mking8288

CC's roll calls, IMHO, aren't what they used to be pre-pandemic, for variety of reasons and not necessary because of other "competing" platforms/online sites and I'm cautious to declare it ... As far as I'm concerned, personally, "our" upcoming one is alive & well at 50+ days out, 75 on the CC roll call roster, 45 or so affirmed plans to be at the M&G/Mingle (and, we know it's a success with 80% attendance, no-shows happened for variety of reasons) and 20+ interested in playing the slot pull (immediately afterward.) Organized an earlier one this March on another ship, it was successful with 30+ attending and new friendships established. But, was just one of the "many" CC attendees on a different sailing not too long ago, it was a disaster - zero efforts to mingle whatsoever, a substantial # came from elsewhere & boosted the purported headcounts. The ones that showed up just sat in the lounge in small groups, no efforts by the organizer to introduce herself/others, acknowledge or do anything otherwise to mingle ... part of the reasons, I think, nobody on the Roll Call was willing or able to take the lead to keep track, someone else came along and ran it down the finish line (time, energy, commitment, willingness, and availability, etc. to be considered; and, to not expect hardly anything in return for the efforts.) It didn't/doesn't help when cruise lines, including NCL, virtually halted some if not all the Meet & Greet/Mingle fun out of it, with no senior officer(s) attending - however briefly & taking no questions - and watered down refreshments, the "motivations" for some to show up and meet other "strangers" onboard aren't strong or not at all. The sailing's itinerary, full sea days and scheduling also come into play in terms of scheduling an ideal or at least more convenient time for the M&G/M ... and the venue itself (location-wise) also important - i.e. mega ships, the spacious specialty restaurant is better than the District Brew House for a larger group, especially for social distancing and mingling purposes. Last but not least, CC disabling permanently the one-to-one messaging with the portal's major revisions several years ago, IMHO, didn't help at all - pushing, at least, a few, over to other alternate platforms to "chat" directly. I often read & look at the sailing's other roll calls, mostly before but also after "ours" to see and get a sense of what's going on, who else is doing what, and useful FAQ that other members might find informative & useful, i.e. Bermuda TA and ArriveCan. There are others not exactly following the stated CC protocols but apparently, CC admin isn't always doing anything about it, if at all - sometimes, only if "reported" - I hope all these aren't spinning into the grey water drain lines. Not here to suggest or tell CC on what, how and ways of restoring faith and its perceived influence as the 5% among cruisers that NCL (and, other lines) should look upon & listen. Let's face it, with the surging Covid subvariants and current wave, depending on the ports, not everyone is comfortable attending huge gatherings unmasked - just b/c some didn't show up or wish to attend the M&G doesn't necessary mean they aren't supporting or that the roll calls are hitting all-time lows ... expectations do count. Several seasoned CC'ers on the upcoming roll call staying in Haven offered to show their suites to interested members privately - smartly & on request only, not doing a cabin crawl with a large group roaming the corridors & hallways, for healthy & privacy/safety reasons - make sense, huh. Furthermore, I see no need to ask, post & share "real" full names, hometowns and other personal biographical details, photos & basics, and, that we will be traveling & away for xx days ... so, just bring the U-Haul moving truck and help move valuable household belongings free. For solo cruisers, is there really a need to collect stateroom # and email addresses, maybe but not convinced those private groups data are safeguarded well, not over our decade+ cruising. In "my/our" other online presence, we do use other tools, apps & have affinities on other sites & platforms - just not co-mingling here. Data breaches and cyber security leaks - to the extent that I can limit the exposure, less sharing elsewhere are best practices. That's our nickel's worth of food for thoughts.

We booked (last minute - within 2 months of sailing) two (2) SP cabins on the Joy, got a good deal/price & caught the rare double points promo on top of it all, got 28 points in total for our 7 nights to Bermuda. "SP" is (still, AFAIK) considered a "full" suite (definitely non-Haven) despite being stripped of nearly all perks - and like the "SC" non-Haven suite ... is entitled to AND get an extra point per night paying suite pricing. However, if you successfully bid "upgrade" Advantage into them, no and you then do NOT get the extra points awarded. Date Name/Description Reservation# Ship Stateroom Type Points May 8, 2022 7-Day 7-Day Bermuda Round-Trip From New York 4876XXXX Norwegian Joy Suite 28

Starlink to the rescue soon, once the cruiseline(s) negotiate their best deals, tag on their overheads and markup for profits, maybe it'll be price competitive ... or, at least, we'll get superior broadband speed & better latency on the low orbit satellite links. Nevermind, however, NCL is probably way behind the curve. Just wishful thinking - wait & see if the other lines will bring it on sooner. That's a "smallish" basket of freshly laundry, folded & ready to re-pack - nice & being complimentary. NCL isn't bashful about stagflation, shrinking the size of the paper bag by 1/3 while raising the price by 1/2, as someone else noted, solo travelers probably can't still get by for the week doing one wash. We had to do 2 "free" wash in May by printing Platinum on both "slips" to avoid getting charge. Chalk these changes as realities in adjusting to the new normal.

