Blueberry89

9 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

My transatlantic on the Getaway in April/May will have eight intermediate port stops between New York and Rome.  Hard to imagine a more port-intensive itinerary. 

We’re on that cruise too! Get to pay for it tomorrow 🤑 Merry Christmas to me!

We had a 10:00 am flight last year after getting off the Bliss on a Saturday. I must admit that I was a little concerned about the short window but we lined up to self disembark about 6:15 (disembarkation started at 7) and we were to LAX right at 8:00. It couldn’t have gone smoother! Does it always work like that? I don’t know but our alternative was to get a later flight out and land after midnight to our final destination. We decided to take the chance. 

Not to beat a dead horse, but what currency do you tip in? We’re doing a TA in the spring. Would they rather have their tip in euros or US $. I’m Canadian but I’m pretty sure they’d rather not have our $$ 🤪

We’re in 11516 on the Gem over Christmas. The link posted before showed it was under the fitness centre. I’m hoping it’s under the change room portion - anyone know?

5 hours ago, roger001 said:

It's not the dollar.  It's not the $5 dollars.  It's not the limit on the items you may have with a free meal.  It's the appearance of the pettiness these issues provoke.  Do these small items of restriction justify enough revenue increase for them to off set the bad attitudes they provoke?  Personally, if I was marketing, I'd just raise the total cruise package price base $100 and lift all these petty restrictions.  None of us would actually even realize the base price increase, since they bounce up and down constantly.   And we would board with a much more NCL loving attitude.   That would be my marketing approach.    

1000 times this!!

4 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

If you have the drink package and order a drink that's $16 is it petty for them to bill you the $1 and gratuity? If you're at a restaurant and your bill is $26 and you hand them a $25 gift card is it petty for them to still hand you a bill for the $1? From all I've read the free dinners clearly come with stipulations and price limits - if you choose to go over them then it was your choice not the choice of a "petty" restaurant. 

I think this is part of the problem - the coupon you’re given in your stateroom doesn’t have any stipulations. If I remember correctly it says complimentary. As with just about everything on the ships, it all depends on the server you get. Some will allow it while others stick to the ‘law’. 

4 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

I’ve certainly never experienced a limit on sides with the dining plan.

 

On more than one occasion the server has encouraged us to have as many as we like. 

That’s good to know! Although I do find even two each is a little much for us. 

Its standard now now for us to use our Platinum benefit in Le Bistro and save one of our UDPs for Cagneys. 

4 hours ago, LrgPizza said:

I'm curious... It's mentioned that you could get one app (or soup or salad), one main, and one dessert.  Since side dishes are served and sold separately in Cagney's, is one of those allowed, too, or is it truly one app, main, and dessert?

We’ve been charged for the side before as it was never included for the Platinum meal. You get two sides each in the dining package tho.  We brought it up to the hotel manager on The Bliss last fall - he was totally unaware that’s how the benefit worked and agreed it probably isn’t the best way to treat your loyal guests. 

Edited to add: some servers won’t charge it and most of them are pretty good at bringing my husband an extra appetizer for dessert. 

What I really like about NCL is the choice you’re given for restaurants. To be fair, I’ve only cruised Carnival once ( after three NCL) and that was what I noticed. We took advantage of Carnival’s anytime dining so it felt like freestyle but the only choice of restaurants were the buffet or the MDR. They had the steakhouse for $30 pp which to me at the time (2012) was very pricey. Cagney’s during that timeframe was still $25pp but I seem to recall in those days NCL would discount various specialty restaurants throughout the cruise. 

Now we’re  platinum on NCL so we get two dinners as a perk- add that to a 3 SDP and that leaves two nights for the MDR on a 7 day cruise. A very nice mix!

Our very first cruise was on the Dawn when she was brand new - back then there was a laundromat on board. From the sounds of it it must have been removed during one of the refurbs. 

I like Baileys in my coffee in the morning so I grab one on my way to bed just in case I‘m up before the bars open.