hallux

11 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

And perhaps the cruise could be 2 7-day cruises that start in one port and end in a different

Can't do that with US ports unless one of them is a repositioning with a stop in South America.

13 hours ago, complawyer said:

these cruisers are people i would personally love to have along, you and mrs schmoopie, rocketman, traveling man, chiefmate jrk, cruiseny4life and husband, and of course bird travels.

well... I see how I rate with you!!  haha

Jokes aside...  Might be cool.  I agree that it might be good as a >7 day cruise.  I loved my 2 weeks this year, but I skew to a younger demographic (I'm 44, a cruise that has an avg. age of 70+ isn't really my thing!!) so I'm trying to figure out how to swing a B2B or S2S for my next one so I get more time on board but get younger folks.

14 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

(assuming we make it that far. Once you hit 70, you just never know).

My dad turns 81 this year, they embark in 2 weeks on a TA (I have to drive them and another couple the 3-4 hours to port), his birthday is during the cruise.  

1 hour ago, stellarose33 said:

following this thread . doing NCL getaway to Bermuda next summer. newbie to NCL and very nervous about the dining, reservations, etc.

 

 

Just need to scroll through threads in this forum, most of these questions are asked and answered at least once a week.

21 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

Actually don't you pay $500 each but then get $250 OBC?

No, you pay $250 each and get $250 OBC.  No need to question, it's in B&W on their website - https://www.ncl.com/cruisenext

19 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

would be 8 x $500

non-Haven CruiseNext are $250 each.  If you do the BOGO you're only paying for 4, which is $2000.  That's 6,000 points or about $60 in redemption value if my math is correct.

You buy on board.  There are groups on certain social media sites where they are sold.  I don't imagine there are many being sold anymore unless the people just need the cash or have decided to swear off NCL for one reason or another. The certificates no longer expire, there were lots sold because some people had some expiring in the next year and ended up not planning to cruise before the expiration.

1 hour ago, cruiseagona said:

I am under a doctor care with my diet. 

That may be so.  However, like @njhorseman I highly doubt that a "I want to drink soda but you don't have the kind I would prefer" is a valid reason to get an exception, even though you have a medical reason you MUST drink diet soda.  They have diet soda on board, just not the flavor you'd prefer.

Next will be the 'I won't drink the tap water and I don't like the water you sell, I need to bring my own as water is medically necessary for sustaining life so I have to have something to drink'.

7 hours ago, EliseL said:

But I just noticed tonight that they changed the flight coming home to July 5th.

WHO changed it?  NCL sent you the updated booking, but is it possible the airline adjusted schedules?  Is it possible the airline changed the time of the flight on which you were booked so as to be too early to make it from the ship to the airport in time?  There may not have been another flight meeting NCL's financial requirements that left on July 4.

49 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

I don’t know if this is a fire hazard…and I’m certain someone will let me know if it is…but at times there is a space above mini-fridge that is warm and dries smaller items.

Usually no mini fridge in a Studio cabin

2 hours ago, mking8288 said:

I heard chatters they do ask the social media private group about paying for it, unconfirmed, as I do not co-mingle nor promote & mention them.

I wonder if you're on to something here...  I wonder if the proliferation of cross-advertising the M&G to a social media site to get attendance up has caused NCL to no longer consider them just CC M&G...

22 minutes ago, FranciscoFamily said:

Example...say I have $500 that could be used towards onboard credit, are you saying I could alternatively get back $500 in actual cash? like a check/direct deposit?

Yes, it's the same redemption scale regardless of how you redeem the points.  The difference is that if you plan to continue cruising with NCL and want to build points, paying the on-board expenses in full using the NCL card then using points for statement credit or cash will give you 3% as points against the entire amount you spent on board or for the cruise (3,000 points if you spent $1,000 instead of 2,100 points if you spent $1,000 but offset it with $300 in OBC bought with 30,000 points you had previously).

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

It's 24 hour service. Submit one day, get it back the next. We do a bag or two every cruise. 

Mine was 2-day service, and they took literally until the last minute to get it back to me (my cabin steward went looking for it around 4:30 PM the day it was due back by 6 and around 5 he was knocking that he had it in hand.  The clothes were still warm when I got it back.

2 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

I thought they were supposed to be returned?

They are?  Ooops. I've had a couple places tell me in the past that I didn't need to stop by the desk on checkout day and I could just walk out so I just do that and take the card (if I get one anymore since I signed up for Hilton Honors and just use the app to check in/out and open my door).

1 hour ago, roddy good boy said:

Thanks for the hotel card tip! I stay in enough hotels to supply the whole family! Like you, I’ll just use it to keep up with my stateroom key.

I actually ended up with 3x more than I needed on my last trip - I brought one and planned to use the app for the hotel to unlock the door but they didn't have my room ready in time so the desk assigned a different room and gave me 2x cards to get in!

12 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Lately seems less in your face.

There are a couple reasons - the Note 7 was so long ago and they were blocked so hard that they're certainly not being used, plus it's part of the cruise contract that the Note 7 is not allowed on the ship.

@stellarose33 I usually bring an old hotel keycard to use in that slot, but I usually pull it out enough to turn off the power when I leave the room.  I just do that so I don't leave my keycard in there by accident.

37 minutes ago, roddy good boy said:

I’ve never had one of my devices catch on fire,

Most people don't, but the possibility that it could happen is enough as fire at sea is a problem...

I've been on the Escape in a Studio.  There is no bar in the lounge, just the wine dispenser as explained by @debenson0723  She is 100% correct in that the solo/Studio experience and lounge is what you make of it.  On my Escape cruise I went to the lounge as soon as I could get into cabins, met some people and hung around with them for much of the trip.

I want to say my solo coordinators have been good, but the one on my last cruise had a hard time controlling the large group (over 100!) and I kind of gave up on it after the first two nights. There's the opposite, my first solo cruise (where I actually met Deb!) I had an amazing solo coordinator but I think I saw that he's now moved up to Cruise Director

6 hours ago, 14ersco said:

The new USB ports in the bedside lamp appear to be affected by pulling your card when leaving the room. So you need to leave a card in the slot by the door to charge.

I would expect this, they don't want people charging devices when they're not in the cabin.  Cabin stewards are even asked to unplug devices they find plugged in when they visit a cabin.

7 minutes ago, stinkyharriet said:

I actually prefer the smaller studio cabins to an inside cabin

After a 15-night Panama Canal cruise in an inside cabin on the Bliss I actually think I would have preferred a Studio.  That closet in the inside was HORRIBLY designed and I have no idea how FOUR people (it had two Pullman beds in it) could go a week in such a cabin!  In the future - it's balcony or Studio.  I took the inside because it was a little cheaper than the Studio.

20 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Of the items left on the menu at Le Bistro, Dover Sole may be the best I've had. 

That's my go-to meal there!!

7 hours ago, Matahari47 said:

Our steward said that they are usually only for one person but they stuck an extra bed in.

I find this hard to believe.  The Studio cabins (the only ones on the ship ACTUALLY originally designed for one passenger) have no room to stick an extra bed in.

53 minutes ago, stellarose33 said:

1. no mini golf?

I believe that was removed and never replaced when they installed the exhaust scrubbers during the pandemic.

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

I always ordered to apps and no soup/salad in the past. No change in dining package.

 

Is there a link to a change to the dining package? Or is it a bunch of poor assumptions. 

Is it an assumption?  Yes.  But as noted by someone else, NCL is historically bad at updating all information when changes happen.  I would be pleasantly surprised if they did not make the change I suggested was happening.  What you did in the past is not an indicator of future NCL.

However, this:

1 hour ago, slidemaster5 said:

We were told by the waiter: You can pick 2 appetizers, 1 entree, 2 sides, 1 dessert.

is encouraging.  BUT, we need to remember that these menus have JUST released. It's possible they're still filtering things down.  You can't turn an aircraft carrier like you turn your Honda...

9 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Of course we don't know how much of anything removed was actually ordered consistently.

and that's what has me wondering why all the teeth-gnashing over the menu cuts.  Sure it's a drop in options, but how often did any of the people complaining about fewer choices actually order the items removed?

Of more interest to me, based on the wording of what you were previously allowed on an SDP credit - were the apps, salads and soups previously combined like this?  Looking at a menu posted to another website - NO.  This may signal a change in THAT offering - one item from appetizers, one entree, one dessert rather than getting one soup/salad, one app, one entree, one dessert.

@julig22 I think I see a LITTLE of @RocketMan275's logic.  Some of it really depends on the cruise and what the fares are.

In my case - I'd book an OV and upgrade to a BA.  That upgrade is 30,000 points.  30,000 points redeemed in another way such as a statement credit is worth $300, but on some cruises the difference in cost from OV to BA is not even $300 (speaking strictly of guarantee cabins, lowest price for the category), extrapolated because there is no 30,000 point redemption except for the stateroom upgrade unless you do the statement credit.

There are other things to consider in that example though, I think...

Available Ubers are roaming near the port.  I ordered one at 11 AM on a Bliss disembarkation day and got a driver within minutes and if it wasn't for a traffic snarl because of a family trying to fit 10lbs of stuff in a 5lb bag (the guy had to call in a buddy to get the overflow, security/traffic control were NOT happy) I would have been in the car within 10 minutes or so.  Getting off the ship was a whole other story, but I was also on a bigger ship.