mking8288

@dcipjr welcome home from your Getaway, loved the short, concise & simple report on the Bermuda sailing. Opinions on food, as I always believe & say, is largely personal, subjective & biased ... unless and until it isn't ... how can NCL mess with the kid's basic menu options, b/c they can - next, I foresee, for a nominal upcharge and 20% - for our convenience. Usually, we find ways to spend down those non-refundable OBC - duty-free shop prices are up but the markup isn't too bad compared to airport duty-free zones abroad, we discovered last year. At least, everyone has more than a day to come up with ways of spending it all. No worries about ship's officers currently onboard but good to know the GA's navigational status display hasn't change (yet ?) as the data displayed into the Prima's stateroom was horrible & much worst - nice & bigger Samsung Smart TV, however, is good. Maybe, give the newer ships a try. Instead of sailing the Joy or Breakaway with NCL, we decided to broaden & stretching our "Diamond" wings this year. Loop out of Cape Liberty for 9 nights ... NE & Canada with Sydney, CAN a new port for us. Booked 3 Promenade Inside - 2 of them connecting Price is Right, more than great. After our 3 nights inside NY harbor last September, decided that we can live without a balcony this Fall - going to compare RC's Voom Starlink. Sailing later this month, did you noticed any new or different entrees in the MDR ... it seemed like NCL hasn't refreshed the menus since 2023, just wondering as coming up for us, got plenty of sea days and 5 nights of specialty dining is more than enough. I believed items like prime rib, pork chops and even lamb dishes have disappeared almost completely from the MDR as routine rotations. We didn't even see chicken wings in the buffet ... well, going to look for it as none of us like the ones in The Local / O'Sheehan's. Oh, if it make you feel any better, GA didn't fare any better this week, their stay in Bermuda cut short & they got into Nassau later than 10 AM this morning for a short visit ... then, 2 sea days on the return to NY. Ship was doing 19, 20 to almost 21 kts en route at varies times, mechanical issues apparently no longer.

This happened to us last year while in Spain & Portugal ... only saw the SMS/text alert & email later on, used another cc for payment transactions, no problems with Citi. Nearly forgotten about it until recently when we booked a private ground transfer/tour for our upcoming cruise; here at home - with, you guess it, foreign vendor with a 3rd party processing the payment ... and, it was denied. DW tried twice to use it when picking up her Rx scripts with a large co-pay at local pharmacy, and denied. It wasn't until we figured out & connected the dots, and also live chat with BOA support, that we learned it's best to install the BOA app on the smartphone (iPhone) & have it SMS/text enabled, that we can get it re-submitted as a 2nd attempt if their AI logics rejected or denied it. We are better prepared ahead ... fingers crossed later this month that all goes well ... gotta pile up those double & triple points. Funny thing is that NCL charges always seem to go thru while onboard and at sea, maybe processing via Miami does make a difference, regardless the cardholder's internet IP address can be thousands of miles elsewhere.

One of the credit cards that we run into approval issues all the time is our BOA card, especially when the merchant is non-US based - I chalked it up to their fraud detection/protection logics. Usually, we would get a text alert asking & verifying if we are submitting a payment ... and if we see/reply in time - it will say, try again and it will then go thru. Great and good if you are traveling abroad (or at home/in the USA for that matter) and have cellular/WiFi access at the moment with your registered mobile number/email access to reply. BOA doesn't have a tab to allow the card holder to add travel history / countries being visited so that their "logic" AI system can better decide to approve or reject and notify the user to approve, etc. Our Chase card no longer need that & it's seldom a problem while Citi has that feature and once we set it up, most overseas transactions go thru without needed to respond ... using 2FA or other secured methods to reply. As for the language issues, the Japanese are known to be friendly & helpful ... perhaps, use Google Live Translate (offline dictionary downloaded & pre-installed) can help with simple matters while traveling. (or, Apple iOS's equivalent "Translate" app) Great photos & stories about your land stay/visit and getting around. Surely many of us finding it very informative, useful & helpful - with thanks again.

FWIW, running Chrome on Linux Ubuntu V22.x LTS - no issues with NCL website on desktop & travel notebook computer ... instead of using Windows 10 Pro and/or Windows 11 Pro - try running Incognito mode to see if it helps under Windows OS, with or without VPN (either VPN Google One, or Cyberhost VPN depending on which platform I'm on, or turned off) Otherwise, as backup or alternate just in case, give Opera Browser a try (not Opera Mini, that's optimized for smartphone & tablets/iPads, etc.) and configure for privacy, disable cookies tracking, etc. - Opera has built-in, free VPN (default can be set to On or Off from within set-up or settings page) NCL, like everyone else, is tracking and data-mining your search on their portal, and I like to be as stealthy as possible ... at least, sometimes. Fewer spam mail & marketing follow-up calls from that Florida area code.

