PATRLR

I'm sorry, what are we looking at? Seems like some random delivery of provisions, but, I assume it's not or you wouldn't have posted it.

They may not pack it to go for you, but, I can't imagine that they would stop you if you got up and walked away the plate. I like to nibble during the night so I often take food to go from the various dining venues. Some will pack it to go for you, others like the buffet I just take with me. I can't recall specifically that I've ever taken "The local" to go.

I can't answer your question but thank you for coming back and letting us know how it's gone so far and please do come back and let us know how it went on the check-in process. Enjoy your cruise.

My only cruise with an Observation Lounge was the Bliss in June 2018. I don't recall any entertainment in the OL on that cruise. They had a few events (e.g. the binocular selling event, some speakers, etc) but not entertainment per se. Is this a thing now that they have entertainers in the OL?

Thanks for sharing. Having not served I can only imagine your state of mind. Your story did remind me of my father, a WWII Marine in the Pacific. He had a really, really bad time dealing with going out to the Arizona Memorial and seeing all the Japanese tourists there too. It really bothered him. He knew it wasn't their fault, but, it still really bothered him.

I second the Tracy Arm excursion as the best I've ever been on. Hands down the best. And the funny thing is, probably the best non NCL excursion I ever did was the whale watch (Alaska Humpback Adventures) we did the morning of the Tracy Arm excursion. It was a busy day, we were pretty beat, but, absolutely best day we've had at a cruise port. We were planning on summer 2021 to do a cruise that included St Petersburg. Then Covid messed up all the scheduling and so we were looking at summer 2023. And now we can't go there anymore. Hopefully that situation resolves itself soon.

Can you sleep in the Vibe too? Exactly. But @BirdTravelssays we can get this for free. Perhaps Bird can explain how, because I really do like free.

We do them on sea days. On port days, we like to get back on the ship and unwind, have a drink up on deck and watch us sail away, etc. If we did Specialty Dining on port nights we might feel rushed when we wanted to relax. On sea days, we'll be relaxing all day, much less likely to feel like we're being rushed off the deck to go get ready.

@Tippyton If your cruise is doing Tracy Arms, I also highly, highly recommend the Tracy Arms tour. I did it on Bliss pre-pandemic in 2018 and it was worth every cent. Much closer to the glacier than the ship gets. If you are looking for something to do in Juneau, for a whale watch I recommend Steve Olmstead and Alaska Humpback Adventures - had a great experience with them.

@RandomUser123 Many of the comments stating its worth it are referring to the mandatory gratuity cost that you have to pay for the drink and dining package. That answers the question about whether you should accept the free drinks or free dining offers when you book a rate that includes the "free at sea". If you drink more than a couple a day, per person, then it's worth it. The dining is pretty cheap, so, I think its worth it. If you are asking if you should book a "Sail Away" rate which includes no perks and does not allow you to choose your stateroom, you really need to break it down by total costs. I did exactly that here: Note that in my case, I was also getting free pre-paid daily service charge from my TA so that is included in my comparison (but easy enough to remove for your comparison). For us, the Free at Sea was NOT worth it because we don't drink much at all. Another difference is I happened to be getting a rate code that did NOT include Free At Sea but DID allow me to choose my cabin. Most rate codes that do not include Free at Sea are known at "Sail Away" rates and do NOT allow you to choose your cabin.

I've seen quite a few folks recommending the Intercontinental in Miami. So, I figured I'd ask some of you who experienced this hotel a couple questions. First, my wife and I arrive Thursday evening for a Sunday cruise departure (NCL Encore). So two full days to enjoy Miami. We want a hotel with a decent pool to hang out at (resort like would be nice with a nearby bar to get drinks), easy walk to shopping restaurants and just general walking around for exercise. I believe the IC meets our needs. I think the Marriott would, but, it's under renovations through year end. The JW Marriott Marquis also would be OK, but it's sold out on our dates. The Holiday Inn pool looks lacking, otherwise it might meet the bill. YVE is nearby, but no pool. Any others I should consider? Now for the IC questions: I would like a room with a view of the port, I want to see our ship in the morning. Do I book a Bay View or Ocean View? Bay view is relatively cheap right now, so, I assume that's probably not what I want. Is the club decent here, particularly their breakfast? Its about $60 more per night for the Ocean View Club, that $60 would probably be close to what I pay for a typical hotel breakfast for two On a related note, are there decent breakfast spots within walking distance so I can avoid the club level and/or buying the typical overpriced and underwhelming hotel breakfasts? Thanks in advance!

To be honest, I was surprised at how cheap this was (pretty much same as Sail Away) but we got to choose our cabin. I'm kinda hoping that NCL realizes there was a glitch and they fix it by giving me all the perks ;). Yeah, I know, no chance of that happening, but, I can hope can't I?

Nov 13 Encore

Be careful with the Marriott Biscayne Bay. They are under renovation, lots of things closed inaccessable through the end of the year. Their web site warns you when you book.

Our category (BB) did not include the perks. After adding in the cost of a handful of drinks, the dining package, etc, we saved about $600 Actually, our fair was not a Sail Away. But, until I saw this one, I'd never seen one without perks that wasn't Sail Away.

You don't need one. I think they tend to get rented by groups or large families who want a "base" for the day. Google Cabanas great stirrup cay and I'll bet you can get some videos of what they are all about. We just grab a pair of loungers and relax.

For my upcoming cruise, I do not have the free at sea perks, I have not yet purchased a dining package (although I intend to). I made my reservations last night and the mail I got is shown below. Its probably nothing, but if there is one thing I've learned here on CC it is to not make assumptions or take anything for granted. So, should I be concerned that one of those says "a la cart" and one does not? My intention is to have an SDP before we board, just haven't purchased it yet.

And according to multiple reports, in this very thread, YOUR statement does not match the reported experiences.

Is this documented somewhere? Published list indicates it's part of the regular Premium Beverage Package - https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/premium-beverage-package.pdf

I suspect @cruisenurse2 is really confused now. To Nurse, most people consider the Daily Service Charge to be the "tips" that are customary in the service industry. There is no need to tip additional as @complawyerand @MoCruiseFan describe. Nothing wrong with doing so, but, not expected in the way a tip at a US restaurant is expected after a meal.

If whale watching is of interest, we did one in Juneau with Steve Olmstead at Alaska Humpback Adventures. Great person, and even better experience with him. Reach out and see if he has space on your date. If he doesn't he might suggest someone who does (I know his niece runs a similar boat). He was great, met us right at the pier, gave us a quick little tour of Juneau and then off to the whales. We saw Orcas and humpbacks and much to Steve's dismay we had a humpback surface close enough that we got wet from its spray (I say to his dismay because the boats are supposed to stay some distance away from the whales. Nothing Steve could d it about it as we were not even moving at the time) Strongly recommend Steve. https://www.alaskahumpbackadventures.com/

That's our situation as well. I was able to book a BB category balcony that did NOT include the Free At Sea Perks. Even after adding the cost of paying for a couple drinks/day, internet and a couple of Specialty Dining meals, I found I was still about $600 ahead by not getting the Free at Sea perks. The problem for some people is that most categories that do not include all the perks also do not allow you to pick a cabin. I think I got lucky with mine.

To be clear, it's 2 drinks per person. for a couple that perhaps one person doesn't drink at all, that's 4 drinks per day the other has to drink. Also, to be clear, there are rate codes that allow you to pick your cabin but do NOT include any perks. It's not just "Sail Away" rates that don't have the perks. I agree. The search feature is awful.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Only because this scared me into thinking they raised the price on me, the soda package is $7.95 per day 20% gratuity, so, $9.54/day.