NickCanadian

6 minutes ago, jencendiary said:

 

This is one of the weirdest projections from the Internet Troll crowd. The idea that someone only supports an initiative on account of the fact that it makes them look good is a laugh, considering the types that perpetuate it.

Virtue signalling eh. I don’t really care, but again, your worried about plastic yet an average cruise ship pollutes the air as much as 7 million cars in one week...but let’s focus on plastic bottles and straws so it makes us all feel better.

52 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

My family never uses the elevators on cruise ships, it’s not allowed. I even ask for a low floor at hotels because I hate elevators (but don’t feel like walking up over a dozen floors, down is fine).

I walk 40-50 flights of stats every single day at work. I want and pay for elevators to use. It’s called vacation.

9 minutes ago, Nyc2tropics said:

I agree about the elevators on Escape. Wife and I travelled with a toddler in a stroller and it was nearly impossible to get an elevator that would accommodate us all on sea days. Elevators were always packed. 

Pro tip. Push both up and down buttons and get on no matter the direction you are going.

9 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I am sailing on the Bliss out of NYC on March 22. I have been tracking inventory on the sailing since I originally booked back at the end of November. At that time, I paid $699 per person base fare for my angled BA balcony. My parents booked at the same time and paid $629 for a guarantee BF (ended up in a BC). At that time, there were at least 636 rooms available (site I use shows a max of 100 in any given category). Since that time, the prices went up and up and up and topped out a while back at $1069 for a BA and $999 for a BF. The thing that is surprising to me is that since the prices hit that peak, inventory has barely moved AT ALL, yet the prices have not come back down. Since the first of January, inventory went from 511 rooms to 421 rooms. That's an average of 3.33 rooms per day. But it's worse when you look at the last week, when inventory went from 440 to 421. That's only 2.7 rooms per day and in the past 4 days, only 4 rooms have sold, so down to only 1 per day! With only 55 days to go before sailing, the math isn't looking good for NCL to sell those 421 rooms!

 

I won't complain if the ship doesn't sail full. But even with the logic of no last-minute discounts so they don't sell rooms at a loss, you would think they could AT LEAST take prices back down to near what we paid back in November. Presumably NCL wasn't selling rooms at a loss at that point...

At $699 on double occupancy, I would bet that is almost a break even price. Based on the 2018 results, NCLH carries 2.795 million passengers with net income of about 954 million. That is a profit of only $300+ per passenger. 

5 hours ago, Lem_On_Ade said:

I was on this sailing too. This was my first NCL cruise, with all my others being on Carnival. I'm feeling a bit indifferent. I didn't hate it by any means but I didn't necessarily love it either. I will say that embarkation and disembarkation were good. The food was excellent in my opinion. We ate at Moderno, Cagney's, La Cucina and Food Republic. We loved having the drink package and were also pleased with the flights that NCL arranged for us. Having a cabin on the front of the ship was a nightmare for docking. The entire room rattled like a jackhammer and we were on deck 11. We were very disappointed with Harvest Caye, that was a wasted day for us. All in all I liked the ship but found myself missing the "fun ship" vibe of Carnival. I would sail NCL again if the price and itinerary were right but I'm not wowed by them enough to be searching for my next cruise with them either. 

I like the 'indifferent' which is what I felt overall. Disappointed because I usually feel every cruise I am on is amazing.

We are all the way forward on deck 9, and jackhammer is a great descriptor about the bow thruster. Maybe it has some damage or is really dirty.

24 minutes ago, MotownVoice said:

Really?  Sounds like a bone to pick with people trying to clean up the Earth?  Why not get behind it instead of pointing and laughing at what still isn't done?

No, not at all, but I cant stand virtue signalling stunts like this, and virtue signalling people like you who love cruising (Escape burns 113 gallons of bunker fuel per passenger per week), yet feel you can bash people who like water from plastic bottles!

2 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

FYI "prime rib" is beef from a specific cut ("primal cut") between specific ribs of the animal.  It does not imply USDA "prime" rated beef. 

Thanks, I did not know that. that explains a lot!

5 minutes ago, MotownVoice said:

Yes.  "Convenient" if you're the only person on the planet and nothing you do to the environment matters.

Unfortunately, it's not just you going through life, poking around, combing the beaches for whatever makes you happy.

You have to live on this planet with the rest of us.  And eventually we tend to socialize people when they don't get with the program.

If you are a cruiser, you literally have ZERO credibility on any environmental issues. I am sorry, but its true.

Oh, I dont really care.. I was being phascious (sp?). As a Shareholder, use whatever is cheapest, but I find it funny that they are promoting paper drink containers as if this is some major milestone...

