julig22

I'm going the other direction this time, my cruise starts in Seward. But seriously looking at spending a day in Seward, specifically for Kenai. Saw some serious calving at Hubbard a few years ago, on my first Alaska trip. Have trips 5 & 6 booked this summer, doing the transpacific from Tokyo next year. Can't get enough!!

I'm not quite understanding??? You don't book through WP if you are doing an upgrade. You book through normal means, then apply the points to upgrade at a later date. So I just book my cruise and then wait until final payment, sometimes after, before doing any upgrades using points.

Tenders are always prioritized in my experience. Shore excursions, Haven, higher latitudes status, paid priority access will always have priority, followed by tender ticket holders...

Sorry, my comments were with respect to US bookings. I believe there maybe penalties for changing reservations in your case. I have no idea how CN vouchers affect your bookings, they don't have any effect, other than as a payment, in the US, so can't say why your price may have changed. Yes, the DSC has changed and that is one reason to keep notice of the booking date. The excursion credit has been per excursion for a number of years - I know that I got multiple excursions/port clear back in 2019 (I thought they'd made a mistake at the time). But they have changed the verbage to clarify how it works. If you request a price adjustment now it will most likely affect both the dining credits and wifi minutes.

It's technically a rebook (transparent to you) in that your price and any perks/promos are modified. But you retain your reservation information, booking date and payment information. Note - you can also move a reservation in the same way if you want to change to a different date for example. So you don't have to wait for refunds etc. And in some cases, the booking date does become important with respect to price increases for DSC, meal plans, etc.

Hard to say. I once got a bid awarded shortly after final payment date, more than 3 months out. I had a prime cabin they wanted for resale (category had already sold out). But they sometimes (not very often) also lower the minimum bid rate.

I'm still wrestling with taking the NCL train in the afternoon or the morning train so I can spend some time in Seward. Or going to Seward a day early... I have a few months to decide and already have refundable hotel reservations in both Anchorage and Seward but so many different options to consider! Plus looking into staying over in Vancouver after the cruise as well.

No way to waitlist until onboard. But keep checking back, people cancel all the time. Be advised that if you book something else in the meantime and it conflicts, it won't show as available - but you can always call and ask.

Keep in mind that people complain more often than they will praise. Was on the Dawn last summer, Baltic cruise. No complaints other than the casino lost my points and credits. Food is so subjective. And the staff changes. And the suppliers change. And supply chain issues happen. So this week's cruise will be different than next weeks cruise - food might be to your liking, maybe not. But then I cruise because of the ports, not the ship, not the food.

Yes, it depends on the airline. However, I'm curious to know if last minute changes are a better possibility? NCL states that they no longer control the ticket 72hrs prior to your flight so it might be easier to negotiate at that point.? They are technically non-refundable tickets but I've seen posts from people who have gotten earlier return flights by going to the airport and asking.

My NCL-booked flight home from Capetown to Newark was cancelled. As far as I could tell, there were at least 30 people from the cruise that were affected, some booked through NCL, some on their own. United's solution was to rebook many of us on a flight leaving 6 days later and put us up in a hotel. Didn't matter how the tickets were booked. A 6 day paid vacation in Capetown (meals provided by the hotel) was enticing but I was ready to go home so I did get on the phone and found a flight home the following day, same airline, no additional cost. The biggest issue was that the phone rep wasn't very creative as to finding another flight home but that's another story. And I got a $200 voucher for my troubles. Similar problem flying out of Copenhagen, flight to Reykjavik was delayed so everyone missed their connections. Airline rebooked me on the same flight, next day. When we did get to Reykjavik, we were bussed to a hotel, back to the airport the next day. Again, all the passengers were treated the same. And on this one I did call NCL and they were perfectly willing to book me on the next flight but suggested that I wait to see what the airline would do. Latest trip had a flight delay so I knew I'd miss my final connection in Seattle. No problem, airline rebooked me on a later flight. Just my recent experiences with resolving flight issues that are out of NCL's control.

Not lucky, I've had my share of mishaps with delays and cancellations. Some on NCL booked flights, some I've booked on my own. But that's not on NCL. It's on the airline. And something clearly stated in the terms.

