I’m a newbie to NCL. I need a “Free at Sea” tutorial.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, jcathers1 said:

Is this upgrade offer offered at the time of booking? I don't recall seeing anything like it when I booked. If it helps, it is a Haven room on an Alaska cruise...

The 5 future bookings we have were all made prior to last month when we first heard about the FAS Plus package. However, when I tried to make a "mock" booking the other day just to see if the process gave you the option to book the cruise with the FAS Plus option, I didn't see it referenced anywhere. However, I did read some folks were saying they saw the FAS Plus upgrade option when looking at their booking online, as long as you paid for the FAS beverage gratuities.

[LobsterStalker]

On 8/1/2023 at 12:27 AM, twonpcb said:

My husband and I have been exclusively Royal Caribbean/Celebrity cruisers for the past 18 cruises but are eyeing an NCL cruise.  I have questions about the “Free at Sea” program.  How does all of that work?  Is the included WiFi fast enough to conduct day to day surfing or will I need to upgrade?  I know that on a recent Celebrity cruise the included WiFi was abysmal and an upgrade was required for even basic internet surfing.

 

We are not big specialty restaurant folks but exactly what credit am I getting withe the Free at Sea program?  I assume it is a certain $$ amount applied to the surcharge of each individual restaurant.  Is that the case?  If so, will I need to pay anyway to dine in a specialty restaurant?

 

Is the included alcohol package like buying a drink package on other cruise lines or is it set at a certain # of drinks?

 

I’m so confused.

Have only been on 1 NCL cruise , back in 2018 , before free at sea was 'standard' I suppose .

My only question is , with so many people 'gifted' the 2 free meals in addition to those who are gonna buy unlimited dining plans etc. 

How hard is it to get reservations at reasonable times ?

I know I'm hearing stories on the RC board that this is becoming an issue...and they obviously don't have FAS in the mix

 

Cheers

[Ken the cruiser]

10 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Have only been on 1 NCL cruise , back in 2018 , before free at sea was 'standard' I suppose .

My only question is , with so many people 'gifted' the 2 free meals in addition to those who are gonna buy unlimited dining plans etc. 

How hard is it to get reservations at reasonable times ?

I know I'm hearing stories on the RC board that this is becoming an issue...and they obviously don't have FAS in the mix

 

Cheers

On our recent NCL cruises, it hasn't been an issue for us, as we were booked in Club Balcony cabins. But we took no chances and booked our reservations 125 days prior to sailing. However, there are rules you need to remember if you want to improve your odds for getting the SD reservation times you desire.

 

When can I book dining and entertainment?

Reserving dining and entertainment before your cruise can help you plan ahead and make sure that you do not miss out on our most popular shows and restaurants. You can pre-book these onboard activities myncl.com following the schedule below.

 

Suites and Haven

130 days prior to sailing

Club Balcony Staterooms

125 days prior to sailing

All other staterooms

• For sailings that are 6 days or less and are not a holiday sailing, 90 days prior to sailing
• For sailings that are 6 days or less and are a holiday sailing, 120 days prior to sailing
• For sailings that are 7 days or more, 120 days prior to sailing

 

Frequently Asked Questions (ncl.com)

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Two Wheels Only]

1 hour ago, LobsterStalker said:

My only question is , with so many people 'gifted' the 2 free meals in addition to those who are gonna buy unlimited dining plans etc. 

How hard is it to get reservations at reasonable times ?

 

The number of meals given via promo has steadily decreased over the years. It's probably easier to get a reservation now than it was in 2018.

 

There is no longer an "unlimited" plan and some people only get 1 meal for a 7 night cruise when taking the promo.

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On our recent NCL cruises, it hasn't been an issue for us, as we were booked in Club Balcony cabins. But we took no chances and booked our reservations 125 days prior to sailing. However, there are rules you need to remember if you want to improve your odds for getting the SD reservation times you desire.

 

When can I book dining and entertainment?

Reserving dining and entertainment before your cruise can help you plan ahead and make sure that you do not miss out on our most popular shows and restaurants. You can pre-book these onboard activities myncl.com following the schedule below.

