mertziek

Anyone cruising recently - are they doing Canvas U Paint on the cruises right now?  TIA

34 minutes ago, CDR Benson said:

There's a certain "planning fatigue" that sets in, though.  I feel a bit of it with only one canx under my belt.  I can imagine it's especially wearisome on you folks who've had their cruises canceled two, three, or more times, now.

Not only planning fatigue but also fatigue from all of this uncertainty.  Imagine the stress experienced by the people who recently had their cruise from Miami canceled as they were enroute flying in to Miami.  I’m hopeful we will eventually get back to some semblance of normal but expect more cancellations ahead for a while yet.  We try to remain patient and optimistic but are always thinking ahead to the “what if” scenario.  Takes a lot of the enjoyment out of planning vacays.

59 minutes ago, Jed12345 said:

Sundeck is huge.  Everything you see above the windows:

 

So is the huge sundeck on Deck 15 just for the GV?

I’m looking at NCL Star garden villa videos and floor plans but am confused.  Is there a sundeck off the GV main sundeck on deck 15?  I see steps going up there and a huge sun area but what is it for since nothing on cruise deck plans.  Also, is there a sauna on the balcony/sundeck where the hot tub is located?

55 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

Ooops, noooooo - sorry, folks - I jinz it and should've kept quiet - posted live a short while ago - https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2823993-gem-january-9-19-cruise-canceled/

 

 

And current Gem cruise turning around and returning to NYC tomorrow.

8 minutes ago, craig01020 said:

I called this morning and spent 45 minutes on the phone, but they wouldn't budge off of 12/31/22 and promised to call me back within 48 hours. Stay tuned...

It sounds like they are aware it’s an issue so I’m hopeful they’ll extend it to May 2023 at least.

And I stand corrected.  My email has the same wording Craig01020 said and the website states Dec 31, 2022.  But their email says “these future credits are valid from one year from the issue date and applicable….”  Also our FCC has a notation “Valid between 1/1/2012 to 1/12/2023” so the FCC even extended the date buying 12/31/2022.

43 minutes ago, craig01020 said:

Yes and no. I recently cancelled and I got an e-mail saying the FCC was good for cruises through May 31, 2023.

 

However, when I called to use them on a Jan. 7, 2023 cruise, I was told "No, it must be used by Dec. 31, 2022."

 

I'm waiting for a call back to clarify, but I'm not optimistic. 😡

Our PCC is looking into this issue.  The email clearly says book by Dec 31, 2022 and applicable to all published sailings through May 31, 2023.  He thinks it says can be used for cruises through May 31 but his system will not let him apply the FCC.  Trying to get it resolved so sit tight.

We are on to Plan B after we canceled our Athens to Rome cruise.  We are doing b2b to the Caribbean in Feb.  But we have a backup plan C set up to do a land vacay to St. Pete’s Beach and then to Disney.  There are way too many variables and scenarios to guarantee anything will happen but we are prepared if the cruises get canceled.

Already booked a b2b for Nov 2023.

7 hours ago, Lucinarei said:

We got our letter this morning for our 2/19 cruise. I saw it mentioned on the boards yesterday, so I figured it was coming. I know things are still fluid, but I'm glad that our cruise hasn't been cancelled (yet). Fingers crossed! DH and I said from the moment we booked that even if this ended up as a masked cruise to nowhere that we would go just to get away. 

We are sailing on Feb 19, too, and received our letter today.  We’re on the Joy.  What about you?  And like you we are sailing even if at sea for 7 days - in our case 14 days since doing a b2b - but we’ve also made backup plans just in case.  This would be backup plans to our backup plan B since the Feb 19 cruise is in place of a Jade cruise for early March we canceled due to concerns about getting quarantined in Europe.  We are vaxxed and boosted, will wear masks and bringing our own test kits onboard just in case.  Traveling should not be this tough but it is and we are going through the hoops required in order to travel again.  We’ve been stuck at home for 2 years and are soooo ready to travel again.

Where is the form found to submit for request to transfer FCC’s between two passengers?  It’s listed as FCC TRANSFER REQUEST FORM 2021.

TIA
 

2 hours ago, TNcruising02 said:

As far as testing ahead of time, we ended up ordering proctored home tests with a company that partnered with Norwegian.  We went to their site, entered the name of the ship and sailing date and the testing dates came up.  I chose two days before the cruise and then I was able to schedule an appointment time for my husband and myself.  I was surprised at how quickly the test kits came in the mail. $40 per person or 3 tests for $80.

From NCL:

For guests that prefer to test prior to travel in the comfort of their home or while travelling, we have partnered with Inspired Diagnostics to provide FDA-approved, proctored, in-home antigen testing for our guests. Inspired Diagnostics is a subsidiary of Inspire Health Alliance, a leader in best-in-class health services. Testing at home is safe, simple, and convenient. Purchasing in-home testing kits takes just five simple, easy steps at: https://inspirediagnostics.com/ncl/.

