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Everything posted by mking8288
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More At Sea is a downgrade if you had FAS+
mking8288 replied to kmetz's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Belated welcome to CC, whether you are new to cruising or not. As leader of my pack with more than a dozen+ that cruised mostly NCL until "lately" - what's hidden with this latest spin is "MORE $$$ at Sea" for NCLH and shareholders. We started putting NCL on limited "suspensions" in 2023 and imposed more this year, and approaching another final payment deadline soon, already postponed and deferred 1 out of 2 TA that otherwise would be leaving from our homeport next week. We always opt out of the beverage/plus/unlimited drinks add-ons and those enhanced marketing spins don't affect us, but most likely will opt out of future Specialty Dining add-ons, since nearly everyone are Diamond, Sapphire & Platinum. On longer cruises that we might be booking in the future that once provide 300 minutes p/p x 2 or 600 minutes based on double occupancy, losing 300 minutes is no joke and NOT a mistake. IMHO, this is merely disguised to increase revenue for stockholders, plain & simple - stock is on the uptick recently, that's good for Wall Street and for the small # of shares we hold, a good thing. Starlink WiFi onboard NCL has been a laughing joke from what I've seen, tested and read - continued to be the cruise industry leader, as the slowest in the rat race and not worth paying even more in the future. There are solutions out there, just not for unlimited use at sea as satellite access to the inTERnet is relatively costly ... and this worked well on another cruise line's ship at sea. Look up GigSky eSim in partnership with Cellular At Sea. To borrow a tagline elsewhere - Meanwhile some of us are giving money to competitors. It’s a great time to try an affordable cruise. On what ever line. -
2026 NCL Cruise Critic cruise (proposed)
mking8288 replied to schmoopie17's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Sun Princess would be interesting, flying south from NY in February ... hmmm. That calls for 2 days air deviation, at a minimum. Today is a good Tuesday, less than a week after submitting online application to renew the "book" & uploaded a digital photo, paid the US Gov' the fees. My new "book" has been delivered today. It's been renewed for another 10 years, expiring Oct. 2034 - along with the digital, secured NYS MID (Mobile ID). Priority Mail envelope would've been in hands 24 hours ago if yesterday wasn't a federal holiday. Color me impressed with this amazing and the fastest turnaround for non-rushed online renewal that I know of - incredible accomplishment, job well done. Now, we can seriously look at all options, including last minute deals. Our best friends paid extra for rush delivery to renew. His was accepted 36 hours later than ours, approval status - in print and preparing to dispatch, upon final review ... hasn't been shipped yet (officially, turnaround time is 4 to 6 weeks) -
NCL Sky October 9-19, 2024 Quebec City to Baltimore live
mking8288 replied to boffoboffo's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Hope you get to enjoy a sunny day in Portland, waterfront is lovely to walk around. Friends that just early disembarked (not continuing to Miami) this morning on the Getaway TA also had to deal with similar protocols with CBP, face-to-face and no AI facial recognition, called by the deck when ship reached NY. We've done similar NE/C cruises on NCL where we cleared CBP onboard & given a sticker, allowed to go ashore but late, late - also not helped with tendering at Bar Harbor as first US port of entry ... then, had to repeat again in NY with final disembarkation for all, including those on B2B. It is what it is, not going to attribute the delay to NCL, but private excursions, yeah ... Upload issue is with CC, website has been experiencing Code 404 and 504 errors off-and-on for last several days. Not to worry, it's not you and/or ship or shore side broadband. By CC Help Michell 10/15/2024 Good afternoon! At this time members may experience difficulties adding photos or videos to posts. We are working on this and hope to have it resolved soon. Thank you for your patience! -
Inconvenience b/c we hate and dislike deeply inflated, highly over-priced shorex pricing booked thru NCL. Worst than these, getting the "Dear ..." on embarkation afternoon waiting for us, once the stateroom is ready instead of our shore-side checked luggage to unpack, citing unforeseen & operational, safety and other excuses letter, signed by the master of the vessel. You can delete 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, and so forth ... but they'll keep pushing them out, whether you open, move, delete or ignore them. Tech savy email users can filter inbound NCL email and divert identical and/or similarly suspected spam mail into the Junk Folder, usually emptied out after 30 days. Other lines' I.T. Dept are necessary better at theirs, but they aren't obsessed like the Norwegian AI bots ... outsourcing hasn't seemed to make any positive difference or simplify resolutions of these annoying patterns.
