tombec1

My CAS PCC has told me she gets a flat amount (something like $10) per booking, and 'kudo points' for every booking she does in a month.

Yes.  There's a door to get into the lounge from the hallway.  I've sailed in 16023 twice on the Epic.

The door to the lounge is in the hallway just past room 16031.

I don't think you're 'supposed to' use that door, but on my 2 Epic cruises, just about everyone who was in the 160xx starboard side was using it.

Here's the the deck plan.  You don't see a door, but it's there between 16031 and The Haven Lounge, behind the elevators.

Just to add another data point  - Amex took back the 15k points from my May Alaska cruise that NCL canceled and refunded.

On 12/23/2020 at 10:01 AM, graphicguy said:

The question is, if NCL cancels the cruise (Alaska), do I have to give the points back to AMEX?

Well... my May Alaska cruise just got canceled...  so I'll see what happens to the points and credits in the next few weeks.

I also have a Scandinavian cruise booked for late June that I used the platinum cards on to get the credits.

3 hours ago, SeaOfTranquility said:

My May 2021 Alaska cruise shows the same.  But the name of the cruise is now "Default Itinerary Name" while my other, later Mediterranean cruises show the actual cruise name.

Good catch.   I missed that. My Alaska cruise shows the "Default Itinerary Name" too.

My July 2021 Scandinavia cruise still shows "9-Day Scandinavia", but I still have doubts about that one taking place.

NCL is now showing 0 Alaska cruises for 2021:  https://www.ncl.com/vacations?cruise-destination=alaska&date=may-2021,jun-2021,jul-2021,aug-2021,sep-2021

Btw , I can still see my May 2021 Alaska cruise in my reservations, I can still see the summary, and I can still make a payment against it.

It's only a matter of time now before they're officially canceled.

I finally got the offer last week on my Amex Platinum card for "Spend $500 , get 15k points".  I would have rather had the $150 credit vs 15k points, but I turned the 15k into $150 worth of xmas gift cards. 🙂

Prior to that, none of my other Amex cards (Gold, Hilton, Marriott, Blue Cash, Delta) had the offer.  None of my wife/kids cards had it either.  I'm the primary on all cards, and wife/kids are all AU's with their own card #'s, btw.

Once I saw the offer on my Platinum card, I had my wife and kids check their cards , and the "Spend $500, get $150 credit" was on all of their Platinum cards.  We added the offers to their cards right away, and I paid down two cruises I had in May and June 2021.

So keep checking if you hadn't seen the offer!!!  There's still 9 days left till it expires!

I've sailed in 16023 twice, incuding a 13 day trans-atlantic.   We loved it.

It's close to one of the hallway doors near the elevators, it's close to the courtyard and concierge, and it's just down the hall from the Haven Lounge (which is just past 16031).

On 7/4/2020 at 6:47 PM, Lou33 said:

We just returned from a trip to Nevada.  It was very disappointing to visit a casino and see so many people who had total disregard for mask requirements and social distancing.

I just returned from Las Vegas on Friday night.   I stayed at Caesars Palace,  in the Palace towers.  Everywhere we went inside of Caesars , people wore masks - check in area (they took our temps too), casino floor, food court, on the way to the pool, etc.   They were limiting folks to 4 people in an elevator, and there were marks on each corner for people to stand.  Hand sanitizer stations were everywhere too.   I saw security staff 'reminding' people to put on their masks if they had them down.

It's kind of hard to 'socially distance' while walking through a casino , but folks were staggering slots and seats at the table games.

We ate at Hells Kitchen one night, and everyone was wearing masks unless they were eating.  All staff wore masks.

We also  hit several places on the strip for drinks, and everyone was wearing masks in the drinking establishments, and most were wearing them on the strip.

Just email accessdesk@ncl.com  and let them know your conf # and what you need to bring. They'll note it and your e-docs will show "Liquid Policy Exemption".

I've used GL-AR750's on several NCL ships (as recently as July), and all over the world.  I've been using various GL.iNet  products for years, and they're great and inexpensive!

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GBXMBQF/

One other trick - connect to the NCL wifi with your laptop, and sign in on the ships captive portal.  Then connecr your laptop to your travel router, and have it spoof your laptop's MAC address.   Finally. have the router connect to the NCL WiFi, and it'll 'think' the laptop has connected and you'll already be logged in.   Your phone can be used instead of the laptop too.

I know the MAC address spoofing works on the GL units  , not sure about the others you listed.

3 minutes ago, mertziek said:

We went through our PCC but I would suggest you call NCL and tell them you want to upgrade your air and have them put you in touch with Premium Air.  You will need your reservation number.  Price the flights yourself first.  They have changed how they do their upgrades so our last flights we checked on ended up being more expensive then if I booked on our own.  The previous time it saved us almost $3,600!  So know what you can do for yourself first and then check with them.  We had flights and seats selected but when the agent quoted us their price we backed out.  She did say Business Class flight pricing changed after their merging with Oceania air department.  Good luck.

