Sinbadssailors

Tired of the media. Ships don't wait for independent excursions. That's never been a thing.

Assume they'll be very strict: https://www.cnn.com/travel/cruise-passengers-stranded-norwegian/index.html

Really tired of these "stranded passengers" stories. https://www.cnn.com/travel/cruise-passengers-stranded-norwegian/index.html

We just returned from an expedition cruise to Antarctica(last weekend) on Seabourn. The problem with this NCL debacle is the same as always - a serious lack of communication. Not communicating the reasons for the change leads to speculation and anger. So truly typical of NCL to not share the details. Our cruising speed was limited to 10 knots because of ice/safety(it IS late summer there, with a lot of drifting ice sheets and icebergs). It's quite possible that NCL was planning on a speedier journey to Paradise Bay and simply couldn't do it at an imposed lower speed. A letter in the cabin, followed by a geography presentation of the revised itinerary -- in the theater and broadcast on the TV --- would've been the correct way to handle it. They should've treated it like the big deal it was/is to their paying passengers. Explain in detail and acknowledge the impact on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not radio silence, like they've done something wrong and are afraid of questions. BTW Antarctica is amazing, no matter how you see it - but 4 hours is not the same as 2 days.

FYI We're on the Pursuit right now and the store is woefully understocked. If you're a size man's small or petite small woman, you're golden. Otherwise, I wouldn't count on buying clothing on board.

. Hope this holds true in December on the Equinox. Bread is no fun/not worth the calories when spread with flavored/colored Crisco. I expect real butter on Celebrity.

I've sailed MSC in Bella up to Yacht Club, and insides and balconies in all "experiences", on old and new and big and small ships, both before and after covid. Food has a definite Italian slant and also fewer meat dishes, but more seafood. Some love it, some hate it. Your fellow passengers could very much influence your cruise. There aren't as many Americans, which can be great/interesting, but there can also be cultural differences beyond dressing for dinner, that aren't so great. Like failure to queue. With actual pushing. In my opinion: Ships are beautiful, their private island is the best. The shows can be odd. The costumes are definitely odd. Fewer guitarists around the ship, but more pianos and violins. Performers all very good though. The buffet is bad. Except for pizza, pizza is wonderful,as is the gelato. Aurea is best bang for your buck because of the separate anytime dining room. The set dining times are annoying in 2023, but, in my experience, flexible. We've never had problem getting a truly private table and the times are fluid. I've seen people stroll in an hour late, as the others at the table were leaving. It's that la dulce vita/don't sweat the small stuff approach of enjoying what you're doing without rushing off to your assigned time for whatever. Unlikely that the DR doors will be closed 15 minutes after 6 pm dinner on MSC. Again some love it, some hate it. But you can definitely have fantastic trip without being in the Yacht Club .

This year: Full MSC Grandiosa in January and we were in the cabin before 1 Full NCL Bliss in May and cabins available at 3:30 (although we were all instructed to be on board by 3). Hotels don't require you to CHECK-IN BEFORE YOUR ROOM IS READY!!!! Full Enchanted Princess in June and in cabin at 1:30 NCL needs to hire more staff. Period. Other lines manage while charging lower DSC and NCL fares are on par with the others. It's not like NCL is a bargain in comparison. Branch out, try other lines, and stop making excuses for poor service and bad company policies. 3:30, 4:30, 5:00 is ridiculous. But they'll do it as long as we let them. And as long as people blame the passengers for not being "understanding"/giving staff a break. This is how we ended up with DSC in the first place, and gratuties on the "free" beverage package --- "What? You're going to deny staff their tips?!!" And here we are.

Forgive me if this doesn't work, I've never posted a pic before. This was this morning on the Enchanted. We've been on board since June 10th and the connection has always been slow. I've never seen it connected to Starlink

It's still annoying. And doesn't happen on other lines. Also, land hotels don't require you to check in before your room is ready.

It's likely because few plan for this very long delay in accessing the cabins. On the Bliss, we were told that all-aboard was 3:00 in Seattle - and yet the cabins weren't available until 3:30. Doors were closed to passenger areas so no quick drop of the carry-on possible. So we were in the buffet with bags and, once we read the Daily, faced with carrying said bags to luggage storage on 6 (or waiting for a slow elevator on embarkation day), then make our way back to 6 to get our bags(by a certain time and likely a line)when cabins finally opened, and trudging to our cabin on 14. Carrying bags up 7 floors or again wasting time at aforementioned slow elevator. We just didn't expect this on the first day. And that's how we ended up hogging a buffet table for hours. Nearly 50 cruises on 6 different lines over 20 years and we've never been kept from the cabins for so long. Never a half hour after all-aboard. This isn't passenger friendly. It's not normal practice, and it never occurred to me that it would be so different on NCL. The fact that their passengers think it's normal means it's rarely mentioned here. It does make for a disappointing start. Our cruise got better and we ended up having a great time and we'll know for next time. But why annoy people on the first day?

