dltvermont

5 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

 

Since you worked in the restaurant business then you know that dishwashers and restaurant cooks get paid at the very least a minimum wage while waitresses/waiters get paid at a lower hourly wage.  Here in MO the minimum wage for waitstaff is $4.30 an hour while the minimum wage for cooks, dishwashers, etc. is $8.60.  Even so, some restaurants require the waitstaff to share a portion of their tips with the others.

 

As to the DSC, I would never remove it even if I had bad service.  I consider it part of the cost of cruising.  I do tip the room steward extra because he/she cleans my messy cabin everyday. 

Agreed, it really comes down to.... the cruise lines should pay all of the staff properly and then let people recognize special, good service on their own. The crew has no recourse as they arent governed under US law so can pay whatever they want.

I always leave ours on. I dont necessarily agree with it but just count it as part of my fare.

That being said, those of you that get on here and slam people for considering removal, and call them all sorts of names, I hope that when you go to a nice restaurant, when you are done with your dinner, you go the the back of the house and hand out money to the dishwashers, cooks, people that launder the linens etc. If not you are being ultra hypocritical here. I worked for years as a dishwasher when I was younger and never once saw the tips given to the waitstaff divided up with me or the cook staff, prep staff etc.

The Dawn was our first cruise ship experience, before the last refurb. I was really disappointed that she is leaving San Juan as we wanted to do that itinerary and sail on her again and that is our favorite sized ship as well. Not interested in the Epic, even before her issues last week!

6 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

I'm still on the fence with the Epic. Not that it will matter in a year but as of right now, it's limping it's way for an unscheduled stop in San Juan as I write this due to, apparently, engine failure. The sailing was scrapped and they will be returning to the US in a day or two from what I hear.

 

On topic, I really would leave the Fascination as a last choice since we already sailed on her and that exact same itinerary. We picked the Epic due to its stops at the A-B-C islands more than anything else. I guess that if we decide against keeping the Epic booking, we might transfer to Royal Caribbean and the Freedom of the Seas and a similar route as the Epic.

I hear you on the Fascination, but if I remember right reading your reviews, you have done that itinerary multiple times. We have only done it once and loved it. I never thought of looking at RCL. Will have to take a look at their itinerary. We went to the ABC islands last spring when our Jade itinerary was changed due to the hurricane hitting your area. Love them!

Just a heads up, looking at RCL, for the next 16 hours they are having a sale on the southern itinerary our of PR, 60%off second guest.

On 1/8/2019 at 12:27 AM, Stinger-pr said:

Yes, as far as I know the Epic will do two winter seasons out of San Juan after the Dawn moves on. We actually have the Epic booked for the March 1st, 2020 sailing but it got me nervous because there are sooo many conflicting reviews of the Epic and they are leaning towards the "not-so-good" majority. So we have until Oct. 2019 (final payment date) to decide whether we'll sail on her anyway, hoping that in roughly over a year, they can iron out some more of the kinks, especially on the service side.

Guess we have decided to hold off as we aren't seeing much about the Epic that is screaming to us to book. Really wish they would leave the Dawn there. Either we switch itineraries or we may go back to the CCL Fascination itinerary.

Great live review. Dawn was our first ever cruise, pre-drydock. We prefer that size ships over the new big ones but its getting hard to find the itineraries we want on the "smaller" ships. Love the itineraries out of Puerto Rico on both NCL and CCL. They are trading out the Dawn for the Epic in Puerto Rico next year so we decided to look elsewhere. As the poster above said, we aren't locked into a specific cruise line, we base our choice on itinerary and price, however, when its just the two of us, we do tend to lean toward NCL.

Thanks all for the responses. Guess sfaaa is correct, didnt miss anything by not doing this before they expired.

For those of us that arent really experienced, it would be easier if they showed you the cabin you picked and then apply the upgrade so you can see what you would get if you took the offer.

Beachbum, I got as far as where you choose your cabin and all it did was say here are the locations and cabins, which do you want. So it didnt look like there was an "upgrade" as I never saw the available cabins without that upgrade applied.

I always take my camera bag with us on shore. If we are at a beach, it is either next to one of us or always in sight. Maybe asking for trouble but so far no problems.

I know this offer has expired but was wondering what the $1 room upgrades actually were. Was this like upgrading from Oceanview to Balcony? or just an upgraded class of room? I went in and did a mock booking and it asked if I wanted the $1 upgrade then said to pick my room. Never said what the upgrade was doing for me.

We have used SAS from our motel to Miami port but never from airport. Have always had great service from them.

Does NCL dock at a different pier than CCL? Your pics of the pier area dont look like what I remember when we were there on CCL a few years back. And, if I remember right, when I was researching going to the Boatyard on our last cruise (which had an itinerary change so never got there), I thought it was a left turn our of the pier to head toward the Boatyard.

I still plan to make it there!!!

11 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

The Fascination was almost our choice but we think we had a better value on NCL with the offer we got and the OBC. Carnival seems shy with OBC on their offers. If we decide to go with the kids (all young adults now) We might do Carnival just because NCL doesn't have summer sailings out of PR. The Freedom of the Seas is usually much more expensive than Carnival during the summer, which is the only time of year for now that we can all take time off at the same time.

