MagnoliaBlossom

Jphome safe and sounds after a wonderful cruise on the Prima. Best part was meeting GraphicGuy, ggTexasGal, and LindaM.  Great people.

we were lucky enough to get in on the BTS tour and dinner with the Captain.  I was seated next to the captain at dinner and during some silliness we were all having about things we’d like to do on a ship, I replied that I wanted to blow the hen.  He turned to me and said “we can do that”. So he invited everyone who was at the dinner for a bridge tour the next afternoon, which he personally conducted for 30 minutes and as we were leaving he stopped me and said, 

“let’s go blow the horn rn”. And I did!!!!   He is such a delightful man. 
 

DH thinks roughly enjoyed the Veterans Gathering.  Well attended, nice snacks, and a group photo was taken along with each attendee with the three officers who were there.  Later that night each attended their photos and a group photo.  Nice touch. 
 

the common area furniture is all very comfortable and very heavy.  And our balc My furniture was the best ever!

Not all ships have been doing it, which is a shame, but it seems more are returning to it.  

We are Diamond on NCL, we did a 7 day on the Regal Princess in December and it was the best cruise we’ve done in many years.   Als we are Diamond, we have found the services on NCL to be declining.  We got an offer for a  balcony cabin at an incredible rate and booked it.   The experience was beyond wonderful, it reminded me of why we fell in love with cruising so many years  ago.  It’s hard to walk away from NCL Diamond perks but the experience was superior to what we have received lately from NCL, at a similar price. But I think when cruising in the future, I’m going to look at Princess vs NCL

On the ship there are employees with bright colored caps and a vest who will direct you to your station.

There was an NCL review about 20 yrs ago that I still remember, “Cruise from Hell” or something similar.  It went on forever and had scads of comments.  It was an AK cruise, forget the ship, but this supposed physician slammed her room was filthy.  She supposedly found a dog biscuit under the bed, a variety of other housekeeping errors, but the icing on the cake was a poop filled dirty diaper in the bedside table drawer.  It was hysterical.

CFs are more restrictive than CNs but still a good value if you understand them.

in terms of CNs, it is lure to purchase and spend more onboard.  Some folks fail to understand that when you get a CN and it is half price, say $500 for $250 (for 2 CNs) they give you that $250 off in an OBC.  If you decide oh, look I got half price cents and $250 free money, let’s go spend it!  You’ve fallen into the trap (which is exactly what they hope for). If you want to preserve your discount don’t spend the discount.  It will apply to your account but don’t go out of your way to use it up, unless you’d already decided to use it that way.

You need to do your homework prior to booking.  Recently we booked a sailing on the Dawn.  Recently the Dawn has changed their categories and now there is only BA and BX (quarter where you don’t choose your cabin). So we could not book a mid level cabin to upgrade to a BC or BB.   The next up cabin wa$300 pp more y the time I was ready to upgrade.  This was a surprise to me as we’d sailed the Dawn before and they had the usual assortment of balcony categories.  When in doubt, call WP before yu book to see what cabins will suit your needs and then look at their location and plan accordingly.   

the confusion may lie in the ship.  On some of the jewel class and older ships, the reservation “desk” is a table in the Asian restaurant area outside of Tepanyaki.   At times it has been in the Pour House.  It depends on the ship, so ask a crew member when you board so you don’t waste a lot of steps and time searching for the correct location.

19 hours ago, razor7_us said:

 

 

We’ve never tried the steak at LeBistro.. DH usually has the duck and I have sea bass or whatever their fish is.

My husband loves his steaks, but he has always found the best steak on the ship to be in LaCucina.  Yeh, the Italian restaurant. Someone years ago sitting next to us had this amazing looking steak.  Three of the four people at that table and told us they always came here for steak,  DH tried it and agreed.  I go for the osso buco so we’re both happy campers.

We are Diamond and I’ve used the stateroom water for free for quite some time without a charge.  I don’t know if it’s still this way (cause I just don’t recall);but once we turned platinum the tag on the bottle said complimentary rather than the other one that had a price on it, I think.

There is a list of what wines can be ordered but I had to hunt a bit for it, plus it’s in paragraph style rather than an easier to use, list.  The delivery being gratuity makes sense, but don’t ya think major cruise line could make that a little clearer?  Thank you all for your insight.

MB

We have not ordered a wine package in many years but decided to order some wine for our Jubilee sailing. Unlike the old days, your wine is not delivered to your cabin, you collect tickets for wine at Cherry on Top,, then collect your wine from a bar or restaurant.  Okay, no problem.  But as I looked at my total for check out, there is a $14.95 delivery charge.  That’s crazy.

We’ve done AK six times and I prefer the Jewel class ships for those itineraries.  In terms of airfares, if you book two one way tickets it will be hard ther than booking an open jaw, which is more than a RT but in my experience it was not as hgh as the two one ways.

2 hours ago, KSSS2013 said:

 I’ve heard legends that the Cruise Next staff will act as a concierge but I have never tried it myself. 

They may occasionally help you out, but usually they are faaarrr too busy selling CN certificates to be of help to anybody but themselves,  I have generally found them to be rude, egocentric weinies. 

The concierge service is a figment of NCLs imagination.  It doesn’t exist for anyone outside of Haven or,Suites.   Many years ago I did try it out and the concierge hung up on me.  
 

yes, there is a help, desk and they were quite helpful when my dining reservations all:disappeared for my upcoming,Prima,cruise.

Okay, I do remember that now.  Was too much to hope for, but it was worth a try.  Thank you all.

Ive not used transfers in quite a while so don’t know the answer to this.

i believe I read on CC that the $50 FAS excursion credit could be used towards transfers.  Is that true?

thank you in advance.

MB

12 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

The volcanic activity is on the southeastern portion of Iceland, near the Blue Lagoon area.  I saw yesterday that the Blue Lagoon has reopened.  The ports of call you will have are on the northern shore and terminate in Reykjavik which is in the same geographic area but not close enough to be in danger.  There may be a change in some shore excursions out of Reykjavik if the sysmic activity increases, but there is a lot to see from that area in several directions.

I misspoke here, it is the south western side of the island.

But of course, we’ve been faceless friends for way too long.

If you have platinum or greater status they will usually get you one even in basic cabins.  There is a limited supply of them, though so they prioritize their distribution.  Best to ask very first time you meet your steward, or if he’s not around when you get to your hallway, call customer service and ask nicely.

The volcanic activity is on the southeastern portion of Iceland, near the Blue Lagoon area.  I saw yesterday that the Blue Lagoon has reopened.  The ports of call you will have are on the northern shore and terminate in Reykjavik which is in the same geographic area but not close enough to be in danger.  There may be a change in some shore excursions out of Reykjavik if the sysmic activity increases, but there is a lot to see from that area in several directions.

It’s always such a treat to meet people who’ve your chatted online with for so many years.

MSC has signed a letter of agreement with the port of Galveston and are looking to build a new terminal.  It will be nice to have another option for our home port.

I had all mt dining reservation vanish in December.  Was able to get them back it took a call to the Diamond desk, or whatever it’s called, though.