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LOL. Got an idea for ya. Enlisted the help of at least 7 or 8 other cruise friends, using the own "unique" email addresses (as in disposable or secondary ones) - cut and paste the produced video or youtube link, and dispatch them on a hourly basis ... and, address this just-as-important message to multiple corporate department heads. Will they get the message(s) or not, irrelevant but perhaps, turn into a water cooler topic. Perhaps, their competent I.T. Department can just upload the relevant content specific to the cruisers for the given sailing via the NCL App, and as part of the pre-cruise, online check-in sequence, and provide a digital trail that ... Wait, not telling them how to do their job right, am I.
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Just bits & pieces relayed from onboard using WhatsApp today ... Friends sat next to GM last night b/c they always do Dine With Officers (how lucky) - confirmed that 40+ passengers (only as it that's all) disembarking tomorrow in NY and leaving ship early with permission, good for them it home is NJ/NJ/CT/PA, etc. if they rather choose not to stay onboard, continuing B2B, etc. Asst GM said they can disembark anytime when ready vs. waiting until 10:30 as told previously by Guest Services ... talk about the right hand not knowing what the left is doing. But, the other 2,900+ pax (ship sailed at 75% occupancy only) will need to clear CBP in the morning, early arrival expected ... Face-to-face w Customs, start calling by deck at 07:30 and no re-boarding the ship until everyone ?? is cleared (11 AM'ish) Hopefully, they get these done right as I'm sure some pax should be doing shorex in NY and the rest need to be back for the afternoon sailway. Joked that they have someone higher on the mast looking out for iceberg, maybe better luck to spot Right Whales in the shipping lanes and/or the Breakaway going the opposite direction from Newport, RI to Portland, ME.
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Hey, I remember your ID and trip reports from that era ... always have a soft spot in our hearts for the mid-size & Away/+ NCL ships, always the crews onboard and the officers that we come across. Things haven't been going right in the past year and really, really sad about itinerary changes after final payment and the BS given, let's not address that here - looking ahead and broadening. My sincere "apology" for the lengthy reading associated with the trips, skim thru the photos should bring a smile or two, especially the meals, the food and the buffet - Cunard managed to get us to add them to the future list for consideration. Surprised that when we priced some of the "off-season" East Coast itinerary, that they are "competitive" against NCL these days, really and even the onboard booking can be transferred back to one's own TA, which often will have the extra "advantages" Their (Carnival) X-Starlink WiFi was fast, as in turbo maritime fast, beating Voom by half a field's length and leave NCL in the dust - internet access at sea isn't "vital" to many, I care and use it, that is "booze" and like daily Starbucks for others. 2025 is going to be very interesting in terms of all the options on the table for us, NCL's choices are slim and "boring" - locked on Breakaway's Nov TA with 2 cabins for 5 of us, everything else up for re-consideration ... 2, 3 and even 4 to 5 staterooms as a block of cabins together. Brother is finally retiring, that's another 2+ in the pool, to play as leader of the pack. Doing a report on the Symphony OTS ? Best regards !
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@NSnewcruiser We had similar issues after we completed OLCI, luggage tags & docs printed just fine but couldn't get the bar code to come up, it just froze. I.T. wasn't of much help but aware of issues, couldn't get it to work on other Androids (14's) either. Oddly enough, iOS was happy to cooperate with Royal's app, screenshot & shared it as JPG. Couldn't do the quick health questionnaire within 24 hours of embarkation either, just FYI, on Androids but iOS ... maybe, IT is biased toward Apple's platform, dunno. Show the QR code from photos and beep, quick pier check-in ... apparently, shore-based contract agents aware of the ongoing issues. Don't sweat it.
