ZsaZsa2019

34 minutes ago, jaxcruisinguy said:

I would think with the length of the TA your next visit you should get the other menu (I would hope). Corn, Salmon, Shrimp, Lamb, Avacado and Strawberry. 

Do you know which menu you are getting when you book Test Kitchen?  I'd be disappointed in the egg and blue cheese, for example.  That brings me to another question about dining..........Do ALL restaurants require a reservation that you make prior to sailing?  Or are some walk ups? 

He's a cutie!  I wasn't even looking on our Viva March cruise but found one and was so excited!  I knew about it, but wasn't on the look out.  I ended up finding another one and we re-hid one and I did keep that first one as a fun memory. 

On 4/19/2024 at 9:52 AM, cantgetin said:

OK, VV did a celebration cruise for the top 100 agents then a separate ceremony recognizing the top 10 agents.  My agent is one of the top 10...but when I tried to google the celebration, it didn't list the names.  What I would do is go to sites like YouTube or Instagram and some good agents put stuff there.  Ask questions--were they in the top 100?  How much have they cruised VV?  Are they a Gold Tier agent (meaning have completed a bunch of VV training).   
This is a link to my favorite video about VV.  I like to send new people to it because it was accurate as of the time of posting (there have been small changes since then...menus and such...and it is a "let me give you the info," not "LOOK AT ME."  

I lucked into mine--she answered a question on line and sounded experienced so I asked her if she was an agent...and the found out how good she is.  But there are lots of good people out there.  I truly wish I could name her, but that would get me banished from CC, so......

Tootles!

I stumbled upon a list of top 10 travel advisors for 2023 so I might be going in the right direction. 
 

Also, watched the YouTube-great info!

8 minutes ago, Susandt said:

A beautiful ship.

 

the only changes we would like is bigger atrium and Sydney normans

I was talking to the band there one night and while they agreed Syd's is small, they really enjoyed and appreciated the "intimate" atmosphere for them to play and interact with the audience.

I just wanted to hop back on here to say we did the Viva March 17th sailing out of San Juan to the southern caribbean and ended up LOVING the ship!!!  We loved the layout.  It didn't feel crowded and the decor was very nice.  Yes, venues were small and sometimes that was an issue, but overall it helped greatly with crowds.  As for Syd Norman's, we never stood in line and just walked in right before the shows.  Yes, we had to stand, but the shows were only 45 min anyways, not a big deal.  Yes, we couldn't get in to the comedy club one night, but they were live broadcasting it in Syd's and there was no one there.  

I just want to add that we felt the Indulge Food Hall was brilliant!  So many food choices.  We just starting clicking some items on the table top ipad and they were brought out to us at our table literally in a minute or two.  I love this concept.

38 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Viking is definitely not more of a "Caribbean" cruise line. In fact, my niece and nephew is about to do a Med cruise involving an extended Egypt pre-cruise visit.

 

 

Sorry for the confusion, I was referring to Virgin Voyages, not Viking.

Not new to cruising(but only 6X), just got off of the new NCL Viva (LOVED it) in the caribbean, but totally new to cruising in Europe.  It's a dream of hubby to see Italy, so I was thinking a cruise would be a good way to do this.  I have been very intrigued with Virgin Voyages after reading and talking to people about them.........but found the NCL Breakaway to have better stops.  The Breakaway doesn't seem to get the best reviews, pretty large, too many kids (even for Europe)?  Is VV more of a short/caribbean destination line?  I could post this on the NCL and VV boards but will likely get more biased opinions.

Is there any cruise line better suited for Europe that I should know about before I continue my research?

On 4/10/2024 at 9:02 PM, cantgetin said:

If you aren't getting service from your TA or just don't mesh well with that person, find another.  The TA I use has been in the top 10 agents on VV for 2022 and 2023....and didn't get there by ignoring customers.  Sometimes I get enough reminders that it could be a pain....but how hard is it to delete an email?  She also computer tracks all her bookings, and if there is a price drop will contact her clients with the details (change in perks? whatever  else.) and see whether you want the new deal.  On one cruise, I saved $400 and picked up some bar tab.  I also get basic reminders like booking dinners, etc.  Some are silly, but rather too many than too few.  And then there are those nice notices like "I've achieved 10 cabin booking on your (date) cruise, which means we now constitute a circle.  Each cabin will be seeing a bottle of bubbly to recognize this.  Thank you for trusting me with your booking."   Hey, every little bit helps.

