SpacemanSpiff

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

9 hours ago, Cruise5life said:

...but then you have a bunch of cranky old men and women that missed their naps and wanna complain because you talk too much.   Lololol.   

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!)

3 hours ago, SimplyAlbert said:

 

For that big of a price difference I'd do it.  I'd make sure to take the air deviation though and go in a few days early and leave a few days after the cruise.

 

Generally, from what I've been reading,  I think it makes sense for international flights.  It looks like the savings are generally in the thousands and for the most part people have been happy with their flights. 

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.

38 minutes ago, Candy Apple 12 said:

 

Did you cancel a BOGO airfare? If so, is it considered a rebooking, or can you just cancel the BOGO airfare and let everything else stay the same?

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.

On 12/27/2022 at 11:10 AM, cruiseny4life said:

JUST WAIT A MINUTE?!?!?!?!?! Are you saying my Tom Brady Patriots jersey isn't appropriate in Ocean Blue? 

 

Ugh....this is just despicable.

 

And you're out of luck if you think my rally cap for Cubbies is every coming off my head.

Nope.  It's not.

Now, my "Second and 26" Alabama jersey is a different thing... 😉

2 hours ago, RVACruiser43 said:

No way, they would wait until embarkation day and hand out a flyer at checkin.

Don't laugh. It could be worse.

2 minutes ago, sjacobs11 said:

They're publicly available sailings. A 9-night from Venice to Lisbon on August 10th and a 7-night from Lisbon to Rome August 19th.

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!

2 hours ago, sjacobs11 said:

It looks like Viva will be done earlier than they anticipated as there are now sailings as of August 10th, which brings up the inaugural sailing by two weeks!

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!

12 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

We're using NCL airfare in March. I'm expecting mediocre. 

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.  

3 hours ago, JGmf said:

Don't sleep anywhere overnight without a portable white noise machine.  This is a must-bring for me on a cruise.  Rather small, so not a hassle to bring along.

 

 

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!

On 10/20/2022 at 2:35 PM, cruiserbear55 said:

You do, however, still have to apply for the Bermuda Travel Authorization. $40.00 fee.

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."

46 minutes ago, Steff79 said:

no post over one month,

no news, no post,

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!

4 hours ago, UKstages said:

"if you don't send £10,000, we're going to stuff a member of parliament in a phone box and then blindfold them and put them in a black cab and drive to scotland and iceland, then take them to canada, where we'll waterboard them with maple syrup and force them to listen to wayne gretzky sharing career highlights, after which we'll all go to prison in america, where we'll manufacture new york state license plates."

 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.

9 hours ago, WoolworthAdventures said:

The games are free but only have the price is right 

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.

On 11/27/2021 at 9:54 PM, MoCruiseFan said:

Video poker has and always will be a sucker bet.

 

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."

3 hours ago, Steff79 said:

Today Kristiansand, I had my first excursion with ncl today. 

the second cruise is fuller then the first but no 100% but everything feels a little  bit full. Then there was yesterday and today only one show at the theater, so many people had to stand. 
even now back at the ship now everything is full, food hall full, surfside full ( you can sit down at the food republic too) found a place at food republic public but everywhere walking people around. Excited how that will work with full capacity and bad weather days. But maybe that is like every cruise ship at the mass market.  But for me the surfside is much to small. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the excursion was great. We could go out at the city and used the shuttle bus back to the ship. What I then did. 

 

 

 

if you want to play old school games you can find some at the oberservation lounge. 

 

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! 🤣