JoLoca2208

14 hours ago, EnClair said:

Anyone else going on dec. 21?

As I read it, South Afrika does not allow cruising. Does that Mean, that it might be canceled? 

We were going to book my in-laws for this cruise (they live in SA) while we were onboard Jade last week, but I didn't realise it is still a big unknown whether it will go ahead at all. We better hold off with booking. 

19 hours ago, phillygwm said:

So, basically, a training issue.  I suppose that's understandable for the first cruises with new staff (or at least staff which haven't worked a cruise in ~18 months) but it still sucks if you're spending time at Guest Services straightening it out.  

Possibly training and also it's do to with bars being always busy and the process being so manual. We have sailed many times with MSC cruise line, always with drink package included. They are updating your key card with the relevant packages, so when you go to the bar, bartender doesn't need to do anything else except swiping your card. The system cancels all charges automatically. I don't understand why NCL has to have it so manual. I was really hoping they would change that by now. 

2 hours ago, roxette said:

On board Epic now. Third time with Premium plus. And for sure My last. 

 

It is horrible, these days. The yellow label is ONLY available while dining in Le Bistro. 

 

And all other bottles we have ordered we have been fully charged for. Have spent many hours in lines att guest relations. Only to do the same again. And again.

 

And the bottled water and such is very limited to a couple of bars.

We just upgraded to Premium Plus for our sailing on Jade this Sunday. I hope it will not be as bad as you describe. However, we have a history with NCL charging us for drinks which were included in our package. One of the bartenders explained to us how this can happen. Each time you order a drink or bottle of wine etc, they have to put it through the register as normal then press one button to cancel the charge due to package included. So it needs to be done manually and swiping your card won't make a difference. If they are in rush and forget to press that one button, your account gets charged. I wonder if that's what happened with the bottles you ordered. 

13 on Jade 

2 hours ago, tomk3212 said:

We book GTY Inside cabins all the time.  We've had our cabin # assigned as early as a week after booking (3 months prior to sailing) or as late as the night before (we printed the luggage tags in the hotel's business office that evening!).  So based on our experience there's really no way of telling when you'll get your cabin assignment with a GTY booking.

 

Good luck & hope you have a great cruise!

Thank you! Not much else we can do but keep checking our reservation.

21 hours ago, victory2020 said:

If all cabins showed sold out go back in again & see if they are still sold out. With Princess they do that when they start assigning cabins so none of them get sold while they are assigning. 

Yeah, inside, outside and balcony cabins are showing now as available again.

21 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I always book sail-away.  If they give me what I consider "a bad cabin" I pay more and upgrade.  

I might do the same if I get cabin above the theatre 😉

1 hour ago, podgeandrodge said:

My friend got his cabin asignment yesterday, way after upgrade process started.  I don't think there is any relation to it (and it's an external company that manages the upgrades).

Ok, so I could get that assigned any day really. I will keep checking. Thanks!

1 hour ago, Mrs_Reevo said:

We are on the same sailing and booked a sail away ocean view cabin when the cruise was first announced. We were allocated our cabin a few weeks later. We are currently on deck 5 forward.  We do have a bid in for an upgrade to a balcony so waiting to see if we get that.  Maybe if you booked later they will wait until the upgrade bids are processed before any further allocations 

Hi there! Yeah, we've only booked a couple of weeks ago, so possibly they will wait now till all the bids are done. I actually posted this question on the roll call 🙂

1 hour ago, podgeandrodge said:

some seem to get assigned within a couple of days, and others just prior to sailing.

I am going on a cruise with a friend on Epic in Sept, and while I picked a cabin, he picked a guarantee, and his cabin was assigned about 7 days after booking.

 

I don't think it's anything to do with NCL needing potential cancellations, they already know they have sufficient capacity to fulfil all the guarantees.

 

You'll see when it's assigned under the "summary" page, where it goes from GTY to an actual cabin.  You might not get informed, so keep checking it.

Thanks. We've booked this cruise through our NCL PCC who said that we will probably get our cabin assigned within a week or two. It's been a couple of weeks now, but I knew sometimes it can be a last minute assignment.

I do keep checking the summary page for any changes. Hopefully soon! 

Hi All, we are booked on Jade out of Athens on 12th of September this year. We have booked a sail away guaranteed balcony cabin, and as we have never done it before (we always select our cabin ourselves) I have a question to those who have some experience with it.

