Liljo22

Ok, I see. Where they show the ropes course on on deck plans is just an open space with no floor. They wouldn't even be able to put anything there.

That is a laser tag course.

The ropes course on the Breakaway Plus ships was replaced with the speedway starting with the Joy. The go karts are an extra fee.

Once again. Port Fees and Taxes are not fees that are the passengers responsibility. They are the cruise lines responsibility. If the the ports were charging each passenger individually and the cruise lines were the middle man collecting for the ports, then it would be illegal to hold money for missing a port. Since these fees are just additional revenue that the cruise lines are charging to cover their expenses, its not illegal. The cruise lines can charge what ever they want for these fees. If they want to charge each passenger $250 more than what their expected expenses are, they have the ability to do that because its just a revenue stream that is not tied to the actual fees they are charged. The cruise lines could just bake their expenses into the cruise fare but they don't because they want to advertise lower fares. I have been on NCL cruises where they have given OBC for missed ports and also ones where they gave OBC for their expenses coming in lower than what they charged. NCL probably is not giving OBC for this cruise because they sold less cabins than estimated and the port fees came in higher than they pass through to the customer.

I usually like Ben and David's videos but this one and the one they posted yesterday kind of irked me. They are basing the cruise off the pricing of the first sailing which is always higher than future cruises. I could have gotten an Owner's Suite on my Prima cruise for $9k for 4 of us. Same goes for The Shiplife who complained about paying $6,500 for a standard balcony for two and then upgraded to a club balcony. Yesterday's video had a thumbnail that claimed NCL conned them because their Viva cruise ported in Civitavecchia instead of closer to Rome. They mentioned in the comments that they know all cruise lines do it but the damage is done before someone even clicks on the video. BTW...here are the two thumbnails for the Viva videos.

What ship are you on?

At one point there use to be a physical grill they wheeled out and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs.

Port fees and taxes are fees charged to the cruise line not passengers. The cruise lines are adding extra charges to help recoup their expenses. They are going to have to pay the full amount whether or not they collect those fees from the passengers. It would only be illegal if this was a tax billed directly to the passenger ie sales tax on drinks that the cruise line doesn’t pay to the local government.

This is more like Price is Right audience participation which is free.

I don't think its worth that much of a difference. Why don't you book the oceanview and if the price of the balcony becomes reasonable, you can call for the upgrade.

Different types of upgrades. The Upgrade Advantage with the bid meter is a one time bid. You can change or delete your bid at any point until they accept or deny your bid. You don't know where you stand along the way. In the last week or so before the cruise, if they don't have the bids they want for a cabin, they might open up live bidding at which point you can find out if you lead or not. I don't think this happens with every sailing though.

The Upgrade Advantage and the live bidding are two separate things. There is no escalation for the Upgrade Advantage. You put your bid and an algorithm determines which bid is the most advantageous for NCL. The live bidding is a recent addition. The belief is that the Upgrade Advantage bids didn't meet what NCL was looking for so they are allowing for last minute live bidding on some rooms.

The Manhattan Room also is an MDR on the Breakaway. Taste and Savor both feel like a traditional land side restaurant. The Manhattan Room is more of your traditional cruise MDR. A large open space with tables throughout. There is also a dance floor with live music and show dancers performing on some nights. Also, don't overlook O'Sheehan's. Its also free with bar/pub food available with a late night menu also.

I can see the advantage for older cruisers that can be flexible. For those of us that need to schedule our PTO and work around kids school schedules, it just isn't an option. I can't wait until a month or two before and hope prices go down and not up.

This has nothing to do with NCL hurting for bookings. All the cruise lines have third parties offering 0% APR. Carnival also uses Uplift while Royal/Celebrity use Affirm.

Every cruise line offers a "select a cabin" rate and a rate where they get to choose the cabin. Most of those lines charge for their drink package. You are getting a discount for giving the cruise line the freedom to sell more cabins and stick you where they have room not because you aren't taking the perks.

Yeah I don't get it. People complaining about NCL's prices need to check out the outrage on the Royal board about how crazy pricing has gotten. I have been looking at a summer cruise and I just can't justify going with Royal currently. An ocean view balcony for 4 on the Harmony OTS out of Galveston is $9k. I would never pay $9k for a standard balcony. Even looking in Miami so I can compare NCL and RCCL and there isn't really a comparison. A balcony on the Breakaway is $1,000 less than an ocean view balcony on the Allure OTS and I would need to spend $1200 on a drinks package on the Allure.

I am on topic. Do you even know the T&C for UK customers?

The OP is from the UK so she is actually paying for the FAS package as an upgrade.

You won't be charged on Royal. They pay the sales tax out of their own pocket and don't pass it through. Overall, its not normally a big deal but going out of New Orleans can be a pain since it takes so long to get down the Mississippi. Also on the way back in, you get into NO waters by dinner time so any specialty meals will be charged the extra tax.

They don't start the Cheers package because Texas requires cruise ships to only sell alcohol purchased from Texas distributors. That means the lines are paying more per bottle since they buy in much larger quantities from their normal distributors.

I know Royal will eat the charge but I have been charged on Carnival also even with the Cheers package.

In most US ports, the state requires sales tax to be paid on items sold. Some cruise lines just eat the sales tax and some will charge it to the customer even if they have a package.

How did they embarrass you? Did they announce it to the dining room? I am sure English is not the first language of manager and the manager may not even know that what they said you considered condescending.

The Joy was built for China so it had several Asian inspired venues. https://www.travelandleisure.com/cruises/norwegian-joy-cruise-ship-renovation-china-americas