SpacemanSpiff

Wonder if they're putting it on the Viva to start with? (I hope.....)

Yes I do, you young whippersnapper! 😆

This is a bag suitable for squirreling away cookies.

232 on the Viva! And thanks to the points from the BofA card, just upgraded to a balcony! (Mrs. Spiff is very happy!)

Hey, I have one of the mid-September 2023 Viva sailings -- at one point it was the third public cruise; now it's the fifth, and I feel a bit better. I figured NCL wouldn't be adding earlier cruises unless they felt better about delivery. But I can still get worried. I know that's just me, and I deal with it. (Oh, and I also have the backup plan of the late October 2023 Viva cruise on a similar itinerary, so that takes the heat off!)

As I mentioned, I had been looking at some time for similar flights (same days of the week for in and out to get a feel for a "good" price). As soon as it became available, the numbers for the flight pairs we wanted looked good and we pounced on it. Six hours later, I checked just for grins -- and it was $600 higher round trip. It's gone up and down since, but never below that $600 level. Each case is different.

They didn't treat it as a rebooking, just removed it from the cruise. Of course, it was 11 months out and the cruise hadn't been paid for, either, which might make a big difference.

We originally did, but backed out, but that was us. One of the reasons we opted for it was because if you used their air package and hotel, you could stay more than the normal two-day deviation, and we wanted to stay an extra day in Rome. We also looked at the flight combos on ITA Matrix for similar flights (RIC-ATH, FCO-RIC) and realized that most of the flights either had super-short connecting times (under 2 hours) or very long ones (6 hours or more). We did find a few in the three to four hour wait range which we deeded to be ideal -- and figured those weren't going to be the ones selected. Once we did some math (figuring the upgrade for booking our seats, and the lesser price of a hotel in a better location vs what NCL was charging), we figured the difference was minimal, so we sat on it until air tix became available, bought our air and canceled the NCL air package. But, as they say, YMMV.

Nope. It's not. Now, my "Second and 26" Alabama jersey is a different thing... 😉

Don't laugh. It could be worse.

Thanks. As someone who's been on pins and needles after the last set of cancelations (we're on the 9/13/23 sailing), I am glad to hear this!

Without looking at the NCL site (too many crises at the office today!), are those "public" sailings, or are they of the "lets send out the TAs and VIPs on a pre-cruise cruise" variety?

Great pix! Going on the Viva next year, lookin forward to it!

Hudson's is one of those thing I look forward to the most. While most MDRs seem like they're in a grand hotel type setting, this one actually lets you see the water!

We'll likely get ours soon for next September's trip. For us, the big expense will be getting refundable fare (about $500 extra). But, between the potential of the cruise being cancelled (it's the Viva, and as it now stands, we're cruise #3 with a target on our back), and the risk of mega layovers -- or worse still, short layovers of 90 minutes for an international flight -- we think it's the smarter choice. Plus this allows us to take extra time at each end instead of the two-day deviation so we can spend three days in Athens and Rome.

I use a well-loaded MP3 player for that purpose. The trouble is I have to remember to take off all of my 70's funk music, or I'll get blasted wide awake!

IIRC, this was speculated as the reason Bermuda didn't back off earlier -- they've built this fee into their budget for this fiscal year. Now it's just an outright money grab, not just a "health concern."

As someone who has a cruise booked on the Viva in mid-September 2023, no news may be good news from my perspective.

Hell with the honey. Bring back some Tim Horton's!

Sadly, £10,000 doesn't go as far as it used to.

I have a stepson and his wife on PEI. They report that they are ok, trying to help out others who are not. Not sure where on the island they are.

That might be (a) because of the newness of the ship, or (b) it's in Europe and, as Steff has noted, Supermarket Sweep isn't known there.

Maybe it's because I'm an accountant, but I always check the shipboard account (not just the bar tab) daily. Mistakes happen, plus I always have a mental budget on how much to spend on a cruise.

That's one reason I pretty much play (real) roulette if I feel like gambling. I understand the odds, and how the 0/00 gives the house about a 5.2% cut in the action. Anything electronic is just too nebulous in the odds, and assumes that the cards distributed are truly "random."

Good old Monopoly. Can't say it's my fave -- to me (as an accountant working for a property management company), it's too much like work! 🤣