complawyer

WOW! logan25, dont hold back, what do you really think about this option. if you dont want it, that's fine. but dont put it down. i dont know what category "7 day free cabin you get, nor the itinerary that will be offered. i do know, that if the offer entails something you dont really want, then the free part is irrelevant!

old chinese saying "never look a gift horse in the mouth"

the answer to your question is subjective. do you wish to spend the extra $$$ on the club balcony? is the larger bathroom worth the difference. you DO NOT get a bottle of champagne, just some of wine most people wont even open, much less drink. the bag of laundry comes free any way if you're platinum or above. snacks only on 2 days, and if you read prior posts, mostly cookies, possibly chocolate covered strawberries, (and only about 4-5) and you can pick up the cookies at the buffet. if its just 2 of you, the price difference my not be beneficial to you. in the alternative, just book a club balcony suite and pick where you want your cabin

so, in the end to all you nay-sayers, the concierge is a definite perk to be used and enjoyed. if you feel differently, by all means dont use his services. same with the butler. whenever i am lucky enough t be able to book a suite i utilize these people to the fullest. 1st thing i tell the butler when we meet in our cabin, is that every morning at 7:00, please bring a pot of coffee, pot of decaf, a pot of hot water, tea bags and assorted sweet rolls, pastries and croissants. like clockwork it's in our cabin every morning. also, since suites/haven have a separate check in area, the concierge is always there to greet us and have someone escort us to either cagneys, or if an actual haven are to the designated restaurant, where we can leisurely have a drink, lunch, and wait for our cabin to be ready

i also forgot to mention that people booking a suite also have access to stateside concierge services, a phone call to miami, and you can arrange most anything you want thru them

cruiseny4life hey buddy! for the past few years (post covid) we've been sailing from european ports. we've ended in rome, copenhagen, stockholm, athens, etc. my philosophy is if im sailing from europe,i may as well stay for a few days and see the sites, and believe me the sites lare well worth seeing. last year we did b2b from venice(trieste) to copehagen. this past summer, we did 19 days from southampton to stockholm. rather then hassle with trying to find transportation to the hotels, since everyone is disembarking and heading to other places, i just simplifies our getting from the ship to the hotel, if the concierge arranges it for us ahead of time.in 2024 we're planning 12 days from mauritius to capetown, and we're certainly staying a few days in both ports. next october we're booked on a b2b from venice to athens, and out again athens to tel aviv. venice is amazing, and i want to spend a few days in jerusalem, and see it there are any tours to jordan.but the bottom line, is i want the concierge to arrange transportation from the ship to my final destination. maybe someday the 4 of us can hook up on a cruise (assuming the fighting is over by then. by the way ($20 handshake for this service doesnt hurt)

usually, there are a number of cabs at each port. we usually get off the ship,( with a copy of the daily excursions) show it to the driver and negotiate a price. i just use the concierge on the the lst day to expedite our trip to the hotel.

teppanyaki is not as good as it once was, since they've changed from filet mignon to ny strip, which is also readily available daily in the main dining room. try and substitute le bistro instead or even in place of cagneys. ive had good meals and so-so meals at modernos. with their extensive salad bar, however, after stuffing myself with that, im ready to just go straight to the pineapple. this may not always work out, but since cagney's and moderno share the same kitchen, i often ask my cagneys waiter if he can bring me some of the pineapple.

cruiseny4life. hey good buddy, if you're in a suite, the butler can also escort you to dinner, and in most ships, the concierge has a specially designated area in the theater, so no need to jockey for position to get a seat

cruiseguy14. maybe i didnt explain it properly. i was talking about the last day of the cruise, and if we're planning to stay in that particular city. the concierge calls ahead for a cab, and the cabbie drives us directly to our designated hotel. we usually discuss this with him/her the day prior to disembarkation. so yes you can probably do it yourself,( but that involves trying to find a cab when most of the other passengers are trying to do the same). but it's not necessary at every port, merely the last one if you're staying for a few days. now dont you think that's something worthwhile, and removes some pressure on the last day of the cruise?

to me, the MOST significant aspects of having the services of a concierge are twofold(of course there are others, but these 2 are the most significant for my wife and myself) (1) when sailing from foreign ports, we usually like to fly in 2-3 days early, and if disembarking at a different port, stay over for a few days before flying home. i always make arrangements with the concierge, to have a taxi or a shuttle pick us up at the port and drive us to the hotel. ie, rome is about an hour away from the port. this aug we sailed from copenhagen to stockholm and he had a cab waiting for us, as our hotel was about 30 minutes from the port. the same last summer (2022) when we disembarked in copenhagen and he got us a cabto our hotel. (2) and IMHO, and ive posted this more than once, you arrange with your concierge to meet at a certain time and location to walk you off the ship. i think this beats trying to disembark with 2-3000 of your closest friends, who are blocking all the stairways. he gets us off the ship in less than 15 minutes, and directly to our luggage. (note if youre in a suite with concierge service, your luggage is in a separate priority location) to me, this alone is worth the price of admission. i concede that most of the services provided by a concierge can easily be managed by oneself, but try and get a dinner reservation in a specialty restaurant at the time you want, when it's listed as full, and then turn to your friendly, neighborhood concierge as see what rabbit he can pull out of is hat. that being said (sorry for the length of this post), if you dont use the concierge, there is no need to tip

there are usually 2 main difference between a suite at a haven suite. the most obvious is the price difference and the 2nd is as qsz06 states. no access to the haven area itself. usually the price difference is considerable. i can certainly forego the haven restaurant and the separate pool area, andsave a few thousand dollars. other than that, the perks for a "suite" and the haven are almost identical. while the designated haven area is somewhat much more opulent, the suites and their perks are just as good.

