graphicguy

This is a no brainer. $6K for the Haven Cabin vs $7K for a balcony Cabin on Royal? Haven Restaurant, Butler, Concierges, Haven Bar…..etc. Joy has lots for your son to do…..Laser Tag, Go-CArts, Galaxian Pavilion, great shows. Easy decision!

I’m still confused. NCL and/or the localities are refunding taxes? Or drinks? Someone made a point that they can’t charge taxes on a perk that costs “ZERO”. Well, they can’t refund something that costs nothing.

Amen! Never is an awfully long time!!!!!!!!!!

$50 is per excursion, per cabin. I was actually able to use it a couple of times on my Alaska Cruise for some transport. Not a huge benefit, but beats a stick in the eye!

Understand the frustration. Not on a cruise ship, but had some hotel issues with the same problem a while back. My ID said one name (using my middle initial) and my credit card not using my middle initial and declined as a result. Took a week to get it straightened out, but not fun. I don’t get embarrassed all that easily. So, no harm-no foul. It was taken care of. Still, it was a hassle. As an aside, I always plan redundancy. If I used one credit card to book the cruise (let’s say AMEX), I bring that along. But, if something like this were to happen, I have 2 other CCs with me….one Visa and MAsterCard. I also have 2 IDs…one with my middle initial (Passport) and one without (Passport card).

I’m not following you. Opportunity for what? The taxes are being charged by the port. Are you saying the port is refunding the taxes on drinks? I would imagine it’s a cash refund as I don’t see how the port authority (or port municipality) could get into NCL’s system for FCC. Regarding MSC……I’ve sailed them, in the Mediterranean and out of FL. Nice product. But, both times I sailed their Yacht Club. Clearly, they’re stronger in Europe. The bigger cruise market sails out of the U.S. Don’t know how well they’re faring out of the U.S. market. I doubt very seriously they rank anywhere near the Big 3…..NCLH, CCL, RCCL and their subsidiaries.

Thought the same thing. I remember the outcry when they introduced the EDGE class.Beautiful ships….love them. Others? Change does not sit well with them and they condemned them. NCL’s seeing the same with Prima. The title kind of sums it up…..”Prima is bad, and I’ve not even sailed her to make that sort of judgment”.

That’s a pretty big stretch. You bought a drink package. They are serving you drinks included in the package. Should they include the fees in the package? I guess…maybe!!!!! Can they add the tips/fees to the package and raise the price to compensate? Sure! Should they charge one price for drinks with fees and taxes added in while in port, and another price without those fees when out to sea? That would seem to cause even more confusion. But, it would satisfy this uproar. Personally, I don’t care. I’m used to having to pay taxes while in certain ports. Many places they can’t open the casinos. I guess I could say I wasn’t getting what they promised as a result. But, their rules ordinarily reflect what local regulations require. I guess push comes to shove, you can only sail those lines who add those charges into the cost.

That’s the point I was making. Other cruise lines just add in the VAT/Tax into the cost of the drinks or drink package.

If that's the case, I would imagine somewhere on the menu they will print that the VAT is charged on the value of the drink package, like they do on the taxes charged when in U.S. ports. So, it wouldn't be "zero" as far as the value of the drinks being sold. They can add in the cost of the tax and/or VAT, or they can operate the charge. I would imagine on other cruise lines, they just add in the cost of it to each individual drink. You're paying it one way or the other. I believe if they just added it in to the cost of the drink, some people would get angry that they raised the price of the drinks.

Can’t read the attachment as it’s too blurry. Assuming it’s to let you know one of your dinner reservations has to be changed? If so, as others said, rebook it on board. This is really a simple fix and by no means, an indictment of the entire ship and/or trip.

Wouldn’t make any sense, but who knows? Theft of ANY KIND by crew is dealt with prosecution, loss of job, and restitution. To risk that for a few magnets seems crazy. But, I’ve heard stranger things.

For a variety of reasons, I do self assist. Had a checked bag stolen at Charles DeGual (sp?) airport in Paris. I had a tracker in it. I could actually track it leaving the airport. Never recovered but showed the track to Delta Airlines. They reimbursed me fully, as they said someone associated with the airport was the likely culprit. And, that they’d reimburse me even though they didn’t think it was their fault. A tag will do no good if you can’t recover the luggage. Now, my luggage stays with me from disembarkation until I get it home. If it was locked, TSA would have a key to unlock it. If they suspect something is in your luggage that is prohibited, they’ll take it. But, they’ll also let you know they opened it for inspections.

Hand wash in your sink and hang on the clothes line in the shower. That’s what I do. No way the ship’s laundry can find, pull, and deliver your wet laundry to your cabin. If you saw the way the ship’s laundry works, you’d understand.

Unreasonable? No. But, as Cole mentioned, where is the line drawn? How about 3 days? 3 months? Somewhere in between? Regarding loyalty status….I’ve flown at least a Million Miles (ea) on 2 different airlines. They really don’t care, either. I get some priority boarding privileges (usually board after kids, old people, current upper tier Medallion status, people who are infirm, etc). So, that nets me next to nothing. Airlines are focused more on the “how much have you spent with me this year?”, not “look how much you’ve spent with us overall”. I’ve tried to tally that number. And, it’s in the Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars. What do I get? “Mr GG you get a middle seat on this transatlantic flight because you’ve only flown 30K miles this year”. NCL’s treatment of Latitudes (I’m Sapphire, also) status tends to go between tripping all over themselves to help me and “hey……we’ll let you board after the same people who just boarded before you on the flight”). They give me some wine, which I don’t drink. And, do some of my laundry for free. That’s really about it. As far as making exceptions? Neither the airlines nor the cruise lines are known to do so, nor do I expect it. Best of luck finding a cruise that works for you and them.

