jobey

My wife cruises with a rollator (wheeled walker with seat). We check it in with the rest of our luggage and she walks with a cane to the waiting area. Then they take her in a wheelchair onto the ship and to wherever it is that we decide to eat lunch. The muster drill is in a specified area of the ship. Yours will be based on your cabin location and you will need to get there on your own. You will likely have your walker in time to make your way to the drill. One time ours was in the theater and she couldn't make it down to our group area. I took her key card for them to scan and told them she is disabled and cannot navigate the steps. They were fine with it.

I did take some menu photos (I'm not sure which restaurants) on the Escape last September. If you would be interested in them, just ask and I'll post them.

I called CAS and they did have an accessible OV available, so we swapped. That entitles us to a second promo so we went with free gratuities. :D

The rep promised me there would be no charge for the change, but after I hung up I went to the website and it's asking me to make a payment! It seems that the admin fee has now increased by two cents per person! LOL I'll pay the four cents as I don't want their system to cancel the cruise or something equally silly, but I think Visa will charge them more than that to process the payment. Oh well.

My wife is disabled and has balance and stamina issues, so she uses a rollator (wheeled walker with a seat; you've seen them) outside the cabin. Her main need with an accessible cabin is the grab bars in the bathroom and shower.

On our first cruise there were accessible cabins available but they charged a bit more for them and I was being stubborn and refused to pay extra. In hindsight, I should have. On the second we had one but we did a last minute upgrade to a Mini-Suite.

We booked our next month cruise after final payment due to a late invite from CAS. I called and they had offered us an OV and had one accessible left. We didn't quite have the funds together, so we held off until the next week and then found that the accessible and all OVs were gone. So we did get an accessible Inside; we'll see how that goes.

But we have never been asked for any kind of disability proof. We do have a wheelchair arranged for embarkation/disembarkation, maybe that has something to do with it.

As I'm typing this, I'm thinking maybe I want to give CAS a call and see if any accessible OVs have opened up, as we had to give up a second promo by accepting the Inside.

I ended up with a 3-dinner package. I know you can't order an extra entrée without being charged, but can you order two apps such as an app and a bowl of soup, followed by an entrée? Basically wondered if you are restricted to one app.

Appetizers and desserts have no such restriction. At Cagney's one night I had two shrimp cocktails. Another night the two of us ordered one dessert each, with a third to split.

Thanks but that's from early 2015.

 

So, anyone know if there is a current price differential between on-line and on-board purchase?

Your question was answered by sarcher:

Pricing is cheaper if you buy ahead of time.

Ok, so a couple more questions.

If you sail as Hot or above but not on a CAS-comped cruise, do you get the actual drink card or does the bartender just go by the players card?

If you are on a comped cruise, does having the drink card get you any drinks you want, or is it still based on your tier?

We had the UBP on the comped cruise, so I'm not sure what would have been covered by the drink card. I'm asking for the experience of those who have sailed on a comped cruise without the UBP.

Lucky & Hot tier have the same well drinks. It is only Golden (Premium drinks) & VIP (Ultra Premium drinks) that get upgraded drinks.

Anyone over 21 in your cabin gets the drink card based on your invite no matter how many in your room.

Per NCL, Lucky tier does not get free drinks.

Since you are being invited, don't limit yourself to the cruises in the offers. You can always call CAS and request any cruise. They may comp you. Never hurts to ask.

When I called to book (both times) I asked about other comped cruises and was told I could choose only what was specified on the mailer I received.

We sailed for the first time on NCL last year. Although I couldn't imagine that I played enough in the casino, this spring we were invited on a comped cruise, with just a few from which to choose ($200pp admin fee).

We chose the Getaway as it was the only FL sailing. The casino issued us new (Lucky) players cards and drink cards. We had the UBP, so we used their drink card mainly for lattes, bottled water, and Red Bull. The slots were super-tight compared to our previous cruise, so we lost almost continuously and didn't reach much of a point count.

About a month ago we got another invitation for a comped cruise, this time an OV on the Escape. We will probably still be on the Lucky tier, but drink cards are again part of the plan. We skipped the UBP this time.

My question is why are we getting casino drink cards on the Lucky tier when on NCL's site (and everywhere else I've found) it says that the free drinks start with Hot? Is it because of the comped cruise? Are these cards not linked to the players card? Are they limited to well drinks? :confused:

They use two methods. Both remove all of the salt. One is pressurized steam distillation and the other is reverse osmosis. Both remove virtually all of the salt, along with other minerals. The process basically ends with distilled water. They then actually have to harden it a bit from running through a calcium bed to reduce the aggressive nature of distilled water.

 

 

 

You will find more sodium in your bottled water then in what the ship produces.

