Cruise4Real

And my cabin the week after you!!!!! :D

It (9318) was GOING to be our cabin until we accepted an Upsell to the H3 Owner's Suite! :D

FYI, for those who are looking for information on BA/GA B1 cabins, you should be careful about booking 9322 or any other B1s directly above it. If you look at pics of BA/GA stern, or videos or pics of individual cabins, you'll see that 9322 (and the other B1s directly over it) has a narrower balcony -- it's 2 "rail panels" wide versus 2-1/2 "rail panels" for the other B1s. This means that the balcony of 9322 (and those directly above it) is 20 percent smaller than the other B1s. As far as I know the interior space is the same.

Also, as far as sun on your B1 balcony, remember that only the Large Balconies and Large Mini-suites (on decks 8 and 9 up front) get any sun (assuming it's directly overhead). The B1s (and the other "Large" categories) give you the OPTION or POTENTIAL to have some direct sun while ALSO giving you the OPTION or POTENTIAL for shade.

you can book it now and watch the prices. Any decrease in price from now until final payment you should get. If at final payment the price is too high for YOU, you can cancel and continue to watch the price until it is right for you. If the price is never right, then you don't go on the cruise.

Just so Cammie knows the score, watch the prices rise and fall on the cruise you've booked. If the price falls below what you've paid, TAKE ACTION. That means you call NCL and ask for the price reduction, which you can do up to your final payment date.

The way Charlie said it, it sounded like you'd automatically get a rebate if the price falls before final payment. You don't. You have to contact NCL and have them do it for you.

As long as you pre-pay your DSC BEFORE you get on the ship you won't have to pay the increase. Pay on the ship....you do pay the increase.

 

Harriet

The way you describe it is pretty much the way it worked with the last DSC increase. This time around the email uses language like "pre-pay before final payment" (I'm too lazy to find the actual wording) so it's possible that they have changed procedure.

But who knows. At this point it's impossible to know what NCL means. Nobody who works for them seems to have a clue, how the heck are mere passengers supposed to figure out this opacity?

I might be totally wrong, but I thought you had to pre-pay the $12 charge prior to March 1st, otherwise it went to $12.95.

 

Here is what the Cruise Critic article said: The new charges are effective beginning with sailings departing on or after March 1, 2015. Passengers who have previously booked a cruise and are sailing after March 1, or who are planning to book a cruise now through the end of February can prepay their service charges at the current rate. Anyone with existing cruise reservations who has already prepaid the service charges at the current rate will not be affected. Gratuities are shared by crewmembers including room stewards, servers and support staff.

Who you gonna believe, NCL or NCL? :rolleyes:

Booked in January, pre-paid in February, they jacked DSC in early March. Then we upsold to the Haven in mid-April. Finally "pre-paid" a couple of days before our April cruise -- $12 pppd or $168 for the two of us in Breakaway H3 OS. Apparently they would have wanted to charge us $14.95 pppd if we had waited to pay while on board.

If I recall NCL sent out emails to TAs announcing DSC increase in Feb. Those emails made it sound like you had to pre-pay by March 31st or something (to avoid the increase in DSC). Around the same time they sent out emails to pax but language was slightly different, can't remember exactly but I think it was just "pre-pay" (without an actual date). MyNCL showed $12 during the entire time until I pre-paid, even after we had upsold to the H3 OS, even though that upsell occurred after the March 31st date.

I can't for the life of me understand why they don't just raise the fares by $5 per day per person if that's their end goal anyway. Its locked in, its "hidden" by the overall cost, and you could even make it progressive where higher cabin classes pay more. Given the overall fluctuation in prices (our cabin dropped by $300 per person) I'd have to imagine that it would be less alienating to just raise fares rather than giving off this hint of desperation and/or disdain with all the rinkydink add-ons/takeaways.

I couldn't agree with you more!

A month out from sailing I saw H9 Haven Spa Suites drop from $2999 pp to $1999 pp overnight on April Breakaway cruise. Probably other cruises went UP by hundreds of dollars per person at the same time. Would anybody REALLY notice if 40 percent of NCL cruises had their price increased by a whole $10 -- which would raise the same amount of revenue as this latest DSC increase?!

I'm no "genius captain of industry" but this just seems crazy.

This is pretty astonishing, given they last raised DSC less than six months ago. I can't imagine the revenue raised will be significant enough to offset the bad taste in folks' mouths, and the feeling that the price increases and changes simply aren't stopping. At least THIS change is just a quantitative one, rather than the qualitative changes (like switching to an "a la carte" pricing model) that will actually destroy much of the enjoyment of cruising.

