Sailing12Away

@oteixeira deck 7 has a Syd Normans Pour House.... will that be similar possibly? Or at least have something akin to a Blue Moon as opposed to the lowest of the low.

How long did you guys last in the ice bar? When we went we were the only ones who stayed the whole time. I've always wondered if I could order that hazelnut cocktail outside of the ice bar...

That's understandable. Once you have an idea of what you want, give them a call. I used to book everything myself online until I finally found a great Personal Cruise Consultant (the folks who work for NCL and book trips for you). She has always found a way to get me a lower price than what I see online, or to add in extra bonuses and perks that are not available to me directly. We're not allowed to share their info here on these boards (does anyone even know why???🤷‍♀️) otherwise I would have to speak with her directly when you were ready to book. Want to play a game of hangman? 😉

Pro tip - if you're too full for dessert but something (non ice-cream) catches your eye, they can always send it up to your room with your butler so it's waiting for you later on in the evening. We've done that a few times and it was nice to have slice of cake or something waiting for us at the end of a night of drinking.

That's funny to me, because I can't stand Royal's website. When you search for a cruise on NCL based on date, ship, destination, etc... you can easily right click on ones that are interesting and open them in new tabs to price it out to the end for comparison. With RCC, Celebrity and MSC, you can't do that. So you have to redo your entire search every time. With NCL, you can see everything except the gratuities in your final cost breakdown before committing, and grats are flat based on which cabin you're in so easy to add on. With RCC, you have to add on separately the drinks, specialty dining, and everything else. And those prices change every time you look at them. When we sailed with RCC last year I couldn't even get back into my reservation without having to jump through hoops to be able to add on our drink package (which was 4x higher than what we've ever paid on NCL). For NCL, to start getting familiar with which would be 'right' for your family, head over here and search by "ship category": https://cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/cruiseline.php?line=Norwegian Breakaway-Plus is their larger, newer ships that have all the bells and whistles (water slides, race carts, etc). Breakaway is a smidge smaller, but still lots of bonus activities on board of stuff to do. Dawn & Sun is a bit older and smaller ships. Epic is a class unto itself.... Jewel are smaller ships without a full 'proper' Haven. They remind me of the Jewel of the Seas on RCC, so whatever that category is on RCC. Prima & Leo are brand spanking new and not even sailing yet. And America is just one ship - Pride of America that sails around Hawaii year round. Once you see a ship that looks fun, then search for those cruises on the NCL website.

We had to send ours in twice. First time got no response so after 3 weeks we sent it again and then it was processed within 48hrs.

Wow... that is small. I booked my sister, BIL and their 2 kids in a family OV cabin for next September. This definitely does NOT look like the renderings. Maybe this is a crew only 'smaller' OV room? I may need to reconsider and save up some more money to move them into something bigger...

Meh... let Charles Darwin do his thing and thin out the gene pool a bit 😉

This one was a big hit in Florence. You got to check off the leaning tower of Pisa from your bucket list, then spend the afternoon eating and drinking until your belly was full. Pisa & a Taste of Tuscany This was by far one of the best we did in Alaska. You got insanely close to the glacier, we saw so much wildlife I took nearly 1000 photos, and we got margarita's made from fresh ice fished out of the water. Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer This one stunk - don't do it. We literally drove in circles for half the tour and had no time on our own beyond a 10min bathroom break. Monumental Lisbon However, this one was really good. We just wish it was longer. Our guide was great, lots of hidden gems he took us to, custom tailored to what we wanted to see and where we wanted to go, it was a great short trip. Oporto by Tuk Tuk

We sailed Alaska last week of August last year. Best excursion was the Tracy Arms out of Juneau. We had amazing weather with just a little bit of rain in Ketchikan, nice and warm all other days. Saw whales, seals, eagles, bears... oh my! Such beautiful sites and such a peaceful relaxing trip.

If you want to get slightly tech fancy, open the NCL webpage in 2 different browsers. Put one room in your 'cart' on one, and the other room in the other browser. While it's in your cart, no one else can take it for about 10-15 minutes. If you call NCL, they're essentially doing the same thing.

As others have said, before checking out just decline the drink package. My folks did that and simply added on the soda package for our upcoming September trip and saved about $200, while still picking the exact room they wanted. As for internet, we've never come close to using our 'free' minutes because we tend to only log in when we need to check something. By switching it from a minute base to an outright 'discount', it satisfies what the majority of people were asking for - the unlimited package. Having xxx free minutes means nothing if you want/need the unlimited package. By now offering a discount on it it makes the majority of people happy. For those who want just a few minutes, guess what... they're free with your free at sea promo and there's no hidden fee for that. (except a $5 activation fee which I don't think I was ever actually charged for)

Just stumbled upon this company... does anyone have experience with them? https://www.coralexpeditions.com/au/destinations/new-zealand/south-coast-to-fiordland/ This is the sort of thing we're looking for, <10 days to hit some stops we can't see driving on our own in a car.

