hallux

To be fully transparent - it's alcoholic beverages and soft drinks under $15. Bottled water and specialty coffee (which are technically under $15) are NOT included.

Keep in mind that people are MUCH more likely to complain than to praise. For every complaint you read about a particular trip there are probably 3,000 others that had a good time.

The email comes from noreply, they don't have the name on the email account configured properly so it may get moved to spam or junk as suggested.

I had the same confusion - NCL puts a hold on your payment method, to ensure you can cover the bill. The final bill charges at the end of the cruise but it is NOT a conversion of the hold so you may see what seem to be two charges. The hold should drop in a couple days, and this is why it's not a good idea to use a debit card for the on-board expenses.

They wouldn't, but maybe move the family cabins that in the space the Studios occupy on other ships into that space (making them balcony rooms) and then build studio cabins in the inside space.

wow, so they're adding a 3rd BA+ ship for Alaska...

Look at the Bliss, a nearly identical ship. The shape of the venue would be mirrored but the Bliss has the spa and thermal spa in the space currently occupied by the spa and GP on the Joy. I'm also disappointed to hear of removal of OL space in favor of more cabins, but I have to wonder if part of that decision is that this ship never sails Alaska so the OL isn't as critical of a venue for the region where she normally sails...

There was a lot done to her in 2019 to convert from designed-for-Asia to use in the US. I'm not sure there's a lot they need to do.

Joy, Bliss and Encore have the Cavern Club. Escape has The Pour House, but Syd Norman seems to have been the inspiration for it so I thought that was the name of the venue. The Pour House is in the location on the Escape that the Cavern Club is on the Bliss and Encore.

NCL has this as well, it's called NCL Premium Air. The BOGO is a discount offer... https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

I didn't say they were.

It's not an internet cafe like in a city. There may be a couple computers that can be used for airline check-in and possibly printing boarding passes, but the primary function is to assist with connecting devices and answer questions about internet plans. If you find a YouTube video touring the ship they'll probably swing in there for a 30 second visit.

I have a suggestion so you don't spend the day at the airport, but it's not changing the flight home. Find and book a tour for after the ship docks. Once they're ticketed you can't cancel the flight through the cruise line. OP is definitely after final payment anyway, and as the airfare was part of the cruise fare it would be subject to the cancellation fees for less than 30 days before sailing so it's not really worth it.

CC makes this REAL easy - there's a drop-down at the top of the forum section where you can select the ship name and it pre-formats a search for topics with the ship mentioned.

Not always. I've seen some sailings where this was not an option.

I've noticed that some cruises have allowed cabin selection while others were guarantee-only. If you call you might be able to get someone to select a specific cabin. A travel agent might also be able to do this.

Get the earliest check-in time that you can, to get an earlier boarding group. Go-karts and laser tag can be booked on any of the touch-screens in the stair/elevator lobbies (2 screens in each lobby on each deck), I believe dining is done at Teppanyaki since you want to change one (could be done on the touchscreen if you just wanted to book one).

If you're booking a warm-weather cruise, consider the Joy, Bliss or Escape instead if the itinerary is something you like. All of those have Spice H2O - the free adults-only area that Encore lacks. With the exception of that and the Observation Lounge (missing on Escape) these 3 BA+ ships all have their merits and have otherwise very similar venues on the interior.

That depends on the policies for your region or the region you used for your booking. Depending on where in the process you are (before or after final payment) and what cruise line it is the money back could be in the form of credit to your form of payment, reduction of final payment amount or a FCC. As we're on the NCL board - for a US-booked cruise (possibly all of NA), if before final payment and the cruise is not paid in full then your final payment amount would be reduced and you get whatever the new promos are. If after final payment you would get an FCC (and only ONE TIME, if it goes down again you're stuck with paying that first reduced price).

The person you spoke to was wrong or had no critical thinking skills. There are no tables that seat odd numbers of people. Book a table for 4, you're getting that size table anyway. Don't fret about adjusting the reservation once on board.

A tip on the dailies - in the NCL app when you open the FSD you should have an option to download it. This downloads as a PDF, you can do that and then post the PDF rather than taking 6 pictures. At least that's how it works on Android, and what I did for my cruise in March.

Wow, I started WAY later than many of you. 2014, Explorer of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) was my first ever cruise. After that one it's a wonder I ever got on another cruise ship but I've done 5 more cruises since then.

I can almost guarantee that if you use the search box at the top of the thread list you will find this question asked a few times. Just enter 'celebrity' and be sure to keep the filter to topic titles only and this forum section...

You pay $20 pp/pd if you take the drink package. Compared to what other lines charge for the drink package (it can double the cost of the cruise on some lines) it's entirely reasonable as an included perk. Sure, it's unreasonable when considering a European itinerary where alcohol service may be limited. Neither of the cruises in question is going to have that issue.

Nobody at NCL should have promised that this would happen. The previous option - Travel With Guarantee (which cost extra) - hasn't been an option in a year. The T&C of the promo only indicate that passengers booked within a singular reservation will be booked on the same flight.