grobma

A friend was in the cast of the show on the Breakaway pre-COVID and had full passenger access, including unlimited use of specialty restaurants (he joined us in them twice)

There was one mention of it in this thread back in February but because a) things change, b) I want to make sure, and c) I just love this thread so appreciate the chance to bump it, I wanted to ask again: Is the Biosteel sport drink shown on bar menus included in the Premium Plus plan? The plan literature says "energy drink" are included, but that usually refers to Red Bull. Thanks!

They started selling them online this past summer. Not sure if they hold back some for sale onboard.

Sailing from NYC to the Bahamas in December so treated myself to both Thermal Suite and Vibe passes. The Thermal Suite is not only great on cooler days, it's also a great place to a) revive if one overindulges and b) soak after working out in the gym - something I try to do daily so that I can participate in the prior option a) 😁

Following as I was thinking that the Vibe might be a good place for sail away. Sailing from NYC in December so don't expect the hot tubs to be open 😁

Yes - excellent response, though I will add one more. If you are on a cruise with lots of children (e.g. holidays, school breaks), the Vibe is a nice alternative to the pool deck which can be loud and crowded (which is perfectly fine for many). I also notice that NCL does not enforce the "no kids in the hot tub" rule (including those in swim diapers) which is a non-issue in the Vibe.

Yup. Bought 9/2, send it in 10/5, got it 10/6.

I don't know if it works the same with bottles you bring, but when ordering a bottle of wine with dinner, if I didn't finish the bottle they would put a little numbered tag like a coat check on it, and I would get the other half. No matter what restaurant I dined at next, I could present my side of the tag, and they would retrieve the bottle and serve it.

Mine took 30 hours a couple of weeks ago. I'd reach out to them . . .

I think that people were responding to your question about doing the land tour before the cruise. It sounded like you were asking for information.

On NCL, I cruised from Vancouver to Seward, and then did a one-week land tour flying home out of Fairbanks. You can also do it in reverse - fly to Alaska and do the land tour first, and then board the ship in Seward heading south.

I already bought my thermal suite spa pass for the Getaway in December

I believe that if you have discrete stocks, they're supposed to generate it monthly. If you have a managed portfolio and/or mutual funds, they can generate quarterly. So I think you should get one monthly. I bought shares in September, they showed up on the statement that was generated first week of October. I sent the one page out of the statement that showed the shares, with other account info redacted except for my name and the statement date, and sent it in. Thirty hours later I had OBC and confirmations.

I believe it may just remember settings. For example - if you turn APM on, then turn WiFi on, then turn APM off - the next time you turn APM on, WiFi will stay on. Same for Bluetooth. I believe NFC and GPS radios can only be turned off in Settings. If you have never turned on any of the other radios while in APM, then APM will continue to turn them all off. I should have clarified above that the change Apple made was not necessarily to turn only cellular off, but that it now remembers settings. That's the way it works for me, because when in APM, I only have cellular turned off (WiFi and Bluetooth remain on), and it remembers that setting. Hope that's helpful and not too confusing.

At the risk of getting bashed . . . On iPhones, APM used to turn off all radios and you could then selectively turn them back on. However, since its primary use on an airplane is to disable the cellular radio (that's the only concern to a pilot as WiFi and Bluetooth are actively used by passengers and crew alike), at some point Apple changed the default to turning off only the cellular radio. WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, and GPS radios all stay on by default now. You need either cellular or wifi for iMessage and other messaging apps to work. You need cellular for SMS.

Did Alaska on the Sun in 2014 and it was very nice being on a smaller ship. That being said, I was on the Bliss 3 years ago which was made for such cruises with the awesome Observation Lounge. It's definitely a much larger ship, but I don't know how much of a difference that makes in terms of how close one gets to the glaciers. It didn't feel like we were so close to them on the Sun, but I guess it's all relative. All the ports we stopped in were great - in order of preference they were Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway.

Does anyone know if there is an area on GSC where smoking (cigarettes) is permitted?

Only a portion of available reservations are released for pre-booking. Once you board, you will be able to make/change reservations.

This may have already been asked and answered, but at 24 pages I'm too lazy to go looking for it 😁 If you have the Premium Plus package, does it cover Starbucks drinks offered on the specialty restaurant menus? Would be nice to have an after-dinner espresso and have it covered since Starbucks is included.

I recently switched to this as my travel toothbrush - takes up the same space as a regular toothbrush (actually, a little less) and one charge would easily last a two-week cruise. But beware, it has less power than a regular electric toothbrush (I use an Oral-B at home). For temporary use however, it is so convenient and still better than a regular toothbrush.

Absolutely. I live a mile from the pier. I drive over in the morning to drop my checked luggage, and then walk over later in the day with my carry-on.

You might want to ask the question here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/317-east-coast-departures/

Be aware that it doesn't look like it's available for onboard purchases. Only at ncl.com or by phone.

An awesome typo 😂

First of all, love your posts and this thread. All very helpful and fun to read. Do you know if the bartenders themselves tend to know which bars have what product? While it is certainly fun to try all the different bars (kind of a scavenger hunt), it might be helpful to know early on if there's any 1942 and where it is (among other treasures) 😁