UKstages

i have global entry and have never been able to use it after disembarkation. when it first launched for cruise ships, i believe it was only available in fort lauderdale, port everglades. i don’t think they have expanded the number of ports since.

i'm pretty sure M&Ms are more expensive than strawberries. if they are looking to get rid of things, they could just simplify everything and get rid of the bean counters.

your experience was either many, many years ago (heck, when i worked as a call center rep in the paleozoic era, we were allowed to write credit card numbers down on scrap paper; now, due to "clean desk" policies to thwart fraud, you can't even have a pen or pencil or crayon or lipstick or anything else that you could conceivably write with... nor can you have paper nor a camera or a phone or any device which has independent access to the internet)... or your call centers didn't handle financial transactions or customer data ... or you worked for a rather unenlightened company with a very poor CIO... or all your company's call center agents were bonded, which is unlikely. there have been an explosion of tightened security measures in contact centers in the last two decades and particularly in the last seven or eight years. allowing open access to the internet for contact center employees is rather foolish. in the first place, they don't need it. any site required can be whitelisted. in the second place, agents could transmit credit card numbers and personally identifiable data to confidants outside the call center. what you describe as "firewalls" were, more likely, a "white list" that allowed access to approved sites, which is exactly what i referred to in my post. there's a third place and a fourth place and a fifth place and a host of other reasons why contact centers don't need unfettered access to the internet, but for the purposes of this discussion, those are the most relevant. i do so love when folks emphatically exclaim "not true" to the personal lived experiences of others.

if more people filed "love reports," this forum would be a lot more fun to read.

sadly, only half of it remains.

this story seems more like a fantasy borne of your friend's desire to impress upon you how posh the haven is than anything that actually happened in real life. NCL banned smoking on balconies in 2014 and in staterooms in 2011. the "haven" didn't exist (under that branding) till 2011, although some of the same concepts, rooms and amenities were available as early as 2005. so, smoking has never been allowed in a haven stateroom, although you could smoke in suites before 2011. so, when did your friend sail? was it actually in "the haven?" or just a two bedroom suite? and, perhaps most importantly: can he explain how a butler would know that a cigarette was about to be smoked within a stateroom, so he could rush to the guest's side to hold his ashtray?

i would never add a tip for a member of staff to my room charges.,. i have zero faith that they would ever actually receive it or that the tip would not be reduced in some way, with a portion of it siphoned off the top for "employee welfare" or whatever slush fund NCL allegedly puts the onboard service charge into.

it's not the epic... it appears to be all ships across the fleet. i disembarked from the getaway earlier this week and my experience was, more or less, the same as yours.

assuming one would be able to use it for haven butler gratuities, how would the haven butler gratuities wind up on a guest's folio?

you guys who want the dividers open should get together with the guy who wants to get drinks for his friend(s) who only have a soda package and the folks who think it's OK to vape anywhere on the ship and the parents who think its OK for a 14 year old and a 16 year old to share the same cabin without an adult and the folks who head to the casino when they want to smoke a cigarette without gambling. everybody always has a reason to justify their own personal behavior, desires, and violation of the rules. but there is nothing unique about any of these justifications. what's particularly troubling about the balcony dividers being opened is that it's a fire safety issue (just like door decorations, which are also prohibited).

i just finished a ten day cruise on the getaway, but not in the haven. i thought that this ship's cagney's was one of the better outposts of the franchise. if i had to rewind my trip, i would have booked it twice or maybe even three times. i normally don't say that about cagney's; i think it tends to be highly overrated and the quality varies widely from ship to ship. but this cagney's was quite good. i wouldn't recommend moderno. i'm normally a big fan. quality also varies widely from ship to ship, but on the getaway, i think it's cutbacks that have made moderno fall from grace. the highly regarded salad bar is a shadow of its former self. it's probably like that on all ships now. also, the service was spotty. i dined at moderno on the getaway twice. i like la cucina, but it's not a traditional red sauce italian restaurant. i dined here twice, as well. in addition to an FAS meal, i went in there one night just for a la carte pizza and salad. the pizza was well worth it, not so much the salad, when you're paying out of pocket and it's not included in a FAS meal.

