AllAmericanAmy

Hi all-

Booking our first balcony cabin after many cruises and cruising my favorite itinerary of Western Carib (Roatan / Cozumel / Belize / Costa Maya).  We always book an inside cabin so I have no clue if there's a "preferred" side of the ship to book a balcony cabin for this itinerary.  Anyone have advice to share I'd sure appreciate it!  We will be on deck 8 in a BF cabin if that matters at all. Thanks - Amy

Thank you both so much - very helpful and good tips.  I looked up the forward balcony cabins like suggested with the Privasea hull cutout thing.... ugh!  I'd have been very sad with that! 

I appreciate all the info and help!

Hi all - First cruise since 2020 and we're going to book Epic from Port Canaveral 1/21/24. We've only ever (happily) booked inside cabins before but given Free Grats and OBC offered by TA we're going to book a balcony.  You don't know what you don't know .... and I know there's a LOT I don't know.  Hoping y'all can help me. 

I read that some balconies  are covered, some are not.  Some partially. We'd want covered (or partially). 

Is one side of the ship balconies preferred over the other - if so ...  which and why? 

We'd want a quiet location to enjoy balcony without pool music noise, etc. 

We're not sensitive to motion - so all the way forward is fine or anywhere else.

Appreciate any words of advice you can share -

Thanks so much - Amy

Thanks everyone for your help and information. I appreciate it.

Happy cruising to all....

Amy

Hi...

Wondering if anyone has sailed on the Dawn recently? Curious what shows they are featuring?  Or current entertainers?  Comedians?   Appreciate any information, sailing in January.

Counting down....

Amy

On 12/29/2018 at 9:36 PM, meatball_nyc said:

Plastic bags for PRETZEL ROLLS in the stateroom 😀

and for Chocolate Croissants  wooohoooooo

Carb overload here I come!

On ‎12‎/‎19‎/‎2018 at 2:18 PM, NLH Arizona said:

There is guitar with Bernie and he plays in Maltings Bar and Shakers Bar on a some nights.

On ‎12‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 12:26 PM, Katrina23 said:

Bernie is great.  Our group followed him wherever he was playing. 

19 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

We liked Bernie as well.  We saw him a couple of years ago on the Jewel or Gem I forget which.  And we were pleasantly surprised to see him again on the Breakaway in November.  He kind of has a dry sense of humor but once we watched him a few times we found ourselves following him around as well.

Thanks all for the input.... we'll be SURE to look him up!

Counting down...

Amy

9 hours ago, mking8288 said:

 new stateroom assigned, upgraded to a "BB" Deck 13 Midship, Port side, ahead of forward elevators/stairs ... official email arrived a short while later, last night, lastly, charges posted to CC. 

Congratulations!   Mind sharing how much was the bid that got you upgraded?  I appreciate the detailed info in your posting, btw. 

3 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

 

How did you determine that there were 60+ cabins and then 37? Where do you get that info?

did you figure it out from the hints you were given?   lol    It took me quite a while to get it (as earlier posts show!)... I was using Internet Explorer and wasn't seeing the hints clearly... switched to Firefox and it was immediately obvious.

3 hours ago, KDCXO82 said:

What website?

 

3 hours ago, Tw in OR said:

Its available on a cruise consolidater site.

Tw in OR nailed it!   look back at their post for the BOLD HINT. 

Happy cruising all...

21 minutes ago, xcell said:

I f all the rooms are sold out (more or less) why is the upgrade banner still up?

Possibly still rooms being allocated / rearranged.  It's all rather weird IMHO...  on my 1/6/19 sailing the inside cabins disappeared for approx 24 hrs, only to find out it's because they were assigning them to those of us that booked guarantee/sail-away cabins.  I've now been assigned my cabin # ---- not as pertaining to any upgrade I've bid on, just my original booking.

What I find interesting is that there are NO inside cabins listed as bookable by specific cabin #- only guarantee status available. BUT they have dropped the price of the inside cabin to $429 pp from $539 pp 2 days ago.  lol   Talk about a deal - for a 11 night cruise!

They must have also allocated a lot of guarantee balcony cabins too- one category I was watching had 60+ cabins, today it has 37.

My point being... who knows what they do and why they do it.  I'm just quite sure THEY know what they're doing!

6 hours ago, Chuckabobo said:

Been watching the 1/17 Breakaway Sailing... and regarding your observation of all inside cabins no longer available.

