JillK

Yes - will reappear in your account for future use!

Hi ya. Welcome to NCL - it's a great brand. Like TwoWheels mentioned, the Epic is a unicorn ship and might not be the most accurate representation of the brand overall but you will certainly get a flavour of the line. We cruised the Epic in 2012 so my comments right now are dated. However, we will be cruising on her again in August so I will come back and share some thoughts. The cabin layout is super wonky and although it wasn't a huge issue in 2012 when hubby and I were cruising with our young daughters, I suspect I might find it interesting to navigate sharing the cabin this summer with hubby and my 12YO son. The bathroom set up is weird and does not allow for real privacy. Make sure you're sharing with someone close to you 😉 My memories of the ship itself otherwise are very positive and that cruise kicked off further cruises with NCL which, although we continue to cruise across other lines, makes NCL our favourite and preferred unless itinerary and cost come into play. Will report back after the next one.

Hi there. For what it's worth, this isn't exclusive to Princess. I had two bookings with NCL cancelled by the cruise line over the past three months alone. The first booking was for fleet redeployment and the second booking (what we had booked after the first cancellation) was for a full ship charter. In both cases I received an email that the cruise was cancelled, my deposit would be returned to original form of payment within 45 days and an offer of 10% off the base fare for a future booking, if I book and cruise within 18 months. Given the shifting winds of their deployment schedule, I decided to forgo the 10% discount and booked the Sun Princess instead. I hope that you are able to find another suitable cruise for your vacation, even if like me, you end up looking at other lines.

Our dollar is in the toilet and weak compared to US / Pound and Euro. Last week I made a purchase of $131.93 USD and was charged $186.48 Cdn with an exchange rate of 1.41348 (daily exchange rate plus 2.5% for the bank). Looks like the exchange rate today on the GBP is 1.76 (including the 2.5% bank fee) I would ballpark OP paid just under 300 Pounds to land him in the neighbourhood of $500 Cdn. Everything costs Canadians 35% or more given our dollar. I owe almost $800 Cdn in daily gratuities (3 pax, 10 nights) for my upcoming Med cruise.... the $20 USD/day is converting to $26 and change Cdn/day. I dread exchanging for some euros in a few months!!

After years of hearing about these offers, for the first time both hubby and I received a $250 statement credit for $1000 spend with NCL last year on our (Canadian) Aeroplan branded cards... we both put money down on our upcoming Med cruise to take advantage. Around same time frame as OP only hubby got an offer (same as last year for $250 statement credit for $1000 spend) - unfortunately I didn't get it. Not sure why I wouldn't have gotten is as well since we both used it last year? All that to say there must be some algorithm at play that promoted hubby to get the offer this year and not me. So keep an eye out on those AmEx offers!

NCL has generally been running the BOGO airfare consistently for quite some time now (I want to say years). That being said, at any time, they could remove this offer (and they have in the past but usually not for long- ie. for a one month promotion cycle and then it was back) so it's not necessary true that it never expires. Also, if you're tracking, the pricing on the flights can/do change. Generally only up of course - at least that's been my experience in watching pricing for flights out of Canada. You might not have the same experience pricing flights within the US, but up here in Canada we don't have a lot of competition so flying is expensive compared to pricing in US... ie. I'm looking at flights from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale next March for 4 and it's coming in at $4500 Cdn for a 3 hour flight! I flew across the country from NYC to SFO in 2019 with Alaskan for $149 USD.

We technically "moved up" to platinum after night 5 of a 14 night cruise... new status recognized only upon completion of the current cruise after you've earned the points required. Based on my experience, I would say that's a no... but just think, one more under your belt and you will enjoy the platinum perks on your next NCL cruise!

Frankly the other reason I'm considering early renewal is that my sons have changed so much over those 4 1/2 years that their current passport photos I don't even look like them anymore which I suppose could be an issue if a passport control agent decided it was an issue. Yes exactly right! My daughter will be turning 18 in a month so I am inclined to wait to renew hers until after her birthday so that we can get her the 10 year version!

Thanks for your advice. The Government of Canada says 3 months (Italy, Greece and Malta) and two passports expire 5 months from travel dates. I'm just so used to following the 6 month rule that I'm still uneasy and may just get them renewed ahead of travel anyhow.

Thanks for getting back to let us know that there were no issues. I always thought the 6 month requirement was because that is the length of of time that we as Canadians can stay in the US per visit (six month casual travel visa) after which we would be there "illegally." Meanwhile, I am planning for our August cruise to the Med with some of the kids passports that are expiring 5 months after travel. According to the government of Canada website, they have a 3 month requirement so fingers crossed our experience ends up as seamless as yours!

Yep - did eventually get an email that it had been chartered... after two cancellations for the same week, it felt as if they were still getting their itineraries in order and nothing else on offer was hitting the mark for us. We pivoted and have booked the Sun Princess.

