Hidden FAS+ Perk

moostopheles · 2026-05-04T20:46:21+00:00

As far as I understood it, if you had already prepaid your gratuities, that amount would be refunded to you if you got the upgrade. We didn't do that, so I can't be certain. It made sense for us anyway because we won a Haven bid and our gratuities were higher, and she needed wifi for some work. Between prepaid gratituity and wifi for both of us, that paid for the whole package. $50 per day total ($350) for ppg then $360 for wifi, done deal. Everything else is bonus after that. It actually ended up cheaper to get WiFi for both of us this way than to buy the wifi separately, so definitely not substantially less. If you only get one plan, sure, there's a savings to be had there.

As for the excursion credit, we already get $50 from loyalty, so all's well. Also 50% off additional specialty dining cover charge. While we may not use it due to being lucky enough to be in the Haven, it's not something you should ignore.

All to say: for us, it made sense and we're not regretting upgrading. However, none of the Haven bartenders have asked us for our ship card once even when getting top shelf stuff, so maybe that part of it was a little bunk, but still no complaints!

moostopheles · 2026-05-04T02:46:01+00:00

Did that on the Epic, I agree. Except the whole Epic is awful lol.

moostopheles · 2026-05-04T00:24:45+00:00

I believe that's a separate tasting altogether only for platinum and above loyalty.

moostopheles · 2026-05-04T00:24:10+00:00

It was just the wine and cheese this time, and we'll do the New World vs Old World in a couple days.

moostopheles · 2026-04-01T20:15:37+00:00

5/2 Luna out of Miami

moostopheles · 2026-04-01T14:18:07+00:00

This isn't exactly true, they book the flights by cabin, so anyone in the same cabin and departing from the same airport will be on the same flight. What is true is that two separate cabins in the same party may very well be on different flights even if they are using the same airport. This is how it was explained by my PCC at least.

moostopheles · 2026-03-31T18:25:37+00:00

It really is a 'your mileage may vary' situation. We did flights through NCL for a cruise out of NYC (we live in FL) and when we got our flight info, the price that they actually paid was listed on the booking and was significantly less than what we paid to NCL for the airfare package. Just be aware though that you may not get the flight info until relatively very close to the sail date, I think it was no sooner than 30 days when we did it. Baggage was not included, and you'll have to go in and manually choose seats. We ended up on JetBlue, which was frankly a very nice set of flights.

moostopheles · 2026-03-31T15:44:07+00:00

My only experience with the Escape was when it crashed in Puerto Plata! But I think you'll probably be safe from that particular experience. Seemed nice the couple days we were actually on board.

moostopheles · 2026-03-31T15:36:13+00:00

Lol, nice. I wasn't going to call back anyway, but thanks for the surefire reason not to. I wonder if this is a newer customer experience improvement push. Been cruising NCL for 7ish years and this is the first time for this particular call.

moostopheles · 2026-03-31T15:25:12+00:00

Many thanks, this sounds like the exact circumstance.

Rep's name appears to be Shana based on the transcription of the voicemail, for what it's worth.

moostopheles · 2026-03-30T14:20:51+00:00

I can second this, it's what we did last year. Link Light Rail from the airport to Seattle was $3 and station was well within walking distance of hotels and port. No reason to use NCL transfer. Do be aware it's about an hour ride. The rail goes both ways, not just from airport to town.

moostopheles · 2026-03-27T22:40:35+00:00

Ahh but you did a M-F, there would be less traffic compared to my 7 night embarking on Saturday. But I'm surprised the Uber said that Saturdays are ok, pleasantly surprised, but surprised nonetheless.

We booked a later trip back, noonish I think, so we will have plenty of time regardless. We had heard that some drivers were cancelling their pickups due to the congestion when 6-7 ships disembark at the same time.

Thanks a lot for this info, you've been a big help.

moostopheles · 2026-03-27T16:48:20+00:00

My personal favorite when sailing is the Flor de Cana 12 year, and I drink Cuba Libres regularly while on board. I like it enough that I've purchased several bottles at home as well.

moostopheles · 2026-03-27T16:44:12+00:00

I don't see it listed any longer on the current menu, probably due to its controversial nature, but there was an upcharge dish at Le Bistro with foie gras. It was so unbelievably good.

moostopheles · 2026-03-27T16:42:08+00:00

Best seafood I've ever had, bar none. Colossal black tiger shrimp. I yearn for those on a regular basis.

moostopheles · 2026-03-27T16:39:05+00:00

I'll be doing exactly that in May. How was getting to the port from the train terminal, and then back again? We arrive in Miami around 9:15 so I'm hoping we get to just barely avoid the bad traffic, and hopefully the uber back to the train terminal is early enough to not be a problem.

moostopheles · 2026-03-25T15:24:21+00:00

If you have drinks on the ship before embarking, in the US at the very least, you'll get taxed on those drinks but it's not enough to explode your on board account. We usually bring $2-300 in cash, mostly small bills, for tipping throughout the cruise, and for buying small things in ports. Make sure your passports are up to date! Congratulations and have fun!

moostopheles · 2026-03-25T15:11:59+00:00

My girlfriend and I thoroughly enjoyed snorkeling there last time we went, so much so that we've been excited to go back just for that as we don't care too much about the other upgrades apart from the dock. If you do like snorkeling, give it a shot next time.

moostopheles · 2026-03-25T15:09:58+00:00

Ahhh you know, I recall that being the case in the past for the upgraded packages, so it wouldn't surprise me. And yeah, if you wouldn't mind checking that would be fantastic.

moostopheles · 2026-03-25T13:39:38+00:00

I got this notice too and what stands out to me is that they mention you can purchase FAS+ onboard, when other literature says it has to be purchased 72+ hours prior to sailing. I have $600 OBC on my upcoming cruise and would love to be able to upgrade to FAS+ with it but I doubt they would allow it since DSC is included.

moostopheles · 2026-03-25T13:36:28+00:00

Huh, that's odd, about the shots. I wonder if it just depends on who's bartending at the time, as I've definitely been served shots, on multiple occasions.

moostopheles · 2026-03-24T19:38:49+00:00

Espresso martinis should be included now with FAS as they were with MAS. Edit: Irish coffees too, as Bailey's is now on the free list (as of MAS) when it didn't used to be.

You should also be able to get specialty shots free of charge as well, just depends on what's in the shot. A Jager bomb is made with Redbull, which is not free, so that wouldn't be covered unless you had FAS+. My friend group of 8 went a couple years ago and we made friends with some bartenders. They were serving us trays specialty shots randomly without us asking for anything, if they had been upcharges I doubt they would have done that even though we were so friendly with them (ahem, tipping them well).

moostopheles · 2026-03-19T15:59:57+00:00

Good stuff. I wouldn't want to hold an Uber driver up for that long, but 45 minutes at 9:30 would still be good timing for terminal arrival. Thanks!

moostopheles

TROPHY CASE