@nat4crim As a generalized guide, you can look at the reply to Q on the Viva/Prima's stateroom setup - it's very similar if not identical to the slightly "older" Encore. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3001288-primaviva-outlets-and-cpaps/?do=findComment&comment=67188899 There is only a 3A outlet in the bathroom for shaver use only, nothing for hairdryer ... which is commonly located under the desk/next to the refrigerator, it's over 1,200 watts on 220V, there is no need to bring your own hairdryer. Ships have USB outlets in the cabin but they are under-powered and rated at 1.5 amp max output, will recharge very slowly if at all ... best to bring your own 2A+ USB-C and USB-A chargers to use accordingly.

This is another itinerary on our bucket list ahead for 2025 or 26, thank you for sharing and taking your time to do this & post. Can you share how WiFi networks in Japan are, local cellular & data services, and onboard, ship's WiFi and whether StarLink has rolled out ... in addition to dining, shows & other onboard activities. Post these if and when you can. Wishing you a great cruise ahead, safe & healthy traveling abroad. 👍 With thanks & much obliged 👏

Found the CC link - guessing others & you missed this post and CC's search engine isn't exactly great GA is currently doing 20.8 kts as reported by CruiseMapper - ETA for Nassau is Apr 4th @ 10:00 ...

Accurate ... it's a 1 cup Hamilton Beach coffee/tea maker - no more tea kettle for pax use onboard that I am aware of. Buffet will have a variety of teabags to choose from, or BYO ... if you have specific preference.

I re-checked the posted link - it is correctly linked/shown, last one on post #371 - picture of the night table pulled away from the wall, black (typical of round EU 2-pins) plug on the bottom right corner. Lamps and others in the cabin, including hair dryer runs on 220V - there is no 110V thru the lamp and/or from those outlets. There are 110V outlets elsewhere ... You will need to either tap into that with a spliter and/or unplug and use the proper adapter as described - look below ...

Answer is yes - behind both bedside nightstand is a 220V outlet, providing power to the table lamp with USB-A and USB-C charging ports (they are rated at 1.5A each only ... too low & slow for "modern" smartphone or iPhone/iPad, adequate for digital cameras (what's that, haha) and/or rechargeable USB battery bank, etc. or You'll need a 2 pin EU outlet plug or adapter for your 110V machine. see this post - last picture https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2973705-prima-ta-semi-live-11-days-to-ny-from-spain-4-days-barcelona-from-jfk-landcruise-early-thanksgiving-vacation/?do=findComment&comment=66501551

Not bad, we could use 20% off ahead ... They were rocking n rolling last week & charted a very different course going there & coming back. Got folks going soon on the Joy ... keeping eyes on these runs.

There's another post here, pax were notified on embarkation afternoon - onboard -that due to forecasted wind & wave, they are doing Nassau before turning home. OBC issued ... Not as bad as last 2 sailings, wind n waves. GA was going 18 to 20 kts at times.

Check these out ... and the prices, nevermind the variety of choices 😁 Not at Food Republic, not offered at any of the Specialty Restaurants onboard NCL. Happy April 1st to all 🤗

Seen busy as it's Easter Sunday, a travel day over land ... my guess is as good as anybody else here. Lately, I am reading much about successful bids to upgrade into Haven, especially not when they are technically full and/or sold out. Instead - might I suggest Phil Collins, 1984 "Against All Odds" and you are almost certain to be bidding a high amount in order to win. Why not use that money to book & enjoy another cruise instead. Posting this suggestion before midnight - this isn't April 1st yet. Good luck on winning.

FWIW, we've gotten 2 free bags (now, NCL restored to the previously used "larger" paper bags to fit more in) each on both 15 days cruises taken; and even 2 bags each on a recent 12 days, based on our Latitudes status. Best & easy way is to inquire and ask nicely at the CruiseNext desk ... no coupons needed, just write on the slip & also mark the bag as Platinum/Sapphire/Diamond accordingly. One of the Asst. Guest Services Manager hosting our Dine With Officer chatted that if we get billed in error, just let GS know and they will waive or adjust it, no charge. Have another 15 days coming up, we shall see ... as noted above, it isn't clear and in the shaded grey zone, onboard team has discretion which they generally do exercise on these charges, within their scoped authority. Happy cruising !

