JennKach

I've done NCL air for transatlantic and USA/Panama flights, and we had free checked bags on them. I was able to pick seats for a fee, and on one I upgraded at check in to premium economy. My next flights include a leg from Canada to USA and it includes a free checked bag, but it's a connection from a transatlantic.

Our friends were in the same situation last week on Jade. They spoke to the latitudes people onboard and they said no, they had to wait until after the cruise completes.

Most people are assuming the bag made it to the luggage area. My last “lost” bag was left behind in an airport luggage truck where it hung out on the tarmac for about 4 hours until someone noticed it lurking in the dark corner. I had an AirTag and showed the location to the lost luggage office. It was 100 yards away but no one could find it. I got it back the next day.

Our flights back from Barcelona to Detroit are Air Canada with a 5 hour layover in Montreal. We were able to pick seats for an extra charge, but checked bags are free.

We ( 2 adults) will be in Palma on NCL Escape in May from noon to 8 and want to visit the aquarium and the beach across the street from it. I assume the quickest and easiest way to get there is a taxi. When we are ready to head back to the ship will there be taxis around there? I see there is also a bus. What is the best way to get back?

I'm taking a mother/daughter cruise in May, and it's the first for my 23 year old on NCL as an adult so she has no status level until after the cruise is complete. I don't think she had enough points as a minor to earn priority tendering anyways. Will she be allowed to accompany me on priority tendering (sapphire, not Haven), or do we both join the general tendering groups? It's ok either way, but I'd rather not be doing it wrong and get sent on a walk of shame lol. And no, I'm not going to abandon her by going ashore before her!

If you are before final payment when you do your upgrade, you can adjust your original cabin based on what cabin is available to upgrade. I've booked the top OV, then upgraded to a lower level balcony and they downgraded my OV to match before doing the upgrade. I got a small price reduction. One time it was highly beneficial because prices only increased later, but the last time prices went down after final payment. It's a game you play.

I would normally laugh at people who have to have specific food on cruises, but my husband absolutely loves cookies and would choose them for dessert over most other things. Baking fresh cookies for him is the ultimate gift. He searches for cookies onboard to save for his evening snack in the cabin. He found them in the casino on the Jade TA in November '23, and I believe they were on the buffet at lunch a few times as well. You would think he is a hoarder when you see his plate, but he really does finish them by the end of the cruise. We had an unmemorable Carnival cruise a few years back but he still raves about the peanut butter cookies on that ship. NCL shouldn't underestimate the impact of having cookies available. As a side note, my husband grabbed a plate of cookies in the casino to graciously share with our group of four sitting in the bar area just outside Le Bistro. A bartender came and said we weren't allowed to have cookies here and he has to take them. I'm still not sure if they didn't want them removed from the casino (like they're only for active casino players) of if they don't allow food to be eaten in the bar area. Either way, we all looked at each other and simultaneously grabbed a final cookie before he took the plate away. Cookies are serious business to some people.

I called yesterday since my May cruise was in the email for an extra point. CAS told me NCL no longer puts the code on your confirmation and I will automatically get the promotion without making a change to my reservation. Supposedly Marketing has a list in the system somewhere. I am not confident the points will be applied.

We had a bit of an issue with laundry on the last cruise. When it didn’t show up the following day, we gave it one more day before calling to find out where it was. They had no record of it. After getting the room steward involved it took a couple hours for them to find it and get it washed. We got it back at 7pm on the last night of the cruise, just in time to pack. Up to that cruise our experiences were great.

People who don't cruise often, or follow Cruise Critic most likely have no idea how often itineraries change because of weather, medical emergencies, rescues, or other things. It only hits the news when someone goes overboard. I know I was blissfully ignorant before my first cruise. We ended up skipping Israel 23 years ago because of violence, but substituted a lovely stop in Cyprus. Another cruise avoided a typhoon which cut a shore day in half and we missed another port altogether. My last 12 day transatlantic had to reroute for weather and lost all stops but two. Someone on that trip was complaining he missed a family reunion planned around his stop on that island. My older son has only cruised as an adult once (2 as a minor) and his three day trip had a jumper. Using these family stats you have a 18-33% chance of missing or shortening a port stop. My younger son was more lucky and he's cruised 6 times with zero issues. Planning a wedding on a port stop would give me a panic attack.

I'd be careful with trusting the navigation channel clock because it's been wrong before. On one of our cruises it was way off on random days. We always bring a cheap wrist watch or travel alarm to keep us on track.

We had five normal ones plus the daylight savings. Port time and ship time agreed, but we did skip two ports so I can’t speak to those. It’s definitely easier going east to west in the fall when we gained time with each change. In past cruises I can only remember two times where we didn’t match port time and one was Roatan for sure.

