HappyTvlr

Just off the Getaway with FAS+. Veuve was only available by the glass in Le Bistro and Ocean where they were happy to pour it like water. We enjoyed the Pommery Rose which we were already familiar with, but believe it is crazy that they made their only option for real champagne a rose. We were able to get it from the Atrium and Mixx around dinner time, but suspect it was available all day. Someone posted a picture of the Veuve offered by the glass a featured wine in the MDR, but it was not on offer as part of the plus package. We don't drink any spirit other than gin so can't say what was really available. As for gin, they had a Monkey 47 from Germany that was on the menu for $35 and included in the + so we had that instead of our regular Sapphire.

I thought NCL couldn't mess things up any worse than they had, but they went to a new low. I followed up after the weekend reboot as advised. The first agent told me I had to call the warehouse "travel agent" I booked with. I tried to explain that most of what I needed done had been done directly with NCL. She hung up on me. I called back and a different agent said the same thing and that the people from NCL that assisted me last week "shouldn't have". Wow. I called my warehouse "travel agent", and the amazing rep had to act as a middle man and put me on hold to relay my requests to NCL. The warehouse TA was told I had nothing booked (dinners or shows), and the TA got very frustrated because she could see all the bookings that I could see in the app. The TA lost it when NCL agent hung up on her. She eventually got through to someone at NCL and all was made right. This took over an hour just to cancel a dinner and book a show. KJDJ, how insane you were told you have to have 2.5hrs. I was told 30 minutes which meant I would need a 5:30 dinner for a 7pm show. I ended up with a 5:30 dinner for a 7:30 show. I am done with all the reservations, and now want to forget about the frustration and try to reset my mind to try to enjoy my first NCL cruise. I am going to pop over to the Celebrity boards to see if Celebrity has the same issues with reservations. I haven't been on an ocean cruise since 2018 and I am wondering if things changed with them.

I looked up information on previous trips to refresh my memory. Our Uniworld trip to India (land and river cruise) in 2018 indicated that gratuities were not included for crew and tour directors, but they were included for onshore personnel (guides/drivers). However, our European river cruise in 2019 included all gratuities. "Gratuities Program • Europe, Russia, Asia and Egypt: Gratuities for onboard and onshore personnel (ship staff, crew, Cruise/Tour Manager, local experts, drivers) are included , both during the cruise-tour as well as on any pre- or post-cruise land extensions." I couldn't find the electronic docs for India, but the above quote is from our Europe trip. So it seems that Uniworld has indeed changed their tipping policy. This is from our most recent booking for France in Oct 2023: "Europe: Gratuities for onboard personnel (ship staff, crew, Cruise-Tour Manager) are included during the cruise-tour." I admit I never would have noticed this fine print on my own.

No resolution after a couple more lengthy phone calls. It got really frustrating when the helpful agent said her system froze and she was unable to cancel a dinner reservation that would remove the time conflict and allow her to book the show. She said they are doing a system upgrade over the weekend so things "should" be better Monday. Another general problem with all the reservations is that a vast majority no show without penalty. We spent Christmas at a very nice AI resort in Mexico that we previously visited. On this visit they had implemented a reservation system and we stuggled constantly to secure reservations for specialty restaurants only to find most empty. The staff were disgusted because the tables went empty and there was significant food waste. They acknowledged that it was horrilble having to turn away walk ups only to hold a table for yet another no show. I get that plans change or people don't have the energy or appetite for an evening meal, but this could be easily solved by going with the first come first served system. I have cruised extensively on Celebrity and dined "anytime" without an issue. We would enjoy a martini before heading to the show and then off to dinner. As I said, this is my first NCL cruise and I am not optimistic.

I am crazy upset with this whole booking process. I am 21 days out and jumped online to book shows. After countless error messages I called to get the reservations. I was told that I can't book Burn the Floor at 7:30 or 9:30 which is advertised as a 45 minute show because I have an 8:30 dinner reservation and the "system" has a conflict because the show has a run time of 1 hour. I asked to move the dinner reservation at Ocean Blue, but that is now completely booked for the entire duration of the cruise. I have the same conflict with MDQ on a different day. I booked my dinner reservations long ago before I even knew the show times. The NCL agent told me to just head to book the show as soon as I board. Give me a break. We are slapped in the face with the pressure to prebook everything only to be told to do it in person. This is my first NCL cruise, and I am not looking forward to it now. Too much hassle and too many errors with prebooking.

I'm new to NCL and was looking over the shore excursions. I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on the selfie tours in the Caribbean. I'm not into the selfie thing, but they seem to make a lot of interesting stops in places I have never visited. They seem to cover a lot more sites and territory than other tours. It seems like a great way to get a taste of a port stop. Thanks.

Really appreciate your question because I have been wondering the same thing. I've only been on Celebrity, but I recently booked my first NCL cruise because I found a great deal. We always went to the shows on Celebrity with no issues getting seats. I'm on the Getaway in May and will post a review and include the show experience.

Thanks to the original poster of the topic. Without that post I would not have known about the discount. I spent a fair bit of time on the phone this morning trying to get the discount, and I am happy to say I succeeded. I booked and paid in full with an online warehouse place in January for a cruise coming up in May. Today I started by successfully going through the IDMe process, and the military status showed up instantly on my NCL account. I was concerned that I would not be eligible for the discount because I paid in full already, but figured I would give it a shot. I contacted NCL, and the rep was kind and helpful. She put me on hold and contacted a supervisor. She said I would need to contact the online group I booked with for a "reprice". She acknowledged that I had already paid in full, but said they could still do the reprice. I called them, they called NCL, and told me it was too late because I had paid in full even though final payment was not yet due. Not happy that they were not able to get the same information from NCL that I did, I again contacted NCL. The rep was just as kind and helpful. After a long wait on hold, I was put in contact with someone from the resolution department. They said I would need to contact the online group again and have them contact the resolution department. I did, and woo hoo! They gave me about 8% back in the form of a credit card refund. I questioned the amount because it was odd and the online group said it was NCL that authorized the amount and that they do not know what formula was used. They were not as helpful as NCL and seemed upset when I questioned the amount. The difference was nominal and more than I had in my pocket this morning so I'm taking it as a win. I hope this helps, and have to say that it was time consuming but the reps at NCL were very helpful and stuck with me to get the discount.