morrisretired

My wife and I both received "Dear David Emails" last night about booking a Celebrity Cruise. The first one to come up, was the same one we are already booked on in a suite. Booked it several months ago. Sails next Saturday, 02/25 to 3/4 out of San Pedro, on the Solstice. No Davids here!

We are Sapphire (used to be Platinum Plus) and also missed Dinner with an Officer, in addition to the Behind the Scenes Tour and Wines Around the World. I think all 3 should be worth more than the $50 OBC per Cabin.

Just got off the Dawn a week ago today, on an 11- Night Repositioning Cruise from Tampa to New York City. Breakfast and lunch for Suite Guests was served in Moderno, with Gagney’s as a backup, if Moderno was full. Moderno had a small Breakfast Buffet, which you could walk across the hall to from Cagney’s. Both restaurants were located on Deck 13. 

Thanks for sharing the beginning of your vacation in San Juan, P. R. Hope you all have a great cruise! 

Canceled our cruise 12/28, one day before final payment was due to NCL. Our refund showed up on the credit card early this morning. The 2 Cruise Next Certificates and 10% Cruise Discount were back on our NCL Account 3 days after canceling. The 10% discount still expires 1/31/2022.

Power strips, multi plug box outlets / adaptors, and extension cords (WITHOUT SURGE PROTECTORS) are allowed on board, when used with proper caution. My wife uses a C-Pap machine. and most of the time a plug is close to the bed. One time we had to ask to use one of their extension cords.

We would cancel !

Only 72 days until the Breakaway 7-Day R/T Western Caribbean out of New Orleans, and 156 days until the Epic 7-Day R/T Southern Caribbean (ABC Islands) out of San Juan. Hope we are able to make both of them.  

Just checked the NCL APP is working on my iPhone.

We sailed on the Jewel in a Forward Facing Penthouse Suite # 9502, a little over 5 years ago. It was a R/T Western Caribbean out of Seabrook, Texas. The balcony is quite large, and it does get windy sometimes out there. There is a large thick metal door and a smaller regular door to open, for access to your balcony. We didn't have any trouble opening them ourselves to go out. It looks down on a small pool and sunning deck for the entertainment dancers.

Our TA forwarded me the email she finally got back from NCL." A review of our records indicate a refund in the amount of $666.10, which represents government taxes and services for the canceled guests is currently pending. Due to the high volume of requests at this time, refunds may take up to 90 days to be processed. We are working diligently to ensure we revert to our guests as soon as possible". Our TA came through for us, and restored our faith in her!  

I canceled our refund request with NCL for our canceled Epic Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan, P.R. from March 22- April 1, 2020. Decided to take the 125% FCC. With the NCL Memorial Day Flash Sale going on now, we rebooked a similar 7-Day Epic Southern Caribbean in March 2021, got an additional 20% off our fare, and $600 OBC. Still had some FCC left  to put toward another 7-Day Cruise out of New Orleans in December 2020.

Turtles 06 thank you for replying. I feel the same way, they should have gotten a refund for the prepaid service gratuities, and a refund for the port charges. NCL is charging them for going on a non existent cruise.  

Thank you to emm126 and Bird Travels for taking the time to reply. I put the majority of the blame on their travel company.. Our TA asked their Business Development Manager for help, and she said "that she could not do anything on her end." The BDM then connected our TA to NCL Guest Relation, to pursue it further with them. Sounds like the BDM knew they messed up! I said in an email reply to our TA if her company made a mistake, own up to it so we can move on. I agree the TA should handle our problem - and if they won't do anything - we will be finding a new TA real soon. My wife and I are both Platinum Plus Members with NCL  

We just found out that to cancel under the NCL Peace of Mind Policy, everyone in the suite needed to cancel. We talked to our TA about our daughter and her boyfriend canceling under it, because it was a 10-Day Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan. They had already scheduled 2 weeks of vacation for travel and cruise, but couldn't chance being quarantined for 2 more weeks, or longer after getting back home. So, our TA canceled for them about 10 +/- days before the sail date. My wife and I still planned to go on the cruise. The next day NCL canceled all their cruises. So, my wife and I had a choice of a 100% refund, or a 125% refund of the fare paid in the form of a cruise credit. We thought our daughter and her boyfriend would get their refund in a future cruise credit, under the Peace of Mind Policy. I never saw where NCL said everyone in the cabin needed to cancel. Because we would have canceled right along with them! Our TA didn't know anything about it either. Anyway, getting ready to book a cruise for next year, our daughter asked NCL about the future cruise credit. NCL told her that it was all forfeited, because it was in their penalty phase.

When the cruise was booked, it was under the 3rd and 4th person sail free. (Guest Fare 0.00)  All they were required to pay was Gov.Tax, Port Exp. / Fees which was $153.05 each. The Epic cruise was sailing March 8-15 which was canceled, returned to San Juan for supplies, and sailed off to Florida. The cruise a week before us was then canceled, and also every cruise after that. Our cruise never embarked at San Juan on the Epic, or made any of their scheduled Ports on our canceled cruise. NCL says the $306.10 was forfeited. So, NCL gets to keep all the fees from a ghost cruise that didn't exist. The prepaid gratuities of $180 each was also paid weeks before our cruise. Our daughter and boyfriend canceled at least 10 days before their scheduled departure date. NCL says that the prepaid gratuities of $360 was also forfeited. Now, NCL says they get to keep their grand total of $666.10 forfeited for their cancellation.       

Our second choice would have to be Celebrity. We like NCL because of the Haven Suites and their private areas. We have sailed on these cruise lines: NCL-10, Celebrity-3, Royal Caribbean-3, Carnival-3, and Princess-1. Celebrity also has their private dining room, private bars, and lounge for suite guests. When we were on the Celebrity Summit 4-1/2 years ago, we got their free drink and specialty dining, (with no charge for gratuities like NCL). Bottled water  was also included. The free internet was unlimited, free service charges, and a $200 OBC were all included in their promotion. That sure beat NCL'S "4-Free Promotion" that was going on with the Gem out of San Juan, P.R., on the same 7-Day Southern Caribbean Cruise. The Celebrity price was also cheaper. It was a great deal!

We are still waiting for our refund from NCL, for a 10-Day Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan that they canceled. The refund is supposed to arrive by June 23? Chose not to rebook a similar 7-Day Cruise in March 2021 with NCL, because the 7-Day was priced higher than the 10-Day, for the same 4 of us in the 2 BR H-6 Haven Suite. Found a similar 7-Day Southern Caribbean Cruise on the Summit out of San Juan in April 2021. Celebrity Cruises is starting to look like a much better option. NCL please send our money back ASAP!          

We asked NCL for a refund of our cancelled 10-day Epic Southern Caribbean Cruise out of San Juan on 3/22/20. Not planning on taking any cruise for a least a year, or maybe longer. We looked at a similar NCL 7-Day Southern Caribbean out of San Juan in March 7-14 of next year, but it was going to cost $2,000 more than their cancelled 10-Day Cruise. (Both were for the 4 of us in a H-6 2BR Haven Suite.) Taking a wait and see attitude. Then Globus cancelled our 13 Day Tour to Switzerland with the Passion Play at Oberammergau Germany for this July. Because of the Corona Virus in Europe, the Passion Play has been rescheduled to begin in May of 2022. (Maybe they know more than we do.)  Also asked for a full refund of their tour.

Within the past 4 years we did: 11-Day Pride Of America (reposition after makeover) from San Francisco to Hawaii and then around the Islands, 7-Day Dawn R/T Western Caribbean from New Orleans, 14-Day Martin Luther Reformation 500 Year Reformation Tour, 10-day Gem R/T NY to Quebec City, 11-day Spirit R/T from Rome, 15-Day Epic T/A Port Canaveral to Barcelona, 19-Day Getaway T/A Copenhagen to New Orleans. So, NCL cancelling the cruise from San Juan was not a big deal. Time to take a break - until everything gets back to normal. Hopefully, we can make it to the Passion Play in 2022.   

We had a 10-Day Southern Caribbean out of San Juan for 03/22/20 recently canceled. I looked at a similar 7-Day Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, on March 7-14 next year for the 4 of us. The cruise next year was going to cost over $2,000 more, with 3 less days. (The March 7-14 was the cheapest one out of the 4 sailings in March. All in the H-4 2 BR Suites located in the Haven.) We decided against the 125% Future Cruise Credit, and ask for a full refund from NCL. We had made our final payment on the original cruise 11/15/19. Didn't want NCL to keep our money any longer. Hopefully, NCL will have "a real sale" later on, after things get back to normal? We still have 4 Cruise Next Certificates to use.  

Your final payment to NCL is still probably still March 29. The Travel Agent usually wants you to pay at least a week before they have to pay NCL. That's the way our Travel Agent has done in the past. Your Travel Agent should have been up front to you with the date your payment was due at the Travel Agency.

13 hours ago, rjm11 said:

I think that's a good thought.  We too were haven and TSA precheck, and were still tighter for our 1:00 flight than I thought we'd be.  Again, it was probably because we had a nice last haven breakfast, and then had the concierge take us off around 8:45 or 9:00, but the lines were so long once we got off the boat, even without having to wait to actually disembark.

Thanks for replying to my question. We did rebook the original 1:40 pm R/T flight on SWA, which saved the 4 of us $740. Nice to get credit to use on some future flights. On our 7:00 am Saturday morning SWA flight from LAS back to AUS, there was only 46 passengers for 175 seats. Told not to go past row 21 to balance the plane. Thanks again!     

Thank both of you for your replies! We are in the Haven where you can be the first off, and also have TSA Precheck for US only. But I think we will keep the 1:40 pm flight out of San Juan to be safe. Just in case there are of any delays disembarking because of Corona Virus, or at the Airport. Thanks again!

Arriving back at San Juan, PR  after a 10-Day R/T Southern Cruise on the NCL Epic 04/01/20 around 5:30 am. What would be a safe timeline for booking Flights out of the San Juan Airport back to the States? The SWA prices have dropped, and we are going to rebook our original flights made over 6 months ago.   

We did the same Dawn Cruise exactly 3 years ago. The Sunday before Fat Tuesday is not the best time to cruise out of New Orleans. Stayed at Harrah's Biloxi for the 2 nights before our cruise. We left Biloxi around 7:30 am and the traffic was bad. Finally found our way to the cruise port several hours later, with all the detours set up around the city. Very crowded at the port with cruisers disembarking & embarking, active train tracks next to ship, and the Mardi Gras Crowd Partying. Good Luck on getting there!  

On ‎2‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 10:39 AM, GA Dave said:

Haven restaurant!  😁

The Haven is also our Favorite Restaurant on the Getaway! We were in the Haven on both the Getaway and Epic Transatlantic Cruises, within the past year. On our upcoming 10-Day Southern Caribbean on the Epic out of San Juan, we decided to skip the 4 free Specialty Dining Package. It is just not worth the cost of paying their gratuities! Also, got tired of the waiters telling us every time we were handed a menu, you get 1 soup or salad, 1 entrée, and 1 dessert. Since we are both  Platinum Plus Members, we will still get the 2 free Specialty (1-1-1) Dinners, and Dinner with an Officer. The rest of the time we will dining in the Haven.   

We were  on the Epic Transatlantic this past spring from Orlando to Barcelona, and this fall on the Getaway from Copenhagen to New Orleans. Don't know if the Concierge (Man) was new to his job on the Epic, or he just didn't know how to handle things. His assistants weren't much help either. Didn't use their service much at all. But the Concierge (Female) on the Getaway was great. (Stayed in the Haven on both ships, on the same deck as the Concierges.)  He was hardly ever around his desk, She was always around her desk, or one of her assistants was there for anything you needed. Very impressed the way she handled things. We are back on the Epic on March 22 - April 1 10 Day-Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, P.R. Hope service improved!