AtlantaCruiser72

And British Airways, and Virgin ... the list goes on

NCL does not control airlines seat assignment policies. Many airlines only offer free seat assignments at check-in and any seat assignments done in advance will incur a fee. If sitting together, and not paying for that privilege, are important then do not book the NCL promo and book your own air on a carrier that does not charge for advance seat assignments. It really is that simple of a choice.

Just checked my 11/13/22 sailing on the Beyond with the new "sale" - would be exactly $100pp more than our current fare but we'd get $100pp in additional OBC, so a wash and not worth the hassle of changing. with Royal/Celebrity a "sale" is rarely ever an actual sale ....

I did my search based on double occupancy. The categories marked WLT in orange are either sold out or are not available for double occupancy booking and as such will show same price in both columns, so those need to be ignored. Only the categories that show AVL or GTY in green followed by a number in parenthesis (which represents the # of available rooms) are actually available to book for double occupancy, and for those you can see the significant difference in pricing between Best Rate and STANDARD

Here's a screenshot of suite availability for a random 2023 sailing on the Allure (5.7.23) from the Travel Agent booking system. So yes, it's still possible though usually not at all beneficial financially. "STANDARD" is the rate code used for fully refundable deposit suite bookings and may or may not combine with other discounts/offers. The "Best Rate" represents the NRD fare along with any other discounts/promos available in the market.

Refundable deposits for suites have always been available - either by calling the contact center, your PVP, or booking through a knowledgeable travel agent. That said they come at a significant increase in price, even more so than non-suite categories.

I don't have all the details, but the NRD (non-refundable deposit) program terms are changing effective June 1st. Any reservations made on or after June 1st 2022 booked with a NRD that are cancelled prior to final payment will no longer receive FCC (less the $100pp admin fee), the full amount of the deposit will now be forfeit. No word on what happens with the NRD if a client wants to change ship/date prior to final payment. Any reservations made on or before 5/31/2022 will still follow the existing guidelines for future changes/cancellations. This was given to agents in my company via an internal email, not a corporate communication from Royal. If I get more details I will come back and post on this thread.

I was thinking more along the lines of when Pooh got stuck in Rabbit ‘s hole and had to be starved out, but same idea.

Despite the fact that is is cringingly sexist, culturally insensitive, and woefully dated in many other ways “The Love Boat” remains my all time favorite tv show. It is what drove me to want to cruise in the first place, and still today makes me want to continue cruising. What it did more than anything else was sell the romance, wonder, and glamour of cruise travel as a way to explore the world and expand my cultural horizons.

Margaritaville is not a traditional cruise in any sense of the word - more a gambling barge/party boat/ferry as they only go to Freeport and back and offer tie ins with timeshares most likely. That said they would be in the budget category. I forgot about Disney & Virgin, but would place them both in premium mainstream.

I generally break down the industry as follows (In terms of brands popular with US travelers): Budget: Carnival, Costa, MSC Mainstream: NCL, Princess, Royal Caribbean, P&O (both UK and Australia) Premium Mainstream: Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America Ultra Premium / Luxury Light: Azamara, Oceania, Viking Luxury: Regent, Ritz Carlton, Seabourn, Silversea (and Crystal before they sadly went out of business) Boutique/Expedition: American Cruise Lines, American Queen , Lindblad, Paul Gaugin, Ponant, Seadream, Windstar, etc.

Holland = Oldsmobile ? LOL

The deviation date is the date you wish to ARRIVE into the port city. So if your cruise leaves on a Sunday and you do a 2 day deviation that means you will arrive Friday. Now just when on the requested arrival date you will get there is anyones guess until flight schedules are given by NCL. It could be 1205am or 1155pm, or anywhere in between. Most hotels in Europe will store bags until rooms ready (typically 3-5pm) should you have early morning arrival. If early check-in is a must, reserve an additional hotel night and contact directly them so they mark your record with your anticipated arrival time once you get your flight schedule. This will prevent cancellation as a “no-show”

With Royal Caribbean Group bean counter math it is! You raise the price significantly, then apply a discount so that the sale price is more than the pre-sale price.

Duplicate post

Celebrity CashCow 🤑

The press release is poorly worded. Looking at Princess.com specialty coffee and small bottles of water still included. I do expect bar menu prices to go up so that a number of spirits and wines currently included in Princess plus to now fall under premier

Absolutely stunning photos! I wasn’t much excited by Edge/Apex, but all of the changes made for Beyond have convinced me to book her for 2023! Your photo review reinforced that I have made the correct decision.

Nothing announced yet. Based on previous years they might come out later this month or in June, but that's not a "firm" timeline.

Not to sound unempathetic, but these kinds of changes are why I always recommend flying in at least 1 day early and not trying to book the earliest return flight home post cruise. Hopefully those booked in day of can reschedule for earlier flights, or a day early, if needed.

Currently Island and Coral Princess are the only two Princess ships capable of transiting the historical locks. All other ships will transit the new locks. This is regardless of whether the ship itself is doing a partial or full canal transit. If doing the partial transit on Princess you have a unique opportunity to experience the new locks from the ship in the morning then do the ferry boat excursion through the historic locks that afternoon. Really the best of both worlds and you get to experience the full canal in one day.

Yes you can. However many agents are no longer accepting casino comp bookings as the commission is a very small fixed amount. If they are willing to book the offer they will need the specific campaign code. Princess Casino dept wants IMMEDIATE full payment of any items not covered by the comp (non-refundable deposit, taxes, fee to upgrade to higher room category, Princess plus upgrade if not included in offer, etc). They will begrudgingly give a price quote to your agent but really they want everything priced/booked in one call. Hold times have been in the range of 2-3hrs to get a Casino agent. Best bet - talk to your agent and develop a strategy and go from there.

All of this is what happens when you hire a designer who has never cruised, has no clue what cruisers need/want, and has no intention of ever using the spaces she designs. Her choices may work in hip, urban boutique hotels where guests are choosing accommodation more for style/bragging rights than function, but on a cruise ship they are an utter and epic fail!

Standard insurance does not reimburse penalties for adoptions, the only thing that would have covered them was if the insurance plan has a "cancel for any reason" benefit . If they do not have cancel for any reason insurance the latest they can request to cancel under the Cruise With Confidence policy and get FCC would be 3 days from sailing departure date. Otherwise any and all cancels are subject to the penalty in place at time of cancel. Any monies not witheld as penalty are refunded to their original for of payment (be that a credit card or an FCC). Whether Guest Relations would make an exception and issue FCC for the amount held in penalty would have to be discussed with them after cancelling.