schmoopie17

The people in the "naughty" room are much more interesting than the people in the "nice" room.

I know you said you didn't go to any shows, but do you recall seeing "Wheel of Fortune" in the Dailies? Apparently it has already debuted on the Escape. Hoping it hasn't replaced "Choir of Man"...unless that was also listed in the dailies??

That picture is from the Escape, with Jack, the Cruise Director as the "host". I'm hoping this won't be replacing Choir of Man, since we're back on the Escape next year and were hoping to see it again. But with NCL's penchant for cost-cutting (for our convenience), who knows...

I've seen this a couple of times when looking for a specific cabin or location. A quick call to our PCC resulted in him finding numerous cabins available, despite the website only offering "guarantee" cabins.

From the NCLweb page: Wine & Champagne Policy Guests may bring bottles of wine and champagne on board. When bottles are brought on board and served or consumed in any restaurant, public room area or in their stateroom, a corkage fee will be charged according to bottle sizes noted below. 750 ml Bottle: $15.00 USD 1,500 ml Magnum: $30.00 USD Wine or champagne sent directly to the ship by travel agents, friends, family, etc. or from another retail source, are subject to the same fees. Box wines are not allowed on board. Corkage Fee is not applicable to guest with beverage package. While it doesn't specify how many bottles can be brought on, something tells me "unlimited" may actually be limited to how much you can carry. Backing up a semi to the check-in would probably be discouraged.

So...after 184 threads and eight pages...did we solve anything? Asking for a friend... Probably not. Just like the umpteen previous VAT discussions on CC. But it makes life entertaining. Well, sort of...

My My point was I've never gotten 10% of the base fare of the cabin. For example, if the base fare of the cabin is $5000, the discount should be $500...correct? That's never happened in our last couple of cruises. It's always been much less than that...which led me to believe that they were only allowing a discount for MY share of the cabin price...since fares are per person.

Error...oops.

You're right, it's not rocket science. Your example is paying tax on the PACKAGE. VAT is charged by the DRINK. Again, no way to predict what or how much you will be drinking. Not rocket science at all...

Apparently I've been calculating the discount incorrectly. My impression was that if my wife and I were cruising together, we would get 10% off for both of us (since the wording on NCL says, veterans and spouses.) It looks like I've been the only one getting it...which accounts for why we never received 10% off for two.

How would they calculate it at time of purchase, since there is no way of knowing how many (or what cost) drinks you will be having?

Tell you what. You book a balcony on this cruise and I'll book an OV. That way we can keep each other company while floating/drowning in New York Harbor.

Sounds like an awesome plan...except we both already have the NCL BofA card. We've already cashed in the balance of our previous points. I've read that some people have more than one per person...but don't know how they're able to pull it off.

Old news...as opposed to fake news. Unfortunately, it's all too real.

After checking the locations of the OV cabins, it's true that they're not great. Above public spaces is not a great option. However, knowing I have an extra $2500 in my pocket makes up for it. That pays our airfare back from London...plus a few pints in the many pubs we plan to patronize. Again, a balcony on an April TA will mostly go unused. While it offers a bigger door/window to view the water for several sea days, I can't justify the extra expense. The Prima has a similar itinerary at about the same time but we've been on the Prima before and aren't huge fans. Plus, it's not a great cold weather ship. But we still have a year and a half to figure it out.

Seriously? 20%?? My last two cruises, my Veteran's discount was less than 10%. I know it's supposed to be 10% of the base fare, but it never turns out that way. They have sort of goofy formula that I can't figure out.

First some background. Mrs. Schmoopie will normally only cruise with a balcony. Got it? But we're looking at a TA from New York for April, 2025 out of New York on the Pearl and the difference between an oceanview and a balcony is unbelievable. A middle of the road balcony is almost $2500 more than a middle of the road oceanview. Seriously. Now, I should tell you on our last TA in November, 2022 we had a balcony and I would estimate that Mrs. Schmoopie actually stepped onto the balcony (maybe) twice in 16 days. But, again...she just HAS to have a balcony...even though it will probably be too cold to use it (again). Don't tell her, but I'm thinking of booking an oceanview and then when we open the cabin door I can yell "SURPRISE!!". At which point, don't be surprised if you read of a man overboard on the Pearl in April, 2025. Although, she would have a hard time throwing me through the window...even if the cabin I'm looking at has a picture window. So...is it worth $2500 to have a balcony that we will probably never use? I think you know my answer...

Ours is Dec 9-18...close enough to at least get a lump of coal in my stocking from our cabin steward?

The hamster on the wheel that runs the NCL server must be on a break again. Once he gets up and running, it should resolve the problem.

Yes, I was following along on your Escape cruise. As for a westbound TA, we're looking at booking the Prima out of New York in April, 2025. Problem is, we've been on the Prima and didn't exactly love it. Also, it's not a great cold weather ship. But the itinerary is almost too good to pass up. The Pearl is doing a similar TA around the same time, but we're going on the Pearl this December. So, we'll see... The Epic is doing a westbound TA out of New York March, 2025 but that is a reverse itinerary of our Escape TA last November. No need to make the same stops again.

Trying to decide between the Ruby and the Grand to Hawaii in 2025. I know the Ruby is slightly newer and will be emerging from dry dock in the near future. Otherwise, they sound essentially the same...other than departure ports. Leaning towards Ruby, unless someone can change my mind.

I first read that as "noisiest pizzas". One thing I hate is a loud pizza...

Keep in mind that most ginger ale has almost no actual ginger in it. Drinking it may make you feel better emotionally, but it will be a placebo effect more than anything actually helping physically.

On our Escape TA last November, they actually had cough medicine in the gift shop. Mrs. Schmoopie (who I told to make sure she had packed some pre-trip...but somehow forgot) ended up developing a bad cough (not Covid) and ended up needing two bottles. But at $14 per (small bottle),...for our convenience, of course...definitely not a bargain.

Can't stand eggs...period. How anyone can eat those disgusting things...especially when they're runny...is beyond me.