For me in May, the app/website never let me make a reservation for Onda. I just called NCL directly and reserved with no issue.

Yes that's what I thought too. We've traveled all over the world and I can count on one hand the number of times I've felt uncomfortable or unsafe. The square is just so crowded with people selling things, tourists overwhelmed with aggressive vendors following them around, and in general a chaotic environment. It was really hard to enjoy the sights.

If you plan the day before, the breakfast buffet will have hard boiled eggs, cereal boxes and cartons of milk, and the delicious chocolate croissants. I always kept eggs and milk in the fridge so I could eat breakfast early. I believe the hot chocolate was available 24 hours in one of the beverage stations near the buffet. If not, I bet room service has it 24/7.

Unfortunately the cruise business is not immune to the same economic conditions every other business is facing. For every cutback, there is a high paying customer upset about it, and a bargain customer not so upset because they realize it helps them continue to get a bargain. I'm neutral on the topic because I fall more in line with the bargain shopper but I'm willing to pay a little more to get what I want. I sympathize with people that can't afford to cruise as often or well as they used to. My family has tried out a few land based options lately which turned out to be similarly priced but just a different experience to throw in the mix, and a lot more effort to execute. You still have to deal with increased prices, reduced service (i.e. no daily housekeeping, understaffing, waiting in line, etc.). I've completely changed my restaurant and shopping habits locally due to cost/value/service changes in the past couple years. Maybe it's just me, but I'm shocked at the amount of money some people spend on vacation. If NCL keeps getting people to pay for their high priced itineraries and dates, NCL will keep the pricing. I don't see them restoring any of these reduced services in the future. My first choice is a NCL deal, but I don't limit my research and have no issues choosing another vacation provider.

It's a valid point and I get that. My husband is hirsute as well, and it is helpful for that. In my experience though it's usually a family with kids where they just line them up and spray away, regardless of wind blowing it straight into the person next to them. It would be nice if the users apply it downwind away from everyone else. I personally find it so much easier to put the sunscreen on in the cabin before putting on the bathing suit.

I'd like them to ban spray sunscreen. 25% gets applied, and the rest goes to the surrounding people. It can't be healthy to be breathing that and getting it in your eyes and mouth.

I bring the liquid flavors (like mio) with no issues.

Having experienced a noisy cabin (that shouldn't have been based on ship layout) many years ago on a NCL cruise, I totally sympathize with anyone in that situation. Being able to sleep on vacation without a combo of alcohol, ear plugs, a noise machine or noise canceling ear buds is a pretty basic expectation. I bring ear plugs because noisy people and early morning door slamming wakes me up, but if my own room creates noise exceeding the capabilities of my ear plugs there is a problem. Simply saying an experienced cruiser wouldn't/shouldn't choose a cabin like this one or that one doesn't do anything to solve NCL's problem. No one should be expected to spend hours looking for a specific cabin to be mentioned in a negative review. Eventually someone will be in that cabin, and they won't be happy. Guest services will hear from those unhappy people. Bad reviews will keep being written, scaring some people away from the ship and possibly NCL. Who knows how many silent unhappy cruisers just move on to another line? Until the root cause is fixed NCL has options to mitigate these PR risks if they choose to, including blocking off from reservations, discounting, or a full disclosure category similar to the obstructed view cabins. Even a note in the room on arrival would go a long way with ear plugs and a noise machine available upon request. As for me and Prima, I'm not yet feeling the urge to try her. I love smaller ships and had high hopes for this new in between style. It's not so much the critical reviews driving me away, but the shortage of positive reviews balancing them out. If it fits my budget and schedule in the future I may give her a chance.

I've been a long time NCL BoA credit card holder and applied for a different one to earn Alaska Air miles. They gave me a nice credit limit but reduced the credit limit on the other card to make sure their overall risk isn't too high. It surprised me so I called and they happily rebalanced the limits right away. Even though they get paid in full each month, I prefer the higher limit on NCL.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I have no issue with the breakfast delivery fee. It is well worth it to me especially on early excursion days or the last day to not waste time going upstairs, and it's a back up wake up call. We get the full hot breakfast though so it's more than just coffee and croissants. I think we ordered twice on the last 7 day cruise and 4 times on the 11 day. I especially enjoyed breakfast on the balcony in my bathrobe going through the Panama Canal at 6:30am. They do honor write in requests sometimes so I add a couple orders of crispy bacon.

Maybe I did it wrong. I got the FCC for the OV cabin price decrease about 6 weeks before sailing, then a week later I used points to upgrade to a balcony. I didn't see any FCC on my account so I called and they said they took it away because I upgraded.

I think it's more the onboard promos that don't apply, like an extra specialty meal for being in a balcony. From past experience I know they wouldn't give me any FCC for price drops since I used teh upgrade certificate.