xriva

There was a Mojito tasting on the Getaway in February. I learned a lot, of which I remember very little.

The Meet & Greet is usually scheduled on the morning of the first sea day, and the ship will provide pastries, coffee & juice (and senior staff.) I think that is a time the room and the staff is available - in the evenings, many would be busy. However, it doesn't hurt to ask.

Prepare for 50% turnout! People always plan to attend the M&G, but many will miss it.

Let the ship know early! The "two weeks" mentioned in the sticky post is really too late, as one organizer found out on my next cruise. Someone else knew the Hotel Director, and was asked if there was going to be a M&G since nobody had mentioned it. So, the M&G has a new organizer now.

Make sure nobody else has already started the process. I've seen roll calls where some helpful soul has started the M&G and not mentioned it to the roll call organizer.

I am up 72.90% since I purchased the stock on 3/1/2013. I consider that a great perk.

Exactly, Buy the stock if you think it is a good investment, not for the perks (which are nice, but not worth the price of 100 shares.)

What is the name of this excursion? I can't find it in the Roatan listings. It sounds dangerous but interesting.

I asked for the shareholder credit when we had the ODP, so the dinner didn't really buy us anything, except for the bottle of wine. It was not very clear how to claim a free dinner when all dinners were already "free" from the ODP.

There is a form and instructions on the shareholder information page on NCL.com. You have to own100+ shares of NCLH, the holding company for NCL.

Debarkation is by group, determined by luggage tag colors. Unless you're in a special group, you can pick your time by picking the proper luggage tags from Customer Service, a day or two before the end of the cruise.

Australia and New Zealand, for sure, but it seems a shame to fly that far just to be in each port for eight hours or so (I actually have the same issue with Europe.) Also, it's a long way (potentially) from port to port.

There's a lot of vacation time (and jet lag) committed just to get to the port and back from the U.S. I've been go Australia on business many times, and it can be brutal travel, although the country and people are lovely once you get there. I went to Malaysia on business in coach (stupid travel rules) and now understand why nobody from the company goes to Asia any more. I had a great time there (for a business trip), but really don't want to do the flight again.

I'm more interested in South America, but it's not cheap. I can imagine what Asia fares would be like.

Ok, this is very helpful.

 

 

 

Is the neon party when they do the fireworks display? BTW, was surprised they could do a fireworks display. Nice surprise. Does NCL set them off from a barge somewhere in the ocean? Just curious how they do this to avoid safety concerns.

Fireworks are shot off the back of the ship out to sea. The Captain decides if conditions allow - too much wind could cancel the show, for example. On the Getaway in February, my wife and her sister and brother-in-law were at Spice H2O, but I was getting claustrophobic, so I ended up at the Mojito Bar (much more peaceful), and you could see the fireworks off the side of the ship. (Bad iPhone photo attached.) We had other ships off the port side who were watching "for free".

Leaving Miami

We have never found one, and we look every year when we cruise. Last trip, we realized Uber is in Miami, so we will use them from now on.

I have it DVR'd and watch it at least once or twice a week in anticipation of our upcoming BA cruise. My thoughts? I really enjoy seeing the ship and like the behind the scenes look at how they skirted the storm. OTOH, I felt they focussed too much on what was going wrong or what had to be fixed on the ship. It sort of felt like it was giving a negative vibe in that regard. I would have liked it if they would have also given some insight into what WAS working well.

We were on the crossing, and it went well. So well, that after we found out about the episode, I remember discussing with my wife what the drama on the episode would be - and we assumed it would be the seas, which weren't that bad for me - but I like knowing I'm on a ship.

The best moment of the cruise, which wasn't shown, was during the Q&A, was when someone asked the Captain how much clearance we would have under the Verrazano Bridge, and he said, "I don't know, we've never done it before."

After the laughter stopped (it started after an awkward pause), he said with the tides, we should have plenty of clearance. My wife and I stayed up to watch us sail in, and it was interesting looking at the bottom of the bridge.

If you watch Mighty Ships, the episodes do always have some drama - will they make it? So far, all of them have completed the journey (Spoiler!)

There are beach towels in your room for the pool or excursions. You can exchange them for fresh ones at the pool, as needed.

It would depend on how the card handles a hold. When you give a credit card at check-in, Norwegian puts a hold on your card and that reduces your credit line. So, if you have a small credit line, and that's all that gets counted, that can be a problem. (This is why you should never use a debit card - the money in your checking account is blocked from other use.) On our last trip, there were a number of holds on my account, plus the final charge when we disembarked, so more than the final amount was held up until the holds finally rolled off a couple of days later.

You could use a credit card at check-in, and then just pay for your final bill with your PayPal card - you would just have to go to guest services to do so.

If you're only going to use the card for the trip, then as long as you have somewhat more than you are going to spend available, it might work. If you go over the credit limit in holds and PayPal doesn't roll over to the actual funds, you're going to get a call from guest services. This happened to me once when I gave the wrong credit card at check-in - it had a very low credit limit and we went over it during the cruise. I gave them a different card, and all was well.

It was a lovely ceremony. Captain Rune was most gracious, and everything actually went as planned - which is not always the way to bet!

We went to the Meet & Greet our first sea day and recognized our assistant hotel director from an earlier cruise. He asked my wife what cabin we were in, and that afternoon, our room was decorated - towel swans, roses, and a bottle of wine. We felt bad moving the swans and cleaning up, but we didn't want to sleep on the floor!

