JennKach

I've done NCL air for transatlantic and USA/Panama flights, and we had free checked bags on them. I was able to pick seats for a fee, and on one I upgraded at check in to premium economy. My next flights include a leg from Canada to USA and it includes a free checked bag, but it's a connection from a transatlantic.

Our friends were in the same situation last week on Jade. They spoke to the latitudes people onboard and they said no, they had to wait until after the cruise completes.

Most people are assuming the bag made it to the luggage area. My last “lost” bag was left behind in an airport luggage truck where it hung out on the tarmac for about 4 hours until someone noticed it lurking in the dark corner. I had an AirTag and showed the location to the lost luggage office. It was 100 yards away but no one could find it. I got it back the next day.

Our flights back from Barcelona to Detroit are Air Canada with a 5 hour layover in Montreal. We were able to pick seats for an extra charge, but checked bags are free.

We ( 2 adults) will be in Palma on NCL Escape in May from noon to 8 and want to visit the aquarium and the beach across the street from it. I assume the quickest and easiest way to get there is a taxi. When we are ready to head back to the ship will there be taxis around there? I see there is also a bus. What is the best way to get back?

I'm taking a mother/daughter cruise in May, and it's the first for my 23 year old on NCL as an adult so she has no status level until after the cruise is complete. I don't think she had enough points as a minor to earn priority tendering anyways. Will she be allowed to accompany me on priority tendering (sapphire, not Haven), or do we both join the general tendering groups? It's ok either way, but I'd rather not be doing it wrong and get sent on a walk of shame lol. And no, I'm not going to abandon her by going ashore before her!

If you are before final payment when you do your upgrade, you can adjust your original cabin based on what cabin is available to upgrade. I've booked the top OV, then upgraded to a lower level balcony and they downgraded my OV to match before doing the upgrade. I got a small price reduction. One time it was highly beneficial because prices only increased later, but the last time prices went down after final payment. It's a game you play.

I would normally laugh at people who have to have specific food on cruises, but my husband absolutely loves cookies and would choose them for dessert over most other things. Baking fresh cookies for him is the ultimate gift. He searches for cookies onboard to save for his evening snack in the cabin. He found them in the casino on the Jade TA in November '23, and I believe they were on the buffet at lunch a few times as well. You would think he is a hoarder when you see his plate, but he really does finish them by the end of the cruise. We had an unmemorable Carnival cruise a few years back but he still raves about the peanut butter cookies on that ship. NCL shouldn't underestimate the impact of having cookies available. As a side note, my husband grabbed a plate of cookies in the casino to graciously share with our group of four sitting in the bar area just outside Le Bistro. A bartender came and said we weren't allowed to have cookies here and he has to take them. I'm still not sure if they didn't want them removed from the casino (like they're only for active casino players) of if they don't allow food to be eaten in the bar area. Either way, we all looked at each other and simultaneously grabbed a final cookie before he took the plate away. Cookies are serious business to some people.

I called yesterday since my May cruise was in the email for an extra point. CAS told me NCL no longer puts the code on your confirmation and I will automatically get the promotion without making a change to my reservation. Supposedly Marketing has a list in the system somewhere. I am not confident the points will be applied.

We had a bit of an issue with laundry on the last cruise. When it didn’t show up the following day, we gave it one more day before calling to find out where it was. They had no record of it. After getting the room steward involved it took a couple hours for them to find it and get it washed. We got it back at 7pm on the last night of the cruise, just in time to pack. Up to that cruise our experiences were great.

People who don't cruise often, or follow Cruise Critic most likely have no idea how often itineraries change because of weather, medical emergencies, rescues, or other things. It only hits the news when someone goes overboard. I know I was blissfully ignorant before my first cruise. We ended up skipping Israel 23 years ago because of violence, but substituted a lovely stop in Cyprus. Another cruise avoided a typhoon which cut a shore day in half and we missed another port altogether. My last 12 day transatlantic had to reroute for weather and lost all stops but two. Someone on that trip was complaining he missed a family reunion planned around his stop on that island. My older son has only cruised as an adult once (2 as a minor) and his three day trip had a jumper. Using these family stats you have a 18-33% chance of missing or shortening a port stop. My younger son was more lucky and he's cruised 6 times with zero issues. Planning a wedding on a port stop would give me a panic attack.

I'd be careful with trusting the navigation channel clock because it's been wrong before. On one of our cruises it was way off on random days. We always bring a cheap wrist watch or travel alarm to keep us on track.

We had five normal ones plus the daylight savings. Port time and ship time agreed, but we did skip two ports so I can’t speak to those. It’s definitely easier going east to west in the fall when we gained time with each change. In past cruises I can only remember two times where we didn’t match port time and one was Roatan for sure.

For me in May, the app/website never let me make a reservation for Onda. I just called NCL directly and reserved with no issue.

Yes that's what I thought too. We've traveled all over the world and I can count on one hand the number of times I've felt uncomfortable or unsafe. The square is just so crowded with people selling things, tourists overwhelmed with aggressive vendors following them around, and in general a chaotic environment. It was really hard to enjoy the sights.