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Mike - Tuesday's NYC forecast is sunshine & clouds, winds 10-20 mph. Monday night's low, about 45 deg F and daytime high on Tues, close to 60F. Dry and no rain/shower in the forecast. Fall is in the air with cooling trend. Our friends onboard reported seeing foliage in Halifax, colors are pretty (photo forwarded & OK to share) ... not much in NYC yet. The luxury, small ship with 200 cabins, 400 passengers with a crew of 300 was backing in, maybe 200 ft. from GA's bow - short video clip from their iPhone. VID-20241013-WA0000.mp4 And, they will be doing early disembarkation upon arrival in NYC instead of continuing south to Miami with 2 more sea days. Arrangements set & approval secured (from Miami HQ) earlier (there are others said to be doing the same ...) also, likely to be crews turnover, leaving the ship for vacation & returning, boarding in NY - thus CBP are going to be on hand. They reconfirmed with Guest Services, will be closing out their onboard account by Monday evening, and the earliest that they can disembark and go thru immigration/customs is 10:30 AM. Should be a somewhat smoother ride ovenight but a bit rougher as usual tomorrow heading in, depending on how close they chart the route as it approach MA, RI and then out along the east end of Long Island.
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Glad we've been able to share our first return to RC since 2012 and should've listen to old friends like @Arzeena earlier, and happily relocated/retired to year round sunshine. I am happy to be able to avoid the dental chairs until next week, trust me ... they do take good care of me but they said, please don't come up and reluctantly postponed. Happy to say that today's rapid test finally non-responsive or negative, in the clear. These tests quickly depleted the older kits in the inventory, expiring soon anyway ... like @Seadog67 wrote, just another speed bump ... heck, we're sailing back in the SARS days, who knew then norovirus wasn't ... Happy Columbus Day everyone, and, tomorrow, we'll go out to eat, locally, & move away from self-imposed quarantine, calls for woohoo !! 38 Days to the next Online check-in - time to mark the digital calendar as a reminder - sailing again in 83 days according to ShipMate app. Looks like I am going to do another semi-live, at a minimum to entertain by January, and I know those NCL clan members have been lurking around 😆 😁 😉 12 days / 11 nights ... and looking at something else further out already.
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Onboard NCL ships with X-Starlink services activated, the iOS loophole(s) had been closed, blocked and/or shutdown as I.T. finally figured out changing dcp/tcp ports like 80/8080 and 443, etc. to reroute their crew messaging via their candybar portables. It wasn't possible either on Cunard recently. Royal app worked like IM and pushed onboard messages across iOS and Android platforms, no fuzz and no charge, even when our Pixel and Samsung were NOT on Airplane mode as we're used 4G LTE at sea (that's a different subject matter) Internet access is different but inTRAnet continued to be fine, as it should. Doesn't cost anything to try it anyway but expect it to not in a functional mode, if at all unless message function is paid for.
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NCL Sky October 9-19, 2024 Quebec City to Baltimore live
mking8288 replied to boffoboffo's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Thanks for taking us along, Norwegian Getaway is ahead of you at Halifax today, friends onboard said they felt the sea again last night once they sailed from Sydney ... windy & wet, etc. for them yesterday but nice, cooler day now. Being a Sunday and everything slower, they are meeting w friends for a waterfront lunch. Read that the cruise met expectations but you are still a little disappointed, still making the best and most out of it. We had previously booked her on the TA later this month, leaving from NY to go across but plans changed. They're on the Sky's TA last Fall and knew / seen the pluses & minuses but felt the drydock work did gave help modernize the ship. Looks like the sea will be less choppy after sailaway but not as bad sailing toward Halifax. Enjoy. -
Updating my latitudes number - email?
