KeithJenner

You can order an Irish coffee with the basic free at sea package (unless something has changed recently, which is always possible.

I think that you may be getting confused with the packages and offers. You get free at sea with tryout booking. Free at Sea plus is an additional charge. However, from what you say, I think that free at sea will probably be fine. You get your basic brinks (non premium wines and spirits for example). You don’t get bottled water or speciality coffees though. As you say you get a time limited internet (free at sea gives you unlimited internet but I’m not sure you need that). The excursion discount only applies to the first person named on the reservation (free at sea adds the second person) and you will get 2 speciality meals each (again , free at plus will add another couple). Unless you want premium drinks, bottled water or speciality coffees or unlimited internet then free at sea plus is unlikely to be worth it. A lot of shore excursions may be a factor with an extra $50 per excursion discount for the second person, but I think that basic offer will have you covered. As for your other questions, the main thing I will say is that disembarking is likely to be a dream compared to anything you may have done in the US. There is no immigration to deal with so you basically just walk off and pick Up your bags. I’ve never queued at all in all the times I’ve disembarked there. There are loads of taxis, but it is just worth checking how many other ships are in port. We once arrived there as one of 4 large ships and the taxis couldn’t cope (we ended up waiting over an hour). All the other times we were in a taxi within about 10 minutes of leaving the ship.

We have used both of ours and they were both used on cruises that were much more than one year out (one isn’t until September 2025), so I can confirm that you can use it to book a cruise more than a year out.

Not sure exactly when they made the change (I don’t carry wine on myself), but it was some time last year I think. Basically, if you have free at sea you can carry on as much wine as you like with no charge.

I have boarded in Barcelona quite a few times and it is about 50:50 as to whether they were scanning bags as you actually board the ship. I’ve seen many people confidently buying bottles from that shop in the port and then having to pay corkage or deposit the bottles as they board. All pre the change to allow FAS people to take wine onboard, so it may be that they don’t check as often these days.

As far as I can see there are no other reasons stated in this thread. All of the responses that I have seen to the question are basically saying the same thing. NCL wants people to buy their own meals. Allowing sharing of dining packages means that people will just end up using larger packages to give individuals just one or two meals whereas NCL wants all those people to buy the packages themselves, at higher per meal prices, and hopefully encourage them to get larger packages for themselves. Everyone seems to be in agreement, with no BS required.

Lately I have had free at sea plus, so unlimited internet is included, but previously I would generally post from my phone using my phones internet whilst in port. Most of my live posts have been done from a train or similar transport or whilst sitting in a bar, either in town or onboard whilst in port.

Be careful in Santorini though, it can take a long while to get down the cable car to the tenders. It’s always worth researching what other ships are visiting and plan accordingly.

No, the ship time will change to match local time.

It seems to allow you to do so now. There was a problem with the system allowing you to book the same restaurant twice. However on our last two cruises, whilst it didn’t look as though it had allowed us to, when I checked my booked meals they were both there. The system still seems to be flawed, but it seems that you can actually make the bookings now, even if it seemed like it didn’t work.

The pricing of your cruise, and additions like free at sea are based on where the cruise is booked, rather than where you sail from, so the fact that your cruise leaves the US is irrelevant. In the UK we get charged the fixed free at see fee, rather than the gratuities, so you can totally ignore any reference to them as long as you booked in the UK. As mentioned above you will be charged taxes in some ports, as can happen in many places around the world (including the UK sometimes).

You log on and off as required to spread the 150 minutes out. In your case, log in, download your emails and then log off. Compose any replies offline and then log in to send them.

The question was whether you can share the free at sea and platinum dining meals, and the answer given said “no you cannot”, which very much suggests that neither can be shared. I was just posting as clarification, as you can certainly share the platinum meals. As is usually the case with this particular poster I got a sarky response.

So it’s odd that you said that they can’t then.

No, for most people this benefit has very little value, as it can only be used on new packages and the resulting price is still more than an upgrade. “Discount is not valid on Free at Sea Wifi Packages Upgrades or time-based Wifi Packages.”

Correct about FAS, but they also referred to platinum meals, and you can take whoever you want with you when you use those.

Taking what NCL have written literally is almost as certain a recipe for confusion and disappointment as asking one of their phone staff a question. i only have part experience of this, as our son (who would be Sapphire) turned 18 last year. He currently has no cruise history showing. When he does go on a cruise, that history has to be there before boarding for it to make any real difference, or at least to avoid having to queue up at the cruise next desk to get benefits added. Having the points added on day one would just cause confusion. Logic, and reported experience, says that the points are added along with the points for the cruise just completed at the end of the cruise, whatever the T&Cs say (and I think they are fairly vague anyway). If they were going to be added in time for the first cruise then it would be easier to set the system up to automatically add them when a latitudes account is set up after they turn 18.

Remember that this is written by NCL, so it will never be as clear as it could be. Whilst they say “on their first cruise” they mean it in the same way as points for that cruise are awarded (ie soon after the cruise ends). At that point all of your cruise history should be added. I don’t know what happens if there are any missing at that point, but as they say they will only look back a year I assume it is tough luck.

I will very often get more than 15 drinks a day on my package, if only because the bar staff only take one card if you are getting two drinks, and it is invariably my card that I hand over. Meanwhile, it would look like my wife hardly ever uses her drinks package.

No idea what’s going on there, but it looks like a great deal. I’m posting to mention that I laughed with your comment that you aren’t complaining. With the internet today you probably did need to point that out. 🙂

There is no way of predicting when excursions will be posted. It can be years out or it can be very close to sailing. As you have seen it can vary from port to port on one cruise. There have been a few posts lately amount European ports with no excursions close to sailing so there seems to be an issue in places. We can’t say for sure is and when they will be listed. I don’t really follow excursions all that closely as we don’t take many, but I don’t recall seeing any ports where they never get listed, or where they aren’t available onboard, but in these times you just never know.

NCL use Horizon if they can, but Southampton is a very busy port and as a result they may have to use a different terminal. We have sailed out of or into every terminal in Southampton on NCL, sometimes using different ones on the same cruise (embarking at one and disembarking at another). The Port of Southampton website has a cruise schedule that shows which terminals ships will be at, although that hadn't been updated for 2024 when I last looked, As for the train station, it depends on preference and which terminal. Personally I would walk to some (Horizon, City), but use a taxi for the further ones (QE2). City is walkable, but is a bit of a pain. Most will use taxis. I like to walk where I can.

It is true. They really were sorry.

Calling is very likely to cause more confusion, as people apparently often get told that you can’t book latitudes meals in advance. That is nonsense, you can book whatever meals you want regardless of how they are being paid for. It is quite simple though. Ignore the reasons why if that helps, but just go online and book the meals that you want, making sure that you book any with a fixed charge first.

The only thing that matters is to book any meals at fixed price places (Teppanyaki, Moderno) first. The link in my signature is a bit out of date, but it explains the reason for this.