pghflyer

Yup love that site, great for monitoring prices and when to pull the trigger too

yeah def tired of increasing grats with decreasing service but I can't do anything about it.....I haven't received the letter yet, but the one posted in this thread reads like you can prepay the old rate up until sailing if you already have a booking.......which is EXACTLY how this worked on my Jewel sailing 2 months ago (I prepaid a few weeks before sailing and got an old rate that changed many months earlier)

I haven't ever noticed any REAL change in price for BF, although they may change the wording and do some fuzzy number rearranging to get everyone excited.

I am also interested in this company, I mean it isn't as if anyone would be prohibited by language or nationality. They have a really nice itinerary including Croatia/ Serbia/ Romania/ Moldova/ Bulgaria / Slovakia that I don't think I could replicate elsewhere (especially not at 16-nights for €2,399p/p (€150 per night p/p)). Hard to find much online though..........

FWIW, we were part of self-carry 7:30AM disembark last week and they did not actually start to disembark until about 7:45AM and the lines were not well organized or enforced (lots of late arrival mergers). However, we walked right out and through 5/10 minute immigration (no Global Entry at the port) and got a $70 cab (Lyft/ Uber all had 15+ minute wait) to Newark Penn (30 minutes away) and were waiting at the track at 8:20AM for our 8:40AM departure (which was delayed to 9:00 AM). Of course, no accidents and didn't wait for a cab.

YES, we were in a balcony too and just got off this cruise before you (from Amsterdam via Iceland/ Greenland) and any time one of us was on the Internet in the room.....if the other person opened the bathroom door, the Internet dropped.

Nice yeah big fan of the Bmore departures and thrilled to have NCL back there. We are trying Vision next year (I assume pretty dang similar to Grandeur). I really wish one of these lines would leave/return via different routes (ex. the C&D canal and Chesapeake), but seems no one does the C&D, I am guessing more of a bridge clearance issue than a water issue. Too bad.

Looks like dropping off in Miami on Aug 29 and then departing B'more on Sept 01 so yeah I guess travelling empty 3 nights, kind of odd. https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Norwegian-Sky-543?tab=itinerary#itinerary

I bought $16.99 per day for 1-device for a future Jewel cruise this past April FWIW...........

Sorry you got stuck by this, the way cruise bookings work is very different and takes a little getting used to....BUT this is how almost all of them work. It is clearly listed in the rules on the website. If you had called them 10 days earlier, you could have cancelled or been adjusted easily. Cruise ships aren't like hotels where last minute people may show up for the night, once they leave the departure port they are sailing with whatever empty rooms they have so they will ruthlessly cut prices up to the day of departure to try and fill every room. I would say that more than 50% of the time, if you are wanting a balcony or suite, the prices will go UP towards departure and booking early is usually advantageous. Inside and ocean view rooms have much less demand so will often drop more. Anyhow, hope you have a great cruise and don't let this learning on a new travel option keep you from having a great trip.

I would rather keep a balcony and sleep good then to pay extra for the best room on the ship and then proceed to listen to pool and deck chair noise all night. I suppose if you are happy or already sleep with earplugs, maybe a different calculation.........

We do the same @SoloAlaska, we do the auto-gratuities as suggested by the cruise lines, and then I squint and try to read name tags for the very good staff we encounter during out trip, and we usually submit 4-5 names at the end of every cruise for commendation. Actually, we have had multiple staff say that is the most helpful thing we can do them.

Good to know @RocketMan275....for some reason I have a neutral feeling on these FCCs, do they have restrictive use or timeframes? Some of us still slaving away to the man and only take one or two big vacations a year (sad to say).

I will just add that for those who want to automate watching their cruise price up until 120 days, there are sites that do this for you for free....for example you can "watch" your cruise price or monitor the "plum" cruise pricing or have your "shipmate" alert you. Just remember price isn't the only factor. If you got OBC and get a new price, your OBC will likely go down. Same with perks, if you got free gratuities and that isn't offered now but your price went down, you will need to consider if the new price or paying gratuities on your own is the best package.

