itsnotjustme

If OP would be more specific, folks could be more precise in their responses.  Useful would be:

• Sailing date
• NCL port schedule
• Actual docking locations you believe were "bait-and-switch"

4 hours ago, zqvol said:

Seafood is never “fresh”. Federal,law requires it to be frozen to a certain temp, and held at that temp for a period of time before being sold to eliminate “bugs”. 

This may pertain to certain seafood - I am not sure.  But I am sure it does not pertain to all sea food.  Case in point, lobsters, crabs, and shellfish are often sold live.  Clearly, they have not been frozen.

This US FDA web page also indicates seafood can be sold without having been frozen.

Selecting and Serving Fresh and Frozen Seafood Safely | FDA

23 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

It's one of the risks of a GTY cabin. 

That is not a risk unique to GTY cabins.  When reserving a GTY stateroom, the NCL web page displays the below message.  Nothing about possibly not getting a cabin, and specifically states You are guaranteed to sail in the category you have chosen, or higher.

We have decided to take a Korea - Japan cruise next year.  Some factors that in our view and circumstances favor a cruise over a land tour are:

• Comfort of returning to the familiar ship each night
• Not needing to navigate unfamiliar public transport systems
• Knowing food we like will always be available on the ship
• Being wined and dined and entertained while moving from place to place
• Unpack once

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Here is a good resource.

PortCall.com

The Gem and the Breakaway show multiple stops each in Bar Harbor in 2025, plus one for the Pearl.  Check your ship/date against this list.

Our circumstances are higher latitudes level and normally taking longer cruises.  We will normally have either 4 or 5 specialty meals.  We plan the best nights/reserve in advance with the following points in mind:

• Avoid port days when the ship departs port late - say after 5 PM
• Embarkation day is a good choice
• Sea days are good choices too
• Space them out across the cruise duration
• Leave an available makeup day toward the end of the cruise in case you need to cancel one
• Reserve for either early (NLT than 6:30) or late (NET 8 PM) to have the best chance of not conflicting with both show times for a show running twice a night
• Book fixed price venues first to use the Free at Sea package, lest they try to charge you up front
• If you learn anything that requires a change, make the change as soon as possible, upon boarding if possible

Let me add our circumstances:

• It is two people, my spouse and I
• We are roughly 60 and in decent health
• One of us is the primary breadwinner, retired military, and still working full time; the other not working at all
• Primary breadwinner earns 4 weeks of vacation per year, but with use of comp time, holidays, and working long days right before/after vacations can often be on vacation 6+ weeks/year
• Split vacations between cruises, Europe land, and U.S. land
• We most often get a balcony, but have done OV, and occasionally a suite
• We most often cruise Europe, but have been branching out further lately
• Financially, we could certainly afford to always get a suite, but only choose to when it is a really good deal 

On 5/13/2024 at 11:44 AM, Daruma said:

So, just curious, at what daily price differential do you decide that the balcony isn't worth it? 

We just went through this very dilemma.  Here's what we saw and decided:

Itinerary:  12-day Japan Korea in spring.

Balcony:  $4,299 Per Person (PP)

Ocean View:  $2,799 PP

Baseline Delta:  $1,500 PP, or $125 PP/Day

However, these factors lowered the delta:

Military Discount 10% (Makes delta $1,300 PP)

1 additional FAS Meal each (Value at $30 each; delta now $1,270 PP)

Free Gratuities from Our Travel Agent for balcony and above ($240 PP, delta now $1,030 PP)

Additional 55,000 airline miles based on both cabin level and higher fare (Value ~$750 for two - delta $655 PP)

Ability to select cabin - OV was Guarantee (Intangible) 

Final Delta:  $655 PP, or $55 PP/Day

For this delta, we chose the balcony.

1 minute ago, CruiseMH said:

Absolutely correct but it would only make sense if they also reduce the amount of kitchen crew members.

Agree 100%.  And I suspect they do.  Just like they reduced crew members by cutting housekeeping service.

And each crew member is not just one less person on the pay role, but one less to feed, lodge, provide medical care, supervise, etc. 

I always recommend going to the official source.  NCL spells it all out here:  https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions?hide_hf=true

2 hours ago, CruiseMH said:

I can understand that they try to cut costs but there is no need to reduce the variety. If seafood is too expensive you can still create cheaper options and so still offer 10-11 different appetizers instead of only 7.

The ingredients are only part of the cost.  It is also cheaper in staff hours to prepare 300 each of 8 appetizers than to prepare 200 each of 12 appetizers.

On the whole, I am seeing tha changes as small scale and not worthy of the "major cuts" headline.

9 minutes ago, UKstages said:

this is most likely not the case. most tax liability is based on what i call "phantom income."

