mking8288

@LauraAnneC NCL ships typically returned to & are docked at the Manhattan pier by 6:30 to 7 a.m. - weather, sea state & tidal conditions permitting ... and the Express / Priority self walk-off with one's luggage began around 7:15 to 7:30 a.m. - and usually, those with airport transfer/drive-by tour with airport drop-off are called fairly early, once the Platinum's & Haven folks are down, outside & heading toward the gangways into the terminal ... around 8 to 8:15 a.m. would be reasonable, based on experience. Allowing 20 to 30 minutes to retrieve checked bags in the luggage mall, going thru CBP inspection as usual for bus passengers - usually are completed by/before 9 a.m. and off they go. Latest time for any & all passengers to leave the ship would be 9 to 9:30 a.m. at the latest or (10 a.m. - pushing it, security will be everywhere sweeping) else, NCL won't reach a "zero" count to then flip things around for the next sailing's embarkation. NCL airport tours are mostly, from what I understood, a drive-thru tour of key hightlights in NYC, mostly all Manhattan, for those with flights after 3 to 4 p.m. (domestic/international) - tour duration is around 4 hours with airport dropoff with a 2 to 3 hours "window" before scheduled flight. There are 1 or 2 quick stops to get off the bus, to strech & photos ... not sure if there's enough time to run for a public restroom (if any) and/or to get a quick bite as lunch. Most recently, it was priced at $125 p/p (and, if you have FAS promo - reduced by $50 = $75, a pretty reasonable deal especially for solo cruisers.) Taxi fares to JFK is a flat rate (tolls for bridges & tunnels are going up, again ... like everything else, globally) with 20% tips, and congestion/MTA surcharges - come close to around $75 for the one-way ride to the airport, good for 3 adults hauling with reasonable luggage. Simple JFK airport transfer by NCL was either $35 or $40, but FAS credit isn't applicable as I recall. For your international departure at JFK, you want to allow at least 3 hours, 3.5 to 4 hours being better (thus, you should be at JFK no later than 3:30 to 4 p.m. as the evenings are busy & peak time for international arrivals & departures, 7 days a week ...) The NCL tour-ending-at JFK should drop you off by 2 to 3 pm, practical for those on a late afternoon or evening flight ... all the terminals should have functioning free WiFi (not VPN secured) for travelers to use at no charge. Perhaps just a little too early but not by much, after getting thru check-in & security, passport checks ... plenty of time for a late lunch/early bird dinner, even if you don't have lounge access and not wanting to pay for a day pass/if available & offer in your airline's terminal.

Happy crew members and junior officers, etc. with cheerful smiles are often seen, reflected and spread to guests, passengers onboard ... well, this newly reported change impacting those with ranks below 2 strips. Unless, a request for permission was made (and, approved) - detailed news here. https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-line-takes-away-popular-crew-member-privilege/88476 Washy Washy, Happy Happy ... if your friendly steward and dining team aren't looking too cheerful, perhaps, this help explain 🤨 Healthy, safe & happy holidays and Thanksgiving to all on CC.

Maybe this is the mystery Black Friday Sale ... now you see it, again and blink, blink - might be gone by next Monday ... or standby for this test by marketing for responses, LOL. Just did a quick group chat in my F&F cruise circles, apparently not everyone seeing the offer ... possibly related to Latitudes tier status (Gold & above) and/or whether one has cruise on NCL since the restart between 2021 up until now - just wild guesses in speculating. Here's a partial screenshot on where to find it and what it looked like, too bad, it's restricted to a specific sailing on the Escape and not transferrable Meanwhile, been getting tele-messages from a CruiseNext Concierge Specialist on VoiceMail, self-introducing & offering, as an expert, to assist in planning future vacation. "CLICK HERE" to schedule an appointment with me, my available times are included. From a 855 area code with a 5 digits extension & NCL email address ... Early start for NCL Wave Season ??

