ontheweb

I see the hot fudge sundae is still on the menu. What a wonderful memory. I suppose we should be looking to book the ship again just for that.

My question for @Heidi13 and @chengkp75 ---if there is an obvious dereliction of duty by the captain such as happened with the Costa Concordia is there any other officer who at that point can take charge and order a muster and eventually an abandon ship order?

🤦‍♂️, obvious, but too non-techie for some to use. I don't know why.

Going far afield often happens, but at least in this case it was after the original question was completely answered.

Question---did the folks booking this know that it was a group booking and that the normal rules did not apply? Is it the responsibility of the TA to let them know this and what the new rules are?

Fine, I still have a problem paying for optional extras that I do not want or need but am being forced to pay for. There are other TAs out there. And they are not obligated by this particular TA's group deal. I know our TA has bought group cabins at times. I do not know if he had for the Prima when we booked it, but we had our choice of which we wanted.

Yes, I understand that. But as a passenger, I can say not thanks if that is the rule for this booking, I will look somewhere else to book.

Really did not discover the Local until our last day. We both wanted comfort food for dinner and both had the fish and chips. And then the dessert menu came, and it was heavenly. I ordered the hot fudge sundae. DW said to me, "You're not really going to eat all of that?" To think we had just celebrated our 46th anniversary a few days before, and yet she hardly knew me! 🤣

NCL is not allowing that particular TA to let passengers opt out of those extra charges. That does not mean all TAs are part of the same deal. I know we sailed on the Prima last summer having booked through a TA and were able to opt out of what we wished to opt out of.

In Bergen last summer, my DW wanted us to go to one last attraction, the Funicular. I thought we would be cutting it close, but could not say not to her. Luckily, the Hop on Hop off bus came almost immediately, after we left there. We got back on board maybe 15 minutes or so before the all aboard time. I commented to her that we cut it close. Her answer was that there were a lot of passengers in the boarding line behind us. I am assuming that they will not raise the gangplank while people are still in line, so that is my contribution to this thread.

Personally, if the TA was forcing us to pay for something that was an extra that we did not need or want, I would be looking for another TA. JMHO

I hope you realize those are 2 different laws. One applies to passengers while the other applies to cargo. Except for the small window just post- Covid when Canada was not allowing ships and cruise lines still wanted to sail to Alaska, why do you suppose the cruise lines have not been lobbying for the repeal of the PVSA? And even then, they only wanted the one small exception.

What if the price dropped?

"Price protection if the fare goes up"---doesn't everyone who books whether direct or a TA or a TA group booking get this once they put down their deposit?

Some might, some might not, and others very well might not have an idea of what you were talking about.

No also built in the USA. https://www.google.com/search?q=does+a+ship+have+to+be+built+in+the+usa+for+the+PVSA+to+apply&sca_esv=dcc1d935a3011144&sca_upv=1&source=hp&ei=IHgyZrO1Gvmk2roP67mUoA0&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZjKGMMjsdQQy3oxbdSOfF5iAGvjrrbxg&ved=0ahUKEwizxfPL-eyFAxV5klYBHescBdQQ4dUDCBQ&oq=does+a+ship+have+to+be+built+in+the+usa+for+the+PVSA+to+apply&gs_lp=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&sclient=gws-wiz

But there are others who definitely use it as pejorative term.

I don't believe the gratuities on either the drink package or specialty restaurant package count toward the portion of the booking that a TA is paid commission on.

They cannot do that. The Prima was not built in the USA. Actually, they POA was only partially built in the USA, but was granted an exception to the PVSA allowing it to sail between US ports without a foreign port. IIRC, one of the Senators from Hawaii was instrumental in getting them this waiver.

Just to add what has been said (including earlier by me), Gate 1 is great at efficiently following details. Plus, you really get the sense that their employees and local guides really give the impression that they love what they are doing. They also rotate seats on buses. Everyone gets headphones so as to make sure they can hear the guides. As for your cruise from Southampton, we did the same cruise last summer. And even though we missed Isafjordur (like everyone else) and Brugge (low tides) we had a great time. You will read both positives and negative review of the ship, especially because it is different than earlier NCL ships. Go with the attitude that you will have a wonderful cruise as opposed to looking what could go wrong, and you should have a wonderful time.

It does seem that they at least listened to the passengers and did at least something to mitigate the situation. IMHO, a better business practice than if they had just stayed with the original plan of closing the Crow's Nest for Park West every night of the cruise.

There are definitely people including some who post on these boards who use the term Wa;mart in a pejorative sense. Now if there are 3 stores in town that all sell avocados, actually the same brand and 2 of them charge over a dollar each while Walmart sells them for 74 cents each, I wonder what could possibly be wrong with buying them at Walmart that would merit that criticism.

Agree with you that Gate1 though not a luxury company does an outstanding job. Their motto is more of the world for less, and they do live up to that.

We booked through a TA, and we were able to turn down offers. Since I barely drink and DW cannot due to alcohol being contraindicated with a med she takes, the drink package made no sense. Also, not being foodies, we were happy with MDR and buffet. In fact, DW does not even really like people serving her and would much rather "have control" by going to the buffet.

I do not remember if there were cookies on our August Prima cruise, but I think not. But on our recently completed river cruise on the Gate ! Monarch Express, there were always cookies available! 😊