dolfan1980

1 hour ago, oteixeira said:

Boosters could be done in any port, I would think it has to do with the HQ needing to see/do something, or they needed something major stored in Miami, or maybe since they solo lease (not shared) the building/port is is cheaper to get fuel/provisions when not cruising in Miami then it is in Nola (that one seems too simple)....

My guess is that they're consolidating crews / sick crew which is a reason for them to go to Miami and then provisioning and the other reasons you mentioned also makes sense while there.

11 minutes ago, RaftingJeremy said:

demand is high and they are keeping. capacity lower.  Also, a lot of people are sitting on FCC’s still and are willing to “spend” a little more right now.  NCL’s model is more like an all inclusive and their pricing is more in line with other lines that have this.  

That doesn't explain that their model was different in the fall.  They were offering steep discounts in December and up until the January pull-pack in operations.

14 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

It all boils down to supply versus demand.  Right now, NCL has so many ships offline, the supply is reduced enough that they can fill cabins at the increased pricing.  It's also important to recognize that a lot of those inflated cost rooms are paid with FCC, where people aren't quite as cost conscious because they have credits they'll use or lose.

 

In a normalized environment where there isn't a ton of FCC waiting to be used and there are tens of thousands of rooms to fill, their pricing will revert to the norm because people have choices.

I agree with you to an extent, but is this a sign that the ships that are offline won't be back on the schedule that was announced?  The other lines are in a similar situation other than having far bigger fleets.

Edited to add:  Perhaps NCL taking more ships offline for the short period allows them to keep their prices up a little whereas RCCL/Carnival likely had some pretty empty sailings these past two weeks and next week or two.

Anyone else noticing that NCL seems to be taking a different approach to pricing at the moment?  RCCL/Carnival seem to be discounting sailings in the coming months far more than NCL.  I don't know if this is because NCL isn't sure what's happening for the next few weeks and waiting to see if they get ships back on track or not, but I can't seem to find any deals for February/March like I was able to for this past December when I scored a solo balcony for around $500.  

Perhaps NCL have far fewer ships to fill and maybe bookings are ok, but wondering if anyone else is noticing the same.

55 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

We aren't allowed to name travel agent sites.

Why would being a single passenger make any difference in finding and booking a cruise?

It's quite difficult to search for single rates on RCCL in comparison to say NCL.  You can't search on the website using it as a criteria to search for deals like you can for two people.  I forgot about that rule, but sounds like there is no trick to use on the RCCL website which I assume we can discuss.

Curious if anyone has a good search engine for RCCL cruises as a single passenger.  

This is more than enough time if things are on time.  The only times I find US customs in Canada to be blocked are early morning when there are (were pre-covid) multiple 6-6:30am departures) and before the evening high density flights to Florida.  It will take you a total of five mins to walk from the arrival gate to US customs and then that leaves you 90 mins to get through.

If you want to give yourself more time, you can ask to be put on an earlier Toronto - Ottawa flight (they're every hour) to give you an extra hour.  Standby is free without bags, not sure what they would say with bags at check-in.  

With flight cancellations and changes lately, perhaps you can also find yourself onto a Toronto - Newark direct by the time you depart as well.

Edited to add:  There are so many flights to Newark from Montreal/Ottawa/Toronto that even in a worst case scenario you should be able to make it in plenty of time to sail.  It's only a 7 hour drive if really stuck!

As long as it isn't a tender port (one where you need to take a smaller boat to shore), you can typically walk off within 30 minutes of docking.

4 hours ago, debenson0723 said:

That's interesting that yours was full.  I have been on the Encore, Jade and Bliss since the restart and my cooler was empty all 3 times. Maybe there is something in my 'file' that states I always ask for it to be emptied and my room steward just did it before I got there. 

Mine on Joy was full too...maybe based on cabin type?

7 minutes ago, bcwife76 said:

Looks like Ford is set to make an announcement re:restaurants at least, 50% capacity for indoor dining starting January 31st. See what else he says I guess. I'm in BC so our restaurants are fully open, we have capacity limits on events only. Schools went back to indoor person with only a one week delay on January 10th and apparently our cases are dropping according to the PHO so guess we shall see....

For sure, I'm out your way for the mining conference in two weeks for work, when I was out in the fall it felt like being in the US you were so open compared to us even then.

Omicron seems to have peaked in Canada and there is hope that over the next few weeks cases will start to come down and things will begin to reopen again (in half the country you can't get into a restaurant at the moment).  Best case scenario you'll hear some news on this by mid-late February.

The border testing I wouldn't be too worried about.  If you are in transit, they won't make you wait in Vancouver for a test or a second test, you'll just stay at the hotel and then board the ship.  

It took a really really long time for the rules to ease up last year before Omicron, so they may take a long time to ease up now.  If you need certainty sooner than later, changing to a Seattle sailing might be for you.

