kdzkatz

So from what I gather from the email I just received (and was also posted on here by a CC member) is the $14.95 pp per day would cover the tip to the concierge and butler? If so, I would sure think they will be taking a big hit to the money they make. On a 7 day cruise it would mean we would only be tipping the butler and concierge $21 each. Even when I did not get the best service from a concierge several years ago I still tipped them more than that. This is a terrible policy for those that work so hard to achieve these positions.

 

FYI- I just went on the NCL website to prepay the DSC it said: "We are unable to display this option at this time."

 

I'm not impressed one bit. But then again if the cruise experience was anything like the experience of dealing with the idiots on the other end of the phone and their IT people they would have been out of business years ago. Thank goodness the experience once on the ship is the exact opposite. The people that work on the ship get it. The rest of 'em seem to be a bunch of clueless dingbats.

We booked our upcoming cruise about 15 months out and we were thrilled to hit double digits. A couple more dance moments for us will be single digits in weeks coming up in a few weeks and then we will look forward to single digit days! :D:D

I believe you are allowed 2 pieces of check luggage per person. We have checked a case of water many times and it arrives safe and sound at our door with our other check luggage.

Deck 10 penthouses and deck 10 aft balcony rooms (cat B1). Deck 10 has the largest balconies of all aft penthouses and the deck 10 balcony rooms have the largest balconies in that category on the Jewel and the Pearl. I'm not sure if that is the case with other NCL ships.

As a general rule will ncl honour a price drop , my cruise dropped this week and ncl would not agree to drop to new price!!! Annoyed as only had booked about 10 days. I booked it through a travel agent can I speak to them myself and try??

 

If you are inside of final payment date NCL does not do price adjustments. If you are booked with a TA you have to have them deal with NCL. Only way to avoid that is to cancel with your TA (beware of cancellation fees) and rebook with NCL to discuss your cruise with them.

 

Also, if you are inside final payment date do not be upset with this policy. Just as they will not lower the price you paid they will also not raise the price you paid if the cruise you booked goes up in price. Our upcoming cruise our room is well over $2,000 more than when we booked so pricing can go either way.

 

Quick tip: If you are inside final payment date and the prices are going down you can upsell to a higher category room. Depending on what you originally paid and what room are going for now you may be able to get a nicer room for not much extra money.

Were you using the same computer as the person that booked the cruise? Are your accounts linked?

Carpet with cushion is for suite passengers only. It is the unadvertised perk. :p

Thanks for advice! We ended up taking the $200 OBC.

 

If there are 4 of you in the room I would thing the UDP would be a great way to go as it is $119 pp. vs $50 each in OBC. If there are just 2 of you then it would be more a matter how much you enjoy the specialty restaurants.

I know you are asking for opinions to your situation and not possible solutions but if you are not able to have them move you to a cabin closer to midship in the balcony categories if it is not too much $$ maybe look into moving up to a MA Mini Suites located mid ship. As you are getting closer to embarkation hopefully there are some available at a reasonable price. I hope this possible option helps. They will definitely move you to that category as it would be an upsell.

I can certainly see how you were confused by the the wording. But in the rankings of good and better the B3 is ranked higher than BA even though it is not mid ship but I see how you figured that whatever balcony you would receive it would be located midship. I am sorry to hear you are having to go through this and I hope you and NCL are able to find a mutually acceptable resolution.

I do appreciate how you posed your dilemma to all of us for our opinions. You are unhappy but not bashing anyone. I hope you do not listen to the trolls on here with there awful advice about trying to get justice when NCL is on 100% solid ground on the situation. You will attract more bees with honey than vinegar. Think of how you would respond to someone being hostile about something where technically and legally you had done nothing wrong. You would be resistant to wanting to work with them I am guessing. In a diplomatic approach see if you can get them to understand why mid ship is so important to you. I believe NCL will do their best to keep you a loyal customer. If you get a wall of resistance from a supervisor I would thank them for their time and then call back later. Try a few and see if you get anywhere with any of them.

Also, as I said earlier maybe also look into a MA mid ship mini suite upsell. I wish you the best of luck in resolving your situation.

That is not exactly correct. I advise you go read the T & C. I believe there are 2 or 3 restaurants in a clause stating you can only have one entree per day from these restaurants otherwise you will be charged $10 per additional entree. They do state which restaurants these include. It is very easy to avoid as there is so much great food to choose from at all the restaurants. I believe the restaurants are Cagneys and Le Bistro in this clause. I'm not sure if there are other places listed that are on non jewel class ships as that is all we have cruised on.

 

I clicked on the link to the faq's and I did not see the detailed info of the terms and conditions. It may have changed but I recommend verifying how the entree portion of the meals works as far as getting multiples in one evening. It would be a bummer to end up getting extras charges that you were not aware of.

Yes there is no surcharge had the lobster twice. And it was far superior to the free lobster they used to give you on the first night in the main dining only thing you can't have is two entrees in same restaurant but if you wanted to u can have steak at cagneys and lobster at le bistro of the same night

 

 

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That is not exactly correct. I advise you go read the T & C. I believe there are 2 or 3 restaurants in a clause stating you can only have one entree per day from these restaurants otherwise you will be charged $10 per additional entree. They do state which restaurants these include. It is very easy to avoid as there is so much great food to choose from at all the restaurants. I believe the restaurants are Cagneys and Le Bistro in this clause. I'm not sure if there are other places listed that are on non jewel class ships as that is all we have cruised on.

