pghflyer

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.

Yikes that is quite a change. But if truly a NEW (?) government requirement NCL didn't know about when they created the itinerary, not sure how to blame them. I couldn't find any news on this that didn't relate to this ship sailing (this article didn't have info on the law either) but perhaps it just hasn't received any coverage. For good customer service, NCL should have shared the options (such as cancelling), but looks like they are being sneaky and trying to give the impression people have no choice in the hope that some uninformed guests will stick with it. I think most people can just cancel their booking for full refund, but if there are regions where they are not protected in this way, NCL should do the right thing and permit cancellations as this isn't even remotely the same trip or experience.

Not specific to Star, but we were very sad to find Shepherd's Pie was removed from O'Sheehan's, post pandemic. We gave feedback on that when on the Jewel this year, and we were shocked when the executive chef stopped by for one of our specialty dining evenings and offered to make our whole group individual shepherd's pies for lunch one day in the dining room. What a great customer experience!

yeah the lack of observation lounge AND no aft outdoor dining connected to the buffet were some of the biggest drawbacks for us (yeah they have Topsiders but it is smack in the middle and you have all the pool noise/ chaos)......

We only book balconies or above, so I always buy enough to have at least 2 ready at any time (you have to buy 2 or more on board to get the full 50% valuation, not sure why people buy many more than that at once). That is about it. Well right now you can redeem 3 for balconies and above as part of the TripleUp promotion so I went to fleabay and got one extra for $145 (seller made $20 before fees, I got $105 of extra discount on my cruise).

I appreciate reviews positive / negative so thanks for sharing. Of the NCL ships we have been on, this is our least preferred due to some wonky layouts, missing features that are on our favorite Jewel class ships, its general age (2021), and some really poor executive officers (at least in Feb 2020)................but we still had a great time and will be trying her again next year. I do love the smaller size ships.

Thanks for that @MagnoliaBlossom but amazed how many people there are begging to be scammed taking Zelle and Venmo payments, neither of which really protect the seller after they transfer their certificate.

my agent said they called NCL and were told it was still 1 certificate per passenger (we are in a balcony on a April 2025 cruise that has gone up about 40% since we booked)

Never tipped and never been there when they collect or deliver the laundry.