mking8288 replied to SSMcruises's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
@SSMcruises If you just booked, NCL agent can usually fix by amending your reservation. If not, their system generally do a nightly sweep and will - probably - identify that you have more than 1 Latitude account (existing / old one and the newly created, first-timer) based on biographical info, address & email/contact info, etc. and reconcil, thus consolidate and combine into 1 designated account, update the reservation accordingly and notify you via email. Your "status" should / will be maintained as Silver or whatever, and credited accordingly. If not, you have 1 year from sailing date to notify them of missing cruise credit and request the adjustment for points earned, etc. This happened to DW a # of times due to married & maiden name, sometimes with the booking done via travel agency/agent instead of a direct booking with NCL and/or online ... where sometimes, depending on the portal ... the pre-selected info like Latitude #'s cannot be edited or changed, requiring more than AI intervention. IT has its limitations, regardless ... simple matters like middle name vs. middle initials, and travel document (passport) entries "exactly" as spelled or written. -
You are fairly new to NCL 😉 Messaging with the app was $10 per device, if it hasn't gone up since our Prima TA in May, if only when it worked consistently then but it never was. Don't count on it by spending up to $10 x38, but you can ask for a refund or credit onboard at the iCafe desk when it is staffed. This isn't like Celebrity or Royal App w free onboard messaging, and I wouldn't count on the other details to be updated nor accurately on a regular or daily basis, some features worked fine like checking your charges onboard. Be sure to download & use the newest version. Enjoy your cruise, hopefully you will see more on the ship then.
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Happened to stumbled into this thread and look who's here, skim thru the posts from the past few days and happy to read that all is well in your neighborhood. Wrapped up the Liberty trip report and starting the gradual countdown to Odyssey next January, as you knew already. Just realized another NCL regular that had gone off the board radar from the pre-C era has been sailing RC, as I remember trip reports & photos filed from seadog67 ... my once sharp memory isn't what it used to be, LOL. Been taking things easy & mostly staying home, not to risk the slim possibility of sharing certain undesired bugs with those near & dear to us with known risk factors. Took advantage to get an excuse to defer the dental procedure for almost 2 weeks, antibiotic prescribed and hold on to that useless wisdom tooth until then, LOL. Didn't gain any weight either, not the 10 nights on Cunard nor this 9 nights on Liberty. Will stay in touch & give you (and others) heads up on possibly revised plans for the other cruise booked ... after we get C&A to straighten out our junior "status" - Susan has 2 accounts apparently, whereas I've been bumped higher into the next tier (not expected) Read that RC's I.T. is as good (bad) as NCL. Hi to Rj for us and best regards - let's see if we can spot Northern Lights this evening, most likely not - too much city lights even in our area ... Henry
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We have two CPAP's - have you sailed recently?
mking8288 replied to zebra's topic in Royal Caribbean International
FWIW, we just sailed Liberty OTS 2 weeks ago, requested via housekeeping 3 days prior, an extension cord and distilled water. They're inside our cabin when we boarded (no charge for 1 gallon water) Typically, our electrical and electronics are part of the carry-on, and I am not sure if the port security got the memo or updated training on what else to look for ... my small backpack was pulled aside for a visual/hand inspection. Turned out that they wanted to make sure that I was just carrying a tactical LED flashlight 😉 (HKIA transit security in HKG did the same when we're transiting between SGN and ICN a few years ago ... the defensive bevel lens guard, not a problem) plus a small pen case with assorted adapters, spare AAA batteries that apparently warranted a closer look. No issues with NCL, Cunard or other lines with similar non-surge adapters with no plans to follow RC's move to ban - thus, this adapter - which is usually attached to the power adapter, slipped thru. We left home other adapters and it's been years since we retired the swivel Belkin power cube/adapter with surge circuits. Some of the hotels ashore known to have poorly placed outlets and having an angled power "tap" do make a simple but big difference. Brought 2 of these (from nearby Micro Center, computer store chains) years ago, and actually has 2 more without the extra tap - UL/CSA/ANSI listed/certified - 13A rating - not to plug in a hairdryer or curler, etc. and run both. Not advocating to misuse one of these. -
Let it run, let it play, let it roll, let it on, till the end - once is enough. Helpful to "mute" the volume. Take a quick coffee/tea/snack break, go to the restroom and/or any other multi-tasking (it's only a 90 seconds video clip.) Wait, that's not the worst part - you still have to endure the full length, onboard video onboard presentation in the privacy & comfort of your suite / stateroom, after/before you actually identify, find and report to the assigned muster station in person, not virtually. That, we do on NCL, while unpacking our belongings, checking that most nearly everything are in working order, toilet flushing, and under the bed to avoid surprises (in case the previous passenger hid a duck down there)
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Right, seen plenty of chairs added to the atrium several months ago onboard the Prima, on decks 5 AND 6, due to the popularity of whatever or poor design, no clue as to what they're thinking of during the planning stages back in the shipyard. Maybe, there is a chance it will be addressed on the Aqua and Luna ahead. From egress standpoint, especially in the "unlikely" event of an emergency onboard, I'm sure it will be managed ... or, else. Trust that between the insurer and SOLIS that it is code compliant and permitted, whereas in facilities where I retired from, Joint Commission certification simply do not allow for, nor local fire codes.
