New format for silver/gold/plat/plus coupon packet

The silver sleeve that contained your coupon for meals, laundry, etc., has been replaced by a blue trifold. It is perforated in places and you tear off the items as needed.

BUT! Be sure to read the text which tells you call the latitude desk for other offers, or something like that. This includes the time and place of the cocktail party. They no longer send an invitation to your cabin.

As platinum plus we did get a phone call but no one in Other groups did. Apparently a few people did call to ask about it but not many. At the party which was for silver through plat plus, there were 40 people there! Oops! So, call and bug your poor rep if you plan on attending the party. She did tell me yesterday that she had been given permission to post the info on her office door, which has been a no no until now. But you will need to make an effort to get the info.

If you go to the following you will see all the rewards.

https://www.ncl.com/nz/en/latitudes-rewards-program

Under #3 are the following:-

Exclusive Cocktail Party

Behind-the-Scenes Ship Tour

NEW! Dinner with Officers

With the following information:-

Guest must come to the CruiseNext desk in the Atrium by 9pm on the first day of the cruise for details on when and where the event is to take place. For Pride of America, come to the CruiseNext desk in the Atrium by 9pm on the second day of the cruise.

Thank you, good to know.

happytotravel

The silver sleeve that contained your coupon for meals, laundry, etc., has been replaced by a blue trifold. It is perforated in places and you tear off the items as needed.

 

BUT! Be sure to read the text which tells you call the latitude desk for other offers, or something like that. This includes the time and place of the cocktail party. They no longer send an invitation to your cabin.

 

As platinum plus we did get a phone call but no one in Other groups did. Apparently a few people did call to ask about it but not many. At the party which was for silver through plat plus, there were 40 people there! Oops! So, call and bug your poor rep if you plan on attending the party. She did tell me yesterday that she had been given permission to post the info on her office door, which has been a no no until now. But you will need to make an effort to get the info.

Thanks for the information. I think that NCL will have to rethink their procedures. There was no need to change a process that has been proven and which worked fine for years.

I can understand the requirement to visit the Latitude desk if you want to do the Behind the scene tour.

Having a personal invite in your cabin to attend the cocktail party is recognition for your loyalty toward NCL. It is already a nightmare geting access to the Latitude rep at times given the office limited operating hours. It will be chaos if all Lat members Silver and above have to physically stand in line to confirm their attendance at the cocktail party on embarkation day.

Are they still providing a paper bag for laundry or has it been replaced with a cloth type.

How does it work for priority embarkation.

{snipped}

 

Having a personal invite in your cabin to attend the cocktail party is recognition for your loyalty toward NCL. It is already a nightmare geting access to the Latitude rep at times given the office limited operating hours. It will be chaos if all Lat members Silver and above have to physically stand in line to confirm their attendance at the cocktail party on embarkation day.

I think one of the problems has been they do not know how many people were going to attend under the old system; that led to over supply or under supply of drink and food. I can remember one occasion when they were almost pleading for people to go to the bars after the cocktail party so they could give away the excess rum punch. I also know that it can be difficult to get any canapes if you are late or seated in the wrong place.

It may not be any better with the new system if there are lots who say they will go and don't but at least they will know for certain the maximum number that will attend and can prepare for that number.

 

I can understand the requirement to visit the Latitude desk if you want to do the Behind the scene tour.

 

Having a personal invite in your cabin to attend the cocktail party is recognition for your loyalty toward NCL. It is already a nightmare geting access to the Latitude rep at times given the office limited operating hours. It will be chaos if all Lat members Silver and above have to physically stand in line to confirm their attendance at the cocktail party on embarkation day.

 

I agree, it's incredibly foolish. I can only imagine it's being done to drive down the attendance. Last thing I want to do on embarkation day is stand on line somewhere after I board.

 

As platinum plus we did get a phone call but no one in Other groups did.

Did you go to the Platinum Plus dinner with Officers? Where was it held?