 

And no, we aren't allowed to name agents here.

I understand you can't name agents here, but if I were to want to find a good agent like you have, how would I go about finding them?  I feel like there will be a ton online, and not sure all are good choices.

2 hours ago, dmwnc1959 said:

I’ll have to look into those Yeti things. Might be a solution to my drink package. 😉👍

I'm not a water drinker, so I am bringing some Gatorade flavor packs with me, hoping I will drink more.  Plan on a yeti type mug as well, to use in the cabin.

Will be watching for more posts.  We are on Sunday the 17th sailing and getting excited!

Thanks for taking the time.

We sail next weekend (!!!) and realized I need to start thinking about packing for our Viva Southern Caribbean Cruise.  I'm normally a shorts, tee shirt and flip flop gal, but given this is a shore excursion heavy cruise, and very beachy, I anticipate wearing mostly swimsuits, cover ups and easy dresses (for dinners).   I hate living in a swimsuit all week, but I think it makes sense.  Thinking of bringing two pairs of shorts and just a couple shirts, in addition to a bunch of dresses and cover ups.

Anyone else been on this schedule and what did they find worked for them?

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I hope spring break should not be a problem on a river cruise with only 120 passengers.

From what I see about River Cruises in my research is that they tend to be a more "mature" group of cruisers.  I wouldn't worry too much about spring breakers.

19 hours ago, ZsaZsa2019 said:

Another update - had to call shore excursions, but they understood the problem and immediate took care of the balance due and it now shows a zero balance again.  Still can't see my E-docs, but she said that could take 15 min or so.  Hopefully this is a done deal, I guess I will never forget to include our middle names again (we normally do, so I'm not sure what I did).

Still no eDocs this morning, so I did the online chat.  They said they could see them on their end, but of course I had to call the Digital Dept to get that cleared up.  Luckily that was quick and painless and NOW I think I am finally all set.  Good grief.  LOL

Nordicacres - sorry for hijacking your thread.

1 hour ago, ZsaZsa2019 said:

To be safe, I started on online chat.  She could see the "merger" of my husband's account that caused his shore excursions to show up again as amount due.  She said I have to call Shore Excursions dept to have that fixed.  Hopefully that won't be a big mess. In hindsight, should have just had the person on the phone add his middle name, not merge the booking to his Latitudes account from the previous cruise.  Friends travelling with us just had to do the same thing and it was done instandtly.

 

Another update - had to call shore excursions, but they understood the problem and immediate took care of the balance due and it now shows a zero balance again.  Still can't see my E-docs, but she said that could take 15 min or so.  Hopefully this is a done deal, I guess I will never forget to include our middle names again (we normally do, so I'm not sure what I did).

2 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

When did you finish check-in? Just a couple hours ago? In my experience, E-Docs are usually available 24 - 72 hours after checking in. It's never been automatic. You'd think it would be. Or it could be the balance due. Or a glitch. Or a combination of everything. With NCL's IT, you never know.

To be safe, I started on online chat.  She could see the "merger" of my husband's account that caused his shore excursions to show up again as amount due.  She said I have to call Shore Excursions dept to have that fixed.  Hopefully that won't be a big mess. In hindsight, should have just had the person on the phone add his middle name, not merge the booking to his Latitudes account from the previous cruise.  Friends travelling with us just had to do the same thing and it was done instandtly.

Just now, cruiseny4life said:

After this thread, you're so not going to like me. At all! 

 

Be sure you constantly follow up with NCL regarding the balance due. I know you've paid in full and are probably ok. BUT, NCL has been known to cancel cruises that show a balance due. Just be as proactive as you possibly can. Chat with an agent tonight and ask them to fix it. Call them tomorrow. When I see balance due come up, after final payment, knowing everything has been paid, I become a hawk. I bother NCL about this constantly until it is resolved. I'm not having my cruise canceled for their mistake! 

 

Ok, now, know that it's probably just a glitch in their system and you'll be ok. Sorry if I just raised your blood pressure a bit. 