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These are Starlink speed onboard Carnival's Cunard early last month ... see the difference, and that's with 3,000+ passengers on a ship sailing full in Alaska. Speed did vary, shocked at the peak download results. Pretty fast, I might add and paid less using OBC on 24 hours unlimited pass. Voom is close but lower ... NCL, well. Someone with reasonable good & satisfactory results, love to see it. Otherwise, look into GigSky eSim solutions (prepaid) designed for cruising, partnering with Cellular At Sea over 4G LTE ship signals. The only PAYG (with top-off options) data plan of its kind! A seamless mobile experience from port to port – and days at sea, coverage across different lines and 200 vessels. 3GB good for 15 days and 5GB good for 30 days at sea. This is beyond the scope of NCL and not going to discuss this herein. https://www.gigsky.com/data-cruises-americas-caribbean
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Welcome to CC and happy cruising, make the most out of it. Let's see, you will be on a 7 nights cruise, FAS with 150 minutes (solo) or if 2 are sailing (150 x 2 = 300 minutes or 5 hours worth of metered time use) - it has a trade-up value of $100. The basic unlimited WiFi price is $30 a day x 7 = $210 for 7 days Minus $100 trade-up (buy pre-cruise) = $109 or $110 (rounded up the 99 cents, etc.) - you are billed & charged immediately now. Wait until you are onboard, and you can apply any and all OBC (OnBoard Credit) refundable or non-refundable, etc. against your stateroom's account. You can upgrade just 1 line to unlimited if there is 2 of you. Or cruising solo, you get only 150 free minutes to use. Yes, you can use your free minutes, and wait - remember to follow the steps & precedures to sign-in and sign-out of the ship's WiFi inTERnet, there is a mini-guide printed for reference at the iCafe desk, and usually also in the Freestyle Dailies. If you accidentally used up your minutes & somehow did not log-out correctly, don't panic, go see the iCafe manager during her/his office/desk hours for help - upon review, generally will credit you with a reasonable & fair amount of minutes back, as a one-time courtesy only. Each time you log in, the meter will show the minutes remaining and upon signing out correctly, show the minutes used & remaining balance. Connecting to ship's WiFi inTRAnet is free & you can stay connected at all times, put your device on Airplane Mode. As long as you have 5 or 10 minutes remaining and can still log into your account, you will see a pop-up, offer to upgrade to unlimited, and the price then (based on 7 days, 6 days and 5 days, etc.) Wait until midnight, it is Day 02 by 00:01 and you saved $30 by not paying for Day 1 as unlimited. Thus, 6 days x $30 = $180 less $100 trade-up, meaning your net cost is just $80 and that's after using up say 120, 130 ... up to 145+ minutes, don't let it run out entirely or it is a trip to see the internet manager (I believe they have a new title lately, whatever ...) See the screenshots below - should be self explanatory for the average tech person that use Team, Zoom and similar applications. NCL has the slowest & worst X-Starlink connection speed among cruiselines, Carnival is fast, really fast on Cunard and least expensive, really; while Royal's Voom has been well established and it's good & reliable, much faster & better, superior than NCL's satellite "upgrade" that actually tested to be slower speedwise than pre-Starlink times, but lowere latency. Of course, your hardware is a key element, expect better results if it is at least WiFi 5, WiFi 6/E preferred to get the most out of the available, shared bandwidth. Turned off background refresh, backup, uploads and other unnecessary apps that will slow matters down - basic WiFi block access to VPN but premium does NOT give you better or faster speed, etc. - but will cost you $10 more a day for streaming TikTok or YouTube, etc.
