MeHeartCruising

Not entirely true. Yes, That is true on the aft portion of the ship. But the front half of the ship has a mixture of insides and balconies. Even if you exclude the studios. Look at the deck plan for deck 14, for example. Many inside cabins that are not studios. Yet not as many as you would typically see in older ships.

I don't follow you. The studio cabin area is quite obvious as there is an obvious cluster of studio cabins there, which is the opposite of what I pointed out to look at. Look at the deck plans for multiple decks that have the majority of the cabins. Compare the number of inside cabins to the number of outside cabins. Notice long stretches of hallway with no inside cabins.

Very, very hot (we had 98 degrees every day and that was 10 years ago). Many outdoor sites have no shade. Many indoor sites have little to no working air conditioning. My Mom developed a bad heat rash that she had to deal with most of the trip. Large crowds everywhere. Lines everywhere unless you take advantage of pre-ordered tickets. Even with those tickets, you will likely wait in some lines for security checks. All the sites you will be wanting to visit will be open. All the support things you might want (restaurants, etc.) will also be open for your business. Fall trips are more enjoyable as are May/June trips.

Looking at the posted deck plans, I found it interesting how few inside cabins there are on some of the decks that would traditionally have them. There are many places where there are balcony cabins on the outside and no inside cabins across from them in the hallway. You don't see that very often on other ships. The insides are sporadically placed on several of the decks. Nothing wrong with it. Just thought it was noticeably different from other ships I've seen.

Solo discounts are definitely out there and they appear more frequently the closer to sail date. As a single retired individual, I check for them frequently to see if anything I'm interested pops up. I'm considering a British Isles cruise next month on the Dawn that has a base price (inside cabin) for $599/person for 2 people and only $898 for a solo cruiser. Not a bad price for a 10-day European cruise. Of course, the challenge is to find a reasonably priced airfare to go along with it. Of note, the ships that have solo studio cabins often have a better price for a regular inside cabin than for the studio once they start reducing the price for solo travelers. Don't assume you have to be in a studio cabin. Not that there's anything wrong with them. I've stayed in a studio before and it was fine for one person. But I prefer an inside cabin over a studio. Sometimes, even the balcony cabins become quite affordable on short-notice purchases.

This page on their website seems to articulate the different locations they can get a car to you. https://www.rodoscars.gr/rent-a-car-in-rhodes-stations/ From that page: Rhodes Port - "Rent a car in Rhodes and pick up your hired car from the car rental station in Rhodes port by selecting Rodos Cars. Our friendly staff at our Rhodes port office can arrange delivery of your hired car directly to your boat for your convenience at no extra charge." Rhodes Town - "Book your car rental in Rhodes Town from Rodos Cars and pick up the car from anywhere in Rhodes Town. Our specialized staff will undertake to deliver the car to the place you wish and give you all the information you want at absolutely no extra cost."

Cannes is a perfect port for your plan to get off the ship and wander around. We walked along the waterfront and then up a small hill for some scenic overlooks. Lots of places to eat/drink/people watch. We sat and watched the beach and our ship floating in the bay for a couple hours. Enjoy!

If you and your wife are Platinum Latitudes level, then DINP3H might trigger your Platinum Dining perk (DINingPlatinum3H). No idea what the 3H would be.

Many cruise lines offer these “partial Panama Canal” cruises. Yes, you will pass thru one set of locks from the Atlantic Ocean side and the enter Gatun Lake. The lake is part of the canal path. The ship will briefly stay in the lake long enough to unload excursion passengers who will get on busses to the excursion. Then the ship will pass back thru the same locks back into the Atlantic. The ship then likely docks at Colon (outside the canal) and stays there until the evening return of the excursion passengers. The ship will NOT pass all the way thru the canal. Actually, you will only experience a small portion of it on the ship. There are excursions that will transit more of the canal on smaller boats and even all the way into the Pacific. Those will then return to the ship by bus. I did this excursion and loved it. But be prepared for a very long day and a lot of idle time on the canal. Passage thru the canal is a slow process. Even if you don’t do the long excursion, you will indeed experience the basic process of the locks. But just one set of those locks. The excursion will pass thru 3 (I think) addition sets of locks.

I can’t tell from your post. Did you call the Excursions Desk and ask them when more will show up on the web if they truly have them for purchase. Maybe it’s a website glitch that can be fixed.

There is no Yes, You would be permitted to use a valid FCC on a cruise booked at the last minute.

Looks like it is still fixed at 39 euros. https://taxi.amb.cat/en/usuari/tarifes See the Fare 4 (T-4) subsection on that page.

I totally agree with what you said. That's why I said they could be TESTING to see if this new approach is to their advantage. Having worked in the sales/marketing technology field for all my life, I know that there are all sorts of ways to analyze the numbers that are achieved in selling a product. How would they handle ties? Any way they wanted. Possibly as simple as first-come-first-served. Or by highest loyalty profile of the customer. Or who they think will spend more on the ship (they have ways to identify who these people likely are). That doesn't really need to be revealed to the customer.

