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9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Kinda depends. The timing on the last couple to be left behind looks like they would arrive back from their independent tour just before all aboard. They showed up “a few minutes late” and waved at the ship as it left dock. They blamed traffic in the rain. 

It doesn’t depend at all. I said being on board 15 minutes before deadline is plenty. I will stand by that in all circumstances.

1 hour ago, AlaskaGoer said:

I reached out to that tour group via their website. How quick do they get back?

 

We have some time and I got a confirmation email they received my request.

It’s Easter weekend in Greece. It might be Tuesday before they get back to you. 

3 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

Strict. Sometimes the all aboard time is within 30 minutes of the actual sail time. I personally would aim for 2 hours PRIOR to the time posted in the daily.

 

The only grace you can really count on is embarkation day, where I was once delayed due to lost luggage plus a lost driver, and I got to POM at about 2:30-3 for a 4 PM departure. Everything was pretty chill at the terminal by that time, no lines, but all the way there including up until I actually was told I’m good to go, I was having a nervous breakdown and making plans in case I didn’t get on. They were starting muster drills right after I stepped on the boat 

15 minutes before all aboard is plenty, why waste 2 hours of port time 

18 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

@mking8288...I have not had a "good" meal at LeBistro in all my sailings.  I know I'm way in the minority on that.  Have to say, your meal looks exceptional, though.  Glad you really liked it.

I agree with you. I have never had anything worthwhile from LeBistro

7 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

We sailed Breakaway in Jan 2023, and Dec 2023 (Xmas cruise).

 

GSC is not a tender port, it has a traditional dock, although fairly long.  

 

 

 

When did they finish the dock. It wasn’t there in January 2024. 

1 minute ago, AllHandsAstern said:

I manually set my phone time to ship time to avoid this problem.

The easiest way to avoid the issue is to use an analog watch. 

1 minute ago, RWK1952 said:

Just looked at my notes.  I was told very specifically that the policy is called "Unlimited Price Drops".

Show us the writing. What you were told is irrelevant 

Just now, RWK1952 said:

NCL has a price drop guarantee on their cruises.  Maybe it's not my cruise consultant's job to notify me, but I am curious how it gets done otherwise without me notifying them first?

Please show me that in writing 

29 minutes ago, RWK1952 said:

I hope you enjoy whatever new trip you are able to book.  I am sorry that we may not have been able to meet aboard an NCL cruise.  My mother and grandmother were Swedish - Burquist.

 

Since you mentioned that you were able to monitor price drops on CruisePlum, I was wondering whether you caught those latest two price drops on the NCL Iberian cruise?  I saw them on the NCL website.  I contacted my cruise consultant and he issued new invoices reflecting the price drops.  But I wondered whether those would have been caught automatically by NCL if I had not first brought them up? 

Why would an NCL cruise consultant notify you of a price drop? That’s not their job. 

I don’t think anyone on here is going to be able to answer this one. NCL has to clean up the web site. 

NCL excursions don’t need to worry about tender times. You are taken as a group from the meeting point to the tender. 

Probably all sold out before you started looking. 

3 hours ago, pdm68! said:

I will be on the ship in 3.5 weeks.  Any idea if crab legs  still exists in the Garden Buffet for the Alaskan theme dinner?  I would expect with all of the cost cutting measures probably not but thought I would ask.

 

Thank you

Is there even an Alaskan theme dinner any longer?

I hope this doesn’t go on for dozens of pages like the Africa mess. These guys just messed up

1 hour ago, dolls123 said:

Nice to know the hot tubs are hot! People always complain they are lukewarm.

96 is Luke warm. 

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

most cruises depart around 4 PM.

 

if your departure is scheduled for 8 PM, that suggests that boarding may not begin until 2 or 3 PM. it is unlikely that they will board you at 11:30 or so if your departure is not until 8.

 

look at the ship's schedule for the prior cruise on the same ship... what time is it scheduled to arrive?

