weltek

My belief is that by only offering free continental, it was less appealing than offering hot and cold for free. It also meant an unskilled staff person could do the bulk of the work of room service breakfast.

Your HORRIBLE return flight is my travel option 70% of the time. LOL! My closest airport is not the busiest (even though it's in a capital city) and I live 80 minutes from the airport. I'm so used to late arrivals home that now I just accept that when I snag an earlier arrival and it will inevitably gets cancelled or delayed. And I'm usually right.

If the agent truly admitted it was her mistake, I'd elevate this to a supervisor for sure.

I don't know about you, @YVRteacher, but I'm going to find a wall to bang my head into.

I would like NCL to confirm a date it will be fleetwide. Right now we only know for sure that it's some ships.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the "use your Latitudes restaurant benefit at any specialty" isn't necessarily fleetwide yet? Last I read the threads on this (early November), it was still the old language on many ships. The NCL website still says the old language, too. I'm still not sure what to expect on my sailing next week, but haven't cared enough to ask anyone.

Let me be your Escape dining concierge! A little about us, so you know where these recommendations are coming from: We like really flavorful, adventurous food, as well as a nice steak or seafood dinner. We mostly avoid chains. I find the specialty restaurants range from good to very good and the main dining room acceptably good, always with a few highlights during our cruise. I've only had one NCL cruise where the MDR food was disappointing most nights, and that was over a decade ago. If it was my first NCL cruise, I'd have proclaimed the food bad. But I knew it wasn't the norm for NCL. Use your two meal package to book Cagneys and LeBistro. Add a two-meal upgrade ($59/pp plus gratuity) and use those at Pincho and Food Republic...the best two restaurants on the ship, IMO. I was going to suggest you might be able to a la carte cheaper than that, but probably not if you want to try lots of things, like I always do! Food Republic is a modern casual atmosphere, Pincho is counter service tapas, but high end flavor and presentation, and Cagneys and LeBistro are fancier traditional dining experiences. So, you get a good mix of good food and atmosphere with this plan. If you aren't adventurous eaters, you would be better off picking Bayamo by Ocean Blue and either La Cucina or Moderno instead of Pincho and Food Republic. Just research good picks at La Cucina, because there are some clunkers and some highlights. I don't think it's as top tier as other restaurants on the ship. I hate the concept of Teppenyaki, but some people love it. If you like this style of Japanese food and show, go for it. People that like that kind of thing seem to love it. For the Main Dining Rooms: Note Manhattan s the "grander" of the free dinner venues. There is often live music and a few guests dancing to jazz and big band on the dance floor. It's quite lovely to watch. Taste and Savor are smaller and I often see more families, but if they are quiet families, the experience can be calmer than Manhattan. They all have the same menus, so just pick which style better suits you. We always pick Manhattan. Oh, and the Indian food in the buffet is great!

Even in 2018 I couldn't do it online (can't remember before that). So, I don't know that it was strictly a covid-era change. But either way, you are correct, you must do it when you board to get your preferred times. You can do it on the app, or in person.

Would be great if Cruise Critic could reach out to NCL and confirm.

Thanks @Ken the cruiser for adding to the thin evidence pile. Seems like a slow turnover of this throughout the fleet. I wonder if the goal is to have it fleetwide by Jan. 1st. NCL.com FAQs still reflect the complimentary (no delivery charge) continental language, though it does say "Prices subject to change." https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/norwegian-cruise-line-now-charging-room-service Is Norwegian Cruise Line now charging for room service? Norwegian Cruise Line has introduced an enhanced room service menu. The new menu offers an expanded selection for breakfast, in addition to a wider variety of options available 24 hours. Individual items on the menu remain available on a complimentary basis and a convenience charge of up to $9.95 USD will be added to each order placed (Morning coffee, continental breakfast and orders placed by guests sailing in The Haven will not attract a charge)*. A 20% gratuity and beverage service charge will be added for non-complimentary beverages and special occasion items. Room service is one of up to 29 dining options offered across the fleet, and guests continue to be able to enjoy a wide array of complimentary choices onboard 24 hours a day. *Prices subject to change.

I heard a rumor about that last month, also on that site. You know, "I saw in another group" kind of rumor. It received no corroboration here or there. I can't say I'd be overly surprised, but I'd think there'd be a ton of buzz if it were true right now.

I noticed the same thing, but checked the last few week's itineraries on there vs. what actually happened, and what actually happened matched NCL's stated itinerary. So, cruisemapper seems unreliable, but anything is possible!

