sarahwalker2007

17 hours ago, MacGuffin3 said:

They aren't part of the standard free package was the point.  There are no shortage of extra things one can pay for on a boat.

my kids are passengers #2 in each of our rooms and my PCC confirmed that they do infact get the 3 free meals that are part of the package.

On 6/26/2023 at 8:54 PM, Candy Apple 12 said:

I repriced my cruise today (before final payment), and my TA emailed me stating, “They said we are only able to reprice the booking once.” I still have some time before final payment, so I was planning on continuing to check for price drops. I thought that you could reprice before final payment multiple times. Does anyone have any experience with multiple price drops before final payment? Thank you!

 

 

 

 

I have repriced 5 times since booking in January of 2023 for our November 2023 cruise. we have 3 balcony rooms booked for 7 people and I have received a total of $4400 in savings.

On 6/2/2023 at 9:00 AM, bookbabe said:

What's the name of the app?

sorry for the delayed response - life has been crazy busy the last little bit.

The app I used "Equal Eats" as it was one of the few that existed in 2019. There are lots of free ones now. I haven't checked any of them out yet as we don't travel until the fall.

Depending on where you are traveling you may want to consider foreign language allergy cards. Our youngest has peanut, tree nut, egg and kiwi allergies and I was worried about being in foreign ports and for things to be lost in translation. I researched online and downloaded an app that you can use that offers translations in lots of languages. You can also print out the cards to carry with you:)

I just text my NCL rep when I notice a price drop, she does all the work and then sends me new confirmations with the new pricing. Have done it 4 times since I booked in  early January for a fall cruise. Have 3 cabins booked and in total have reduced our total fare by about $3200.

We have sailed  with HAL for 2 TA's, one pre covid (november 2019) and one post (spring 2022) both were at about 70% capacity. 2019 cruise there were 13 kids including my 3. In 2022 there were 4 kids including my 3. My kids LOVED it! they had the pool to themselves most of the time and they felt like little celebrities because everyone knew them! The crew knew them by name all over the ship by day 2. Most of the passengers during the first trip were retired even my husband and I felt young on that trip! in 2022 there were lots more that were "working remotely" but still was heavily on the retired age side. We are doing our first NCL cruise in the fall and have chosen another TA. hoping for a under capacity cruise but know that it is likely going to be full as more people return to travelling!

23 minutes ago, Redsky5292 said:

I *think* you can call and link the reservations.  I know my Mom was able to link all 8 cabins when the 16 of us went on the Breakaway this past July.  It made making reservations easier.  I believe she called and was able to do so.  I can't answer anything about the flights though as we were all flying in, or driving, from different parts of the country.

They have recently stopped linking reservations.

11 hours ago, NW Pacific said:

Same reservation number, Same flight I was told in January 2023.  But travelling with friends, even asked to have reservations linked, NO guarantee.  We have flight for cruise in 2 weeks through NCL, NEVER  again.  the worse possible flight times from PDX to LAX flying in a day before. Probably would have cost $200 more to do it on our own and pick reasonable times.  Live and learn

Are your friends in the same room as you?

1 hour ago, KKB said:

OK to clarify...I am talking about the same CABIN.

same cabin, same reservation#, same flight

different cabin, different reservation #, possibly different flights.

We are a family of 7, when I called to book 3 cabins, 2 will be connecting, I was given 3 reservation numbers. I have to log in with a different email for each reservation/cabin, even the connecting ones. We have decided we don't want to risk flying on separate flights so we are booking our flights independently of NCL.

8 hours ago, DaisyGoldberg said:

I always take bad reviews with a grain of salt - what people complain about might be a non-issue to me. You know what bothers you and what doesn't and can decide accordingly. 

 

I won't sail on the Breakaway type ships outside of the Haven because of the bottlenecks created by the two elevator banks, and the fact that despite an abundance of clubs/theatres they insist on holding games and activities in the atrium, making accessing atrium services and any activities I might want to enjoy utterly chaotic. Too much stimulation. 

 

That said, the smaller dining rooms and big shows are great, and I would be open to a less than capacity transatlantic trip. I would assume the outdoor areas will be inhospitable for much of the trip so if your idea of a great trip is finding a quiet spot to read you will need to decide how much time you're willing to spend in your cabin.

I wouldn’t say the outdoors is inhospitable. We have done two Transatlantics one 12 days (fall sailing) and one 14 day (spring sailing) and for both we spent a lot of the days at sea outside. Maybe we got lucky but the weather was beautiful and being out on deck with nothing but open water was amazing!

We have only sailed Holland America so far but both times they were TA's and they were only 1/2 capacity. the first one had 11 kids, including our 3 and this was pre-covid. The 2nd one our 3 were the only kids on board and we sailed spring of 2022.  I would suspect now that more people can "work remotely" we may see these TA cruises be a bit more full but still under the shorter round trip cruises. Plus they tend to be off season and not during major holidays.

we just went through the booking of several rooms, we have 2 connecting balcony rooms for our family of 5 and my father in law. My husband wanted the FAS drink package but I don't drink so we put my husband and son in one room and me and my father- in-law (who also doesn't drink) and our 2 daughters in the other room. My husband has the beverage package and my son was automatically given the soda package.

