Paul Bogle

It's a per cabin perk. If you are two in the same cabin and both are Platinum you will receive one set of vouchers addressed to the both of you.

Heineken 0.0 should be available. It has been for the last few years.

Definitely O'Sheehans.

They have a few drafts available. On our last cruise they offered draft Heineken, Newcastle Brown and Stella. They also have a wide selection of bottled and canned brews to choose from. They used to have a small breakfast buffet setup also but Im not sure that will survive Covid restrictions. You should still be able to order a bite from the regular menu.

17 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

If you want to eat at Moderno or Teppanyaki, you need to book them first. It should ring up free. Then book other specialty restaurants. You can decide at the time you dine how you pay for the dinner (SDP credit or room charge). 

5 hours ago, dpepper64 said:

We have 4 with the cruise and we have purchased 2 additional dinners.  It was kinda weird as the first night we tried to book was Moderno and they tried to charge us.  I went ahead and booked other dinners and all went well.

My first thought was the booking order. Since dpepper64 seems to have made the bookings in the correct order but still received a charge, what is one to conclude?

I'm glad a call was able to sort this out but it seems the automated system defaults to a charge for the fixed price venues. 

5 hours ago, Fabulous97 said:

We are also booked for the 11 nighter on Prima from Galveston. Never been to Texas before!

 

It means we have the 10 hour odd flight out and 8 hours on the return to London.

 

We will arrive the day before any recommendations?

Houston is a large spread-out city. You really will not have much time to see things the evening before your cruise. Jet lag will probably reduce your activity level too. You will arrive at IAH which is 90 minutes from Galveston if traffic is flowing. With this in mind I suggest you arrange a car service to take you directly from IAH to Galveston and stay somewhere downtown near the cruise ship terminal like the Tremont. 

My thinking is that you will arrive early afternoon when most of the flights from Europe land. It will take at least an hour or more to deplane, clear immigration, retrieve luggage and move through customs. Figure another two hours to get to Galveston and it will be very late afternoon to early evening and I suspect you will be tired. If you do have some energy you can enjoy a stroll along the strand in Old Galveston, enjoy a fine meal at your hotel or dine at a local establishment. 

The Tremont is adjacent to the cruise ship terminals. When you wake in the morning you will see your ship just out your window if you are facing that direction. For more suggestions you should visit the Gulf Coast Departure board.

Have a wonderful cruise. We are considering the previous sailing from New York.

Hi Notts, Our first NCL cruise was on the Gem in 2009. We were on deck 8 in an inside but we had occasion to peak into the obstructed OV cabins across the corridor from us. We have since sailed on sister ships Jade and Pearl and we really like this class of ship.

I am sure you are aware that the obstruction is the life boat that will be directly outside your window. I am at a loss to understand what you mean by "I believe some windows have been completely obscured". I am ignorant of any changes in this regard.

My suggestion is to try to book one of the sideways cabins near the midship stairwell. I believe they are numbered 8090,8092,8094, 8590,8592,8594. The nice thing about these cabins is that you will have two windows instead of just one providing more light and possibly more view angled between lifeboats. This is also a very convenient location, close to stairs and elevators midship.

Regulation of the frontiers of the United States is the exclusive purview of the federal government. 

6 hours ago, Shidah said:

The US is shipping material to India so they can make the vaccinations.  How about the reporter go out and report on why we have so much unused product.  That would be a better story.

The USA is sending precursors for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to India. Since this vaccine isn't approved in the USA and is unlikely to receive emergency use waivers due to supplies of other vaccines meeting current capacity, this seems like the right thing to do.

The USA has millions of doses of the OX-AZ vaccine itself in storage. I know some of this has also been released recently but the USA has no reason to stockpile this vaccine. Our neighbors to the north who have approved this vaccine can use these doses now.

Since no ships are sailing everything is a thing of the past. I hope they make a return in the future. I wish they were offered at breakfast as the buffet is our regular stop.

The surprise is that appx 400 million in cash was received for new cruises. 

Cruising from USA ports is in limbo. When it will restart is as obscure as it was several months ago.

The company is desperate and fighting for survival. Denying refunds is a short term financial lifesaver for the company. That said it should be a longterm death sentence for the company. I don't blame anyone for ignoring this company when treated so poorly.

