PATRLR

yes

For our 13-July Sky Princess cruise, we just got our cabin assignment today (17-June).

Or, if we're talking about a port you haven't been to, take the day to explore that port and maybe save yourself a hotel night pre or post cruise. Years ago we did a B2B with Aruba being the embark/disembark port. We rented a jeep and explored the island. Saved us from staying an extra day to see/explore.

Great. I did agree with you that there is discussion of cutbacks in all forums, so not sure what your point is here.

True, but it seems like NCL's are quite a bit more extensive. As we are actively taking our business elsewhere, I do spend a lot of time on other forums. Princess being our next to try (under a month away now, Yeay!) I've been on their forums a lot lately and I don't see anywhere near the discussion of cutbacks that I see here.

Of course not. I shouldn't even dignify this ridiculous strawman (you're better than that), but, I think it's important to point out the distinction between "profits" and "record breaking profits", especially during a time of high inflation.

If NCL is increasing their prices in response to their increasing costs, why is the quality going down? Sorry, "inflation" is not the reason NCL's quality is down. The reason is the corporation wants/needs to make more money. It's that simple. During the recent period of high inflation (early 2021 through early 2023) corporations were making record profits - I have a hard time blaming anyone but the corporations. In NCL's case, they had to (and continue to have to) increase their profits to pay down the staggering debt from being out of business during Covid. Inflation isn't the reason for quality cuts, increasing profits is the reason (and their earnings calls have essentially told us that).

As I haven't hit retirement yet, I can't say I've achieved that understanding. But, I have on multiple occasions made it clear to my wife that I have no interest in dying on a pile of money and I've made it clear to my daughter not to expect to inherit a penny.

Not true. A cancelled BOS-MIA flight is far easier to work around than a cancelled BOS-BCN or BOS-ATH. Heck, even BOS-LHR has far few options than BOS-MIA. Don't get me wrong, I am not an advocate for NCL air, but, I can see less risk in the short hauls.

The savings would come from avoiding the single supplement if you went solo in the cabin.

No, it demonstrates that NCL has become the Costco of the cruise industry: high volume, low quality. I know that may seem like a smart a$$ comment, but, I think it's the reality. I would much rather you tried to make your point in a full service supermarket seeing as cruise ships really should be full service vacations (IMO). But alas we know those days are long gone from NCL and the other mass market lines. So, just like Costco has only a few low quality items in any given category, so do the MDR menus on NCL ships.

they could also have chosen to maintain quality and charge more. That would have been my preference.

They ended because we let them end (we being the overall cruising clientele). I am as complicit in this as anyone.

On NCL, we often order the vegetarian entree to split between us in addition to our main entree. It essentially becomes a side for us. I would be disappointed if we could no longer do that.

Why?