GeezerCouple

You just need to be certain that the policy itself, or specific parts that you want to use, do not require that *all* pre-paid/non-refundable (check policy for wording) be included in the coverage amount. There are a few that do have that requirement, but others do not. GC

We always get travel insurance that works such that we start the coverage by insuring the first deposit, and then up the coverage as costs are added. But we start it within 20 days (it might be 10 days in some states) of the very first deposit (refundable or not!) so that IF we have a claim such as needing to cancel for medical reasons, there will not be any exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Thus far almost all of our claims (including some big ones) have been for medical reasons, but the costs were rarely for medical costs. That happened on our very first major trip, back in 2013... or it should have been. Less than 2 weeks before we planned to leave home, DH had a medical emergency, and the only travel we did for several weeks was back and forth to endless medical visits. IF we had a policy that excluded pre-existing conditions... we'll never know, but I'm betting that the insurer would have tried to link it to another condition, and it may well have been. Or not. But we never needed to deal with that, or whether the insurance would pay or not. Sure, we had already paid, so "we could afford it". But I can't tell you how often during those "trips" we mumbled a version of, "Thank goodness we have travel insurance so we won't have to pay for this trip AGAIN!" If we hadn't had the coverage, I'm sure we'd have been so ticked off that we wouldn't have gone on an expensive trip again. FORTUNATELY, we did have it, and we did go on quite a few expensive trips again, and we have been having the time of our lives! 😀 GC

I wouldn't be surprised if this was indeed possible, at least some of the time. If one is asking for one of 10 (or one of 100/etc.) separate units of something, then once they are handed out, they are... gone for others. However, with dining, there usually is some "play" in the timing. Even if all tables are "allocated", I'm assuming that they schedule that so that most of the diners are finished by some approximate time. And there are almost always a very few who linger and get to watch some of the re-setting/etc., get started, etc. And except for banquets when everyone starts to eat at "the same time", they probably try to stagger the seatings a bit. (I know of many restaurants that don't seat all of the tables right at 6 even if there are enough people wanting that. They'll seat some more at, say, 6:30, and again, at 7, and after that, some tables will be starting to turn over. But there's no strict schedule for any of those... (except for restaurants that strictly offer something like early and late seating, as some cruise ships still do, at least in some areas). So, IF there absolutely HAD to be another reservation added, I'd assume that everything would "slip" slightly, and that "last table" might now be one of "two last tables", etc. I assume restaurants deal with similar situations all the time. There are no-shows (bad, bad, without calling!). But which nights and how many? So they probably build in an "extra reservation or two", so there isn't a table or two sitting completely empty during the last hour or two, etc. GC

You might also want to browse on the travel insurance section of CruiseCritic: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/? This would also be an excellent place to ask your question(s). It will help if you give your country of residence, and if in the USA, also the State. (Insurance is regulated by the states, so some policies differ by state of residence, or may not be available.) We always use www.TripInsuranceStore.com - also recommended above. But CALL. There can be some fine tuning that might make a difference, and that can't be learned from the online summaries. (For example, are there frail/ill family members who aren't traveling? Do you have pre-existing conditions? Etc...) We've used them since learning about them here on CC, and we've had several claims. All were paid without any nonsense. In part, that's because TIS helped us get the *right* policies. Many of the complaints we read about are because the claim was made for something that wasn't covered in the first place, which is really unfortunate. Our policies through TIS have been with Travel Insured, but TIS works with several vetted insurers. (There is no extra charge for using a broker like TIS, by the way.) GC

We learned of Serenity Tours, in St. Lucia here on CC a few years ago: https://***** They have been amazing. They offer regular "tours", but each time we went with them, we asked to have a customized tour. The fact that we kept using them speaks for itself. The most recent time (a bit ago, given the Covid delay to our travels) was when we hired a huge catamaran for a day outing during a cruise stop. We had a few others from our cruise Roll Call join us. What is especially nice is they *really* listened to what we wanted to do. The first time, we had more of a general overview tour, but they also customized that. The next two times, they worked with us to include other sights and activities that we had heard about since. They even arranged perfect weather 😉 We look forward to yet another visit... GC