For the people who are a bit confused: The two options in Puerto Plata are Taino Bay (closer to Downtown Puerto Plata) and Amber Cove. They are very near each other. I know Encore was supposed to originally be porting in Taino Bay this season, but after the spring grounding there (was it the Getaway?), it seems few NCL stops have been made there. I'm wondering if it's partly based on water levels. Anyway, all the Encore sailings since November have ported in Amber Cove. I know, I've looked at the webcam every Friday. Looking at different port schedule websites isn't very helpful, because there is conflicting info. I wonder if they've basically double booked both ports "just in case." Amber Cove disappoints me because I really wanted to be closer to downtown.

Oh gawd, what a nightmare. I'm sorry I don't have any experience with this, so can't offer any advice. If nothing else, please know that you've helped other cruisers be aware of insurance coverage and implications of decisions made in high-stress times like this. Best of luck recovering more money, seriously.

We head out on Dec. 11th for our Encore cruise, so I'm going to try and keep track on any unanswered questions specifically about the Encore, especially with it being so early in the 22-23 Caribbean season. This is also a less "busy" cruise for us, so I'll have more downtime to purposely look at things I don't care about. 🙂 So, if you have any questions (yes, I see yours above @flarad!), let me know!

Is this for GSC? So maybe you book the zipline for the first person on the reservation and someone else shows up using your name... I have not done this, but you know, rumors.

Aw. This made me go look up the Majesty (our first ship) and see what became of it. Apparently it's been stretched again and is still operating via an Israeli company. What a life!

I'll keep an eye out next month, as it's a really good question that I'll bet interests more people. If nothing else, there are fun things to do with bitters, club soda or ginger beer and n/a mixers that aren't very sweet. I'd totally hit up the bartenders at the whiskey and the mojito bars and check out their ideas.

Ooof, good luck. The cash procedures listed below would mean $2400 cash as a deposit. And I wonder if that $300 listed under the initial paragraph also means per person. Regardless, your pre-paid debit for incidentals plan won't work, as only room cards are accepted for payment everyone on ship, with the exception of Starbucks (you can use a Starbucks gift card or app there) and the casino (cash). https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/onboard-expenses How do I pay for onboard expenses? For your convenience, all shipboard expenses are charged to your Onboard account. Sign up when you check in, establishing your method of payment with Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB Card, Diner's Club. You may also use your debit card however please be advised that we obtain pre-authorization, as we do for all Credit Cards, and some banks hold these funds for up to 30 days. The maximum initial pre-authorization amount for all credit and debit cards is $300. Cash can also be used as a method of payment to settle your account with an initial deposit paid in advance. Using your debit or ATM card Norwegian does not recommend the use of a debit card as payment for your onboard folio. Please be advised that multiple holds will be placed on your debit card account based on your onboard purchases. After settling your onboard folio, these debit card holds may remain on your account up to 30 days after the cruise ends. To avoid overdraft charges from your bank, please make sure that you have enough available funds in your account during this hold period. Norwegian will not be responsible for overdraft charges resulting from holds placed on Debit Card accounts. Traveller's Cheque / Cash Procedures A cash deposit may be placed on your onboard account in the following amounts: 7 day cruises - $300 USD per person Less than 7 days - $150 USD per person More than 7 days - $450 USD per person Once you have exceeded the deposited amount, your account will be closed to further charges. You can deposit as much money as often as you'd like throughout the cruise, however, refunds cannot be made until the day of disembarkation for any excess. **Personal cheque will not be accepted, nor can they be cashed on board.

If nothing else, I do recommend walking around Tortola and having a Pussers Rum drink and doing a little browsing at shops. Tortola is a great water and beach stop, but if you don't want to get up early, a beach or boat probably isn't in the cards for you. So yeah, just take a stroll for an hour or so. Not everyone agrees with me, but I absolutely adore the mix of rugged island and gorgeous water in Tortola. It's always on the top of my "islands I'd like to spend a week on," but is expensive to get there. And I agree with those that enjoy grabbing some food on every island to get a taste of local cuisine. For example, I'm not planning to do anything in Puerto Plata for our upcoming cruise, but I have been looking at restaurants near port to check out. We'll sleep in, lounge at the ship pool/hot tub, then head out for lunch.

If I were out in the morning when almost nobody was around, I'd 100% scootch their stuff if there were no empty spots and still sit on that edge. That's ridiculous.

Yeah, I have no problem with people taking photos of their meals. Snap away!

I strangely have never taken food photos on a cruise ship! I take them sometimes on land, but never by sea. Might have to change that this cruise.

The Local Bar & Grill has a lot of tvs and is your best bet. Around 59:00 you'll see lots of video of it, including the big screen.

Already a post on this here (and in the gratuity post mentioned above):