dmwnc1959

I didn’t have a cruise booked, but I did work in a VA hospital. Talk about our world coming apart and crashing down all around us. 😷

Oh, trust me, this is delicious! But don’t tell anyone else. 😉 I quite literally buy it by the dozen-box case.

Thank you! ✌🏻

I’ll have to look into those Yeti things. Might be a solution to my drink package. 😉👍

The water is more of a convenience due to its portability, and I’d be bringing along several boxes of individual drink packets. Have an addiction to these, my favorite ‘drink package’… 😁

No, but I can remove the beverage package. I am by no stretch of the imagination a ‘drinker’. In my everyday life I might have 2 or 3 alcoholic drinks a month. And I rarely ever drink soda. On this long of a repositioning cruise I thought maybe having a beer with lunch or an after dinner cocktail might be fun. Check out this bar here, try something new there, get a little tipsy. Yay! I have an entire screenshots album list of drinks that I’ve heard of and never tried. The $545 Beverage Service Charge is more than enough tip for the business the bars are getting from me. I don’t hang around the bars for hours drinking and socializing. It’ll be one and done and gone. I’ve already called NCL and verified the Unlimited Open Bar Package can be removed. I’m looking at the Flow Water (24) 1-Liter bottles package and that’s more than enough when combined with the complementary beverages available in restaurants, even if it is a simple glass of water or iced tea. And I can remove the 2-night complimentary dining package and not get an additional 7-10 nights. That’s $325-400 dollars no one would be getting. Specialty dining for me isn’t a ‘must have’ or ‘must experience’. I’m more than fine with all of the expansive complementary dining options, the main dining room (for now), and the buffet. 😎

Or, NCL could charge less. Or I could removed them all and not pay them. And still cruise. But I won’t remove them, and I won’t be tipping extra. And I will still go on my cruise. 😎

All of this is very well put indeed. And in its entirety I think you hit the nail on the head. Thank you. 😁

That may be the case. And you’re right, we really don’t know. But it shouldn’t be up to me to pad their salaries when I’m already being charged an onboard service charged, huge beverage service charge, and mandatory 18% added service charge and gratuity for specialty dining. I’m already padding minimum wage salaries by doing all of that. I really can’t see double and triple tipping anyone.

With all due respect, this is what I alluded to in another thread: I’m tipping extra per drink and I’m tipping extra per meal at specialty dining venues… …for tips that have already been paid for through my $545 Beverage Service Charges and the mandatory 18% Specialty Dining added gratuities and service charges… …then more tipping at various other non-MDR dining venues, and adding on top of that the $500 Onboard Service Charges… …my initial $1045 for tips, gratuities, and OSC balloons several hundred dollars extra just for more tips. When I have already tipped. For people that are basically just doing their job. Now, if outstanding - and I do mean outstanding - service, and excellent service are observed, and not just people doing their jobs, then maybe that warrants another tip. But not extra tipping just for doing their job. Sorry not sorry.

Well, if this IS the case then there is ZERO reason for me to tip on top of tips on top of Onboard Service Charges on top of the Beverage Service Charge. I’m being billed over $1000+ before I even set foot on the ship to pad - quite literally -everyone’s salary with tips and service charges. At this point enough is enough.

This isn’t the Onboard Service Charge - for me it’s an additional $500 just for that, and that’s padding their salaries - this is the Beverage Service Charge. Specifically for beverages. And why am I paying for cups and glasses? That’s absurd.

just of curiosity, what ship and itinerary was this?

So, how much should I tip on top of the tip that I’m already tipping them? My Beverage Service Charge is already at $545 for a solo traveler. That’s almost $22 per day in tips just for the Beverage Service Charge. Maybe tip another couple of hundred dollars? Give me a ballpark figure. And is this extra tipping (not the $545 I’m already tipping with the Beverage Service Charge) another tip for them simply doing their job or is this a tip for exceptional and outstanding service? Asking for a friend. 😎

Just….WOW! 😳 😳 😳

That’s one thing I really like about all of the Princess Cruises ships, even the newest Sun Princess that just came out - they all have laundry services on every passenger cabin deck level that passengers can use (washers, dryers, and irons). This really comes in handy on extended cruises and the cost is minimal.

Well, these ‘all sold out’ and ‘only after 8pm’ posts put my anxiety level through the roof again. With a 9 total of nights (2 FAS + 7 night package) it’s beginning to make me concerned about logging in on T-minus 120 Days and being disappointed. Argh. ☹️

Thought maybe NCL didn’t want magnets hanging up on their doors and walls due to possible damages. Had wall magnets on Royal Caribbean with no issue. So it’s just door decorations on NCL that are banned? It’s my first cruise with them.

Banned door decorations. 🤔 On NCL can I decorate or put up magnets inside the cabin? Since door decorations and door magnets are banned? I saw on another forum, where someone had used wall magnets inside the cabin to hang up the daily ship program, hats, bathroom items, a plastic shoe rack for toiletries, and even umbrellas.

Why is there a service charge? The reason there's a fixed service charge is an important one: Our Crew (as are the crew from other lines) is encouraged to work together as a team. Staff members including complimentary restaurant staff, stateroom stewards and behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports. What about gratuities? Unlike most other ships in the cruise industry, there is no required or recommended tipping on our ships for service that is generally rendered to all Guests. If they go above and beyond and give exceptional or outstanding service, then by all means tip extra in addition to what you are already tipping.

These will be the next thing that’s being banned, didn’t Carnival Cruise Lines just ban door magnets?

Oooh! I’ll be on her April 3rd, 2025 for the repositioning to Alaska, so hopefully they’ll be able to refresh some of the furnishings in the public areas as well. Was just checking her February and March 2025 schedule and not seeing any break that would allow a dry-docking? 🤔

The transit as it was captured on Live Cams, read Posts 44-50…

These are really wonderful! 🥰 THANK YOU!

I’m booked on Norwegian Jade, so 👍 the historic old locks. I’ve been watching cruise ships go through the Panama Canal on the canal live cams for a quite some time (probably going back +15 years), and there was actually a recent transit of the Norwegian Bliss last November when it cleared Bridge of the Americas Northbound by 130am and was well into the Colcoli Locks by 230a. This was all apparently due to tide restrictions. Talk about an early morning rise, otherwise they would have missed half the canal transit. 😳 Our pre-transit port day is Colon, so I’m definitely doing one of the canal tours from there. I’ve read a detailed blog of the small ferry transit and talk about a long day! I’m sure it’s worth it ($200 per person) but some folks have complained that 5 hours on the ferry was more than they could handle. I think a lot of others have opted for the scenic train crossing and IMAX/observation deck tours.