I was very pleased with the ceremony and all the package benefits, it was definitely worth the money in my mind.

When else will a Captain pour me champagne?

Ok you got me here??? what do you mean book the shows????????? are they extra?? I really know nothing about NCL !!!

Some of the shows (The Cirque shows, Illusionarium) are extra - probably because they have food. Others are included, but can fill up, so you can make reservations.

If you reserve online ahead of time, you're done - otherwise, you have to do it on board, in a possibly long line, or go standby at the show itself, which depends on the number of people who reserved. People with reservations are seated first.

We just celebrated our 15th anniversary on the Getaway, and renewed our vows with the Captain officiating. (Vow renewals are handled by NCL Group Sales, and it was handled nicely. It was a brief, but lovely ceremony.) We were married on a schooner off Key West, so after 15 years, we decided, "We're gonna need a bigger boat!"

It was a week-long, three-port cruise (St Maarten, St Thomas, Nassau) - for the newer ships, I think it's as much about the ship as the ports - this may help you decide on an itinerary, depending on whether you want ports or a big ship to explore.

There will be similar Caribbean itineraries for your anniversary, I'm sure. As new ships arrive in Miami, this seems to be a standard starting route. Two sea days, two ports, sea day, port, Miami.

Have fun planning your anniversary! (We did.)

I would welcome varied itineraries of different lengths. I don't think he's talking about eliminating 7 day cruises, I think he just wants to offer more options.

That's how I read it, as well. I would like the ships to alternate itineraries, instead of just doing the same route every week. Some of the ports are starting to get old.

Does anyone know the prices of internet while on the ship or internet packages cost?

The 100 & 250 minute packages will come with free minutes if you're a Latitudes member and if you purchase the first day. However, if you sign up on your device, you will need to go to the Internet Cafe to get your extra minutes added to your account.

It is not the fastest Internet connection, as others have said.

Yes that's what I'm used to at the Specialties.

 

 

 

So how do they know who has the UDP and who doesn't?

I think they assume if it is a couple, then if one person has the UDP, everyone does, since it's a program requirement. [Edit: My mistake. It's not a program requirement. Wasn't it at one point?]

When we sailed with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, we were asked for one key card per stateroom each evening.

My wife and I traveled alone at Christmas, never got the stickers, but they still just took my key card every evening.

Help me if I'm missing something, but I can't see any advantage of having both people in a cabin (husband and wife for example) purchase a future cruise certificate if you can only use ONE certificate.

Since you have four years to use it, you may go in multiple cruises (which is probably their hope.) My wife and I always have an extra one around in case a deal arises (like a $799 aft balcony on an 11-day TA.)

This question comes up ALL THE TIME.

The answer is: It's up to you. Don't think of it as "I have to go to Cagney's every night or I won't get my money's worth." It's "I can go to Cagney's every night, if I want."

Only a borderline alcoholic is going to drink enough to "make money" on the UDP (and I drink, and I've done the math.) What the UDP gives you is the freedom to not count your drinks. If you drink more than the cost of the package, great. If not, all of your drinks were still free.

I would take the UBP for free if I were booking because we have paid for the UDP our past two cruises, and bought the previous package (three dinners and a bottle of wine) before that. It's a price I'm willing to pay and we get a Latitudes discount. The UBP is too expensive for me (and I drink, but my wife doesn't - much) so if I'm going to pay for UDP anyway, I might as well drink without counting, if they will give it to me free.

However, my wife booked our next two cruises, and she took the free UDP for both because we use it, so we didn't have to pay for it.

So, you can argue either way.

My wife was sick on our Christmas cruise, and we had room service one night. I did not stay awake that night, fretting that I had not gotten my money's worth on the UDP I had purchased. I was on vacation. Worrying is for the office.

Soda is the UBP for those under age. The Spring Break rule mentioned above might be the issue.

The quality varies widely, and there are also different companies on different ships (I think.)

I do agree it's a volume business, but I would assume that selling more copies of less shots would be a good thing.

We have had "portrait" photographers fuss over where our hands were, where our feet were placed, and they still end up producing snapshots.

Part of the issue may be that I'm sure the post-processing is automated in Photoshop or similar, so there is not a lot of human care involved. My wife will spend hours in Photoshop, editing a single photo simply because she can. The ship's photographers are on deadlines, so I presume they run an action that tries to fix the contrast, balance the light and crop to the requested size automatically. You won't get consistent results that way unless you have complete control (background, lighting, posing) over the shoot, like the portrait guys do.

The selling point they have is that short of handing your camera to a stranger, it's the only way to get a photo of your entire group. So, for some, they will buy a photo or two because they want a memory, not matter how poorly composed. This, I think, is why the companies don't hire photographers, they hire people who can learn to use the cameras over time.

I love Norwegian but I am not in love with the Epic, although my wife likes her. I think she is the one ship that was designed to appeal to people who don't like cruising - she's a Vegas hotel that floats.

I like being on a ship, not a floating resort. (The critical lack of a promenade was fixed in the Breakaway class.)

The passenger-crew ratio is similar to other ships (I think), but she is the largest capacity ship in the fleet, so there's a higher number of cranky crew and cranky passengers.

For the OP, the Jewel-class ships may provide a more traditional cruise experience. I love the Pearl.

One ship does not make a cruise line, especially when she is a one-off.

You can eat anywhere you like. We usually cycle through our main three (Cagney's, Le Bistro, La Cucina) during a cruise.