i do know, for a fact, that they don't. i've been in the contact center business for decades. most contact centers have no external link to the internet for security reasons. so, in most cases, agents can't "google" anything. lines blur when they're working out of their homes, but generally agents are using company equipment and wide open internet access is prohibited. they should be able to access their knowledge base, their internal chat or help line (if they have one), the NCL consumer site and their proprietary booking systems. those are the only sites that should be "whitelisted." if you're using the term "google" as a generic verb to mean "search," much the same way people have adopted "kleenex" as a a generic term for "facial tissue," then, yes, they do indeed search their internal database. as you point out, google sells enterprise search services to companies and that backend technology could be used in conjunction with an internal KB. but nobody who uses that should ever say they are "googling" which implies the use of the actual google search engine on the open internet. more often that not, companies anthropomorphize their KB and give it a name like "merlin" or "sarah" or whatnot and they say they're asking "merlin" or consulting "sarah" or whatever. even companies that use google's enterprise search capabilities are not "googling." companies don't want their reps to quote information from the internet. if they were allowed to do so, they could go to cruise critic or facebook and quote wildly inappropriate advice, such as that the vibe is not worth the fee. it's a moot point because, for its internal KB for cruise consultants and travel agents, NCL uses a salesforce platform. i believe it's a part of their "einstein" suite of services and i suspect but do not know for a fact that salesforce provides the backend for the rest of their CRM and enterprise data, as well. it is possible to purchase just the KB capability, but few companies actually do that. in any case, the KB has a "my.site.com" URL which means it points to salesforce and salesforce is their knowledge base (KB) partner. no, but they should know a lot of core knowledge and have answers for things they don't know at their fingertips. that's why you have a knowledge base! knowing "every nuance" is the ideal and rarely realized, but yes... every agent should have core product knowledge down pat. knowing which ships and/or suites have butler service is pretty basic stuff. i can't speak to how they are trained, but i'd be willing to bet that suites and the services provided are a topic in new hire training, as well as supplemental training when the policies or amenities for suites change. no, it isn't. the terms are clearly explained. some benefits are awarded per cabin and not per person. that may seem unfair, it may seem churlish and penny-wise, it may be off-putting to platinum guests, but it ain't no breach of contract.

i had a burger at american diner a couple of weeks ago on the getaway. bun did not fall apart. i didn't think the bun was any different than any other bun i've had on any other NCL ship. i am beginning to think that the repeated reports of disintegrating buns has more to do with the gusto with which the eater approaches his or her burger, the size and moisture level of the "fixin's" piled high (if any) atop said burger and the amount of time it takes to eat that burger.

really? you're reading conflicting reports on this issue? really? excuse me, but you kind of lost your credibility way upfront with this statement. on NCL, bottled water (the base variety of which actually comes in a carton) is not even on the regular drink package, the one that includes alcohol. so who is it that might think it would be available on the soda package at about half the price? where did you see these conflicting reports? this is why we can't have nice things. no, it's quite clear from your posts that you're not exaggerating at all. in fact, i'd say you've invented a new program called "sail and disdain." it's a carefully orchestrated plot to deceive NCL and steal drinks. i'd be very surprised, too. but that's not really the point. yours is a moral question, not really a question about the rules of the drink package or how bartenders and servers enforce those rules. most here will tell you that bartenders rarely swipe cards for nonalcoholic drinks (mocktails will vary) and that when it comes to charging a card for alcohol, the bartenders do what is convenient for them and will very often charge only one card when a husband and wife order, or two people traveling together. but, again, that's really not the point. what you are in essence asking is could you walk into a retail store and switch the price tags on two different items, go to the till and have them scan the higher priced item, for which you would only pay the much lower price. and the answer is the same... yes, you probably could. but you shouldn't. probably not. no more than if you left the area and someone else happened along and decided to partake of the drink you left behind. but is that what you would be doing? and, yet again, that's not really the point. the point is your stated intent and dedicated commitment to deceive. in the isolated example you cite, you ordered two drinks and your friend, without your knowledge drank one of them. the fact that you are discussing your calculated plan in an internet forum months in advance of your cruise demonstrates that this would not be what would happen. even less so, if it happens drink after drink, bar after bar. you keep referring to the "two drinks per serve" that you are entitled to. the key thing is that YOU are entitled to them... they are for you to drink. you're not entitled to sell them to another person or give them away for free to another person. as pointed out in post #10, NCL rules expressly forbid the sharing of packages. the poster clarified one reason that the purchase of a drink package may not be required for all persons in the cabin. the rules for not sharing packages are different and apply to all guests worldwide, regardless of county of origin or which "realm" they are prepared to visit. sharing of packages is not allowed. that's not your point at all. your "point" in asking if the rules are enforced is precisely so you can make a judgment as to whether or not you would be able to successfully violate those rules and steal drinks, in direct opposition to NCL's stated policies. that's your point! you've been told several times, including in this post, that many bartenders and servers often do what's easier and simpler for them, and in many cases, that means charging multiple drinks on one card. so, you've received the answer to your question many times over. but that's not the point, either. the only thing left to discuss, frankly, is the moral question. so it should be no surprise that this issue comes up repeatedly in this thread. NCL is allowed to interpret and bend the rules. passengers are not. it's about intent. i don't think anybody has any problem with a bartender, acting on NCL's behalf, charging one card for a number of drinks, regardless of who those drinks are consumed by. but that's the bartender's independent decision. that's the bartender's choice. here, it's about intent. NCL, and many on this thread, would have a concern with the OP deceiving the bartender and claiming - or creating the appearance that - the drinks were for the OP's personal consumption.

