Karaboudjan

If Canada still has requirements listed in the Cruise Travel Requirements by Country section at the time of your cruise you would need to follow them.

Maybe we've learned from the other lines - "Don't believe it until it's been revised once or twice" 😉

There are six Prima class on order. I think this class is the expression of Frank Del Rio's vision for what he wants NCL ships to be, which does appear to be a bit above the previous NCL ships. A lot also remains the same, but I suppose there is potential to make even more changes in the later ships, for example introducing even more changes to restaurants. And maybe the Pod? 😉

I have not taken the train but I have driven from Montreal to Quebec City on the Trans-Canada Hwy which I think follows pretty much the same route. It's nice scenery but not a lot of variety - rolling countryside with some woods and a lot of farmland.

It seemed to generally work well when the ships were at around 30% occupancy. It could be a whole lot worse trying to do it at 100%.

Let's hope it's not that short cruises to the Bahamas DO require pre-tests after all! 😬

It probably makes sense from a financial standpoint. YQB enplanements are less than 10% of YUL. I suspect that makes it difficult for NCL to find suitable schedules/fares to YQB.

It could be a requirement specifically for Carnival. Maybe something in their policies/procedures is more concerning to the Bahamas.

This class of ships is supposed to re-imagine things. Maybe they decided it was worth putting some crew/mechanical/storage space higher up so it can be accessed more efficiently.

I have been in Bermuda in January, although not on a cruise. We played quite a bit of golf so heavy coats were certainly not required. It was not especially warm, though. As I recall sweater/light jacket is probably what it was like. That said, if I was leaving from NY in February I would probably bring a heavy jacket unless I wanted to be shut indoors on the ship the first and last day or two!

I was wondering how long it would take for that to come up! But surely you meant to say rye instead of Bourbon? 😉

I would not worry. People love to complain. You sound similar to us and we loved our latest NCL cruise earlier this year. I would just prepare to be flexible since all cruise lines are still dealing with things which are not necessarily under their control.

It looks like Carnival has 7 or 8 ships stopping in the Bahamas. Virgin and Margaritaville have two between them. Maybe the Bahamas are opening the tap slowly and waiting to see how things go.

Premium cocktails on tap is a 'thing.' It cannot work for every drink, but it should be fine for some, as long as they use quality ingredients.

You have to wonder, though - if the Caribbean is lucrative at this time of year why doesn't NCL have more ships there? RCL and CCL are big enough that they probably can't have all of their ships in Alaska/New England/Bermuda and need something else to do with them. Getting more low-yield bookings might not be that much of an advantage.

Weren't they saying that bookings were very strong already? If so 'skyrocket' seems like it would have to be hyperbole. Or maybe people who planned to book anyway chose the shorter cruises over longer ones! As for the disadvantage, I doubt there is anything magical about 5 days or 6 days. If NCL is ready to drop testing then I think they could make it for <=7 days with little or no additional risk than for 5/6 days.

The answer is simple - the great majority of cruises from the US are stopping in Canada or Bermuda who still require tests.

I don't believe that NCL does enough short cruises for that to make much of a difference for them.

We ate in several restaurants on the Escape earlier this year and none were disappointing. If you want to try something more out of the ordinary I suggest Moderno. As a bonus you have the option of eating outside.

Since this discussion has drifted away from the Encore specifically it is probably worth pointing out that in the Prima class the side-facing Club Balconies appear to have more space in the living area (and maybe the balcony) but the same bathrooms as the regular balcony cabins.

The US has no requirement for pre-cruise testing, only guidelines.

I think (hope!) that we will see some changes once most of the ships move from Alaska/Bermuda/Canada itineraries to the Caribbean for the winter.

The real Viva artwork looks a lot less like Prima's than in the above rendering.

That happened to me on a bid and the Pending one was accepted a short time later. I do not know if Pending always ends up being accepted, though.

You should get a confirmation email with a link to see your bid. There might also be a link in the upgrade banner that appears in the website. The upgrade program is administered by a third party so the bid info does not show up in your account.