JillK

Oh that's great news thanks - not sure why but I thought Princess had also reduced to once a day. Appreciate the clarification!

I love seeing all the wonderful pics of the various cabins on this gorgeous ship. The reserve collection seem really special but I couldn't justify the cost to upgrade when booking for next March - even though with hubby, myself and our two teenaged sons, we certainly could use that additional space! We are fortunate though to have been able to secure a cove balcony cabin and I have been searching since the Sun's launch for any photos or videos of what one actually looks like. If anyone can point me to or share some real images (not just Princess renderings) that would be appreciated!

Thanks for posting the above pic - Hubby and I are travelling next March on the Sun with our sons who will be 13 & 15 at time of sailing. Can you advise on how you managed this space with the reduction in room service? In the old days (the last time we sailed four in a cabin in 2018) they would put away the bed from the ceiling and convert the lower bed into a couch in the morning and reverse the process the evening. The only time we have sailed with an additional (third) berth since the reduction to one room service daily (on Carnival) it meant that the couch remained a bed for the entire cruise so we lost that space to use during the day. Didn't bother me as this was my hubby's cabin with our sons and I was in a second cabin with my daughter... but I have heard tales that this was a bone of contention in the "boys" cabin the entire week. I'm looking for a good strategy to make our stateroom functional with four adult sized people sharing the space and likely not having access to a couch or other seating in cabin for 14 days. Thanks!

Yes - will reappear in your account for future use!

Hi ya. Welcome to NCL - it's a great brand. Like TwoWheels mentioned, the Epic is a unicorn ship and might not be the most accurate representation of the brand overall but you will certainly get a flavour of the line. We cruised the Epic in 2012 so my comments right now are dated. However, we will be cruising on her again in August so I will come back and share some thoughts. The cabin layout is super wonky and although it wasn't a huge issue in 2012 when hubby and I were cruising with our young daughters, I suspect I might find it interesting to navigate sharing the cabin this summer with hubby and my 12YO son. The bathroom set up is weird and does not allow for real privacy. Make sure you're sharing with someone close to you 😉 My memories of the ship itself otherwise are very positive and that cruise kicked off further cruises with NCL which, although we continue to cruise across other lines, makes NCL our favourite and preferred unless itinerary and cost come into play. Will report back after the next one.

Hi there. For what it's worth, this isn't exclusive to Princess. I had two bookings with NCL cancelled by the cruise line over the past three months alone. The first booking was for fleet redeployment and the second booking (what we had booked after the first cancellation) was for a full ship charter. In both cases I received an email that the cruise was cancelled, my deposit would be returned to original form of payment within 45 days and an offer of 10% off the base fare for a future booking, if I book and cruise within 18 months. Given the shifting winds of their deployment schedule, I decided to forgo the 10% discount and booked the Sun Princess instead. I hope that you are able to find another suitable cruise for your vacation, even if like me, you end up looking at other lines.

Our dollar is in the toilet and weak compared to US / Pound and Euro. Last week I made a purchase of $131.93 USD and was charged $186.48 Cdn with an exchange rate of 1.41348 (daily exchange rate plus 2.5% for the bank). Looks like the exchange rate today on the GBP is 1.76 (including the 2.5% bank fee) I would ballpark OP paid just under 300 Pounds to land him in the neighbourhood of $500 Cdn. Everything costs Canadians 35% or more given our dollar. I owe almost $800 Cdn in daily gratuities (3 pax, 10 nights) for my upcoming Med cruise.... the $20 USD/day is converting to $26 and change Cdn/day. I dread exchanging for some euros in a few months!!

After years of hearing about these offers, for the first time both hubby and I received a $250 statement credit for $1000 spend with NCL last year on our (Canadian) Aeroplan branded cards... we both put money down on our upcoming Med cruise to take advantage. Around same time frame as OP only hubby got an offer (same as last year for $250 statement credit for $1000 spend) - unfortunately I didn't get it. Not sure why I wouldn't have gotten is as well since we both used it last year? All that to say there must be some algorithm at play that promoted hubby to get the offer this year and not me. So keep an eye out on those AmEx offers!

NCL has generally been running the BOGO airfare consistently for quite some time now (I want to say years). That being said, at any time, they could remove this offer (and they have in the past but usually not for long- ie. for a one month promotion cycle and then it was back) so it's not necessary true that it never expires. Also, if you're tracking, the pricing on the flights can/do change. Generally only up of course - at least that's been my experience in watching pricing for flights out of Canada. You might not have the same experience pricing flights within the US, but up here in Canada we don't have a lot of competition so flying is expensive compared to pricing in US... ie. I'm looking at flights from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale next March for 4 and it's coming in at $4500 Cdn for a 3 hour flight! I flew across the country from NYC to SFO in 2019 with Alaskan for $149 USD.

We technically "moved up" to platinum after night 5 of a 14 night cruise... new status recognized only upon completion of the current cruise after you've earned the points required. Based on my experience, I would say that's a no... but just think, one more under your belt and you will enjoy the platinum perks on your next NCL cruise!

Frankly the other reason I'm considering early renewal is that my sons have changed so much over those 4 1/2 years that their current passport photos I don't even look like them anymore which I suppose could be an issue if a passport control agent decided it was an issue. Yes exactly right! My daughter will be turning 18 in a month so I am inclined to wait to renew hers until after her birthday so that we can get her the 10 year version!

Thanks for your advice. The Government of Canada says 3 months (Italy, Greece and Malta) and two passports expire 5 months from travel dates. I'm just so used to following the 6 month rule that I'm still uneasy and may just get them renewed ahead of travel anyhow.

Thanks for getting back to let us know that there were no issues. I always thought the 6 month requirement was because that is the length of of time that we as Canadians can stay in the US per visit (six month casual travel visa) after which we would be there "illegally." Meanwhile, I am planning for our August cruise to the Med with some of the kids passports that are expiring 5 months after travel. According to the government of Canada website, they have a 3 month requirement so fingers crossed our experience ends up as seamless as yours!

Yep - did eventually get an email that it had been chartered... after two cancellations for the same week, it felt as if they were still getting their itineraries in order and nothing else on offer was hitting the mark for us. We pivoted and have booked the Sun Princess.

Hubby and I did a 14 night cruise on the Jade this past November. Overall we loved the ship and found it to be very fresh and clean - not showing her age at all. The two things we disliked... 1/ no seating on the promenade deck which on past ships has always been a favourite place to spend some quality time outside but not in the sun. 2/ the coffee bar being in the atrium. The net effect was that whereas usually the atrium is the heartbeat of the ship, in the evenings the atrium was a ghost town. We sailed on the the Jade's sister ship the Gem in 2019 and spent some time every night at the atrium bar. Really missed doing this on the Jade. Otherwise a great ship which I wouldn't hesitate to book again.