EleventyBangBang

When I went on the Escape, they set up dinners and shows for us.

The dinners were all in the free MDRs, i.e. Taste/Savor/Manhattan. They didn't want to "peer pressure" anyone into paying for premium dining. So if you want premium dining you're on your own, but chances are you can find some other solos that would be willing to go with you.

Well, companies will offer whatever they feel they need to offer to attract the employees they want. Whether or not he's actually worth the price they paid is up to the shareholders, not us. But rest assured, they didn't give him 30 million simply because he's just such a swell guy.

The studio lounge is a ghost town, except for the 6pm daily meet and greets. I only passed through during the day to grab a cookie.

so will just any random hotel key work for this?

It's a mechanical switch. Any credit-card sized card will work. I used a grocery store club card.

Although in practice, I don't know that it really made that much difference. You need your card to get in the door anyway, so at this point you're already standing by the switch with a card in your hand. I guess you could make the argument that doing this would allow you to keep your card on a lanyard, thus making it harder to accidentally lock yourself out.

For some reason my ticket was cheapest flying in to MIA and out of FLL.

My plan is to Uber from the port to FLL. It will eat into the amount I saved on the plane ticket but I'll still come out ahead.

Also can we bring our own water or can we buy a case of water ? Thanks

NCL recently (as in just last week) banned the practice of carrying on your own water, citing "safety" concerns.

You can buy cases of water on board, but it is absurdly expensive. A 12-pack of 1 liter Aquafina bottles is 47$.

This is undoubtedly the single hottest topic of debate for the NCL crowd right now. A number of people have cancelled upcoming cruises over this. Most people agree that "It's a cruise, I should be able to drink whatever I want", but there's a small crowd that argues "I'm fine with drinking the ship's tap water, therefore everybody else needs to be fine with it too."

So should I stop my friendly offer to pick up sundries for them while off the ship? (This has never been in lieu of cash, just a nice extra gesture.)

I would say this is the one exception - specifically because you are asking them what they want, instead of just guessing what they might want and/or have room for.

Where do you get the idea they have ZERO space ??.

Think two (or on some ships, even four) people sharing a cabin that's probably smaller than a standard interior passenger cabin. And not just for a week, but for months at a time. (I've been deployed before so I can actually kinda relate.). And consider it's not just your trinket, but probably multiple little things, every week, week after week after week. It adds up.

Put yourself in their shoes. They are away from home for months at a time, living in pretty cramped quarters. They do this because, honestly, it pays better than anything they can get in their home countries, and they most likely have families, etc. they are trying to support. We Americans have been conditioned to think that giving money as a gift is "thoughtless" and "tacky", but that really is what they want most. It's the whole reason they take this job in the first place.

One suggestion I've seen that seems like a good compromise (if you still insist on doing this, even though you already know they'd rather have the cash): Tell them when you're going ashore, and ask them if there's anything they want. (This also saves you from having to pack another thing.)

If you're looking to avoid crowds, I did Margaritaville for my first lunch on board. It was pretty much deserted. They actually seemed surprised that someone wanted to eat there that early.

I booked through an online site sponsored by my credit card's rewards program. So I get 3x bonus points on my credit card, plus the site actually gave me BOTH promo deals, the current "pick one" offer (picked UBP of course, wouldn't cruise without it!) AND the previous deal (Free photos and 100$ arcade credit). And they also throw in an extra 75$ OBC just because.

I also like their site because when you are selecting a cabin, it actually marks available cabins on the deck plan with blinking red dots (instead of just giving you a list of cabin numbers and making you go find them yourself on the deck plan like NCL does.)

When I went, they were all in the free venues. Sharon, the host, explained that she didn't want to make people feel "peer pressured" into paying extra for premium dining.

I'd also add... IMHO, as far as the threat of terrorism goes, Europe will almost certainly get worse over time, not better. So if it's on your list, I'd say "get while the gettin's good."

The solo aspect and the freestyle aspect are two of the main reasons I chose NCL.

I hadn't cruised previously because I didn't like the idea of assigned seats/times. That would have made me feel like I was back in grade school.

This way, it basically works like it does on land. If you want to eat somewhere, you just go, get a table for a party of 2 or whatever, sit down and eat. If it's a nicer place and they are busy, you might end up on a waiting list, but you can make reservations ahead of time if you wish.

I would have to admit that I liked Teppanyaki slightly better than Moderno, and this is coming from someone who loves Brazilian steak houses and doesn't care much for Asian food in general.

I'm going solo, and have booked with Rony's outfit. The two main things I want to hit are the zip line and the monkey/sloth hangout. I assume this will still leave a portion of the day open... Snorkeling and shopping don't really interest me, for some reason. Can I say something like "just take me sightseeing, show me whatever you think I should see"?

Does anyone know for sure what size Aquafina water they are selling? It doesn't say on the website. I saw a poster on here say it was the one liter bottles, not the 16.9 oz 24 pks we all know sell for $3.99 everywhere. The one liters are anywhere from 1.39 to 1.99, so 12 of them for $38 isn't expensive at all.

