GCS2000

21 minutes ago, MNcruisingcouple said:

 

Yes, it's a certain number of minutes, depending on your length of sail. 

 

Sail Length	Internet Minutes Per Person
3-6 Nights	75 minutes
7-11 Nights	150 minutes
12+ Nights	300 minutes

That's not a lot, hmm didn't realize that was limited.  Appreciate the heads up.

With the wifi packages being pricey on their own that kinda stinks.

5 minutes ago, MNcruisingcouple said:

 

The free minutes are really free, but it isn't unlimited.  Yes, it's enough for those things but be sure to sign out every time or it will keep using your minutes. 

So the FAS package that includes wifi is limited mins as well?

I don't think the drink package is worth it for us.  At best we would drink 2 sodas a day each and maybe 1 alcoholic drink a day if that (I rarely drink and when I do its like one beer here and there).

Thanks for the helpful replies!

11 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

With the FAS package (the four items you listed), as you continue the booking process on the screen that shows the $ amounts, on the lower left of your computer screen, there is a box that lists the four FAS items.  You can uncheck the drink package to exclude that so you aren't charged for the gratuity on it.  I feel like the ~ $20 or $22 per person gratuity on the FAS meals is worth having the two meals.  There is no charge to you for the "free" internet or $50 off first person's excursions.  Just be sure to always sign out when you are using the internet.

Is the "free" internet really free and is it good enough to text, check email, and light web searching?  Wife needs to keep up with the family and I with work.  We don't need heavy streaming or the ability to work just communicate.

Wife and I are considering this cruise in early Nov.  It fits with the budget and timeframe we have available to us.  It is out of New Orleans of course.

I know little to nothing about NCL (we cancelled a cruise we had with them for this year a long time ago so haven't been on anything but RCL).

I know drink packages, perks, offers, service everything has changed.

Just need some guidance on what we can possibly live with or without on this ship.

Its about a $600 difference in price to go without the "open bar, wifi, specialty dining package).  Based on googling it seems we are better off sticking with the package than w/o as it appears the wifi package alone would cost us about $200+ each for the trip.  FYI we are not big drinkers but do drink soda and an occasional adult beverage.

Is there plenty to do on the Getaway to keep us entertained if we do not do a port day.

We are researching the ports now to see how interesting they may be - Costa Maya doesn't seem to get much love so far but Cozumel gets plenty.

Appreciate any advice you all care to share.

Thanks

EDIT - We are in our 50's relatively active (not major hikers or gym rats or anything like that but we can handle plenty of walking).  Wife is not adventurous I will do almost anything.

Just us no kids for this trip (they are adults anyway)

Wife and daughter leave in 2 days.  No accept bids or denials at this time but 100% certain nothing will come through since all suites on their cruise have been sold out for the last 30 days or so.

Still hoping they get lucky but if not I know they will have a good time anyway.

1 hour ago, ShillyShally said:

This, loved that feature on the last cruise we took where we got the Key, but we got it at $19.99 a day, I'd jump at that again, lowest I've seen is $24.99 but I got voom at $15.99 which I haven't seen yet again so it's hard to justify the expense.

This here.  My wife and daughter would be doing the key in 2 weeks as well but its been $47.99 since day one of booking the cruise.  Voom 2 device package they already have was only $18 so it definitely wasn't worth the extra money for the key (unfortunately).

Thank you for this info.  My wife and daughter are on this actual cruise in 14 days so its good info to read.  They are spending time in Paris next week and 2 days in Rome before the cruise departs.  They have tours booked in both cities via The Tour Guy so hopefully they will all go well and avoid some of the lines.  They are on RC excursions for all ports (especially Santorini due to my wife not being able to do the cable car and RC's excursion supposedly brings you by bus to and from the Athinios port) except Athens as we were able to find what appears to be a better one with shore excursion group and it was about $200 less than RC.  Hopefully this will help with some of the line skipping you mentioned.

Pretty sure they will be experience big crowds same as you especially since the ship appears to be fully booked (not many rooms left available and no suites at all).

All this info is making our year long wait more difficult.  Hoping that NCL and the dock issues get worked out for the ports by Sept of next year.  Wife is hoping we don't miss any especially Brussels.