Hmmm ... that's a bummer & what a disappointment, now with that context - a) we haven't been to Juneau in a while, but generally speaking - cruise ship will use just 1 gangway with these busy seasonal Alaska port. Unless yours ?? is the first sailing for the 2024, you might have better luck asking the on the roll calls before yours this May. Unless someone in your group has mobility issues, easiest is probably to meet together in the atrium lobby or perhaps mid-ship near the Art Gallery, restrooms nearby (looking at deck plan # 6) as the gangway to go ashore is likely on the lower deck, possibly 4 and not a good place to stand & wait. Sailaway, District B.H. is port (left) side of the ship facing away from the port of Seattle & skylines ... maybe consider just going out to the Waterfront, Deck 8 starboard (right side of ship) and enjoy the sailaway, part of the outdoor section is covered with an overhang ... it might just work for a group of 25 to 30. Weather "cooperating" some will be on the upper decks watching the sailaway (pool deck, typically with band/music play ... as it party time) Deck 8 AFT - between Cagney's & Lobos is the A-List Bar, it's fairly wide open inside space, that's generally not packed on embarkation or during sailaway (true with other NCL ships w similar design/layout) - can't really watch the outside but safe "shelter" if it's wet outside. Last by not least, Deck 17 AFT is Spice H20, another possibly and also nearby, the American Diner on the deck plan - possible alternate to watch & enjoy the outdoors while departing from Seattle. Upon boarding on embarkation day, once other matters are taken care of, see if you can get a hold of the onboard Group Services "officers" to say hello anyway, and see if they can do a little for your "small" group - while they can't and won't be able to help with requests, maybe & hopefully find a way to make it up. Don't give up - go above them to ask for the Guest Services Manager, and last but not least, leave a written note/comment with the GM (General Manager) at the mail drop-box, as comments & issues submitted do get their attention and delegated members of the junior team to follow-up and act upon. Good luck & best wishes, please do come back & tell and share the journey afterward, however short & brief - mentioned your "association" with CC appropriately that we, the curious minds are paying attention, it might just like a spark under their ...

With such a large group, you should've already be in touch with - and, if not, contact NCL's Group Events to "connect" you with the Encore (ship's) Group Events Coordinators - they are usually based and stationed at Guest Services ... to help facilitate your party's logistics and perhaps. We do hope that you will become a "regular" to CC and contribute and pass along feedbacks afterward as to how things go, etc. etc. Ditto on welcoming from the CC community of cruisers and congrats on a life milestone ahead. P.S. This is a very recent review of the Encore this month - which you should read and gain additional ideas, perhaps useful information about the ship and what's unique & special, etc.

Puzzled, CC getting spammed lately with lots of newbies & questions from outside & beyond the left field ... discovering CC as an excellent resource. Suggestion to OP, kindly read the FAQ - should answer some of your yet-to-answer questions - https://www.ncl.com/content/upgrade-advantage-faq Furthermore, your email should included the following info - Important Information NCL reserves the right to not accept any offer regardless of offer amount or stateroom availability. Availability of upgrades is limited and is made at the sole discretion of NCL. NCL reserves the right to accept any offer from the time it is submitted to the departure date and time. Offers are based on two occupants per stateroom for the entire duration of the cruise - only the first and second guest will be charged. Single passengers will be charged based on double occupancy. Once your bid is accepted, the upgrade amount paid is final and non-refundable. The upgrade does not include any additional promotions. Current promotions on the reservation will not be altered. If you have Norwegian's Travel Protection on your current booking, you will be automatically charged to cover the upgrade cost. For more information please click here. If you have travel protection via your travel professional, please contact them to add your upgrade to your coverage. In all likelihood, your sailing appeared to be sold out, any and all bids - since we don't know your starting stateroom tier, there is likely a substantial bidding differential in offers that you need to offer to get into the probably "live bidding" to "win" a Haven suite - be on the lookout for email alerts from the PlusGrade outsourced vendor handling the bidding. Good luck.

1. Have you install the NCL App already and see for yourself - I'm not sure what additional or other "permissions" you are referring to. Your initial question has to do with internet/WiFi upgrade using the App, once onboard - especially if you allow the (teens) children to install & use the App on their devices, then, you are granting them permissions ... I do not believe, the current App version has a parental lockout or similar function to restrict what "junior" cruisers can or cannot access, charge and use - including App based upgrade. As long as all the mobile devices are set to airplane mode and isn't connected to ship's WiFi inTERnet (instead of the "free" inTRAnet) onboard, the App isn't exactly a "Payment" system app to "charge" things. Those controls are commonly configured & setup with each person's Guest Keycard - upon embarkation at check-in time. If you allow them access to their phones and app(s) --- not sure if you meant only the NCL App - and/or other Apps on the devices (and, that if they turn back on cellular data onboard the ship and while at sea, etc. etc.) that consume & use data, then it is possible that due to roaming charges billed thru your cellular carrier - staying connected on the ship while using cellular data over satellite, will, certainly run up the airtime/data meters and potentially result in a big surprise and "huge" billing. Without knowing your carrier and specifics of your plan, this is a billing matter you should speak to your carrier's global or international support desk, to see what they can do for you. Depending on the hardware (iPhone, Android smartphone ... and specific brands/models, etc.) it is possible to keep them off the air by removing the physical sim card (unless using eSims) - they can take photos & videos by remaining in Airplane Mode, and no chance of "accidentally" switching on cellular data. Start by speaking with your cellular carrier's support or help desk, review your plans & its coverage, and "excessive" charges at risk when traveling, whether it's abroad and/or at sea.

