dmwnc1959

I saw this in my head…🤣

Even when I check for these shore excursions not logged-in there are none showing. The website shouldn't recognize me as a booked guest at this point, so it would at least show them as available. Correct? I’ve also looked at other cities/tours and they show the non-discounted (-$50 credit) rate indicating that I am not logged in. So Colon shore excursions should show up. But they aren’t. And when I do select Panama as an itinerary, Colon isn’t even offered, it’s like the port has disappeared from NCL all together.

I know last November there were some issues with cancellations and safety concerns due to civil unrest. But I hadn’t read anything in the news lately that would indicate this to be the case?

I had been browsing the NCL website to get an idea of the shore excursions that may be available for my Panama Canal cruise next April. There were more than 20 that would populate on screen once Colon was selected. I’d even taken screenshots of these. Now there’s nothing. At all. Is this because - I don’t know - maybe they’re redeploying itineraries from the last big cancellation announcement? I’ve been checking for a week and they’re just gone, both when being signed in and logged out.

Recycled water? 😳 Gasp, the horror!!! 😉

My bottled water comes from the pristine springs of a regional mountainous snow-capped wonderland graced by Mother Nature’s loving hand, and it’s bottled by magical forest dwelling pixies and then delivered to my local market by unicorns through the rainbow filled countryside. Or at least it says say on the label. 😉 🤣

Love Honda, I’ll be sticking with them for a while. 🥰 And after the beating I gave NCL in some of my posts and threads, I’ll probably be sticking with them as well. I have a feeling Norwegian Jade is going to be a wonderful little ship. Can’t wait for the NCL 2026-2027 itinerary release dates, since HAL has me for 2026. 😁

This is a current screenshot from the NCL shore excursions page, not including the NCL Free At Sea $50 credit (applies to Passenger 1 only):

My 2020 Honda Accord - in a stunning radiant red - gets a LOT of compliments. When the sun hits it, it just glows. Absolutely love Honda. That aside, I’ve never really looked at cruise lines as car brands lol but more like hotel chains. And based on the ship construction and design classes, that can differ quite a bit. If I ever go back to Carnival Cruise Line it will only be on one of the newest Excel-class, but with NCL, Princess Cruises, and Holland-America I’m fine with the small ships. I look at the onboard accommodations exactly the same, I’m just renting the room for a week or three and not buying a house.

I’ve read a lot of reviews over the years while checking NCL ships, it seems that the ones by the exit doors from the studio area are the most problematic. All of the ‘prime locations’ that weren’t adjoining cabins were already taken.

Oh, thanks for that flashback. 😉 I can still taste that now more than 55 years later. 🤢 And my friends all had cooties 🤣 which probably explains why my immune system is so good!

I’ll have to keep the water cartons in constant rotation from the shelf to the fridge. Like some others may have mentioned here, I drink a LOT of water. The medication I’m on for my cluster headaches severely dehydrates me, and the neurologist suggested a minimum of +100 ounces a day. So even here at home (and when out in town) I typically go through more than 10-16.9oz bottles of water in a 24 hour period. And yes, for anyone asking, I do recycle them. 😉

Didn’t know that. Guess I only ever first checked Studios! I’ll have to look into those when deciding on my next NCL cruise. I’m still leaning toward the smaller ships, even with the 2026 cruise I have booked with Holland-America on Noordam.

How many of the water cartons will fit in the fridge? I’m in a Solo Inside on Norwegian Jade and have seen some old pictures of the exact cabin I am staying in. This from an old thread by @shealea

That was one of the main reasons between my indecision between my booked Panama Canal cruises with NCL and Princess Cruises. My veteran OBC for a long cruise with Princess was $250, whereas my veteran discount on NCL with a 25-night cruise was $270.

This is the biggest fear I have in booking a Studio Cabin on NCL’s bigger ships. It’s pretty much why my first cruise with them is on one of the smaller ships, Norwegian Jade - instead of Studio Cabins they have what’s called a Solo Cabin. These are basically a ‘regular cabin’ but is restricted to single-occupancy. Booking these as a solo traveler saved me more than $600 over a ‘regular inside’ on a 25-night cruise.

Green and silver is a very nice combination. 🥰

YOIKES! That creates a customer service issue I’d hate to have dealt with. 😢

So, as a first-timer on NCL, I can proudly flaunt my beautiful ORANGE card? 🎉 😉 If after my first cruise - I am doing a B2B - my status changes from a NEWBIE to a cruiser with 25-nights and jumps from that past bronze to silver, do I actually get the SILVER CARD at the beginning of the 2nd half of the B2B? Or only the benefits and the card comes later? My B2B was booked as two different cruises. Per NCL: If I change tier level during a back to back cruise, will I receive the benefits for our next tier? If your back to back sailing was booked as two different reservations, and you graduate a tier after your first cruise, you will receive the benefits of your new tier on your second cruise. If your sailing was booked as one reservation, you will not receive the new tier benefits on your current cruise. You will receive benefits for your new tier on your next cruise.

Totally agree @Caligirl33 my last drink package was with Princess Cruises and it also included bottled water, specialty coffees, and the juice bar. I probably would’ve kept the NCL Unlimited Drink Package if this was the case, but after much hemming and hawing decided to delete it.

Great point about the cabin steward cleaning the sink tap with a rag. Never even thought about that. I’m sure it can be resolved by flushing the water back up into the spout, but that just doesn’t seem to be an option for me. I’m probably more paranoid about that than most of the people.

I’ll definitely look into that. 👍 Being new to NCL - but not new to cruising - I wasn’t sure how it was going to work on the Norwegian Jade, especially in restaurants. Was figuring on being able to order a glass of water, iced tea, or some other complementary beverage. For some reason, I would just feel a little awkward bringing in a 1-liter container of any kind into a restaurant, other than maybe the buffet and The Great Outdoors, O’Sheehan’s, or Topsiders. Definitely don’t want to get any stares from patrons in the fancy places.

If I can ask you a question about this - since I don’t drink alcohol or soda I’ve eliminated the Unlimited Drink Package. If you were going to be on a ship for 32 days, would you reconsider buying a drink package? Even if it was for the 6 or 12 ‘bottle’ package?

I do have a question for you about this. When someone purchases a package on their online cruise reservation, it gives a ‘requested delivery date’. When you purchased it at the bar, did they give you an option of the delivery date? Was this something that you did, and it still didn’t get delivered for two days?

I plan on buying the water package as well. I find it a little more convenient to be able to toss the container when I’m done and not have to drag around a large empty stainless steel water bottle or empty Yeti around she ship. I also plan on bringing at least a dozen small boxes of water additive. Now that I think about it, I could probably dump all of the packets into a Ziploc bag and carry it that way. I took these screenshots off of my booking for the different prices: