Daniel A

Would you really use a physician who works on commission in the first place??? 😵 Many, many medical practices discount their services for patients who do not have insurance or are experiencing financial difficulties. Really, most people don't even ask what a physician's rates are because someone else is usually footing the bill in the first place.

If I can jump in here, I think what @KCfromMontana is experiencing is that NCL Air is experiencing a large volume of schedule changes for many other customers which has created a backlog and has them swamped so they can't get around to making KC's booking yet. I don't think KC has gotten their Air Confirmation yet.

I truly respect your opinions on perks and discounts being offered by TAs. I also respect that different customers have differing levels of service required from a TA. If I needed to pick up a telephone and call a TA to arrange a two-week train, bus, car and air vacation next October and I expect the TA to put together all of the arrangements and get back to me, then I agree wholeheartedly. I do on the other hand, usually do my own research and book my cruises directly with the cruise line and transfer the booking to my online TA who does discount the fare and rebate some of that fare with OBC, specialty dinners and excursions. I did the lion's share of the work, and my TA still gets a commission, so it is a win-win for both of us. People will look for the best deal they can get for the products they want. Different vendors will offer special deals for front line workers, first responders, teachers, seniors and there's nothing wrong with taking advantage of those deals. Some people prioritize using credit cards that offer cash back and airline points when buying needed products. In closing, I never met a doctor or lawyer or travel agent who didn't negotiate their best deal when purchasing real estate or a car. That certainly affects the commissions of the real estate agent or car salesperson. 🤷‍♂️

We will be first time cruisers on "O" and we are interested in finding out if we book a cabin directly on the "O" website, can we transfer that booking to our online TA? Does "O" offer shareholder benefits? Thanks.

Do you know if the Haven spa offers the same massages as the rest of the ship has?

That might work out if you can get a NCL hotel. A year before my next cruise from Rome, I got "waitlisted" as NCL didn't have anything available in Rome. Now, a year later, I'm still waitlisted... I booked my own hotel as a backup plan and I'm glad I did. I have a 2-day deviation. I even tried changing the dates of my sailing, but NCL still had nothing for a hotel.

I have just received a 7th duplicate Air Confirmation Letter. 🤷‍♂️🤣

Can the pre-cruise concierge make a reservation in advance for massages?

I leave New York JFK at 8:30 PM and arrive Rome at 3PM the next day. That's certainly not in the AM. I don't really mind because I wasn't looking forward to needing to cool my heels waiting several hours for our hotel room to become available.

I thought I would be 'gold' flying round trip, NYC (JFK) to Rome and back. I figured we would have non-stop flights between such large, busy airports. Nope! Outbound, via Iceland and return via Montreal. I'm not complaining though, with the BOGO, we saved a lot of money to use on private airport/cruise port transfers...😉

I can only relate my current experience with this. We are a party of three. We got our Air Confirmation 60 days before our flights. We took a two-day pre-cruise deviation, and we weren't able to book our hotel through NCL. So, we were on our own to locate a hotel and transfers. I previously posted the contact info for our Rome hotel as I booked our rooms there because we would be able to use the hotel shuttle as a backup plan. As soon as I got our Air Confirmation, I tried booking private car transfer service since I finally had our flight information to book the transfer to Rome. Because we are a party of three with our luggage, we needed to book a van as a car wouldn't handle three passengers and luggage. I expect the same would apply to your party of four. Every car service that has vans were already booked 60 days out. I was only able to book our vans (to Rome and to Civitavecchia) through our hotel's concierge. We didn't want to go to the port in their bus, but at least that was an option if the concierge couldn't arrange the private transfer. Fortunately, the concierge was able to accommodate us. If the hotel option doesn't work for you, maybe the following video may be of help. There are other videos available on YouTube as well.

I don't know if this is industry wide, but on some of my cruises on other lines, the bartenders at a particular bar pool their tips at that bar. I've given a big tip on my first day to one bartender and the other one, knew my name and drink preferences before I met that bartender.

I suggest that you check your spam (or junk mail) folder frequently. Sometimes e-mail from NCL ends up in my junk mail folder. The air confirmation e-mail didn't, but mostly offers from cruise lines do end up in the junk mail for some reason.

We got an e-mail from NCL entitled "Air Confirmation for Reservation (your reservation # Ship & sail date)" There is a file attachment with specific details, but they only identified the airlines by two letters. I had to google "Airline **" to discover what airlines I had been booked on.

I booked my hotel in Rome as NCl could only waitlist me for the hotel they use. I booked into the Crowne Plaza Rome - St. Peter's. They have shuttle service (bus or a private car is optional) that you can take from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the cruise port. Hotel web site: 4-Star Business Hotel: Crowne Plaza Rome - St. Peter's The hotel sent me this information sheet for available shuttle services: SHUTTLE NAVETTA FROM 01 APRIL 2023 (002).pdf

You should be getting a discount on your air charges because of the deviation, although obviously you will be paying additional funds for the pre-cruise hotel and transfer but that's all good. I booked my cruise more than a year in advance and requested a two-day deviation in Rome with hotel and transfers. - No good. I was waitlisted for the hotel but they did book the two day air. I had to scramble to find a hotel in Rome with a transfer service from the hotel and to the cruise port two days later. Enjoy your pre-cruise deviation, you did well! To answer your question about the luggage weight, you need to wait until you get your Air Confirmation from NCL. That will show which airlines you have been booked on. Once you know that, you need to check with your airlines(s) directly to find out their baggage policies. Just be sure to check each airline you will be flying as some airline's policies are different than others. I hope this helps...😃

@Sthrngary - Did you mean to say: "Don't worry you will not be closed out on shows?"

How did you pre-book the "Six" for that cruise?

How do I find out which shows will be on my sailing? I am assuming the pre-cruise concierge can reserve seats for us. Is that correct?

Thanks for the offer, but we are sailing in September. 🤷‍♂️

I hope you are correct! DW is very anxious about needing to walk any distance carrying her bags. The only videos we have seen about Civitavecchia show people walking in long queues dragging their bags before they get to the free port shuttle to the ship. Whatever the case, I now have a private car service booked for the trip from Rome to the port and I'll just deal with whatever comes. Thanks for the reassuring words, I'll pass them along to DW. 💁‍♂️

Just wondering if you were able to find a car service yet?

You could try saying that your credit card comes with a bonus that your travel party will have priority boarding through a priority lane called the Haven. Similar to getting TSA Pre Check at the airports. Just a sneaky thought....😏

Yes, I did ask for the contact info for the car service, but I've gotten no response yet. I looked at Shared Shuttle and they suggest putting a solicitation for others on our roll call to fill a vehicle. I am staying at a hotel in Rome for two days pre-cruise and the roll call for this cruise isn't very active. Finding others on the roll call staying at the same hotel wasn't practical. Thank you for the suggestions, I have decided to just book the private car service and just adapt to whatever comes at embarkation.

Thanks, I have been trying to get an answer to this question from the hotel, but the contact person doesn't seem to understand my concern. She keeps merely sending me a response advising the shuttle bus or private transfer rates and booking info. Very frustrating especially since DW is very concerned she won't be able to take her bags very far at all.