Maybe, just ... fingers crossed, maybe - NCL is making changes to the assorted onboard WiFi packages for 2023 ?? Starlink rolling out and prices, appeared to be lowered than before (wishful thinking, but possible ... one can dream) Of course, some choose to disconnect & put their devices into the mini-safe (just don't forget to take it when disembarkation ... why bring it along, then ??) A quick "reservations" check on 2 planned NCL cruises coming up: This is a new price bundled being offered/quoted for 12 days - without the FAS upgrade/trade-in ... not bad, just over $20 USD per day ... Unlimited Wi-Fi: 1 Device Stay connected with this Unlimited Wi-Fi Package. Includes general browsing, emails, and messaging. Does not support streaming functions. Upgrade applies to g ... PRICE $244.80 This, price offered/quoted for 7 days -without FAS upgrade/trade-in, not bad, just $20 USD per day ... Unlimited Wi-Fi: 1 Device Stay connected with this Unlimited Wi-Fi Package. Includes general browsing, emails, and messaging. Does not support streaming functions. Upgrade applies to g ... PRICE $142.80 Social Media package pricing was, if I'm not mistaken, $15 per day ... so, might as well, toss NCL an extra $5 a day (price of a Starbucks onboard + 20%, LOL)

The "streaming" satellite WiFi internet access onboard will - probably - cost you an extra $10 per day over the basic unlimited access, less the trade-up or trade-in discount applicable, but no additional discounts or stacking of Latitude discount are given (feel free to ask onboard about it) Pricing has been the same regardless of charging for the upgrade pre-cruise or waiting until embarkation (where any/all OBC can be used to offset or lower the final net costs) The package discount (20% for our Sapphire tier) is only valid if you do NOT have the Free At Seas promotional minutes (100, 120, 150, etc.) and getting the package at the regular pricing - then you get a percentage off. See screenshot below of our "offered" upgrade pricing for upcoming NCL cruise in early 2023, for 12 days (with about 5 sea days) - which was calculated to be $30 per day x 12, less a $145 credit for upgrading to the basic unlimited plan, at almost $215. If we wait until 12:01 am midnight, it's considered Day 2 and we (should) are charged for 11 days, reducing our cost to "only" about $185 instead - before applying OBC. There aren't too many 15 days cruises these days with NCL as the daily cost are supposed to be lowered ... Prices hasn't changed or been raised over the past 5 years for these turtle-like copper DSL line speed - #cough #cough #cough - hold your breath as I would not be one bit surprised if they do. For our ports, we are going to be kicking up dusts with our 4G/LTE and 5G "roaming" access using Google Fi - it's just a matter of do we feel like paying for the access on sea days and at night, cruising between ports and out of range of land towers. Last time we did 14 days on the Escape doing the East Caribbean, we managed with our 300+ minutes just fine, "paid" for an extra 100 minutes toward the end of the cruise to keep in touch with home/extended families - for other reasons. Not sure what ship OP is planning to sail on ... unless NCL roll out Starlink and/or similar equivalent speed upgrade, the onboard WiFi is simply slow ... don't plan on and expect a smooth connectivity in streaming content, not with latency at 500 to 600ms and the narrow bandwidth as cached & shared.

Yulp, seemed OP just newly booked on the Joy, sailing next month and those SP and/or SC suites do NOT come any extra perks, no access to Haven-like dining (except whatever being included as part of the Free At Seas ...) There is no butler services whatsoever and concierge help is mainly access to an online helpline (which, for us, was "directed" or linked to the CruiseNext department) for dining and show reservations (virtually, useless). No bottled water cartons or sodas/etc. restocked in the refrigerator, just the coffee machine that steward will restocked daily and more often as requested (use tap water out of the sink, safe for drinking to most cruisers). There was 2 "treats" delivered by room services during the week ( 3 cookies in a covered plate, LOL - the ones you can easily get yourself & probably just as fresh, in the garden cafe ) PPV movies are free to watch during the week, for your convenience (total selection of about 60 of them) from the TV's in the "suite" and there should be an umbrella in the closet to use/go ashore with, in case it rain. Bathrobes & slippers available and if not, request & ask for them. Beddings, linens were good, one notch above the regular staterooms. There was really no priority check-in and/or embarkation at the pier ... but you might, possibly, get priority disembarkation (gold colored) luggage tags and offer to meet at a designated lounge for faster disembarkation. I probably forgotten a thing or two. The best part in paying for the extra, was that its worth an extra point per day as a "suite" and the extra space, and having two (2) full baths in the suite - between 540 to 560 sq.ft. in size, it was quite spacious by NCL ship standards, just as big - if not bigger, than most Haven suites, minus access to a real balcony - you get 2 HD-like (720p resolution, as I recall) virtual balcony display in real time in the "living room" Look below for the May 2022 Joy "semi-live" as it has pictures of the suite & what things were like, etc. onboard with us. Enjoy the cruise and the ship.

