KeithJenner

They are referring to the bottle of wine that you get with one of the platinum meals, there has been discussion on this thread about taking that bottle away unopened, which many of us do. The bottle of fizzy something that used to be left of the room was given to all latitudes members. It wasn’t just platinums that were subjected to it.

I think (going by the surface that the sheet was on) that these lists were in the wine bar. They are available for everyone. Years ago there used to be Viva Vino sheets in multiple places, but principally at the the atrium bar. Often there would be stands set up in various places. It is a lot less visible these days. If I was looking for them then I would try the atrium bar and the wine bar (if there is one). As I mentioned earlier, I can’t even say that it is still constantly available. If i hadn’t seen them selling it on the Dawn then I would have concluded that it is no longer available (and that was over a year ago). I can’t say whether it was that the Dawn was one of the last to sell it or whether it is still available but very badly advertised.

List from the Dawn is attached.

The closest thing to a wine package that NCL have ever offered is Viva Vino, where you buy a number of bothles of wine for a fixed price. That price being based on the quantity and the category they are in (called Enthusiast, Aficionado or Connoisseur). This could only be purchased onboard, and used to be quite well advertised, but since free at sea came along it is a lot less visable, and now it isn’t even clear whether it is being offered a lot of the time. There has only been one cruise since the restart where I have seen it being sold (Dawn in 2022). That isn’t to say that it hasn’t been offered on the others, just that I haven’t noticed it. It isn’t something I look for these days. It is not a bad offer as they seem to have never put the prices up. I just can’t guarantee that it will be available.

You can prebook the latitudes meals in the usual way, but the system doesn’t know about the meals, so will try to charge you any fee required at the time of booking. This makes booking Tepoanyaki an issue as it will require payment when booking. The way round this is to book the fixed price places (Teppanyaki and Moderno) first so that the system sees you have dining credits available and doesn’t charge you. I assume that it is too late for you to do that now.

Being confused is a very common result of phoning NCL. If you want to increase your confusion further you could try calling again, asking the same question and comparing answers.

A solo traveller gets two vouchers, the same as everyone else. The T&Cs are badly worded (this is NCL after all), but what they are trying to say is that the solo traveller can’t split their vouchers to get 4 meals for one. However, they still have 2 meals for 2, and can take someone else with them if they want. If that person is also platinum then you can double up to get 4 meals for 2 between you.

Yeah, sounds like that to me. There is no control over the bottles of wine on the system so each restaurant would have happily handed the wine over. The only odd thing is that they usually come in a booklet, so it’s not easy to see how that would have happened.

Just a small clarification. The free at sea meals aren’t dinners for two. They are individual dinners that are given to the first two people on the booking and are linked to their individual accounts. Its only a small difference, but it can make a difference when you are combining free at sea with other payment methods, or if people want to dine in different places (maybe if travelling as part of a larger group). For example, we would sometimes just use one dining package meal whilst the other person shares a latitudes voucher with our son. I don’t think this is particularly relevant to the OP, but may be useful to others.

They still seem to be using up old vouchers on some ships. I’m sure that some people have said that they were still able to use them anywhere in this situation, but I’ve not been able to test this myself as I have always had the new vouchers since they changed. It is certainly possible to use the latitudes vouchers in any restaurant (including Teppanyaki). The website mentions Teppanyaki as an option (even though in doing so it incorrectly states that it is one of the places where you can order 4 dishes). I have used our voucher there recently.

Yes, you are correct. I was thinking about the meals that the system knows you have available, but yes, you can book earlier.

Whatever. The fact (as far as I can tell) is that the wording has always suggested that the credits can only be applied to new reservations (or not to existing reservations - same thing really). Whether this is a real change will be clarified later, but I’m certainly not taking the wording as being proof one way or another. This is NCL after all. Let’s see what actually happens.

I’m wasn’t asking about how the rules have been applied. I was asking whether that wording has always been there. It certainly seems to be similar. Regarding the definition of a new reservation, many of us have no option to cancel and rebook without a penalty, so that certainly doesn’t explain why we have been able to apply them to existing reservations.

Hasn’t that always been there?

We have done this in the past. There is the risk that the servers would insist that the platinum guests use that voucher, but it seems unlikely and I haven’t heard of that happening (as long as at least one person using it is platinum).

Anybody can book as many meals as they like, regardless of how they plan to pay for them, so you can make the required bookings any time after bookings open. As mentioned above, you do need book any fixed price meals first so that you have dining credits available to avoid being charged when booking. This has nothing to do with how you what method you eventually use to pay for the meals though. When you turn platinum absolutely nothing changed regarding the pre booking system. The latitudes meals never show up on that system.

Thanks, must think before typing in future. No idea where $25 came from.

You can certainly bring wine on board. There is not, nor has there ever been, a 2 bottle rule on NCL. You can bring on as much as you want. If you have the beverage package there is no charge. Otherwise it is $25 per bottle. I have never heard of anyone not being able to bring wine onboard (although if they refused to pay - without the beverage package - then I suppose that would happen).

In my experience this venue has always been open for breakfast. We often go there if we just want something light as it is a lunch more pleasant place than the buffet.

The new menu is posted on the NCL website and has been discussed extensively here.

Until recently there was a significant difference between dining package and latitudes. The restrictions for the latitudes meal were posted on the website (basically one app, one entree, one dessert) and these were followed fairly consistently onboard. The dining package didn’t have these restrictions online, other than a statement saying that you could only get one entree. Restrictions were fairly randomly applied, with staff apparently telling lots of people that they were restricted on numbers of apps, sides and desserts (although people were rarely, if ever actually charged for them). Back in those days it could make a real difference which method you used to pay for your meal. For example, it was generally best to use a latitudes voucher if you went to Moderno as there were no restrictions there. Recently NCL have clarified the situation regarding the dining package and the website now states the restrictions which I believe are being applied onboard. If you study the wording between the latitudes and dining package details then I believe that there are some differences (which I assume is where the discussion about 3 or 4 courses is coming from). However, based on comments on this board, it seems as though the staff are actually treating both the same (which makes sense as they are so similar) so in most cases it doesn’t seem to matter which ones you use where.

That should work in the MDR and should be ok in specialities (unless it is so busy that there are limited tables available I suppose). If people know in advance of the cruise that they will be eating together at a speciality restaurant then it’s even easier. Just have one person book a table for four.

The only places where there is a charge for reserving are Moderno and Teppanyaki (or whatever it’s called on the Prima class). As you have two free at sea meals you don’t pay anything when reserving your first two meals, so book those ones first. Then book the a la carte places where there is no charge anyway. The link in my signature is out of date, but the bit that covers this is still fairly accurate I think.

Yes, that would work.

The wine is yours to do with as you wish. Share it, or give it away, it’s up to you.