UKstages

this is exactly what the bartender's wife said.

not exactly. it depends on what you mean by "using them." the cruise first credit has to have been purchased at least 120 days in advance of the sailing date, not the booking date. you can book today using a credit that your purchased today, provided the cruise is not sailing for another four months. or you can book today for a cruise leaving later this week, provided the cruise first credit was purchased at least four months ago. if you're used to having cruise next credits in your account always at the ready, there is virtually no difference. you can do close-in bookings, as long as you have cruise first credits in your "bank." i currently have four "aged" cruise first credits in my account (3 x $500, 1 x $250), as well as a casino next credit.

they do in fact have a sales program that goes exactly like that. it's called "cruise first." except it's "pay me $150 and I’ll take $300 off your next cruise." and "pay me $250 and I’ll take $500 off your next cruise." i never understood the fascination and obsession with buying cruise next credits onboard. i suppose it's like touring the bacardi factory and buying a bottle of rum, even though it's not much cheaper than your local liquor store and it's a hassle to get home.

i honestly can't tell if you're joking, but i have never in my entire cruise career, seen a "roving bartender"... at the buffet or elsewhere. i have seen - at parties and events - a fully staffed portable bar set up in a corner (or corners) of the room. never have i seen a bartender wandering throughout the buffet, presumably with some sort of cart, as if he was a street peddler selling italian ices or pretzels or hot dogs.

agree with all the above, although i don't think you can get a course by course dinner served by the butler. it's always all at once from a specialty restaurant, if the butler is serving it course by course, he or she is keeping it at their station, waiting for you to finish each course. they're not going half way across the ship each time to retrieve a separate course. most butlers may not even have the time to serve a course by course dinner.

someone may have said that and it might be true, if the ships were registered in the USA. ' NCL has only one ship that is registered in the USA. and i can't see any SEC requirement applying to a holding company that itself is registered in bermuda and that owns three subsidiaries that use ships also registered outside of the USA. but, hey, maybe that's just me. i'm funny that way. i've also been told that cash tips are pooled among staff shift workers.

i'm no labor expert, and i certainly could be wrong, but there are some collective bargaining arrangements with most cruise lines and the cruise lines are signatories to ITF guidelines, but you don't have to be a union member to work onboard an NCL ship, with the exception of pride of america (SIU). the ITF is not a union per se, but a consortium of unions representing all manner of worldwide transportation workers. if NCL employees had union representation, it would be unlikely that some of them would be required to work 60 - 70 hours a week. my understanding is that the only union employees NCL has in customer contact positions (servers, bartenders, guest services, stewards, etc.) are on the pride of america, which is registered in the USA. the union is the SIU (seafarers international union). if NCL were paying union negotiated wages across the fleet, your cruise fare would be substantially higher. shipboard performers do not generally have to belong to actors' equity, either... most performers are non-union, although when a ship is docked in port, such as new york, for a few days, NCL may be obligated to pay actors under a negotiated equity contract.

i'll bite. what's a roving bartender? i'm not sure i've ever seen one, although i'm not sure i would know one if one was standing (or roving) in front of me. is this a bartender who "roves" from table to table, much like a mariachi band, inquiring if anybody is thirsty?

the crew is part of a union? please do go on.

i'm not an expert on refundable OBC, as i rarely have it. but logic dictates that if it's refundable, it's as good as cash and can be used for most - if not all - onboard charges. but i have no personal experience with this.

ordinary nonrefundable OBC, that is to say, OBC that has not been acquired through the purchase of cruise next credits, can not be applied to the purchase of cruise next credits. in. other words, you can't purchase cruise next credits with nonrefundable OBC, exception: the special OBC they issue after you purchase cruise next credits can and will be be applied to that purchase.

the doors are definitely there... in every vibe which adjoins the haven sun deck. i haven't been on the escape, but if it's anything like every other ship i have been on, the doors are marked for emergency use and or authorized use only. i've seen them used by attendants and bartenders who had to deliver towels or liquor from one side to the other, by cleaning crews, by execs conducting a tour and, in one case, for getting an individual in a wheel chair into the vibe. i've never seen them used by guests to travel routinely from one side to the other, but, then again, most haven guests don't buy vibe access.

and the folks who argue that point invariably are the same who justify surreptitiously vaping on the pool deck, in the nonsmoking casino and in the MDR. and who justify hogging chairs and who justify bring controlled substances onboard and who smoke cigarettes on their balconies. and who justify the sharing of drink packages. and who ask for their balcony dividers to be opened. and who justify the breaking of many other rules while onboard. "i'm breaking this rule responsibly, it's OK if i do this because i know what i'm doing, there's no real safety or fire issue, that's just silly. i know better than NCL's fire wardens and risk assessors. and it's because of these other people over there, not me, that we can't have nice things." slope just got a whole lot more slippery.

that's exactly what i'm saying! the net cost is half price, but they do that by giving you 50% of it in a special kind of nonrefundable OBC which can be applied to the cruise next purchase you just made.

when i was on the prima last year, at one of my meals in onda, there was a guy a few tables away who was rather disruptive filming his entire meal, with two other guests, who looked like they may have bene his parents. i couldn't hear what they were saying, but the episode was completely disruptive because he kept two bright ring lights on almost the whole meal, casting light well beyond his table. and he was wearing a rather large rig that contained the lighting and camera equipment. in my opinion, it was undignified and not in keeping with the ambience of the restaurant. i thought at the time that it should have been banned in the same way shorts and flip flops are banned.

