UKstages

my goodness. you don't even realize that i'm agreeing with you. kindly read my response to your comment again. you said that's not what the chef's table means on cruise ships i said that's not what the chef's table means anywhere. honestly, i'm done. that's it. that's all i got.

thanks! i know full well when the the new program goes into effect. in fact, i'm the poster who first alerted cruise critic to the forthcoming changes and i included the april 1st date in the title of the thread! if you check post #146 you will see that another poster has reported changes to three booked reservations, presumably made because of their CAS ruby status. and again in post #151. this would suggest that they are "upgrading" ruby and elite to FAS+, meaning that you would first have to have paid the gratuities on the baseline drinks package. my personal data point, as mentioned previously, is that i opted not to take the drink package and that may be why i show no chnage in my reservation. as for why FAS+ across the board and not simply the premium plus drinks package... kudos to them if they've made a conscious decision to do this. my spidey sense tells me it has more to do with wonky IT and they can't figure out how to do a complimentary upgrade to just the drinks package, so they upgrade to FAS+. just a hunch.

my goodness, that's not what "chef's table" means anywhere, which is why i said specifically "that's probably not what you had in mind." then i proceeded to explain two intimate food related experiences that might be of interest in the absence of a chef's table.

virgin voyages was offering a status match through the end of 2024, but has recently - and abruptly - ended the program. many cruise lines' casino loyalty programs continue to offer casino status match.

thank you for this most relevant suggestion! indeed, NCLH does not status match among its brands. if someone were disappointed by that, and was still interested in sailing with a cruise line other than NCL, they can take comfort in knowing that other cruise lines, including MSC, do provide a status match.

interesting. i'm "elite" with the CAS ecosystem and i have one booked cruise, at present. no change to my booking. this was booked before all the "improvements" to the program were announced and - for the first time ever - i opted out of the drink package because i don't drink that much and, of course, i knew i had free ultra drinks in the casino. (ha!) they could be slowly rolling the change to booked reservations and it may not yet appear for all. anybody else at ruby or elite that has seen added value in their already booked reservations? you didn't purchase any FAS? or you opted in to baseline drinks, excursions, dining and internet and paid gratuities and found yourself upgraded to FAS+? it certainly is, if it proves out across all CAS loyalty program members. if i understand this correctly, this would be FAS plus, which goes way beyond a free drink package. yeah, well, i don't believe this was their intent from day one. i think they are responding to the backlash (removal of OBC for pearl, removal of free drinks for all, etc.) and in typical NCL fashion, if there is an opportunity to botch a communication, they will seize the moment. and it's still not clear what they have done or what they are promising.

yes, indeed. NCL's crack design team has built limited functionality into the mobile web version of their site.

i firmly believe they are reading this thread. such a shame they have ignored almost every one of the cogent suggestions in the initial post!

i agree. i encourage people to continue to call and write and post by carrier pigeon. that would be status quo... free drinks "in the casino." we have been talking here about NCL eliminating free drink cards in the casino as we have come to know them. that is what has been announced. but now NCL is rumored to be backtracking a bit and saying that rubys and elites will get FAS drink packages throughout the ship, exempt from paying the gratuities on the package. elites are rumored to be getting the premium plus package. having a truly "free" FAS drink package is very different than just getting free drinks while playing in the casino. your status is listed online in your account. click on the "my account" pull down menu on the upper right side of the page. your casino status will appear just below your latitudes number, however, it often takes months for them to update this. mine still says "ruby" and yet i made "elite" back in early february.

you see, though, that's the same wording that was in the brochure. that's what is so concerning. in order to get an "upgrade," one would have to have purchased something (or paid the gratuities, in this case). NCL has been known to play fast and loose with the english language, but if they were giving elites the premium plus package, they should say so. if they're "upgrading" an elite player to premium plus, that suggests that the player would have to already have had the premium (regular) drink package in order to be bumped up.

a lot, actually, especially when you consider that the husbands of many 80 year old women are dead. in fact, once upon a time, cruise lines actually hired male hosts to dance with unaccompanied older women. that was an actual gig! thank you for this. this explains so much! often, when reading cruise critic posts, i wonder why it is that some might not be able to remember all the facts.

