azappraiser

We booked a private excursion for a "day sail" while in port in St. Thomas.  The ship was 30-minutes late getting into port, and the Freestyle Daily had an advisory that we would be departing an hour earlier than scheduled.

The original plan allowed 2 1/2 hours from the end of the sail to the ship's departure; however, with the late arrival and early departure, we decided not to chance getting left behind and canceled the excursion.

I'm sorry for stating the obvious, but, if passengers are willing to roll the dice by booking a non-NCL Sponsored excursion, then they need to accept responsibility for their decisions when things don't go as planned.

I see nothing in the "Passenger's Bill of Rights" stating the cruise line must wait for passengers that are late when returning from non-sponsored excursions.

CruiseIndustryPassengerBillofRights052313.pdf

Booked on Norwegian Encore to Alaska on May 18-25, 2025, with a day in Glacier Bay.  I planning to bring the following bodies:

• Pentax 24MP K-70
• Pentax 16MP K-50

As for lenses:

• Pentax f/2.8 14mm Prime
• Pentax f/2.8 16-50mm Wide Zoom
• Pentax f/2.8 50-135mm Zoom Med Telephoto
• Pentax f/4.0 60-250mm zoom Telephoto
• Pentax HD 1.4x AF Rear Extender

Also bringing a lg dry-bag & desiccant for each body/lens, to warm up slowly and absorb excess moisture as they acclimate from outside to inside & vice versa.  Gear wouldn't be complete without my travel tripod and an additional monopod.

And, IMHO these are "game-changer" accessories:

• Peak Design Slide Camera Straps
• ProMedia Gear L-Brackets
• Valleret V3 Pro Photographer's Gloves (thumb & forefinger tips fold back for real feel)

Bringing 3x 256GB, 1x 128GB, 2x 64GB & several 32GB for the wife's point & shoot.  Will be downloading sd cards daily onto 2TB portable HD & copy to 5TB SSD.

Should be fun, fingers crossed for good weather.  I've got Frog Togs & rain covers just in case...

We booked a boutique hotel in Belltown, the Belltown Inn.  We can arrange transportation from SeaTac through the hotel, and walk the few blocks on departure day.  Planning the return flight home after noon so we can use Port Valet for our baggage... having only carry-ons, we have several options.

We're booked for May 18-25, 2025 on the Encore.  We wanted mid/late May this time, having done the same itinerary on the Pearl in Sept 2011.

Glacier Bay is number one reason.

I did a mock booking to see the current fare for the Haven suite we booked back in July; I'm not planning to reach out to NCL for an adjustment as the base fare for "2" went up $2300.00.

DW was happy with our original booking rate as well.

7 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Balcony or no go for me..

Aft-Balcony or no go for me...

Because several people abused the privilege, NCL took notice & changed the rules... same thing that happened with some of the ultra-premium liquors that are suspiciously no longer on board...

1 hour ago, Ticatraveler said:

Getting back to the lobster policy, I imagine some people might have abused it during their stay but maybe a limit of two would be a way to keep the customer happy.

Isn't that the way it always goes when a privilege gets abused... agree with a 2-tail limit

2 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Has anyone ever booked a cruise this far out?

Not that far out... but, I did book our May 18-25, 2025 Encore cruise on Jul 9th of 2023, or 677 days out.

We wanted an Aft-Facing PH with the large balcony, and there are only six.  With deck 12 being our preference, I chose the starboard side to have an opportunity to photograph the Ranger coming on board on our way into Glacier Bay.

I use Photographers Ephemeris, free version, on a laptop

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We were on the Gem during the "Blackout Bowl" between Baltimore & San Fran in 2013; in addition to the TVs in the lounges & bars, the main festivities were in the theater, with crew passing out popcorn and snack rooms set up on either side of the venue.

The seas were quite active on that particular evening; DW decided to retire to our cabin, where the game was also being aired on the TV.

During the 30+ minutes it took to get the lights back on in the Superdome, the crew kept everyone occupied & entertained, while we watched the curtains on either side of the stage swing back and forth as the ship rocked & rolled.

It was a game to be remembered.

Samsung Galaxy users will be pleased to know the Galaxy Smart Tag 2 is Samsung's answer to the Air Tag and work just as well... cost less too!  They're available through several retailers.

