CanadianKLM

I'm a little reluctant to ask this question - perhaps I should just assume I have some good luck and move on.

We received a partial refund for a cruise that we took during covid and my son and I ended up in the dreaded quarantine zone. They did refund a portion of our fare to an FCC, as was the policy when we booked. However, the NCL worker I was dealing with at that time told me it was going to expire in four or five months which meant we weren't able to use it. 

However when I logged on to my account it's showing up there. So I asked the NCL salesperson about it and he looked and confirmed it was there- telling me it is able to be used, and didn't have an expiry date.

This suddenly makes me MUCH more inclined to book an NCL cruise, but don't want to get my hopes up in case he was mistaken. 

Does anyone have any insights? 

10 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Not unusual at all.   It's the same old Shell Game celebrity has played for years.   The same day the put it on sale they Up the fare and the 75% off is either the same as the day before with a 50% off sale.    Best to price a cruise Prior to a Sale and after -    If booking prior to final it really doesn't matter.    Just book when you want and after each sale check the price and  if it drops call in and get a price adjustment.

Does Celebrity adjust prices prior to final payment?

We've cruised NCL so I am accustomed to their "special" free at sea constantly being offered, but their website is constantly promising it ends tonight or tomorrow.

I'm now looking at other lines and when I price out some Celebrity cruises for March 2025 I am pleasantly surprised at the fare - but they're offering 75% off second guest right now. Is it actually time-limited or is it likely to be offered for a stretch of time? (Or some other 'special' that works out about the same).

We have done a few cruises in the past with both NCL and Disney and were happy with both lines. We travel with our teenage kids, who are fairly easy to please. The thing we liked about NCL is the freestyle dining and the drinks package (even though we're not huge drinkers we both like to have wine with dinner, etc and don't want to worry about the bill in the end). My ONLY complaint about disney is the current price. 

I am starting to look at cruises for March 2025, which will be my daughter's senior trip before grad. I'd like to do a few days at Universal and then cruise out of a port in Florida, but didn't love the NCL choices for about 5 - 7 days. Itinerary is less important as we haven't visited a lot of ports, and those we did we would be fine to revisit, or stay on the ship.

However, I am overwhelmed at the different cruise line options. I'm happy to do research, but I was wondering if someone could give me a quick rundown of lines that may be in the same class as NCL. We don't mind spending a bit more if it's a much better product.

Priorities would be flexible dining times, half decent pool deck, good food, nice cabins, and some teen friendly activities. We don't care much about the big mainstage offerings (we'll attend, but if it's not great we'll just be amused). 

Any direction would be appreciated - or even warnings of other lines to avoid.

Thanks.

And the current update is that we will be disembarked tomorrow after the other guests to be taken to an unknown location. They can’t tell me where. Or the cost. It feels rather surreal. 

Yes we felt unwell and went to medical. It seemed like the right thing to do. I am not certain if it was. In retrospect, staying in our cabin and keeping a low profile likely would have been best. 

So we’re the unlucky guests (or perhaps stupid) who tested positive on our first morning of the cruise. 
 

We’ve been in isolation for the past four days, with inadequate information being provided. I know we’re going to be transported to an unknown hotel in Trieste, Italy, for another three nights (at least) to serve out the isolation required by Italy. 
 

I’ve talked to medical and guest services several times and I’m not getting any consistent information. I’m hoping someone who has been through this recently might provide some reassurances to me. Or advice. Or sympathy. 
 

my questions range from - what type of hotel might they put us in? Will it be a dump? How will we get food? Will it be 5 times the market rate? Will there be any medical oversight? Will NCL provide an FCC for our cruise fare? 

Does anyone know which hotel they use for quarantining Covid-19 guests in Trieste, post-cruise if you still have days left for your mandatory 7 day quarantine? 

We just cancelled our March 2022 cruise that was paid from our March 2020 FCC and now I'm scrambling to find ANYTHING that makes sense for us - my kids are school-aged, so our window is really this summer. Do we want to plan to travel to Europe in 2022? Maybe? Maybe not? I'm. not particularly confident about making any plans.

Our final is due January 12 and I think we’ll cancel, and if things improve by mid-March we can likely rebook the same cruise. I just don’t want to be locked in for 60 days without any sense of what Covid and NCL will be doing then. 
 

We have to fly internationally to get to the port, and I think we’d have to take at least 4 Covid tests for our trip, and with four family members, that could add up. Coupled with the fear of testing positive and having to quarantine 1000 miles from home - the risks are too great. 
 

We aren’t cancelling our flights or hotels pre and post cruise yet, as they have much more lenient cancellation policies. 

Is there a way to tell if you booked with the Peace of Mind vs. the Book with Confidence?

Our TA booked our original cruise for March 2020 - which was cancelled due to covid. We're now rebooked for the Bliss in March 2022 and when I did a mock booking for our cruise with the new discount, we would save $1200 Canadian. I emailed our TA to get it applied and she's in Mexico on vacation and won't be back for a week. I called her office and talked to her colleague who told me that she might not be able to apply the new discount - I said that we're well before the payment deadline so we should be able to book. She then said that we might not get the same rooms as we might have to cancel and rebook - and I said that was no problem, there are other cabins we could book. She then said that the call time might be too long as she's only working until 4 today... I'm not convinced she's going to make this happen for me.

I really don't want to shaft my TA (who is on vacation) and I really don't want to miss the current pricing. Can I do another booking to hold the pricing and carry two reservations until my TA is back in a week and then transfer the new booking to her and cancel the original?