Thanks for taking the time to share, post and comment - just down $50 with the casino action, that's a win. Got a full sea day ahead, still can get revenge and turn the corners 😄 What's the action plan for tomorrow ? When I see Fleetwood Mac ... Peter Frampton comes to mind, our times and music in those days, along with Billy Joel, etc.

Bring a 10 or 12 ft. extension cord as it will be long enough to reach to the closer bedside night stand. Have a power tap to provide outlets to other devices and/or a 220v to 110v outlet adapter to make good use of dual voltage devices in the MBR. If you need more details, please refer to the May review from our Joy sailing.

LOL with 0.29 for upload ... is that even usable 😳 these days/age with blazing 5G Back in March, basic unlimited managed to pull better speed u/l ... d/l seemed doubled from what I saw then. Once upon a time, I pickup a decent 4G signal while at GSC but not this Spring after tendering ashore from the GA - it seemed like they managed to block the land cellular tower signal on the private island, nor, could I "seize" the ship's WiFi signal (which they had beamed ashore ... worked then with the Gem, Breakaway & Escape) Looks like you are having a blast onboard and have an excellent time, bravo & enjoy. Is there (and are you going) a M&G/Mingle and/or if you can scout out the names of senior officers/leadership onboard, etc. - please post here at some point - although we won't be back on her until early 2023. Going to assume that they aren't doing BTS tour and/or Dine w Officers, Wine, etc. possibly getting OBC issued instead - do stop by the CruiseNext desk to collect / get your Latitude pin(s) and perhaps ... that "special gift".

Neither the Gem nor the Dawn had gotten across the board USB upgrade at the headboard/wall LED lamp, as we've on both just before the pandemic shutdown in 2019. Some, that is, some of the oceanview staterooms had gotten them during the last cycle of refurbishment. There is simply no way of knowing which does and the others (majority) remaining without. As for those paranoid about data breach with usb connectivity, there are mini-firewalled inline device (mini plug/connector/adapter) that are designed to block data transfer ... inexpensive on Amazon and/or your local/nearby MicroCenter store/online ... (probably, overpriced but available at Best Buy too) - https://www.amazon.com/Juice-Jack-Defender-Security-Purchased-Employees/dp/B08WKR11BW/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=2HMI129IYUSY8&keywords=usb%2Bfirewall%2Bprotection&qid=1657297983&sprefix=usb%2Bfirewall%2Bprotection%2Caps%2C60&sr=8-2-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEySENVVEY5UEQ1SVdJJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzYyMDEyQ1g4T01FNkVPTzczJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzNDk1MDMxTjU1NUNNUjdRSE1UJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1

Are you there yet ... back to follow your summer adventure. I see you & I still hang on to those eBag tags with the QR codes ... I'm 99% sure you know that it's no longer functional & useless for tracking purposes (and, I'm not sold on using Air Tags either) Waiting to read about your landing & being in Florida shortly. Have a happy, fun and safe cruise ... stay healthy ... Henry

Short answer, no to bottled, boxed and/or "cartons" of water to the SP (and SC) suites ... Not unless you prepaid or placed an order for them, or someone "gifting" it to you. We did get a few bottles with our Sappire & Platinum tiered status, but absolutely unrelated to the (sub)class cabin booked and it is unique only to the Joy. Even before the downgraded perks earlier this year, I don't recall it was ever included when the ship came back to the Americas ... maybe only when it was in the Shanghai/China market then. Just a side note, and, you are aware that it does NOT come with priority check-in or boarding either. We booked and stayed in 2 of these this Spring b/c of last minute price drop, very spacious - comparable to Haven 2BR without the fancy deco's and extras, and nice with the 2nd. bathroom/shower combo. Check your booking's amenities summary for any & all included perks but I would be absolutely surprised to find anything extra.

