Gampy1967

Our butler offered to do our ironing on the first night as he was busy unpacking our stuff for us. He said it would be his pleasure..we didnt take him up on it though..

 

we did request he take our over-sized in suite bath towels and warm them in the dryer on the ship and present them to us right when we exit the soaker tub (which he did) ... my wife although thought it was a bit uncomfortable having another man in the bathroom holding warm towels for us..but she said she got used to it..lol

Our butler was in the shower with my wife when I got back from the pool bar. Was that not normal butler treatment for suite guests??

Doesn't appear as if the Arcade Package is offered on all ships. I looked for our sailing on the Dawn (March 2019) and it is not offered.

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Funny you mention that because while not in the Haven as Dawn does not have one, I am in an Owners Suite and heard that I could tip my Butler $50, hand them my key cards, and he would "attend" the life boat drill for us, so we would not have to associate with the "rabble". We will be escorted to our own private lifeboat in the case of evacuation anyway so why actually attend the life boat drill??:rolleyes::rolleyes::');p

true story....wifw and i went out on our balcony and closed the curtain on the inside...we sat out there enjoying the view when my wife said...boy..the ship is so quiet..where is everybody??? turns out they were all at the lifeboat safety drill that we missed.

still had a great cruise and never felt safer that we were surrounded by 3500 people who now know exactly what to do in case there was an emergency...lol

The last time I cruised was approximately 22-23 years ago. It was on Norwegian, I believe it was the Seaward, out of Puerto Rico and went to Southern Caribbean. It was in a lower level, outside cabin with a porthole. The safety briefing at that time encompassed showing up at your specific lifeboat with your life vest and told "this is where you come if there is a problem. Thank you for coming you are dismissed.". Now in March 2019 we are going on the Dawn in an Owners Suite. Everyone complains about how small the Dawn is, but I went back and looked and it is approx 50% larger than the Seaward was (2340 passengers vs. 1480 passengers/958 ft vs 709ft). Really looking forward to it.

Is it family/kid friendly or adults only??

I have cruised quite a bit but never NCL. I was pricing a cruise yesterday and see that they offered a monthly payment option. I went home and talked with my husband and went to book it and the monthly payment plan option was gone. Does anyone know why or how o can get that option back? Thanks!

Not sure about that specific option, but after paying the deposit, you can always go back and make multiple payments as you wish as long as you pay in full by the final payment date.

"I bet if an NCL ship ever sinks the people on the lower decks will be locked below like on the Titanic. I heard a rumor the Haven has their own dedicated lifeboat with better rations stored on board and an emergency butler.

Funny you mention that because while not in the Haven as Dawn does not have one, I am in an Owners Suite and heard that I could tip my Butler $50, hand them my key cards, and he would "attend" the life boat drill for us, so we would not have to associate with the "rabble". We will be escorted to our own private lifeboat in the case of evacuation anyway so why actually attend the life boat drill??:rolleyes::rolleyes::');p

When we sailed out of San Juan last year (9:00 p.m. departure), our muster was at 4:30.

Excellent. Thank you. Will shoot for no earlier than 6:00p dinner reservations then.

The restaurant cant serve guests during the muster drill

Good to know. So if I can book the reservation then I should be fine. Thanks.

Quick question. I looked at some dailies of the Dawn for the Bermuda cruise and it shows the required Lifeboat Drill taking place at 3:00p. We are on a cruise out of Puerto Rico in March that departs at 8:00p. Will the mandatory Lifeboat drill still be at 3:00p (I know they have makeups) or will it be later, and if so about what time based upon an 8:00p ship departure?

Just wondering because I would like to make specialty dinner reservations on the first night and don't want to make them during the mandatory drill and basically lose that reservation. Thanks. And yes, I know I am probably over-planning.

We are on the Dawn sailing out of Puerto Rico departing 3/24/2019 and originally Dominica was one of the stops. NCL took it off and replaced it with St. Thomas USVI. I was pretty disappointed that they took it off but I assume it was because they were concerned it would be up and fully running by then since it was hit so hard last year.

That was funny. I don't care who you are.

Generally the party is held somewhere between 6 to 7:30. We've seen various times. Make an 8pm dinner reservation and you'll be fine. Happy Anniversary!

Thank you. That was the info I was looking for. If the party was at 8p then we could make early reservations. Knowing the party is between 6p and 7:30p or so then 8:00p dinner reservations sound perfect.

I tried to find a previous thread with no luck so please excuse if this is a duplicate. My wife and I will be on the 3/24/19 sailing of the Dawn out of Puerto Rico. From what I remember, the Captain's Cocktail Party for suite guests is normally held the evening of the first sea day after embarkation. In our case, I assume that will be the evening of Monday, March 25. Can anyone confirm that is usually when it is held and what time it usually is??

My wife and I would like to attend but that also happens to be our actual 20 anniversary and we wanted to celebrate with dinner at Le Bistro. We want to do both but I would hate to make a dinner reservation at the same time the Captain's Cocktail Party is and have to miss it or not be able to change our dinner reservations (I am aware the concierge can only do so much) in a short period of time.

Thanks for anyone's help.

we have been upgraded to spa mini suite through the bidding process' date=' we may not be entitled to spa access.[/b']

 

That is the crux of the matter - the upgrade - if you did not have the spa access before the upgrade you

DO NOT get it with the upgrade.

