Sailing12Away

All of the owners suites get free booze and mixers (and free mini bar essentially). Number of bottles depends on the number of days the trip is. Reach out to the pre-cruise concierge to see if they have an updated list (mine is from 2023), but there is some wiggle room as long as you stay within the same price point of what is on the list. For example, we asked for a bottle of Disaronno and were able to get it no problem. If you let them know ahead of time your preferences, the fridge will be stocked with your favorites. We were also able to get the occasional can of grape & root beer soda too, so the more options you give them to surprise you the better.

No, the ship won't wait. Haven't you seen all the hubbabaloo over the group in Africa that was left behind when their private tour ran late? If you book independently, go with a small group (private to your group only if possible/affordable) and give yourself a lot of extra time. If the ship is schedule to leave at 5pm, tell the tour guide you have to be back at 3pm. Better to cut it short and not miss the ship than to be SOL and stuck in Italy without recourse.

If that is a giant mountain of mozzarella sticks I'm jealous again. Stinky about the sun deck being closed. Are there suite only hot tubs up there too, or just lounge chairs?

You know I'm jealous.... Room and balcony look awesome. Lots of little nooks and crannies where everyone can be there doing their own thing or relaxing together if you choose. Curious to hear how the aqua show is tonight from your balcony viewing. Are the rock wall climbers on your side too, or just the other side of the ship? That would be odd to be relaxing on your semi private balcony and suddenly there's a head over the side looking in...

That shirt is perfect for you! Enjoy the trip, hoping everything goes smooth and seamless for you girls.

Love it! Beats the simple boring 1 page MS Word doc I usually draft up for family to keep them on track with our dinner plans. I'm going to have to step up my make shift (non-paying) travel agent side gig! Are you ladies planning on trying the flow rider, or just going to watch and wait for wipe outs? That was always a favorite of Marty, I think he was hoping for a bikini malfunction 😉

Yeah, out of precaution to make sure there were no issues or damages to buildings and for anticipated aftershocks. LGA was opened back up quickly as they had a recent huge renovation where most structures there are up to and above current code.

Yup - just posted about in the land of the free... You're probably used to them being on the West coast, but us here on the East it's always new and an odd feeling. Whole house was rumbling and shaking for about 30 seconds. Thought it was a low plane but then it got stronger and didn't go away. No damage or anything bad here near me, and felt lower than the one we had about 10 years ago. But always an odd thing, not sure how you guys get used to them. For anyone traveling though, airports here in the tri-state area are on shut down at the moment. So again, for folks that like to roll the dice and fly in on the day of a cruise - anything can happen to delay your flight. So CT, NJ, and all airports in NY are grounded at the moment.

Once the job situation is more secure, any day can easily be turned into something to celebrate so that's no problem. Once you're fully retired, between the 2 of us I'm sure we'll find something that works finally with both our schedules for that long overdue gathering. If we time it right with a good deal on an inside cabin, we may even be able to convince some of the less high roller friends to tag along. For now, I'm happy to live vicariously through you and your amazing adventures. I have no problem letting you test the waters for us, as we tend to place priorities on what makes a trip 'good' in the same buckets as us.

That survey was insane. At first I was like 'oooh, these are good tidbits to throw in my butler letter for future trips', then it transitioned into 'well gee, this is getting a bit too close to comfort', and then went full on jumping the shark with those last few. Would love to hear how you guys answered some of them over in the land of open communication 😉 Would love to try Star class one day and that Iconic suite on Celebrity is in the bucket list of winning the lottery activities, but even with my great deal scouring I have yet to find one that was sub 1K/pp/day. Too rich for my blood unless there's a mega celebration going on.

I'd have to dig... I did a live review on Epic a month ago. If you're inclined to search for that thread there are some menu photos in there.

