laumicmah

Thoughts on getting Vibe access for Feb transatlantic??? Would be nice to have a hot tub to ourselves.

Loving all the comparisons to Royal. Very helpful. Enjoy those margs in Key West.

So I cannot status match now for our Dec 30th cruise? Also, can I ask you how much of a bar tab would a moderate drinker accrue over a 4 day cruise? If we did the pay for $200 and get $50 deal would we spend all that? And is that a limited time offer?

Hi! We just booked for this cruise over New Years. We are frequent cruises and will have 1 Disney, many Carnival, several Royal and an upcoming Norwegian under our belts before Virgin. Looking forward to your compare to Royal. We are from the north too but live in FL now and can easily get to many ports, bonus!!! It is, however, chilly here as of late. But still better than the 20s-40s up north. Safe travels and enjoy the experience!!!

My husband was very interested in the LA to Dubai leg but he still works so we can't do it yet. But I have some questions and they are likely answered in this thread somewhere so I will go back and read it all. But here goes... 1) is everything included like bar drinks and the specialty dining? How do they let folks book the specialty...like everyone get 1 or 2 a week or do they not do them or are they extra? 2) I did read past few pages and saw where someone went to grocery store and looks like they got 2 bottles of wine. So can you bring on booze and wine? I see they ran out of wine so I'd hope they allow you to get off and buy some to bring back. If bar is included then they won't care if you bring your own booze on. Right? 3) tipping...do these workers get paid more up front I hope. And then do you tip here and there, at the end? Additional tips? Thanks and thanks for sharing. Wish I had followed from the beginning cause now I have a lot of back reading to do.

Was going to ask. We just booked last night (1st NCL cruise like OP). And I just now tried to make Cagneys resie and all that is left is 9.30pm. There was 9pm the 1st night so I grabbed that but want to switch once I get on the ship. I prob should have taken 9.30 for the day we wanted (not 1st night). Can I modify some way? Also, is Bayamo seafood place not part of the free dining package deal? We get 1 free dining with our inside cabin booking. I used it for Cagneys. But they offer a dining upgrade for $83 pp. But it doesn't say what that is...is it 2 more dinners? Or just 1 more? A regular 2 dinner package is $119 pp. So the upgrade offer of $83 has to be for 2 dinners, right...and not just 1? Do excursions go on sale? Do they book up fast? Can I wait and watch for a sale? Cruise is March 16. Thanks for info. Also...do we need to make resies now for the MDR? Is there a way? Or just do that on the cruise?

I emailed and they changed it for me. But cruise is Sept so we could still get early (had the my time dining and hated it last cruise).

Thanks.

If you have a grand suite and access to the suite lounge do you get beer and wine from 11am to 5pm...before the happy hour or no? So hard to find this info. Thanks.

So, I used to do MTD on Carnival and it was like 5:45-late. Just walk up and if no tables, they give you a pager (or now phone app, I think). Loved it. Early dining was like 6:15 and late was like 8:00 or something like that. Honestly, we are 5:15-5:30 eaters. So we'd go right when MTD opened. Just got off Adventure OTS and had MTD. Booked late and that's all they had available. I assumed it was same as Carnival. I thought, though, I needed to make resies. I tried before getting on ship and the app only showed 8:30, 8:45 times and no way am I doing that. I have been doing fasting diet and don't eat from 7pm to 11am. Well, that went out the window when the MDR desk guy set us up for 7pm resies. Better than 8:30 but I was thinking more like 6pm. He said earliest is 6:45. We had trouble with shows and wanted to see the ice show one night so we bumped dinner to 8pm that night and went to 7pm ice show. That was late. We had same waiters each night, which I did like as they were good and our table neighbors were nice to chat with. But it really isnt MTD, is it. They should just go back to 2 set times, or do 4 set times so waiters can get 2 dining times and divide the levels of the MDR based on that. Like 5:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30...some servers do 5:30 and 7:30 and others do 6:30 and 8:30. We also have MTD for our Dec 14th cruise and I tried to get it switched with my VP and she said nope. Said to try when I get on the ship. This time I just went on to make reises and got 7:15 each night. How can I get 6:45??? Seemed like, on last cruise, they had the 5:15 early dining at our table and did a reset quick to seat us at 7pm. They don't want us at 6:45.

Seas were rough last night. But we docked at like 10:30am at Coco Cay. Here until 6pm. We are waiting to get off after lunch.

They just told us we will be cruising through swells tonight, from Tammy (odd). And rougher than normal seas. Been rough since last night. I guess it will get rougher???? Eek. Said we are docking an hour late at Coco and getting an extra hour there. We shall see.

