Turtles06

I've seen it too. It's disgusting.

This is a specific group booking.

It’s not the TA. It’s NCL

The guests will get the price drop (prior to final payment)

I was talking about folks who hadn't booked yet/put down a deposit. Not everyone is booking at the same time.

The advice provided was correct based on the information given.

So as it turns out, this is a group booking (as I noted in an earlier comment) and the deal with NCL is that they have given the group "price protection" on the cabin categories being held by the TA (that is, if the price goes up after the group was created, guests can still book those cabins at the original price). One part of that deal is that all the FAS offers will be included if guests want them, but they can't decline separate parts of FAS (e.g., the Beverage Package). Many thanks again to those of you who offered your information and experience.

Thanks, I think so too.

Yes, thanks. (I appreciate that there are often different rules in Europe. Thanks for flagging that.)

Thanks, but to be clear, she's not my TA. My friends need to book thru her because of a group, but it's not a group rate. It's the same pricing that is displayed on NCL's web site, available to anyone.

It's been my understanding that when booking a cruise with all of the "Free at Sea" offers available, a guest can turn down one or more of them. (For example, someone who doesn't drink much alcohol may not want to have the beverage package and pay the gratuities on that.) Is that a correct understanding? It would seem to be correct according to the Terms & Conditions: https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions The reason I'm asking is that two friends are being told by a travel agent that booking through her, they can't remove the beverage package. I'm not sure why booking through a TA would matter. Thanks for any help!

We sailed once on the Breakaway a few years ago. I was astonished by the poor design of the casino, given that smoking was allowed. As you said, the smell of cigarette smoke permeated other public spaces, including food venues. We never tried the noodle place because of that, and we tried to avoid those deck spaces as much as possible. While a glass enclosure for smokers in the casino would be nice, even better would be Celebrity’s policy of no indoor smoking anywhere.

Here’s a closeup of the lighthouse in the last two photos of @BillB48’s comment #4 above. On a northbound transit, this will be on the starboard side as you leave the Gatun Locks and approach the Atlantic Bridge. I have to say, this has been a fascinating discussion. It made me go back and look through my photos from our four transits, as I’d forgotten about these lighthouses. Thanks everyone!

Yes, it’s strange (for me at least) to see the Canal without that Bridge, since our first transit was in January 2017. The Bridge was just under construction. (I just checked, it opened in 2019.)

And here’s the black lighthouse on our northbound transit last year on the Gem (with the new Atlantic Bridge in the background)