FredZiffle

NCL Holdings is not something I want in my portfolio.  It fluctuates over a narrow range and does not seem to have growth potential in the near future.  I will buy it before a cruise, but as soon as I get the credit for OBC, I am looking to sell it.  If it's down at that point, I'll sit on it until it recovers, but as soon as it's in positive territory, I dump it.

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

If you’re new to NCL, unfortunately you will be one the latest allowed to board.  

 

Those who have mobility issues will board first.

Then Haven Guests

Then Latitudes members, beginning with Ambassadors and working down to Bronze

Then they call by group numbers, which you’ll be assigned at check in.

 

 

It's not as bad as it sounds.  Assuming you arrive relatively early (say 10:00 or so), you may have a 30 minute wait from when they start boarding.  You will almost always be on board by noon.

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

21 days on your MyNCL count down clock. 12 midnight eastern time. That will allow you to pick your port arrival time of your choice. Early times will sell out quickly. 

And, as we all know, arrival times mean nothing.  No one cares or checks on most sailings.

If they schedule bridge play on a sea day, they will usually hold it in Moderno.  I've seen several folks use tables during that time for other games.

1 minute ago, shof515 said:

correct the only way to use obc is buy purchasing onboard the ship

 

when you cancel an excursion onboard the the ship, your refund is given as refundable onboard credit

Which would be fine since it's refundable OBC.  I'd then turn around and rebook using my non-refundable, which is always used up first before refundable.

Am I correct that if I want to use OBC to pay for a ship excursion, I have to wait until I'm onboard to book?  I've already watched one excursion fill up.  What about booking and paying cash now, then cancelling once onboard and immediately rebooking the excursion using OBC?

3 hours ago, Mike Senior said:

Thank you for your detailed report. Could I ask if NCL wanted any evidence of your Yellow Fever vaccination status when you boarded at Miami?

 

Kind regards

 

Mike

It's not required for our identical Bliss cruise next month.

2 hours ago, boxedmoon said:

Not a guarantee of that happening. I thought the same as you, but a recent TA booking had some paid to the TA and some to NCL. I suspect it had to do with the TA selling a discounted fare but charging normal price, and then keeping the difference.

The difference here though is that we're talking specifically about the Upgrade Advantage.  The TA receives no commission on an upgrade bid and is not involved to my knowledge.

2 hours ago, shoptom said:

Does anyone have experience with Upgrade Advantage triggering the rebate?

No experience, but I can think of no reason it wouldn't work.  Even if you originally booked through a TA, I believe Upgrade Advantage bypasses the TA and is billed directly by NCL.

9 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@FLAHAM

 

On transatlantic cruises (with many sea days), NCL provides a bridge instructor and director (usually a married couple). 

 

Has this been reintroduced?   It was missing the last couple of long cruises we have been on.

I haven't seen duplicate bridge on NCL in a long time.  We're lucky if it's even mentioned in the Daily as an informal gathering.  The last cruise listed in the Freestyle Daily with a start time of 12 noon on sea days and located it in the internet cafe where space was at a premium and always filled.  They had no cards and, needless to say, no games materialized. 

I struggled with coming up with a title for this post.  I'm trying to find out the email address for whoever on the Bliss would be responsible for giving a group of 12-16 people a location to play bridge on sea days.  Too often, left to their own devices, the ships either ignore this completely, schedule it in an already filled library or game room, or schedule it over lunch hour.  The times it's been done right, they put an announcement every sea day in the Freestyle Daily and schedule it for an unused restaurant.  I just need the correct email to contact them.

If anything, entertainment quality will decrease in 2024 rather than get better.  Many ships are discontinuing the large production shows and replacing them with game shows.

