expectthebest

Speaking of elevators.. this happened to me and my DW on a 15 day Princess cruise to Hawaii. Now at the time we were in our early 30’s and it was our first time on a 15 day voyage. Median age on this cruise had to be upper 70’s so come 9pm we would have almost the entire ship to ourselves. Anyway.. it was the first of the two formal nights on the cruise and yes you had to dress up and yes it was just divine having an entire ship looking their best. We were getting on the elevator when the doors open and a couple was exiting the elevator leaving one couple still in the elevator with us. Well there stood a man and woman in a tux and a cocktail dress. They had to be in their late 70’s he strongly resembled Paul Newman and she Diane Keaton. We step in with them and say good evening.. they smile and he turns to his wife and says..go ahead.. tell this nice young couple how the two passengers who just got out of the elevator insulted me. My wife and I said oh my god, what happened ?? The wife proceeds to tell us that the couple got on the elevator and took one look at her husband and said.. wow.. great tux.. you look like a million bucks!! She paused.. and her husband says.. can you believe it??? So I said to his wife.. I don’t get it.. (looking at the husband) I said, you do look like a million bucks. She looked at us deadpan and replies “He’s worth seven !!’ You can’t make this stuff up. My wife and I still laugh when we relive some of our best times we have had at sea.

This. Exactly!!! Its a race to the bottom!!! I did hear through a reliable NCL Insider (and by insider I mean they always book an inside cabin) that NCL was going to offer as part of their free at sea program a “manners at sea” where most of the ships officers will teach you how to act in public spaces on your current cruise. Expect to see the rollout in the beginning of September 2024.

I think COVID has put us back as a society where it forces the individual now to put themselves (toilet paper famine) and their families (social gatherings) first. We created a me first and a “got mine” way of life that unfortunately is not pretty. Since over half the country is still work from home and has been for a few years now we have lost the ability to be nice and cordial to each other because we are all behind a computer screen and when we are in public together we really forget how to act and pick up on social cues..which gives way to a rise in misunderstandings which inevitably turns into a fight for all of the public to see.. then these scuffles make the news and people on the cruises think this is acceptable behavior.

We are in a family suite JOY with virtual balcony in 60 days from now. 5/26-6/2/24 Bermuda RT NYC yes you have access to concierge if you need it. The room I hear is enormous and a 2nd bedroom and bathroom will help our family of 4 quite nicely. i will write a review of our trip upon our return. I am a very detailed writer with a slight slant towards the sarcastic/ funny side.(search some of my posts lol) I can promise you will be amused at our family’s take on this upcoming trip

Thank you both for your quick response!!

Hello fellow critics: I recall while cruising from NYC few years back on sailaway day we were charged a small additional tax per drink while we were docked in NYC. We have a Bermuda cruise on Joy 5/26-6/02/24 Joy RT NYC my question is while we are in Bermuda for 3 days will we be charged a tax per drink there as well. I ask bc the says in port are almost half of the days we are cruising. Does anyone know how much per drink.. hoping my shareholder benefit ($100 credit) will cover the charges Thanks- Mark

The only reason we packed it in our carry on is because we wanted to get drone footage in and around NYC. It worked out great I even sent the footage to NCL with a release that they can use any footage the deem fit at will. They asked we only use while ship is in port so the drone does not malfunction due to high winds bc the ship can travel up to 23 knots at times.

This is a serious question.. I love cruising.. I love getting great service.. but not once has the ships officers or any higher ups ever even entered my mind. Please enlighten me on what I am missing.. do people cruise so much that they develop a kinship with the officers? thank you in advance

This is correct.. I had my drone in my carry on that I brought onboard to fly off the back of the ship on port days and the security guard at the port said wow I can’t believe you got that through.. I asked him what was the craziest thing he ever let through the X-ray machine and onboard and he said.. you probably won’t believe this but a set of Cutco knives in a gorgeous natural wood block!!

We usually do 5 nights in the MDR. we always request the same servers in the same section around the same time. The servers are a large part of our nightly enjoyment when eating.. by the second night your drink of choice is usually presented to you as you arrive at the table.. and the usual special requests are often granted.. like room temp butter that easily spreads on the rolls. (2) shrimp cocktail for me as an app most nights.. water with lemon.. etc. so at the end of the cruise (last dinner) we give both of or children $50 each and they get a kick out of handing it to our table servers who are always so wonderful. We have always tipped our MDR staff for the last 20 years of cruising..

Agreed. I can’t believe years ago they would ring your door bell and ask you if you wanted to buy cookies. Seems like doing that today would be a real gamble. Although I have to say in our town schools still collect at intersections for funding for sports and also emergency/ first responders. That’s why I always keep small bills in my car just in case

She said that the security officer was more interested in the stunning natural wood block. Sandy said she could not break up the set. That is Cutco policy.

I knew this question would come up so here is how we managed to score such a good deal. On cruises I always cary onboard (2) $500 face value series EE US savings bonds that have long since matured on 1/1/1995 we also had $550 in cash I usually keep in an ultra safe saddle brown money belt that I always wear when traveling. Sandy happened to take a liking to my wife’s beautiful Tanzanite pendant delicately strung on a 14 ct white gold necklace that she gave to her which we bought on a carnival cruise years ago. The necklace is valued at $750 which my wife still happened to carry in her purse the certificate of authenticity that she received from tanzanite international where we were lucky enough to find at a bargain price of $695 so another $55 in saving wasn’t bad 3 years ago. So yes in total $2300 but as you can see Sandy was nice enough to accept some of the value in trade.

