BirdTravels

NCL RFID cards have chips/antenna, magnetic stripes, and a bar code (all three) so that it can be used on doors, iPad readers used by waiters, points of sale, hand scanners.

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. It is all Fake News. People like to complain anonymously because it makes them feel empowered. We have sailed on the Escape 5 times and have another cruise on the Escape scheduled soon. We were on the Encore last month and it sailed over 120% capacity. After 2 years, it felt like cruising is getting back to “normal”. And we had a great time. Do you have to wait for an elevator from time to time,,, sure. That is “normal” cruising on any cruise line. Did we try to get into every show,,, no, but that, too, is normal,,, you need to plan and can’t just walk at show time. Go on your cruise. Enjoy your cruise. We will soon!

NCL does not have to do anything. What you suggest is like McD putting a warning on their coffee cup that coffee is hot. You want every ShoreEx ticket to come with 20 pages of warnings about what happens in nature? rocks on road? Branches in trees that scratch? Bugs that bite? Look both ways before crossing the street? Don’t forget to tip?

Call and give the agent her latitudes number.

ISP is a poor substitution. There really isn’t much there. We called at ISP on the Quantum last year. We ended up paying $45 pp to go up to the top of the mountain, which had not been developed yet. And stayed there because there was a cell tower (unlike the dock).

There is no consistency between waiters. We were on the Encore a couple of weeks ago and we were offered an app, salad, entree and dessert for both vouchers in Cagney’s and Le Bistro. We’ll be sailing again this month and see what they say.

This and disembarking passengers do a reality check that their cruise is over and they need to get out of their cabins (so that they can be turned). And then gorge themselves at the buffet on last time, then get off the ship. Party time has come to an end.

A sleep aide. It will be critical to get over the 6 hour time difference if you are going to enjoy your cruise. Else you will be falling asleep in your dinner soup and wandering the ship at 2 am for the rest of the night.

Fortunately, the OP can forget about passports since the won’t leave the US.

80% is definitely Fake News. The call center people have zero insight to that number. The can only they’ll you “it’s sold out, don’t yell at me,,,,, there is 80% onboard if you stop yelling at me,,, can I sell you a Plus beverage package”.

Yes. They are preventing people from booking overlapping shore excursions, then complaining that they were allowed to make impossible bookings.

You are correct. Each room steward has more rooms to turn. We’re just off the Encore and it was somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30 when they opened the rooms. And there were continual admonishments to stay out of the rooms until they were available.

The FAS credit and the vouchers are the same. Pick the restaurant you want to pick up your wine at. Yes, just tell them not to open the bottle and that you are taking it with you. There is no longer a strategy based on recent changes to both programs.

Just a lazy waiter. Rather than going through the effort to modify the cake order to include ice cream, it was easier just to hit the Ice Cream button on the order tablet.

Because it is a legal item to be brought into a cruise ship.

On your MyNCL account 1) Click on EXPLORE AND PLAN 2) On the left navigation bar, select SHORE EXCURSIONS 3) On the left navigation bar, select the port you are interested in 4) Above the shore excursions, use the display drop down to change from display 12 to display all 5) Use the Sort drop down to sort by price low to high

The Bird has researched the topic in the past. As stated, it has always worked this way. 120 mins are blocked on your schedule. So, if you have a 5:30 dinner, everything from 5:30 to 7:30, inclusive is blocked. 7:31 is the earliest you could book a show. You could not book a 7:30 show. You could book a 7:45 comedy show (when you used to be able to do that in advance). For simplicity, it is ok if you say 2.5.

It was a combined shampoo / conditioner on the Encore two weeks ago.

Head shot. Facing directly at the camera. No glasses or head covering (although they have added a tick box for that). Plain background. Photo resolution. Your contact information. Your emergency contact information. Your credit card. Your proof of citizenship (passport info). You need to watch the safety video once for each person you are checking in. If you want a early port check-in time, do your check in at midnight eastern time, exactly 21 days to departure.

Anywhere you want. On some ships, Prima, you can not use the wine certificate at some restaurants, Palomar, because they don’t stock the freebie wines.

You can probably move it easily. (1) large group dining takes a long time. No one is ever on time holding up the entire group. You are limited by the slowest person in the table. Plan on 2.5 hours. (2) We have found that having one or two group dinners is as much as most can tolerate. With the large number of dining venues, activities, and plans ashore and on the ship, no one wants to get “stuck” eating together every night. And they will resent the organizer for “ruining their vacation” by imposing group dinners.

We always book a room on the top deck under the pool deck. We don’t have any issue with that. If you’re going to sit up all night with a log book for every noise you potentially could hear, then you will get some noise… kids running, music from the pool party. Passengers (not crew) moving chairs to hog them.

Thanks for a great, unbiased, review of the good and bad.

If you bring your own, you are limited to 3 oz. Best just to use the 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner provided by the cruise line. We do.

Google it.