Candy Apple 12

How about a photo of it being used?

Do most crew have shore training before getting on the ship? Or do they do all their onboarding with HR and training for their position specific duties on the ship? Just curious since this was the crew member’s first day on the ship. I wondered how much in person interaction he had with NCL prior to that day.

To clarify, is this after you enter the building?

@kismetique Thank you for sharing your ChatGPT poems. You’ve taken @Sthrngary’s butler letter to the next level!

Care to share your poem? I’d love to read it.

It is not a pooled tip. I asked the Bliss concierge about this when I was adding our tips to our account. We never travel with a lot of cash, and we like to pay for as much as we can by credit card, so we add tips to our onboard account. The concierge actually needs the person’s full name and department so they can add the tip to the correct crew member’s account. The night butler had been delivering hot tea every morning at 5:30 AM, but my husband never caught his name. The concierge was able to look him up so we could tip him. The concierge said the day butlers do not need to “tip out” to the night butler.

Did they ever close the outside decks? This was from our Bliss Panama Cabal Cruise. The pools were closed, as well.

Not necessarily. On our Bliss Panama Canal cruise, we were in the Haven and had to go to the theater for our excursion in Cabo San Lucas, which is a tender port. This was the only ship excursion we took, so I don’t know how the other ports were handled.

The first time I used AirTags for a cruise was our Bermuda trip on the Breakaway in fall 2021. We couldn’t find our bags in the MCT so I took out my phone to use the Find My app and was quickly chastised by a port employee that I couldn’t use a cell phone in that part of the terminal. When I tried to explain what I was doing, she didn’t care. Luckily we spotted the bags shortly after that.

Thanks for the info on the limit. That makes more sense. I assume that you didn’t have any other on board charges before the last day, so you were able to take advantage of the deal. I suppose if you wanted to spend the last day of cruise in the casino, this method could work. I don’t gamble but my mom likes to feed the machines occasionally, so I’ll keep this in mind for her.

Have you actually done that? If so, it would avoid the risk of traveling with a large amount of cash. Can you put refundable OBC on your own account using a credit card? If so, wouldn’t doing this allow you to get the points from your rewards credit card on money you would be using in the casino?

What kind of upsell offers at Fogo? I haven’t been there in a few years but I don’t remember ever being bombarded with upsell offers. If you are used to the quality of food at Fogo, do not expect the same at Moderno. The cheese bread is just as good but Fogo’s meats are much better.

On the Bliss there are shelves with towels and robes to the right as you enter the Thermal Suite. You just take what you need and return them to the dirty bins when you are done.

People watch. It’s like whale watching, but can be much more entertaining.

Please elaborate.

Congrats on the award!

I have no idea if you can do that on the app. I asked because you had mentioned risking losing your reservation to someone on the waitlist. What exactly happens when you cancel and rebook at the Shorex desk as far as refunding and payment? Do they refund to your initial form of payment and then charge your onboard account for the new booking? Do they actually take your vouchers and print new ones? If I were a Shorex desk worker, I’d wonder why you are wasting my time to cancel and rebook the same excursion. Have you gotten any pushback trying to do this?

Do you do this in the app? Has anyone tried going to the Shorex desk to do this so as to avoid the risk of losing your slot on a sold out excursion?

This sounds like a great idea! I’m going to try it next time. The last two cruises I asked our butler to bring the next day’s MDR menu to our room each evening. Since I have to eat gluten free, this allowed me to see the menu in advance in case I wanted to order something from the MDR. With special diets, they ask you to order ahead so they have plenty of time to prepare the special meal. In December on the Bliss our butler had no problem with this. For some reason our butler on the Escape in February could not understand my request even though I had clearly written it out in my butler letter. Halfway through that cruise, he finally got it. I agree that the app should include the MDR menu. I’m sure others would appreciate having at their fingertips to help them decide what to do for dinner instead of walking to the MDR.

On the Escape this past February I was told by the cashier’s desk officer that all gambling is excluded from being paid for by non-refundable OBC (shareholder OBC is non-refundable). He said this included bingo, Deal or No Deal, Wheel of Fortune, and the casino, of course. I found this out after blowing $50 on Wheel of Fortune because it was towards the end of the cruise and hadn’t spent any of my SH OBC yet. My account showed that I still had my $100 non refundable credit and that I owed $50. I was able to transfer my OBC to my mom’s and sister’s accounts because they both had made some purchases.

On our Bliss Panama Canal cruise, we tipped the night butler separately because he delivered hot tea every morning at 5:30 AM. My husband is at work by 6 AM every day and wakes up early, even on vacation! We asked the concierge and the day butler does not have to “tip out” to the night butler.

One of my favorite butlers was Fanny on the Bliss.

I agree with @Guindalf that it’s a money grab. In addition, it is considered gambling so you cannot use your NCLH non-refundable stockholder OBC to purchase the “cards” which is done through a website on your phone. If you do plan to go, make sure your phone is charged. You do not have to use your internet minutes to play.

Just for your sailing? Did they say why?

Laat week on the Escape the concierge told everyone who wanted an early tender to meet in the Haven lounge at 9:30. Our port time was expected to be 10 AM. As soon as the tenders were cleared, the concierge used the Haven crew elevators to bring us down to deck four to get in line for the tender. We were on the tender by 10:10.AM. We were on the second tender to leave. There were two tenders filling at the same time. After guests were loaded onto the tender crew loaded additional items onto the tender such as signage for the island and many coolers. This may have been why we were the second tender to leave. We did arrive in plenty of time to get loungers in the first row at Infinity Beach, which is the beach closest to the tenders. Remember to bring your beach towels from your suite. For the return trip, look for a crew member holding a Haven sign so you can bypass the line. This started at 2 PM for us. Last tender was scheduled for 3:30.