 

Norwegian Cruise Line has partnered with Inspire Diagnostics to provide hassle-free, pre-cruise at home supervised testing for our guests. Inspire makes it simple and easy to sail away safely with U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention approved test results sent securely to your mobile device or email.

Inspire will ship your test kit a few weeks ahead of your sail date and send you a friendly reminder when it’s time for you to take your at-home supervised test.

 

Thank you for this info.  I just set us up to be tested in Miami 2 days before our Feb cruise.  We were worried about finding a precruise testing site once we got to Miami.  This makes it so much easier as long as we can figure out how to do the video testing.  😳🤭😉  And being paired with NCL gives us that added security.

I call the Shore Excursion desk and book my tours in advance especially if I think it could sell out.  They apply the $50 discount on the first passenger listed on the reservation and should then apply your 10% Plat discount.  I always remind them I have the extra discount.    In addition if you book two tours for one port, the $50 is applied to each excursion as well as the Plat discount.  The disadvantage is you have to pay when booking while in the past you did not pay until you took the excursion.  And you have until 48 hours prior to embarkation to call to cancel before the cruise plus once onboard you can cancel for full refund 48 hours prior to scheduled tour.  Refund is back to your payment method and not to onboard account if cancelled prior to embarkation.  Not sure how refund is handled if cancelled once onboard.

Thanks to all for clearing that up for me.  No spa this trip then.  We will survive.

We just booked a cruise on the Joy for mid Feb but I do not see the option to purchase a spa pass. Lots of individual services available for booking.  Is the spa pass currently not being offered due to Covid restrictions?

Here is a question that I realize there are no quick answers for but thought I’d ask here to get others’ opinions.  And, yes, I realize no one knows for sure what the answer is other than NCL - if they even know yet.

As of right now all cruises on the Jade for Dec, Jan and up to mid Feb have been canceled due to the Covid situation with South Africa - unable to book anything on her until mid Feb.  There are two cruises that can be booked mid Feb to mid March and then the Jade is supposed to go into dry dock after March 14.  The next available booking on the Jade would then be March 30 so there is definitely a 16 day lapse there.  Several people from the last Jade cruise reported the Jade crew said they were being sent home due to the S. Africa cancelations and also confirmed the dry dock for late March.  We are currently booked on the March 3-14 Jade cruise which includes 3 port visits to Turkey and those are totally up in the air since Turkey has additional restrictions so NCL was not recently stopping/going there.  Any opinions/feelings/rumors you’re hearing about the possibility of these two Jade cruises in Feb/March being canceled?  I’m asking because we are nearing final payment date and are content to try to find something else now to book rather than scrambling last minute to find something else to do.  Thank you in advance for your opinions/perspectives.

11 hours ago, MoCruiseFan said:

In the PAST right I have booked excursion on line.  A few times I have called in if I had questions about the excursion.feature?  Sometimes I have PASSED on an excursion when it did not sound very good after calling in.

 

The main benefit by calling in advance (or booking pre cruise online) is you know you have your excursion booked.  At times, some of the more popular excursions can get filled up.  The other reason I like to call to reserve in advance is they can also apply my platinum discount but by booking online via the website the additional discount does not seem to get calculated and taken off although the $50 excursion perk will be applied.

So far the Black Friday sale is not impressing me at all!!!  I expect to see some pricing discounts before I’ll get too interested in repricing/rebooking anything.  Rules to use FCC are too tricky so that is not appealing to me at all.  More game playing from NCL.

2 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 

Yes.  Not sure what isn't working for you, but as I posted above, it was a real sale for one of my cruises.

 

It was a savings for me, too, of $630+ On my Alaska cruise next Oct but all other cruises I have booked would have cost more to rebook/reprice.  You just have to run the numbers and see if you can get any savings.

1 hour ago, AKR2011 said:

Both of my cruises went up with this new promotion. Luckily they're in 2023, so still plenty of time for price watching on my end.

That’s what I do.  I keep checking/watching and sometimes I can get extra savings.  Sometimes not especially with the way NCL plays around with their pricing.  😳🤭

Just a reminder to everyone to recheck your cruise pricing.  There’s a new 35% discount promo that saved me over $600 on a future Alaska cruise.  But no savings on the 4 other cruises I have booked so look at each cruise separately to determine if you can save anything.

43 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

The rule of thumb is 18 months out.

Thank you.

We are looking at booking the 69 day South Pacific/circumnavigation of Australia for Fall 2023.  Any ideas how soon the itineraries will be available for booking?

1 minute ago, zelker said:

We have friends onboard Nieuw Amsterdam doing the repo through the Canal ... she's going to check with the future cruise desk to see if they have any info.  I'll post back here if I hear anything.

Thanks.  I’m waiting to hear back from a Holland America PCC but not hearing a lot of good about them.  😩🤭