Alatraveler1

With the accuracy of weather forecasting, there's no real way to know a week in advance of making it or not. Haven't you ever heard a long range forecast where they say next Tues it will rain, but as Tuesday gets closer the prediction changes? We get that all the time here. So they need to be there to judge the seas to know if they can transport you over.

As for Nassau being full, there's not much they can do about that one, there is only so much room for ships to berth. Also, GSC is NCL's island, so if you are spending $ on the island it's really not much different then spending it on the ship.

GSC is NCL's private island and they missed out on the excursion $$$ including the cabana rental at several hundred dollars a pop. But from the full casino and shops, and the fact that since most had the UBP and beverage income was therefore a wash either aboard or on land, I'm fairly certain it was a high net revenue decision/outcome for NCL. Great if you own their stock, not so great if you're on the ship.

Unless it was the entry point (narrow) the tenders would have to take, I've tendered in much worse conditions in other locations. I also wonder how much additional construction they were able to perform without passengers on the island.

Sorry, perhaps I could have also offered to serve drinks or maybe staff the excursion desk? Knowing that information is their responsibility, they took the easy way out. If NCL spent resources these past years adding a pier to the island instead of extra revenue generating facilities we would have been able to visit. I don't read about missing stops at other private islands near as much as GSC. In fact, with Castaway Cay it's a rarity.

Maybe you should've phoned in your prediction to NCL a week earlier. If the weather was bad, other ships probably skipped their private islands. I've been at Nassau with a full house. If there is room, NCL will dock there. It could very well be that it was booked solid.

No alternate port, but we did sail VERY slowly (I'm sure saving fuel $$$ at the same time) back to Port Canaveral. My issue is just that I knew we were probably not going to make it a week in advance and made alternate plans for Nassau. For the captain to state he "had just been in touch with the main office and there was no room at Nassau" is not acceptable to me. And the casino and shops opened very fast for you to spend extra $$$ since your day was now not to be spent on land.

AND, the description of Nassau port says it can handle up to seven ships, there were only five scheduled to be there that day. Freeport can accomodate three......there were none there that day. Key West has three piers and there was one ship there.

I'll bet you could have offered to bet a one-hand handstand in a pit of hot coals while drinking water and humming showtunes and you wouldn't have to make good on it.

Available as upcharge on Epic last week and in some specialty restaurants, but hey, the commercial didn't say feast on free lobster, it said feel free to feast on lobster. Quite a difference! Along the same lines the salmon mousse discussion threads are right, only mousse at breakfast but salmon numerous times in MDR (maybe too many).

Sorry for my runon sentence but...

You will feel nickel and dimed at times, food is mostly fantastic and somewhat varied, service hit or miss, ships clean, rooms standard, shows great, UBP is great depending on who's on board using it, lots of choices although so many require reservations freestyle is a bit of a misnomer, if you have GSC scheduled don't expect to visit/make the stop, Haven is the ultimate in cruiseline upcharge acomodations but comes with lots of perks, all in all better than some lines and behind some others.

I set up something for Nassau as well after seeing the weather forecast for our GSC day the WEEK BEFORE WE DEPARTED PORT CANAVERAL. I had time to make that alternate plan. Apparently either NCL a) never looks at weather forecasts, b) could care less about whether the passengers enjoy an alternate port, or c) are more concerned with avoiding extra port charges and keeping the money themselves. I saw the weather looked like we might not stop the week before we left and had time to make alternate arrangements.

Yesterday, when we arrived just off shore of GSC and what appeared to be about 4 foot seas and then abruptly left, the captain said he had contacted the home office and there were no berths available at Nassau. With no other options, we'd just have a sea day. Was Freeport closed? Key West? Grand Turk? And why did we wait until the morning of the stop when the weather was the same the night before as it was when we arrived? Interesting to note how quickly the casino became fully staffed, and the reprinted dailies had additional onboard shop sales and new activities with surcharges not long after this announcement.

Apparently, since construction for the revenue generating additions started, GSC is more missed than visited. Could keeping guests from the island help them speed construction to a close? 40 million $ plus in improvements since 2012 including the ongoing reno and Disney only spent $20 million on Castaway Cay which has a pier so its customers can actually get to and use the island. And our great replacement for missing what for many was to be a highlight of the cruise....? $15 OBC. Gee, thanks. And before the NCL apologists show up, if I charged you $100 as a taxi driver to take you on a tour that included shopping and a beach stop, and then only took you shopping but refused to refund any of your money or do anything meaningful to replace the beach stop, would you be ok with it???:(

Likewise. That's why we are planning a beach excursion in Nassau, just in case, when we sail in October. I have hit Great Stirrup Cay two out of three cruises that were supposed to go there.

 

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I did call the 866-625-1167 number (I should have said toll free instead of 800) sorry for the confusion there.

To Katie, yes they are to be used as $50 per port nor per excursion so you can't use two on one stop (at least that's how it was when I booked).

Two different reps. mentioned checks on board, but I'd be fine with a credit to the credit card used to pay for the excursions for the $50 per port if credited last cruise morning or a couple of days later. Waiting for the office in Miami to issue it months later? Let's just say that would not make me want to repeat the NCL experience.

