dltvermont

My humblest apologies for not searching the forum first. And my sincere thanks for those that answered in a non snarky manner. When my cruise was cancelled for Covid, my PVP rolled everything over to a new cruise and added OBC with leftover. When THAT cruise was cancelled, same thing. I should have had no money leftover but oh well, will always take free money. My cruise next year isnt CCL but this will certainly help with that payoff!

I received a check in the mail yesterday that appears to be from Carnival and the reason line says Refund of Cancelled Covid Cruise. Ive never seen/heard of them issuing checks, and its been years since Covid cancelled our cruise. I thought they only did future cruise credit and gift card refunds. Anyone else get a check like this recently? Due to all the scams out there Im leaning toward this is not legit. As a side note, we did have 2 cruises cancelled by Covid but the funds were just put toward a cruise the next year.

Well, Im late to the party here but great review as usual! We were in Tortola in March. We went to Cane Garden Bay for the day. I could not BELIEVE those narrow STEEP roads! Our taxi (van) actually was spinning wheels going around a hairpin corner and up a steep incline at the same time. We also went to St Thomas and our usual go to is Coki. We were actually seated right near the dive centers stand and watched Trisket working with a very obvious brand new diver. He was struggling even just putting in his face with the regulator on etc but just like you said, Trisket was so calm, patient and good with him. It took awhile but eventually he made it underwater! I am a snorkeler, not diver but did have a stingray swim right by my feet in about 2' of water there!

My point is, when you "tip" anywhere else for a job well done, you are not giving tips to the back of the house, and rarely does the front of the house share with them. To your point, as mentioned by another post, they should just absorb the service charges into the fares and be done with it instead of making people who dont believe in tipping everyone feel less because they remove them. I believe that there are no service charges on european cruises because "tipping" isnt a thing over there? I think I read that? So are their workers just out of luck or are they paid more?

BINGO, you nailed it!

Im going to preface this by saying I do NOT remove my service charges (they are not tips), and I usually give extra to steward and servers etc. For those of you who always say they all make our cruise amazing and never to remove them, Id really like to know, if you go on a huge land vacation, stay in an expensive hotel and eat at expensive restaurants and go to expensive venues for entertainment, WHO exactly do you hand tips to?

Late to the game here as we just booked the Escape for April 2025. Great review and presentation! Thanks for all of the information that will help planning our time aboard!

Thanks all for the reponses.I am a "planner" so Im always trying to stay a step ahead on things so there are no, or at least few, surprises come sail time.

Daiquiris and Pina Coladas are pre made in a slushy machine. They are the basic drinks. Even if 50 cents difference that wouldnt account for that range of taxes.

We are booked on the Escape in April 2025 so quite a wait. I was wondering when it would be safe to start researching things on board, entertainment, excursions etc. I dont want to start now and have everything change before the cruise!

Thanks all for the answers. Just looking at the invoice again, and it looks like all the ones I wasnt aware of, we were in port, San Juan, and there are 3 charges at the same bar, 2.53, 1.12 and 2.27. All we drank were daiquiris, pina coladas and SOTB. If it was a tax then Id think it would be the same for each drink? Nothing premium was ever asked for, unless they used something else without being asked.We had many more of the same types of drink throughout the cruise that never got anything tacked on so Id guess its something to do with being in San Juan. Like I said, the total bill at the end was negligible, I was just asked more for my own info. Thanks Again!

Hello all, We are just off the Viva a couple weeks back which was our first cruise on NCL since they added the premium upgrade. We kept the "free" one. Does anyone know if they advise you when you are getting a premium drink that isnt included on the "free" package and will be charged? When we got our statement, there were a few little extra charges at the bars where we got drinks. I drank the same two drinks as did my wife. The charges werent the same so it wasnt tax or anything like that. It wasnt enough money that we bothered to ask the guest services for explanation for. Just curious what the charges may have been for.

Carnival has their PVPs and we have a good one. Does NCL have the same type of person that you all use exclusively when booking who is very helpful, knowledgeable and available when needed? When booking NCL Ive always just called the number and gotten whoever but would love a single person I could call who knew all the ins outs and specials etc.

My wife and I have loved going to Coki Beach on past trips to St Thomas. The last time was before Covid. We had planned to go again in March but I am hearing that it has gone WAY downhill with conditions, drug dealing and fighting amongst vendors etc. One source said a vendor was even berating a patron for not tipping enough on their food bill. Wondering if people who have been here recently have noticed the same and if this is the new norm for that beach?

Late to the party here but GREAT review! Love all the pics and details. Recognized that Glo Best Western in FLL. We stayed there in March '23 pre and post cruise and I think that same elevator was still having issues!!