njhorseman

The term "ship time" is generally used to mean the local time in the ship's home port, and NCL and most other cruise lines do not stay on "ship time'' as defined this way, but adjust to match local port of call time in almost all instances.

In 30+ years of cruising on NCL and dozens of cruises I can only remember two or three instances when the ship's time was not adjusted to match local port time, so no, everything does not stay on "ship time" . Carnival tends to not adjust to local port time but other cruise lines generally do.

Have you read the immediately preceeding discussion? I'll state once more that the quote you're citing was not in response to a question about whether NCL refunds port charges for a missed port call. It was in reply to a question about whether NCL refunds port charges when a passenger cancels their cruise after final payment. NCL absolutely does and in fact I just had to cancel two cruises after final payment due date and I received 100% of my taxes and port charges back as well as my free at sea gratuities. I've had to do this a couple of times over the years and have always received a refund of my port charges, even if I was not due one penny of refunds on the fare.

You quoted it out of the context of the question that it was answering. Because the thread is about port fee refunds the question was also asked about whether port fees are refunded when the passenger cancels the cruise. You can't take one sentence that's posted in the middle of a long thread that's been active for over a week and assume it's exactly about the topic of the original post. If a poster asks a related question it deserves to be answered. Only the board moderator gets to determine whether a tangent taken on a thread is too far off topic. It's not your call.

The ship is definitely in port in Buenos Aires. I see it on marinetraffic.com. I'm reasonably certain there's only one cruise port in Buenos Aires and that Puerto Madero is the name of the neighborhood, not the cruise terminal. I've only disembarked, not embarked, in Buenos Aires so I didn't pay attention to names or exact locations.

You quoted my statement "Port fees absolutely are refunded by NCL" completely out of context. My statement was answering a question about what charges are refunded by NCL when you, the passenger, cancel a cruise after final payment. It had absolutely nothing to do with what NCL might or might not refund in the event of a port of call being cancelled.

Regardless of where you stay the night before you're going to have to do some driving in the city. I can't say how much and what type of city driving is going to stress you out, but in either of the scenarios I've laid out below you wouldn't be driving in the heart of Manhattan . You could stay in Ridgefield Park, NJ...possibly at the Hilton Garden Inn or Hampton Inn, which would put you an hour or less from the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal . I you look at this map you'll see route choices that are on the periphery of Manhattan: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hampton+Inn+Ridgefield+Park,+U.S.+46,+Ridgefield+Park,+NJ/Brooklyn+Cruise+Terminal,+72+Bowne+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11231/@40.7657823,-74.0611451,12z/data=!4m19!4m18!1m10!1m1!1s0x89c2f7713dc60907:0x9bfdaf3e37a656d9!2m2!1d-74.0148318!2d40.8447094!3m4!1m2!1d-73.9445062!2d40.8451574!3s0x89c2f69908c35679:0x195751cd08b7f1ed!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a608f28f8ff:0x3d0fc7b4341f3ece!2m2!1d-74.0148956!2d40.6821096!3e0 Another possibility is to stay on Staten Island at either the Hilton Garden Inn or Hampton Inn there, which are a little closer to the cruise terminal, but probably a bit out of your way if you're coming from Ohio and perhaps using I-80 ? In this case you would avoid Manhattan altogether and be driving in Staten Island and Brooklyn, but traffic in Brooklyn can be bad too. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Hampton+Inn+%26+Suites+Staten+Island,+South+Avenue,+Staten+Island,+NY/Brooklyn+Cruise+Terminal,+72+Bowne+St,+Brooklyn,+NY+11231/@40.6424707,-74.1218844,13z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c24cf0eb446f2d:0x429f0e108860f57b!2m2!1d-74.1788882!2d40.6130952!1m5!1m1!1s0x89c25a608f28f8ff:0x3d0fc7b4341f3ece!2m2!1d-74.0148956!2d40.6821096!3e0

My sister and brother-in-law are supposed to be on that cruise. They will not be happy campers. Taking a quick look at the Seabourn board someone said that the master didn't announce they were skipping South Georgia until after the ship had left Ushuaia and the ship reportedly then returned to Ushuaia as a substantial number of passengers demanded to be allowed to disembark.

When FDR, Jr. has a year or two as president of Oceania under his belt don't be surprised if he succeeds FDR, Sr. as NCLH CEO.

