auntierobin

We took anytime (?) dining, since some of our excursions don't get back until after 7:00 pm in Juneau and Skagway. I guess excursions times should be added into the mix.

Thank you Cruz Chic, but when I have 30 or 40 gift bags to assemble and get to the M&G venue by the next morning (all of this after they have been delivered to the room with the luggage), any helping hands are welcome. The butlers have a pantry where they can put the champagne to chill, I have yet to have a refrigerator in my suite that can hold 8-10 bottles. There are many things that the butler can do for you (besides help with the M&G), the thing that gets me is that people say they are intrusive, they are the soles of discretion, I don't know what cruise line the other people had their bad experiences on, but at least on NCL as I said after the first day, they will only be there when you want them, and to deliver your afternoon canapés (which is nice, because you can sit on your balcony with a glass of something and relax, between excursions and dinner). I am going to drop this topic and the defense of the butlers now.

I am really sorry that I have offended so many of you. This post started as a comparison between suit perks on different lines. I would like to say that in NCL suites, you have a concierge, a butler, and a room steward. I would not want to ask the room steward (who is so very very busy) if he could get my clothes pressed and back to me in an hour, or for help with the gift bags for the CC M&G, or to get the champagne chilled for the M&G, or set up refreshments for a gathering in our room, he has much better and more important things to do, that is what the butler is for (just a few examples) Ordinarily we only saw our butler once a day after he got us settled on the first day, he would bring our afternoon snacks to us other than that we had a dedicated cordless phone that we could use to contact him or the concierge if we needed them.

We don't sail for free drinks, in fact I don't drink at all. I do however enjoy hearing how these people came to have the jobs that they have, and the stories that they can tell you about their travels. We have sailed with several on more than one occasion. There is one captain, that had we not talked we would not have discovered that our families are from the same town in Sweden, and in fact live on the same block. I find that meeting new people from different areas enriches the travel experience, and I don't feel that taking an hour and a half from my time is a huge sacrifice.

We were really looking forward to sailing on HAL, and I don't want to say this, but judging by the responses I think we may have made a mistake.

Just to stick my two cents worth in. We have always sailed in suites and always on NCL. We will be sailing on HAL for the 1st time in a Neptune Suite to Alaska (4th cruise to Alaska, 1st time on HAL).

I know that there will be two things that I will miss - the butler, and having a Lavazza coffee machine in the room. We enjoyed having dinner from the restaurant of our choice on occasion in our cabin, and the afternoon snacks (cheese & crackers, fruit, canapés, etc) that were brought each day. Norwegian also has a dinner with the officers, and the Captain's VIP cocktail party (all officers attend), both of which are very nice, it is great to get to know these hardworking people on a more personal level and hear their stories of life at sea.

The free laundry and dry cleaning on HAL is a great perk,, but is it better than a butler? I guess we'll find out. I will admit it was a toss up between HAL and X, and HAL's itinerary is why we chose them.

Bottomline, I have no doubt that our cruise on HAL will be as memorable as all of our others, and am looking forward to it, and the Suite Life on HAL.

As long as it doesn't come with higher fares I'm okay with it.

The higher fares have already begun. We have never sailed anyone but NCL, but I think that that is about to change. Money has never been a big object before, but some of the prices are now equal to Oceania prices. We have in the past sailed in suites and are booked into one for Alaska in June - $8,000 for seven days (penthouse on Jewel). There is another line that has a 14 day cruise in a suite for $7,000, now which one is the best bang for the buck? Just sayin.

We don't sail NCL because the are inexpensive, but because we like the product. We'll just have to play the wait and see game.

OMG do I feel stupid, today is Tuesday, of course she is in Juneau! I have been thinking is was Wednesday today.

I just looked at her webcam, and it looks like she is in Juneau. I know she was in Ketchikan yesterday, saw Tongass Trading on the webcam, she should be in Skagway today, but the view from her bow is not Skagway or Ketchikan (neither has that many if any homes on shore opposite the dock), judging from all the homes, if she had docked on the port side in Juneau that is what you would see. Any ideas? And yes the webcam has todays date up.

