genealogyfan

It adjusts for the time zone. It would be 8am at whatever time you are docked. The ship will remind you when to adjust your clocks if you are changing time zones.

I was told that NCL only releases 20% of available restaurant reservations before sailing. If nothing is available now, go and make reservations the day you board.

I was told by someone who works for Norwegian that they only release 20% of the restaurant reservations ahead of sailing. If there are restaurants you want or times you want and they aren't available, once you board find out where the restaurant reservations are made, sometimes near guest services, sometimes set up in a restaurant or comedy club. You can add, remove, change them there. Later you can also adjust them online on your cabin tv, on screens near elevators or asking at a restaurant.

We stayed at the Hilton. We were able to walk to the old town area.

Thanks again for all your updates. The week seemed to have gone by fast. We board the Epic on Apr 14.

Look at the deck plans of your ship. They will state which type of cabins are located by color.

I understand. That would be sweet if you get 4 points per night for such a long cruise.

Have you already booked your cruise on the Epic Transatlantic? Check the codes in the upper right corner of your invoice. Do you have a code that is LATDBLX? That means you will get a total of 3 latitude reward points per night (2 extra latitude reward points in addition to the 1). I know you had to book within a specific timeframe and guessing from your email they may have extended that booking timeframe. There is a thread on this group that has alot of the NCL codes and their definitions.

I was told by an NCL employee on the phone that only 20% of the dining reservations are available to book online ahead of time. I would suggest you make reservations the day you board.

Just confirm with the crew members at the internet desk that the other people in your cabin won't lose their 150 free minutes. We had that issue in Sept. The employee at the internet desk told us since I bought the unlimited internet, I would need to log off if my friend wanted to use the internet. Then he would need to logoff, if I wanted to use it. We were told that my friend lost his 150 free minutes, as it was one internet account per cabin and since I bought the unlimited, the free 150 wasn't accessible anymore. I have since found out from others we were probably given the wrong information.

Yes, as the other poster said, NCL only makes 20% of the available reservations to book online ahead of time. I called NCL about a reservation and the person told me the percentage. On my last cruise, they had a setup in a comedy club on the first day where you could book dining reservations They had several crew members helping, so the line wasn't long at all - maybe a few people at a time.

1. Here are the benefits of a club balcony, besides a larger cabin. If you try and bid for an upgrade, you don't have a choice of what cabin. I would suggest to call closer to the sailing date and see if it's cheaper to upgrade and pick your club balcony cabin. Sometimes your price might have gone down and you can upgrade for just the cost of the service charge. https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/cruise-accommodations/minisuites-and-balconies 2. There are some specialty restaurants on some ships that aren't on others. My favorites are Le Bistro and Ocean Blue. 3. You can fill up your own water bottle at the buffet. You aren't supposed to directly fill up your water bottle, but fill up glasses/cups and then pour them in your water bottle. 4. If you can change it, I would suggest booking your own flights. I have read so many complaints and issues about the NCL booked flights - red eye, close and bad connections, etc.. I even read someone decided to book their own flights on the return and just lose the money on the NCL booked flights on the return, they were so bad. I've always booked my own flights. I think it's worth having control over what flights, etc I take.

I see you are going to Aruba tomorrow (Mar 28). Have a great time, amazing beautiful beaches. I always stay at a hotel in Aruba in Palm Beach so if you will be near the RIU, Hilton, Hyatt on the beaches, I recommend having lunch at Bugaloes on the DePalm Pier between the RIU and the Hilton. It is a great bar/restaurant overlooking the water. Great location for a nice, decent price lunch. Enjoy Aruba, it's amazing.

If it's Old Town Trolley, be prepared that they may cancel/close stops without any notice or signs. I had that issue last year. I was at a regular bus stop outside of my hotel. After waiting awhile, I called the company twice. They told me maybe traffic delayed the bus, same excuse after the 2nd call. After the third call, the operator told me the stop I was on was closed for construction in the area and I needed to walk to the next stop. She couldn't tell me directions on how to get there, just told me it was in front of another hotel. I had to get on google maps to find how to walk there. There weren't any signs at the bus stop saying it was closed and there wasn't any obvious info on the main page of the website either. I think I had to click several different sub pages to eventually find the info. Also at bus stops, if a trolley/bus is full, they will stop and let people off/on but there might not be enough room for everyone waiting. You have to wait for the next bus/trolley which maybe 30 minutes or more. At one stop we had to wait for the next trolley/bus.

