hawkeyetlse

Just to point out that the $80 (assuming you are referring to the daily service charge) is not just for 15 minutes of housekeeping, it's also for (complimentary) dining all day long.

If you participate in activities led by the cruise director's staff (trivia and other games), instead of giving out prizes right away, they give everybody who took part a signature on their "activity card". You collect as many signatures as you can during the cruise, and then on the last night you can exchange them for some Norwegian logo items (keychains, t-shirts, mugs). No need to sign up, just show up for an activity and go collect your signature afterwards.

THANK YOU for this information! We only got dribs and drabs of this text from others with TA access up to now, but after 100+ messages we finally have NCL's full statement of policy! And what a terrible policy it is! Both in its content and in the way customers are not made aware of it, unless they use a TA and that TA thinks of warning them.

They used a financing program called "Uplift". So the full amount was paid to NCL before sailing, but they were (and are still) responsible for continuing to make payments to Uplift until the debt is cleared.

You must mean with Free At Sea, but the OP is asking about Latitudes perks (I assume Platinum and above). Officially you get the same 2 dinner vouchers per cabin no matter how long the cruise is. Officially one bag of laundry per person per cruise (but the unpublished benefit seems to be one additional bag for 14+ days, maybe another one for 21+ days). Definitely ask about that on board. Also, the longer the cruise is, the more Latitudes points you get 😎

If it was so easy to get your reservation cancelled for trying to add excursions, dining/beverages, internet/spa/diapers, pre-paid gratuities, etc. after final payment, then it would be happening right and left, to thousands of passengers, and that is simply not the case. I believe the basic story of what happened to this customer, and that it had something to do with unpaid ground transfers, but people add ground transfers after final payment all the time, and some percentage of them must screw up the payment the first time or just fail to finalize the purchase, and I don't think their bookings get cancelled immediately. Because again I think we would be hearing about it.

You can wait a couple of days to upgrade/purchase, but then as far as I know you have to pay for all of the remaining days of the cruise. But who knows, if you use your wiles on the Internet Manager…

It's a little premature to suggest that this is NCL's new evil plan, based on just one example. If it starts happening all over the place, then we have a problem.

If you're sitting right at the bar watching people order and get served, it's not uncommon to see a flash of cash (more typically at indoor bars than up at the pool). Or sometimes it's much less discreet, like when people are giving more substantial tips to their favorite staff members at the end of the cruise and you can't help overhearing a whole thank you/goodbye conversation. But if you usually sit at your own table, and you're not the kind to spend your cruise monitoring what other guests are doing, then I'm sure it's perfectly possible never to notice any cash tipping. And (at least for now) the bar staff will never pressure you for an additional tip, or give you worse service if you don't tip extra.

Specialty coffee, i.e. espresso drinks, have been excluded from NCL's unlimited beverage package since the very beginning (late 2013). Long before they started putting Starbuckses on board. Same with energy drinks, fresh squeezed juices, bottled water. These are all things that cost a lot less than the alcoholic drinks that they will give you unlimited quantities of, so people have been asking/wondering/complaining about these exclusions on a regular basis for the past 10 years. As for "why" these categories are excluded, it's because NCL gets to make up the rules. I guess they figured that people who really want these drinks will suck it up and pay a couple dollars more, on top of their package. And people who don't really care can settle for regular coffee, regular juice, tap water/club soda. And maybe because they were already thinking ahead to when they would offer an upgraded package that would include them (although this didn't happen until many years later).

Both will be graciously accepted. Crew members spend most of their time on board, so they mostly operate in USD, but if you're based in the UK/Europe, there is no need to go out of your way to get USD in cash. Euros are absolutely fine. You can even give them GBP. Even if they can't use it right away, or have to go through extra steps to use it, you're still giving them money (as opposed to giving them nothing). It will be appreciated.

I suspect that if you click all the way through and make a "mock booking" (courtesy hold), the correct offer will appear on the confirmation they send you. In general this is the only way you can be sure exactly what deals you are getting if you book by yourself on the website. You can always call later and get a human to modify things, or cancel the hold (or just let it expire).

