complawyer

just remember, the highest you can upgrade is to a club balcony suite. it is my understanding that even with diamond status, you cannot upgrade to either a suite or haven suite. so, my dear friends, if that's what your'e looking for, the diamond status is of no real value (imho)

hallux! if it changed, it must have been recently, we were on the jewel trans canal cruise, jan 27 thru feb 4th, and no one gave us any dining/ordering restrictions, especially in cagneys. unlike bird travels, my 1st dining choice is always cagneys

well, you may need to forego the $50, but in most ports, we usually hire a cab to take us around. we take a shore excursion description, and ask the driver to just take us to the places that seem most interesting. usually, this is also cheaper than the designated ship excursion. the only caveat, is make sure the driver knows that you need to get back at a designated time

dedad. we have never been precluded from ordering or limiting anything on the menu at cagneys, or le bistro. including appetizers, soup, salad, main course and add ons like mushroom, baked potato, onion rings, etc. i believe, however you are limited to 1 item as the main course . enjoy your cruise and eat up!

we were on a b2b from trieste to trieste (venice) then onto rome. we were no required to leave the ship, just go down to guest services and have your room key redone. also we just needed to go to the muster station, have the key checked in and that was all that was needed. my wife and our traveling buddy did get off to wander around trieste again for a few hours. i stayed on board and just vegged out .if you do decide to get off the ship, you will be given a little tag to put on which allows you back onto the ship without the hassle of checking back in.

being the anti-social curmudgeon that i am, i would cancel this cruise post haste

we were in a star suite last july, a gem suite last oct and a haven 2 bedroom in jan. unless something has drastically changed, if you're booked into a suite you get all the goodies (not club balcony) the difference is as follows" if the ship has a haven with its own restaurant, bar and pool area, and you're only booked into a suite, you dont get access to the above, but still get the butler, concierge, breakfast and lunch in moderno and cagney;'s respectively. on the + side, the rooms are almost identical, and y ou save about $2000 booking the suite and not the haven. some ships have haven suites, but not the haven complex.

i get the 10% discount on whatever cabin i select, haven included, but ! only o the cabin fare

if you want/need more than this, you can always order the water package

if that's truly the case, unless you are an outrageous drinker, waive the drinks package, and pay for whatever you may order individually. i dont think ncl is nice or thoughtful enough to waive the requirement that both people in the cabin have to have the package

very few of the dining venues on the ncl ships currently offer lobster. ive said in the past, that the ones that do, offer what looks like a shrimp on steroids. that being said, the lobster thermidor in le bistro was amazing.

it's at least an hour from where the ship docks. so just to be safe, i'd book a flight home after 2:00 p.m.

hey, hottubmomma! do you also get sea-sick in your hot tub? inquiring minds want to know

hey, sunnyway! why don't you disregard the "complaints" listed by other people, don't begin your cruise with a negative spin and just enjoy your time on board. my wife and i have been on 24 ncl cruises, most of their ships, and I've posted many thoughts and comments. out of all these cruises, in reality, the only real complaint I've ever posted is i've never been on one of these cruises, where the hamburger bun didn't fall apart before I finished the hamburger, if that's the most horrible thing i can complain about, i figure i'm miles ahead. if sometimes the food isnt always up to par, remember the kitchen is putting out meals at least 3 X's a day for multiple venues, and a few 1000 people. you obviously dont know me, but trust me. just the joy of sitting on your balcony with a cold drink, watching the world go by, is enough to make me happy, and delighted to be on board. i dont care about any onboard activities, can take or leave most of the show and/entertainment, and just enjoy the fact that i'm on a cruise ship, sailing to multiple exotic destinations. finally(and i apologize for this wordy post) if you want to insure a better experience, i suggest you try and book either a haven or a regular suite. i'm certain you'll find a much better experience. also, please note that in all the posts on this site, i believe that most are positive rather than the negative ones you mention. AMEN!

yes, my wife does it all the time!

as i stated, im not knocking anyone who takes advantage of this perk, it's just not something i'd be interested in doing

cagney's, hands down, but because of the age of your kids, they'd probably prefer the pizza in la cucina. i think cagney's would be a little to much for the two of them, especially a 6 year old

54 points away from diamond, i think i'll pass on dinner with the officers. not knocking those who want to experience this, but i have no interest whatsoever

to pin or not to pin! why is this even an issue, and why spend so much time arguing about it. i get my pin, and throw it n the suitcase, never to be seen again. if someone wants to wear the pin, no one else should even give a rats tushie about why. as an aside, i cruise ncl as after checking other lines, i firmly believe ncl gives it's passengers the best "bang for their buck", itinerary and price wise, although i concede that they are getting pricey the lst few years.

ok cole thorton, the stoner part i understand (although i havent been in that category in many, many years), but what is it actually?

sorry for my unrefined pallet, but what the heck is "poutine"?

while for the past 13 years, (24cruises) all exclusively with NCL, why do your sales seem not really to be "sales" and just an increase of prices to be marked down to appear to be a sale price

while the ship may get in at 6, you will probably not be able to exit until at least 7 or later. the airport is not very far from the pier, but to give you a reasonable answer, it would probably be best if you told us where you're flying to. i'd look at flight starting at 11:00

unless the excursion is on the 1st day after departure, you are allowed to cancel an excursion 48 hrs prior. otherwise it's probably best to call, speak with someone, cancel through hem, and get an email confirmation of the cancelation. personally, i'd rather get the money back on my card rather than an obc, but that's probably just me.

you can deal with ncl directly, you do not need an pcc. ifyou get a call from one of them, you can simply say no thank you. for years i booked directly with CAS, One fine day i received a cold call from a pcc. i asked her what she could do for me that a i couldnt do for myself, but i decided to give her a try. i usually do all the research myself, decide where, when and which ship i wanted, then called her to just book it for me. after a while, i got frustrated with her, as her numbers didnt jibe with mine. she was a lovely person, but there were benefits we had through CASof which she was unaware, so i went back to booking myself through CAS. we subsequently found a person working through CAS that is an absolute godsend. unfortunately due to cruise critic's rules and regulations, i cannot share her information