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david_sobe

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About Me

  • Location
    Miami
  • Interests
    work out
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    NCL
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Any tropical island

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  1. I think some of the mix up is NCL calling the suites outside the Haven, Haven suites. They do get access to the Haven which I understand why. However IMHO being outside the Haven while having Haven access is not the same IMHO. But they are so much cheaper its not like anyone is being ripped off. If you booked with a TA then I would definitely address it with them. But they did not lie in selling you a Haven suite. I can see how its confusing. Would you have spent $2000 more to stay inside the Haven? If its a spa suite then you have access to the spa which is a HUGE perk that people staying inside the Haven do not have. Its the glass half full approach.
  2. If these are your complaints so far you are on track for a miserable cruise. There is no such thing as priority luggage. I have sailed Haven and non-Haven cabins and never found the luggage arrives earlier in the Haven. Those Haven tags may make people feel special though. Just because you are in the Haven does not mean you get to run on to the ship. Its boarded in an orderly fashion and in groups from the Haven. You need a Haven escort to jump the lines that will bottleneck through the process. NCL does not stop the boarding process until all Haven passengers are boarded. There will be plenty of non-Haven passengers who got there really early and were in the first boarding group. I have waited in the Haven lounge with families with lots of kids with complicated passports. I sit there impatient too while I see hoards of people boarding the ship. This happens at every port and every ship. This is reality and should not have any impact on your cruise. You can always find odd things under the bed or a sponge in the bathroom that were left behind and not removed during the cleaning process. This again happens at every embarkation on every ship. This is not a rough start. Its a typical start. Now go have a great cruise. The Encore has an incredible 3 deck Haven. Soak it all in. Just because you got on the ship 15 minutes later than you expected is not a rough start.
  3. Thats another good story about the NCL PCC who left their position for a promotion but still was able to book your friend at the same price even though the prices went up. Perks booking directly with the cruise line are rarely mentioned.
  4. NCL calls them Personal Cruise Consultants (PCP). I am in the tiny minority on these boards and book directly with the cruise line. I have been using the same PCP since 2008. Ironically I got her cold calling NCL for my first NCL cruise. She has worked there forever and knows everything. When I booked my Aqua cruise during Xmas, she was out but actually called me from her house on her day off. She monitors emails on her days off. How about that for service. Any changes or questions I just email her and she responds. However I think my situation is rare. Many PCPs are entry level and are new hires that may not understand everything or have remotely the same experience she has. When I booked Epic in 2010 I cold called and was routed to the NCL call center in Arizona and this person did not know anything. That is when I came back to my original PCP. Most vent their frustrations at the PCPs that are not that knowledgeable. This is why many book with travel agents. I think I am in the minority who has been working with the same PCP for over 15 years now. I suppose its a crap shoot who answers the phone.
  5. I would imagine this summer there will be lots of news. We just have to let our imaginations run wild for now.
  6. Exactly. Both sides over-reacted poorly. The issue I have is the video is edited. We never see or hear what the cruise line said to them. How can anyone bash or criticize a cruise line for what they said when we never hear what they said. Yet almost everyone if falling for that. It was overly dramatic to leave a cruise while still at sea. Clearly done to get more views and more money because of it. But the worst part for me is they got a personal meeting with the cruise line over this. Are they royalty? People suffer far more on a cruise than those 2 and would never get a face to face meeting with a cruise line. There is a big bunch of arrogance about that IMHO. But I will say BOTH sides were wrong in their over-reactions. Yet the cruise vloggers everywhere are treating them as victims as if they were forced to walk the plank in the Artic. Come on people, its not like they were forced to find hash browns or cookies or something while diverting from Paradise Bay. Mark it on your calendars. If I cant find cookies on my February 2026 Aqua cruise, I will leave the ship in Tortola and live stream on my Youtube channel that has 8 spam subscribers. Since I live in Miami, I will drive to NCL headquarters and get a personal meeting with the CEO and report back. Stay tuned!
  7. But would you edit that out of the video so the world could not hear you say that?
