Middleager

Very soon after 6am when you hear the announcements, you can carry your own luggages to get off. If you have your own transportation lined up, you can be on the way to the Vatican. Do you mean to visit St. Peter's Sq, go into the Basilica, or visit the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel (need to buy tickets)? Last time we bought the small tour, before opening to the public, and had a fabulous guided tour inside. We were in the Sistine Chapel for 25minutes. We had breakfast in the courtyard. When we were coming out, there were lots and lots of people, and outside there were lots of people lining up (some to buy tickets, some to get in..)

If it was my wife snoring, the entire ship would hear. So your stateroom (and any other statement) would still be affected. Ok I better be careful, don't let my wife see this.

I wouldn't feel painful or bummed at all. I'd feel glad, and blessed that I have been able to be on cruises, and got those points. So what if I'm 1 point away from the next level. There are other things that are painful, certainly not this.

But why should NCL "honor" you with Platinum, when you haven't earned it? We had been on cruises where we would've advanced to the next status level at the end of that cruise. The rule has always been you earned the night points, and if that gets to the next status, AFTER you completed the cruise, not before, not during. Your initial question (including "probably the most painful number of points") and your repeated comment, all show that even though you did know the rule, you still want to find or hear of some way to bypass the rules. Please don't use the word "honor" to mean how you like to find ways to bypass the rules (heard that some people have been lucky in having a higher status). Your understanding of "honor" is not the same as most people.

We never take the NCL transfer. It's almost always cheaper to arrange our own private or small-group shared transfer. With NCL transfer you have to wait till the big bus fill up, and if the airport has multiple terminals, it can be going around to drop off in all those terminals. But I know, some people feel safer to go with NCL transfers.

You're talking about the existing RBC Avion visa, not the ones issued from the RBC takeover of HSBC, different RBC Avion visa.

Why is 74 the most painful number of points? Many people would've loved to have cruised that many nights. No NCL won't give you special treatment for being close. But you'll get Plat after the next cruise. Plat is a good status to be in, free laundry, free specialty dining, priority tendering, etc.

We had the Scotia Passport visa, which doesn't charge the 2.5% FX fee. It also comes with 6 lounge passes, but the time when they switched from Scotia's points to Scene they messed up and did not transfer about 35,000 points over. After so many phone calls and them admitting they messed up and would get the points to us, they never did. We didn't keep that card. We then had the HSBC WE MC which does not charge FX, then upgraded to the HSBC metal WE MC which came with lounge accesses. Now RBC is taking over, RBC issued Avion visa cards as replacement, which supposedly doesn't charge FX fee -- we'll find out for sure after April 1 when we can start using the new cards.

We were on the Jewel for Panama Canal cruise in March/2022. It was the first sailing of the Jewel after the pandemic. Being on the Haven, top deck, the viewing was pretty good. My wife is short, and she also enjoyed the viewing. Later on we also went to other decks, including just above where you can see the ground and tracks closer. All were good. If it's important for you to get good viewing and you don't mind paying Haven price, then why not. (My wife and I were not in Haven room, but were invited to go up on the Haven deck for viewing of the Panama Canal crossing. I think it was because I had organized a Meet & Greet, and the ship was only at 30% capacity. Or maybe because we just made Platinum from the cruise prior.)

Was in 2022. Haven't seen double up for CF certs any more.

They had before. But not recently. I'd hope they have such promo now, so I can use my CF certs.

You got a good deal. I knew what jump ship meant, just wanted to poke fun at it. Thanks.

CruiseNext is a different program. You buy CN certs onboard ships, not just for US but on any NCL ships. During Covid when ships were not sailing, NCL came out with CF program, to sell to people who can order online or on phone in US/Canada (i.e. don't need to be on ship).

google "NCL CruiseFirst" and you'll get https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruisefirst-program

Too bad this doesn't apply to CruiseFirst certs. (I have $250 CF certs for $500 value.)

How do you jump ship? From which deck of the Star, onto which deck of the other ship? Anybody miss?

I certainly hope we won't gain 10lbs from taking any cruise.

Too bad NCL won't cruise the Napali coast. It's a beautiful part of the cruise. Napali Coast has the mystic feeling about it. We've done helicopter and small plane rides to see it before, and a POA cruise in 2019. So fortunately for us we've done all that. For friends going on the POA, they'll need to fork out more money to see this beautiful scenery.

If you want NCL lanyards with NCL logo, probably need to buy from NCL. That'll cost. Or you can add some NCL logo or identifiers yourself to the lanyards you buy, depending on how fancy you like. I guess because we've take cruises on NCL, Carnival, and others, I'm not big on carrying/wearing advertising for those companies.

Ok. They cost >US$10 on the ship, rip off price. You can certainly order them on Amazon, Staples, Walmart, etc.

I just re-used conference name tag holder (having attended many conferences). The ones with zip is best, so the card won't fall out. Actually the ones without zip, my card hasn't fallen out, it seems sticky enough.

Ok, I was wrong, NCL did charter trains. When we disembarked in Seward, we took an excursion that returned in time for the 6pm train to Anchorage. The timing worked out quite well for us.

Doubt NCL will chart a train. If anything, NCL buys seats on some cars of train to sell to you (and adds their own cut in the price). People can buy tickets for those trains themselves (we did).

Not talking about double up. If there is double up of CN that's good, but that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes when there's double up, it applies to both CN and CF, or mix of both.

The CruiseFirst certs at $250 get $500 are the best values, better than the CruiseNext certs you can only buy on ship. Those are the ones to buy when available, especially if no more expiration date.