MagnoliaBlossom

Thanks. That is not his I remember getting there, but I’ll bookmark this for future reference.

I used to go to this page all the time to watch for specials. For the life of me I cannot find it on their website any longer. How do I get to this page? Thanks.

Bingo.

I appreciate how NCL extends the military discount to all US veterans (and Canada, I think) but also to spouses and surviving spouses.

🐀

Well, I’ve got the rejection emails to prove it, but - well, you know how it is here sometimes.

Completely agree that NCL has the est loyalty program. CCL and PCL can’t even come close.

For what it’s worth, there are some limitations on getting the OBC. Yu cannot receive it if you are on a comped cruise,such as a casino comp, or other “deeply discounted” fares. We receive several casino comps a year and our OBC request is always denied, but of course I,eep applying,cause ya just never know whenMCLs inconsistency will work in my favor 😉 we also have CCL stock which we use on our Princess cruises. we also try to avoid flying and mostly cruise out of Galveston, but I don’t mind driving to my hometown of NOLA for a trip down the mightyMississippi.

We are Diamond on NCL and recently tried out Princess after a 14 year gap. We LOVE Princess. They are a half step up from NCL, IMHO. The dining is better, the ships are so tasteful and evening music, violins or piano, are so e joyable as we had a pre dinner beverage. We did not attend any of the shows as we spend the evenings in the casino, so I can’t comment on that. At one time PCL was more expensive than NCL, but now I’d say they’re about on par with each other. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

They stopped accepting reservations for the MDR some time back. It was never necessary but you could make reservations on some ships. This was particularly nice if you’ had a group of 8 or more. I tried it last year for the Manhattan dining room, hoping to avoid the long lines, but even as a Diamond member they said it was not possible.

We are early birds so no such thing as us lounging about (although we kid ourselves occasionally that we’ll have a leisurely sit down breakfast 🤣). Never happens. We are first in line for early walk off and usually pulling out of the parking area at 7:30. So, others know best what really happens, but I hear stuff 😉

Yu must exit the ship by 9:30 and I believe we were asked to vacate the cabin by 8:00

Oceans Blue has always been our favorite specialty restaurant. I see on some ships, they are converting it to Palomar, which is fabulous. So much so that on the Prima we cancelled one of our other specialty dinners to have a second trip to Palomar.

A trick they learned years ago with the Dawn. Now it’s on a larger scale

I ram h🐏 no this may be port specific. Some ports, especially abroad have limited seating areas so overcrowding is a hazard. We have 32 NCL cruises under our belt and have never been denied entry as we approached the lime' maybe that was because of status but in NCL lines I don’t recall eopele being restricted except in Dover and the older Shouthamptonmpiee.

I shy away from the “other roll call”, on you know where. There is way too much mininformation spread over there, and far too many Prima Dona’s. I’m not up for drama, I just want to meet some folks, share a drink,and build memories, with people I’ve “met” on C+ for years.

Ooh, we’re on that one, too, along with gg. Need to see if there is a roll call yet.

Not to mention the wonderful availability of fresh seafood restaurants.. if you’d u want BBQ, try Queens, for a great burger overlooking the water, try The Spot. The Oaks of Galveston is interesting to see. Beautiful old oak trees were killed nt the salt water that stood for several weeks. They have been carved into totems bu very creative artists. And for a wonderful drink I a classic old hotel,stop by The Galvez hotel. You kind of expect the GreatGatsby cast to roam y.

That will be a nicer time to sail, near sunset.

Check the time of sailing. I’ve done six cruises from SJ and none of them left before 10:00 pm. Too late for us after a busy embarkation day.

I haven’t been to a sail away party in twenty years, maybe more. We typically have a balcony and choose to have our own quiet party with a bottle of nice wine.

I think anything they do recognize our veterans is a good thing. CCL has a great big fancy video production, but much of it is self serving, how we love love vets because we are CCL and it focuses way too much on them rather than out vets. But, it does bring the vets together so they can have some fellowship, if they so choose. i always liked it when they did the gathering on the first sea day so that they could meet one another on the front end, in case they find someone they connect with. On a cruise three years ago, it was on a last sea day event and we sat with a couple who turned out to live 25 miles from us, the guys hit it off like crazy (surprised someone didn’t have to call security on these two 🤭) We have supper once a month and as we’ve all been through some medical challenges three of that foursome were in the hospital waiting rooms while we waited for news of the fourth. NCLs invitation is a well done, witty salute to guys who have gotten orders in the past. Our SIL is a Navy vet and a bit of a recluse, he knew he would get a military discount but I’d not clued him in n the invite, challenge coil, etc. He was impressed by the outreach with the contents of the invite and actually went to the event. It didn’t last long but he appreciated the effort. yeats ago, NCL offered a veterans discount but discontinued it around 2009 or so, which I thought was unfortunate. I was glad to see it return. the meeting may be lame on some ships, but others do it well. I’m just glas they haonor our vets at all. They deserve it.

I don’t think it’s a secret by any means,it’s just constantly in flux.

If you want a really nice CCL cruise, consider the Jubillee from Galveston. You can fly SW to Hobby or anything else to IAH. Being its newest ship, it will be quite nice for a while. We also are very impressed with the Regal Princess from Galveston. Everythng a cruise line should be (for grown ups, anyway), but they do not sail year round from the Caribbean

There is a gentleman by the name of Robbie O’Malley who is a frequent poster on social media. He says there are approximately 300 Ambassadors, if I remember correctly.