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Am I correct in understanding that If you get OBC as a perk with your booking you cannot use the shareholder OBC credit?

So glad, at least for now, that my only cruise thus year will be HAL from Quebec City to FLL in October. Of course who know what will happen by Octobert.

Since a B2B wouldn't fit our time limits, we opted to sail out of Quebec City on 7 Oct. Thanks for the welcome input.

Thanks for all the input. After much deliberation we decided, since a Haven cabin was not in our financial picture to stick with HAL for a New England/Canada cruise.

I appreciate all the data on NCL and if a Haven cabin is ever in my financial future I'd probably give NCL at try.

I've booked several cruises over the years online direct with HAL and never had a PCC, but read about them on this board. Sounds as if they are useful. How  do you make that contact?

Amtrak from NYC to Montreal might be worth considering. As I recall it was an all daylight trip and a lot less stress than driving. Don't recall the cost, but it seemed reasonable.

We are active in late 60s with extensive cruise experience in the last 20 years. But, we sailed only on HAL, Oceania and Celebrity during that period. We always get a balcony and often a suite.  We sailed Carnival and RCI once each and hated them both. We're looking at the Quebec to Boston on the Gem in late September. But some of the reviews i read make Norwegian sound more like Carnival than our other experiences. Interested in thoughts from regular users of Norwegian. I like the timing of this cruise and the ports. My other choice would be the Queen Mary 2, but Cunard sounds very stuffy. And, more expensive.

If you want to maximize the Seaway views/experience, does it make any difference if you sail north to south or south oi north in late September?

Looking at either HAL or Queen May 2.

We had 2 nights pre-cruise last fall and went with a run-of-the-mill inexpensive hotel for the 1st night and switched to the Club Level and Pan Pacific for the last night. Expensive? Yes, but the extras and the direct transfer of our bags from the room to the ship made it worthwhile.

Favorite bar was Cellar Masters. Good wine selection and a good bar tender.

Usually the Crow's Nest (not sure they still call it that) area was reasonably quiet. I was up there a lot reading and just watching the sea. Also a small library in that area. I found some of the bars that didn't open early could also be good for quiet time. Unlike my earlier 2019 cruise on Celebrity the Eurodam had a designated art show area and didn't rope off lounge areas for art display.

Have never sailed with NCL, but was on the Eurodam in October and liked the experience. My biggest gripe, and this is throughout the HAL fleet, is the small number of live music venues. 

The anytime dining pretty much mimics the time for the fixed dining in a separate dining room, same menus. If you make advance reservations the system is pretty good. But, if you truly just show up anytime during the meal period you might have a long wait to get seated.

I think it is a good cruise experience, not overrun with kids and not too dull.

Agree that Sintra, Cascais tour is great. We just hired a cab at the foot of the gangway and negotiated a day-long tour price. Was one of the best I've taken in Europe.. Also, Castelo St. Jorge was worth the effort. took a local bus up and worked our way back in the heart of town on foot.

Aquahound is right. 2 pianos. not "dueling" pianos. Thanks for correcting.  

Never went to the shows in the main showroom so don't know who/what was featured.

We were on the Eurodam in October. At the time, if I recall correctly,  there was BB Kings, Dueling Piano in a bar, the Lincoln Center Stage and, the main showroom.I think there might have been 1 more venue, but can't recall where.

That seems a reasonable price to pay for that kind of move. Enjoy!

Maybe I'm cheap,but I usually give about $5 a day extra to the room steward and $20-40 to the Neptune Lounge folks depending on what they did for me.

We've done that cruise, or the reverse, several times and enjoyed all of them. Never had any luck in 20 years with upgrade fairy, but I guess anything is possible.

We enjoyed the short cruises, the experience, at least to us, is pretty much that same, just fewer days. Food and service seem the same as did the friendly attitude of the crew. Our last was on the Eurodam last fall and haven't been on the Maasdam in several years.

You generally have good weather along the coast in April, but nothing is certain.

Enjoy the experience.

Had an aft corner on a Pacific Coast cruise aboard the Eurodam last year. On 1 day some of the outside decks to closed due to weather, but we never felt anymore motion in the cabin than in other parts of the ship.Our absolute first choice of cabins.

When we discovered the Neptune Lounge we never went back to a non-Neptune cabin. The things the hosts can do for you and the perks make it worth the cost. The one time the officers were at the welcome event it was packed. The captain spent at least an hour, but that was a few cruises ago and haven't seen that since. The lounge can be good for meeting and chatting, depends on the passengers and the cruise. Even in a aft Neptune we made the effort to go a couple of times a day, just to see who was there and what snacks were out.

We had this on a October cruise and got the cabin number about 5 days out. Keep checking on the web. Sometimes we got a number as much as a month out.

We had that problem on a 5-day Pacific Coast cruise,. We wanted one of the aft Neptune Suites and were told we couldn't pick a cabin. I made it clear to my TA that I would book that way for now, bu,t if at time of final payment, I couldn't get an aft Neptune I would cancel. It turned out on the last day before final they release the hold, so I did the cruise. It is SOP for HAL, but sometimes your TA can get them to budge just before final payment.

On the Eurodam in mid-October and agree with the other comments. Not much of a library, at least IMO.

We pay no attention to those "suggestions." At least not while they are still suggestions. We prefer to board late. We will have luggage held at our hotel while we explore what ever port were in until about 2-3 p.m. then head for the ship. Not interested in lunch onboard,  prefer to see the city and have a easy lunch (usually with better food) ashore, although it is an expense.

That said, we always arrive at the departure city at least 1 day in advance so we never need to rush. Never had a problem with boarding at 2 p.m. or after. Our last cruise, out of Vancouver, we go there right at 2 p.m. and the only line we had to stand in was for US Customs and Immigration. Everything else was clear sailing.

Was on the Eurodam in mid-October. BB Kings is nice as is the Lincoln Center Stage, but we never saw anything live at the Billboard. To us the live music was lacking, but what they had was good,, just not  much of it.