dporter

Thank you for sharing, I am enjoying all the information and pictures.

3 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

Then you're missing Paseo de la Princesa which takes you around the outside of the city along the base of a centuries old fortified wall, El Morro and San Cristobal forts, the oldest Catholic church in the US, a tour of the Bacardi distillery, a day at the beach in Isla Verde or Condado, tons of good restaurants with all kinds of foods from local to around the world, maybe a day trip to El Yunque (the only rain forest in the US Forest Service system). There's also Casa Blanca, which is the house built for Governor Juan Ponce de Leon. He died before living in it and now it's a period museum. There are a few art galleries as well. So, with al due respect, if all you see in San Juan are a few kiosks, beggars and strays, you're really missing out on a whole bunch of stuff of things to do.

We absolutely love Puerto Rico, we have started and ended cruises there and even went there as a port day. We have visited during the January festival which is spectacular, the music and food are phenomenal.  We really enjoy the one port day where we walked off the ship and were able to walk all the way to El Morro while many were still sleeping to enjoy the peace.  We have barely scratched the surface in Puerto Rico and will be sailing from there again in February!

11 minutes ago, fiftyguy said:

We were on the Gem this past September. At the last minute we decided we wanted the spa pass. Online it was too late to order so I called the concierge desk. The woman I spoke with said she put a note on my reservation and to speak with the concierge when we got on board. The spa did have our names and we got our passes. It does work.

have a great trip.

13 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

You will have absolutely no issue with getting the spa, none.  I booked the Two-bedroom Haven Suite for my family (5) June 2020 on the Pearl.  You will enjoy that cabin. My wife and I are on the Getaway this weekend in a Haven Spa Suite.  
I understand your partners issue.  I kind of agree with him especially on the epic. I have done it both ways.  Large suites and Spa.  The challenge with the two bedroom Haven suite is a small balcony.  The positive it one incredible master bathroom.  In that bathroom is a similar jacuzzi as in the spa suite.  The other benefit is a dinner table with four chairs.  This means plenty of room for in room dinning.  
Regardless, you are going first class. Enjoy your trip.

Thanks this makes me feel better. We did the 2 bedroom haven on Jade twice so we are excited. The small balcony doesn’t bother us at all, it’s just us two

On 10/13/2019 at 10:36 AM, Sthrngary said:

• Pre-Cruise Haven Concierge Desk Requests:

When you book the Haven luxury experience, approximately 60-days prior to your sail date, you get a U.S. mail letter from NCL.  In the envelope are special luggage tags (I will discuss this next) and a letter requesting any special requests. You can communication these request via a special 800 number or send an email.  I always choose to send an email due to my many requests.

My always “pre-thought-out” email, addressed things I would normally ask for, when I arrive on the ship.  40-years of cruising experience, helped my preparation greatly. My Haven requests included, but were not limited to:

Thank you for sharing Sthrngary.

I hope the Pre-Cruise Haven Concierge Desk Requests pull through for us.  We have sailed in the Haven on Jade twice and loved it, this time we are going on the Epic and looking forward to the dedicated bar, lounge, and restaurant.   

Unfortunately I think I screwed up. I was able to upgrade from a Haven Spa to Haven 2 Bedroom, as I like having the extra space and bathroom.  I fully understood that I would not have access to the Thermal Spa Suite unless I purchased a pass.  Well that's great except I have been trying to 20 days to add this to my reservation and for whatever reason I can't.  I contacted my PCC and the reservation line and they keep pushing me back to each other.  I contacted the Pre-Cruise Concierge and they cannot accept any payments or add to my reservation.  She said she put a note in my file and to make sure I check in with the Concierge as soon as we board and it should be no problem.  I hope that works out as my boyfriend will be crushed and a little upset since he told me to keep the Haven Spa Suite and I really don't want to hear I told you so.....

You also reminded me of some other things I had forgotten since our last Norwegian cruise.

We have grown children but enjoy cruising without them.  We have found that booking cruises which are longer in length (more than 7 days) and that occur between Christmas and Easter we encounter less kids onboard.

You should be able to purchase OBC prior to your cruise through your reservation, the maximum you can purchase is $1000 per reservation

Onboard Cash Access

Thank you for the review. We will be sailing on Epic in February and are looking forward to the trip.  Epic will be the largest ship we have sailed on so we will see if we like the larger ship or not.  We are no longer loyal to any cruise line as we find them to be more similar than different. We select our sailings based on destination and price.  If those are very similar we will then look at ships to see which one has more amenities that we like.  

Does anyone have a list of the martinis available on board, I know there will be some differences between ships but they are probably pretty close in price.

I am so glad I checked this thread, we will be on a 10 in February and trying to decide to upgrade or not.  I did a little math and here is what I came up with:

  $  441.80 gratuity already paid for the 'free at sea'

+$  696.00 upgrade to PPBP ($348 pp)

   $1137.80 total for 2 people

divide by $15 (maximum per drink price with regular beverage package)

75.86 drinks at $15 per drink

divide by 10 (number of days for our cruise)

7.586 drinks per day

divide by 2 (there are 2 of us)

3.793 drinks each per day

So the questions that are left are for us:

Will we each consume a minimum of 4 alcoholic drinks valued at $15 per day?

Will we consume any extra drinks (sodas, fancy coffee/tea, bottled water, bottles of wine, etc.)?

Would we prefer peace of mind by not having a bill at the end of the cruise?

