alwalaska

Just got home on Sunday and concur with the others. The other thing we learned (luckily before our first meal), at Cagneys, if you use your dinner plan from free at sea you get the following: One appetizer One salad OR Soup One Entree Two Sides Dessert But, to reward you for your loyalty to NCL you get the following (Said with plenty of sarcasm): A single item from the appetizer, salad, and soup categories One Entree One Side Dessert We used our free at sea dinner at Cagneys and our platinum meals at Moderno and Teppanyaki.

Hi! I'm curious, is there anywhere with the fine print that explains what is and is not included in the options given when joining a group on a cruise versus what is given with free-at-sea promos that seem to be permanently in place now? I'm looking at a 14-day cruise and most likely an interior cabin that I will do a double-meta upgrade using the credit card points I have accumulated. Thanks.

In Tampa, there was nothing special for anyone other than suites. At the first door, they asked if we were concierge customers and when I asked if there was anything for platinum, they laughed and said Latitudes didn't count for this. Then, through the rest of the process, I asked if there was a platinum check-in line and told no. We were then told to fill the chairs in the order that we finished checking in. Other than suites (which went a different direction when getting in the first door) and assisted boarding, everyone was lumped together in one group. Thanks to the OP for asking about the paid option because I was wondering if there was any added benefit there.

Rather than increasing service charges and cruise prices, has NCL considered going back to NOT giving away free alcohol? I feel like those of us who don't drink are subsidizing drinkers. Also, have you considered offering a soda package as a free at sea option instead of the alcohol package?

Is that pay in full now? Are the triple points you are talking about the credit card points? Sorry if I seem dense, I play a lot of credit card games, but I am new to the NCL card.

Thanks. Unfortunately, the cruise I'm looking at was only recently released (I'm looking at 2025) and 2 categories of ocean views are already gone. I saved points to do BtoB 7 day cruises, but 2025 is selling as one 14 day cruise, so maybe I'll go the interior to balcony to get lower price and better options for balconies.

Thanks. The reason I wanted to "test" was because there are no longer the top category of ocean view cabins available, so I'm wondering what level of balcony it will end up assigning me to on the upgrade. Thanks for the info on the cabin change.

I read somewhere in this thread that it took several days and then they received an email confirmation from NCL with the upgrade info, but I haven't experienced that. I'm a total newbie to this. I do have a question for you though ... Were you able to pick a cabin, or does it assign it automatically? Also, if I want to run some tests with different categories, is there a way to back out or cancel the upgrade and not finalize the upgrade? Thanks!

I'm sorry if these questions have been asked and answered. I looked and couldn't find the answers. 1. Do I need one upgrade cert per cabin or per person? 2. Am I assuming correctly that it works on any length cruise? 3. What happens if I cancel? Do I fet the cert back, points back, or nothing? I'm talking about before and penalties kick in, not after. Thanks.

Glad that was your first bad weather. Hopefully it doesn't delay your return. I'm ready to move from experiencing the cruise virtually through you to experiencing on my own in person. 🙂

Have you seen if the other main dining room has a separate line for reservations that is well marked? On a prior cruise, some people with reservations were jumping the line, but I felt awkward doing that. Most of our reservations are in the other dining room because you can wear shorts.

Thank you all so much!! Clark, I will be very careful to not fall asleep while browsing. It is good to know that I have to choose to login. I will be very careful about logging out. The main thing about the CC being free is so that I can update others in case our photo scavenger hunt plans need to change.

I'm sailing soon and I have never used the Latitude or Free at Sea minutes. I will have my laptop, tablet and phone with me. Hubby probably will not want to use his minutes, or only a very small portion of them. We are both platinum and have the Free at Sea package on an 11 day cruise in an interior cabin. Can someone tell me how this all works? When I run out of my minutes, can I log out and log in as hubby to use his minutes? All I could find was "one device at a time", so can I log out on one device and in on another later? Also, someone mentioned that Cruise Critic is now free and doesn't use Inernet minutes when on the ship. How do I do this without accidentally use minutes? In the past I always just put my phone in airplane mode and stayed unplugged, but since I have the minutes this time, I'd like to use them and not come back home to as many old emails to deal with. Thanks!!!

I'm loving your review. Can't wait to see what comes next. Thanks for taking the time to write all of this up.

Thank you so much for sharing all of this info. I can't wait for next week.

The Dawn is currently showing on both Taino Bay and Amber Cove's schedules for all 3 visits in January. So far, reports on FB of passengers that were onboard that the one before the one you are showing here docked at Taino Bay and this one docked at Amber Cove. Someone's estimate that maybe TB is less expensive and that could be it. I know when I was researching the draught on the Dawn to see if the Dawn was closer to the Sky (seemed to consistently go to TB) or the bigger ships like the Escape, and I was surprised to learn that it was almost identical to the big ships, so I guess it is a toss-up from a sandbar safety standpoint.

Yeah, I think HAL is owned by Carnival corp, so that doesn't bode well for the Dawn and the Gem. Some people have been rerouted to GSC. Good luck and have a wonderful cruise wherever the ship ends up going.

Me too, but as far as Puerto Plato goes, it seems like the Dawn is not going to dock at La Taino. When the most recent sailing boarded yesterday, they were given a letter saying the port has been replace with Puerto Rico. I checked the schedule and Amber Cove will have 2 ships on the day they were supposed to be there, so at least that part of the theory is still standing. I really wish NCL would tell people BEFORE they get on the ship.

I hope you are right. I was trying to find the draught on the different ships, but it is not easy to find. It looks like the Sky is about 18 inches better off than the Dawn and the Dawn is only 6 inches better off than the Escape, unless the info I found was wrong.

The question is, other than the Sky, what is considered a smaller ship? We're on the Dawn in Feb and as far as I know, it has not been to Taino Bay yet, but our cruise hasn't been updated officially to Amber Cove either. Luckily (??), I don't see any other ships at either location on Feb 11, so hopefully we will make it to at least one of the two ports. I ended up booking a private tour rather than depending on being able to walk into town. Not giving NCL extra money just because they can't keep people informed.

I'm wondering if that is because it has not been updated yet. I do not think any of the large ships will dock at Taino Bay until the problems (narrow channel or something) that led to the damage on one of the ships last March is fixed. I've heard of a couple of cruises lately where they simply missed Puerto Plata or were changed to another port. One was told "civil unrest" which is possible, but not likely since there wasn't anything I could find in the news and the other was told "unknown" reasons. It seems like NCL is very low on the priority list for Amber Cove and only 2 ships can dock there. The Sky has been reliably hitting Taino Bay but is has a smaller draught that any of the other ships trying to call there. I'm curious to see what happens on Christmas with the Dawn since that is the ship we will be on in February. I guess we will find out when we get on board. So far, we are still going to Key West, but I realize that may change as well since the December sailings all had Key West cancelled.

I believe they both have pools and shopping areas, but I believe Taino Bay is the "new" one and Amber Cove was recently redone. I'm not positive though.

Any the Christmas in July sales.

We are booking an all-day taxi tour ahead of time. It is $120 for the two of us, and if we up it to 4 people, it is $140. Either way on the math for just a taxi to Puerto Plata, I'm feeling pretty good about our decision to book a taxi for all day on a cost basis. We are going to the cable car and then a short city tour and hopefully a quick stop at the fort and lighthouse.

I'm looking at them as well for Feb 14, 2023. Having them right at the pier seems like the easiest way to go. We rented from AVIS previously, but I can't find a location at the pier, even though the Advanced Car Rental thread mentions it.