UKstages

it's sad that you've placed little confidence in the advice you've received here. many folks assured you that the pending charges were, well, temporary and would soon disappear into the ether. were the charges "removed" in consultation with your financial institution or did they simply fall off, as most here predicted they would?

as a resident of one of the communities in which these cruise ships operate, i'm thankful for this legislation, which has been in the works for years and which has been discussed on these boards many times. it's not as if the cruise lines are hearing about it for the first time. adding shore power is tremendously complicated. and the manhattan shore line is quite old and complex. the city is only just now in the process of completing its feasibility study. we're a long way off from RFPs being submitted. and they will need 13 megawatts of power in manhattan for the cruise ship terminal; its still uncertain if con edison (the local power company) can add that to the grid. in addition, this will be a 20 million dollar plus undertaking. it'll be even more if they need to build a new substation. all of that is a roundabout way of saying that you won't likely see shore power in manhattan until 2027 or 2028 at the very earliest. and that would be an aggressive plan. in any event, nobody is committing to firm dates yet. so, i don't see this decision as impacting any plans to move departures out of new york in the near term. if anything, i would eventually expect it would mean more departures from new york! here's a clip of my city councilman explaining the key issues at the start of the hearing in which the legislation was introduced: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3bhQXgOD6o/

it appears that the "roving bartenders" have now become "roving servers." do they still "push a little bar around," as previously described? or has that now gone, too? never - not once - have i ever been asked by a buffet attendant if i wanted a drink on any ship, NCL or otherwise. most people understand that it's not really the buffet attendant's job to take orders for drinks or deliver them, as matter of course.

this is exactly what the bartender's wife said.

not exactly. it depends on what you mean by "using them." the cruise first credit has to have been purchased at least 120 days in advance of the sailing date, not the booking date. you can book today using a credit that your purchased today, provided the cruise is not sailing for another four months. or you can book today for a cruise leaving later this week, provided the cruise first credit was purchased at least four months ago. if you're used to having cruise next credits in your account always at the ready, there is virtually no difference. you can do close-in bookings, as long as you have cruise first credits in your "bank." i currently have four "aged" cruise first credits in my account (3 x $500, 1 x $250), as well as a casino next credit.

they do in fact have a sales program that goes exactly like that. it's called "cruise first." except it's "pay me $150 and I’ll take $300 off your next cruise." and "pay me $250 and I’ll take $500 off your next cruise." i never understood the fascination and obsession with buying cruise next credits onboard. i suppose it's like touring the bacardi factory and buying a bottle of rum, even though it's not much cheaper than your local liquor store and it's a hassle to get home.

i honestly can't tell if you're joking, but i have never in my entire cruise career, seen a "roving bartender"... at the buffet or elsewhere. i have seen - at parties and events - a fully staffed portable bar set up in a corner (or corners) of the room. never have i seen a bartender wandering throughout the buffet, presumably with some sort of cart, as if he was a street peddler selling italian ices or pretzels or hot dogs.

agree with all the above, although i don't think you can get a course by course dinner served by the butler. it's always all at once from a specialty restaurant, if the butler is serving it course by course, he or she is keeping it at their station, waiting for you to finish each course. they're not going half way across the ship each time to retrieve a separate course. most butlers may not even have the time to serve a course by course dinner.

someone may have said that and it might be true, if the ships were registered in the USA. ' NCL has only one ship that is registered in the USA. and i can't see any SEC requirement applying to a holding company that itself is registered in bermuda and that owns three subsidiaries that use ships also registered outside of the USA. but, hey, maybe that's just me. i'm funny that way. i've also been told that cash tips are pooled among staff shift workers.

i'm no labor expert, and i certainly could be wrong, but there are some collective bargaining arrangements with most cruise lines and the cruise lines are signatories to ITF guidelines, but you don't have to be a union member to work onboard an NCL ship, with the exception of pride of america (SIU). the ITF is not a union per se, but a consortium of unions representing all manner of worldwide transportation workers. if NCL employees had union representation, it would be unlikely that some of them would be required to work 60 - 70 hours a week. my understanding is that the only union employees NCL has in customer contact positions (servers, bartenders, guest services, stewards, etc.) are on the pride of america, which is registered in the USA. the union is the SIU (seafarers international union). if NCL were paying union negotiated wages across the fleet, your cruise fare would be substantially higher. shipboard performers do not generally have to belong to actors' equity, either... most performers are non-union, although when a ship is docked in port, such as new york, for a few days, NCL may be obligated to pay actors under a negotiated equity contract.

i'll bite. what's a roving bartender? i'm not sure i've ever seen one, although i'm not sure i would know one if one was standing (or roving) in front of me. is this a bartender who "roves" from table to table, much like a mariachi band, inquiring if anybody is thirsty?

the crew is part of a union? please do go on.

i'm not an expert on refundable OBC, as i rarely have it. but logic dictates that if it's refundable, it's as good as cash and can be used for most - if not all - onboard charges. but i have no personal experience with this.