Wow. I could be totally wrong, but I understood "Commander Benson" to be his CC name. I don't introduce myself to the Butler (or anyone else) as "Hi, I'm GeezerCouple", and not even if both of us are doing the introducing. The only exception might be at an onboard CC Meet & Greet, so someone can connect "Hi, I'm Rumplestiltskin" [also not my real name] with "the person/couple writing on CC under the moniker of 'GeezerCouple' ". Again, I could be wrong, obviously. Signed, "Not really named GeezerCouple"

Thanks. Wonderful news. No fatalities, and it seems no major injuries. (How did that happen!?) And the smaller vessel was taken to New Bedford. Good to know. It could have been so much worse. (I wonder how they knew the Pearl was truly not too damaged to continue heading out into the Atlantic...) Glad to hear this before nodding off for the night. GC

Sorry... I had the NCL Sun on my mind, as I was just looking at some sailings in the future. Duh. GC

Thank you. As upsetting as having something interfere with the next cruise, I'm very worried about those on board the smaller vessel, given everyone on the Pearl seems to be okay. But with a jolt like that, someone could have been injured... ... and how this could even happen with modern equipment. It's really unthinkable... but apparently not! I hope chengkp75 checks in soon to help us understand this. GC

Do you have a link to the YouTube? Thanks. GC

😱 I don't know how else to respond to this information. A smaller boat may have been seriously hit... and the Pearl just went on its way...!? I suppose if it happened right near Nantucket, there would be US Coast Guard responding in a pretty effective way, but still....... And as for the Sun, with something of this sort, are they sure she is truly sea-worthy still? But I'm more concerned about the smaller boat. And... how can this happen with modern navigational equipment (on the Sun at the least!)? 😱 GC

Oh my goodness...!!! Is everyone okay on the smaller boat? Is there a link to any news outlet? How far out were they? GC

That is terrific. I'm sorry that we won't be among the others boarding with you! Pictures, pictures, after, please? (Maybe especially during some strange boarding situation where such special attire isn't quite expected?) Best wishes to both of you! GC

You might want to post this on the St. Lucia and Barbados sections of the Ports of Call here on CC. Also, typing in all caps is considered "yelling". And it's difficult to read. GC

Ah... Barbados! Venice!! Oceania! Gee, those names sound very familiar for some reason... We are really champing at the bit to get back to traveling anywhere at all. Even the next town over would be a very big deal just now. When one's "travel excitement" is due to a dental emergency, it's just not the same. 😞 Welcome back. This is your one-month anniversary! 🍷 🍷 GC

Now that you mention "no Butler service", I remember reading here on CC rather recently that some of those "suite perks" were being cut back. However, I was never sure just which ones, and whether it was NCL-wide or differed by ship. For example, on ships with a Haven, one has the choice to pay for Haven to get some of those perks such as Butler. But on ships without, such as Dawn or Sun, there's no way. We've had Butlers on both of those ships, but it was a few years ago. RM

I haven't seen any mention here of the Butlers for suites that are not in the Haven. There are a few ships without a Haven, but they have suites... with Butlers. And the Butlers provide the same types of services. They may be even more important, because there is *not* any Haven area or restaurant or other similar perks. And on a few ships with Havens, there are also (or there used to be!?) non-Haven suites with Butlers. Are (were?) all Jewel class ships like this? Anyway, we have been in non-Haven and Haven suites (but not on the larger ships with a Haven restaurant), and we got similar service from the Butler, and we tipped accordingly in both types of suites. GC

In case you weren't aware, if you have "two WiFi packages", that covers two devices logged in as guests in your cabin number. That means two can be online at the same time. So if you don't expect that all of you would need to be online at once, you might not need to pay for a third. The ship connection isn't monitoring "whose device it is". GC

They should have some rollaways. Because you are in a suite, I'd suggest requesting a rollaway in advance, through the pre-cruise Concierge. That way, on the off chance that there is a run on rollaway beds, you'll be among the winners. 😉 You can then arrange with your steward if you want the bed kept open during the day, or folded up. And I'd tip the steward extra, but we tend to tip generously anyway. We are fortunate to be able to do so... GC

