Gampy1967

Not meant to be hilarious it was meant as the truth. People with disabilities have rights under the law. You have the option of wearing ear plugs if it bothers you so much and you can leave me as many notes as you like, In the end I would report the harassment to guest services along with the solution for you wearing ear plugs. Care to guess who guest services will side with?

Actually I know who guest services will side with. I have seen this specific occurrence happen. They sided with the parties that were being disturbed by the excessive loud noise. The person in question was told to please either turn the volume on the TV down or put the hearing aid back in.

How often does NCL offer the Free at Sea promo? The current one ends tomorrow & I don't know if my husband and I will have time to discuss/decide on the cruise date we want before the promo ends. Any chance they will offer it again sometime this year?

Thanks!

It is very rare that they offer it. You need to jump on it now.

;p;p

Tell them you work for the CIA

Free massages in the Haven by our Butler.

Maybe instead of UBP standing for "Ultimate Beverage Package" it should be called "Ultimate Booze Package" because it really does not cover much of anything not alcohol related.

With the UBP...what are the milkshakes offered

None. Don't believe milkshakes are included.

I have looked at our sailing on the Norwegian Sky. For $700 total ($350/person)- we could get an aft suite on deck 8. We are currently in an aft balcony deck 10. We have only cruised one other time- on this ship in an aft balcony.

 

So here's my question- for a 4-night cruise (one whole day at sea, one whole day/night in Havana, and one day at Great Stirrup Cay), what kind of value would the extra $700 give me? This is a special 20th anniversary trip, so I'm not completely against spending the money on the nice suite. But- I don't really understand all the perks of "suite life."

 

We don't like crowds, which is why we love the aft balcony room. We might even consider staying on the ship for most of the Great Stirrup Cay day.

 

Do we get things like "free" upgraded dining? Free bottles of champagne? Fruit in the room?

 

What are added expenses regarding extra tips for the butler/concierge?

 

Thanks in advance.

The DSC is higher in a suite by a few dollars per person per day. The DSC does NOT cover the butler or concierge. Those can be tipped as you see fit depending on how much you use them. You also get breakfast and lunch for suite personnel only in a different dining room. You don't get real champagne unless you upgrade all the way to owners suite and above. You do get priority for embarking and disembarking at each stop.

I believe the the tour guides & bus drivers usually reside at the location of the excursion and are not employees of the cruise line. Therefore, they should be tipped separately.

Of course they are not employees of the cruise line, however they are employees of the tour provider that NCL is contracting with and your are paying a premium for. If they just provided a minimal service then I would consider it part of what I already paid for. If they went above and beyond and provided something extra, then I would tip extra. I never said they were employees of the cruise line but they have already been paid in full by the cruise line.

I honestly believe it is very similar to your room steward. They are already included in the DSC but if they really go above and beyond, then many people tip extra. I believe it is the same with ship-sponsored excursions. If a bus tour is included I would not tip extra if all they did was on you left is and on your right is, etc. If however they included specific details about what I was seeing that was not general knowledge and made the trip a little more enjoyable, I would be more inclined to tip extra afterwards. General, normal service is included in the fees you have already paid. Above and beyond service probably deserves a tip of some kind.

If you are in a suite (suite, not mini-suite, right?), you will get free access to to on-demand library NCL has on ship in additional to their tv channels (mostly ship/news channel, but includes a movie channel which is being discussed in this thread). As far as what is the variety of movies available from the on demand library, I don’t know

 

 

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Thank you for the clarification. I thought the "movie channel" being discussed was the same as the on-demand movies.

My thought exactly. Most of us do not cruise so we can watch movies on the tiny TV screen. And I am not cheap. No, we do not stay in Suites, but those who do are certainly not CHEAP~!!!!! The only thing I do agree with: we should be able to get a list of what movies will be shown and when. On the rare occasion we do want to watch a movie and it does happen we would like to know what time a movie is going to be on.

We will be staying in a suite on Dawn in March. I thought they got rid of the in-suite DVD players because the movies were available on-demand. So it is not like a hotel room where you can pick on-demand movies?? I am mainly asking for my granddaughter who will be with us and likes the TV on as she goes to sleep.

I do not cruise to watch TV

I agree. Who spends the money to go on a cruise only to stay in their room and match movies and then can't afford the $6 per movie. How much do you think a movie ticket is?

Are you being sarcastic? Yes, there are towels available in your room that you can take off the ship.

 

From the NCL website "For water based excursions it is recommended to bring a towel from the ship. Generally, beach towels are located inside your stateroom and on the pool deck."

Yes, I am being sarcastic. The answer to this question is in several places on the NCL website.