Driving down attendance and not sending out invites drives down the cost. And that's all that matters these days. More profit for NCL.

My thoughts: by having you go to the Cruisenext Desk NCL is hoping you will buy some certificates while there! Also, the less people that know about the cocktail party, the less expense for the cruiseline. Spread that over all their ships, and the savings is probably substantial.

Do you have any info as to what the priority seating actually entails? I have my doubts as to whether this will actually ever be something that gets used.

Also, did the priority embarkation work as described?

After our last trip they really seemed to be pushing hard (harder than usual) on the cruise next certs. They even called our room asking if we wanted 2 when we clearly filled out the form for 1. Umm, yes, I did realize I asked for 1 so why would they call to ask if I really wanted 2? Do I have to register for do not call on a cruise ship too?

After our last trip they really seemed to be pushing hard (harder than usual) on the cruise next certs. They even called our room asking if we wanted 2 when we clearly filled out the form for 1. Umm, yes, I did realize I asked for 1 so why would they call to ask if I really wanted 2? Do I have to register for do not call on a cruise ship too?

To be fair to them, this is the sort of thing that some people would appreciate a call about as the second certificate is cheaper.

Due to the price break between getting 1 or 2 credits, I can see why they do push on that one.

I can see limited the number of guests at the Captain's Reception and the Latitudes Reception. I was on the Getaway from the 29th of January to the 5th of February. Both events were held in Fat Cats. If you were not the very first people through the door, there was NO place to see, you could see or hear what was being said on the mini stage. It was very difficult to move or leave until others did.

I can see limited the number of guests at the Captain's Reception and the Latitudes Reception. I was on the Getaway from the 29th of January to the 5th of February. Both events were held in Fat Cats. If you were not the very first people through the door, there was NO place to see, you could see or hear what was being said on the mini stage. It was very difficult to move or leave until others did.

I agree that Fat Cats is way too small. This is the problem with the megaships as they do not have an observatory lounge like those available on the Sun & Jewel class ships.

We only occasionally ever go to the reception, but I've always seen it as something that NCL use for marketing, with a bit of sales talk about future cruises.

I can't see particularly why they would want to limit access to it, especially now so many people have the UBP, so the cost of the drinks is offset by people not getting them elsewhere.

I have yet to grasp the reason for attending. With 75% of the passengers having the UBP there is no longer the incentive to get a couple of free drinks, and the canapes - well let's just say with all the food on the ship if that is why you are attending there is something wrong with you. The officers clearly don't enjoy it (at least based on the looks on their faces).

It is a thing of the past that has run its life and needs to go the way of the steamship.

The silver sleeve that contained your coupon for meals, laundry, etc., has been replaced by a blue trifold. It is perforated in places and you tear off the items as needed.

 

BUT! Be sure to read the text which tells you call the latitude desk for other offers, or something like that. This includes the time and place of the cocktail party. They no longer send an invitation to your cabin.

 

As platinum plus we did get a phone call but no one in Other groups did. Apparently a few people did call to ask about it but not many. At the party which was for silver through plat plus, there were 40 people there! Oops! So, call and bug your poor rep if you plan on attending the party. She did tell me yesterday that she had been given permission to post the info on her office door, which has been a no no until now. But you will need to make an effort to get the info.

Thank you Georgia,

Good information to have. I'm sure, as this is all new, others will appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

Hope we see you and Dwayne on another cruise.:D

J.

For us it doesn't much matter how the invitation arrives but I do agree it will take time to for the new way of doing things to bed itself down, especially as the very people this impacts (regular cruisers with higher loyalty levels) will be very used to how things "used" to work and the older we get the harder it is to learn these new tricks.

On our last cruise I could sense within 30 seconds of entering our stateroom for the first time that our pewter booklets of certificates weren't there.

I still vote in favour of NCL doing everything possible to reduce the amount of paper that hits staterooms on a daily basis!

Don't understand why we couldn't just sign up for things via the television, a phone call, or filling in a card and dropping it off.