 

Suites and Haven

130 days prior to sailing

Club Balcony Staterooms

125 days prior to sailing

All other staterooms

• For sailings that are 6 days or less and are not a holiday sailing, 90 days prior to sailing
• For sailings that are 6 days or less and are a holiday sailing, 120 days prior to sailing
• For sailings that are 7 days or more, 120 days prior to sailing

 

Frequently Asked Questions (ncl.com)

 

Understood 

I feel this is counter to NCL's freestyle thinking though , If I have to book 120 days out to get a proper reservation to suit my preference . This implies that I will know what I will be doing on that day and also what entertainment options may be available that evening and when . 

I understand it is a cant have my cake and eat it too situation but ,

I guess this is why specialty just feels like more work to me and I'll likely just be content with MDR

 

Cheers

[LobsterStalker]

19 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The number of meals given via promo has steadily decreased over the years. It's probably easier to get a reservation now than it was in 2018.

 

There is no longer an "unlimited" plan and some people only get 1 meal for a 7 night cruise when taking the promo.

If I take the FAS option I would likely just wait and try to book once on board if something fits that is available. If not I'm not out much I guess

 

Cheers

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

Have only been on 1 NCL cruise , back in 2018 , before free at sea was 'standard' I suppose .

My only question is , with so many people 'gifted' the 2 free meals in addition to those who are gonna buy unlimited dining plans etc. 

How hard is it to get reservations at reasonable times ?

I know I'm hearing stories on the RC board that this is becoming an issue...and they obviously don't have FAS in the mix

 

Cheers

There is no such thing as an "unlimited dining plan". That is Royal Caribbean. 

 

You can buy extra meals (2 or more meals up to the number of nights of your cruise). They can be used at any specialty restaurant any time they are open (i.e., some open for lunch). 

 

Online booking for most cruises opens 120 days prior to departure. Popular dates and times (sea days between 5:30 and 8:00) will sell out at popular restaurants. For those who book cruises last minutes, NCL holds some reservations for onboard booking. 

 

If you want a popular restaurant on a popular day at a popular time, making a reservations needs to be a priority. If you are in a suite, the concierge can oversell "sold out" restaurants, but when they are totally oversold, even the concierge can't get you a table.

 

Some restaurants on big ships with al fresco dining have some extra capacity if they can use all of their outside tables. Outside dining is sometimes limited by heat, cold, wind, rain. While all dining is covered, rain with wind will limit if they can be used. 

[Ken the cruiser]

27 minutes ago, LobsterStalker said:

Understood 

I feel this is counter to NCL's freestyle thinking though , If I have to book 120 days out to get a proper reservation to suit my preference . This implies that I will know what I will be doing on that day and also what entertainment options may be available that evening and when . 

I understand it is a cant have my cake and eat it too situation but ,

I guess this is why specialty just feels like more work to me and I'll likely just be content with MDR

 

Cheers

One additional note. When we were on our Jade 38-day B2B last November, my DW booked both our SD reservations as well as all of our MDR reservations at the 125-day point. Our motivation is that she has to eat early. With regards to our 11-day cruise on the Dawn this past February, it was a short notice booking, so we booked all of our reservations as soon as we got onboard.
 

For those that chose not to make advanced MDR reservations once onboard on either cruise, the lines were quite long when the doors first opened, with folks sometimes waiting over an hour to get seated. In our case, as they have a separate entrance for those with reservations, we always got right in.

[HowardK]

There is no such thing as a free lunch. After having some of the free drinks, they entic you to spend more $ to get unliminted internet. Also, you can do free at sea plus for $450 more! This gives you even better alcohol (like the kind i am used to on my ex-wifes yacht evey week). They also give you 2 more meals, unlimited interenet, and $50 of excursions for 2nd person

 

(Note the $462 was my fee for 11 nights, minus 2nd person - I asked my ex-wifes new husband if she could go, he said he'd think about it but she is pregnant )

[LobsterStalker]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

One additional note. When we were on our Jade 38-day B2B last November, my DW booked both our SD reservations as well as all of our MDR reservations at the 125-day point. Our motivation is that she has to eat early. With regards to our 11-day cruise on the Dawn this past February, it was a short notice booking, so we booked all of our reservations as soon as we got onboard.
 

For those that chose not to make advanced MDR reservations once onboard on either cruise, the lines were quite long when the doors first opened, with folks sometimes waiting over an hour to get seated. In our case, as they have a separate entrance for those with reservations, we always got right in.