At least 3x in the last 3 weeks, Intermittently inside, ocean view - have gone from many available to "Guaranteed Room" Only... then in 1-2 days, back to you being able to choose rooms.... after it goes back to allowing you to choose, the same or roughly the same quantity is available. 

Not sure  why specific rooms selection seems to be blocked certain days, but watch for your cruise to show them available again - as others have pointed out upgrades often happen from haven/suites on down - though with a slow cruise week it is always possible if they have an excessive amount of higher category rooms they could do some lower tiers first as well.

Strange games they play with our minds!      It's probably just to keep us guessing! 

6 hours ago, Tw in OR said:

above them, there could be around 240 balcony cabins for those lower category passengers to bid on. 

sounds good to me  -  I'm ok wherever, but nice to win an upgrade soon! 

Just some data ...

I'm booked on Breakaway 1/6/19   11 day Western Carib which departs in 17 days. I am booked on IF sailaway rate with cabin not assigned yet...  I've been sporadically tracking ALL avail cabins in certain/specific categories on a certain website that lists ALL cabins.  3 days ago inside cabin I1 category had 44 avail. cabins at $799 pp.   Today, all those cabins are removed/hidden/allocated or something.  Thoughts? 

Higher categories still show many, many cabins avail (ie:  BB = 44  BA = 61  H5 = 12  M9=17   close to 190 balcony cabins avail).  FYI for anyone monitoring price drops, the # of cabins avail in many of the categories I'm tracking is substantially unchanged for over 2 months on what is known to be a very slow/soft week in the cruise & travel industry.  Pricing has held at almost exact same amount with only variance being the amount of perks in a promotion which always is extended past deadline on this cruise.  Today is the first I've noticed a price drop in a few categories (coinciding with the removal of the 5 or 6 perks "free" with high cabins)... and the price drop on average is $100 pp.  (for example:  BA was $1459 pp is now $1379 pp with fewer perks.   H5 was $3999 pp now $3899 pp with fewer perks).  I'm not making a specific point.... just putting info out there for people curious about how much to expect a cabin to drop if booking outright and/or if attempting to use pricing as an indicator on bidding for upgrades.

1 hour ago, NLH Arizona said:

Never found Melvin Howard on the dailies.  Could he be under another name or group?

 

Only found Escape The Big Top on Day 1 - 7:00pm, Spiegel Tent, Deck 6, Forward.  It said for more information or to sign=up, visit the Box Office during opening hours.  Space is limited.

 

No, don't have my next cruise planned; I'll be working on that shortly.

 

Have a great cruise.

TY for looking for Melvin Howard - appreciate it!  I don't think there's a different name/group.  Hubby loves acoustic guitar so I was just hoping!

UGH re: Escape Big Top only on first day.  Was hoping for more choices, but... guess what I'll be doing at 7pm on Day 1  . 

You've cruised a lot!   I'm very jealous!   Happy planning...

Amy

1 hour ago, NLH Arizona said:

I quickly scanned the dailies (I have to leave for an appointment) and didn't see his name.  I will look better when I get back home.

Thanks so much - I appreciate your willingness to help! 

When you're taking a 2nd look at them, can you also please let me know the exact days & time Escape the Big Top escape room was offered?   We are doing this same itinerary as you did, so ours should be the same.  I'm trying to coordinate a group from my roll call and it'd be great to know ahead and be able to plan it before we get onboard.

Thanks again ---   btw, do you have your next cruise planned already?   If so, go ahead and tell me so I can be all jealous!     I live vicariously thru others! 

21 minutes ago, fmrlkr said:

This was the best food we have ever had on NCL.  We ate at La Cucina 4 times.  I cannot say enough about the osso bucco.  Also the filet with blue cheese ravioli.  A new item was the shrimp ravioli, we loved it, and the carbonara.  Tiramisu for desert.

 

Appreciate hearing positive things about the food... I was tempted to disregard LaCucina as an option, but hearing the things you enjoyed makes me think we'll give it another look in January.  The filet w/ blue cheese ravioli sounds good, as does the osso bucco, so thanks for that!

Take care...

10 hours ago, NLH Arizona said:

 

• I did bring back the dailies.  I won't post them, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them.

Hello!  I appreciate your review very much!  Was Melvin Howard, acoustic guitarist/singer on this sailing?  Heard great things about him & hoping to see him Jan 6 when we sail!

Thanks - Amy

22 hours ago, Socalev said:

On Breakaway Nov 18, Escape the Big Top was 9 and 11 day 2 and 12:30 on day 6 (both sea days).  Reservations by Spiegel Tent Deck 6.  

