CruisinHarvey

For those wondering about DSC. This quote is on HAL a thread. It doesn't surprise in the least. According to the poster..

Page 25 of the Crew Handbook & it states-

Quote

TIPPING NOT REQUIRED POLICY

All ships have the Rewards for Excellence (RfE) Plan which consists of Hotel Service Charges and Beverage Service Charges. If a guest chooses to adjust out of the RfE Plan and instead provide cash tips to an employee, the employee is required to turn in this cash to their Department Head so the money can be added to the RfE plan. Any “tips” received above and beyond the guests standard

amount may be kept by the crewmember.

If correct, those of you who think tipping cash and removing the DSC from your account makes a difference, you'd be wrong. They know what cabin numbers are removing the DSC. I wouldn't think HAL is any different than NCL.

On a 10 days cruise how often would they have the $20 laundry special? Trying to decide between the $7 a day, or the special. We can probably do with 2 specials. We try to keep our luggage to one full sized suitcase per person. Given that constraint, 2 laundry days are must.

I think you have a point about less free activities for the kids.We're on the Alaska cruise in June with only 2 sea days so I think my two teenagers will find stuff to do and hang out in the teen club a lot. I would imagine there are the usual indoor organized activities like movies, games,etc. they can enjoy but granted those will not be super "active". My one daughter runs track so she can do the jogging track for sure if she wanted to to keep in shape.

Those tracks are about as poorly designed as you can get when people are using the loungers in the warm weather. All their recent ships tracks are designed like that. I see a lot of people walking around deck 8, on the waterfront, to avoid the crowds at and above the pool, which the tracks go right by. She should be good on the jogging track in Alaska though. Enjoy your cruise.

I've seen absolutely no evidence that HAL really wants families on their ships. They'll take them, but not at the expense of having venues for them. The Koningsdam has zero, nothing, zilch, more than the Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam for children. Just about the same sized Hal clubs. Their children's programs are about the same as other mass market cruise lines with one exception. The other family cruise lines build venues with children specifically in mind. When's the last time you saw a kids sliding down a slide on HAL. How about playing mini golf, climbing a rock wall, walking a ropes course, doing a flowrider, playing laser tag? Something? Anything?

I'm not saying children will have terrible time on HAL. But if a family is really looking for something where everyone will have the BEST time, HAL is not the choice. Actions speak much louder than words. HALs actions say they are keeping the same mind set they've had. They carter to an older more upscale passenger. They don't want to give them any reason to stop cruising the line.

Don't get me wrong. We like the atmosphere on HAL.Sometimes. We cruise multiple lines. When we want fun, adventure, activity HAL is not our choice. Sometimes, we like to stay up past 10 o'clock when most everything closes down on a HAL cruise, except the casino of course. But, when we want to relax with good food, great service, and quiet times, there's no other reasonably priced line that can offer what HAL does. One line can't be everything to everybody. I think HAL has it's niche in the market. If they really go after a different demographic, which they're not, they'd get a different demographic. As a result, the correct demographic may look elsewhere.

I'll admit I haven't read through all the pages. I've just been sporadically keeping up here. But, has anyone noticed how family unfriendly this ship is, compared to their more recent ones? What do your kids do all day? No more sports court. No more ropes course, no more mini golf. While I may be missing it in the deck plans I assume no more rock climbing either. It's replaced by one thing you can pay for, and surely not do for a very long period of time. I admit I have no idea how the laser tag will work though. Is it free or pay for? Surely an active or athletic kid has little to do, since the pools they are allowed in are too small to swim in.

Belize is fine if you go on an excursion. We went to Lamanai and it still remains probably my favorite NCL shore excursion.

That's north of Belize city. NCL doesn't go to Belize city anymore. They go much further south to Harvest Caye. How long ago was this?

We've missed 2.

First was a couple years back before we knew to book our flights a day in advance. Delta sent us an email about 1:30 am to tell us our flight to Seattle had been cancelled. My email doesn't ring. Does yours? Anyway, when we get up the next morning, and check the status and boom. No flight. So, we call Delta and they say they can get us there if we're on a flight that leaves the airport in 20 minutes! So, after talking to multiple people, we said fine, get us to Juneau in 2 days, and we'll pick up the cruise there. We knew we were in trouble when the reservationist asks, "Isn't that an international flight?" Then they wanted another 1100 per person, since it wasn't on our original itinerary. We still haven't been to Alaska.

The second was just this June. We had a cruise out of NYC to Bermuda. We fly to LGA, and are staying to the airport Marriott. As we're getting our luggage about 5 PM, my cell phone has a message asking if we've changed the locks on the house. It's our dog sitter, and she can't get in. As it turns out, she's not even there. She was in Las Vegas and sent a relative who lost the key. This she finally admitted around 10 PM, after a bit of yelling on my part. As a result, with no other options, we paid $200 per person change fee, to fly back home the next morning. .One of our dogs is 16 years old, and takes 6 medications a day. It was a very expensive 18 hours in NYC. We have a new dog sitter.

NCL does not have a specific percentage that goes to each crew member The have an incentive program. https://www.ncl.com/faq#service-charge Services fees are NOT tips. Think of them as a hotel resort fee. We all hate to pay them, but we do. After you read who's included in service fees, you'll notice some crew members being excluded. Specifically The wait staff in specialty restaurants and bar tenders. If you get a drink or dining promo, you've already paid 18% gratuity on that. I haven't cruised on the Sky. So I'm not sure about bar tender gratuities there, since the drinks are included in the cruise price. But for the rest of the staff, it's up to each person whether they think someone performed above and beyond, and compensate them accordingly.

