dmwnc1959

If you can elaborate on this a bit. I’m booked on a similar tour through NCL that has the staggered times. Are the Hop-on Hop-off tickets for the tour provided by the issuing company and then distributed to booked passengers on the ship, or are we taken to a centralized office location somewhere in town?

I totally forgot to check the bridge cam until it had already transited! 😫

I was wondering the same, and thought maybe it was because the prop blades and anchor aren’t railed-off that might present a safety issue with passengers.

Shameful. 🤣 I’ll remember that the next time a tipping thread shows up and we all have a ‘conversation’ for four pages of OPINIONS and PERSONAL VIEWPOINTS. Which apparently is shameful to have. 🤣 😎

Didn’t even read it did you? 🤣🤣🤣 It’s like listening to respond vs listening to understand. 🤣🤣🤣

This makes me laugh. 🤣🤣🤣 I’m sure you could have squeezed the word ‘shameful’ in there a few more times if you tried really hard. 🤣 Inquiring isn’t intent. But in case you missed the second half of his inquiry: “Does NCL allow you to tell customer service desk the amount you want to pay or do you have to totally eliminate all the charges?” Can I reduce it first, or do I have to totally remove it all (and then - insert second option for how to pay the desired amount I want to pay). So shameful. 🤣🤣🤣

I wasn’t complaining about it, I was stating a fact. And, like I said, I managed to survive off of that, at the time quite comfortably when living aboard ship and having my food supplied. You know, sort of like the cruise crew have their room and board provided for free. And I too am all in favor of paying the military more. Just like I’m all in favor of paying the cruise staff more for their base salaries. Blame the cruise line. Pretty much everyone here has said they would pay more for their cruise if the cost of the onboard service charge was included in our base fare.

You are quite obviously responding without even reading. Here, let me detail it a bit for you: Let’s say someone is not sure why they are paying $20 a day for the OSC. Maybe, for reasons you have no right to know, they feel like that’s a bit much and it should be $15 or $10. They are fine with that amount. Again, it’s none of your business. Maybe they also tip the steward personally. You know, they can tip whom they choose. Maybe they want to tip as they go. And they don’t have to have any reasons, excuses, justifications, or problems to justify why they want to reduce or remove the service charges. Period. Now, maybe they are unsure what to do and want to ask advice ahead of time before they get to the ship - you know, because they have never cruised with NCL - when is a good time to ask the customer service desk. Before debarking, OP asked? When you’re wrong, you’re really wrong. Just because all of this is done premeditated doesn’t justify you saying it’s shameful. You keep throwing the word shame in there like it’s something you’re proud of. 😎

Thank you for your patriotism. 🦅 🇺🇸

Quit putting words into peoples mouths. OP didn’t say that. You did. Let me refresh your memory… PER THE OP: “When is the time to get the auto charges reduced or eliminated? The day before debarking?” I’m sure you’ve cruised enough to know that you don’t debark a ship before you even board it. 🙄

Wrong again. It’s not part of the ‘cost of the cruise’, it’s part of the total sum when combining the total cost of the parts with the additions to the cruise. No where in this summary does it include Onboard Service Charge. You know why? Because I have to add it in there.

Excellent point, just like it’s the choice of the crew to join the ship. I’m sure they were not drafted as well. Circumstances aside, no one is making them join, just like no one made me volunteer. However, no one padded my salary with extra tips for my hard work, service, and dedication to my country. My paycheck for the entirety of the first five years was a total sum of $31,050. With free room and board I managed to live off of that. I don’t know how much the crew makes, and I don’t care.

Heck, I don’t like my point either. But I will defend those who make that choice - for reasons we have no idea, have no right to speculate, and have absolutely no right to berate or belittle - to make that choice. Those that do engage in those practices are the ones that should be ashamed of themselves.

Well, it certainly is falling on the deaf ears of NCL. As someone who proudly served in the US Navy on various surface ships and submarines, who defended the shipping lanes (and as a lot of you like to say defended your freedom), and as a veteran who knows what it’s like to work seven days a week with 18-hour working days and got paid a meager salary, absolutely no one here is going to tell me what I should do. I have earned that right.

