JamieLogical

Concierge class doesn't get you a lot from what I can tell. Access to a concierge who might be able to help you with reservations and suck onboard? Champaign in your room one day. And I do think the room locations are sometimes better on some ships? Cruise Only rate is the same as NCL's Sail Away rare, except you still get to choose your room. Aqua Class gets you dinners in Blu instead of the MDR. Note: Blu is only open for dinner. I think the "Edge" stateroom is just the infinite varanda option? Coming from NCL myself, I would definitely take the Always Included. The tips alone add up a lot. On NCL, you have to pay the daily service charge and the tips on the drink package and specialty dining. I believe that totals up to something like $40/day/person? I think it's $16/day for DSC, $20/ day for drinks, and $27/week for dining? So don't forget to tack those onto your Prima calculations. For anytime dining, you can make reservations ahead of time or just show up. If you do the specialty dining, you can book your reservations ahead of time online as well. Unlike NCL, specialty coffees from the onboard coffee shop and bottled water are included in the classic drink package. Cookies and pastries from the coffee shop are also included.

Shouldn't be a problem as long as you are before final payment.

I don't recall there being a designated Haven seating area in there. When I was last on the Breakaway a year ago, there was just one big line outside the door that started forming 45+ minutes before the show.

My experience has been that, if you want a filet, Le Bistro consistently has the best filet on any NCL ship. Also, their French Onion soup is insanely good!

I attribute my sound sleep on cruises to all the after-dinner cocktails.... and the after-lunch cocktails.... and the after-breakfast cocktails.... and the before breakfast cocktails....

Just tried To øl mexican hot chocolate stout at my local pub and it is delicious!

Oh, yeah it is. Darn! Edit: I checked flight prices for another cruise a couple week's later and they are still over $500, so not much cheaper.

I was just poking at a solo cruise in February, but flights are stupidly expensive. I was getting round trip flights to MIA/FLL for under $200 last March. How is it now over $600 for a February flight?!?!

Where is "here"?

Ha! We have a few Dolphins fans where I work and they definitely have it rough.

I hate IPAs.

As far as I know, only the smoked Zacapa was over the limit of the Premium package.

That is 100% my plan.

Left Hand Milk Stout is terrible. Goose Island Bourbon Country was decent.

As I mentioned, I prefer craft beer. But when it comes to Stouts specifically, my favorite is called Evil Twin, Even More Jesus.

Um... Guinness is not good beer.

I can't wait until we are retired and can book these last-minute deals!

Alaska in October is even worse than Canada & NE in October (for which I am already planning to just stay on the ship BTW.) There are always last-minute deals to be had on every line. Still wouldn't want to pay $1400+ to stay on the ship for a week. Not when I can pay under $1000 to stay on the ship for a week in Canada & New England instead. 😋

OMG! How did I forget decent toilet paper?!?!? I am pretty picky about my toilet paper at home (Charmin Ultra Strong). I even bring some with me whenever I take road trips/land-based driving vacations. Fun Fact: On our first cruise together, some guy coming out of one of the men's public restrooms said to my husband, "They got that John Wayne toilet paper. It don't take sh** from no one."

I definitely miss my cats as well!

I finally had a little time to do a mock booking with both lines. I decided to try for a Bermuda sailing in June, as my husband and I like to try to get to Bermuda at least once a year. I picked the cheapest June sailing to Bermuda our of NYC/NJ on each line (they were not the exact same week). Both are 7-day sailings. I chose an angled balcony on both ships, as that is what we always try to book, no matter which line we are sailing. Total check-out price on Celebrity was $3747.54. Total check-out price on NCL plus the $16/day/person DSC was $3849.38. So pricing is pretty comparable. This has been my experience since the restart. My husband and I try to cruise together 3-4 times a year. We usually pick a month/time-range we are looking to cruise. Plug that into our favorite cruise search site, compare the basic prices and itineraries to get a rough idea of which cruises we are interested in, and then do a full mock booking to get an actual price for the specific cabin we would actually book. Every spreadsheet I have done to calculate the total price of a cruise (including flights/hotels/parking) has put Celebrity and NCL just about even, with the exception of our Alaska cruise we did the first week of September. That would have been MUCH more expensive on NCL, but also would have been on one of their newer ships and would have included Glacier Bay. We decided to just save the money and sail on one of Celebrity's older ships to Dawes Glacier.

I have always upgraded to the Premium Beverage Package for three reasons. 1) I drink Bailey's in my coffee twice a day. 2) I don't like having to think/worry about what I order. 3) World Class Bar.

If you are on one of the larger ships, as soon as you get onboard, go to one of the touch screens near the elevator banks to make you show reservations.

Potato chips for sure. My husband always ends up wasting OBC in the shop onboard to buy Pringles. I sometimes miss my streaming channels if I am having a "down day" and just want to veg out in my stateroom. But most of the time I don't even bother turning the TV to anything other than the Navigation channel on a cruise. Buffalo Chicken. I know they have wings at O'Sheehan's/The Local on NCL, but I don't eat meat on a bone. So I miss things like boneless wings, wing dip, and Buffalo chicken pizza while cruising. I live in Rochester, NY so we have everything from Buffalo chicken omelets to Bufalo chicken quesadillas everywhere you go. The BIGGEST thing I miss though is good beer! I am a total craft beer snob and stick mostly to porters and stouts with the occasional Scotch Ale. Even the NCL ships with District Brew House don't have any decent (by my standards) beers. At home, I literally drink beer every day. On a cruise, I try to get the most out of my drink package with cocktails.

I would have been pretty mad if they were scheduled to show the Bills game and you put on the Seahawks game instead. Was the Bills game still at least showing in other places onboard?