Seems like a waste of time to have so many people get into line on the first day...I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the counter listening to people complain about having to wait in line.

Don't understand why we couldn't just sign up for things via the television, a phone call, or filling in a card and dropping it off.

Seems like a waste of time to have so many people get into line on the first day...I wouldn't want to be on the other side of the counter listening to people complain about having to wait in line.

Yes, there could be a tear off coupon at the bottom of the invite which you must drop off at the Latitudes desk by the deadline. They could easily know how many intend to come without us having to show up in person and stand in line.

The only reason I can come up with for this requirement is that they also want to use this as an opportunity to give you a sales pitch on the CruiseNext. So, if there are 5 people in line in front of you, you could easily have a very long wait.

The real problem with this is the knock on effect it has on other things.

I'm sure we are not too unusual with regard to attending the reception. We just decide at the time whether we fancy going or not. It is sometimes just before we have a dinner reservation so we may stop by there for 30 minutes for a pre dinner drink.

If we have to queue up at the cruise next office to say that we will be attending then we just won't bother. No real problem there.

However, what about the behind the scenes tour? We apparently need to speak to them to see what the preferred seating benefit is about. Whilst I'm not particularly interested in the dinner with officers, I'm sure that some people will be. All of these things apparently require you to speak to the cruise next staff. If there are a lot of people there registering for the latitudes reception then this could become a real problem.

I see this all changing soon. From what the OP said about posting the details on the door, it seems that they have noticed it isn't working well.

Yes, there could be a tear off coupon at the bottom of the invite which you must drop off at the Latitudes desk by the deadline. They could easily know how many intend to come without us having to show up in person and stand in line.

 

The only reason I can come up with for this requirement is that they also want to use this as an opportunity to give you a sales pitch on the CruiseNext. So, if there are 5 people in line in front of you, you could easily have a very long wait.

I totally agree!

I think one of the problems has been they do not know how many people were going to attend under the old system; that led to over supply or under supply of drink and food. I can remember one occasion when they were almost pleading for people to go to the bars after the cocktail party so they could give away the excess rum punch. I also know that it can be difficult to get any canapes if you are late or seated in the wrong place.

 

It may not be any better with the new system if there are lots who say they will go and don't but at least they will know for certain the maximum number that will attend and can prepare for that number.

Another problem is that more often than not, the Latitudes party was rescheduled due to Captain responsibility. People who have made dinner arrangements around the party, get annoyed at the last minute change. I saw a lady screaming at a staff member when she showed up for a party that was cancelled (we happen to be walking by). Perhaps notifying people shortly after boarding may help with that problem. (though I can imagine that the party may still have to be changed if unexpected weather changes where the captain needs to be at the helm). Just a thought. I wonder if the concierage for the suites will automatically notify suite guests?

If there is only one rep and this rep is trying to sell Cruise Next Certificates at the same time as accepting reservations for the cocktail party, how long do you think people standing on line will be willing to wait patiently? What is the point of pre-booking dinner reservations if you stand the chance of missing your chosen dining time standing on line the first night when people are tired from traveling and already are dealing with a ton of information being thrown at them and still finding their way around the ship? Seems doomed to fail!!!!:(

Hopefully, on the larger ships like Breakaway this horrible system will be be replaced. How about giving you an RSVP card in your cabin that you can drop off in a box outside of the Lat. Rep's Office instead? On the day of the party, provide a ticket in your cabin/mail box to allow you access to enter the place where the party is being held, have several cruise staff members at the door collecting these tickets, and if too many respond for the size of the venue have 2 sessions instead of only one overcrowded one?

MARAPRINCE

Sounds like a terrible new system. Also, if I'm not mistaken I believe the old coupons were used at the Latitude Party for drawings for freebies (spa treatment, wine, etc).

If they don't have those slips with your name and cabin number I have to assume that they are not doing the drawings anymore either.

Penny wise and pound foolish NCL.