 

On, NCL you can do a preliminary checkin online 120 days before the cruise. to get the earliest checkin time for the pier, go to the website at 12 AM ET exactly 120 days before your sail date. in person checkin at the pier usually starts 2 hours before boarding begins. so if the website is offering a checkin time of 11 AM, it's a safe best that boarding will not begin before 1 PM.

An 8 p.m. departure does not mean that boarding will be delayed past he usuall,11:30 or so, unless the ship arrives later than normal..BTW you cannot begin checkin 120 days prior to sailing it is 21 days

This is an issue with the specific TA, it’s not an NCL issue. 

22 minutes ago, ticktock01 said:

I've cruised mostly on Celebrity in the past. They usually tell passengers that they must be back on board one hour before leaving a port.  I noticed that NCL, specifically the Prima, says we must be back aboard two hours before leaving a port. 
How strict is NCL about this?  If I get back to the ship one hour before the ship is due to leave, will that be a problem for me? Of do they say that just to make sure the last minute people get back in time?

All aboard times at non tender ports of call is usually 30 minutes prior to departure. The description on line is a bit deceptive in that the 2 hours is only for initial embarkation. 

On 4/28/2024 at 1:03 PM, Grumpella said:

I am going on the Escape next week.  We have 1 tender port, Cannes.

 

I am hearing conflicting information on how the tender process works:  get tickets at onboard screens as soon as I board or get on the app the night before or meet in the theater and people with NCL tours are let off first and then others or line up the day before to get my ticket.  What the $%#%

 

Can someone with experience on the Escape tell me how it works?

 

I am Platinum, but am concerned about just leaving it to my Platinum status, as others have complained their priority tender did not work for them.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

When you board go to the CruiseNext desk and ask. Every ship is different. 

40 minutes ago, jcathers1 said:

My wife and I both have the two meal FAS. Can we bring our two daughters to a restaurant and use all four meals in one sitting? Do we need to let the restaurant know in advance that we plan to do that (other than making a normal reservation)?

 

Or, if we wanted to purchase additional specialty dining meals, is it cheaper to do that before the cruise or during? 

No you can’t. They are not transferable and have to be used by the named guest. Best bet is to buy the daughters 2 meal specialty dining packages if they are too old to eat off of the kids menu. 

It’s not calculated like that. It includes port fees, taxes and other expenses and they can vary all,the time. There is no correlation between the fees on two different cruises, especially if the ports are not identical. 

It doesn’t matter what kind of tags you have, even hand written ones from the pier are fine, as long as your cabin number is on it. 

4 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

We were supposed to sail on the Spirit in March of 2020.  It was in dry dock in February, then was to set sail from Civitavecchia for Capetown.  We were going to board it in Africa for the Seychelles, then on to Japan.  We were following closely the roll call for the cruise before ours, the one from Civitavecchia.  Those passengers ended up spending several extra nights in hotels in Italy while waiting for the Spirit to come out of dry dock.  Their cruise was cut short because of the extended dry dock, but their more significant problem was that they missed virtually every port of call because of COVID.  Our cruises on the Spirit never took place, of course, due to COVID.

 

On another occasion an NCL ship came out of dry dock on schedule, but much of the planned renovation work was not complete.  The ship (I don't recall if it was the Star, Spirit, or some other) sailed with dozens of workmen on board, several public areas roped off, and with lots of noise and paint fumes as the work continued.  There may be other examples, but these are ones I remember reading about or experiencing first hand.

You need to live in the present not the past. These issues rarely happen. 

Nothing to do with NCL. 

1 hour ago, astera said:

 

Thinking of doing the same, which leaves me considering the following choices:

- Dover sole

- Lamb shank+chop

- Seabass

 

Has anyone tried the above?

 

 

Thanks for the pics - DEFINITELY getting the steak tartare as a starter! 🙂

Had the lamb, it’s not very good.