ocdb8r

Thanks all for the thoughts and input.

One follow up - it appears RCCL will let me use my OBC to purchase items in the Cruise Planner.  Any issues if I do this and then cancel and re-book an item (especially as my OBC won't cover full cost of items, so it's a mix of OBC and credit card charge)?  I fear a nightmare, but perhaps RCCL has it all seamlessly programmed.

10 hours ago, artvlay said:

Now that Royal is using Ravenna in place of Venice how much on time are they?

My cruise next year on Brilliance is set to arrive at 6:45 on Sunday.  My flight from Bologna is at 11:40, if I have a taxi take me onvthe hour ride, should i make it? I'm also D+ so I should be able to get off fast.

 

I think you'll have to wait for reports to see how disembarkation is.  I'd caution that your estimate of one hour for the ride is unrealistic.  It's at least 1:15 from the port in average traffic.  That said, if you get off by 8:30, I think you'll be fine (BLQ isn't a giant airport).

Is Wonderland included in the Ultimate Dining package?

I'm curious for the Board's collective wisdom on what's worth purchasing ahead of time via the Cruise Planner?  With Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales coming up, we're trying to decide what (if anything) to purchase ahead of time for our cruise next year on the Symphony.  Some specific questions:

1) Do I understand correctly that ANY purchase on Cruise Planner can be cancelled ahead of time (meaning we could purchase and rebook if prices go down or if in the end we decide we don't want something we purchase)?

2) We have not cruised RCCL extensively, but in reading the Boards it seems some things are often offered on-board at a discount.  I think I even read a post where someone "haggled" with one of the crew selling specialty dinners to get a better price (apologies if I mis-remembered).  With this in mind, wondering what Cruise Planner items tend to be the best ACTUAL deals over what you'd have to pay onboard.

3) For internet - pricing for one person to get two devices appears slightly cheaper than for each of us to get one device each.  Any reason not to go with the cheaper option?

Anything else we should be thinking about Cruise Planner wise?

On 10/26/2021 at 10:56 PM, jfbbarry said:

Usually the Spa discount is only when "in port"

....and only on those items listed as "Signature Services".

I can't say for 100% certain (as we never ordered Jarritos specifically), but I would guess no.

I posted on my Seashore report from the med last month that we upgraded to the Plus package to enjoy champagne and mescal (the latter of which is served only in Hola Tacos).  After two visits we discovered we were being charged for our drinks at Hola Tacos (both bar only and when we ate there).  Yacht Club concierge removed them from our bill but informed us NO DRINKS are included at Hola Tacos for ANY package.  We later went down one more time to ask at Hola Tacos directly (as this seemed very strange) and they confirmed this is the case.  They are only allowed to serve guests water with their meals unless they pay for a drink (they showed me a onboard staff flyer explaining Hola Tacos is excluded from all drink packages).  They said some people get their drinks at another bar and bring them to the meal...but Jarritos and Mescal is only served at Hola Tacos as far as I am aware.

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if this changes somehow by the time Seashore gets to the US...it's such a stupid policy to exclude ALL drinks.  However, I suspect they will find a way to exclude anything "specialty" like Mescal and Jarritos.

5 hours ago, FamilyCruisers1023 said:

Can we skip the dinner and just show up for the show?  We will also be in the Haven

You can be seated and decline dinner.  If it's like how they used to do it, the courses are served throughout the show (started before the show starts).  We didn't love the meal the first time we went and declined it during the next time (had a late dinner on our own afterwards). I have friends who once did dinner before and asked only for the dessert at the show.

14 minutes ago, Couple-Somerset said:

 

UK prices don't include Insurance - and I can't see how - with so many variables for pre-existing conditions - that MSC could include it as standard either.

 

They may have an included-cover for some markets - but you can bet the small print states pre-existing is not included, must be reported and involves a higher premium.

