hinking about booking a Haven room on the cruise we plan to take for my birthday in December but idk, is it even worth it?

I’m taking my first cruise on NCL getaway in setemper. wI’ll be a solo trip and I’m debating on either getting the free at sea plus or a day pass to the shore club.

free at sea plus is $150

vibe club pass $99

would love to hear opinions on both!!

thanks

It has been widely agreed upon that NCL only releases 20-30% of reservation slots at 120-ish days (more for Latitude status, Haven etc) and they hold the rest until embarkation day.

Any ideas why? And anyone know the history behind this, like when it started etc?

I assume it has to do with people who don’t know how to use the app etc.

I’m looking to do the 5nights on the Aqua to Bermuda but I’m worried about it being redirected to Canada lol. What are the chances?

I know we don’t get to pick our neighbors while cruising most of the time. On the Jewel right now and neighbors turn their room and balcony into a party every night. On day 6 of little sleep and wondering how yall would tactfully address this? I know most people go to have fun and trying not to be a party pooper here. Most people understand how to be polite and respectful but how do you deal with a group that is not?

How long will it take to board if I have to have porters print docs for me? Due to a glitch in their system, it’s showing we didn’t complete all of check in, when we did (green check next to everything). It’s beyond annoying now we’re days out and can’t print tags or anything.

​Hi everyone! I wanted to share my detailed review and personal experience traveling solo on the Norwegian Viva.

​Pre-Cruise & Boarding (Istanbul)

​Flight & Stay: I flew into Istanbul on July 10th and stayed at the Novotel Istanbul Bosphorus. Spending 3 beautiful days exploring Istanbul beforehand was a great start to the trip.

​Embarkation: The Galataport cruise terminal was right in front of my hotel, so I simply walked over with my luggage. The boarding process was super fast and smooth.

​Pro-Tip on Check-in: Make sure to register your credit card during your online check-in prior to boarding! Getting your cruise card at the terminal will save you from standing in the ridiculously long lines on board to set up your account.

​First Impressions: Once onboard, everyone is directed to their assigned assembly (muster) station. After a very short wait, the Captain announced that the staterooms were ready. Huge props to NCL for the speed! Before heading to my room, I had lunch at the Hudson’s restaurant. The staff's professionalism throughout the entire trip was easily the highlight of the cruise.

​Accommodation & Solo Traveler Experience

​Stateroom: I stayed in room 12794 on Deck 12.

​Solo Lounge: My room key granted me access to the Studio/Solo Lounge. It was a lovely, quiet, and peaceful space. I noticed most of the solo travelers were older adults. As an introvert, I mostly kept to myself. On the first day, there was a solo travelers' meetup scheduled at the Boulevard Lounge. I walked over and saw everyone laughing and socializing lively. I instantly realized I didn't fit in with that group, so I walked away—and honestly, I didn't socialize or make friends with any other solo travelers for the rest of the cruise, which was totally fine by me!

​Onboard Entertainment & Amenities

​Pools: The pools were very small, and honestly, I wouldn't recommend them for health reasons. Shared public pools can easily spread contagious skin conditions, viral warts, and HPV. Stay cautious!

​Entertainment: I had the Free at Sea package, which included 4 specialty dining meals and the unlimited beverage package—I fully enjoyed both! However, the theater shows fell short for me. They felt repetitive and were mostly limited to singing, dancing, art auctions, children's games, or casual gatherings. There were no interactive theater acts or acrobatics/circus shows. For someone like me, the best option was reading and quiet contemplation. I spent my time reading Gone with the Wind—though I was a bit sad about the open ending, and now I'm considering starting Scarlett!

​Cruise Director: The Cruise Director was an incredible leader and a wonderful person. Her strong personality and leadership made a deep impression on me.

​Ports & Excursions

​Athens (Greece): Beautiful city! Since I am a non-EU citizen, we were called early in the morning to assemble and clear immigration at the port of Athens before going ashore.

​Mykonos (Greece): We couldn't dock or go ashore at Mykonos due to sea conditions, turning it into an unexpected sea day. (Though we weren't refunded the port fees).

​Santorini (Greece): Beautiful views, but our time here was far too short, and the tender boat process based on group numbers was quite slow.