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The TERRIBLE State of Norwegian Cruise Line in 2024
mking8288 replied to Sizzlechest's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
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Regardless, we are very much looking forward to our next (mid Winter) cruise booked with Royal Caribbean, again, paid in full - until then, we can dream of dining like this, not everyday onboard, but at least once in the MDR, not in the "upcharged" specialty restaurant / steakhouse. If this is available onboard NCL, will definitely cost extras. Thanks, Royal 😉
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@Scottdalfonso For decades, Manhattan Cruise Terminal was notorious for poor cellular reception inside Pier 88/90 but post-Covid, free WiFi has been part of the enhancement, making it much easier to use digital apps, etc. in addition to calls, messaging and pulling up emails, eDocs, etc. instead of using printed papers. Hopefully, Cape Liberty's operator can do that as well and RC being the anchor there, should really be a partner to help insure that this happen, sooner the better. It was next to impossible, once inside, to access anything with dead zones/spots and no guest WiFi for use as a backup - maybe, I can blame T-Mobile on their coverage via Google Fi as our cellular carrier. Regulars that sail CL with Verizonwireless, perhaps have better luck ... possibly, AT&T Wireless ?? With the next cruise on Odyssey OTS in 86 days, now that we know CL better than 2012, will be just as prepared, hopefully. @Luckynana Well, got excused for my dental procedure scheduled for this morning b/c of the positive result on rapid test done yesterday, still has a faint line - postponed for until later this month. And, per clinical guidelines, we can defer our vax booster for 3 months ... oh, no. That's our winter cruise, wait a minute, this isn't right - going to have a chat again with my PCP next week, told me not to come in yet. Hey, gotta have a good sense of humor when going with the flow. Among the few things we noticed, now that RC is raising daily gratuities by 50 cents a day p.p next month. Onboard next to last day ... room steward left an envelope on the bed, along with the Cruise Compass, marked/printed by RC for Tips, exceptional service above & beyond. That's not something that NCL nor Cunard do. When we see, recognize and appreciate service excellence, we cash tip regardless - without an envelope. RC's DSC at $18 or even $18.50 a day for basic staterooms is still lower than NCL, currently at $20 (and, I have no doubt that they will be raising it soon, very soon - as being expected by some of us that've sail NCL for quite some time) Perhaps, this is RC's routine ? We gave extras to our dining room team on Cunard, just as we did onboard NCL, and did the same last week; and, didn't wait until the last day or two. FYI for all - with our 9 nights onboard, we're not alerted pre-cruise, that there will be formal nights with a suggested dress code (2 nights, actually) for passengers ... luckily, I have collar dress/sports shirts and dressy/causal pants and a pair of black walking shoes, blend in just fine - didn't pack a blazer nor a tie. Our best friend - retired banker, didn't pack a dress shirt at all, but luckily has collar shirts, good enough to be consider resort/business casual and clean, neat jeans. Dressing up a bit, easier for women and ladies but for men ... We didn't pack tux for our Cunard Alaska cruise as we're informed, notified or otherwise alerted pre-cruise, with options should we choose to not ... but we flown with dark suit, shirt & tie packed.
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Not exactly from where we are, in the (New York) City ... but, according to the niece, it was seen out in Long Island earlier in the evening. One of the tricks we learned during our recent TA is to take night photos with the digital and/or smartphone/iPhone camera ... then, check it, you might see not see it with naked eyes but thru the lens.
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The TERRIBLE State of Norwegian Cruise Line in 2024
mking8288 replied to Sizzlechest's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
@UKstages ... sadly enough, there is quite a few contestants playing that game. I finally got around to watch the referenced YT video - odd, not 1 dislike vote. Just 5,700 "likes" - wow !! I don't agree with everything said in that using the Epic as an example is bad, to illustrate their some of their points. Epic is in need of some serious drydock work ahead for sure, but it is unfair to make the entire case on that basis alone. It is hard to remain upbeat and stay with NCL these days ... some of these folks need to sit back, take a deep breath and read some of the recent posts on " NCL Itinerary Changes After Final Payment *just the facts* " - just see a new one added, poster is, I believe, either another Ambassador for the brand (and, if not, definitely Diamond status) I wonder, sometimes, if the defenders bothered to read or at least skim thru @YVRteacher Yvonne's recent live reports and appreciate some of her highly critical comments, and, IMHO, done in a very fair & respectful way.