When my flights have been cancelled or needed to be rebooked at the last minute, there was absolutely no pushback. Have always gotten exactly the same treatment as the person next to me, even though they booked on their own and my booking was done through NCL.

I would actually suggest you pose your question to guest services if nobody can provide actual experience - they seem to take the time to research answers before responding, unlike the phone/chat reps. I had a similar situation in Sydney several years ago. People were able to disembark after we arrived but there was a specified time, probably due to staffing in the terminal. They did the customs/immigration inspection the day we arrived so that wasn't an issue but I can't find anything in my paperwork that details the timing for people overnighting. I don't ever recall seeing a curfew in ports the ports where I've overnighted.

You cannot use obc to book shore excursions prior to the cruise. On board only. But you can request a statement credit to use against the cost of the excursions.

I was happy with the wildlife, some had better experiences, some were very disappointed. It's always the luck of the draw. I did the cape peninsula tour in Cape Town on the day we stayed there - it was excellent, the penguin colony was fun to visit. Did a similar tour post-cruise, on the way to the airport. It happened to be a holiday and the crowds were awful, got to cape peninnsula and could only stay a few minutes, no time to take the funicular etc. Took NCL tours to Botlierskop in Mossel Bay and Schotia in Port Elizabeth, nice sightings. People who went to Aldo apparently didn't all fare as well. Had a private tour in Hluhluwe and it was good, although raining. Took the seal and pelican cruise in Walvis Bay - it was fun (get the small catamaran if you can!). Lots of seals, a few dolphins. Also took the Birding tour - it was excellent! Small groups, went by car. Lots of flamingos, some pelicans and seals were everywhere.

From what I can tell, the Freestyle Daily is produced onboard the day prior for each port - to be distributed in the evening. Entertainment can change due to illness or bad weather (aerialists can't perform in bad seas for example). Been on a couple of cruises where there was a last minute port change because of weather - and all the info for the new port was in the Freestyle Daily that we received. Saw a post once from a band that was scheduled for a number of cruises - they didn't even know what days they were performing until the schedule was posted at the beginning of each cruise. So no, not posted ahead of time.

Lots of policies have changed since 1969. I think this one changed just prior to the shut-down. Essentially you have to pay for things you would normally be required to pay for, only using NCL-given OBC for optional purchases. Note - only applies to Non Refundable OBC, such as the shareholder benefit or OBC you might get for missing a port. Refundable OBC that is purchased by you or your travel agent can be used on anything.

I took the Capetown RT cruise in December, although it was on the Jade, not the Dawn. There were issues with some of the ports as well as immigration/customs delays. So it's possible that NCL is having to rethink whether or not to continue with that itinerary. But I did enjoy the cruise, thinking of going back but I would do a different itinerary, simply because I like to go new places.

I've taken a few, for the reasons you stated. They are often a simple and reasonably priced means to see the points of interest. No selfies taken!

Unfortunately, a paid upgrade seems to be based on the price you've paid, so any points used to upgrade would be wasted - and whether you can get them back seems to be somewhat random.

The pinned post, albeit very long, is good reading. But in a nutshell, for what you are asking, I believe the best you are gonna get from the CC points is $600. An onboard upgrade gets you a better location on the ship but I think that's limited to Balcony and below. If you use your CC points to upgrade, I believe they use the cabin you paid for, not the upgraded cabin (but I could be mistaken) to figure the CC upgrade. That's how it's seemed to work, but I've really not paid that much attention, a balcony is a balcony in my opinion! But in any case, no upgrades to Haven with points as far as I know.

That depends on how the new flight was booked. If the airline rebooks because of a cancelled flight the reservation confirmation #s don't change and the remaining parts of the reservation would remain intact.

Per the instructions on your flight confirmation, any flight issues within 72 hours of departure should be addressed with the AIRLINE. While letting NCL know there is an issue, the first call should be to the airline!

I've always taken mine in organizers, never an issue. But it does depend on your destination. More of an issue some places. I've peeled the labels off of my bottles in the past but now just have a photo on my phone.