OP, welcome to CC and 1st post. Just my thoughts on tablet/iPad security, DW brings her full size iPad but I rather take my smaller Mini 5 (yes, it surely fit) - with 6 digits passcode & Touch ID and other biometric measures, there's no need to secure that as long as it is out of sight for someone passing by to grab & run with it while the cabin door is popped open by housekeeping with steward servicing it. Crew members with access aren't likely to risk their career & job by seizing something that they know are practically useless aside as paperweight, if caught with sticky fingers. Just relax & chill out - keep other "valuables" inside like passports, travel docs & alike ... wear my classic SS Air King as good old analog time piece is reliable, once set to ship/port time - newer NCL ships have the tiny safe, unlike the older mid-size ships. It's rare and seldom to read/learn about someone having their tablet, iPad or digital device taken/stolen or disappear, aside from partially being careless. We just put them away on a shelf, sometimes underneath a pile of clothes or in the rollerboard. There are other effective security measures to secure the "contents" inside those devices, "Find My" tracking, encryptions and private folder, etc. - if those aren't enabled and properly use, locking it up in a safe that's easily popped open by someone with the know how.

We've disembarked twice on NYC Marathon Sunday ... the key is to avoid Brooklyn, western Queens that bordered East Side of Manhattan & part of the Bronx, the published maps for runners & drivers alike show highways & road closures. One of the problems faced is that whether you are going to or from MCT is that many taxi, licensed car service & Uber/Lyft drivers simply take a vacation day to stay off the road ... surge pricing kicks in for "ride shares" and you need to plan for extra travel time; and, use mass transit when possible. Some folks coming in from points north, west and south of NYC stay in NJ and come in from those direction, which typically bypassed & avoided the runners & spectators that lined the route ... Long Island City, First Avenue & of course, all around Central Park on the home stretch. Take the ferries that do run & operate to cross the Hudson River, and walk that last 1/2 mile with (pack & travel) light luggage that you can navigate in the concrete pavement jungle of NYC. We grab a yellow taxi across 12th Avenue at the taxi stand, the driver zoomed north on the Henry Hudson Pkwy, across upper Manhattan to Queens (Bronx-Whitestone Bridge or Throgs Neck Bridge) are the best & faster route into Queens, Long Island - including LGA and JFK for those with flights to make. It will be more expensive but works, quite fast as there are fewer vehicles & drivers that annual Sunday morning with folks staying away. More difficult, challenging but not impossible - Google Maps & Waze had been reliable to plot alternate routes to navigate ... also, avoid and stay clear of downtown East River crossings including the toll-by-mail tunnel to/from Brooklyn.

Aside from the Observation Lounge, which is huge and enormous in size, and under-utilized (yet to explore & discover it) - Port side, Deck 6 Mid/Fwd behind Guest Services ... next to Cruise Next is Chess & Card Room, it is open & does NOT have a door, thus can be noisy - but plenty of comfortable sofa & single chairs for reading. It is the closest to be considered a Library, but nothing to be loaned out and no "librarian" and/or office hours, etc. Bring a noise-isolating headset or in-ear buds for peace & quiet/tranquility, a Kindle and/or Fire tablets or iPad, with the Kindle Apps ... preloaded your personal collection of contents, sit back & enjoy, sip off your insulated tumbler or use bar services ... Starbuck is across the way, nearby - starboard side. Either places will give you peace-of-mind to read & doze off. or try the outdoors on the waterfront ... Deck 8.

When our group returned from the Joy cruise in early May, some of us home tested positive on Antigen Rapid ... My vaxxed & double boosted BIL with mild symptoms belonging to a high risk category and went to his PCP, prescribed anti-viral Rx and subsequently he Antigen tested negative in about 5 days, much quicker than the SIL in about 7 or 8 days (asymptomatic.) & wasn't taking anti-viral. It took DW and myself more than 12 days to come up with Antigen negative on our home swab, but it remained positive at Day #8 and Day #10 - good thing we had a good stockpile of free home testing kits. USPS will offering to ship 8 free tests (round #3) per household address - and free home test kits as qualified & available from one's own health plan ... stockpile & restock them as appropriate ... BA.5 and BA.5 subvariants are here in the metro NY/NJ/CT area with rising numbers, skewed by home testing results not being shared, reported & documented by public health compiling the data. Deja vu all over again, perhaps and maybe, not - another cruise coming up soon for us, now that we are back from a 8 days trip to Canada & back last week (with few masking in close public quarters) and home tested clear & negative. Hopefully, OP are insured for travel.

