GlamorousGirl

And actually I read some where gratuities went up as well from 18 to 20% I think goes into effect end of the month I think

 

 

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An automatic 20% gratuity imposed across the board regardless of service is outrageous! What happened to the good old days when a service provider EARNED a high tip instead of just expecting the highest tip level no matter what?! This gives them NO incentive to provide a high standard of customer service since they are going to get the "caviar" of tip rates regardless. Back home I only tip 20% when the service has been exceptional. Just ok service should get closer to 15%, and horrendously bad service should get nothing. If everyone gets the same, it is no longer a reward for excellent service but just another random surcharge.

That is really surprising. I would have figured the hurricane damage would have caused fewer people to book and more people to cancel but I guess I was wrong! It also seems to suggest I will not get the upgrade I bid for for my Dec. 10 sailing on the Dawn, but honestly I only did it because I thought they would have so many empty cabins due to the hurricane that it would be cheap to get one!

I sail on the Dawn December 10, and St. Thomas has been re-listed as a port we are stopping at instead of St. Croix, which had replaced it after the hurricane. So St. Thomas is back in December.

I am sailing on the Dawn out of San Juan on December 10. I had reservations with Hilton properties, and never received any notification that the properties would not be open to fulfill my reservations. It was only when I called them to try and make an additional reservation that they admitted ALL of the Hilton properties are CLOSED through the end of the year. If I had not called, I never would have known, and I would have spent my nights in San Juan on a park bench. To make matters worse, the few properties that ARE open are price gouging people. Some are even charging $999 for one night... I managed to get a very expensive Courtyard Marriott room for the 2 nights post-cruise, and had to settle for a rinky-dink local hotel the night before (very nervous about how that's going to go but no familiar chains had rooms by the time I found out my Hilton reservation was no good.)

Please be advised that some online booking sites do not have accurate information. I have seen the Doubletree (Hilton) listed as open for reservations on some of them when I was told by the hotel directly over the phone that they are closed through the end of the year and probably into February. Do not rely on these listings. Also, don't count on your hotel that you reserved to let you know if they will be closed - I received no such notification.

I wanted to alert anyone sailing out of San Juan like we are that they cannot count on their hotel to warn them if they are closed. We had Hilton reservations, and it was only when I called to try to book an extra day did I find out the hotel is closed through the end of the year. They sent NO notification. We would have shown up, found it closed, and spent 2 nights after our cruise on a park bench. And thanks to finding out so late, so close to our trip, it was extremely difficult to find an alternative. The few hotels that are open are price-gouging people because they can get away with it with the closures. The least expensive hotel I could get (chain, not unknown local one-location hotel, which I was wary of) was $700 for two nights. Some hotels are charging $999 per night!!! We are extremely disappointed in the lacking customer service that did I not inform us, and the fact that we now have to pay luxury hotel rates for a non-luxury hotel.

So, word to the wise, if you haven't called to confirm your hotel is still open, you should. Do NOT trust the website showing your reservation active (like ours showed, when it wasn't.)

Thanks for this. We sail on Dawn in 12 days. No excursions listed for Antigua for us.

We sail in less than 2 weeks. One port has no excursions. Other ports added new excursions in just the past couple weeks. They will probably add more "last minute" but no guarantee every port will have options.

I am sailing in December, and it took quite a while for some of the ports to start showing excursions, even only a month out. So more will probably show up in time for you. It seems to take longer for them to finalize a contract with some excursion vendors than others. That said, one of our ports still has no excursions only a few weeks out - so it may be that NCL does not have arrangements for certain ports, so you may not see excursions for every port show up. Whether or not it is likely that some excursions sold out very early I am not sure other than to note I have been checking the excursions for my trip regularly over the past 3 months and none of them that were there 3 months ago have disappeared for having "sold out." It is possible some could have sold out before that if they were extremely popular?!

We have two Hilton hotels booked flanking our Dec 10 San Juan cruise. Both are open.

It is a standard business practice to refund to the original method of payment. Having said that, if you paid with a mixture of credit cards and gift cards, that is how you should have received your refund. If you are wanting to contest the form of your refund, you can only hope to get the amount paid by credit card credited back to your card.

Well said, and I agree.

We are taking both of those cruises back to back in April. We live 1 1/2 hours away in Virginia and this will be a LOT cheaper than driving or flying and hotels. Overnight stays are a must for us sailing out of Florida, and looking forward to just driving up same day for this. Since we're already booked I can see the excursions. Some Bermuda ones are already marked full - odd since it is so far off. None of them really looked exciting for us, but everyone has their own likes (lots of sailing and high prices). Grand Turk is incredible! They have amazing excursions, lots of variety, and an awesome public beach right at the port if you don't take an excursion. There was live Caribbean music at the port when we were there too - loved it. This will be my first time to the Bahamas so I can't give an opinion on it. Unfortunately I don't have insight on Baltimore's port because we have only sailed out of Florida and New Orleans other than to say I have driven by it many times and it looks a LOT less chaotic than other ports we've used, so we really look forward to sailing from there.

If you were to go to a restaurant with a coupon for a free meal, would you not leave a tip?

 

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Yes, I always tip, even when I have been comped, unless I receive very poor service. The amount I tip depends on the service I received. Those who provide outstanding service deserve 18% and even more - but why should some slug who provides horrible customer service be entitled to the same tip?? When the tip is collected in advance of the service, there is no incentive to provide good service unless you are a conscientious worker who cares about doing a job. Those that don't not only get to provide poor service, but get rewarded for it! I'm sorry but I will NEVER be "ok" with giving someone who provided poor service an 18% tip. The whole purpose of the tip - to reward great customer services, is defeated with this policy.

