complawyer

you can invite whomever you wish, you'll just have to escort them to the haven and then to your cabin. it takes a special key card to access the haven complex.

if you can afford it and it's what you want, go for it. no need to get feedback either pro or con from other people. their opinions should have 0 effect on your decision.

1st thing i would do when i get onboard, is go to the shore excursion desk and ask. its unlikely that ALL the shore excursions are sold out in every port. we were on the bliss last july. unfortunately, in the ports of call, they were in the industrial parts of the city, and no outside tour vendors or cabs were anywhere to be found. i hope on your cruise the ship docks at better locations. there wasnt even anywhere to walk around and sightsee. we took one whale watching tour, but ive seen more whales in my bathtub then on this tour. (LOL)

while i certainly sympathize with your problem, ( i have posted numerous times) avoid booking air through ncl like the plague, dont let this unfortunate incident turn you of to cruising with ncl in the future. i have sailed with them at least 25x's in the past 1 years, and any problems thatarose were merely minor inconveniences! In the past i have jokingly complained that the only major problem i have ever had with ncl, is that their hamburger buns fall apart before im finished with the burger. big problem, no? i find that by and large, ncl offers the best bang for your buck, as far as price, cabin selection and itinerary, so please dont let this one lousy experience give you a bad taste for ncl. BTW, the opinions expressed herein, are strictly my own, and i am in no way affiliated with the ncl corp. so please dont think i;m an ncl cheerleader

if youre only going to avail yourself of specialty dining for 1 night, please be aware that you are doing yourself a major disservice. depending on the ship, le bistro, moderno or teppanyaki are wonderful choices, and i try to do any of them once per cruise in addition to cagney's for the other 2 people, it's ok for them t o pay for ala carte. if theyre in a separate cabin, they should have received the dining package as one of the perks

if the only problem you have is the cancellation of a restaurant reservation, consider yourself lucky at the very least and blessed at the most. with so many other options available, as don henley once quoted "get over it" look at the other sign of the coin. you could have kept the reservation, sat down to dinner, and been disappointed with your meal. relax, and enjoy the ride. to me after 25 ncl cruises, cagney's still wins hands down!!!

cruise critic has censored me before for what i thought were innocuous posts. so i hope they dont find this one offensive but.... who books a cruise for the hull art, and who would care. isnt the cabin, the services, the onboard staff, food, beverages, entertainment and of course price and itinerary the main contributing factors in booking, most of the time other than the embarkation, i dont pay any more attention to the hull art. i do believe the art on the bliss by wyland is rather outstanding though

well if the pcc doesnt feellike responding, just dial the ncl # and speak with whoever answers, im sure there are enough on ncl staff that would be more than willing to help you. we are fortunate to be able to book through CAS, and other than ridiculous wait times on the phone, someone is always there to help. i did have a pcc in the past, and if she didnt pick up when i called, i always got a call back within an hour. guess its just the luck of the draw.

but why pray tell would you want to do this? i would just book through the agent, or leave the reservation as is with the cruise consultant

i believe no matter how badly the passenger needs the air. with so many horror stories about ncl air, even with the bogo promo, i'll pass and do my own booking. if you check the airlines diligently, and keep checking, you'll almost always find a decent fare. it may not be a cheap as those offered through ncl but imho, the benefit of being able to pick and choose overrides the risks presented by ncl. we're going on a b2b july 27th through aug 10th, found a great fare (business class from lax to london non stop, and premium economy from stockholm back to los angeles on british airways. we're also booked on the dawn from capetown to barcelona next march. it's a little early to book, but we can go premium economy on delta, and 1st class coming back from barcelona. i believe that both of these fares are reasonable. its 10 + hrs to london, its a red eye flight, and being in business class with seats hat fold down into a bed, more than makes up for 2 seats in economy even if one is free. coming back from barcelona, in 1st class cant be beat.we're going in a few days early, and staying a few days after in all the cities. so as the old saying goes, booking air through ncl may be penny-wise but dollar foolish

dcguy64. you are generally correct in principal, but in this case the op was checked in the ship, a card was issued, a picture most likely would have been taken when they checked in, and i would hope that the picture corresponded to the card issue. IMHO, there was no excuse for what happened to the op. the only possible excuse was that there happened to be another "john Doe" that could have been confused with "john doe jr". absent that possibility, i still maintain, ncl ahs no excuse

im sorry, so what is your point? the card was issued when the ship was 1st boarded. there should be no problems using it. my passport reads samuel, but i never use that. ive been sam for over 50 years, and before that sammy. Just to avoid this type of hassle, i book under samuel, but i would never have anticipated the problem that op faced. it should have been 100% cleared up the1st time she approached guest services

there is no "dress code" per se. you can wear capris to any dining room on board. the only strict requirement is that men must wear collared shirts in le bistro. i usually just wear jeans or dressy type sweat pants (i agree this is probably an oxymoron) so dont worry. there are no formal nights, but you can dress up t have your photos taken.

