jasperess

On 1/7/2022 at 9:57 PM, phillygwm said:

Not really necessary.  As I recall, on Day 1, there was a P+ brochure in my room with the list.  I also found this in my files which I believe is the current list.

premium-plus-beverage-package-072021v2.pdf 282.22 kB · 21 downloads

That is great to know.  Thank you so much!

Since there are so many versions of the Plus package guidelines floating around, is it simply best to ask the servers on board to find out what it is exactly included or not once they see that you have the package?  I assume the system will tell them if NCL makes any recent updates?

Of course, I plan to go in with some guidance and education from Cruise Critic too, of course...

We've done this excursion.  We hopped on a bus with a quick narration and transportation to the space center.   Then, we were on our own for a number of hours to explore the Kennedy Space Center at our leisure.  When time was up, we hopped back on the bus for transportation back to the ship.  It was a bit rainy that day (Florida, of course!), so it was also a good choice of excursion.

We really enjoyed the space center, and felt we could see a lot in the time allotted, so I would definitely recommend the tour.

On 10/28/2021 at 7:10 PM, macfam5 said:

Thank you for that tip. We have never experienced this in any of our last six cruises. Only by fluke I noticed for this upcoming one.

My pleasure!  It was the same for us!  Never noticed this on previous cruises, but booked a recent Alaska cruise and was quite shocked at the itinerary difference.

Hope this isn't a new thing for NCL, but regardless I'm going to pay more attention from now on.

Yes, the confirmation.  We had this happen with our recent Alaska cruise we're planning for next year.

I learned a good way to check this in the future is, even if you're interested in what the general itinerary says on their website and think it applies to all dates for that cruise, you need to make sure it applies to the date you select before you purchase.  You can do this on the website by clicking on "view itinerary" which shows up on the right side of the screen before final booking once you have selected your cruise dates.  This will show you the final itinerary and you should be able to tell whether it differs from expectations, especially if you have the original itinerary open in another internet window.  That "view itinerary" that you selected for your given cruise dates should then match what they send you in your confirmation, as opposed to the general itinerary that NCL shows for all dates of a given cruise.

Hope this helps!

Sorry to revive an old thread, but this is what happens on my account too.  I'm booked for next year on the Bliss, and it's super confusing.  Did anyone get this resolved?  When I look online:

Then, when I look at my cruise confirmation, it doesn't even show Dawes glacier & Endicott arm, it shows the whole day in Juneau:

I've reached out to my PCC, who says there are two Bliss itineraries (?).  She said she's getting back to me, but it's certainly confusing.  I do want what is advertised on the website (Dawes glacier & Endicott arm post-Juneau Tuesday afternoon).

Perfect, thank you!  

I'm interested in potentially booking a Haven 2 bedroom family villa with my husband and both of my parents to Alaska next year.  All of us have FCC from a cancelled Transatlantic cruise we were supposed to take together when COVID cancelled our cruise last year.  They've never been in the Haven and I think it'd be awesome for us all to enjoy it together!

However, does anyone know if it's possible for all of us to use FCC to book this room?  Or is it only the first two guests?

Trying it online seems like it might only be Guest 1 and Guest 2.  If that's the case, is there a potential workaround?  If not, we'll just book our separate rooms as per usual.  

Thank you!

We've been on six cruises - the last two were in the Haven or a suite.  

Like you, we're not buffet people, whether on land or on cruise ship.  One of the main reasons we love the Haven is because the Haven restaurant is the best restaurant on the ship, and having good food on the ship is extremely important to us.  We also like to drink on vacation so I'll echo what people say about the Haven bartender, and having the bar so close means that drinks that you order with any meal of the day at the Haven restaurant come quickly as well.  This hasn't always been the case for us especially in the MDR or some specialty restaurants.  We don't really use the pool or the other facilities, so it's mostly about the restaurant for us.  

The room, however, cannot be undersold.  The larger room and potentially larger balcony (depending on room type) is a huge bonus.  Although we're big on activities around the ship as well as doing things in the ports, we also find we spend more awake time in our room and balcony, especially if we book one of the large balcony rooms.  The balcony is a nice place to lay out and read or admire a beautiful starry sky with a nice beverage in the evening.  We also enjoy the excellent coffee maker with the afternoon treats as our little vacation ritual.  If we're not big on the nightly entertainment and have tired with the casino, we bring drinks back to the room and watch a free movie (again, another perk of the Haven/Suite life).

There are some other items that others have mentioned as well, but these are the highlights for us.  Hope you find this helpful!

