MyTMo777

I've been on 4 NCL cruises, and the only one that had a lecturer was through the Panama Canal. There was a gentleman onboard who was an expert on the canal, and he held lectures every day for an hour. Very interesting. 

You should offer your services - get a free cruise by being a guest lecturer. You seem like a learned person with some experience and wisdom in life. With the traveling you've done and a bit of research, you could likely lecture on a variety of locations, ecosystems, countries, cultures, etc. Bring back the lectures!

2 minutes ago, CPRayVA said:

Take an empty water bottle that fits and fill it with their water.  They have never taken it away from me.

 

We have done that before!

I've been looking on Amazon but hesitant to order because no one includes the diameter in the description. I tried every reusable water bottle in my house and none of them fit. I'm bringing a bigger water bottle for on the ship, but for excursions, I was hoping to find a smaller one that kept the water colder than the usual pre-packaged ones. But if I can't, I know we get some free water in our room due to our Latitudes reward tier, so hopefully they will work for excursions. 

The new water bottles on NCL look like oddly-shaped cartons, not round like a regular water bottle. My backpack I take on excursions has two small mesh pockets that barely fit a standard plastic one-use water bottle. Does anyone know if the new cartons will fit like a round water bottle? Trying to find small reusable bottles that I can bring but not having much luck with that size. 

I wish there was a way to save or highlight certain activities on the app. That’s the only reason I like having the paper copy. 

Can the FCC be transferred to anyone else, the way CruiseNext certificates can?

4 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

 

Are you sure?  I've used the same photo of DW with her glasses on for three straight cruises.

That’s what it said as I was checking in 🤷‍♂️ First time I’ve had to upload a photo to check in. I took off my glasses like it said and it worked. I didn’t try it with my glasses on. 

1 hour ago, alwalaska said:

What are the requirements for the headshot photo.  I'd like to have that ready for both of us ahead of time.  Thanks.

Apparently you have to wear a shirt, as my DH found out 🤦‍♀️ No glasses, including clear lens prescription ones. Other than that, just a head shot in good lighting. 

EXCELLENT answer, Geezercouple! Very well said.

Was a bad day on vacation still better than a good day at work?

I suspected that might have to happen. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the info.

Can we use OBC for shore excursions we've already paid for? If so, do we just ask at the shore excursion desk or customer service on the ship?

On 10/20/2022 at 8:59 AM, complawyer said:

black friday, blue monday, ruby tuesday.  it doesn matter.   ncl runs the same add over and over touting 40% off. never changes and ive never seen any adds lowering their prices for anything. i always believe that they raise the cabin price, and then take the 40% off leaving the purchaser with what is a regular cabin price.

Yup, this.

We are on day 21 right now, and I just finished checking in. I noticed in my roll call group on another website that shall remain unnamed that people were checking in as soon as midnight hit in their time zone, but I couldn't do it yet because it wasn't officially day 21 yet in my time zone. I also noticed when I checked in that there was no place to select a time to arrive at port. I asked in my roll call on here about that to see if someone knows if I just missed it, or if that's something that they have us do later.

I don't have answers to all of your questions, but I can answer a few things.

1. Without looking up that specific room on a deck plan, I don't know for sure, but if it does show or say it's an angled balcony, it does have more room on the balcony than a standard one. You can fit a lounge chair on the balcony (just ask for one from your room steward on your first day).

2. I haven't done that specific air route with NCL, but check their air promo terms and conditions to see what the cancelation policy is. Norwegian's Flight Booking Service | Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com)

3. If you don't drink alcohol, the package generally isn't worth it. Although it may be "free" with the Free at Sea program, you still have to pay the gratuities on the package, which is 20% of the actual value if you purchased it. It can be several hundred dollars depending how long your cruise is. Free beverages are available at the buffet throughout the day - juice (not "real" fruit juice, and beware that all of their juices are sweetened with sorbitol or something like it), milk, water, coffee, tea, unsweetened iced tea. Our first cruise we did without the drink package, and I got bored with my options very quickly - plus I could only get the drinks in the buffet. If you're walking by a bar, you're limited to water. I just paid for a few drinks as I went along. My DH always gets the soda package - much cheaper, and you can get soda at any bar. Virgin drinks are hit and miss - they are supposed to charge for them without the drink package, but some people have reported getting them for free. Don't count on it though.

4. Ah, Victoria...the US government requires that all passenger ships that sail from a US port and return to a US port must make a stop in a foreign country, so Victoria becomes a quick stopover so the cruise lines can technically obey the law. It's unfortunate that they keep making those stops shorter, as Victoria is lovely. I don't know how long your stop is or what time of the day it is, but you can walk to the inner harbour or take a cab or a pedi-cab and wander near the water front. During the summer they have entertainers along the harbour. Some nights there is a night market. If you're there during the day, you can walk to Fisherman's Wharf to view the floating houses, feed a seal, and pick up a snack. You can take a water taxi from there to many different places along the harbour (you can buy a single ride or a day pass). Those are some things you can do not too far from the port in a short period of time. 

I'm hoping the lack of reply from the OP means they are happily sailing on POA with a rash and no chicken pox!

Looks like prices are the same on the Jewel and the Prima (or mostly the same - I didn't look at every line). As far as I know on every cruise we've been on, you can only book individual spa treatments once you're on board. They run specials on certain treatments or combination of treatments - look for once on embarkation day and in the Freestyle Daily. And on port days they offer a percentage off almost any spa treatment.

I saw that somewhere, from the Jewel this summer. Let me see if I can find it. It might be from another group I'm in.

We had a balcony on our Panama Canal cruise and I didn’t use it all day. I was out and about, on different decks as the ship moved up and down through the locks, looking out both sides of the ship and both fore and aft. Plenty of seating both inside and out if you want to sit for a while. 

@shof515 was typing as I was typing 🙂 Your list is great. It looks like I'm just getting one point per night. I didn't even think about waiting for a Latitude promotion to book. Oh well!

These are the codes:

AIRPROM3
ALL4CHO
DISC35
EASYFARE
LATREW*
PPSRVCHG
SHX50

There's an * next to what I assume to be Latitude Rewards, and this is what it says further down:

* LATREW promo code, is automatically applied to Latitude members’ reservations. This code gives Latitude members their specific tier level
discounts/benefits onboard.
This promo code does not provide any Latitude points.

None of the other codes look like they have to do with Latitude rewards, but I don't know what some of them are.

I'm in a planning and questioning mood today, so another question.

When we booked our cruise for this November, I didn't pay any attention to whether it qualified for extra Latitude points or not. Now I'm curious if it does earn us extra points. How can I tell that from any of my documents or on the website/app? I've looked but I don't see anything that says how many points I will earn for a future cruise, only what I've earned in the past. Especially curious because if it does happen to be double, it'll bump me up a tier.

When your Latitude rewards entitle you to a discount (onboard shops, photos, spa, excursions, etc.) by paying for your purchase with your room card, does it automatically give you the discount, or do you have to remember what discounts you are entitled to and then ask for it each time?

Thanks for the brief comparison. I've only ever sailed NCL, but I've been curious about RCCL, especially their biggest ships.