Grimix

The way I read it is she is planning on going solo either way. She is essentially ready to pay the single supplement, and was wanting to use her soon-to-be-expiring friend's FCC to take some more money off the fare. If I'm wrong I'll slink away quietly... 🙂 Additionally she is worried that if her friends don't show she will have to pay back NCL the used FCC since the person it belongs to won't be on the ship. (I have no idea on how they would handle this...)

My mom used to tell me this when I didn't like the combinations she put on the plate. I always told her that it has to go past the taste buds first.

Just be mindful from what I read the race track is closed if it rains, which is always possible for Seattle and hit/miss in Alaska almost any time of year you go!

That's on a 7 day cruise. You only get 1 for <7 days (And the Garden Villa's get more too I think.) Granted, as I believe you also did, that bottle returned home almost completely full. (I did 'refresh" a greyhound I had ordered at the Haven bar while in the room. Not that they didn't put enough Vodka in it originally, but everything was melted and I saved myself a walk to the bar by adding a splash of vodka)

I was going to book the Haven for our first NCL cruise, and this thread made me feel comfortable with the decision. Knowing what to expect/not expect is crucial to avoiding disappointment. Our first haven cruise didn't disappoint, and I had our next one (to Alaska this time) booked a week after we got off the boat!

Wanted to say that Iceland is on my want to go list. Not sure if I want to cruise or land it, but I guess we'll find out!

Thanks! We'll keep it our little secret! I won't have to worry so much (except for the Ubers to hotel/airport) and she'll think she needs to pack 'light'. Love your reviews!

Sam's Anchor Cafe for drinks out on their deck. Great view of San Francisco across the bay if it isn't fogged in!

This was our experience as well. Of course we've only had one cruise on NCL and it was Haven so was couching what I observed. The pool server always made a point of asking what our kids wanted to drink when we ordered and never once asked for their cards (11 year old son loved the virgin mudslides.) I've read a bunch on these boards and that seemed to be most people's opinions which is why I figured maybe my Haven experience wasn't too far off. I suspect if they went up to a random bar by themselves where they weren't known and asked for a virgin drink the results may be different.

My wife does it wrong... oh so wrong... (I'm worried for this one, because our last trip we had the DOS which has that walk-in closet. Now we're 'slumming' it in a 2-bedroom and she'll have to fit the luggage under the bed. (I think)

If you order one with your drink the odds are they'll just make it without charging. Is it against the rules? Yes. Will they do it even if they know what you're doing? Probably. Will you get in trouble? Unlikely. You can always be upfront and order your drink and say the kid with you would like a virgin mudslide. I would expect a 90%+ success rate. I doubt they even ask for the child's card.

I'm not in customer service, but in a high-end service environment the MO should be apologize and make right rather than make excuses. It would have cost her nothing, and makes a good impression instead of making a bad situation worse. She should have been the one to send the manager over to apologize. Luckily we've never experienced that in the Haven (only 1 trip so far though) and I think the most we've ever waited was 3-5 minutes (but we also didn't go during peak child time) and almost always were sat immediately for all meals we went to.

That's an insult to La Cucina... The only thing good at Olive Garden is their salad. (Even their breadsticks are more often than not stale and cold...) Unfortunately the OG happens to be my kids favorite restaurant (for the stale breadsticks...) so I usually have to go at least once a year for a birthday... If you're doing chain's then Macaroni Grill is better, and we really liked Carrabbas (unfortunately none out where we live...) If you want a nice Italian place "near" you one of our favorites was Rosalie's Cucina in Skaneateles (A one off by the Romano who did Macroni Grill.) Their banana Budino is my wife's all time favorite desert from anywhere.

Sounds like the kind of bar you walk into, but not out of...

I researched the issue (i.e. googled) and there seems to be many who feel the same. Apparently a common glass substitution is the Coupe. It also sounds french, and looks somewhat similar to a Margarita glass, just with the thinner rim. I may have to ask for the Espresso Martini in a Coupe so I can sound bougie on my next cruise.

I blame the French for lots of things (including me as my mother is a mostly 100% french canadian, I blame the Canadians for the rest. I kid! I kid!) Looks like the Mexicans improved on the French design. The margarita glass has many of the same features (large exposed surface area, stemmed design), but got rid of the horrific conical top and is able to better hold in the liquid. Granted they are typically made with a thicker glass, but we could refine the design some more a thinner rim if desired.

This. They give the same amount of value for OBC as statement credit. OBC says non-refundable, so why not accrue more points, and keep it refundable by applying it as a statement credit (if you don't want to use it for upgrades.)

I will say the martini glass is an abomination of design. Who ever designed it must have been drinking too many martinis. Or maybe it was a perfect design for a bar owner who decided it was a great idea to make it so it spills half it's contents with only a small movement. If it's not filled to the top by the power of exponentiation you can save a large percentage of alcohol, and if you do fill it to the top it is likely to be spilled and a new one bought sooner. I had an espresso martini for the first time last cruise, and loved it. After the first I had subsequent ones placed in a non-martini glass.

I believe Guest #1 gets $50 each excursion he/she books. (If you do 2 excursions in one day you would 'save' $100 for guest 1.) I haven't done it because we tend to go as a family, but I've read here that if guest #1 doesn't want to go you should still book it for him/her since the excursions are usually ticketed and they don't look at the name on them. (Also the dining FAS dining is only for passengers 1&2. If you have kids or other family members in the cabin they will need to buy their own dining package.)

As @sjacobs11 mentioned. Normally when booking they will offer an upgrade for 2-extra specialty meals for $70. They include that upgrade in the FAS+ for pax 1&2. (The FAS+ is basically bundling a lot of there used to be separate upgrades, and you save money on buying them all separately.)

I realized after I posted that I was making a generalization that I'm not sure is 100% true about breakaway+ ships. But we stayed on the DOS on the Bliss and that one definitely includes a second bedroom (where grandpa stayed), and while researching for our Encore cruise in June (which as I've said we rescinded the DOS because my brother backed out) that one was an identical layout to the Bliss. I haven't actually looked on the other BA+ ships, but assumed they had a very similar layout. Now I'm kind of curious.

I was just being snarky about expecting no one to care when we've seen that on cruise-critic there is always someone who will, but I do agree with what you wrote! We shouldn't let what other people are wearing affect our vacations. If the only way you'll (royal you) be happy is if everyone is dressed to the nines then this isn't the line for you. If it makes you happy to dress up in a tux, go for it! Would I mind someone wearing a bathing suit to dinner? I'd probably think it's weird, but it's not going to ruin my vacation!

You must be looking at a different ship. On the BA+ the DOS has a second bedroom with ensuite bath. The cabin is actually 2 1/2 baths (There is a vanity in the hallway.) We fit 6 VERY comfortable in the cabin. My wife and I in master, FIL in the second bedroom, and the 3 kids in the living room. (2 on the couch, and the third on a roll-away)

Be careful you don't jinx it! I said that last year before our DOS trip, and sure enough our family came down with COVID about a week and a half before we sailed! Luckily we were all negative for the embarkation tests, but I didn't recover my sense of taste until the start of the second day!

My experience on cruise critic has shown me this statement to be patently false. 🙂