RussNJodi

On 8/16/2023 at 4:02 PM, Anita Latte said:

I wanted to add because it just hit me…having a morning time slot…the sun will be just above the mountains around the glacier and you’ll be looking towards it, looking towards the glacier. You’ll want to remember sun glasses and/or a cap/visor with a brim.

Funny thing is I was going to recommend the opposite, as we couldn't get into to see Hubbard because of morning fog that burned off in the afternoon. Hubbard really does appear to be hit or miss. 

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

You had a Haven room connecting to a non-haven room?

Guessing it was a Jewel class non-Haven suite; we have the same setup for July--we have most of the perks for the suite (granted no Haven Courtyard) but my parents in the adjoining Club Balcony room will not. 

To clarify then, can the free speciality dinner certificates for guest 1&2 be used for other guests? We were only planning on one speciality meal (Teppanyaki), and wanted to use our second cert for the kids. Is that not allowed? 

11 hours ago, Russiamomm said:

DH and I both did this tonight.  We got the confirmation that we were both verified.  Did the same as you - a mock booking both when logged in and logged out.  Price was exactly the same.  I’m thinking it may take a little time for at least some of us to update.  In the meantime I have a call in to our guy to see about repricing two existing bookings.

Funny thing about that; same thing for us--we have an already booked 2023 Alaska cruise, and wanted to see how the pricing would be affected. I had verified I was added to the military program then went in and checked to see if the discount was being applied to the current price--no change. Logged out and planned to try again later, then not 5 minutes goes by and I get a call from a NCL PCC saying she was notified of my 'recent online search' and wanted to see if she could help. (ie, make a new sale). Anyway, asked her to check the new price and she was able to rebook with the discount right away. I just find it funny that the IT may be a little slow, but the sales department is on top of things! 😂

We have not taken our Alaskan cruise yet, but as someone who tends to gets seasick as well, wanted to share from my research: the smoother cruises will be the ones that start and stop in Vancouver. The ones from Seattle venture farther out in the Pacific and depending on the season, waves can get somewhat rough. 

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

So, What if I get sick or hurt while on a cruise ship (one too many Adult Beverage Package drinks and you fall off your bar stool)?  The ship has a fully equipped medical center with multiple nurses and doctors to tend to you 24/7. 

Select from a menu of services (like a Spa Menu). 

 

I love how even though these are medical procedures they still feel the need to pull that old gas station trick of trying to make the price appear more reasonable by ending in 9s. I can just imagine: "I wasn't going to get that CPR, but it was ONLY $799. I would have skipped it at $800...."

While everyone is talking about the views, what I would worry about is the noise; I can't imagine how they could soundproof that enough to cover the screams of those sliding down

Related question: For those of us debarking in Seward, and taking the train to Anchorage, what is the earliest you would recommend booking a flight out if flying same day? Thanks 

I just hope they get the Coke Freestyle Machines as part of this; seems appropriate for the Freestyle cruise line, no? 

Did they at least offer any compensation or guarantees for a rebook? 

We are in the same situation and settled on the 2 bedroom suite on the Norwegian Jewel (Non-Haven) for next year. There were a lot of factors in our decision, but an overriding one was we wanted an itinerary that had both Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier so don't discount itinerary for sake of room choice. Other factors for us: the 2 bedroom had a connecting room for my parents who are joining us, has the extra dining and living space for us to gather as a family, and yes, it is pricey, but to be honest, not too far off what I saw on other lines, even downgrading to two connecting balconies (and FAR cheaper than a Family Veranda on the Disney  Wonder). Finally, we will also be able to enjoy the suite amenities, such as priority embarkation, butler, and from what I understand includes a private viewing deck during the glacier visits. 

23 hours ago, Markj said:

Had booked helicopter and dogs too. Got to the heliport, in the copter, engine running.......then told the glacier and dog camp were in cloud and we couldn't go. It was disappointing but they can't affect the weather. So they took us back into Juneau where we had a stroll and A coffee. Refund was back on our account as we sat down for lunch.

 That is one of my fears for our upcoming cruise as this was the must-do excursion for the kids. For planning, and understanding everyday is different, did they say if they traditionally had better success with morning or afternoon flights? 