Sounds like things have changed for the worse . Dining was the 1 clear advantage we found with NCL over Royal . We only ever made reservations the day of on our 11 nighter and always got in very close to when we wanted . It took a couple nights before we were happy with our servers, even had the Maitre D deliver strawberrys and champagne to our room one evening because he saw (without us saying anything ) just how unacceptable it was , but once we found Ervin we had him for the rest of the cruise , and he was fantastic

 

Cheers

[LobsterStalker]

37 minutes ago, HowardK said:

There is no such thing as a free lunch. After having some of the free drinks, they entic you to spend more $ to get unliminted internet. Also, you can do free at sea plus for $450 more! This gives you even better alcohol (like the kind i am used to on my ex-wifes yacht evey week). They also give you 2 more meals, unlimited interenet, and $50 of excursions for 2nd person

 

(Note the $462 was my fee for 11 nights, minus 2nd person - I asked my ex-wifes new husband if she could go, he said he'd think about it but she is pregnant )

I don't think I'm even gonna attempt to unpack that post 

 

Cheers

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, LobsterStalker said:

Sounds like things have changed for the worse . Dining was the 1 clear advantage we found with NCL over Royal . We only ever made reservations the day of on our 11 nighter and always got in very close to when we wanted . It took a couple nights before we were happy with our servers, even had the Maitre D deliver strawberrys and champagne to our room one evening because he saw (without us saying anything ) just how unacceptable it was , but once we found Ervin we had him for the rest of the cruise , and he was fantastic

 

Cheers

Don’t get me wrong, we had a great dining experience every night, especially when we ate in the SD restaurants, which was pretty much every other night. However, eating in the MDR was just OK, about the same as in a Royal MDR, but on the positive side it made us appreciate the NCL SD options even more.
 

As it turned out we got double Latitudes points from our 38-day B2B last October which moved us up to Platinum where we get 2 additional SDs, one with a bottle of wine, on top of the 2 we get with FAS. And now with the introduction of FAS Plus, we now get 2 more SDs for a total of 6 on each leg minimizing our need to have to dine in their MDRs.
 

But I will also say we cruise with Celebrity and Princess, each of whom have their own rules of engagement. The key is to figure out those rules, and take advantage of them when you can.

[cruiseny4life]

12 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

Sounds like things have changed for the worse . Dining was the 1 clear advantage we found with NCL over Royal . We only ever made reservations the day of on our 11 nighter and always got in very close to when we wanted . It took a couple nights before we were happy with our servers, even had the Maitre D deliver strawberrys and champagne to our room one evening because he saw (without us saying anything ) just how unacceptable it was , but once we found Ervin we had him for the rest of the cruise , and he was fantastic

 

Cheers

We always book after final payment (well...except for one cruise). And, we have never had any issue getting the reservations we want. Is it Freestyle with reservations? Well, no, but it does beat standing in line with twenty other folks waiting for a table. 

 

Last week we booked a cruise on Pr1ma for November. We booked at about 110'ish days out. Should have waited - the price just dropped more. Oh well!

 

Anyway, we have two Free at Sea meals and upgraded to have two additional specialty dining meals on an eleven day cruise. We've booked three of those four, including Hasuki which can be more difficult than others to get. There was plenty of availability at all restaurants. Onda was slightly more difficult (we didn't book here as the menu isn't appealing enough for us), but there were fewer reservations available for Onda. Le Bistro, Cagney's and Palomar had plenty of availability too.

 

We'll book our fourth on board as we plan to go to Food Republic twice (can't double book a restaurant ahead of time).  

[Asawi]

I normally drink very little alcohol. On my recent 12-day cruise I "should" have declined the package because of the cost (€250), but the cruise was such a great deal and I just forgot to "not buy it" when my PCC quoted me the price including airfare I basically just said "Wow! Go for it!". 

Having said that, it's really nice to be able to go to one of the bars at any time and get a drink, with or without alcohol. It turned out I had 1-2 alcoholic drinks and 3-4 sodas most days. I could have done without them, and if I hadn't had the package I doubt I would have bought even the sodas at around $4/each. Can't say the package was great value for me even though my speciality dinners were nice, the Internet minutes came in handy during our sea days and I took advantage of some excursion discount. BUT, sometimes what's not great value money-vise can be great value anyway because of the convenience and also for me a sense of "luxury" (I very rarely go out to eat or drink when at home). (And those BBC cocktails are so yummy!)

