misha227

I'm interested because I have Princess Plus and the website says these 'premium desserts' can found in the Gelateria, Swirls, or Coffee and Cones. That's great but I'll be on the Sapphire Princess and it doesn't have any of those venues. (I will miss gelato!)

I'm on Oosterdam right now and the nightly shows are still there! (Well, it's only day 2 or 3 but so far...) I'm not sure if masks are required in the theater because I haven't gone to a show yet. If you choose to wear masks, you will be in the minority. But I haven't seen anyone being hassled about it. If you want to have dinner at your own table, they can generally do that in the MDR but it might be a few minutes more of waiting versus sharing a table... maybe 10 minutes more, if that. (Excluding gala nights or whatever the new name is...) You might want to make reservations for a table for 2 those nights, or every night. You can do this even if you have the flexible dining option (i.e., no fixed dining time). I've only seen a handful of people wearing masks on the ship. On the excursions, you're supposed to wear a mask inside the bus but I don't know how well this is enforced. On the bus ride from Venice to Trieste, only about 4-6 people out of approx. 50 wore masks. There wasn't even an announcement to say masks were required or recommended. I feel safer than at my home but we have a lower vaccination rate. I don't believe you can ever be 100% safe but the ship is not full and there are plenty of places to go where you're able to sit farther away from others.

If you email ahead of time (I've been speaking with Christina by email) and let them know the requirements, they will absolutely do their best! Christina will pass this information along to the driver and/or guide. They might have to rearrange the order of stops or similar so that you're in a more populated area at meal time so it's best to let them know ahead of time.

I concur with everything that has been said. However, I wear a swimsuit coverup or lightweight cotton dress between my cabin and the spa. I do not wear that while I'm in the spa at all--I leave it in the locker until I'm ready to leave. I'm in a spa; there's no harmful sun; there are plenty of towels so I can wrap up if I feel the need. If you wish to wear a t-shirt or a cover-up in the pool or to the edge of the pool for modesty, feel free as everyone's comfort level is different. However, when I was a young girl at the lake I observed older men walking around with all manner of bumps, lumps, and weird bulges...all without a care in the world! They were not struggling to cover themselves or fretting that they would give offense. They were living their best lives! I decided then that I would do the same, even though we are told that women's bodies are not to be displayed with pride. I wear one-piece bathing suits as they're what I prefer, and I walk about just as if I were wearing a ball gown. 😁One of my friends keeps saying "Women are allowed to take up space in this world" and I think it's a good thing to remember.

Yikes. Thanks for the responses, everybody! Well, that seals it then. No reason at all to purchase a pass. It is a port-intensive cruise with the only sea days being Saturdays. (Why Saturdays and not Sundays, when there are so many churches and cathedrals to visit...which are closed to the public on Sundays...strains my brain to contemplate. But that would be for a different thread, LOL!) I would likely miss a day or two anyway, so daily passes it shall be. Ultimately, I will be spending far less than I otherwise would have, had I been able to purchase the couple's pass. I will have to make the decision every day: Is it really worth the extra cost today? My miserly nature will win out most of the time, and HAL will lose out on revenue they could have easily captured with that couples promo. (I am not miserly when it comes to clothes or quality footwear, but in other areas of life my upbringing shows.) Thanks again!!!

I'm going to be sailing in mid-July so this is a bit early, perhaps, but I very much want to purchase a Thermal Suite pass. My roommate & I are actually doing two 12-days, back-to-back. Lucky, I know! Anyway, the online system will only show the pricing for a single person Thermal Suite pass for a 12-day cruise, at $299. I'm wondering if anyone has taken a 12-day cruise this year and can share what the onboard price was for a "couple's" pass for a 12-day cruise? Also, if anyone knows the current price for a one-day pass that would be helpful as well. It does not seem to be a very good deal to purchase the 12-day pass for one person, if I'm remembering the price of a one-day pass correctly--if you miss a day or two, any savings is gone. But I could be remembering wrong, or perhaps prices have increased. We'll be sailing on the Oosterdam, if that matters. Thanks for your help!

I've only been on NCL once, on one of their smaller ships, the Dawn. The crew were attentive and friendly and in this, they were almost as good as HAL. The ship was in good condition for her age. It was laid out tolerably well and we were able to find our way around easily for the most part (only ended up in the kids' club or arcade twice). However, I felt the food in the MDR was subpar. There were some dishes that were very good, but there were more misses than hits and the quality ranged so widely that this became a big liability in my eyes. They want you to pay in order to eat in the specialty restaurants, so they purposely cut corners in the main dining rooms, is my conclusion. They do not have enough capacity to serve all pax in the main dining rooms plus the buffet if they all decided to eat there, at any rate. We did try several of the specialty restaurants because of the "free-pay-only-the-gratuities" promotion and they were quite good. The buffet was also poor in my estimation, mainly because the food was hardly ever served at an appropriate temperature unless you had the cooked-to-order items like omelettes or pasta. They have a heated base and heat lamps, but they do not have steam tables; this does not keep the food at a proper temperature and it was usually cold by the time I made it back to my table and began to eat. (I do not walk THAT slowly!) I never observed any crew member conducting a temperature check on any buffet dishes, either. Finally, and I realize this is a risk we took traveling during COVID, but this was at the height of the Omicron surge and it was clear before we sailed that several stops were not going to allow us to stop there (San Juan and two Southern Caribbean ports). There were 6 stops on our itinerary, and we only made one of the original stops. Four were replaced with other stops, and one was replaced with a sea day. The sailing after ours, and after that, and after that, and then I stopped checking...all of those were cancelled. They should have cancelled ours, as well, as they knew before sailing that at least 3 of the 6 ports were not going to allow us to go ashore. (This was public knowledge, having been covered by major news outlets.) They would not allow us to cancel even though we had booked under their "COVID book with confidence" guarantee, or whatever it was called. We had planned exciting experiences on several of these stops--swimming with the dolphins, a zip-line over a forested canopy, and a horseback ride on land and into the Caribbean ocean--and yet the shore excursions that they were able to offer on short notice consisted only of drives around the island, beach breaks, and catamaran rides with snorkeling. While there's nothing inherently wrong with any of these, they were in no way comparable to what we had planned. Also, I do realize the captain can skip a port or replace one if necessary. I expect this to be limited, however, and not to happen for FIVE ports out of SIX on a single itinerary! We were offered no compensation--I expected only a future cruise credit--and when I filed a complaint I was simply told the contract allows them to substitute ports for any reason they see fit. Technically true, but this was not the cruise I had signed up for nor paid a pretty penny for. I will not be sailing with NCL again, no matter how good their deals seem. In the end, it was not that great of a deal and the experience was not up to the expectations I have from my experiences with HAL. If you enjoy NCL, that's great! Have fun!