Birdie And Sue

We enjoy Cagney's, Ocean Blue, La Bistro most.  Followed closely by Teppanyaki (hint after the chef prepares all meals if you are still hungry quietly mention to him that you could eat another serving of whatever it is you had for your entree, he will cook more for you)...  La Cucina was adequate and Moderno was less than satisfactory EXCEPT for that amazing pineapple.  The Brazilian Steak house at home is far better than Moderno.  The meats we all dramatically over cooked even when requesting rare of medium rare cuts AND they were terribly fatty.

2 hours ago, kitty-sail said:

Attended a M&G on the Escape a year ago. There were over 200 people attending. Too difficult to coordinate with that large a crowd. Could barely hear the people speaking.

I enjoyed the last M&G which I hosted 4 months ago on Dawn. Had about 25 people and we really got to talk and meet with everyone. Alain (Hotel Director) gave a very good presentation on some of the new ships coming out and we asked all kinds of questions. NCL put out a very nice brunch with coffee, juice, buns and muffins. Smaller groups are much better than large groups found on the mega ships.

Our 350 person M&G was exceptional.  One of the best I have been a participant in.  NCL provided a microphone and it was very well organized.  Lots of fun and everyone had a blast at the gift exchange.  I guess it is all what you make of it!

13 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

They provide very nice morning snacks, but no door prizes. they do have 1 officer from dept attend and they will answer questions. We are very impressed with what NCL does. Too bad, it appears M&Gs are becoming smaller and smaller. 

  The last two I ran were not close to small.  One had almost 200 attend and the other had over 350.  at least 10 officers have attended as well at every M/G I have run.  We are already at about 100 for my upcoming December cruise.

On 7/22/2014 at 3:52 PM, Starry Eyes said:

Even "sold out" may not tell the whole tale. From my experience, NCL.com does not always reflect the inventory.

 

For example I once upgraded to a BA gty when no BA or better balcony cabins were shown as available on ncl.com, nor had any shown for a week or more (I'd been watching for upgrade opportunities). I was fine with anything BA or better, but, from what I saw on line, I thought I might get a minisuite. I was promptly assigned a BA cabin. From that I gathered there may be hidden inventory.

 

Right now I am holding a IX (inside gty) for the September 22 Star cruise. Only two inside cabins are shown as available right now, both I1. So maybe I'll get an I1 or maybe an upgrade to an obstructed OV or better. Maybe. While I do hope for an upgrade (or an upsell call), I will not be surprised if I am eventually assigned a lower category inside that is currently shown as "sold out". They may be holding one of those "sold out" for me without yet informing me of such. No matter which cabin, I'll be happy to be on the ship. If the upsell fairy eventually calls with a decent offer, I'll be even happier!

It also usually means SOLD OUT RIGHT NOW.  Upgrades and cancellations will change availability.  That is much more likely than NCL holding back cabins, etc.

9 hours ago, blue dragon said:

I will be traveling on the escape over thanksgiving.  its my first time on a Norwegian and I'm not sure if I understand the freeb's that I got with the cruise. Specialty dinning, Wi-Fi and shore excursion credit. ( took this over the drinks as the gratuities was more then I think I would drink in a day)  I don't know how the dinning one works can I eat every day in a Specialty dinning restaurant? am I limited to which ones?  How does this work.  I imagine I should try to make as many reservations as I can now to make sure I can get in.  Will there be any extra cost even with the "free" dinning?

The FREEBIES (there are no B's that are free, correction Bacon, Burgers, and a few other things are free) all depends on what you happened to choose from the FAS offers.  Dining includes 3 or 4 dinners at specialty dining depending on the length of the cruise, wifi is 250 minutes one wifi account, shore excursions is $50 per port per cabin.  Details easily found on the NCL web site with 2-3 clicks.

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions

Ask yourself this.  Will you spending more than $22.50 of your time trying to get a full refund of $30 instead of a partial refund of $7.50?  Sometimes you have to pick your battles.

None that I know of

On 7/10/2019 at 3:19 PM, CruncheyFrog said:

There are no insurance companies that would cover this, so we thought we would ask NCL  to help us out. A little goodwill can go a long way. And it's not like these things happen to a high percentage of travellers prior to their trips.

Oh I see.  You know that NCL owes you nothing and that you could have chosen "'cancel for any reason"  insurance (but didn't).  Now when you ask NCL to "do the right thing" (a cute way of saying "I have no valid case but if I guilt trip you enough you might cave") and they say they are going by the policy, NCL is the bad guy.  So easy to understand now!   Why didn't you say that in the fist place? 🙄

On 7/10/2019 at 3:13 PM, CruncheyFrog said:

There are two problems with your reply. First of all, We had travel insurance, so it's not like we were trying to beat the system by not purchasing it. Secondly, we are asking for a credit based on something that is verifiable (doctor's report), and not simply because we don't want to go on the trip.

Why you want the credit is not at all relevant to the discussion at at hand.  If you have insurance it is the insurance company you should be mad at.  If you crash your new ford and geico refuses your claim do you get mad at ford?

On 7/10/2019 at 3:03 PM, CruncheyFrog said:

Your example is not quite the same. McDonald's can't resell your burger. NCL can (and will) resell our room. In fact, they will get 75% of my money, plus 100% of someone else's money, so they will almost double how much they made from that cabin. We weren't even looking for a credit, we were looking for a credit towards another cruise.

It is not NCL's job to make up for your cancellation.  Besides unless they sell EVERY cabin on the ship, the fat that your particular cabin is resold is moot.