(If there is a way for us EU people to opt out of just the drinks part I haven't seen it. It's kind of an all or nothing for us. On my next cruise, 10 days in October I was considering not getting FAS but then the FAS half-price came along and at €100 I didn't have to think twice!)

[Grimix]

24 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Can't say the package was great value for me even though my speciality dinners were nice, the Internet minutes came in handy during our sea days and I took advantage of some excursion discount. BUT, sometimes what's not great value money-vise can be great value anyway because of the convenience and also for me a sense of "luxury" (I very rarely go out to eat or drink when at home). (And those BBC cocktails are so yummy!)

That's for me! I'm on vacation and I don't want to have to think do I really want to pay another $15 for a drink? They may 'make out' on me (doubtful...) but I have the peace of mind knowing it's included and I'm not adding to some bill somewhere, and am able to just enjoy myself and do what I want. To be honest, if they didn't have the FAS I would be buying the drink package even though I'd be unlikely to get my money's worth on that. I wouldn't be able to relax as much worrying about my bar bill.

 

I know people complain that NCL nickels-and-dimes you, but if you do everything up front, and get the price you're willing to pay you at don't have to worry that much once on board. We had about $150 on board credit from TA and we actually had to actively try and spend it all before we left on our last cruise (family of 5. So go-karts and laser tag were included in that)

[mjkacmom]

16 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

One additional note. When we were on our Jade 38-day B2B last November, my DW booked both our SD reservations as well as all of our MDR reservations at the 125-day point. Our motivation is that she has to eat early. With regards to our 11-day cruise on the Dawn this past February, it was a short notice booking, so we booked all of our reservations as soon as we got onboard.
 

For those that chose not to make advanced MDR reservations once onboard on either cruise, the lines were quite long when the doors first opened, with folks sometimes waiting over an hour to get seated. In our case, as they have a separate entrance for those with reservations, we always got right in.

We don’t eat as soon as the MDR’s open, but our family of 7 has never had a reservation or waited for a table.

[happy cruzer]

For those who have the FAS, what do you do for water, non alcoholic drinks, and coffee?  Any advice like club soda for water?  A specialty coffee with no alcohol?  Mocktails?

 

Love wine but probably will lean toward non-alcoholic drinks the rest of the time.

 

Thanks.

[mjkacmom]

15 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

For those who have the FAS, what do you do for water, non alcoholic drinks, and coffee?  Any advice like club soda for water?  A specialty coffee with no alcohol?  Mocktails?

 

Love wine but probably will lean toward non-alcoholic drinks the rest of the time.

 

Thanks.

I bring a refillable water bottle, get coffee and iced tea at the buffet or other restaurants.

[darkhorizon]

3 hours ago, Asawi said:

On my next cruise, 10 days in October I was considering not getting FAS but then the FAS half-price came along and at €100 I didn't have to think twice!)

Do FAS prices drop? Aren't we only paying gratuities in FAS package? How does it change then?

[Two Wheels Only]

5 minutes ago, darkhorizon said:

Do FAS prices drop? Aren't we only paying gratuities in FAS package? How does it change then?

 

Terms "across the pond" are different than in North America. 

[Asawi]

37 minutes ago, darkhorizon said:

Do FAS prices drop? Aren't we only paying gratuities in FAS package? How does it change then?

In EU we buy the FAS separately. (Gratuities are included in the price we pay, so it comes to about the same as US customers.) There has been a couple of short 50% discount offers for us and I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of one of them.

[LobsterStalker]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Don’t get me wrong, we had a great dining experience every night, especially when we ate in the SD restaurants, which was pretty much every other night. However, eating in the MDR was just OK, about the same as in a Royal MDR, but on the positive side it made us appreciate the NCL SD options even more.
 

As it turned out we got double Latitudes points from our 38-day B2B last October which moved us up to Platinum where we get 2 additional SDs, one with a bottle of wine, on top of the 2 we get with FAS. And now with the introduction of FAS Plus, we now get 2 more SDs for a total of 6 on each leg minimizing our need to have to dine in their MDRs.
 

