UKstages

for the larger, grander requests, a day's notice is really helpful and virtually guarantees you'll get what you're looking for. the other thing you can do, apart from adding shrimp or a lobster tail, is that you can ask (with a day's notice) to have an entirely different cuisine. until the prima introduced the indulge food hall, the only place to get indian food was the buffet. if you're in the haven, and you fancy indian food, just ask. tell them which day you'd like it and they'll have it for you. it will be probably be an elevated version of what the buffet has on offer and you'll get to dine with your traveling companion in the haven and still have access to their apps and desserts.

thanks. i was pretty sure i knew what you meant. i just didn't want somebody to wander by and think you could choose flights. i cruise out of NYC mostly and walk to the terminal, but i will need air for a transatlantic that i'm taking in a few months. but i typically use frequent flyer miles for that and don't book through NCL.

actually, "club balcony" f.k.a. "mini suites" only get you one point in latitudes. it doesn't count as a real "suite," mostly because it's, well, not really a suite. so, just one point a night. but there is a current 3X booking promo, which gives you 2X additional points, for a total of 3X a night. as others have noted, the key difference in the club balcony is the larger bathroom and double sink plus the ability to book dinner reservations before those in lesser cabins. as with all cruise ships, make sure it doesn't have a surge protector. power strips with surge protectors are prohibited. hey, i think i know what you mean, but just to avoid confusion... NCL air didn't allow you to select flights, did they? i think what you mean is that you chose seats, logging into the delta website using your frequent flyer status, once the flights had already been assigned?

to be fair, syd's and the comedy venue and, on some ships, the cavern club... these always experience frustratingly long lines, and lots of disappointed cruisers who get shut out, regardless of the ship. so that may be an unfair criticism of the prima.. i'm sailing on the prima for the first time in may, so i have no firsthand experience, but it does sound like the crowding in indoor spaces such as the indulge food hall is a very real thing. it's almost as if they thought the crowds on the ship would be equally disbursed throughout all venues, regardless of popularity. it also seems to me like indulge should be a 24 hour venue, much like the local and that would take care of some of the crowding problems.

>>I don't know if they have any shore excursions less than $50. << yes, there are some "tours" that are $50 or less. typically, they are a gondola (sky) ride or a hop on/hop off bus tour or a trolley tour, but they do indeed exist... in some ports.

probably better that you're not on the same cruise. less competition! all's fair in love and veuve.

dr. pepper is not distributed by the coca cola company (except in europe and korea), so it's extremely unlikely you would see dr. pepper onboard an NCL ship since NCL now has a partnership with coke.

dear ann landers: i have a battery operated razor, hair trimmer, toothbrush and alarm clock, as well as several other battery operated "electrical devices." they are all cheap and they were all made in china. my friends say they are fire hazards, but i just don't think so. should i unfriend them and continue to use these devices? or should i stop using these devices and remain friends? please advise.

i hear ya... and you're right. it is vague and confusing. for the record, they also show a lobster in their photos for "free at sea" dining and there ain't no "free" lobster at "free at sea" specialty dining restaurants. there is such a thing as the "24 hour rule," but it's imposed by the department of transportation and it applies to air travel. you have 24 hours in which to cancel your reservation for a full refund. NCL may make the whole thing cancelable within 24 hours if there is air travel attached to the reservation.

the real problem is that they let staff go during the heart of the pandemic due to lack of demand for passports and are only now rehiring and staffing up.

count me in the veuve camp. i find its erratic availability onboard NCL ship quite troubling. in any case, i'm moderately amused by those who have quite specific preferences and can write post after post about their preferred beverage, but then insist on calling their favorite tipple "french champagne." zut alors! if it's "champagne," then it is, by definition, from france. calling it "french champagne" is a bit like saying "japanese kobe beef."

that figure is more or less correct. (i've heard 40%.) but the odd thing is that more than 70% of americans say they have traveled abroad at some point in their lives. so... do the other 30% have expired passports? have they given up traveling? or are they all cruisers? or did they visit mexico or canada long ago when passports were not required? in any case, the fact that a majority of americans do not have passports has long been a major obstacle to growth in the travel industry. i remember a few years ago that qantas paid americans to get a passport if they booked a trip!

the current wait time for an expedited US passport is 7 to 9 weeks. yes, if you have a passport office in a city nearby (not a post office) and have travel within the next 7 to 14 days, you can get an in-agency passport more quickly, but you must make an appointment. those are the two requirements... you have to have an appointment and travel must be within the 7 to 14 day window (from the day of your appointment).

NCL is likely not worried about them at all. they are worried about something else. but, as mentioned up thread, they probably just find it easier to ban all fans, rather than get into an argument with passengers over the merits or safety of individual fans. we have seen this play out with a number of rules and policies. they are poorly written, enacted rather thoughtlessly, with nobody at NCL seeming to understand the full implications of their statement. people complain and then NCL quite often backtracks saying, "oh, that's not what we meant, here's the new policy." and whatever new policy they issue may clarify that small battery or USB operated hand held fans are permitted. but, for now, it seems that they are not.

not really. most benefits are calculated on passengers 1 and 2, as passengers 3 and 4 travel free... that is the main benefit to being passengers 3 and 4! it's really not about how many people the cabin holds... it's about how many paid to be on board.

when i was on the gem last year, almond croissants were available during the haven and suite breakfasts served at moderno. they can be found in what is normally the moderno salad bar area, along with fruit, smoked salmon, cereal, breads and other pastries. (this is in addition to the standard haven menu.)

