DMLyons

We are taking the plunge for our Alaskan cruise and got the family suite that includes concierge and butler. I keep reading that the concierge is there to help with excursions, but wouldn't you have those already booked prior to sailing? Also, is it possible to contact them before embarkation and have something waiting in the room for our arrival. My family thinks we booked two porthole rooms and this is a surprise for them. I was thinking having my girls favorite candies like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups already waiting for them. Is this possible?

Couple of questions here.

To answer the first, you don't HAVE to do things in advance. We did, and we were sorry we did, since we ended up having the concierge reschedule some things for us last minute. For one thing, you don't know what days the various shows will be on, so setting up (for instance) an evening excursion that may end up being held the same time as a "I don't want to miss..." show on ship is a risk you take when doing things in advance. Unfortunately, they will NOT tell you when onboard events are held in advance, and the schedule is not the same, from week to week.

If you're in a suite with butler and concierge, your concierge absolutely can do excursions for you aboard, if there is still room available for you on the excursions. For that matter, the ShorEx people often can, if you show up at the meeting point for an excursion, but not always. Still a good thing for non-suite guests to know! Someone else said there was a separate concierge for shore excursions, but I suppose that depends on the ship. On the Dawn, we had the concierge, and she would liaise with the ShorEx coordinator for us when we had need of it, but we saw people sign the paperwork to purchase shore excursions from ShorEx right at the meeting point for some excursions.

You can have some things waiting for you in the room, but they aren't as liberal with it as you seem to imagine they are. I found that out by experience. If you want something in the room that they already have on board, you're golden. For instance, you can order one of the bon voyage gifts to be in the room, you can order a special treat that is already on board from the concierge in advance (like cookies or ice cream to celebrate arrival), and you can order things like bottles of booze and/or buckets of beer in advance. But, when I wanted to find out if the butler could put some anniversary decorations and pictures I had up in the room WITH the anniversary decorations I was purchasing from them, I was told to carry them aboard and put them up myself. It wasn't possible, according to NCL, for me to send them ahead and have the butler take care of that.

In the same way, another NCL passenger reported on the forums that she asked if the birthday cake you get with the decoration package could be one that wouldn't set off her son's allergies, assuming that his allergies being listed with the access desk would be enough to have them accommodate. No. It wasn't. She was told the best she could do would be to have everyone else in the room eat the cake and order her son ice cream when they were aboard instead of letting him eat the cake.

Good luck with your trip!

DM Lyons

It's mostly about having a bit more real estate in a cabin and some additional comforts. And the cost out of my pocket is no more than what most people are paying for a "regular" cabin.. in fact after the OBC.. it was CHEAPER....because it is split with 3 others (not everyone's piece of cake, I get it).

We ran the numbers. When we travel with our kids (one of whom is adult and the other two still under 18, but not for long), it will be cheaper for us to get a suite than to travel in two separate smaller cabins. So, I get this entirely.

For what it's worth, I think MsTabbyKats was really oversimplifying the situation when she said: "Some people who book suites are wealthy, some have a lot of disposable income and minimal expenses and others like to live beyond their means." Okay, she's named all of three possibilities there. CactusFlower named a fourth.

I can name a few more, from personal experience/experiences of friends. Some people save up for several years for a big vacation. It's not that they are living beyond their means or that they are wealthy but rather that they budget for their dream vacation and make it happen, which is living WITHIN their means. The other I can name? Sometimes people have a windfall of some sort and wish to take a high-end vacation. It's not living beyond their means, because they certainly HAVE the means to take the vacation, even if they don't do so on a regular basis.

I planned for over a year for our luxury vacation, but that doesn't mean we were overextending ourselves. We do one big vacation a year (time constraints) and plan to make the most of whatever we do. That's our budget. But we don't fall into any of MsTabbyKats' pigeonholes, since we're not wealthy, we do have a lot of expenses with three kids, and we're not living beyond our means. We simply budget the type of travel we do.

DML

Just a note... EVERYTHING we asked pre-concierge for was taken care of and in our room at arrival. They did a good job for us.

DML

For my first NCL cruise on the Pride the difference between a balcony and a suite is $2700 per couple. That's another cruise for us. Are regular balconies that bad that so many upgrade to suites or are most NCL cruises on this board just wealthy;). Inquiring minds just want to know the secret.

We're certainly not wealthy, but we enjoy pampering when we get the chance to get away for a while. We often choose to stay in concierge accommodations. Unlike people who have the leisure time to cruise three or four or more times a year, the premium for us is TIME, so we choose to spend the extra money to splurge when we do cruise.