Right. But all those are considerations are from the buyers perspective -- benefiting the buyer. If all the cruise line cares about is increasing revenue, they really only care about who bids the most. If there are 10 cabins available in the Ultra-Best Balcony category, we'll take the 10 highest bids of NEW REVENUE. At that point, the cruise line MAY not care that they just let a first-time cruiser who currently has an inside cabin have the upgrade. He/She gave them the most money. Yes, long-time cruisers and cruisers who paid more for their original cabin might not like this. The cruise line could very well be testing this new approach to see how it impacts their overall business (including the impact of morale on their long-time customers).

I can easily see this as being tested out in a small test arena, so to speak. EBay shows you current high bids, and has for years. So why not. It may or may not be rolled out across the board. I’m sure that decision will, in part, be driven by how much more money it generates the cruise line.

I would 100% agree with marazul's response above. As for Viator, they are not a local tour operator. They simply resell other people's tours. Tours all around the world. It adds an unnecessary layer to your tour that COULD introduce problems. Most of the time it works out fine. But some times it may not. I have nothing bad to say about Viator themselves. I have purchased a tour from them in the past when I could not find a local supplier of the tour myself. But in this situation, they really don't add any value to you.

Any excursion that I was on which said it included Lunch it was a sit down meal at a restaurant with a pre-set menu. Or maybe a buffet. It often seems to be at a hotel where you eat in a large meeting room type arrangement. But I've been on some where it was in a restaurant that had a large enough dining area for a busload or more of people. I have been on a couple that included a box lunch on the bus, but that was clearly spelled out in the description. However, given the recent life we all have experienced, I suppose things could have changed. Hopefully, someone who has taken the actual tour will reply as well.

Ignore this. I didn’t realize what was the old port.

As mentioned above, last tenders are usually 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure. At least on pretty much all ships I’ve been on. But yes, it is possible that a particular sailing might specify their own timing for some reason. In Santorini, be reminded that you must get yourself down to the tender location from the town up above on the caldera. If you intend on taking the cable car down, there can be a lengthy line to wait through. Especially if there are more than one ship departing near the same time. I’ve read reports of 30 minutes or more in line. You can also walk down the switchback path used by the donkeys if you want. That takes about 15 minutes or so to walk down. I guess you can also ride a donkey down. Not sure how long that takes. I walked down and it wasn’t bad, but some people cringe at the thought of doing that. My guess on that 2 hour guidance is that your agent didn’t know the answer and tried to rely on something they read somewhere. NCL has famously had similar wording on their website for years, but it refers to when you need to be on board at the original embarkation port. Not port stops. On the website, it is unclear that they are referring to the embarkation port only.

I don't think anyone can help you without you providing all the numbers (NCL's charges and payments you made) that you have blacked out. What does the math say?

May I ask what email you are referring to? And what request? The cancellation request?

I currently have an FCC for $250 in my account that is from a cruise that I cancelled under Cruise with Confidence. My entire $250 deposit from a non-refundable fare was returned to me in the form of that FCC. I seperately cancelled a second non-refundable cruise that was outside the Cruise with Confidence window, so I lose $100 of the deposit and have $150 being returned to me (supposedly), but it is still in process. I do not yet have it after about 5 weeks. The other one took 4 or 5 weeks to get to me, so I'm not yet worried about it. I have settled on a 2023 cruise that I would like to book. Obviously, I can use the existing $250 FCC toward that cruise since the cruise will be before the FCC expires. 1. Can I use more than one FCC on a single cruise? 2. If so, can I use the existing one at the time of booking and then apply the second one once it shows up in my account? Whenever that may be.

OP, I understand what was marketed and sold to you. In the ideal circumstances, I'm sure your internet package would have performed as advertised. However, on all the cruise lines I have been on advertising doesn't meet reality. What they can't control is how many people are going to be attempting to download those 17GB of data stream at the same time. I would bet you could have watched your movie at 4:15am in all likelihood. Just like on land, internet service doesn't always meet up to the advertised, ideal rate. I would never, ever pay for anything but basic internet to read email or upload an occasional picture to social media. I have these issues on all the cruise lines I have been on. It's not fair. It's not right. But it's the way it is. Life is too short. I would chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.

The wifi is paid per person, but anyone in your party can actually use it on their device. The only limitation is that only 1 device can use it at a time. You need to sign IN when you want that device to use the wifi plan you have. You need to also sign OUT when you are done using it for that session. So unless you, your wife, and/or your child need to use the internet at the same time on different devices, it doesn't really matter which name is on the plan. So you may just want to upgrade your existing "Free at Sea" internet.

At a minimum, I would invest in the ship's "Taormina On Your Own" excursion. They are usually relatively inexpensive. It will give you a few hours in a very nice (and popular) destination town. You can walk around, have some gelato, get great views of Mt. Etna (weather permitting) and also explore a great Greek amphitheater. You will likely be back in Messina with enough time to still walk around near the ship if you want to do so.