Sand and Seas

@trinity91, great review! We will be back on the Prima again soon. Really enjoyed your perspective on the ship & the ports. Thanks for posting😎

If you want maximum comps, talk to a host about your options before playing your points as Freeplay. In the past I have on occasion played my points and received some additional comps. However, I have learned my best comps are without converting to Freeplay. I have been Ruby tier with CAS for many years. Talking to the hosts on board has always worked well for me.

I don't know what their calculations are, but I do know a friend that had about 2500 points which would have been $25 of FreePlay but they gave her about $90 off her bill. It can depend on what type of items you have charged to your onboard account. I believe it's easier for them to comp something like food charges but many of us have been sent to the gift shop for an additional $XXX for them to comp. I have gotten jewelry, watches, handbags and cosmetics comped that last evening. If you have 5000 points, that is $50 Freeplay or a $250 CasinoNext certificate. It is usually noted in the FreeStyle Daily that you can convert 2500 or more points to comps off your bill and 5000 or more points to CasinoNext certificates.

With 20,000 tier points earned, you can get two $500 CASNext certificates for $1000 off of cruises. I just used same to pay for my next comped Haven daily service charges and port fees. Visit with hosts on board early in cruise.They ask me what wine, chocolates, etc. I would prefer that cruise. If you are Sapphire you will also have $200 OBC to start with each cruise. Ruby has $400. This is prior to last night comps. If you choose CASNEXT certificates that replaces additional onboard comps. Since I start with $400 OBC I usually get the CASNEXT certificates now.

Same for us. Cruise four times a year and we have never had the Yellow tags delivered to us. Always have to go to Guest Services or CruiseNext desk to pick them up.

Was your original Balcony a casino comp? The 90 sounds like the base price for insurance if your cruise cost is only paying the $20 pp/per day admin fee. Then, if we pay for an upgrade, the new insurance cost is based on our new 'cost' of the cruise. Recently, we did a $200 per person/$400 upgrade through CAS. Our insurance is now $150 total (75 per person.)

For most, they open at 21 days out. (Higher tiers 26 days out.) Choir of Man was awesome on our cruise earlier this month. Enjoy😎

I believe the two 20 OBC credits were for missing GSC as we had them credited to our bill also. They were added on the same day as the missed port. Choir of Man was excellent. For a ten day cruise i was surprised they were only scheduled on two nights. it was nice that the Beatles group had a couple of shows in the theater along with the cavern club.

When we were on board the Joy, the entire players tracking system was down for a couple of hours the last day of the cruise. We were advised we could play but wouldn't be given credit until the tracking system was back up. No additional tier points were awarded.

We love to cruise from New Orleans. Very happy to see NCL increase the number of cruises from there😎

Yes, we upgraded from balcony to club balcony on a 11 day Prima. There is an older thread detailing ours and others experience with Diamond upgrades. It wasn't easy but it worked. Good luck !

We have stayed in this category several times without an issue. Love the huge balconies and it's easy to get to venues on decks 6,7 and 8.

Can't wait to hear more about your cruise. Glad you made it to Galveston on time!

I'm onboard Encore now. I was at guest services earlier and saw them talking to an unhappy guy. GS was showing him a lengthy list of those who were cancelled. I think they were offering him $50 OBC which doesn't seem like enough to me🤨. I feel sorry sorry for those who planned on Vibe.

I've never seen a website listing machines on a cruise ship. You could try searching for a video of a "NCL Epic ship tour". (Look for ones that have posted in the last few months or last year.) They usually walk through the casino and you would see some of the variety of machines available.

We have stayed at Hampton Inn Blue lagoon two or three times a year pre-cruise. Yes, they have a free shuttle from the airport. Then, once you check in, you can sign up for the shuttle to Port of Miami for $10 per person. They usually have two or three times to choose from. You could call their front desk for details. It's located across the street from a Publix and several other stores. We have found this location very convenient pre-cruise.

We enjoyed our stay at Ink48. Very close to Manhattan cruise terminal. We ended up just rolling our luggage over day of embarkation.

Yes, same for us. We are on Encore later in two weeks and it shows as complimentary on the app. (Our Joy cruise in the fall still says a la carte)

I noticed a few of the items are exactly the same as at the Local. (Wrangler burger, Cuban pork, Chicken salad sandwich.) The only time the American Diner seems to be somewhat busy is first day for Haven lunch overflow. While I would miss the Lobster roll sliders, I think it's a great idea to move this venue back to complimentary. (Still mourning the loss of the old Flamingo Grill on the Getaway, and was it called Uptown Grill on Breakaway??)

I hope you'll enjoy the Prima! We also find it fun to get 'lost' and wander around a new ship. It took most of our 11 day cruise on her to find our way around....and then we would still get a little lost! As soon as we got home we booked another trip on her for this spring. Are you planning to stay an extra day or two in Galveston? It's a lovely island. We enjoyed wandering the downtown Strand area. Hope you have a wonderful cruise😎

You also might get a Haven bid but still not be happy with the room assigned. On our last Haven cruise we talked with a couple who had 'won' a Forward Facing PH Haven but were surprised to learn it wasn't like the ones pictured. The regular FF Haven has two rooms plus a great bathroom. They were awarded the handicapped room that was one large accessible room plus accessible bath. They were very happy to be able to enjoy the Haven amenities. However they were somewhat disappointed that their cabin wasn't like the videos they had seen of other FF Haven cabins.

I'm hopeful they still have the complimentary breakfast available in the American Diner. Much easier than navigating the buffet in the morning.

Oh yeah.....this review is going to be fun to keep an eye on🧐

We have carried it out also. Perhaps it is legal since it is not 'sold' to us🤔. It's a complimentary bottle that comes with our Platinum dinner.

@Cruise Bliss, In regards to your hubby not drinking Starbucks, I don't think it's required for you to both buy the package. (I often purchase Soda package for myself only after boarding.)