Seas2mountains

On 1/26/2024 at 7:53 AM, PistolPete13 said:

 

My final weigh in at the gym this morning was still 154 lbs.  I was a bit shocked because I jumped from 150 to 154 after the first day and basically stayed there for the rest of the cruise.

Do you think the 11 hockey puck hash browns had anything to do with that? 🤣
 

When I saw the photo of them on your plate, I wondered if you might be saving them to take off the ship to sell to NCL cruisers in a port or at least to taunt them around breakfast time. 
 

MSC can introduce a new marketing slogan targeted to NCL cruisers similar to Arby’s “We have the meat” but with hash browns instead. 
 

Thank you for your great review. While I will probably book again with MSC, you convinced me to stick with YC. 

Guessing it is the announcement of the ship coming after Aqua but this one is going to be BIG.

4 hours ago, tundra1 said:

My recommendation would be to fly into Anchorage, stay downtown, take the downtown trolley tour, get a nice meal at one of the Breweries,  then take the train in the morning to Seward and spend a second night there.  You can take a Kenai Fjords tour when you arrive in Seward, and go to the Sea Life center the next morning before boarding the ship.  

 

Once you get to Vancouver, plan on staying there for a night or two and then taking the train to Seattle and flying out of SeaTak.  Both Vancouver and Seattle are really great cities and worth spending some time there, so you can figure out if you want to spend time in Seattle also.  

Ditto what tundra1 stated.  Definitely book a Kenai Fjords tour on Major Marine tours or Kenai Fjords tour in Seward before the cruise. You will likely see whales and glaciers along with more wild life than you will probably see on the cruise. 
 

While you might be concerned about the early time of the train from Anchorage to Seward, your body will likely still be on Eastern time. 
 

Agree about spending time exploring the beautiful city of Vancouver and wish Seattle was as beautiful as it was before 2020. 

Late August. It’s fun to see the salmon run. 

On 1/19/2024 at 11:11 AM, bluefish17 said:

Thanks for the tips. I'm more concerned about availability than menus I guess. For example Pommery Rose champagne was on the menu in Haven on Viva on my last cruise but wasn't always in stock. They told me they only were allocated 2 bottles and when that was consumed, they had to order more.

I found if they didn’t have the wine in the Haven or at a bar we tended to hang out at, the bartender or bar servers would find a way to get that wine back in stock by the following day as long as it was somewhere on the ship. We have had servers go to other bars to get the wine we liked when placing our wine order.  Of course, we tipped them for this and never asked them to go to another bar, they did this without us asking. 
 

For FAS+ or P+, we drink a lot of San Pelegríno so we tend to go through about 6-8 bottles a day for two of us. We also like trying the higher end wines and spirits. After having morning coffee, I like sipping on hot or cold herbal teas from Starbucks while playing trivia. My DH usually gets some sugary Starbucks drink, too. It’s also convenient to grab some of the boxed waters to take off the ship for excursions.  We definitely get our $ worth from the upgraded drink package. 

Enjoying your live review. 
 

They have the hockey puck hashbrowns?!?! 😲 Wow.  I guess I need to consider MSC again for a future cruise. 
 

What are you missing from NCL? For us, it was the evening musical entertainment in lounges and knowing the start times. We liked how NCL would post the specific times in the daily. For MSC it is a several hour time range such as 7:00pm-11:00pm and we would often arrive during a break and had no idea when they planned to resume performing. 
 

Have a great cruise!

Thank you for your very entertaining and real review. It’s been great to follow along this past week and on your past live reviews. You are a very talented writer and I appreciate your honesty.  Hoping you keep writing and find a place where we can keep following along! 

We were on the Pearl for the December 9-18 cruise. The WiFi was stable and we had no problem with emails and using apps and websites.
 

The exception was when the clouds were low and it was really foggy. Once the clouds lifted and it wasn’t as foggy, the WiFi was back to normal.  I’m sure the Starlink system doesn’t work well in foggy conditions.  
 

Since the Pearl has Starlink, you will be good with emails. 

For each person who says they will tip, there will be a person who says they don't tip and both are right. It's a personal decision.

We tend to be the type of couple who tips for excellent service and we also tip when getting bad service.  There are times we know the person may have some outside factors impacting their ability to provide better service so we give the benefit of the doubt in those situations. Some room stewards may be helping to cover for a friend who is sick or needs a break off the ship. The restaurant server might be covering too many tables due to staffing shortages. On NCL, we have typically received excellent service and the bad service doesn't happen too often. 

When I was younger, someone told me if you tipped generously, the money would find its way back to you in different ways. I tried this and can say that this theory has been proven true for me and my husband.  Anytime my husband or I hesitate about if or how much we should tip, we remind the other that the money will find its way back to us.

We appreciate how the people providing us with such a great vacation are working seven days a week and sometimes 10-12 or more hours a day. It makes our vacation extra special to see the smiles and to have them come back to tell us how much they appreciate it. It is even better when we run into these crew members on other ships or when we return on the same ship. 

Life is too short and you don't get to take the money with you.

We were on the Encore in Feb 2000. The Superbowl was on screens in multiple locations. It was very crowded in all locations but the District was the best place to see what was happening. 

Thank you for your review!  I loved reading your past live reviews. Sorry about your missed excursion.  Sounds like you had a wonderful time! 

