complawyer

hey, golf-pro leithbones: while i think it's admirable that you can change personas after getting on the ship. bottom line is why bother. my point was, i dont want to discuss my kids,listen to or tell you a joke, have a meal or take an excursion with you. all of that means that i need to be friendly and sociable with/to someone i will probably never see or have any contact with ever again. begs the question? if you're on a long distance flight, cross country, cross atlantic or pacific, will you strike up a conversation with the person next to you? i wont, not because im truly anti-social, i just want to try and get some sleep, or if its a really long flight watch a few movies. when we were much younger (about 40 years ago) anytime/anywhere we traveled, we always managed to hook up with other people. on cruises where you were seated with 6-8 other people, we always had a great time. a couple of nights, i even bought champagne for the table. I liked to have a "posse" and it usually worked out well. now that i'm almost 75, very cynical and pessimistic, i dont look to make any contacts with other passengers. while i wont intentionally ignore you or be rude, i wont go out of my way to get together either

no, we're booked on the jewel in jan, and the dawn in june. but as grumpy as i might be, i would love to share a scotch with you. chivas on the rocks with a twist of lemon have a great cruise!

well said !

no, we're booked on the jewel in jan, and the dawn in june. but as grumpy as i might be, i would love to share a scotch with you. chivas on the rocks with a twist of lemon have a great cruise!

on our most recent cruise (ending onthe 15th) one of my travel companions took a couple of on your own tours, and i dont believe the buses were equipped with toilets. most of the shore excursions we have taken through ncl the buses did not have on board toilets, but with regular stops it did not present a problem. at most ports, however, we hire a cab took take us around, andjust ask him to stop when/if necessary on the bright side, if youre doing anon your own tour, im sure there will be a number of places (shops, restaurants, hotels, where you can stop and use their facilities.

fyi, you are not in any way obligated to tip the butler, it was just suggested, and if he was in fact useless, maybe you were not utilizing him/her correctly. he cant be useless if you give him directions of what you would want, like, and need, right from the start of the cruise. i may have had some butlers that were not as good as others, but never had one that was useless. remember yours is not the only cabin he has to service. it's not your personal butler besides, if youre unhappy with your butler, merely talk to the concierge and have a different one assigned. having a 24 hr on call butler is one of the major marketing points by ncl for getting passengers to book the haven or regular suite.

no, i still dont want to gravitate to other grumpy old men. who wants to hang out with other fat, balding old guys, sitting around drinking bud lite and talking about the good old days, or for us vets, our days in the "NAM"

much easier to list ships we havent sailed on.. encore, escape, joy, breakaway, prima, pride of america, sky, sun. i think that about covers it. of course, some we've done twice

first thing we ask of the butler, is that every morning around 730, he bring in a pot of coffee, decafe, and hot water for tea, along with assorted rolls, pastries, butter and milk. my wife and friend who shared a 2 bedroom suite with us, like frosted flakes so i asked for a few boxes. also had him bring me some cans of pepsi and a couple of bottles of heinekin. asked for peanut m/m's gummie bears, and cheese an crackers. we will unpack our own bags, thank you. since you have a butler you can eat breakfast and lunch at at moderno's and cagney's. one morning our friend wasnt up to coming up to breakfast, so our waiter had thebutler bring her breakfast down to her in our cabin. by the way, why opt out of the butler service if it's included in the cabin fare, and you are already paying for the service. by the way, some butlers our more helpful than others. on our recent cruise, i had our butler swap out the bottle of champagne (that nobody seems to want to drink, kind of like fruitcake)for a bottle of prosecco

just got off back to back on the gem,14 days starting in venice and ending in rome. next cruise jan 26th on the jewel, panama canal

thruthfully, although i am not really "anti-social", im not inclined to be social either. i dont go on a cruise with the intent of meeting people, so consequently i dont go out of my way to do so. im very content to socialize with just my wife (who talks to everyone within range) and our 3rd traveling companion. i may exchange a comment or 2 with someone on a a shore excursion, but other than a few words that would be it. ok, i confess, im just a grumpy old man!

extension cords. i have a cpap machine and there is usually only one ac outlet near the bed. this way, we can plug in cell phones, kindles, and my wife's apple watch.

for what it's worth (and we've been through this many times)we usually tip the butler between $100-$150 at the end of the cruise. the concierge $50-$100, depending on how much he has done for us. whether it's factored in or not, i give the cabin steward $20 at the start of the cruise, $20 after a few days, and another $20 at the end. if he's been exceptionally diligent, i'll up it to $100 total. on our last cruise on the star this past sept, the asst maitre'd for maderno and cagney's was particularly helpful, so we gave him $75. while obviously under no obligation to do so, we usually leave $5-10 as a tip to the waiter/waitress who serves us, and a few $ per drink to the bar-tenders. you can tip or not tip as you see fit. i find that the staff is much more appreciative when they receive a little extra. and daniel A, sorry, it aint that hard to figure 15%. if you can multiply by 2, you can certainly divide by half, unless you're hopelessly mathematically challenged. finally, one of my very close friends used to me a waitress many years ago (we are now both retired lawyers), and in her honor i always leave 20% please note, im not trying to indicate we throw our money around, but these people dont make a lot, and even if the daily gratuities are dispersed to the entire staff, it doesnt give them a great deal of cash at payday.