But I will also say we cruise with Celebrity and Princess, each of whom have their own rules of engagement. The key is to figure out those rules, and take advantage of them when you can.

NIIIIIIIIICE take !

[kcatty]

With FAS, don't forget you will pay a 20% gratuity on the drink package   I am taking a 9 night cruise on thr Sun and have been on the fence about FAS.  Figure I will be close to break even in terms of thr out of pocket for gratuities, so keeping it.

[talkone]

With the water package do you both have to have it🤔

[Smitheroo]

On 8/1/2023 at 12:51 AM, BirdTravels said:

Is the included WiFi fast enough to conduct day to day surfing or will I need to upgrade?  I know that on a recent Celebrity cruise the included WiFi was abysmal and an upgrade was required for even basic internet surfing. You will get a set number of minutes (normally 150 minutes). If you want to be constantly online, then you can pay to upgrade the 150 minutes to an unlimited plan. If it is just for a few minutes daily onboard to read email, it's o.k. (Cruise ship satellite wifi). 

 

We are not big specialty restaurant folks but exactly what credit am I getting withe the Free at Sea program?  I assume it is a certain $$ amount applied to the surcharge of each individual restaurant.  Is that the case?  If so, will I need to pay anyway to dine in a specialty restaurant? The perk pays for a full meal. Yeah, there will be specific items on a menu with an additional upcharge (e.g., if you want that steak and lobster dinner), but the basic dinners include an appetizer, soup/salad, entrée, and dessert. No dollar limit. Example of a free specialty dinner at the steakhouse

 

Is the included alcohol package like buying a drink package on other cruise lines or is it set at a certain # of drinks? Like other cruise lines. The package covers the first $15 of any drink ordered. Unlimited from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Most standard drinks are under $15. Some martinis can be $16 (you would pay the $1 difference + gratuity = $1 + $0.20 = $1.20). Top shelf liquor will cost a few dollars a drink. Discounts on bottles of wine. 

 

The Shore Excursion credit is $50 off all excursions booked by Guest 1 in the room.

 

BOGO airfare... NCL books the cheapest air they can find and you pay for 1 person and the second person is free. "Cheap airfare" normally means not the best times, but we're retired and if we have to hang at the airport, that's fine with us. 

 

On 8/1/2023 at 12:51 AM, BirdTravels said:

Is the included WiFi fast enough to conduct day to day surfing or will I need to upgrade?  I know that on a recent Celebrity cruise the included WiFi was abysmal and an upgrade was required for even basic internet surfing. You will get a set number of minutes (normally 150 minutes). If you want to be constantly online, then you can pay to upgrade the 150 minutes to an unlimited plan. If it is just for a few minutes daily onboard to read email, it's o.k. (Cruise ship satellite wifi). 

 

We are not big specialty restaurant folks but exactly what credit am I getting withe the Free at Sea program?  I assume it is a certain $$ amount applied to the surcharge of each individual restaurant.  Is that the case?  If so, will I need to pay anyway to dine in a specialty restaurant? The perk pays for a full meal. Yeah, there will be specific items on a menu with an additional upcharge (e.g., if you want that steak and lobster dinner), but the basic dinners include an appetizer, soup/salad, entrée, and dessert. No dollar limit. Example of a free specialty dinner at the steakhouse

 

Is the included alcohol package like buying a drink package on other cruise lines or is it set at a certain # of drinks? Like other cruise lines. The package covers the first $15 of any drink ordered. Unlimited from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. Most standard drinks are under $15. Some martinis can be $16 (you would pay the $1 difference + gratuity = $1 + $0.20 = $1.20). Top shelf liquor will cost a few dollars a drink. Discounts on bottles of wine. 

 

The Shore Excursion credit is $50 off all excursions booked by Guest 1 in the room.

 

BOGO airfare... NCL books the cheapest air they can find and you pay for 1 person and the second person is free. "Cheap airfare" normally means not the best times, but we're retired and if we have to hang at the airport, that's fine with us. 

Not like *all* other cruise lines. Maybe most.  On Cunard the drink package covers a drink up to a certain amount (and I forget the amount). If you chose a more expensive drink you dont have to pay just the difference, you have to pay the entire amount of the more expensive drink.   I like NCL's much better.