RN Cruiser1

Hi - I wanted to now if anyone else is facing/has faced this: At the 100 day mark to the second (Haven) when I went to book Cirque Dreams tickets online, there was only one fee option (see attachment). No priority seating option. Has anyone else had this problem? When I called the first NCL concierge told me that they were not offering priority seating. When I called today, the NCL concierge said that there was priority, but it was not available. What does that mean? Is there a possible large group onboard this cruise? Any insight from you wonderful CC folks?

When we did this show last year I payed reg price. When we boarded we spoke with the Concierge, he made plans for us to meet him 20 minutes prior to the show. He escorted us down and we were taken in ahead of the others and brought right up front and center. That is your priority seating, nothing special to book. Enjoy!

I just heard from my normal cruise consultant, who returned from a deployment. He's a reservist, and confided in me as a fellow veteran. We have a long history and shared a lot of crap. He told me as the sales change throughout the year, that's why you see all of the price fluctuations. A computer algorithm does it to optimize the profit margin. I posted this before, but now with the upgrades it changes the end game with way upgrades are handled. Eventually all the ships will be added.

 

Now, he said as the 30 day mark hits, the computer knows how many offers they can really accept, which of course, are the highest ones. Very few get notified that they were accepted. Another week goes by and just a few more get notified, etc. It's not until the last 3-6 days that the majority get notified if their offer was accepted. This gives them time to throw excess cabins on the clearance sites, last minute deals and such. They know from history what will usually sell during the blow out, and then it moves people accordingly. The majority who get their notification right at the 48 hour mark are declined. So if you are counting hours at that point, forget about it.

That is very interesting. It makes sense. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you!

I was just on the breakaway (cruised away 2/26/17), and went to wine lovers. It was very interesting and fun!

 

Food was salad appetizer, shrimp and steak for entree, then cheesecake desert. (Changes can be made if vegetarian, etc.) You do get 6 glasses of wine, and a glass of Prosecco.

 

It is an off-broadway show, so it has some musicals, but overall a very funny and informative show. You do learn about wine, and it is only an hour. A lot jammed into an hour, but I think it was worth it.

Great info, Thank you!

anyone participate in this recently? threads on here all seem to be from 2014/2015.

 

looking for info on whether its worth the cost, good, type of food served, etc.

Interested also, for Getaway.

Thank you for the info and tips.

Just wanted to give a short review of our trip on the Getaway. First we had a great time, experienced fantastic weather and met some really wonderful people. We are in our mid-fifties, like to escape the Northeast during the winter and like to have a few drinks and a good time. This was our 7th cruise on Norwegian, and we have been on Disney (2), RCCL (3), Carnival (2) and Celebrity (1) in the past. This was our second cruise without our kids who are now adults.

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to reading more.

Maybe this will help.

Great review. Thank you!

Hi everyone :)

We did the Breakaway last March and are planning on booking again for next March. I was just surfing around online and it looks like a few things have changed on the ship so I figured I'd ask on here.

 

1. Are you still able to pre book the spa package for the week of your sailing? That was our absolute favourite part of our last cruise...we went twice a day. I want to make sure that we can still do this! And, does anyone know if the price is the same? I think we paid $199 USD for the week per person. Yes

 

2. Has Margaritaville opened on the boat? It's not showing on the NCL site but I've heard that it's there now. I know the food is a la carte, but can we drink there as part of our UBP?

Yes and Yes!

 

I think that's it for now...thanks in advance to anyone who knows the answers :)

Enjoy!

Book it onboard. They don't sell all passes online prior.

Spa Passes are sold prior to sailing at a $20 discount. $199 per person.

I guess I need to change my named to "DumpedByAFairy" :p

Now that there is funny. Thanks for a chuckle.

The haven courtyard was enjoyable at times, and some will flame me for this but there were a few kids doing cannonballs in the pool, and kicking and splashing when they'd get in the hot tub(even when others were in it) and the parents said nothing. The haven pool is too small for that, and the hot tubs aren't a splash pad. There is a kids water park for that kind of stuff. We actually would leave the pool when we saw these families later in the week. Others were commenting on it too. I think the haven is fine for kids if they're well behaved, but screaming and splashing isn't my idea of a haven.

