First NCL sailing

[Jamesatgsu]

1 hour ago, Rob-Bob said:

My cruise home page has this on it:

 

CAGNEY'S STEAKHOUSE

 

Not available to book. Please check back later or once on board.

Ours used to say that, but then it changed like a month ago (maybe after my wife called because she had questions about how it worked). Cagney's was actually unavailable for 2 when we looked online before, but now it is. We used the online chat to get reservations at Cagneys since it hadn't shown any days available for 2.

 

We booked Moderno back on on May 30th. I didn't get a confirmation on Cagneys (but shows on my booking), so I don't know the exact date, but I think it was last week.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Jamesatgsu

[oteixeira]

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The first August 7th Alaska cruise is still totally sold out. Other August cruises are mostly closed to new bookings. Amazing demand. 

Totally?  Just asking but it looks as though Haven is available?  Is that not correct?

[Sthrngary]

3 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

Totally?  Just asking but it looks as though Haven is available?  Is that not correct?

I am so glad for this.  It is obvious that the ship will not be close to full capacity.  So Jealous. 

[andychris]

Just checked. All of august sailings on the encore are no longer available. Sept 4th is the first sailing I see. 

[zerooveride]

29 minutes ago, andychris said:

Just checked. All of august sailings on the encore are no longer available. Sept 4th is the first sailing I see. 

On my end this is what I get. Haven only for 14th and 28th and More for my sailing the 21st. 

[oteixeira]

I also just checked, August is still there.

[BermudaBound2014]

If the August sailings on Encore don't sail I have one word...... Hedge!

[classy_cruiser]

9 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

We are on the Jade 7/25/21 cruise as well.  I am still feeling 50/50 on chances of sailing.  NCL has not opened up the reservation system on-line for shows or dining.  I hope that is not because they know it is not sailing.

 

It will be kind of cool if we are the first ones to sail again on a NCL ship.

Must be something wrong, I’m on the sept 5 sailing and had dining booked for awhile now. I had to shuffle them around a couple of weeks ago and a lot of slots were already taken. Maybe they are just sold out at this point? 

[NordicExpat]

12 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

We are on the Jade 7/25/21 cruise as well.  I am still feeling 50/50 on chances of sailing.  NCL has not opened up the reservation system on-line for shows or dining.  I hope that is not because they know it is not sailing.

 

It will be kind of cool if we are the first ones to sail again on a NCL ship.

I never saw shows open for reservations, but did notice dinner reservations available a couple months ago. A few weeks ago, the majority available times were limited to 17.30 and 21.00. I see now that dinner reservations are unavailable to book online. I'm sorry for the vagueness of my reference dates, but didn't pay that much attention to it as we had always planned to book once on board.

[BirdTravels]

23 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

We are on the Jade 7/25/21 cruise as well.  I am still feeling 50/50 on chances of sailing.  NCL has not opened up the reservation system on-line for shows or dining.  I hope that is not because they know it is not sailing. It will be kind of cool if we are the first ones to sail again on a NCL ship.

Shows are not reservable on the small ships such as the Jade. So not being able to book shows is normal. 

 

For dining, NCL saves [a lot of] tables for onboard reservations. It is more likely that you have now waited too long and all of the pre-cruise reservations are now sold out. If you are just adding new reservations, you can use touch screen kiosks in the public elevator lobbies once you are onboard. They will also have reservations at desks set up if you need to talk to someone about changing reservations (expect lines). 

 

Remember: Even with reduced capacity, prime time dining at popular restaurants will sell out quickly on embarkation day and you should not wait too long once you embark. 

Edited June 30, 2021 by BirdTravels

[Rob-Bob]

Thank you BirdTravels for the explanation and advice.  That makes sense and we will be sure to book as soon as we get on board.  25 days to go.  

 

I may give an update while on board to let everyone know what the new normal looks like.  

[RaftingJeremy]

On 6/28/2021 at 2:54 PM, meanjean80 said:

Just found out today that my October sailing is cancelled (Norwegian Dawn from Venice).  Super frustrated at this point.  I'd had three European cruises cancelled on Carnival before booking this one.

 

It's now going to be a land based vacation visiting Venice and Rome.   You just can't blame COVID any more for this.

 

How can you not blame Covid?

[Sthrngary]

5 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

Thank you BirdTravels for the explanation and advice.  That makes sense and we will be sure to book as soon as we get on board.  25 days to go.  

 

I may give an update while on board to let everyone know what the new normal looks like.  

I understand your frustration.  We all really do.  However, the root cause of all of our cancelation is indeed covid.  No cruise brand wants to cancel on single cruise, not one.  Sorry, I know it will work out soon.

[tinkr2]

On 6/29/2021 at 12:56 PM, soonernick said:

 I'm on this sailing too. I booked specialty dining reservations, but not the rest since this is a smaller ship, we'll just freestyle it.

 

Typically on the Jewel Class ships they don't offer show reservations - that's just on the big ships.

 

On 6/29/2021 at 11:26 AM, Jamesatgsu said:

We will be on NCL's first sailing back (Jade on July 25th), but that is in Greece. Less than 4 weeks away.

I am counting on you July 25th people to go and get that ship in the ocean. I forgot, even with the specialty dining promo, I can book on line in advance?  Royal you can not. It feels like a hundred years since Ive cruised.

And did they extend the credits at all. I have so much still to use and only have a 3 month window?

[goldmom]

On 6/28/2021 at 4:13 PM, BirdTravels said:

If you want a peek at Royal Caribbean’s first North American cruise, the link below is to my live post from that cruise. The rules for this cruise was that anyone over 16 had to be vaccinated. It ran at 25% capacity with 94% vaccinated. I will be live posting from our Encore voyage in August  

 

Just binge read your wonderful live review.  And I had so much I should have gotten done today.  LOL!  Oh well.

I really hope you'll be up for doing something similar on your NCL cruise.  I know it's a lot of work.  We sitting at home are starved for ship information and enjoy sailing "with you".

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures!

[BirdTravels]

While the first cruises are sold to "capacity", NCL is still looking to sell out the Haven at $13K/$14K double occupancy. 

 

[Sthrngary]

1 minute ago, BirdTravels said:

While the first cruises are sold to "capacity", NCL is still looking to sell out the Haven at $13K/$14K double occupancy. 

 

Do you blame them?  The Haven (Retreat on Celebrity) is the highest profits of any cruise category on the ship.  Simply economics.  NCL and others are attempting to follow the rules, stay safe and make some money.  

[zerooveride]

August 21st, my cruise, is SOLD OUT

[goldmom]

Hopefully these sold out cruises mean there's a very good chance of these sailings happening.  I know I'll be a bit nervous until I actually see an NCL ship sail.

[zerooveride]

1 hour ago, goldmom said:

Hopefully these sold out cruises mean there's a very good chance of these sailings happening.  I know I'll be a bit nervous until I actually see an NCL ship sail.

Couldn’t agree more. That’s why I paid extra for no change fee tickets.