sailorusvi

We work in the hospitality industry, including working at resorts in the island. We know how it works. Part is getting better service, tipping more than average is acknowledging we know the job can be hard. The vacationing public can be jerks sometimes. Their expectations are so high, they take out issues on the staff, even though it's sometimes out of their control.

We are tippers. Sure sometimes it doesn't provide better service, but more often than not it does. I know for a fact our tips gave us better service in some situations on the cruise. As someone who worked for tips, it did make an impact my service to someone, but sometimes it just wasn't possible due to other circumstances. Or in some cases, they were just a-holes and their extra money wasn't worth the extra service.

I've only been on one NLC cruise (the other ones were in the 80-90's) and saw cash tips, other than ourselves. I wouldn't say a lot, but definitely saw them.

I posted above the fan I brought with no issue. Maybe I just got lucky? It charges via USB, so electricity shouldn't have been an issue.

We found the buffet was the quickest place to get breakfast. We were in the Haven and our cabin was on the deck 15. It was easy to just walk to the buffet and grab something quick instead of going to the Haven Dining room (which we did go most days, but sometimes we just wanted small and quick).

I don't know about others, but I "need" circulating air to sleep. I don't find HVAC system fans to meet my needs in that way (but it does for cooling purposes). Even in the winter I have a fan on and often an open window for fresh air. It also doubles a white noise.

PVSA fines the cruise line if someone departs the ship before going to a foreign port first. That is because foreign flagged cruiseships are unable to transport people directly from a US city to another US city. If the cruise line gets fined, they pass the fine on to the passenger.

Hairdryer or not I would jump on villa if it's available. When we booked all the umbrellas, clamshells, cabanas and villas were sold out. There were like 3 chairs there were shady for about an hour. I was miserable and went back to the ship after a few hours. If budget is not an issue get the villa or at the very least some sort of shade.

We were in the Haven and DH was drinking Blanton's as his sipping bourbon. Woodford Reserve (not really expensive) was his go to for old fashions.

The only slips I saw were when we went to the specialty dining restaurants. Otherwise, I didn't notice getting any. I kind-of remember others getting slips though. We had the Premium Plus Package and consumed items within the package, maybe that is why we didn't get one? We would have tipped cash regardless.

🤷‍♀️ I managed to carry around cash, along with my room card and phone (for taking pictures). It's not that hard. We work in the hospitality industry and always tip. Curse of working in the industry is over tipping. 🙂 To an outside observer it might have looked like DH was Henry Hill walking through the Copacabana in the Goodfellas. That's us though. Tip if you want, don't tip if you don't want to. Your choice.

Things change fast at NCL, but last month on Getaway if you were using your Specialty Dining credit at the a la carte restaurants, you were able to get 1 app, 1 salad, 1 entrée (some options may have an upcharge) and 1 dessert. You were not able to sub say an app for a salad (or vice versa). It was 1 of each.

Interesting I brought this fan last month on Getaway with no issues. https://www.amazon.com/AICase-Portable-Telescopic-Rechargeable-Adjustable/dp/B07STBKKKL/ref=sxin_18_ac_d_hl?ac_md=2-1-U21hbGwgQnVzaW5lc3MgQnJhbmQ%3D-ac_d_hl_hl_sb&content-id=amzn1.sym.ea5a3043-3172-4e81-bcc4-eb7524db4f7c%3Aamzn1.sym.ea5a3043-3172-4e81-bcc4-eb7524db4f7c&cv_ct_cx=usb+fans+portable+rechargeable&keywords=usb+fans+portable+rechargeable&pd_rd_i=B07STBKKKL&pd_rd_r=477faa57-405b-4d38-a02e-1a663dd7add5&pd_rd_w=T4HIB&pd_rd_wg=PUz8x&pf_rd_p=ea5a3043-3172-4e81-bcc4-eb7524db4f7c&pf_rd_r=PQ50BWVFS2FF3KJE24YQ&qid=1679168692&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=usb+fan%2Caps%2C99&sr=1-2-25fd44b4-555a-4528-b40c-891e95133f20

As someone who lived in the USVI and husband had to order for a large hotel, I find it odd also. Nothing really grows in the USVI. There are some small farms, but not enough to sustain the island, let alone a ship(s). Everything is shipped in (at a cost as there is an excise tax in addition to customs for items produced outside of the US). I can't imagine anything would be cheaper (except rum 🙂 ). Maybe the containership had a container for the ship and they were in port at the same time? Not sure, but again a little odd.