Shame has absolutely nothing to do with it. And you have absolutely no idea the reason why someone may want to remove the service charges. NONE. But the fact that you brought it up in such a manner is shameful in itself. AS I HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID MYSELF… (pay close attention to this next paragraph) I personally have zero intention of removing the Onboard Service Charge. ZERO. As a matter of fact, it will be prepaid by the end of this month. Fact. I hope that’s clear enough for you. That being said, I will defend the right of someone who chooses to remove the onboard service charge if they choose to do so. It’s their choice, not yours or mine. And no should be shamed into a choice based on our principles. 😎

Service fees are not “part of the cost”. It’s an additional cost. If the Onboard Service Charge was part of the cost it would be added into the cost of the actual cruise along with the port charges and taxes. The OSC is no more part of the cost than if I buy a water package or a dining package or a shore excursion. Those all have to be added by the passenger (when pre-paid) to the cost of the actual cruise costs when you’re paying off the balance. If anyone makes that decision to remove the extra onboard salary compensation charges they really owe an explanation to no one. It’s that person’s choice. And the customer service desk shouldn’t interrogate a passenger into why they’ve come to that decision. And if the drink package includes the 18% gratuity for the bar staff, and the specialty dining packages include the 18% gratuity for those staff, and I personally tip the cabin steward and the MDR staff, then I’m good with that. I don’t have to explain to a single soul why I’m not tipping anyone and everyone for just doing their job.

This is an incredibly important detail I don’t think anyone has ever mentioned. 😳 I usually only pick one per port since I also want some free time to roam even I places I’ve already been. I’ll definitely have to pay more attention when booking excursions in those ports that are new to me. 👍

But isn’t all of that pretty much already baked into the singular price of the cruise? But not so for the extra onboard service charge that’s paid as an extra supplemental crew income? 🤔

I’m in a similar boat with a 7-night SB from Whitter on April 28, 2025, and so far 24 have slowly populated into availability. My cruise just before that from April 3 - April 28 is 25-nights and now has 43 available (up from 32 yesterday). Quite a few AK shore excursions have already shown up and I expect a lot more in the coming months.

It is nice that you do that. And it’s obviously a personal choice. Like having a concierge and a butler is a personal choice. But it’s all about personal choice. Unless tipping and the Onboard Service Charge become mandatory. 😉 😎

I believe that videos and pictures will often betray the size of something unless you are physically there. Standing on top of an 11 deck high, 930’, 82,000 ton cruise ship, positioned at the rails, sailing with land on either side up the approach to Skagway or Juneau is much better in person. It’s sort of like that through the Canadian Inside Passage. You have to see it in person to truly appreciate it. And it’s a lot like my Alaska pictures from the Inside Passage - it’s visually more impressive actually being there than looking at an image. 😁

I can afford the tips. And I can afford to cruise. It’s absolutely nobody’s business how I spend my money. My money. However, we should be able to choose not to supplement the entire crew’s wages based on some flimsy ‘onboard service charge’ that NCL are going to distribute to practically everybody. It’s not my job to pay their wages. That’s on NCL.

I think most of you probably already know my feelings on this subject 😉 based on the last lengthy ‘exciting conversation’ we had about this. In case anyone forgot: In my view the OSC are my tips. And I will not be tipping extra. And If people are going to drive home the fact that the onboard service charge is nothing more than us supplementing their income, then I am all for removing it, and just start tipping the people we want to.

BINGO! 🎉 🎉 🎉 WE HAVE A WINNER!!! 😎

Not my cruise a year from now. Any and all cruises going to Colon. There are no shore excursions. Check it yourself - don’t log in, go to Shore Excursions, and select Colon. There’s nothing. But they were all there, maybe 20 of them. And I know that if I am logged into my reservation only those available short excursions will populate. I’ve been viewing those and booking them for several weeks now. What I don’t understand is why they would have showed them when they weren’t going to be offered to anyone. As others have said it’s probably some kind of glitch, or ‘contract renewals’ and they just wiped the entire slate clean of anything and everything, or maybe it’s because it’s the end of the current Panama Canal season. But I’ll keep an eye on it for the next year. There’s not much choice, and I’ve got time on my hands. However, in this case it would be much safer to take a ship-sponsored shore excursion since we don’t even get in until 10am and the particular short excursion I was looking at isn’t even offered by Viator. An example of seeing a shore excursion that’s before and after logging in, note the price difference.