Pitzel

Last year, there was a partial charter on our cruise to Bermuda on the Prima. Some other passengers were UP IN ARMS that this would absolutely, positively ruin their vacation. And you know what? Other than 1 afternoon when the observation lounge was being used for a private event, I would have had almost no idea that they were onboard. I did meet a couple of people who were part of the charter group and they were lovely. In fact, if you have cruised before, it is very possible that there were partial ship charters onboard then as well. So, I would say -- go forth and enjoy your vacation...and don't let the fears of "what if's" ruin your anticipation leading up to the cruise.

With 9 days to go, should the title be 3/9-3/16, then?

Are you sure that it is an *additional* $100? The Shareholder credit will show up as 2 x $50 in your cruise planner. Do you know where the other $100 is coming from?

Oh, and the beds are really comfortable. I get some of my best sleep while at sea!

I love the attitude, since there are (almost) always great things around you, if you only slow down long enough to pay attention to them. We are slated to sail on our 8th NCL cruise in April and here are some of the things that we are looking forward to: Friendly crew members who will go out of their way to learn your name, remember your favorite drink order, or otherwise make you feel special, even if you are one of several thousand people onboard. Meeting other cruisers and, in many cases, building friendships that last long after the cruise is over. The Free at Sea drink package! So nice to be able to order a very wide assortment of beverages without having to worry about the cost. Lots of trivia quizzes with a wide variety of themes. We are trivia junkies and NCL does this well. Unplugging! It is so wonderful to actually NOT be online and connected to a phone or a computer all day. Visiting beautiful and culturally rich locations around the world. The Garden Cafe is probably my favorite buffet out of all that I have tried across cruise lines. The Indian food is especially tasty. We are sailing with 3 generations and we love that there are activities that appeal to everyone in our group. Live music and the nightly performances are generally great, with some being truly outstanding. We saw "Summer" (the Donna Summer musical) on the Prima last year and it was absolutely fantastic.

The Vibe is larger. As @hallux noted, the lazer tag area on deck 20 is now part of Vibe. Cabanas have been added, but none of it has been turned into public subdeck space, though, as far as I can tell. No announcements yet to changes to the entertainment offerings. We are sailing in April and we are still seeing the same options that were there following the closure of Footloose last Fall. From the reports that I have seen, the Thermal Suite does have a small hot tub and a VERY small, VERY cold plunge pool, but no thermal pool. Day passes may be available, depending on how many weekly passes are purchased. The price is likely to be $79 per day, by that likely will vary depending on the sailing date and anticipated demand.

If the concierge does provide a complimentary specialty restaurant lunch for Haven guests on embarkation day to relieve some of the crowding in the Haven restaurant, you will not be able to select the restaurant. When we sailed the Bliss in 2020, we ate at Margaritaville gratis for embarkation lunch (this was before Margaritaville went away fleetwide). Until recently, American Diner was often (but not always) offered as a Haven lunch option on day 1, but now it is complimentary for all, so who knows.

You can ask when you are seated and first order drinks. If it is busy, they might bring two different wines out for you at the start of the meal and you can pace your pairings accordingly. Or, when someone comes to your table to refill drinks during the meal, ask for a different wine for the remainder of your meal. You are correct. There is not a designated whiskey bar on the Getaway. Most bars should carry whiskey, but some will be much better than others. You will want to avoid ordering whiskeys at the pool bars, since they will serve you in plastic cups. IMHO, whiskey doesn't taste as good in a plastic cup. You will also want to avoid ordering whiskeys at the Sugarcane Mojito bar, since they are stocked more for rum drinks. The Atrium Bar and the bars near Cagney's and the MDRs should have decent selections, though they do get busy at certain times of day. Yes. Premium Plus will be printed on your stateroom card so all bartenders and servers will be able to see at a glance that you have the package.

Just ask your room steward for what you want. They should be able to accommodate. Even if they aren't doing a full cleaning/turn down twice a day, you should be able to get them to lower the pullman and make up the teens' beds in the evening.

Most walls/doors/ceilings are metal, however some of the surfaces have a covering/coating that makes it tricky for some magnets to stick. If your magnets are super strong, they should work just about anywhere.

You likely cannot get 2 entrees, but you *can* bring someone as your guest to dine with you. Maybe you can invite another solo onboard? As for swapping for more appetizers, YMMV. It is likely up to the discretion of the staff whether they will allow it. A few years ago, I would say "no problem!", but it seems like NCL has been enforcing their own rules a bit more strictly these days.