Glad to see you are having a mostly positive experience on the Prima.  We have been considering cancelling our Prima cruise a lot just because of all the negativity.  Of course the small gathering places, massive crowds in these small places are definitely going to be annoying.

Current plans for us are to arrive about 4 days before the cruise begins and do several land tours from Reykjavik.  Definitely planning for one of those to include the south coast as well as northern lights tour (if we are lucky).  Good to see you had a good experience with your tour companies.

And I 100% get the feeling that the $50 NCL excursion credit we have will be wasted as the options already available on the NCL planner seem to be at least 2-3X more than "googling" around is showing me i.e. $299 per person for a tour that seems to be about $120-$140 at other places.  Definitely we will also pass on the FAS upgrade for $490 per person also.  The only thing we would use from it is the unlimited wifi which on its own is crazy priced as well at $299 per person.  May just have to be out of touch for this vacation (not a bad thing, lol).

Keep the info coming and thanks!

100% following this as we are going on this exact cruise next September.

Definitely like getting feedback on the ship itself and the tours you did since we are planning a few days in Reykjavik before the cruise as well.

What's the latest anyone has gotten notified of an accepted offer?

Cruise is about 18 days away and nothing so far.

Checking RC site there are no suites available to book at this time (yesterday there were 4 Jr, 2 days before that there were 4 Jr, 2 Grand, and 1 Owner) so availability is up and down for sure.

Before I get told - use the search function I did do that and cannot seem to find anything specific to this ship.  Just info about booking shows in the app which of course I found out today that Q class ships there is nothing to book in the app but The Book show.

Can anyone give me a brief rundown of what is on Odyssey currently (sail in 29 days)?

A link to somewhere that has this would work as well (google is failing me).

Thanks and apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere (which I assume it has).

Wife's cruise is in 29 days on Odyssey and the only thing bookable online was for something called "The Book".  Nothing else can be done online or in the app.

3 minutes ago, rockmom said:

Yes, it does

Thanks bids changed.  Not expecting much as I am only slightly more than the min bid (I think at $400 per person).  Since my internet package was $280 for the trip it made sense to up those bids by $140 per person at least.

I have a feeling my Jr suite bid will come through since I am at almost the max bid on that and not the GS or OS bids which is fine as the wife just wants the Jr suite.  Granted she would flip for a GS or above but since those max bids are in the thousands of dollars each not just a few hundred (JS max bid is only $310)

So internet package comes with a Grand Suite on Odyssey right?

If so I may up my GS Royal Up bid for what I paid for internet.  Still doubt I will win but worth bumping the bid up just in case.

ok thanks.  Moving to a suite wouldn't work us since that would be more than double our current fare.  Maybe things will change later.

Thanks for the info

On 7/19/2023 at 5:54 PM, SplashOfWater said:

Upgrade to the suite. We paid to upgrade from an Oceanview to a Suite on the Dawn last November and it was worth it. More space in the cabin plus breakfast and lunch for suite guests in one of the specialty restaurants. I think the menus were the same ones as the Haven on other ships. You also have a concierge who will escort you off the ship at ports and debarkation (skipping the long lines). If the price is right, do it.

Is this for Club Balcony Suite or something different?

We are on Prima next year and wouldn't mind a suite at all but the Club Balcony just didn't seem worth the extra cost based on what I am reading.

nice work, wish I could get my wife and daughter upgraded like this.  Cruise is in 30 days.  Have bids in for reasonable amounts nothing crazy.  Currently in balcony but wife really wants at least a Jr Suite.

Would prefer the self upgrade like you but suites are still selling for 4k per person as a guarantee suite or $5700 per if you pick with nothing but juniors for that price which is still WAY too much for us.  This is on Odyssey for a 9 night Greece cruise.

Crossing fingers for my wife and daughter's cruise in Sept.  Low min bids for all the suites (what they want to move to from current balcony cab) so submitted an above average bid for Jr, lowish bids for all the others.  Would be amazing if one of the higher suites is accepted but in truth the wife would be super thrilled just get the Jr.  Max Jr bid was only $300 per person so not terrible IMHO.  And yes I know Jr suites are much of an upgrade but wife likes the larger cabin and tub so worth it to her.

