KeithJenner

You can reserve any meals online 120 days out. How they will be paid for is irrelevant. That is decided at the time you actually eat. As most restaurants are a la carte there is no charge for reserving them regardless of whether you have any packages etc (the system has no way of knowing what you will eat and therefore what the charge is). There are two restaurants, Moderno and Teppanyaki (or whatever it’s called on the Prima and Viva), that have a fixed charge and the system does try to charge you the cover charge when you book. However, as long as you have dining credits to cover them then it doesn’t actually charge you. For example, if you have a two meal dining practice with free at sea and book Moderno first then there is no charge. However, if you book Cagney and Le Bistro and then try to book Moderno the system will charge you as you have reached the number of included meals. How you ultimately pay for the meals is irrelevant, this is just for the purposes of deciding whether to charge you when booking.

Yes, same here. It may not show on the earlier pages, but when you get the checkout, latitudes and free at sea discounts are applied.

And you pay the gratuity on the packages which we don’t. The charge in the UK is basically there because NCL can’t charge us gratuities on a free package. The two are fairly similar in value.

Or just not looking at these offers. I just search the website for current prices when I need to book a cruise. Any games that NCL play are totally irrelevant.

Yes, I often have to book Moderno or Teppanyaki onboard to avoid paying the fee on booking. Do it straight away to get the best choice of times. On your original post, the system has never recognised platinum meals prior to the cruise, so nothing has changed.

We have stayed in the deck 8 club suites quite a few times on similar ships to the Escape and they are excellent. Most are the ones with large balconies (which are huge), but I think there are a few non large balcony rooms there as well. Never heard a sound from the Theatre. I have seen people mention that they did, so perhaps it depends on individual rooms. For us they are very quiet and an excellent location.

The discussion can be open to others at other times than dinner. We spend a lot of time in the public areas on the ships. We spend most evenings (and quite a bit of time during the days) in various bars and lounges and strike up many conversations with others. All of those things that you mentioned that can be done when sharing a table for dinner can be done elsewhere during the day, with the difference that we can select who we have those conversations with, rather than leave it to the cruise line to find my friends for me. You may spend the day as a couple and join others for meals. We socialise during the day and use meals as a time to spend together. Each are perfectly valid options, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that those who chose to eat alone (or with friends they have made during the cruise) aren’t having those same experiences elsewhere.

Or provide further confusion. 🙂

Nothing has changed in my experience. Every NCL cruise I have been on (including recently) the ship time has changed as appropriate so that it matches port time. Sometimes when this subject is discussed some people mention a time that it wasn’t changed, but that seems to be very much the exception.

Although sometimes it just happens for no clear reason and goes back to normal after a while.

OK, yeah, that's probably about right.

That sounds like about the price for Free at Sea plus, which includes extra meals, excursion discount and internet as well.

The upgrade price for the premium plus package is much less than that. Edit: It is actually $29 plus 20% per day. A couple of bottles of water and a couple of coffees and you are nearly there. The increased choice of wine and spirits is certainly worth those few extra dollars for me.

I have done quite a few overnights in various ports (although not Istanbul) and on all of them you just had to be back before all aboard time directly before departure.

We rarely use this, as we tend to walk off with our bags, but when we have done so we just asked at the cruise next desk for the luggage tags. The tags mean that your bags will be ready for collection very soon after you disembarkation starts, so you can leave early. I’ve never even asked about being escorted off. We’ve been going off and on the ship for the whole cruise, so we know the way without anyone holding our hands. Having said that, we usually cruise in places where there aren’t queues for immigration etc, so I suppose an escort may be handy in places where that is an issue.

I would certainly book Moderno as one of the first two, as it isn’t guaranteed that the system will recognise both dining packages.

Regardless of the official policy, the way that it is dealt with onboard has always been very hit and miss. Pre beverage package, we almost always brought a few bottles onboard. It was about 50:50 whether they charged us.

Yes, the details on the website are quite clear. A set of vouchers per room if there is a platinum (or above) and another set if there are 3 or more. If there are one or two platinums then any visit to guest services to ask for more vouchers would be a waste of time.

That isn’t correct. Some people have got confused which may lead to the misunderstanding. The change is that you can no longer use non refundable OBC for the purchase, but the OBC that you get (whilst that is non refundable) is specifically stated as being able to be used against the purchase.

There is a Nespresso machine in suites. No diy washing facilities on any NCL ships. There is a laundry service. There isn’t a private lounge in the Haven on this class of ships. There is a pool area and a sundeck, but as far as I’m aware never any entertainment there. You get breakfast and lunch for suite guests, but nothing in the evening.

Not relevant to the current discussion, but there is a caveat to this point in that if there are more than two platinums in a room then you get more vouchers. Basically if there are 3 or 4 platinums then you will get 4 vouchers in the cabin.

They do follow what meals you use on your account. When checking in on occasion and they are checking how you are paying they have been aware of what vouchers (dining package or free at sea) I have used so far. Having said that, it does seem that they are less fussed about the latitudes vouchers and there have been occasional reports in here of people managing to do things with them. It can’t be guaranteed though, and there have also been reports of people getting caught out with them. For example, recently someone reported finding vouchers in their room and they managed to use the first one, but not the second.

I’ve never used them myself (don’t book Haven), but I think it may be something to do with needing the higher value to cover the deposit, which is a lot higher for the haven. I could be wrong though.

Ocean Blue is certainly included. No extra charge unless you order an up charge item. I think it’s covered in the T@Cs by “seafood restaurant”