B Midged

15 hours ago, MichiganBound said:

I have not been on any NCL ship larger than Jade, but I would add that the level ofsmoking in the casino is really a problem.  People that are not even gambling hang out in the casino to smoke.  It's a real problem.  Having said that, I don't know if casino smoking on NCL is more of a problem than on other cruise lines.

I think it’s the same on RCCL. The casino acts as a smoking lounge (at least when we were on it). Keep in mind there are a lot of people that only smoke while on vacation.   Similar to drinking. Rarely drink except on vacation, but while on the ship all bets are off. 
 

have a great vacation, no matter what you choose 

3 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

"The law dictates that it is impermissible for any business operating in Florida to require patrons or customers to provide documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccination or post-infection recovery “to gain access to, entry upon, or services from” the business."

 

That  'process' is clearly inconsistent with the intent/wording of the law.  If there are vacancies and a person is denied boarding because of their 'voluntary' refusal to provide  evidence, then the cruise line will be in violation of the law. This process is nothing more than playing word games.  It will not stand.

If that’s true, then I don’t see them being able to segregate the anti Vaxers even on the ship. Someone would complain they were denied the same services as the vacated ones, being not be allowed on one side of the theater or dining room or wherever. 

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Please dear God, can we just get back to sailing and stop the freaking bickering over Covid? I am so done with this subject already. Nobody's mind is changed. Everyone can find scientific data to support his/her position. A state that appears to be "doing well" can have a sudden surge and a "bad" state can experience a recovery. What is the POINT of these arguments anymore? SMH....

Have a good day, everyone, I'm going to try to find some actual cruise news to read.

Is someone forcing you to read it?

Better entertainment on NCL

more smoking areas on ncl

thats what we think anyway

You better pay whatever it cost in case you get quarantined. At least you can get fresh air. 

15 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

Talk about some really ticked off people. Pay for flight, hotel, transportation, cruise, then turned away because they reached 5%. Announce that as a possibility and you’ll get the cancellations you need.

Good. I hope they just pretend they reached 5% and turn them all away. 

On 6/2/2021 at 11:53 AM, cruisemom42 said:

What if you were among the subset of parents traveling with unvaccinated children (either as the "5%" on vaccinated cruises or just in general on non-vax cruises)?

 

If your children weren't vaccinated, wouldn't you want to know if there were COVID cases onboard ship, perhaps to find out if your child was exposed or to redouble your efforts to ensure that they were careful (wearing their masks, maintaining social distancing, etc.)

 

I guess they will find out in the way to the hospital. 

10 hours ago, 2 cruises a year said:

 

Wow, what a change of thought!

How does treating them with respect and care, or treating them as  professionals politely and courteously show you care?  This is just common decency, normal for me.  A little extra bread on the table shows you care.

Treats are okay, but with cash, they can get exactly what they like.  We do bring some good local sourdough bread to hand out.  That is unique, not something they can get at Wal-Mart.

I was just trying to justify a little extra personal tip, whether the get to keep it or not is between them and their employer, but I have made the gesture.  What they do with it is none of my business.

Enough for me, I will not get further into a pissing match with people that change the subject.

You can’t be serious. Sourdough bread?  The old lady across the street bakes us a loaf almost every week. It goes directly into the garbage. We don’t want to hurt her feelings, bless her heart. 

25 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

They are supposed to at least report this money, and if you have reduced the DSC, then the money goes to the pool, but if you left the DSC alone, then the extra goes to the crew member who received it.

That’s not what it says at all.  This company seems to want to get it all

Each and every crew member also agrees to deliver

any such voluntary passenger contribution he or she receives from any passenger under

any circumstances to the Pool immediately upon receipt of the contribution from the

passenger

5 minutes ago, skynight said:

That of course is up to you. Providing the incentive is not part of a plus or other promotional fare and is being charged directly to your on board account you have the option to remove the crew incentive. There is a sound business reason why ships financially operate in this manner.

Recognize that if you choose to provide a cash incentive to any crew member it is required to be turned over to the pool. If the passenger has partially or totally removed the crew incentive then the pool retains the cash. If the passenger did not remove any of the incentive then the cash is returned to her/him and could be shared with others that support her/him.

 

That’s a rumor. Of course there is a sound business decision to operate that way. If I ran a business that could con the customers into donating to pay my employees so I didn’t have to, I would do the same thing. 

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

But you're okay with them keeping the DSC at a given level, and upping the fare to pay the guy that cleans the propeller more, right?  What is the difference.  Do not think of the DSC as a "tip" or "gratuity", it is just a portion of the cruise fare that is broken out and listed separately, like port taxes and fees.  It is mainly done to keep base, advertised fares as low as possible.

