Honolulu Blue

I'm going to assume they're getting all or nearly all the additional grats without any offset to salary. Life is easier that way.

A random commenter on the UDC FB page said that the UDC will not be held in 2024. If this is true (and color me skeptical at this point), then I would be very disappointed, but it would also free up time on my schedule (and $$$ in my bank account) for other adventures.

That's not very nice! This would be one of the few things that would upset me on a cruise. Noted. Thanks for the tip. I have no intention of ever removing these "mandatory" gratuities, but who knows where the cruise world will go? Also, I'll note here that NCL raised their grats to $20/day on January 1. Carnival is just catching up to where they were. I wish I could prove it (Mr. Heald won't touch this with a 10 foot pole), but I think a higher portion of those pulling their grats are the old salts that have been cruising since the Arisons were running things and think they know best about how much to tip everyone.

In my research into ground transportation from LAX and LGB, I didn't notice much difference - they're both a fair distance from San Pedro. Rideshares will work either way from either airport. Those are the two closest airports; unless you can get an outstanding deal to one of the others, any savings will be eaten up by the extra cost (and time) to get to/from the port. LAX is a bit of a maze, but Long Beach is much smaller (both good and bad). It was under construction when I went in April, which gummed things up a bit. YMMV.

This is an interesting theorem. I can't refute it, but I'll take the other side of it... The cruise lines knew, or had to know, that room service use was going to spike after the restart. So rather than increasing that fee, they kept it artificially low, in order to encourage the activity that maximizes social distancing. But these days they're choosing not to worry about social distancing, so they can let the room service rate float to where supply and demand dictate it should be.

I should put this in the "unpopular opinions" thread elsewhere, but I'm one of those rare birds that doesn't mind a la carte pricing - even on a cruise ship. IIRC, Easycruise only sailed out of the UK and went away before I started cruising. Ultra-budget airlines like Spirit and Frontier essentially use the a la carte model and they seem to be doing all right. Note that I'm not endorsing such a pricing model for any new or existing cruise line, just that I think they're worth considering if they offer the right services for me at the right price.

Thanks for sharing. This is a disappointing development if it turns out to be true. There has been no official announcement AFAIK, so it could be a glitch or a limited experiment. BTW, my next Celebrity cruise is on the Summit in February. It's a charter and they haven't yet given me a Celebrity booking number, so I can't check this on the app. A few months ago, Carnival went to an a la carte model for room service (continental breakfast is still free). Princess is still free with some items and most drinks at an extra cost.

I haven't heard anything about this, but I was on the Millie in November and half the buffet area was closed one night. That ship was running maybe half of capacity. I hope they don't do it, but it would be interesting to see if they do.

Little to do with NCL, but this post reminded me of my residence hall days where we used to throw trash (not laundry) down chutes and go to a small room occasionally where we could exchange dirty laundry for clean. No room attendants for us mostly broke college students, but at least we didn't have to tip.

You can purchase it by the day, but only onboard at a higher rate. The Elite discount will apply.

Mixed emotions. I like the newsletter, chocolate, and clean towels. But as long as I can choose when the single daily service is (mornings for me please) and still get my newsletters in the evenings, then I'm content to kiss it goodbye.😘

Thanks for sharing. As for the MJ thing, I haven't noticed it on either of the two previous Princess cruises I've taken so far. I've heard it's getting out of hand in Las Vegas, but it's legal there. And I've heard reports of it on Carnival ships, but that's a younger, less experienced, and more fun-loving crowd. You'd think the passengers on Princess would know better. They should lobby their Congressperson and John if they want it to be legal and not take the law into their own hands - even if they can get by with it. Sorry. I'll step off my soapbox now.

I trust the crew-related site and Cruise Industry News. They say they got communications from NCL crew, who got memos from NCL. I don't expect NCL's PR staff to make an announcement about them cutting staff, cutting some salaries, and cutting some services. Even the Spin Doctors couldn't make this sound good. They WILL have to make announcements to their passengers about the reduction in services in due time. I can wait. 🍿

Blame the camera (mine) and the cameraman (me).