Yes we would.

I guess I will be upgrading our beverage package!!!

Following along

Following along, enjoy your trip!

Cruising Alaska is great and there are more similarities between the cruise lines than differences.  You will have multiple ships in almost every port.  Take a look at the offered itineraries as there are few differences between a couple ports and which glaciers they may sail near and decide which you prefer.  You can then see if one of those itineraries is on a cruise line that you prefer or you can go by price. 

I had always heard that Princess did Alaska best so we booked a cruise with a land package with Princess, but when the prices dropped I switched to Celebrity.  I was able to sail on the Millennium shortly after refurbishment in a Sky Suite this past June and added a DIY land tour which was absolutely perfect, and still saved money.  After reviewing the land itineraries on multiple cruise lines I found that I preferred more choice.  By doing it myself we could see what we wanted, when we wanted, we could also avoid the masses.  Additionally, we weren't so worn out as I allowed for sufficient down time.

20 years ago I did Alaska on Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas, this was also a fantastic trip.

If you have a PCC they can make the air deviation to day before for you and charge your the fee, in my case it was $25.00.

7 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

No, we had to give that up and purchase once on board. But we had OBC to cover it which is why we didn’t do it ahead of time. It’s about a $40 savings if you purchase prior to boarding but I don’t know of a way to use OBC prior to boarding. But the experience of the aft penthouse (deck 9) was totally worth it for us. 

Thanks

6 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I upgraded twice within the Haven categories due to price reductions as we got closer to embarkation.  Went from a spa suite to a forward facing penthouse to an aft penthouse.  This was on Breakaway back in June.  Ended up getting the aft PH for a final price of $3000 pp.  

Did you get to keep your thermal spa perk that you would have had in a spa suite?

Thank you for sharing

5 hours ago, Cafedumonde said:

If the certificates expire 12/20, is it okay if it expires during a cruise?  

You can call NCL and have your cruise next certificates extended. However, they will only do this one time.

On 10/11/2019 at 8:55 AM, Lem_On_Ade said:

I have my first NCL cruise booked for January. We received the specialty dining package of 3 meals. Seeing as how I've never been on NCL before I'm having a hard time deciding which restaurants to try. Let me preface by saying I love steak, Italian food and hibachi type meals so I would love some input from anyone who has ate at these places before. We currently have Moderno, Cagney's, La Cucina and Teppanyaki booked. I need to eliminate one, which would you choose? Thanks!!

I would eliminate La Cucina, for me Italian food isn't super special, although I love Italian food.

Moderno has been our favorite on NCL cruises, in fact we like it better than Cagney's.

If you are a diver then the kelp forest at Catalina is supposed to be really great.

9 hours ago, LisaLisa87 said:

Hello! We're getting excited for our cruise on Epic in April. We're still fairly new to NCL, and I have a question about booking excursions. We typically prefer non-ship tours, but I'd like to use our $50 shore excursion credit in at least a couple of the the ports. I was thinking zip lining at Harvest Caye and possibly Maya Key on Roatan. When I log in and go to "Explore and Plan," I'm only seeing 1 excursion for HC and 1 for Roatan vs. 14 for Costa Maya and 36 for Cozumel. I'm assuming more will be added for HC and Roatan. Any rhyme or reason as to when? Can the zip lining on HC be booked in advance? Thanks in advance for any input!

NCL seems to be slow on adding excursions into their website, we cruise on Epic 2/6 and there are several ports with no or very limited excursions.  

1 hour ago, Lorey2007 said:

I have a cruise booked with the free air promotion which is $99pp added to the booking.

The cruise is not until April 2021 final payment is not until December 2020.

If I decided to pay for my own airfare in May 2020 if I call NCL will they just remove the $99 pp from my reservation?  Or will they rebook my cruise which would most likely be at a higher rate?  

If you are prior to final payment you should be able to remove it with no penalty.

As long as the free air is still an option you can still add it.  However, if you had the extra $50 shore excursion that would be removed.

We loved going up and down the Mississippi River, but I am sure not everyone will enjoy it.  Like other have said in the winter months most of the trip is in darkness so you are limited on what you can see.  It was interesting to see why flooding happens when levees break as you see homes below the river level.  

We have always been able to find a decent hotel at a decent price in NOLA, of course anything around $200 would be reasonable to us.  There are lots of things walkable, there are also plenty of street cars, cabs, and even bicycle taxis.  The food in NOLA is phenomenal, we have never had a bad meal.  Bourbon Street is a party all year and it is fun to people watch!

Check Mardi Gras time, parades will run all of the time starting in January through Mardi Gras - https://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/when-is-mardi-gras/, hotels will be quadruple what you would pay at other times and the streets will be packed like sardines.

Thank you everyone. Still trying to decide what to do, might just keep an eye not he first few cruises then book airfare.

2 hours ago, smplybcause said:

You might have to wait for a better answer as Epic has not home ported there, or at least not in the last few years. I'm interested if there's any answers since I'm going in March. 

Thanks

We will be on the Epic in February 2020, it will arrive in San Juan at 5:30am.  Does anyone have recent experience on flying out of SJU and can you share what time your flight left SJU?  Did you experience any challenges disembarking?  Did you use NCL transfer or arrange your own?  Did you carry off your luggage or pick it up when you disembarked?

We would like to do a non-stop if possible but it leaves at 9am, and I am worried that might be cutting it a bit close.