PATRLR

My comment was tongue in cheek, sorry for not adding some emojis to make help make that more obvious. The fact of the matter is that I have asked the grill guy, nicely, if I could have one before it got to hockey puck state and was told "no". The reason stated was food safety. I've made this request on more than one occasion and received similar responses.

I wonder if I could tip the grill guy to get me a burger that isn't over-cooked to the point of being nearly inedible?

I know we do. We don't travel without them.

Here? On CC? Nahhhh....

Seeing as the question you are asking is different from the OP's question, perhaps you should start a new, separate topic for your question.

I wouldn't change plans for the Latitudes party. It was nothing more than cocktails and a few appetizers and a couple sentences from the Captain and a few too many sentences from the CN head sales person. It was held in the OL.

You might want to go back and read the original post again. I'll save you the clicks: "Does anyone tip their cabin stewards in top of the $20 per person per day service charge? How much additional do you give?" OP asked two questions. First one is answered with yes or no, second with a number. Both questions are asking for facts, not opinions. Earlier you mentioned people thinking for themselves. Unless one is thinking up fantasies, most useful thinking is based on learned facts. OP is trying to gather those facts and your encouragement of people not providing those facts or telling OP s/he doesn't need those facts is not helpful.

Another example of you projecting your thoughts onto the OP. The OP said nor implied nothing along these lines. My guess is you have some sort of insecurities related to tipping amounts.

Is there a problem or something wrong with gathering information as part of the process of determining "what they want to tip"? Your posts sure make it seem like there is something wrong with asking questions and gathering information Who said that's what they were going to do? If you inferred that, then that is on you. If that would be your simplistic approach, again, that's on you not the OP.

we got on Viva Dec 15

On Viva in December there were no wrist bands, my understanding from staff is the wrist bands are a thing of the past.

@Nipo I see you are from Europe. I believe some European countries require the gratuities be included in the published price. Is it possible you were checking two different countries version of the web site? Two different countries with different rules?

Typically, you can book Vibe as soon as you book your cruise. However, FWIW, we were on Viva in December and for that sailing Vibe passes weren't available until only a few months before the first sailings. I assume the delay was because the ships weren't even sailing yet. We kept checking almost daily and then one day someone in our roll-Call said they were available and we jumped on them.

<duplicate> (I wish we had the ability to delete a post during that short time frame we can edit a post)

Great story and it succinctly explains one of the benefits I enjoy most about Vibe! Thanks for sharing.

I agree that the OL is intended to be full service with staff picking up plates. However, I believe @cruiser2015 is referring to the area that you see starting around 1:05. While definitely not intended for piling of dishes, it seems like a reasonable place to put them if you wanted to clean up after yourself and not a clean sanitized food distribution area.

@MR_BUTCHIE Assuming a warm weather itinerary, we believe it's worth every cent and won't sail NCL if we can't get it. We like that we are guaranteed a lounger any time of day, no need to get up early. We like the lack of crowds, lack of kids, lack of noise. We like that the bartenders and servers get to know you and what you like and they provide some of the best service on the ship. We like the atmosphere and sense of community that develops, especially around the bar (can you say "it's shot-o-clock time!")

Interesting. It's one the biggest in the fleet, spanning both sides of the ship. I liked it because of the size and easier to find shade when we wanted it. I liked that it had the water feature upstairs. What didn't you like about it?

Of course, yes, that's the right place. Thank you. 😉

I don't recall there being a Starbucks or Starbucks station in an OL. Which ship was that?

Oh - so will they be increasing the hours of the buffet now to make up for this? I'll betcha a beverage if we ever share a cruise together the answer is "no". I suppose for some people it was an early morning breakfast option, but as someone who spent quite a few very early mornings in the OLs, most of what I saw was people drinking coffee and having a pastry or muffin.

Back where you got it? That would be wrong, you got it from the clean plate pile which was right near the unserved food. I don't think used plates go there and I don't recall a station or some other location to return dirty dishes. Staff took care of the dirty dishes.

Exactly. The OL and in particular the early morning just as you describe is one of those significant "plusses" that NCL had going for it, IMO. Now there is one less.

Who says the staff is only there to remove drinking glasses and not half eaten plates? The OL serves food, who was supposed to pick up those plates? And who said that passengers MUST eat everything on their plates (i.e. don't leave "half eaten plates"). If you could point me to the rules for the OL that explains this, that would be most helpful (or point me to whatever documenation you have to support your claims). Unfair? Not unfair at all, especialyl considering NCL's well established track record for cost cutting. You may not agree with my statement, you may have your own opinion as to why this cut was implemented, but that doesn't make my statement, my opinion, "unfair".

So hire extra staff to pick up plates and such. But they didn't do that, they chose to cut the food out entirely. Why? Cost savings. Don't kid yourself, this is just one more example of NCL nickel and diming (this one being on the cost side of the ledger).