I can sympathize with your experience.  We took a transatlantic on the Getaway just before the pandemic.  The food was so bad that we were ready to give up cruising.  I started counting the number of individual dishes we had at dinner, and only 2 out of 65 dishes were at least average - a hot wings appetizer and a souffle dessert.  The 63 below average included a steak that was uniformly gray both inside and out and a mixed green salad that had exactly one leaf on it.  Fortunately, we already had another cruise booked which was quite enjoyable and restored our faith.  We've since sailed two more times on the Getaway and never repeated that bad experience.

I'm not one to sugarcoat problems on a ship, but having sailed on the Getaway three times, the most recent earlier this year, I can tell you my experience.  Yes, there are lines sometimes, which is not uncommon on any megaship on any cruise line.  The line to disembark at the end of the cruise is always long, but it moves very quickly.  I doubt we've waited more than 15 minutes.  We have never had to wait in a line to eat dinner in the MDR, but I have seen some lines when we leave around 7:00 or so.  If you know to go to Headliners when you board the ship, you can usually score your preferred times for specialty restaurants.  We always go there first, because the excursions desk usually opens a bit later.  Regardless, we're first in line for excursions when it opens.  Some excursions are completely booked up, but often some have opened up that were showing full online.  You can also get on a wait list in case something opens up later (it does happen).  Catching a tender in a popular port can be tough if you're trying to get off early, but sometimes the very first tender of the day goes off half empty because people who booked don't get moving that early.  I've heard announcements telling passengers that spaces are available without reservations.  Speaking of reservations, since you have no latitudes status, you'll have to get a tender ticket the day before if you want to get off early.  If time is no issue, don't bother with a ticket because usually by 10 or 11, everything opens up and you no longer need tickets.  Of course, if you're on a ship excursion, you don't need a ticket.

The buffet, like on every ship, can get crowded at peak times.  We've never not been able to find seats, but sometimes you have to wander a bit and be ready to grab a spot that opens up.  As far as a quiet place to read, if the weather is nice, the waterfront is awesome.  If you want to sit indoors, check out the bars during the morning and early afternoons.  They are virtually empty with comfortable seats.  HTH

Excursions in Iceland are prohibitively expensive.  Consider renting a car in Akuryeri and driving to the sites.  Roads are better than most in the US.  We had no problem just using a map (back in the days before widespread use of GPS).  We just walked around Alta and Longyearbyen.  Not much in either port, although the museum in Longyearbyen was interesting.  

I always use a TA and have always received my stockholders benefit, including one I received last month for a cruise this December.

47 minutes ago, Clashed said:

does this look like it would work?
if i combine Prepaid Service Charges, add specialty dining nights & OBC will this trigger the bonus?

PPSC  $520
Specialty Dining $166 
and then buy $325 On-Board Credit Certificate

i have to pay the PPSC anyway, so this way if i cash out the OBC i get 2 "free" specialty dining

Why not keep it simple and just buy $1000 in OBC and then use it for the items you mention?  

20 minutes ago, smokeykat said:

If my final payment isn't until May 2024 and I want to charge Amex $1000.00 towards payment for the cruise fare to get the $200 back deal, what happens if I cancel the cruise before the final payment is due? Anyone know?

Check with NCL to see what their process is.  If they credit the OBC back to the AMEX card, you might have an issue (but maybe not since the Amex system is likely not set up to catch a credit several months later.).  If they write you a check, you'll absolutely be fine.

35 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

I thought they added a 3% fee if you do that.  I know they do on the tables.  Is it not the same on the slots?  

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there is any fee for charging slot play to your room account.  Since technically you're not supposed to be able to use OBC in the casino, I usually do a $10 test to make sure it still works.

2 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

Thanks.  I’m fine with getting it cash.  Do you know how soon in the trip you can do this?  I’d just as soon take it take out in cash in the beginning of the trip and use it for the casino.  Is that doable?  (I understand if you pull cash from your account in the casino, they still charge 3%.  I’d rather just cash out the OBC.

You can charge casino play to your account rather than pulling cash out.  If you don't want to play with it, load it into your account on a slot machine and then cash out.

