GirlWriter

Interesting. We sailed on the Prima last summer and hated it (the ship itself, not the vacation!). I wrote a lengthy complaint to NCL that included your #2 issue, plus others. We enjoy NCL in general but won't be giving this class of ships any more tries.

Hello! It is self-serve, in the buffet, and while I have never tried to get any in the middle of the night, I assume it's '24 hour' because during the day it is available even when the buffet itself is closed. Hope that helps!

And hope it saves you from being tossed overboard. 😄

Maybe the changes are required because of other cruises -- for example, another cruise that overlaps with yours had a stop in Jerusalem that now has to be changed to another port, and so it got moved to one of the ports you already had, which then is overbooked and exceeding the maximum ships allowed in port, which requires NCL to move yours to yet another port. So, in other words, other moving parts collided with your itinerary and created a domino effect.

20 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

Your PCC is the same group of people that answer the phones when you call in.  So they can get quite busy.

I like the one I have, but it can take a bit for him to answer emails.  

This has not been my experience. When I have called in, I reached a contractor who represented but was not employed by NCL, and when I asked for a PCC, they transferred me to a different group.

That aside, I had a really good PCC for several years, but then she left the company. Since then, I have not found another good one and so now just call and talk to whoever answers.

28 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

From reading here, it looks like most end up on evening flights home.

NCL's policy for flights out on disembarkation day is not to schedule a flight earlier than a certain time, so that may be why.

For our upcoming trip, they actually gave us a choice, but only because an itinerary change would have been involved. Meaning -- for our particular port, NCL would not book flights out on disembarkation day any earlier than 11AM. I got a call from NCL Air before they booked it to tell me that all itineraries for our selected home city only had flights earlier than 11AM. They gave us the choice to either spend an extra night (at our own expense, of course) in the disembarkation city and fly out the next morning, or change the city we were flying to and from so we could fly home the evening of disembarkation.

9 minutes ago, Monica887 said:

This is the first time I booked through them. They're definitely not the flights or airports I would have chosen, but I understand that risk. 

 

One of them leaves late in the day to go home. Any chance of rescheduling it? If so, who do I go through? It's not the end of the world to keep it, but I'd rather not sit in the airport for 7 hours or so. 

We are using their air for the first time soon also, so I don't have much experience with this. From scouring these boards, I think the answer to your question is 'no,' you can't reschedule it once it's booked.

We thankfully got a call from them before they booked ours because they had a challenge booking our itinerary and wanted to know which of the two available options we wanted to do. That was a blessing, because we at least got to see the proposed itinerary before it was set in stone.

Once they book it, however, I believe you're locked in.

But, as with anything else, it never hurts to ask! The person who contacted us was a "Revenue Air Coordinator," so perhaps you could call the general number and ask for that department. Best of luck to you.

We were on POA in 2018, so pre-COVID. We had a lovely time. We didn't do a whole lot of shipboard activities, so I don't remember whether they were plentiful or lacking or anything, but the ship itself and the staff were great. While my family have sailed on NCL several times, on the POA we sailed with a couple that was new to NCL. They loved it and purchased certificates for their next cruise!

Excellent review!

12 hours ago, jimsig said:

NCL IT:  We have the worse website

Disney IT:  Hold my beer

I was thinking the same thing! LOL!

1 hour ago, jc811 said:

When working with NCL, when booking, you should have already told them your departure city. It should not be a surprise. For us, when booking we looked at both JAX and Orlando options and it was more expensive flying out of Jax vs Orlando. 

Oh, ok! That is good to know, and a relief! Thanks.

I don't understand the signs at the port that say "Check-In For Guests Without E-Docs" and "Check-In For Guests With E-Docs." Everybody gets E-Docs ... so, does this mean "check-in for guests who did not print them and have them on an electronic device instead" / "check-in for guests who printed them out"?

21 hours ago, ontheweb said:

When we do end up filling out the forms for NCL, will they then forward our passport information to the airlines, or do we have to fill that out for both?

This will be my first time using NCL's Air, so I don't know from experience. However, based on what I've been reading on these boards, all NCL does is book it. Everything from that point forward is up to the passenger, so my assumption is that they will not forward the information and that we will have to provide that information ourselves.

On 4/4/2023 at 4:29 PM, ontheweb said:

OK, I can understand that, but still why not let those who do have their passports share the information with NCL?

I look at it this way -- that is one less thing that NCL has to enter somewhere and potentially mis-enter, i.e., another data entry point that could require correcting later on. I prefer to enter it myself.

42 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

OK, thanks. I just thought they would have to have the passport information for buying the airplane tickets.

