C-line

Found this on NCL website

Do they really charge you a corkage fee even if it's for consumption in your stateroom ?

 

Wine & Champagne Policy

Guests may bring bottles of wine and champagne on board. When bottles are brought on board and served or consumed in any restaurant, public room area or in their stateroom, a corkage fee will be charged according to bottle sizes noted below.

750 ml Bottle: $15.00 USD

1,500 ml Magnum: $30.00 USD

Yes. Take it in your carry on. They'll charge the corkage fee to your onboard account at the terminal before you board. If you put it in your checked bags you'll probably have to go to the naughty room to claim you bag and pay the corkage fee then. Once we put our wine in our checked bag on Carnival and they just confiscated it with no opportunity to pay the corkage fee.

We did Blackbeard's Castle in St. Thomas earlier this month and we loved it. The website said they were closed the day we were there but we took a chance and took a taxi there. It turns out they were open. Tour was great, and we spend the rest of our time at the 1829 Bar at the bottom of the castle. The bartender, Johnny, was friendly and personable and the bar had a cool breeze and very tasty drinks. :)

One year in March (probably 3 years ago) we booked a tour through Airboat Rides Melbourne. My MIL booked it and they picked us up right at the ship and took us back afterwards. I don't remember how long the actual ride was, but we thought it was a good deal and we all enjoyed it.

It can be single digits outside-- colder with the moving wind. You'd need more than a light jacket or sweater for that.

We've sailed out of NYC 5 times from January to April and have always been fine with just sweaters on the outside deck. I guess if it's been too cold for a sweater or light jacket we haven't had any desire to be out there. :)

I do bring a heavier jacket for disembarkation in case I have to stand outside the terminal, but it goes in the closet as soon as we board and doesn't come out again until I leave the cabin for the final time.

Edited to add - the cold doesn't bother me like it would some people. I'm used to living in a cold house in the winter and I found it warm enough on our drive back from NY on Sunday to pump gas in a tank top. So maybe my advice should be taken with a grain of salt!

Would you suggest wearing a light coat / sweatshirt for walking around the ship? I am going in 12 days and I was thinking I could get away with a t shirt and jeans for the "cold" indoor days when we sail down and back up! I'm also one of those perpetually cold people. Pool's always too cold for me lol :D

Definitely bring a light jacket or sweater. You may appreciate it during the first and last sea day if you want to spend any time outside. Even some spots inside can get a little cool sometimes.

Love it!

We just got off the ship on Sunday and we're booked for our sixth cruise on her in March. There are a few things that irritate me occasionally, but overall it's fantastic. I love the crew - I have no idea how they remember so many names!

We were on the same sailing. I just assume I'm going to pick up some kind of bug every time we cruise. We're self employed and I work alone in a home office so I don't get exposed to anything normally. Every time we get on a ship with a few thousand other people I get hit with something. I just plan for it - use lots of hand sanitizer, pack cold medications, and order lots of honey lemonades. ;)

We just got off the Breakaway today and over 13 days we ate at Cagneys three times (we purchased a 6 meal dining package). One evening the server told us we could order one appetizer, one soup/salad, and an entree. I wanted two appetizers and no soup/salad, which wasn't a problem. He also said we could order two sides each. A couple of us actually ordered three sides, and we weren't charged extra. It's the first time we've heard of any limits other than one entree per person.

Thanks C-line. I will figure it out eventually. Have a wonderful cruise. Breakaway is great! Say hello to Mustafa the F&B director if he is on!

Breakaway is fantastic - we're glad to be going again. :) Good luck with Tunnel Bear - it's too bad NCL won't show us the US prices online without a workaround like that, especially since some of us book in US instead of Canadian.

What else beside the obvious...Advil, Benadryl and Tylenol, etc. I am lucky, as I got a cabin mid-ship.

I have a bag full of goodies that I take with us. Most of it never gets used, but I feel better dragging it along.

Like you said, Advil, Benadryl, Tylenol for sure

I also bring:

Pepto Bismol tablets

Tylenol complete and Tylenol flu

Cough drops

Imodium

Bandaids

Moleskin for blisters

aloe vera gel for sunburns

I can't think of what else off the top of my head and I don't want to tear my suitcase apart.

I can't comment on sea sickness or cruising with kids.

I have now downloaded Tunnel Bear. How do you get to ncl.com. all it says i am in the US with a map.....then what?

 

thanks

gerrry1.10

I use it in Chrome and it's on my toolbar beside my address bar. If you click on the little bear it turns TunnelBear on and off. If it shows you're in the US with a map maybe just try typing ncl.com into the address bar. I'm sorry I'm really not a lot of help. To be honest I'm a couple of drinks in, on my laptop in a hotel room in New Jersey after a long day, and I'm boarding the Breakaway tomorrow! I think my brain is already on vacation.

Hopefully someone else will jump in to help. :) If not there must be a decent help section on the TunnelBear website because I was able to figure it out. Just make sure you toggle it off after you're done using it because the free plan only comes with so many mb per month.

I had the same issue.

Check out the linked thread below. In post #14 Tunnel Bear is mentioned. I installed it and it let me view the US NCL site. I do like seeing the Canadian dollars, but if we've booked something in USD it's nice to be able to watch for price drops without having to call NCL.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2433206

Cagney's, Moderno and La Cucina offer outdoor seating. Ocean Blue has outdoor seating but I'm not sure if it's just for the takeout window. I guess Margaritaville is considered specialty now - it's outdoor seating.

