MrMike45

As others have said it makes a big difference in how the money is handle and how the income is shown. If it is a mandatory service fees it is handled one way but if it is a optional fee represented to be gratuities, it is account for and taxable in a completely different way.

 

But making these fees optional, NCL can save millions in taxes on this income. It is in NCL best interest to use these optional "service fees" to increase corporate profit.

Except...AGAIN for the umpteenth time...you are claiming NCL keeps these DSC charges and does not distribute them to the staff...without any proof whatsoever.

Never heard or saw the win a haven room in bingo...but that would be cool if they did run it. Guess it would depend on if there was a haven room available. But after reading what the "win a free cruise" package really is in another thread, a Haven room sounds like the much better prize.

I tried doing the double meta upgrade and they would not allow it through CAS bookings, I wound up taking it in OBC on 2 sailings since I had so many points.

Sorry, you may have better luck but this was about 3 years ago so maybe something has changed since then but I doubt it,

Thank you...that stinks, but I had a feeling that would be the case. Usually can't redeem points on discounts.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but Cruise Critic community guidelines prohibit "bumping" threads. According to them, it does not add value to the forums.

 

 

Here is a link showing what you can do with those points...

 

 

https://www.ncl.com/world-points

Apologies for the CC rule breaking, didn't realize that was against the rules.

Thank you for the link...it does answer part of my question. But it doesn't say anything in there about if you got your room via a comp/booking thru CAS.

anyone with experience with this? one (and only) bump I'll give it

We always book thru CAS, are comped Oceanview rooms and then pay for an upgrade at a discounted rate to either a balcony, mini-suite or haven room. I have/use the NCL Mastercard and am getting up there in points. So my questions are the following:

- What point totals are needed for a Meta or Double Meta (?) upgrade. I assume Meta is 1 category, and Double Meta would be 2 categories?

- Can you do those upgrades if you are comped a room thru CAS?

- Since if we pay for it, we can upgrade at a discounted rate to a higher category room, are the Meta upgrades cheaper/less points? Or is it a standard amount?

- Do I do all this thru CAS? Thru NCL Mastercard? Thru NCL customer service?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Sorry if some do not like the facts just do a simply search "are cruise ship crews exploited?"

 

https://waronwant.org/sweatships

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2012/05/articles/crew-member-rights/profits-over-people-carnivals-exploitation-of-crew-members-is-standard-industry-practice/

 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/apr/29/cruise-firm-performance-bonuses-tips

 

https://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/floating-abominations-exposing-the-cruise-ship-industry/

 

http://mentalfloss.com/article/70240/14-behind-scenes-secrets-cruise-ship-workers

Seems very clear that the Crew Industry is built on exploitation. Could list any number of links, they show this to be accurate and true.

And yet...you still go on these cruise ships. They do not say NCL crews are the only ones exploited.

So what you're basically telling yourself is that by removing your DSC, it washes your hands of any participation and guilt from the exploitation of the workers.

OK :rolleyes:

Because they aren't paid so bad or treated badly and pretty much every other cruise line has the same business model. What I don't understand, if someone feels what NCL and the other cruise lines are are doing is so bad, then why do they continue to give them money (their cruise fare) and do business with them. If I thought a business was unethical, I certainly wouldn't be doing business with them. If folks are going to accuse NCL of stealing money from the DSC, then I would certainly hope, if they want anyone to believe them, they would provide proof, but no one ever has....so what does that tell you.

Amen!

Don't complain about the company...and go and book 3 more cruises over the next 2 years only to complain more. Have some ethics and integrity of your own. If you really feel NCL is screwing over both it's employees and customers...stop booking NCL cruises. Or just shut up.

There are a lot of odd comments/posts on this website, but this one definitely seems like it's up there among the worst. Dealbreaker/NCL is out because they don't offer an exact 8 day cruise that the OP desires...smh

The show the nationally televised games always. Thursday night game, Sunday night game and Monday night game. Additionally on Sunday there will be one 1pm game and one 4pm game shown, and that is usually the fox/cbs "game of the week" (basically the same game you would get if you lived in an area without a local team).

The games are televised in the bars and also in your stateroom on one of the channels. They also usually televise the night games in the atrium on the big screen, unless it coincides with a scheduled event like Dancing with the stars or Newlywed game show.

So yes...there is tons of football coverage. But might not be the specific game you want

My wife is the type that if we have reservations for something at 5, I have to tell her 4:00....and even then it's a 50/50 shot if we make it on time.

We always tip our steward in the morning of the last day (usually in the $10-15 per day range). And every cruise, I am always ready to get off, and she is always on her time...and every steward has always been ok with us hanging in the room way past the time they announce everyone to be off. I'm assuming it's due to just being handed an envelope of cash, but they were getting that regardless, so maybe it's the timing of that helps.

Perhaps you should be doing an Apples to Apples comparison to be completely fair and honest.

