chillyw

On our sailing, they made it pretty clear thankfully when Casino and Shops would close (3pm with 7pm Victoria time). That was my first one with Victoria that late, but definitely was easier - opened after Ketchikan until 3pm the next day.

None on the Encore this past week. They also generally didn't warn when buying drinks (although some did). Just ask first and I'm sure they'll tell you. The laws in Victoria, BC are weird too. Only one bar per deck allowed open, so most of the bars close down when close to port. We ate in Le Bistro, and the servers had to run to another deck to get alcohol because the bar in Le Bistro was closed.

It did change, they pushed back our whale watching tour a couple hours, but daylight is so long it didn't matter.

I only caught one show (not both) but didn't enjoy it. They used several cliche jokes you've heard tons of times before. Comedians on cruise ships are hit and miss and change out often though.

I was on the same cruise. A couple notes on Glacier Bay: - Non-Haven Observation Lounge filled up EARLLLLY on that day. I had some family members get there at 4:45 AM to get spots. - With the weather being so farm, we found the best spots were actually on the Bow, which they opened up for us, or at the Waterfront just outside The District. We ended up walking out to the Bow to view the first glacier (which you can get to when it's open down the room hallway just next to The District), then coming back and going to the Waterfront. Depending on warmth, I'd opt for that over Observation room. - My family liked the presentation at 1pm in the theater (I skipped it), but it filled up as we were pretty much done with Glacier Bay at that point. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't bother with the Observation Lounge and just go to the Waterfront. The upside to the Observation Lounge is two park rangers hung out there, but one went to the Bow too, so you could go there and find out what you wanted.

That drink package experience was similar for me too. One of them, it was the same as normal NCL retail prices. All the others, it varied. I think it depends on what Sixthman (or the other companies) can get away with for that audience. Interestingly enough, on The Friendship Cruise this year on the NCL Joy, they're actually opening one Haven deck for guests, and leaving the other for artists. First time I've seen that done. Agree that the charters are a blast, and if I find the right one, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I've only ever done Haven of those three, but those YC cabins do look awesome.

I might have to try that just for the huge baloney.

In addition to this, the Prima setup is a little different, so make sure you peruse those deck plans if you ever book it after the Joy.

I've done multiple chartered cruises including one through sixthman. My experience: 1.) The drink package should be at NCL retail for each person minus any discounts, so the price will vary by sailor. 2.) Everything is non-refundable the moment you start paying and there's a fee to change passengers on the reservation. 3.) This can depend on the sailing but my experience with sixthman is that it was the same. On my other charters, it was different (ticket based). 4.) The only extra activity I ran into was anything usually extra by NCL. e.g. Casino, arcade, etc. All the festival activities were free. 5.) Sixthman had a third party for mine that offered two plans and enforced pre-existing conditions if late. I believe I went with my own if I remember right. 6.) It's basically just your cabin + any events the festival is doing. Also know that most specialty restaurants are pretty empty in my experience (or maybe even closed) and most venues get taken over so no normal shows. From my experience most people just eat at the buffet the entire time, but they did have one MDR open, and a couple specialty restaurants if you got bored of the food.

Just off the Encore last week, they did take reservations for comedy, but it was only on the ship, in the social, after you boarded.

Plus, I'm sure there's some sort of recourse they have with Fincantieri to fix defects. It would be really dumb for them to not be tracking all issues that have come up. I wouldn't doubt if it's in some shared spreadsheet given that was how the casino tracked credit lines, but I have no doubt it's being tracked. I do think the customer facing behavior on it kinda sucks though, they should be more proactive until it's fixed.

Port: Rome. Spent a lot of time there now and nothing like it for me. The combination of current day culture plus history is amazing. Ship: Epic when it first came out. The shows were awesome, between Blue man group, cirque, and the other performers, and the specialty restaurant selection was great. Cabin: Room in the Haven please. I will say I'm interested in trying Virgin if I can find the right time / itinerary. Reminds me a lot of the way the Epic was at first. I'm just off the Encore and it's definitely gotten... boring. I'm also going on Prima in a month so we'll see how that is.

I concur Skagway is awesome! Don't miss the food at the Skagway Brewing company near 4th and Broadway, fantastic.

I said I was half joking because it wouldn't stop me from trying them out again, especially YC. It's been a while since I've been on the Poesia or Divina. I've been to plenty of places that have failed health inspections (or should have lol). But I don't think a passenger will be able to really know if they've fixed issues of things in non-public areas until a corrective action report is issued or another inspection is done. No passenger is going back into food storage rooms with thermometers to check.

I was half joking but April 27th isn't that old for the 4th worst score of the past 20 years of any inspection. Especially since there's no corrective action report by MSC yet: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionCorrectiveActionAcknowledgement.aspx?ColI=MjEyNjA0NTY%3d-a9ov%2by%2b%2f%2bqU%3d

I might avoid the Seaside for the time being though: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionDetailReport.aspx?ColI=MjEyNjA0NTY%3d-a9ov%2by%2b%2f%2bqU%3d

They weren't ready until about 3:30 or so on the Encore this week. Think it's likely the new normal with staff cutbacks.

I'm on the Encore right now and they are God awful.

You can use them pretty much anywhere now. I used it at food republic two days ago. Just depends on the menu items you want. Food republic is 4 items per person vs others 1-1-1

I think the medijet terms do require you to be admitted in a hospital already in order to do an evac. Makes sense you're doing it in combination with NCL's. I've heard geoblue is pretty good about approving coverage for moves, but it does require it to be deemed medically necessary, which is a difference.

I second this! Horizon Lounge is where it's at, and Courtyard = right there.

Sounds like they're really embracing the Cavern side of the Club.

I haven't had to use insurance (except the one time my bag was lost on the way to Alaska, and Chase's insurance partner rejected it for using points, even though that's covered by their terms, and Chase is no freaking help ever... but I digress). I will say, I've done a lot of shopping for insurance. I've landed on doing a combination of GeoBlue Medical, and depending on the cost of the trip and whether I want to self-insure it or get CFAR (cancel for any reason), I actually buy NCL's. My reasoning: - I do a year long insurance plan with GeoBlue, but you can do a one-trip too. It's very inexpensive for what you get. It's a primarily healthcare plan with high limits and is a primary payer, so you don't have to submit to yours first. Stories I've read indicate really positive experiences with claims. They do require a medical insurance plan to use them, and don't offer a lot of travel benefits. - If I want to insure the cost of my trip (for me, I have a threshold amount of $s that make this worth it), I like NCL's platinum. The limits are low for medical, so I'd never just get it by itself, but I love their CFAR. Most CFAR coverage is very expensive, and only offers 75% cash on any penalty. NCL's offers 90% on the penalty as FCC. If you aren't going to sail NCL again, obviously a bad idea, but my intention usually is to do it again. 🙂 It's also very reasonable for CFAR since it's based on the price of the cabin, and there's no "you need to book within 14 days" type thing for CFAR, you can book up to final payment. The downside obviously is you get it in FCC and not cash. NCL self-insures that part and assumes they can re-sell the cabin x% of the time so that's part of the reason it's cheap and actually offers 90% CFAR. Hope this helps!

I wish they'd just lock my TV on that channel to be honest. Love those 7 short blasts followed by one long blast.