On 12/4/2020 at 10:33 AM, nomad098 said:

 

Nothing has been subverted but trials have been truncated leaving 3 main questions

 

Will it break transmission?

What is the vaccines long term safety profile?

How long will effectiveness last?

 

If the process had not been truncated we would have probably had these questions answered long  before distribution. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55056016

 

 

The chart on the BBC is misleading as it shows development of a vaccine prior to this time period as well as not in a pandemic era situation with thousands of people dying on a daily basis.

Additionally, it is very common in the industry for the FDA to give companies permission to skip Phase II for their drugs if the indication is high priority.  In this case, since COVID is killing a high number of people world-wide so running Phase II concurrently with Phase I and III while still testing it on thousands of patients would be similar to skipping Phase II entirely.

Also, there is a lot of discussion on this board about long-term safety of these vaccines.  Of course, long-term safety of these vaccines has not been fully vetted.  However, companies continually gather and process this information in something called Phase IV - not only from people in the clinical trials but also once/if the vaccine gains approval from the independent regulatory board.

On 8/7/2020 at 6:53 PM, Sand and Seas said:

At least we both now know we aren't the only one waiting😉

 

After the cancellation of our April 5th cruise, I've had a clipboard of things to cancel like pre-cruise hotel, air fare and post-cruise hotel.  All of those went pretty smooth.....just this one last little item still pending.

 

Since then, I've been busy re-booking cruises with my already paid for Cruise Next certificates plus the FCC.  Also got pro-active on my October cruise and changed it to another cruise before the final pay date.  Much easier!     I have to say that the CAS agents have been great to work with while I re-book cruises😊  

I FINALLY got my refund for the gratuities, dining package, and beverage package on August 18th.  YAY!

Maybe you'll be next if it hasn't happened already...?

9 minutes ago, Sand and Seas said:

Jasperess-  Have you gotten your refund yet?

 

It's now 151 days since March 9th when we requested refund of our pre-paid Daily Service Charges.

 

It's just $203, but it's a little frustrating to keep checking for it.  I have had email response from CS saying that they see it as "pending".   (Of course, an earlier email from then said it could take 'up to 90 days'.)

 

I wonder if they have just pushed all of these 'small' amounts to the end of the wait list.  It is good they have been processing the larger refunds.  I wouldn't want to have had a larger amount of money held this long🤨

 

 

Still no refund yet.  It's been a long time to wait.

Like you, I'm pleased they are pushing forward the larger refunds, but I am wondering why they haven't done ours yet.

I am a loyal cruiser to NCL and am planning on taking another cruise with them once things get more back to normal (hence taking the FCC), but it does make me wonder if I should have just taken the entire refund at this point.

On 7/10/2020 at 7:40 AM, poffles said:

 

I cancelled my DSC and Beverage/Dining pkg on March 10th, subsequent calls/email I got  'oh we didn't actually submit that until March 14th'  'we had a bunch to submit and they were all submitted April 1st'  'shows pending, it could take up to 90 days'  '... it is taking longer than the 90 days ... '   'should be released soon, you should see it by Friday (two weeks ago)'   'it shows released now so you should see it within 24 hours (2 days ago)'.

 

This refund amount is not earth shattering to me and the responses above are not all from me specifically calling about it but asking while calling about another service (some from an email thread inquiry so I had it in writing) so I have not been pestering but this is ridiculous when you see others from May and such getting their refunds.  I no longer trust what they tell me.  I really want to at the time and I actually do hope THIS TIME maybe ...but just more of the same.  I really do feel bad for them but it is equally frustrating to feel misled.

 

My FCCs have now been transferred to someone else and I wish them happy sailing with NCL.  Oh and even that was fun, I called to have a future cruise cancelled to get my FCCs back in my account to transfer and I asked the chat agent about this and she suggested 'if it was her' she would call to have it done instead of email ... ugh.  So when the FCCs appeared in my account I followed her advise and called, this agent took all the information and can you guess what happened ... nothing.  Call back, agent says nothing in the system that I even called, nothing shows it being requested ... NOTHING.  So what was the other agent doing during the 20 minutes she was 'taking my information'.  Totally stunned by this.  So I hang up, send email and the FCCs were transferred that same day ... OMG the FCC transfer team has it together!  Guess they want the FCCs in the hands of someone that will use them.

 

Oh .. and sorry for the even more bit off track stuff here but ironically in the short window my FCCs were back in my account (literally the next day) I got calls from NCL TWICE to tell me about deals and help me book my next cruise.  Unbelievable. 