Hubby and I did a 14 night cruise on the Jade this past November. Overall we loved the ship and found it to be very fresh and clean - not showing her age at all. The two things we disliked... 1/ no seating on the promenade deck which on past ships has always been a favourite place to spend some quality time outside but not in the sun. 2/ the coffee bar being in the atrium. The net effect was that whereas usually the atrium is the heartbeat of the ship, in the evenings the atrium was a ghost town. We sailed on the the Jade's sister ship the Gem in 2019 and spent some time every night at the atrium bar. Really missed doing this on the Jade. Otherwise a great ship which I wouldn't hesitate to book again.

I would agree with laudergayle as to the reason but regardless that's a nice win. Hope that you find a fun way to spend the money saved!

Hi there. I recently switched a 7 night booking to a 14 night booking. I elected to go this route vs booking B2B because I was able to realize a better price for a better cabin category by going the route of the 14 day. I had originally booked an oceanview cabin for the 7 night but when I priced the 14 night, only balcony and above was bookable... turns out the balcony for 14 nights was only $400 more than booking the same oceanview cabin for two 7 night B2B cruises and booking the two B2B 7 nights in the balcony was $1100 more than booking it as a 14 night. In our case, a large portion of our savings was because our sons were free week 1 but not free the second week. By booking as a 14 night, they were free for the duration (yay). So - all this to say... check the pricing because depending on the weeks you are booking, you might be able to realize a savings (likely either way) by booking one way versus the other.

Hi. Weighing in on this as I literally just booked a 14 night on the Sun for next March with hubby and our sons who will be 13 and 15 at time of sailing. I will add the caveat that we have cruised on various lines but our preference is NCL. Unfortunately NCL didn't have a cruise more than 7 days on a ship that offered the amenities we wanted to keep our kids happy in the time frame we were wanting to cruise so we opted for this ship. We cruised the Norwegian Getaway, Carnival Panorama and Ruby Princess with our sons (as well as our older daughters) in 2021. I give this info as background to provide context. Frankly the boys were pretty bored on the Ruby. They didn't care for the kids club (they were in that age range at the time) so only went once and the only thing they liked was swimming in the family pool and watching the occasional MUTS. From the renderings, it looks to me like the Sun is adopting several family friendly activities top deck that we REALLY enjoyed on the Panorama. I think that although the Sun may not have water slides there will be enough to capture their interest (I certainly hope so now that I've committed to 14 nights!) Between the three cruises that year, everyone's favourite was the Panorama. When I told my youngest (currently 12) I was going to book Princess he actually groaned and said - oh no not the boring ship. I told him it was their newest and they had some of the cool stuff he liked on the Panorama and then he got really excited. So - will your pre-teens like the Sun? Probably - Princess has done a lot to appeal to families with this ship but yet will still have that nice Princess touch and level of service the brand is known for. I'm really excited to try Princess' newest ship at a much more favourable price point than I can book NCL's Prima class (their newest ships). If you can afford to tie up the deposit amount, you can always book and re-evaluate once the ship sails and the reviews start rolling in. I suspect that once it sails the price point might creep up so if you've got a good price like I found, no harm in locking it in. Hope this helps and whatever you book - happy cruising!

Hi! We recently cruised for 14 nights aboard the Jade in cabin # 8086. We had initially booked an inside cabin but upgraded to obstructed oceanview when the price came down to within $50 per person to do so. This was my 20th cruise and I have been in all the standard cabin types across several lines (balcony and below). The Pros: - Very convenient to get anywhere on the ship - central location that cannot be beat - Tons of storage space for two people - maybe we are light packers now that we have lots of experience with what know we do and don't need, but we didn't come close to using all the available space... would have been tight with four in the cabin though - Natural light is great, even if the view wasn't The Cons: - Deck lighting coming into the cabin at night - Super loud noise throughout the night beginning at 2:30 am and going for hours off and on - woke us up and kept us up most of the cruise. For this reason, this cabin (and I would assume adjacent cabins) should be DO NOT BOOK unless you can sleep through loud noises. The Jade is a very nice traditional ship and it was a great fit for an extended cruise with just hubby and I. Kids would have been bored out of their minds... Ship was renovated last year and is spotless. Food very good to excellent (some of our least favourite meals were in the specialties!) and good entertainment. Happy cruising!

Call the cruise line to firm up exactly what you can actually book so you can figure out how to move forward. Last year on Princess we ended up booking three inside cabins for our family. Myself and youngest son in the first cabin, our two daughters (18 & 16 at the time of sailing) in the middle cabin and my husband and older son on the end. There were no issues in booking it this way with the cruiseline (likely as my eldest was 18 as is yours) and we had no issues during the cruise.