We let them handle our luggage and give them $2. I used to drive a taxi and was satisfied with that tip, and I think it's equally fine for a shuttle driver, especially if they are handling our bags. (Assuming you received satisfactory service).

Muster was slow and agonizing for us despite the new technology. We were standing out in the heat for what seemed like forever while late people were showing up, and they were allowed to show late. My disabled husband almost passed out and had to be escorted inside. I have osteoarthritis and heat sensitivity so it felt like torture. I wish they would do it indoors with ac and seating. Until that happens, we will be anticipating the muster drill with extreme dread when we sail Carnival.

We had no fridge on the Triumph, only an ice bucket. Our steward was kind to refresh our ice daily, which wasn't ideal but helped.

We have back to back cruises scheduled on the Pride in April to Bermuda and Caribbean. We were told we can just stay on board after the first cruise ends and enjoy having the ship practically to ourselves until the next group boards. Please keep in mind that certain floors will probably have blocked off areas to facilitate embarkation and debarkation. We plan to avoid this by going up on deck and avoiding interior areas.

This is so sad and I am so sorry for your loss. I agree this is outrageously poor customer service. I would call again, ask for a supervisor, and ask for the supervisor's supervisor. I would ask them how someone who has passed away can be expected to pay a cancellation fee?! Good customer service, given these extenuating circumstances, would allow for a passenger change and no fees.

This reminds me of when my former fiancé died of heart failure in the hospital and they had the audacity to send him a hospital bill even though he had passed away! I sent them a letter telling them if they wanted him to be able to pay the bill they should have saved his life!!

We try to beat the crowds for Blue Iguana tacos for myself and Guy's burger for husband. Next stop cocktail from Lido bars. 3rd stop find a quiet spot on deck to get away from the crowd, relax, and watch the scenery on sail away until the (dreaded!) muster drill.

I thought about this after I posted. I do realize a handful of countries do not have a tipping policy. Sorry for my comment,but I do think everyone should expect to tip accordingly.

Yes - everyone should tip - for good service. Not be expected to tip 18% across the board regardless of service. The Europeans understand the concept of a tip as a reward for good service, not something you just automatically expect to pay. It would make a lot more sense for it to be discretionary like that, so I could tip 20% for excellent service, 15% for mediocre service, and nothing for very poor service. The point of tipping seems to be lost on NCL.

The UBP isn't truly an Ultimate Drinks Package either. Ultimate indicates it can't be beaten, and yet there are still drinks you pay a supplement for. What amused us was that we could have an Irish Coffee (with whiskey in it) but couldn't have it without - Americano/Cappuccino for instance.

 

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This makes no sense either since the alcoholic version costs more! What on earth is the rationale behind this? We are big coffee drinkers and we're shocked to find out coffee drinks aren't included. Coffee drinks are even more important to us then alcohol, and to us an even bigger reason to get the drink package - which we reserved before we were aware of this. Guess I'll have to get used to drinking spiked coffee first thing in the morning!

On our upcoming 7 day cruise with the free drinks package, UBP, it cost us $99.54 per person up front. So for 2 of us it was $199.08, it is called, bar service charge.

Same for us. Our "free" drink packages cost $200 which they made us pay a full 3 months before sailing or have our trip cancelled. Personally, IF it is reasonable to charge this service charge on top of a complimentary package, then an automatic 18% when we haven't even had a chance to see how good the service is is totally unreasonable. I typically only tip 18% after exceptional service. In most cases I tip 15%. And if the service is really bad, nothing. We should have more control over this. As for charging a service charge at all on a free package, I don't agree with it but if it makes the free package possible then I can accept it. There's no way we could have afforded the package otherwise. But 18% without experiencing how good the service is is too much. 15%, with the option to pay additional tip money after you receive great service, makes more sense.

I haven't done a 3-day, but based on my experiences with 5-day cruises I absolutely would not book one. The first day is pretty much shot because of standing in line waiting to get on the ship and the muster drill. The last day they usually kick you off first thing in the morning so that day doesn't really count either. And frankly for us what works out to really be a 2 day cruise isn't worth the hassle of embarkation and debarkation, which I find to be very hectic, stressful, and agitating. I try to get a 7 day if I can, at least 5 if not.

I use my debit card and pay off my purchases day by day in cash and when the cruise ends I have never had holds still on my account when I got home. I also pay whatever I can online before the trip. Also, in response to the person who said if you're taking a cruise $100 is not a big deal - that is not my situation. I have to scrape and claw for every penny and save up for months for every trip. But it's well worth all of the hard work and effort and "doing without" things back home to save up!

We have sailed Princess and Carnival before but are sailing on NCL the first time in December on the Dawn. I am relieved to hear the muster drill sounds like our experience on Princess - with our health issues it was torture on Carnival. I am very excited about this trip on NCL - already reserved the unlimited thermal spa, 3 specialty restaurant days, and we took the unlimited drinks promo. The only thing so far I'm disappointed reading on these boards is specialty coffee not being included in the drink package because we are major coffee drinkers - to the point I would miss that more than alcohol. Is there any kind of reward card so we can get a free one after buying a certain amount - or any coffee package? I'm going to go crazy if I need to ration my coffee allowance because it costs extra, which is odd since cocktails generally cost more but are included in the package.

On a cruise I am paying, I absolutely would have to pay in full at booking unless it's one of those small deposit offers. I can only afford that big an expense 3 times per year when I receive most of my income. I would have trouble paying it off with my regular paychecks, even if I could pay a large deposit, anyway. This actually works out though because once that is taken care of I can focus on the other expenses like drink packages, excursions, transportation and hotels en route, etc. If I get a comp offer from a land based casino I always, always pick it up, regardless of the line and whether it's a hassle to pick up the voucher because it's always worth it. That has really helped us out and helped us cruise a lot more than we otherwise could.