vince_g

Was on the Oct 15th Prima sailing out of New York. Got to the pier about 12:30 and didn't encounter any lines whatsoever. It was the smoothest best embarkation experience I have ever had. Normally I stay in Manhattan the night before a cruise and get to the terminal early, and always end up sitting around waiting. Arriving after the embarkation rush just made it such a relaxed embarkation.

Booked a category IF stateroom which I upgraded to a BF, using points from the NCL master card. When I booked this IF it cost 1712 per person. The price went down 4 times, and each time I had the fare adjusted, but the latest adjustment was so unexpected. The day before final payment (10/28/22) I wanted to move to a category BB with the angled balcony. I called world points to ask about moving and they said I would need to upgrade my category IF to an IB in order to do it. When they check the rate for the category IB, it is $231 less than what I paid for my category IF. That was the 4th and final time I had the fare adjusted. 

World points said my timing was perfect because the upgrade would not have been possible after final payment. I fully expected to pay a little for the IF to IB upgrade, not to save another chunk of change at the last minute. At the end of the day, the fare for that IF stateroom ended up going from 1712 per person to 909 per person. It is for the Feb. 26, 2023 Getaway sailing.

I am still smiling two days later!!

10 minutes ago, SplashOfWater said:

We sailed on the Dawn in 2017 and 2018, and we will be sailing on her again next month. She doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newer and larger ships. So, if water slides and race cars are at the top of your list, then she's not the ship for you. If you are more interested in the itinerary then the smaller ships like the Dawn are perfect. They can get into more ports than the large ships and they typically sail longer itineraries. The one thing we don't like about the Dawn is the lack of a forward-facing observation lounge. 

Agreed, and I also miss the Great Outdoors!!

There are 2 options. You can visit the onboard credit desk on the final evening and get cash, or a few weeks after the cruise receive a check in the mail. 

The issue of not being able to get dining reservations might have to do with the fact that people scheduled their specialty dining according to the old itinerary.  I would guess there were so many people wanting to change their times, and they all probably wanted the same nights.  Just food for thought.

Just so you know, the discount in the onboard shops is not a discount on everything, it only applies to NCL branded merchandise.

3 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

How about ceilings?  Are cabin ceilings magnetic?  😉

Yes the ceilings are magnetic, at least on Gem.

Booked the 12 night NYC to Galveston in May 2021, and the offer was still for 4 SD meals. With 2 additional specialty meals for sapphire latitudes, I think this dining room menu would do fine for 6 nights. Dinner at Indulge Food Hall would be fun too.

It means there will be a separate check in line for Platinum and above. Usually you will be given a group 1 boarding pass, and group 1 boards right after the haven/suites.

Got mine about 49 days out for Oct 15th Prima.

And what they are saying is if you selected free at sea over say a sail away rate, you need to change that within 24 hours of your sailing, not the restaurant reservations themselves. You are free to cancel any reservation you decide you don't want

You will present your card(s) when you check in at the restaurant. The host/hostess will look in the computer and see that you have Free at Sea specialty dining. As for sitting outside at Cagney's that is a request you would make when you check in at Cagney's.

Thank you for posting this. This is a good preview for me, as I am on the October 15th sailing.  OMG I can hardly wait. Saturday will be 6 weeks!!!

Same video was posted yesterday. That post ended up being merged into the everything Leonardo/Prima class thread.  

Is disembarkation day covered by the beverage plan? Would like to know for my upcoming Oct. 15th Prima.

Never noticed whether that was open or not. Cruised NCL over 15 times.

On 8/27/2022 at 7:46 PM, CptAleSpill said:

Some of us stay on the ship as late as possible (enjoying a nice breakfast and a morning pick-me-up) and then just take an Uber/Lyft to the airport when we are booted off of the ship.  Why would I be anxious for my vacation to end?

A morning pick-me-up? Hope you mean a cup of coffee, because you won't find any bars open on disembarkation morning.

20 hours ago, Wendy&Grumpy said:

 

Hmmm, I'm not seeing anything that looks like cabanas.

 

Cabanas will be at Vibe Beach Club up on deck 17. The pics show the area on deck 8 outside the indulge food hall

16 minutes ago, jebhoward3 said:

I believe that is for Free At Sea not FREE AT SEA PLUS.

My bad... the PLUS part didn't register 🙂

Did you get the Free at Sea on your booking?  It is so worth it for anyone who enjoys having a couple of cocktails and would like to do some of the specialty dines.  Drinks are so expensive without it, you break even on what they charge per day by having just a couple drinks a day.

Jeb, it is right on their home page. And there is a button there that says "learn more"

Clicking the "LEARN MORE" button might be a good place to start.

I just read yesterday that Virgin Voyages is removing the pre-testing requirement, because the CDC ended their cruise ship guidance program last week.  It also states that effective August 8th Royal Caribbean will remove pre-testing for cruises of 6 nights or less.  It went on to say that 30-45 days after that they expect to remove the pre-testing requirement from all voyages.

I would expect that Carnival is going to jump onboard with that, and I think NCL will join them at that point.  No pre-testing requirement will be seen as a strategic advantage, and as we have seen time after time, once one line does something, they all seem to fall in line.  Ju

Hoping NCL removes the requirement by my October 15th Prima cruise!

31 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

That's what it's supposed to do.  If you click on the thread title that you embedded it takes you to that whole thread.

TY

sorry but CC replaced my link with a tiny little bit of text from the thread I was attempting to link you to...