Yeah... depending on which type of cabin you booked, you may be better off rebooking the 2024 cruise while onboard next week through the cruise next desk. You can pick up CN certificates if you need them, and when you book a new cruise on board you get some small upgrades for free. You can book a BA cabin at the cost of a BF, so you save a few bucks. If you're in a fancy Haven room, then there's no freebies like that. But booking on board would possibly save you some money and keep the surprise. But for the original question, yes, they will know. I booked 3 cabins for an upcoming family trip to Bermuda while onboard a cruise and my sister received the email from NCL with her reservation confirmation. She was like ... 'um, what is this?'. My parents are less tech-savvy and didn't open the email, but no - there is no way to keep it as a surprise if the reservation is linked to their existing lattitudes accounts with their email address on file. I had asked the cruise next desk to just put my email as the email for all 3 bookings, they told me they did - but clearly they didn't. That trip ended up being Covid cancelled anyway, but I wanted to tell them myself.

All cruise companies have their accidents... no one is immune. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/05/27/royal-caribbean-ship-collision-due-pilot-error For the original poster, if the price is in your budget and you like the itinerary, go for it. There will be plenty to do for everyone in the family. For the most part it will be a very similar experience to what you're used to when you sail RCC.

Same with us... when we originally booked our PC cruise we had 5 nights of dining since it's a 15 night cruise. With the rebooking yesterday we now get 3. But I figured $900 was worth giving up 2 meals when I can buy them back at a cost of only $100 if I really wanted them. Many folks don't think about the total picture and it's not just 'reduce my fair' - it's the whole new package you get. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's not.

Mine dropped too, but not nearly as much as yours. Are you on the Joy out of LA to Miami?

I spoke to my PCC today about something else (had no idea there was a new 'sale') and she said my upcoming February Panama canal cruise dropped in price. I saved $900 for doing nothing at all. So yeah! For those who didn't save ... no worries, that's why you're watching. For the few who do get to save a few bucks, yeah for us.

At a quick glance I thought I was looking at a pregnancy test. I'm not used to these home test kits for Covid yet. Lateral flow test = pregnancy still to me. Lab brain needs another vacation... I'm seeing work related stuff everywhere I look. Glad there were no 'surprises' for both types of tests.

We sailed RCC Jewel of the Seas in September/October last year. The only entertainment at night was trivia, a game show, and some piano-bar type singers scattered around. No 'shows' of any sort. In May we were on NCL Star (so a somewhat fair comparison) and there was no 'broadway' level show, but there were acts in the main theater every night (singers, illusionists, comedians, etc), and a rock cover band that we made a point to catch in the smaller lounge. Nearly every bar on NCL had a singer, plus the standard game show acts, kareoke, etc etc. So a little bit of something for everyone, whereas with RCC we felt like it was lounge music, trivia or bust. As for the Oasis class ships, I have zero interest in being on ship with 5,000+ other people. And I can't afford the Star class suites with RCC. And even if I could, you still don't get the same 'perks' as you do with the Haven area on NCL. But to each their own...

We were fortunate enough to win a bid for the GV in May. We found out the night before we flew to Spain, so we didn't have enough time to find anyone else to come and join us at the last minute. If you wanted to wait until after a final yeah/neah on the bid, it will probably be too late to get someone else to join you. As for 'cancelling' their existing room and shuffling them over to join you in yours... you would need to speak to someone on the phone to see if that was even possibly. They may lost most of what they paid due to such a late cancellation that it isn't worth it. Best bet would be to book what you want, and if you get lucky with a bid you're comfortable with on your own to just get the other cabin an extra card to gain access to your room. They could spend all day with you and just return to their room to sleep, or for emergencies to return to their 'proper' muster station.

Looks like you guys have the entire ship to yourselves.

Just push her in front of a reindeer.... no one will think twice about it and it takes care of the recurrent debt and the goons.

Yes. We ended up in the garden villa on that trip, 14500.

Because at the time when we first put in our bid the price to outright upgrade was over 8K. So yes, compared to that we did "low-ball" our offer. As we got closer to sail date the prices plummeted and it became only a few hundred $$ difference, hence the call to just upgrade now instead of bidding. Many people put in their bid right away and don't come back to check as prices change. That was the point of sharing my story. What looks out of reach initially can become an overbid at times.