don't fall prey to the "i must spend the OBC before i leave the ship" ploy. it's what NCL wants you to believe, so you go around buying over priced high margin trinkets and baubles and doodads. it's what makes a conversation with a cruise next consultant akin to a convo with a time share salesperson. even though your cruise next OBC is nonrefundable, and even though there are very specific rules for which charges OBC may be applied to, the full amount of OBC can be applied to the cruise next credits you just purchased. as i understand it, the OBC will be applied to the cruise next purchase before all other charges. it is a very special kind of nonrefundable OBC designed to offset cruise next purchases.

midnight ET (miami time).

you can't select your boarding time. you can select your check-in time. when you check-in online, you can choose a time for in person check-in. boarding will probably begin sometime between 11 and 11:30, with haven having first dibs, followed by mobility-impaired and disabled, and the usual suspects... elite latitudes members, those who have purchased priority boarding and then guests in order of their boarding card numbers.

don't be sorry. people are allowed to think different things. but you're disagreeing with what exactly? that i have never thought to order a drink form a buffet attendant? i assure you, i have not. that the primary role of a buffet attendant is to clear plates? that the buffet has no service bar? that most people don't order drinks from the buffet attendant? with what do you disagree? i think we're in complete agreement. a buffet attendant would likely be delighted to bring a drink and a tip would be appropriate under such a circumstance.

perhaps. but door decorations were actually banned on NCL due to valid fire and safety concerns, not because people were stealing magnets or papier-mâché effigies. i'm thankful for that and support that. i have found the numbers adjacent to the door to be a great help in finding my cabin. they are invariably sequential and unique, with no cabin numbers repeated. i'd never be able to find my cabin without this helpful guidance and i recommend this method to all concerned about the ban on door decorations. as for magnets on the wall... presumably we're talking about the wall in the hallway outside your cabin? i can understand why some guests think they "own" the door and have a right to decorate it (they don't), but the adjoining wall? really? you placed a magnet in a public walkway? and expected it to remain there?

i've stayed in the haven. i've had vibe passes. without a doubt, the service in the vibe is far and away much better than the service on the haven sun deck. i can see why folks might want to do this, but it seems so extravagant. i typically do back-to-backs... a vibe pass could run $500 - $600 for the entire duration of the cruises. there is also a logistical problem. while, on most ships, the haven sun deck and the vibe are right next door to each other, there is no easy way to get from one to the other. there is typically a door or two, with an emergency alarm on it connecting the two areas, as well as a warning saying "authorized personnel only" or some such. if you don't get permission to travel through that door, you will have to exit the haven complex and go all the way around to enter the vibe.

i'd have no problem with atrium entertainment if it wasn't adjacent to the local or o'sheehan's. you want a gathering place for folks to listen to music and "deal or no deal" and watch movies and cruise next presentations? have at it! just don't make me listen to it at absurdly loud volumes when i'm trying to eat a reuben sandwich.

i certainly agree that a tip is appropriate in the buffet if somebody brings you a drink. the buffets generally have a bar which accommodates walkup guests for cocktail, mocktail and soda orders. there is no separate service bar and, frankly, i have never seen a buffet attendant (can't really call them "servers" since they typically only pick up plates and clean tables) bring a guest a drink. nor have i seen a guest ask for one. guests typically get their own juices, water, coffee and tea. and go to the bar to order whatever else they desire. i suppose the attendant would happily bring a drink, they are very customer-focused, and it makes sense for guests with mobility issues, but the primary role of the buffet attendants is to clear and clean tables and ensure condiments and napkin/silverware packets are replenished. i've never even thought to ask one to get a drink.

servers are covered by the OSC. bartenders are theoretically covered by the gratuity on the drink package or the per drink gratuity, if no drink package. i say "theoretically" because nobody really knows what NCL does with the money collected for the OSC or gratuities and there is no direct relationship between the money you pay for those programs on your specific cruise and the compensation that staff later receives (if they get anything at all). remember that some or all of your onboard service charges may go to fund other employee incentive programs and may not be distributed as cash or bonus payments to staff and may not go to the staff with whom you interact.

maybe. but probably not. frankly, it doesn't really work that way anymore. that's your daddy's roaming plan. i mean, sure, it's a good idea. you don't want any unexpected charges. by all means, get in the habit of putting your phone on airplane mode (which i assume is what you meant to say, rather than turning it "off") when you leave a port. in fact, recently i was pulling into saint maarten, or so i thought. i saw land. we were, in fact, sailing by anguilla, which is just next door. sure enough, when i got my bill... there was a $10 a day international day pass charge for anguilla, but no charge for saint maarten, so the cell providers seem to be aware of this possibility. verizon only charged me for one country that day, even though i accidentally activated in two. they seem to have some fail safe mechanisms built into the system. (the way their plan is written the charge is indeed supposed to be per day per country.) they might have a minimum usage requirement... if you don't text, use data or make or receive a phone call in the few seconds you're connected, there may be no charge. similarly, the way they do "roaming at sea" plans now, what verizon calls a "cruise daily pass," for which they charge $30 a day, is that they require you to opt in. you can opt in before the cruise by texting a certain number. or if you connect while on the cruise (accidentally or otherwise), verizon will text you and you must respond affirmatively by texting back in order to activate your roaming cruise pass. i know because this recently happened to me! i can't speak for AT&T, but i would hope they operate their plans in a similar manner. so, the days of accidentally racking up hundreds of dollars in charges would seem to be a thing of the past. also, the ship turns off its cellular network once its within 12 nautical miles of its destination. so, there is a buffer during which you can remember to put your phone on airplane mode. this also means that you may be able to pick up regular cellular service for a decent amount of time while headed in and out of port. i usually have cell service out of manhattan for a good 30 or 40 minutes or so. bottom line... you can connect to the "cellular at sea" network without authorizing the service and incur no charges.