Takoyaki

Takoyaki, we have 13 port days. (15 day cruise). In theory, does this mean we could book 2 excursions from the ship and only pay the difference?

 

Thanks!!

Wow so jealous!!

when we cruised the credit was applied on the port day as OBC, on the site though it does say

"Shore Excursion Credit can be redeemed by calling 1-866-625-1167 or booking onboard." so maybe you can call and use it in advance. sorry I cant help more

Ok, thank you

hope it helps :)

I have a weird love of watching room videos(I think it psychs me up for a trip)

Did not go to the ice bar, but it did not seem that there was much of a wait to get in when we would walk past. Overall, I did not think that the ship felt crowded at all, and at multiple points, my wife and I commented that it did not seem that there were 4000+ people on board. O'Sheehan's was crowded for one of the World Cup games, and the Atrium could get a little crowded at night, but beyond that, the ship did not feel packed at all. The one exception to that was the pool area during sea days. I don't think that the pool is large enough, and there did seem to be some chair hogging going on. The ropes course was fun, but was only open for small periods of time, which was kind of odd.

 

We got upgraded to the Haven and absolutely loved it. The only real drawback we had to the cruise was that our 12 year old son was not thrilled with the kids club, and he felt that that it definitely was more suited for younger kids. He is in that tweener stage, however, so that may have played a role in that as well!

Awesome! We will be in the haven on the getaway in april.

Was the haven pool busy or the regular pool?

How did you like the haven?

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

 

Question #1- We are currently booked with the bonus of $50/port credit. Does this give us $50 for each excursion, or is it pooled together? ie- is it $50 for our Oslo stop, $50 for our Helsinki stop, etc... or would they just place $650 in our onboard spending account. I suspect we will be a mix of ship excursions and also private.

 

Question #2- If we book the dining promo, we are able to book a few speciality dinners, but it is only for 2. We will be traveling with our children. I thought I read that they are able to join and order off a kids menu? (Is this the case?) We will be on the spirit. If so, do you know the cost to add children?

 

Question #3- When do the excursions become available to view/book?

 

Thanks for your assistance!

Question 1- how are you getting $650? It is $50 total per port per room, not per person. We got the credits each day at port. even though we only booked 2 excursions we got it for all 3 days.

3- I am pretty sure it is about 120 days out.

Had an amazing cruise last week on the Getaway, and would be more than happy to answer any questions.

few questions,

did you go to the ice bar? if so how was it?

how busy were the pool area?

did the ship feel crowded?

what type of room were you in? and how did you like it?

We sailed in a forward Penthouse on the dawn in late October early November last year and absolutely loved the room. we had booked an aft and switched because we heard being back there you can occasionally smell the exhaust(not sure how true it is). If you book aft I would avoid deck 8 as it is right above bliss lounge so you'd likely get noise. deck 10 is below the spa and above 2 floors of rooms so I cant imagine noise being bad.

we were on deck 9 and had no noise issues and only slight rocking once on a rough night at sea.

temperature wise we were happy with a hoodie on our balcony.

We think the suite/haven experience is well worth it, but it depends on how much you would want to use it. the priority boarding and disembarking is awesome. We were in our car on the highway 20 minutes after leaving breakfast. The butler service is so nice for a leisurely trip, dinner en suite or breakfast waiting for you in the morning is nice if youre looking to relax. if you want to be out and about and don't want to use those perks it really all depends on your preference.

The forward rooms are also larger according to the ncl website, both suite and balcony. https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/dawn/deck-plans#dsr2

When you exit the ship and go through customs, they will stamp it for you, just ask when its not so busy.

Even if it's not my final departure?

Think twice before adding unrequired stamps to your passport. You cannot add pages, and if you fill it up with unnecessary stamps, you may be renewing before you want.

I only have 1 stamp and wife and daughter have none. Wife needed a new passport when her name changed. All of ours need renewal in 5 years and we only have 2 international trips planned through summer 19.

Even so I think I just have a romantic vision of a book of stamps of world travel

I do appreciate the heads up though

I tried searching but the threads I found were almost a decade old and had conflicting information.

Does anyone know how I would go about getting a passport stamp on a cruise to Bermuda on NCL?

Thank you so much!

Sadly everyone is right. I wouldn't force it or else you'll stress. I invited a friend to join us with no pressure. Just explained suite/haven experience and showed him the website and he was sold. Even with him having 0 hesitation I still feel slightly responsible for his enjoyment now.

I wouldn't pressure them, but always extend an invite. Just leave it at that though; a no pressure invitation.

When we had the specialty dining it was 1 entree per person and as much apps, soups, salads, desserts as you wanted. I would definitely make reservations for the speciality.