Can you have fun cruising without being in a suite? Sure. But if you want to be pampered fully, you get that in a suite.

DML

Maybe this is just me but... The link at the bottom took me to a page that wanted me to create an account at the site...not to the pics. Did I miss another link? :confused: I'm not going to create an account at an unknown site just to see the pics. Sorry.

DML

I have the same issue and brought one on the Pearl. A small metal desk fan and an extension cord as the closest outlets were on the opposite wall.

If all you need is the SOUND of the fan and it doesn't have to be a big fan, I suggest using a USB one plugged into your laptop. They never look twice at my USB accessories. OR use a white sound generator on your laptop, Nook, Kindle...whatever you carry. I own a couple of those, and they are great for sleeping noise. :D

If you need the rush of moving air and/or the sound of the large fan (not just white noise), obviously this won't work. Just trying to give suggestions that definitely won't get confiscated at the pier.

DML

A few years ago on the Dawn, we found blueberry beer at the pub. Since the ship stopped at Bar Harbor on the way down to NY, we were intrigued and had to have it. Quite good, dry, not at all too sweet. The best part was the man sitting at the bar to our left. Bartender introduced him to us as the owner of the company that made the blueberry beer. Good thing we liked it! He was on his way down to NYC on a selling trip, to convince local restaurants to carry it. Lost track of him, but hope he's still making that beer!

There are several blueberry and blackberry beers I can name offhand. If it's any of the ones the guys in my family drink, they are reportedly excellent.

DML

Perhaps this is an underutilisation of their services, but that's our style of travel and, to be honest, we didn't feel we needed much additional to what was being provided automatically.

No need to apologize for it or rationalize it. How you travel is how you travel. Some people get suites for the floor space and not the perks. If that's your style of travel, go for it! It works for you. :D

DML

Some of the things we plan to use them for...

Concierge...chocolate buffet, shows, and other reservations. Really not an awful lot for the concierge.

Butler...afternoon snacks, meals served in the room, keeping our fridge stocked with mixers and coffee, shoe shining and pressing for our anniversary night, bringing us a blender, delivering our wine to where we'll be having dinner, possibly bringing dessert back to our room for us while we're off to the show... A lot more for that individual.

DML

Since your thread is more about tipping, I'll say you are not obligated to tip either of them. It is your choice.

You're not obligated to, but DO keep in mind the butler and concierge are NOT part of the DSC. They have not been tipped already through that system.

DML

After two bad experiences with balcony staterooms (noisy neighbors), we decided to go with an inside cabin and chose a sideways cabin. We LOVED it. As mentioned above, there is no hallway as you enter, so the cabin appears bigger and you are not in each other's way if one has to use the bathroom and the other is trying to get into the closet. The bathroom is most definitely bigger in this configuration. We always look for a sideways inside cabin when we cruise.

Thanks for that information. We were considering booking these for a family trip. Glad to hear they are enjoyable.

DML

I was asking if popcorn was available on the ship. If its not available, I wondered if the butler could pop a bag (that i bring onboard myself) in a microwave?

I've seen people say the butler brought them popcorn when they wanted to watch movies, so I'll veer to...usually available onboard and will be available if you ask him for it.

DML

I think it is so funny that when someone comes on here and complains that a port was changed or missed, they are blasted and told that the cruise line can make changes and they should just deal with it. But when it comes to a menu, people are up in arms. Why is one different than the other. Shouldn't they just do what they advised the ones who complained about the ports changes....just deal with it. When you think about it, this is not a life changing event, it is just a menu.

When a port is skipped, it's usually due to something like weather, something bad happening at the port, or other non-foreseeable items. Even if, heavens forbid, they have to cancel a port for several months, due to something like a tsunami or earthquake, it's not something they could have foreseen and avoided. What else can anyone do BUT suck that up? NCL and passengers both. If NCL doesn't pull in, the port loses money, but NCL may lose money as well. They have to refund all the excursions people can't take, and there's no saying those people will spend the same amount of money aboard the ship NCL would have made from their booked excursions. If they have to cancel a port the cruise line OWNS, they lose even more by not pulling in, since they own everything you would do there.

