fifescotland

Horizon has a sauna but not a steam room

I've had a word with my contact at Pullmantur and she says that there is no self - disembarkation. You will need to leave your luggage outside the door

I don't really see how they can *make* you do this. If you simply don't put it out, what are they going to do? Knock on your door at 3AM and demand you hand over your luggage? :P

Does anyone have any insight into this?

I'm sure they'll do a decent enough job in the main dining room, but I also wonder about beer - being a Spanish cruise line, perhaps they serve one of the excellent Spanish gluten free beers, such as Estrella Daura?

I'm new to Celebrity - our previous cruises have been booked through a US travel agent who we're very happy with.

However, this time, I booked through the Celebrity UK website, didn't realise I couldn't transfer it to my US agent, and so I found a UK travel agent to transfer the booking to, in return for an incentive (gratuities).

The booking has been moved, and I'd like to make a further payment. However! The individual agent has gone AWOL - she's not replied to several emails, and voicemail says she was due to return to work yesterday.

Before I sit in a queue to Celebrity to get the answer - does anyone know if I can transfer a booking back to Celebrity if needed, or sideways to another UK agent?

What counts as non-promotional though?

Does "free UBP" count as a promotion which can't be combined with shareholder discount?

Much less than 50% discount. I was on a behind the scenes tour on the Epic two weeks ago, and a notice said it was charged at 5c a minute offpeak and 9c a minute peak.

We weren't stopped long enough for me to see what peak hours were.

Generally, staff are coeliac aware.

Each dining venue *DOES* have gluten free bread and a dedicated gluten free toaster. If someone claims not to know about it, ask for a different server - we all know how important it is to get this right.

There is a flourless gluten free chocolate cake. That isn't in every restaurant, but just ask and it will be brought to you (I let them know at the start of my meal, so it has time to be located!). It's very nice!

In the buffet there is an area with a dedicated gluten free toaster, where they warm up some frozen waffles for breakfast, and do your toast, etc. The bufet also has GF pizza (it'll take about ten minutes) which, while done in the same oven, is done in a separate pan, so there is no cross contamination risk. You will need to come back to the counter to collect it. They will not cut it up as they do the normal pizza (thank god! Been got that way before...!)

The "special order maitre d'" is the guy to speak to as soon as you get to the ship. Just ask the front desk of any restaurant to phone him to come speak to you. He will tell you what is possible.

O'sheehans does GF, but not on the menu! Just a salad - speak to the supervisor and he will have the kitchen adapt. For example, they do a lovely grilled chicken sandwich on GF bread on request :)

Cagney's - fries are not GF, but can be made GF, but need 24 hours notice - they will set up a dedicated frier for you!

As for pre-ordering. They like you to do this - but really, who the hell wants to preorder their food *every* day. I'm happy to do it for special things like Cagney's, but at the MDR every day? I want to be, erm, freestyle! That said, it will limit your choice - but there are always options. If you want more or less anything on the menu, then order a day in advance, and you will get it.

As for lunches - I suggest Taste. The buffet is hectic and there is more risk of cross contamination - I'd just have a relaxing lunch in Taste, and let your waiter worry about sorting GF behind the scenes.

You are able to have any restaurant's menu 24 hours in advance -and the main dining room carries menus for ALL restaurants for the next day, so place your order there.

Never be afraid to ask for the special order maitre d' - he will appear and sort things if there's a confusion :)

A friend's partner is a cruise ship singer. My pal and their son were invited onboard to see daddy perform and then go home.

Perhaps the announcement relates to those sorts of thing?

Don't go there for sea sickness. They will confine you to your room for 24 hours.

Unlucky break!

On the Spirit earlier this year I went down for some sea sickness pills and they gave me some without charge.

Thanks - great stuff!

Thanks for the clarification - I had thought this was the case, but some comments lead me to believe otherwise.

I don't suppose you know whether the insider bonus would remain if I moved such a booking to a travel agent?

The page http://www.ncl.com/latitudes-rewards-program states that:

Earn 1 point for every cruise night.

Earn 1 additional point per night for reserving a Suite* or in The Haven.

Earn 1 additional point per night when booking nine months or more in advance.

Earn 1 additional point per night when booking a Latitudes Insider Offer.

In another thread (can't find it now), I was under the impression that 'insider offers' only counted for 1 point when booked 9 months in advance.

To clarify, if a balcony is booked from an insider offer, 9 months in advance, would that be 3 points a night, or 2?

I suspect there will be another round of cancellations once Cuba is opened up sometime soon!

I can't wait to see what changes.

We're on the last sailing before dry dock (20th September from Barcelona) and sailing again in March - when she'll hopefully still be shiny and newish!

They are available on the US site (select Caribbean and TA cruises).

 

But the extra point for booking early (more than 9 months in advance) is not an Insider offer, it's a standing offer from the Latitudes program.

Thanks for the tip on selecting US :)

Re. the bonus points, you can double-dip.

Everyone gets the extra point when booked 9 months in advance, but you can get an extra point in addition when booking an insider offer. Ten nights booked via an offer, 9 months in advance, would get 30 points :)

Edited to add: Actually, I think you might be right! It's just the standard 9 months thing. Not sure how I mistook that. Well, in which case, there's no merit to the offers :(

... possibly longer.

I was rather hoping to book early to gain that extra point a day to move us up a level a little faster.

Anyone know how long this has been down? Are the offers published anywhere else, or otherwise accessible?

We have just booked our first cruise and I'm trying to get my head around how things work!

 

I've read in the FAQs on the NCL website that if leaving a cash deposit on your on board account they require a minimum of $450pp for a 10 day cruise. We plan to use a credit card, however myself and my partner only have one credit card and it only has a £500 limit. Is there a similar $450 rule on credit cards as there is for cash? Does it matter what the limit on the card is? (obviously apart from that we can only spend £500 on it!)

Card issuers don't like it, but you can overpay your credit card - so if you overpaid a bill manually by £300, you'd have £800 credit limit.

They may not allow you to do this over the phone or their website, but do a bank transfer onto your credit card account, and you'll see it in credit.

Also, different passengers can be on different cards, so if you can each get a card with £500 limit, you'll also be fine.

Finally, often credit cards can be taken beyond their limit, especially when travelling, without any problems.

£500 is an exceptionally low limit, so to make the £610 needed for a $900 earmarked funds for two, just ask - I'm sure they'll extend for this reason. Failing that, overpay.

Yup - someone recently posted they had access to studio lounge after being upgraded to balcony.

If you are interested in selling then please email me joe@joe.org.uk

Bump

I've been on both.

They're both nice cruise lines. Royal Caribbean is slightly more upmarket, and I regard NCL as "cheap and cheerful".

The food on Royal Caribbean is slightly better, although neither is bad. Royal Caribbean tend to give better food in the main dining room, whereas NCL's main dining room food is acceptable, the best stuff is found at the paid restaurants.

Also, NCL don't have the stupid hanky-waving dance on the last night. I'm easily embarrassed, and hate it when at the end of the final night's dinner, Royal Caribbean waiters parade through the dining room to the tune of

If there's no price difference, I'd rather go for Royal, but if it's more than £200 on the cost of a trip, I'd go for NCL.

You'll enjoy them both!

I earn United and British Airways miles on UK based American Express credit cards, and both serve me very well. In fact, a few months ago my partner and I flew transatlantic first class with BA purely based on Amex spend.

I can't see any UK based cruise line credit cards though? Are there any?