Ellis1138

You could join the inner circle right away: https://www.ncl.com/ncl-inner-circle

Unfortunately, it is legit, but rare. It's one of the risks of a GTY cabin.

I love doing cold weather cruising. The pools are only shut if the weather is dangerous. I was only one of a few people using the NCL Sun's pool in late September, when the temperature on the deck was 30 degrees. I had a ball and there were no lounge chair hogs. NCL had thick blankets I could wrap in, after I swam or used the hot tub. It can get very blustery out on deck, but can be enjoyable if you dress for it. On the Escape cruise, I had the non-smoking side of Spice H2O to myself, as well as the Grotto (which has cold waterfalls, but the water around my feet was warm.) There were one or two other people with me at times in that hot tub, except when it was pouring rain. Then I was alone. The temperature on deck was in the low 50s, so wasn't bad. If you love or at least don't mind cold and rain, you'll have many outdoor places to yourself.

I was overjoyed to see the noodle soup station at lunch on the Escape. I love that stuff. (Although I also love making Campbell's at home and even bought the stock.) And yes, one of the nights, there is the baked brie appetizer still.

I'm hoping someone was there recently. We'll be coming in on a cruise ship and renting a car that we're keeping overnight. I think I know where to park near the port, but what happens if that lot fills up before we get a spot? Does anyone know the next nearest place to park overnight? TIA

Go when it's more convenient for you. The whales are on their own schedule, though, and in March, depending on the weather, they might already be on their way to Alaska. We went Feb 22nd this year and we saw whales without an excursion, so as was mentioned, you will see them when they come up for air.

We're doing Jewels of the North and Golden Circle. I'm going to get maybe $50 of ISK to use for small things, based on this thread.

It's limited to one hour of use (or at least 1 hour of it being hot). I can't afford haven or hot tub suites, but I find it hard to believe that this is for "public health" when they no longer make people wash their hands or sanitize at the buffet.

Even for the pay toilets? That's what worries me.

I just found that 5 day cruise on NCL's website. 5 days on the Escape, January 6, 2025 to Jan 11, 2025. It's still there. Going to Cozumel and GSC. It's a long URL but hope it will work for you. https://www.ncl.com/cruises/5-day-caribbean-round-trip-miami-great-stirrup-cay-and-cozumel-ESCAPE5MIANPICZMMIA?embarkationport=4294949427&sailMonths=4294949384&numberOfGuests=4294949461&sortBy=duration&autoPopulate=f&from=resultpage&itineraryCode=ESCAPE5MIANPICZMMIA

I call that Hobbit Mode. I do it for breakfast, getting just the thing that one venue makes best and going to the next one. 🙂

Nope. It's split up between the first 2 people in a cabin.

Yeah that one. And yeah, it's been on the menu for several years now. I first sailed NCL in 2003. Salmon is pretty much the only scale fish I will eat. So changing it to flounder has a big impact for me. I also don't eat port and I'm not wild about chicken. I have an allergy to shrimp and as of 3 years ago, had to quit as much carbs as possible. So no pasta or rice or potatoes for me. But there's always something, somewhere on the ship, for me to eat.

In my case, the website added some weird discrepancy in the pre-paid gratuities. But aside from the difference of $75 vs $0.02, it seems like the same website glitch. The owed amount did not show up in the app, nor when the NCL reps went to look at it.

I don't cruise as much as everyone else, but as a food allergy person, I pay a LOT of attention to the menus. Yes, I noticed the appetizers have not been as varied, although I think you could probably ask for the artisanal fruit and cheese, when it isn't offered. The classic salmon turned into flounder. There is still stuff for me to eat, thank goodness. Although I do still hate everything on the menu on Lemon Pepper Shrimp night, with the exception of the caesar salad.

I had this happen on the Pride of America sailing I took in February. I had done the final payment. About a month before our cruise, I checked the account on the webpage and it showed us owing 2 cents. I called in and NCL's system showed us as paid. But on the webpage, the DSC was showing as being 2 cents more than it was. I did not want to try to check in at 21 days to find our cruise cancelled over 2 cents. The NCL rep adjusted my husband's fare down 2 cents, so that we were definitely marked as paid. I checked the week later, the glitchy webpage had re-adjusted back and now it showed as OVERpaying by 2 cents. I decided to just leave it and if it wouldn't allow me to check in, I would buy a 6 pack of Flow to make the webpage mark me down as fully paid. So check in went fine, we boarded fine, disembarked fine. It's now been 2 and a half months since we sailed. I look at my recent credit card activty: I got a 2 cent refund from NCL. Their webpage is glitchy.

My bad! And I went to look for Harr Travel room tours of the Getaway balcony but none came up right away. Just run a thin 12 foot extension across. The one I have even fits in the same pocket as the ResMed brick and power cables, and I got it the same color, so it matches all the CPAP equipment. Never had an issue with it.

I've found a 12 foot extension is sufficient for a standard balcony cabin. Make sure nothing you bring has surge protection. The cheapo $4 ones at Home Depot or Walmart should do. I had custom 20 foot cords made for our ResMed AirSense 10s from SF cable. They plug directly into the little power brick, but it's an overly complicated answer to a simple problem. There is one outlet next to the bed, according to Harr Travel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c50qwgMe4AI

They have Google Fi as their phone provider. I think the cost for the International Roaming plan is about $65 (assuming one line). I did look into it, but am just going to do a $25 European nano-sim (my phone can't do eSim). If the nano card sucks, for the next trip, I might go with Google Fi, based on how good the coverage has been in this thread. https://fi.google.com/about/plans (Dislaimer: I do not personally have Google Fi nor have I tread it yet.)

If you don't drink any/much alcohol or soft drinks, then unchecking the "Free" Open Bar part of Freee At Sea is a good idea. No use paying for what you won't use. The Free At Sea parts are Free drinks under $15 except for specialty coffee and carton water (I'm not totally sure about the water.) But you DO have to pay a 20% gratuity on what NCL thinks the package is worth, so yeah, not free in the sense of being totally free. Just discounted. You can uncheck this. Free 150 to 300 minutes of basic internet. These are free, no gratuity added. The $50 shore excursion discount for the first person on the reservation. Just a discount, unless you choose all $50 or cheaper excursions. Free Specialty dining. So it saves like $80, but you have to prepay the 20% gratuity. Still a pretty good deal. You could uncheck this if you only want to eat at the complimentary venues.

I generally decide based more on the "Am I really going to use this balcony?" question. On the whole, my budget maxes out at $170 per night, regardless of the cabin type. On a cold weather type cruise, I just go with the interior unless it's Alaska, where you do want the balcony. I also want a balcony for the Panama Canal, when I get to go, if the price is right. We had thought the balcony on the Pride of America would be good, but without them doing Na Pali coast, it's not worth it. You don't say what your itinerary is, so I would say if there's nothing to see and you don't need the "fresh air" at night, remain inside and just go out on deck when you feel like it.

In USD? I had been wondering this, because we have an NCL excursion the moment we get to Iceland, so I won't be able to go to a bank to exchange for ISK.

I didn't say we got special treatment. Just that if you go down to the gangway when the Freestyle Daily tells you that you won't need a ticket from X time to Y time, you get to tender and not worry about a ticket or group number. I might have heard some crew member call us "early birds" and just assigned that name to it. But yeah, it wasn't priority of any sort; just being ready and needing to get off that early for a rental car pickup.

That's why I simply booked an NCL excursion for Isafjordur. While the dock is supposed to be ready, if it's not, then I want to be able to be refunded for NCL's last minute decision to not dock there.

Geez, that is a steep gangway. I better bring my poles.