I too can not believe how parents allow their children to behave in such situations. Shame on them!

Interested in hearing what excursions you took and how you liked them.

Thank you

Can anyone tell me what VIBE passed are, what do they do. Im new to NCL and never heard of them before.

Here is a look at and an explanation of what Vibe is:

I just found a video tour of this cabin that we have booked for April. It has the couch.

never worry about asking a question! you just read over the jerkface comments that you dont like and never respond to them. some people dont realize everything you think doesnt have to be posted on the forum. also until they own or moderate this board, what they say doesnt go, so to speak:D

 

you can ask whatever you want. if you can bring water on board, if you can remove the service charges, or even about the bidding and upsell numbers. if people cannot overlook their own annoyance at your questions, that is on them. they didnt have to put finger to keypad to reply. no one forced them to.

 

just ignore em all. dont feed em

You are so right. Very nice response. I sometimes will have a question and feel anxiety about asking it because what I have read in response to someone else's questions. I don't think that is the intended use of this forum. Bullies are going to Bully.

In just a few short weeks we will be escaping the winter in Ontario Canada, sailing on the Dawn out of NOLA:cool: This will be our second cruise and our first time in New Orleans and on the Dawn. We will be staying at the Drury Inn 2 nights pre cruise as well as 2 nights post cruise and in a mid-ship balcony room on the Dawn.

 

Here's what I'm asking of all of you who have either been to NOLA and/or have sailed on the Dawn, I want to know what you know:D

Tell me what you loved, didn't love, can't wait to do again, wouldn't spend another minute of your life doing, what you've been craving to eat again and any secrets/tips you've discovered.

 

We are stopping in:

Cozumel-going to Chankanaab Park

Roatan Bay-going to Little French Key

Harvest Caye-no excursion

Costa Maya- Mayan Reality Tour (through NCL)

Do you know something I should know about any of those excursions?

Is there anything in those ports in the immediate area that we should see/experience?

 

We are easy going and we love absolutely everything about travelling. We consider ourselves blessed to experience this, we can only manage one trip a year if at all, so we don't sweat the small stuff.

I appreciate anything you have to share (though tips on what to ask of your buttler or concierge are useless to me;))

 

Thanks in advance,

Heather

Your excitement and enthusiasm is refreshing. My only tip is keep that perspective, it is all you need! Plus Cagney Fries, a must try you choose to dine there. ENJOY!!:)

Check out this and other videos available online:

We loved our Aft balcony, it is the best view.

We have sailed Breakaway 3x and will sail it again this year. Every trip is what you make it!

Go on your vacation, expect to have a wonderful time and you will!

We have a group of 14 going on the Escape and it is too late to cancel the transfers and go with another option. We can cancel but then we lose our money. I just didn't think we would have to sit at the airport for 2.5 hours to wait for their shuttle.

Sorry to hear that. Those transfers aren't cheap. Hope the time goes quickly

and you are on the ship enjoying yourselves before you know it.

No up charge at Teppanyaki. Only the venues listed in the highlighted area you posted have an upcharge, which is listed.

 

The highlighted area for Cagneys and LeBistro is only indicating that you can only order "one main course" pp here without paying for the second one.

 

Included in SDP with no additional upcharge would be Cagneys, LeBistro, Moderno, La Cucina, Teppanyaki.

Thank you for clearing that up!

Tomas are good, they're lemon vodka, lemon juice, some simple syrup and topped with sparkling wine. They're on the menu at the atrium and the bar between the Taste & Savor.

Sounds wonderful, will have to try. Thank you

If your trip includes a 3 days Speciality Dining Promo, what is the uncharge for Teppanyaki? From what I can understand (and that seems limited ;)) Only Cagneys and La Bistro are the choices without upcharge.