So why is a 1 liter bottle SO much more expensive than two half-liter bottles?

Not a $5 case of water. Work on researching. The size and qty of the bottles is about $40 retail in the states.

Thank you for posting this. I was really SHM trying to figure out where they were getting that $5.00 per case.

A 12 pack of 1 liter bottles of Aquafina is $47.14 on MyNCL.

A 24 pack of 1/2 liter bottles of Aquafina is $4.99 at Walmart, sometimes they even have it on sale for $3.99. AND they are usually sold as a "bonus pack" with 32 bottles.

So even in the worst case scenario (i.e. not on sale and not the bonus pack) that's literally almost a thousand percent markup. (Unless for some reason, you're making the case that a 1 liter bottle is substantially more valuable than 2 half liter bottles... which would be the exact opposite of how products like that usually work.)

I think most of us would actually be okay with, say, a hundred percent markup. They would probably actually sell quite a few that way.

Yes, it will definitely make me look elsewhere next time, just on principle.

I would only stay with NCL if they lower their price of water. I would gladly pay 9$ for a 12 pack of 1 liter Aquafinas, but 47$ is just insulting. I'd also wager that enough people would agree to make such a change actually be more profitable.

The main "argument" people are making in favor of this new policy seems to be "I don't personally like bottled water and/or soda, therefore you shouldn't either". I think this is really insulting and condescending, not to mention misses the point of the whole "freestyle" concept that led many of us to choose NCL in the first place. For what I'm already paying for this vacation, I really don't think reasonably priced bottled water is too much to ask.

I don't think there's really any way to know until you're actually on board. There will be a letter printed on your card, and there will be a list of which letter goes where posted all over the ship.

This is the point I don't understand. People were given two weeks notice. That's considered appropriate for leaving a job. How long do you want? We're talking about an enterprise that has ships leaving random ports at random times every weekend (and more)? How much notice is appropriate?

I would expect, before final payment deadline. Otherwise, you're changing the terms of the deal after the deal has been agreed upon by both parties.

I know we can get by on tap water, but I didn't pay this much money up front to "get by".

And I know I can buy a case on board for 40$. I'm not going to do that ( even though 40$ is a relatively small amount of money compared to what I've already spent on this cruise) simply because it's so insulting.

If they would just offer bottled water on board at a reasonable price, like Carnival did when they implemented a similar policy, the vast majority of the complaining would stop. I would definitely pay 8-9$ for a 12 pack, and be happy to do so.

Believe me, I'm usually the pro-Capitalism corporate defender. But this is gouging, plain and simple. Even I can't defend this one, and if you knew me, you'd know that's saying a lot.

This is neither here nor there but on a recent cruise with Princess I pre-ordered water, I think 2 12paks were something like $13usd and it was nice having them in the cabin when we arrived.

 

Doesn't NCL not offer something similar?

Yes - for approximately six times that price. That's what people are upset about.

He also let me know that they are looking into the price of the bottled water but that no decision had been made yet.

 

That's actually encouraging.

I would be totally okay with paying, say, 8-9$ for a 12 pack of water that I'd pay 5 for at the grocery store on my way to the port. I would consider that a reasonable fee, especially considering I would have given the porter 2$ anyway. Heck, I'd be grateful for the convenience, at that price.

And I'd bet that enough people would agree that they'd actually make more total dollars in the end, as I can't imagine anybody not staying in the Haven being willing to shell out 40$ for the same case of water. (it's not that we COULDN'T afford it, it's just that it's such an insult that we WOULDN'T, just out of spite.)

The elevator call system is STUPID!!! Each elevator bank (fore and aft) has TWO call buttons that are SEPERATE! No where else i've been in the world and this includes some massive hotels with 16 elevators does this! What happens ? Everyone has to push BOTH call buttons to try to get the quickest elevator. What does this lead to? TWICE the stops for elevators with half of them having no one waiting by the time it gets there. Seriously this is probably the dumbest thing I have ever seen on a modern cruise ship. /rantoff

I noticed this as well, and I was doing the same thing - just hitting both buttons. I noticed that one set of elevators went to the top floor and the other didn't. So that's probably why it is the way it is - if you were going to the top floor, you'd need to get in the one elevator and not the other. But it is indeed a silly design, and encourages people to use it inefficiently.

If EVERYONE only used the one to go to/from the top floor, and only used the other one to go from one non-top floor to another, it would, in theory, be more efficient. But that would require everyone to understand that which isn't realistic.

As I recall CCL lowered the price concurrently with the policy change and they started off at $2.99 for a case of 12, and shortly after that raised the price to $3.99 (which did cause a fair bit of discussion on the CCL board).

Now, see, that I'd be okay with. I would be fine with paying a couple of extra bucks to have a case of water appear in my cabin instead of having to lug it to the port. But their current pricing, honestly, is enough to make me switch cruise lines in the future, just out of spite.