Following all of this closely.  We are not scheduled for our Iceland to Southampton cruise until Sept 2024 and with things like this and all the terrible talk of Prima we are really second guessing the entire cruise.

Problem is this cruise is hitting all the things we want and I bought when pricing wasn't horrific so I am less than 4k all in with the upgraded Free at Sea Plus.

Really hoping these port cancellations and more importantly a lot of the issues with Prima can be ironed out before my final payment is due in May.  Will be our first NCL cruise but I am not getting warm and fuzzy vibes from it that is for sure.

2 minutes ago, jagsfan said:

Did you go into your Cruise Planner and click on the menu, scroll down to packages and click on that?

it didn’t show on the original screen for my cruise. 

on desktop and nothing there next to gifts and gear as mentioned above

This is Odyssey 9 night cruise leaving on 9/6/2023

oops double post, sorry

Going to stop reading this thread now since we are one of the unfortunate ones w/o this option.

Hope everyone who has this was able to book it and it sticks.  Would be nice with all the jacked up pricing on things for some cruise goers to get what appears to be a nice deal.  Enjoy!

How nice would this have been to have on our Sept Odyssey cruise but no luck.

55 minutes ago, SG65CB said:

 

This would not be covered by insurance because there is no financial loss to reimburse. 

 

The cruise line will refund the cruise fare, the airline will issue a credit that can be used for another flight. Excursions can be canceled. The only possible loss is the hotel, but hotel reservations paid in advance are usually refundable this far out. 

All of this is true.  I was able to deal with everything except flight issues.  Cancelling the flights (I did not purchase refundable tickets (wish I had) as they were thousands of dollars more not just a few hundred) so yes I would end up with airline credit.  The issue with that is that it is tied 100% to the people on the tickets and cannot be used by anyone else but them.  It also has to be used by the end of next year.  We have no other plans or needs for airfare for next year (we already have flights for our Ireland trip in May) but would need some in 2024 for Iceland but it would only be good for my wife and my daughter's credit would not be used.

Because of this I had to work within whatever Delta had to offer at whatever prices.  I ended up changing the flights 3 separate times yesterday and then late last night managed to work things out for a better deal by just cancelling everything and rebooking all new flights.  Had to downgrade the flights for the trip back home but that was it.  I have some credit still to use (and may go to waste) so hopefully a flight upgrade will fall into place over the next few months or ones with better flight times/layovers (these aren't terrible though).

The only things I got dinged on really were cost for the flight from Paris to Rome before the cruise was more ($80) and the hotel in Rome went up as they are staying there 3 days now instead of just one like before.  Paris hotel may cost more when I am finally booked but I will just deal with it.

All in all this could have been a lot worse and in truth I was expecting to be.  It cost me some anxiety, headaches and many more hours getting it all done but in the end we aren't losing much so I shouldn't be complaining.  Still doesn't make it right that they did it.

I am just thankful that they can still go and have a good mother daughter trip.

29 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Agree, all the hassle with multiple hotel changes, the Paris side trip, flight changes, having to downgrade aircraft seats, all the hassle with rebooking excursions and the major problems of getting time of work changed, especially for your daughter with a new job. 

I think they should substantially reimburse you with an awful lot more. I'm sure they can reclaim it from the charter company for their late charter booking. IMO it shows a disregard for their clients.

 

Is there any chatter from your roll call or FB site for your cruise from other pax who have been canx?

Honestly I hadn't even thought about that.  Once we got the email I just immediately went into travel planner mode and started trying to figure out how to make things happen.  Once it looked like the cruise on the 6th would work I just straight started getting it done and then got final confirmation from my daughter today so the work I had done was fine.

Was it worth it - not really as it has eaten up at least 8-10 hours of my time and I am still not done since the Paris portion of their trip our hotel was not available for and the other 3 backups we had in mind weren't either.  Not a massive concern as there are plenty of hotels in Paris of course and they only are there for a few days before heading to Rome for the cruise and just need a place to crash and shower.  I'll get it figured out.

I do agree that they are giving up very little for the trouble they have caused but I am sure their view is we don't care we offered you a full refund so take it or leave it.