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Thank you for this post and all the replies. I didn't really pay much attention to the Military Discount program until today. My husband joined the Marine Corps on his 18th birthday. He also loved the military meetings on NCL and Carnival. He proudly wore a Marine Corps pin or baseball cap while on board and was often asked about it. We have many great stories about veterans we met on cruises. He passed away on 9/11/2021, before NCL had this program. After reading these posts, I checked and as a surviving spouse, I am eligible for the discount. So I am signed up and ready to book more cruises. Thank you all!

5 time Alaska cruiser here. 6th is booked for later this year. The first two were on Princess, the rest are NCL. We loved Alaska, did not love Princess, but it was fine. We also cruised the Panama Canal on Princess. Coming from Alabama it was a little too "fancy like" for us. We cruised NCL (also Carnival) out of New Orleans like other people booked beach homes, 3-4 time a year. Once we started achieving latitudes status, it was hard to give up the extra perks to start as newbies on another line, and the prices let us put extra into excursions. All this being said, pick the cruise that suits your needs and has the itinerary you want. Alaska is really about the scenery and the excursions. Standing on the balcony looking at the glory that is Alaska is awe inspiring.

On our recent Joy cruise we ate at Cagneys, La Cucina, Ocean Blue and Le Bistro. After several attempts, I am giving up on Cagneys. The best part of the meal was the creamed spinach, the potatos au gratin and the OMG cheesecake. The filet and Blue cheese ravioli in La Cucina was a better steak. Love the carbonara. The duck at LeBistro was terrific and escargot!! We also loved Ocean Blue, scallops and pork belly, enough said. I do miss the old osso bucco at La Cucina, it is now lamb shanks. The older version had the bone marrow.

I was on the Joy post refurbishment transatlantic with friends, husband and wife and me. He had fallen in a cave on a cruise in December and had surgery on 3 rotator cuffs. It was his right arm. Our last specialty dining was at Le Bistro. Best meal I have ever had on a ship. Best waitress I have ever had on a ship. The food was delicious, the presentation was excellent. When they uncovered our meals, my friend reached for her husbands duck so she could cut it for him. Our waitress told her, no, you start your meal, I will cut it for him. She proceeded to cut his meal and even fed him one or two pieces so he could eat with us. It was a beautiful thing to do. We made sure to write a hero card for her.

YES! I sailed the Prima New York to Iceland. Very rough seas. Missed ports. Very cold. The thermal spa was worth the money. I can sleep thru anything so I rarely heard the noise. There was creaking during the really rough seas. I don't eat at the buffet. I did walk thru several time and there is not room for everyone at busy times. I also don't attend entertainment so I wasn't bothered by packed rooms.

I agree with many, rolling the clothes is key. Start filling the bag with the smallest clothes at the bottom. Be gentle when putting them in. Work up to the largest, heaviest clothes on top. The bag can be left open with clothes laying on top. I am always amazed at how many clothes I can fit in the bag. You will get them back, usually, nicely folded in a wicker basket. Once I got my shirts and pants back on hangers.

My husband would tell a story of two salesmen in a new town. The first went to the local diner and asked the waitress what the people in town were like. She asked him what the people in his town were like, he replied that they were lying backstabbing thieves. She said YOU will find the people here are the same. The second salesman went in the diner and asked the waitress what the people in town were like. She asked him what the people in his town were like. He replied, they are the kindest, honest, generous people. She told him, YOU will find that they are the same here. I have been 35 cruises, never had a bad one. Bad weather, bad food, missed ports, norovirus once, and, I was on one of the last sailings of the Carnival Holiday! Each one of them had positives to make up for the negatives. My least favorite cruise was a Panama Canal on Princess. I still enjoyed it. When I feel the cruise is not worth the money I spent, I will consider it not a good cruise. Hasn't happened yet. Now ask me how I feel about Disney World, That is a waste of money (for me). It's why there is chocolate AND vanilla. To each his own. I like vanilla, but if you like chocolate, I'm happy for you. If you don't like ice cream there is something wrong with you.

I did this in October. We arrived later on the day before sailing and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn at the airport. On the morning of the cruise we went back to the airport lobby to get the bus. We missed the first round and waited with the second. It was very easy. It will take some time to get your luggage and thru customs. Find out when the last bus leaves. They take your luggage and when you get to the port you do not have to deal with it (with attached luggage tags). I highly recommend this!

That is what is happening to me on Chrome.

Itinerary! Alaska is such a port intensive cruise the ship fades to the background.

The only time I have been told I could not take food back to the cabin was a cruise with Noro virus. I asked to take my dessert back to the room and was told that was not allowed. I was sick the next day and it kept up. Signs included no condiments on the tables, paper menus, the washy washy song being played over the loud speaker every 15 minutes, and of course everyone talking about who was or had been sick. The crew, of course denied everything. After the cruise, I mentioned it to my cruise consultant and he said I should have gone to the medical office since it was covered under my insurance. The walking down there in the state I was in was not an option, I just spent 24 hours in the shower.

