William W

2 hours ago, michelle.zhang.90 said:

I observed a significant proportion of Chinese passengers, around 50-60%, and noticed sizable groups of Indian passengers, one of which had 154 members. This differs from our past experiences. While we're fine with diverse fellow travelers, our dissatisfaction arises from the poor service quality.

I was off the Anthems of the Seas on 24 December.  I would say it has similar demographic to what you observed.  In fact, I shared some of the observation you experienced. 

• The buffet was a zoo during breakfast and lunch.
• Crappy weather and heavy waves.
• Once per day cabin services.
• Lines everywhere for activities like bumper car, laser tags, etc.

Though, when I compared with your notes, I guess I justified paying the "premium" that Royal Caribbean charges over MSC is when things goes wrong how they handled the issues.  I also had an issue with my premium, but they showed up at my cabins within 10 minutes, apologetic, somehow found another adjoining cabins when the ship is sold out and offered compensation without being asked.  Also, I don't have any issued with the services received from the dinning room staff, or the cabin crew, nor Casino or Bar staff.

After having your review, I'm a bit nervous with my March break cruise on the Merviglia.  Though, MSC was charging one third of what Royal Caribbean wants for the same week sailing out of Bayonne.  I have a very low expectation on my very first MSC cruise, so hopefully, they can somehow manage to at least meet expectation.      

Just stumbled on a channel from a crew vlogging on the Ultimate World Cruise.

Personally, I found this to be more interesting than passengers vlogging their journey. 

https://youtu.be/HX3sDqo3xc8?si=dzL_i_zn8h6aEaCP

I just booked my first MSC cruise on the Meraviglia for March Break 2024.  I was hesitant at first because of their bad reviews.  But it is currently priced at approximately 70% less than what RCCL wants for the Anthem sailing the same week, so I figured if I were to go in with a very low expectation or 1/3 the expectation when I sail on Royal, in theory, I should not be disappointed. 

It has been a few years since I last sailed Carnival.   Would anyone knows if the shareholders OBC can be apply to gratuity?   My memories is a little bit foggy but I vaguely recall a few years ago, it can be apply even though it says is not applicable on the website.   Thanks in advance! 

If NCL has to file for Chapter 11, I think Frank Del Rio is the first person to have headed TWO cruise lines that has gone bankrupt.  First Renaissance Cruises, may be now NCL. 

1 minute ago, tallnthensome said:

I never said the SEC report was written by them. The way you keep stating they are fishing for investors Makes it sound like they are using this bad news to their advantage or strategically. They have been fishing for months.

I agree with you here.  They were forced to disclosed this due to regulatory requirement.

Imagine, who in the right mind will book with NCL now.  In fact, if I were one of their supplier, I will definitely look into cutting them off their credits.  With this news, there will be a slew of cancellation of customers trying to get their money back before they declare bankrupt.  It is probably like a bank run at NCL right now.   

I couldn't imagine any sane business person will use this to fish for investors, the publication of this news more or less just accelerated their death spiral and any investors or lenders out there will ask for better terms when dealing with someone desperate. 

11 minutes ago, John99 said:

Norwegian Cruise Line indicated on Tuesday it does not have enough cash to meet obligations in the next year and raised doubts about its ability to keep running its  Operations.  

 

 

Other Tuesday announcements by NCL to raise cash:

Per Globe Newswire –

NCL announces an offering of Ordinary Shares worth $350 million

NCL announces an offering of Exchangeable Notes and Senior Secured Notes worth $650 million

NCL announces $400 million investment by with private firm L Catterton worth $400 million exchangeable senior notes due 2024

TOTAL -- 1 billion

They are burning through cash.  Can NCL make it?

 

 

Thanks for summarizing.  Based on the other news, I think NCL as a company will probably survive but current shareholders may get wipe out or severely diluted.

1 minute ago, Nclcruise1415 said:

I'm not about to believe every single article that comes from the media. NCL has been able to put off some loans for up to a year on some of their ships and they're currently working different avenues (like many other lines) to protect and increase capital.

 

As much as you like to read the fear mongering articles you can also find articles that are telling what the lines are doing to protect themselves.

It was NCL who declared it themselves in securities filing so I'll believe what comes out of their own press release.

Glad I cancelled a month earlier and got my deposit back last week.

Just now, William W said:

I doubt it, though I can see the surviving cruise line may circle and be interested in buying one of their ship for pennies on the dollar.  I'm thinking Pride of America will probably be the one that garner the most interest.

17 minutes ago, egurbi said:

This is not good, but it is also not the end of the story by any stretch of the imagination.  One hopes there will be substantial interest in NCL by some investors, and that even if it is forced to enter into reorganization proceedings it will emerge in some form.

I doubt it, though I can see some existing cruise companies may circle and be interested in buying one of their ship for pennies on the dollar.  I'm thinking Pride of America will probably be the one that garner the most interest.

On 9/12/2019 at 9:23 PM, htnut said:

I was on the Joy last week. Many reviews here said the Internet was spotty, but I actually found the service to be quite good. It was out a few times but mostly it was working and decently fast. 

 

Facetime works without the streaming package. 

 

iMessage works when you’re connected to Internet (and sometimes when not!  But YMMV). 

 

For texting you will want to use google hangouts, WhatsApp or something similar as SMS won’t work. 

 

On our 7 day cruise, waiting until the morning of day 2 did cost about $20 less. The credit for the 250 minute perk is automatic, no need to stand in line. 

Do you know if I can purchase the plan on morning of Day 4 and only pay 3/7 of the internet package on a 7 days cruise?

I'm booked for March 7. Hope it's a go!

Kathy

I am literally on the same boat. :)

Hopefully, they will offer an acceptable alternative as I booked the cruise because it is March break for the kids.