And, LOL, the fact that the right hand is incapable of adjusting the left hand's website is classic NCL.

not worrying about the price of every little thing is a big selling point for cruises.

This!

Who wants to have to worry about what things cost when you're on board? It might (on the margin -- remember that the more charges there are for things heretofore provided gratis, the more overhead and bookkeeping will be required) keep cruise prices lower, but only by reducing or eliminating that feeling of "everything included for free, no need to worry about prices once on board."

For me, and I'm willing to bet for all but the most jaded and well travelled CC members (and certainly for the vast unwashed bulk of cruisers generally), that feeling of "all inclusive" has been one of the best aspects of cruising, and why up to now it has provided a superior vacation experience.

It's been the "magic" of cruising. I don't know how Del Rio intends to fill increasing numbers of mega-ships without it.

However, I did order a few sodas in the dining room and they were not included in the UBP.

Really? This goes against my every understanding of how UBP works. Are you sure the charges weren't removed later?

Oh I see what you are saying, a one-time fee, the first time you order, for the whole cruise?

 

No, its per order. You would put out a new breakfast flyer each morning, there would be no carryover.

Instead of the text they have ("A one-time $7.95 convenience charge will be applied to your check, for the following items"), I'd say something like: "A single $7.95 convenience charge will be added to your check if your order includes any of the following items."

I'm really baffled by NCL's inability to write even half-way competently. Are there really no unemployed English majors out there?!

Here is a screen print of the breakfast stateroom menu card posted by Seadog67 in excellent live report from the Gem week of May 23rd.

 

 

Here is link to the above mentioned live report from the Gem - very enjoyable. See post 481 on page 25 where above menu was posted.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2212638

 

 

NCL continues to astound in the ineptitude of their communications.

The line: "A one-time $7.95 convenience charge will be applied to your check, for the following items" is ambiguous and confusing. It makes it sound like you get charged $7.95 ONCE, no matter how many times you order RS. "One-time" is problematic in this context.

We all know what NCL is TRYING to say, but why are they SO INCREDIBLY AWFUL at stringing words together to actually mean what they apparently wish to mean? :eek:

Sorry for your loss.

 

NCL definitely welcomes passengers to take food back to their cabins, as this policy (which BTW was never enforced) has been reversed.

Of course it was enforced, at least in part. You apparently have forgotten the reports from passengers who weren't allowed to get take-out from, for instance, O'Sheehans. While I don't recall any reports of folks being stopped from taking food from the BUFFET, there were numerous reports of people not being allowed to take meals or desserts out of restaurants.

The H6 seems waaaay better than the other choices, especially the H5, which at Haven prices is pretty much of a rip-off -- it's really what they SHOULD call a "mini-suite."

Interesting that you've already received an upsell email for a July cruise, as it seems the pattern has been initial emails go out inside two weeks of sailing.

One thing to consider is that it's $1500 flat, nothing else on top (other than some extra tipping). It's easy to say Well you can do another cruise for that much money, but can you? Another cruise means additional port fees/taxes, additional DSC, additional travel, additional parking, additional drinks/dining and other expenses on board, not to mention the "opportunity cost" of another week vacation (taking time off from work, etc.). I think it would be helpful if you figure out the expected total cost of your entire NCL vacation, and then add $1500 to it (or maybe $1700 to account for the extra tipping), and then compare the different prices for the two options.

We did a similar upsell on our Breakaway cruise in April -- from a B1 Large aft balcony to an H3 Owners Suite, for $750 pp or $1500 extra. The B1 had cost $1109 pp plus port fees/taxes or a total of $2489. We got free UBP and didn't intend to spend a lot of money on other things, so figured the total cost of our NCL vacation would be around $3000, all-in. Adding another $1500 (and some extra tips) meant we increased the total overall cost of the vacation by just over 50%. Thinking about the total costs involved helped us swallow the additional cost of the upsell.

Also, while you know your cruising style better than anybody else, it's possible that with that awesome H6 balcony and the extra "living room" with couch and table, etc., you might wind up spending more time in your suite than you're accustomed to!

I would recommend a 2-bedroom suite. The penthouse suites are one room and it might be difficult to for you and your wife to have some privacy. Also, the balcony is a tad larger than the penthouse suites (unless you go aft). And speaking of the aft penthouse suites, those are closest in sq footage to the Grand on RCCL (361-RCCL vs 387-NCL).

