rhinomike

I have a friend of a friend that works on a Carnival Ship. He said he prefers to be tipped on the Sail and Sign card instead of cash. I found this hard to believe. But his reasoning made sense. He sends the money home. If he was tipped in cash he was tempted to spend it in the ships stores, in port or on other things. If he didn't have the cash he didn't spend it. It helped him save it and send it all back to his wife and kids.

I normally cruise Carnival but we have a few cruises planned with NCL. I have cruised on NCL once or twice but it's been years. Normally with Carnival they add on the gratuity or service charge to my sail and sign card once I am onboard.

Curious with NCL is there any pros or cons to do the prepay service charge or should I just let them charge it to my card once onboard?

Not sure if there is a benefit either way.

Thank you.

Not yet. My wife handles that. She is going to call them tomorrow. I will post the outcome.

I was just curious as to which way others have been charged.

Yes the charges are being billed to my credit card.

I thought that maybe since the Spirit Cruise was in Europe they didn't add the service charge. I heard tipping is different in Europe.

But if other members are not automatically being charged or the prepay service charge then there was an error.

So we have 2 cruises booked with NCL. The first one is next March on the Star. It is a Mexico cruise. On our confirmation I noticed that it has a Prepaid Service Charge listed for all of the guest.

We also have a Europe Cruise booked for next June on the Spirit. It does not show this Prepaid Service Charge listed....

I am wondering why it is listed on the Star but not the Spirit.... Is there a reason or is this just the way the NCL Rep did the booking?

Not sure if I want to prepay them or not. That is not the issue. I have always just let them bill my card once onboard.

I am just wondering why it was added to one confirmation and not the other. We booked them with the same NCL Rep and at almost the same time.....

My 2 cents.... This is a short cruise. You won't have much time to be on the balcony. There is only 1 port. So not much to see. Save your money and just get an inside room. That is what we do on this cruise.

Not on Carnival

If people want different class of service that is what Cunard is for

 

NCL does have the Haven

Really nice and way to much money for us to spend

Carnival has suites and pay resterants that are better. All geared for those with extra money.

If you can't afford it you stay in an inside cabin and eat at the MDR.

So in a way the are seperated by class.

No idea what the Haven area is. Enlighten me.

Private area for suite guest. Pool, hot tub, etc..... I have never been in there but have read about it.

I don't think the machines are on all ships.. I could be wrong.

We were on the Inspriration a few months ago. While in the buffet I remember my son mixing a packet of hot chocolate with water. So maybe they didn't have the machine.

Since we're diving the dining room by class, why don't we divide the decks by class: those who want to pay more can have the better decks, pools and chairs /endsarcasm

 

c'mon man. Divided dining rooms? High and low class dining. That is getting a little extreme imo

Isn't it already like that?

Suite vs inside cabin...

NCL has the Haven area. Isn't that like a first class separation?

Not saying I agree with it or not. Just pointing out that it kind of already exist.

It's fine. Just like any other cruise.

During the day you might see a few people that are intoxicated but its not an issue. We are in our cabin by 11. My oldest has stayed out later and has told me there are some crazy people in the clubs at night. But if you have kids they won't be in the clubs.

We have done that exact cruise about 15 times since we are about an hour from Long Beach. My kids love it. It was all 4 of my kids first cruise. We have taken many friends with young kids with us and they all love it. Go for it. You will have. Great time and you won't regret it.

Just curious, I thought at least one adult (over 21) had to be in a cabin? I ask because I booked two cabins for my family of 4. NCL said they had to put me on one res with one child and my husband on the second with the other child. On RCL, they allowed two children on same res if they were next door, NCL wouldn't do that for us.

Yes that is true. But not when the cabins have a door between them (connecting rooms).

Also if they are your kids (not your kids friends) and they are over a certain age it is ok.

Read this thread.... Kind of similar. Funny these issues come up at the same time.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1937037

LOL, I'm going to try really hard not to say anything. I'll let you know if I'm successful. ;)

I think it is really nice what you are doing. But have you thought about telling him? I think half of the fun about stuff like this is the anticipation and talking about it before it happens. Me and my wife both agreed many years ago that we would not surprise each other. It s funner to think about it and share it with each other. Just a thought. I know not everyone is the same. You know your husband and know if he will like the surprise or to be told now and look forward to it.