I am doing The Jewel in early May for a 9 day cruise. I can not wait.

 

We are also doing the 9 day on the Jewel. You may want to consider this cruise. It is very unusual for the first cruise of the year to be a Seattle round trip and it is a 9 day to boot! The port times are wonderful and we also go to Glacier Bay (the Jewel usually does Tracy Arm outside of Juneau). We will be sharing the ports with a single ship or no other ships so we don't have to fight the crowds. :D

 

Just thought I would throw out this as an option. This is our 6th Alaska cruise with NCL and we have been on both the Pearl and the Jewel. They are the same class ship and are very similar.

 

We are getting so excited for this cruise :D

 

Hey there neighbor on our upcoming cruise! (sc2011) There were several posts added while I was typing this. I had to fix a typo so I thought I would add a quick hello as I see you posted. :)

The actual term is Double Cross Meta.

 

A "meta" is a group of cabin types (Inside, Oceanview, Balcony, etc). A Double Cross Meta upgrade allows you to upgrade across two metas. For example, book an Inside and Double Cross Meta to a Balcony.

 

lol...I was closer than I thought on the term. Thanks for the clarification. :)

 

We do enjoy cruising in suites but a balcony room suits us just fine too. We love doing the Alaska cruise and until this year we have done 7 days. We will be doing a 9 day and we are interested to see if that feels too long to us or if our brain adjusts to the longer time. We love cruising but so far have been ready to be home at the end of our 7 days. If we find we adjust and enjoy the 9 day just as much we may start looking into doing a Panama Canal Alaska cruise as it would get us back home to Seattle. I doubt we could afford to do a suite on that long of a cruise but if we do the Double Cross Meta I think we could swing paying for an inside and get a balcony. :D:D

For tier awardment, rather than using number of days sailed or number of cruises sailed, they should consider a system that is based upon dollars spent (both on booking of the cruise as well as all the onboard spending). This way, it rewards even those on short cruises that may spend a lot on the ship itself. Now, unless you use the NCL credit card, you don't get rewarded for the onboard spending (and even then, the NCL credit card isn't that good of a reward). This also would help people that pay for ocean view and balconies versus inside cabins. Right now, you only get more points if you book an expensive suite, but you get the same credit for booking a cheaper inside versus a nice balcony. It would reward people that are taking more expensive cruises in South America, Europe, etc. versus the less expensive Caribbean cruises.

 

I just wanted to touch on your statement that the NCL credit card isn't that good of reward? Are you referring the perks you can get with the points from the credit card? If you like to cruise with NCL then this credit card is GREAT! Check out the Double Meta Cross (did I spell that right?) perk. It is a very good perk. I agree if you just cash in for OBC or cash it is just an ok card but if you can save up 60k points it gets really good.

Clearly those of us that cruise a lot feel new levels are needed. This debate got very active shortly after the new plan rolled out. Many wrote to NCL and they did send out a survey with many of the suggested changes. Then nothing.

 

I was on the Gem last winter and there were 350+ platinum cruisers onboard. That is crazy. 2 10 day suite cruises booked right will make you platinum. I reached platinum the old fashion way with 14 cruises. First cruise at platinum there were 4 of us onboard.

 

The milestone gifts are embarrassing. Can't wait for my bowl when I achieve 700 points this month. Anything would be better. What's wrong with gift cards at a minimum. They get all the money back. $250, $500, $700, & $1000.

 

If we want change we can't just post on CC and hope. Hope is not a plan. If you are not satisfied with the current program and have better ideas share them directly with NCL.

 

I have to say for the life of me I do not understand why NCL gives you a gift for your milestone of 250, 500 and 700 points that do not necessitate an additional cruise. I am guessing most people would rather have a second complimentary meal in a specialty restaurant then a atlas, frame or bowl. I personally think when you reach 250 points you should be given a second free specialty meal in ANY specialty restaurant (not Le Bistro or equal or lesser value). They could add an additional free specialty meal at each milestone and at 1000 give you UDP status each cruise. If you had an inclusive UDP every cruise that would make it very tough to want to cruise with anyone else. With their current cheap milestone gifts NCL cannot generate revenue when they mail you something to your home. It would be a win win IMHO to give you a better thank you and require you cruise to be able to enjoy their thank you milestone gift.

 

I know there are lots of different things they could do but this is just a quick and I think relatively easy low cost to them upgrade over their current milestone gifts.

