DCGuy64

How much more you pay often depends where you live. I have seen many times on this site people claiming they've saved $1,000s by using NCL's BOGO. I don't know about you, but $1,000 or more isn't "a little more." There's no one right answer to this. Some people like to have control over their reservations, while others are happy to relinquish control in exchange for saving money. Same with travel agents. Some like to do their own bookings, while people like me enjoy letting someone else make the phone calls, etc.

I would argue that substituting one flight for another represents a cancellation. If you were booked on flight ABC123 and were moved to DEF456, your 1st flight was cancelled. That's how I'd look at it, anyway. At a minimum, my reservation was cancelled.

Interesting. I have. Pretty much every travel insurance policy I've bought has a provision for cancelled flights, which the baggage fees were a part of. I believe it would fall under the trip cancellation provision.

When we were there in 2022 post-cruise, my wife couldn't stop mentioning the foul stench of weed. And my wife is extremely open-minded about people's choices in life. It is unconscionable that you can't walk down the street in the most populous city in America without being assaulted by the vile stench of marijuana. It also amazes me that the same people who want to ban/have banned cigarette smoking outside are apparently OK if it's cannabis. I hope they ban all of it.

Well said, especially the first paragraph. A classic logical fallacy of the Appeal to Emotion (think of the children, etc.) Doesn't wash with me.

You should have been safe. As @Fogfog has helpfully suggested, I'd try getting insurance to cover that. Not your fault the airline was changed at basically the last minute.

I know how you feel. I paid for seats on a flight from DC to Venice which I then had to cancel. No refunds. Shame on me.

I used to agree with that sentiment. Not anymore, once I've seen what's happened in my city and others that have legalized it. Ban it, period.

Another thing (or two) to remember about price drops: 1. If the price on your sailing drops, you can (as several have pointed out) cancel and rebook, but doing so may jeopardize any perks or promos you had on the old rate. 2. In our experience, if the price drops after final payment, you can only get OBC for the difference, and only one time. IOW you can't get multiple OBC's for multiple price drops. So if you get the OBC and the price drops again, you're out of luck. Not trying to dissuade OP in any way, just making sure he/she knows the deets! 😁

Nice, I hope you have a great time!

Then if that's the case, I blame the Aussies. If they can't sustain a cruise company, the cruise company has every right to abandon that market.

Did you mean to say "booking" your first VV cruise? Or "looking" at your first VV cruise?

We always use a TA for our cruises. In addition to being a personal friend and former co-worker, he travels a lot and is a solid cruiser. The best part for us is that he doesn't work for any cruise line, so no need to have a personal cruise consultant for each of the lines we cruise with. He was able to select a specific cabin for us on VV, which I understand you can't do if you book on our own. The other thing that is invaluable about him is that he ALWAYS responds quickly to emails. Average response time (and no, I'm not making this up) is about 10 minutes. He's even responded quickly while on vacation himself. I asked him about rebooking a cruise (the one we had booked was suddenly cancelled) and I got the new booking confirmation from the cruise line within minutes, even before he'd emailed to say it was done. Hands down use a TA.

From one coffee lover to another: I have tried Black Cat in the past, but it's WAY too bitter for me. I love espresso and make it almost every morning, but I prefer a lighter roast like Illy and Lavazza. (Both of them make various roasts, but generally I do NOT like the dark, oily beans, it's just way too strong and one of the principal reasons I avoid Starbucks). So, would you advise someone like me to get the room service coffee or the drip coffee in The Galley rather than going to Grounds Club? Thanks. (I like coffee, too, BTW, but I don't like darker roasts, French roast, etc.)

I wonder if you could take a plate of potatoes to the omelette station (or someplace where there's a flat top) and ask the chef to jazz them up. Might be worth asking. No sense settling for 'bog standard' spuds on your holiday!

You can always ask NCL or your travel agent. However, my understanding was that when you upgrade rooms, you don't get the benefits of the upgrade. (But that may only be if you bid on an upgrade) Did NCL send you anything detailing what you receive with the upgraded room?

Enjoying reading your posts onboard the Epic. For some reason, my wife and I really liked that ship. We did a TA from Portugal to NYC. Anyway, I don't know what kinds of tastes you like, but if I were you, I'd request some hot sauce, lots of salt and pepper and anything else to put on top of those potatoes to make them less boring.

Right? In 2020 everyone swore the whole industry was going under. Obviously not.

That is very nice (and generous) of you to do that.

Well said. Sometimes, it beggars belief that people cannot simply answer a question. The OP was only asking about how, and when, a passenger could ask about reducing, or eliminating, the daily service charge. But instead of answering, many people went off on tangents about whether it was the right thing to do, scolding/judging the OP for even asking the question, etc. Wow. Remind me never to ask people about what I should do in regard to tipping. As @dmwnc1959 said, it's my money. And how I spend my money is nobody's business but mine.

It very much depends where you go, how busy they are, what time of year, etc. (And often, whether you speak the local language or not.) Too many variables for me to make a blanket statement. My point was to say that if we get rid of tips onboard the ships, there might be unanticipated adverse consequences.

Be careful what you wish for. In Europe, it is true that paying servers a higher wage (and no tips expected) sounds great. It is also true that sometimes you get crappy service because, what are you gonna do, NOT TIP? What do they care? Work both ways. No tipping means no consequences for bad service. Sure you want to go down this road?

That's it exactly. If it were rolled into the cost of the cruise, there'd be no way to refund it to the dissatisfied.

Most people who choose to reduce or eliminate the DSC do so on the day before disembarkation. Yes, you may request that a different amount be paid (higher or lower than the DSC). Now that your question has been answered, I'll add to my response by agreeing with those who point out that the DSC does go a lot of people whom you never see. I have never even considered reducing or eliminating it. However, I know there are people who've been treated shabbily on cruises who chose to ask to have it reduced or eliminated. If there are service issues along the way, best to bring them to management's attention early on so they can be rectified.

There used to a DM feature, but they disabled it. You can reach me at layclerk at gmail dot com. Thanks, would love to connect with a fellow linguist/cruiser/traveler!