jules181

Or you could just go about your life as we did pre-2020. We didn't seem to care about the spread of respitory illness on the petri dish that is a cruise ship then. What's changed? After being robbed of two years. I'd rather live my life and enjoy my vacation without worry or fear. If I get sick, I get sick. I'll go lay on the deck in the sun and have the wonderful soups served on board until I'm feeling better.

I'm sure they'll lock you in your room if you go waving a positive test around. But they're doing it to make you feel better about yourself. Most of us know you can't test positive if you don't test.

I don't think you can say the extra Mbps is a result of wifi6. 3.5mbps is well within the capability of the last few wifi standards. Most likely it's because the test was done at midnight when a lot of people are in bed.

I've been on the Epic and enjoy it. One of the best thermal suites and gyms in the fleet, lots of great deck space, howl at the moon and I think I read somewhere that Starlink is live on the Epic. The Epic has lots of haters, but I'm not one of them.

I've done this twice. Flying from Toronto, Air Canada only has the direct flight and it arrives around 3pm. NCL Air has put me on it twice, both with no issues. Also other flights from Toronto/Montreal all arrive around this time as well. In fact, I think most northern US/Southern Canadian flights leaving day of will get you in around 3pm. Just the mechanics of flying and where Puerto Rico is located. I haven't been the only one arriving at this time, hundreds of people are on flights with this timing. Multiple busses at the airport. I'd just suggest an airport transfer through NCL as there's only one lane into and out of the port area and it can be a complete cluster on embarkation. For debarkation, I do self assist and get an early uber out of the port area.

There's so much wrong with this I'm not even going to start.

Do the Latitudes level discounts get factored in if you do the upgrade on board?

You'll see it on line. I sent mine in last week. Was credited within 48 hours. (the shareholder credit was applied before the TA finalized the booking)

Also worth noting, just because someone transits on a direct flight to your home city doesn't necessarily mean you will fly direct. We had several on my last cruise going through Toronto to get to Boston on AC yet people terminating in Toronto were put on Delta flights through Detroit. They juggle all the routings to minimize connections for everyone.

It's a regional airport in a European sense. It has ITA flights from Rome and Milan and Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt. It's fair game for NCL Air. This is like the Quebec City vs. Montreal airport issue for cruises departing from Quebec City. You probably will get flown into Montreal despite the fact it's over two hours away. I'd book a cancellable hotel in both locations and cancel the one you don't need.

I think you did all that for nothing. There was nothing wrong with the flights assigned.

To each their own. But I think Taste on the Epic is the classiest 'non-manhattan room' dining room in the NCL fleet.

You clear customs when you land in Toronto. Although legally able to, I don't believe the CBSA has setup preclearance at any US airport.

My home airport is Toronto. I'd book those flights after a cruise. Flying to Canada isn't exactly an 'international' flight. The last few cruises with US disembarkation I've been on have been 100% facial recognition without a CBP officer in sight. 'Clearing customs' took all of 10 seconds. Those are really the best flights one could hope for when rolling the NCL Air dice. Get on the earliest bus from the ship and you'll be fine.

If that's the main concern, hopefully NCL gives some clarity on whether the drydock will include Starlink to make it an easier decision.