 

Here's to hoping we both get our refund soon (this year maybe?)  I so want to be done with this.

I'm in the same boat as you.  I requested cancellation of my dining/beverage package and pre-paid gratuities on March 9th, and still have not received a refund.  The cruise ended up being cancelled, so the rest went to FCC, but I'm still missing the difference.

Unlike you,  I have not given them a call yet, so I may do that and see if it makes a difference - it looks like it may have for you since you did end up getting the refund!  Thanks!

8 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

You should be able to get them back before the cruise as long as you haven't done a Cancel/Rebook of the cruise and lost the original promos.  In the past, we have never had problems changing to any of the other promos that were in effect at the time that we booked.  Usually we had to do this at least 48 hours before the cruise.  

Great, thank you so much!

Just got off with NCL after cancelling the add-ons. 

It is confusing cause it does require you to give the beverage package and specialty dining up as perks if you remove the gratuities - you do need to pay the gratuities to have the perk.  Sure, you could call to have them reinstated (theoretically), but something to keep in mind if you're not sure you're going to cancel yet.  A bit of an eye-opener, that's for sure!

So if we keep the specialty dining and beverage package gratuities, they would get rolled up into the FCC.  Would we then be able to use the FCC for the specialty dining and beverage package gratuities for a new cruise?

Can we still do the cancellations for refund tomorrow since we can't do the cancel/convert to FCC until March 11th?

Another vote for the Baths at Virgin Gorda.  Really needs to be seen at least once in your life imho.  It was breathtaking.

36 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I loved the Getaway and just did a review.  Last year I was on the Celebrity Equinox for a lot more money.  I did not enjoy that experience half as much as the Getaway.  So because you were so nice, I am going to give you some more hints:

Haven Bar: The Bartender's name is Patrick.  Say a guy named Gary suggested he make you the Smokey drink.  It is a show and a half.

Water Slides: Go after the first day at sea. I never had to stand in a line for more then a few minutes.

Show Reservations:  Make your show reservation now and coordinate your specialty restaurants reservations based on that. As I mentioned in other post, the Haven Restaurant does not take reservations. 

Haven Desk on the Ship: You have a question, ask them.  You have an issue, tell them.  

Smoking: If you smoke, do not smoke anywhere that is not an expressly approved smoking area.  They will fine you.

Tour the Ship Day One:  They will give you an invitation for lunch at the Haven Restaurant or Margarettaville. Don't take the bait, have lunch at 12:00 PM day one in the Haven.  Prior, bring your carry on to your suite even if it is not completely ready for you.  Then come back to the Haven.  After lunch, tour the ship before it gets to crowded.  

Fish On the Rugs/Carpet:  In the halls, look down at the fish in the carpet.  There heads indicate the front of the ship, tails back of the ship. Harder to get lost knowing that.

Room Service:  Don't order off the in-room menu.  Have the butler get you your food from the Haven.  That being said, if you have an early excursion, room service breakfast is a nice way to go providing a kind of wake up call. 

Venture All Over the Ship:  As nice as the Haven is, you got to see the rest of this ship.  Putt Putt Golf, Rope course which my wife would not allow me to do (I was drunk at the time, good wife and I am 62), shuffle board for shots is fun.

Premium Plus Drink Package: If it does not blow up your budget AND you do like to indulge with adult beverages AND you like to have really great bottles of water (with or without gas) at meals AND you like specialty coffee's AND you would like to have a full bottle of wine at dinner then take what is left over to your room AND you like top shelf brands of Liquors. Then pay the upgrade from the Premium Drink Package.  If you don't drink and don't intend to drink, skip this bullet point. 

Shows: Go into the theater on the left side,  the Haven reserved section is mid-way on the left.  Nice perk.

Burger By the Haven Pool:  The Haven Burger comes this the cute basket of fries.  Sit by the pool, the servers will be out there, have a burger by the pool one day.  So good and no nice. 

Chocolate Haven Cake: Unbelievable.  I broke my Keto diet for this cake with vanilla ice cream three times.  

Other Must Eat Items: Salmon or Pork Chop for lunch; Beef Short Rib appetizer for dinner;  Prime Rib for dinner is crazy good, Smoke Salmon is on the Breakfast Buffet for a starter, the almond danish is great, my Favorite breakfast was the steak and eggs.  Love the French Restaurant for the experience and the deserts are to die for. 

 

Enjoy your trip and keep on cruising.  Encore here we come in May.  Be well. 