Hi ya. Yes you can absolutely use a CruiseFirst certificate to act as your deposit. They are currently running the spend $250 for a CF valued at $500 so you are getting $250 "free." If you already know you are cruising, this is a great way to save. What you need to know: 1. Can only be used to book a cruise more than 120 out 2. Can only be used on cruises of 6 days or more 3. Non-refundable 4. Are transferrable You can buy them directly through NCL's website: - Click "Cruise Deals" toggle down (between Explore and Why Norwegian) - Click "CruiseFirst" - Click "Purchase a CruiseFirst Certificate" They are deposited to your latitudes account for you to apply if you are booking on your own online or you can direct a TA to apply it if you book that way. Looks like NCL has eliminated the expiration date on these certificates. When I purchased one last year I had three years from purchase date to use and sail (use by/sail by dates were the same). Happy cruising!

I don't think there are many differences... they both do the same thing: offer a discounted way to deposit on a cruise. I believe the primary difference is that the CruiseNext is purchased while on board whereas you can buy the CruiseFirst off-ship. A few conditions for the CF: - only valid on cruises book more than 120 out - only valid on cruises of 6 days or more - non refundable - transferrable It also appears that like the CN, there are no longer expiration dates on these certificates. When I bought a few last year, the CF had a 3 year expiration from date of purchase (sail by/cruise by).

All I can tell you is that we have cruised on the Escape twice, the Gem, the Epic and more recently the Getaway in 2022 and the Jade Nov 2023 and there was a difference in the soft serve on the Jade versus all the previous ships we have been on. The soft serve on the Jade was "dairy free" per the signage (in both machines, we checked) and this was the only time that dairy free was served, to my knowledge (ie - no signs either way on previous ships). I was expecting the same product across the line but that wasn't our experience.

On the Jade this past November they were offering "dairy free ice cream" at the soft serve machines. We saw a lot of people eating it but we personally didn't find it to be very good. That was the first time on an NCL ship that we didn't like the soft serve so I would have to agree with the poster above who suggested that the quality/caliber of the soft serve might vary by ship. In any case, the answer to OP's question has been answered... available when the buffet is open though on the Jade, the machines did not appear to be operational during the breakfast hours.

Oh my goodness - this has happened to me as well... but with NCL. I was checking my credit card postings two weeks before sailing in November and I was stunned to see 20 refunds from NCL....Went to my cruise planner and all 10 of our pre-paid excursions I had booked two months earlier were gone. Called NCL... they advised that in light of the situation in the middle east, the cruiseline had cancelled cruises/excursions in the affected area but a "glitch" meant unaffected cruises were also getting cancelled. The person I spoke with said they "thought" that they had managed to rebook everyone without them ever knowing there was an issue and my bookings must have "fallen through the cracks." I was also very unhappy as one of the excursions was sold out and no longer available for me to rebook and the exchange rate had changed in the intervening months so I had to pay $30 more. In 20 cruises that was the first time something like that has happened but it provided me with an important lesson... always quadruple check! I'm just glad I caught the error before being on the ship. If I hadn't, I would have boarded thinking everything was taken care of only to find out I had nothing booked. Not a fun way to start a vacation, I'm sure!

Hi there. The best thing you can do is to determine what is important to you and how much it's worth to you. If you feel that you are comparing a similar experience on both ships, only you can decide if you want to spend more for the Norwegian experience vs. Royal. When we were pricing a British Isles cruise a while back, I really wanted to go with NCL as we were keen to try to focus our cruise dollars with one line to build loyalty perks (as you can see by my signature, we still haven't done that!) but I couldn't justify the price difference between them and Royal so we went with Royal. We had a wonderful cruise and no regrets. I have sailed on both vessels you are considering... mind you I was on the Grandeur in 1998 so I can't speak to what the experience would be like today. My parents, who began their cruising obsession with Royal, cruised on the Grandeur's sister ship the Enchantment last year and they said it was their last with Royal. If I recall correctly, their chief issues were the low quality of the food, the ship being rundown and service being lackluster (they are now booking NCL and Celebrity exclusively). Hubby and I cruised a 14 night itinerary on the Jade in November and it just sparkled. There are no top of ship bells and whistles, not even a movie screen at the pool, but it was renovated last year and looks brand new. Food ranged from very good to excellent and some of the most memorable meals we had were in the dining room over the specialties. Generally, it never felt overcrowded in any of the spaces (though the chair hogs were in full force for the entire cruise) and we had an amazing cruise. I'm one of those "any cruise is a good one" so I don't think you can go wrong. Whatever you decide, happy cruising!

We also got an email from NCL mid-day saying it was being cancelled due to a full ship charter. I knew this was coming as this is exactly the same thing that happened when our Escape sailing was also cancelled. I'm starting to think that we aren't meant to cruise in March 2025! Will have to either give up or go back to the drawing board!

I was recently on the Jade and did get the pass for the entire cruise. Both are located inside the single sex change rooms on the Jade. The only items in the common area are the hot stone loungers (6) and the large thalassotherapy pool. Steam room, shower experiences, plunge pool, sauna, whirlpool and lounge area are located in the change room area.