I'm going to change the topic just a little, while all of the experts are on hand. What is the procedure if you are on a combined intinerary? Is it the same as the B2B?

Your pictures are amazing! I have a quick question, on the 5 day did they have a Meet & Greet?

The new deck plans are up on NCL, only what we heard, O'Sheehans and Moderno move.

Yes, they have Moscato, it was Lindemann's on our last cruise.

We've done Alaska 3 times - 2xs starboard, 1xs aft ph. I love the starboard side because when you are going north and are closer to the shore you have a 24/7 view of the shoreline, which is in a word spectacular. I know people are going to say when you go south the port side has the view, BUT, a lot of that transit time is at night. Another reason that I like starboard is that when you are in port you have really nice views of the city, especially Ketchikan and Skagway. In Juneau it depends on whether they dock butt in or bow in. As far as glacier viewing goes, side doesn't matter, they spin the ship - all sides get to see the glacier. One other advantage of a starboard side cabin going through the Inside Passage, you have a better chance of seeing wildlife.

The aft ph is my favorite suite, and in Alaska it was wonderful to have that big balcony to stretch out on and watch the world go by. When you are headed south you will get spectacular sunsets (especially in the Lynn Canal) and sunrises when you are going north. You will also be able to utilize the balcony in bad weather (on one trip it drizzled the whole trip, the other 2 trips the weather was great).

Whatever you choose you will love Alaska!!!

I've booked AftPH 0265 for March 26, 2016 from BA to San. I was looking at the forward PH's but decided that if we hit rough water around the horn, the forwards would be feeling it more than anyone. It normally doesn't bother us, but why take chances. The cubby on the aft PH balcony was also a consideration, we can still sit outside even if the weather is lousy.

I looked on HAL and Princess to see what their current Antarctic excursions were costing and they were right around $2599, guess I better start saving now.

Just booked for March 26, 2016 Buenos Aires to Santiago - Yea!!

I just booked the 3/26/16 from Buenos Aires and the website says 18 days, but the confirmation says 14. They've skipped days 13 and 14 on the itinerary on the website. It still doesn't make complete sense, but either way we're booked! :D

 

View All Ports Print Itinerary

Day Land Tours and Cruise Ports Arrive Depart

Day 1 Buenos Aires, Argentina (EMBARK) --- 6:00 pm

Day 2 Montevideo, Uruguay 7:00 am 4:30 pm

Day 3 At Sea --- ---

Day 4 Puerto Madryn, Argentina 9:00 am 6:00 pm

Day 5 At Sea --- ---

Day 6 Stanley, Falkland Islands 9:00 am 4:00 pm

Day 7 Cruise Cape Horn --- ---

Day 8 Ushuaia, Argentina 7:00 am 2:00 pm

Cruise Beagle Channel (Glacier Cruising) --- ---

Day 10 Punta Arenas, Chile 7:30 am 7:30 pm

Day 11 Cruise Strait of Magellan --- ---

Day 12 Cruise Chilean Fjords --- ---

Cruise Patagonic Channels --- ---

--- Overnight

Day 15 Puerto Chacabuco, Chile 7:00 am 2:00 pm

Day 16 Puerto Montt, Chile 8:00 am 6:00 pm

Day 17 At Sea --- ---

Day 18 Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile (DISEMBARK) 8:00 am ---

I just booked the March 26, 2016 cruise also, I am super excited, this is going to be my birthday gift to my husband for his 70th. I know this is being pushy, but I wish the excursions were up too, I hope that they have an Antarctic excursion as in the past. We were going to do the repositioning cruise, but most of the ports we will have just been to on a PC cruise this year. So I have decided that we will try and do a Galapagos trip/Easter Island trip before we head home instead.

This is so exciting!

When you select the Sun there will be a box at the very bottom after the other selections on the right hand side for South America. BTW still nothing :( Hope springs eternal that one morning there will actually be something there.