FWIW, to the best of my knowledge the H5 Haven Penthouse "suites" have a larger balcony than the H4 2 bedroom Family Villas. (As you correctly note, the H6 Aft Penthouses have (by far!) the largest balconies on the ship.)

The ultimate beverage package says one drink per person per transaction...

That may be what the T&C for UBP says, but in our experience on Breakaway in April, bar servers NEVER took both our cards when we both ordered drinks. They would take one of our cards, charge both drinks on it, and bring us back one receipt to sign.

Nice! What's the ship and sailing date, if you don't mind sharing?

to have the COO pointing the arrow clearly at the CEO that he directly reports to - is kind of "interesting" ;)

VERRRRY interesting. Stuart's comments paint a decidedly "loose cannon" picture of the CEO of NCLH!

I would not be surprised to hear, within a year, that one or the other has been given a "golden lifeboat."

Norwegian Cruise Line said it will once again allow passengers to take food to their cabins from dining venues, reversing a month-old policy.

Norwegian President Andy Stuart said the decision was made after getting considerable customer feedback from a number of channels. In particular, the issue became subject of in-depth discussion on the website Cruise Critic, where a thread attracted more than 65,000 views.

This just appeared here: http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Norwegian-Cruise-Line-reverses-ban-on-taking-food-to-cabins

Good job, folks!

Just saw the weather forecast and it's calling for 70% scattered thunderstorms at GSC. Would we still be able to go to GSC?

 

Not sure if I should even book a clam shell either.

We were at GSC 5 weeks ago on Breakaway and had a miserable weather report a week out -- rain forecast all three of our port days including GSC. But in the event it was actually really good weather all three days! It wound up being mostly cloudy at GSC, but no rain and as another poster said, it meant we didn't all turn into cooked lobsters.

I wouldn't worry about missing GSC, but you might want to hold off on purchasing beach equipment or shelter in advance unless money is no object.

Could someone show me where NCL mentioned the plates in the halls? I know posters have, but don't remember NCL specifically saying plates in the hallways.

Post #524 on this thread, from SissasMomE, reports on a Facebook post from a person who received a reply from NCL COO Stuart to his/her email complaining about the policy. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=46527465&postcount=524. In the email Stuart allegedly stated:

Hi, thanks for your note. We do not charge for coffee and continental breakfast to be delivered by room service. In addition I feel strongly that the change asking guests not to bring food back to their rooms from restaurants is a good one. As we walk around the ship and see spills from food that guests are carrying and multiple plates and food waste littering the corridors, it is not a clean and pristine environment. The difference with room service is that it is our team delivering it - if they spill something they clear it up immediately. They also know where food has been delivered and they go back to get empty trays as part of their routine. At the same time as we have made this change we have changed the Asian restaurant from having a cover charge to being included across the fleet. I understand not everyone is going to love every change, but our focus is on quality and raising the quality of the experience across our fleet. You will see a huge investment coming from us in both the hardware and the software. Please have faith that everything we are doing is to increase our guest satisfaction and repeat rate. Apologies for the long response - but I am very passionate about this. regards. Andy

Yes in the ropes course, but it didn't work, so in reality no.

FWIW, the zipline and "walk the plank" were both not available the one time we went by to do that on our 4/19/15 Breakaway cruise. It was a sea day; perhaps they don't do those on sea days? For me, without any kids, it was just a very minor disappointment, but I would be interested in hearing from others who have cruised recently (last couple of months) if either of these activities have been available, and when (was it while in port?, etc.).

I have a question, if they would have put on their website on May 1st that food can no longer be taken from the restaurants or buffet and said that they would begin enforcing the policy August 1st, would you still have an issue? This is what I think they should have done, with no explanation as to why they are putting the policy into effect, because they really don't owe anyone that explanation, in my opinion. Some cereal companies and pasta companies never told anyone that they reduced the amount of product in their boxes, but kept the boxes the same size so we wouldn't notice or the body wash company I purchase from who changed the size of their bottle minimally, so that no one would notice, but kept the price the same. All these companies (not to mention many more) do this to make money or money grab.

 

I agree, NCL, in addition to their communication, has a real issue with enforcing their policies. If you don't intend to enforce them, then don't have them.

That to me would be the fair way to do it. I am sure that people would still not like the policy, and some would still feel trapped (by having made other travel arrangements or taken time off work or coordinated with friends and family, etc.), but I can't help but feel there would be both less uproar, and that the anger would be more surface and evaporate sooner.