Following this as well since I'd really like to do an Alaska cruise this summer, however not optimistic this will be resolved quickly.  For those of you not in Canada currently, we are currently in a lockdown such that more than half the country's population cannot go to a restaurant even due to no in-door dining and here in Ontario schools just went back this week.  NHL teams are playing in empty areas, etc.  I suspect cruising is the last thing on the governments mind despite our wishes.

I don't buy any, but I also tend to not pay for anything in advance.  My last cruise I purchased on a Tuesday, flew Friday and boarded Saturday.  I also did no pre-pay anything on board or hotels just in case.  I booked my airline ticket two days beforehand, but was only from Canada to Florida so pretty frequent flights and availability there.

I cruised the Joy Dec 4th and purchased two certificates for $500.  My ship account had gratuities for one person and about $9 of taxes for the drinks I had in Miami before departure and traveling solo, I didn't purchase anything else at all.  The $250 credit I received certainly did go towards my certificates at least in part.  I paid the balance in cash at Guest Services the night before departure. 

There was no word about not being able to use the OBC to offset the certificates, in fact as I recall it was promoted this way.

Saw the letter posted elsewhere, full refund plus 50% credit and ~6 day free cruise, not bad actually.

4 hours ago, Keata said:

 I can't read the price of the PCR test.  Can you please provide it?  Thanks!

It was listed as $150.  If they actually will do them is another question I can't answer.

I took this picture on the Joy on December 10th, was quoting a price for a PCR on the door of the medical center.  Not sure if they're actually offering them (mine was free to fly to Canada on that cruise).  

Reading through this, the part that doesn't add up for me is how someone who is a Platinum cruiser books an oceanview room for 4 essentially adults.  I can't imagine even being in the same room with my 14 year old kids anymore without going in eyes wide open that sleeping would be a pain in the butt and there wouldn't be space to turn around.  The noise and AC issues are certainly legit, but the rest seems like you got what you booked.

16 minutes ago, charlie murphy said:

beer nerd question: when serving Chimay, Hoegaarden and Duvel are they served in the proper glassware? 

Hoegaarden and other whites were in a tall glass and Duvel was in the short wide one, most others in a regular pint glass.

5 hours ago, TheFenz said:

Happen to notice if they were showing any NFL games on your Sunday?

My last cruise The Local definitely had football on.  I'm hoping for college tomorrow when I board.

$20 bid from Family Balcony to Club Balcony accepted this am on Joy for sailing tomorrow.

I called yesterday and they said they'll just send you for testing anyways and it doesn't seem to take any extra time not being registered since everyone just gets put in line anyways.  Many of us are from out of country and can't register with CVS either way.

On 5/31/2021 at 6:13 PM, robcolem said:

Until I read this I thought for sure the Bliss is happening in Alaska. Got a sailing on Aug 28th and now a bit concerned.  Maybe I'll look at refundable hotel rates for pre-cruise night.

 

Though as typing this, thought I remembered reading that the Gem and Joy were cancelled to redeploy the crews to other ships, like the Bliss.  If those ships were set for July then maybe they already got the vaccine.  I don't know.

 

Crews probably has to do a quarantine too.  Hmmm, the ship will be sprinting.

How are they planning to do Alaska sailings this year?  Did I miss something, since I can't see my country (Canada) allowing any cruises this calendar year, so unless the US changes its own laws, you won't see any New England/Canada, Alaska or Canada/Hawaii cruises this year.

16 hours ago, bmwman said:

build or buildS

Read somewhere that investors want cast yo be maintained to start reducing debt pile 

 

My complete guess is are that NCLH will sell one of the brands 

 

 

If there was a point where debtors were looking to be paid, I agree that selling off some assets is a possibility, as is a merger with MSC or Royal for example.  The reality right now is that debtors in travel sectors don't have any big advantage to calling debt due since what would they want to do with a fleet of mega ships when they have no other infrastructure to run their own lines...the best possibility to get their money back is to keep things intact and wait for a recovery, even if it is slow.  Bankruptcies result in getting pennies on the dollar which is why it's normally a last resort.

12 hours ago, SouthLyonCruiser said:

A random thought occured to me concerning the future of NCL.

I have seen, in the past, in the golf course industry, something that may end up with a parallel in the cruise industry.

A corporation begins to build a golf course and, toward the end of construction, they begin to run out of funds. So, in order to get a quick infusion of cash, they offer something like a lifetime membership in the course at a low low unbelievable price.

Plenty of people sign up, the golf course finishes and is opened for business. 

Within a short period of time the owners sell the course and those who had 'lifetime' memberships were out of luck because the new owners were under no legal obligation to honor the memberships.

If Norwegian cannot financially survive this pandemic I wonder if they would declare bankruptcy, new blood buys all of their assets and reopens under a new name without incurring any obligations to those of us who have FCCs and cash deposits on future cruises?

Anything is possible, but a tough business model to hose your most loyal customers then expect that they would be the ones to come back to the new company.  If the line is to continue as is, then it's quite likely that even through a bankruptcy, the new owners would want to do what they could to keep the existing customer base.