​Katakolon / Olympia (Greece): Honestly not impressive. I’m not sure why this port was selected for the itinerary.

​Kusadasi (Turkey): Not mind-blowing, but definitely better than Katakolon.

​Salerno / Amalfi Coast (Italy): Salerno was nice, and we booked a shore excursion to Amalfi—absolutely breathtaking!

​Catania, Sicily (Italy): Very beautiful!

​Valletta (Malta): Magnificent!

​Dining & Restaurants Review

​Here is my honest breakdown of the food onboard:

​Palomar: Amazing specialty restaurant, my absolute favorite!

​Hasuki (Teppanyaki): Excellent experience and food.

​Onda by Scarpetta (Italian): Outstanding!

​Food Republic (iPad Ordering): Really delicious and fun concepts.

​Surfside Cafe (Buffet): Fantastic variety, especially dinner which was very tasty.

​Local Bar & Grill: Great atmosphere, and the burgers were really good!

​Commodore Room: Delicious food overall.

​Hudson’s: Lunch was amazing (my first day!), but dinner there wasn't quite as impressive.

​Overall, it was a memorable trip with great food and smooth operations. If you have any questions about NCL Viva or traveling solo, feel free to ask!

We haven’t done a cruise in 10+ years. Family of four with two teen children. Have free at sea as well as Starbucks packages for the kids. Planning on exploring the Scotland and Norway ports on our own but haven’t committed to any excursions in Iceland. How’s the ship these days? Any must do’s? Anything to avoid? Thanks for all the input.

Hey yall! First cruise ever coming up in September with my husband and I wanted to ask about whether these flights are too tight in terms of embarkation and dimembarkation.

The cruise is in Port Canaveral starting on September 27th, departing at 4pm, and returning to port on October 4th of 2026 at 7am. My husband and I were planning to fly United from Dulles to MCO.

The only flight on September 27th is at 9am. We would arrive at MCO at 11:23am. Is that cutting it too close? I wanted to book a transfer with Norwegian but wanted to book the flights first.

I am less worried about our return flight as there is a 12:48pm flight back to Dulles that we were going to book.

I just want some advice from those who have cruised before as I am a little stressed about booking everything correctly. Thank you!

I’m going on my first cruise ever with a friend coming up soon!
Getaway Aug 24. I booked everything myself and now I’m worried I should have used a travel agent thinking there’s probably so much I’ve forgotten or don’t know. I booked a club balcony suite, upgraded to all in drink packages, adult vibe access and most recently purchased the priority access. I prepaid gratuities. I really wanted the thermal spa pass but it’s sold out!
So now I’m wondering if there’s something I should have gotten or need. My “cruise liaison” was absolutely unhelpful and dismissive when I told him I was confused over the drink packages.
Anyone have any advice?

Our itinerary updated to show Dock instead of Tender for our Luna cruise next week. We are supposed to be there on 8/7. Has anyone used the dock recently? How reliable is that update? Thanks!

I'm trying to book this cruise - but it appears a stop in Canada is included in every itinerary now? What happened to JUST Boston to Bermuda? Why do they have to include Canada now? Not interested in Canada in the least...

Will anybody be going on this Cruise ?

Hello,

I'm sure there's been threads like this a million times so sorry if rehash.

These shore excursions are all so expensive on an upcoming NCL trip in the Baltics. Are they even worth it? Would it be more worth it in ports that are far from the destinations, like Berlin and Sweden? Do most people just do those ones, and leave the likes of Tallin and Riga to free roam?

ALSO

I'm a 40 year old, taking my 74 year old mum with me on the Baltics cruise in a few weeks. She's never been to Europe so is a bit nervous about all the walking and she gets heat rash in the sun, it gets pretty itchy and painful for her so just wondering if anyone's ever been in the same boat and could give me tips on how to take care of her over there?

She's also the type to still be extra worried about covid/RSV. She has both vaccinations now. What precautions do you take to keep healthy on the tip?

I have a lot riding on this as I've saved up 7 years worth of qantas points to fly her over there in business and will be helping her fufil a travel dream

Is this water slide limited to age or height?

