EllieinNJ

5 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

So if you don’t like the seats, do you just tell the wait staff you will wait until the next table that fits your criteria and go back in front of the line and wait?  What is your average wait time?

 

I think this strategy will be easier to implement with a table for 2.  Once the party size gets to be 10+ like Brian's clan or other big groups, they may have a long wait if they keep on passing on the next table's availability. 

It probably is easier for two people.  Both times when we were on the Anthem and the Oasis we didn't like the first table for two the first night so they just showed us to another open square table for four that was cati-cornered to a wall so neither of us were facing it and there we ate at the same table every night at the same time, around 7-7:30pm.  We were always out early enough to catch the late shows.

Now that I'm thinking about it, this was just after the pandemic when they weren't sailing full.  I might have to eat my words when we sail.😄

That's why we get MTD because if we don't like where we are seated we just say we will wait for another table.  Neither of us wants to sit looking at a wall 

The first thing we did when we embarked the Miraviglia in October was go to the MDR to change our dining times.  There was a very long line and two people sitting by the DR entrance changing reservations but I did not see anyone going into the DR to eat.  We were there waiting on line at least 45 minutes.

We are on Feb. 11 to 23.  It includes Superbowl, Valentine's Day and President's Day.  Expecting lots of kids but the price we paid was too good to pass up.

On 1/21/2024 at 7:40 PM, harryfat1 said:

The Odyssey was in theory built for the Florida crowd as there’s no regular Quantum class ship based there with the Quantum/Ovation/Spectrum out in Asia.  Anthem is/was deployed in New Jersey/Europe so they must have wanted a Quantum class ship in Florida for the non-European sailing months. 

 

I think if they want to attract cruisers like myself who have done the Voyager/Freedom/Oasis-class ships in the past sailing out of Florida in the winter months and want to experience a new class of ships. If based in Florida/Europe regularly, then they would want this new Quantum class to have more sun space and be able to sell the way overpriced casitas.

 

That worked well in the first few years after Odyssey but now they also have to juggle with the need to switch Anthem out of New Jersey to bring back repeat passengers from that region to give them a new “ultra” ship to get excited over during the winter sailing months.

 

However, Florida in December 2023 was cold/rainy so if the same holds true for the December/winter period of next year, those sailings won’t find too many people outside for a big part of the cruise on the more open decks of the Odyssey.

 

That's why we were excited to book the 7 day Odyssey when it came to NJ..  New shows but same milk route stops.  But we didn't know that it doesn't have an enclosed pool and solarium.  Now a little disappointed cause it will be COLD in February.

We also booked the 5 day Liberty to Bermuda for September, 2024.  This class is new to us. 

Glad you made Bermuda.  If we get luke warm food we just ask the waiter to reheat it.  Takes about 5-10 minutes and comes back just right.  That's why we do all our meals in the MDR except maybe one breakfast in the buffet just for a change and the specialty dinners.

I called my TA to charge the $700 with Amex.  The charge appeared in two days but the credit did not.  After 6 days I chatted with an Amex agent who stated it took 7 to 10 days.  The next day the credit was there.  Now I have the same promotion on my husband's card.  I will wait until the statement cut off next week and call again.

So did you get to Bermuda?  We didn't on the Getaway last Feb.  They gave us $250 OBC so with the original OBC we had used it to order lobster in all the dinner venues each night along with the regular meals.

We also were going to swear off NCL but we still had one 'CN and 10 percent off so we booked the Prima for December.  If we dislike it it will be the end for us with NCL.

Great report.  Will be on the Prima out of NY in December 2024.

Please some advice.  I mentioned before that I couldn't find it on the new app so we called and they said I could get the discounted price of $7.50 per day, took my cc# and it now appears paid on my personalizer and pending on my cc.  But I'm only Ruby. 

Looking back on some of these posts I saw you could get it on the old app so I looked and it was there at the regular price of $14.99 day.  Should I purchase it again and if they don't find the error can cancel the regular price before the November 2024 cruise?

We had to call too.  They charged us $7.50 a day but we are only ruby and will turn platinum after our cruise in November 2024.  Is this right?  Would hate for it to be a mistake and then have to pay the increased price.

