KeithJenner

This should provoke some debate. 🙂

I think there is only one person here who is making judgements based on what people are wearing.

As I understand it, the OPs question is whether they will be able to bring on the wine at a port of call, rather than the embarkation port. I think they are aware of the change relating to people with the beverage package.

Apparently they do, yes.

Yes, they charge you when you bring it onboard. I don’t think the wording is silly though, they are basically saying it applies wherever you plan to drink it (restaurant, public area or your room).

I don’t have any personal experience, but yes, it should be the same at a port of call. I have heard it reported by some people that they weren’t allowed to bring wine onboard at all at a port of call (it was stored instead I think), but that appears to be the exception. As long as they let you bring it on there should be no charge.

It applies to cruises booked after a certain date. I can’t remember what that date was, but I’m thinking sometime around February of this year. I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think there are any exceptions, even if you call.

For us it is a window. I have sailed in an Oceanview a few times, and enjoy it. We will always consider one when in colder places, but I like to be able to look out at the sea, so would be reluctant to go for an inside. On our upcoming cruise, round the British Isles we were planning on an Oceanview, but credit from a cancelled cruise brought the prices down so far that we booked a balcony. Further reductions mean that we are now in an aft-suite for just £200 more (and about £500 more than the Oceanview would originally have cost), so price is clearly also a factor.

I have no negativity towards the Haven at all. It obviously works well for many people who see it as value for money. That's great. I also haven't experienced things like the "steerage" comments. The slight annoyance that I have about the Haven, which is quite prevalent on these forums is the attitude that suggests that it is obviously the best way to travel. The "if you try it then you will never want to go bank" attitude. That may be how it worked for that person, but that doesn't mean that a stranger on the internet will feel the same. One thing that this thread is shows is that there are plenty of us that are quite happy with the standard cruise experience, and I find that the suggestion that this is only because we just haven't yet had the privilege of seeing the clearly superior alternative is borderline insulting. I have tried it, and going back was very easy, and for me, preferable.

There was a poster on these boards a while ago who appeared to think these guys were somehow officially related to NCL. They were posting things and saying that it must be correct because they had said it. I’d never heard of them, so watched a random video out of interest. It took about two minutes before they incorrectly said that a ship (can’t remember which, but I think the Dawn or Star) was Jewel class. Having just seen a little bit of the video referred to above, I can only wonder how anyone watches that. I have no idea what their problem was because I just couldn’t watch that idiot for a second longer after a couple of minutes.

I’m quite sure that our media bang on about the Oscars. There was certainly a load of fuss about someone hitting someone else a while ago. I assume that that is the one being referred to here. I’m fairly certain that most people here in the would UK know who Will Smith is. I’m just not interested myself. I didn’t mean for this to be a discussion on who should know which celebrities. I was just interested in what the problem is with the water but it seems like the poster who originally mentioned it has disappeared now.

For most people they don't

You get just one entree, but apps and desserts aren’t limited. Apparently some wait staff will say that apps and desserts are limited but they are incorrect and if you were to order more then you shouldn’t be charged for them.

It is an upgrade offer and gives two extra meals per person.

What’s the difference between that and advertising no tipping and using the increased fare to make it work out for all? Just to clarify, this isn’t something I feel strongly about. I just add the DSC myself, so it doesn’t make much difference to me (outside the fact that NCL would probably use the change to put dates up again). Just as a general point I’d rather service was just included in the cost rather than have all the confusion and arguments.

I'd prefer the fare to just include the DSC. A few years ago that is exactly what we did in Europe. NCL changed the charging structure to include the DSC. Then not that long afterwards they stopped it. They never said why, but a logical reason is that bookings were effected. There are various factors to take account of (they used the change as a reason to sneak in some increased prices, for example) but I've always suspected that another factor is that it meant that people who removed the DSC could no longer do that, meaning that the cruise is more expensive for them. I have no evidence to base this on, but I'd guess that a lot of people who complain about the DSC actually benefit from it due to being able to pay less than most by removing it.

From what they have said in the post you quoted, I don’t think that I’ve are a million miles from them in how we like to vacation, and NCL works really well for us.

Just to be absolutely clear, im not suggesting that anyone claimed anyone was lying. I was the one that bought that up as a possibility.

To everyone saying that the booking wasn’t available to anyone, read the original post again. There clearly was something available or it couldn’t have been booked. Maybe the OP is lying, or there was some confusion, but if we are responding to what they are saying then arguments about whether the concierge can make bookings when none are available is irrelevant.

Alternatively, they could just go to ask someone else and get the reservation they wanted and apparently want available, which was what they said they did. This point is still being missed.

Sorry, I just assumed you were the original poster. 🙂 I’m really not interested in all that celebrity stuff (and rarely take any notice of who is starring in films). There are probably people a lot more famous than this bloke that I haven’t heard of. 🙂 Out of interest I just looked on IMDb at his filmography. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film he’s in, and have only heard of Men in Black. I’m not really all that into films either it seems. 🙂 Actually, was King Richard the one about the Williams? If so I’ve heard of that too. I think we may be breaking new ground in off topic here. 🙂

Ok, I think I may have heard of him, and I remember something about someone hitting someone else. I really don’t follow any of that stuff. How does that affect the water? (Genuine question, as I assume you mentioned it for a reason).

Dawn is doing 10 day Southampton round trips in May and September next year, all British Isles. I suspect that is outside your possible times, as you’d have noticed them otherwise, but thought I’d mention it just in case.

The thing with the Haven for us is that it really isn’t worth the extra as we are really very happy with the standard cruise experience. People say about the benefits of not having to queue or being away from crowds, but these things just either don’t happen or don’t matter for us. I don’t mind busy places, and we don’t tend to be in the popular areas (we don’t hang around the pool, or eat at busy times etc). Our room steward does everything we want for our room and we like making our own plans so I have no need for a concierge. I also have no wish to eat in my room. The only thing that appeals about a suite is the bigger room, which is why the non Haven Suites on older ships work well for us. We still get butler and concierge but if you don’t ask them to do anything then they tend to leave us alone. As I said earlier, I have no wish to be fussed over, so that is actually a negative of being in a suite/haven, although I think that we probably do get slightly better seats (more window seats etc) in restaurants, which is nice. The one time we have stayed in the Haven (on the Pearl, so no bar/restaurant), we found ourselves spending time in tha Haven area when, in hindsight, we would probably rather have been in the main bars. If we were in a Haven with its own bar then I suspect that would be better, but I can still see myself thinking “let’s head down to a bar on the Waterfront”. When there are so many options that work well for us it seems a bit of a waste to spend thousands to add another. Each to their own though.

You can only get the speciality coffee from certain places, so you will struggle to get one from any bar regardless of the package. In many bars you would be reliant on someone going to Starbucks to get it for you. I don’t know how likely that is to happen.