davencl

I was just on the Prima port side in one of these rooms.  There was no noise in13208.  It;s the best room we have had on a cruise ship.  It a suite so included butler service.  However we really liked the layout and large space in the bedroom.  Since it's not much more than a club balconey it's was a great deal for us.

44 minutes ago, ronrick1943 said:

Maybe if you are registered with a TA you won't get the calls.  We use a TA, and I look all the time and never gotten a call from "O".

Where you logged into the website when looking? If I don't login I never get a call. 

55 minutes ago, edgee said:

Are you in their records as normally using a travel agent? Or does your profile with them indicate that you normally book directly? I always use a TA and never get a call from either Oceania or Regent when I sign in to look at cruise availability on their sites.

I book directly. 

On our most recent cruise people were leaving their cell phone on the table.  Not sure I'd be comfortable doing this...

4 hours ago, lilybug said:

Every time I sign in and look at cruises, I get calls.  If I just want to look, I don't sign in.

Yes it's the same for me.  I make sure I'm logged out before looking.  I'm guaranteed to get a call if logged in.

6 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

I checked the list.  Once again, the included cruises in this sale appear to be the lesser desirable ones.  The cruises that I’m interested in are never included in any sale. 
 

I would be interested to know if anyone is able to upgrade to a PH.  I was once told by an O rep that A1 is the highest category you can upgrade to but I am sure it depends on the specific cruise. 
 

see my post #7 in this thread.

OP 2 posts and only joined CC April 16???

Just booked a couple of cruises today.  Both were for a PH3 which was priced lower than usual.  Didn't seem to be apart of the 4 cat upgrade sale but price was only $500 more than A1 in both cases.  Also PH2, PH1 were about $3200 and $3900 pp more than PH3.  The cruises were Papeete to Auckland Mar. 7 2025 and NY to Reykjavik Aug. 6 2025.

17 hours ago, ronrick1943 said:

We don't do a lot of "O" tours, however a couple of times a tour was sold out.  We put are name on the waitlist.  Didn't think about until we got on the ship, we clear one right after boarding the ship.  The 2nd one clear a few days later, they notified us and ask if we still wanted it.

 

Also when we booked tours on any ship, once we decided we didn't want to tour as much, we turned those back early on, so someone on a waitlist got them.  Now touring isn't much for us, so we book very few for any cruise.

Yes we recently had a similar experience.  One tour we really wanted was waitlisted and we got notice on boarding we got the tour.   We canceled the backtour we had scheduled.

5 hours ago, david_sobe said:

I have a question to the masses.  I can only speak from personal experience but has anyone staying in the Haven found their luggage actually getting priority?  I never have and I know people complain about it.  But I am curious what others have experienced.

I haven't ever experienced getting luggage any faster.  On recent Prima cruise DW got her bags at 2PM.  Mine didn't arrive until 5:30...

On our recent Prima cruise the all aboard time was 30 minutes before departure.  At one port there were two people missing.  All aboard time was 5:30, the captain pulled up the gangplank at 6:01.  The two missing pulled up in an uber at 6:02, initially they dejectedly started walking away when the gangplank was sent back out.  One of the pair kissed the pier.  So gnerally expect very strict adhearance especially if the distance to next port is a long way and need to cover in a short period.  Yes it was very entertaining to watch this unfold...

I have also noted there is no real bag limit.  I've seen 7 bags outside a stateroom with 2 people inside(I know as they were our neighbors on one cruise).  The cruise line really has no way to count how many bags you have since the bags are dropped off with the porters who don't work for the cruise line.   However I get your concern, it bugs me too when I read these conflicts but I wince and let it go.

Just on the Prima in April in a suite.  We received gold colored tags.  They were not plastic just the regular tags in a gold color.

The last 3 NCL cruises I've been on cash was available from the ATM in the casino, nowhere else.  Charge was $6.99 flat fee.  No percentage charge.  If you're withdrawing using a credit card expect your bank to charge a hefty fee.  In my case I used debit card and my bank(USAA) refunded the fee.  So cost me nothing.  Expect an ATM on shore to also charge a fee, although the fee may be less.

We got lucky on the GEM last august.  No line to get down.  Also visited akrotiri-of-thira dates to 20th century BC, extremely fascinating.  Glad we took the shore excursion.  