Some specialty still cost more. This is from their site:

Speciality dining packages are honoured in the following speciality restaurants: steakhouses, Churrascarias, French, Teppanyaki, Los Lobos, Q Texas Smokehouse, Margaritaville at Sea and Italian restaurants. Guests who have purchased the package may also choose to dine in other select à la carte priced restaurants, entertainment-based restaurants, Bayamo, Pincho Tapas Bar, and Ocean Blue restaurants, for the following per person upcharges:

Ocean Blue - $10 USD

Bayamo - $10 USD

Cirque Dreams/Illusionarium - $10 USD regular seats/$15 USD premium seats/$35 USD VIP seating on Breakaway

Sushi -$7 USD

Raw Bar - $7 USD (Seafood Platter not included)

Pincho Tapas Bar - $7 USD

Originally posted by cruisegal415 But I'm back to questioning whether it makes sense to have paid double what the cruise would've cost just to get the Haven. Someone reassure me!!

My first ever experience on NCL was in the Haven, through the older, better system of upsell. Since then have sailed twice and not won bids to the haven even up to and slightly above previous asking prices on some categories, this time I too paid more than I normally would have liked to be in the haven but absolutely think it's worth the cost. A regular room can still be awesome because it is after all vacation. But in my opinion, the haven is being spoiled in a way that just can't compare. It's the only way you can guarantee yourself pool, hot tub and lounge away from any type of line or crowd. In our case we just had a baby so we will need the extra space of a haven room bc will probably be spending more time than we otherwise would have in the room. The service the staff provides is exemplary, it's nice to come back to a spread of snacks waiting in the stateroom in the afternoon or being able to get reservations with ease. Going forward I cant imagine going back to a non haven category again.

Congratulations on the new born! I cant speak for haven because it wasn't an option on our sailing with out 6 month old but we did have a suite and I couldn't imagine doing it any other way with an infant. The in room service, priority boarding and disembarking all were insanely useful. You'll be very glad you have those options.

The casino does not close unless you are in a port. Sadly, i’ve been there later than 2 or 2:30.

Winning I hope!

I know a 6 month old is vastly different than a 30 month old but our DD absolutely loved our 7 day cruise 2 weeks after turning 6 months old

We cruised NCL last year and though our daughter was too young the splash academy was raved about by many people we spoke to. A friends kids even beg to cruise because of it.

Thanks for the tips so far everyone! I actually love vacationing with my parents. I usually do it a couple of times a year, but have limited vacation time, so having to choose between vacationing with them or going on cruises is one of the main reasons I want to try to persuade them!

That's very sweet. We tried to get our moms to join us on out last cruise, offered to pay their way too(in a deluxe owners or similiar) but because it was school time and we both have teenage brothers they had to pass :(

I hope your parents join you!

We love cruises because there are endless options, and your dad may be "subsidizing" others on cheap buffet food but if you think about life he is subsidizing people anytime he buys anything and pays tax... your dad can do some awesome excursions in Bermuda too. We liked the glass bottom shipwreck tour. A week of relaxation with 0 worries no groceries no schedule other than fun or relaxation.

Thanks for all the insight and tips! We pulled the trigger and booked this room today, 277 days to go!

277 days! Getaway to Bermuda 4 night out of NY! Can't wait :)

It may have been we didn’t see any because they might have been hiding for safety because of the hurricane that was just there

 

 

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True, every experience is gonna differ.

They weren't super exciting fish per say just a good amount and I only walked to chest deep. Fish or no the water was gorgeous

I didnt snorkel but went to snorkel park last October and saw a bunch of fish just by looking in the water

We are Americans so I know that skews things but I feel like buttler and concierge depend on use. We had all but 1 dinner in our room as well as one breakfast and a few mid day snacks, and our butler was always attentive and friendly, kept pitchers of water and lemonade refreshed without asking etc. We tipped $250. It all depends on use.

NVM found answer

I have pics of both bedrooms on the getaway. Our 15 year old daughter stayed in the room. However, last year our daughter and son in law stayed in there and they said it was fine. I’ve taken pictures of bathrooms and closet space as well so you can compare. Let me know if I can answer any questions. https://gotravellife.com/2018/01/03/about-us/

 

 

 

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Thank you so much! Very helpful.

So you had 2 people in the 2nd bedroom? And they were happy with it?

Also I realized we are doing 60/40 so that's why a penthouse would be much more expensive for them.

Thank you all for the input. The issue with going 70/30 would be that it would make no sense for wife and I as then a penthouse would be hundreds cheaper.

Of course we would share the glorious bathroom with them, I'd be a bad person if I didnt :o

Him and I drink more than our ladies so we would be 1 and 2 for ubp and spend Obc for their drinks. It's only 4 nights. Cant drink that much.

To me separate rooms seems better for them comfort wise by a long shot(ubp for all, big bed, more obc for everyone, more privacy for them). I plan booking Friday so am going to try and convince him.