the indulge food hall on the prima barely has enough tables, let alone chef's tables. however, you can sit at the counter of many of the action stations and watch the food being prepared, but that's probably not what you had in mind. also on the prima, hasuki is a japanese grill featuring table-side preparation.

april 1st is the day they say they were just kidding... april fool's. as an elite member, i am curious as to what the changes are. sounds like i can count on a "free" baseline drink package. i mean, if they're giving it to ruby, i assume it'll go to elite as well. interesting that it sounds like they will require a purchase of the drink package in order for elites to enjoy the premium plus package. that suggests they really don't know how loyalty programs work. or casinos, for that matter. if they really wanted to differentiate between ruby at 35,000 tier and elite at 100,000 tier (representing a minimum of $500,000 coin through, but closer to $1,000,000 coin through for video poker players who dabble in slots), they should just give premium the plus drink package to elites. very minimal exposure... there are not a heckuva lot of elites... and - whether they realize it or not - by making the benefit the same at 35K and 100K, they are giving players few compelling reasons to play beyond 35K.

lawd heave mercy. as is typical around these here parts, a small number of folks are lambasting one poor soul for asking a perfectly innocent question. i find nothing untoward or deceptive or misleading about the OP's interest in having that particular question answered. many, including me, have been there before and wondered how this scenario would be handled. you seasoned CC folks (and quite a few relative newcomers, as well) have heard variations of this question dozens or hundreds of times. you're tired of hearing it, and, you've learned from experience that some of the people asking it do indeed have ulterior motives. but this is the first time the OP is asking this question and the poster has no prior knowledge of how the question has been answered before. and the OP certainly doesn't expect to be scolded for the behavior of others. just because somebody else may have been trying to bend rules or get special treatment doesn't mean that the OP is. the OP was simply saying, "hey, what's the deal with turning platinum on my cruise? i'm one point away... how is that handled? i heard they might give it to me. how do i go about getting that done?" that's a simple request for information about an NCL policy, not an invitation to tear into the poster for what you believe are his horribly misguided evil motivations. all the hidden intentions and perceptions of policy deviations are coming from the minds of those castigating the OP. there is nothing in the OP's initial post that would indicate that he is trying to pull one over on anybody, especially the readers of this forum. yes, he is interested in getting the status on the next cruise and not waiting till the completion of the cruise. that's normal, not nefarious. everybody would like that! that's not the way it works, but he had apparently heard that it might work differently, so he was simply asking the kind people (there are still a few left) who participate in this forum for advice. sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. you only think it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck if you are looking for ducks. many folks here, sadly, are duck hunters.

i first had amarula on the prima about a year ago. i had never heard of it. I had "ultra" drink privileges in the casino, so i was taste testing a bunch of stuff. the bartender recommended it. it's from south africa, i believe. comes in a very distinctive bottle with a tassel around the neck. they sell it in the duty free shop onboard, too, although it's usually two or three dollars more than it would be at an airport duty free. if using OBC, i don't care much and have walked off the ship with a bottle on all subsequent cruises.

should this happen, ask for “amarula” rather than whatever alternate irish cream they’re pouring. it’s smooth and creamy, with a hint of marula fruit. covered under p+ package.

you live in new jersey. have you never seen a broadway show? have you ever noticed how some people sit down front in center orchestra seats, while others are upstairs in the mezzanine and still others are in the balcony? do you think everybody is "equal?" speaking of broadway, here's a little ditty from a popular show of many years ago. do please enjoy! 🎶 🎶 🎶 "some men are born to live at ease, doing what they please, richer than the bees are in honey. never growing old, never feeling cold, plucking pots of gold from thin air. the best in every town, best at shaking down, best at making mountains of money. they can't take it with them, but what do they care? they get the center of the meat, cushions on the seat, houses on the street where it's sunny. summers at the sea, winters warm and free, all of this... and we get the rest. but who is the land for, the sun and the sand for? you guessed, it's all for the... you must never be distressed. yes, it's all for the... all your wrongs will be redressed. yes it's all for the... someone's got to be oppressed. yes, it's all for the best!" 🎶 🎶 🎶

