ryty44

14 and a half hours and we will be sailing away! I'm so ready for this break from reality!

Yes you can tell by the indent in the cabin wall, same as Epic. The information is also on the stateroom details. For example -

 

Breakaway 14176 Mid-Ship Balcony 14 Standard Capacity - 3 ,

Cabin Includes Shower , Floor To Ceiling Sliding Glass Doors ,

Foldable Sleeper/Playpen , Hair Dryer , Private Balcony ,

Internet Access , Clothes Line In Bathroom , Port Side ,

Balcony Square Footage (32) , Tea And Coffee Maker ,

Television , Total Square Footage (204) , Convertible Single

Sofa Bed , Safety Deposit Box , Cabin Square Footage (172) ,

Convertible Lower Beds (2) , Bed Near Balcony Door , Desk ,

Sitting Area , Telephone

 

(Copied from NCL website).

Thanks for sharing. This happens to be my cabin on an upcoming cruise. Makes me even more excited!!!

While I have found similar threads, they seem to be from foreign travelers, so I guess I’ll start a new conversation. I have taken two cruises before (Royal Caribbean and Disney) but the last was 8 years ago, clearly things have changed.

 

We booked a 7 day cruise on the Gem from in late Winter of this year several weeks ago. Thought we got a really good price for a balcony room. Never traveled on NCL before but when our welcome kit came I was somewhat floored to see they were going to take the liberty of charging us $12 or so a day per person for “prepaid service fees”. According to their web site, I can prepay them now (they would love that) for $168 for my party of two.

 

Huh?

 

When was the last time you walked into a restaurant and gave the host a tip in advance for a server you had yet to meet or experience how well they did their job? Maybe this is now common, but Disney and RC never did this when I traveled with them. I tipped as I chose as the voyage went on... and I tipped well when called for.

 

We are not cheap and tip very well when we elect to tip for good service. I am sorry, but NCL simply deciding the service I am going to receive is going to make me want to tip $168 total during my trip and if I don’t prepay they are just going to add that daily to my room fee REALLY feels rude to me.

 

I know how cruise ship personnel are paid (or not). I know how they need tips. I get it. However, we are really easy guests. I probably will never use room service (I don’t care for eating in my room/cabin), I rarely call for additional pillows or special cabin service unless something is wrong and we’re probably going to hit the buffet for many of our meals. I’ll be lucky if I pass by the main dining room.

 

So, in our case, I am being asked to pay $168 in service fees so someone can make up our cabin each day and maybe something for one sit down restaurant when I tire of the buffet. Never have I left what works out to a $20 a day tip to a housekeeper at a hotel. That is essentially what NCL is telling me they expect based on the services I know I will require from the crew.. very little.

 

This policy actually makes me want to tip less. I know it says “discretionary” but “prepay now or we’ll ad it to your bill unless you come have an awkward conversation with us on board and ask us to remove or reduce it” is not the definition of discretionary. It's call "a mugging" or jacking up the cruise fee.

 

“Discretionary” is “Yes, please make it easy for me by tipping for me” or “No, leave my bill the way it is, I’ll tip when I feel one is deserved.”

 

Again, those who give me great service will be well taken care of. How do you get NCL to NOT do this and leave tipping up the guest? Really annoyed by this one. I know there is a tip pool... but that means the excellent employee I tip is going to have to share their tip with people who I never even received service from. Not any better.

I do believe that the "Discretionary" charges can be hard on the pocket when traveling on a budget. I cruised last November and I was charged $12 a day for myself, my husband and our three kids. I personally feel like $12 a day is alot to charge for a 6 year old who is the third person in the room. With that being said, we paid it and even tipped extra to our cabin steward, which I did not expect to do before we sailed. He was that good!

Remember you are not paying $20 for your bed to be made. If you choose to eat at the buffet rather then the main dining room there is still staff bussing the tables, there are chef's preparing the food, there are dishwashers as well. In addition to the cabin steward there are the behind the scences people doing the laundry and so forth.

NCL is does have these charges posted their website and for our experience the service was top notch. Before my first cruise I complained about the upcoming descretionary charges, after sailing and receiving top notch service I not only booked another cruise for March, I plan on tipping extra once again if the service warrants it.

I wonder if the Washy Washy girls are a part of the tip pool? :D

We also just booked a free cruise from the Tropicana in AC. But this did not just involve a postcard in the mail. We had to go to the Tropicana to pick up our Casinos at Sea certificate, and we were offered a limited number of cruises. Still a good deal, even with the port charges and taxes,

Our Tropicana comped cruise we had to pick up the voucher in person at the Trop too. While it was limited to certain dates out of NY, I called and asked if they would work with me and they did. I booked an end of March cruise even though the voucher stated it was only good until February out of NY. The post card vouchers were different, my parents got those offers from the Casino at Sea. Sorry if I confused you! Enjoy your cruise!

Hi, I am a newbie to the forum but have been reading the wonderful posts to help plan my cruises so I am familiar with the site but this is my first post.

Last week I received a postcard in the mail regarding a free 7day cruise from any US port free from NCL. Now with the way things are, there are many scams going on so where better than to find out real story behind this offer. It looks like it is from NCL but who knows.

 

Would appreciate any feedback regarding this promo and if it is from NCL; what is the "catch" to it.

 

Thanks:confused:

I just booked my free cruise, totally legit, given to me by the Tropicana. Additionally, my parents get offers directly from NCL Casino at Sea program all the time. Also legit. Of course nothing is free, taxes and port charges apply. My parents get a balcony or better room comped to them, because that is the type of room they have always booked when paying out of pocket. Since I was comped by the Tropicana they had no cruise history on us so our comp was for an inside, we upgraded. To upgrade from an inside to an outside was $75 per person, to upgrade from the outside to a balcony was an additional $200 per person...ugh....I thought this was steep because when booking through NCL, there was a $75 difference in price between the outside and balcomny rooms for the cruise we were looking to book. Nonetheless, we bucked up. It was still a great deal. We paid about $1,000 out of pocket for a 7 night cruise on the Jewel for the two of us in March, we have a balcomy room and that includes everything. I also believe that booking through Casino at Seas entitles us to a free drink card which is good in the casino.

Good Luck!