rodndonna

We have an NCL guarantee inside booked for late January on the Viva. Last week we received an email for bidding upgrades and we bid (fairly low) Just noticed yesterday that our inside cabin is now actually assigned. Now that I see our cabin location which we really like, I am thinking to reduce our bid for fear of paying for an upgraded room in a crappy location. Is it normal for NCL to assign a GTY cabin so far in advance? Is is something they do before the bidding process and we just didn't notice?

I wonder if that is to guard against a potential change in the exchange rate.

I think that is the flaw (just removing the tag or placing item in the bin with tag against the back so not visible). On Swoop where you pay for carry on, they are tagged and placed in the overhead bin with the tags facing out (usually on the handle) .. so is quite obvious that only approved (paid) bags are in the overhead bin.

I think this is great news but would have thought tagging the one bag eligible to be in the overhead bin would have been easier. Either way great to see them clamp down on the bin hogs!

Thanks. Our issue is not immediate as our cruise is Jan 2025 (lol). Just trying to resolve our outstanding OBC offer to rebook from an X cancelled cruise in July. We were told it might take a week or so. We have only had one sailing with X, so this is not giving me the most confidence )-:

I tried our CVP today (after getting nowhere with Chat) and her voicemail still indicates she works M-F and her hours. Maybe she has taken on additional clients and busier than normal if there were layoffs, and that is why we are getting no response on our emails. Trying to cut her some slack ... not sure why. I would still prefer we were just in a pool and have whoever is available when I call help me.

Also chasing missing OBC and a useless (unresponsive) PVP. Has anyone had any luck with the "chat" feature on Celebrity. Going to try it today, but expect it will just tell me togo to my PVP who is is ignoring our emails. Most frustrating part is we had a cruise booked online (no PVP) which was cancelled by X offering us $200OBC to rebook. We immediately received an email from a PVP which I reluctantly used assuming it way to ensure we got that extra OBC on the rebooked cruise. She said to wait a bit for it to show up, its now been months and she doesn't respond to our email.

I think it is a great idea! Maybe it could be a daily family meet-up event - make a plan to get together for a pre-dinner (or post dinner) drink at a different bar each night, and different family members pick the bar each time.

I'd be one of the musicians. I don't have the musical talent and along with the missing talent, I would need to be a few years younger ... I expect it's not always as much fun as it looks, but I think it could be a fun lifestyle for a while!

Are the prices crossed out the original price when it is was released? If it is, and I am seeing it right, then the reduction is in the order of 30% reduction in base fare. It's a good discount , but what many get with a Casino discount when you can book early, get upgraded HIA (possibly with grats), Mariner early bonus, it is then refundable, better choice in flights etc. For folks with a Casino discount, it really drives home booking early (at least for us lowly inside cabiners) is about as good as you can get. For non-Casino folks, I guess you have to weigh that discount against more limited (higher priced) airfare and higher priced HIA (when available) with lower HIA perks. They can be a great deal if you can get to the port cheaply and aren't interested in HIA perks though.

It's a matter of logistics. For Porter the basic fare allows no carry-on (and you pay for checked bags). If I want a carry-on, I have to pay more by buying a Standard Fare. The point is Porter, Flair and Swoop all successful price their fares and baggage such that there is no "free" carryon. For all those airlines, at the lowest fare, nothing other than a personal item is free.

Is there as much non-refundable OBC typically on a Carnival cruise though? We haven't sailed Carnival since Covid, but it seems with HAL we are typically ending up with much more non-refundable OBC than we ever did with Carnival (maybe just a post Covid thing?). I can see HAL wanting their generosity in OBC to be used up sooner rather than later and not allowing it to be gifted to others.

Although we have HAL booked for the Caribbean - I'd agree and admit HAL is not our first choice for the Caribbean. We cruise HAL for the Caribbean generally because we get such a good price (which includes Casino discount on the base fare which makes it hard to beat for us) and we are good with the "toned down" vibe for a price reduction. For fun I compared our 3 booked Caribbean cruises for 2024/2025 - all 7 day cruises. All are inside with equivalent of HIA and prepaid grats to compare the relative cruise costs. Celebrity (from Tampa) is 50% more NCL (from San Juan, new ship, and no sea days) is closer to 60% more. Those percentages are not as compelling when we add in cost of air tough which is a big part of our costs. When costs are comparable, I'd pick Celebrity, but for a discount, HAL still works well for us. NCL is booked to see for oursleves "what's it like on a big new ship with a go cart??" and I love sailing from San Juan.

Thanks for posting this as I have always wondered logistically how a 1 night cruise unfolds and whether it would be a good trial for someone to try cruising. Small point with regards to Pizza - was that from the Lido or NY Pizza and Deli? It looked maybe from the Lido, which would not be the Pizza people on HAL would rave about.

I don't recall AC trying it, but Porter, Flair and Swoop all are doing it succesfully. We've flown Swoop and Flair ..no problems with excess carry on for those flights. People pay for it and it is clearly tagged when brought on.

I think that is as likely as Cunard installing a go-cart track.

Just to be clear, your issue is really with the cruiseline that sets the rules on what people wear, not the "people" who care if you follow the rules or not. Those "people" are not trying to control what you wear, they just want everyone to follow the rules.

And I was responding to you stating you have an issue with people caring what other people wear. I totally understand why you don't want to sail Cunard, it is the main reason I have avoided it as well. BUT, I totally understand why people care what others wear WHEN there is a dress code (regardless of the cruiseline)

My bad. I thought the thread was pertaining to trying sailing on Cunard.

No one cares what you wear normally, but if you chose to cruise on a line that has dress code it is expected that you follow it. You have a choice, so why pick a line with rules you don't like and then ignore them? The same goes for smoking, no one cares if you smoke, but people will have issue if you smoke in a designated non-smoking area.

Even if you tried, at the gate they will ask you if you have medications or essentials items in the bag, and if so, ask you to either remove them if you can or just not check the bag. It's really trying to reduce the number of large overstuffed roller-bags that get carried on board, which are not typically overloaded with medication and essential documents.

I think the reasoning is that bags in general are at a higher risk of delay with a connector, so at least I should have one bag with extra undergarments (at least that's what is in ours). Other than one flight last summer during the baggage fiasco's everywhere, have only had luggage delayed 3-4 times over the years and the bags were delivered to me later that day of arrival, That is in over 30 years of flying maybe 3-4 times a year (so maybe 100 flights). I guess we are just lucky baggage people!

I'm with you on this one. We only take a small roller (16 inch under-seat roller bag) and am generally quick to check it when offered. I do hold back sometimes if it is connecting flight on the way going to my vacation destination . Coming home though, even with a connector, I don't really care if my bag(s) are delayed .. so I check it in.

On your list we have just 2 HAL and 1 Celebrity Caribbean cruise to compare - post Covid. Our HAL Caribbean cruises were from Florida and our Celebrity cruise was from San Juan. Like others have mentioned and in our limited experience, Celebrity was a younger clientele with more (though still not a lot) of children and the cruise itself was a little more upbeat and active. The Caribbean cruises we did on HAL were older demographic than our HAL Alaska, NE/Can, and Euro HAL cruises. I attribute some of that demo shift to embarking in Florida ,where geographically there is a very large population that can drive to the cruise port. Understandably, those cruises might be more attractive to those with mobility issues. I've enjoyed both our HAL and Celebrity Caribbean cruises, and have one of each booked, and looking forward to them both!

Just checked our NCL invoice from a booking made last year for Jan 2024 - it includes this in the invoice we received at booking.