This was the Joy's May 2022 weekday NCL free ferry schedule of services between SG's and Dockyard, directly the ship's gangway. I looked back into the Breakaway & Escape's Fall Bermuda schedule and it's basically unchanged ... I would expect (not absolutely certain) - that the last (free) ferry schedule back to Dockyard will be no later than 5:15 pm on a Saturday. Typically, as others noted, on the last day when ship sail at 3 pm (ours had a posted time of 4 pm sailing home ...) - there was only one (1) trip going there & returning to the ship (didn't matter whether it's a weekday, Saturday or Sunday). Bermuda's ferry does NOT run on weekends to/from SG at all and local bus service is on a very LIMITED schedule on weekend to/from SG. The ferry ride to/from SG, weather permitting & safety (sea state & wave heights - it can be choppy & take precautions for those prone to motion sickeness) conditions met, is about 45 minutes on average, allowing time for docking & connecting the gangways, about 1 hour. "Should" leave sufficient time, but a tight connection, for the ferry to bring OP back and then do a quick dash down the long pier to the nearby catamaran location for the sunset cruise.

The upgrade cost until this year for a 7 nights cruise was $85 after applying the 250 free minutes, now the upgrade cost is $110 after crediting 125 free minutes. Platinum discount not valid and not stackable. Advantage for doing this onboard is that you can use/apply any available (non-refundable ones, especially) OBC to offset that $110. The remaining FAS 125 free minutes for passenger #2 can be used on another device (at the same time, gifted or shared, etc.)

Joy's high orbit hybrid satellite WiFi hovered just under 2/1 Mbps with basic/unlimited WiFi, slower than the Getaway, Breakaway & Escape, etc. that we've been on ... same Cisco servers/hardware behind & under the hood, far too many users for the "dish" to dynamically cach, support & allocate the finite bandwidth moving at sea. The premium WiFi isn't going to get you a faster speed/link, just unblocked those https ports used for VPN tunneling - latency is around 600 ms and pretty poor to bad. Expect the connections to lag, freeze & getting dropped for whatever planned secured link use, since you do not have a choice unlike being "tethered" with available land/cellular towers. I had no problems with 4G LTE links behind firewalled Google Fi VPN links once we can securely ping land signals.

Post #4 referred to the ongoing option to use 2 CNC for balcony or above categories AND sailings 6 months or more. The wording does NOT say use it for any (available) cabin category - that is the key DIFFERENCE - best way to confirm, if you have an existing booking with a single CNC used for (Reduced) deposit; and, if you have additional CNC to use - go to the "Make A Payment" tab and see if you can reduce the remaining balance by $250.00 as that's true confirmation that it worked. It should NOT affect any and all amenities included as part of the original booking, confirm & review just to be sure. Or, call your PCC at NCL or independent TA that you trust/use and ask her/him about the option - it's pretty straightforward. When we initially booked something for early 2023 earlier, we could only apply a single CNC - when this promo was expanded to include oceanviews and insides (studios too, I presume) - just went into MyNCL account and did it ourselves.

The DoubleUp CruiseNext Deposit was offered between/from beginning of March to end of April, 2022 (we took advantaged & booked a last minute one.) AND it was valid for any staterooms, not just balcony or higher, last minute ones in addition to those at 6 months+ away. Nothing for the month of May. Then, it came back for the month of June and ended ... despite rising occupancy but ships aren't exactly sailing at 110% capacity as a matter of routine. We booked another last minute one (bumped the balcony higher to BA category as well, with the price drop as it was long past final payment) using 2 CN. Also, we applied an extra certificate for a later sailing that's not quite near final payment or cancel dates yet - holding it. July & August, not expecting this deal to be offered ... but, never know ... Alaska prices & Fall prices are dropping like flies lately, anyway. Just hang out here on CC and follow - check some of the posts for alerts & updates, or, make sure of your preferred PCC and/or online/big box TA's for their expertise to be proactive. Happy "tracking" 😉