Plus it is easier on you if you tell him now. Lol.

Just in case anyone missed it. He has an ID, it's not expired, but it is an ID with our old address on it (same city/state). Hopefully this and backup documentation is enough to get past TSA. I called the CBP in Miami as well and I think we're good. I'll post when we get through all the screening just to let those who are concerned know that we made it okay. Thanks for everything.

I don't think the old address will be an issue at all.... I think you will be fine.

Oh man. I feel so bad for you. That sucks.

Does he have an old expired ID? If he does you can take it to the DMV. They will stamp out the expired date. Then they will print you a paper ID. The expired ID and the paper ID can be used and will satisfy the TSA. This is in California. Not sure I it is the same in NY but worth a try.

My fingers are crossed and I am praying or you. Good luck.

Great review. Thank you. We are do doing a one month trip to Europe in June. Me, my wife and our 4 boys. 2 weeks on the NCL Spirit (since no Carnival ships this year) and then 2 weeks exploring Europe. These reviews get me excited.

Do you make the reservation directly with the dining room or somewhere else? We will have a party of 10 for Thanksgiving Day also 4 of us will be celebrating Birthdays :)

We had a party of 10 a few years ago on the Star. When we booked our cruise we were able to make a reservation for the MDR. We ate at 6pm everyday. All of us at the same table.

Woohoo. So happy for you. Now you can relax and enjoy your cruise.

Love this thread. I want to be on my cruise NOW!! so I can try some of these items. But please tell us Brits what a Pretzel Roll is. :)

It's bread but made to have the texture of a pretzel. Kind of like a big pretzel you get at the fair but in a bread form. Did that make any sense? Lol.

It's been a few years since we cruised NCL. We cruised on the Star.

But we loved the pretzel rolls and hand scooped ice cream bar. Oh and I remember my kids loving the PB&J sandwiches. Not sure why they were special but they loved them. We are simple people. Lol.

I know a few kids that got caught drinking under age. They were slapped on the hand and esntoin their way. 2 were extremely intoxicated and couldnt walk. Security had to walk them to their Cabin and contact their parents. All on Carnival but 3 different ships. I think you are not being told the entire story.

I wanted to let you guys know where I am with my issue.... I had a different thread and a different problem. I sent an email to the address given to me by the NCL rep here on cc. Same email address you guys were given earlier in this thread. I sent the email on 10/25. Later that day a NCL supervisor called me and said my issue had been escalated to the executive level. He was told to give me a call and let me know they are working on it. He said he would call me every other day to touch base until it was resolved. I got a call yesterday (10/27) as promised. No updates but just wanted to touch base with me. Far better than my laste dealings with a supervisor. 3 weeks with no call backs and me leaving countless voicemails.

So no resolution yet but at least I am getting call backs. I never received an email back but someone must of read it and escalated my case.

I'm not sure if this info helps your situations or not but thought I would offer it up anyways. I will keep you guys posted.

If I remember correctly it is about a 20 to 30 minute drive.

I have to say that I disagree completely. The timing is perfect because if there were only threads titled like "NCL - HORRIBLE customer service" etc on the first page, it'd give out completely wrong picture to a newcomer here on CC.

 

The fact is that only a very small minority of customers have any major problems with their cruise but they are a lot more vocal than the ones that are happy after getting the normal, great experience with NCL. It's the same with most other websites too, very few happy people will take the time to wrote positive reviews but most of those that feel that they've been wronged in someway will blast their anger everywhere they can think of.

 

I feel for rhinomike for their problems with the reservation but while there have been mistakes from NCL's part, not getting calls returned by one person does not make NCL's customer service in whole "horrible" in my books - especially since it was a mistake of one specific supervisor, not multiple people there. People do mistakes and NCL has proven to usually make things right once the mistakes are spotted - there are exceptions of course, but with these prices and volume, I truly think that NCL delivers great value even if things sometimes go wrong.

I think you are right with my bad experience and the one supervisor. The new supervisor assigned to me has already called me back twice in one day. Seems far, far better than the original supervisor.

Hopefully in a few days I will have a good story to post on this thread. :)