 

Read my post :"me and 3 grandsons". Perhaps you should try it again using 4 guests instead of only two.

It does seem as if MSC has some sort of friends and family sail free built in when booking 4 people to a room. I don't know the ages of your grandsons obviously, so guessed and assumed 1 in age category.

Total I came up with $3183 for a balcony room on Deck 11 with the Fantasica package. Not sure how you got it for $700 less (unless the age category of the kids changes the amount).

I don't know that I'd agree with you.

 

I booked a cruise on the MSC Seaside for March of 2019. Me and 3 grandsons in a Fantastica Balcony cabin on Deck 11. Received drink package and internet package with the booking. Total cost (not including service charges) $2,397.06. (Plus $150 in OBC)

Miami - San Juan-St Thomas-St Maarten-Nassau-Miami

 

I just looked at the exact same week on the Bliss. Cheapest available balcony cabin (BF) that still includes Free @ Sea. I choose the drink package and the free WIFI. Total cost (again, no service charges) $5,209.39. (No OBC offered)

Miami-St Thomas-Tortola-Nassau-Miami

 

 

The cost for NCL is MORE THAN DOUBLE what MSC wants. There is just NO WAY that NCL can justify that large a difference in the cost. And there is NO WAY that we walk off of the Seaside with out of pocket costs that will make them comparable.

4 people, in a balcony, for $2397? You sure there wasn't some type of promo, like friends and family sail free or whatever MSC calls it? I can't find any balcony room on MSC on any cruise for $600pp

May 15, 2011...Just got married 2 days prior. Our honeymoon cruise on the GEM to Bermuda. Our first cruise. A lot of over thinking and concern over if we would like a cruise, if we would get sick of being on a ship for 7 days, if we made the wrong decision for our honeymoon, if we should have gone to a warmer destination or an all-inclusive resort somewhere.

And then we boarded, and slowly after that the ship pulled away, and we watched the Statue of Liberty from our balcony and went under the bridge and eventually saw nothing but water in every direction, completely separated from the real world and just us on vacation.

7 years and 16 cruises later....still get that feeling every time we pass under the bridge, turn our phones on airplane mode, and officially disconnect from the real world.

Have seen a ton of islands and countries. But nothing quite tops that feeling for me. And it all started with our first cruise in 2011.

The room only had 1 outlet, so we had to ask for a power strip. No outlets in the bathroom at all, but we managed. Hairdryer was hard wired in the main part of the room by the makeup mirror. That was also were the only outlet was.

How is it possible, that a Haven room, much bigger than a balcony or inside room, only has 1 outlet? But other rooms have multiple

Yes all good...thanks again all

I think we should be good. All the spend in the room is going on the same account/credit card. And if I'm reading it right, all the OBC will also be pooled and applied to the same account, just not to the DSC charges. Right?

If so, then it's a non-issue. We always have a bill at the end of the cruise. So the OBC will just be applied against that. Even if my son's card wasn't the one used to make the purchases

Oh ok perfect. Thanks all.

So is it transferable? Or should we plan to use his card for stuff on board to rack up the $100?

I should know this from past cruises, but we always have on board charges any way, so the OBC is applied against whatever the billing dept wants.

We are taking our 1 year old son on his first cruise in October. As part of the booking, he rec'd $100 OBC. I can't see a 1 year old using his on-board card for too many purchases ;p.

We haven't pre-paid the DSC charges yet. If we don't, would his $100 (non-refundable) OBC be applied to those charges? If not, is there a way to have it transferred to either mine or my wife's name so we don't lose that $100? Only other thing I can think of is to use his card to pay for some stuff on board, but I don't know how well it would go over if an infant's picture popped up on the screen when paying for drinks or bingo or something like that

why don't you just call NCL and ask them if they can hold for another 24 hours? Don't tell them why...say you're waiting to confirm you can get the time off from work, but don't want to lose the room you have saved.

While I know ports can change at NCL's discretion, and nothing you can do about it...I wonder if a ship feature can change and you're stuck with it as well? This isn't like missing GSC due to rough waters. It's a feature of the ship that is advertised. I wonder if you could cancel because of this and not be penalized.

I guess this changed since our last cruise. Went in Oct on the Jade to Canada, and in June on the Breakaway to Bermuda. The painting classes were only sea days and in the late mornings.

Having one (either sea or port day) in the evening at a bar just doesn't seem to make sense to me. And also seems like it might be less fun with crowds trying to grab a few drinks before dinner.

My wife and I have done this a few times on various ships. It's usually scheduled on sea days somewhere in the 10am-noon time frame. Never saw one scheduled at night, since they usually do it in bar venues (fat cats, maltings, etc. depending on the ship).

The class is probably about an hour or so. It varies on how "hard" the painting is and how many people are in the class. But an hour on average sounds about right.

yet another troll post