At least two of our nearby neighbors were not following the policy, much to my disappointment. However, if they stay out of sight to the back of their balconies and dispose of the evidence, apparently they can get away with it. I smelled smoke on several occasions, and one time I even saw an arm extend from a 9th deck balcony to flick a cigarette butt into the sea. :eek:

 

I checked their policy and it looks like it is a $250 charge if it is discovered you were smoking on your balcony or in your room. I really hope everyone on the front of the ship is aware of the no smoking policy on our cruise. I will not let it ruin our cruise by any means but I will give the butler a quick call and have it addressed immediately. I am not a snob by any means but I have no tolerance for the inconsideration of others. Call me an advocate or what you will. :D:)

The bridge never bothered me, maybe because I wasn't doing anything they might have found interesting--when I was out I was either gazing out to sea or sitting and reading. It was a little disconcerting when the neighbors, either to the side or below, were also out. If they were just sitting quietly, I wouldn't know they were there, but then I would hear a cough or smell cigarette smoke, and I would be reminded I was not alone.

 

Smell cigarette smoke? I thought NCL's new smoking policy forbade smoking in the room and also on the balcony as of November 2014? We are both non smokers and are thrilled with their new policy. I just hope it is being enforced.

Thank you so much for the post. We have stayed in a deck 10 aft penthouse so we were already familiar with the room layout and you did a great job showing the layout! We have been on the back both sides and the top of the ship and now we will be experiencing the front of the ship. We will be right next door in 10000 and your balcony pics are wonderful! We very much appreciate the perspective your photos provide! Thank you for taking the time to do this! :D:D

I'm not a big fan of chicken pot pie but I REALLY enjoyed it on the Jewel at O'Sheehan's. Also the mozzarella sticks were very good. Both were by far the best on embarkation day. So if you want to give them a try I highly recommend doing it the first day if at all possible.

Oh my, I just ate breakfast and now y'all have my tummy growling again.

 

kdzkatz, believe it or not, I've never actually tried flan. I've heard it's yummy but haven't had an opportunity to taste it. Random question, can you get it without the coconut topping? I can't eat coconut, that's why I'm asking.

 

I'm not sure. I think the coconut is part of the flan. I do believe there is flan at other parts of the ship (not sure where or when but seems like I recall seeing it). I don't recall having other flan before so if I did it was not memorable. If you eat at Moderno or even considering it I would ask them if you can get their flan without coconut. It sure wouldn't hurt to ask. :)

Chicken Pot Pie and Mozzarella Sticks in O'Sheehans (sooner the better we have found. It's still good the whole cruise but on embarkation day they were WOW!)

 

If you eat at Moderno and you like flan the Coconut Flan is our new favorite dessert. Her old #1 was the Ricotta Cheesecake in the Italian and mine was the Tiramisu also in the Italian.

 

Also, the Bread Pudding!! So good!!!!

I don't think the original poster asked those that do not like any of the deserts to post their negative opinion. IF you happen to want to share your favorite then do so otherwise I personally would rather you keep your gloomy negative opinion to yourself.

 

With that said our new favorite as of our last cruise is the Coconut Flan in Moderno! It is so good. We also both really enjoy the bread pudding. Our old favorites before the coconut flan was the Tiramisu and Ricotta Cheesecake both in the La Cucina.

I didn't realize you could eat in multiple restaurants each night, if so, it now has me thinking....:D

 

Edit: just looked on the NCL website, it says one per day, it is ultimate not unlimited :(

 

Not sure where you read that but I am guessing you read about if you want an additional entree in Cagneys, Le Bistro and there is a third restaurant that you have to pay an additional $10. It is not limited to one restaurant a night. You can go to as many as you want. We tried twice to do a specialty restaurant crawl and could not finish either time. We each ordered one item at each restaurant and we did 3 the first try and 4 restaurants the second time. Never again. It's too much food lol. So my info is not hearsay it is our actual experience. This was last May and I do not think they have changed to rules. If so we will be canceling our UDP as we like doing it ala carte and have a course here and there.

A big perk of the UDP is you don't have to "get your moneys worth" each time you go to a specialty. For example, maybe you just want the sliders at Cagneys and then later on you want to share a pizza at the italian restaurant and later in the evening you want the coconut flan (YUMMM!!) at Modernos you have that flexibility.

We have the UDP for our upcoming 9 day and we will see how the extra couple days go for us as we have only done 7 day cruises. We experienced the UDP last May and as we had only eaten at a couple of the specialties prior to that we went a little (maybe more than a little :eek: ) overboard experiences all kind of food we never would have tried. I do think we would take it down a notch or two this time around but we like to eat smaller meals more often so the UDP works for us. It is all personal preference.

If getting a specific room is important then book early. If you just want a certain category then just take the time off of work and if the prices don't ever get to what you want to pay then have a Staycation and lounge around the house.

That is what we did one year and got the price we wanted less than a month from embarkation. Our next cruise we booked 14 months out. It has been sold out for months and if it was available it would cost us over 2k more for the room.

I hope I don't come across as offensive to you but if the price of your cruise had gone up do you think they should charge you the higher price? If your answer is no then don't you think that kind of makes you a hypocrite?....just saying.

I know we all want the best deal we can get and if it is outside final payment date then do so. Chances are you will lose perks you had so if those are important to you then you have to decide price or perks. If it is inside final payment date then you are being completely unfair to NCL as it is clear in your agreement about changes after final payment date.

Good luck with your future cruises. All I have said above is my opinion and suggestions. If you agree wonderful and if you don't that is fine too.