I'm paying for the cruise with FCC, but don't mind paying a deposit on my credit card for a week or so.

Thoughts? What are my best options?

We had done a Western several years ago, and I was excited to try the eastern. When I really started looking at the ports we were visiting (NCL Encore), we were scheduled to spend the full day in Dominican Republic (not a huge draw for me); and then 11:00 - 7:00 in St Thomas and 6:00 am - 1:00 in Tortola. The USVI and BVI had more appeal for me, but those times did not seem great. 

I'll wait for an Eastern with better times in port. Or look at a southern.

In the meantime, I ended up switching to a west coast cruise and will now visit the Mexican Riviera. 

We've booked rooms on Deck 9, not directly over the District Brewhouse, but down a room or two. Is it likely to be loud late at night? We're pretty good sleepers, but I just wondered if it's likely to have loud, thumping bass, etc.

We were booking connecting rooms so there weren't a lot of options presented to us.

We've booked connecting rooms on the Bliss and I was wondering if the balconies can connect. We were able to do that on the Disney Fantasy a few years ago and it was lovely to have a large balcony space.

Does anyone know?

We booked connecting rooms on an upcoming cruise - me and my daughter in one cabin, and my husband and son in the other. When I log into ncl.com I see my cruise but when I try to see my husband's (using the sail date and booking number) it tells me it can't find it. I'm wondering if it's because we have different last names, or if it will only find one cruise per date. I could get him to create a profile and then I would just manage it, but really it would be more convenient if I could do everything (reservations, check-in, etc) from my account.

Any insights? I can't be the only one who wants to manage more than one reservation per cruise.

Thanks for the reminder about possibly cancelling. We had a cruise booked for March 2020. Then March 2021. And currently March 2022, which I'm still waffling about. I have yet to lose my FCC, but have possibly lost the value of our Disneyland tickets and perhaps flight credits. I've tried to remain pragmatic throughout by reminding myself that had we travelled in March 2020 all of that money would be long gone. Maybe we'd have pleasant memories of our trip, but maybe we'd have caught covid and ended up hospitalized.

Not taking your frustrations out on the customer service rep (or waitress or cashier, etc) is excellent advice. They have thankless jobs these days as may people are not at their best.

I know *A LOT* can change in the next year, but I've been a year without a trip and I need to daydream/plan something. So we're booked on a cruise that stops in St Thomas in March 2022. The itinerary (NCL Encore) has us there from 11:00 - 7:00, which may not be ideal timing.

My husband and I will be traveling with our teens (15 & 13) and I thought a jetski tour might be fun for us. My husband doesn't love the water like the rest of us, but he was interested in a jetski tour. 

Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd prefer to go with a guide, as we've never been before (either to St Thomas or jetskiing). 

If we don't do this, I suspect we'll cab it to a beach - but the late arrival time makes me worried that they'll all be jam packed by the time we get there. 

Like the OP I had a cruise scheduled for March 15 (the Joy out of LA), and I also cancelled on March 11 (I think it was the first day they were allowing penalty-free cancellation). Unlike the OP I realized I was in a game of chicken with NCL and that I was blinking first... I thought that cruises would be cancelled, but I wanted it resolved and was happy to accept the 100% FCC and never thought I deserved the same consideration as those who waited until the very last minute.

I did try to wait out our airfare... we had two separate bookings for our family of four and the airline's policy changed between me cancelling the first booking and the second (literally within hours) and I lost $400 on the first booking, and nothing on the second.

Again, I thought airlines would allow free cancellation, but I needed to resolve it. 

And now I'm sitting with three separate credits - one for a cruise, and two for airfares. I'm hoping that none of these companies go out of business - as it will be profoundly awful for the people who rely on them for their wages, and also because I'd really like to take a trip that has mostly already been paid for. But it is money that I've already spent, so it won't be the end of me financially either way. 

If they do file bankruptcy, whether you received 100% or 150% FCC will make no difference, as it will all be worth $0. 

I know that the decisions that NCL (and other companies) make may seem personal, but they're just trying to stay afloat by managing their cash flow. They're a big multinational corporation, so I would expect nothing less. 

I'm starting to look at possible cruises for 2021 (yes I know a lot could happen in the next twelve months), and one of the cruises I would consider is the Escape. I see it's scheduled for dry dock in October, but not seemingly for very long. During a short dry dock do they make huge changes (replace a ropes course with a go-kart track) or basically change out a few carpets but it's fundamentally the same?

I'm hoping for a relaxing day at the beach, and this seems like it might be perfect for us (me and my husband and kids 11 and 13). Do you rent the loungers, or are you just obligated to buy food and beverages from the restaurant?

Should I be particularly wary of eating the food and drinking non-bottled beverages?

I thought I read in a review that the Joy has an escape room, but now I can't find the reference. Does anyone know if there is one? 

We're on the Joy in March 2020 and have booked a balcony for four. The main bed is a queen, I believe. For the kids, is one the sofa, and the other a bed that comes from the ceiling and/or wall to make a bunk bed? The sofa doesn't convert to a double, does it?

We booked our March 2020 cruise with a travel agent and I can't seem to see the payment details on the NCL website. The reservation appears, but not the deposit paid, nor the amount (and date) of the balance.

Am I looking in the wrong place or does it not appear if you're dealing with a travel agent?

When you call and pay to upgrade, as you've suggested, do you pay the difference between what you paid originally and the price of the new room? Do you keep any perks or is it basically a cancellation and a new booking?