I agree with @vacation44 about the Club Balcony Suite being worth the upgrade for $200 and for us it’s to have the larger bathroom.  The laundry is also nice for new cruisers who aren’t at Platinum but they also tend to offer a special offer for $29 to fill a laundry bag that is available to guests in all cabin categories. We like the chocolate covered strawberries but typically don’t eat the other treats. We have never opened the bottle of sparkling wine as we have other preferred wines we get from the bars or restaurants with FAS and P+. 
 

Tip - bring a plastic garbage bag to condense the clothes to fit more in the paper laundry bag and to keep it from tearing.   Have a great cruise! 

41 minutes ago, CAKEisgood said:

Today they had a private reception for veterans and active duty military. It was really nice. They had all the officers come in and introduce themselves. It started with a crew member singing the Star Spangled Banner, and she was awesome. USA flag on the screen. I didn’t take picture out of respect for our military family’s who might need to stay incognito. 🥸. They served us cocktails. I asked one of the crew if this was new because we haven’t had this reception on other NCL cruises and he told us there many officers on board who served in the military and they wanted to have this reception for us. As I said it was a nice event.  That explains the special package my husband got when we arrived in our room. 

That’s great to hear. The military packet is really neat and we like collecting the patches.  My husband and I are both military veterans. 
 

We have also enjoyed attending these military receptions. Our first one was in March 2023 on the Gem and they were on also on Sky, Escape, Spirit x 3, and Pearl when we were on those ships last year. They started really small - about 15-20 people but on our December Pearl cruise, there were over 100 people,  Each one seemed to be a little different as some cruise directors asked for a few or for all veterans to speak.  Did they have your husband pose for a photo and tell you to pick up a copy or offer to deliver it to your cabin?

Thank you for posting the daily. I like seeing the musical entertainment on the ship to keep track of my favorite musicians, duos and bands.  We love Prelude Duo. 
 

Enjoy your sea day. Looking forward to following along. 
 

@YVRteacher looking forward to reading your Alaska live review! 
 

I will need to go back to read this review again as we booked a Norway/Iceland cruise for June 2024 on Prima. Your photos and review inspired me to convince my husband to travel there. 
 

The Forest Lagoon has been added to my list.  

17 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Thanks for the suggestion.  I have to admit it was challenging finding decent airfare…but we did finally score good fares.   Now…the hotel, that is another story. We may decide to take an extra day for Seward.

If you can stay an extra day in Seward, I also agree with @bluesea777 recommendation for the Major Marine tour. 
 

Happy Cruise Day!  It sounds like the human confirmation may pop up when posting photos? 
 

I did not have to confirm I’m human with this post. 

Are you sailing from Vancouver to Seward or Seward to Vancouver? The ports are slightly different depending on the cruise with Icy Strait Point 
 

I highly recommend an excursion in Seward through Major Marine Tours or Kenai Fjord Tours. They will take you up close to see glaciers and wildlife while being protected from the unpredictable weather. 
 

In Skagway, you can do a price comparison for the White Pass Summit excursion directly with the railroad or through NCL. You get on the train close to the cruise ship if booking through NCL.  You can book the Ghost and Good Times Girls tour independently or through NCL.   I recommend both options if you have time.  

Suites on Spirit, POA, Sun class and Jewel class ships have butler service.  Suites on the Joy that are not in the Haven do not have butler service. 
 

There are suites on the Prima and Viva that I believe do have butler service but do not have access to the Haven or the Haven restaurant. 
 

All Haven suites have butler service. 

I recommend going to Summer Palace to have a leisurely lunch while you are waiting for the cabins to be ready. You will likely have time to explore the ship after lunch. 
 

Here is a screenshot from the daily on 12/09/2023 with the times the restaurants were open. Boarding began at about 11:15am for our cruise. 
 

2 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

So this is interesting. I thought it’d be nice to pre-order some cheese and crackers for my DDs so they’d have treats in their cabin when they enter. $129 for cheese and crackers?? Even our high end restaurants don’t charge that much for a big charcuterie board. 😳. The food gifts prices on NCL is nutsto. 

 

 

 

That is a crazy price for a pre-order when you or they can order a cheese tray from room service for the $9.95 charge plus gratuity.  Glad to hear your DD made it there safely.  

I also had to Google FFS. Lol to @laudergayle 😎

Oh no. We hope your DD gets there safely soon. At least she drove up before embarkation day. Looking forward to following along. It sounds like a fun cruise! 
 

We had a DS join us on a cruise this year and it was a trip of a lifetime for more reasons than I can explain in this post. We are planning a cruise with a DD in May and will have the other three DS/DD join us soon after but one at a time we think so far. 
 

Looking forward to your live review!  Again, enjoy the time with your DD’s, family and friends. 

On 12/6/2023 at 10:41 PM, KACTravels said:

Leo Austria is Concierge on the Pearl currently 

It was Rolland on the 12/9-12/18 Pearl cruise. 

25 minutes ago, Daruma said:

 

Most definitely... one of the first things I was taught in OCS was that no plan survives contact with the enemy... so have plans B - D ready to go, lol.

OCS? Officer Candidate School?  If so, did you try to connect your new Latitudes number to ID.me to register as a military veteran? Here are details on the 10% discount. https://www.ncl.com/military

 If you register, you will get a military packet with a ship patch and veteran pin in a cute vacation packet that looks like military orders and assuming they still do this program in April 2025, you will get invited to a military reception which has been neat. When these first started, there were probably 15-20 veterans in attendance but on our most recent cruises on the Spirit in September it was about 40-50 people and last week on the Pearl we were stunned to see about 200 people or so. 
 

We love the Thermal Spa on all ships. Do avoid the peak times if you want to avoid people.