craig-n-carol

Just curious if the Super Bowl will be broadcast anywhere onboard? We sail away on Feb 12. 

I get exactly where you are coming from.

Here's my experience: I also bought the double CN certs (1 haven, 1 regular for $750, with lots of OBC on current cruise back) on our last NCL cruise in September. Sales pitch: $500 haven cert for full deposit no co-pay required for deposit on any ship, 2 certs can be used together for $750 credit. This was the subject matter of my thorough questioning at the CN desk onboard. As per the 5 day, they did mention to us at our sit down with the dept. that the rule WAS 5 days or longer, but they had just changed it to 6 or longer. Hold that thought.

I just booked a couple days ago, and my PCC asked me for the extra $1000 for the deposit. I said no, it was explained to me that the HAVEN cert surpasses the need to co pay for deposit. She talked with her supervisor and confirmed no co pay was required. I did not however get to use both certs in one booking which was very disappointing for me, as it was a subject matter I also had discussed quite thoroughly with the agent onboard. 

Thanks for the heads up! Sorry you had this problem, the pushy sales person should have explained the minimum cruise length. They have definitely made changes to the program; and what is sold onboard, is not necessarily what happens when you get home and book. 

2 minutes ago, don't-use-real-name said:

 

On those -AWAY class ships the Haven area is triple the Haven of the JEWEL class and on two decks.

 

Wanting balcony space on the JEWEL class look at the 4 OS forward decks 9 & 10 with double balconies and Haven access.

Yes they are way bigger Havens on away class than jewel class.

We have been in one of those OS's on the Star, which is essentially the same size ship and layout minus the Haven as Jewel class ships. There are 2 balconies, one forward facing and one side facing, and they are huge! The rooms are huge and the balconies are huge. This would be the only reason I would upgrade, but I think it would be considerably more for the OS if it's even available. 

1 hour ago, Sea saw 56 said:

Are the balconies in the 2BR Haven suites big enough for two loungers?

No they are not. They are small and can only fit 2 chairs with a small table.

OP, having traveled with kids in the non-haven 2br, no it is not worth it. You would be paying 1k for the little haven area and the sun deck. If it were an "away" ship, I would say yes due to the restaurant, lounge and sundeck. Although this would never occur because there are no non-haven suites available on those ships. 

It's my job to drag people into the 21st century kicking and screaming. I manage websites for a living, record setting websites in the sports media field owned by very large media companies. This really is a problem, and not typical for the time we live in. It is not difficult to make it available to make partial payments online. It's something other cruise lines have no issue providing, and such a small thing to ask in the big scheme of things. I love cruising with MSC, very much so. But this is extremely inconvenient for those of us that don't have time to wait 20-30 minutes on the phone to make a payment. I have not ever called MSC and had a short wait time to speak with someone. In my opinion, they are losing funds by not having this option on their website. It is not reasonable to expect folks in today's world use ancient tech i.e. the phone or snail mail to get what they want or need. 

1 hour ago, Nashna said:

We are due to sail on January 16th and it has been posted on our roll call that the YC section is not going to be completed until February 1st.   I also noticed that the YC section had been eliminated from the drawings.  Hopefully, MSC will offer some options for those of us who booked while they were still advertising that section.   At the very least, drinks and food should be included on the Island.  

Ha! We sail on 02/02/2020! I wonder if we’ll get to be the first sailing to enjoy the YC on the island. **not holding breath** :)

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/20235-msc-cruises-to-offer-caribbean-paradise-at-ocean-cay-starting-nov-9.html says there will be a beach for Yacht Club. Like you said I couldn't find anything on MSC site now. The section on the west island on the map which said its north shore was the dedicated Yacht Club section has now been removed from the map. 

Everything is finally working for me now.

I understand your frustration but there must be another reason why you can not log into your account. I just opened another session on my PC, went to the MSC USA website and logged in without any problem. I have done a password reset yesterday. I am on my Desktop-PC at home right now, Windows 10 Home, Version 1803, all standard settings, using Microsoft Edge internet browser.

Sir Wolf, yes, there is another reason, you are correct. The password reset worked, finally; I can login to the site, but there is no booking info there. Are you able to see your booking info? If so, the 24 hour message is valid, I suspect it is not. It is not a matter of OS or browser type. I have tested this on several platforms, Windows 7, 8 10, Mac OS, iPhone, iPad, etc. They changed their login authentication and website to the Microsoft Azure cloud. This could cause trouble for folks, and how MSC handles their login authentication. I am hoping this means they are mid-migration to a new data delivery platform, and this problem will be solved when that process is complete. A little communication to their customers would go a long way here. It appears their booked cruises database is completely offline. Their new booking database, however, is working just fine :D:D

I have nothing other than my card statement to prove I paid for the cruise in full, not even an email confirmation. This is my biggest complaint.

