BirdTravels

Request two 8-tops. And, most groups may eat together once or twice in a 7-night cruise. The rest of the nights they will be off exploring specialty dining or something more flexible like the buffet. You don't want to be the one the group resents by insisting that they eat together... because families don't do that any more.

I do not believe that the table minimums are set by the day. The casino will set the minimums to whatever the crowd will tolerate. Every night, the minimums go up as the night goes on. If you are looking for a $2 table, you won't find one. You'll find a $25 table. Which is reasonable.

The information from Jackie O'Donnell is correct. The calling party will need to provide a credit card and it is charged $7.95/minute from the second the call connects to the ship, regardless of whether the calling party reaches you or not. So, all of the time the calling party is listening to "All operators are busy, please stand by for the next available operator" and the time the calling party is talking to the operator trying to find you, and the time your cabin phone is ringing, it is $8/min.

Is there a specific perk you are concerned about?

While CruiseNext certificates do not have any expiration, CASNext certificates still must be used (i.e., the cruise must be taken) within 1 year from date of issuance.

The leftover almond croissants are used to make a mai tai. Other sustainable drinks

The Haven on the Joy is kinda bad already since they converted most of the “S”uites to “H”aven class rooms. The Joy Haven was not designed to handle that many rooms/guests.

The OL on Prima is smaller because the ship is a lot smaller with 25% fewer passengers.

Since you finally bothered to mention that you are a Haven guest, then, yes, you should get your pre cruise letter and luggage tags about 50 days prior to departure. Always has been 50 days pre- and post-pandemic. Shortly before that, you will get a welcome email. If you don’t get them, then they probably went to your TA who threw them out versus paying to forward them to you.

The room itself is like a hotel room. Basically, somewhere to sleep. Like most hotels today, there is liquid dispensers for hand soap next to the sink. And liquid dispensers in the shower with body wash and shampoo/conditioner. You also have access to the studio lounge which also has coffee and snacks. Example only... Studio Lounge on the Prima Have a great cruise!

We did the $10 vans on our last cruise. Fast. Easy. Cheap. $20 for the two of us. At the time, Uber was $39.19 (less a promo code I had). Because of our luggage, I always book an XL.

Haven guests have their own Horizon Lounge (above the Observation Lounge)

So you could get assigned a Deck 2 Ocean View. I would have only bid on a balcony. Lower level upgrades can occur at any time from the moment you submit a bid to a couple of days prior to departure. Suites are usually done on week of cruise. While they say that they will continue to process upgrades up to departure time, they really mean suites may be upgraded on departure day, not ocean views.

So far, not having polka music sounds like a plus. The weather crossing the Atlantic in winter (or at any time) can be hit or miss. During our last TA, we went through a storm and got hit by a rogue wave, causing the ship to roll. All of the glassware in the cabins went flying. The poor cabin stewards spent most of the night cleaning up broken glass. Embarkation sounded long, but there was no explanation on why it was long. On our cruise last month, there was a full blown coast guard / health inspection of the ship before it when on a 21 day crossing from Miami to Seattle. Not sure what the shops should have for a TA. T-shirts with pictures of the ocean? You're not going to stock merchandise for a one-off cruise. And the shops are not run by NCL, they are run by a private vendor. Roast pig being an "exotic dish" tells me a lot.

MSC website is glitchy. Here's laundry prices for our upcoming cruise.