 

Sorry if I was unclear, but this is COVID specific coverage (not overall general health coverage).  It doesn't exclude "pre-existing conditions" per se, but does require you to adhere to MSC's COVID protocols (which include a COVID test before traveling, COVID testing at the pier...etc).  The point is to cover someone only who contracts COVID on the cruise and requires isolation, quarantine and/or medical attention.  I see that the UK rates are not including such coverage, but MSC has partnered with a provider as you are still required to have such coverage in order to cruise.  Link is available on their page here: https://www.msccruises.co.uk/itinerary-updates

MSC is not the only example of such policies right now.  Several countries also offer and/or require such policies for travel.  Aruba has had this sort of COVID coverage in place for nearly 18 months; no pre-existing condition disclosure required and coverage similar to that described above.

I'm an American living in Amsterdam and we always book our cruises with a US Agent because pricing is nearly always better in the US and they almost always can offer an extra on board credit (effectively a partial rebate of their commission).  I've only done one cruise on MSC, but this proved to be the same in my research.  I didn't find a single example where the European pricing wasn't higher (and usually at least 8-10% higher, depending on exchange rate) even after adding in the additional items (certain taxes and port charges) that don't always appear in the headline US quoted fares.

The only example in the past (on other lines) where I have seen lower pricing here in Europe is for the occasional last minute offer to residents of certain (typically port departure) countries.

That said, one current difference is the European fares are quoted including the mandatory COVID insurance MSC is requiring to board.  For the US you have the option of purchasing MSC's at an additional cost or getting your own that meets MSC's (opaque/unclear) requirements.

On 10/5/2021 at 9:55 PM, lixogab said:

I checked the web archive but it’s not there.

( It has Jan-Mar offer and some older). 
Please check if you have the original invoice they sent you. The .pdf should mention all Promo codes you got.

If the additional points is not there then you out of luck regardless if the offer was active when you booked it. 
 

What if you don't have an invoice from NCL?  Booked via TA and only have their invoice, which has no promo codes listed...

18 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

It is important to remember that until the ship is cleared (which means it is "zeroed out"--100% of all pax are disembarked) many procedures for the incoming sailing cannot be started.  I sure wouldn't want to be the ones we've heard paged (when we are on a B2B and still needed to be checked out) because they are the ONLY people holding up the process.

It also depends on where you are sailing.  Just got off a Med itinerary where the cabin steward did ask we were out of the room by 9am, but said we could probably stay on the ship until 2 or 3 as they don't do a full zero out of the ship (and in fact have people getting on and off at different ports).  We left just after lunch at about 12:45.

Booked last minute, so never received an email...but there's a notice and link on my Manage My Booking on the NCL site.

Anyone know if the counter can go over 10,000?  I had status matched to Diamond and my counter set at 10,000.  No points from our last cruise...I'm not so concerned about the points as much as making sure it's credited to reset expiration.

6 hours ago, KyleClark said:

Do YC guests get assigned boarding times in Miami?  I have 3 YC reservations all cross referenced in the MSC system.  I am hoping that we all can board together.

Officially, yes, everyone gets assigned a boarding time.  However, most reports here seem to indicate (and my experience a couple of weeks ago in Europe) that for YC guests, they will take you when you arrive, regardless of the specific time assigned.

31 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

If I had come from Europe, of course I would if that's what I was carrying.

 

These people are more than capable of dealing with foreign currencies.  They are hardly as helpless as some posters seem to think they are. 

 

 

I don't think it has anything to do with being helpless, but rather trying to tip with something readily usable to them.  Of course I am sure they are all more than capable of converting money to the currency they'd prefer...that doesn't mean it's easy or that one shouldn't consider what might be most useful.

...as to the number of devices, we were permitted two devices PER PERSON on the included "browse" internet.  Each passenger created an onboard internet account using the ID printed on their room card.  Each account was permitted to connect two devices. The system did say you would NOT be able to switch devices (and their was no way to manually de-register a device).  However, I noticed about every 48 hours our devices would de-register and we'd be asked to login again...we only ever used the same 4 devices, so I don't know if possibly when logging in again if you could switch the device.

Browse was sufficient for us so we didn't upgrade.  We had no problems with messaging, news and email apps.  Anything "streaming" related was completely blocked.

