gabbygal99

Ah! That’s my problem! One of the ones I selected was the couples massage! Thanks!

Carnival’s website is advertising a promotion that if you book 3 spa treatments you can get up to 30% off (see attached screenshot). However, when I try to pre-book 3 massages for my upcoming sailing - meeting all the criteria spelled out in the fine print - no discount is applied in my cart when I go to pay??? Does anyone know what the discount code for this promotion actually is?

On their website. Here are some examples: 15-night transatlantic, in a balcony, for $2600 for 2 people (not each person). Includes WiFi, specialty dining, and tips. 7-night Greek Isles during peak season for less than $3400, again in a balcony for 2 people, WiFi, specialty dining, and tips included. I just got off the Escape a few weeks ago and paid $8k for each of our balconies (10-night sailing, but I can guarantee those extra 3 nights and alcohol were not worth the extra $4600 we paid!)

If you are a “foodie” then you are going to be disappointed, unless you are staying in Haven. Since you cited money as a prohibitive factor, I’ll assume you aren’t staying in Haven. Try Virgin Voyages - the food is head and shoulders above Norwegian and the price is significantly better than Norwegian too (and WiFi is included, and staff gratuity is already included, for good measure!) They offer Transatlantic's with very similar itineraries - every cruiseline offers basically the same itineraries LOL

I 100% agree with you! Even the “upgrade” package to the FAS dining package is basically land-based pricing! $70/person for 2 additional meals? That’s the “discounted” price? So…$35/meal?! That’s what it would cost me to eat at Applebees (I think? I don’t actually eat there normally haha) But your cruise fare INCLUDED food and you aren’t eating in the MDR or buffet on the nights you are eating in specialty restaurants, so buying these packages actually makes them more money. So YES - they ARE nickel and diming you!

We have sailed Carnival twice, 10 years ago - once to try it out and the second time a few months later because my husband won the poker tournament on the first cruise and it came with a seat at the big poker tournament during the second cruise. We didn’t sail Carnival again after that, but now that it’s been 10 years, I can’t remember WHY we didn’t want to sail again, so I figure it can’t be that bad??? Haha We’ve sailed Princess (3), Carnival (2), Costa (1), RCCL (1), and NCL (3). Maybe I should check out MSC and RCCL again…

I was looking at the one too! I currently have one balcony and one inside cabin booked on the Dawn for the July 2 British Isles sailing next summer, with FAS and airfare from Boston- for $11k and change. I can get these two cabins on this Carnival itinerary for $6700 total, and then buy airfare, wifi, and a drinks package (we always book independent excursions) - for probably a lot less than the extra $4600 I’m paying to NCL. I keep booking NCL because I’m still trying to use up all the CruiseNext certificates I bought on my Bliss cruise in 2019, though! Maybe I should just sell them and call it a day…

I have done your original itinerary previously and it is WONDERFUL! The snorkeling in Belize is really second-to-none! And the Mayan ruins in Mexico are absolutely worth the trip! But if you are not upset by the itinerary change, then that’s all that matters! Make sure you get something scheduled to see the ruins, though! You never know what could happen in this crazy thing called life!

So the cruise lines have had poor/slow/lacking/(insert-whatever-adjective-you-want-to-use-here) customer service due to reduced staffing levels because the crew have been consistently contracting covid from the passengers not wearing masks, but now the crew aren’t going to be wearing masks?! I’m *sure* the service will improve from here on out! *sarcasm, for anyone that missed it*

We also received a number of automated emails from Air Canada with flight changes prior to our recent Escape sailing, all prior to receiving any correspondence from NCL with flight information. When NCL finally sent our air confirmation, we signed into Air Canada and our flight had been completed cancelled! (They had been emailing us every few days to let us know about delays but never bothered to informed us of the cancellation?) We called NCL to let them know the flight was cancelled and they rebooked us on new flights within a few days - this time on nonstop flights, on ITA and Delta. It worked out in our favor, because everyone in our roll call who flew Air Canada had their luggage lost!!!

In early May 2022 they cancelled our April 2023 Getaway cruise because they are redeploying they Getaway to another location for the season due to some cancelled Baltic sailings (my sailing was NOT a Baltic sailing).

Just to update everyone - NCL left letters in everyone’s staterooms today saying we would receive $100 non-refundable OBC per cabin, as an apology for having two ports of call replaced by sea days. Since I was expecting no compensation, based on your replies, I’m happy about this!

That’s a great price, considering I paid $269/person for my 10 night sailing! You are getting 5 additional days for only $20 more! I bet in a few months the charge for your sailing will increase - when I originally bought thermal spa passes for my current sailing they were $249/person, but by the time my sailing occurred (I’m on the Escape currently) the passes cost $329/person!

I’m on the Escape August 3-13 Greek Isles sailing from Rome. NCL cancelled the ports of Corfu and Mykonos during this sailing. (Fingers crossed no other ports get cancelled!!!) I was under the impression when ports were cancelled passengers were refunded the port fees and/or taxes for the ports they no longer visited? NCL is not giving us refunds for either ports that they cancelled.

