Cruisebehindthescenes

As discussed earlier in this thread - often - there are a few reasons you may not have gotten it.

 

1 - Your TA is not participating.

2 - Your cruise is close to full, or at least the categories that apply to you. In that case, they may not send out any, or maybe to a limited number of people.

3 - You have some special sort of pricing.

4 - Lots of folks have mentioned they do see the offer when they log into myncl and look at their online messages.

5 - Could have gone to your junk mail

I'd argue against your 3rd point. I'm a former employee and booked using my employee discount and still got an offer to bid for upgrades.

I must be missing something.

 

If someone just won a bid on a upgraded cabin, why would they hesitate to post the specifics of the winning bid?

 

Please enlighten me.

Selfish! They're not taking your upgraded room away

Do you mean you got an UPGRADE or just the invitation to make offers? The invitation popped up on both of our cabins (insides, to bid to OV and balcony) at 80 days pre-sailing, exact timing as predicted by others in this thread.

 

No word yet. Either because we are too low or because they are hoping to fill those cabins in other ways. Now the sailing is a Distinctive Voyage and all of that. I have a feeling we might not find out after we have already flown to Miami! I am holding off on printing luggage tags, just in case :)

For the Jade I got an email about making an offer. I didn't bid because I prefer the darkness of an inside room.

This past summer I got upgraded from inside to Balcony without bidding - anyone else get a free upgrade?

Got an upgrade offer for Jan 26 sailing on the Jade.. anyone else? What did you bid?

Seems a bit early, no?

Also, has anyone received an upgrade without bidding? I sailed in July and got upgraded from Inside to Balcony automatically without ever being offered a chance to bid.

I worked on an NCL ship for about two years. Over the course of my time with NCL there were a few drunken fights here and there that I had heard about, but never really much to report. There was only one incident that was actually serious - a passenger had brought drugs aboard the ship from one of the ports and was caught by security while the ship was at sea. That resulted in the passenger being held in the on-board "prison" (more of a secure room with a camera in it) until we got to the next port at which time he was released to local authorities.

I do not recall the country where the passenger was released, but I don't imagine it being a good situation for the passenger.

I used to work for NCL, and they used to cater the main channels to the region where the ship was sailing.

On a cruise out of the US, you would have American news channels, as well as ESPN. From Europe on the other hand, you'd have BBC.

They also have the option to buy special events to be broadcast on the tvs. In 2010, the showed all of the Soccer world cup games, but they didn't show Olympics. It depends what they can get the rights for.

I did this cruise two summers ago.

The only excursion I did through NCL was the Luau. The reason behind that was that it was open-bar and we didn't want to have to worry about getting back to the ship after having drinks, so we went with the excursion which provided roundtrip transportation by bus. No complaints - it was fantastic.

We rented cars in all of the ports except Kona - there are shuttles that come to pick you up at the ship in every port from nearly all the rental companies. Book your rentals in advance and just confirm that there's a shuttle.

In Maui, we rented a car for two days - there is place to park the car near the port. After getting the car, we went and did the Road to Hana. We then came back to the ship late afternoon for an early dinner and went to bed early. We got up in the middle of the night and drove up Haleakala for the sunrise which was amazing (dress warmly if you do that). We then came back to the ship for breakfast and went to Lahaina for the day before bringing back the car.

In Hilo, we rented a car and went to Volcanoes National Park. The park is really easy to navigate and there are a lot of people there to help you find a hike that is right for you.

In Kona, we found a local tour operator that brought us to a beach to snorkel with the turtles. It was about $20pp no issues there.

In Kuaui, we rented a car for two days and drove around all day the first day exploring. At night we went to Luau, and then we went exploring again the second day in the other direction. If I did it again though I would only rent a car the first day. The second day is pretty short and you can make do just walking around the port area on the second morning.

Enjoy your trip.

I used to be a member of the Youth Staff with NCL, so I'll answer these questions quickly...

There has never been any requirement to wear closed-toed shoes while in the kid's club. Some ships asked the children to remove their shoes, while others didn't - it really didn't make much of a difference while we were inside. As many have mentioned though, closed toed shoes are required to participate in programs out on the sports court. It would be far too easy for one child wearing running shoes to step on another child's foot who was wearing flip flops and break their toes, not to mention that it's also very easy to trip while running in flip flops. That is just a safety rule.