You recommend not to eat lunch in Margaritaville, but we were thinking about doing that if they offered it, especially since we'll be doing at 14 day TA in April.  We figured 14 days is plenty of time to eat lunch in the Haven, but eating in Margaritaville on Day 1 could get us in there for free since there's normally a charge.  I'm curious to know why - is Margaritaville really that bad?

I'm interested in this as well.  I've never done NCL laundry on a cruise, but I plan to on my next.

Like the OP, I'm allergic to fragrances in detergent and other things and have very sensitive skin in general.  I've been on a number of NCL cruises, and for some reason about halfway through each cruise I tend to come down with a weird skin rash.  It tends to go away quickly once I return home.  I always wondered if it was because of the type of laundry detergent they use or something else?

I agree with what a lot of people have posted here, but food is always subjective.  

Here are our thoughts for specialty restaurants.  Our favorites are Le Bistro and Teppanyaki.  Le Bistro's Mushroom soup as everyone says is the winner, along with the filet entree.   The filet from Teppanyaki I think is nice as well, and I also like the "Wasabi" cocktail from here if you drink.  

We also enjoy La Cucina and Moderno, but we'd say those are more "second tier" and can have foods that are hit-or-miss.  The burrata at La Cucina was quite nice, but some of the pasta wasn't too special (hence, I agree with the Olive Garden comment).  That said, they had the best bread on the ship.  Moderna I also like the salad bar as I'm not a big meat eater, and you really can't pick the cook of meats nor predict when which ones will come around.  But it's still enjoyable and a lot of it is very good.

Overall, our least favorites are Cagney's and Ocean Blue.  Better steaks elsewhere on the ship, and we're from Boston - better seafood on land.  If you count O'Sheehan's as a specialty, we haven't had the wings recently, but we found we didn't really enjoy the food there very much on our recent visit.

Regarding food in the buffet, we don't eat there very often, but we do really like the pretzel rolls and an occasional ice cream treat after a meal.  And I agree - don't bother with the desserts here, you'll have enough elsewhere!  If you like Indian food though, the chefs tend to make very good Indian food on a daily basis for the buffet.

For the MDR, all the food tending to be solid overall, with the fish dishes on the recent menus particularly being some of the best tasting.

Hope you find this helpful!

On 7/21/2019 at 11:38 AM, Girr said:

Having stayed in the Haven and non-Haven suites on the Jewel you currently have the same perks.  You'll be checked in using the suite waiting lounge, and then escorted on board for lunch.  Normally for priority disembark you'll be given a location to meet and then escorted off ship by the concierge.  For port embarkation I've never had a need for priority; however,  in tender port there's normally a line for suite guest.

 

Now, this is all subject to change once NCL changes cabin classifications in 2020.

Can you clarify what you mean about NCL changing cabin classifications in 2020?  This is the first I've heard of it.

May I ask what your top 5 specialty restaurants were on the Escape, in order?  Thanks in advance!

Our Escape Transatlantic next year doesn't qualify.  Bummer.

Could switch to the same itinerary on the Getaway for a price drop, but then I'd have to take 2 extra vacation days.  Not sure that'd be worth it.

On 7/17/2019 at 11:00 PM, Cariot said:

Are there sale tax at the restaurants in Bermuda? 

 

 

Did you think it was worth the expense of dining there if you're a big foodie? My partner and I usually explore a lot of NYC and LA restaurants and actually have heard of Chef Marcus Samuelsson prior. We've been wanting to try his Hot Honey Yardbird at Red Rooster, but not sure if we should save the trip for home in NY or give his place in Bermuda a shot. I think we were mainly looking to try those Fish Chowder Bites and the like.

 

My partner really wants to try the best Fish Chowder the island has to offer, we're not exactly sure where that is, so if anyone has suggestions, please feel free to share! (Or any place that has local, fresh fish in general and not imported). 

So I guess the only thing I can say is we are also foodies (not gourmets, an important distinction) and reiterate we felt Marcus' was definitely worth it.  I was aware of Marcus Samuelsson's reputation prior to eating there, which is why we went to the restaurant in the first place.  We went for lunch, and the prices were comparable to similar establishments and it ended up being the best food we had in Bermuda.  

I don't remember if there is sales tax at the restaurants in Bermuda, unfortunately.  

We ate at Marcus' at the Hamilton Princess in Bermuda for lunch and it was lovely.  The surprise winner in the food category was the ramen (!!), but the deviled eggs were also amazing.  I would highly recommend that restaurant.  The drinks and food were both very good.