Just booked this cruise. Will be my second transatlantic - last one was on the Escape in April 2023. My thoughts on your points: On my first transatlantic there were 8 sea days and 8 port days. The 8 sea days made it the most relaxing trip ever, I had never done more than a 7 day cruise with 2 sea days, the fact that this cruise has 10 uninterrupted sea days and no ports is exactly what I want. You don't realize how much there is to do on board and just how relaxing a cruise can be if you're constantly getting off and on in different ports. People pay a lot of money for this experience with Cunard, and we're getting it for bargain basement prices without the attitude. It's an Atlantic crossing, expect it to get rough in the middle. They closed the pools/hottubs/spa pool for a couple of days during the last transatlantic due to rough seas. I never felt seasick, but you could feel the ship move. They deployed the stabilizers which helped a lot (so the captain said). I'm expecting it to start out cold. My favourite part of the British Isles cruise I did in May on the Dawn was the day in northern Scotland where the temp was 8 degrees C, and the pools and hot tubs were all cranked up. Would be so nice to spend an entire day doing this for the first couple days. The only one on deck, with bar servers who are very attentive to their only customer. The only downside to this cruise is...no Howl at the Moon 😞 It's one of my favourite things to do. I'm assuming there will be a piano player in the district and various bands/shows/comedians on board. There will be no shortage of entertainment. During the day expect to find me doing some work, reading a book or listening to a podcast on one of the heated loungers in the thermal suite. A cruise like this is exactly what you make of it. You can be bored if you want, but there will also be so many activities and experiences that will make the time fly by. You'll find you quickly fit into a routine and schedule. The internet on the Escape transatlantic was good enough to stream MLB baseball games and Netflix to the TV in my room via Chromecast. Aside from 2 days in the middle of the Atlantic when it was completely unusable, it was decent for cruise ship internet. I'm optimistic that this drydock will include the installation of Starlink and it will be even better. The decision to book this cruise would have been much different without a thermal suite onboard. But the beauty of a cold weather cruise will be a few days of hot tubbing in case they need to put some final touches on it.

I pack a Chromecast and am able to stream the sports games I want to watch to my stateroom TV. The TV channels are lacking, so I bring my own alternatives.

I haven't been on the jewel but have been on many NCL ships. All have had at least 2 C2 rowers. Closest I've been on has been the dawn.

I did the NYC to Rome transatlantic in 2023 on the Escape. I was not planning to work on the trip but had some emails come in that needed attention using my phone only. The internet was completely unreliable for approximately 2 days in the middle of the Atlantic. It might work better if you're using it off hours, but even refreshing my email or downloading a voice only podcast was virtually impossible. The internet was much better outside of that time. We were able to stream MLB baseball to our stateroom TV and watch Netflix at other times. It was just those 2 out of the 16 days that nothing could be accomplished. I'm not sure of the exact timing of your cruise, but the middle of the Atlantic could be a dead zone, be aware of how that would impact your work activity. I did upgrade to the premium package as I had to teach a class and needed zoom to work. The internet was good enough to support zoom calls and I have been on the Epic before and on southern Carribean itineraries I've been able to connect to the corporate VPN. And there is no way as a manager I would allow an employee to expense cruise ship internet. It looks like the OP has asked for something exceptional which is being allowed so long as they're connected. In my mind, the costs of connection are the employees responsibility. I would only consider allowing the expense if, on a pre-approved vacation where there was no expectation of connectivity, I need the employee to do something urgently. (but I can't see a situation where that would actually happen, nothing is that important and no one is that irreplaceable.). I would, however, write it off on my taxes as a remote working expense. (Costs of internet are allowed in my jurisdiction) With all the tech speak in the post above, cruise ship internet is so slow at the best of times that you will see no difference between wifi 5, wifi 6 or even the older standards. Sure, the newer standards allow you to connect to the internal network at breakneck speeds, but what good is that when your connection to the external internet is slower than a third world country.

Your router connects to the ships wifi. The user facing device connects to the router.

I've paid for a single device worth of bandwidth. And I'm getting just that, and using it how I please within the terms of my purchase. If there were subterfuge I wouldn't be telling cruise critic about it.

That works for you. It's no extra work. A person of moderate intelligence and low tech-savvy can figure it out...I've taught a few. But some of us need to stay semi-connected while away. If the choice was between a trip I can't take (a vacation where I'm not connected) versus a trip where I have to open the laptop a couple of times, I'll take the one I can. I'm sure many others are in the same boat.

Italy is still a very cash based society. It's not unheard of for the credit card machine to be 'broken' when you go to pay. I would plan to have all the cash on hand you're looking to spend in Italy. You never know what you will encounter. I think Greece is better, but still would prepare to deal in cash over card.

I plug the Chromecast device into the HDMI slot on the Tv. The key to make sure that you don't have input selection issues is to disconnect the HDMI cable in that brings the ships data feed (i.e. tv cable) and use that port. And always remember the campsite rule. When you leave, make sure it's in the same condition you found it.