On 7/10/2019 at 2:22 PM, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

No, the legacy airlines provided refunds when the doctor certified that she was going to die in six months and her illness prevented her from traveling.  

 

PS - "But that's what travel insurance is for!"  You are an idiot for such a trite statement.  While I hope you do not get pancreatic cancer, I would relish the day I could throw that back at you.  

I hope no one gets cancer but that is just an appeal to pity.  The other person is 100% right.  That IOS what insurance is for.

2 hours ago, CarnivalCruiser32 said:

sorry (not sorry) but your way of thinking is what keeps people in prison for minor infractions (just an example) for extended amounts of time wasting tax payer dollars and lets other very guilty people walk free bc our prisons are too overcrowded to keep them

manslaughter is a minor infraction?  wow...

2 hours ago, CarnivalCruiser32 said:

No according to Puerto Rican authorities he'd be charged with negligent MANSLAUGHTER. for a tragic accident. Yes people should take responsibility when they make mistakes however this very much seems like an accident not you know...murder... so no I do not think that her grandfather should be in PRISON wasting tax payer dollars over a tragic accident that he's going to torture himself over as long as he lives anyway

Fallacy of equivocation.  No one has said it was murder.  It may well be manslaughter though.  Grandpas did not put that child ion the ledge accidentally.  He did so intentionally.  If in the eyes of the court (if it ever gets to that) his intentional act was the direct cause of the child's death then he may well be in serious legal trouble.  However there was nothing done accidentally here.  Saying it was not an accident does not mean it was murder though.  But YES if his negligence led to the death of another human being he absolutely should be in jail.  Lots, probably most,  of people in jail torture themselves the whole time they are there.

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

I don’t know if I read that anyone blamed the cruise line, and thinks a lawsuit is a good idea.

The mother has been quoted as complaining that there were no warning signs about not putting a two year old child on a ledge with an open window 150' above a concrete pier.

2 hours ago, CarnivalCruiser32 said:

well Puerto Rico has pretty strict laws about negligent manslaughter in which the grandfather could be charged for so they absolutely 5000% need a lawyer immediately...

 

not everything is about money...

So they need 50 lawyers? 😉

2 hours ago, Newleno said:

I understand your argument, I guess my point is if this truly is an incredibly negligent accident, what would be best for the family?  Would it best serve the family by having Grandpa in Jail or would it make the situation worse?  We dont know what type of charges may be filed.  Bottom line is Grandpa's negligent act resulted in a death.  Could that not be some type of manslaughter?  This grandpa needed a lawyer not to sue nor profit but to help keep him out of jail.

Negligence in and of itself removes the concept of accident.

2 hours ago, old nutter said:

The use of the word "accident" or "fell off" to describe someone departing over the side of a cruise ship is plain wrong.

 

In the UK, we used to have "Road Traffic Accidents"on our roads - not any more.  After years of investigations by police, it turned out that most of them had a cause and were actually "On Purpose" because they could be attributed to some positve action - wrong, but positive by someone.  As a result we now have "Road Traffic Collisions".

 

Having cruised many times now, I can confirm that in my opinion it is impossible to just accidently fall from a cruise ship.  You can go overboard because of some action by yourself or someone else, like being pushed or dropped or doing something silly, or climbing over to go to do yourself serious damage or death, but never just fall for no reason. The outer decks on cruise ships always have rails or  supports at a height that makes it impossible to just go over "accidently"  I wish the media would stop saying "fell off" as though it just happens without something else causing the departure - it can't.

Exactly what I said earlier about the concept of 'accidents'.  Hope you don't get flamed for it too! 🙂

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Regardless of the legality/illegality of Marijuana, it's clearly a bad idea to take on a cruise ship as it's forbidden in the countries where the ships are registered and mostly where the ships sail (at least from the U.S.).

 

My advice?  Don't do it regardless of the reason you want to.  The consequences are not slight.  Then there's always the question on job applications that ask..."have you ever been arrested?"  Not worth it to me.

And I proceeded to tell him the story of Alice's Restaurant Massacree with
Full orchestration and five-part harmony and stuff like that, and other phenomenon

54 minutes ago, Newleno said:

After such a devastating tragedy, yes one better lawyer up and deflect/put blame elsewhere otherwise Grandpa might just end up in jail, obviously making the situation even worse.  Rarely are there few things worse than death but this  Grandpa made one of those mistakes, just trying to put my place in his shoes, how could I ever face my family, friends again.  I want to vomit just by the thought.  Prayers for this family. RIP little one

-->IF<-- grandpa belongs in jail over this that is where he should be.

Never mind

Sounds like a terrible idea to me.

12 minutes ago, perditax said:

 

I mean, some things are genuinely accidents, even if we have an automatic desire to cast blame / exact retribution. 

That all depends on how one defines accident.  Was the outcome intended. no?  Was there an action that directly led to the outcome, always. 

Never mind dead horse

23 minutes ago, thistimeplease said:

Please don't make assumptions, we weren't there and really have no idea what happened.  According to the news the whole family has had to sedated so not sure you're going to get a accurate accounting of what actually happened.  Of course they're looking to blame someone their baby died.  I think you should wait before making judgement.

That is one of the biggest problems with society today.  Always looking to blame someone else for your own stupidity.  All they have to do is have grandpa look in a mirror.

ON the news today the mother was complaining that it was the cruise liens fault since there were no warning signs.  Seriously?  A warning sign that  saying "do not put your infant on a ledge 150' above a concrete pier'...  Of course some sleaze ball lawyer will take the case to try to put money hie pocket off of someone else's misery.