DorothyB

I personally love the Jewel class ships. It depends on what you like. NCL is very much "freestyle". You never need to "dress up" although there is usually one or two specialty restaurants on most ships that do require collared shirt for men and slacks or nice jeans. No set dining times or tables. 😞 You can't bring soft drinks or bottled water on board (except at ports in Hawaii).

I've never seen the excursions so "messed up" as far as availability. ZERO excursions on my late October Getaway cruise. I keep looking at excursions for my January Prima cruise. - Not interested in Great stirrup Cay excursions. - NO excursions at Tortula, BVI. - THREE excursions at St. John's, but not sure I want to do any of them. One is a "maybe" but probably not. - Phillipsburg has a lot of excursions. I have booked one with friends - San Juan has several excursions including the one to accompany a mobility impaired, but the one for the mobility impaired passenger is NOT listed - Puerto Plata has ONE excursion available - NO excursions for Georgetown - NO excursions for Cozumel

I haven't seen reusable cups on NCL

I would NOT do a specialty meal on a port day if I had an excursion and might be tired and ready to relax afterwards. Do you get TWO specialty meals? or just ONE?

I'm cruising on the Getaway end of October, similar or same itinerary. I was surprised yesterday to see ZERO available excursions when my January cruise on the Prima has excursions available. I was concerned that they were already sold out.

I didn't remember mine being refundable, but good to know. Thanks! The OP already has pre-paid gratuities, but can they be paid with non-refundable OBC??

I love sea days, but also will sail NCL instead of Carnival. So, I would be finding a different itinerary w/ NCL - I am on a 7 day cruise from New Orleans on the Getaway at the end of October.

Sometimes when I have OBC available, I buy cruse next while on board.

I do NOT know the rules in your country. In the United States, since the cruise is over 120 days away, when you cancel the cruise next credits will be put back in your account and any payment you made will be refunded. Once the cruise credit is back in your account, then you can book the next cruise and apply the credits.

In many terminals, there are vending machines in the terminal AFTER you go through security, basically in the "holding area". Does this terminal have vending machines? and if so, can you purchase Dr Pepper or Mr Pibb or root beer from that vending machine? Thanks!

Yes, that is why I said "even Mr Pibb" since that is a Coke product.

Soft drinks are normally available at some (maybe all??) of the bars. I don't like the soft drinks offered by NCL except root beer which I was able to get at a bar on one sailing. I'm not sure if you can get root beer at bars on most ship?? If they offered Dr Pepper or even Mr Pibb, I might get a drink package.

We were on Pride of America in February. I had upgraded to unlimited internet and could NOT use my free Proton VPN. When I used my friend's streaming premium unlimited internet then I could use the VPN.

You will need to compare the cost vs the benefits of booking two cabins vs a suite. Friends and I have decided that we like the suite benefits so book 2 bedroom suites. Non-Haven suites that might work - -- SJ would work for you but not for us. It has a separate bedroom and the third person would sleep on the couch in the living area. Parents have to go through the living area to the one bathroom. -- SK is like SJ except child has to go through parent's room to use bathroom Haven suites that might work - -- H2 Premier Owner's Suite has three bedrooms and is what we are sailing in with another couple on our first Prima cruise -- H3 Deluxe Owner's Suite has two bedrooms -- H4 I think is set up similar to SJ above -- H5 is set up similar to SK above -- H6 has two separate bedrooms with bathrooms - this might be perfect for you!! -- HB is set up similar to SL above

I have watched youtube with unlimited, but now that I use a VPN, I have to upgrade to premium for that to work