Oh, no ... did you saved them or backed up the original files / photos elsewhere ?? The USB jump drive that NCL used weren't exactly high or premium quality, good for transfer & saving to HDD then but they all do fail (read/access errors or data corruption are common, sometimes from humidity & temperature and long-term storage, etc.) i.e. remember the days of 8", 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disk errors See if you can access the drive from a Linux computer or Chromebook, sometimes ... the "File Manager" have better luck or success reading, scanning & repairing it automatically and/or on demand. Mine (from 2014) is still okay, readable - it's 4GB sized encoded as a SCSI drive - try using an older PC that's backward compatible with USB 1.0 and/or 2.0 specs. Good luck or get someone with the pro-tiered rescue & recovery toolkits to give it a try.

Useful and informative alert as heads up for anyone cruising this winter season, anywhere & any cruise ships ... and flying for that matter. A good surgical or face masks, inexpensive if you no longer stock KN95, KF94 or N95 filter masks, is good protection against most airborne elements ... along with proper hand hygiene, we called it part of our total infection control measures in the healthcare sector. One doesn't have to like it, but ... just do it and no need to thank anyone else. If not, feel free to do whatever, it's freestyle cruising afterall, for your convenience. And, yes, global travel & medical insurance - never needed or important until you realized you did obtain it. Happy travel, cruising & safe Thanksgiving to all on CC.

@lilalila - Onboard pricing are basically the same, you are on the Escape for 7 nights. If you wait until 12:01 local / ship time to upgrade onboard, easily done yourself via the NCL App, you will be charged or paying for 6 nights only, less the trade-in credit given for the 150 minutes ... cost would be about $80 instead of $110 if you do that now or upon boarding the ship. That's for the basic unlimited (non-streaming) WiFi access, multiple devices can be registered or linked but only access one device at a given tie. No additional discounts given & Latitude discounting cannot be stacked or applied - however, if you have any non-refundable OBC ... it can only be used when upgrading onboard. On Day 6 and 7, they usually offer the disembarkation specials for 30 and 60 minutes, fairly costly on a per minute basis over the plan for 6 and 7 nights (days) ... Nothing else available on day 3 or 4 for the 7 days (nights) cruise, AFAIK - unlimited "deals" will be priced just like paying for 6 nights.

Wasn't going to post or comment about it, did see earlier the 10% offer for the Escape's April 16th sailing, LOL around midday ... which is useless for us since we have another itinerary & ship that month already. Poof, it's now gone ... Sapphire here but no military and/or first responder affiliations. Checked 3 other accounts that I have access to ... Platinum, Gold & Silver - nothing either, or gone for good. Perhaps, cyber hackers having fun in NCL's system, LOL. Off-Topics, friends of ours (Gold & usually cruise under CAS) forwarded one of his NCL email, time stamped yesterday, Nov 16th 10:06 "DoubleUP With CruiseNext + 2nd Guest FREE" ... "Doubleup! Now on Any Stateroom For 2023 Cruises and Beyond" Apply 2 CruiseNext DEPOSITS on Any Stateroom*" They are going to try it with an Oceanview 2023 booking with final payment/cancellation deadline still weeks away ... and see whether it'll go thru or not. Earlier this month, there was a "generic" $100 discount coupon / credit that some of us saw, applicable without being restricted to a specific ship and/or sail date ... that worked for us.

