lauren009

Like others have said, your OBC will cover a lot of your incidentals. If you're okay with everything else being charged to a credit card, you can have that on file for your room and charge anything over your $200 OBC to your card and no need to bring cash. Since you already paid the gratuities, you could literally not have to spend any more money if you didn't want to!

Prepaying is mostly for budgeting purposes. If you don't prepay, you pay the same amount at the end of the cruise (they are charged to your room). Either way, you do not tip-as-you-go (unless you want to tip extra in cash, which some people feel strongly about doing and some feel strongly about not doing).

This is my packing list for a 7-day warm weather cruise... supplement as needed for AK weather :)

http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/cruise-packing-list.html?m=1

You can drink the tap water! The only other cost you HAVE to have is the daily gratuity (~$13-15/person/day depending on room type and cruise line). Go easy on drinks, skip the casino and specialty dining and your bill wont be much higher. Switch to an interior room if you're really concerned about overall cost; verandah rooms are a bit pricey. And how much time do you really expect to spend in the room!?

A lot of us females don't have pockets in our bathing suits or sundresses while on deck, makes it kinda difficult to keep it on us at all times! ;)

Right. Husband carrys his in his pocket, I use a lanyard. I'm trying something like this for my upcoming cruise (will get lanyard punched) that goes around my wrist, cause I dont like it around my neck. (searched in Amazon for "short lanyard")

Someone on the 13 day inaugural has posted pics of the first 5 days' Fun Times on the other social media page. Nothing on Camp Carnival. Search for sunglasses and umbrella drinks.

Thanks for the tip! Found it on Facebook!

I second this request!

Thank you all so much for your helpful replies about this room type. I appreciate it.

 

I'm so sorry for breaking the rules by bumping! Yikes.

I read posts telling people to search the forum before starting a new thread, which I did. My bad for not looking to see how old this thread is and for not being up on all the forum rules.

I don't see how it's against the rules when you are asking for more information... Better than starting a new thread!

I'm glad you did, I got my answers too!

I am booked on a cruise that is classified as a Distinctive Journey which means I get $100 hotel credit. Does anyone know if NCL also has discounted rates negotiated with the hotels they partner with?

My cruise is out of NYC and no way is $100 going to cover the cost of a hotel there!

Trying to understand if I am reading this correctly, the ships don't have fountain coke, they only do cans? I don't mind walking to a bar, MDR, or buffet as long as it's fountain. I, too, am a Pepsi drinker and will bring my own. But, I can handle a fountain coke. Cannot drink a can or bottle of coke.

Correct, cans only. On the Vista and Horizon (and probably future ships) they have a fountain by the IMAX theater. Though once we were charged even though we had bubbles... but I think we never got the sticker we were supposed to have.

It only applies to the Cheers package where everyone over 21 needs to purchase it. There was four of us in a cabin and only two of us got the Bottomless Bubbles package.

 

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Yes, I said that I know that currently not everyone has to get it, but did this CHANGE in the past year. I need to know if we were that dumb that we didn't realize we could just click the "remove" button!!!

I found that when I did feel movement, the motion was more like a train/subway

I found out that, currently, not everyone in the room is required to have bubbles if selected (the way Cheers does). Was this always the case? Husband told me for our cruise last year that there was no way to pick only one of us (me) to have it. Was he wrong?

Also I wanted to mention per a lot of comments above; you can ask for "no glass" but they will open the can. Weird, but better than nothing?

The codes for the categories are just codes for a certain room type in certain parts of the ship. They don't mean anything more. The main thing people say as per cabin location, is to not be under a pool deck, or galley, or above/below a theater as you will hear noises from those locations when you are trying to sleep. Your cabin is not near any of these so you're good on that.

Mini bar will be stocked but drinking from it costs extra. I had my fridge emptied so I could use it as a fridge and not erroneously get charged for something.

You have the option to check your bags or carry on or both. If you carry on, you have your stuff with you immediately. If you check your luggage it is delivered outside your door sometime in the evening. If you choose the latter option, you will want to bring a small carry on with anything you will want to have (i.e bathing suit, toiletries, etc.) before your luggage is delivered. The complaint about having bags with them at lunch is because the rooms are still being cleaned until 1-2pm (the previous guest leaves hours before you board). If you don't board early, this won't even effect you.

Here are my blog posts I wrote about NCL that you may find helpful:

Overall NCL info: http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/10/11-ncl-cruise-tips.html

Breakaway specific experience (ships are similar but not identical): http://laurenofalltrades.blogspot.com/2017/11/ncl-breakaway-cruise.html

For those restaurants that say "included" you can order AS MUCH AS YOU WANT from the menu (aside from the items that are indicated as extra charge). You can get 3 entrees, 5 appetizers, 4 desserts, whatever your heart (and stomach) desires). By request, they offer smaller versions of their entrees so that you can try more things without feeling (too) sick after :)

In case no one said it- the reason to NOT remove the gratuities and tip cash instead is because part of the automatic gratuity goes to people you might not think to tip or who you might not even see (food runners, food prep, buffet workers) so you wouldn't have the opportunity to tip them (or it would be awkward), and they get such a low salary that they rely on your gratuities more than you think. If you get a bartender or server who gives extra good service, a small extra tip goes a long way.

