Ixtoras

Zacappa 23 in a mojito or any rum drink like Pina colada will bring a different flavor profile. Or you can stop by the whiskey bar and try a good variety of good whisky. Old fashioned or Manhattan with one of the 4 old forresters, a double whistle pig rye.....

Currently on the Bliss in Alaska, same package. It's been pretty good, especially since internet in Sitka and other land based options has been largely down. Speedtest results.

Thanks @BirdTravels for another great live review! We're heading out on the Bliss next weekend and seeing your travels has us ready to go!

At Sugarcane, that sounds like our approach. Tough to do in one night though.

I'm glad to see them adding spice H2O, but think that maybe they could have worked the serpent into the motif if they went with a grotto theme. Maybe have it pop out and hover over one of the warm tubs. The renderings of the new Spice H2O do look clean though. Maybe removing the serpent is for the best.

Unfortunately, I would tend to agree with the others that the Lobster in any of the specialty restaurants typically isn't worth the upcharge. That said, @MAZ-JMZ you didn't specify which ship, or itinerary that you will be on. I don't think that it will make a lot of difference with the Lobster, but in our experience, Cagney's vs Ocean Blue is pretty dependent on the ship and staff. We've experienced both very good and bad meals / service at both, and honestly I think the best filet we had might have been at La Cucina.

When you get to the photo part of check in, click the Upload New icon. It will open a file browser where you can navigate to your passport photo. On a windows computer, this will usually be under "Pictures" or "Downloads" depending on where you saved it.

I don't think there's been any indication that they plan to do both (or either).I believe Prima and Viva have Syd Norman's and Improv. The speculation I've seen on here has been that the Aqua deck plans show two new venue locations labeled "to come", maybe slightly larger, roughly where Syd's and Improv sit today, but separated on decks 6 and 7 Honestly, thinking back on the announcements they made about entertainment, I wouldn't be surprised if they introduce something completely new on Aqua.."Our entertainment changes will roll out first-at-sea productions and original programming on an ongoing basis" I also wouldn't be shocked if they do something "off Broadway" that works with their new theater layout. Duel Reality seems to have done pretty well on Virgin. Betelgeuse surprised me, but my guess is that they're not going to try and license Hamilton, Book of Mormon, Harry Potter, Lion King, Wicked, etc...

Thanks for taking the time to share your family's experience! We're booked for the Bliss in Alaska in a few weeks and reading your review really helped to get me thinking about it.

I think the link julig22 posted above should work. On the NCL site - If you go into your reservation, click the "My Vacation" tab / link on the upper left side. That will take you to a page that "should" have a link to the Upgrade program site. The link on that page will have a personalized code at the end that will get you logged into the Upgrade site.

Looks like there are about 7 14 night Caribbean itineraries in 2025 and 6 scheduled for 2026. Granted, they're all out of southern ports - Tampa, Galveston, Miami, New Orleans. There's a ccuple of 14 day repositioning cruises (Prima, Escape) departing New York and heading to southern ports for their disembarkation. If you include 10, 11, and 12 day itineraries, the number jumps to 31 in 2025, 7 out of New York, but none out of Boston / Baltimore. Looks like Boston is locked in for Bermuda and the Eastern Canada cruises for the next couple years.

You should try Long Beach Airport next time. Even smaller, yet nicer in a good number of ways. Looking forward to the rest of your review. We'll be on the Bliss at the end of August for the first week of September leg of the Alaska season.

@izzy19 As others have noted, your title mentions Free at Sea Plus. The information above (3 specialty dining on your 16 day cruise.) is for the standard free at sea package. If you do have the Free at Sea Plus (which is an add on package) you get two additional specialty dining meals per person for a total of 5 on your 16 day voyage. (Plus the other perks like internet, the premium plus drink package and additional shore excursion credits.) https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Free_at_Sea_Plus_ver011823.pdf

You should be good at 11am. We got to the terminal around 12:30, got our bags checked in with the porters and headed over to the priority line. We were onboard and checked into our muster station in less than 25 min.

We're also on the Valiant Feb 10-17. From what I've seen in other CC threads, it looks like they will likely have it on in the Social Club. Someone else said that last year they had it on in the Red Room with tailgating type snacks, but the schedule currently shows "Around the world with the Diva" in the Red Room at 8pm, and I think that the SB starts at around 7:30 ships time. IDK, the NFL really went along with the whole "Scarlet" theme this year though so showing the two red teams in the red room seems logical.... Its shaping up to be a busy week. Super Bowl Sunday, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras/Carnival, Wed Valentines Day, Presidents Day weekend when we get back to San Juan...