A lot travel agents assume (probably correctly) that people won't know what these codes mean and will just get worried/confused if they see them, so they don't mention them in the documents they send you. If you contact your TA they should be able to tell you the codes on your booking, or just send you the confirmation from NCL. You can also try calling NCL (they will probably tell you to go through your TA but this seems like information they should be able to give you directly). There is nowhere to look this up yourself online, you'll have to call someone.

You can write a letter to the General Manager about it and leave it at the front desk. I don't know what they'll do with it, but they're the ones who need to know, and who have any sort of input to corporate. Adjusting the DSC, and mentioning anything about housekeeping as the reason, probably just gets your steward in trouble.

I don't know who the cruise director will be on the Epic in May, but I would find them a few days before the finals and suggest that they schedule a viewing party on the big screen in the Atrium or at Spice H2O. If it's all Americans on board they might not see the point, but otherwise it should definitely attract a fun crowd, and be good for evening atmosphere, bar sales, etc.

There is Hola Tapas (Grandiosa) and Hola Tacos (Virtuosa). I don't think there are any restrictions at Hola Tapas (except Easy package doesn't work). Hola Tacos is supposedly totally excluded but they will actually let you use Easy Plus or Premium Extra package for some drinks there.

You can add unlimited Starbucks for $12.95 pppd + 20%.

There is a unique energy in the buffet on embarkation day that you can only experience once per cruise. You can have lunch in the MDR or O'Sheehan's some other time.

It sounds like lots of people are asking to get early cabin service, so if you don't say anything, your cabin will probably get pushed to 3-6pm. And if too many people ask for morning service, the attendant has to guess which ones will cause him/her the most grief and actually do their cabins early, and hope for the best with everyone else. I wouldn't like to be in their position, but I guess increased communication and flexibility (on both the steward's and the guests' part) can go a long way towards making this all work. I'd rather have my cabin done before 3pm every day, but if I'm told it needs to be later, I can plan around it without too much inconvenience.

Nobody knows exactly how NCL distributes the DSC (although you mentioned beverage service, and that department does not get a share, because there is a separate service charge on drinks). It's primarily for housekeeping and complimentary dining (and unspecified behind-the-scenes crew). So if you remove your DSC, I guess we can assume it somehow, eventually takes money away from those departments. If you are unsatisfied with your cabin attendant, reduce the DSC by whatever amount you feel is appropriate but be sure to tell guest services why you're doing it. It doesn't necessarily mean that they will definitely withhold exactly that amount from your steward's pay for that cruise, but I'm pretty sure they will suffer some negative consequences from your complaint (hopefully after making sure it is justified).

It has been many years since that was the case. I can't even remember how long ago they changed it to "per cabin". Although technically it is not per cabin, because if you have 3 or more Platinum(+) guests in the same cabin, you get extra vouchers (sometimes just for one person). But I only know about this second-hand.

There have been a few earlier threads about this, with some conflicting info, but overall it looks like no, this upgrade cannot be purchased on board, only pre-cruise.

I thought about that, but they only need a handful of cabins to keep them busy before 9 am and I think they get that on most port days, too. When it gets to 20+ cabins for one cabin attendant I start to understand people that bring their own Lysol wipes etc. and do their own cleaning on embarkation day. Nothing against the housekeeping crew, it’s just not a reasonable task for a single human.

In the past I think it was reasonable to expect the first cleaning to be done by lunchtime or 2pm, except maybe on sea days. But if each cabin attendant now has more cabins to do (certainly not double the number, but more) and each cabin now takes longer to make up (because it hasn't been serviced for a full 24 hours), then everyone needs to adjust their expectations accordingly. Someone earlier in this thread said that their attendant went from 15 to 22 cabins. But if the everyday cleaning takes until 6pm, I'm amazed that they can have all cabins ready on turnaround day earlier than that. Imagine turning around 22 cabins in one morning!

Easy solution: pack a strawberry huller (in your carry-on, so you don't have to wait for luggage delivery to eat them). They look better whole (admit it, how many of you take a photo of the strawberries every single time), and it's easier and more hygienic to dip them with the stems on, as opposed to skewering the flesh.