You do take any amenities perks promos with you from the original booking but do not get the amenities

from the upgraded cabin. - SORRY NCL rules.

You are absolutely incorrect. You gain any amenities that are part of the room. If you upgraded to a suite, you would get butler and concierge service. You don't receive any of the current extras such as fee drink plan, or specialty dinner plan that may be offered at the time of upgrade. The spa mini-suite comes with spa access as part of the room. They will get access. It is only a rumor and not fact.

im currently on the gem 11day cruise (sept 2018).

 

you get raffle tickets when you buy the pull tabs that they push before each show at the Stardust theater.

you also get raffle tickets when you buy bingo cards.

 

in the past, the free cruise for winning the raffle was a 7day.

on this cruise, they announced that the winner of the raffle gets a free 5 day cruise :(

I would no longer cruise then. Only a 5 day FREE cruise is not worth it.

Thanks for your help

 

There’s a 8:45 AM I’m looking at but I believe that’s too early

That would be awfully close. Might be ok if there were no delays or any issues.

We are on the 3/24 Cruise out of San Juan and our flights on the way back were either at 6:15a or 4:30p. I knew 6:15a was way to early even though we are in a suite. We are simply booking the rain forest tour with airport drop off thru the ship and taking the 4:30p flight.

Are you willing to 'loan' me the 6 grand for that upgrade, Gampy?;p

Sure. Send me your bank account information and I will have my Nigerian Prince wire you the money immediately. ;p

Most insurance doesn’t kick in for itinerary changes.

Kind of what I thought. I know legally it is simply an itinerary change. In my opinion, skipping Bermuda and going to Key West instead is an itinerary change. Skipping the Caribbean and going to Canada is an entirely different cruise.

Tomorrow Dawn cruise to Bermuda changed to a Canada/New England cruise most likely stopping at Saint John and Halifax. Official announcement should be coming out soon. I seen it on the roll call and on facebook.

I understand that NCL is well within their rights to do this without offering any kind of compensation or refund but this would piss me off. Bermuda/Caribbean is not even close to the same cruise as Canada.

Out of curiosity, if you had travelers insurance, and decided to just cancel the cruise since it is not even in the same region/hemisphere as the original cruise, would it typically be covered??

I did actually go back to the add to see the cost of upgrading to a full suite - as it is tempting given the low base price - but it would be a bigger price jump than I was comfortable with.

As this is a 9 day cruise, I think I'll take 'majority rules' of sticking with what I have....though for 2 weeks, I would have done the upgrade.

 

Thanks all.

Upgrade to the Garden Villa or don't sail at all. :evilsmile:;p

As former NCL cruisers DH and I were open to trying NCL again. When attempting to book a 5-day cruise out of Tampa I selected the Free Drinks promo. Imagine my surprise when the total cruise cost amount included a $178 service charge for the "Free Drinks." What is free about that? I chatted with a NCL rep and was told the service charge is the 20% gratuities for the free drinks! Free drinks should include the gratuities or it isn't really free. No thanks, we'll stick to Carnival and Holland America where there aren't service charges for "free" promos. By the way, their drink gratuities are 15%, not 20%.

Actually, depending on when you booked your cruise, free perks are in fact free. I booked our 3/24/19 cruise well over a year ago in a suite. This was before they added the "service charge" on the perks to people in the suites. Even so, why would you think that something free (that you would normally tip on) include free gratuities. If you received a certificate for a free dinner at a local restaurant, would you then stiff your waiter/waitress on the tip because 15-20% of zero is zero? Of course not, most people would tip 15-20% on the value of the free meal (assuming good service). You may have a legit complaint on the suggested retail value of the perk that the gratuity is based on, but the actually gratuity itself is pretty normal.

I have read some comment and found given $50 shore excursion credit is for every port, is it true? I thought it is only one time credit we can use, but $50 for every port is really great, even I booked non-cruise excursion on Tortola already.

 

 

My reservation doesn't show any clue of applying on every port, it says "1x choice Shore Excursion credit"

 

 

It is the first cruise for me and my family, so I have so many questions. Thank you for help in advance!

It is by port but if you don't take a ship sponsored excursion, you don't get the credit. For example if you stay on ship or simply get off the ship a walk around by yourself, you don't get the $50 credit for that particular port.

Some things I look for when buying insurance:

Does it cover cancellation due to sickness (mine, spouse, or relative) ?

How much is the medical coverage....remember your US insurance doesn't pay if you get sick in a foreign country. $10K may be on the low side

Who underwrites the policy and how are they rated? I want to make sure they're there if I make a claim.

What kind of health insurance does everyone have? I specifically checked with our HR department (I work for a large county government in the US) and specifically asked the question of, does my health insurance cover me if I get sick on a cruise, and was told yes (on a reimbursement basis obviously). I was even given the specific example of an employee (no names provided) who got the bends scuba diving near South America. He was airlifted back to the US for treatment, and the insurance paid everything , including the air ambulance charges) after much negotiation between the vendor and insurance company.

I highly doubt that.

Believe it. I was there. I was one of the passengers that complained. The person actually apologized because he did not realize it was as loud as it was. He understood that his rights and enjoyment did not override anyone else's. Something you can't seem to understand.