mugtech

Perhaps if enough people remove DSC the crew members will decide to work for a different cruise line next time. The front line troops always take the brunt of the assault.

Cancel the cruise one day before sailing? Why screw yourself?

Currently many people still wearing masks, required at all health facilities. Went food shopping today, they still expect people to stand in line at least a meter apart.

Or you could become the Jack Reacher of cruising, just hand wash your clothing every night and wear the same every day. An alternative is to buy new clothing in a port and throw the old stuff out or give it to a charity. No luggage, no problem.

This is why we carry our luggage off the ship.

What did NCL tell you?

We found ourselves doing land tours instead of cruises, much cheaper. We spend October through March in the Philippines, used to do cruises out of Singapore to Hong Kong. This year we rented a two bedroom apartment in the mountains, Baguio City. For $450/ month we got WiFi and big screen smart tv in a barangay a few blocks away from downtown and the park. The food was very cheap, we spent less than $1,000 on food, transportation and entertainment per month. We do not drink alcohol. The temperature was in the high 70's every day, got down to 60 at night. Rained two days out of 30. At the mall we got 10 pieces of sushi with senior discount for $2 each. The Greyhound Cafe, specializing in Thai food, only was $16 total including service charge for the two of us much less than half what we pay for the same quality food and service in the USA. Cab rides from the mall, a 30 minute walk, were less than $2. Will be going back next year.

Could be weeks before the cruise could be two days before or the day of the cruise, depending if they oversold it.

If you are interested in pinball, come to Pinfest in Allentown, PA May 3 and May 4, $20 to play hundreds of machines all day, $10 for children. Also colorful t shirts for $20.

Found Ms Pacman on Royal Caribbean, still not worth the time and money.

Found the best time to book any cruise is when I am already on a cruise.

Last September coming back to Baltimore from Qubec on NCL Sky missed 3 ports because of a hurricane hitting Nova Scotia. Poured rain all day in Boston, Martha's Vinyard was then cancelled because of high winds could not get to shore. NCL gave $100 OBC plus 20 % off on a future cruise. The internet was terrible, no compensation for that. Back in 2012 Sandy turned a 9 day Caribbean cruise out of NYC into 13 days, no extra charge, spent Halloween in Boston. While still employed we cruised after 10/15 every year, good prices, unknown weather.

General rule for me, never take the last cruise before a dry dock and never take the first cruise after a dry dock!!! All the other cruises are great!!!!

The Sky to Canada and back last fall was completely useless, did not even get to use my free minutes.

Can expect it some time after final payment

When you rsgister online 21 days before the cruise they will give you a check in time.

I went low carbs, low sugar heart healthy diet for type 2 diabetes and blood pressure. It is difficult for me spending 6 months a year in the Philippines, some people have a meal which is nothing but white rice. We get brown rice, but I do not eat it every day. Also eat some whole wheat bread for my tuna fish sandwiches. I have found food choices easy on Royal Caribbean cruises, just select the vegan starter, vegan main course, and the vegan dessert. Since I do not eat meat, eggs or dairy products, most choices easy. I eat a lot of broccoli, got tired of asparagus on the last cruise

Elaine Benes school of writing!!!

Same here, booked in 2025 on NCL 12 days out of Taiwan, including 4 stops in the Philippines, getting off in Singapore. Better price than Anthem, do not really need to hear We Will Rock You again.

Our most financially rewarding cruise was one for which we never left the house!!! We had scheduled and made final payment for our usual October cruise out of NYC, this time 7 days to Canada!!! Got a phone call from NCL, made me an offer I could not refuse!!! Offered me an immediate full refund for all we had paid, plus an additional $1000 credit for a future cruise!!! Had to be used within a year!!! So we booked 19 days on the Sun through the Panama Canal to Vancouver the following April. Got double latitudes points for booking more than 6 months ahead of time!!! Said cruise was on a special list, so we actually got triple points, 57 each for a cruise on which we paid more port taxes and fees than our actual cabin cost!!! Decided to make it back to back and booked the 10 day Alaska cruise from Vancouver!!! Post office held our mail for 31 days, only supposed to be for 30 days max!!! Paid more for the 10 days Alaska than the 19 days through the canal!!! Got the same cabin for both cruises!!! Kicked ass in trivia and name that tune on the second cruise!!!