There are also occasionally questions here about whether those in a Haven suite (often a 2BR) could pay in full for everyone in the Haven suite AND then pay in full extra for a separate cabin, specifically for the extra sleeping space (bed and bathroom). The answer is usually that it's not, but there are reports that it is in fact possible (if one has a good TA, etc., which is often especially helpful to make magic happen). So for those types, getting that extra cabin *free* is indeed a bonus. That's where a lot of us are coming from when we consider the extra freebie room as a plus. But others obviously feel differently... no surprise! GC

Yes, but the statement was: [emphasis added] That is not a universal, full stop. "Numerous sailings" doesn't mean that "the rest of the guests are free" period! (And I wonder how often there are specials... what percent of the "extra guests" are actually taking advantage of one of those specials?) Point is, one certainly cannot count on having that sweet cost structure. GC

There may be "specials" when guests beyond the first and second are "free", but that is not always the case. And besides, if NCL has issued tickets with certain accommodations/services, then that is what they "owe" the guests. We had some vacation rental properties for a while, and one of them was larger, almost like a lodge. I can just imagine telling some guests that because we didn't charge extra for any of the children, they couldn't go to the community pool. Or that they couldn't use, oh, say, the bathrooms. Right. GC

"up and down the elevators to / from their room all the time" Huh? They can use the Haven suite just the same as they would have done, except that now your group has a separate balcony cabin for extra space and sleeping! You may prefer to be more crowded and together, but it's only for sleeping that someone needs to go "up and down", and then come back again in the morning. Perhaps you could, once on board, arrange for complimentary full breakfast room service. Won't be as special as what the Butler can serve, but at least it will be "at your side when you wake up", etc. If we had a crowded Haven Suite, we'd take an "offer" like that in an instant. We'd even pay extra... Or please explain why that person needs to be trekking up and down/back and forth all day, every day to the extra sleeping space? Except for the actual bed, they'd still have access to the exact same Haven Suite while they are awake. And perhaps someone else would like to share the separate cabin so there is even less crowding. Given all the complaints about how little NCL has done when a Haven toilet wasn't working, this seems terrific. IF there is some specific reason why this can't work for your group, it would help the others here if you could explain that. GC

This is very nice, and I'm glad that you will have several other family members around to help out occasionally. (Of course, some of them could need their own attention, but that's a different issue!) I suggest letting the Special Needs/Access Desk at NCL know about this well in advance. They have no doubt already dealt with other similar passenger needs/requests. That includes the food, of course, but it might be good to have the crew who will be in the area of your cabin to be prepared. This could include the steward and any assistants or others who may take over some shifts. This might give NCL a chance to try to have experienced crew there. (Note: I have no idea how NCL handles this, but I assume that they would want to make it as easy as possible for both the guests and the crew.) They will probably give you contact information for someone about food preparation. Because everything needs to be pureed, it's probably not going to work well to wait until there is a menu just before a meal. We've found that they can provide menus the evening before, and then one can select the choices for the next day. That way, the preferred foods can be prepared the right way, be it pureed, no salt added, no <allergy food>, etc. This way you can help your uncle to get the foods that you know he tends to like. Be sure to let them know things like "not spicy" (or for some people, extra spicy!). Give NCL information similar to what you'd give friends if you are visiting for a few days. Does he handle crowds and noise okay? Some of the shorter cruises especially, depending upon itinerary, can be a bit noisy/etc. And try to plan in advance, so that you can get an "accessible" cabin. There aren't too many of those. Not having an enclosed shower will probably be a big help. Will you be needing to bring along extra care items such as waterproof sheets? Enjoy! GC

Those are the rules here, and if you want to participate, then follow the rules. As Charles4515 stated, it's not a good sign if someone's very first post is, in effect, "How can I break the rules here?" And it would be the same *anywhere*. Most groups or locations/places have "rules" of some sort or another. If you don't like them, then select a different choice, and hope that you can find one where you won't need to sort of introduce yourself by wanting to know how to violate the rules that other members obviously has been successfully abiding by for quite a few years. GC