BunnyHutt

Thank you! My bestie and I are on this cruise the 3rd week of September (first on NCL and to Alaska for the both of us) and we’re very much looking forward to it! This helps even more. 🙂

And having a hubby in the airline industry, I know to *always* book flights in the day before a cruise… juuuuust in case, and especially with the clusterf*ck the aviation world has become as of late. 

Honestly, OP, if you can cancel and recoup all your deposits, I would say this might be a blessing in disguise. The best (and easiest) way to tour Ireland is via car… plus, you haven’t lived if you haven’t waited 20 min for sheep to cross a tiny road out in the middle of nowhere. 

My mom and I did this back in the mid/late 90’s. Only small hiccup was the fact that our car had a manual transmission and the driver sits on the right side of the vehicle (very awkward shifting with left hand if you’ve never done it before). We remedied this by having whoever sat shotgun be the one responsible shifting gears. 😆

On 6/26/2023 at 7:26 PM, www3traveler said:

With the reports I have read today, it sounds like charges may be made against the survivor.

Still wonder why they were in the Channel at that hour of the morning.  How do you miss a well lighted 159 foot ferry?

My immediate assumption is that the boaters were drunk/high/both. 

Okay, so for the most part nice jeans and tops are acceptable? Maybe step it up a notch for Le Bistro?

I’m used to warm weather/Caribbean cruising where a sun dress is the answer to everything. 😁

7th cruise, 1st on NCL, 1st to Alaska

Bestie and I are cruising 3rd week of September. We have reservations one night for Onda, one for Le Bistro. Rest of week I imagine we’ll be eating in MDR. 
 

What is the appropriate dress for dinner?

Thank you! 🙂

Booo 😞

Do the club rooms get the non-breakfast service fee for room service waived?

21 hours ago, WickedRed said:

I once had NCL use JetBlue, and I wasn't able to pick a seat until check-in 24 hrs before the flight.  Iceland Air is a much different beast though.  It does sound like an airline policy thing.  Though I do believe JetBlue and Iceland Air have a partnership and sometimes JB flights to Iceland are on IA planes. 

The only trans-Atlantic route JB currently flies is to London, with Paris and Netherlands being added this summer/fall. So *any* JB codeshare flight to Iceland will be on someone else’s metal. 😉 

Thank you for the review! A girlfriend and I will be on Encore in September. 
 

You mention Choir of Man being sold out. Did you try to book it ahead of time or just wait to check when you boarded? I’ve never been on NCL, or any ship where you have to book entertainment so this is new to me. There are other, smaller, shows on other nights - correct?

5 minutes ago, hallux said:

Keep in mind that people are MUCH more likely to complain than to praise.  For every complaint you read about a particular trip there are probably 3,000 others that had a good time.

This!!!

OP - if you’re booked on an itinerary that appeals to you at a price and timeframe that works for you, take it!

Complawyer - what does it matter if you think this horse has been beaten to death? How is people discussing upgrade bids impacting you? If you don’t want to read a topic, don’t click on it! If your inbox is getting flooded with notifications on this post, surely there’s a way to turn them off. 🤷🏼‍♀️

For the record, I am booked in a cabin on a future cruise that I am 100% content with. However, I still put in a super-low bid on a couple of Haven categories because why the heck not? I’m 99.99% confident my bids won’t be accepted but the only thing I’m out is the 2 minutes it took me to click on the email and set my bids. And if a bid *is* accepted…. well I’m sure stranger things have happened. 
 

16 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Good luck with that!  You'll likely spend the rest of your cruising days being miserable when human beings fail to match your expectations.

Clearly you’re trolling at this point. 

Peace out, dude, and enjoy washing away other people’s pubes because you’re totes cool with that. ✌️

6 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

For me personally, a room steward falling behind and not being able to clean my room entirely one day during the cruise wouldn't personally be a big problem.  I'd just request new towels if I needed them.  But I would be upset if a room hadn't been cleaned from the previous guest.  

Exactly. But for some reason wanting a clean room on embarkation day is a crime against humanity. 🤷🏼‍♀️

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

So you have a choice.  Don't cruise or choose how to deal with it.  The choices appear to be a) get all up in a huff, scold whoever will listen and then keep complaining about it after the cruise on the internet of b) mention it to the Steward and then forget about it and enjoy your holiday.

 

Some might argue that "maybe your 'bar' is set too high?"🤣

I don’t like/want someone else’s hair in my bathroom sink. Yep, bar is super-duper high. 🤣🤣🤣

And choosing to cruise or not is irrelevant to expecting a fully cleaned room when I check in someplace (surely they have checklists to ensure everything is covered when a cabin is turned over??) It’s not like a cruise ship is some roadside no-tell motel. 