You may provide as much information as you want about how the ship treats the drinking water, but some folks just want what they want and would rather complain than do anything about it.

After the porters wouldn't take my case of water and I had to lug the thing myself, I bought two Brita filter bottles and they worked fine. Problem solved.

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In both examples you are paying more than you originally did to book a better room. So if I follow this reasoning, a suite is initially offered for $3000 per person but because of slow sales they lower the cost to $2500 per person therefore only the people who booked at $3000 should get double credits, right?

Price fluctuations do not affect the double credits for Suite/Haven bookings, only upgrades do. From the FAQ:

The additional point per night for staying in a Suite or in The Haven applies to Suites that were paid at full fare and does not include mini-suites. If you received a free or discounted upgrade, or sailed in a mini-suite, you will not receive the additional points for staying in a Suite.

Any time you book a Suite/Haven as a new booking and not an upgrade/upsell, you are considered to be paying "full fare", regardless of how much higher or lower it was yesterday, last week, or last month.

Another way to get double credits is to book 9+ months in advance.

Ha! Agreed.

 

I can eat in Manhattan Room (or Tropicana Room) over and over, since it's so large you can get a completely different view or experience depending on where you are seated. But as far as Taste/Savor, once is enough.

We were on the GA in June. It was our first cruise without a dining package so we "roughed it" in the MDRs. We had the best meals at Taste and the service was outstanding!

Not generally - I've heard stories of the upgrade department not selling suite upgrades to Inside/Outside passengers, only Mini-Suite and up (occasionally balcony and up but haven't heard that happen many times). So you can try the Inside - Minisuite and then Minisuite - Suite and see what happens.

Yesterday I called the upsell department and upgraded from an Inside to a Mini-Suite. A week or so prior when I called I was offered upgrades from my Inside to any of three different Haven suites. I'm happy with my MA.

Do they do upsells to balconies & minis or is it just to full suites? We've got a couple of mid ship oceanviews I'd like to upgrade but full suites just aren't in the budget for all of us.

I upgraded from an Inside to a Mini-Suite today, three days before sailing.

Call the Upsell Department (800) 625-4309 and ask 'em. What have you got to lose? :)

I was about to call shenanigans because we sailed this itinerary on the Star in December and we changed just twice: one hour back and then forward again. But then, I realized at all these ports must be on *Standard* time, with us (and Miami) being on *Daylight* time. Won't that be fun! :rolleyes:

Remember...it's five o'clock somewhere

We bought two in December. They're good for four years. We used one for our CAS-comped Gateway cruise departing this Sunday. They charged the $500 to our onboard account but immediately credited back $250, so our cash outlay was only $250.

If you can't use them, remember that they are transferable, so you can sell them or gift them to some well-deserving CCer. ;)

Thanks to everyone for your input. We had a terrific time on our first cruise with NCL and decided that we would be better off remaining loyal to one line and enjoy the perks.

I don't play with a large bankroll, but on one bank of four identical slots in one night I hit at least a dozen progressives. We ended up down about a $1000 for the week, but were happy to see that my play got us a comped inside and a free slot tournament entry for me.

I was very surprised that I got any offer at all from CAS. I forgot to check our points level before we disembarked and didn't expect that either of us would have enough to amount to anything. I've surrendered a substantial amount of cash to the Tampa Hard Rock Casino over the years and got very little in return. :mad:

Can anyone confirm as to whether or not this transition has occurred? We are sailing on the GA on the 5th and would like to enjoy the FG if it is still there! Thanks!

Wifey and I are booked on the Getaway thru Casino House (CAS) based on my play on our last cruise. I've heard of perks such as private parties, chocolate strawberries/champagne in cabin, specialty dinners w/wine, refreshment area at the terminal, etc. I'll be fine with a welcome note in the cabin, but what could we receive?

I was offered a free slot tournament entry as part of the deal, but have received no communications from CAS since booking.

This is technically a private party. They usually will have out a sign that says private function. The bar staff working it probably doesn't care, but just for the record it is a Casinos at Sea event for VIP guests.

 

But I loved the movie wedding crashers just as much as the next guy.....so I'm not judging.

When you say "VIP", do you mean VIP point level, as in Lucky/Hot/Golden/VIP? Or would that include all those who booked through CAS?

We have bottles with integrated filters. Good quality H2O, easy to carry around, and a heck of a lot lighter than a case of water.

I recently saw a commercial for Sandals and was stunned to notice the "guests" were played by physically fit white people and the only people of color were "staff" members. It was a huge turn off.

We spent four nights at Atlantis last December on a trip I won. We watched all their videos beforehand as we had never been there. It looked as if everyone was under thirty and skinny. When we got there, not so much. ;-)