astera

I've never been with NCL before but I have this 'Free at Sea' package with two meals (dinners?) included that I will eventually have to make use of. Do I need to look into what restaurants are available on my ship (Escape) and make some reservations in advance or is it relatively easy to get a table at certain times (like right when a restaurant opens)? Do some restaurants get so busy with reservations that if you don't book ahead or right after boarding then you'll never get in? 🙂

I wouldn't skip any of the ports mentioned if it's your first time there. For a second visit I would probably skip Marseille, especially since you're being shuttled into town and back. Once you've seen the tower in Pisa you are obviously not heading there again either. You're disembarking in Civitavecchia (Rome) so that's not an issue, but if you were merely stopping there then I would recommend either actually going to Rome or visiting some of the nice, nearby villages. Otherwise Civitavecchia itself is one of those places not even worth disembarking for. In Mallorca you can always take it easy by just strolling off the ship and heading in a westerly direction towards a big shopping mall nearby. The kids will surely love it and you can stock up on snacks and all sorts of stuff whilst enjoying a nice walk there and back.

So technically you could add those promo codes yourself when making a booking? And several promo codes are allowed simultaneously? 🙂

I'll be looking for some offers with various operators, including Princess (really nice cruise from Southampton that covers Iceland and Greenland), but for starters I'll be aiming for "kids sail free" offers. Does anyone know until what age Princess will treat them as "kids" when making a booking? I know RCI is up to 12 y.o. and Celebrity under 17, but I can't seem to find Princess' policy...

I've been looking into Celebrity for this very reason (already have Diamond status on RCI) but at the same time I wouldn't be progressing further up the loyalty ladder as the nights onboard would not count. This has got me thinking though that if I was to sign up to Celebrity's loyalty program to register nights there as well, could any future merger of the two programs combine all nights into one account?

Is there a list of loyalty programs where you can build up your status/lifetime points in the long term without having your status or nights expire? I've managed to get Diamond on RCI and even though I haven't been with them for several years my status is still intact. But when I went on Costa I didn't even bother signing up to their program because I saw something about collecting points in a limited timeframe (much like airline FFPs). Is there a list of programs where you can only go "up the ladder" and never get knocked back down for not travelling with them enough?