I know that technically the cabin can be assigned to us as late as embarkation day, however when I try to do a mock booking now for our sailing, all cabins (except suits) are showing as sold out. Would that not allow NCL to assign our cabin to us already or do you think that they are waiting for potential cancellations (we are still 25 days out)? 

To those who have experience with booking such a cabin, when did you receive your cabin assignment?  

On 8/11/2021 at 9:08 AM, Davevics25 said:

Hi . I am from the UK and have been all over this and other cruises around Europe.  From a personal point of view I am on 5th Sept sailing and there is nothing that will stop me making this cruise.  

I appreciate people's concerns  about covid and if you are apprehensive then probably best not to go . But everything has been done to ensure safety from covid . You are safer onboard than on land as at least you know everyone around is double vaccinated.  As long as you do the right things you should be OK.  

As for the fires . None are where the ship sails to . Olympa was cancelled on 1 cruise but they are back there now. They are on top of the other fires my guess is within a week  you won't here of them . 

Hope you decide to travel but if not keep safe 

I totally agree with you. If people are apprehensive about Covid, it's better not to go. NCL seems to be doing whatever they can to ensure safety of passengers and the crew. 

Re. fires, it's terrible what is happening, but it's also nothing new in Europe which is going through it every summer and like you said, in a week or so it will be all over. And the fact that NCL hasn't cancelled any of their cruises yet due to fires, means it hasn't really affected them. 

BTW, I'm sailing on 12th of Sep, so right after you. I'm mentally prepared for last minute itinerary changes due to restrictions etc or even cancellation of the cruise if Greece decides to pull the plug at some stage. But I'm also hopeful it will all go ahead as planned.  

On 7/31/2021 at 9:49 PM, greatestvalue said:

So no confusion here...

 

The contract you signed says 

(f) Guest Testing Positive for COVID-19 During Cruise. Guest understands and agrees that if, after boarding, and even if Guest has fully complied with all COVID-19 Policies and Procedures, Guest tests positive for COVID-19 or exhibits signs or symptoms of COVID-19, Carrier may disembark, refuse re-boarding after a shore excursion, or quarantine Guest as well as members of Guest’s travelling party, or take other steps which Carrier determines, in its sole discretion, are necessary under the circumstances to protect the health and well-being of others. Under these circumstances, any such Guest with a known or suspected case of infection with COVID-19 who is disembarked, refused re-boarding, or quarantined shall be entitled to a prorated refund, or an optional prorated future cruise credit for the unused portion of the Cruise Fare. Each such Guest is responsible for all other related costs and fines, including without limitation travel expense. Under no circumstances shall Carrier be liable to any such Guest for any costs, damages or expenses whatsoever incurred by any Passenger.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

If I test positive for COVID-19 during a cruise and have to quarantine, will I receive a full refund?

Guests who test positive for COVID-19 during their cruise and are required to quarantine will receive a pro-rated cash refund or a pro-rated Future Cruise Credit. If a guest followed all of the cruise line’s health and safety protocols, the cruise line will coordinate and cover the cost of necessary onboard COVID-19 related medical treatment, required land-based quarantine and travel arrangements to get the guest safely back to their home.

 

Unless Im missing something in reading these, which I may be and if so I apologize. However, these appear to have the same requirements but different resolutions. 

 

Why would they have 1 thing in the contract & different wording on their website -   Which will they follow when push comes to shove?

 

Am I missing the differences here? 

 

I have noticed that too and emailed my NCL consultant as this difference prevents me from agreeing to T&C of my upcoming cruise. I haven't received a reply yet, but from speaking to him while I was booking the cruise, any quarantine, medical treatment if you test positive and flight home was meant to be covered by the cruise line. 

30 days till NCL Pearl out of Miami

245 days till MSC Belissima out of Tokyo

15 hours ago, geegee1 said:

I just decided not to bid on a cabin because I noticed that they were all below the pool deck/buffet area.  Also would never bid on a forward cabin.

Same here. We are booked in a balcony cabin and initially bid for the mini suite. When we checked the deck plan and saw that all mini suites are right below buffet and pool area, we cancelled the bid. I don't mind forward or aft, just not below public areas. 

We are booked on Pearl for March this year and received Premium Beverage Package as a perk (no service charge to pay, as booked on the European website). This package is quite expensive and we would probably never buy it if we have to pay the full price. However since we are getting it free, we are planning to upgrade it to Plus (again I would never pay the normal price for the Plus package). So, is it worth paying extra €430 for the upgrade? In this case yes!