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

i assume you're booked, correct? go into your "vacation summary" online in your account. scroll down till you see the "transfers" tab. open it up and enter any flight number for a flight that occurs about the same time you'll be traveling. it doesn't have to be the flight you ultimately wind up on. you're not committing, you're just window shopping at this point. bear in mind that NCL usually won't guarantee transfers for flights leaving earlier than noon. the cost of a transfer varies by city, from $25 - $75, if i recall correctly. i haven't gone through civitavecchia, but based on distance, i'd guess it's closer to $75.

the "top floor" is new and is presumably the area formerly occupied by the laser tag facility?

if you are committed to staying at an LHR hotel, consider the hilton garden inn at terminal 2. (there are - confusingly - two LHR hotels that call themselves hilton garden inn at heathrow... why hilton corporate allows this, i do not know... guests are always booking themselves into the wrong property. and the other one is not conveniently located, although it bills itself as convenient to terminal 4.) anyway, the "good" HGI is a short walk from terminal 2 and i often stay there after an overnight flight from new york. i get a few hours sleep, then take the tube into central london by late afternoon and on into the evening, then return by tube to the airport. the next day, i check in to my proper london hotel. i wouldn't recommend using a heathrow hotel as a base of operations for more than a night or two. but, with the relatively new elizabeth line, you have three transportation options into central london... the piccadilly line is the slowest and cheapest and will take you about an hour. the elizabeth line (overground) will take about 40-45 minutes depending on where you're going. and the heathrow express will take about twenty minutes and will drop you at paddington station, at which you may possibly begin an outward rail journey to "somewhere charming outside of london," should you so desire.

oh, dear. well, that's generally good advice - to reach out and ask directly. my best guess, however, is that the onshore pre-trip concierge has no idea what he or she is talking about and may not understand that the joy suites are treated differently than almost every other suite accommodation across the fleet. based on my experience, you won't get a butler or most suite perks. what you will get is a lovely larger room, bathrobe(s), better bed linens and a pillow top mattress. you'll also get a phone number to a relatively absent concierge team who will deprioritize suite requests over haven requests and may not even respond to you for several days, if at all. there is no invitation to a private breakfast for suite passengers on the joy. nor is there any invitation to a private lunch for suite passengers on the joy. you can verify this by going online and doing a mock booking for the prima or almost any other ship, where you'll see in the suite description that you'll receive "invitations to exclusive breakfast/lunch." then go online and do a mock booking for another cruise on the joy for a penthouse suite; those words will not appear in the suite description. you can also compare the two suites to see the other missing benefits. or you could just call back until you get somebody knowledgeable. i know how upsetting this must be... and you are right to be skeptical of anonymous information on the internet. but - unless something has changed in the past month or so - you won't be getting breakfast and lunch as a suite guest on the joy. plan accordingly.

there is no breakfast or lunch in cagney's, complimentary or otherwise. the joy is a lovely well run ship, one of my favorites. but when it comes to suites, it's an oddball. most of the suite perks were stripped away from the suite category a couple of years ago. those booking suites get a nicer, larger room and not much else. you will not get an invitation to breakfast and lunch in a specialty restaurant. there will be a letter in your suite from the concierge... same concierge and team that handles the haven. you can reach out to get details on priority disembarkation. the concierge will, for the most part, be otherwise invisible.

i'll take your personal experience over what's posted in a free style daily, any day of the week... and twice on sundays. we've heard about food disappearing from the OL in other threads as well. the dailies are notorious for misprints, typos and not updating erroneous information. when i sailed into southampton last year, the daily included disembarkation instructions for new york. the daily is not the new york sun! in other words, virginia, if you see it in the daily, it ain't necessarily so.

ship is indeed in great shape. i wouldn't hesitate to sail it again either. but august was six months ago. there have since been massive F&B cutbacks cross the fleet and NCL has undertaken a strategic plan that has devalued many components of the guest experience. i think comments and reviews from folks who have sailed recently provide important feedback and data points... these folks are better able to report on what guests are currently seeing, hearing and receiving. i'm sure there were, as there have been many recent reports of cookie sightings in the great outdoors, including in this thread. that seems to be the go to spot on the ship for cookies! prior to NCL cutbacks, however, cookies were available in many places throughout the ship, not just the great outdoors.