I’m a computer engineer by trade, and cannot gain access to the site or my info. It is broken. I changed the password as well. As stated before, they told me it was broken, and had no eta to resolution.

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I just called in to make the payment. They were pretty frustrated about the site themselves. The agent was very accommodating, and all is well with my booking.

I'm trying to make my final payment today, cannot get into the system at all. Bad enough you can't make partial payments online, but this really is an inconvenience.

Not for us! In 2016 we booked a Dawn penthouse for June 2017 and only used our cruise reward as the deposit!

There is no Haven on the Dawn. Ships with the Haven usually require $1500 for suite deposit (even if the suite is not a Haven Suite) this has changed recently. Ships without a Haven are $500 to reserve, until this notice. If it required $500 deposit for your suite on the Dawn, then I could see it happening there. You can still use the Certificate for $250 toward the deposit, it just will not cover the full deposit if $1500 was required to reserve.

We have been sailing with NCL since 2011, and this has been the case since then. This is not a new development.

I have gophone version and same $.00 in but $.50 out. However, on Dawn (Dec/Mexico), I discovered that I could use hangouts for free (within ship to/from DH and to/from family not on AT&T in the states--airplane mode with Wi-Fi on) by using the free ship Wi-Fi (set up for iConcierge). Recently read another poster could do the same (don't remember which ship) using iMessage. You might want try it.

 

Nexus 9

iMessage does work on the ship wifi free version for iConcierge, however, you have to be on the same billing plan for this to work. I have 5 phones and 2 iPads on 1 AT&T plan, and 1 on another for work, it only works on the 5 phones and 2 iPads on the 1 plan.

Yay! Me too! :D

This, when complaining about the Chocolate Buffet not being offered anymore!

We were just on the Getaway and Pearl both last month. Yes you will get everything $15 or under for free. If there is an overage, you just pay that. Example: $17 martini will only cost you $2 on your onboard account if you have UBP, if martini is 14.95, it will be free. As you pointed out, tips are prepaid with your cruise fare for the UBP when you book it, so it is not an issue. When purchasing drinks, we never even got a receipt, unless of course what we ordered was over $15, then we just got a tag with the overage amount only.

I apologize i don't have better pictures, this is the Aft, Port, Corner SF suite on the Gem. They are identical on the Pearl, aside from some decorative differences. Sorry, no balcony pic either. You can view the whole album here.

I'd take 10664, because it is a corner cabin, so you only have someone on one side. I've cruise in in 10164 a few times and it was great...the balcony is amazing.

We have stayed in 10664 on the Pearl, and the same corner on the Gem (can't remember if the room # was the same). We absolutely loved it. Corners are the best on aft facing suites.

Thanks for this info. How are you given your pool cabana assignment ? First come, first served or given a number beforehand and can you request a certain one? Which one do you think is the best?

When you arrive there is an attendant that shows you to your pre-assigned cabana. They introduce your butler for the day, and other staff that will assist you in anything you need. They gave history of the island, Belize itself, and had a map and a booklet for the area that was placed on a small table in the cabana. The experience was quite nice. I would say we had a sizable crowd on the island that day, being that we were on the Getaway, and there were only about half of the cabanas in use that day. I suppose if you wanted a certain one that was not already assigned, they would accommodate you. But this is only speculation.

We are booked for 6/30/18 Alaska, aft balcony, and got 300.00 OBC.

And we can not see the Vacation Summary on NCL, I assume it just isn't published yet.

Wow, curious to see how that happened. I booked the first day available, on the inaugural Alaska sailing, and no OBC. It's not showing now either.

Perhaps this is a UK only promo, it is not available on the US site.

Not sure if anyone is reporting back on the pool cabanas but we just had one. It's only $199 and if you're not going to be there for very long, it might do you good to book one. The service was great, it came with a sectional sofa, two loungers, water and towels. The butler service was prompt, although a little pricey the drinks and food were good. I think we had about four drinks each and two meals and it came to about $100. Mind you there are only two of us, but we saw people bring in chairs from the pool and 8 to 10 people were crowding into more than one. They also let us use our on board account, and charged it to our room. The Butler's bring food and drink from the land shark bar and Grill. Your wrist bands we're also good at the land shark bar and Grill if you chose to go there and the in pool bar. Any other shopping on the island was cash or credit card.