The drinks package was extended to everyone in cabin earlier this year so everyone is charged for those gratuities.

Last time I checked dining was still only first two so there should be only two gratuity charges for dining. Remember the gratuity charge for drinks is much more than for dining so you should se a small difference between first two and third on the detail page.

14 hours ago, Von & John said:

 

Your information may have come from a different source - as I don't believe 6,654 people died in NY State in the past day.

Either way - neither # is 74% - perhaps that was a typo

My numbers came from Johns Hopkins but this illustrates one of the many frustrations about this virus. New numbers seem to be reported in batches. This is especially true though more understandable with testing numbers. The greater frustration for me comes from the lack of consistency as to what constitutes a Covid death. Every jurisdiction seems to use a different definition.

14 minutes ago, Vyhanek said:

New York had 74% of all deaths in the country.   New York is not doing well!   At all!   New York is just past their peak.   That's the only difference........

New York State has been hit the hardest but 74% is way way off. As of June 27th:

Total USA deaths = 126924

Total NY State deaths = 24830

(24830/126924)x100=19.56%

We were in 11120 on Jade a few years back and had no issues. 

We have sailed in mini-suites (now called club balcony) on Gem, Jade and Pearl. We always were very careful in cabin selection. These cabins are all located on deck 11, but deck 12 is fraught with noisy areas from the pools to the buffet galley to the fitness center. I'd be very uncomfortable tossing the dice on which cabin I received. 

If you think noise from above will not inconvenience you go for it, otherwise pass. 

The repairs on the pier at Harvest Caye were completed late last year. When we were there in January on the Breakaway we docked. An Oceania ship called the same day and they tendered directly to the ferry pier on Harvest Caye.

Belize City has always been a tender port. Perhaps you stopped at Harvest Caye in the past? Harvest Caye can berth one ship so if you are the second ship you could tender here also. 

Roatan has two cruise ship docks, Mahogany Bay has berths for two ships and is owned/controlled by Carnival. Coxen Hole added a second pier last January so it can berth two ships also. If NCL calls on Coxen hole when. two other ships are there, you tender. This seems to me to be possible but very unusual. 

Cozumel has three cruise ship piers that can handle between them 8 large cruise ships. If your ship is number 9 then you tender. This does happen but again very rarely.

Hopefully you will not have to tender in either Roatan or Cozumel but it is possible.

10 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Sounds like such a hassle!  Was this due to a change that had to be made or was this the original plan all along?

It was the plan. If you want to sail from the west coast to Hawaii and end your cruise there you must sail from Canada or Mexico. There have been roundtrip itineraries from the USA west coast but those involve nine or ten sea days.

The nearest departure port they could change to is Ensenada Mexico. That would be a very long bus ride from Vancouver. 😃

I agree with the others that this cruise will likely be cancelled, probably in late July if past announcements are any indication. I only mention Ensenada because they do have time to make that change and assist with passenger travel bookings. We sailed to Hawaii from Ensenada in 2008. We checked in at the pier in San Diego. The ship sailed empty to Ensenada and the passengers were bussed down to board the ship.

If G7 nations are conducting trials on humans for a Covid 19 vaccine, I think that would be public knowledge. 

1 hour ago, mugtech said:

He is back, Seaman11, liking 3 posts on this thread, but none of Navyskip's posts.

I can't fault seaman11 for taste.

This is just way to funny. 🤣

The daily service charge covers your room steward, dining personal in the complimentary venues and the behind the scene employees that keep the ship clean and comfortable. These charges are voluntary and have a recommended rate which you can increase or decrease if you feel that is appropriate.

The "Free at Sea" dining and drink package come with a gratuity charge that is mandatory and must be paid by final payment date. If you have no dining or drink package and buy a drink or dine in a specialty venue, a gratuity is added to your bill. With a package you are not charged onboard so these gratuities are paid in advance.

Since cruise lines are not operating at the moment they effectively have zero capacity. The plans cruise lines have talked about for restarting usually involve just a few ships at first and adding more as time goes by. Since many passengers have future credit from cancelled sailings, and each month has brought a new round of cancellations, there will be substantial demand for booking cruises once sailings resume.

I do not expect any can't pass up deals to appear other than last minute deals until some normality returns to the market.