eileeshb

The NCL app is as unpredictable as their website, I had 2 cruises on epic in the space of a couple of months on one the app worked perfectly, no problem accessing the freestyle and restaurant menus, etc… a couple of months later without any change of phone on my part and it failed miserably no matter what I did (including re-install and power cycles).

They can't hole punch the NCL cards that are using wireless to open cabin doors, the antenna goes all around the card so there isn't a safe place to punch it.

Room key? As in ship cabin keycard?

I only looked at the menu after you posted this comment… I hate to say it but there’s plenty of places in Ireland with similar pricing at the moment. Poached eggs on avocado toast with salad in my favourite local cafe is about €12 I work in a seaside town and this summer has been atrociously quiet by our standards so we’re all having a row with the local council who want to increase parking charges, increase the areas liable for charges and increase the hours when they’d apply. This is a rural village with a relatively small permanent population where the primary businesses are tourism focused and either surf or golf being the main drivers in addition to our proximity to the 2nd most popular paid tourist attraction in the country but only a tiny fraction of the buses going there actually stop in the local villages en route.

Chances are the excursion list wouldn’t be complete this early unless it’s PoA whose itinerary rarely changes. From what I can figure most of the provider contracts seem to be renegotiated regularly and with the Caribbean ports there’s a chance of various providers getting wiped out by hurricanes. The company my parents used to get a charter yacht from in the BVIs still isn’t back to full capacity after Irma and Maria. One of the popular excursions in Alaska at Skagway (not the train) didn’t happen at all last year or this due to staff shortages. I’d say 12 months out from the start of the main season for the itinerary you’re looking for would be max list of excursions. I’m doing an Alaska cruise in less than 50 days and even at this late stage vibe passes are still available… but if it was a warmer weather itinerary that definitely wouldn’t be the case. I originally booked that cruise in January of 2022 to avoid the increased cost on the daily service charge and reductions in the FAS benefits, I then booked it for a friend in December of ‘22 and it cost about €300 less.. since then the price has bounced between those 2 figures.

Those sorts of forms aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on in Ireland, you can sign and still sue everyone. It’s only a matter of time until one of the local cliff walks here gets way more regulated, there’s at least one injury per month requiring the local rescue services. It’s so regular that the rescue crew got a custom made trolley that could handle the rough ground in the wet while hauling the latest idiot back to civilisation.

You have a fellow traveller also doing a live review Saint Greg also on jewel

Wow that WiFi for the flight price is really good.. I’m feeling a little better about the Alaska Airlines flights I’ve got between Boston and Seattle even if they did change their timetable and I now need to be up at stupid o’clock to get the Seattle to Boston flight for the connection back to Ireland.

I even tried prescription sleep tablets and it just turned me into a zombie for the flight, I wound up falling asleep in Heathrow airport waiting for my connection, thankfully I had set an alarm on my phone just in case that happened.

I never sleep on planes so I always book an aisle seat so that I can get up and walk a bit without disturbing sleepers. I've successfully slept on planes exactly twice and one of those was when I'd an entire row to myself on a red eye, the other I've never figured out how I managed to sleep on it. It's going to be dark arriving and departing from Seattle for my trip in October so I'll probably stick with an aisle for those flights, I was considering a window seat for those after seeing your pictures from a previous live review.

I have deliberately held off on paying for certain excursions and upgrades until the exchange rate is more favourable as the pricing does change in line with currency fluctuations. Thankfully I hit a reasonable exchange rate for that stuff before the euro started weakening again. I’m now waiting for it to strengthen again before I get my dollars for Alaska.

Supplemental question on this theme.. has anyone used an eSIM or know of one that’s good for Alaska? I’m not going through the rigmarole of buying yet another US sim that means having a new number for anyone back home that wants to contact me.

They changed the credit, originally it was per port but now it’s per excursion and as I’m a solo I get the credit on every excursion.

NCL will probably send out a communication once it becomes a requirement. I just got the equivalent about Canada’s version for my upcoming Alaska cruise with a stop in Victoria.

I did the paid tour a couple of times pre-covid, there were a couple of places with photography restrictions- the costumes in the theatre dressing rooms, and staff notice boards along I95. On both tours a ship’s photographer took a picture of each person on the tour in the Galley posing with some cooking equipment which was printed and mounted by the end of the tour. On those tours we did the backstage of the theatre, galley, food storage, butchers area, laundry and recycling.

Rumour is they’re cutting back on the big production shows as a cost saver. The Beatles cover band may play in the theatre on one night if their normal venue doesn’t have sufficient capacity for the demand and maybe a couple of other solo performers will be in the theatre too.

Why cancel a ticket that is free? I have the $50 excursion credit per excursion from NCL so the tram ticket didn’t cost me anything.

Nope and you can even get 2 drinks at a time… I recommend seriously considering this as a strategy due to probable lengthy waits for service if the ship is at full capacity.

Btw I will be curious to see if they do any hot alcoholic beverages on an Alaskan itinerary, particularly the day at the glacier.

Sound in stadia is challenging, mostly it’s setup assuming a full house but if there’s a lot of empty space the sound echos horribly. I’ve only been to a couple of stadium gigs in small (by USA standards) here in Ireland and I’ve actually noticed worse audio issues with pre-game/half-time musical entertainment at the sporting fixtures when it wasn’t a full house.

Following along, I’ll be sailing on Norwegian Bliss in October so not the same itinerary but I’ll have cruise newbie with me on her first cruise.

I’m not on a diet and I still have trouble with massive plates of food, I’ve been known to go for 2 apps rather than app + entree and I rarely bother with sides. But then I’m also usually making sure I have space for dessert 🧁

I’m in the same position with work meaning October is the only month viable for me. By a bit of sleuthing the NCL provider for Discover Alaska’s Whales is Gastineau Guiding and the other big whale watching excursion is being done by Allen Marine. I reached out to Gastineau as I was hoping to do their photo safari excursion. Unfortunately due to the fewer hours of daylight they are not doing the photo safari, but they did say the area they go to for the whale watching is very sheltered so they don’t think there’s much chance of that being cancelled due to rough seas. I’ve also booked the goldbelt tram ticket so there’s something else to do if the whale watching falls through.

Did it on my very first cruise and for anyone travelling in a studio there may not be a MDR booking for embarkation day so it can be a good evening for it as a solo.

They’re also called Slaps.. I think it was South Africa I heard that name for them. English is a fun language! I’ve only sailed with NCL so far, but I haven’t sailed since the latest cutbacks on service. There is a worldwide worker shortage across multiple industries but hospitality has been one of the hardest hit sectors. One of my friends sailed RCL as her first but didn’t particularly enjoy it and she thinks it was the itinerary that was the biggest issue. Like me she travelled from Ireland to Florida so making that long a trip only to be dissatisfied isn’t a great recommendation. However I enjoyed my first cruise with NCL I had booked my second within a week of getting home and bought 4 cruise next certs on the ship.