That's very helpful - thanks for letting me know!

10 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Reservations are taken at the Breakaway Boxoffice, Deck 7, Forward, Starboard theater entrance on embarkation day. Sessions sell out fast. 

Appreciate the info & advice.... I'll go there as soon as we board! 

Thanks for the help all...

Amy

Hi -

I'm cruising 1/6/19 on Breakaway and several of us in my roll call would like to get together and do the escape room.  Anybody have experience/knowledge of the Big Top such as what days it's offered?   Times it is offered?   Earliest we can reserve/where and how to reserve?  I need to know how to coordinate this with other folks and appreciate your help!

Thanks -

Amy

Thanks for taking the time to post this!  Appreciate your attention to detailed info people want to know (like cost of parking at Fulton garage, etc).

I'm also very excited to hear you won your spa balcony bid with $175 pp on a admittedly sluggish cruise week... and congratulations to you!   I'm booked on same cruise as you did Breakaway Jan 6 and have bid on spa balcony too.  Were you tracking balcony & spa balcony cabin open availability prior to your cruise?  If so, would love approximate numbers.... just to further escalate my hopes!  lol   

I'm tracking my sailing like a fiend (booked inside sail-away)  and bid on balcony as well as spa balcony.  There are 200+ balcony cabins available right now, including 28 spa balcony cabins. 

Hearing your reports of enjoying the spa makes me REALLY want it! 

Don't happen to have the dailies you can post, do you?? 

I had read about a musician named "Melvin Howard", acoustic guitarist/singer often on breakaway... sound familiar?  Was he there when you sailed?

TIA for any more info...

Blessings to you -

Amy

Ya know, this upgrading stuff reminds me of an oldie but goodie by Carly Simon....

Anticipation.  Anticipation it's making me wait.

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/carly-simon/anticipation

3 hours ago, Katrina23 said:

12-16 breakaway 

 

All started with an inside cabin

 

SIL got a spa balcony $200

we got a spa balcony $160

kids (3 in the room) got a balcony $90

 

thanks for posting!  Such encouragement!  I'm booked inside sail away cabin on 1/6 Breakaway and am hoping for good luck... I just counted over 200 balcony cabins avail still with 330 total cabins open (I realize that nobody knows how many are allocated for "gty / sail aways"). 

On ‎12‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 6:03 PM, DukeBlueRN said:

I was notified today that my bid was accepted.

Sailing on the Getaway from Miami this Sunday, December 9. We were upgraded from an inside cabin to a balcony.

Just  yesterday(12-2) I increased my bid for a balcony from $55 to $65.  It was definitely in the "poor" range. I also bid on an Ocean View at $45. 

There was an option to bid on a Spa Balcony, but I didn't even place a bid there.

We are thrilled with what we got!

congrats!!!  have fun

16 hours ago, jkburns said:

Still waiting on my two bids on Bliss - THIS COMING WEEKEND.

 

Everyone in the Secret Department of NCL Upgrade Department: You are powerful and attractive people. I always wear my seatbelt and I call my Mom twice a week. I always promptly attend the muster drill and I never, ever try to sneak alcohol on board. 

 

Just sayin'   🙂

 

 

ROFL -   nice try.   Nothing like sucking up!   Keep us posted.

BTW:  In case NCL upgrade dept reading this.... I COMPLETELY agree with everything said above.

On 11/17/2018 at 12:08 AM, Phaedrus78 said:

Sailing: 1/23/19, Norwegian Epic

Current room assignment: ID - Inside

Bids in for: Balcony, Spa Balcony, Mini Suite, Spa Mini Suite

 

It's a bit tougher to know total quantities, as in each category there are several classes of rooms currently selling as Guaranteed.  Can't get a count on IF, ID, IA, BF, B6, or MD rooms.  Totals I can count are 26 inside, 45 balcony, 14 Mini Suite and 28 Haven.  There hasn't been much movement in those numbers in the last couple of days.

I'm booked on Breakaway from NOLA on 1/6/19... I've been watching open cabins on my sailing and we've got a zillion more than you do, assuming you mean there are only approx 45 balcony cabins avail on your sailing, right?  My count today is over 240 balcony cabins open on my sailing.  I'm thinking my odds of an upgrade from my inside cabin are pretty decent - but who knows!  I know first week of January is consider a "slump" week, but wow - what a difference between sailings.