Does the NCL ESCAPE have towels that you can take off the ship for beach trips?

No. Only the Dawn has towels you can remove from the ship.

I am going to bring a bunch of disposable plastic straws. I am going to give the first one away to get them hooked. Then I am going to charge $5 per straw once they are addicted to that plastic straw.

We will be taking our 7yr old granddaughter with us in March on the Dawn in the Owner's Suite w/ two balconies. I know the living room has a couch that pulls out into a bed. Do you think a 7yr old will need one of those egg crates everyone mentions or should she be fine with the bed as is?

Thanks.

Plastic cups can be recycled. Plastic straws don't recycle well. They are small enough to be missed by machines that auto-sort recyclables and they can even get stuck in/clog up small crevices in said machines.

Plastic Cups are still "plastic waste". Unless they are being disposed of in separate receptacles, which I doubt, they are being disposed of with the remainder of the trash (food, napkins, etc.). These huge amounts of trash are not being resorted to pull out the plastic cups and are ending up in landfills, etc.. No they probably are not ending up in a turtles nose but they are still a karger problem to the environment than a few straws. I have no real problem getting rid of the straws. I do have an issue with them (and other companies/municipalities) acting like they are saving the environment by no longer using straws but continuing to use disposable cups everywhere. Too hypocritical for my taste.

Freestyle Dailies

 

 

 

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So when are they getting rid of the plastic cups. Those cause more plastic waste than little straws.

Yes, drinks served on deck are in plastic cups which does make the straw thing seem backwards. I read somewhere they're looking into changing that possibly using heavier, reusable, cups.

 

Some of the straw issue is also the damage they do to sea life. Since they're small and so light, they apparently end up in the ocean quite often. On another straw thread someone posted a photo of a turtle with a straw stuck in its nose. It really was upsetting to see. No way of knowing if it was real or photo shopped but either way, I don't want to be responsible for hurting anything so I'll do what I can, when I can.

Do we know that the straw in the turtle's nose was caused by trash or did we just get the first photographic evidence of a turtle with a coke problem? We don't really know for sure. :confused:;p

Point taken. In the US, Canada and quite a bite of Europe you couldn’t.

 

 

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Which is why you don't see many Americans, Canadians, or Europeans in the service jobs on the ship. Everyone wants to keep complaining about the "horribly paid and disadvantage worker" but nobody wants to pay more for a cruise or anything else for that matter. Want to know why most automobiles and clothing are made outside the US? Because our wages are higher and nobody wants to pay an extra 2-3k for a car or $50 for a shirt when they can get similar quality for half the cost. You realize when you go into Dillard's and purchase that $30-$40 polo it is made by someone in the far east or central america making pennies on the dollar. It is not just the cruise industry.

But EVERY person in the bar DID tip. It was added automatically to the receipt on each drink. So no shaming and THAT was incredibly poor taste for the bartenders to pull that crap.

In 2016 I do not believe the 20% auto gratuity was in place.

That may be. But, I can guarantee that if you contact any cruise line (i.e. NCL, RCCL, CCL, etc) about wanting to remove any tips or service charges, they’ll want to know why. That’s just the reality of it.

They can ask and the reason could simply be "because I can". I have never done it but it does appear clear that you CAN remove it. I however don't feel as if you SHOULD remove/reduce it unless something significant occurs that either is not or can not be remedied on board.

We already paid for the spa on a mini suite before the bid was accepted. Is the cost of the spa credited to my account when upgraded?:confused: Thanks!:D

I doubt it is done automatically but you could probably call and cancel your spa passes and get a refund or a OBC for the cost of the passes.

We have been unable to cruise or even keep up with these boards for over 4 years.

 

We have two questions:

 

Does anyone know if the DVD players in suites (particularly on the Star) have been upgraded to BluRay?

 

Does voucher for the Meal Speciality Dining Package cover one or both travelers on the cabin booking?

 

Thanks for any help.

I believe the DVD players are gone and everything is on-demand like in a hotel room. At least that is the case on the Dawn after their upgrade in 2016.

As former NCL cruisers DH and I were open to trying NCL again. When attempting to book a 5-day cruise out of Tampa I selected the Free Drinks promo. Imagine my surprise when the total cruise cost amount included a $178 service charge for the "Free Drinks." What is free about that? I chatted with a NCL rep and was told the service charge is the 20% gratuities for the free drinks! Free drinks should include the gratuities or it isn't really free. No thanks, we'll stick to Carnival and Holland America where there aren't service charges for "free" promos. By the way, their drink gratuities are 15%, not 20%.

Surprise, surprise. Guess what, the strippers you pay for a lap dance don't really love you and you are not their favorite either.