Update on Splash Academy for Spring Cruises??

[ceilidh1]

28 minutes ago, applequeen said:

It shows up as $100 arcade credit. It only works for the arcade (no games at Osheenans).

 

My kids have probably 50 arcade charges from yesterday. Our onboard balance didn’t change so I guess they aren’t quite at their limit. You have to watch because there is no way to know when it is used up. I guess we will know when our balance increases when they play games. 

Good to know - thanks. I already bought the arcade pass so was trying to weigh up if it was worth keeping it!

[applequeen]

Here are my post cruise thoughts...

 

If you purchased the arcade pass you should KEEP IT (I'll explain below). 

 

 I wish I had bought it before the cruise. I was told by guest services at the beginning of the cruise that I could purchase it once the credit ran out. When I tried to purchase it I was told that I needed to have bought it on the first or second day.

 

Having the pass and the credit is a great combo. The pass pays for the non ticketed games but the credit can be used for anything (including the ticketed games). The arcade was a great place for my kids to make friends and they could go there while we (adults) did something else.

 

Overall the lack of Splash Academy had a small impact on our cruise. Having kids on the older end of the age range made a huge difference. They both met friends and we gave them a small amount of freedom on the ship (we knew exactly where they were going and when they would be finished). The ability to do this obviously depends on the age and responsibility of your kids. The movies and activities in the Atrium were great (not all were family friendly but several were). 

 

There were several packs of kids running amok on the ship. It didn't feel any worse than usual although I did yell at a few who almost knocked me down. Parents need to teach their kids how to behave in these situations. These weren't small children who don't know better. These were probably age 8+ and could easily have injured someone. A few times the parent was right behind them and could see how their child acted. These people give all of us parents/ kids a bad name on cruises. 

 

We purchased some Future Cruise Credits if that tells you how much we enjoyed the trip. 🙂 

[MaxineC]

Does everyone think it’s safe to assume that once Splash Academy re-opens, NCL will require all children be fully vaccinated if their parents wish to enroll them in this children’s program? I’m thinking this will likely be the case. I realize that at this time NCL does not require children under 12 to be vaccinated in order to sail.

[BermudaBound2014]

27 minutes ago, MaxineC said:

Does everyone think it’s safe to assume that once Splash Academy re-opens, NCL will require all children be fully vaccinated if their parents wish to enroll them in this children’s program? I’m thinking this will likely be the case. I realize that at this time NCL does not require children under 12 to be vaccinated in order to sail.

 

No, I do not believe this will be the case.  NCL needs bodies on ships which means fewer restrictions.  The former FDA commissioner (and Pfizer board member) believes vaccine requirements for all ages may be eliminated by next spring, which means requiring vaccination for kids in Splash would be a move in the opposite direction of where cruising headed.

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/when-will-vaccination-no-longer-be-required-cruise

 

Of course, I'm just guessing here :).

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by BermudaBound2014

[MaxineC]

Does everyone think it’s safe to assume that once Splash Academy re-opens, NCL will require all children be fully vaccinated if their parents wish to enroll them in this children’s program? I’m thinking this will likely be the case. I realize that at this time NCL does not require children under 12 to be vaccinated in order to sail.

[MaxineC]

20 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

No, I do not believe this will be the case.  NCL needs bodies on ships which means fewer restrictions.  The former FDA commissioner (and Pfizer board member) believes vaccine requirements for all ages may be eliminated by next spring, which means requiring vaccination for kids in Splash would be a move in the opposite direction of where cruising headed.

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/environmental-health/when-will-vaccination-no-longer-be-required-cruise

 

Of course, I'm just guessing here :).

 

 

[MaxineC]

While I agree that NCL needs customers to fill their ships; they also need to lessen that likelihood of a COVID outbreak onboard. I’m just not sure they will allow unvaccinated children into Splash Academy after just restarting the program. A year from now things may and likely will be different with vaccinations possibly being eliminated.  I just don’t see that happening in the near future,  while the cruise industry is still in recovery mode.  

  

[Bowmanvilletravel]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:23 PM, ceilidh1 said:

I'm hoping they don't have the manpower/inclination to track it that way. In the past, if I have bought onboard credit, it has been a general credit and anything could be (and was) automatically applied to it. For example, when I have pre-paid gratuities, that pre-paid amount appeared on my bill as a negative and then deducted from the overrall total (does that make sense? I feel as if I'm not explaining it well). What I'm hoping for is that the $100 is applied as a credit of $100 and just gets deducted from the final amount. I guess we will find out soon enough....

I was just on the Epic with a 12 year old and received the credit...it is specific to the Arcade. We bought the arcade package and they applied it to the package but I did have to follow up. 

[Bowmanvilletravel]

On 4/6/2022 at 12:05 PM, applequeen said:

I called and was told that it can only be used in the arcade. I guess we will find out how it works when we get onboard.

 

We were planning to buy Arcade Packages for this kids and I asked if the credit could be applied to the cost of the package. It also can't be used that way.

 

I guess we'll see how long the credit lasts and then purchase a package (if we want it) for the rest of the trip. 

 

I'll try to check in next week and let ya'll know how it's actually working. 

The unlimited package was so worth it (just came off the Epic April 2-17 sailing). They did apply it to the package for me. 

