Karaboudjan

I don't know if it a reverse or just a next step. NCL has stated interest in longer, more exotic cruises and you probably need smaller ships for that. On the other hand, there are clearly cruises where 5000+ passenger ships make sense, so why not have some for that as well?

In general both the interior and balconies are a bit larger, but because of the curvature of the tower each cabin is a bit different. As far as I know the bathrooms are the same as in the regular balconies. This goes for the side-facing cabins at the stern of the ship; I don't know if there are other club balconies in other locations.

I don't understand why this is selfish, especially since you are taking the chance of ending up separated by a stranger. Most people assume that they can get that person to swap for either the aisle or window, so you end up no worse off than if you had just selected the seats together, and the third person gets a better seat than they expected. I'm also not sure why the airline would care. Do they think someone would actually choose not to fly if only middle seats are available? This does not seem to be the case with US domestic flights, and as far as I know all airlines allow you to choose whatever seats you want, although the aisle and window may be priced a bit higher if there is a fee for selecting them.

Thanks all for the responses.

You should have received an email from eta.contact@ivisa.com.au with an attachment showing that your application was granted. I printed that to have just in case.

It's gone? 😬 I have not been there for a couple of years, but I saw it was still on the sample menu.

Good to know. Figured it was not inattentiveness. Thanks.

Is it customary in Australia (and maybe New Zealand also) for a server in a restaurant to wait for you to request the check and not initiate that in any way? Based on our somewhat limited experience this was our impression. Coming from the US where you almost always get asked or simply brought the check this surprised us a bit.

I think the best steak my wife has had was at La Cucina. The osso buco at La Cucina was one of my favorite meals.

You can find photos of the Norwegian Prima in the dry dock. There is still a 'knob' but it is only bulbous to the sides, not forward.

Just a clarification - I think that the OP means May, not March. As far as I can tell that itinerary does not run in March.

They probably mean 'whatever internet site you want'...

Do you have a source for that? I would be interested in seeing the numbers.

I think you should ask for your deposit back ASAP! 😉

I am on an Australia-New Zealand cruise in February. All of the ports had excursions at one time, but over time the number available has gradually dropped and some ports no longer have any. I think that selling out is the simple explanation for what you are seeing. I have been following all Aus-NZ threads closely for over a year and I have not seen anything about systematic dropping of ports. The only thing I have read about recently is some swapping of Lyttleton for Timaru. I see that the changes for the Dec 23 cruise were made back in May so that seems like a one-off and of course was done well before the final payment date.

I don't think you have to lose your transfer as long as you are able to get back to the airport at the appropriate time on the day of the cruise. Of course, that may or may not work depending on the locations and where you plan to spend the extra time.

Take a look at how many cruise ships are in Alaska from May-August and I think you will have your answer. It's probably a lot easier to sell those than South Pacific cruises.

They won't what? I think I have seen people report before that they got two different airlines for BOGO air with an open-jaw itinerary like the OP has.

It would probably depend on where you are going and when. Prima + holiday sailing + Caribbean = Well worth it IMO.

My understanding is that the Hobbiton tour itself sends people through in groups of a particular size, so your ability to 'go small' might be limited. However, all of the excursion operators that I have looked at cater to cruise passengers and are well informed on the ships' schedules so I doubt that they would offer a tour if they think it is risky.

I have found that flights from anywhere in North America to Sydney are expensive, especially if you want a more or less direct routing. Hawaiian does have better prices than some, but as I recall from my research into a similar trip the timings are a bit weird. If you can get to LAX Fiji has some of the lower business fares with the arguable benefit of a stopover. I decided to go BTV-LAX-SYD with an overnight break/buffer in LAX. LAX-SYD is PE, though, not business.

That's interesting. When I had the lamb was during COVID, so maybe there were sourcing issues with veal and they had to substitute. I found the braise and sauce to be so flavorful that I'm not sure you could really recognize what the meat was. I would love to try it again with veal.

Onda has never been on Escape. It was introduced on Encore, added to Spirit during her major refurbishment and is on both of the Prima class ships, so it is clearly the Italian restaurant of choice at the moment for NCL.

I would say that in theory Onda is a bit more 'special.' It seems to have a somewhat larger and more adventurous menu than La Cucina. However, the food at La Cucina can be excellent. The last time I ate there the lamb Osso Bucco was one of the highlights of the cruise. If I recall correctly the beef filet that my wife had was also excellent.

You would have to know things like the food cost of the various items and other factors that go into their pricing decisions to make that judgement accurately.