KeithJenner

You can use them in any speciality. The details are on the NCL website as to what is covered (generally one of each course). You can book them in advance in the usual way. The main thing to remember is that the system will charge you for any restaurants that have a cover charge (Moderno and Teppanyaki) unless you have dining credits to cover them, and it doesn't take your latitudes meals into account, so basically book those restaurants first. There is a guide in my signature. It is a bit out of date, but the basics still apply.

Has it? I obviously haven’t paid enough attention when looking at the menus. Is this on all ships? I’m sure there haven’t been upcharge items on the MDR menus when I’ve been there.

When the Prima was launched they had a fixed MDR menu with specials offered from speciality restaurants. However I understand that this has now changed to the usual rotating MDR menus. It sounds like they are trying something similar again. Is the rest of the menu the usual rotating MDR menu or is it fixed?

We have been dealing with ESTAs for travel to the US for many years now and I’ve applied quite a few times and it is really not a problem. They have recently added a bit of messing around having to upload a photo of your passport which seemed to cause some complaints, but it went fine when I applied earlier this year. I believe that this will be similar so it should just be a few minutes to apply and a payment that we would all rather not make. It’s something we would all rather not have to bother with but for most people I think it will be far from being a PITA

Just to be clear, ETIAS is nothing to do with the UK. I believe that we are introducing our own version and if people are visiting the UK and the EU they will likely need both.

Champagne was always only at selected bars even when the package had more options. We usually only found it at restaurants and places like the wine or champagne bars.

Disembarkation should start soon after the docking time and there shouldn’t be any delays for things like customs (I’m assuming that this is a Med cruise rather than coming in on a Transatlantic or anything like that). If it is a cruise with multiple embarkation/disembarkation ports then it should be even quicker as there probably won’t be many people disembarking there. When I’ve seen Marseilles on Epic itineraries then it is usually one of a few embarkation ports. However, if it is a Rugby World Cup cruise then things may be different and a bit busier. However, there should still be no customs to deal with. I’ve never been into Marseilles from the cruise port, but I believe that it is less than 30 minutes by car, so you should have plenty of time. If it’s during the week then it will obviously be busier, but I’d have thought you’d still be ok. This isn’t a particularly common port for NCL (especially for disembarkation), so you may not get many replies here.

I would assume that as they asked whether they could get to the airport for a specific flight then there is a fair chance that they know they can get where they want from there. It would be odd for someone to ask whether they could get to an airport in time for a fight that they don’t want. 🙂

Because Gatwick or Heathrow are a lot further away and a lot busier. If they can get where they want from Southampton then they will save a few hours, a lot of money on transfers, and have a much more relaxing experience. If you can get to where you want from Southampton then why would you fly from Gatwick or Heathrow?

Those restrictions are certainly now gone. Have been for ages.

It is true that people are often unable to make a reservation for the same restaurant more than once. There have been numerous discussions about this on these boards and, as I mentioned, I have been unable to do so on any of my recent cruises except for that one example. The original statement wasn’t mine, but it is a fact that people have been unable to do so. That is why I said that it varies. This is NCL after all. 🙂 Edit: I just checked to see if anything has changed and it looks like I would be allowed to make a second Cagneys booking if I tried (it added to my basket, which was where things previously went wrong). I couldn’t do so last time I looked, despite having previously done the Moderno double booking, so it seems to be fairly random, but it could be fixed now.

It is true, but does vary. I have been unable to do this on any recent cruise except for managing to make two Moderno reservations on my upcoming cruise (which I also wasn’t charged for despite not having credits to cover both of them).

You can book as many as you like. Even if you don’t have any dining plan you can book every night. You will be charged for any fixed price ones if you don’t have a dining plan (or if you have booked more restaurants than you have in your plan), and there is a restriction on being able to book the same restaurant multiple times online (although that one varies), but no limit on number of reservations you can make.

The published times are usually fairly accurate. The ship usually arrives earlier and is cleared at around the stated time.

It’s a few years since I’ve done a Canary Islands cruise, but when I have the tax has only been charged when in Spanish ports. I’ve never seen tax charged in the Canaries.

When we plan our speciality meals the first two that we always put in are the first and last. Last could change depending on the port, but I don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t do embarkation day (unless we decided not to bother at all. We have eaten at a speciality restaurant for at least our last dozen cruises. Quieter, and a nice relaxed start to the cruise. I struggle to see a downside.

I emailed my PCC (a new one who I haven't spoken to before), but didn't get a reply so just gave him a call now. He said that there was nothing showing as owing on the system and that everything was fine. I got him to email over a current confirmation showing zero owing, which he has just done. I was able to check in fine at the weekend. Not much else I can do now really. I will go armed with screenshots and the confirmation showing zero owing, in case it is a problem when boarding. I'm not really concerned about the cruise being cancelled, as there seem to be a few of us in a similar position and there would have been more reports of cancellations if the glitch was that bad, but you never know with NCL.

The change allowing people to bring wine onboard if they have the beverage package is relatively recent (2022 I believe), so didn’t apply then.

Yes, that is the official stated policy now. However, the OP seems to be wondering whether they can avoid getting the beverage package.

Policing of this has always been very random. I've carried wine onboard a few times and have had to pay on about half of those occasions.

That whole area is one of my favourite places on the Jade. There are three bars (Magnums, Tankards and another one that I don’t recall the name of) which all join together and there is often entertainment (piano player usually) at Magnums. They do tastings there, yes.

The 300 minutes is time that you spend specifically logged in to internet access. You can be connected to the Wi-Fi all the time, but need to then log in to get internet access. Using the app is completely different.

It works exactly as you said. When tender tickets are released you don’t need to worry. You just turn up when you are ready to go ashore. Just be aware that this doesn’t mean that you can jump the queue. You just get to join the queue when you want, rather than having to prebook a time. It is always possible that things could work differently on a particular cruise, but I’ve always found the way this works to be very consistent.

We usually get an email confirmation when we make dining reservations. They also show up online in the cruise summary, although this doesn’t state the number of people.

I was just checking something on my upcoming cruise (sails in 26 days) which was fully paid and it now shows a small balance owing, which is the amount of the FAS+ shore excursion discount for my wife. Having read this thread earlier I decided that I would just make the payment and then chase up the refund later. However , when I click on “make a payment” it shows a balance due of zero. I’ve taken a screenshot of that page, and may give them a call at some point (although I have no confidence of anyone at NCL understanding what I am seeing). It looks like a website issue to me.