Yes. They're in the library. That's down the hall on the right side of the atrium movie screen.

Thanks for the comparison!!!! Looks like other than the pool, all other free activities on the higher decks are gone. No Sports deck, mini golf or ropes course. The only thing available has a fee. Oh what Bliss!.

What is this about a change in the boarding order? I haven't been reading as much as I should, obviously!

Starting In February. Handicapped, Haven, Platinum, Platinum Plus and Ambassador latitudes members board before any one else now. So group 1, is after those folks.

We arrived at the Port of Miami at 7:45a.m. We were first in line outside of the building. We REALLY wanted Vibe passes! Another family of 4 arrived shortly after we did. We became great friends while waiting, and that continued throughout the cruise. We all got passes and it was worth every bit of the rush to get them (it turned out to be fun, actually!) We did not lay out all day. However, we did stop in to the Vibe every single day, and sometimes multiple times per day. The bartenders were a delight and from our first day, always greeted us by name. It was also fun getting to know the small group of people that were there often. We loved it and would try again for passes the next time we cruise.

If go to the same bar daily, during your cruise, the bartenders will know your name, and you'll know the other people who frequent that bar. May be it will take 2 days, rather than one. But it happens. You don't have to pay to get that kind of recognition. Now that I'm thinking about it, if you hung out at the coffee shop as long as you did at Vibe, the staff there would know your name.

Am I the only one that doesn't get the hype? I bought a Vibe pass on the Escape last November. I hardly used it. It was ferociously windy, and I wanted to spend time at the pool. I guess if I planned to be in a lounge chair all day it would be worth it, but I've never had an issue finding a chair, even if it's not directly next to the pool. I won't rush to buy passes next time I'm on a ship that offers Vibe (and I'll be platinum). Obviously, others feel differently, but it won't ruin your cruise if you aren't able to get Vibe passes [emoji4].

 

 

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We're with you. While we're platinum plus, and surely get on early enough to get vibe passes, we have no desire. DW likes Spice H2O. Never had a hassle there. Neither one of us just wants to sit in lounge chair or hot tub all day anyway.

Wish we could get them and sell them each cruise. There are people that are absolutely crazy about Vibe. I'm sure we could make a tidy profit.

Just off today and it was Bong and Miroslav. Bong will be off for two months starting mid September. He's going home to see his mother and her five cows. He entertained us with cow jokes one evening before dinner. He has 100's of them!!!

 

 

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Bong has hundred's of jokes on just about any subject. We really like Bong. He's a good guy too.

It makes no difference. Every cruise is completely different. It's based on how many b2b's want one. How many Haven passengers want one. How many Platinum, platinum, platinum plus and Ambassador latitudes members are on the cruise, and how many of those people want one. Then it starts with group 1 and goes until they're gone. I've seen group one not get them. I've read group 13 got them, and there were some remaining. If you want to try, get there early. Take your chances.

I messaged Bong yesterday. He is full time in the Haven now. Not sure who's with him though.

Taste is great for lunch. It's quiet, relaxed, not may people in there. Sit down and relax after what may have been a hectic morning. Order your first glass of wine with your UBP, and a grouper sandwich. It's pretty emplty, partly due to the crew steering people to the buffet. They even stand just outside Taste telling you the buffet is open. Not sure why they're open if they don't want you going there. We've gone on 10 cruises on ships with a Taste MDR, and had lunch in there every cruise.

I've heard that Bong (Jonathon Fernandez) is in there now. He used to be at the Mojito bar. Very animated. Great drinks and tricks. We're on in 2 1/2 weeks, and hoping to sneak into the Haven to say hi. For OP going next week, just ask him when he started to look like Schrek!

Wasn't this ship supposed to geared toward Alaska? Does anybody see a change, or venue that screams Alaska to you? I thought they'd at least have a retractable roof over the main pool so it could be used in bad weather. Very disappointed.

Well, at least we know we can get good seats to every show. HAL is kind of unique in that regard. Things shut down pretty early all over the ship. No reason to be open if most everyone has already retired for the evening.

the hard part will be finding deck 13..... wink wink!

Sorry to tell you, but there is deck 13, as we've stayed on that deck twice.

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/deckbydeck.php?ship=Norwegian-Breakaway&deck=13

A plate of Volcano Nachos and 2 margaritas is as far as I'll go.

If the test works out, you won't be able to that anymore, unless you'll pay $17.68 for a plate of nacho's.

Sixteen small plates...four people, no problem.

 

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We get the cheese and meat plates for the 2 of us. After that, maybe the shrimp (don't eat the heads). We're good after that.

You had to have 10 people for that meal!!!! There's no way you and Sue could eat all that. How many items did you order 8?

I just smh about this test. Once they went a la carte, the places were pretty empty. The only exception is embarkation day when Haven gets it for free. Most people were getting nacho's. So, they've decided nobody can get nacho's anymore. You now have to get an entire meal, or pay $15 for just nacho's. We never went there anyway. The Margaritaville in Cincinnati closed due to lack of business. It's great for tourists, as a novelty. But, the food isn't good enough, at those prices, to have regulars. Most folks who did go went for the atmosphere, which the NCL versions have none. Hopefully the contract will be up before too much longer. I'd love for them to bring back to previous venues. Although, that won't happen, since they were free.