As far as the parents in the kid's club goes - this was the most strict rule we had. Absolutely no parents were allowed in the center while we were open for programming. Pagers/phones are generally reserved for children not 100% potty-trained or children with physical/mental disabilities. The only exception to adults being permitted was to comply with ADA rules if a child required a shadow/chaperone due to a disability. If a child was misbehaved or crying, the parents would be contacted to pick up their child from the center.

I hope that answers your questions!

I used to work for NCL and still have many friends working on ships - I asked around and nobody knows anything about the Sun being pulled out of service.

The Sky is the oldest ship in the flight and would most likely be the next ship removed, although I don't think that is likely to happen anytime soon.

I am not sure exactly what you are looking for, but I was a crew member with NCL and I always used to love going to the Boatyard in Barbados.

It is a fantastic beach bar just a few dollar cab ride from the pier. They even provide transportation back to the ship included in your $10 entry fee.

The drinks are reasonably priced and they have a trampoline in the water as well as a tarzan rope and free beach chairs if you get there early enough.

I used to work for NCL and most of the crew have power bars in their staterooms, you should be fine. Be careful charging electronics though as the ships amperage is not as steady as power outlets on land. I would make sure that your power bar has a surge protector on it.

I once had a digital alarm plugged in and it lost about 30 mins in the first 24 hrs due to the fluctuating amperage.

I know that many people rely on the meetings, so please be thankful that the cruise lines organizes the meetings in the first place... they certainly do not have to.

As far as the time is concerned, as another poster wrote, if you don't like the time, then make your own meeting, or go to the first one and propose a new time for follow-up meetings.

I am a former crew member and as a crew member, I had to forfeit my passport to the ship's personnel office while onboard, but there are certian ports that require you to carry a passport, and therefore stamp it for you.

St. Petersburg: I am surprised you had to ask, as when you pass through customs they are very strict and always stamp your passport.

Stockholm: Swedish border officers always stamped out passports before returning to the ship

Yalta, Ukraine: Border officers stamped passports on the ship prior to leaving the ship in Ukraine.

Alexandria, Egypt: Same as Ukraine, officers stamped passports on the ship prior to leaving.

The Caribbean ports don't generally stamp passports, and I would not recommend filling your passport with novelty tourist stamps as I have heard of certain countries questioning travelers as to why they had a passport full of unofficial stamp. You would draw on your drivers license, so you shouldn't put fake stamps in your passport.

I used to be a crew member on a cruise ship, and I never really had a problem with seasickness despite the fact that I sometimes get queasy while riding in the backseat of a car.

Certain cruises will be worse than others based on where the ship is sailing, the Caribbean is fairly calm in relation to a Bermuda cruise sailing in the open ocean. Of course if there is a storm then all bets are off, but the ships do a very good job of avoiding storms to keep everyone's stomach happy :).

In particularly rough seas, I used to get headaches right between my eyes, but that was the extent of it. Those who did get nauseous used to drink gingerale to settle the stomach as well as green apples with salt. It also helps to keep busy and not focus on the rocking ship, if you can keep your mind off it, that's half the battle!

I am a former crew member, so coming home after months of having all my meals made for me was a big does of reality. I was a youth counselor so I had the privilege of being allowed up in any of the restaurants on the ship so I got to eat some pretty good meals a few nights per week.

Luckily I live with my parents so they would cook dinner for me at night, but as far as breakfast and lunch were concerned... I really miss being able to run to the crew mess, grab some bacon, eggs and toast from the buffet with a glass of juice, and then run up to work in the Kid's Club!

I am a former crew member for NCL and I did a tour from Naples that visited Capri in the morning, then Sorrento for lunch, and Pompeii in the afternoon. I am not sure if you would be able to fit it all in on your own though.

From Naples, we took a high-speed catamaran to Capri and then a ferry to Sorrento and bus to Pompeii and back to the ship.

You may be able to pull it all off if you rented a car, but I would do Capri first and Pompeii later (if you are docking in Naples).

Which port is your ship sailing into? Some of the smaller ships will drop anchor in Sorrento as well, in which case you would be right to do Pompeii first and Capri on the way back.

Hope this helps.

what kind of soda does ncl have onboard?

NCL carries Pepsi products: Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Diet Sierra Mist, Mountain Dew, etc. If you purchase the Soda Sticker then you will get all your drinks from the fountain unless the bar that you are at only has cans, but they will still pour from the can into a glass for you. For the kids, (or adults if you'd like) you can also order a Shirley Temple or Roy Rogers with the soda plan... grenadine in either Sierra Mist or Pepsi.

They also have a water package whereby you purchase a predetermined number of 1L bottles at the beginning of the cruise at a reduced rate.