Started to read your report here because it looks like you gave up posting on the NCL forum.  We did this same cruise last Halloween except we had to skip Ocean Key and Nassau because of weather.

Why can't NCL put the Rumors show in the main theater for at least one night?  I know the atmosphere wouldn't be the same as Syds but it would allow many of us who cannot stand in line to see it..  They did it with the Beatles shows on the Joy last year for those who could not get into the Cavern Club.

Final payment has to be paid 90 days before the cruise.  If the TA used someone else's credit card wouldn't they have seen it on their bank statement before the cruise and contested it right away?

What I don't understand is that if the OP cruised then Carnival was originally paid.  What reason would a bank agree to credit a charge back after a cruise was already taken?  And Carnival could have contested the charge back at that time and probably have won.

We tried to do a charge back for an excursion we took that turned out to be horrible and nothing like what it was described as.  We first tried to talk to the vendor and he wouldn't budge an inch.  So after we did the charge back the vendor contested it, saying we did take the excursion so the bank refused us.

We booked cabin #11809 which is the same type of sideways cabin.  There is also a video on you tube by Sharon at Sea with a tour of this exact cabin.  I messaged her to ask her if this cabin was noisy and how roomy and she answered me saying she heard no noise from the elevators and it felt roomier than the standard insides.

Thanks everyone for your quick responses.  I went back on line and readded the gift certificates.  It now said I have a 0 balance but I just noticed I did not press the submit button.  Now it says my balance is paid in full.  

Again am deeply thankful to you all 

I've always used a travel agent to pay off my final balance but I have two cruises where I did not use the travel agent and booked on my own.

Today I paid off one of the cruises with gift cards.  In fact it was $13 more than the balance.  I took a screen shot of my planner accepting the gift cards but there was no confirmation nor an email confirmation.  I refreshed my browser and it still said I owed the balance which I just paid.

Does it take awhile to record these payments and will I get a final bill saying the cruise is paid in full and will I get credited back the $13 to a gift card?

We did the 11 day Miraviglia in October and it was okay.  Couldn't beat the price at $700pp for a balcony.  Some of the food was good and some tasteless.  We didn't like set time dining but it worked out.  We thought the production shows were some of the best we've seen at sea.  The fly in entertainers were meh.  

MSC prices have gone up a lot now but if we see a sailing with a good price and itinerary we would book one again 

I know I mentioned previously that I don't like to fly to a port but we have a B2B cruise out of California in April so I'd been checking flights since last July.  According to Mr. Google the cheapest time to book would be at the end of December so from the middle to the last of December I checked prices every day and they stayed the same.  On January 1st I gave up and started to book the airfare when I got home from work around 4pm.  I wanted the 12:30 pm flight that would bring me to Cali around 2:30pm.  Just when I got to the end of adding all my details a notice came up that there was a change in price and now that time slot would be $60pp more.  I was dumbstruck and outraged and wanted to kick myself for not booking the day before.  Now the only time that didn't go up was the 6:30pm flight that arrived at 9:30pm so I booked it, thinking maybe the prices would readjust in 24 hours.  No way.  The next day  the 12:30 price increased another $30pp so I wound up staying with what I booked.  Lesson learned to book when you are comfortable with a price.

Looking forward to your report.  We will be on her when she is in NJ next February.  We were on her sister ship Anthem once and enjoyed her very much.  Not having to fly to a cruise port is a major + and like you entertainment and experience comes first before relaxing.

Why did you change from ATD?  Couldn't you have requested a table for the earliest time when they opened on the app?

So enjoying your report.  We will be on the Panorama in April in conjunction with the Radiance right before.

I have the 20,000 fun points that I want to use for final payment of 2 cruises.  Is it best to convert these to two $100 gift cards?  Then on one cruise the balance will be $13.28 and the other balance will be $36.28 left on both cards.  Can I then bring these cards with me on the cruises and get OBC for these balances?  I would have used it as statement credits but I had already purchased gift cards from AARP to use for these cruises.  I spoke with an agent about this but really couldn't understand her accent. 

Then she told me it was better to pay by phone than by the website.  Is this true?  I usually have my travel agent pay but this time I booked direct.  Thanks for any info.

On our Feb. 2019 Sun cruise to SA the Super Bowl was shown on a big screen in the theater.