I got an email from NCL in February stating that the names on my reservation had to exactly match the passports. (That was 3.5 months prior to our cruise.) So, even though NCL doesn't need our passport information just yet, because they will be doing the flights prior to 21 days and the ticketing will be based on the reservation names, you need to make sure the names match your passports exactly prior to the flights being booked.

17 hours ago, jc811 said:

We booked via NCL Air. We are pretty happy with our flights.

 

We sail on May 21 for 7 day cruise from Athens. We requested a 2 day deviation. 

We leave Orlando thursday 5/18, arrive friday 5/19. Then have all day friday and saturday in athens. Sail on sunday.

On the back end, we arrive back in port on sunday 5/28. We have all day sunday and monday in athens and depart for the US on tuesday.

 

I see you live in St. Augustine. Did you have any angst about flying out of Orlando, i.e., having to drive further to get to and from the airport? I expect they will book our flights out of Orlando as well (we are in Jacksonville); we haven't gotten the flight assignment yet, so we will see.

45 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Yeah, and there are bar waiters. But neither are going to run down to Starbucks if you are too lazy. 
 

Personally, I never waste my money on the tremendously over priced Starbucks. In case of emergency, maybe a McDonalds, 7-11 or Wawa coffee. 
 

I can’t see paying $7.56 for a cup of coffee. It is a gimmick for the brainwashed masses. 

Are you being intentionally offensive here, or are you unaware of how your comments come across?

On 2/24/2023 at 3:50 PM, Greenpea2 said:

the differences between men and woman

You are so, so right! My husband and I are the same way. I have spreadsheets and checklists everywhere, and I keep trying to engage him and our 14yo DS to get involved by giving them voting sheets to help decide what we do, where we eat, etc. They usually laugh in my general direction. Ok, fine -- then I will pick EVERYTHING, and I am not going to want to hear one word of complaint!

I still remember one vacation, pre-DS. It was a land vacation to Ireland. I had given DH all the logistics for months and weeks leading up to it. I was getting a bit alarmed that I saw zero evidence of packing, but, well, that is him, so I didn't nag. The morning of our flight, I get up all excited. He gets up and gets dressed for work. 🥴 "What are you doing??" "Getting ready for work." "We have a flight in 3 hours." "Huh? Is that today?"

Gotta love 'em.

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

 

Not sure what services the spa offers, but it must include aerosolized water, like a shower, to have any possibility of being a Legionnaire's source.

Yeah -- it's hot tubs and 'experiential' showers and saunas.

Ugh. I probably should cancel those spa passes. 🤔

We were in Getaway 9316 in July 2022. I don't recall any extra vibrations in the cabin. The balcony was awesome.

Our butler was Rex and concierge was Roel. Rex was very attentive -- actually, almost "too" attentive, as it felt like to me that he was ringing our doorbell many times throughout the day to just check to see if we needed something. I had to start remembering to put up the "do not disturb" indicator.

We didn't interact with Roel very much. We tend not to use concierge service for anything except using them as escorts to get off the ship faster. When we used concierge for that, it usually was not Roel. We saw him maybe three times the whole cruise, which was fine for us.

To be honest, I was less than impressed with the room itself. This was our first time on a 'newer' NCL ship, having previously only done Jewel class ships and POA. What I thought when I entered this super-expensive suite was that it looked cheap, with "laminate" instead of wood, etc. The space was tight, with low ceilings (we are a tall family) and narrow passageways. Value for the dollar is much better on the older ships.

We loved the aft location, and its proximity to the casino and buffet. All in all, it was a very nice cruise (even though my son came down with Covid toward the end :().

I hope you have a great vacation!

On 1/26/2023 at 3:48 PM, DCGuy64 said:

I must be reading something wrong, but you say flights are $390 per person but you're paying $4,200 per couple, i.e. $2,100 per person? That doesn't sound right.

I was assuming they accidentally left a 0 off the $3900.

On 1/2/2023 at 5:20 PM, hallux said:

NCL will only assure those in the same cabin are on the same flight. 

Is this in writing anywhere? In reading all of the bad reviews of NCL Air, I was getting worried that they might put my minor son on a different flight from me and/or his dad. However, we are all in the same cabin / on the same reservation, so if this is something I can stop worrying about, I would love to know that! If the above is a written guarantee anywhere, please point me to it. Thanks!

When I have done a hotel through NCL, the price provided was per person, double occupancy assumed.

On 8/23/2020 at 3:23 PM, boatseller said:

Fortunately our leaders, especially here in Florida, have focused on what matters, higher care capacity, protecting vulnerable populations and treatments.  Our curve is more than flat enough for cruising and will be dragging the bottom by November.

🤣

I don't remember the number of days out, but we have gotten the bidding invitation email after final payment.