[ceilidh1]

Just got off the Bliss. I had already purchased the arcade package before finding out that there would be $100 arcade credit applied for kids club being closed. I can confirm that getting the $100 deducted from the arcade package is definitely an option - go to the casino desk cashier to do so. I can also confirm that the arcade credit is limited ONLY to the arcade - I opted to keep the package AND the $100 credit so my kids could play some if the paid games. The green swipe games went against the package and the paid games showed on my account but did not add to the total owing. Beware, though, that there is no "cap" on spending, so once the $100 is gone the child can still keep swiping and charging. It was tough to keep tabs on it, but I think we managed to spend all $100! I did try using the kiddo's card to buy other items just to see if it came off "his" $100 credit - sadly it didn;t. Lol.

[PeeDeeEX]

A little off topic.

 

When can you purchase the Arcade package? Can you purchase online before sailing or do you purchase once onboard the ship?

[ceilidh1]

56 minutes ago, PeeDeeEX said:

A little off topic.

 

When can you purchase the Arcade package? Can you purchase online before sailing or do you purchase once onboard the ship?

I purchased online before sailing, but they did have it available for purchase on the ship, too. You buy it at the casino. Not sure if it was the same price on the ship - my booking was in CAD so I pre-purchased in CAD.

[skittlebug83]

Just got off the phone with Norwegian and I am pretty disappointed. I had read that others had received an email about this arcade credit for the kids and I was curious why I didn't receive one for my cruise next week. Apparently I would have had to book by Apr 6th to be eligible and we booked the 10th. 😑

[PeeDeeEX]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

I purchased online before sailing, but they did have it available for purchase on the ship, too. You buy it at the casino. Not sure if it was the same price on the ship - my booking was in CAD so I pre-purchased in CAD.

Thanks. Where would it show up. Under activities?

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, PeeDeeEX said:

Thanks. Where would it show up. Under activities?

I believe it is under gifts but if I recall it doesn't show up until closer to sail date (not sure when you sail).

[Bowmanvilletravel]

The other thing I would add is folks keep saying they are only good for games in the arcade but there are some in O'Sheehans (darts, pool, etc) that can be used as well. Not all of them, but most. There was even a VR machine that was $9/game that you could use the pass for 

[smashedpumpkins]

I just got off the Jewel and the arcade credit was a total pain. I have twins so we received 2 $100 arcade credits.

• 1st problem: Your phone onboard account does not differentiate which card user spent at the arcade. You have to go to guest services for a print out to know how much each child used at the arcade. To be fair, because of problems 2 and 3, I can't verify if this mattered or if 1 child could use all $200 credits. But the $100 initial credit does list the child's name.
• 2nd problem: Any other non-refundable onboard credit is used first. We had $25 from the initial booking and another $50 for being shareholders. The arcade took from these credits before touching the arcade credit. 
• 3rd problem: We bought 2 cruisenext vouchers. (So we were charged $500 and credited $250 of onboard credit) Our intial $75 of credit was supposed to help offset the $250 charge but now it was used up. (We rarely spend much else)

I had to spend 2 hours going back and forth with the financing guy by guest services fighting for the arcade credit. On day 1 our onboard account showed 2 $100 credits for the arcade and on disembarkation day it showed 2 unused negative $100 onboard credits. Then they charged my Visa for all the arcade activity. My total spend far exceeded the total onboard credits because of the cruisenext vouchers.

 

Clearly their system was not functioning as it should have been but he continuously fought me. NCL needs to default to preferential use of the arcade credit for arcade transactions. I also don't know if he was completely full of crap and the credit was just not working at all and it had nothing to do with "preferential use". But that's what he kept saying and that there was nothing he could do. Eventually he gave in but what a head ache.

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, smashedpumpkins said:

I just got off the Jewel and the arcade credit was a total pain. I have twins so we received 2 $100 arcade credits.

• 1st problem: Your phone onboard account does not differentiate which card user spent at the arcade. You have to go to guest services for a print out to know how much each child used at the arcade. To be fair, because of problems 2 and 3, I can't verify if this mattered or if 1 child could use all $200 credits. But the $100 initial credit does list the child's name.
• 2nd problem: Any other non-refundable onboard credit is used first. We had $25 from the initial booking and another $50 for being shareholders. The arcade took from these credits before touching the arcade credit. 
• 3rd problem: We bought 2 cruisenext vouchers. (So we were charged $500 and credited $250 of onboard credit) Our intial $75 of credit was supposed to help offset the $250 charge but now it was used up. (We rarely spend much else)

I had to spend 2 hours going back and forth with the financing guy by guest services fighting for the arcade credit. On day 1 our onboard account showed 2 $100 credits for the arcade and on disembarkation day it showed 2 unused negative $100 onboard credits. Then they charged my Visa for all the arcade activity. My total spend far exceeded the total onboard credits because of the cruisenext vouchers.

 

Clearly their system was not functioning as it should have been but he continuously fought me. NCL needs to default to preferential use of the arcade credit for arcade transactions. I also don't know if he was completely full of crap and the credit was just not working at all and it had nothing to do with "preferential use". But that's what he kept saying and that there was nothing he could do. Eventually he gave in but what a head ache.

That's weird as we tried using the arcade credit for other things - my kid swiped his card in the Bake Shop - but it didn't work. The credit ONLY applied to transactions in the arcade. I agree, the way it showed on the account was a total pain and we really had to keep tabs on it. I THINK it charged correctly, but still waiting to see a final bill and credit card charge to know if that was the case. I also got cruise next and those OBC showed but it didn't look as if the arcade credit took anything from those. I guess I will find out if/when I get an emailed final bill.

[Bluefox]

I don't know if anyone has answered this recently- but I checked in with NCL today and they said the Splash Academy will return June 1!

[YVRteacher]

Which is exactly what I said back in March.