KeithJenner

Also available for us on the Breakaway.

Only a proportion of reservations are made available online, but the exact proportion is not known (people are told different amounts, seemingly based on guesses by the staff they are talking to). Anyway, that isn’t the issue here. The online system only allows you to book each restaurant once, so if you want to book more than one reservation in one place then you have to phone or wait until onboard. Having different people making the bookings doesn’t appear to work within a cabin (ie husband and wife both make reservations). It would work if you had people in different rooms doing the bookings.

If you have no OBC in your account and you buy two $250 CN vouchers then you will have a balance of $250 to pay at the end of the cruise. Again, ignore any reference to OBC, it is just a discount, 2 vouchers for the cost of 1. You then have 4 years to use the vouchers (that is the cruise you use it on must sail within 4 years). The vouchers are supposed to be used as deposits, but as long as you haven’t already applied any vouchers you can have them applied afterwards to the cost of the cruise. They can only be used against the cruise cost, not against add ons (excursions etc) and certainly not for onboard spend. They do not provide OBC on future cruises.

Having to pay tax for the whole cruise if you don’t leave the EU is certainly not a new thing. It has been in place for many years. However, the issue is whether you will be charged if you have the beverage package. The answer for most of the time since NCL introduced the beverage package has been no, but this isn’t the first time that they have charged people with the package. It was charged for a while a few years ago, but that stopped after a few cruises. I have neither the time nor inclination to go through the various discussions as to whether they should be charging this (there are a number of discussions on here), but whether correctly or not, they do seem to be charging at the moment. Whether they still will be when you sail is a different matter, and history shows that these things can change with no notice, so you are very unlikely to get a definitive answer.

You can only book for the people in your room. However the seating is unallocated, so if you want to sit with others then just get them to book the same times and turn up together.

Is the Epic doing the Western Med round trips now? These have always had the problem with the taxes being paid through the whole cruise as it doesn't leave the EU. Until recently they weren't charging those who have the beverage package though. I believe there is a valid reason for the taxes being charged throughout the cruise rather than just in port. The question is whether they should be charging you. Not that any of this helps you though. Must be very frustrating.

The different classes of ship overlap with regard to some of these things. For example, the ropes course was on the two Breakaway Class ships (Breakaway and Getaway) and also the first Breakaway plus ship (Escape), but the remainder of the Breakaway Plus ships have the racetracks, which have carried over to the Prima Class. There are various other differences between the first and last of the Breakaway Plus ships, like Spice H2O, Observation Lounge, restaurants etc, so you could say that the Escape is more similar to the Breakaway than it is to the Encore. So, it isn't as easy as just looking at the class. You really need to explore the whole deck plans to see what each ship offers. I find that the NCL site (under Explore Ships) isn't a bad place to start.

Were you trying to add a restaurant that you already had a booking at? There is a known issue where this results in the basket emptying. It has been that way for some time now (I think since the post covid reopening).

Almost certainly because it is a new ship. It usually happens. Prima reservations isn't open up when required either and it has been the same for other new ships in the past. I'd have been more surprised if they had been available to book online at 120 days.

I actually have no problem at all with NCL marketing it as they do. They are still giving a discount on the vouchers, but encouraging people to spend that money with them. It is surprising that, with all the cost cutting going on, that they haven't yet moved over to not allowing the OBC to be offset against the vouchers. I suspect it will probably happen soon. Offering a discount by way of additional services rather than a price reduction is a good way of giving the discount at a reduced cost. The real problem is that so much stuff is now included or has to be reserved and paid for upfront that spending $250 onboard is a challenge for lots of people. Our bill is usually the cost of the CN and a few dollars in the shop. I would probably still go with CN and buy some junk in the gift shop even if they did insist on it being spent. You aren't actually losing anything (other than the commitment to book with NCL which is not necessarily what we want at the moment).

Do they, or is it just another way of describing the same thing? I have never seen any CN offer that requires OBC to actually be spent on things, so I expect that this was just the same offer described differently.

Once again. Ignore the fact that anyone calls the discount off of the CN vouchers OBC. It is a discount of the cost of the CN voucher. It really is as simple as that. The actual issue that is in PaperSniper4’s example is that you can no longer use non refundable OBC to pay for the part of the CN that is due after taking that discount off. It used to be that people could walk off the ship with CN vouchers without paying anything out at all if they had non refundable OBC, but these days you do need either refundable OBC or cash to pay for that bit. But the discount is still a discount, whatever they call it.

Unless it is a tender port then you should be able to get off the ship at around the time stated and all aboard will be 30 minutes before departure (but check that when you leave the ship). There are, in my experience, rarely delays in these ports. I’m not sure if you have any tender ports (Cannes for example), but it will take longer to get off the ship and you will need to be back earlier (last tender if often 1hr before departure). If you have a tour booked then your guides will have a good idea on timescales and should be able to pick you up from the ship. If you are making your own way then be aware that in some ports (ie Livorno) you have to use port shuttles, which may take extra time.

Yeah, not sure why anyone would advise not taking a $250 discount on your cruise. Do your research in advance and just hand in the completed form. I have no idea whether the CN staff would try to mislead me because I never discuss CN with them.

Not my experience at all. There has always been very good availability when we board (although we usually do board quite early).

You certainly can. Reservations open up at 120 days (125 or 130 days for some cabin types and latitudes levels). You can do it on the app or website.

Yes, this is a common problem. Just book for 4 people. It will be no problem.

Hopefully it will. Have a great cruise whatever.

Dining reservations have nothing to do with payment dates. The app just says the date 120 days out for everyone, regardless of status and cabin. Then 125 or 130 days out they will be available to book.

That was put forward as a possible explanation in Greece last year as well. Always been pure speculation as far as I can tell, and looks particularly dubious when you consider that the port merchants appear to be quite happy with how much they are selling to customers of other lines. 🙂

I mean forget about it being OBC. You get $1,000 for $500. The fact that they originally charge you $1,000 and then deduct the $500 by applying it as OBC is irrelevant. They could just as easy have just charged $500. As I say, forget about it being OBC. It is just a $500 discount.

Does it include coffee in restaurants?

Excellent news. Enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Don't complicate it. The way they sell it does that, but it really is simple. When you but CruiseNext you just get them at a discount. If you buy two CN £250 vouchers then they will cost you $250 in total, so you save $250. That's it. Forget talk of OBC etc. As for using them, the standard is that you can apply one per cabin, but the double up deal (allowing you to apply two per balcony and above) runs so often that I can't remember the last time I couldn't use two. If you are booking an inside or Oceanview the deals come up less often. Last time we booked an Oceanview we could apply two.

Priority seating g really does vary by ship. We very rarely go to shows, but I have seen an area reserved for Sapphire and above on a couple of occasions (half of the front row was on the Spirit for example). As for the restaurants, we have on occasion felt that maybe we got a nicer table than others and that may have been due to latitudes status, but this varies. I've never been to a restaurant when they weren't seating everyone straight away, so can't say whether you get anything in this situation. It is one of those things where I wouldn't expect it to result in anything, and if it does then it is a bonus.