Anyone know? Thank you

Yes that is actually what confused me because this is what the Free at Sea specialty dining promo say:

 

Specialty Dining Package:

Sail Length Number Of Dining Package Meals Retail Value

3-9 Nights 3 $69 USD per person

10+ Nights 4 $84 USD per person

 

Package prices are subject to change.

Guest is responsible for 18% gratuities & service charges on the retail value of the Specialty Dining Package prior to cruise.

18% gratuities & service charges on the retail value of the Specialty Dining Package are included when booking through the Australia office.

Applicable to guests 1-2 on the reservation.

Food Republic, The Bake Shop, Ice Cream Bar, Gelato, specialty items in the Asian restaurant, Special Occasion/Holiday menus (New Year's, Christmas, etc.), Jazz Brunch, Wine Lovers and Murder Mystery lunches, and beverages are not included as part of the Specialty Dining Packages.

You may choose to dine in the following venues as part of your Specialty Dining Package for the corresponding upcharges: The Supper Club ($15 USD), For the Record ($15 USD), Ocean Blue ($15 USD), Bayamo ($15 USD), Cirque Dreams and Illusionarium ($10 USD regular seats/$15 USD premium seats/$35 USD VIP seating on Breakaway), Sushi Bar ($7 USD), Pincho Tapas Bar ($7 USD), and Raw Bar ($7 USD).

Specialty Dining Packages include one main course per person at Cagney's and Le Bistro restaurants. Additional main courses will be charged at the a la carte price listed on the menu.

There is no minimum or maximum to the number of meals that can be redeemed in a day, however each meal is counted towards the package.

I really enjoyed your review. I noticed in the beginning you said you had a "Toma", it looked interesting, what is it? Thank you, hope you are feeling better.

Once again we did Lyft to the port and were there by 10am. They had not yet opened the doors for security so we had a little wait but when they did we quickly got through and I headed for the proper latitudes line. We had our cards in hand shortly and headed up to the waiting area where we got a group 4 card. We sat down and then waited for people to get off the ship and boarding to begin.

 

And waited.

 

And waited.

 

Holy crap what the Sam hill was going on? It was almost noon and we still were waiting. They hadn't even started boarding the Haven or others. Opfor looks at me and says, "why did we get here so early?" "Because normally we'd be on the ship right now".

 

Finally they started boarding and we were walking swiftly up the gang plank and finally onto the ship aft on deck 7. Now the first thing I wanted to do was to hit Le Bistro and see if I could change the 9pm reservation I had for the 2nd night to something earlier. Before Opfor was going to join me I was going solo, then my oldest friend was going to go with me. She's a vegetarian so I figured I'd get the wifi perk instead of the dining since the specialty restaurants only had one vegetarian entry each and it just didn't make sense. Then my friend couldn't do it because her new job had her doing something that week so we worked it out so that Opfor could join me. So I switched to the meal perk but by that time the reservations for Le Bistro had basically filled up.

 

Once we got on the ship we went down one deck and I got the reservation changed. Unfortunately they weren't able to do it the 2nd night because they had a couple of large groups so we got it for Wednesday night. That done we headed to Savor for lunch.

 

Normally I don't eat at the MDR since I perfer to grab what I want at the buffet but Opfor wanted to do the MDR so we did. I ordered the popcorn shrimp and the grouper sandwich and she got the pho and meatloaf. After we ordered I popped out to the bar and got our first drinks of the cruise. A Toma for me and a Kahlua and cream for her.

 

 

 

Looks like I forgot to grab a picture of the meatloaf. I did, however, grab this for all you people who may have seen that RCCL thread:

 

As we were finishing our lunch the announcement came that rooms were ready so we headed on up to ours. For this cruise I had chosen to try a balcony guarantee since at the time I booked you still got two perks and they were having a solo supplement sale. I, of course, picked the UBP and eagerly waited to see what room I would be assigned. I had to wait until 27 days before sailing until I saw that assignment. In the meantime I tried to bid on a suite but it didn't take long for the Haven to fill up completely. So our cabin for this trip was a family balcony 12136 and I got my first Latitude welcome gift.

 

 

Beds by the balcony made the room feel a bit larger.