julig22

You can use the platinum vouchers to take anyone you wish to dinner. Assuming you are all eating together, you take your MIL for a meal using platinum voucher #1, husband uses one of his specialty meals. Husband then takes his mother on the 2nd platinum voucher, you use one of your specialty meals.

I strongly recommend that you check your reservation. Telling them you prefer something doesn't mean they put it on your reservation! Your statement should indicate a $25 per deviation credit and indicate the # of nights pre/post. Your itinerary should include the extra days you've requested. If those things are not on your confirmation, you will find yourself flying in on the day of your cruise, out the day your cruise ends. Now is the time to verify your information, you won't be able to do anything once your tickets are issued.

Yes. 3% convenience fee. Charged as a travel expense (not a cash advance) so you also get whatever points your card gives you for travel. I use the NCL card, get a 3% rebate on NCL purchases, so fee is a wash.

Unless you ask for a 1 or 2 day deviation, your flights will be scheduled to arrive the morning your cruise begins and leave the day your cruise ends. You have to request the deviation more than 75 days prior to your cruise date.

Haven't done it myself but others have posted that they were able to get a refund, then use NR OBC. Not sure how their system actually works so unless they have the ability to lock a reservation I suppose it's possible to still lose your reservation if someone else snags it during the cancel/rebook process - so I'd certainly verify before moving forward!

To be honest, I've never seen a return-to-port excursion in any embark/disembark port. Not even in ports where flights out are traditionally quite late. Probably not enough interest to make it worthwhile to NCL. The Seward-Anchorage train is available as transportation to/from the airport, as transportation options to the airport are limited - the pre-cruise train itself is a highly unusual option. Your best bet would be Viator and trip advisor

Been using those from Amazon for years, still going strong! And then no need for tape or a stapler at the port.

Not anymore. Breakfast is $4.95 + 20% gratuity. But you can also get a hot breakfast now. Changed a few months ago.

Yes, a walking billboard is just about right. I got shirts for my Baltic cruise in July. But nothing since. Was really hoping for some in December with So Africa - none then, none for Antarctica in February.

Plan ahead - no more monstrous t-shirt sales, they seem to be a thing of the past, so if you want one, the former sea-shell lady is your go-to. They changed vendors for tradewinds, haven't seen itinerary-specific t-shirts for a while. But at one of the last sales they did have, I was able to buy an Argentina/Antartica t-shirt on the Star when they were closing out on the stock they'd had in storage from the last-minute cancellations in 2022. Saved it for when I actually did get to go.

Nah, now she sells t-shirts with pictures of shells.

Nothing sadder than a homeless hermit crab LOL

I travel a lot so have a ATM card specifically for travel. It's prepaid and not attached to any of my other bank accounts so limited liability if it gets lost or hacked. Plus no foreign transaction fees and they usually pay the ATM fees as well. And, should the need arise, I can make a simple phone call and have additional funds transferred from a different and unrelated account.

This. I was a deck or two above a "large balcony" and made a mental note to NEVER intentionally book one! And a word to the wise - if you do have one, DO NOT go out on the balcony and smoke!!! You are in full view of probably a dozen or so passengers above you who can - and probably will- report you.

That's a sometimes. I've had tour guides tell us upfront that they share, others indicate they don't. I tip NCL tour guides if they've put in a lot of effort to be entertaining, generally tip bus drivers with demanding tour guides - meaning we've gone to difficult to reach locations for example. I often do excursions by boat so tip the crew accordingly and will sometimes tip if there is a local tour guide at a specific location. I also leave donations at locations that rely on customer support for upkeep etc.

I don't know if it depends on the location, as the only time I remember shells being specifically mentioned was at GSC. And the person ahead of me got called out at security for trying to bring some onboard.

They post excursions as soon as they are negotiated with the vendor. That might be 2 years in advance, it might be much closer to sail date. If it's a cruise that's offered every season the tried and true excursions will be offered early. If it's a new itinerary, you just have to keep checking back.

I can confirm that I did get a 10% discount for an onboard booking in September. I also got one in July but that one actually had a promo code (CNUD10) and was handled as you described- the discount applied after the cruise. I'm pretty sure the September discount was added immediately, no code that I can recall.

Yes, I've done a couple of cruises where DST changed - hence the caution about using phones/tablets! Was on a cruise where some people's clocks changed, problem was that where we were going did not change. Lots of complaints about not changing ship time yadda yadda.... totally ignoring the fact that ship time was exactly the same as local time.

Just 2 dinners. Perk is per state room for platinum guests but if there is a 3rd Platinum guest, they can ask for a additional coupon. Since coupons can be used anywhere now, all 4 adults can eat 1 meal together.

It actually depends. Most of the time, ship time is local time. But on rare occasions the ship will not adjust. For example, if it's a one-day visit to a different time zone or zig-zaging back and forth between time zones. I've been told it's up to the captain. Ship will let you know if you need to change your clocks. And, just as a reminder, do NOT rely on phones/tablets for the correct time - they may not update correctly while at sea.

On my last cruise, they would only make adjustments to my upcoming but already booked cruises if I also bought CNs. New policy, I really don't know. But I don't think it's unreasonable either, especially after reading some of the responses in this thread!

If you are using the big C, when was the last time you booked through them?? Not booking BOGO through them is a fairly recent turn of events.

Big box TA won't do BOGO because of issues with flights. Since they would own your reservation, I find it very doubtful that you could get NCL to book your BOGO flights. However, you do have the option of booking online and then transferring your reservation to a TA (I think you have about 2 weeks) - you might contact the TA and ask if they would accept a reservation that has the airfare included.

I believe part of the concern is that they don't have the birth certificate because it was sent in with the passport card application. And the supporting documents are sent back separately. Hopefully something will come back in time!