Thanks for sharing your experience. We're going to be on the Feb 10 sailing and was curious how the embarkation was set up. @Swells1 What time did you have listed in the app for your Terminal Arrival Time? Our app says to arrive at 3:00 pm, but we have DBE as well.... Wondering if we should plan to get there earlier.

Clever

Thanks, the app didnt let us book yesterday but we were able to get in today and book a few.

We're on the 2/10 Sailing and have been trying to book dining all day. But the tentative schedule is as follows: Sat 2/10 7:30 Festival Stage 8:00 Miss Behave Show 9:00 The Hostess Sings Her Secrets 10:00 Miss Behave Show 11:00 PJ Party Sun 5:30 Ship Show 8:30 Ship Show 11:30 We Fancy Mon 6:00 Festival Stage 8:00 Festival Stage 10:00 Duel Reality 10:00 The Hostess Sings Her Secrets 11:30 Heartbeat Dance Party Tue 5:30 Ship Show 8:30 Ship Show 10:00 Bingo with the Happenings Cast Wed 6:30 Miss Behave 8:30 Ship Show 9:00 Scarlet Night 9:45 The Story of Scarlet Night 10:15 The Story of Scarlet Night 10:45 Scarlet Night Pool Party 11:45 Scarlet Night the Afterparty Thu 8:00 Festival Stage 10:00 Untitled DanceShowPartyThing 11:00 Circus Disco 11:30 Studio 72 Fri (Sea Day) 10:00 VHS Workout 12:45 Bingo with the Happenings Cast 1:00 Festival Stage 5:30 Ship Show 7:30 Duel Reality 8:30 Ship Show 10:00 Duel Reality 11:15 BoomVang

Chiming in to echo what several others have said. It really depends on the ship and itinerary. We really like the thermal suite on the Escape class ships, and find that we really take advantage of them on cooler weather cruises. So if we were on the Bliss or Encore going to Alaska, I'd go for it. Nothing like sitting in a heated lounger, the spa or even the sauna and looking out at the snowy mountains passing by. Seating "usually" isn't a problem, though they can get busy at times. IIRC, the Seattle round trip itineraries have a full sea day, a cruising day for Glacier Bay or Endicot Arm, and the Victoria BC stop is late in the day, almost like a sea day. Its nice having the thermal suite to get away from the sea day crowds.

Hello sailors, We're new to VV, and have a cruise on the Valiant Lady booked in February to the SE Caribbean. We're 70 days out, but just realized that many (if not most) of the Shore Things on our sailing are sold out. The app suggests checking back with the shore things team when on board. I'm curious to know what everyone's experience has been with booking once on board? I would assume that they probably don't hold back any spots for on board bookings, so we'd be hoping for cancellations. I've been looking at 3rd party / local tour providers and will probably just book directly with some of them, but thought I'd ask what folks' experiences have been. I'm usually ok planning a day of just getting off the ship and exploring and possibly using the tour providers in the port area, but its our first time on all of these islands and I'd feel more comfortable not rolling the dice and checking things out first. Thanks!

Anyone know if they do anything for the superbowl? Just realized that it falls on the second day of our cruise in February, and we will be back on the ship by the time it starts.

I swear that the Juneau Marina pays those eagles (in fish) to hang out there by the docks. This is one I caught of them in May 2022.

Check the Latitudes rewards link on your profile when you log into the NCL site. Or you can check this link for the current latitudes bonus offers. Insider-Offer As others have mentioned there is no set time of year or itineraries. It is primarily about giving a little incentive on itineraries that they Up untl recently it seemed like there were NO 2024 cruises listed. Earlier this year, it seemed that their focus was solely on the Alaska itineraries, a couple of weeks ago it seemed like it was all south pacific / Asia itineraries. Now there seems to be a decent assortment again, including a few transatlantics that are also very inexpensive....

I personally don't have any concerns, and it sounds as though your son and his girlfriend may be overreacting to current events. I would probably suggest to your son that June is more than half a year away and a LOT of things will change between now and then, with the likely result being a reduction in tensions in the middle east region. Its a bit premature / hasty to be panicking about it now. You mentioned the Joy, which is only doing Bermuda itineraries that month. I'd also suggest that this is about as far removed from harms way as you could ask for. Its not like you were planning on visiting the middle east. Bermuda's location and demographics make it an unlikely target.