NCL Star - Venice & Greek Isles - 4/2017 - Dailies - Bid/Upgrade - Comments

[J&Bsail]

NCL Star - Venice & Greek Isles - 4/2017 - Dailies - Bid/Upgrade - Comments - Enjoy (files are in .pdf format) :)

 

Day 1 WelcomeAboard

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

 

Plat Plus Folder

 

Port Day 2 Kotor Information

Port Day 3 Corfu Information

Port Day 4 Santorini Information

Port Day 5 Mykonos Information

Port Day 7 Dubrovnik Information

 

You-ll Be Leaving Soon Information

 

More comments to follow ...

 

Brad

[jemz1949]

Thank you for taking the time to post all of this information.

[dodge9]

Thanks for the information... especially that you cannot carry off all your luggage in Venice as you can other ports!

[champagne lover]

Thank you for all this info, much appreciated, we go on this trip on 28th May. Do most of the trips have a similar daily schedule onboard, timings of trivia, shows etc?

[kimandtim]

Thanks so much for posting - not much information was available for the Star

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

J&Bsail ~ thanks so much for all this info. It'll be very useful for my Star cruise in a little over a year.

I can hardly wait to see Kotor & Mykonos, the 2 places on the itinerary I have yet to visit.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

[tomberly]

Thank you! Great information.

[nlstigger]

Disembarkation:

If you have late flights, there are a few options for leaving your luggage at port and visiting Venice for the day.

 

1. there is an excursion to Padua before airport transfer - that excursion was cancelled on my sailing (May 7 - 14).

 

2. Airport Transfer - $30 pp They will store your bags until you come back for bus transfer to the airport. Our flight wasn't until 5pm and we purchased the airport transfers. We left the ship before 9am and explored Venice and then came back to the port for a 2:15 transfer to the airport. They brought the bags out from their storage area to the bus area and we just transferred them over to the bus to the airport. It took about 20 minutes for the bus ride and we were met by a Norwegian rep who walked us from the bus lot into the airport and pointed us to the check in area.

 

3. Bag Storage at the port (not thru Norwegian). 5 euro per bag stored. available between 8 am and 5 pm. They also had options to transfer bags to the train station (8 euro) or to a Venice hotel (10euro) or to the airport (12.50 euro) so you wouldn't have to come back to the port.

 

4. Bag Storage at the train station or the bus terminal. We didn't check into the prices, but were told about the option.

[grace#11]

Thank you so much for posting this. What time were you off the ship? We have a 1:15pm flight from Marco Polo airport the day we get back to Venice and I'm hoping that we'll be okay with the timing. We have arranged for car service to meet us and get us to the airport, so hopefully that will help.

[J&Bsail]

You will be fine -- our flight was at 12;05 and we had extra time. I will comment on this with my departure thought. :)

[nlstigger]

Agreed, you will be fine. We were cruising by St Marks square by 6:30 am and docked before 7. They were scheduled to start disembarkation at 8 and they started at least 15 minutes early.

 

There was no immigration to go thru. We just picked up our bags and sailed past the customs desk and out to the bag drop area. It took less than 10 minutes for the whole process, but then again we did wait to leave the ship until 9am as we had a leisurely breakfast and most everyone who wanted to be off the ship was already gone.

 

Again, it was only a 20 minute drive to the airport so you should be fine assuming there is no unexpected mechanical or fog delays.

[J&Bsail]

We booked the Star cruise a year ago in a regular PenthouseSuite. About 45 days prior to thecruise, we got the "email" to bid on an upgrade. The minimum bid for a 2 Bedroom Suite was $375 per person ($750 for the 2 of us)and $750 per person minimum for an Owners Suite with 2 balconies ($1,500total). These minimum bids were rankedpoor on the "rate-o-meter". Webid the minimum on both.

 

A little less than 30 days from sailing, I did a mockbooking and noticed that the 2 Bedroom Suite was only $50 more than what Ioriginally paid and the OS was only $1,400 more than I originally paid.

 

I called the 'upsell department' at NCL. I explained I wanted to upgrade to a Star OSsuite. They replied that the Star was onthe bidding system and I needed to talk to a regular NCL cruiseconsultant. They transferred my call. The agent I replied I could upgrade to the OSand pay the difference in fare ($1,400). My reservation number would stay the same, my dinner reservations andexcursions would remain the same. Iasked if my perks were the same and the agent stated, yes. I upgraded to OS cabin 9506 (the same cabinnumber I had on the Dawn in December).

 

Well, the next day I looked at my booking on NCL.com and theperks changed. I lost the pre-paid g DSC and gained the $50 shore excursioncredit. I had 2NCL shore excursionbooked so the loss was a little over $100.

 

I called NCL and asked to speak to a supervisor. I explained my situation and asked tosupervisor to speak to the reservation clerk and provide additional training asI was not asking for any additional $ or OBC. The supervisor thanked me for the call and stated the he would speakwith the reservation clear and provide additional training.

 

Here is cabin 9506 . Great for when I get up early to view port arrival, drink coffee andread the online Wall Street Journal while my wife sleeps undisturbed.

 

[J&Bsail]

Cabin

Cabin

Cabin

[tjt87]

Thanks for the information... especially that you cannot carry off all your luggage in Venice as you can other ports!

 

Just got off the Star yesterday, and we saw people carrying off their luggage. We were surprised because we had seen that there was no self assist debark (Carry off all your stuff when you want). We normally do the self assist but this time we had a transfer booked from our TA.

 

I asked a couple who had luggage about this and they said their interpretation was that you could carry off your luggage but still had to get bag tags for a debark time (Carry off all your stuff but at a specified time).

Seems pointless to carry off your own stuff if you still have to have a debark time as all the bags were there waiting for us when we got off.

[KeithJenner]

Just got off the Star yesterday, and we saw people carrying off their luggage. We were surprised because we had seen that there was no self assist debark (Carry off all your stuff when you want). We normally do the self assist but this time we had a transfer booked from our TA.

 

 

 

I asked a couple who had luggage about this and they said their interpretation was that you could carry off your luggage but still had to get bag tags for a debark time (Carry off all your stuff but at a specified time).

 

Seems pointless to carry off your own stuff if you still have to have a debark time as all the bags were there waiting for us when we got off.

 

 

 

My assumption as to why they don't allow self walk off in Venice is that, depending on the terminal used, you may need to use lifts and that would potentially cause problems if lots of people have bags. It is a bit of a hold up even with them being able to fill the lifts with people and no luggage.

 

As you say though, they don't actually stop you. We had an issue last month which meant we needed to retrieve one of our cases on the last night. We walked off with it absolutely no problem.

 

It isn't policed at all, but it isn't advertised as an option which I imagine keeps the number of people who do walk off with their bags to a minimum. If lots of people did it then I'm sure they would police it.

[tjt87]

My assumption as to why they don't allow self walk off in Venice is that, depending on the terminal used, you may need to use lifts and that would potentially cause problems if lots of people have bags. It is a bit of a hold up even with them being able to fill the lifts with people and no luggage.

 

As you say though, they don't actually stop you. We had an issue last month which meant we needed to retrieve one of our cases on the last night. We walked off with it absolutely no problem.

 

It isn't policed at all, but it isn't advertised as an option which I imagine keeps the number of people who do walk off with their bags to a minimum. If lots of people did it then I'm sure they would police it.

 

I think you're right there Kieth. We got on at the pier where lifts were needed and off where we could just walk off, not sure when they know which pier they will be at

Edited May 22, 2017 by tjt87
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