On day one, when I meet my cabin steward, I tell him I would like ice and extra towels. Then I give them a tip. I always get ice everyday and towels. Several years ago I read a post from someone who tested the water from various locations and concluded the melted ice was the cleanest water on the ship. I refill my water bottle with the melted ice so it serves 2 purposes.

Just yesterday received my flights, 46 days before my cruise. We leave Birmingham, AL Tuesday Oct 10th at 3pm, 1 stop in Houston, 3 hour layover, and arrive at Heathrow Wednesday at 11:30am. Our cruise leaves on Oct 12. I asked for that deviation. We depart Heathrow at 11:45 on the 22nd, 1 stop in Atlanta, 2 1/2 hour layover, and arrive in Birmingham at 6:30pm on Virgin Atlantic. We have transportation from NCL from the ship to Heathrow on our return. Now I have to plan Heathrow to Southampton and lodging the night of the 11th. I don't know how we could have gotten a better itinerary.

DH and I always took advantage of the free laundry for platinum guests. Sometimes we needed it for the cruise, or at the very least we used it to take home clean clothes so one less chore when we got home. DH was a Marine, so he would roll the clothes up very tightly and carefully stuff the bag so no rips. It was always amazing how much could be stuffed into the bags. One of the great joys is getting the clothes back perfectly folded in the basket with tissue paper. We would pick it up and put it dircctly into the suitcase. As mentioned above, ask your cabin seward about the special, they can help. Usually, they will take care of you if you take care of them. I always tip when I first meet them, tell them what I want during the cruise (extra towels and lots of ice) and thank them in advance for their service.

Great review!

DH and I always ate at a specialty restaurant on the first night. My last two cruises were with my stepdaughter and we spaced out the specialty restaurants and got tired by the end. On our upcoming cruise we will eat our 4 meals on nights 1 to 4.

I am Sapphire on NCL and Platinum on Carnival, I do not prefer one over the other, I chose value of cruise primarily. NCL having CruiseNext is of great value to me. In September 2011 my DH and I had btb on the Carnival Triumph, a 4 day followed by a 5 day. The 4 day experienced very bad weather and the river was closed when we should have been coming in. We sat outside the river most of the night and only made the trip up starting around 8 am which delayed the arrival. We may have been the only people undisturbed about this since we did not have to get off. We arrived late in the day and did not leave til early morning. We got to see the trip both up and down during the daylight. We loved this experience. BTW, we learned that there are alot of cows in south LA.

I recently (May) took the shuttle. There are employees with signs for the shuttle in the terminal. Once they have a group of people they guide you to the location where you line up for the shuttle. We were there early and it was a continious operation with about 60 people per bus. Make sure to have your tags on the luggage before getting on the bus or you will be slowed down once you reach the terminal.

I was among the first to get reservations on my last cruise. There was no availibility online or thru my NCL rep. When I went once on board I was able to get everything I wanted and was able to choose from multiple times. They had plenty of availibility. It may be an urban legend, but if you can't get them before, it won't hurt to try once on board, where they have set up to book dining. I have never, not been able to book dining. Sometimes there is a slight adjustment in time or day (on my last Alaska cruise one restaurant was fully booked one night by a private group who had also booked all the Haven rooms. I just went another night.) Good luck!

When you board the ship go to where they are making reservations and book. They only release a small number of before sailing. I agree, do it ASAP when you get on the ship. I have done this on 2 different sailings in the last 2 months and have not had a problem.

The tomato bisques was a favorite, really we liked ALL the soups. We were surprized by how much we liked the turkey scallopini with mashed potatoes and leeks. Yum! The bruchetta was ordered multiple times. The applepie with cardomom was our favorite dessert.

I was recently on the Bliss. We were a group of 5. 3 had never cruised NCL before, 1 had 1 cruise prior, I am platinum. The group chose Cagney's and La Cucina for our specialty dining. 3 chose the filet and blue cheese ravioli at La Cucina, all five of us agreed we liked it better than the ribeye at Cagneys. (We sample!)

As a professional working in the not for profit industry for the last 35 years, I have spent my fair share of time in both "flop houses" and "homeless camps." I definately cannot say that the Observation Lounge looked like either of these actual, very real crisis locations. Was it crowded? Yes, at times. Did the people enjoying their time in a location, that provided both shelter and food, which they had paid for, seem to be enjoying themselves, as they had the right to? Yes, yes they did. Please consider, rather than throwing around hyperbole, a statement such as..." it was so crowded with people who got there and claimed crairs before I was able to claim my own chair."

Glad you had a good time. We were on the ship a week ago. I did not go to the Spa, however I visited the Observation Lounge at least once a day sometimes more. I rarely stayed past getting coffee. Like with all my other Alaska cruises, they keep common areas like this so dang hot I had to get out. I only got coffee and a muffin when it opened at 5:30. A great time to be there with hardly any other cruisers. We thought the crew was very friendly and loved the food at both the specialty and main dining rooms. We wandered thru the buffet once the whole cruise.

On a recent cruise we, a party of five, often discussed the salt an pepper mills. After I gave a tutorial the first night on how they worked two of my companions figured them out. Two others contunued to fight with them every night, making it much harder than it needed to be.