pghflyer

I appreciate quiet and simple and high quality so have enjoyed HAL but I also know a lot of people in their 20's-50's who won't cruise HAL due to the lack of formal entertainment and variety of onboard activities, I can't imagine being a (for example) 12-year old who is not a reader and needs activities to keep entertained and being stuck on the average HAL ship for multiple days on end.

I do think others have GREAT points about the schedule though - if you have a lot of long port days and will be off-ship most the time, probably not a factor.

NCL has a bad habit of doing this recently for non-weather and non-safety related reasons...well covered in a few long threads.....

Back to the math on the whole AARP purchase - I am curious since I have not done it, what merchant and MCC (credit card) category does the purchase of the AARP cards show up under when you buy the cards?

@HUNKY and @Gail & Marty sailing away  I use the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) which gives 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points for Travel / Restaurants. Depending on what you value their transfer options as (ex. 1 point to any airline mile minimum, often 20-40% bonus to select rotating partners every quarter)....it could be worth anywhere from 3-6+% in "value". For example, a few years ago I got 30% transfer for British Airways last year. See the whole history of past bonuses:

https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/complete-history-credit-card-transfer-bonuses/

For simplicity, I didn't factor in that you can get 5-10 points (they often do promotions) per $ if you book in the Chase Travel Portal.

Of course the decision to get a CSR card is a big calculation on your spending habits and value since it has a $550 annual fee. It works for me as I instantly use the $300 annual travel credit, the Global Entry membership credit, the $5 a month DoorDash credits, the Priority Pass Lounge Membership, and the enhanced Travel Insurance. Not to mention I got a big chunk of points as a sign-up bonus.  Obviously, my math and use case may not work the same for others.

14 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

It's almost not worth buying now.

Perhaps this was a joke (hard to tell online sometimes) but I actually kind of agree with this. I get 4-5% back on Travel category purchases on my credit card....and with 5% interest rates right now for my free cash.....tying that free cash up in Gift Cards that takes a little effort to redeem (I use a travel agent) and keep track of (in case of cancellations)....does start making me scratch my head on the effort for an extra 3% discount.  Plus there is the whole thing of how much I trust my travel credit card to honor my travel insurance when I make partial payment with a gift card (I have not seen anyone that has actually needed to use their credit card travel insurance in this circumstance yet with multiple payment methods).

Thanks for sharing! Just the fact their preferred redemption technology is TELEPHONE, kind of tells me a lot about this company.

Just off the Star.....the free-at-sea Internet is pretty restrictive and doesn't even permit delivery of SMS/MMS/RCS (WIFI enabled) text messages to Android phones and you would have to purchase Premium (someone on board had done this).  If you have iPhone, seems text messages still come through without using minutes as long as connected to ship WIFI.

They do offer the in-ship only texting in the NCL app for $10, but that just feels like nickel/ diming.

Anyhow, this ended up being a pretty big problem for me (Android user expecting to use WIFI SMS) as many things I use require text secondary authentication, and those never came in for me in spite of my having the NCL "free" internet.

Just saying thanks for this thread and the contributors. We have never cruised Viking and recently started getting snail mail flyers but usually end up throwing them away... only to find (ha ha) a few days later we want to price something out and don't remember the code. This thread is very helpful for that - cheers!

https://nypost.com/2024/04/03/us-news/norwegian-cruise-has-been-silent-since-abandoning-elderly-woman-who-suffered-stroke-family-says/

I am not NCL apologist and think they often shirk normal customer service under the cover of their comprehensive contractual protections....but I always find it amusing when people indicate part of their problem was they couldn't fly first class ha ha ha, talk about first world problems. I do hope the lady recovers, seems it was a lifelong dream.

We mostly do NCL and did a HAL last year and have another booked. HAL is definitely more refined and quieter, but unfortunately that also extends to the entertainment options.  Especially now that they pretty much got rid of Lincoln Center classical performances. Lots more space for quiet reading and gathering on HAL. Drink variety is MUCH better on NCL and servers much more proactive and prolific. All the drink menus are pretty basic on HAL (but they can probably make more if you tell them the ingredients) and you sometimes have to go and hunt down a server yourself to get a drink or refill.  Food the same although we found it interesting you could normally get the dining room food on the buffet (I guess that is a positive?) with HAL. The maps and sailing info on room TVs are better on HAL. Definitely 20+ year older average age on HAL.