Yeah for no plastic bottles.... while burning 65,000 gallons of bunker fuel per day LOL

3 minutes ago, Trimone said:

When discounting becomes a policy, the companies go south, who’s going to spend top dollar, when you’re neighbours are celebrating at the Haven Bar boosting how little they paid...  

I think NCL might be the first mass market cruise line to adopt this pricing strategy. Time will tell if it will work. As a shareholder, I hope it does. Prior to this, the mantra was always leave port full no matter the cost. Im sure Del Rio will discuss this on the next call.

Unfortunately, I am the 'bottom feeder' who only buys inside staterooms, doesn't drink or eat in specialty restaurants and arranges my own port tours. As such, I spend zero on the ship. With the increased prices, I wont be sailing on NCL anymore even with shareholder OBC.

As a very frequent traveler for work, Air Canada will not under any circumstances allow anyone other than a business class ticket holder, or the absolute top of the line loyalty program card holder sit in the business class seats. Economy will be jammed and the six front business class seats will remain empty on the Embrarer regional jet used on the route I take multiple times per week. The economy seats sell from 100-200 and the business class seats are 600-900. They have the data to show that its profitable to leave them empty rather than devalue the product.

Was thinking about a couple other non-categorized observations..

We were constantly reminded that towel animals were no more due to 'environment' concerns. I find this hard to believe from a cruise ship that burns 65,000 gallons of bunker fuel per day! washing the towels of 2000 plus staterooms would literally cost 10 gallons of fuel use on the large generators and i believe this has more to do with the man hours of managing the towels/folding etc. I suggests for environmental reasons that is the boat is slowed by 0.1 knots per hour on the way back to Miami would result in savings of hundreds of gallons of fuel and provide more environmental benefits (I don't personally believe in man made climate change resulting from trace amounts of a gas in the atmosphere). The other benefits is that we wouldn't arrive in Miami at 4 am using bow thrusters that woke up the entire group of people we were travelling with 2 hours before our alarms were set (6am).

Wasnt meant to create discussion about scooters, mostly an observation. I do think those that require scooters should have proper documentation from a Doctor as having such as a scooter does provide provide front of line access, as I always allow them on elevators etc first. I don't have as much faith in humanity to believe a few of the users are taking advantage of the system, much like the support animals on airplanes which have created modern day Noah's ark of the skies.

One more UGLY. The hamburgers in the dining room, osheehans and buffet are terrible and are nothing like they were.

Hi Ziggy,

airlines well with unsold seats all the time. At a certain point they will not sell the seat or you would see seats for 5 dollars. For instance, I know that the rock bottom price for DTW to MCO is about 49 USD. I have never seen it below that price yet spirit flys half full aircraft weekdays on this route and never lower then price below that 49 dollar threshold. 

Ohh forgot to mention that embarkation and disembarkation was A+++

Spoke to NCL corporate worker, selling out ship is no longer the #1 priority. It’s ensuring each room is sold at profit. Those who used to get dirt cheap last minute cruises don’t spend any money on board. It’s like those business class seats that some airlines like air canada will leave empty rather than dumping them onto the market at cheap prices which devalues the business class product. Some airlines will do anything to fill every single seat, all depend on managements direction which with the recent ceo change has obviously changed. 
 

a business teacher once said would you rather sell 4 beers at .99 cents or 1 beer at 3.99 if you are a business? 

Me, DW, and three kids took cruise with in-laws and extended family and friends on this cruise as per my recommendation to cruise with NCL.

background- 9th cruise with previous cruises on NCL, Princess, Carnival and Holland America. First cruise in 2008 on NCL Dawn.

Shareholder of NCLH and as such, I am happy with this cruise as a shareholder but not as much as passenger.

tidbit- made small talk with an NCL corporate person who was on vacation. Asked about increased prices recently and expressed concern. He said that the new direction at NCL isn’t focused as much on simply filling rooms, but only filling rooms at a profit. Much like hotels and airlines, they want full ships, but NCLH is no longer going to sell rooms at a loss in hopes to make money on add ons as those who usually pay the lowest prices on the cruises don’t spend spend any money on board. Focus on casino guests and those who pay for rooms and packages with the alcohol as those guest tend to spend the most on board. Take this for what’s its worth, but as a budget cruisers, this sucks, but as shareholder, I understand. 
 

