Tree_skier

We are veteran Royal Caribbean cruisers who are trying our first NCL cruise. We are booked on POA and I am trying to understand the Hawaii beverage package that was included with our booking. I am used to just being able to order anything and everything I want and only worrying about the cost of drinks that exceed the maximum $13. I rarely exceeded that $13. NCL's package goes to $15 so all is good. However, It appears that NCL HBP only does not include Latte's, which I love in the morning, and my wife drinks repeatedly all day, unless ordered in the main dining room. My question is can you just walk into the MDR and order a latte and walk out with it without having a meal? What about at the buffet, is there any option for lattes or cappuccino there? What is the MDR hours that would allow this? What about in specialty restaurants? Does the package include specialty coffee there? I'm sure I'll have more questions later on but this is good first start. Thanks for the help. 🙂

I imagine there might be a little less restraint than had I been paying cash for everything but I’ll find out for sure on my next one in August to Alaska. This will be our first cruise as diamond. I’m going to use the vouchers for the expensive drinks and pay cash for for Latte’s and bottles of Strongbow I drink. Also, I have preordered a 24 pack of water for the room. I’ll total up the cost and compare it to the $66 a day I would have spent on the package. That will determine my future decisions.

It distinguishes between fresh from concentrate and fresh from an actual orange.

Once you have tried their fresh squeezed OJ. It is hard to go back to that yellow liquid they call OJ in the windjammer. 🙂

Oh there is no doubt that the refreshment package is cheaper. I was just explaining how I get and calculate value for the DBP. On my last cruise aboard Odyssey in February I had the DBP and I got it for $60 a day. My week long total, if calculated as paying cash, would have been over double that (8x60=480). My point is that you don't have to stagger around drunk all day to get great value out the DBP. I sleep in, and don't stay up till 2am and still get very good value out of the package.

One of my strategies is asking for a bottle of water when you order a drink. Over the course of the first few of days I like to load my cabin refrigerator with waters so that I have plenty for the entire week. On port days I load up my rucksack with with waters for both myself and DW and we stay well hydrated during any tour/excursion we are on. At $3 a bottle it really helps take a chunk out of the overall cost of the DBP. Another strategy, if you like OJ, is to make sure you always order the fresh squeezed OJ from one of the servers in the Windjammer at breakfast. If you are an OJ snob like me you will really appreciate the difference between what they serve to the masses vs. the good fresh squeezed stuff. The OJ is $5 a glass one of those each morning also help to get good value. My final strategy for getting value out of the package is... DON'T DRINK WINDJAMMER COFFEE! Pick up a Latte or a Cappuccino in the morning before heading in to breakfast. The two weakest parts of Royal's beverage game are their regular coffee and the previously mentioned OJ. Stay away from them. Welcome to cruise critic.

It's a strategy... just not a very good one.

We did this exact itinerary in February 2022. I absolutely loved it. Odyssey is a great ship and there is plenty to do onboard so the sea days were no problem for us. Great entertainment, lots of great specialty dining options and a fantastic crew made it a trip to remember. Nassau is Nassau, we just walked around and shopped a little and then were back on board for a late lunch at Playmakers. However, Aruba and Curacao were great stops that we enjoyed very much. I did a sort of semi-live review back in February if you want to take a look. Also, if you have any specific questions I'd be glad to answer anything. EDIT: I just noticed that yours goes to Labadee instead of Nassau. That will be a great trip, enjoy!

Thank you. I’ve been absent from this one for quite a while now too.

As always great live review

It's my understanding that you still cannot take the train or fly domestically unless vaccinated. Is that still correct or have I missed some late breaking news?

Unless you work in healthcare for the state of California. Then you are required to come to work even if you are covid positive.

I couldn't imagine losing weight of a cruise... I eat and drink way to much! I used to try get the steps in to minimize the damage but with the knee starting fail over the last year. The last three cruises have been catastrophic for my weight.

I'm always amazed that people have such low expectations for kids. The behavior that kids exhibit is directly correlated with the expectations their parents have for them. Don't expect much, you won't get much. Your lack of expectation breeds contempt. That contempt manifests itself in the behavior most find distasteful.

Will you switch lines or will move up to Voyager class ships.

You should check out Facebo0k too. It has a wealth of sound medical advice that could help you.

This is my favorite post on this thread. @not-enough-cruising really needs google to help with basic healthcare information.

The two things I miss the most about not living in Canada is easy availability of Poutines and Tim Hortons Canadian Maple Donut.

Back before I was full-time US resident when I would fly within the US with my BC Canada enhanced drivers license I was told they didn't accept them about 50% of the time and that I needed a passport. I had it down to a science. TSA has two books that show acceptable forms of ID. I would take them to the exact page that showed them it was acceptable. I'm not sure that TSA gives all that much training to their agents. I think, in total, it's about 3 weeks.

I loved the little fried Cannolis at Giovanni's. Had them three times over the week.

Make sure you have their poutine. I didn't expect it but It was fantastic.

Any idea why some of my cruises show "MY SAILING" on my reservations and some do not?

Sadly, I didn't know they had a food menu or we would have added that to our lunch plans. Neither of us are wine drinkers so we spent no time in the wine bar and missed out. Next time for sure. We're on Ovation next, is Vintages menu similar?

On Odyssey we split our time between Playmakers and the Pub. We had one lunch at Giovanni's.

Fav: Bacon... Worst: French fries. I'm sure there are other things I don't like but I never try those.