UKstages

free drinks are table stakes for casinos, pun intended. that is to say, they are an entry level expectation for any casino worldwide, except where prohibited by law. (and in those cases, the drinks are deeply discounted or they have a rebate scheme for preferred players.) it seems a bit churlish, not to mention pennywise and pound foolish, to not offer free drinks to players, regardless of their casino status. is this intended to drive some players to purchase a drink package when they hadn't previously? perhaps. but you have to remember. that the free drink benefit is only valid during casino opening hours. so, on a port-intensive itinerary, you're only getting free drinks at sea (except in bermuda). and only at night, and during the day, only on sea days. so many casino players do in fact buy a drink package. in that case, they are using the casino benefit only for water and energy drinks. are they somehow (to NCL's way of thinking) abusing that privilege? perhaps. but how much is that really costing, especially when weighed against a 92% or 93% casino hold? this is just silly. also, it is rare for loyalty programs to announce major changes with just a month's notice (or less). typically, airlines, hotels, casinos and other hospitality providers announce program changes for the following year... so you know the perks of whatever status you have earned in advance. and the announcement, such as it is, raises more questions than it answers. some of those questions have been raised above by others. as for new benefits... other than the water package, which, i assume, is something delivered to your room, there is only one new benefit that has been added... and that is a behind the scenes tour for ruby and elite players. if they really wanted to improve the CAS program, they should eliminate the onerous admin fee, which places them at a competitive disadvantage with almost every other cruise line, almost all of which offer status matches. i posted a list of recommended CAS changes/benefits in another thread in the casino forum. you can find those suggestions in post #3 of this thread...

unless you manage the peabody, in memphis. hiding ducks on cruise ships is dangerous, people trip over them, especially in stairwells. but there are no rules against them on NCL. not yet, anyway. there probably will be, at some point; the cruise line is taking a tremendous risk by allowing them. i can't see how this could go on much longer. but i said that about platform shoes, too. rest assured, when they perish in a cruise ship fire exacerbated by their door decorations, those eulogizing them will most likely not criticize them for having decorated their doors. that would be rude. it would be truthful, but it would be rude nonetheless. ruh-roh. does donald know about this?

that's fantastic. there are advantages for many folks with latitudes or casino status to book B2Bs as separate reservations... more FAS meals, double the number of free status meals, double OBC and so forth... but getting a ten day price for the vibe for a twenty day cruise is a great deal. enjoy!

which ship? the prima never made it to isafjordur the entire 2023 season. the port needed to be dredged, the prima doesn't have tenders, yadda yadda, yadda. there are multiple threads on cruise critic about this. the smaller ships had better success with calling on isafjordur. i used NCL excursions while in iceland for a variety of reasons, so can't really send you in the right direction for tour companies. others will be along shortly to do that, i'm sure. what i do recommend is you google "NCL excursions" and then the city name. all the tours will pop up. then you can take those tour names and put them in the google machine and see other companies that are offering similar tours what i will say is that excursions in iceland tend to be quite expensive. there is a very high standard of living in iceland and tours are priced quite high. it is quite common for your bus driver (if taking a coach tour) to actually own the bus he's driving. you rarely see that in other countries. so, booking with other companies might also be pretty expensive in iceland. whichever tour you take out of akureyri, make sure it includes a visit to godafoss.

funny you should mention this. i use frequent flyer miles for my flights and most of my miles are on united. UA invested heavily in acquiring a fleet rich with all the 737 variants. it takes a lot of ingenuity to travel domestically on united and not be subjected to the 737.

just so you know... the oddly named club balcony "suite" isn't really a suite. it's an ever so slightly larger room than a standard balcony room, with (typically) a much larger bathroom... except on the prima class ships, on which the standard balcony bathrooms seem to be about the same size as the club balcony bathrooms. on many ships, you can get club balcony rooms with a connecting door.

i don't see that from the photo of the tier benefits posted. are you saying they have removed free drinks in the casino for some lower tiers? free drinks is a pretty sacrosanct casino benefit. and most people have a drinks package anyway, so all they would really giving away is water and energy drinks. really? they've cut free drinks?