why dont you try and make arrangements to fly in a day early. most cruise chat lines will advise this. isnt it better to pay for a night in a hotel, rather than take the chance of missing the embarkation, and the hassle of trying to get the ship at the next port. you'd have to pay the fare to get from honolulu to maui anyway, so may as well spend it on a hotel room, and relieve the potential stress.andif you did miss the embarkation, you'd have to find and book a hotel at the last minute

well then, log on to your cruise, click summary, check for volos and it will show you whats being offered. i was only giving you alternatives. most of the time (and ive taken 20 nlc cruises) i hire a cab. its often cheaper then the ncl shore excursions, and sometimes they can take you to the same locations. you asked for recommendations, so i gave you some choices. you are not bound to only take ncl shore excursions

jersey boys required a reservation when we were on the bliss to alaska in aug. what specifically are you looking for on the ncl app? i find its much easier, to long onto my ncl account. it says check reservation, click summary, and it will give you all the choices you will need, meals, drinks, shows, excursions, etc. we had seen jersey boys, many times, but not on a ship. this one almost follows the movie ver batim. acoustics were horrible, and we walked out after about 20 minutes. im not telling you not to go, but we were hugely disappointed. if by chance the other show is "6" definitely do not miss that one!

google what to do in volos, or viatour

the only difference between the haven suites and the non haven suites, is the price and access to the haven pool area. all other perks are the same

in 2010 we took our grandson on an alaska cruise on the ncl pearl. he was 11, and had a great time. once we enrolled him inthe kids club, he was in heaven. believe me, your son will probably have a much better time with kids his own age, than any port or shore excursion you might take him to

once you get the upgrade, you cannot cancel. you can cancel anytime up to acceptance of your bid. your situation is what happens when you try and upgrade, but are traveling with another couple. if the other couple doesnt get the haven upgrade, yes, in effect you wont be sailing together. you will get the haven perks, they wil not, or vice versa. they can come up to your cabin and that's about it. in the alternative, try and bid for the 2 bedroom. the 2nd room is small, but you'll be traveling together and getting the perks of thehaven

for many years, i booked our cruises directly with CAS, and thought i was doing a pretty good job, as most of the people i spoke to seemed to have a good knowledge of the cruise, prices etc. one day we received a call from an ncl cruise consultant. i asked her, what exactly she could do for me,that i hadnt been able to accomplish on my own. be that as it may, i gave her chance, and fortunately, the only time we ever spoke after that is when i had looked at cruises, decided what i want, then called her to put it all together for me. while not the best of all possible worlds, this worked for a few years, but whenever i worked out what i thought would be the price, when she worked it out it was always higher, until i got frustrated. we had some issue with the points on my ncl credit card, and between the bank and ncl, i was getting the runaround, and no one seemed to to have an answer as to how i could use the point (40,000) ncl finally gave me a number that connected me with a wonderful lady at cas. she resolved all my problems, advised that we have free club balcony suites we didnt even know about, and even gave us her private line. since then, shes been a godsend,she gets me phenomenal deals (haven included) and i havent used the pcc for about the past 2 years. oddly enough, i recently got an email from her asking how we were doing. i dont have anything negative t say about her, i just think she was not totally looking out for our best interests cruise wise. as an aside, whenever (not often, but occasionally) , would get a call from a different pcc, i merely explained that i was already working with another pcc, and that was the end of it

obc is use it or lose it, no refund for unused portion at cruise end. us it like cash for anythingyou might wish to purchase on board

oddly enough, we're booked on the jewel from panama city jan 26th, 2023, and i got the upgrade offer a few weeks ago. we're in the haven 2 bedroom suite with 3 people so i needed the extra bathroom so the 3rd person could have some privacy (just a very close friend) since any other cabins wouldnt work, i put in a minimum bid for the 3 bedroom. let you all know what happens, but i have no realistic expectations of winning the bid.

black friday, blue monday, ruby tuesday. it doesn matter. ncl runs the same add over and over touting 40% off. never changes and ive never seen any adds lowering their prices for anything. i always believe that they raise the cabin price, and then take the 40% off leaving the purchaser with what is a regular cabin price. so georgiacat, book what you wish, keep checking, and if some way the price goes down and youre before the final payment is due, cancel and rfebook

as an aside, we've been on over 20 ncl cruises and consequently on a great number of their ships. ive never had any problems or complaints about any of them. my joy is actually being at sea, sitting on my balcony and just watching the ocean go by. also love watching the sunset. by the way, we have the 2 bedroom suite booked for the b2b cruise. we've sailed on the pearl, and the jade, and also booked on the jewel next jan