agree with much of what @TampaGambler says here. there is a popular notion in customer service advocacy called HUACA... which means, quite simply, if you don't like the answer you're given, or if you know it's wrong, "Hang Up And Call Again." HUACA. as for the question of comps... your baseline room comp, your virtual cruise certificate, is absolutely determined by your play, probably by a computer algorithm that tales into account your average bet, how long you play and the hold of the machines you typically play. other factors may include how long it has been since your last cruise and what your incremental on board spend is. your CAS cruise consultant can't personally change those offers. what they can do is ask a supervisor (a human being) to evaluate your play and make a decision about some small aspect of your reservation... maybe it's a one category room upgrade or maybe it's letting you take an eleven day cruise when you're only approved for ten days. the 10% haven thing just sounds like a poorly trained agent, a new agent who hasn't encountered that scenario before, or a lazy agent who didn't want to go the extra step. my understanding is that these folks do not work on commission (sometimes i wish they did), but that there stats are looked at it when it comes from performance reviews: quality scores, number of calls taken, number of deposits secured, number of customers who don't sign up for FAS drink package. the challenge with CAS and other cruise lines is that, unlike land-based casinos, your consultant who books your room is not your host and can't really make player development decisions as a host would. even once on board, unless you're traveling on a ship you've been on before, you have no real relationship with the "host" team and have to reestablish yourself each cruise.

i'm surprised they are just getting around to reporting this now. service was curtailed during the pandemic, for obvious reasons, but then the hospitality companies liked what they saw in terms of lower operating costs and reduced staff. this is a forever thing and, frankly, they never really went back to the old way.

i have some experience with someone on the same reservation checking in at a different time at the manhattan cruise ship terminal, although under a different scenario. last september, i did a B2B on the joy out of NYC. i was on a 5-day bermuda itinerary as a solo cruiser. then my friend joined me on a 10-day new england/canada cruise immediately following. she was on the reservation... same reservation number as me. all of this was explicitly noted in the reservation and the haven concierge team was alerted that this would be happening. they still got it wrong. every step of the way, my traveling companion was asked "where is UKstages? why is he not checking in with you? when will he be joining you?" when they were told i was already on the ship... nobody seemed to understand how that could be possible. anyway, the long and the short of it is... you can check in separately at the pier, even if you're on the same reservation. but there will be a lot of raised eyebrows and head scratching. and probably at least one person who will insist that you have to check in together. you don't. but it makes it easier if you do.

great attitude about this and all of your cruises! thanks for sharing your views. i do agree that a spring break cruise is challenging. this happened to me last year and about half the passengers were those under 18. while it's true that the ship's capacity is not exceeded, it is considerably stretched. rooms that can take up to 4 passengers have 4 passengers. rooms that can have 6 passengers have 6 passengers, whereas on a"normal" cruise, those rooms often sail with few passengers. apart from many kids sitting on the stairs, often eating, blocking others' ability to go up and down the stairs... the other big drawback to a spring break cruise is the demand it makes on the wifi system. every one of those kids is on their damn phone 19 hours a day and that slows down the throughput on an already slow and overtaxed system. with regard to learning a few words in tagalog... i have traveled extensively in the philippines and so i do know a few words and phrases. just saying "salamat" usually brings a big smile to a filipino cruise ship worker's face... and often a subsequent discussion about my trips to the philippines and which cities i have visited.

just another affirmation here on the joys of solo cruising! i do it more often than not and it's a great pleasure to do whatever you damn please whenever you damn please and not to have to wait for anybody. i'm in the planning stages of an 11 day prima solo cruise now. you will indeed meet a lot of people... if you want to. some people enjoy solo cruising specifically because they like never having to talk to others! regarding the donna summer show... i get that it's popular. but don't they do it twice a night and possibly on at least two nights? OK, maybe not two nights on a 5 day cruise. but with "noise boys" no longer being offered, i would have thought they might add an extra performance if 2X theatre capacity really can't accommodate all the ship's passengers clamoring to see it. also, am i the only one who thinks of a "prima donna" when people talk about this show? what is that new NCL ship and that show they have? prima... donna.

regarding the ultra drink card... has anybody had any success getting veuve clicquot at the casino bar? every time i have asked, they said they don't stock it in the casino, which seems odd to me. i get mostly sparkling water from the casino with my drink card, and often take back a bottle or two of pellegrino to the room. i'm not a big drinker at all, but i do enjoy champagne, although i rarely drink when i'm playing. when i do drink, i enjoy vodka, tequila and champagne. and sweet drinks like pina coladas and daiquiris. any suggestions for maximizing the value of the ultra drink card in the casino? what could i be asking for?

not only would one have to wait till "whenever* in the year to accrue 150K points to resume one's prior status, but in the year prior, while one is so busy not playing, one's comped rooms and other offers would dry up after two or three "no play" visits. so how would one visit the casino to reestablish oneself without a significant cash outlay for food and rooms?

oh, my goodness. within the context of "requalifying" status for another year (and that's what this discussion was about) you most certainly can not "skip a year." this implies that you get a "free ride" every other year. you do not.

um, the reason you don't have to "requalify" for 7 stars status in 2023, for 2023, is because you've presumably already qualified for 7 stars status for 2023 in 2022. you might think that somehow means you can requalify "every other year," or somehow skip a year, but you're mistaken. you can only skip a year if you've taken care of requalifying before that year begins. you still have to requalify in 2023 for 2024, however, if you intend for your status to continue beyond 2023.