Haha ... rollcall gang said I got paged. Happy Good Friday & Easter to you, yours & rest of family. Mobile storage, that's an idea as a sidekick, hmmm. Not with congestion pricing, unless I can impose a surcharge plus round-trip tolls crossing the East River - besides, booked on a 9 nights on Royal that month, probably no. Seriously, see below - for OP @Kayak25 Stasher is another App based tool to find available storage - quick look again (explored this before for someone) - some associated with hotels in the area and others are 24/7 deli places in the midtown west neighborhood ... $7 a bag/per day - which seems reasonable & fair, between MCT and Moynihan Amtrak/LIRR, formerly referred together as NY Penn Sta.

FWIW, our best cruise friends that sailed sometimes using CAS offers with us got one more booked on NCL as their land-based (AC, NJ) deals had switched to Royal/Celebrity in 2023 ... got us a discounted offer to sail with them this Fall, very nice deal ... surprised that Royal doesn't charge an administrative fee, port taxes-fees-charges are lower on a 9 days vs. NCL's 7 days, and DSC is more reasonable at $18 p/p p/d instead of we know who. We will be joining them and will get to, hopefully, visit Sydney, NS this time in addition to the missed stop at Halifax ... with a 3rd cabin linked to the booking, looking forward to dining together & perhaps, Chops (their surcharged steakhouse - without 18% or 20%) for lunch. NCL abandoning 50% of their NYC market share of the last 2+ decades, regardless of reasons or rationale, meaning that MSC, Carnival and Royal doesn't have to try hard to "poach" and come after higher-rated casino players that cruise. While we aren't leaving NCL (yet) but getting ready to do MSC match, and check out their entertainment, pizza, dining and perhaps ... YC ... playing "The Price is Right" for real.

Welcome to CC and sticky around to learn, get to know how the forum works. You will be upgrading your plan - from limited to basic unlimited or premium unlimited with streaming, priced accordingly as shown on your MyNCL App and online when logged in. Doing this does NOT really changed or grant you "faster" speed or connections, it is cached and throttled on the shared & allocated bandwidth, subject to data traffic & congestion. There are a # of ways to do the upgrade, including going to the iCafe manager's desk, doing it yourself via the NCL App and/or pre-embarkation; and, if they have access privileges into the account and appropriate permissions set, yes - they "can" do the upgrade themselves but the charge will be posted to your stateroom's OnBoard Account.

Welcome to CC - please take a few minutes to browse and become familiar with how CC works, read the sticky, posted questions like these should be directed to the roll call or you can look up related answers, info, etc. at the Destination / Port of Calls forum section. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/66-norwegian-cruise-line-roll-calls/

Here are some screenshots taken from GA's live webcam feed, sea state did look rough & choppy with small white caps, a little "better" than last week's battle to get out & return. Was following the course/heading and sure enough, looked almost as if she was heading south to Port Canaveral / Nassau, until she made that port side turn for Bermuda down in MD/VA coast - definitely not a typical routing to evade the worst of the storms at sea. It does looked like another rough one ahead, but not as bad as before ... have a feeling GA will head further west before turning north to go around the rough weather. BTW, if and when you get time and chance to write things up ... can you have a look at GA's navigational channel ... curious mind wanted to know if NCL has updated their app & data displayed - information released on speed, direction, wind, air temp, etc. were very limited ... and, even worst on the Prima/Vera class ships (was told they are upgrading ... ) Can you also ask - if possible - at the CruiseNext desk for a mini printout of the ship's senior officers onboard ... possibly very useful info (that I can use & pass along) for an upcoming GA cruise in early May for a CC'er doing B2B2B with an active CC roll call. TIA. Have a safe crossing coming back later. Regards - HM

Have a wonderful cruise and we trust you'll keep us posted on CC. We had "Donna" booked but it was cancelled / rescheduled last minute and we had to re-book onboard too ... someone in the cast wasn't able to perform and understudy not available. Options for us to see "Live" would disrupt our specialty dining time that was already not easy to secure, so we just "wing" it, joined the virtual queue on the day of ... got in with good seats and there was also a standby line. No-shows & empty seats 10-15 minutes prior to curtains up meant that you can get in to see it. Will be getting on & when you disembark in NY ... safe & happy sailing, have 2 cabins of CC'er doing B2B staying onward to cross the pond. Thanks & appreciate the update.