What’s the difference?  The cruise fare in not optional. That’s the difference. We will be not be donating to the crew incentive program for a multi billion dollar corporation. We have other charities to donate to. 

We had one once. We prefer the side balcony so you can turn your head and see where your going, but that’s just us. Enjoy!

18 hours ago, sseknichols said:

Hi everyone!

 

We just booked a Norwegian cruise on the Epic for March 2022  out of San Juan with some friends and it will be the first Norwegian trip for all of us.  We have only done Carnival in the past and we have always had great experiences on Carnival but were looking for something different this time around.  I was wondering what kind of advice you can give to us as to what to expect, what the differences would be, how things may look or operate differently - especially at embarkation and debarkation, and so on. 

 

We are in our early 50's and this will be our first cruise without at least one of our kids along so that will be new.  We generally enjoy the trivia, the shows, love the Seaside Theater (which I guess Norwegian doesn't do) and the popcorn that goes with it, and the Comedy Club.  My wife and I are not real big drinkers so the bar scenes are not for us (we will have a drink or two though), although I think I read there is a piano bar so that would be a lot of fun.  We will mess around in the casino but not a ton.  Does Epic have a Love and Marriage type of show where they pick couples from newlywed to married 25+?  Those shows on Carnival are must see!  Oh yeah, and the 24 hour pizza and ice cream.  Gotta love that too!

 

With the curved arrangement of the rooms on the Epic, it looks like the beds run small.  I'm 6'6" so I'm used to my feet dangling over the edge a bit but I am a little concerned.  We have a balcony cabin on deck 11 if that makes any difference.

 

One thing we don't like on Carnival is the way the bombard you with photo-ops all the time.  Does that happen with NCL?

 

This will also be the first time we have sailed from San Juan, or a "foreign" port for that matter.  We sail on a Sunday, but are coming from the upper midwest so we are flying into San Juan on Saturday just in case we would have weather issues.  If anyone has any advice about the port, the airport, or a place to stay, that would be fantastic.

 

Thanks in advance for anything you can throw our direction.

It will be an experience sleeping in what’s essentially the bathroom. 

2 hours ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Now I have that song running thru my mind.

     North to Alaska. Go north the rush is on.., 🎉🍾🚢

Good for you. Enjoy!  

6 hours ago, True Trans Traveler said:

I live on this bike, do you honestly think I don't know what it costs to ship it with me on planes? I've taken a bike to Mexico, flown with it to the UK, to Australia, to other parts of Europe, India, Japan. I know exactly how much it costs to pack it and ship it. I also know as an experienced bicycle traveler how to limit the effect I have on others while hauling it around. Throughout this thread, you've been pretty aggressive, condescending and rude. You act like it's gonna cause a massive logjam in  the halls/stairwells. It wont. 

Well then why are you asking in the first place If you already know all the answers?  Why don’t you contact them and ask?  When you get to the dock, I’m pretty sure they won’t care what anonymous posters on cruise critic says about bringing bikes on board. 

2 hours ago, Barklee said:

The Alaska Tourism Recovery Act is not a done deal.  A similar bill needs to be passed by the House of Representatives, and then signed by the President. Its rare for anything in DC to pass quickly, unless the Alaska delegation has already lined up the required House votes.

I hope it passes and they make it permanent.  The stop in Canada was always a wasted day anyway. 

17 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Ain't that the truth?

Last year before I quit Facebook (my little sister was right-it's a massive time suck!), I got into some interesting debates with people about how Covid news was reported. It wasn't that the media lied as much as they selectively reported. Suppose I told you that a mutual friend had bad breath, failed college English, and once stole a candy bar when he was 8, all of which was true, but left out the fact that he'd been a successful businessman, gave to charity and raised 3 great kids. Just because the 1st 3 facts are true, it doesn't take into account the good stuff. So when certain media outlets only talked about "raging Covid cases, deaths by the 1,000s, massive ventilator shortages, NO vaccines!, etc." but barely reported when cases and deaths went down, ventilator shortages were rare and resolved quickly, and a vaccine (or several) prepared in record time, then the media is engaging in sensationalism to drive ratings and scare people. It's not that they lied, it's that they ONLY told one side of the story, and that's infuriating. Not all outlets did this, BTW. The BBC was a rare exception that always ran figures on the chyron that told of people recovering, and put the negative numbers in context relative to the good outcomes.

 

Get a hobby for god sake. Maybe model trains?