Ha!  No, I appreciate the tips and advice!  I am keeping an eye on it and will check again in a bit.  I will definitely call or chat to get that cleared up,  Maybe it's not letting me see our E-docs because of the balance due.........

Thought I'd report back.  I did call NCL over my lunch and they were able to add husband's middle name.  She didn't confirm one way or another if it was REQUIRED to be the same, but her words were "should be" and "NCL recommends" that they are the same. It may have been easier because we had cruised NCL before so they had his full name already in the system.  For whatever reason, it wasn't booked with his Latitudes number when I did the original booking, so they added that as well.  They were able to keep his check in, but I did have to re-enter a few things.  The only glitch I can see, and maybe it will get cleared up on it's own (I can't see the E-docs just yet), is that it is showing a balance due for his two excursions we booked - which we had already paid in full.  I'm sure that part didn't carry over on the account with the name change, but I feel confident on getting that fixed. I was much more concerned about the name and not being able to board!!

6 minutes ago, nordicacres said:

No fee was mentioned to me. I just called and asked them to add our middle names to the reservation. They were happy to do so and sent an updated reservation document reflecting the change. We are also past final payment date.

I'm glad this came up and I read your post!  Still not sure its a big deal, I read very conflicting info about it online, but regardless I will try to take care of it.  We were assigned an NCL travel agent(?) but ended up booking ourselves online.  I contacted her asking about it, otherwise I will call and ask.  Funny thing is, we ALWAYS use my husband's middle name because his name is rather common.  Yet for some reason I didn't (apparently) when I signed us up.  🤦‍♀️

4 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Unless you're booking flights, it doesn't really matter, but if you're still outside the final payment period, you should just call NCL and add your husband's middle name. It'll make things easier (mostly your worry). If you're inside final payment, still call, but be sure to ask if there will be a fee as some changes after final payment do incur a fee. The fee can be waived, but it isn't always. I've had the fee waived. And I've paid the fee. 

We booked our flights separately.  Final payment has already been made as we are cruising March 17th.  

I have been thinking about this too.  I'm not going to bring wine from home and travel to San Juan with it, but since we have a day there, I thought if I found a bottle I liked or was interested in somewhere, I might bring one or two on board for our room and such.  If you have the FAS drink package I understand you won't have any corkage fees. 

14 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The name on the RESERVATION needs to match your documents. What you NCL online account has is irrelevant. 

 

My boarding pass online has my middle name but not my husband's.  Our passports both have middle names.  I think the middle name was "optional" when entering the info.  Are you saying I have to have our reservation changed to include my husband's middle name?

14 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

it would if that's what i had said. but i didn't say that. i said you had to be connected to the ship's intranet. not the internet, as others have stated.

 

those are two different words. look closely at the spelling.

 

Sorry, not as tech savvy as you.  I knew I should have just left it up to my husband to make sure we do this right, he's the computer engineer.  I was just trying to wrap my head around it a little better.

Thanks for your help.

8 minutes ago, UKstages said:

9 minutes ago, UKstages said:

if everybody is on a iPhone or other apple device, you won't need the NCL app for messaging. at the present time, there is a backdoor for iOS devices that allows messaging to go through via iMessage. no fee, no registration. works for those on and off the ship. you just have to be connected to the ship's intranet and you don't need the NCL app for that.

 

 

 

Sorry, the whole internet on the ship thing has me so confused.  I realize we "should" be able to iMessage on iphone to iphone (I heard it usually works, but not always), but when you say you "just have to be connected to the ship's internet" doesn't that count against our FAS 150 min of internet?

3 minutes ago, rbxlady said:

I just want to be able to message them, really, without paying for wifi for them.

 

Thanks!

I can't really answer your question about the app for your kids, but is it correct that we pay $10 per person for the messaging on the app?  I think then you would have to get them all set up and pay that for everyone...............

26 minutes ago, Hmmcminn said:

1 hour ago, AllHandsAstern said:

How difficult/easy was it to get dinner reservations?

 

I believe on our last NCL (Bliss/Alaska) we even would walk right up to the actual restaurant the day we wanted to get a reservation (last minute of course) and got lucky with 5 of us. Not sure if Viva does that.  This was 2019.