On the older ships like Grandeur, is it worth it to pay the difference and get Stream instead of Surf?

Thanks for the update. I'm on Rotterdam's Dec 16, 2018 sailing, and I noticed when I went to check pricing for upgrades, all of the inside as well as most of the quads aside from suites are gone. Do you know if there is a large group just booked on this cruise?

Has anyone had experience upgrading cabins after final payment, and if so can you pls provide me with some advice?

 

Specifically, we have an outside cabin booking. We'd like a suite, but it's a LOT more right now, and we're hoping prices drop.

Final payment is tomorrow, if the prices do drop later, say a month from now... would HAL let me pay the difference and upgrade to the suite?

note, i'm NOT talking about an "upsell" offer that gets emailed to you a few weeks prior to the cruise, i'm talking about the regular posted rates like on the HAL website, or from you PCC.

 

 

Please let me know if anyone has been in the same scenario? Thanks in advance!

I upgraded my parents a couple of months ago from an inside to a balcony after the final payment period. It was a significant price drop where what they paid originally for an inside was about the same as the going rate of a balcony. Originally, HAL wants to charge the difference between what an interior and a balcony at the time the cruise was booked. They only reduce it to the prevailing rate after our call was transferred to a "pricing specialist".

May be you can ask your TA to speak to a pricing specialist at HAL. Last month, I tried to get an upgrade because of a price drop, and the original/front line agent at HAL wasn't willing to do it and quoted a much higher amount that the advertised rate. When we asked for pricing for a specific cabin, we were transferred to a Pricing Specialist which were able to upgrade us to higher a category for the advertised difference.

HAL just dropped their prices again now, it is $764 pp port and taxes included for an interior. Looks like this itinerary is not sell well regardless of cruiseline.

I have never seen the MDR open on any ship, on any cruise line I have been on, on embarkation day

Both HAL and NCL offers lunch at MDR on embarkation day.

HAL also has a similar itineraries but for 14 nights leaving on 30th Sept. Lowest category guarantee balcony works out to 2186 taxes and port charges included.

I can attest that HAL has even more cabin available than they are showing on a Big Box store website.

Recently, there was a significant price drop for my trans pacific cruise, and that was within the penalty period. I called my TA which in turns call HAL, long story short, they were able to move me to a VA for $10pp more. The VA that they offered me to was NOT showing as available on the website. In fact, there were probably at least 16 other VA still showing as available on the website at the time change.

Also, to note, the VA that they assigned to me wasn't in particularly a desirable location. It was not significantly better/worst than the available ones.

I was just on the phone with the TA. HAL initially wasn't willing to do anything even though what I paid for an inside is higher than what they are selling the balcony right now. And it appears the cruise is not selling well and they still have a lot of empty cabins.

However, when I asked my TA how much it will cost to pay to upgrade to an ocean view cabin, she was transferred to a Pricing Specialist at HAL, and the Pricing Specialist was able to upgrade me to an Oceanview at no cost or a VA for $10pp.

Lesson learn here is a regular agent at HAL may not give you anything, but a Pricing Specialist may offer you something.

I can't speak to the Veendam, but our first cruise was HAL's Oosterdam and to us, it's not even a close comparison. (I will probably get lynched by the Grandeur loyalists, but this is just my opinion) We LOVED our experience on HAL and were a bit let down by our experience on RCCL. We were still on vacation and are pretty laid back, so it's all good, just comparatively, we would go back to HAL in a heartbeat. The room service, drink service, food service (we really liked on HAL that even the buffet was hands off, vice serve yourself), everything seemed just a bit higher end with HAL. We honestly aren't sure if we just got lucky with the staff on HAL, or whether it's indicative of the over all cruise line, so are trying RCCL again in November, giving it a fair shot. I can definitely see us going back to HAL in the future though.

I have been on both the Grandeur (2014) and the Veendam (2017 & 2018). And I completely agree on your assessment,

From a hardware perspective, I would say the Grandeur has a more modern feel to it, and it is generally better maintained than the Veendam. But the Veedam do feel less crowded than the Grandeur.

But from a "software" perspective, which can be very subjective and personal, I prefer activities on the Veendam such as American Test Kitchen`s cooking demonstration, Digital Workshop by Windows, or its BBC partnership over the activities like Bingo, Trivia, bean bag toss offered on RCCL/Grandeur. And I also enjoy the food options offered on the Veendam more than what's being offer on the Grandeur. Veendam has offer more varieties like New York Pizza, Dive In Burger whereas Grandeur only has the Park Cafe. Furthermore, HAL offers better and more expensive ingredients in the included dinning as they still offers items like ducks, rack of lambs, filet mignon and fois gois in one of the evening in the main dining room. Whereas items like these are only now served on RCCL's specialty restaurants.

In short, both ships lacks attractions that some cruisers expects from a modern cruise ships. The difference is on the Veendam they made up for it with enhanced "software" whereas I do not feel RCCL try to make up for Grandeur's hardware shortcoming by enhancing its "software".

Personally,despite its age and somewhat spotty maintenance, I would have no hesitation booking another cruise on the Veendam. But I'm debating whether I should cancel my booking on the Grandeur and jump ship to either the NCL Gem or the Anthem for March break 2019 .

It’s a shame HAL is discontinuing the Bermuda cruises...[emoji45]. Enjoy yours!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking at the heavy last minute discounting HAL is having on these Bermuda cruise. Limited onshore shopping commission, excursions revenues and casino operating hours. You can't really blame them for abandoning the market.

Jewel May 6th, 2018 from Tokyo to Seattle

Thanks. Unfortunately the Jewel's September re-positioning cruise does not qualify.

Have a nice trip, hope you have good weather!