i have not received that yet. were there any more details provided? any mention of admin fee? the only thing i see new there is the behind the scenes tour, which i assume is the same one offered to platinum and above, a latitudes level which many CAS players already are. if it's the pay for play BTS tour, that could have some modest value, as there is greater availability and it does not require you to get onboard at 11:15 am to fight for a spot. but, otherwise, it's a negligible benefit. this hardly seems like anything i would describe as a new program. certainly nothing worth teasing on the website.

you're saying you have one reservation number and that your itinerary is therefore 20 days? well, technically, i'd say that should be the 10+ day price, if it's booked as one reservation, but i don't see that happening. you'll likely get charged for 12 days and then again for 8 days. i'm pretty sure they will treat it as two separate cruises for vibe purchases. but that's just a guess. have you gone into your reservation and looked? is the vibe available under "entertainment." if so, it should show a price.

by most accounts, the speed on princess is indeed very good. but that cruise line apparently has gone in a very different direction than NCL. princess has chosen to pass on the starlink service to its customers pretty much in unadulterated form. so passengers are getting very speedy internet (for a cruise ship). NCL has chosen to throttle the service for its guests and is only providing throughput of about 1.5 mbps, which is what they were providing with the old service. NCL guests have not seen much difference so far with the launch of starlink on its ships. it's possible that NCL is planning to launch a higher tier service (and charge for it) or is planning to offer a higher tier service for high ranking latitudes members, in which case, speeds may improve, for some. again, all of this is conjecture. all i know, as somebody who recently experienced starlink on the getaway, is that the speeds are the same as they always were.

yes, it's probably a "fam" trip or possibly two. boston to canada or wherever and then the caribbean out of NYC then on to miami. sometimes, ships sit in new york for a few days, while media and celebrities are invited on board (without cruising) when a ship is new. they could be taking that route, too. i think the last ship to do that was virgin's scarlet lady. if memory serves, NCL did something similar for the bliss. i have no inside line, this is all conjecture, but yes, you are correct... the ship does indeed have to get from boston to miami, and if there are no cruises published, then it is likely they are doing fam trips.

well, if they are reporting it in another forum, then it could well be true. you're apparently a member of that forum and read and/or post there, so you should be able to judge the value of comments there. apparently, nobody here has any firsthand knowledge. many people onboard don't check cruise critic during their sailings, so they might not see your request till they get back. but whether starlink has been installed on the escape won't make much difference, based on many reports from other NCL ships. recent guests are reporting speeds of about 1.5 mbps on NCL ships with starlink for the standard internet, slightly faster for the premium internet. most of the bandwidth seems to be reserved for the ship's crew and internal business use. reliability and availability and capacity of the service (number of users) may be improved with starlink, but the speed is about the same.

i've never had the need for motion sickness meds and i didn't know NCL has historically offered them. it's disappointing that they no longer do, but my best guess is this has more to do with liability than cost... you give somebody motion sickness meds and if they get sick or die, NCL could be on the hook. i'm hot saying that has happened, i'm simply saying some overly cautious lawyer in miami may have assessed risk and advised NCL to no longer distribute free meds. if guests go to the medical center (i've never been), i'm sure there is probably some sort of paperwork to sign that limits NCL's liability, should they be sold medications.

well, it really depends on what those other two kids will be drinking during the cruise. you say they don’t need the package. why is that? are they babes in arms? will they just be drinking water in restaurants and juice and water and coffee in the buffet? or will they be planning to drink sodas, too? in that case, yes, they would also need the soda package.

they are widely traded in aftermarket online sites, often at a discount. but from NCL... yes... onboard only.

i've been to youtube. the youtube videos carry clear labeling identifying the [bootleg] syd norman "prom" clips, all of which seem to have been filmed in the pourhouse. several posters in this thread have not been as clear as to what they are talking about, throwing around terms such as "the prom" and "prom night" and "prom show," as if they were interchangeable. i still have no bloody idea what they're talking about. NCL's contract forbids syd's shows to be performed outside the pourhouse.