We are currently in Toronto, ONT (Canada) and crossed land border using ArriveCAN yesterday at Niagara Falls, submitted our vax info about 2 weeks ago online and acknowledged - and, completed the details of our travel date/approximate time and place of stay info within 72 hours (this week) - and, it was FREE & super easy (vs. Bermuda's TA). No need to wait, call or email to chase for an approval whatsoever - Bermuda, #Hint #Hint (of course, each country set & dictate their rules.) QR approved code issued within a minute or two, plus the confirmation or approval by email, both are digitally acceptable to show to the CBSA officer - no need to print them out (save it to PDF and/or make sure you can retrieve email on your smartphone as it could be roaming already at the "checkpoint") We're only asked to present our passports (travel documents) for the entire group, the purpose of our visit, length of stay and whether we were transporting anything against rules & regulations, etc. The officer did not need to see our QR codes as he kindly explained to us that as long as we are using the passport (or other valid & accepted travel documents from the initial submission) that it is already linked to our vax info and approval. The entire process at the crossing didn't even take 5 minutes, no questions about our Hertz rental minivan with CA license plate either. We will be on a Canada/NE cruise in mid September and it's going to be even easier as we just need to update our ArriveCAN info about ship/cruise date & port stop. No Antigen Rapid or PCR testing results needed based on our submitted info ... YAY !!!

A handful of masked senior officers (none from the bridge) attended the Joy's M&G in early May, but none at the Getaway sailing in late March. Casino host/manager didn't have any issues approving onboard request to do a slot pull, even though the social media group had one planned later that day. We're the first group on the sailing that, at ship's management discretion, resumed Dine with the Officers on the Getaway - it has since been cancelled with the surging cases in April. AFAIK, there hasn't been a Dine with the Officers this year. No behind the scene tours on either ship at all, for health & safety reasons. Personally, I am not in favor of oranizing "strangers" to go into other CC'ers private space, except in very small group on a pre-arranged basis, and would help if done by appointment and masked up ... the latest / recent subvariants are highly contagious & easily spread, unknowingly despite universal precautions and infection control measures ... way too many sticky fingers, sweating hands and the occasional sneezing & coughing to make the cabin crawl a safe and smart gathering these days.

Yeeeees, I do - and got the link to the Google Doc - thankfully, it's still working and accessible. Bookmark and save it offline. It's not easy to find it here on CC ... the "search" function is really useless, IMHO. Looking it up to book the BA for this Fall ... enjoy

@graphicguy - iCafe's upgrades can no longer be stacked or combined to maximize Latitudes discounts that otherwise are valid - unless it's charged at the full retail prices, not on the Getaway nor the Joy recently (20% for being Sapphire would've been nice, huh.) Just upgrade first, onboard using NR OBC on Day 1 - do not use any of the available 150 airtime minutes. There are still conflicting reports depending on CC'ers and the ship s/he sailed on, as to whether you are charged one day less if you do the upgrade or conversion to unlimited after midnight as that's technically Day #2 then. I upgrade my plan to unlimited on a 7 nighters for the duration, charged about $110 for the difference. DW's "free" 150 minutes remained available & usable - that can be registered and used on a different device, or shared with someone else. NCL changed the rules of the games on it as we emerge from the 😷 pandemic ... it is what it is. 😠 Mrs. M now just "spend" less duty-free shopping since her allocation of OBC has been slashed as a indirect result, to keep her busy on the unlimited plan.

Port Valet is ONLY available out of Seattle. It is not offer or available out of NYC or MCT - with 3 airports for outbound cruisers bound for flights, logistics and security considerations make it impractical and impossible.

Geo-specific and timing, apparently, do affect pricing & it's larger trending downward for Canada/New England cruises from NYC this Fall, been sliding lower since final payment hit last month - exception being higher for Boston. Maybe it's the competitions ... got me scratching heads. Breakaway commanding higher prices for balconies, yet prices finally moving lower ... oddly enough, there are no SPA balconies and club cabins available / showing for new bookings, nor for upgrade bidding - must be popular & fully sold out, I think not. As for Alaska sailings this year, I can see prices falling hard & going rock bottom ... not easy to book & secure flights to SEA and/or YVR, regardless of prices, and, then, you have to factor in airline's flight cancellations pattern lately and the odds of scrambling with last minute changes.

Google Map is a good friend - anyway ... Zap Wines & Spirits is at 105 Court Street, daily 10 AM to 9 PM, Sunday 12 noon to 8 PM, less than 10 minutes walk ... Fresh Start Marketplace is one of the many nearby, across Borough Hall Park in front of the M, behind the Supreme Court building. A quick & short 5 minutes walk, at 180 Montague St, daily 6AM to 9 PM and they also deliver to nearby ... Pickup your liquor and stop there on the way back - bring your reusable shopping tote.