On Epic last month we could not use it for Wheel of Fortune. So I thought I was using up $50 of my non-refundable OBC, but it was still there plus a new charge for $50 that I owed them. So don't count on any 'gambling' things to count. Again, don't count on that. Confirm first with guest services as results have varied with other folks. As to what to spend, $50 is easy for us as we enjoy wine and fancy spirits. So a nice bottle of wine or fancy champagne will set us back $200+ easily for one meal. Wine tastings are about $22/pp, I've seen mojito flights or whiskey flights... splurge for a half ounce of the Louie.... Outside of drinking it onboard, my mom loves a specific perfume. So we grabbed a bottle of that to bring home to her one trip. It's much easier to pack up in laundry and bring home than a full bottle of booze. Can also splurge on those fancy crazy milkshake things in Cocos if there's one on board. Take the upcharge at dinner for a fancier meal. Treat some kids to a skee ball contest in the arcade. Get your nails done. Buy some candy to bring back to the house sitter. There are literally countless ways to burn through $50 without sneezing. Our Prima trip I had 2K to burn through... that was a lot tougher and we tapped out at just under 1K.

Viator isn't a tour company - they're just the middleman connecting travelers with various tour groups. Which is why you'll see the same type of tour offered 4+ times on their website with slight variations, because each is run by a different group. So Viator itself has no guarantees, it's all up to the specific tour company you book through the Viator site. And not all of them cater to cruise passengers or any guarantee at all, so read the fine print before booking. Can you share the details so the rest of us can avoid them?

I'm not even seeing this cruise listed at all. For November 2025 it's only showing me 2 trips in Asia, and they're identical. So something wonky is going on.

We've been on the Joy twice and never had an issue. Paying more for Haven doesn't mean you get anything you want anytime you want. Just means instead of fighting 3000 people for 1000 chairs, you're fighting 100 people for 50 chairs. Going to dinner at 'prime time' 6:30pm will have a bit of a wait at the MDR and at the Haven if everyone decides to eat there that night. Going to the sundeck after lunch on a sea day will be crowded in gen pop and in Haven.

Did you specify it was for the Joy? As UK said and others have said multiple times - just look at the website. The booking information for suites on the Joy is very different from non-Haven suites on other ships. Penthouse suite on the Joy - you get concierge reservation services, and priority specialty dining reservations. That's it. For comparison, this suite is on the Gem. It spells it out the sparkling wine, treats, escort on/off the ship, and invitations to breakfast/lunch. The Joy does not say any of that because it does not include any of that. If you booked through a travel agent, get it in writing. That way when it doesn't happen you can ask them for a partial refund on what they promised you. If you booked through NCL directly, ask them to show you in your booking confirmation where it says you have these perks. Because it won't be there.

Next time it happens I'll just tell them I was planning a girls trip with my friend Magnolia and send them your way to finish the booking. That I wanted us to splurge on a suite and you needed some convincing 😉

I didn't even go on the website today, and lo and behold, another call from NCL. He's not even my PCC that I've used for the last 5+ bookings. Picked up the phone, "hey, I see you were looking to book a trip on the Sun. Anything I can help with to finish that booking?" Honestly, I don't even remember looking at the Sun for myself recently unless it was one of those Asia trips I was pricing out to compare to pricing on Viking/Oceania. Simply told him I wasn't interested in booking anything at all, and he said 'no problem, give me a call when you do'. Didn't even ask "why not?" or give me a chance to tell him that his name isn't Melissa and he's not my guy.

The Joy has lots of options across a wide spread of budgets. If it's available, they have a new 3br Haven cabin (formerly the owners suite) that you can all fit into easily without being on top of each other. Or, if you're in a 2br now, consider downgrading to the cheaper HH, HI, or HJ cabins just outside of the courtyard. Bigger rooms, cheaper prices than what you're paying for the H5. At a cheaper price point and with the downgrade savings you'll have, it may now put Haven into the budget for your folks to get their own 'simple' Haven room. With my shared love of all things potato and puppy related, I would hope I make the exclusive VIP list for that sailing.

If you feel left out, just go on their website and do a mock booking, then leave the sailing in your cart and close the browser. Your phone will be ringing within the hour, and you'll have 2 emails remining you that you didn't finish your booking. I think the next time they call I'll actually pick up and share a few choice words with them as to why I didn't pull the trigger.

NCL is 'better' than other lines in that regard - generally speaking the price you see for a cabin is the price regardless of how many folks you put in there. So if the 3br villa costs 35K for 4 people, putting 6 people in there won't change the price that much (mostly just port fees and taxes), so it's a minimal cost to put 6 guests in there rather than just 4. Even paying for an inside cabin for those last 2 guests the price isn't going to be a savings compared to just putting them in the 3br villa with you for real. If you're still toying with the idea of having friends book an inside but come crash in your room - they won't get any of the perks. That's the whole reason for booking the room outright. They can certainly visit, and you can even talk to the concierge and get them a spare key to your room, so no need to sneak them in. But it doesn't make sense to do it the 'sneaky' way.