My first cruise was in high school on RCL. It was a 5-day out of NYC to Bermuda. I honestly do not remember much other than we had fun, tons of food, had our own table (family of 6) and had to dressed up a few times. Oh and my brother was able to get peanut butter and jelly for dinner every night. 2nd was Christmas in 1989(?) on the SS Constitution around the Hawaiian Islands (ran by American Hawaii Cruises). Service wasn't as good as RCL, but lots of food. I remember having fun, a guy above our cabin died of a heart attack (woke up to them preforming CPR) and enjoyed island hopping. 3rd was a 12-day Mediterranean Cruise in 1997 on the Pacific Princess (aka The Love Boat) with my parents and a good friend. When were standing in line to embark when an old couple behind us tapped my friend and I on the shoulder and asked "Why are on this cruise? Most of us our newly married or nearly dead!" 🤣😂 While they were not completely wrong, we had a blast. Everyone knew us. We were invited to the captain's 50th birthday party, buzzed around on Vespas in Greece only to have other passengers wave at us from the buses. Everyone wanted to sit with us and ask about our exciting day, what drinks we tried, etc. (basically live vicariously through us). We dressed up a few nights (sucked to have to take so much luggage for clothes), had great table mates, tore up the dance floor with the "old people". When we got to Barcelona at 12 am the crew let us off the boat to party, then "snuck" us back on only a few hours before we were to disembark. The food was great, drinks great (bar bill wasn't too bad as my parents and all the "old people" seem to buy us a lot of drinks 😛 ). My parents had a balcony room, girlfriend and me had a small inside cabin that I'm pretty sure was only slightly larger than the size of our bathroom on the Getaway last month. 4th one was last month on the Getaway. The ships are so much bigger and overwhelming. Honestly, I think our biggest complaint was just the amount of people. The food was good, service isn't what I remembered from before, but still good. I read all the reviews and I get the complaints. I work in the hospitality industry, so I understand the challenges the industry has. Cuts need to be made, some because of supply chain issues. Other times because of staffing. People LOVE to be served, but fewer and fewer people want to be doing the serving. It's going to be harder for these large ships to get staff, not easier (even with higher salaries). It's a reality in the industry these days. I think we will go again, only in the Haven or choose a smaller ship. Likes other said, it's just different then when I went in the past.

We did too, but maybe we were the stuff 50+ year old crowd??

We went to Sid Norman's 3 nights and got to pick any seat we wanted before they opened the doors. One of the Haven staff also worked at Sid's, and he would save us "our" seats. We enjoyed that perk a lot on a busy ship. Sure beats having to stand in line first. Other trips it might not matter, as much as our trip.

We sailed last week during a school break. The ship was insanely crowded, the highlighted, plus access to the Haven Lounge, bar & restaurants made the upgrade worth it to us alone. The other stuff were just extra. Does anyone actually say "Look we can get a distinctive platinum keycard, I HAVE to book the Haven"? 😁

Doesn't work that way. They pay a fee on your behalf regardless if you leave the ship or not. The word "port" doesn't mean only if you are at a physical port or stepped off the boat. The often include arrival/departure fees for just being in the local waters.

It was reported there was 1800 kids, with some 50-60 in Haven. NJ/NY/CT all get President's week off (Feb 20-24) and Getaway sailed out of NYC. So it was an easy port for that area. Unless they took kids out of school, they wouldn't have been on your cruise. I'm guessing it was a one off. The Haven staff even said there were way more kids then Xmas-NYE week. Wasn't thrilled it was our cruise.

The entire hospitality industry has staffing issues. Seems everyone loves to be served, but few want to do the serving. Most places have no choice but to raise salaries to attract workers. Even with higher salaries, some places still do not have enough staff and have to also cut services. Cruise lines are not immune to this trend. Don't get me wrong, I get everyone's disappointment. Especially if you are long time cruiser or booked a while back and they keep moving the posts. Feels like bait and switch. On another note, what's with people thinking hospitality workers "need to listen to" them and perform services no longer offered because they are paying part of their salary? All customers, regardless of industry partially pays workers' salaries. I can't think of another industry where it's acceptable to make such demands, but customers do this to hospitality workers all the time. And we wonder why hospitality companies have problems finding workers.

This.

The next port was NY which was our disembarkation port.

We just got off the Getaway and I had issues logging in the first time, but then it started working. The only other time I had issues was when they swapped Bermuda for Miami. My app still had Bermuda, but others had switched to Miami. DH never did get his to work. He enjoyed no one was able to contact him and never asked for assistance.

chocolate chip. I felt bad for the steward who had to clean it up. They were stuck in the door frame too.