ordinary nonrefundable OBC, that is to say, OBC that has not been acquired through the purchase of cruise next credits, can not be applied to the purchase of cruise next credits. in. other words, you can't purchase cruise next credits with nonrefundable OBC, exception: the special OBC they issue after you purchase cruise next credits can and will be be applied to that purchase.

the doors are definitely there... in every vibe which adjoins the haven sun deck. i haven't been on the escape, but if it's anything like every other ship i have been on, the doors are marked for emergency use and or authorized use only. i've seen them used by attendants and bartenders who had to deliver towels or liquor from one side to the other, by cleaning crews, by execs conducting a tour and, in one case, for getting an individual in a wheel chair into the vibe. i've never seen them used by guests to travel routinely from one side to the other, but, then again, most haven guests don't buy vibe access.

and the folks who argue that point invariably are the same who justify surreptitiously vaping on the pool deck, in the nonsmoking casino and in the MDR. and who justify hogging chairs and who justify bring controlled substances onboard and who smoke cigarettes on their balconies. and who justify the sharing of drink packages. and who ask for their balcony dividers to be opened. and who justify the breaking of many other rules while onboard. "i'm breaking this rule responsibly, it's OK if i do this because i know what i'm doing, there's no real safety or fire issue, that's just silly. i know better than NCL's fire wardens and risk assessors. and it's because of these other people over there, not me, that we can't have nice things." slope just got a whole lot more slippery.

that's exactly what i'm saying! the net cost is half price, but they do that by giving you 50% of it in a special kind of nonrefundable OBC which can be applied to the cruise next purchase you just made.

when i was on the prima last year, at one of my meals in onda, there was a guy a few tables away who was rather disruptive filming his entire meal, with two other guests, who looked like they may have bene his parents. i couldn't hear what they were saying, but the episode was completely disruptive because he kept two bright ring lights on almost the whole meal, casting light well beyond his table. and he was wearing a rather large rig that contained the lighting and camera equipment. in my opinion, it was undignified and not in keeping with the ambience of the restaurant. i thought at the time that it should have been banned in the same way shorts and flip flops are banned.

don't fall prey to the "i must spend the OBC before i leave the ship" ploy. it's what NCL wants you to believe, so you go around buying over priced high margin trinkets and baubles and doodads. it's what makes a conversation with a cruise next consultant akin to a convo with a time share salesperson. even though your cruise next OBC is nonrefundable, and even though there are very specific rules for which charges OBC may be applied to, the full amount of OBC can be applied to the cruise next credits you just purchased. as i understand it, the OBC will be applied to the cruise next purchase before all other charges. it is a very special kind of nonrefundable OBC designed to offset cruise next purchases.

midnight ET (miami time).

you can't select your boarding time. you can select your check-in time. when you check-in online, you can choose a time for in person check-in. boarding will probably begin sometime between 11 and 11:30, with haven having first dibs, followed by mobility-impaired and disabled, and the usual suspects... elite latitudes members, those who have purchased priority boarding and then guests in order of their boarding card numbers.

don't be sorry. people are allowed to think different things. but you're disagreeing with what exactly? that i have never thought to order a drink form a buffet attendant? i assure you, i have not. that the primary role of a buffet attendant is to clear plates? that the buffet has no service bar? that most people don't order drinks from the buffet attendant? with what do you disagree? i think we're in complete agreement. a buffet attendant would likely be delighted to bring a drink and a tip would be appropriate under such a circumstance.

perhaps. but door decorations were actually banned on NCL due to valid fire and safety concerns, not because people were stealing magnets or papier-mâché effigies. i'm thankful for that and support that. i have found the numbers adjacent to the door to be a great help in finding my cabin. they are invariably sequential and unique, with no cabin numbers repeated. i'd never be able to find my cabin without this helpful guidance and i recommend this method to all concerned about the ban on door decorations. as for magnets on the wall... presumably we're talking about the wall in the hallway outside your cabin? i can understand why some guests think they "own" the door and have a right to decorate it (they don't), but the adjoining wall? really? you placed a magnet in a public walkway? and expected it to remain there?

i've stayed in the haven. i've had vibe passes. without a doubt, the service in the vibe is far and away much better than the service on the haven sun deck. i can see why folks might want to do this, but it seems so extravagant. i typically do back-to-backs... a vibe pass could run $500 - $600 for the entire duration of the cruises. there is also a logistical problem. while, on most ships, the haven sun deck and the vibe are right next door to each other, there is no easy way to get from one to the other. there is typically a door or two, with an emergency alarm on it connecting the two areas, as well as a warning saying "authorized personnel only" or some such. if you don't get permission to travel through that door, you will have to exit the haven complex and go all the way around to enter the vibe.

i'd have no problem with atrium entertainment if it wasn't adjacent to the local or o'sheehan's. you want a gathering place for folks to listen to music and "deal or no deal" and watch movies and cruise next presentations? have at it! just don't make me listen to it at absurdly loud volumes when i'm trying to eat a reuben sandwich.