We are mainly itinerary driven and HAL has that in spades with longer trips visiting unique ports that others don't visit often.

Just friendly reminder that if you pay for the whole cruise via GC, then those who normally rely on credit card travel insurance may need to purchase a policy independently (depending on your cruise fare, could still be a net win).

I think it is a misconception that everyone taking independent tours is doing so solely to "save a few nickels", in fact when you combine the FAS credit and Latitudes discounts, NCL is pretty competitive price-wise. We take a lot of independent tours, intentionally, because we don't love the standard highlights bus tours with 100 of our best friends.  In fact, we often pay MORE to have a private guide, more flexibility, more diverse itinerary, and a small group in a small car.  But yeah, you then have to take the responsibility of screening your tour provider and their reviews and reiterating what time you want to be back (and that should be prior to or at "all-aboard" time, not the "departure" time).

Glad they are back and that NCL decided to get involved in protecting their brand with a little marketing and PR........I always believe for profit companies are doing what they can to protect and pad their bottom line (as I would expect as a stockholder) while balancing their reputation and having return customers.....and as a consumer, the only one truly looking out for us is ourselves and each other. 

Not that it makes it OK to be late.....but I do think the whole departure time (advertised when you purchase) vs the be onboard time (told usually the night before arrival or day of) makes for confusing planning.  Especially for new cruisers who think they can just stroll up right at departure time (uh, no) but also that different lines have different "all aboard" lead times so you never really know until you are there and have booked an excursion.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13259793/south-carolina-couple-stranded-africa-norweigan-cruise-ship-jim-jay-campbell.html

8 minutes ago, gatour said:

What do you propose RCCL to do?  Magically open the port of Baltimore.  They have an alternate plan.  It seems like they are offering full refunds if you don't like the alternate.

I don't envy their situation at all, this is bad for everyone. I think a change in port to 5-hours away warrants a full refund offer or an incentive to change ports and stick with it. So, this seems fair and a good customer service gesture.

Yeah sounds bad but also feels like just one side of the story. The roll call for this sailing is sure quiet too. 

12 minutes ago, BND said:

Sigh.  This only happened due to a major tragedy where people lost their lives, and many thousands of people's livelihoods were impacted,  but hey, complain about missing a day.

I actually have no idea about what day you are referring to or which itineraries are affected in which way. I live here, these are my people, and my town, and I feel terrible about the loss of life and long-term impact. But it doesn't mean people  have to just eat very significant changes that is no longer remotely what they purchased (i.e. new embarkation port 5 HOURS away.... I am not impacted but am still employed and could not magically come up with extra vacation days for those drives) That is why the for-profit business should carry insurance.

Sorry but their inability to provide the vacation we purchased (nights, embarkation port, disembarkation port, general intended region of itinerary) shouldn't really be all our risk and consequence to accept. I am the customer and they are the for-profit business. I know some of this is in the contract, and I know you can buy a million dollar travel insurance policy to insure against the end-of-times, but sometimes the defense of these companies doing whatever they want, as if they are the Red Cross or something, is amusing.

Ha no worries @Engineroom Snipe I totally wasn't referring to your timelines on repairs and such (although I predict with zero authority that channel will be open by May 31)...I was more referring to the more dubious extreme conspiracists (ex. Biden planned it, no Jared planned it!!!)

I take these cruises to get AWAY from these people with these conspiracy theories 🙂

48 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Yes it is. HIA taxes and gratuities is a big portion of it.

I don't believe HIA includes gratuities any longer....which add $34 per day for a 2-person non-suite.....or maybe I misread and that isn't what you were saying and was just indicating that $3K out the door isn't bad.

Agreed, I think they will have debris cleared and channel open for traffic after Vision's drydock.

8 minutes ago, Chloe8259m said:

I would also like to know what RCLs protocol is if you don’t want to dry 3 or 4 hours to another port.

Yup, it isn't RCL's fault and this is a tragedy, but that doesn't mean it becomes my problem to drive 3+ hours to a place I never agreed to leave/ return from.  I have a reservation to/from Baltimore and if this incident means RCL/ Carnival can't deliver that, then I should be offered an option to get a refund.  I guarantee you if my family had a tragedy and I had to move to another city, they wouldn't swing by and pick me up for free.

Next few weeks are sketchy at best (have to imagine a few weeks to clear debris and get any clear lanes open). This is a very significant cargo port and authorities will likely be prioritizing cargo ships.