TrumpyNor

In Dubrovnik, taxis from the port to the old town gates are at a fixed price, if I remember correctly it is EUR 13 one way, for up to 4 persons. So often cheaper (and quicker) than the NCL shuttle, if more than one person.

We did the Baltic cruise on the Sun in the summer of 2012, and we actually docked IN Stockholm, very close to the city centre and the old town.

I have no idea, but my unqualified guess is that they will start the tendering early...

As you are a first time NCL cruiser, you have no priority on the tenders, so I think you are cutting it very short at the Raiatea port....

It is stated in the title of the thread, and that particular cruise seems to have a very "normal" Baltic cruise price. Not much more/much less than most Baltic cruises on NCL....

I have a different question that you may know the answer to: We have the "Latitude comp'd" laundry bags (one each offered on a regular cruise), that we use whenever needed without awaiting the "bag promotion day", without any coupon/voucher, simply by writing Latitude number and status on the bag. My question is: If they offer the regular "fill the bag"promotion twice during a longer (10+) cruise, do they then sometimes also offer one extra "comp'd" laundry bag for the higher Latitude status? I know I am not "entitled" to more than one free laundry bag per cruise, just wondering what your experience has been on longer cruises.

Congrats, Susanne! In Europe they are actually nowadays called "crossbody bags" and they are very popular amongst the "young and hip" Europeans. 😊 Worn a bit different than the "fanny packs" from the 1980ies though....😉

The club balcony cabins on NCL was called "mini-suites" until a few years ago, but as the name often gave the impression of being a "suite" it often caused misunderstandings about what was included in the price. On most NCL ships they are slightly larger than a regular balcony cabin, often with a significant larger bath room. That being said - the Sun is known to have the nicest/largest club balcony cabins in the NCL fleet.

We had a balcony cabin on the Star last year, and the cruise was sailing in "Arctic waters", so had to bring quite a variety of clothing. Had absolutely no problem reaching the clothing that we stored on the shelves inside the closet, even though we had lots of clothing on hangers as well.

I honestly don't know. I usually put in bids early (2-3 months before sailing date). As long as your bid has not been accepted (that usually happens closer to sailingdate), you can pull your bid at any time simply by removing it.

I posted bids in May for my upcoming cruise in August, so a little less than 3 months before the cruise, by using that link.

I have no idea how this was (or was not) enforced until now, but it seems like there will be some changes to this matter this fall: https://skift.com/2024/03/05/cruise-lines-not-ready-for-europes-upcoming-border-controls/

Just FYI; no need to wait for an invitation, you can just use this link: https://upgrade.plusgrade.com/offer/NCL/ I have in the past placed bids both through "regular invitation e-mail" and by just using the URL-link above without receiving any "invitation" first.

Shore excursions has to be paid at the time of booking. If you at a later time decides to cancel it, the money paid will be returned to form of original payment if cancelled before the cruise starts. If cancelled after the cruise have started, then the money paid will be reimbursed as refundable OBC (on board credit).

We did a beach excursion in St. Maarten many years ago (2013), and back then "all cruise lines" (incl NCL) had their beach excursions to Orient Beach.

Thank you for the warning. 🙂

Thank you both for your replies. 😊 Good idea about having the beds seoarated. Will probably ask for that to be done. Actually didn't think about that possibility in the past... 🤔

It has been a pleasure meeting you both when cruising, thank you for sharing all your NCL cruising knowledge here on CruiseCritic!

Wouldn't the easiest be to just convert it to pdf yourself if that is the format you need....?

About reservations at the MDR done before the cruise: We have a cruise booked for beginning of August 2024 (120 days from today), and I can absolutely prebook a table at the MDR already - BUT only for a group of 6 persons or a group of 8 persons, and ONLY two times to choose from: 5.30 PM or 8.30 PM. So definitely outside of the "peak hours". My experience is that it is no problem to prebook a table for a certain time in the MDR when being on the ship - and if you prefer to have your dinner at the most popular times in the evening, then I absolutely advice you to prebook a table (usually no problem to do that in the afternoon for the dinner the same evening). If not - be prepared to stand in line, then get the "beeper" and wait 15-30 minutes for your table.... Edit: Forgot to say that on the explore and plan-ist of dining options the MDR is listed with a note of "Not available to book" - when I "click" on it to try to book it anyway, then I get the option of groups of 6 or 8 persons and can choose the times 05.30 PM or 08.30 PM....

We did an 11 days cruise on the Star in August 2023, and did not have any technical incidents at all. 😊

Regarding the originally 1 year requirement to use the free Diamond upgrade: My husband and I obtained the Latitude Diamond status when NCL added the new tiers (beginning of 2022?). We had 2 cruises booked for the summer of 2022, and asked for the free upgrade on both these cruises. We were however not happy with one of the upgrades and asked to get our original cabin instead. According to the rules at the time, my understanding was that we then "lost" that second free upgrade. A few months later I saw here on CC someone posting about the 1 year requirement being "removed". I then asked my PCC at NCL to apply for a free diamond upgrade on the cruise we had booked for August 2023 instead, and within a couple of days we received the email from the Latitude upgrade department with our new cabin number (upgrade from ocean view to balcony).

Since you are saying "we" I am guessing that you are probably a couple? If that is the case, you can have the free cabin upgrade for two TWICE. Personally my husband and I did receive the Diamond upgrade on two cruises in 2022 and 2023 - both times from "obstructed ocean view" to "balcony" - and very happy with that! Especially when I saw (by doing "mock" bookings) what many of my fellow cruisers had to pay for their "regular balcony cabin price" compared to what we paid for an originally obstructed ocean view cabin.

Absolutely!

On the Gem 18 months ago - Club Balcony Suite with bathtub: On the Escape 17 months ago - club balcony suite with walk-in-shower: