UKstages

sadly, you’ve fallen prey to a myth… that somehow a magical shortage of labor has developed in the “job marketplace.” there is no shortage of labor… there is a shortage of companies willing to fairly compensate employees. if you pay them fairly and provide good working conditions, people will apply for jobs. it really is as simple as that. NCL did indeed make a conscious decision to cut staff. they did indeed have a choice and they exercised that choice. they decided to reduce housekeeping services and terminate employees or not renew contracts and to not rehire people for those employees that naturally attritted. the notion that NCL is responding to some sort of imaginary employee market condition is absurd.

starbucks’ “been there” series of collectible mugs emphasizes cities and the starbucks brand takes a back seat in positioning. same thing here… the ship is the star and the starbucks brand is secondary.

they have a getaway mug, but no breakaway? what is one to make of that? the prima mug reportedly has dynamic images of people standing in the indulge food hall and the buffet, as well as a couple wide awake in bed trying to figure out what is rattling inside their cabin walls. there’s also a beautiful scene of isafjordur to remind guests of all the missed ports and an image of a solo violinist to represent the many entertainment options onboard.

words have meaning. they are not “short staffed.” they made a conscious and deliberate decision to reduce staff and give each cabin attendant additional cabins, resulting in a delay in ship-wide cabin readiness.

all are welcome. my thoughts as to how well accepted they will be depends upon their behavior. but that goes for the seniors and the adult kids, as well. kids will be kids and grandparents will be grandparents and baby boomers will be baby boomers. nobody wants to see any of them pee or poop in the pool or pick up items from the buffet in the horizon lounge with their fingers, then put it back. nobody wants to be subjected to the audio from their phones or tablets as they watch videos, nobody wants to trip over them as they run through the haven restaurant or the courtyard.

interesting. I had no trouble booking dining reservations a few weeks ago, but this past week, whenever i try to book excursions i get an error message telling me to log out and try again. an error message saying to call CAS or excursion team would be more helpful.

when i was on the prima in may and june, i was shocked that the indulge food hall wasn’t open until 8 am, even when we called at a port at 6 am. and that has some bearing on this discussion because many people seem to believe that NCL adjusts buffet hours (especially for breakfast) to accommodate port arrivals. i haven’t seen that… in the buffet or indulge. as for what many people believe to be a very high operating cost to keeping the buffet open for snack service late at night… um, no. just… no. staff are in there anyway, cleaning and…sometimes, cooking. as for all this talk about “staff” and how they couldn’t possibly staff the buffet late at night…. um, it’s not like they’re going to add staff in the middle of a cruise to hold down the fort in the buffet. What 5hey can and will do is redeploy and make smart use of the staff they already have. that’s why your server from la cucina last night is working at the buffet tomorrow morning. and why the guy who made your table side guacamole at los lobos is serving your chicken parm three days later at lunch in the MDR. that is disappointing. of all the ports on the prima’s icelandic/nordic itinerary, that is one of the most spectacular.

replied in wrong thread. sorry.

this aligns precisely with what I was awarded on my most recent cruise. i will add that if you have any other nonrefundable OBC on your account, make sure it’s spent before you spend the OBC you’ve been given by the host. otherwise, you won’t receive the full value of the host’s OBC… because the other OBC you have on your account will be used first, as you attempt to accrue charges against the host’s reward. also, typically and technically, it’s not OBC in the traditional sense. your host will give you a dollar figure, then have you go shopping, then ask you to check back with him or her after you’ve made your purchases… after which the host will apply an equal credit directly to your bill. it’s all the same in the end, but you must check back with the host to ensure they have applied the credit. my experience has been that they do not deposit OBC into your account. if you have strong play, and don’t walk away a winner, keep track of your loss. you should have a good idea when you talk to the host of about how much you should be awarded. if he or she offers considerably less, you can raise an eyebrow and playfully suggest they run the numbers again. ultimately, it’s up to the host’s discretion, which is why it’s good to cultivate that relationship throughout the cruise… however, it’s perfectly OK to politely and playfully push back if you believe you’re being under-comped.

if it’s set up as two distinct cruises, yes, definitely… you get double benefits. full tier benefits apply to both legs of the cruise. there have been some mixed reports of two cruises being booked in one combined reservation and tier benefits not being doubled.

i suspect enforcement really has a lot to do with the ages and behavior of the minors or young adults.

no, i’m ruby… no desire to achieve anything higher. and since I’ve already hit 30K on this one trip, it’s likely i’ll be ruby again next year.. all I need do is earn an additional 5K tier on an upcoming 12-day caribbean itinerary on the joy. single line at dollars on this trip was 9/5 TDB, used as a sorbet of sorts in between losing sessions on UX, during which i played three line DDB.

oh, dear. it was a very simple question, only requiring a one word answer: tipper, tippee or both. no matter which of those three answers you chose, an essay would not have been necessary. although i, for one, would welcome hearing the details of your tipping philosophy and the devastating trail of demeaned individuals that lay in its wake. how long ago was this? there have been sea changes (pun intended) in the cruise industry in the last thirty years or so and what may have been true back then is almost certainly not true now. NCL’s own FAQ refers to compensation that includes salary and incentives. no mention is made of gratuities being split up and distributed directly to individual employees. there is lots of speculation, but the cruising public has no way of knowing whether their gratuities are funding new mattresses for crew cabins, pizza parties for those with positive “hero” cards or cash distributions for good performance reviews or other employee reward programs. it’s probably a mix of all of that. i hate to be cynical, but please remember that the cruise line controls the funds and there doesn’t appear to be any oversight. some of that gratuity fund is no doubt going to administrative costs associated with fulfilling the program… and that can be justified by applying it to almost any expense, even those only peripherally associated with employees. new uniforms? yup, that’s an employee incentive! cookies in the break room? yup, that’s an employee incentive! a hundred dollar bonus? well, yes, that’s an incentive, too.

and who is it that you believe is being demeaned… the tipper or the tippee?

gosh, I don’t think so.

first, it’s not a strip club. nobody is “holding out” dollar bills. second, who said anything about jumping a queue?

yes.

yes, as noted, the wording is confusing. this was debated extensively in a recent thread. third person gets a set of two vouchers. if third person brings a new friend, the vouchers are good for two people. If third persons dines alone, or is a third wheel with the other two people in the cabin, the third person’s vouchers are only good for one meal per voucher.

NCL, as far as i know, is unique among cruise lines in that they do not tell casino players what their specific offers are. they typically send an email or a snail mail piece, saying that you have an offer for a 7-day or 10-day or 12-day cruise, but they never tell you what cabin those offers are good for unless you call. so, now I call every month and ask what my current offers are… sometimes, it’s balcony, sometimes it’s club balcony, sometimes it’s haven. you can also have them look at your play and give you what they call a “customized” offer. but my casino comp offers have never appeared online in my account. not once. i sure wish they did! even better if they were bookable online!

thanks. but, for the record, i actually payed almost exclusively VP on my most recent trip… three-line UX at quarters and single-line at dollars. it was 21 days on the prima on a B2B and I earned just under 30K tier, with no VP handpays.

water in bottles or cartons is not included in the “regular” free at sea drink package.

my experience, as a manhattan resident, has been very different. what you describe used to be true, up until the 1970s or thereabouts, when many cabbies owned their medallion and their car… but now, most cab drivers rent their vehicles on a shift basis, many cab drivers get lost, have no idea where major landmarks are located, have little conception of the overall geography of the city (or even the borough they’re driving in) and have only been driving for a few months… or an even shorter time.

think again… you could very well get a redeye… just one that arrives a day earlier. as far as price is concerned, NCL is booking consolidator fares in bulk on unused inventory… there is likely little to no difference in price in the remaindered inventory they are offered by various airlines.

the food is very good at the indulge food hall and breakfast is the one time when seats are readily available… you can “grab and stay” if you like. the bagel and lox “platter” at indulge on the prima, however, is not “grab and go.” it has to be requested. in my experience, there is typically nobody behind the counter to assist, so it’s more of a “wait around and go.” once somebody shows up, it’s a total schmoo… a whole production. they have to take a prepared pre-portioned plate out of the fridge, on which sits two extraordinarily thin slices of smoked salmon - just two - plus lettuce, onion and tomato, as well as a ramekin with a thimbleful of cream cheese, barely sufficient to be spread on one half of a bagel. no lemon is available. the bagels are kept separately and have to be located, which often takes a visit to the kitchen. only plain bagels are available and they are essentially flavorless circles of white bread with a hole in them. (even when you’ve just sailed from new york, the bagels look like they’ve come from kansas.) then comes the toasting negotiation, during which you invariably reject the first pass through the toaster because the bagel has not been browned at all. you ask for another trip through the conveyer belt of doom, and the second pass returns a perfectly toasted bagel… or a burnt inedible disk ill-suited for playing frisbee. (it depends largely on whether they’ve adjusted the toaster settings for the second pass.) bottom line: not enough cream cheese, not enough salmon (though it’s of good quality), inedible bagel. but, since you’re assembling it yourself, you can leave off the lettuce that the MDR inexplicably insists on adding to their version of this breakfast favorite. pro tips: bring along a bottle of “everything” seasoning to sprinkle on your bagel… it will liven things up considerably. order two of these, so you have enough cream cheese and lox for one bagel. use the second bagel as a door stop or place on hangers to separate them and stop them from rattling incessantly throughout the night.

typically, this is just a dessert privilege. i suppose you could have any leftover sent to your room, but i’ve never seen it done, nor have i ever done it myself. but i’m sure some do indeed request this.