callmehalia

Dear Cruise Critic Members,

 

As always, we appreciate your feedback and have listened to your concerns.

 

 

 

The VIP Priority Package is being discontinued and will be re-evaluated at a later time.

 

 

 

Thank you for your continued support.

 

 

 

Best,

 

Norwegian Cruise Line Public Relations

Well boo. We were looking forward to trying it out in December. I may get my breakfast from the buffet and eat it at the entry of Cagneys.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And hopefully they won't be. It almost seems like there will be different "levels" of sorts. For example, the concierge "James Bond" through the crew halls flavor of priority tendering probably isn't the level of service that will be offered. I'm sure that the maître d will know the difference between suite guests and VIP99 guests and will run their restaurant accordingly.... hopefully.

 

We shall see...

Maybe when we board the ship, the crew can write the price we paid less any OBC or perks on our foreheads in Sharpie so everyone on the ship knows how well/badly we should all be treated.

I surely don't want someone who's in the cheapest inside or who won their cruise in a game of bingo getting a better piece of chicken from the buffet than me!

:rolleyes:

I've just checked and my upcoming Jade sailing that had been showing $49 yesterday is back to the more reasonable $20 today :)

I just checked on my upcoming Jade trip and it's the same. Let's hope they sort that out!

Completely off-topic (but that's probably a good thing, the way this thread is going).

While there aren't Walmarts in the UK, most people will still know about it as it's all over Facebook, movies, tv shows...

And even if a person never encountered it through popular culture, it was still a big news item when Walmart bought out Asda in 1999.

I don't know why I'm out troll feeding...

We enjoy a balcony for all the reasons already given. Plus I figure if one/both of us are really unlucky and get noro or a stomach bug, or even just a cold or twist an ankle or something, the access to some fresh air without leaving the cabin is a real plus.

We're not in to drinking/going out either and find that taking a laptop and some DVDs means we always have something to do - not that we're bored, but sometimes after a long day in port it's nice to just sit around in your cabin.

The only other thing I'd suggest is to go to a bricks and mortar travel agent - they will be able to tell if you these flights are really all booked out or if it's something else. Unless there's a big event ending the day you leave Venice, it's pretty unlikely that all the flights except one in the morning or absurdly late out of Venice to any of the airports in London are booked solid. Hopefully they'll be able to shed some light!

We flew EasyJet to Venice earlier this year and if you do go with them, be very mindful of their carry on rules. I had to shove my small handbag in to my carry on and then they still checked it as it was an inch too long. My own stupidity for not double-checking! It was fine on the way out from LGW and no one questioned the size of the bag but on the way back, it suddenly was an issue (even though I knew the bag fit). Like I said though, I should have measured my bag and not just assumed.

Of all the places we went to in Alaska, Glacier Bay was the best. We entered during a bad snowstorm and it was still amazing.

We were meant to go to Tracy Arm as well but it was iced over so we couldn't go so I can't give an opinion there!

Ketchikan is one of (the?) rainest cities in the entirety of the USA. Perhaps if you had numerous visits there, a charm would emerge - but really, in the places by the port that you can get to (bearing in mind you'll likely be soaked through and want easy access back to the ship), you'll not be missing much. Trust me, there are a million more chances to go to Diamonds International ;)

Thanks for all the replies. I'll wait till EJ flights come out.

This is why it's always best to ask questions before making rash decisions:D

For what I am assuming are your days based on the information you've given, Skyscanner is showing loads of availability. Obviously I can't be sure but have you checked that site? It's always a problem when you're looking at the individual airlines sites as they do allocate seats to other online sites, plus if you are looking at going out on a budget airline and coming back on a normal airline, it won't come up.

Just remember, worst case scenario is that you'll have to have an extra day in Venice...

I think you're looking a bit too far out to book the flights. I've just had a look, for example. on http://www.easyjet.com - they do 3 flights a day from Marco Polo to Gatwick - and you can only book up until the end of May.

If London is your final destination, it's worth waiting for more of the airlines to open up their flights.

I've booked funny flights through consolidators where I've not had all the record locators so I can look at stuff. Sometimes (sometimes not though!) I've been able to see more than I can see through the airline at http://www.checkmytrip.com - might be worth checking. CMT is run by Amadeus, who do the reservations stuff for the travel agents.

As a person who books a bit further out and chooses a cabin, and consequently pays more for the privilege, I'd actually be pretty peeved if NCL started moving people who booked GTY and didn't like their assignment.

It's funny you say that about the seat booking as it's just the opposite here! For my upcoming flight to the states , we're going out on AA and back on BA. We've booked the seats outbound on AA for free. BA are charging €40 each to book a seat now. It will only be free at 24 hours before departure. Same for our flights later in the year to Rome on BA, a charge to book seats. We always fly cheapest economy though and aren't any special frequent flyer levels as we use so many different airlines (9 this year I think!)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you get on one of AA's newer planes, you'll have a fine time, seatback entertainment and all that you'd expect. They are updating most of their planes, I believe.

