ZsaZsa2019

You guys sold us!  Thanks for all the feedback.  We just booked Whale Watching and Wildlife Quest thru NCL.  Our friends were not interested.  This was only a 4 hour tour, so we get the excitement of whales, and then hoping to meet up with our friends for a nice dinner (salmon!) in town somewhere (hopefully away from some of the crowds).  So any suggestions on dinner are appreciated too.

We are cruising in June and staring to look at our excursions.

Regarding Juneau - 

I've been told that we will "probably" see quite a few whales right from our ship, so I'm wondering if a whale watching tour is even worth it?  The other one we were looking at was the tram.  The rest in our group are kind of looking for relaxing/hanging out things to do (none of us have been to Alaska, so hubby and I kind of would like to experience something).  Am I correct in reading the description of the tram that you buy the excursion and you can use the ticket all day as long as you want?  The time slot comes up at 4:25 for booking, so I'm a bit confused.  We will have at least 6 or 7 ships in port that day for Juneau, so I'm panicking a bit about the number of people that will be out and about.

Ideally, we would like to have a shorter excursion, see and experience something, but then maybe find a nice place to have a decent dinner (salmon?), maybe away from some of the crowds, relax...........

All good news.  Thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone!

I just called today to cancel and get some help with my three dining reservations. We also have the free dining perk. We have a group of 5 and she told me to book for either 4 or 6, if the five was not available. 

It is then important to go to guest services at least 24 hours in advance if we booked for 6 to clear it up so we are not charged for that extra person. If we booked for 4 then there is no risk of a charge, but we still need to get it fixed at guest services on ship. 

So so according to her, if you booked for four then you could risk getting charged for two extra people. At least that’s how I understood her. 

I know I’ve seen threads where people posted menu’s but I’m not sure where I saw them. 

Is like to see a Cagney menu, or like to know if there is any seafood offered.  We have one in our group that doesn’t really eat much meat, and one that doesn’t do any seafood. Want to make sure everyone is happy. 

How long is the show?  We plan on Jersey Boys at 7:30 and Bistro dinner at 9:30. Sound good time wise?

Unable to find any dinner times before 9, but sounds like more times get released on the ship?

We chose to prepay our daily service charge so we don't have to deal with it on ship.  I consider that tips, but sounds like additional tipping with cash is becoming a bit more of the norm?  Are people leaving cash on the table at specialty dining (we have the "free" dining perk) even tho gratuities have been included?  I can see a few bucks to a good bartender here and there...........

I didn't realize we will get some bottled water.  We chose the UBP as a free perk for our Bliss sailing in Alaska in June.  Our group of three cabins was going to buy a case of water to share, but now I don't know if it's necessary.  I understand soda is also included, but you cannot ask for a can of soda to take back to the room?  

Ah, OK. We’ve cruised maybe 4x before, but this whole pre-booking on everything is just overwhelming. Wasn’t like that before. LOL. I’m not sure what I need to secure now or wait til on board. Thanks for your reply. 

I saw this on someone's sample itinerary, but on the app I cannot find anything like this?  Also they have a wine and cheese tasting scheduled, but where are people seeing these? 

Ironically, my hubby is a die hard Coke fan - refuses Pepsi in a restaurant, but actually likes a Jack and Pepsi.  To each their own, I guess.  If it's fountain soda, I'm OK with Pepsi (don't like it, but I'm OK with it).

I'm new to this, haven't done an NCL since the 1990's, but from everything I am reading on here, you reserve them before (maybe 90 days, I'm not 100% sure on that) or you will likely be stuck with stand-by when you get on the ship.  

On the Bliss in June and we have the “free” dining pkg. when making reservations, do they put a hold on a cc, for example?  Can reservations be changed as needed, as often as needed?  

We are thinking of using this for our June Alaska cruise on the Bliss.  We have three groups with us, and need a way to connect so we can all find each other throughout the day.  I was wondering how this works.

Probably a silly question, but if we have Cat B8 room 9772, it will be the same as this one in the video, correct?  I think we are more in the center of the ship.

Regarding these shore excursions - do most book thru the cruise line, or use a third party?  We are also doing the Alaska bliss this summer.

Great, just trying to get an idea. We’ve cruised before, but never had this reservation issue.   Things must be changing. 👍

When you guys say book early, do you mean months, weeks, a week before.........?

We are sailing Alaska June 9th.  We chose the free dining as one of our "free" options.  Do I really need to reserve before we go on the cruise for specialty dining?  If so, how far in advance?

Same question for the shows.  I have no idea if we will be in the mood to see any of the shows.  What has been the chance for walk ins?  

Is it possible to see the latest wine menu?  I’ve been reading a bit in another thread about the new prices and drink upcharges. Someone posted only a partial red wine menu. I’m not a high end drinker, but I’ll be upset if the free drink pkg we have for our June sailing to Alaska will be limited. 

I do have the NCL app downloaded (not finding it very good).  It always says I have 209 days to go and that I can only book 2 excursions, so I'm not very trusting of it yet.  LOL  I can't find where there is that chat option, but that sounds like it would be a great way to go.  Hubby owns his own business, so has to be in contact with customers and his employees.  He will likely get the ATT plan that he needs.  I'm just being petty as I want it to communicate with the others, but also like my Facebook.  🙂

I appreciate all the feedback, it's been very helpful.  I will have more questions, I'm sure.  We've cruised a handful of times over the years, but NCL is a bit different than the others.  So many things to reserve and pay extra for.  Not used to all that.

We will be doing Alaska June 9-16th with another couple and a single.  We can choose the 250 min free wifi as one of our options, but won't we have to be really careful about having our phone on (uses minutes) and trying to check text messages between our friends?  We have AT&T and wondering if anyone uses the Cell at Sea with luck on the ship?  I've heard the wifi might not be that great after all.   Mostly, I think it would be handy to be able to text back and forth with our friends when on the ship to arrange getting together and whatnot.  I've also looked at the "unlimited" that the ship has to offer since I DO enjoy checking social media.  Hubby then might do the Cell at Sea since he has his own business and might need it.  Basically what has worked out best for others?