wow, out of all the posts ive ever read about people having problems with/on ncl cruises, this was the worst. i absolutely "HATE" inefficiency, and it seems the staff on your ship takes the cake for this one . i would have been screaming my head off and probably been put off the ship. such simple problem to resolve, and yet they made you go through hell. i have often stood up for ncl and commented a number of these so called problems were of the 1st world category. in this case, ncl should totally be ashamed of themselves to allow this to have happened to you and ruin your cruise. it begs the question, how can ncl justify declining your card, when you have it, you're physically on board, and more likely than not, they took your picture when you boarded the ship. shame on ncl for treating a passenger so poorly. No excuse at all

ignore the timer completely. whenever the offer changes, if you check the prices they stay more or less the same 70% 2nd person in cabin, price didnt change. 50% off,price didnt change. other than the bogo airfare, the perks dining, drinks, wi-fi, shore excursions, have stayed more or less the same for the past few years. many posters, have already stated that they are unhappy with ncl booking their flights. i have personally posted that i prefer to book on my own so i can pick and choose dates, seats and times. i assure you, if you watch the time tick down to zero and you check the next day or the day after, you'll see a brand new timer with more or less the same offers. check the cabin prices currently offered, then check in a few days. i think you'll end up agreeing with me. in the immortal words of me: Y'all ain't missing' nuthin'

while some of the ncl fleet offers bells and whistles that others do not, for the sheer joy of being on a cruise ship (and we've been on most of the ncl fleet) to me it doesnt matter. it's the journey that counts. obviously, on some, the food might be better, the entertainment better, the general overall vibe of the ship, the attitude of the staff, they are all going to be different to some degree. just get on board with the only expectation of having a great time, and disregard the rest. personally, i dont need many bells or whistles. at 75, im not going rock climbing, go cart racing, water sliding or lazer tagging. i am going to enjoy the comforts of the ship im on. whichever it may be. a relaxing drink at the bar, a leisurely lunch, a nice dinner, maybe go to the theater (or maybe not) catch a lounge singer, or just chill on my balcony with my kindle. anyway you do the cruise, you should have an great time! just think of all the people that are unable to cruise

lady liberty is an impressive sight, regardless of where you're seeing her. what's most astonishing is being on liberty island and seeing just how massive this statue is.

so the lesson to be learned is never, ever bother to purchase the cruise next certificates. if you ask any one at the cruise next desk i guarantee you will never get the same answer/explanation twice. im not 100% sure they even understand the process. consequently, i have given up even listening to them. as my sainted grandmother used to say "if it sounds to good to be true..etc"

of course, this may be a disappointment, but a show is just an hr and a half (if that) and there are so many other things to see and do aboard a cruise ship. so even though you're going to miss out on footloose, enjoy everything else that your ship has to offer. personally, in all the cruises we've taken, the entertainment (or lack thereof) has never entered my equation for the cruise itself.

been to all of them. if youre into that sort of thing, the ruins at tulum in cozumel are "NOT" to be missed. i wouldnt take any other shore excursion regardless of how many times i might go to tulum a i recall, just getting off the ship and strolling around costa maya is fun. as for rhoaton bay, it's been a few years, but as i recall, there aint a whole lot going on there i know i'll get a load of flack for this one, but we've been to gsc a few times never harvest caye, but if they are similar, after the 1st time my philosophy was "been there done that" and i woudnt bother to get off the ship. it's beautiful, the ocean is breathtaking, but remember youre sharing with 2-3000 of your closest friends. i'd rather enjoy my time on the ship with the fewer people regardless, have a great time, and pay no attention to me, my post , or the man behind the curtain, i'm a grumpy old curmudgeon

after the1st tip (and we tip almost everyone that provides a service) the entire staff seems to bend over backwards to take care of us. at the beginning of each cruise, i tip the maitre"d a $20 and he becomes most accomodating throughout the cruise. last year on the bliss, i tipped our breakfast waiter an extra $5.00 and after that he couldnt do enough for me. whenever he saw us on the shipped, he begged us o use the restaurant again. i believe that most of the wait staff do not get tipped, but that doesnt preclude them from giving their best attempt at service. tipping has been discussed on this sight many times. there is no right or wrong answer. since the service charge is all ready factored into the total cost, anyone should not feel any remorse if they choose not to tip any further. i find that when i do (always btw) everyone benefits. as an aside, i never, ever sign up for a meet and greet, and if i did, i would never think of being a no-show

dear potatopotato. in the long run it doesnt matter. for a long time i used to insist on the port side, as i was convinced that when the ship docks, that side will be the one with the view, while starboard lets you see the water. in some ports, the only things you see are the industrial ports. even if youre on the port side with a view of the city(ies) as the ship turns around to leave, you'll probably see the same thing from starboard. so now, after25 ncl cruises, im more concerned about the cabin itself, as opposed to which side of the ship its on. also, you can always go onto the upper decks for view. i often do just that to take pictures. hope this helped your decision

medcruise. dont pay any attention to the epic nay sayers, IMHO, shes as good or as bad as any other ship in the ncl fleet. we 've sailed on most of the ncl ships, and on the epic twice. my only complaint was on the 1st sailing we were in the aft penthouse, and the circular bed, took up almost the entire cabin, and i wasnt thrilled with the toilet/shower set up. other then those minor inconveniences, no problem. the cabin steward and butler were top notch. been on your itinerary, and you will have an excellent time. the greek isles are by and large amazing (every one of them) if you get the chance (and we've done this before,) we hired a cab in liverno to take us to florence, and hired one in naples to take us to the amalfi coast. in the past, ncl offered a shore excursion but no longer. scenic wise it is breathtaking. if you look for problems, im sure you will find some. i have no qualms at all about booking the epic. depending on it's itinerary

without trying to be a complete jerk (guess incomplete will have to do) i do not now, nor have i ever had any desire to join a meet and greet. for purposes of cruise critic, ncl ask and answered or the roll call for whichever ship i am booked on, i will try and answer as best i can consistent with my previous experiences sailing with ncl. 25 within the past 11 years

you got it buddy!