Tree_skier

Dear Lord some people are uptight!

No my seats were at the front of the top level, if that makes any sense describing the location. I'll certainly try I again. Maybe I had an off night.

We are newbie NCL cruisers and we are booked on Pride of America in Dec. Our booking includes 150 minutes of wifi. I doubt that that will be sufficient for me so I intend to upgrade. What is the difference between the standard wifi and premium wifi.

We care deeply about our friends 🙂

In my ideal world I look like Chris Hemsworth

I just thought it was weird and I got bored. I guess I'm in the hate it category.

Following 🙂 I love live reviews. 🙂

Since we're talking about halftime... 🙂 The greatest halftime show ever!

I'd be fine with cruise lines increasing the price to include it in the overall cost of the cruise. Since they do not, I'm not concerned about $100 a week that currently gets added to the bill. If service was so horrendous that I could not justify the $100 I guess I could have them removed but I can't imagine a degree of service so poor that went unresolved that would justify that action.

I just booked a cruise on NCL. Navigating their version of the cruise planner is way worse than Royals. I let my TA do all the booking stuff so I didn't experience that part but I have booked online with Royal in the past and it is a piece of cake. I'm sure the OP will be very happy to go back to Carnival.

Yesterday's conspiracy theory is today's headline. 🙂

Blasphemy! How can you not like tight athletic bodies and in skin tight body suits!

This was the part I read and was wondering how it worked. It seems the POA has different rules than the other NCL ships. Their doesn’t appear to be a premium plus plan on that ship.

We are veteran Royal Caribbean cruisers who are trying our first NCL cruise. We are booked on POA and I am trying to understand the Hawaii beverage package that was included with our booking. I am used to just being able to order anything and everything I want and only worrying about the cost of drinks that exceed the maximum $13. I rarely exceeded that $13. NCL's package goes to $15 so all is good. However, It appears that NCL HBP only does not include Latte's, which I love in the morning, and my wife drinks repeatedly all day, unless ordered in the main dining room. My question is can you just walk into the MDR and order a latte and walk out with it without having a meal? What about at the buffet, is there any option for lattes or cappuccino there? What is the MDR hours that would allow this? What about in specialty restaurants? Does the package include specialty coffee there? I'm sure I'll have more questions later on but this is good first start. Thanks for the help. 🙂

I imagine there might be a little less restraint than had I been paying cash for everything but I’ll find out for sure on my next one in August to Alaska. This will be our first cruise as diamond. I’m going to use the vouchers for the expensive drinks and pay cash for for Latte’s and bottles of Strongbow I drink. Also, I have preordered a 24 pack of water for the room. I’ll total up the cost and compare it to the $66 a day I would have spent on the package. That will determine my future decisions.

It distinguishes between fresh from concentrate and fresh from an actual orange.

Once you have tried their fresh squeezed OJ. It is hard to go back to that yellow liquid they call OJ in the windjammer. 🙂

Oh there is no doubt that the refreshment package is cheaper. I was just explaining how I get and calculate value for the DBP. On my last cruise aboard Odyssey in February I had the DBP and I got it for $60 a day. My week long total, if calculated as paying cash, would have been over double that (8x60=480). My point is that you don't have to stagger around drunk all day to get great value out the DBP. I sleep in, and don't stay up till 2am and still get very good value out of the package.

One of my strategies is asking for a bottle of water when you order a drink. Over the course of the first few of days I like to load my cabin refrigerator with waters so that I have plenty for the entire week. On port days I load up my rucksack with with waters for both myself and DW and we stay well hydrated during any tour/excursion we are on. At $3 a bottle it really helps take a chunk out of the overall cost of the DBP. Another strategy, if you like OJ, is to make sure you always order the fresh squeezed OJ from one of the servers in the Windjammer at breakfast. If you are an OJ snob like me you will really appreciate the difference between what they serve to the masses vs. the good fresh squeezed stuff. The OJ is $5 a glass one of those each morning also help to get good value. My final strategy for getting value out of the package is... DON'T DRINK WINDJAMMER COFFEE! Pick up a Latte or a Cappuccino in the morning before heading in to breakfast. The two weakest parts of Royal's beverage game are their regular coffee and the previously mentioned OJ. Stay away from them. Welcome to cruise critic.

It's a strategy... just not a very good one.

Greetings fellow warriors, Many years ago Homer captured the epic return of Odysseus to Ithaca following the conclusion of the Trojan war. It is a brilliantly written poetic masterpiece that, if you are literary minded, will grip your soul. This will not be Homer’s Odyssey. This will mostly be a narrative about me excessively eating and drinking for 8 days. 🙂 This is our third cruise since the restart. We loved each previous one irrespective of protocols. We hope and expect this one will be the same. This is our first Quantum class ship so we’re especially excited about trying it out on a brand new version of it. We’re not night owls anymore and won’t be partying until late in the night so drinking begins early and ends early. Any recommendations about drinks to experiment with is greatly appreciated. We have the UDP on this one as well as the beverage package so most of dining will be in the specialty restaurants. I’ll post lots of pics and comment a little. Shows and activities spliced in between my eating and drinking will chronicled as best I can. I’ll do my best to answer any questions aboard the ship. The war has ended. (Covid is almost over) It is time for everyone to go home (Normal life needs to return)