MoCruiseFan

8 minutes ago, Lindy Sue said:

Sailing on Norwegian Sun in January 2025 and wondering if we should reserve main dining in advance or just plan to show up when we are ready to have dinner.  Appreciate any advice or suggestions.  First time on Norwegian.  Thanks!

Big difference vetween NEED and SHOULD.  If you are talking specialty dining, no you do not NEED to but yes you SHOULD.  If you are talking the MDT, you cannot make reservations.  It is first coem first served.

Are we having fun yet?  🙂

16 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

actually, the OP asked if they could use all four of their credits (two each for guest one and two) in one meal for 4 people, which is never allowed.  but you're right, it morphed into sharing the meals (not the credits) amongst the 4 people.  I was laughing earlier thinking that if my wife asked if she could try some of my meal because it looks good, I'd have to tell her no, it's not allowed 🙂  (according to some of the posters here on cc)

No it didn't.  You simply misconstrued what people were saying. 

13 hours ago, Grandmafreddie said:

If you book a balcony you get 2 dinning vouchers which allows you to share. The dinners you get with latitudes you don't. Found this on my last cruise.

You have that 100% backwards!  The two free meals with FAS are NOT sharable and no voucher.  They are noted on your key card and only you can use them.  The latitide meals are a set oy vouchers which will be in your cabin.

You found out wrong.

7 hours ago, Baobaokitty said:

Bummer. Is it still worth it if we have to pay out of pocket for guests 3 and 4? We booked a 9 night Mediterranean cruise with 0 sea days. We are planning to maximize our time on land.

Only you can answer that for yourself.  "Worth it" is highly subjective.  Look at the cost of buying what you are asking about and see if you think it is worth the price,  As to the origianl question, NO.

I prefer my steaks and various cuts of beef prepared medium rare, NOT burnt to a crisp.  I guess I must have caveman blood in me according to the OP!  Enjoy gnawing on your shoe leather....

It is quite possible that the price you were looking at on line was the cruise fare only and the price quoted on the phone was the to final price including things such as the port fess/taxes, insurance, FAS gratuities, and possibly the DSC.  No scam or false advertising.  Just a misunderstanding on your part at what you were looking at.

5 hours ago, First traveler said:

Is there a way to see if it’s refundable or not?

Look at your on board account once on the ship.  The amount of unspent OBC will be listed and broken down as as far as a refundability.  It will be updated as it is applied to purchases.

32 minutes ago, Rob_H said:

Moderno has gone downhill during 2023. 

 

The salad bar (with sushi) is still great, but the meat is now of poor quality, poorly cooked, with long gaps where they don't circulate with any meat at all. 

 

On the smaller ships (we were on the Spirit, Star, Jade and Jewel in 2023) we're not going to go there anymore (unless we feel like having a good salad), we gave it many chances to do better.  We go to Cagneys again instead.

 

On one of those ships in 2023, the Moderno cook literally didn't know what he was cooking.  He'd send the servers out with "lamb" when it was beef, and so on.  Several times.  It because a joke when we had to keep correcting the names of what they were offering. We finished by asking for the fried "banana" which was delicious as always. 🙂

 

Literally? WOW!

25 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Refundable OBC can be used for gratuities. 

 

 

Well said.  Refundable can also offset the DSC or ANY charges to your account.

2 hours ago, Grandmafreddie said:

All i can say is good luck. Found meat to be tough. Cagneys much better. Salad bar just ok. Fyi tell the waiter what you want they try TO give you sausage and chicken to fill up before better cuts. Its a hit or miss. Speak up and enjoy

They don't try to give you anything.  They bring out what they have ready.  Just let them know what you want and it will be there shortly.  If you want a particular meat cooked to a specific degree of doneness, simply ask.  I like my steak medium rare (I guess according to the OP that makes me a caveman, LOL), and when I ask for it that way that is exactly what I get.

BTW I fixed your post in my quote!

6 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

Moderno has been hit or miss for us.  A few times it was fabulous.  Twice the meat was far too overcooked.  We complained and got another meal there.  The second time was much better.  They are often very slow in bringing the meat around, and the cheaper cuts come far more quickly.  The chicken and sausage came around several times before we requested the beef and lamb,  

 

That being said, the salad bar is phenomenal and the roasted pineapple is to die for.  I often travel with a friend that doesn’t eat meat.  Moderno is her favorite because of the salad bar and the pineapple.  Two more pro tips. Twice we worked it in advance and they brought her a piece of salmon from Cagneys instead of the meat.  Second, if you opt for Cagneys (personally I love Cagneys), it shares a kitchen with Moderno.  You can ask your server for a slice of pineapple for dessert and they’ll happily bring it.

No need to "complain" at all.  SImply tell your server what type of meat you wnat and hwo you wnat it cooked.  He will bring it.  That pineapple rocks!

1 hour ago, Bream said:

We are headed to Bermuda on Norwegian Gem next month. We've never been to a Brazilian Steakhouse and thought we would use our included dinner vouchers on Moderno. We like meat, that's why we wanted to try Moderno. However, we don't like very fatty meat and especially don't want undercooked meat. Is there any way a diner can specify how they want their meat cooked? Or will we have to channel our inner caveman?

You can request exactly what you want how you want it cooked and you will get it.

On 4/5/2024 at 2:20 PM, motravelerken said:

I am looking to book a cruise on the Norwegian Epic in the summer of 2025. Category of room is Balcony (BB). I am pretty sure the answer is no to this question but if I have 2 adult aged children (ages 19 and 21), can we have 4 people staying in 1 Balcony room?  I think not but just curious. If the children were under 18, would the answer be yes. Would they be able to sleep 4 to a cabin if it was a family balcony even if it was 4 adults? 