Thanks for this--very helpful. Had not heard of the Be-Jeweled Escape Room activity before (Day 1)--did you try it or hear how folks liked it? Thanks again

4 hours ago, Beer Belly said:

The Villa was nice, don't get me wrong, we shared the entire Cove with 6 other people, no real action, no party, no dancing to the music, a little disappointed.

Shows different strokes for different folks--that sounds like heaven to us! 

10 minutes ago, graceinga said:

We are sailing this Saturday and have bid to go to a Haven suite and called to see if we could just pay outright for it instead of hoping for the upgrade and she said she she didn't have anything to sell me but that there were some Haven rooms being shown on hold for upgrades.  This makes no sense to me but thought I would share what we were told. 

What that suggests to me is they have figured out that at this point in the purchase cycle, they can make more through upgrade bidding than straight upgrade purchases. 

We are doing this route on the Jewel in 23 as well; thanks so much for this! 

4 hours ago, rnfulk said:

The situation is disappointing, but I’m wondering what solution NCL could provide that would make people happy. Full refund + 100% future cruise credit seems above and beyond what NCL would be obligated to do. They ultimately canceled the reservation to prevent a disappointing cruise experience, which probably wouldn’t result in any compensation. 

Based on previous comments in this thread, what NCL should have done is taken the airline approach and asked for volunteers--sounds like there would have been plenty of takers, making them happy and avoiding creating some really pissed off customers. 

Beautiful pictures; used to live in Hawaii, so brought back a lot of memories--thanks for sharing! 

One other random idea occurred to me; if you are thinking of Europe as an alternative, and have to work around school vacations, consider a Christmas river cruise. Most vendors now offer them and they hit the major cities and Christmas Markets. I spent several of my childhood years living in Germany (my Dad was in the Army stationed there) and can honestly say, those markets make for incredible Christmas memories. Let me know if you have any questions on what to expect from such a visit. 

Understand your pain; we had scheduled for 2020 as a long overdue present to my parents and and as an 8th grade graduation celebration for our daughter (she fell in love with Alaska when researching it for a school project). We are now going in 2023.

As an option, I know you said you wanted Princess due to Glacier Bay, but you may want to look at Norwegian Cruise Line and their Jewel itinerary between Vancouver and Seward (vice Whittier). Those itineraries also hit Glacier Bay and their northbound route includes Hubbard Glacier (That one/two punch is why we picked it). Taking a quick look, it does seem like they have decent availability in July. The Jewel also has 2 bedroom family suites that might make it a little easier with kids if you were booking 2 cabins. Hope this helps. 

39 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

The folks answering the phones at the general reservation number are doing only that, handling new reservations as they come in.  Call again, and you’ll get a different person. The PCCs are in a different department.  If you’d like to have a PCC assigned to you, call the PCC dept at the phone number in my comment on the prior page in this thread. Tell them you are new to NCL and you’d like an experienced PCC, and someone who returns calls and responds to emails. 
 

I actually got my fabulous PCC years ago because he cold called me, having seen that I had some cruise next certs that were going to expire. We weren’t in a position to book a cruise before then, but he applied them to a placeholder cruise and then moved them to a real cruise when we were ready. 
 

Good luck, and enjoy NCL!

Thanks; very helpful!

Am I correct in assuming you are more likely to get closer to Hubbard the later in the season you are? 

A bit of a strange question but as background: Taking our first Norwegian cruise and decided to book directly with them due to a very good mailer coupon. Booking experience was great, but when I asked the agent if he would be our PCC from now on, he said no, he is just inbound calls, and PCCs were a different department. That seemed a little odd, so does this track with anyone else's experience, and if so, were they assigned a PCC later for future bookings? 

29 minutes ago, PatricF said:

I'm new to this.  What's an OP?

Original poster, the one who started the chat--in this case, that is you. 

I can not see them actually forcing passengers to pay this due to the horrendous publicity alone. Can you imagine? It would be like the airlines charging passengers for the extra fuel required for a medical divert landing. And good luck collecting the amount from them after the fact.