tomk3212

Agreed. As an example we were on Breakaway years ago & got delayed THRICE coming back from the Caribbean. Once was to come in closer to shore so that a pax could be airlifted off the ship, a second time to assist other ships in a 'man overboard' incident & the final was a stop in Staten Island so several pax could be ambulanced to a local hospital. As a result we missed the tide & had to wait off the Verrazano for slack condition. We didn't dock till 9PM; over 12 hours late! People were NOT happy.

Ocean Blue & Cagneys with LeBistro as a runner-up.

A little idiosyncrasy we noticed in the app was that the # of people dining in the reservation almost always defaults to 4 people and not 2. Couldn't get the app to allow a reservation for just 2 people. Weird. In any event I just made all our specialty dinner reservations for 4 people & then changed it to 2 people as soon as we got aboard.

Yes. We were just on the Epic TA & had he FAS Specialty dining package (2 nights) in addition to our Sapphire status 2 nights. They'll ask you when you check-in at the restaurant what you'd to use; your FAS or your Platinum. 'Back in the day' when we first achieved Platinum status we had to remember the coupon plus it was only good at certain restaurants.

They're both still on Epic, if that is a booking option...

Book it for 4 then when you board go to the Specialty Dining reservation kiosk (or just call the number) and change your reservation(s) from 4 to 3. As an example, we recently booked specialty dining reservations on our TA cruise in April-May on Epic. When I booked online in advance the ONLY tables they showed were '4''s; no tables for 2. So I just made reservations for 4 for DW & yours truly then changed all the reservations to 2 as soon as we boarded the Epic. Easy, peasy, no problemo! Have a good cruise!

IMHO, there's more to do entertainment-wise on the Getaway than the Gem, especially at nights. That said we LOVE the Gem & have been on her MANY times. All things being equal I'd choose the Getaway.

We have 'snuck' into our cabin and dropped off our carry-on prior to the announcement that 'cabins are now ready'; it's not too difficult to do & we haven't had anybody stop us while we were doing this & haul us off to the brig. lol That said, however, most of the time when we've done this our cabin door is still wide open so the room steward(s) can do any last-minute cleaning and/or adjustments they need to make. This means whatever may be in your carry-on is NOT secure. So do this at your own risk.

IMHO, the single biggest advantage of Platinum & higher is the free bag of laundry you get per cruise. If you're on a 10 day or longer cruise this is a godsend! You can pack less so that on Day#6 when you discover you're out of something to wear you pack the paper laundry bag, fill out the slip, mark the bag & slip 'Latitudes Platinum' & away it goes for free! Gotta love it! Allow 2 days for it be returned clean(my experienced average time is a day-and-a-half). Hint: on LONGER cruises (12 days or more...) they'll usually allow you a second bag free. That's been our experience, at least. Good luck!

I miss the salmon choice they had as one of the 'always available' alternates to the nightly specials on the menu. Haven't seen it on the 3 cruises we've been on since the return from COVID. Guess the price of salmon is too high or they can't get the quality they want. The NY strip is good. The flounder is hit and miss; sometimes it's good, sometimes not so much. The shrimp Alfredo is VERY good IMHO. I miss the lamb shank; on the 15 day TA we just got off the MDR had the lamb shank ONCE in those 15 days. Pre-COVID even on a 7 day cruise you'd see a lamb dish at least twice.

As Ol' Blue Eyes used to sing, 'If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!"... Agree with shof515; I wish NCL would resume running 2 ships FT out of NYC! One of the Breakaway/Breakaway Plus ships & a Jewel-class ship...sigh

Like 'jdc987' I now have cropped photos of DW & myself that I now use for the check-in process after experiencing the same issues you had. I feel your pain! I think that adding the photo to the check-in process is being driven by an old COVID-related regulation or some other government entity. It's not something NCL is doing on their own. I was reading somewhere that one of the cruise lines (RCCL, maybe??) was planning on doing something similar to expedite the pier-based check-in process. The plan was that you check-in online or via an app, upload a photo, scan your passport, give your credit card info, etc. When you arrive at the pier on sailing day you'd just identify yourself & they hand you your key card. Sounds great...in theory. Maybe someone else can confirm this?

The last cruise we just went on (TA that left 4/22/23 out of NYC) I didn't get an email BUT when I logged into the NCL website & accessed by reservation I was met immediately with the page, 'Let's Get You Upgraded'. Dunno if this is the same for everyone else but the last 3 cruises I've booked I've gotten this page if I have an open reservation. When I clicked on the link & put in my bid I DID get an acknowledgment email then from NCL confirming the bid amount. FYI I had one successful bid and 2 failed bids. The failed bids' emails I got on the day we sailed.

Thanks VERY much! Not to be 'nit-picking', but how many are a 'few'? 3? 4? I know it's hard to remember exactly but DW & I aren't fond of steps these days. It sucks getting old...

We're considering a 10 day cruise from Southampton around Ireland this coming September on the Star. Two of the ports are listed in the itinerary as tender ports & I was wondering how physically challenging it is to get on and get off the tender boats. We're in our early 70's & can't handle too many steps up or down. Also how high the steps are is also an issue. I was wondering if anyone has had any recent tendering experience with the Star (or her sister ship Dawn) and can give us any information in this regard. TIA!! tomk3212

We were on the same TA on the Epic. We're Sapphire but this was our first time on Epic. Weird layout but i LOVE the size of Headliners vs. the same club on the Breakaway/Breakaway+ ships; it has at least 30% more seats. I disagree re: The Garden Cafe food. I'd rate it a 7-8/10. We ate there a couple of nights when the menu at Taste/Manhattan was less than stellar. To each their own & rating food is VERY subjective but 'cold'? Too salty? Seriously??? Agree on the Specialty restaurants. I agree that entertainment could've been better (no Broadway plays like 'Jersey Boys' or 'Six' ) but we had Leo to sing to us in Maltings and the 'boys' from Howl At the Moon to entertain us when things got boring. Not too bad. Sucks that they couldn't fix the temperature controls in your cabin. Ours was kinda flukey also but they did work.