Wow! Now I’m even MORE confused! We went into Vibe Beach Club after I posted, and the bar tender happily made my husband his requested drink and said Crown WAS covered by our package, but was just a $1 up charge? Sooooo….I guess my husband will only be drinking well when that specific bartender (Charlie) is working a shift at Vibe 🤣

The attached screenshot was taken today from NCLs website. It shows that Crown is included in the Premium Beverage Package. We boarded the Escape this afternoon and my husband tried to order an old fashion made with crown in two different bars and he was told by both bartenders that Crown wasn’t included in the PBP??? Has anyone heard this? Is this worth waiting at guest services about? Or should he just suffer in silence with Dewar’s 🤣?

I booked Thermal Spa passes for our 10-night Greek Isles cruise on Escape coming up 3 August. When it came out that Vibe Beach Club was available for pre-booking, I grabbed those passes, before they could sell out. We only have 2 sea days during this port heavy itinerary, so I highly doubt we need both passes. I will be canceling one of the reservations, but am looking for advice on which one to keep! We have never done Vibe OR the thermal spa, so I don’t have anything to compare them to. We are both very much into relaxing in the hot tub (they both have hot tubs), my husband like to have a drink in his hand frequently - I am fine drinking or not (only Vibe has a bar), I enjoy swimming, he doesn’t (only thermal spa has a pool). The weather isn’t much of an issue as it was in Alaska, so that doesn’t help with this decision! Do both limit the number of passes sold? Meaning, are we guaranteed a lounger whenever we enter either place? Please help me know which place is best for us! Haha

Why does NCLs website not list the Escape as having in-stateroom access to the internet?! I upgraded to the premium streaming internet in our cabins so our teens can watch TikTok when they are bored - does Escape not actually have internet in the rooms?!?! I didn’t even consider that a possibility in 2022…

I unselected the 9 August option, paid the $269/pp for the first 7 days, and paid online. I am not going to aggravate myself by calling NCL and waiting on hold for a long time when it’s probably just another website glitch. My e-docs say we have Vibe passes now. We’ll verify on board that they are valid for the entire cruise, if we decide to keep them. (We already bought thermal spa passes, and I doubt we need both, so we’ll decide which one to keep, and cancel the other pass)

Absolutely!!! I have only been on 1 Royal cruise a Mediterranean cruise in 2012 on Liberty of the Seas. My family has been doing NCL consistently for the past few years, but I’m soooo tired of being “nickeled and dimed” to death by them!!!! I decided I was going to try Royal Caribbean again! I found a GREAT New Zealand itinerary from Sydney, on an AMAZING sounding ship, with really cool amenities, that the kids were very excited about (skydiving?! Surfing?! Bumper cars?! Awesome!), for an excellent price for two connecting balconies. Unfortunately, Royal doesn’t offer airfare inclusive pricing, like Norwegian does??? So before I booked (because they also do NON-refundable deposits?! What the hell is THAT about???) I checked for airline tickets, since we are flying from East Coast USA - so literally the other side of the world. There are 4 of us, we are all tall (husband is 6’4”, our 17 year old son is already 6’ and growing each minute, etc), and I get claustrophobic on long plane rides, so we need upgraded seats. Premium economy (not even first class!!!) was $18k for 4 tickets from Boston to Sydney! So, no, we are NOT going to New Zealand next year on Ovation! I ended up booking a British Isles cruise on NCL, because they included airfare for about the same price Royal was charging for their similar itinerary on Jewel of the Seas (and I still would need to buy airfare, and a drinks package, and internet package, etc, but all that’s included with NCL).

Oh ok! I thought they were saying people still had to pay for drinks even if they had the drinks package already! I was thinking, “what a shameless money grab!” I went ahead and grabbed passes for me and my husband anyways, for our upcoming sailing on Escape in August - in case the hot tub area is too crowded with screaming kids! 🤣 Hoping it will ensure we can actually get some time in a hot tub during the cruise! Probably overkill, since I already bought thermal spa passes! Maybe I’ll cancel one of them…

In October 2021 we had an 11-night Greek Isles cruise booked (we rescheduled, but that was less than 1 year ago!) that included FIVE specialty dinners when we booked!!! Next month we are going on the rescheduled, 10-night Greek Isle cruise and we are only getting THREE specialty dinners because NCL has cut back on amenities so much (meanwhile, raising prices significantly!) This week I booked a 10-night British Isles cruise for summer of 2023 and it’s now down to only TWO specialty dinners for our balcony cabin and only ONE for our kids inside cabin - on a 10-night cruise!!!

According to the posted chart, my upcoming 10-night Greek Isles cruise on Escape in August should only cost $249/pp. When I try to book it, NCL is trying to charge me $538/pp. They are charging $269/per 7 days, and then another full $269 for the additional 3 days? Hopefully it’s a website glitch? It’s silly to have to call them on the phone for every little thing when they are soooo short staffed! Who wants to wait on hold for an hour+ for something that could be taking care of in 3 minutes online if they could get their website to work properly?!

Wait, they charge for access to this private area (that I get) AND then they also charge for the food and drinks served there? Even though everyone has the drinks package and I’m sure the food comes from the regular kitchen?!

“Quite a change in perks” is an understatement!!! I was going through some old emails between me and my TA. We were scheduled for an 11-night Greek Isles cruise in October 2021 that we cancelled because our youngest son wasn’t vaccinated yet. When we booked that cruise, NCL was still giving FIVE specialty dinners on 11-night sailings (balcony staterooms)!!! We leave for our rescheduled 10-night Greek Isles cruise in less than 1 month (again, connecting balconies). We will now only be receiving TWO specialty dinners!!!