After having an Aft Balcony on the POA... we're now spoiled for life!  Enjoying a cup of coffee, while watching the sun rise from the comfort of my lounger, was a welcomed daily treat.  We had the most incredible view, sailing away from the Na Pali Coast, with a pod of dolphins dancing in the ship's wake.

When we decided it was time to book another cruise, we agreed that a return to Alaska was in the cards; but instead of sailing at the end of the season, we opted for mid/late May and an itinerary that included Glacier Bay.

Our initial cruise with NCL was to Alaska, on the Pearl.  On that trip, we opted for a deck 10, mid-ship balcony, on the port side.  And while the view from our balcony was adequate, there's just no comparison to the view from the aft.

If you look at the deck plans on the Breakaway Plus ships, the largest aft balconies are on decks 9, 12 & 15, with one each on the port & starboard corners.  These suites, as well as the ones on decks 10,11, 13 & 14 with smaller balconies, also have access to the Haven complex... more $$$.

Has anyone else noticed the OP left the thread two pages ago?

On 11/25/2023 at 10:04 AM, graphicguy said:

Car sales ads are similar.  Invoice pricing suggests a price that the dealership pays for the car from the manufacturer.  In truth, it’s not even close.

Actually, the dealer does pay "invoice" to the manufacturer; there are "incentives" that are paid  to the dealer after the vehicle is sold within 90 days.  If the car sits on the lot too long, it begins to cost money (interest payments) for flooring until it is eventually sold.

MSRP is the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, just like Published Full-Fares for cruises.

55 minutes ago, skittl1321 said:

No, the map is just wrong.

It's Cruise Mapper- Deck 20 shows a ropes course.  (The laser tag course is shown on deck 18)

https://www.cruisemapper.com/deckplans/Norwegian-Encore-1518/deck20-5687

 

I was looking at this site because I couldn't find them on NCL's.

Here's the link:

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/encore/deck-plans

In case no one noticed, the OP posted, then "ghosted" the thread.

But since we're already here, what if we thought of the DSC as a cousin to hotel "resort" fees... annoying, but generally inescapable, with few exceptions.

Now, I'm not privy to NCL's P&Ls, so I can't comment on who's pockets the DSC fees actually ending up in; but I do know I prefer the DSCs vs. handing out envelopes with cash at the end of the cruise, along with the fact that I can pre-pay them prior to boarding and be done with it.

Why don't we all concentrate on the middle letter of DSC... S = Service.

18 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

First some background. Mrs. Schmoopie will normally only cruise with a balcony. Got it?

And since we sailed on the POA, Mrs azappraiser won't sail unless we have an Aft-Facing Balcony... consider yourself lucky.

BTW - I like the Aft-Facing balconies too...

4 hours ago, Daniel A said:

 

Why can't they have a dedicated adult hot tub or adult only hot tub periods?

 We did that back when I was a lifeguard; at 45 minutes after the hour, all kids had to get out of the pool & spas for adult swim for the next 15 minutes!

We paid taxes on the POA in 2014...

5 minutes ago, LIMPIT said:

Premium Drink Package - $15 threshold per drink, pay the difference any value over, do you pay 20% gratuity on the drinks within the offer and/or extra costs above $15 ?

The first $15 & gratuity is already covered with the drink package; if you order a drink that has a cost of $18.00, you're only paying an extra $3.36. (difference between 15 and the cost of the drink, plus gratuity on the difference)

Grabbed this from the National Weather Service Radar... doesn't look like very smooth sailing ahead...

9 hours ago, big al said:

So my DW & I are thinking of doing the Pride Of America Hawaii cruise for our anniversary May 2025..I know it's a long way off & things can change, but I read somewhere on here that NCL is no longer cruising up & down the Napali coast..this for us was a big attraction..I don't do helicopters, so a cruise up & down the Napali coast was what we were thinking...any recent cruisers give some thoughts/ answers on this?

I took a flight on a fixed-wing plane.  "Wings Over Kauai" was much less than a helicopter tour, and longer in duration.  While we couldn't hover in place, on my flight, we circled over a helicopter tour that had to put down (safely) due to an emergency.

When I went, they picked me up just outside the port and brought me back to the "gate" after the flight.

I'm in the right-seat because the other scheduled passengers were no-shows... lucky me!

Here's a morning pic from the aft balcony on the 2nd day in Kauai...