@Cruiser1862 - Among the key elements to remember to best manage your free 150 minutes on a cruise ship, is to always sign-out or log-off your inTERnet account, after you successfully connect or login or signed into your user account. The iCafe is just a small section right next to the corridor to/from the MDR (Deck 7 AFT) and they should have a printed FAQ guide to show you the "how to". Each time you connect and/or disconnect, you'll be using a minute of airtime, maybe 2 at most - and, usage is rounded up - for metering / usage purposes - to the next full minute ... They aren't really "wasted minutes" but overheads, not that much different from signing into online account elsewhere by clicking or selecting the userid's, password and sometimes a slight wait for authentications or portal's "handshake" - typically, it will take you, once connected, to the default browser's URL, i.e. msn dot com Mid-ship NCL ship's WiFi aren't fast but not really slow either, sufficiently fast to support VoIP calls, WhatsApp and FB Messenger video/voice calling over WiFi ... just have a backup method established and test it while still in port before sailaway, to verify & test out to assure it's working, or, go to the iCafe desk to ask for help or troubleshoot. Typically, on the last 2 days - they will advertise and offer a time-limited specials, 30 minutes and/or 60 minutes to use, as extra add-on ... You can use available non-refundable OBC to buy that, if you are low on the 150 free minutes. SMS or text messaging generally works well when connected. Otherwise, I concur with others that feel your existing allowance of minutes should suffice. Happy cruising !

It's fairly far from the stairs and elevator lobby/bank - these are AFT photos (Deck 15 - port side) on the Joy, sister ship to the Bliss if I am not mistaken. Ours were about 3 cabins further back, and below the Galaxy Pavilion (that's another story by itself when one of the virtual reality, race car, was "on") OT, ours directly opposite the "white space" - crew access only corridor with stairs & service elevators, and interior area where jumbo service & luggage carts are stored / kept / moved around (absolutely zero noise, except during embarkation & morning of disembarkation with the frenzy "movements" among everyone.)

The NCL App connects to ship's WiFi inTRAnet only for most functionalities, and does not count against your "free" inTERnet minutes. InTRAnet access is not valid for online access to email, web browsing or other common inTERnet usage, but you can NCL's portal, CC's website and to check your OnBoard Account, etc. free of charges and deduction from data/airtime minutes. Stop at the iCafe desk once onboard to pickup a printed guide with FAQ on how to, and the iCafe manager has posted hours to help answer questions, etc. - feel free to ask for & get help. It's not rocket science just a little common sense on what's doable. To access the inTERnet, you need to log in and must always remember to log out or sign off to stop the "metering" countdown against your free minutes of data.

Hmmm, either your friend's (or, they would ask for yours instead) credit card will be charged for the "adjusted" difference - an amount would be hold (as pre-authorized charge) and once the ship is underway (hypothetically, as you said) - they will collect and make sure the account is paid in full before you can disembark the ship. They aren't going to "bill" you and/or your friend post-cruise ... charges would begin to be "processed" while you are at sea / onboard against the credit card on file or used. Feel free to gamble, IMHO and play the odds, but personally, I would not dare to try it myself, just my uninformed two cents. Good luck & happy cruising ... P.S. Best to be honest and speak to CAS rep about it first and before boarding the ship, to avoid denied boarding and/or disappointment.

I checked with our CAS friends that cruise using these land-based offers & fairly familiar with the rules ... Short answer, from their experience, not worth your "gamble" unless you are prepared to be charged extra for the cruise without the free certificate holder (as you are her/his guest) and without the person on the ship, the discounted fare/rate is NOT valid. NCL (at the pier check-in) will advise & inform you of the difference to pay, or, you will be denied boarding ... of course, feel free to take your chances if the friend might still go AND take you along to enjoy. Q: Can I give my Cruise Reward Certificate to someone else ? (from a 2022 "Certs") A: Unfortunately, no; the certificate is non-transferable. For your convenience, since rules & guidelines are subject to change, feel free to call the dedicated casino line at NCL reservations to speak to one of the agent & ask about it (877) 742-9528 ... weekdays 9am to 9 pm, ET and weekends, 10:30 am to 7 pm, ET.