8 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Another poster who missed the point entirely.  I "survived" four years of college dorm life.  I had much more important things on my mind than when the last time was that the bathroom was cleaned.  When I board a cruise ship, it's exactly the same.  I am there to treasure time with my family, have as much fun as humanly possible, and just thank God for the fact that I'm alive and able to enjoy such an experience.  I simply don't have the time/interest/mental energy to get all wrapped around a Q-tip under the sink in my bathroom.  If that's how you want to spend your time on holiday, knock yourself out!

 

Low bar indeed!

Nope, didn’t miss the point. But clearly we have different definitions/visions of what constitutes a “dirty sink.” You’re assuming the OP is complaining about a stray q-tip. Having 2 teenage boys, I’m envisioning stray hairs, soap scum and dried toothpaste. 🤷🏼‍♀️ And when I’m on vacation (that I am fortunate enough to be able to take), part of the reason I’m paying thousands of dollars is so that I *don’t* have to deal with it. 
 

26 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Did you ever live in a college dorm?

College dorm =\= cruise ship. 🙄

Not to mention the fact that the girls dorms were cleaner (and infinitely less smelly) than the guys dorms. So maybe your bar is just naturally too low. 😉

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

I have traveled and cruised enough to know that it does no good to besmirch crew here for any shortcomings.  In my experience, let the steward know what was left behind and let them correct it.  They want nothing more than to make sure you’re happy.  Their tips and ratings depend on that.  Barring that, if it continues, then go to Customer Service and let them know.  They will get the crew member’s manager involved.

 

Complaining here about a steward doesn’t help anyone.  And, if you want it addressed, the place to do that is on board.

 

Crew work hard.  I’m likely to cut them some slack if they overlooked something in the cabin.

I do not disagree with you that complaining on here doesn’t accomplish anything onboard.  I was merely reacting to the fact that you implied that the OP shouldn’t be complaining (at all) that their cabin was not properly turned over. And a dirty sink and shower from a previous occupant are more than just “overlooking something,” it’s just plain gross. 

9 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

These room stewards work their derrière off and you’re still complaining?  SMDH!!!!!!

 

Let him/her know what was left behind.  I’m betting he’ll take care of it for you!

You’re okay with checking into a dirty cabin? I’m a frequent traveler and don’t have the highest of standards (ie late service wouldn’t bother me) but arriving as a new guest into a cabin where the bathroom hasn’t been properly cleaned is not acceptable. At all. And makes me wonder what else was overlooked. 

We’re in a “club balcony suite” for our Alaskan sailing this fall and I just got the upgrade email today. I bid low for the single-room Haven selections as we are perfectly content with our chosen cabin. 
 

I did an upgrade bidding on a Royal Caribbean cruise back in 2019 and was much more aggressive. We were happy we did as it was their oldest/smallest ship and the upgrade got us a balcony. It was a Cuba itinerary that got nixed just a couple of weeks prior to sailing and we ended up getting a very large (bigger than we were expecting) chunk of our funds back so it was very much worth it. 

8 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

We each have 2 ports that we have excursions booked. I have the credit on each, DW does not.

Right, I know it’s only for the first pax. I just didn’t think/know it was at every port. 

We’ve got 2 teenage boys (15 and 17) and would absolutely choose the private space over the public amenities. It’s a spring break cruise - there will still be kids on the ship. Your son will absolutely appreciate the extra space as well, trust me!

15 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

The TLDR version: $50 discount per cabin at each port of call.

 

I think if you were adventurous enough to do more than one excursion it would be per excursion. But yeah, their marketing is not great. Nothing free about it as NCL rarely offers excursions for <$50. So just think of it as $50 off at each port.

$50 off each excursion? Really? I haven’t booked excursion for my September cruise yet but I was under the impression that it was only a one-time credit. Pleasantly surprised if I am wrong. ☺️

17 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Well, I don't agree.  That's okay.

Why not? If an airline changes/cancels your flight, they don’t charge you the extra between what tickets are selling for on date of change versus what you initially paid. 
 

The OP did not initiate this, the cruise line did. If they’re trying to book the same cabin category on the same itinerary, the price should be honored. 

I don’t see anything wrong with what you were told. It sounds like you both had a relatively mild case - symptom onset was absolutely horrible horrible timing, though you most likely “got Covid” before ever boarding - and did the responsible thing by self-quarantining. There’s really nothing NCL could have done for you more than you already did for yourself and they were completely transparent regarding the costs so they were trying to do the right thing by you in that sense. 
 

If you really felt you needed to go to medical, you still could have. And you would have been triaged, waited forever then and billed heavily same as if you had an ER visit on land. 

Any rum drinkers on this thread? My drink of choice is rum and Diet Coke. Preferably Mount Gay, which sadly isn’t part of the offerings. It is a golden rum. What would

be a suitable substitute? I’ll save the white and spiced rums for the umbrella drinks.