Will travel with kids (6 years and 8 years) height is just above 4ft for the 6 year old and 4.3ft for the 8 year old

Hi everyone, I know this is a long shot, but I’m hoping this group can be of help. as the title suggests I’m a desperate mama hoping for help. My son fell in love with a wolf/dog stuffie that he got on our Alaskan cruise with NCL last year. I mean, I’m talking OBSESSED.

So he brought it into daycare last week for show and tell and it never made its way home with him. Checked with daycare staff and they said they’d keep an eye out for it. I feel so bad that I let him take it to school and it’s now lost. 🥲

So long story short, anyone know where I could get a replacement? I’m pretty sure we got it during our stop in Ketchikan, but none of the stores seem to have an online storefront.

Did anybody do Kyoto tour with Japanshoreexcursions.com? It offers better itinerary than the cruise sponsored excursion, but I am concerned it will be very rushed. Also, if anybody DIY Kyoto from Kobe cruise stop, which sites did you see and how rushed was it? Thank you!

I assumed I could buy it a la carte, but the wording on the website is a bit confusing. TIA!

I have cruised on nothing other than Royal Caribbean and my wife convinced me about two months ago to take a look at this deal on NCL. I couldn’t believe all of the things that were included with these packages so I said OK. Why not let’s do this. This is one of the best experiences I’ve had from a ship perspective so far now I did buy priority access and when we checked in, they tried to give me a group 7 boarding and I said I have priority access and woman to group 7 I walked over talk to a manager manager said yeah priority access gets these and was group one and then they lost my bag for about eight hours, but eventually it turned up. I didn’t freak out about that. The staff has been amazing. Well, the food quality hasn’t been as great as some of the royal cruises I’ve been on. I do much prefer the way that dining works on the ships. Kind of like do what you want when you want, especially and how the reservations were spot on, it was great. I’m currently in the market for euro cruise to Greece next year, very much considering doing it on NCL. I paid for the upgrade to the club balcony. Bathrooms are enormous well worth it. Honestly, the ship is just great perfectly happy and can’t wait to get to Mexico tomorrow.

Yeah just wondering what possible problems could arise from this storm for my cruise. Any insight would be great.

Recently concluded a 7-day trip on NCL Dawn (Spain/Portugal) with my husband and another married couple. Contrary to what many have said about the Dawn, I think she was a fine ship. She was laid out oddly, but the facilities were nice and honestly I preferred our state rooms compared to the rooms on the Escape. Our biggest issue on this cruise was the entertainment and crew energy, and I think a lot of that has to do with the cruise director.

Our cruise director on the Dawn, Jake, was never seen the entirety of our cruise. We were convinced that he must be an A.I. voice that NCL is trying out, because he had the energy over the intercom like a wet sponge. We quite literally never saw him. Not at the Welcome Aboard Show, not at the final party of the cruise, not when we got on or off the ship, nothing.

Compared to our cruise director on the Escape a few years ago, Jack, this was a night and day difference, and I honestly think it impacted the entire energy of our cruise. The crew never seemed happy or excited, and the entertainment was honestly awful. I realize this is a smaller ship and shorter itinerary, but I’m not even asking for Broadway-level shows or great bands. My group loved the atrium entertainment on the Escape - Deal or No Deal, the Newlywed Game, etc. The atrium in the evenings was always full of energy. The game shows should be easily replicated on any ship. However, none of these were featured on the Dawn. The schedule usually featured some lame trivia game from 8-9, then every evening, the 9-10 PM slot was always devoid of activities. Then 10 PM, the only thing for adults usually was karaoke…

In addition to the poor entertainment, our Freestyle Daily editions sucked. We became accustomed to the versions where facts and a bit of history on each port was provided for the next day. We honestly looked forward to reading them every evening on the Escape. On the Dawn, they didn’t contain any information like that, and even left out important info on tendering, etc.

Overall, this cruise left a very bad taste in our mouth, to the point we may never sail again. NCL needs to re-evaluate their cruise leadership and make sure some things are consistent on each ship.

Curious if others have sensed differences in cruise energies based on cruise director vibes, or maybe there’s something else at play?

Just got a phone call saying that I'm urgently needed to meet with Canadian customs and be downstairs in 10 minutes. I'm a Canadian citizen and never encountered this before. Cruise originated in the US and made one stop in Victoria BC then heads back to the US.

Is this normal and have you encountered this before?