cruiser2015

No fair posting a pre-cruise HB teaser. 😒

I'd say it depends on the line. All of the US operated lines use US dollars as their base currency, even if they don't restrict to it like NCL. Getting tips in dollars should not be an issue for crew. If you have already purchased Euros, and wish to tip in them, it should be fine if your itinerary is covering part of Europe. There are very few places in the world where the US dollar is not readily accepted.

Wow - you sure to bring out the CRITIC part of this being CC - that is, a critic of others. The OP's original question is perfectly reasonable. Sure, the "answer" could be anywhere from zero to hundreds (probably excessive). This sort of question gets asked all of the time - everywhere. Examples include - how much to tip tour guides and/or tour bus drivers; restaurant/bar servers (where there isn't already 20% added); taxi drivers; newspaper delivery persons, etc. So, for someone who may be clueless as to what goes in the wild world of tipping in a situation, soliciting opinions seems fair to me.

Gee, I forgot about all of those under $500 cruises (fare + taxes + port charges + DSC + FAS grats. (if any). Oh, how about any pre-purchased shorex or possible upgrades or other add-ons. For the record, my Club Balcony for 2 for 15 days, even with discounts, ran several thousand dollars.

Exclusive Club Balcony Suite Amenities Distinctive Purple Keycard Pre-book onboard dining as early as 125 days prior to sailing Pre-book entertainment as early as 21 days prior to sailing 1 complimentary valet laundry 1 bottle of sparkling wine upon embarkation Treats delivered to your stateroom twice per week. Bliss Collection by Norwegian™ featuring fine linens and pillows Lemongrass bathroom products Bathrobes TV, refrigerator, safe, and hair dryer Sitting area Lower beds arranged as a queen-size bed. Coffee maker & ice bucket available upon request. 24-hour standard room service menu Continental breakfast menu

Suite Purple

"Prepays" have been in place for cabin stewards and MDR staff foe decades. With NCL adding 20% onto everything else, even though those servers are not necessarily getting all of that in direct value, I believe that that is sufficient for gratuities in most cases. There would have to be something truly exceptional to warrant anything extra (what's enough - 30%, 40%, 50%? - it's not like those %'s are being added to cheap pricing). For my cruise last month I tipped my steward an extra $50 cash; all else was at the standards automatically charged. We had few drinks (20% there anyway), no wine (bottles) with multiple pours, no special requests - no extra tips.

If the older child were 12 + 14 days, I would think you could slide by on the age. But you're a whole year beyond that - not so great. So, you want to use the 13 Y/O's free meal on 2 nights and do kid's menu's for both 4 times? Yikes - talk about pushing the envelope - it just tore through. You're only short by 2 meals - buy an upgrade.

Lose value? Wouldn't the entire amount be credited to your account? As I mentioned, my deposit was only required to be $250, but the full $500 was immediately credited to my cruise bill.

I'll take a wild guess - a hard no. This is not a Westin Hotel room. Just a mid range cruise line's ship's cabin.

Okay, I see your point. But, as for those (truly) nasty trays you speak of - are they worse than having the same crap spread all over the OL?

Go for it! ☺️

I don't really agree with your logic. It takes the same effort to lift a dish, regardless of where it is left. Now, if the crew spent a LOT of time cleaning up the drop area, yes, they would circulate a bit less - but not necessarily going to happen if they prioritize cleaning tables an not simply hang around one spot.

Yup - no dispensers on the Bliss. Bars & restaurants will serve in the reusable plastic tumblers. Disposables - not sure, but maybe used in the outdoor bars.

Hey, when did you upstate guys switch over to the metric system?

If you're having second thoughts about your "early arrival", just show up when you want. While many CC posters say that they never see anyone checking the arrival times, no one cares at all if you show up later. 10, 11, 12 - doesn't matter. Your choice.

Last year, I booked a cruise through a TA and purchased a Cruise First while booking (the $500 version). The certificate was instantly applied to my account, covering the deposit. There was also a reduced deposit promotion then - half off. The required deposit was only $250, so my CF covered that plus an additional $250 prepaid (or would have covered a normal full deposit of $500).

I expect that you either did something different in your test bookings, or the web page used a different approach to the booking structure. For example, i recently did a test and there was no option to select only a portion of the FAS or to reject them all. The page included everything and added the gratuities to the proposed price. Usually, you get a page where you check all FAS or different combinations of them. Also, if you only checked the grand total price when you compared the two, the base cruise price may have decreased.

We were off of the Bliss in Miami 4 weeks ago. Carry off of our baggage was not a good option for us, so took the earliest available time of 8:45. They actually called us at about 8 and I was very pleased. Except that the process of disembarking got stalled and we did not hit the street until about 10:15. Then my Lyft was delayed for a bit, then cancelled and replaced. So, hit the terminal at about 11 - and missed our 11:20 flight. Fortunately, we were able to catch a 1:45 by waiting on a long line to get to a Delta agent; one we were texting with through their app on the way to the airport out us on a connecting flight through Atlanta to NYC nearly 6 hours later than we arrived. Bottom line, generally 12:30 should be okay - but you never know for sure. For me, part of the choice depends on what's the next flight you can grab after that - if it's much later, go for the 12:30.

Same for the sailing before yours in January.

Why not call your PCC and ask him or her how NCL assigns the agent of record status? And if it is with the "wrong" ask the PCC who you can speak to about it.

It's been stated on CC many times that if you are reserving (pre cruise) to always reserve the flat fee venues first, as those are billed if the system sees that you have used up all of your allocated dining slots. The a la carte ones are never billed in advance. What it does with a large party - wild card there. If they allow the one person to book a group that large, they could slide by.

Size may vary between the ships, I suppose, but on the Bliss, the seating is much larger than you stated. There are ay least 8 seats per table, which loops around to another table forming a U around the cooking station. Then , there are at least 3 of these table groups. That's 48 seats minimum ( I can't recall for sure, but it seemed like there were more diners than that. Now, as far as loading it up with kids, could be an issue. But when you make a reservation on board, they won't know about the kids. On the other hand, it would be really hard to get a block of seats like that - and even if you could get the block pre-cruise, you'd have to pay in advance for anyone without a package coupon. Messy situation.

Watch out. Could be all you'll get is MRE's and soft serve by then. 😨

Brownies for cookies? Sounds like a good swap for my taste. But, they took away our cookies on the Bliss and I don't remember seeing a single brownie in 15 days. I guess the fleet is scattered regarding these modifications.