It was Carnival Corporation, of which Princess is a subsidiary that was responsible for some, but not all, of the fineable dirty deeds. From the Cruise Industry News article at Norwegian Cruise Line Trimming Stateroom Cleaning, Cutting Crew Roles - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News : Epic - January 8 Sky - January 13 Jewel - January 14 Sun and Breakaway - January 15 The Crew Center article at Norwegian Cruise Line to Reduce Stateroom Cleaning Services | Crew Center (crew-center.com) added (I'm quoting): The new company policy will be rolled out to the entire fleet in the following three-month period, expected to be completed with the Norwegian Pearl on March 31, 2023.

I'll start with the mining industry. Cruise ships don't, in general, rip open the ground and make life where they pass uninhabitable. Manufacturing in general was pretty horrible for the environment until they were forced to clean up their act.

Maybe with the increase in "mandatory" gratuities and the increase in the number of cabins covered, the old cabin stewards will break even or perhaps get more in overall wages despite the salary decrease. I'm sort of reaching here, but I don't have all the information, so I want to give NCL the benefit of the doubt on this. They are, of course, expecting some to leave or not renew their contracts. It's part of the corporate game.

Maybe, but this isn't a good look for NCL, IMHO. Bumping up the "mandatory" gratuities while cutting provided services. Oh, and cutting some salaries and laying others off in the process. From the Crew Center article at Norwegian Cruise Line to Reduce Stateroom Cleaning Services | Crew Center (crew-center.com) : What does this mean for crew members working in the Housekeeping department? In order to accommodate these changes the onboard position titles “Stateroom Steward” and “Junior Stateroom Steward” will no longer exist and will be adjusted in a singular position titled “Stateroom Attendant”. With this change the crew holding the position of Junior Stateroom Steward will see an increase in salary, however, this will scale down the salary for the current Stateroom Stewards. "The elimination of these positions will phase out over time, allowing Stateroom Stewards to complete their current contract. The Jr. Stateroom Stewards onboard will be promoted to Stateroom Attendants on dates according to the implementation dates of the new structure.” NCL said. Yeah, Carnival started all this. At first, they gave passengers the choice of morning or evening service - or both. It seems that as time went on there was increasing pressure put on the stewards and passengers to choose one or the other. After the restart, Carnival no longer offered twice daily service at all. AFAIK, passengers there still have the choice to choose either evening or morning service. I hope NCL does the same.

It did. Thank you for the answer. No further comment. 🤬

It looks like the particular cruise that @Hector123 and I referred to that's sailing in March hasn't sold out yet. But it's a little hard to tell, since it can't be booked online. I would put the link to it, but I don't want to make our Hosts angry or fall afoul of their rules. Let's just say it's very easy to search for on your favorite search engine.

Spike Davis, eh? (scribble, scribble) I'll make a note. Maybe he'll be on one of my upcoming cruises.

I confess that when I saw this post, I initially forgot about the 2020 App of the Year and went back to my childhood for the PBS show and its catchy theme song. Sorry. Distraction over. Carry on. 🤪

Here's the link to Carnival's press release - https://carnival-news.com/2022/12/28/carnival-cruise-line-names-emeril-lagasse-chief-culinary-officer/ Some random comments: It looks like Emeril has some actual duties for Carnival, unlike his C-suite compatriot Shaq Emeril's Bistro will also be on the Carnival Jubilee when it's finished next December He's invited to the New Year's shindig at Times Square I'm done. Celebrity chefs aren't my thing. But they might be yours. Discuss...

I'm sorry about this. I don't have any answers except maybe ask the nice lady in the picture above to help complete your booking? 🙂 She looks helpful and intelligent. 😁

First of all, thank you for the review! It's very well written, the pictures are nice, and it's good to hear from someone who's relatively young. As for port stop times in the Caribbean, I notice they've gone from a general average of 8-10 hours to 7-9 hours. Part of the reason is fuel costs. Another small part might be docking fees. And another small part might be keeping the shops and casinos open as long as possible. I too wish for longer stops, and occasionally some itineraries have longer stops (even overnights!) in some ports. Good luck finding them. (snip) I can understand starting with an ATV and driving it around to all your stops, but not having a tour guide driving you to where you're going seems odd to me. Anyway, I'm glad you mostly enjoyed your cruise and wish you the best in your future travels.