Thank you!  Do you know what fare bucket they booked you into?  

On 6/23/2019 at 7:28 PM, mertziek said:

Can’t answer that but perhaps others who booked economy through NCL can answer for you.  We booked Business Class and that is handled a bit differently.  We selected our routes, airlines and seats the day we booked and had an airline confirmation number so we could go in and adjust our seats the same as if we booked on our own.

How did you book Business?? Did you have to call NCLto book vs booking online?  Was the business fare competative?

Thanks in advance..

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't believe it has to be a US travel agent, just a participating one. NCL offers upgrades to anyone booked through them or a participating TA. If a TA opts not to participate, that is beyond NCL's control. Otherwise, as far as I know, everyone DOES get an invitation to bid.

Everyone doesn't get an invitation..

I booked directly through NCL's CAS last year for the EPIC TA in November 2018, and I got an invitation to bid.  I had already booked and paid for a H4 using the Caesars discount, so I didn't bother bidding.  I wanted the H4.

I'm sailing on the Escape on 06/30, booked directly through NCL's CAS, and I didn't get an invitation to bid.   I booked and paid for a B9 using the Caesars discount.   I asked CAS why I didn't get an invite, and they said it was random.

Just to add - with the Casino Drink Card, you can get bottles of Gatorade, bottles of water, and energy drinks at the Casino bar too.

On 6/1/2019 at 10:44 AM, graphicguy said:

Call your PCC at NCL and tell them you want to apply the AMEX Platinum OBC to your reservation.  If they don’t know how to do it, just transfer your reservation to AMEX travel.

Do you know the promo code they add?  They're typically listed on the confirmations.  I figure it's a no brainer for them to add it if I give them the code.  Thanks again.

7 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Correct on all counts.  You DO NOT have to use AMEX travel for your booking.  But, you have to make the entire booking on an AMEX Platinum Card to get the OBC.

 

And, the only card you can use to get the OBC is AMEX branded cards.  You can't use the Platinum Delta Amex Card, as an example.

Can you tell me the procedure to get the Amex OBC?  I know I can get it if I book direct with Amex Travel, but I'm booked using NCL's website, and I paid with my Amex Platinum.  Thanks in advance. 🙂

I added someone two days before my Transatlantic cruise in November.     It was harder to book a last minute flight to BCN than it was to get her added.  A quick phone call to NCL with a credit card is all you need - as long as there's enough room on the lifeboats!

I've been to Helsinki several times.  My last visit was in October 2018 - not for a cruise, though.  I flew in/out of HEL.

UBER works in Helsinki.  I used it to head into town, and to visit the Fazer shop.   So, give UBER a shot!

I was running the slot pull for the Epic TA in Nov 2018.  We had about 140 people sign up, but had about 35 people actually pony up the money at the M&G.   Many folks just didn't show up to the M&G, and we had some 'walk ons' who attended the M&G that hadn't signed up in advance.

I've been involved with other slot pulls as well, and it's been a similar turn out.

So, my guess would be that you won't have everyone show up who who signed up.

Search Amazon for GL-AR300M and GL-USB150.  I've got several of each, and all work well.

On the ship, we plugged the GL-USB150 into a charging brick and brought it around with us, so we had use of our phones while on the go.  We used the GL-AR300M in the room.  Both units are small and portable.

I travel the world for work, and use these two routers everywhere.  They integrate really well with Azire's Wireguard VPN service, as well as any OpenVPN compatible service.  If you get one, upgrade to v3 firmware if it doesn't ship with it!!

I bought the best internet package they offered on the Nov 2018 Epic Trans-Atlantic.

I got the package because I needed to be accessable due to some important projects I was involved in back home.

Of course, it wasn't as fast as the cable internet at home, but it worked fine.
 

I brought a mini vpn router and everyone in my cabin shared the bandwidth over the VPN.  We had (4) phones on wifi calling, and all of us were able to make and receive calls and texts at the same time with T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon service.  I was also able to view my security cameras and stream video to check on my house.

I can't think of anything we weren't able to do that we would normally do at home.
 

Anything specific you want to know?

I did this when I sailed the Epic TA in Nov 2018.

I had a Haven H4 booked for my myself , my wife, and her sister.

My wife's friend expressed interest in going with us 3 days before our cruise left from Barcelona.  I called NCL, and had her added to the reservation.  As long as there's capacity on the board and in the cabin, you should be good to go!

On the Epic, the Haven bar next to the pool opened at 6am.

I just got off the Epic TA from Barcelona and wanted to add my experience.

I bought the Unlimited Premium WiFi package.  Everyone in my cabin was able to use the WiFi calling features of our respective carriers.  My wife and I have T-Mobile, and the two others had Sprint and Verizon.   All of us took and made calls, and texted.  No problems at all and good call quality.

Although I did bring and use a travel router, I didn't need to enable the VPN in order to use any features.

I was able to use an OpenVPN link to my house , and I also tested a Wireguard VPN service, and both worked fine.