BirdTravels

Most recently, the spa people have been letting people in. For a while, they would key your room key so that it would open the Thermal Suite door. The Epic has the best Thermal Suite in the fleet. Steamrooms and saunas in the locker rooms (clothing optional - lots of jiggly bits), and coed steamrooms and saunas. Closed relaxation areas. And an outdoors, aft facing balcony.

The Thermal Suite is aft-facing. And Glacier Bay is an all-day event. While it will provide great views and a warm and comfy environment, I am not sure that I could spend the day in there. The Observation Lounge is a better spot, but people will be camping out all night long to hold seats. There, you will have enclosed viewing, comfy seats, light snacks in the OL, the buffet one floor up, private bar, and drinks throughout the day. On the other hand, Glacier Bay is normally a "full winter clothing event" with heavy coats, hats, gloves. Let us know how it goes. We're on the Encore to Glacier Bay later in the season. The link below has some Thermal Suite photos starting on Post #157. The entire thread is a live post from the Encore a couple of weeks ago with photos of the ship. The hydrotherapy pool and jacuzzi are inside and do not provide any good views outside.

French Press,,, yum!

From a cybersecurity perspective, you should never use a public USB port for any smart device (phone, camera, tablet). That includes shopping malls, airports, hotels, and cruise ships. Always use an electric plug in an outlet. Using a public USB port is like clicking on that email that says "You have won a $100 Home Depot gift card" or the text message saying that "Your Netflix account has been disabled".

For that matter, there has been BINGO for a fee on every cruise ship I have ever sailed on for decades. That isn't a nickel or dime,,, more like $50. Now, when we started cruising, there were hard wooden loungers on deck which you had to rent and tip a deck-chair-attendant to set up for you. We didn't consider that a nickel or dime,,, maybe a penny. Lounger rental was even required for those in First Class,,, although the chairs were nicer.

The best advise is to book exactly 120 days prior to departure (12 midnight eastern time). And call as soon as NCL opens in the morning if you are having problems booking online. Onlne reservations open 130 days prior to departure for suites and 125 days for Club Balcony and top-tier Latitudes members.

Your % of pre-cruise reservations is way too low. That being said, the challenge is that you need to board early, which is not always possible if you fly in day of cruise, and hope that there are reservations in the time slots you want available. We have been the first to board and not gotten our preferred dates and time for specialty dining (October 2022 and December 2022 cruises). And have been on cruises where popular restaurants like Cagney's is totally sold out (even the 9:00 pm reservations) for the entire cruise by 1:00 on embarkation day. On our cruise earlier this month, the ship sailed at 120% capacity, and there was high demand for specialty dining and restaurants were sold out for times on most nights.

We hope you are having a lucky cruise! Enjoy!

Your % of pre-cruise reservations is way too low. That being said, the challenge is that you need to board early, which is not always possible if you fly in day of cruise, and hope that there are reservations in the time slots you want available. We have been the first to board and not gotten our preferred dates and time for specialty dining (October 2022 and December 2022 cruises). And have been on cruises where popular restaurants like Cagney's is totally sold out (even the 9:00 pm reservations) for the entire cruise by 1:00 on embarkation day. On our cruise earlier this month, the ship sailed at 120% capacity, and there was high demand for specialty dining and restaurants were sold out for times on most nights. The best advise is to book exactly 120 days prior to departure (12 midnight eastern time). And call as soon as NCL opens in the morning if you are having problems booking online.

Yeah. Booze. First class hooch.

Consider the price of eggs. Pre-pandemic, we could buy a dozen eggs for $0.79. Earlier this year, it was over $6.00/dozen. Now about $4.50/dozen. Consider every product on the ship that take eggs,,, let alone the eggs consumed at the buffet each morning 😞. But, people expect the cruise line to continue to sell cruises at pre-pandemic prices. Even our local McD has jumped the price of an egg mcmuffin by 75% over the past few months.

You know that they won't do that. Haven guests are not allowed to carry food anywhere on the ship,,, you need to have your butler deliver it to you. I am half serious about that. Last year, we were running to a show and asked to take our desserts from the Haven restaurant to our room,,, 20 steps out the restaurant door. They insisted that the night butler do that... which they didn't. So, after our show, I went back and asked for desserts to take back to our room and the Maitie D had to carry the two plates of cake to our room, 20 steps away. On a separate day, we had left over sushi and grabbed the plate to take with us. It was like the world had come to an end. Our waiter had to carry the plate for us to our room. The restaurant manager said that they would get in soooo much trouble if the concierge saw us carrying a dragon roll into the Haven.

If you can not book online, then call and (***gasp***) talk to a live agent to make reservations. Other are and taking the prime time reservations.

There is an alternative

It officially opens at sail away time. Until then, they will have tour groups going through the Thermal Suite. And... they don't want you laying there while they try and sell passes. They will have coed tour groups going through the locker rooms.

Then cancel the upgrade and drink “regular” booze like 97% of the other passengers onboard. You can use the money you saved to buy an upgraded drink a few times during the cruise.

No way of telling when the show will be shown. Entertainment reservations open 21 days prior to departure. Dinner reservations open 120 days prior to departure. It is highly recommended that you book as soon as dining reservations open,,, prime time dining at popular restaurants will sell out quickly once reservations open. Right now, they show plays on two nights at 7:00 and 9:30 each night. If you eat early, you can always make the late show.

No. Specialty ding credits are non transferable. They have to be used by the person with the credit. You need to buy your daughter her own package.

Yeah, but $500 room charge has a $25 service charge. The ATM will charge you $7 service charge.

It’s basic supply and demand. There is a pent up demand to travel. It is the same throughout the hospitality industry. Airlines are having all time high bookings,,, higher than pre-COVID and,,,, like the cruise industry are charging what the market will tolerate.

So,,, when you went to Guest Services, did you find out exactly where the drinks were being charged or double charged? They don't disappear from your account, someone has to be removing them. Find out what you're doing or what you are saying that is causing them to be double-removed from your account.

While it is very late now, jump on a quick cruise this weekend so that you get the diamond benefits on your long cruise. Something we would have done earlier.

Every Vegas casino will sell you their used cards. Cards are nice because they are near-new since they don't ever let them get worn or marked.

SIX is an excellent show. Show up when the theater opens (30 minutes before show time) and get a seat front and center. We recently saw it on another NCL ship,,, and the seats that we got would have cost us $300-$400 per person on Broadway. We like the Jersey Boys because it is music from our past. You can still sign up for Comedy shows when you embark. The last three cruises we have been on (including one 2 weeks ago), the NCL app and touch screen reservations systems at elevator lobbies did not have all of the shows loaded when we embarked and we ended up standing in line at The Social.

Tip in cash. Be careful since a lot of non-refundable onboard credit can't be used for gratuities.