I think that’s the key point. Liquors/wines/beers often change by ship, as it’s dependent on what is available at the port distributors when they are resupplying.

I do recall getting OBC when buying CN certs as part of the promo. I just can’t recall which cruise it was. I’m just now using up the CNs I bought before the shutdown.

I dunno about that. Personally, I write down what I understand the promo to be. I ask them to correct any misunderstandings (if any) I may have on the notes I've taken. Never felt pressured or misled. But, I've been cruising for a while. All the cruise lines have similar promotions for buying certs on board. Yeah, they get some money upfront, but they also match whatever it is you spend. So, as has been mentioned, ordinarily you spend $250 for a CN cert, but you actually get two $250 certs equaling $500 for your $250 cash outlay. Sometimes they offer an OBC of the cruise you're on. But, I don't spend enough on board for that to really be a draw for me. Just need to ask about what you don't understand. I've always found the CN folks to be forthcoming when I needed an explanation about the Ts and Cs. I never felt that they were trying to hide anything. I've spent half an hour at the CN desk before. I have them look up any future cruises I might be interested in, I do not leave the desk until I thoroughly understand their promos. No one ever "shoo-ed" me away. Matter of fact, I've been known to go to the CN desk several days in a row when I couldn't make up my mind. They were always cordial and willing to help.

All true. Sometimes, they run a “special” and allow you to use more than one CN as a deposit. I think it’s always true if booking the Haven!

Don’t know if they still have them, but there were some little red velvet cupcakes there that were divine.

Done both RCCL and NCL….extensively as I’m Diamond on Royal and Sapphire on NCL. Food-similar on both. But, I tend to eat in Specialty Restaurants for dinner at least ½ the evenings I’m on the cruise. Service-they both offer good service. Never been disappointed. Whenever I had an issue, it was dealt with promptly and professionally. Ships-they both have some of the most state of the art ships at sea. They both also have some that are older and don’t have all the current amenities of newer ships. NCL has race tracks and laser tag. Royal has iFly and bumper cars. Take your pick! Itineraries-again, both have similar port stops. Both have their own private islands. Royal’s CoCo Cay resort tends to extend the “theme park” vibe while NCL has Great Stirrup Cay, which is more of a resort feel vs a theme park. Pick the one you like best. Aside from NCL’s newest Prima and Viva, both Royal and NCL have some of the biggest ships at sea. TO some, that’s a positive. For others, not so much. Both cruise lines have their fans and detractors, which is probably where you’re hearing the negative views of NCL. Aside from some serious faux pas right after the cruise restart, NCL has been the line I cruise the most. They have lots to do, ships are well kept, offer great service and I like their “vibe” better than Royal. That doesn’t make Royal bad, just different. Just like some people swear by sailing Carnival. Their cruises are fine, just not my vibe. So, I don’t cruise them much.

I’d pay to hear the @ChiefMateJRK sing. Not much…and maybe only for 1/10th of a song, but I’d pay….the cost of a beer….that I drank…and would leave when finished, whether the song was over, or not. 😉 That said, there was a discussion here a few months ago where some lady wanted to bring her guitar to sing and play for guests. Maybe she had talent. Most probably not as much as she perceived. But, the general consensus was for her to ply her talents when and where there was Karaoke happening. Apparently, that was not sufficient. She wanted a large stage (like the Atrium) to ply her alleged talents. We advised her that would be a bad idea.

There used to be quite a few dinner “boats” that were along the coast of both sides of the river. Barlyecorns, Showboat Majestic…the one you’re probably referring to was THE WATERFRONT. Had plastic palm trees on the outside bar area. But, it was owned and operated by one of the U.S.’s biggest and fest restrauteurs, Jeff Ruby. It was a great seafood place, although he’s mostly known for his steak restaurants. That restaurant was hit by a barge, partially sank, and never reopened. The Montgomery Inn Boathouse sits right on the river, but it isn’t a boat. Great views and great BBQ!

I have to look at the CNs I have in my account. but in addition to getting double value, I believe they are good for 4 years and are transferable. So, if you decide you aren’t going to cruise in the next 4 years, you can actually sell them. Depending on the promotions at the time, you can use 2 CN certs for Club Balcony cabins and up. You can use 1 cert for any category under those. CN desk…..ask questions…lots of questions…..so you understand what you’re buying. I don’t have any issues understanding the Ts and Cs, but certainly understand how things can get jumbled. The last ones I bought I got from the CN manager on board. Super nice lady and actually married to another CN Manager (on a different ship). I had her slow down and explain everything. I wrote down what I understood how the promo worked. She agreed. I agreed. Funny, just chatting, she said in addition to the presentations she does on every cruise in the Atrium, she does the same presentation at the CN desk probably a couple hundred times each and every cruise. So, I think they tend to rush through it because they do it so much.

If I lived on either coast, or around FL ports, I think I’d probably hop on a cruise once a month. Drive to the port, check in, go up the gangplank…..sailing. Probably a good thing I live in OH. Somehow sailing up and down the Ohio River just isn’t the same. 😁