10 minutes ago, UKstages said:

a good portion of that 96K is most likely interest and penalties for failure to pay taxes.

I copy all that you state.  My point was the W-2G generating event(s) must have been big, not that the player won money overall. I actually presume where the winning went is back to gambling losses.   

If you will not be cruising, take these steps ASAP: Most are obvious, but perhaps not the gratuities.

- Cancel all excursions - they should be refunded before cancelling the cruise

- Cancel the Free at Sea drink package and meals and get back the pre-paid gratuities, also B4.

- Cancel hotels (if allowed)

- Cancel the airlines

- Then tell NCL (The Free CAS Cruise recipient likely need to do this.)

$10K sounds like a lot if the balcony stateroom was free.  Is much of that airfare?  Any recourse with the airline?  Did you purchase trip insurance - and would your situation be covered under your policy?

And it must have been a nice win to owe $96K!  I presume this has already been reduced for same year losses.

.

9 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Or was it a direct comp from CAS?

Thank you for the information.

It was comped from CAS I believe.  In this case I did not want to wait until after the fall cruise as the 12-day in Spring of 2025 was heavily booked. 

Oddly, on the NCL web site all the OV and balcony cabins were guarantee only.  With my travel agent, I could pick my cabin.

On 4/29/2024 at 3:08 PM, Sand and Seas said:

If you don't like what they offer you, just say you will wait to book.  Then call back another day. 

I am fairly new to CAS but have booked one cruise through them which was a comped 7-day inside (plus $20/person/day fee) which we upgraded to a club balcony. We take that cuise this fall. 

I was planning to book at 12-night Asia cruise, and through Ryan was twice told 20% off on an ocean view or Balcony.  One of those times was just last week.  I went to book it a few days ago, and a woman I have not spoken to before told me 10%.  I noted twice being told 20% and was told I only qualify for 10%.

No thanks.

My TA was offering free pre-paid gratuities (worth $480) and 10 airline miles per dollar of cruise fare (worth nearly $1,000).  That is worth much more than 10% off.

We almost always go to a MDR after embarking.  We normally have small backpacks, and we can sit down and put them down without hauling them through the buffet.

Of course, if we are in a suite, we go to the specialty restaurant serving lunch.   

On 5/1/2024 at 12:30 PM, Sinbadssailors said:

Really tired of these "stranded passengers" stories. 

Maybe the news can start running a story for each passenger that misses an airline flight or a train too.

Not solo.  In my prior call I had gone as far as specific fares and cabin classes.  

CAS disappointed me today.  I have been watching a 12-day cruise in Asia. They told me twice I could get 20% off twice this cruise, one of them just 4 days ago.  I called to book today and was told only 10% off.  I questioned it - and yup, 10%.

My travel agent gives free pre-paid gratuities intermittently (available today) and airline miles - today at 10 miles per dollar of fare.  These two perks together are worth more than the 10% CAS discount, so I booked with my TA.  I am Pearl status.   

The "taxes, fess, and port expenses" are the same regardless of the fare or even cabin class for each unique cruise.  Different cruise, different taxes, fess, and port expenses.  They are visible in tiny print when looking at the cruise listing.  

We recently had a B2B out of Athens going to Israel (in September), Cypress, Turkey and more of Greece.

Pre-cruise we spent three overnights giving us the remainder of the arrival day, and two full days.  We filled these easily and only used public transportation.  We stayed at the NEW Hotel (Marriott) using credit card award nights.  It is perfectly located between the Acropolis and Syntagma Square.

Post-cruise we stayed one more night at a small local hotel on the eastern coast.  We chose to take the cruise transfer to the airport and picked up a rental car there.  We were going to rent near the cruise port, but it would have been a long walk with luggage to the rental agency.  We then drove to our hotel and dropped off our luggage and proceeded to the Archaeological Site of Sounion (Temple of Poseidon) and Archaeological Museum of Brauron.  This was actually as good a day as any of the cruise ports.

But what you do is up to your preferences.

22 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Your concierge can get you a table in a restaurant. Your latitudes status determines where the table is.

My wife and I are Sapphire.

For a price difference of just around $400, I would not consider NCL air.

I like being in control of flight times, airlines, seat, etc.

11 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

there is a chance the concierge will see that you are a group and will invite your whole party to dine in Moderno for breakfast and Cagney’s for lunch and attend the Captain’s VIP party. We have had this happen in your same situation.

I am surprised you have experienced this extension of the perks.  My surprise includes the fact that the concierge has that authority.  Last time we were in a suite our concierge could not get us a window table in the MDR.  The upgraded breakfast and lunch are the biggest perk of being in a suite (aside from the extra space)

I thought the thread would be an advertisement.