blackwing

Agreed. This couple was travelling with friends and family. Why didn't any of the friends or family go with them on this private excursion? Why didn't any of the friends or family call them to check in on them to make sure they were back onboard? Why didn't they call any of the friends or family earlier? The man claims their bus was delayed an hour and that they arrived at the pier at 6:10. So if all had gone as originally planned, he planned on arriving at the pier at 5:10. For a 5:30 all aboard time. He says they are experienced cruisers, he should know that's cutting it a little close and that things can happen. If he planned on a 5:10 arrival knowing that the ship wouldn't actually leave until 6, then that to me is an example of him trying to abuse the system by building in those 30 minutes to his plans.

People can view the same cruise differently. Just as in life, some people view things with a "glass half full" attitude while others are "glass half empty". The OP is very obviously a half-empty person who is generally pessimistic and negative and will find every thing to complain about. There are lots of these types of people on every cruise. Of course he should have the right to post his opinion, but others can also share their experiences and discuss as to why they don't agree with him. The one thing I do agree with him is about the scooters. There were a lot of scooters on our cruise. Most are very kind people. However, there was one lady in particular that I came to recognize. Every time I saw her, her jaw was clenched and set and she had this look in her eyes like she was in the Monaco Grand Prix. When you see her on the opposite site of the room, watch out. Because she was going at full speed and didn't care whose toes she was going to run over. She was an anomaly, but I do understand the context of OP's comment.

Yes, this is particularly helpful. My son has food allergies, and on our two earlier NCL cruises, they made sure to give us a set time and a set table with the same waiter every night. The waiter got to know him and how to handle his food. At the end of each night, he brought us the menus for the next day so we could pre-order his food. They would prepare his food separately in advance and ensure there was no cross contamination. NCL does a great job with handling allergies.

There's always various vegetarian options available on the menu. I think vegan however is another story, and if you are vegan, you should probably call ahead and ask for options. One day at lunch in the MDR we sat next to a vegan lady who was having what sounded like a protracted and painful conversation with the waiter who didn't seem to understand what she was asking for. She asked for the veggie burger when it wasn't on the menu that day, and she kept on insisting that it should always be available. Finally I believe her order ended up being "Veggie burger if available, no cheese or mayonnaise. If not, then BLT without bacon or mayonnaise. If not possible, then a Caesar salad without the cheese or dressing or the parmesan crouton." It sounded to me like the veggie burger would have had to be a special request if it was requested on a day in which it wasn't widely available. The BLT is made in advance and it wasn't good enough to simply remove the bacon or scrape off the mayonnaise because some of it would still have touched the bread. Caesar salad, sounds like she basically just wanted lettuce. My daughter and I are both fairly lactose intolerant and we made sure to always have plenty of lactaid. It's interesting to me that RCI gave you a vegan menu when you mentioned being lactose intolerant, there should be plenty of options on a regular menu (meat, etc) that aren't vegan but don't have dairy.

We ate at Ocean Blue on Getaway. We were at sea so the Waterfront seating was closed. The family in front of us had a reservation but were mostly in shorts and T-shirts. There was some discussion between them and the host and I think the host prevailed. The family got seated at the Raw Bar.

I'm curious about the "Goodbye NCL and maybe cruising forever" part. OP willingly embarked on a transatlantic cruise in April. Weather wasn't great, there were no "I sailed the Atlantic" t-shirts in the gift shop, food and passengers were slightly strange..... and because of that, he's swearing off cruising forever? I do sympathize about missing Gibraltar. But missing a port can happen on any cruise.

I'm wondering if OP can clarify if the fees were purely to select any regular seats or if he paid for extra legroom or something like that. Is the nonrefundable part because it is booked through NCL? Because our last trip to Europe, BA changed our flights. I had paid $50 per seat to select seats on the original flight. I applied for a refund on their website and I got it. But they said I had to wait until after I got home and after the date of the flight had passed.

My teenaged kids are both addicted to Tik Tok and You Tube, they waste so much time watching these stupid videos. Before we went on the cruise, I told them that each person gets 150 minutes of internet to do whatever they want - check email, play games, try and watch things. When the 150 is done, they will have no more internet. My kids learned to do other things on our cruise. They downloaded free games to play on their phones before we left that did not require wifi or internet. Still spent time on their phones but they weren't constantly watching Tik Toks. I guess it depends on how addicted your son is and whether he is willing to listen to you. My kids complained about not getting the unlimited internet and the option I gave them was that they could either come on the cruise and have 150 minutes, or they could stay home with grandparents and wifi. They both chose to come on the cruise.

I am curious about the responses that the FAS specilaty dining is non-transferable. On our recent cruise, we were a family of four booked into two cabins. Daughter and I were booked in an inside (one meal each) and wife and son were booked in a balcony (two meals each). On one night, all four of us went to Ocean Blue. The hostess asked for my card and wife's card, so we used the inside cabin's one day of meals and one day of the balcony's meals. On another night, wife and I went to Le Bistro. I made the reservation in my name. When it came time to pay, wife used her card. They deducted the two remaining meals left on her card. In reading the responses here, that meal technically should have been my son's. They should have known that I wasn't him since the reservation was in my name. I guess they either overlooked it or didn't care?

Since it was purchased on your behalf with actual money, it should be considered refundable. As far as casino, from what I have heard, you can use your onboard credit in the sense that onboard credit is used anywhere on the ship. The money is applied to your account. You purchase something onboard, it is charged against your account. However, with the casino, just be aware that if you make a purchase in the casino (i.e., buying cash/chips with your onboard account), I believe it incurs a 3% service charge.

Ahh, that makes sense. Good explanation. I won't bus my own table on my next cruise which will hopefully be soon!

You can even text people with iPhones back home on land for free, as long as you are on the wifi. Make sure you are on airplane mode! If you aren't on airplane mode and pick up the "Cellular at Sea" or whatever it is called, there could be huge charges from your phone company as you will be on data roaming. Get on airplane mode. Get on the wifi. Then you can text for free to other iPhones. If you want to hop on the internet and use your 150 minutes you will have to push the "Internet" button on the app. Make sure you log off, or turn off the wifi momentarily, otherwise the minutes could keep running.

I would call them and ask them. I would ask them if they can give you the 2nd day since you are in a balcony now. Or ask if you can "cancel" your original booking and rebook at the new price. Ask them to waive the cancellation fees since you aren't really cancelling. And honestly, if the first agent says no, call back and hope the next agent is understanding.

I would consider booking one balcony and one inside across the hall. Your older kid is 21 so the two kids could be in the inside cabin by themselves. Otherwise each parent could take one kid. Halfway through the cruise, switch cabins so both kids get to be in the balcony cabin for about half the cruise. That's what my family of four (two teens) just did on Getaway. It's obviously more expensive than squeezing four of you into a balcony cabin, but you will be a lot more comfortable. Think about when you do land trips and four of you are in one hotel room. Biggest issue for us is always that there is only one toilet. We've started booking two connecting rooms when doing land trips. The extra space is needed.

If no one was there, I placed my dirty plates and cup in the bin with the other dirty dishes. When someone was there, they either took the items from me or I just put them in the bin myself. The crew said thank you, every time. I saw a few others bussing their own table as well, and the crew looked appreciative.