no; for fire prevention and safety reasons, although there are scattered reports from some who have requested this and been able to have the cabin steward open the partition... but i wouldn't count on it. are you traveling with another couple in an adjacent cabin?

when are you sailing? captains come and go. whoever the captain is now, might not be the captain at the time of your sailing. is there a specific reason you want to know in advance who the captain is?

we're talking about two different things here. the OP has apparently asked about keeping the sliding door to the balcony open. others understood the question to be about the partition between adjacent balconies, due to the question being "are the balconies allowed to stay open?" either way, the answer is no.

oh, dear... we've been through this many times. i can assure you., they are not. the reps out of miami and phoenix (many of whom actually work out of their homes) are well compensated and many have worked for NCL for years. actually, it is the cruise consultant's job to know nearly every nuance of every ship, at least when it comes to cabin inventory and amenities. again, it's their job. knowing which rooms have butlers and that the joy suites don't have butlers, for instance, is core product knowledge, which is probably taught in the first week of training. they don't "google," but if by that you mean they search an internal knowledge base, yes... all of NCL's product details, policies and announcements and memos are contained within that database and are relatively easy to find. they'll even have a copy of the letter you received in your stateroom advising you of a canceled port. invited suite guests will dine in a specialty restaurant that will serve the haven breakfast and lunch menus, although the menus may not carry "haven" branding or logos. if you're on a smaller ship, like the gem that has a haven complex, but no haven restaurant, it is likely that your menus will carry the haven branding. haven and suite guests will eat together in the same restaurants, typically moderno for breakfast and cagney's for lunch.

have not been on viva, but it's essentially the same build from the same shipbuilders. it would be wrong of us to assume that it has the same problem as the prima with regard to stateroom noise, but it could. as for what that specific problem is... there are a number of reports, including my own lengthy thread here on cruise critic, in which people describe cabins with persistent creaking the likes of which they have never heard before on any other ship. this is not the normal creaking one might hear in any cabin while traveling at sea... these are loud and disruptive creaking noises at high seas that will keep you awake through most of the night. NCL knows of the problem, guest services has the affected cabins documented in the system, but NCL continues to sell the cabins and wait till the affected guests are onboard to see if they complain. if they do, they are generally given $500 per person in OBC as compensation. on my sailing last may, i lost three (or maybe four) nights sleep and had to sleep on the bathroom floor before NCL got its act together and found an additional room for me to sleep in. i was lucky because the ship was not at full capacity. if it had been, there would have been no cabin to move me to. most of the affected rooms are aft and they include club balcony and haven rooms.

well, regardless of the ship, we can report that there is no "white" party. it has been replaced by a "glow" party, during which people are generally given glow or LED bracelets and necklaces to wear, although youcan certainly bring your own. there is often an 80s night in one of the lounges. but i have not seen anybody dress up like madonna, duran duran or michael jackson.

$75 would indeed be very low for an a la carte dinner for two at cagney's. this was in direct response to the previous comment which theorized that the OP’s friend had not been charged a gratuity, but perhaps had been charged a la carte prices. if you go back and read the comments in context, this makes perfect sense. the comment is not talking about a gratuity at all… it’s building on the previous comment about a la carte pricing.

$75 would be very low for an a la carte dinner for two at cagney's, unless they had entrees only. dinner for one is usually $75 - $100 or more. so, when you say "they" had dinner, did you mean just your friend? or were there two people? if just one person dined, then the explanation offered by shof is probably correct.

you sailed two weeks ago and presumably made your reservations at that time or as long as two or three weeks before that. subsequent to your disembarkation, there have been reports by several people on cruise critic that reservations are no longer being accepted for MDRs. that appears to be the case. things change. hey, i remember eating smoked salmon in the buffet at breakfast. i can longer do that because NCL no longer offers it fleet wide. i remember when there was a charge for the american diner and when they used to serve lobster rolls. i remember drinking veuve cliquot at the casino bar. well, guess what? american diner is now free. (it wasn't last month.) but they no longer serve lobster rolls. and the only place you can reliably find veuve cliquot on an NCL ship is at le bistro. have you considered that what you believe to be true based on your personal experience might no longer true?

LOTS of shade being thrown on GSP, usually by groups of friends traveling together, criticizing each other mercilessly and treating each other with extraordinary contempt. LOTS of eye rolling and sighs.

nor do most who put through 125K of coin in. i certainly don't have that kind of disposable cash! to paraphrase my good friend inigo montoya, i do not think those words mean what you think they mean. "coin in" does not mean cash or bankroll. it means the amount of money you recycle through the machine. if you start with $100 and you win $2000 and continue playing and put that money in the machine and run it through just once, you will have "coin through" of $2100 on your $100 stake. rinse, lather and repeat many times. it's quite easy to have coin through, with relatively modest play and a limited bankroll and a relatively modest loss, of 6K or 8K or 10K. people with stronger play will have many multiples of that.