The 767-300 (sometimes called 763) is one to avoid.

All the 777s have on demand entertainment.

Do use seatguru.com as another person mentioned so you know which seats are good, and if you just hover over the seats you'll see if they have tvs or not.

I don't like BA and would only choose them over AA if the AA option was a 767 - trans Atlantic flights without seat back tv is just too miserable for me.

I should clarify that I'm only talking about economy here - no experience on AA or BA with business, alas. I travel to the US at least once a year since the late 90s, and I must admit that the only flights I've taken in all that time without seatback entertainment have been those awful AA 767s and Air India, back when I used to get a flight London-Chicago for $300 return... Ah, memories!

If I go fishing, my cabin class is up $300 on what we booked, which was the low point. If I just check ncl.co.uk, it's £60 more than we booked it for in mid-June. Our cabin class (MA) had been sold out since mid July, but they are showing availability again as of last night.

I have searched for this but no answears.

A passport is not needed however if you have one and bring it do you leave it on ship or take it with you at every port?

I ask because I have seen people leave it on ship. But what happens if you get in trouble hurt or the ship leaves... Then you are in a foreign country with no passport.

Isn't that the exact reason you get one?

I have seen on other threads that when a person doesn't board the ship, the passport is brought out left with the staff on the dock just before the ship leaves. This is for cases when the ship is holding your passport.

I imagine if it's locked away in your safe and you have an emergency, you could get word to the ship and get the passport sent to wherever you end up.

I don't think the nature of the complaint should matter at all.

Even if it's just 'I thought the sea would be pink. WHY WASN'T IT PINK?!', good customer service would mean that you'd get a reply back saying that we're sorry for your disappointment and hope that you choose to sail with us again.

I'm sure NCL endeavour to answer every email complaint or compliment sent to them, and that chasing for a reply after a couple of weeks is reasonable.

Yes, I think you should. We complained about the way our call was handled by NCL UK and received a reply in about a week.

In all of my international flights there has never been a "help yourself" trolley of drinks and snacks. And I'm often in the back of the plane on my many walks.

I've had it numerous times. Most recently on my Air France flights London to Rio and back again in May :) Before that it was on American flights from London to Chicago and back again.

There was ice, water, soda and juice, plus tea and coffee. Individually packed pretzels and cookies, too. On the way back they gave us chocolate ice lollies when most everyone was asleep, and had the extras of those, too.

I think most people think it's just being stored there, but it's not the case (they'd always put it away properly when not in use). It's usually that time of the flight when most of the cabin crew are having their in flight rest break.

Maybe we just fly different airlines!

Basically you take your Kindle full of books, a couple of magazines, offline games on a phone, things to watch on a tablet, and then what you really do is stare at whatever nearly-new movies the plane puts on before watching the repeats of the comedy shows. Then you'll spend an hour or so staring at the map and wondering how you're going to make it without smothering the person next to you - who is, of course, sleeping without a care in the world. Bonus points if this is your husband/wife, who will deny getting any sleep at all.

Around about now is when you'll fall asleep for about 20 minutes.

Then you wake up, realise that the flight attendants leave a trolley in the back with drinks and snacks from which you can help yourself, and everything is right again in the world. Now is when you'll read a little and maybe get an hour or two of sleep. You'll probably just watch another movie, though, making all the things you prepared and brought with you to do on the plane an exercise in futility.

Seriously, in all honesty, prepare to be a bit miserable but know that it won't matter anymore the second you step on the ship!

I just had a look at your sailing on the US NCL site and there are insides, balconies, and mini suites available. The MX comes out at around £1040 per person after a rough conversion from USD. They still have B1 and that's showing at £1010 per person. Those are the prices after taxes. Obviously the UK would have different price points but hopefully that gives you an indication.

I don't know why NCL UK and NCL US doesn't show the same thing - we had this happen when looking at prices, too.

I just booked my room for the night before the cruise. I can not believe how expensive rooms are near the french quarter on a Saturday night. I feel that I got a great rate through hotwire. I booked the Country Inn and Suites for $134. Now I just need to figure out how to get from the airport to the hotel. A cap ride will be nearly $40

For future reference, you might want to check out a site like airbnb. We used it recently on a trip to Rio, and were able to get a studio apartment for the 2 of us for around £60 a night literally 5 steps from Copacabana, instead of the £100 a night for a scary looking hotel a bit off the beaten path.

You get an extra curtain in the mini-suite on some of the ships.

WHAT MORE DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?! ;)

There's a reason cruise ships have morgues... ;)