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This is fun.

I emailed them Sunday night and got my response this afternoon, so just under 48 hours.
 

I’ve emailed them requests because every cruise and they’ve always taken care of what I ask for.

It’s all just room set up stuff though… I don’t ask them to book anything for me.

This sounds absolutely terrible.  I hope you’re able to get somewhere with NCL and the travel insurance company.

14 minutes ago, kismet618 said:

From what we've read, one of the Beatles tribute band was injured on one of the islands either last week, or the one prior, and have not played since.

I had heard the same thing. I was wondering if maybe it was a long term injury and NCL decided to replace the whole act for a while.

Do we know if the Elton John tribute group is replacing the Beatles tribute, or if both are playing for the next 10 weeks?

16 hours ago, nmuller328 said:

Random question- there isn't a Haven area on the GSC, right?  I know there is the area with the Villas- just wondering if there was an Haven amenities as well. 

Nope, no Haven section. Just the section you have to pay extra to get into.

1 minute ago, spenecer said:

So this is actually Bonaire (though I have the same question for Curacao with different tours).  The first tour is 1 hour and supposed to start at 7:45 AM (so 7:45 - 8:45).  The second snorkel excursion is supposed to start at 9AM so there is only 15 minutes between the two excursions.

Oh no way will this work.  Don’t do it.

It’s very possible your first tour would run late because they wait for people to get off the ship and join them before heading out.  What is the start & end time for the first tour?

17 hours ago, mking8288 said:

the bacon situation did not improve.

The most harrowing sentence I’ve read in all my years on CC.  I’ll be praying for your friends!

On 11/22/2022 at 9:17 PM, Treasure Hunter said:

We were in the Haven on the Breakaway in September and were given that offer but didn’t take it. The Haven restaurant was so busy all cruise that they took all the lounges out of the pool deck and put in tables. Not many people wanted to eat at the diner because it is outside and the weather was cold.

We were on Breakaway in August and it was the same set up.  We never had to wait very long to be seated, so the restaurant wasn’t overflowing, but it does feel a little awkward to be eating a fancy meal as someone splashes in the pool behind your chair.  

I’ve done both and for relaxation I would absolutely choose Gem. Love The Great Outdoors, love relaxing in Spinnaker (it’s not being used for much of the day).  For Breakaway & Getaway the Waterfront is awesome but there’s no comparable place indoors to relax with views… and lots of the programming is held in the atrium which is uncomfortable, always packed, and makes it hard to get through midship. 

This kind of question gets into the weeds really fast. Would I get a Haven room cheaper without a butler? Can I opt out of the concierge for $50 off? What about the two hot tubs- I never go in those… can I get some FCC? 
 

And if you think about it the other way… then the butler service becomes an add-on in the Haven for additional $$. Which means the people yelling about nickel & dining on NCL yell even louder.  

4 minutes ago, Sixtytwo said:

Does a "one time" price reduction FCC mean never again on any future NCL cruise or no more on this cruise?

On this cruise. 

Definitely Getaway UNLESS your teens are social and you’re sailing at a time when schools are out. My kids loved the Gem but 98% of that was because of the other teens they met onboard. In terms of stuff to do on the ship- Getaway wins. 

We saw Six on Breakaway last month and I agree with @BirdTravels, they were all amazingly talented.  We went to the show both nights and we all regret not seeing it twice on the first night/all three shows!  
 

At Moderno they walk around the room with the various foods and you tell them what you’d like.  It’s sort of like… a walking meat salad bar.

anyway, since you’re not waiting for them to cook an order for you it can be a pretty quick meal depending on how much you want to eat.

Also… they do have a regular salad bar too  😂

Do they disclose that it’s an “obstructed balcony” when you book that room? 

We got off Breakaway yesterday and my daughter had the Starbucks package.  They are strict about only one drink per order.  At one point she was with her brother in the atrium and asked him to use her card to get her a drink and the Starbucks staff refused to let her get another drink soon after, saying she had to pay for it because her brother had used her card.

Lines were very long and it got to the point that she just didn’t want to wait for 15 minutes for a drink so unfortunately (for me and my wallet) even though she loves Starbucks, I don’t think she ended up using it enough to justify the cost.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not a great deal for other people who are big Starbucks fans!  

In case anyone is searching for this in the future I thought I’d update. We ended up doing Lyft from Palm Beach Airport to the hotel in Miami.  It was $179 plus tip (5 passengers), the drive was easy.  
 

We really wanted to do Brightline but they have no transport to the airport so we would have had to Lyft or taxi to the station and then get from the station to the hotel once in Miami so it felt like too much finagling and the price would have been comparable.

On debarkation day we booked Larry’s Limos.  They will be $296 with tip included.  This seems insane to me for the same trip I paid $179 for yesterday… but on the other hand I know Larry’s is trustworthy and I didn’t want the worry of securing a Lyft during a busy day when you’re already worried about getting to the airport.  

Well apparently “none” means “none” but “nothing is available” means “go down to guest services and they’ll book it for you”.

Sounds like your trip was a bummer, I’m sorry. I agree that the pool area on Breakaway/Getaway is super congested and the pool is tiny.  It must be incredibly frustrating for people who just want to lounge at the pool.  

We are sailing this Sunday and flying in on Friday.  We made virtual proctoring appointments with OnPoint for Friday afternoon and are bringing the antigen tests with us.

7 hours ago, margretha said:

I am always amazed at the variety of tones and lectures a simple question from someone trying to do a kindness provokes from people who prefer shouting to discussing. I thought the person was doing was giving a kindness to people who work so hard and so long. The snotty tone of some previous respondents remind me of a couple in a suite next to ours on one cruise. We were seated at dinner with them once and they spoke so highly of all the staff, especially the room stewards and the concierges who were just wonderful. They shared that because they had such good experiences on their last cruise on the ship, this time they brought onboard special gifts for some of the staff members. Frankly, when I saw the lovely wrapped gifts I felt like Scrooge since we were just putting cash in an envelope. Turns out the gifts were framed autographed color photos of the couple. Our steward and one of the concierges shared the "gift" with us as we were packing that last night. It was both hysterically funny (no one knew who they were and frankly the photo was not all that flattering) and unbelievably dim since the glass and frames were large and unwieldy.

Ooh, I know what all my family and friends are getting for Christmas this year! 

Yes, definitely a helpful comment!  I always try to remember that when doing Haven upgrades it’s a big pile of shuffled cards.  If 10 people can bid on 4 different levels of rooms, that’s 10 bids per room type but as soon as one person moves up their bids on the two rooms they didn’t get no longer apply.  So I guess in theory you could truly have a crappy low bid with people above you but they got shuffled into other rooms they had also bid on… thus your low bid is all that’s left.

i agree, don’t let the urgency nudge you into bidding higher than you are comfortable with!

There we go! “Real time bidding” garners results.