On 4/16/2024 at 6:25 AM, Martink45 said:

#15196 was not available 1/17/25, so we will be in #11812.  Probably a bit more obstructed view but nothing we can't live with considering all the other positives.  I got the impression that the SJs are already about sold out.  The Missus loves these suites and that is good enough for me.  We will be sailing on Getaway in October in Club suite with larger balcony, M6.  It will be interesting to see how well she survives in the smaller quarters with no concierge.

We were just in 13208 April 5-16 and loved it.  We like the SJ suites so much that I would book one even with the double slide going thru part of the balconey.  The slides don't affect the deck off the living room, only the deck off the bedroom.  The room layout is so great it feels like home.  Large mount of space on both sides of the bed.  Bathroom has one sink which suits us fine.  Also having the suite amenities like butler, plus breakfast and lunch in Cagney's etc. are a real plus.  Our room is shown in BirdTravels photo.  It was the one in front of the clear spot on the slide.  Also note in that picture the deck most effected by the slide is not the SJ suite but the balcony room next to it.

47 minutes ago, hallux said:

I believe the upgrade pre-cruise accounts for trading in the FAS minutes.

 

I have.  This was day 2 of a 15-day cruise.  The $145 is the value of the 300 minutes FAS package.

Yes I guess in this context I did trade in my minutes as the new package deleted these minutes. In my case I already had used minutes so didn't think of it this way.

I have not experienced a case where you can trade in your minutes.  On my just completed Prima cruise I upgraded on day three of an 11 day cruise.  I had used 60 of my 150 minutes.  The upgrade offer I accepted at day three was:  $100 off of $269 so paid $169 for premium WIFI for 8 days.  Upgraded only one of our accounts.  The cost goes down each day.  Note on day 1 the offer was $100 off whatever the full price was.  Aslo Prima has starlink so the streaming WIFI was always usable.

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

If your meeting point is in the Theater, there is no, zero, none benefit being in the HAVEN. You still have to stage in the theater with the steerage class passengers. You get no preferential treatment. You will still need to follow the ShoreEx guides from the theater to the gangway and out onto the dock. 

Yes the emphasis is "If your meeting point is in the Theater" there is no Haven benefit.  However on our Trieste to Rome cruise last summer on the GEM the meeting point for Haven was always in Magnum's which allowed Haven guests to board the buses first.

47 minutes ago, erisajd said:

The airline cannot keep your money for a flight you did not take - dispute the charge on your credit card - even f you don't have the US protections on your credit card - a business cannot charge you for a service you did not receive ever.  I also think you should byotche quite loudly to NCL - THEY changed your flight within XX days of travel.  Go read the Air surcharge limitations 

I'd be very interested in which airline refunds money for flights not taken.  Neither Delta, United, American, Alasakan or any airline I've ever flown refunds money like this.

Yes there are some excursions with various start times throughout the day.  Not many however.

I'm assuming the extra pounds were for a seat upgrade given the high cost.  If so seat upgrades are non-refundable.  So I am carefull when I do upgrade to be sure it's a trip I really expect to make.

8 hours ago, durberville said:

Interesting. I was quoted a price of $898 for a pre-cruise hotel night in Los Angeles and $1,040 for the night after our cruise in Tokyo. I declined 😳 If those rates are half of what you would normally pay - my hats off to you, I’m not paying that for one night. 

8 hours ago, durberville said:

Interesting. I was quoted a price of $898 for a pre-cruise hotel night in Los Angeles and $1,040 for the night after our cruise in Tokyo. I declined 😳 If those rates are half of what you would normally pay - my hats off to you, I’m not paying that for one night. 

I should clarify I've found booking directly is much less expensive than booking thru Oceania.  So Oceania would have charged $2080 for the night in Tokyo per your example. However I wouldn't book at either of those prices...

I had checked one cruise friday for a PH1 that was included in this promotion.  It did not change today.  It was Singapore to Auckland leaving Nov. 14,2024.   Were there any other promotions ending March 31 that could affect pricing?  FWIW I have always found booking the same hotel as Oceania offered was roughly half the price if I booked on my own.  Since Oceania is a business I wonder if Oceania can offset with air savings.  Just speculating...

1 hour ago, PhD-iva said:

Also, with phone in airplane mode and wifi-calling enabled, you “should” be able to text each other…….?

That might work if you phone has wifi-calling as a feature and it's enabled.   Texting is generally cell based(at least with my Verizon plan).