Our cruise is very close to if not completely sold out and happening soon. I am only guessing that it might have something to do with having to pay now instead of having the charge added to the on board account. I only called them in the first place because I did not see how to avoid paying when booking online. It did not give me the option to reserve now and pay later. In fact, my only option was to go to cart and then a payment page, no way to just reserve or add to onboard account. Same with the phone call, asked for payment to reserve with no option to pay later.

So it appears from responses that everyone who did not have to pay immediately upon reserving over the phone have Latitudes/platinum status and were also receiving the 10% discount. Could it be that this is my first cruise on NCL and without status or having to deal with the discount that the rules for me were different? I talked to two different NCL reps on the phone who both said I had to pay in advance. My cruise is paid in full so I'm confused why the pay in advance requirement for me. Isn't exactly giving me the "we value your business" vibe right now. Thanks to everyone for their responses. Guess I'll just have to track my onboard account carefully and be ready for a trip to GR early on embarkation day if the check isn't issued/issued correctly.

Great info BabysBday, thanks! Hope waves/wind cooperate for us!:)

Birdtravels....

I did use the 800 number and actually just called it again after reading your and hawkeyetise responses. I was told that they had been doing it (charging and processing payment immediately) for over 5 years. I was not allowed to pay at the end of the cruise if i wanted to book the excursion now versus waiting until I was on board (is it because I'm a first time NCL cruiser?). I was told that if actually doing both excursions and not cancelling them, I would have $100 credit for both excursions on my onboard account and if I did not use the money for something else, it would be refunded to me via check the morning of debarkation. And, of course as hawkeyetise says, if i don't take the excursions the credit is void. (I did not ask if the excursions were cancelled, if i would receive a check in the amount i paid for them at debarkation or a credit on my cc statement.)

So, it appears as though Birdtravels experience a week or so ago and mine today are different. Perhaps is it because the cruise if less than two weeks away.

At any rate, it now becomes an extra bookkeeping exercise of what OBC comes from what source (NCL booking, TA, shore ex. credit) and what it can be used for (yes for DSC or no for DSC) and making sure it is applied correctly. With this, having to reserve so much in advance, be sure I reserve other things immediately on boarding the ship, seeing the myriad of options that are an upcharge/extra charge, etc., I'm beginning to seriously :rolleyes: at the term "Freestyle"

It's always in the fine print.... Our balcony pricing for our sailing leaving very soon has this promo still available, and the balcony pricing is showing as being $300 LESS than when we booked. Great, right? Well, the balconies available only hold two passengers (is this even possible and can you believe they ordered a ship with accomodations that would limit revenue?) and we have three. Apparently, this is enough of a difference to be a problem. Therefore, not only will NCL not honor the $100 per cabin promo, we don't get the $600 in savings either. I'm ok with the hardline T&C's, but with each issue like this presail, my expectations for the cruise itself are increasing exponentially.

And, if we are going with the fine print, the FAQ's under Need to Know section addresses the issue of Adult-only pools this way..."Yes, some ships have pools that are adult only. This means that all children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult." So, if I go by the fine print, I can enjoy an adult only pool area with my 8 year old at any time of the day.

I will abide by the spirit of the rules even if they don't actually say what they should, but it is irritating that selective enforcement rules the day.

With the caveat that our cruise is very soon, I booked a shore excursion today and had to provide a credit card on the phone with the shore excursions line. The charge was immediate and is currently on my credit card statement as pending. The rep. said the $50 per port shore excursion credit would be added as OBC and if not used, returned to me in the form of a check. Is this new?

Yes somewhat. I know to upgrade our balcony to a higher level (other than a mini-suite for $25 person, which is basically the same cabin) was a minimum of $500 pp. Interestingly, they gave me the opportunity to bid on cabins that had a maximum occupancy of 2 even though we have more in our existing cabin. If I was willing to go $1000 more, i'd have been able to get the same room at the same price on initially booking.

i just ran some math on my offer.

 

my email today offered me a mini-suite for minimum bid of $25 per person, the suggested max bid was $400 per person.

 

in doing a mock booking for the cheapest mini suite, i could get it for $46 total - $4 less than the minimum bid of $25 per person.

 

are they praying on people who dont really know or remember how much they paid for their original booking who think that even the low bid is a good deal?

Seems to be a large number of cruises unable to visit in the last year or so because of waves, wind, etc. I believe there was even one instance of a power outage. Real reasons or otherwise, and if you don't stop what do they do in exchange? I know all about the contract saying they don't have to do anything, but please don't tell me it's the old $25 bucks per passenger OBC. Since the stop is at the end of the cruise, not much time to use it, and I'm sure it's probably cheaper than running operations on the island for the day for the cruiseline. Will NCL at least stop in Nassau on an E. Carib run, instead ?(not really a fair trade in my book, but better than nothing).

Old Norway ride at EPCOT WDW?

Exactly, and if the lead in bids didn't work to get people to bite last time ($$$$), and they won't allow you to go below their specified minimums on the sliding scale which are the same as last time, why do they think it will work now?

Perhaps just to collect data to gauge what the minimum bid should be and what the anticipated maximum revenue they can expect to get from the cabin. I've noticed that winning bids (and opening minimum bids in the emails that they refuse to go below) are higher now than they were when upgrade advantage started. I'm a first time NCL cruiser and i'm not liking a few things already. Hope others outweigh them in the overall experience.