We became Platinum with NCL 3 years ago and haven't cruised with them since... Because of their prices - they doubled them up 3 years ago on their European website, hence they became unaffordable (i.e. 7 day cruise previously would cost €600-800 for inside cabin; and they hiked it up to €1200-1400). Last year we've booked Pearl for March this year and it was first affordable cruise we found with them in the last couple of years (€900 each for the balcony). Also, prices for the inside are "back" at €600-800. 

My guess is they lost a lot on the European market due to strong competition from MSC (which was also my choice instead of NCL).

2 hours ago, dexddd said:

Yes,this is spring break in US. We typically sail during this time.  Yes, more kids than off seasons but hit or miss how crowded by kids and or spring breakers.

Thank you

We are going on Pearl in  March 20 out of Miami, 15th to 22nd so that will include St. Patrick's Day. Can anyone tell me if this is during spring break season in the US (I live in Europe)? 

We have sailed twice during this time out of NY and the ship never felt extra crowded. 

We were onboard Opera during last rugby world cup and putting rugby on wasn't on the agenda of the management. Let's just say it took a number of trips to the reception to negotiate of putting rugby on. Eventually they put it on in the coffee shop 😂 and it was mute. Then they realised the audience for the rugby is too large for the coffee shop (there were a lot of English, Scottish, French and Italian people on board) and they put it in the sports bar but it was also mute. Lastly people had a bit of an argument with the cruise director, who initially refused to pull out the singer entertainment act from the pub and put the sound on for the rugby. Eventually that was sorted also and by day 4 everyone could watch rugby in the pub with the sound on 🙂

Hopefully it was lessons learned experience for MSC and this time round they will play rugby in their pubs across the fleet.

We are not cruising during this rugby world cup, but instead... we are going to the rugby world cup! Flying out to Japan next week and was lucky to get the tickets to two matches - New Zealand - South Africa and Ireland - Scotland 😎

Sorry but I must have my tomato juice in the morning ( or V-8 ) I have the classic Pkg. is that available in the dinning room for breakfast??

 

They have a small bottles of tomato juice in every bar on the ship and they are included in a drink package. Just grab one or two on the way to the dinning room (quicker than ordering from a restaurant waiter).

We always book via MSC Ireland/UK office and we have one agent there that we would always deal with. If we want to pre-pay/book something, we would email that person first giving all details of whatever we want to do and asking him to let us know when he's free so we can call and pay.

Once he responds, which is always on the same day, we call him on a direct line and pay. All takes just a few minutes.

In case of his absence, we would email generic MSC UK email address with all the details and ask them to call us back so we can pay. Again, they always respond on the same day and the call only takes a few minutes, as at that stage they have all details in their system and all they need is our credit card details.

Maybe that could work with the US office?

Here is a link ....https://s3.amazonaws.com/online.fliphtml5.com/tqui/hojf/index.html

 

I like the upgrade....Includes a lot more as well as bottled water. I find myself drinking a lot of water. You can get all you want for your cabin or to take off the ship...

Thank you! We are looking into booking Christmas cruise in the Canary Islands with this line and were also curious about the drink packages. :):):)

My guess, MSC suggests no tipping so their staff do not get a sense of how much they are missing by working for a “European” line. A taste of tips might entice their staff to jump ship to a line that encourages such absurdities!

 

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Or, they are earning a bit more with a European line, so they don't need any extra encouragement. In Europe 10% tip is the max

That must have been some bad experience. I still basically like the NCL product, especially in the suites and Haven. Unfortunately all the cut backs over the last few years coupled with the extreme price increases made me move on. I still keep an eye on what's going on with NCL though. I still don't see that they value long term customers - or any customers for that matte after reports of the Sun "wet dock" PC cruise. They seem to be a very profit only oriented company now.

I'm the same in relation to NCL. My last cruise with them was in March last year and since then they hiked up the prices and basically became unaffordable (for me). We've never tried Royal, as they always cost much more than other cruise lines. Until March this year, when their 7 day cruise on Anthem was just just over half price of a 7 day on NCL Gem. Both cruises had alcohol package included, so that wasn't the price difference factor. Of course we took Royal.

MSC is our second favourite cruise line after NCL, but might as well become first, since we are not sure when and if we will go again with NCL. And thankfully MSC are still affordable and enjoyable. I love them mainly for the European cruises. Tried Divina once out of Miami, and it wasn't the same (however entertainment and bar staff were fantastic).