the good- choir of man was amazing and best show i have seen on nine cruises, chocolate butter tarts in main dining

room, ship in good shape, crew working hard, crew talent show- waitress singing Whitney Houston song was better than all the singers who performed in ‘after midnight’ show by a long shot. Due to her skin colour and nationality, she will continue to serve tables when she should actually be performing in the main shows, but I guess that’s how the world works. New style pizza was good (not as good as Princess, but much better than the old ncl pizza), no bacon police like on Carnival. O Sheehan's service was fast and the wings and fajitas were good. A cruise is better than no cruise, but this cruise was okay, but not great. Harvest Caye was great. Aviaries in Costa Maya good. Monkey and sloth manawaka park decent in Roatan.

the bad- is it possible to say they are serving ‘prime’ rib and instead serving less than prime, rib roast? Prime rib at buffet terrible! It was whitish colour. Gone are the day’s of two days of prime rib in the main dining room as on the Getaway two years ago. Available at o Sheehan’s two days, but again, I doubt it was ‘prime’ rib. Main dining room menus have gone way down hill. The bbq grill plate was literally uneatable. Ribs were terrible full of hard fat balls, the chicken was a chicken thigh with no meat. it is very obvious that they are trying to push everyone to the specialty restaurants and or buffet/o Sheehan’s and it appears to be working. During peak dinner times, no lines ups and lots of empty tables in manhattans except for one night. All specialty restaurants jammed full for entire cruise (good news as shareholder bad as a cruiser). Ziaed from Tunisia and Richelle from Indonesia were great service in taste/savor dining rooms. With the added level and more passengers, no new deck space was added and impossible to find a place to sit outside after 730am on sea days. Kids complained about water slide (yellow) hurting feet and back due to seams not being flush. 30-45 min line for the tube slide. Costa Maya has turned into a major tourist trap. Much different than my first visit there back in 2009/2010 ish. Can even sit down on a chair anymore without min 20 an hour spend. Previously you could sit because the pool, but understandably, they wanted to monetize the seats. Roatan west bay beach, avoid like the plague. The beach vendors just don’t stop bugging you to buy their Chinese junk.

the ugly- the elevator waits were atrocious. I didn’t pay the most for a cruise I have ever paid (good news as shareholder that prices have been going up) to walk flights of stairs when that is what I do all day at work. It called vacation. Escape added a floor to the getaway design and added no new passenger space or elevator capacity and it shows. To go along with that, there are so many damm scooters everywhere. Does NCL check to ensure these people actually have a handicap? Like. Handicap sticker on cars that require a doctors note? Miraculously they would jump out of their scooters to walk the entire buffet circle! I thought Disney was getting bad, but man, it’s like everyone is handicapped now. Only one room steward now vs two as in the past. Went for dinner every single day at same time and room was never turned down to put kids to bed even after asking to have room turned down by 8pm. Shower drain very slow to drain and literally created a bath inside the shower stall (for feet that is) and water coming out of shower during first night ship motion. Advised room Steward twice and nothing done about it. Bathroom smelled like fish. Turned out it was the toilet scrubber and steward finally replaced it and smell gone. Cruise staff running ropes course are rude and arrogant. Always looking for reason to shut down ropes course. Said too windy, so I asked what speed is too windy and wouldn’t answer me as I also had a Kessler to see if they were BSing. So the unknown wind speed closed down the ropes course when the apparent wind speed was about 15 knots as per cruise specs on the tv. Wanted to remove all tips because of these 5 or 6 dbags but didn’t because other crew members worked so hard.
 

I purchased cruise next from

my Getaway cruise, but this time I didn’t purchase cruisenext. I think I’m done with cruising but will continue to invest in NCLH as we are making money hand over fist. The nickel and diming is so out of control on all cruise lines and it ruins my vacation constantly being asked to spend more or add charge this or that. When it’s hard to get a decent restaurant quality meal at the main dining room, that is my breaking point.

sun country airlines to rsw and then rental to MIA and shuttle to port and same reverse.
 

anyways questions ask away.

People are so gullible. Do you think this problem is just going to magically disappear? Of course Princess is not going to provide more than a month notification that way your stuck and still go on the cruise. This problem will not be solved until a dry dock. If their was a missing 'magical' part, it would have been machined within days and installed if this is in fact a 'generator' issue. I bet this boat wont be able to dock when there are certain winds as it probably doesn't have enough power to safety dock, but they will blame it on the weather. The real reason is the ship is broken and its too windy to dock with a broken ship.

Just now, Kwakwa630 said:

Wow!!! What ship was this?! 

NCL Escape... why wow? I paid 179 for this perk!

I purchased priority access and just off this past weekend and we were put ahead of Haven, Diamond and Platinum passengers for all services. The best perk was boarding to an empty ship and being first off to catch early flight. Well worth it IMHO