I just went and tried again and do not see the South America that you mentioned. Where exactly are you seeing this? I even tried an advanced search and find nothing for South America.

I too am starting to get frustrated, got a mailing from HAL yesterday with some pretty good prices for SA and the repo, we have never strayed from NCL, but as much as it breaks my heart it just might happen this time.

I have been trying to book it online for the last 48 hours. I would get to the point to enter passenger info (I was signed on), and the pages were blank.

You hit continue and my info would populate the page, then hit continue again to enter the 2nd passenger name and you get a blank page again, hit continue and then nothing, same blank page. Trust me, if it could have been done online I would have done it. The CR have been available to us for a couple of weeks now, that's why I was trying to do it online to no success.

The bright side to all of this is that my PCC just called (her day off)and we fixed what the other person did.

I know, I realized that it should be $550 after the fact, I guess I was just so startled (read PO'd) that they would not accept the CR as the deposit I wasn't thinking about the actual numbers

Their excuse was that it was a specialty suite, which it is not. A specialty suite would be a Spa Suite or others of that type. An SE penthouse is just a suite.

I just wanted to get it booked, and didn't want to waste time arguing with people that IMHO were not quite up to speed.

My PCC is not working this weekend so I was forced to call the main number to get a cabin that I wanted (was the only one left in the category) using one of my Cruise Rewards. The cabin is an SE forward penthouse - now I have booked a lot of penthouses and the CR has always been accepted as the deposit. This person said that I had to pay the $650 difference ($800 deposit) that you could no longer use the Cruise Reward as the deposit. "Checked with her supervisor" and came back and said that he/she said the same thing. And, yes I know that they cannot be used as the deposit in Haven Suites, this was not a Haven Suite.

If this is truly the case, then all the incentive for buying a CR is gone for me. I know someone will say you get $100 OBC, but for me the attraction was not having to shell out $800+ on a deposit right away, which if you have several cruises booked is a blessing.

Has anyone else run into this?

If you ask for the pretzel rolls, see if you can get a plate of cheese at the same time - a little Brie or Blue on a warm pretzel roll - yum!

Thank you everyone for responding so quickly. I feel better now. We usually sail in aft penthouses and the warning just threw me for a loop I've never seen it before on any of the other confirmations even for our PC cruise in Sept. where one our balconies is a cove balcony.

I did check on you tube and photo bucket for pictures and they were all exactly what I expected as were the photos you all showed me. I was just concerned that something was going to be done during the rumored drydock.

I booked this particular type of cabin to see if we would like it for an extended cruise (SA when it becomes available). The little enclosed end will be perfect for my DH when he wants a (don't flame me here) cigarette in the morning or before bed. Plus it looks like you can put a chair in there and still watch the scenery even if the weather is bad.

Because of you all I can now sleep peacefully tonight! LOL

Thank you

I need some help or reassurance here. I just booked aft Penthouse 9276 on the Sun for February. My confirmation came and in big red letters it says " This cabin has an enclosed balcony". Has anyone been in this cabin recently? and is the balcony enclosed? All the research (plus we have sailed on the Sun before) shows just a normal aft balcony, what has changed?

Please, please help and tell me it ain't so.

I don't believe so. T&Cs say "a specialty each night ". It is not the Unlimited Dining Package if it was as you suggest then why would they charge $10 for a second entree at Cagney's

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - Jim

Ultimate Dining Package

Just got off the phone with my PCC and he said they got a notice this am that the SA itineraries will be available by the end of the month.Spir

Maybe they are going to do what they did/doing to the Spirit or the Sky (can't remember which), they are changing some of the balcony suites (combining them) into penthouses - just a thought.

Time to add my 2 cents worth, called my PCC yesterday and he couldn't get the SA either. I was at the webinar when they announced that it would be open to latitudes members on the 15th and the general public on the 16th. What's up with this - I cancelled our Baltics cruise in favor of the SA itinerary.