, but I still suspect confusion of dining with Vibe. I know the ap right now would let me buy and I'm at 128 days and I have no status.

I would argue that the current timings don't even allow for the space center. 1:00PM arrival means you would get there at 2 and ti closes at 5. We'll be staying on the ship.

It's been about a year that they have been selling Vibe in advance. Started in July 2022, IIRC.

You are confusing other reservations like dining, with Vibe. Vibe is available, generally speaking, as soon as you book. With Viva, it took a while for NCL to make them available, but once they did there was no "not available till 120 days" limitation. I have ours reserved for the Dec 22 cruise and I had it reserved for the Dec 13 cruise before I moved my reservation to Dec 22. I had the Dec 13 cruise Vibe booked since June. See picture. June 8th cruise was a bit of an after thought and I suspect heavily oriented to TAs and VIPs. It wouldn't surprise me if Vibe is reserved for some group. That being said, I'd keep trying.

Pretty sure that is not the case, there have been no reports that they hold Vibe passes for onboard.

Did you call NCL? I would strongly suggest calling if you haven't already.

Personally, I see no advantage. In certain conditions (ship position, sun position) you might have shade that you may or may not want and you can't change the location or position of your cabana, We like shade, and one thing that makes Encore's Vibe better than other ships is that it goes fully across the entire ship meaning regardless of sun and ship location you can usually find shade.

We never cruise without a balcony. That being said for Alaska, our best viewing tended to be on excursions or from somewhere up on deck. That being said, if you cruise in just an Oceanview, I am certain you will have a great cruise and you won't have any clue that maybe your experience would be different if you'd had a balcony. You won't know what, if anything, you're missing.

Got it. Thanks folks, that all makes sense. I'm on Oasis. It sounds like when I get up in the morning, I should head to Cafe Promenade or Park Cafe for my morning coffee (helps that we're on deck 6). Thanks!

I apologize if this has been asked and answered, I did try to search for it. The Deluxe Beverage Package includes these words "Start the day off with a premium cup of joe". Sounds good to me, where do I get this "premium cup of Joe"? I know it's not in the licensed Starbucks® stores. So where? And how is that cup different from what I assume everyone can get for free at, for example, the buffet? Are there really three different levels of coffee (regular that everyone gets, "premium" that the beverage package includes, and Starbucks from the licensed stores)?

Wow, I am surprised that they accept a photo of a home test. I wonder if there is anything else they require to prove it's yours and from within the required time frame? I have at least one, if not more, pictures of positive Covid tests on my phone right now. (I'm not advocating anyone be dishonest and no I won't share my pictures. I'm just saying that pictures of home tests seems pretty loose documentation)

Been many years since I've been on RCCL - is that ALL of the live entertainment? No piano player in a lounge somewhere? A duo playing in a another lounge? Cover band playing somewhere?

There have been many documented cases of flight delays and NCL wiping their hands of any responsibility. I believe the T&Cs may even say they aren't responsible for delays. Search these forums, it shouldn't be hard to find the horror stories. I don't think NCL cares about anything but cost when booking flights. I may be wrong.

We are in that camp for sure. We're on an RCCL ship in a couple weeks, they don't have any sort of Vibe so it will be interesting to see how we do. We're hoping their Solarium is chill enough for us.

Based on that statement, you really have absolutely no choice but to book your own flights. Well, nearly no choice. You can wait to see what they put you on, but then you better be prepared for higher prices to book your own. The above may be correct, I don't know. And it may not be correct, I don't know. Is it worth the gamble to wait and see and then have to book your own 30 days before departure?

It's interesting that you would spend the money on thermal suite, but consider Vibe a waste of money. Our view is that being cooped up inside a place like the thermal suite is a waste of money. The point isn't who's right, but it all depends on what you like. To @MrsTocko these words of yours tell me that the Vibe is definitely something that you and your husband would enjoy. One more "plus" for Vibe that is hard to describe, I describe as the sense of community that quickly develops. If you are a social person, like hanging at the bar or hanging in the hot tubs, you will find a consistent group of like minded people doing the same thing and you will quickly become friends and develop a camaraderie. Of course if you prefer not to interact with people, no one is going to bother you if you stick to yourselves. Vibe is a "must" for us.

There is talk over in other social media that on the August 20, 2023 Oasis of the Seas sailing the Solarium Bistro will be closed because it's being used for a "Fresh Kosher" dining option. In the same thread, there is one person insisting it's true, and lots of people calling Royal saying it's not. Now, I know that the cruise line call centers are notorious for being un and mis informed, but, it sure would be nice to get better confirmation or contradiction. Does anyone here have any reliable information in this regard? I suppose a corollary question, if it's true then is there some large group that may be the source/need for this closing? (It's not Yeshiva weeks, so, I assume it's a large group?)

To be honest, so did we (well, we didn't leave, but, we weren't impressed). And we're very much outdoorsy types. Shortly after GC we found ourselves in Zion and OMG, another hole in the ground but couldn't be more night and day different!

A lot of good responses here, but, for me I think it comes down to: Do you like/appreciate wilderness beauty? Do you hike? Do you tend to do things in the woods? Do you visit National Parks and such and enjoy being in or even just viewing wilderness? If you do, you HAVE to do an Alaska cruise. If driving through a national park makes you think "If I see another 'scenic overlook' sign, I'm gonna scream", or, in your opinion, Grand Canyon is nothing but a "hole in the ground, yawn", then don't bother with Alaska.

A clarification on this good advice: Because both adults in the cabin need to purchase the drink package, the math is more accurately described as saving money at 4 or more alcoholic drinks between the 2 adult passengers in the stateroom. In other words, if only 1 of you drinks, then the other must drink 4/day to have the package be cost-effective.

My takeaway from the 1/2 and 1/2 post is "be aware". I'll be on Oasis in a couple of weeks. I now know that if the 1/2 and 1/2 seems more like milk, it probably isn't an isolated accident/mistake and I should most definitely say something and if not resolved, escalate to the extent I feel motivated to at the time. If I hadn't seen that post, I might just write it off as someone screwed up. (until I saw it a few mornings in a row). So I found a bit of benefit in that post, maybe.

Absolutely. If you order a steak and they bring you a slice of a roast, that's grounds for sending it back, IMO. What I'll bet they are actually doing, because I've heard of other places doing this, is cutting a slice off a roast prime rib and then throwing that on the grill and calling it a reib eye steak. I'd still send it back.