I can't answer your question about the Haven.

Now that you mention it I seem to recall the same, book and then change to get the perks on offer now and keep them.

 

This may well have been the "Cruise Next Ultimate" deal.

We did this on the Breakaway in March 2016. We booked the Jade out of Tampa but before final payment was due we switched to a sailing a couple of weeks earlier on the Breakaway out of NYC. We were told when we booked on board that we couldn't switch our reservation to a different date on the same ship and keep the promotions because they didn't want people price shopping. At the time we booked on board the daily service charge was included as one of the free at sea choices. It wasn't available when we switched to the Breakaway but we were able to keep the promotion because we'd booked the original cruise while on board.

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I just got off the phone with NCL. The NCL balcony upgrades + 4 free offers promotion is compatible with the Canada at Par promotion.

Just an FYI for you but if you are planning to book under "Canada at Par" promo, the "Free at Sea" promos are not available with the Canada at Par.

 

It is clearly stated on the promo page (as well as in the T&C) for the Canada at Par. Here is a snippet of the promo page and a link to the T&C.

Here is the link to the proper Canada at Par T&C...they are quite different than the Free at Sea T&C

 

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/termsandconditions/canadaatpar?hide_hf=true

Thanks for the information. :) We're heading out on a 13 day cruise on Jan 2 and we took advantage of Free at Sea so we couldn't do Canada at Par. We'll likely go for another week in March, and we probably wouldn't go for the specialty dining or the drinking package, so we can do Canada at Par instead. It would be fantastic if we could take advantage of the 4 free offers, but I don't know how that works. It's called "Norwegian Selects" on the US site and not even addressed on the Canadian site. I'll call and talk to our PCC tomorrow and see what she has to say. I'll report back here in case anyone is interested.

Here is the link. The terms are near the bottom of the page under Terms & Conditions: Norwegian Selects

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/termsandconditions/FreeAtSea-Dec2016

I didn't even think to look to see if it was included in the Free at Sea Terms and Conditions. That's fantastic - thanks a bunch!

Click on the promo on the main page at NCL.com. At the next page, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "Terms and Conditions".

I tried this too ("Cruise Deals and Promotions", and any other link that looked similar) but I couldn't find a "Terms and Conditions" link. I tried it with the Canadian site that NCL always directs me to automatically and with the US site as well. I see if I look at either the Latitudes Insider Offers or Free at Sea the Terms and Conditions link is at the bottom of the page, but when I click on "Cruise Deals and Promotions" under "Specials" on the main page it brings me to this page of current promotions. There's no Terms and Conditions link on this page. When I click through on the "Free Balcony Upgrades" link it just takes me to a list of eligible sailings. I looked at the site map and I couldn't find it there either. Thanks for the suggestion though :)

Not the T&C but this was the reply from my travel agent:

 

"I have spoken with Norwegian and they have confirmed that you will receive both promotions screenshotted: the first gets you 250 minutes of internet usage, 10 standard photos, unlimited phone calls from your cabin and $50 credit at the on-board casino. The second is the Beverage Package."

 

As they are clueless I guess the 250 minutes of internet translates to 1000MB data plan on the Breakaway.

That was quick - thanks! Is this for the cruise we're on together next week? If so did you book it since they started the promotion or did they give it to you retroactively?

My Google-fu is weak today. I can't find the actual terms and conditions on the NCL Balcony upgrades + 4 Free Offers promo. The little blurb on the reservation page just says:

It seems to be compatible with Canada at Par. Does anyone know how much free internet it includes and what the details are on the photo package?

I know the best way would be to find out would be to call NCL directly but I can't call right now and I'm hoping someone else here knows. :)

We missed the first M&G that we signed up for. Breakfast ran longer than we expected and we were a few minutes late. The officers were already standing at the front. It was at La Cucina, so it wasn't possible to "sneak in the back". We've made sure to attend each one since that though. Some have been more lively than others, but it's always been great to meet some fellow Cruise Critic members and see some familiar faces for the rest of the cruise. I also like being able to put a face to a name for the officers that attend.

Thanks to the members who organize the M&Gs, thanks to the officers that attend, and thanks to NCL for hosting! :)

Thanks for the tips everyone! I just installed Tunnelbear and it works like a charm. Sometimes we book in USD and sometimes we book in CAD so it's nice to be able to get prices in either currency without calling NCL. We like to have our ducks in a row and know exactly what we want to book when we call.

Hi,

 

Does anyone have the crew info for the Jan 2nd Breakaway (mostly interested the cruise director, but I'll take any info).

 

Thanks! :)

Going by reports from people onboard recently, Alvin (sorry, I don't have a last name) is on the Breakaway while Dan Dan is on vacation. I'm not sure when Dan Dan will be back though.

I'll be on the Jan 2 sailing - are you booked on it? We have a decent sized roll call going. :)

I'm not sure why there appears to be two separate call centers meaning the NCL office for directly booked cruises and the Florida one? It seems like they would all be the same place. So I'm a little confused. Thanks for any help in clarification.

What are the two phone numbers you have? I have two different phone numbers for NCL but they both eventually let me speak to the same PCC. One number is 877-416-9722 and the other is 866-234-7350. The difference is that the second number gives a lot more options. The first seems to be geared to getting directly to a PCC.

I usually keep the most current one in my wallet. Good for a smile when I'm looking for something in there. :)