Thank you for this update. And thank you to whoever linked the original thread that I missed. I didn't hear that they eventually reopened at least part of it -- didn't hear that because that incredibly relevant thread has been locked. $100 obc or whatever isn't at all acceptable. I know where I would've spent the hours I would otherwise be in the OL- haunting guest services. If a group wants an entire section for the entire cruise, then they should charter the entire cruise. Period. Otherwise the rest of us are just supplementing their private experience.

The Observation Lounge was closed? For the whole week?! We were on the Bliss in May and spent entire days in the OL, along with hundreds of others. We enjoyed it so much, I've been looking at only ships with an OL for our next NCL cruise. I have no idea what we would've done without it since we didn't have a balcony and it was often raining. I would've been livid to find it closed for an entire week on a cold weather sailing.

There will always be new customers, and those willing to pay for things and not receive them. And/or have extra fees and taxes added once they're on board. Apparently.

A product is a product. It's never okay to provide less - not without compensation. These people are due compensation for the days they were not provided with what was purchased in advance and I'm glad at least some are getting cash instead of FCC. I couldn't care less how difficult it is to value the missing parts of a package.

When I buy a car, I expect 4 tires. The tires are part of the package even if their value isn't specified. If one's missing, I'm owed...something. It's not my problem to figure out the value- It's up to the company that sold me a package with parts missing. This thread has become something of an echo chamber.

The beverage package isn't free in the US either. We definitely pay more upfront to have drinks included and have to pay added gratuities for that add-on. The entire price is supposedly paid in full before boarding. I thought it was decided a long time ago on this board that free meant "freedom" in this case and not "without charge". Nothing confusing about being refunded for something purchased but not received. Also nothing confusing about wanting a refund for taxes charged today on something purchased and paid for months ago. I don't understand why anyone is charged taxes on individual drinks when they're not purchasing individual drinks.

Why is this tax/fee charged on the value of the drink but not the value of the dinner? When both were part of the purchased package? I have a problem with being charged tax on something I'm not buying at that moment in time. I'm just collecting my pre-purchased item

No one would expect that. Then again, my problem was years ago. A visit from security officers(as happened to the OP) might be a new policy haha

One of the best things I've read in ages, every word of it! Thank you Those of the TLDR-mindset missed a great recap of what it's like to convince NCL of an actual problem. NCL does seem to think, "most won't care/complain- we'll just deal with the few who do", rather than fix a known issue. FWIW I believe you - this isn't normal noise. Normal creaking doesn't force people to sleep on the bathroom floor. The frustration, on top of being sleep deprived, makes things so much worse. We had a noise problem in an owner's suite years ago on NCL and it took them 3 days to finally give us a sleeping cabin. We weren't expected to move out of the OS, just given those blank keys for the other cabin. A security detail never came to that cabin to question us though lol - seriously, that made me laugh. Just not surprising at all. Sadly. One time we were in an inside on a very new Carnival ship. There was an intermittent banging noise that would wake us many times every hour the first night. At 3am I staggered to guest services and complained. A person came to our cabin a few minutes later and hung out for nearly a half hour. It never made the noise, while I insisted it had been fairly constant. The person promised to pass on the info and I would hear from someone in the morning. Interestingly, I didn't hear the sound again. The next morning I was contacted and asked how I slept. I told them I didn't hear the noise again. I was then told they were pretty sure what was causing it but couldn't fix it during my cruise. They said they had found another cabin for us and to just pack and stop by guest services for our new keys. Our steward would then move our bags to the new cabin. Our new inside cabin had a bottle of champagne waiting, and an apology. Things happen. It's how they're handled that really matters.

It doesn't seem to matter what country, what port or what ship since there's no consistency. And, while it's nice for the people who cruise in the future if/when this is resolved, there's no way to know whether I'll be the unlucky one on my next NCL sailing.

A friend just returned from a 20+ day sailing on the Regal. They overlapped with 7 and 14 sailings. She never cleared the wait list for one seat on an excursion in Wales. I don't know what her place on the list was, but this was months before the cruise.

Thank you. Interesting... and dumb lol

We just used the light rail last weekend. There's a track problem requiring a change/bus beyond Pioneer Square toward Westlake. We walked to Pioneer, boarded the train and rode straight to the airport for $3 pp. Easy. Know that the walk at the airport is ridiculously long, but we travel with carry-ons only, so it's manageable.

This is interesting. Last week on the Bliss there was weirdness for the 3 hour stop in Victoria. Signs stated that only one bar per deck could be open while we were in port, due to Canadian regulations. Put a damper on the last night since we didn't leave until 11 pm or so and the few open bars were then crowded. Wine with dinner took a long time to arrive because of it.