  8. Imagine if you owned a steak restaurant. I came into your restaurant and was a major food critic with a blog that many people read or watch. I film the restaurant and you or your employees tell me not to film. I write a negative review and trash your restaurant on my blog. 2 years later you see me again eating and filming at your restaurant. Would you be suspicious? Would you tell me to stop? If I post a video of the experience and edit out what my employees said to you and you tell the world what they said, would anyone believe that? The video itself is edited of what MSC said to Ben and David per Ben and David. The reason they give for editing the video is laughable. Ok dont show the employee but their voice will be anonymous and no one will know who they are. If they said something so wrong then fully release the video. Both sides completely over reacted. However we only get to hear one side per the edited and silenced video. Hmmmmm. Editing a video to silence what MSC said to you and then leave a cruise mid-week and fly home is creating unnecessary drama which is why MSC was suspicious of them in the first place.
  9. I remember back in 2009 that one of the biggest perks of a specialty restaurant was how tranquil it was compared to the MDR and buffet. Tables were spaced apart and during your meal there would be empty tables around you. Besides the increase in food quality it was worth the price just for the experience. Once NCL started building Breakaway and beyond they started cramming more and more tables into the specialty dining. The tables for 2 are so close together that you are literally sitting next to another couple inches apart. Then came the "free" at sea promo which gives everyone access to specialty dining. My last cruise on Encore, Cagneys was so crowded that they had to put about 8 tables outside the restaurant into the Mix bar area. The experience has completely changed. Specialty dining is actually more crowded than the MDR at some times.
  10. I am surprised no one mentioned that they stopped cruising MSC because they were told to stop filming. They already had an earlier confrontation with MSC about this. Their first cruise back they get confronted again with their filming. I agree that MSC completely over reacted and was wrong. But if you already were told not to film and you stopped cruising the cruise line, who would go back for more filming? I am going into devil's advocate mode but with them storming off the ship mid cruise purposely created such a firestorm that did it not make MSC's point that they were not there to objectively film? If MSC sensed an agenda, did they not just make their point stronger? I have said several times on this thread that MSC was wrong and stupid for what they did. But if you were confronted before and you left negative feedback on your very popular cruise vlog and then come back and film again, what is MSC to think? ******thinking outside the box********* Its not so black and white, is it? 🤔
  11. Very true. But the thread is not about IF anything we pay in gratuities is paid to crew. I met an older couple on my first cruise that cruised all the time. They told me the first thing they do every cruise is remove the auto gratuities at the customer service desk. They gave cash to all the room stewards, waiters, etc. that served them. Your premise could be true, NCL is ripping us all off and especially Haven passengers who pay more gratuities than anyone. But that's another thread.
  12. I am surprised that no one mentioned that Haven guests pay a higher auto daily gratuity fee than other passengers. With the increased DSC the Haven staff such as house keeping, waiters, and bartenders better get the DSC. The Haven rooms are made twice per day compared to the rest of the ship. We can assume this increase in fees covers this additional work. The only members of the Haven team that are not part of the DSC pool is the concierge team and butlers.
  13. This thread reminded me that its the 40th anniversary of "Where's the beef?"
  14. People steal the craziest things. I was a store detective when I was in college and they would teach you there were 2 types of thieves: The professional who goes to the store to purposely steal things and the spontaneous thief who just thinks no one will notice or care and takes something relatively small. People steal the dumbest stuff. In my first apartment I used to have a pair of flip flops outside my door to take the trash out. Old, worn and just used to walk to the trash bin. Someone stole them. You would be amazed how many little lawn ornaments are stolen from people's yards all the time. Someone drives by, admires it and then just takes it. As they say: If its not locked down someone will steal it. Sadly the same is for cruise magnets 🥺
  15. I have already said that MSC was wrong and ridiculous. But when people say this is their "job" please acknowledge who pays them? They get paid by clicks. The more clicks the more money they make. Clearly storming out off the ship in the middle of a cruise is going to earn 10x as many clicks than just finishing the cruise and vlogging about it later. IMHO they defeated their own argument by pulling a stunt thus creating their most watched youtube video. Does that not feed into the MSC argument? I think MSC was ridiculous for their actions. But these guys had the high ground but came down to the MSC level by purposely creating more clicks. This is what MSC is alleging about them yet they took that bait. Big mistake IMHO.
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