We are on Adventure and supposes to go Friday. Hope we do because we aren't getting off in Tortolla today because the DH got badly sunburned feet in St Croix yesterday.

Nope. Thank goodness.

Does DH get port fees and taxes back if he's a no show? Same for me? What's the benefit to us canceling before the cruise as opposed to both being no show? Thank you all for the info! I sent emails asking all kinds of questions to the planner and she only answered half. Also, what's the deal on canceling a Dec 14 cruise...too late? 50% lost. Can that be moved to another date? Also booked with that planner and I asked but she didn't answer that either.

Not that it's a big deal, but, does DH get points if he is no show? And does he get double points if he goes solo?

Just to clarify...DH name and my name on resie. We change my name to John Doe and then DH is no show. John Doe can still go, using our resie, without any issues?

Perfect, thank you!

It's in about 3 weeks. Booked with a planner (vtg) and didn't get trip insurance (my mistake). My mom is really ill and I cannot go. DH doesn't necessarily want to go without me. He could. Or he could bring someone else as they said they'd allow one name to change. If we did change my name to a friend's name and then DH didn't show up would they allow the friend to go or does one of the OG names HAVE to go? TIA.

Going to Cane Bay or Brewers Bay, would it be a drive around cliffs? We went to the DR a few years back and had a wild ride around cliffs to get up to a zipline tour (for the hubs and kiddos). I have fear of heights and nearly had panic attack so I'd prefer a beach where we don't have to do cliff drive to get to.

Thanks! Will likely go with the Escape but may not do Haven and may just get a balcony. We were at Epcot last night to see the concert (Kool and the Gang). It was really a good show. Hope you got to see or hear some of it tonight. We also own at Copper Creek. We have 205 at BWV and 70 at CCV and 26 at AKV (yes, oddly 26, long story). We sold 200 OKW, 125 HHI and 50 BWV when we got our place in FL. Plan was to buy like 1500 DVC and use them to winter in FL but we decided to just go all in and move here instead. So no need for all those points. The 301 is plenty enough and actually kind of too many for now. But if our 20 something kids get married and then have kids, well we can do family trips. Thanks for the info. One other question...right now NCL has that sale where drink package, 2 specialty dinners, WiFi and 50 OBC for excursion is included. How often do they have that deal?

Thanks for sharing. Very informative. Few questions... 1. Are bar drinks included with Haven or do you still need the drink package (which is currently included with current sale, I think)? 2. Are the specialty restaurants included as well? 3. How was your butler the rest of trip, once you met them? Were they around some, not at all, too much? 4. Do they really walk you into shows and have seats for you? So no going in 40 minutes early to get a good seat? How soon before the show must you get walked in? 5. The Haven bar, do they have TVs? My hubs is a big sports watcher. 6. Any ships with better Havens then others. Out of PC I am seeing 2 choices...Jade and Escape and the Escape seems better with an actual Haven restaurant. I need to see what ships are out of Tampa too as that's a do able port for us. EDIT TO ADD...Jade and Jewel out of Tampa. I don't see the Getaway for the dates I selected. Looking at Feb-June of 2024. Safe travels home and thanks again for sharing. Also, we are DVC 17 years now, started with OKW points in 2006. Most of our points are BWV now. We love the Epcot festivals.

Hi there! Saratoga Springs. We were just there a week ago, for 1 night. We are DVC too. ANd LOVE Saratoga with the renovations. And walking to DS (love Raglan Road). We live nearby so we just do 1-2 nighters. Anyway, am in for following your report as I am interested in booking NCL and the Haven. We met folks at the golf club bar last night who recently did the Haven and were raving about it. Enjoy your trip!! And thanks for sharing.

We had an inside cabin on deck 6 in Oct 2018. Havana on the Horizon. And could the band playing in the Havana bar until about midnight (if I recall). Was very loud and vibrated the walls. We LOVED the Havana a lot but not fond of that aapect....noise until 11pm-12am range. I have been looking to book another Havana cabin on the Vista. I notice there are very few available. Even a good year plus out. Especially inside cabins. Do you have to book the day they list the cruise or something?

Just got off 4 day today and we didn't get drink package. Our bar tab was pretty much the same cost as what that drink package would have been. And we didn't drink all the drinks we wanted, alcohol or coffee or soda. We skimped a bit. So drink package is worth it. You also get bottles water which we had to buy a 12 pack to cabin for like $10. If you don't get the cheers, here are some saving tips we discovered... Bud lite is 8.50 Truly is 7.50 Some glass wine is 10 Those all have alcohol content that you know what you get. The mixed drinks are weak, like half shots and cost like 12+. Every day they have some drink special that's $1 off so maybe do those. And if you get a double (like rum coke or vodka soda) it's only $4 more.