You can have as many as is indicated on the deck plan for the specific cabin.  Cabins hold anywhere from 1 to8 people on most ships.  You cannot have more people than the capacity of the cabin in question though.

Forgot to mention that the one food item that I did not care for is the  item they CALLED chili.  As most folks know, chili is a MEAT dish and real chili does NOT have beans in it.  That is an American bastardization of chili.  They did not have real chili.  In fact in most chili cook-off competitions, benas are forbidden.  To make matters worse they used this non-chili on the chili dogs as well.  NCL is not the only organization to make this error though.  Other than that the food was great!

On 4/1/2024 at 6:25 PM, blackwing said:

I don't know if it was a strict formal night or if it was formal-suggested, but 10 years ago I definitely brought two suits and two ties, which makes me seem to think there were two formal or formal-ish nights.  I also remember wearing a dress shirt to dinner for every other night.  

On NCL there is ONE 'dress up or not' night but no formal nights.  There are two dining options on some ship that have a not so strictly enforced dress code of a collared shirt for men.  However you are free to dress as you please otherwise.  There are cetainly no dining options that require a suit or tie at least not since 2011 when I first cruised.

I have only been on 19 NCL cruises so far, #20 is later this year.  I've never seen any rude behavior.  To the contrary I have seen nothing but very kind and thoughtful passengers.  Luck of the draw I guess.

My family and I had an amazing time on thgis cruise.  We were in balcony cabins on deck 11 and 14.  The crew took very good care of us and were constantly checking in on us to see if we needed anything at all.  The sapphire dinner with the officers was great.  We ate specialty dining all other nights and the food was perfect each night.  We had breakfast at the Local the first day and my wife was very pleased with how perfectly her food was prepared.  We asked for the chef to come see us and I gave him a $5 tip for how well the meal was prepared.  A few days later we went back and they were already on the lunch menu.  I had a real taste for breakfast and Roman (the chaef) prepared eggs and an english muffin for me even though breakfast had stopped over an hour prior.  I tipped him anotehr $5.  The ports were all very good and we had a blast at each one.  We did not care too much for the comedy show.  It was OK but no real comedu IMHO.  Chior of Man was really good.  All in all it was a fantastioc trme and I won over $2,000 playing poker! 🙂 We will be sailing again some time later this year.

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

Contrary to what others are saying, you have a great landing time, if you decide to come in the morning of the cruise.  I have no idea why the comments about you cutting it close.  You'll get to the port after they start boarding so check in will be a breeze.  Just pick 11 for the check in time.  It doesn't really matter.

They are not cutting it clsoe IF everything goes perfectly.  we all know how much of a riak it is to ASSume that it will do so.  Flying into the port teh day of teh cruise is always a risk.  It is highly advisable that they fly in a day early.

2 hours ago, Oddsbet1029 said:

I see several cruise travel agents advertising free pre-paid gratuities for select Norwegian cruises. Has anyone taken advantage of this? Is this offer legitimate? I fear I will get on the cruise and they will want the gratuities. 

There are no prepaid gratuities,  They are referring to the Daily Service Charge (DSC) and yes it is usually a legit offer (as long as it si frm a legit TA).  If you take that offfer, NCL will not charge you the DSC on your cruise.

Pickleball, isn't that the game someone invented so the kids who always got picked last for real sports will have something to do? 🙂 🙂 🙂

4 hours ago, Gari said:

I'm thinking trying NCL as I've heard about the solo traveler deals and discounts. I just retired and wanting to get the best value for my dollar. Most of my previous cruise experiences have been on Carnival.  I'd love to get your thoughts and advice 

 

Thanks so much for the tips and suggestions

If you thought that CCL was good, you will absolutely love NCL.  NCL is far and away a better cruise experience than CCL.

On 2/14/2022 at 12:17 PM, crockea said:

Was on the Joy last week and wanted to pass along to those going on the Joy in the Haven, that the upper sun deck is over crowded.  There are many more Haven cabins on the Joy.  Even though the sun deck is larger than on the some of the other ships, it is not large enough for all the Haven guests.  There were some seat savers but not a lot, and still not any open seats on the last sea day.  Fortunately the ship was only 1/3 full so we had the rest of the ship to sit out but thought those of you who've been in the Haven before and were able to enjoy the perk of no crowds, you might not experience the same on the Joy.  The Vibe club (what I could see through the crack in the door) looked completely empty.  My hope would be that NCL will give up a portion of Vibe to Haven if the trend continues, but .... ?  Now, I know some may think "whaaaaa, you poor thing".  But when you spend so much more to have extra space, it is disappointing.

The title of your thread is misleading.  The deck may have been overcrowded on YOUR sailing.  That does not mean the deack"is overcrowded".  If everyone who has access to the deck (or any otehr place on a ship) attempts to use it at the same time, there will be overcrowding.  We did not run into any such issues on any of our Haven cruises on the Joy.  Sorry it happened to you.

Nevermind.  Already posted by someone else!  🙂

GSC is one of our favorite NCL srops.  We have done the Silver Cove cabanas on a couple of occasions.  They are a bit pricy but they do sell out on some sailings.  While over-priced for some, they are well worth the cost for others.  I am willing to think that you will be very pleased with the experience and be happy with the cabana.  Enjoy your crusie and you stay at GSC!  (The kids will really enjoy the swing that is out in the Lagoon!)

9 hours ago, Exuberant said:

I'm at 74 latitudes points aka probably the most painful number of points. I've got a 14 day cruise coming up and have heard that some people have been lucky in having a higher status honored when they are super close. I'm curious if anyone here has experience with this and can provide a data point or best way to go about trying to get them to honor platinum this time...

No, it does not happen.  You will get your points post cruise.  That is when they are earned and added to your account.  They will NOT give you the points ahead of time.