julig22

LATAM just happens to be an airline that charges for checked baggage on overseas flights. Delta does not. But sadly, NCL does use LATAM in some instances. NCL books the cheapest airfare - they do not consider any extras that may or may not be included. Baggage costs/seat selection costs and availability are determined by the airline, and most airlines do include 1 or 2 checked bags for international flights, none for domestic flights - except when they happen to book you on Southwest. I recently used NCL for a NewEngland/Canada cruise. I flew out on SW, so no luggage fees but no seat selection either. Paid for luggage but free seat selection on the AirCanada flight home. I've always been able to go to the airline website and check the flight information, including seat selection, baggage information, etc. so there are no surprises when I get to the airport.

So are you willing to pay the actual fees, added to your onboard account at the end of the cruise, in the interest of transparency? Pretty sure they come clean with the IRS - and how is the accounting for any business your business, unless of course you apply for a position on the board of directors.

There is a reason that the port fees/taxes are a separate line item on your statement. They can only charge the actual amount (or less in many cases). So when the accountant goes over the books and finds out that there is a positive balance in the port fees/taxes account for that specific cruise because they missed a port, passengers get a refund. If the balance is 0 or less, no refund is required. Fees/taxes cannot be used as a revenue stream.

You are correct. And just because the ship missed a port doesn't mean they didn't pay fees - just like you don't always get a refund if you cancel your hotel at the last minute.

Yes, if on a cruise, the website often reverts to a "local" NCL site and the only way around it is vpm. I've had a few instances where it stayed on the foreign site after I returned home, as I recall I was able to edit the web address by manually deleting the references to site and language. So US would only be NCL.com. - for example, I sometimes get the Canadian site when I search for things, and the address includes /CA/EN/. If I delete those, I'll get to the US site.

Depends on the port. Sometimes you can stay onboard at a designated location. Sometimes you have to completely exit, time frame would vary. It's up to the port authority.

Rebooting and/or clearing your history does not clear your cache.

Been several previous discussions. I can't speak to why it happens but the problem should resolve by clearing your browser cache.

Still waiting for my upgrade...made my request over 10 days ago, was told 3 business days (I called on a Saturday). Called again after 4 days, got the same "should be 3 days" - and still nothing. And apparently even the "concierge" that you call for the upgrade can only make contact via e-mail so has no way to check on anything, other than the notes on the request. I'm wanting the cabin # so I can then upgrade family, in another cabin, to a balcony, hopefully near mine - as a Christmas present. Afraid to call again, thinking that might just put my request back to the bottom of the pile. Normally I'd just be patient but I'm leaving on a cruise this weekend so won't be able to take care of the other upgrade before Christmas if they don't get their act together. Argg...

The mode of payment requested at your check-in should have nothing to do with how you are paying for your cruise. It's how you are planning to pay for your onboard purchases. But if it's not allowing you to enter a CC, then as has already been suggested, just enter cash. Yes, you can check in at the port BUT it's to your benefit to check-in in advance so that you get you e-docs. Those contain a lot of information and can be helpful if there are any questions regarding what you've paid for, etc.

I have read comments from people with similar issues who have been able to get a lunch packed to take with them. No guarantees but it doesn't hurt to ask. The standard verbage is usually no food off the ship, I've not been to Harvest Cay so can't speak to the regulations there. But if it's in your bag, they aren't going to stop you either. However, for future reference, there are some ports where there are reasons to not take food, especially fruit - and they may have dogs in the terminal, checking for contraband. Not sure if a medical exception would apply in that situation.

That's exactly how it works. Refundable (and non-refundable for that matter) is applied to your account against anything that's charged to your account. Their system identifies what's eligible, what's not (sort of, sometimes CN is counted as eligible for shareholder OBC). You don't choose how it's applied. Since you can pay DSC with refundable OBC, it should be taken care of. Only time you would have to go to CS is if you still are owed a refund.

Pretty sure you can only apply 2 certs, of any kind, when booking online. 2nd CN should be accepted as a payment, after booking is done.

Or it could be a legal issue, akin to state regulations with respect to expiration dates on gift cards. Word from NCL is that it isn't a glitch.

And there have been numerous posts verifying that various NCL reps have said there are no expiration dates, for now anyway. And posts from people with expired ones that suddenly reappeared. Not a display issue. So you can believe that or not.

Yea, the dates used to be there.

Greenland still on my bucket list but haven't found the right itinerary. I've actually been on both a Norway cruise and an Iceland cruise but this one only repeats a couple of ports - and I'm interested in Spitzbergen - wouldn't mind checking out the polar bears but not sure that's possible...

I'm going to Norway/Iceland in June and it's double points.

I fully understand the logistics of living near a port, closed-loop cruises, RT airfare, etc. My point was that most people who are cruising out of Southampton don't live there and NCL isn't looking to locals for developing cruise itineraries - regardless of the port. And RT isn't necessarily cheaper, since 1 port may be significantly closer than the other. My closest port is Seattle - still a drive but easier to drive than fly. But if I'm flying anyway, I prefer the change in ports.

"Being forced to take a flight for a cruise is so inconvenient" - really? The majority of the people who cruise will have to fly somewhere anyway, having different starting and ending ports is not a much of a factor. Most people in the world do not live near a cruise port. Different starting and ending ports is quite attractive to those of us who have to fly anyway.

I booked a 5 day cruise to Mexico to move to Sapphire - the extra 5% discount on excursions was nice to have on some upcoming cruises with fairly spendy excursions. I also had a soon-to-expire airline voucher. So it didn't take much to twist my arm... And there were a couple of excursions that weren't available on the other Mexico cruise that I had already booked, later in the season. Got to ride a camel and observe a momma humpback getting her baby ready for it's migration journey - so money well spent IMHO.

Yes, you can go to the internet cafe if you don't have your own device. And you don't need to use your minutes to access the NCL site. But unless you have the premium WiFi package,, you might not be able to view the required video. It's a known issue according to the IT person onboard.

The 21 day check in started in late summer of 2021 if I remember correctly - I had partially checked in for an upcoming cruise, couldn't finish until day 21. As to checking in while onboard, yes you can access the NCL site without using your minutes, it might be slow. However, my experience was that I couldn't complete the check in because the required muster video won't load. I wasn't on a B2B so could have waited until I got home but I just used wifi at one of the port stops. I would assume you would also be able to check in through guest services.

I did an Alaska land tour a few years back. Days are pretty filled but there were a few optional evening excursions. And you're probably on your own for most dinners. Mine was a different tour but there was an optional white water rafting trip available, might have been at Talkeetna, I don't recall for sure. I have an upcoming land tour and didn't get the details until after I had checked in, at 21 days. You might want to see if you can find a CC or other chat group from this summer and see if they can give you the link to their itinerary.

I live on the West Coast so booked a 5 day trip to Mexico when I was in a similar situation.