Thinking of the most recent Cagney's experience, after we were seated the sommelier came over within 5 mins as we had pre-ordered a bottle of wine. But we waited another 5-10 mins for the waitress to come give us a menu and glass of water. We tend to stick with the same stuff when going there so knew what we wanted, but had to wait another 10 mins or so for them to come back and take our order. So nearly 30 mins before our order was even taken and put in. Apps came out in another 5-10 mins (mine was a the simple wedge salad), and they didn't come around to take the plates away for another 20 mins or so. Then sitting and waiting another 5-10 mins for the mains to come out. After we were done eating, again, another prolonged wait for the plates to be cleared and dessert order to be taken. So it's not that we're slow eaters, but the biggest thing has always been a really slow service to move things along.

That's been our norm with NCL lately anyway at places like Cagneys especially, so nothing new there. Our last trip the sommelier gave my Haven card to someone else, so we had to sit there an extra 15 mins after finishing our meal so they could go to guest services and get me a new room card. It's odd for me to not have another 1-2 NCL trips booked to look forward to (I have none right now for the first time in 5+ years), but I'm exploring all options and we'll go with itinerary first, and our perceived value next. If I can find 6 Haven level friends with flexibility in their vacation schedules I may even go completely off the deep end and look into private yacht charters at this point. I think the one I had priced out for a week in the Caribbean would have cost around 30K for 8 people before adding on food and drink choices. So gee..... a boat for only 8 people going wherever we wanted for as long as we wanted, or a ship with 3000+ other people and you're on their schedule and time and itinerary....

It all depends on the ship and what the expectations of the group are. We've done a few trips with us in the Haven and family or friends not, and it's been ok if expectations are managed before getting on board. Our most recent trip was on Prima with my sister and her family and some friends. We were in Haven, the rest of them were not. We had a few specialty dinning meals planned out for the group, and during the day we would meet up at times and wander together for lunch in the Local once, but we did our own things. We had breakfast in our room, they went to the buffet. One night we ate dinner in the Haven restaurant, they ate at the MDR. For disembarkation, they got off first on their own, we took our time skipping the line with the concierge and met them outside off the ship. Another trip we sailed with my parents, same situation. Had a single dinner in the Haven restaurant (fine with me, I'm in the minority and don't rave about the food there so one and done is more than ok), and all other dinners were with my folks. During the day we would go to the Haven pool, mom went and played bingo, dad went and napped. After dinner we went to the Haven bar, mom went to the show in the theater, dad went to bed. So it all depends on how much time is needed to spend with the group together. If they're fine with seeing you every now and then and sharing stories of what the other person did that day - great. If they expect to have a babysitter and someone to take them to each activity all day long - it will be exhausting and you will feel like you're missing out on what you paid for. They can certainly come to your room, and my sister & family did on Prima many times. But there's only so much you can do sitting on a large balcony in cold weather before teens get bored and everyone wants to go do something else. The older jewel class ships are also very different from say the breakaway plus class. Jewel class you can do it and not miss out on much, whereas the breakaway plus - you would be wasting your money if you didn't spend a bit of your time there. If your friends are fine with you going without them to your private place, then fine, but if they're passive aggressive about it like my mother it's not worth the headache. Trust me.

Since you're a dog person, Icon also has their resident yellow lab on board for people to pet and say hi to. That reason alone is why I've considered a short trip with them to try it - just to pet the dog each day. We haven't sailed with them yet to know for sure, just going based on their "free drinks" promotion. When you dive deep into the weeds it's got a lot more holes than NCL's "free drinks" promo, but there's no 'hidden' cost for adding the "free" package on. I think it is only with meals as you said, but if the mini bar in the cabin is free (even if it's just soda) that alone will be sufficient for many of our needs. We're fine with brining a bottle or two of port or regular wine with us to have in the room too. The eye opener for us though was just previously thinking some lines were out of our price point - when in fact they're not. At least for what NCL is charging for the type of experience we appreciate. Folks who are fine with an inside balcony are still a few leaps from switching companies, but those who regularly sail in the Haven are much closer than they may think.