You can preorder packages (6/12/24 L of water) of water that will be delivered to your stateroom. Preordering will save you money when compared to buying the same package onboard. Or, bring a refillable water bottle and fill it up at the buffet or at any bar.

Are you sure that Alesund is a tender port? We were there in 2017 on the Jade and I am positive that we docked.

You should be fine using the priority tendering together.

Honestly? I would either have the kids go to Splash Academy while the adults dined at Teppanyaki or I would find a different specialty restaurant for everyone to go to. Getting reservations for 11 will likely be a challenge, especially at meal times that could work for the kids. When we last went to Teppanyaki, we found that it was a very noisy environment and the food was just ok. I found it to be especially salty. The "show" was good, but if you have been to a Teppanyaki place elsewhere, you have probably seen a very similar show. Plus, with no open flames allowed on the ship, there is no onion volcano and some of the other pizzaz that you might find in a land-based restaurant. As for the cost, you can definitely use a Specialty Dining credit to cover the cost. If the kids don't have their own dining packages, though, you will either have to pay full price for them or you will have to have them order from the free kids menu (which is just burgers, hot dogs, pasta, pizza, etc.). Because there are limited seats available at Teppanyaki, though, they may frown at having 4 non-paying kids taking up valuable spots, especially if demand is high.

True. On the Prima, the for-fee mini golf never worked right, so they couldn't charge for that. They did have darts (also for a fee), but I never saw anyone actually playing darts there. Some people sat around on the couches, but it didn't look like they made any money from that space (at least not on our sailing). Not the reliable money makers that they were hoping for.

I have never seen NCL charge for any of their water slides. I'm not sure why they would start doing so with Aqua.

We have had issues flying back out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale after cruises. One April in Miami, we got caught in a huge pop-up storm that flooded a lot of the roads in the area. Our taxi driver had to reroute several times just to find a way to get through to the airport. We also got soaking wet in the process, which meant that we had to completely change clothes as soon as we got to the airport, costing us precious time. In Fort Lauderdale, we had a delay in getting off of the ship at the time that we wanted due to a credit card issue on our account, which required a visit to the guest services desk before we could disembark. Once we got to the airport, we ran into an hour plus long line just to check bags in at the counter and then ran into about 30-45 minutes of a wait in the security line. I had planned for about 30 minutes from curb to gate at the airport, not 1.5-2 hours. If you are able to get off the ship early, you should have plenty of buffer to weather setbacks like these. If you take your time disembarking, though, even a minor setback (like not being able to get an Uber right away because of so many people disembarking on the same morning) could throw off your timing.

If you pull up your reservation in the NCL app on your phone, you should see a tile that says "Room Upgrades". That will take you to a screen where you can enter your last name and reservation number to see if you are currently eligible to bid on an upgrade.

What about a side-by-side cruise rather than a B2B? Are there other ships sailing out of Seattle or Vancouver that leave within a day of returning from one of these cruises? If so, are there other itineraries that could bring you more variety? Maybe a larger ship one week and a smaller ship the week after? Alternatively, what about a cruise tour that has a land portion in Alaska before or after your cruise to check out places like Denali?

No. It is if you have Premium Plus, but not with the basic Premium drinks package.

Indeed! So, I guess to answer the OP’s question: No. Suites with a butler do not have to pay for room service. To answer your question: Non-Haven suites with a butler have access to a complementary expanded suites room service menu that includes items not offered as part of standard room service.

Yes, I believe so — our butler expressly told us to ignore the items on the breakfast hang tag (the standard room service menu) and to write whatever we wanted from the suites breakfast menu on the back of the tag.

I don't believe it will have a pool or hot tubs. None of the press releases to date nor any of the design renderings have shown a pool or hot tub.

We always tip something to the Butler. In my example of $10-20 per day, that would equal out to a starting total tip of $70-140 for a week long cruise, which we might adjust up or down according to the experience that we received (I don't think we have ever tipped a butler/Genie less than $50 total, nor more than $350). We generally tip our room steward over and above the DSC, and we may or may not tip the concierge, depending on whether or not we actually use their services. Also, we almost always brink thank you cards and provide a personal note of thanks along with the tip. If a crew member (waiter, bartender, room steward, butler, concierge, kids' club staff, etc.) goes out of their way to make us feel special and helps us to have a marvelous vacation, I will absolutely reward them in some way. That could be just by filling out a Vacation Hero card for them at the end of the cruise (which helps their career and comes with financial incentives) or it could mean $$$. For positions that are not allowed to accept tips, we still write a kind note of thanks and might reward them in some other way (like a big bag of candy to share amongst all of the kids' club staff).