ChiefMateJRK

Same here. If the ship allows pre-booking of entertainment, then it just comes down to booking enough SHOREX when I first get on board to cover a portion of that Shareholder OBC. I know on some/most cruises I'll also have some port taxes on drinks, so consuming that $100 (or $250 for long cruises) is pretty easy.

Based upon my non-scientific observations, over half of the passengers don't tip them anything. Anything I give them will make me one of the good folks.😎

You are of course correct. I have an upcoming B2B and the tags are exactly the same color. Anybody who has ever done a B2B would likely know this.

Yep. Look for either a cardstock thingy saying "welcome Platinum/Latitudes/(I forget)" or just a letter size piece of paper. I've had both on recent cruises.

Perhaps "smart" would be the appropriate reference?

You've just captured why I will never attend one of these. At least with the in-person Muster, I didn't volunteer for an hour of aggravation.😁

Same cruise line? If NCL, what were the ships?

Well, in your defense, that was in the dark ages before the internet when we mostly went on advice from friends and neighbors who often didn't have a clue what they were talking about.

Good point! 😎

2025. We'll likely have many chances before that. 😎

Wouldn't that just be like exactly the same thing only different? 🤣

Yep. I think some have lost perspective, so this thread may be a nice recalibration point. I've always been a LBYM type person. Our first cruises were in the dark ages when inside steerage got nothing. The only free booze was at the art auction and, after one cruise, the Latitudes welcome party. It forced me to learn some things. For our third cruise, I was amazed to learn that I could get one thing for free (specialty dining or booze pkg) even with steerage accommodations. Sweet! 😎 Now, they toss booze, dining and a few bucks worth of SHOREX and wifi to us 🐀's down in steerage. What is there for a 🐀to complain about? I can even find free cheese if I look hard enough.

I would rather risk missing a show or meal than missing Norway. (disclaimer: I've never been to Norway or on the Prima, but I do have both booked)

Do you have to login somewhere to watch it? If not, how would it be "counted?"

I feel the same way about the specialty meals. Three is plenty for me for one cruise. That said, I do like to spread the rest around among MDRs, The Local and the Buffet. The Local usually has a dinner special of some sort, the Buffet has theme nights and we can look at the MDR dinner menu during the afternoon.

Trip insurance. Early bird if flying SW.

Thanks. I don't want to risk errors due to semantics. Am I correct that when you say "base cruise fare" that you mean "Guest Fare" in my NCL-specific example? To your point, I didn't mention other non-refundable trip expenses but those would also be worth including.

I doubt it. I was able to book 26 days in advance of my upcoming cruise (some latitudes levels get a head start).

Thanks for the info. I actually have a B2B coming up where I plan to buy CNs during first leg. That said, I went back and checked my last cruise records. The cruise ended on a Friday and the 2 CNs I purchased were in the account the next day. Please let us know if yours show up day 1 instead of day 3. Thanks.

I know we've covered this before, but I can't find the details when I search. I'm not asking about cancellation for any reason coverage and don't need to get into the nuances of pre-existing conditions, etc. I'm just asking about the basic level of trip cancellation coverage to buy. NCL invoice: Am I remembering correctly that I should only buy cancellation coverage to cover the base guest fare ($1270.80 in this case), because all those other costs will be refunded regardless of when I need to cancel? I do know that insurance is typically purchased in $500 increments, so in this example I could buy a $1500 policy for the same cost as a $1270.80 policy. Thanks.

Platinum and above can also book both early.

I don't think this is really true, at least not anymore. The ship always knows who is on the ship and who is not. On a recent cruise, I was concerned that my Daughter's excursion might be running late. I walked down to where the gangway was. They were largely "closed" but I asked if any excursions were not back yet. They just punched her name in the computer and confirmed that she was back on the ship "somewhere."

It's because they've decided that other itineraries will be more profitable.

POA is a Monopoly. It has no competition in the one week HI cruise market. Cash is currently (and has always been) king in business. If people will book it without the Na Pali coast, then they'll just pocket the fuel savings. I don't know what percentage of POA cruisers are first-timers to HI, but I would guess it is a significant percentage. POA was our first cruise ever, and we had no idea what the Na Pali coast even was. We just wanted to visit HI on a budget and the POA was cheaper/easier than most/all other options. I don't think much has changed. I'm actually glad that was our first cruise experience, because if we knew what "real" cruising was, we likely would have been somewhat disappointed. I sometimes wonder how many more years this POA experiment will last.

This is really good information. Has anybody else been successful in doing this?