I give you a recent success for NCL, which is the way they handled the beverage increase in connection with UBP. When we first heard that they were raising drink prices, there was immediate response, fueled by (deserved) cynicism -- ah, got it, they sold a bunch of cruises with UBP, so now they're going to cheapen that perk by restricting what you get for free.

But they pretty quickly (maybe simultaneously? can't remember) raised the limit on UBP drinks by a buck, which exactly equaled the 7 percent beverage increase and the 3 percent auto-grat increase. The nascent grumbling pretty much instantly vanished. NCL took care of the passengers with UBP (and I think around the same time may have added the additional perk by subtracting $11 from very high priced drinks and only requiring pax to pay the difference). This is how to make changes without getting everybody in an uproar. You grandfather in the amenities that people booked with (and in fact which induced them to book).

You can just imagine the uproar if all those who'd booked with UBP HAD found their perk significantly, er, watered down. We'd still be fighting that one today. Somebody at NCL made the right call on that. But I bet you it was a close one, with lots of pressure from (my total guess) the VERY TOP to figure out how to pull another lever and screw the poor slobs who actually thought they'd be getting soused all day long for free. Etc.

If you're implying that "tens of thousands" of cruise passengers are cheated by this change in policy then you're wrong. Most people prefer to eat in the dining areas. What would you have NCL do? Announce all policy changes and price increases 4 or 6 months in advance of implementation so that anyone who disagrees can cancel their cruise? Should the cruise lines send out emails to everyone who's booked every time they change a price for something? And really now, how many people are going to cancel their cruise vacation because room service is no longer free?

Yes, people should have been given the option to cancel without penalty. I certainly think the cruise line should have given at least 3 months notice, I believe that's the longest penalty phase (for suites) on NCL (?). I understand that UK bookings (maybe others?) can't ever cancel without penalty -- NCL could have made some other accommodation for them, and should have.

NCL did send out emails about the increase in DSC, and gave passengers the option of avoiding the increase by pre-paying. New bookings were not given this protection. This provides a model for how to deal with these things (even though it wasn't a complete "grandfathering," since you had to pre-pay to get the DSC rate current at booking, as opposed to being able to pay that rate after boarding, as previously) and shows that somebody, somewhere at NCL considers the issues of "giving notice" in a "timely fashion," etc.

But ever since then, the changes and new fees have rolled out without ANY notice whatsoever. NONE! This is beyond appalling behavior. They haven't ever put out a press advisory in advance of any of these changes (okay, I think they might have for the 3% increase in bar service gratuity and the approx. 7% increase in beverage prices?). They make changes on board, social media flips out, and a week later they issue an utterly masticated yet still incomprehensible sentence or two that explains nothing and/or is rightfully waved off as pathetic corporate spin.

What is so amazing is that folks have no issues with other companies making policies that make them money, but when they think NCL does it, it is the end of the world.

Have you ever noticed that this is the NCL forum on Cruise Critic? It's hardly surprising that folks here are focused on the antics of NCL's executive suite. Indeed, discussions of the foibles of other businesses or industries would seem to be wildly off-topic.

But if you're willing to go first, feel free to cough up some complaints about other corporations and we'll see if we can follow suit.

NCL made the change, if it was a money grab, then that is their decision. Each and every business out there raises prices, changes policies, etc., to make more money (without telling you why they have made the change or putting a spin on it), why do you expect NCL to be any different than every other company. Seems like folks are more upset that NCL might make some money from this, then they actually are about the actual policy. And since the policy is pretty much unenforceable nor has it been enforced since its inception, pretty much a lot of ado over a policy that isn't being enforced.

The policy was implemented without notice, and many tens of thousands of cruisers who were beyond final payment, who booked and paid for a cruise that included free room service, have subsequently found out that the cruise line, in its thirst for revenue to make up the LOSSES in FDR's "well run" premium lines, has taken that perk and privilege away.

Then, in order to maximize the take from this new unannounced and un-grandfathered-in RS charge, NCL doubled down by promulgating a policy that eliminates taking plates of food from the buffet (and other restaurants). It does appear they are not enforcing the new rules, yet the rules remain and EVERY contact with corporate that has been reported here on CC reveals they are ADAMANT about the policy. Until the executive suite changes its mind and publicly reverses the policy, it can be enforced and fully implemented at any time.

Therefore passengers are right to be wary of this disreputable management team, and continue the pressure on NCL to shape up or, well, ship out.