BirdTravels

We don't. One suitcase is just for shoes. And we bring our own hangers because there are never enough in the closets

The challenge is that if you are the people without the dining package, you really don't want to watch Guest 1 and 2 gorge themselves (to get their money's worth on the package) and you're sitting there sharing one serving of fries so you don't spend money. The prices at Cagney's are cheaper than any decent steakhouse on land (i.e., something above longhorn steakhouse)

They use a small fabric tag glued to your clothes. This is a bit different than a dry cleaners at home where they staple paper tags to shirts. Your laundry is pressed and folded. And delivered neatly wrapped in tissue paper in a whicker basket. We sail 5-6 times a year and do a couple of bags of laundry per cruise. We have never had any damage.

NCL stopped stocking refrigerators with the pandemic. Now the just leave 3 bottles of water for purchase.

The reduction in hosts on large ships to an executive host and senior host will be coming to the US (currently implemented on European cruises). That’s a 50% reduction to the host staff. And additional “enhancements” to the CAS program are coming in response to the requirement for each department to reduce costs. There was nothing specific on what the “enhancements” will be.

Call CAS direct. Don’t bother with offers.

This change was made a few months ago. Cost saving.

Will stay on the card until your next cruise.

Rotating menus. Post #147 has an example show schedule for the Eastern Caribbean. Post #21 has an example show schedule for the Western Caribbean. Sprinkled throughout are the MDR menus from last week. Since the permanent replacement for After Midnight continues to be delayed, they have guest performers onboard and the show schedules evolve around the guest performers (who have contracts from 1 to 5 weeks).

Not a big deal at all. No, the sky is not falling. Just rebook now or onboard. All better. Have a great cruise. We have sailed on the Prima twice and love the ship… Palomar not so much.

You do it yourself by sending a redacted brokerage statement.

Have them by a 2-night package. Eat with you one night. Eat on their own the second night. Why don’t they have a package? To put it in perspective, I ate at Cagney’s a few nights ago. My a la carte cost would have been $116 for my meal. With the mandatory gratuity, that’s $139. Our dinner for two would have cost $238 if we didn’t have the dining package.

Beautiful. Classy like the rest of the ship.

Our medical group will dispense Paxlovid with a few clicks on a questionnaire on their website. A doctor looks at the clicks and if they are “correct” a prescription is ready in 15 minutes. The pharmacist has to advise you if there are any drugs you should avoid during your paxlovid treatment.

Let’s see… how many stars for a drink with a cost of $0 with the package?

Last week, on another cruise line, the crew was doing a drill, practicing with a life raft. I think that a life boat would be preferable accommodation in any sea condition. I didn’t stick around to see if they actually threw the raft into the pool and practiced getting into the raft from the water whilst wearing a life vest.

The Bird collects all kinds of metrics for the most frequently asked questions on CC. This is one of them, in addition to passenger counts, numbers of ambassador guests, and the cruise director’s name.

That’s a laugh. Tell all of the United States ports that demand tax payments. I suppose it is easy enough to cancel a package and charge the guest for every drink that they had,,, including taxes.

When you check in online exactly 21 days prior to departure, 12 midnight eastern time, you select your port checkin time. Since you want to arrive early, you will want to be online exactly at midnight since early port checkin times sell out quickly. Have your passport, emergency contact, payment information and a mug shot (face directly at the camera, one face only, plain background, no glasses, no head covering). When you arrive at PC and check in at the port, you will be given a boarding group number. You board by group number. Suites boarding usually starts around 11:00 am. Priority boarding (top tier Latitudes members) around 11:15. General boarding by group number around 11:30.

NCL won’t change it for you. And most flights are booked in a cheapo fare class that the airlines won’t change it for you. In general, you can expect the cheapest flights. Those are not the ones leaving at lunch time. Personally, we are retired and have no where to go quickly, so we’ll spend the day at the airport people watching and eating (just a continuation of the ship).

Why would you expect your cabin steward to know how the laundry dept works? Did you also ask your steward for bacon individually cooked on the flat top versus in the convection oven? Assume NO special handling. Your stuff is thrown into 73 lbs washers and 110 lbs dryers. They do not handle each price during the transfer between machines.

If you get a travel credit, your insurance won’t pay a penny. Not many fares are non refundable / non changeable.

When you “book yourself online” are you fully quoted with all port fees and taxes, gratuities, etc? It is more than the cruise fare. A good travel agent should get you a total price no more than your online booking. Then add their own perks (OBC, bingo, phone, photos, Wi-Fi, shore ex credit) and maybe a gift card for their establishment.

Everyone checks in online. That currently opens at 12 midnight eastern time on Day 21. During online check in, everyone selects a time to check in at the port. Folks that want an early pot check in time will stay up and do their online check in at midnight. You need - passport - emergency POC information - payment information - mug shot photo (face straight into camera, no head covering, no glasses, plain background/wall) You will get your edocs (tickets and luggage tags) within 24 hours of completing online checkin.

Pre-pandemic, a lot of cruises had over 25% of adult passengers sailing on casino offers. NCL CAS comped rooms, CAS discounted rooms, land casino comped, land casino discounted. Every 4th cabin walking down the hall is sailing for free or on a discount. Last week it was over 12% of total passengers on the Escape.