I used to own a travel agency so I know the games played by some agencies. It's a matter of advertising that is done to attract your business. If a cruise line advertises a $599 fare that by law must include the NCF...let's say the NCF is $100...why should a travel agency be permitted to advertise the same cruise for $499 to make you think they're discounting the fare when if fact they're not. It's an attempt to lure you to their site using misleading information.

I am talking about advertising, not what eventually appears on your invoice. If a cruise line advertises a fare of $599 that includes $100 of NCF...remembering that the cruise must include the $100 in its ad...why should a travel agency be permitted to advertise the fare as $499 ? That misleading ad will make you think that agency discounts fares when it doesn't and make you more likely to go to their website to shop for a cruise.

So you think it's OK for some travel agencies to advertise misleading fares that deceive potential customers by appearing to offer a fare that is less than what they would pay if they booked directly with the cruise line or a different agency when in fact they're actually going to pay the same fare once the NCF is added on ? Why shouldn't all sellers be required to play by the same rules ?

You can opt out of the O life Choice altogether, in which case based on the information you've provided your fare will be $200 per person lower, which may be the best choice for you. The O Life Choice beverage package is only wine and beer with lunch and dinner. There's no additional charge for specialty coffees, tea, sparkling or still waters and soda.

You can't buy a one day pass on advance. They only sell one day passes on board on a space-available basis and when ships were full if they were available at all it was only on port days. You'll have to check when you're on board.

It's not that uncommon for corporations to have nepotism prohibitions but apparently NCLH is not among them While it's certainly not a small business I don't consider NCLH to be a "Megacorp". I think of it as a mid sized company when compared to the company I worked for.

Port fees absolutely are refunded by NCL.

NCF is Non Commissionable Fare. By law the cruise lines are not permitted to display this amount separately to the consumer so it is included in the fare total. They do break it out separately in their invoices to travel agents as it tells the travel agents how much of the fare they will not be paid commissions on. It can include any number of things that the cruise line is not required to disclose. Unfortunately the law does not prohibit travel agents from removing the NCF from fare, which permits the more unscrupulous agencies to advertise "fare" that is lower than the passenger is actually going to pay. The passenger will then only know the actual fare they are paying after getting a bottom line fare quote from the agency that includes the NCF as well as the government taxes, fees and port expenses. See the post just made by @cruiseny4lifethat has a link to an article on NCFs, and NCL's recent policy change on commissions. NCF is NOT port taxes or fees, and NCL will still not be paying commission on those.

Judith, I'm glad to see you can maintain somewhat of a sense of humor about what happened. Does the 🙃 emoji accurately depict what Eileen saw after you fell? I wouldn't think that you had a smile on your face. This might be closer, even though it's right side up . 😢

+1

No...I just cancelled two cruises after the final payment due date and was refunded 100% of the amount charged as "government taxes, fees and port expenses" to quote the exact terminology used by NCL to identify these charges, as well as my Free at Sea gratuities. You are correct. See my recent experience (within the last two weeks) outlined above .

Once again, it has absolutely nothing to do with whether they booked the Haven or were upgraded to the Haven. Every Haven passenger, regardless of how they got there, dines in the Haven restaurant at no additional charge. Charges for beverages are solely the product of what type of beverage package you have, if any. We always decline the beverage package regardless of whether we're in the Haven because we booked it, in the Haven because we were upgraded, or we're in an ordinary non Haven cabin. Haven passengers aren't gifted a beverage package just by virtue of being in the Haven, regardless of whether they booked the Haven or were upgraded to the Haven.

Your timelines are wrong. While FDR certainly was one of those responsible for the demise of Renaissance, he was fired by Renaissance in April 2001, five months before 9/11 . Renaissance ceased operations only two weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Their finances were in horrible shape long before 9/11, and the terrorist attacks merely were the straw that broke the camel's back,.

They also canned the presidents of Regent Seven Seas and Oceania...positions not at the NCLH level but the cruise line operating level. Really familiar name taking over at Oceania...son of the founder.

More than 20 years, and as head of strategic planning I would be the guy working up the numbers and recommendations for the CEO and the board .

No...this is "we're losing our shirts and desperately need to cut expenses". When business is "normal" companies hire, not fire .