56 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

It’s my understanding that they refund it in cash on the last day.  If they do just credit the folio, it’s my NCL card that will be on file with the ship, not the Amex.

Took advantage of a similar AMEX offer earlier this year.  I think it was $250 credit for a $1000 charge.  I purchased OBC for a cruise on the Getaway.  At the end of the cruise, I asked if they could just credit the card on file and was told no.  I wasn't keen on walking around Europe with $1,000 of cash in my pocket, but there was no other option.

ETA:  Just checked my Amex account, and I've got this new offer as well.  Guess I'll be buying some more OBC for my December cruise.

21 minutes ago, hallux said:

Unless you're sailing with people besides your wife (meaning booking all of you in one room would add guests 3 and 4), booking you and your wife in your own cabins adds nothing for the FAS meals.

You're correct.  I should have said double the Latitudes meals.  We'll each get two vouchers for 2 people due to our status, so four meals for the two of us.  If we were in the same cabin, we'd only get one set of vouchers, so only two meals. 

I have a question regarding the 2nd bedroom.  In looking at videos, the bed appears to be something like a futon.  Is the mattress reasonably comfortable and large enough for an adult, or is the adult better off using the sofa bed in the main area?  Or are both so bad that we should look at other options?  This is on a Breakaway + ship if it matters.

13 hours ago, Host Kat said:

 

@FredZiffle

 

If your email address of choice has changed, be sure to have your Cruise Critic email address of record changed too. That is where Cruise Critic emails are sent to you. Please click the following: How To: Update your Cruise Critic Email Address

 

Please make sure you have the email address cruisecritic@invisioncloudcommunity.com whitelisted and/or on your safe senders list & in your Address Book contacts.

 

Perhaps you accidently marked one of the Cruise Critic emails as Spam. If so, I suggest you contact your email provider to see if that can be corrected.

 

Not sure how many email notifications you are receiving per day or at a time, but it could be your email provider is aggressive to prevent spam. Thinking that multiple emails in a row from Cruise Critic would be spam, they bounce one of the Cruise Critic emails back to Cruise Critic. Once one of the Cruise Critic notification emails to you is bounced back to Cruise Critic, then the Cruise Critic software stops sending you any further notification emails. 

 

Please email help@cruisecritic.com from your Cruise Critic email address of record and be sure to mention your user name. This is so your membership can be verified, and reply sent to your Cruise Critic email address of record. Explain the above possible bounce back situation and ask if the situation applies to your Cruise Critic account. IIRC, CC Help Michell can possibly investigate for the bounce back situation and possibly correct.

 

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Hope something in this reply will be helpful! 🤞

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat

 

Thank you for such a detailed reply.  I double-checked everything you mentioned, and all settings appear correct.  I have repeatedly checked my spam folder to see if messages are being routed there, but I do not see any.  I do get push notifications for replies to my posts when I open the CC site, but do not receive such for followed content.  I receive no email notifications for any posts, but I do regularly receive emails from CC advertising cruise sales.

On 7/24/2023 at 8:47 PM, ajtraveler66 said:

Below is a link to a list of NCL shore excursions for Acapulco.  We'll be there in January on a Panama Canal cruise.

 

Because Acapulco is "iffy" we ARE going to take the ship's excursion, and we want to do one that includes cliff diving.  So many of these excursions include cliff divers so we don't know which way to turn.  If you have taken any of these excursions or know a little bit about them, please offer your recommendations on which one to do?  Thanks.

 

 

https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/search?Mnr=4096&printfriendly=1&port=ACA

 

 

Are you aware that the cliff divers are less than 2 miles away from the port?  I was also considering an excursion, but even the cheapest would be over $200 for the three of us.  We plan to catch an Uber from the port and back.  I'm a bit wary of the taxis because I can't tell the good ones from the bad, but Uber vets its drivers, so I feel more secure.  BTW, if you want to tour the fort that is generously included by NCL in some of their cliff diving excursions, just do it on your own and save the extra charges.  The fort is literally across the street from the port.