Do you remember which deck that you boarded on? Is it still deck 6?

We didn't see much of Sydney, since we arrived on Labor Day and pretty much everything was closed (poor planning on the city). We went to the telephone museum, it was ok, not that great. In Charlottetown, in addition to a ship excursion, I took a walking tour of Charlottetown. It was very interesting, with an enthusiastic, interesting guide and a small group. Easy location to find for the meeting place. I made a reservation ahead of time, but others on our tour paid when they arrived. The tour was called "Secrets of Charlottetown" https://www.secretsofcharlottetown.com/ In regards to food, in Charlottetown, I ate lunch at the Merchantman Fresh Seafood and Oyster Bar. Good food and nice ambience. The walking tour happened to meet right outside this restaurant, so convenient to eat lunch before the tour. In Halifax, I ate at The Henry House. Really good food, and the dessert was amazing. I got a gingerbread cake which was incredible. On a separate cruise, we ate at the The Brown Hound Public House, which also had good food. Personally I liked The Henry House better. I also went and saw the "Maritime Museum of the Atlantic" along the waterfront. Interesting museum and was pretty cheap too. Quebec City: We stayed three extra days after our cruise ended there. The old section of the town is really nice, lots of restaurants. If you have time, take a walking tour. We used the company Tours Voir Quebec. They met outside the tourist information office. We took the funicular (cash only, same price for Canadian dollars or US dollars. We saw someone argue about being cheated for the exchange rate, which is ridiculous because they had big signs). We had an incredible meal at "Bistro Sous le Fort", really good food and service. https://www.toursvoirquebec.com/en/tours/the-grand-tour/

For Palm Beach, have you been able to find a place that you will be able to use chairs/umbrellas, like a day pass at a hotel ? Most hotel resorts in Palm Beach have their own chairs/umbrellas/palapas and you have to be a guest to use them. Anyone can sit on any of the beaches in Palm Beach with their towels and some areas have private vendors that you can rent chairs and umbrellas from. I know some areas are restricted with the number of vendor umbrellas/chairs that can be rented. In Palm Beach, most hotels will have bars and there are piers, like the DePalm Pier between the RIU and the Hilton which has a restaurant/bar/shops.

Oops - yes you are right. I'm leaving San Juan on Apr 14 and it arrives in NYC on the 22nd.

Thanks and have a great cruise. I'm leaving from San Juan on Apr 22 on the Epic.

What time did you arrive at the pier?

@GALSews We were told wrong by the crew member working at the internet desk. We had 150 minutes as part of free at sea. The 2nd guest lost the 150 minutes free as part of free at sea, because I upgraded to unlimited. If I was logged in, my friend couldn't log into the internet unless I logged off. The 2nd person couldn't be logged in at all to use the free 150 minutes.

Both tendering and at docks, but not in Santorini. I have been on other cruises with Norwegian, where specific excursions met inside the ship, like in a restaurant, etc..

On my last two cruises, our NCL ship excursions met at the dock not inside the ship. Some excursions met inside the terminal where we docked. In my last two cruises, none of the excursions met inside the ship.

I'd suggest eating either at The Fisherman's Hut" in Palm Beach or the Flying Fishbone in St. Nicolas. The Fisherman's Hut has good food and on the main street with lots of shops and other restaurants. If you want to sit on the sand and more ambience, check out "The Flying Fishbone" in St. Nicolas, Aruba. I haven't been to that one in years but it was really good. https://www.flyingfishbone.com/ https://menuaruba.com/restaurants/fishermans-hut

I would suggest doing a "mock" booking and then uncheck the different "free at sea" options to see how much you actually save. The total price will show you when you check and uncheck the options. The specialty dining didn't have a huge difference, but others do. It'll at least show you the price differences on them and if you don't need or want one of the "free at sea" options you don't have to pay the taxes/fees for it, just uncheck it.