Thanks, GA (again) in latter part of January. Enjoy MSC - one of the ship repo' to NY - watching for deals, one of the BIL gave mixed review (pre-Covid). Wait, you are flying to PC during winter break ?? Out of curiosity, booked Prima next April to personally check out her new mouse/money traps, bells & whistles. And, the "opening" team onboard did all that (practically, nothing) - I'll hold those Sapphire pins, if you want, for you as we got extras but they won't give us Platinum ones, saying their supply on the Joy was limited.

Here - get your facts together, contact info & email NCL (see below) and cross your fingers ... NCL under the "Contact Us" section for Lost & Found: All correspondence should include the guest's name (first and last), name of ship and sailing date, as well as a contact address and telephone number. Standard Response time is 10 business days from receipt. Click here to report items lost on your cruise. Please note, if your item is located, a shipping cost will apply. Click here for the status of your claim. Good luck - as best as I can recall from earlier post, those items found will be logged, turned over to shore-side NCL reps/agents and make its way to HQ in Miami somehow (going to a while for all these to happen) and for them to return it (at your expense, if I'm not mistaken ...)

When NCL first launched the GA and BA ... 7 to 8 years ago, Manhattan MDR (the larger one) had a suggested dress code, not insisting formal or shirt & ties for men, but no shorts or flip flops ... Over the years, it's been tweaked, loosen & faded away - you would be hard pressed to find more than a dozen or two in suits, blazer & shirt/dress slacks, etc. walking in to dine for the evening; unless they were doing studio portraits and/or celebrating a special occasion, etc. Nowadays, there is sometimes a daily Chef's Special, printed on the menu, or NOT - which is served like the rest, in all 3 MDR that evening - and, having done a good # of BTS tours over the years, come from the same heat-lamp "stations" in the gallery & less errors-prone with the use of tablet ordering by the server & retrieved by the team's assistant(s). Feel free to try out at least 2 of the MDR to sample their services. The MDR (all 3 of them) tend to be jammed pack full on the last night, sometimes last 2 evenings before disembarkation - and fewer folks upstairs in the buffet. We plan some of our specialty dining schedule on the basis of these pattern, adjusting for the port schedule & timing, to avoid longer waits for everything.

Ditto, yours on the Prima doing T/A and ours on the Joy ... I would say it they didn't "overfilled" the Haven Observation Lounge to maximum capacity. Don't recalled anyone masking up either, aside from a handful of working crew (bar runners) Maybe, you think they might've cranked up their high filtration HEPA ventilation system. Got a 12 nighters coming up in mid/late January, going to see & maybe stopped by CruiseNext onboard to harass them about it. In short, have yet to read about any confirmation here on CC that BTS tour and/or Dine w Officers being resumed again.

Services at the 2 smaller MDR tend to be faster, more casual and overall background not as noisy ... more near/window seatings for 2's and 4's if you arrive early. Manhattan MDR is the larger one, some folks do dress up a little more and it's more common to see/have larger groups dining there, and it can be quite noisy during meal services. It does NOT have a dance floor unlike the GA and BA / Escape - more tables and ... as best as we can remember, no place for entertainment, nor was there live music or even DJ-less background music. A matter of perception, overall meal services tend to be slower or taking longer but you are inform the server team that you are on a schedule ... sometimes, they'll ask & try to please or speed it up.