Back in 2012 I had a friend named Sandy extend our 9 day Caribbean cruise out of NYC to 13 days!!!! No extra charge!!! Not even DSC for the additional 4 Days!!! We skipped our last port to try to beat Sandy back to NYC!!! We won the race!!! But the port was already closed!!! So we headed out to Boston!!! The elevators did not work for over 24 hours!!! I walked from our cabin on deck 4 up to the buffet on deck 12, ate breakfast, and brought some breakfast back for my wife!!! Did the same for lunch and dinner!!! We spent Halloween in Boston overnight!!! We sat in downtown and speculated whether the people we saw were going to a costume party or did they always dress that way!!! Some were close calls, hard to tell!!! We headed back to NYC as Second City did additional improv!!! When we got back to NYC on a Friday night, we were offered to stay on board for an additional $100 each to take a 5 day cruise to Bermuda!!!! We got off the ship, had to go back to work, was already 4 days late!!! When we got home to Bethlehem our electricity was still off!!! Electricity came back on that night!!! Went to the accounting office the next day, found the electricity was off all week!!! So I missed no work!!! In addition, since no one could work, everyone, including me got paid for a full week!!! People still ask us why do we go cruising in October out of NYC!!! I tell them the final extended personal income returns are due with extensions on 10/15 every year!!! Then I tell them about my generous friend Sandy!!! Since we are retired we now go to the Philippines every October!!! January 2025 planning on a Sky 12 day cruise from Taiwan to Singapore, making 4 stops in the Philippines!!!

Perhaps could start a 12 step program.

We took b2b cruises on the Gem out of San Juan end of October 2016!!!! It was a total of 14 days with 10 different ports plus San Juan!!!! Got to know a Cubs fan, listened to the World Series on his radio!!!! Cubs won the World Series for the first time since they started making Lincoln head pennies!!!! Saw places where Elton John hangs out!!!! Voted by absentee ballot, said I was checking out investment possibilities!!! They believed me!!!! Had to go online to see election results!!! The Gem is our favorite Norwegian Ship!!!! We especially liked hearing Leo play all kinds of music and talk to him about life in the Philippines!!!! They still had Second City in 2016!!! Met the author of a book about the founding of Second City many years before, as a newbie he got to play gopher for one of the principle founders!!!! Bought the book and read it when I got home!!!! It was great!!!! My Grateful Dead friends also loved it!!!! Turns out the founder was doing lights when the Dead were doing the music for Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests in San Francisco!!! We were platinum, got free laundry both cruises!!! Got two dinners for two each 7 day cruise!!!! Got two free bottles of wine!!!! Got chocolate covered strawberries first night of each cruise!!!

Took our first Norwegian cruise in 2010!!!! Flew to Honolulu, did not need a passport!!! Took our only cruise ever on a USA flagged ship!!!!! Only cruise we ever took which did not and was not scheduled to stop at a foreign port!!!! Got to meet some of the actors for Second City!! Best comedy I ever saw at sea!!! Some had worked with Steven Colbert!!!!! They gave a free class on the fundamentals of improv comedy!!! We saw lava flowing into the ocean as we passed the shore at 9 PM!!!! The lava caused steam to rise out of the ocean!!! We had great food at a ship sponsored luau!! The weather was in the 80's and sunny every day!!!

Got to board the Jewel in a great international city, Singapore!!!! Our first stop was Ko Samui Thailand. They sell the best mangoes in the whole world!!! Only $1.25 each!!! The stores along the coast had great air conditioning!!! They let you stay in the air con as long as you like!!! All the excursions which included elephants were cancelled because of the cruelty to the elephants!!! I was proud to not take those excersions!!! They had one of the biggest coconut plantations in the world!!!! They claimed 3 million coconuts were harvested every year!!!! Most of the harvesting was done by trained monkeys!!! The monkeys worked for less than minimum wage!!!! We got to stay in Bangkok overnight!!!!! Saw some wonderful golden Buddhas!!! We made three stops in Vietnam!!! Got to see the provincial capital of Hue, scene of a great battle during the 1968 TET offensive!!! Ate great Vietnamese food!!!! Cruise ended in Hong Kong, still very British!!! They still drive on the wrong side of the road!!! Hundreds were waiting in line for cabs, but we got a cab after only a 20 minute wait!!! The driver spoke no English but took us directly to our hotel!!! The driver did not expect a tip!!!! We met family members who work there as domestic helpers!!! They took us to great restaurants!!! We avoided packed public transportation by walking!!! They have sheltered walkways above the streets to avoid having to cross the streets!!! We plan to take a similar cruise in the near future!!!!!