yes, but they typically swipe your card. at "dinner with the officers," they do not. also, whether irish coffee is included or not depends on the whiskey requested. i also had the environmental officer! (getaway) my most recent dinner was held at a large table of 12 or 14.

i'm guessing the ship just left... 7:43 PM. i heard the ship's blast from my nearby apartment. it's the only ship in town, so it must be the getaway.

these days, the servers have a standard red and white wine that they pour, although if you want something else, you can order it... and i've never seen anybody charged. they don't swipe for any drink order at all. several people at my table had irish coffee with dessert...another had a double shot of mcallan. no charge, no swipe.

that was actually the original plan for GSC... to have a haven enclave! and they kind of did go ahead with that plan. but then they branded it silver cove and made it a pay for play venue.

i walked by the ship at 3;20 PM this afternoon. looked to me like the final stragglers were just getting off. there were quite a few people arriving. on the sidewalk, it looked like the equivalent of 9:30 or 10 AM on any standard embarkation day. i can hear the horns from departing ships in my apartment... the getaway is definitely still at the pier, as i haven't heard it depart yet.

can't confirm, as i've never seen it before, but it sure seems like it. of course, that bit about each cabin needing somebody over 21 years of age... there are a lot of folks here on CC who are in denial on that one and could benefit from reading that! just me, or does the white padded wall in the studio cabin look too much like a padded cell in an asylum? (a padded cell with chocolate covered strawberries, but still...) enjoying your report.

i largely agree with the value you place on those cruise enhancements. but, to be fair, you weren't really describing sapphire latitudes benefits... you were describing services, enhancements and perks bestowed upon you by personal relationships you developed with senior officers. now, it can be successfully argued that the only reason you met those officers was because of the sapphire "dinner with officers" perk. but that perk has changed considerably over the years and has been devalued. it may not even be offered on some ships. (yes, still.) long after covid brought a halt to the practice, some captains still won't approve crew members mingling with passengers at these dinners. so, the sapphire benefit is the dinner... not any of those other enhancements your received after the dinner. and most folks are unlikely to receive those enhancements because of the way they have changed senior officer participation. most who who have had dinner with the officers recently (including me) report that you're much more likely to dine with the gift shop assistant manager or the environmental officer, rather than a genuine "officer," somebody in senior management. and those folks invariably don't want to be there. they drew the short straw. your twenty dinners with officers apparently go back many years and the perk was at one time a much more meaningful benefit. not many are really dining with the captain or GM now, except, perhaps for ambassador members. the cruise next manager? yup. but i would consider that a sales call and certainly not a bonafide dinner with anybody resembling an officer. the best part of dinner with the wannabe officers is that the service is always several notches above that provided on any other evening in the MDR. they always assign their best wait staff to the dinners with the officers! that's the other thing... in the old days, dinner with a genuine officer was more often than not held in a specialty restaurant, because the captain or GM or other senior officer wanted to eat there! and elite guests tagged along. now it's typically held in an MDR with a standard menu and there are as many as 12 -14 attendees at each, often sitting around a rectangular table, making conversation with the "officer" difficult, except for the few sitting nearby. so, on balance, the sapphire level does have some modest benefits, but certainly not something worth going out of one's way to earn extra points for prior to an upcoming cruise.

again, can we just get clarity on this... when you say "the prom" what do you mean? the syd norman's cast presenting their "prom" evening in the theatre? or some sort of "night out" party facilitated by the cruise director's staff and held in the disco/theatre space? the bootleg videos on youtube from the breakaway from this month and last month clearly show the syd's cast holding court in the eponymous club, not the theatre.

you're correct. that's really weird. i just checked this morning and it wasn't showing up at all. i even canceled a flight i had booked to vancouver (using miles) based on not being able to see that cruise in inventory. i'll give NCL a call and check on availability (i'd be booking through CAS). thanks for the tip.