Just wait for next Fall's last minute specials ... several NCL ships will be running donuts up there. Just hail an Uber, the fare for us from the pier up to the Citadel was $9.50 CDN on the App - quick & easy as we weren't going to walk up that hill & gave the driver a nice, big cash tip. Much, much less than the most frugal ship tour available. Took a taxi afterward back to the ship (seen enough of downtown over the years) after walking down to the bottom of the hill from one of the nearby hotel's ... fare & tip, $20 CDN. Of course, you can explore the casino there by the waterfront too ... Great pictures 😎

Check one of our existing bookings (still outside final payment window/deadline to cancel or change ... something we usually don't do in planning that far ahead) and saw a price drop with the "current" 50% sale, instead of the usual 40% off or 70% off the 2nd pax FAS promo ... not a big saving, but nevertheless, worth the call into NCL directly. Agent was cheerful & in just a few minutes, re-priced and made the change with the newly lowered price, no changes to the perks selected, kept the same cabin, etc. - emailed the confirmation w. amenities, etc. Done - saved about $120 on a 7 nighter, not bad, some of it due to overall price drop across most categories. In short, don't sit & wait for Black Friday or Cyber Monday cause, I haven't seen any real deals in past years ...

Read about it yesterday - they just installed them on a trial basis to test while at sea. Speed has been throttled to avoid congestions among shared users - capable of much faster u/l and d/l ... obviously. https://www.teslarati.com/11-starlink-dishes-norwegian-cruise/ That's about twice as far as the previous speed that I benchmarked myself on the BA, about 5 years ago and nearly 3 times faster/better than the GA, Escape with the Joy coming in the worst, no better than 2 Mbps. The Prima, apparently, the worst of the worst - let's hope they can switch to StarLink if they can work out the deals. MTN's latency was much higher & ping time shown here in the 100 ms range, definitely will help those trying to stream on the premium tier if NCL choose to switch over. Results are very simlar to what @graphicguy reported As for more competitive and lower prices, I wouldn't hold my breath on it and I'm quite sure @fstuff1 will agree (why should NCL lower their prices by 1/3 to 1/2, no way) - now, go find them in person & post some additional pix for CC addicts like some of us. BTW, all is well / good & you are back at sea (enjoy the BA) again 😁

Glad to know that disembarkation was easy & quick, looking at that picture - the line was quite short and you weren't among the last to do the express walk-off. Got to EWR without rushing for the gate & the "Friendly Skies" were good to you ... while using NCL"s shuttle bus services. Whatever happened to Big Blue a/k/a Super Shuttle's booking (personally, I would not recommend them as they have a miserable reputation here and per my nephews that work ground ops at JFK) I see the GoAirLink shuttle vans dashing all over & across the city but seldom see SS's blue van anywhere. Interesting to ready the report that Sunday's Marathon didn't really affect and/or disrupt those disembarking the ship & heading for the airports ... some taxi & car service drivers were known to take the day off, not wanting to deal with all the closures & go-arounds, which probably help explained Uber's surge pricing when demand spiked up around Pier 88. Congrats on hitting 50 states on your personal travel map with Maine as the last pin.

@graphicguy - That Reuben will taste better if they grilled it good, which isn't difficult to do. Their burgers are even better as is, very juicy with the mushrooms - if you haven't had one all week, be sure to wash it down with your favorite beer or what not tonight. Checking marinetraffic again, looked like ship is definitely on track for early arrival - been doing 21, 19.5 and now 20.5 knots all day long & that's with all 4 engines running to get those speed, not slowing down. Hopefully, for other reasons and not b/c of needing to rush the passenger stablized from Code Alpha to better shore-side cardo care ... since medevac, apparently wasn't necessary, that s/he is okay. It's been a joy to follow along, thanks for all the pictures - there's always something new, different to discover from these posts and reports. Impressed that you managed to keep up with just the "free" WiFi minutes for 7 nights. As for the time zone changes & correct time, this week & tonight will be exceptionally challenging - with the clock being turned back ... iPhones & smartphones "should" sync the correct time after 3 a.m. after you turn them back on or reboot, fingers crossed. Sunrise for tomorrow should be around 6:30 a.m. (today ... was about 7:30 a.m.) just look out from the balcony ... should give you a good sense of approximate time for the pre-dawn hours, without a doubt - it will still be dark when she slip past Lady Liberty. Have a safe & pleasant trip flying home.