44 minutes ago, bud88 said:

I would not want to cruise with the current restrictions. The cdc is singling out the cruise industry with overly restrictive demands, IMO. I come in contact with about a thousand people every day at work, so it was more of when, rather than if, I would get covid. I had it last summer, and still have antibodies, so the 3 to 6 month thing is false. I still donate blood every month, at which time I get tested for antibodies. 11 months so far and good to go. Covid wasn't bad at all (just a very low fever, 100.2, and nothing else), but I'm 55, with no co-mobilities. The majority of my co-workers getting vax'ed are having far worse reactions from the shot than any of us had getting covid. Looking at the numbers, I see no difference in infection rates between vax'ed vs. non vax'ed persons. Your chance of getting a vey bad case is lower with the vax, but only in the over 65 range with co-mobilities. Otherwise the numbers look identical. So for me, I don't see why I should have to get a shot and experience these side effects, that are worse than getting the virus, loose work, etc., if I'm just as protected as a vax'ed person. I'm only looking out for my overall health and well being. I have no problem getting a test before embarkation, but even vax'ed people should have to do that as well. A vax'ed person can transmit the virus just as easily as a non vax'ed person. Once onboard, if we were all negative, why wear a mask? I personally have to wear a mask all day for work, but get light headed at least 2 times a day from it as well, so I don't want to wear it all day for vacation. The whole point is to relax and be on vacation! I want to talk to people from all over the place that I have never met before, I want to dance, I want to relax in the hot tub, I want to enjoy dinner with new found friends, I want to laugh out loud at a comedy show, I want to sing karaoke! These are things I do on a cruise, so to restrict these things would ruin the cruise experience. Please don't single me out, basically a scarlet letter, for not getting the shot that my body doesn't need to fight the virus just to get on board...I'm not any more or less dangerous than a vax'ed person, and I'm a lot of fun on board! Thanks for listening and I hope we all can have a great time on board again very soon.

I guess you won’t be on any cruises anytime soon. 

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

I wrote a reply but it seems to be gone, so what I said was this:

Requiring the cruise lines to pay for a hospital ship to sail astride is pure folly, have you any idea how expensive that would be? Cruise ships already have a sick bay or a doctor's office onboard, and the mitigation protocols (such as requiring 100% of vaccinated passengers, in NCL's case) are more than adequate.

If they don’t like the rules they can scram. That’s right beat it. They can cruise out of whatever country the ships are flagged in or wherever they are incorporated if they don’t like it. Many of the port cities will make more money anyway because people will spend a week there rather than just a few hours after landing. 

22 minutes ago, KennyFla said:

Here is what was said in the interview May 6th.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is allowing cruise ships to resume operations this summer, but Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio says that will be unlikely given the agency’s tough requirements.

“I seriously doubt we will be able to stand up a vessel out of a U.S. port in July. August is also in jeopardy and it’s all because of the disjointed guidelines from the CDC,” Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio said on CNBC’s Closing Bell. “What we received yesterday was anything but a clear path to restarting

Del Rio claimed the requirements put on the cruise industry are tougher than those for any other industry.

“The unfair treatment that the industry has had to endure for over a year continues. It’s got to stop, it’s unfair, it’s un-American and certainly in contradiction with the goals set forth by President [Joe] Biden,” said Del Rio.

 

 

From this the Media promoted "DeSantis Stops Cruising From Florida."  And the loyal parrots on these boards run with it.

Being that the company is un-American, the ships un-American and most of their employees in-American I wonder why. 

 

48 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

No offense, but being greedy isn't nice. I was at a hotel with my wife and went up to get some bacon. A guy in front of me took 16 pieces (I kid you not) and left me with none. To add insult to injury, he left half of them on his plate uneaten and so they went into the garbage can. If no more self serve buffet means people can't hog the food, FINE BY ME. 2-3 pieces per person is fine. If you eat that, come back for more once OTHERS have gotten some.

Maybe you should stay in better hotels and stop monitoring what people eat and don’t eat...just saying. 

You will be bored. The entertainment, menus, repeat week after week.  Maybe look into switching ships at the end of each 7 day trip. 

6 hours ago, jperry2011 said:

The CDC also says you have to be masked pretty much everywhere outside of your room.. 

A vaccinated cruise with masks? Why? 

Control.

Control?  Do you really think your so significant the government wants to control you?  

46 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

Got to love the CDC's highly "scientific" recommendation; "take the stairs".

I guess they had to tell the idiots that can’t figure that out for themselves 

18 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Well, as I've said many times on many threads about AC in cruise ship cabins, there is no co-mingling of air between cabins, so that method is unlikely, if not impossible.  During their lockdown, they were allowed outside their cabins for designated times, in public areas.  I think it was conclusively determined that it was the crew distributing food that were not trained in aerosol viral mitigation methods.  Even a study done by RCG showed that viral load cannot be maintained over the distances involved in a ship's HVAC system.

Again clearly there is commingling of air between cabins. It’s basic physics   If there wasn’t, one could smoke in their cabin without anyone in the other cabins even being aware.