If you book with a certificate (and don't put any money down), then they will just adjust the price due as long as you are more than 120 days out (aka. you haven't made your final balance payment). I would suspect the same for cash/ credit card payment, but it has been too long since I did that so not sure. After 120 days, they most likely will NOT adjust your price or give you money back. You always hear of occasional people getting On Board Credit (OBC) or some other small allowance, but generally once you have paid the total amount, they aren't letting that money go.

PCC is TAs = Travel Agents PCC is usually referring to a NCL sales agent The upgrade program is just a chance to bid on upgrades so not hugely important but if you have 2 offers the same and don't mind bidding on and receiving a random upgrade room, you might pick one who does participate.

Yup, love the NCL cancellation policy, very customer friendly.

I have booked and obtained the BOGO directly and then transferred to Big Box TA with no problem. They can't provide the initial BOGO booking but happily took my transfer. BUT be warned this company ALSO doesn't allow any upgrade bidding so you will definitely lose that, for those who care. Honestly, I have stopped bothering with the BOGO all together my last 3 cruises (such trivial bottom line cost savings in exchange for complete loss of airline/ flight selection) so no big loss there.

No, I have already paid this when booking.

This is a very personal preference question so no great way to respond. In general (so many ships of varying sizes, so hard to do otherwise).........I like NCL ship designs better because they are more focused on the sea (I detest the giant interior shopping mall on bigger sized RCL ships). Also seems like RCL is a little bit more of the "amusement park" ship theme versus NCL more "middle class luxury" (ex. I don't love having half of the top deck used for climbing walls and wave pools and slides of monstrocity....but we aren't taking kids on cruises that we want to be kept busy). Food and beverages similar. NCL a little more casual vibe overall. Staff great on both. Entertainment similar.

Never book direct if you want the best overall package PRICE. People have many other soft reasons why they prefer to book direct. I get 6-8% OBC plus additional random benefits (ex. just got NCL prepaid gratuities 2 weeks ago, worth a pretty penny) by booking with agencies who can offer incentives (but generally still have the same listed room rate). After having multiple agencies "compete" for my past trips, I have now standardized on the best one and just book direct with them online for the best overall package with incentives and don't have to call or talk to anyone (but they also do have a good call center). This forum makes money (and subsidizes our free utilization) by advertising for the cruise lines and other travel agencies, so they don't allow us to name any of them and have even gone as far as not providing us forum messaging (I know of no other forum that does this) to restrict it.

People do this - on the phone and at the front desk onboard........but I don't recall any instances of success. If they allow this, it encourages the practice and discourages people from buying the rooms at "regular rates" or even secondarily, participating in the official upgrade program. I am a cheap/ deals person, and I can say I would not bother with this approach.

We had midship Junior Suite on Grandeur (Vision Class) and the noise of chair cleaning was pretty rough, spouse still mentions it years later every time I choose a cabin location...........

Has anyone taken a family of 4 on a Vision Class ship in a Balcony or Junior Suite? Specifically Vision of the Seas but imagine similar layouts. Looking on the deck maps, it looks like the only balcony configured (non-suite) rooms are on deck 7 and indicate it could be (see photo below) EITHER 1 double sofa bed or 2 pullman beds. The key doesn't indicate which rooms are configured which way, is there no way to tell (we would prefer 2 pullmans for older kids)? Has anyone done this and have a picture of the room? Thanks in advance!

We (travelling as a couple) have booked a 4D category balcony on Jewel of the Seas and because all the rooms in that category were sold out, we were placed in 9512 (a 5D category). I believe 5D is a one step lower/ cheaper cabin grade. Looking at the deck map, these rooms are stuck in between a bunch of 4D category rooms and seem to be category 5D ONLY because they have "occupancy up to 3" as indicated by the triangle symbol. Doesn't that just mean the sofa pulls out into a bed? And one would think that would be a premium feature, so not sure what I am missing. For example, if room 9508 (4D) opens up is there any reason to take that over 9512? Thanks for any advice.