The Traveling Man

Right, the Shore staff takes you straight to the front of the line for the tender.

Armando has left NCL? He is a true gentleman and a very gracious and thoughtful host. We'll miss him.

In general there is no price limit. You may select a salad or appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. In the past you have been able to choose multiple appetizers, but the current rules seem to prohibit that. YMMV. In some of the restaurants, though, certain menu items do incur an additional charge. The amount is clearly specified on the menu and will be added to your on board account, together with a 20% gratuity on the surcharge.

I loved sailing on the Edge. We also have cruised on her sister ships, the Apex and Beyond. We have reservations for the Ascent. Love them all. We have sailed on 16 of NCL's 18 ships, but as for the PR1MA, been there, done that, don't want the T-shirt. Probably will skip the V!VA.

Yes, but when you crossed the Atlantic and docked at a US port, your cruise left the EU territorial waters. The practice of charging tax on beverages served while the ship is at sea appears to apply only when the entire cruise is within EU waters, with no ports of call other than those in EU countries.

My wife and I each had the beverage package while on the Star in the Mediterranean in 2016. We were charged tax on every beverage we ordered throughout the 11 day cruise.

As it was explained to passengers on the Star on a cruise in 2016, the port of origin, in our case Barcelona, would be due the tax for the duration of the cruise if the ship never docks at a port outside the EU.

That is exactly the way the Captain of the Star explained it during an all-EU cruise of the Mediterranean in 2016. The rules may have changed since then. YMMV.

Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise....

You might try booking online again, perhaps for a different night or different time. If you aren't able to get an acceptable reservation online, then try again once you are on board. The likelihood of finding an acceptable time will be better if you check availability as soon as you get on board the first day of your cruise. Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

We encountered this tax several years ago during a Mediterranean cruise on the Star. The original itinerary included a port stop in Turkey, but that was changed after final payment to become an all EU voyage. When passengers complained about being charged taxes even on sea days, the Captain informed us that EU laws required NCL to collect the tax throughout the cruise because we never venture outside of the EU. That may be the circumstance on some recent NCL cruises.

Most tours in Alaska do meet in the theater and passengers walk in groups to the buses waiting outside. There are some exceptions, though. Some of the tours in Juneau meet in town at the base of the Mount Roberts Tram. Since NCL built their own cruise terminal for Ketchikan, some tours now meet in the terminal instead of on board. Many of the tours for Icy Strait Point meet at the gondola terminal on shore.

Sorry, couldn't help but laugh at what autocorrect did to "does not."

But did the production leave you with any Memories?

We usually book a couple of NCL shore excursions once we are on board. We just explore on our own or make prior arrangements for independent tours for other ports. NCL excursions are a bit more expensive than independently organized ones, but they have the advantage of the ship waiting for you if the bus is late returning to the pier. It usually only requires a couple of NCL excursions for the two of us to use up any and all OBC that we might have.

Paul Simon wrote this line in the lyrics of the song "The Boxer:" "Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." Can we agree that one frequent poster to this and similar threads fits that description to a T? At this point, wouldn't a prudent course of action be for the rest of us simply to select the Cruise Critic "Ignore" option in our profile settings and just move on with our lives?

WOW! Sorry for the difficulties you encountered. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I can't help but be reminded of a version of the old axiom "You can lead a horse to water, but..." "You can lead someone to school, but you can't make them think."

I'm on your side. That's what I said.

@sebas030 When we Texans say "Pardon my French" it has an entirely different connotation. you have to pardon my english, french canadian here ! 😛

There currently are several other threads on this forum which touch on this issue. One of them focuses on a related subject, but has hundreds of posts specifically on taxes. You may want to check those threads for further insight on this subject.

You have more than 3300 posts on Cruise Critic. I'm not sure that I understand why you think of yourself as "new to cruising." Not a complaint or criticism, just a bit of confusion on my part.

As the head of a major movie studio once said, "An oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on." As many on Cruise Critic have reported, that seems to be case with promises, guarantees, and assurances made by NCL telephone agents. They either don't know, don't care, or have no control over the things they promise. Get the facts in writing if you want to have a leg to stand on. Even then, as many have reported, you may be denied, get the runaround, of be shortchanged for something you have written proof that you are entitled to receive. It's unfortunate, but all too often true.

120 days

Also the same on the Sky. We really miss not being able to get breakfast or lunch there.

Yes, if you carry your own luggage you can leave the ship at any time after the port authorities clear the ship for disembarkation. If you expect to meet your ride at 8:30, though, you probably will need to plan on leaving the ship earlier than 8:15. There could be a delay in the port terminal which causes the line of passengers trying to exit early to stack up. The Customs or Immigration officers might take longer than normal to process the exiting passengers. There probably are other circumstances which could delay you in getting from the ship to the curb. On a recent cruise on the Sky returning to Miami, it took us from 7:04 AM until 8:31 AM to get from our stateroom to the taxi stand.