2 hours ago, kayjaypea42 said:

How's the wifi on a transatlantic? Has anyone taken one with Starlink installed? TAs are long and I can foresee taking a transatlantic back after a European vacay to unwind while working. (So I can take all my days off for the actual European vacay but still enjoy the ocean, drinks, and nightlife...)

our two TA's on Holland didn't have starlink but wifi was good and steady. my husband had to work most days for several hours in the early morning and had 3 nights of zoom calls in the very middle of the Atlantic. he kept his mic and video off and typed his answers/responses/ideas but the video and audio for everyone else was just fine. There was only one afternoon where he had trouble downloading a large PDF but it came through eventually.

2 minutes ago, Lakesregion said:

If you have already been on the Getaway then you know what a sea day is like. Off color jokes by the cruise director that struggles with English, Trivia sessions and lots of encouraged drinking. Now if you were taking Cunard across the pond, there would be enrichment lectures both morning and afternoons, a library that actually is open all day and offers a lot of books, Tea dances in the afternoon. A harpist in the center lounge at noon. Real music in every cocktail lounge of a nature that conversations do not have to be shouted and evening dancing plus a disco that is not "on-deck" but in a very comfortable area. Plus the best part zero smoking in the casino or elsewhere except one tiny out on the deck area. 

This sounds similar to Holland America, we are nervous about NCL and it's more party atmosphere but couldn't pass up this itinerary of 8 port days with the TA. 

we love the TA's because of the mix of sea days and port days. We have only sailed Holland America and have only done TA's. our 3 kids love sea days! lots of reading and playing in the pool. We usually hit up the games room and play games for a few hours. we also sleep in those days and have a later breakfast. Holland America offers Pickle ball which we spend hours playing with the kids. My girls loved the origami classes that Holland offered on sea days. They also spent about an hour doing school work in the crow's nest/observation lounge on sea days. We are booked for our first NCL cruise this fall and it's a TA, the kids are excited to have the water slides and ropes course and arcade none of which Holland has so I suspect that sea days will actually be pretty busy for us this go around compared to our previous 2.

20 minutes ago, Fischmom said:

We are a family of 5 (3 teens, husband and myself) in 2 cabins on the Encore next month. 4 of us each have 2 specialty dining credits. We have cruised before with people in other cabins and at dinner they just ask for one card per cabin. Since we have 3 in one cabin will they ask specifically who is who for using the dining credits?  I just realized that my 17 yo son is the odd man out. Of course he eats more than seems humanly possible. We looked at the menus and my daughter who is in the same cabin as him only wants a pizza at Onda. Will they let me switch the two kids?  Or will the servers even care?  I would much rather just pay for her pizza than all of the food my son will want to order. I know that buying him a specialty dinner package is an option but again just paying for the pizza is way better. 

Just have her order what he wants and vice versa and then when it comes to the table switch plates.

Our TA last April was mostly great for weather. We often were in shorts and tshirts on the top deck playing pickel ball with the kids or walking the promenade. We ate out on our deck all the time (port side) Kids swam constantly! We did a TA in November of 2019 and it was pretty much the same weather wise although the seas were a bit rougher in the Mediterranean at the start of the trip from Rome out to Funchal. We are from Canada so our idea of "warm" may be different from yours though:)

On 1/8/2023 at 11:08 AM, ILoveScotland said:

I'm looking for options for Cherbourg. I went to St. Michel and Normandy beaches last May so want something in or around Cherbourg.  I welcome all ideas.

We were there last spring. We walked the town and did the museum and aquarium. The submarine was amazing to tour! We had a lovely lunch in a small square and the kids ate the best strawberries they ever had in their entire life!

We travelled on HAL last April Fort Lauderdale to Amsterdam and the pool was only closed one day due to rough weather. Otherwise it was fine!

2 hours ago, wolft927 said:

I never seen in advertised, the Getaway has mini golf though

 

Sorry I guess we just saw YouTube videos and they are outdated. Oh well! We are use to Holland America where there is only a pool for them so the ropes course and water slides will be a big upgrade on there own!

2 minutes ago, wolft927 said:

So no Rock Wall or Mini Golf on Breakaway. I was on last March and was gone then, 

Frustrating that they are still advertising it. Thanks for the update 

I’ve heard the mini golf is no longer available on the breakaway. Is this true?? I’ve gotta let my kids down easy if it is, they helped pick this ship and itinerary because of the mini golf and rock wall!

1 minute ago, Sailing12Away said:

Ok, guess I'll be the stupid one to ask..... why not leave them in your car?

 

If you're doing private excursions that will require a car ride you can check with the tour operator to see if they can provide some.

maybe they are flying to board the ship? travelling on the plane with the car seats?

20 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

if your kids are old enough for  a bubblebum car seat, you might want to consider that for travel.

We travelled with 2 bubblebum car seats in 2019 and one in 2022 and the girls just clipped it to their backpacks travelling through the airport and boarding the cruise. They are fabulous and cushy so no sore bums for all the driving around france we did for a week!

1 minute ago, hallux said:

From a Google search - https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

Thank you! I had searched the ncl website but the BOGO was the only thing I found. It bothers me that I have to call and do this on the phone (I like being able to search and see stuff online) but I guess it's the only way.