I want to throw the Carnival Horizon into the mix which has 6-day itineraries. It is Carnvial's newest & biggest ships with the most activities. It has a bball court, ropes course, mini golf, water slides, "tailgate games" (not sure if these are 21+ only), trivia, karaoke... so many things! I sailed on the Vista (Horizon's sister ship) last year, same itinerary the Horizon will be doing, and was never bored and wished it was longer!

I honestly wouldn't expect the price to go down this close to cruising and especially not in August as summer cruises are more popular!

I'm already booked for Feb 2020. It's the best way to know you're getting the best price (but you'll want to check from time to time that the price hasn't gone down- if it does and its before your final payment they will adjust to the lower price). I have 5 other cruises booked between now and 2/20!!

I just got married 2 weeks ago and cant get my passport changed in time for our honeymoon. I'm bringing an official (from the clerks office) copy of my marriage license with me and my drivers license with my new name (plus passport).

Carnival Vista or Horizon. So much to do on them! Husband's favorite feature is the on-board micro brewery. They are sister ships, I believe that by winter the Vista will be in Galviston and Horizon in Miami doing 6- or 8-day Caribbean itineraries; I would opt for an 8-day. If you have the $$ book a room in the Havana area, (inside, balcony, and suite categories available), which has an exclusive pool, bar, loungers and hot-tubs (public after 7pm). Havana is especially nice on sea days when everyone is on board!

I first want to point out that whether you prepay or not is irrelevant. If you don't prepay, you will still be charged for the $12(?) per person-per day, but it will be added to your end-of-cruise bill. The purpose of prepaying is to help budget for it. Whether you prepay or let it go on your bill, you are not expected to tip additional.

The reason so many people tip more is because all crew members make low wages and work endless hours and almost no days off. You will still get excellent service without tipping extra, tho tipping at the bar will get you stronger drinks served faster.

My policy for myself is $1/two drinks, $1 per person at dinner, and $10-$20 to housekeeping. For extra good service at dinner I'll tip $5-$10 more. ALWAYS CASH to make sure it really goes to those you give it to and not the cruise line.

I book all my cruises myself, but I am an avid planner and do a ton of research before booking. A TA is good choice if you feel like you are lost/confused and want guidance. They are probably most helpful if you dont know how to decide between the different cruise lines/ports/itineraries. If you are easy going and okay with learning as you go, do a search filtering by date, and departure port, then pick the itinerary you like the most keeping cost as a consideration.

I start by using crusieweb.com, put in the month i want to sail and departure port, then sort the results by cost. Once I pick one, I go to the cruiseline's website to do the booking. If I can't decide, I search for the facebook groups for the ships I'm considering, join them and either ask questions or just read what has already been discussed, to see what I think I'll like best.

In short, you are not going to be able to check all your boxes. There is no way to shave $500 off a cruise.

You have 3 choices for staying within your budget: 1) cruise during the school year (school vacations are when most families cruise, greatly increasing demand), 2) compromise on the cabin and choose an Oceanview. You will get the same size/layout room without the balcony. You will spend very little time in the room so this might be the best thing to compromise on. 3) pick a shorter cruise; looks like the Victory has 4 day itineraries that will check all your other boxes.

Booking way in advance (1+ years) will get you the best price, but not the price you are looking for. You can get on board credit by owning 100 shares of CCL stock (I do this) but you need to have ~$7000 to invest to do this.

You may be able to get a bit of on board credit by booking with a TA but not more than $200 and probably closer to $50 (total), I don't have any referrals (nor are they allowed on cruise critic); I haven't actually used a TA.

Onboard credit wont lower the initial cost of your fare but will lower the out-the-door costs (there is a $12 per-person-per day service charge that goes to restaurant servers/housekeeping/etc.; plus drinks, etc.)

I know you said not-Carnival, but I believe the Vista will have 6-day Caribbean sailings next Nov. Carnivals reputation for being a party cruise is outdated. Any cruise is what you make of it. Not trying to preach but... I was on the Vista last year, didn't party at all, and had an amazing time. Such a beautiful, and huge, ship... there is always something to do. Karaoke, trivia, shows, outside movies, to name a few. And we didn't get the drink package. Carnival tends to have the best prices, so I'd hate for you to rule it out over what you've heard, esp if you can go on the Vista! (newest and biggest ccl ship... until the Horizon's debut this year.) I'm jealous it'll be in TX instead of NY!