hallux

refundable OBC can be used for anything you'd charge to your room. non-refundable has restrictions - can't be used for tips, DSC or CruiseNext (there may be more but these are the big ones).

Occasionally a pianist or vocalist (or a duo) but otherwise it's a quiet place to relax and enjoy the views as you sail.

Don't worry, they'll all be ensconced in their private Haven area or in the Vibe, for which their Haven concierge got them passes. You'll never see them unless they decide to go to one of the specialty restaurants. lol From this usually solo cruiser, they get the solo program right, hands-down. I've thoroughly enjoyed my 3 cruises on NCL and plan on more. Sadly, I can go only once a year.

The Joy had 4-tops against the aft windows in the Manhattan Room in March..

For the MDR - only the first night. Once you've dined with people once they'll have it in the computer that you dine together and ask if the other room(s) are with you. On my last cruise I started dining on the second night with some people I met on the first day, after the first time we dined together cards for both rooms were not needed except in specialty venues, they simply asked if both cabins were there.

Interesting - on MY last cruise my card was somehow swiped for something that cost money at The Local during sail away, while I was on deck. It was relatively quickly reversed though, once I let guest services know...

Then there IS hope. Think positive (for a negative test)

Boston to Bermuda? The Bermuda travel authorisation (yes, I used their spelling) requires a negative PCR test, right? That's going to be unlikely at less than 2 weeks from positive test. Is it possible? Yes, but quite unlikely. Some patients can test positive on PCR tests for 2-3 months.

When I boarded in March they guided us directly to our muster stations to check in before doing anything else...

I didn't realize that. That explains why it wasn't in my room in March..

Add me to the count of "decline it". I'm their least-favorite customer - I don't drink or gamble, I'm simply there for the ride, 'hotel room' and food, oh, and the amazing camaraderie among guests! I drink water, from the tap in the room or whatever the bartender puts in the glass.

This is not exclusive to NCL, ALL lines are supposed to charge tax on drinks where applicable. Some may play games with it so as not to charge the taxes (I've heard some wait until outside the boundary to 'charge' the account for the drinks so the taxes don't apply), but taxes on drinks are certainly not NCL's fault. As for the short stop in Victoria - it's more of a procedural stop than anything, to satisfy the PVSA.

If I may suggest something - include cruise line or ship when asking these kinds of questions. Knowing what lines sail out of that home port (Cape Liberty) I was able to deduce which sites to look at, but it took some searching to find that cruise as I had the wrong line initially.

Could be worse - you could have been on a Royal Caribbean cruise that was cancelled because they decided to simply change ship deployments. Point is - it can happen on ANY cruise line (and, yes, I DID refer to this thread in that one)...

Someone created a similar thread on the NCL section because NCL cancelled a cruise in favor of a charter. Same reaction, swearing off NCL forever...

Fair enough. That's also a little different line and is less susceptible to chartering anyway. However, you can't tell me that a charter couldn't convince Cunard to cancel bookings and do the charter if given the chance...

Well, that explains it. I asked about moving my March sailing to the TA I used for one of my trips in 2019 but I went to her first. She asked for the info about the reservation but then I never heard back. It was a short time frame from booking to sailing, might have had something to do with it also.

I'm not saying it's right. A contract that the pax. agreed to, and one that actually says cancellation of the cruise is a possibility.

I challenge you to find a cruise line that won't cancel a publicly-available cruise in favor of a charter. Don't worry, I'll wait.

This happens all the time... Is it a disappointment? Sure, but there's nothing you can do about it.

NCL has this on some of the newer ships (Bliss, Joy and I think Encore, and may be on others), called Maltings, I think it's primarily whiskey...

As a solo cruiser I'd like to at least see a better way to find pricing for one person. NCL's page at least allows me to select one person right on the filters on the front page, shows me the lowest fare for a solo and offers right away the Studio cabin rather than having to find it within the inside or balcony cabin types as Royal requires. Oh, and RCI's website does NOT work in Chrome on my work (Windows) or home computers (Mac). When it was free or reduced airfare (rather than BOGO 50%) a solo had to pay the full solo supplement, but it still only cost me $60 more to sail in a balcony WITH the reduced airfare and full supplement compared to a Studio with my own airfare. I'll take the balcony, thanks. On NCL they seem to have pseudo-dropped the checkout. When I sailed in March I had to ask the person if they needed my room number (they had a clipboard for it), and getting off at ports seemed to have no log of who was taking one or dropping them when they come back. Maybe it was due to reduced capacity? Did they just not really care? When I did my first NCL cruise there was a towel left in the room all week, but I imagine I'd have been charged for it if it "disappeared". Yup, this is one of the reasons I've done my last 3 on NCL (though, ironically, 2 of those 3 were in balconies). Royal has so few solo rooms and such a minimal (if ANY) solo 'program' it's just not worth my time/money to try booking one of those elusive rooms! The NCL ships with Studio cabins have 80+ of them, not 12 like on Royal! The lounge is a nice place to hang out, if it's a less-warm itinerary. If Royal improved on the solo stuff (including some noted above) I'd consider them if I was going on my own. During normal times NCL has a dedicated 'Solo host' from the CD staff that helps to organize group dinners and activities, and scheduled nightly gatherings before dinner.

That's most likely. Just "talks" right now, when things finalize I'm sure there will be an announcement.