just an observation, but personally, i think if you're going to travel anywhere outside of the u.s.a. regardless of mode of transportation, it's always a good idea to have/take your passport. what's weird (imho) is that when you check in 21 days prior to embarkation, the form requests your passport information. at that point, the bells. whistles and the light bulb over her head should have alerted her about the need for a passport

i cant believe that someone would actually use lobster/no lobster as a benchmark to book a cruise. i look for price, itinerary, cabin availability. aren't those considerations much more important then whether or not you can get a lobster on any given night at sea? besides, most of the time even if its offered, its just the tail and not the entire lobster, and sometimes the tail looks more like a shrimp on steroids. we have sailed ncl from many foreign ports, and i would rather sail from those ports, then care if one night i may have lobster. by the way, choice between filet mignon and lobster tail, no brainer...steak wins, hands down, cagneys or le bistro.... here i come!

maybe you're just pushing the wrong buttons

yeah, but at least at that price the kids get to keep the kayak

you can leave your luggage with the porters at the pier, then go on and do whatever you wish. as long as you are back to check in 2 hrs prior to embarkation time.

i do exactly the same, the only difference is at the end of the evening, there are NO LEFTOVERS! LOL

this is like asking someone what they will do if they win the lottery (let me win 1st, then i'll think about it) let me get to ambassador level 1st, and then i'll think about it. btw we're at 391 points and i'm 75. hope i live long enough to actually get to think about it

as long as there arent any people knocking on my cabin door yelling "trick or treat" i dont care

ive had this for over a year, and never had a problem. if your pcc cant find it, maybe it's human error. Try this. mock book a cruise. if ncl has your id, the cruise will say 10% applied after booking. it will show you the price with your discount. on my most recent b2b cruise ( july and august) i received a nice pin, and booklet, a special disc. since this was a b2b, i received a 2nd one on the 2nd leg of the cruise. also ncl was nice enough to have a special cocktail party in honor of the veterans on board. again this was held on both cruises. so, my friend if yours doesn't show up, your pcc isnt looking hard enough. by the way, i had a pcc for years and stopped using her. if you take a little time, do a slight bit of research, there isnt a thing a pcc can do ,for you that you cant do yourself .any ncl agent can help you book if you do a mock booking, and get all the info, including cabin number, deck, etc, print off the final sheet (showing the total costs) then call your pcc if "ALL" your information and simply have her book it for you. by the way, im in no way mocking or trying o slight ncl cruise consultants, before i got one, i was able to do all the necessary work on my own, just called ncl to verify and make the down payment. after a few years, i noticed that even with the pcc, noting much was different, except she was able to factor in my wife's discount (this was before military). im absolutely certain your discount is there, you just need to look a little harder so, labeling military discount "bah"! is way off. but as my sainted grandmother used to say "some people complain even if they're hung with a new rope"! LOL

while they're certainly better than a stick in the eye, the "perks" for the club balcony. are really nothing to write home about, nor to get overly excited. yes, a free bag of laundry is nice, (you get the same if youre sapphire or above, and sometimes the strawberries get stuck to the plate or get mushy if you dont have them right away. i have never even opened to bottle of liquor in the cabin on any ncl cruise we've ever taken

ncl usually wants everyone on board at least 2 hrs before departure. that being said however, to make your boarding more comfortable and relaxing, i would suggest you board as early as possible, yur cabin should be ready about 2 oclock, you can then take a nap, a shower, chill and explore the ship, have a bite to eat. if yore flyiny into san juan the same day, contact ncl and get a shuttle from the airport to the pier. in any even, i wouldnt try and get there before 11-12

hey! exhorter!!! you are 100% correct in one aspect of your post. your feelings are not shared by either my wife, myself or our usual travel partner. we've sailed on almost all of the ncl fleet, on the jade multiple times and have had no problems, whatsoever. if your food comes burnt, send it back. our cabins have always been cleaned and refreshed whenever we returned from a shore excursion. what specifically was lacking in customer service? if youre coming on cruise critic with the intent to bash ncl (and im no ncl cheerleader) surely you can be more specific. you liked the food in the specialty restaurants, and if they were offered in the mdr, they wouldnt be special anymore. you can get a cagneys steak in the mdr now (at least on our latest cruise) sorry, without more information, i cannot sympathize with you in any way after 25 cruises with ncl since 2010, i still find very little (if anything) to complain about. what ever may have happened on any of our cruises, only reached the level of minor annoyances, if that. if in fact you choose never to sail with ncl, remember the old saying one bad apple dont spoil the whole bunch!

hey cruiseny. the poster wanted a reservation at a time consistent with his needs. usually, the handshake will work. whenever we cruise, i habitually tip whoever provides a service, regardless of the dsc. this includes my waiters, bartenders, cabin stewards , and the butler/concierge if we're in a suite. if there's nothing critical, of course dont bother. if theres is something you decide you want and there is a problem, try it with the appropriate person and see if it works. i find whoever i tip, really appreciates the gesture, and of course, as yet, i have had no one turn it down. as an aside, if we ever find each other to be on the same cruise, i would be more than delighted to have a scotch with you, the 2nd round, however, is on me! LOL. we just need to get cruisemate jrk involved, and drag him (forcibly if necessary) out of steerage