Also.. yes we paid $2300 for the knife set with a stunning natural wood block. The retail on the set was $2,449 that was the selling point for my wife.. she kept saying don’t think of it as spending $2300 we need to think of it as we are saving $149!! Also having Sandy there knowing she has been in Cutco sales for over 13 months also put me at ease.

So let me clear up a few things about our friend Sandy who sold us the beautiful set of Cutco knives in a stunning natural wood block. We did ask he how in the world she was able to get said knives onboard.. She was a local who lived about an hour from the pier. She said she was asked at the security booth inside the terminal why she is bringing them onboard and she said she needed them to cut her medicine tablets she takes daily in such a way that most inferior knives sold in the US just can not handle. The security guard said ma’am you need to be more specific. She said she then quickly finished a store brand soda can she was drinking and asked if she can demonstrate her knives for him. She not only sliced the can in half in one fell swoop. She also used the pearling knife and carved the remaining can into what best resembled a tiny pineapple.. she told the security officer to keep the pineapple and give it to his 3 year old son 🍍🍍 She said he simply put a small piece of red tape on the closure of the knife set. Smiled at her and said please be careful. He also thanked her for the gorgeous tin pineapple souvenir and said his young son will love playing with it.

Snoop.. please please do an update on here and let us all know how the adventure went. I’m being serious.. I want to hear all about the roll all set up and the cookie delivery shenanigans. Please share the experience as it u folds..

We can leave that to the fresh air markets that surround the ship and you are forced to walk through once you are off the ship lol

Last year on the breakaway the neighbors in the stateroom to our left and ourselves were invited to our neighbor on the right for drinks on their balcony. So after about 2 hours of nice talk and getting to know our new friends the wife says oh since you are all here I have a surprise for all of you. She goes in the closet and comes back with a small trunk and opens it on their small end table.. my wife and I were perplexed..turns out that the woman packed an entire sales pack of Cutco knives.. she insisted she demonstrate how the worlds greatest knife set to never be sold in an actual store will change your life. My wife picked out the 13 piece set she had with the natural wood block and kitchen scissors to boot!! Best $2,300.00 we ever spent!! We still keep in touch with her and we laugh that she invited us to her balcony but all 3 couples were actually in inside cabins !!! Fun times for all of us.

Also please remember in the US it’s Tax Return Season where most of the NCL target market will be getting 4-7k dollars come April- May and will want to spend the money on something!!!!

I actually laughed out loud!! i bet the stock surge can be summed up in 2 words: Hash Browns well done Rocket!!!

I feel terrible what you have been through..something similar happened to me years back: On a Princess cruise ship years ago my wife fell in love with gold chain that the cruise line was selling “by the inch” mid ship. She couldn’t make up her mind if she wanted the white or yellow gold so after a few days of lamenting I surprised her. She was playing Bingo one afternoon (didn’t win) by herself and I decided to go buy some gold for her. I know she always complained that our Christmas tree never really shined enough bc we had old ornaments on the tree.. That was about to change.. I purchased enough to wrap the Christmas tree (39 feet to be exact) in the white gold chain!!! I know it’s crazy but I figured every investment pundit tells you to invest in gold.. so I did!!! Fast forward 4 months to Dec 1st… my wife had absolutely no idea that I had made such a sound financial decision for our family… we set the tree up and strung the lights… she was pulling out the old ornaments and I grabbed her arm and proclaimed.. honey, I have a big surprise for you this year.. she loves surprises so I had her close her eyes while I grabbed the bin under the bed and presented it to her..she looked confused and then said thank you? I told her it is 18 carrot plated white gold that we will string around the tree like garland. She started to cry.. asked me how much I spent on it.. I told her almost a mortgage payment.. she then asked “in what part of town” lol after about 30 mins of stringing every inch of the gold chain around our tree it looked absolutely stunning..she even said let’s not put those old ornaments on the tree this year!! That Christmas even though we didn’t have money left to buy each other any gifts to put under that shimmering gold masterpiece it was still a Christmas to remember. Not to mention anytime we get tired of the gold garland I can always sell it and make some good money on it.

Buddy of mine stayed in a 2 bedroom haven suite and told me the butler would usually come in the room and hold the ashtray for him while he sat and enjoyed a smoke inside the cabin. To me that seems a lil much to expect from your butler!! Now I think about this story it was in fact many years ago…

Delivery driver just dropped off a package to my door while I was outside getting the mail. The driver had me sign for it then flipped his ipad over revealing a tip screen if your driver did a fantastic job.. tip started at $5 and went up by 5’s to $20 Ok.. changing gears.. 112 days from now we are in a windowless suite on joy R/T NYC to Bermuda.. some say not a real suite but the gratuities were $25/ pp pd I think it comes with a concierge.. I prepaid entire cruise and all gratuities.. I want my shipboard acct to say ‘0’ at end of cruise..I will bring a wallet full of $1..$5.. and $10’s and pass out during the cruise when the moment strikes me and I think to myself wow this person went above and beyond for me. I try not to hold myself to a hard number of per day.. per person.. bc if I connect with the room steward and only talk to concierge at the beginning meet and greet and then they disappear for the entire cruise then it’s their loss.. we do always tip the wait staff at end of the meals in specialty and end of cruise in main dining..

I will keep an eye out in the dailies for “kid specials’ and see if we can do that at least

Thank you for this info.. it sounds like the $20 price is only seen in the rear view mirror.. they were some fun times!!! I guess I will try my best to steer the kids to doing something else while at sea.. I can’t imagine the room would be full at $50 per person but it has been a couple years and I guess everything must go up.