I agree with you up to a point. Sitting on here and complaining won't help anything, to be sure, but I fully endorse what those complaining are doing otherwise. Voting with your pocketbook affects the bottom line and makes the cruise line question what they see in the numbers. NCL will follow the bottom line. If enough people avoid Cagney's because of the change, they'll start playing with the menu to try and draw some back or drop the price again...or both. They WILL gain some people with this change, and they WILL lose some. It's the nature of the beast that everyone WANTS to believe their side outnumbers the other, but really...only the numbers NCL sees in the end can answer that.

DML

I have to agree 100% with you. The funny thing when the changes were announced but no menus yet most keep hoping the new menu would replace the nearly 100% seafood appetizers with non seafood appetizers. They did that and now the hue and cry from the other side.

I can't argue that, Jim. To someone who has seafood allergies, this menu is much friendlier. But you'll never be able to please everyone. It's just not possible.

DML

The thing you get with these lines which you don't quite get with NCL is the regimented main seating dinner times (not when you want and where you want to dine) and both have rather "upscale" dress requirements. No other line is as laid back as NCL when it comes to dress-code and when/where to eat. That's the beauty of FREESTYLE DINING!

Absolutely! Personally, I like being able to choose when I want to dine at the spur of the moment. I've lived with regimented times, but I really enjoy not having to conform to them even better. :D On our upcoming 7-day cruise, we only have two reserved meals and two reserved excursions. We'll additionally have a couple of reserved spa treatments once we're aboard. Other than that, we intend to be as freestyle as possible.

DML

Not so. Per US government regulations, fresh pork intended to be cooked at home by consumers or in restaurants (such as pork chops and roasts) does not have to be frozen or otherwise specially treated. The freezing requirement applies only to pork that will be used for certain processed products.

I wonder when that was decided. My information came from a chef, and they were taught that it was required by USDA for all pork products. Of course, that WAS 15 years ago, so the USDA may have changed that in between, as new testing became available instead. Thanks for the update.

DML

In this day and time, most seafood you get is going to be frozen, unless you live next to the water.

True. Even if you live near the water, some of the fish are caught far out and frozen for the trip back in. Or frozen for the trip from the "farm" to the store.

And there's really no such thing as "fresh pork" in the US. USDA, to reduce the incidence of trych (which is killed by freezing pork solid), REQUIRES that all pork spend several weeks (3, I believe) frozen before it can be sold to stores. It's only "fresh" because it's not currently frozen. :rolleyes:

DML

It was served two nights in the main dining rooms on our recent Panama Canal cruise.

Thanks much! That's a help!

DML

With the changes to the menu, does anyone know if somewhere aboard the Dawn still serves prime rib? Just wondering.

DML

is it 45 days before your sailing date or 45 days before the actual night you need a res for?

 

:confused:

Sailing date.

DML

I tend to get it for about an hour. I don't get nauseated, but my my legs and hips are off balance for a while, and I get dizzy.

DML

When you say "on your own", are you referring to just one kid walking around the ship by themselves, or a group of kids walking around together? I did both, and no one ever seemed to have any issues with it, the staff always smiled and said hello, but my group of friends were never roudy or anything!

My older two are likely to roam alone. My youngest is likely to roam with her older sister. So, a little of both. Mine aren't rowdy either, but we've had bad experiences in the past with pushy people trying to order my kids around, so it's good to hear you didn't have any problems. Thanks a lot.

DML

Oh darn! I was getting excited and then read this....:(

 

 

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Me too. Sigh... It's a nice little system, though. :(

DML

I've read that they have game systems (Wii/XBox/etc.) in the kid/teen clubs and in several bars. Any opinions on it? Good games? Easy to get time on them? In working order?

I have two older teens (an adult teen and a 16 y/o) and a young teen. Did anyone give you problems when you were exploring on your own aboard?

Thanks for information.

DML

I am curious if anyone has had experience with the wedding services. I personally find some of the packages to be a tad pricey as well as more geared to the "traditional-legal" wedding.

We were discussing renewal of vows the other day on another thread in this section. What some people do, if they aren't looking for the traditional legal ceremony at sea, is have a beloved family member or friend "officiate." Technically speaking, you can get a private room/venue on board the ship for a period of time and perform your own ceremony, but you'd probably still need some of the catering associated with a wedding/vow renewal. It really depends on how much of the pomp and circumstance associated with a wedding you want or don't want. That is entirely your call, of course.

Also, if it appeals to you, you can do little touches for your partner and yourself...romance packages, couples massages, the bon voyage or congratulations party package (under bon voyage gifts...but that's just for your personal room, not for everyone)... Oddly, though they have an anniversary party package, they don't have a just married package, but the other two are appropriate.

Congratulations and good luck!

DML