2 minutes ago, Beamafar said:

I didn’t see JWB listed on any of the menus posted here.  DH will be delighted to hear this - cheers for that!

See attached - scroll down to the Connoisseurs Collection - only available for the price quoted or with Premium Plus (soon to be discontinued).

YC Bar (Sep 2021).pdf

21 hours ago, Beamafar said:

I surely  intend to, G.

 

DH, who is mainly a beer drinker, so he’d be covered by the most basic package, took a huge liking to Veuve Cliquot (and Johnny Walker Blue, which, unfortunately, was removed).  I just hope the ship will be well-stocked, cos he has plans to put a huge dent in it.
 

He also discovered that Macallan is a very acceptable replacement for JWB (on our recent NCL cruise, where we enjoyed their PremPlus).  I reckon he’s well covered. 😁.

 

Wines would be the important element for me, but the choices, even with PremPlus, are limited.   Had some fantastic wines on NCL (though their PP is twice the price!). I plan to enjoy some of the higher end cognacs as well.   Beyond that there’ll be some Hendricks imbibed as well as some nice tequilas. 😉

JWB was listed as available last week.  We were focused on the cognac's and champagne....plenty of Veuve!

16 minutes ago, BlueEyes1811 said:

Not sure if I asked this before do we both get the shareholder credit, My friend says we do? IDK cheers 

Maximum one per cabin.

46 minutes ago, hawkeyetlse said:

Yes, I think currently crew are confined to the ship, no shore leave, so local currency is less useful to them. But euros are not exactly exotic or difficult to exchange, and even if you only have something like 500 Russian rubles, they'd still rather have that than nothing, which is what they get from most people.

This is not the case currently in the Western Med.  Even in Italy, where only "bubble" shore excursions are permitted, crew are being permitted off the ship to shop in the duty free areas (and we observed this last week in several ports, with crew purchasing all variety of "snacks" and personal toiletries).  

I have no idea what the current regulation is for Caribbean cruises, but given USD is the most commonly used currency throughout the Caribbean, I would agree USD is likely preferable there.

Take a look at the minipresso or nanopresso (WITH the nespresso adapter - base model is for actual espresso grounds).  I travel with one of these regularly and they are a god send for someone who has also become addicted to nespresso and espresso in general.  I used this on NCL a couple of times and just used the Hamilton Beach in the room to brew hot water (running it without a coffee pod in it).  Also very easy to use anywhere else on on the ship they will give you hot water.

4 hours ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Always USD. Even though they're in EU waters, the ship is still USD dollars, just look at your invoice, it never changes.  Crew can always exchange currency if they want to but, they get paid in USDs and that's their best currency preference. 

I would not say always USD.  The fact the ship uses USD and they are paid in USD is of little consequence.  Cash is not spent anywhere on the ship except the casino (even in crew areas).  Crew charge anything not provided by NCL to an account settled against their wages.  Cash is most useful for them to spend onshore; if they're operating where that's Euros, they will most certainly be welcome (otherwise they are needing to pay a currency conversion for anything they want to purchase off ship).

Regardless, ANY major currency I am sure is appreciated.  

4 hours ago, gimletgal said:

Can you tell us who the captain of the Seashore is? Also, do you have any names of the YC staff? It's always fun to see some familiar faces! Thanks.

Giuseppe Galano is currently captain.

As for staff - make friends with Arnold from the Philippines at the YC Pool Bar.  Super friendly, full of drink suggestions and by the second day was greeting us by name and bringing us our favorite drinks.  He's new to the YC area and super excited to be there.

Other memorable staff were Illona (sp?) from Ukraine in the YC dining room who had the section to the right up against the windows (facing forward as you enter).  We didn't even sit in her section every night and she always came by to greet us.  We also got to know the sommelier (Alessandro) well, but he finished his current contract the last day of our cruise.

Any chance you know what the hours for the Thermal Suite are?

Were any specialty restaurants open for lunch?

Can folks report what current Thermal Suite Hours are?  Specifically wondering about the Epic next month, but generally on NCL ships currently would be helpful.