Was talking to my wife about doing this itinerary in 2020 (already have vacation planned for spring 2019). Looking at NCL's page it looks like the Dawn will be replaced by the Epic. May still do it for the itinerary but we arent big fans of the larger ships. Still in the thinking stages.

28 minutes ago, VtMac said:

Southwest of you, a little town called Chittenden.  Just north of Rutland.  I am a mere 10 days from heading out of this pseudo frozen mud season

 

I envy you! I need to get away from this snow and cold. You are on this same itinerary?? Should be a blast.

14 hours ago, VtMac said:

Where in the Green Mtn State?

North Central, Elmore....you?

Great start. Looking forward to the rest! The Dawn was our first ship/cruise back in 2014. Our favorite itinerary has been the Fascination out of SJ. Ive been eyeing this cruise so will be great to see what you have to say about it all. When it is just my wife and I we prefer NCL. For cost savings when we have had the whole family we have used Carnival.

If you look at the beginning of most of her reviews (newer ones anyway) I believe she lists her camera as its a popular question. I think she has the Olympus Tough camera. I can tell you I have the Olympus TG4 and it is amazing for underwater pictures and above water too! The Toughs are a bit pricey though.

Great start to another review! Love your writing style! Im always torn about an Alaskan cruise. Something about being on a cruise ship means warm, by the pool, shorts/tshirt. Not cool, pants/sweatshirt. I can get that right at home! Would love to head there someday though. The scenery and wildlife are amazing.

I didn't take the OP's question as dismissive of anything. More so I thought it was a genuine question about why it might be important to some people to know who the ships' officers are for a particular ship or voyage. An inexperienced cruiser may not understand the intricacies behind the ship's operational staff and what they may be able to offer to enhance a cruise experience. I would never take this as being dismissive of people or the value they may bring. Until recently, I had the same question about the cruise director after I saw a number of threads inquiring as to who would be where. It wasn't until I read some comments about the CD that I decided to really take notice of what they did as it related to my over all experience....never once did I dismiss their role as unimportant (or their existence as a human being). I just genuinely didn't know what the cruise director's role was on the ship.

Thank you all for your replies!

And GP, this is exactly right. I see the question asked on this board and on other lines' boards and Ive just never understood why. Its just not something that Ive thought of asking and have never been in a situation where had I known who they were beforehand I would have not booked so I just wondered if there was a reason is all. Same with cruise director. Now THAT I have seen both sides of how one is better than another as you see them constantly but Id never NOT book because of a cruise director......so far anyway!

So Im relatively new to cruising, just 4 so far. I see alot of people post asking who the officers etc are on a ship. Im just wondering why? Ive never even noted who my officers were until they were introduced during the cruise. I just never gave a second thought to who they were and it certainly wouldnt have made a difference in any of our cruises.

I have the Olympus TG4 and love it but not in your price range. It also will take RAW format in case you like to do post processing of your pics.

We will be driving down to Florida. Patti is not a big fan, but I don’t mind driving. We like driving overnight so that we miss the morning rush hours of Baltimore and Washington, and there is hardly any traffic at all. I just set the cruise control at ahem, 79 mph and just steer between the white lines while listening to tunes all night long. We usually make quick potty and/or gas stops every two hours or so.

To be continued…..

Dut to the 4th big storm to come thru NYC we ended up driving from VT to Florida this past March, last minute decision. Im with you, I like to drive thru the night. AND, I too set cruise at 79 on I95 and got nailed in SC by an unmarked cruiser. Although I got a warning, the trooper was none too nice and was quick to inform me that "the speed limit has never been 79" when I told him I was just following traffic and not from SC and didnt know....playing dumb.

I got the Olympus TG4 a few years back when it came out and we are very happy with it. Takes great pics both above and below the water and also has the ability to take RAW format if you are into post processing your pics.

Yet you felt the urge to come in and comment. You could've just scrolled to the next thread. The poster before you found my review, old as it might be, useful which is the whole point of taking the time to do one. But just in case you didn't know, the ship doing this itinerary has not changed for around three years and apart from the seasonal inclusion of Dominica amd Antigua on some sailings, the itinerary has been the same for well over 10 years. So other than the changes done during dry dock this past February, I'm guessing that this review as well as others done around the same time or since, is still quite relevant.

 

You don't agree?? Fine.... just click on the next thread.

Well said! Amazing those who cannot find the scroll button. I always search for similar itineraries when planning my trips.

Just out of curiosity, those on these straw threads that get on people about needing/wanting a straw since its so bad for the environment.........how many of you took it upon YOURSELF all of these years to refuse a plastic straw when you ordered your drink? Methinks many/most of you probably used a straw until it became taboo to use one and now are all preaching how bad it is.

I beg to differ with the nonsense you just posted and that I highlighted in red.

I started cruising in 1971......in my 47 years of cruising, I have NOT experienced ONE SINGLE cancellation.

Please do not try to give this any kind of positive spin, there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING positive about this cancellation to the people it affects!

I agree....we have nowhere near the experience you have but with all of the reading and researching I do on cruises this is not a common thing. Its one thing due to something like the hurricanes etc. Our Jade southern itinerary was totally changed due to the hurricane this past year but NCL is becoming KNOWN for cancelling people's cruises due to some band or company chartering the ship. But since they still get all the business they want, they have no incentive to stop this practice. If they want to charter out a ship, it should be before it is already booking for other itineraries.