UKstages

i think it may have stopped long before covid. i was on the bliss in december of 2019... no free lunch at moderno or any other specialty restaurant.

los lobos is not on several NCL ships.

when haven passengers mix with gen pop, they should play by gen pop rules. it really is as simple as that. that doesn't mean they can't have a special section set aside for them in the theatre. that doesn't mean they shouldn't get priority embarkation or priority tenders. that doesn't mean they shouldn't have private elevators. it does mean that they shouldn't be escorted through a back entrance to a small venue and proceed to occupy 75% of the seats. (and, yeah, i understand the difference between seating capacity and occupancy.) what's next? a haven omelet station in the buffet for the express use of haven guests? a haven service bar for the express use of haven guests at the gen pop pool? special opening hours for indulge just for haven guests? if you venture out of the private cocoon that is the haven, be prepared to meet and mingle with your fellow passengers. and play by gen pop rules. (by the way, that doesn't mean that hosts and servers in the local and other restaurants won't still fawn all over you when they see the haven designation on your key card. i call that the haven halo and it's a real thing. but it doesn't extend to giving you the right to bypass queuing up in other parts of the ship.) again, i've sailed in the haven and i feel this way whether i'm sailing in the haven or not.

online check-in time begins at midnight ET, regardless of where the cruise is embarking. so your check-in should be available at midnight tonight. the exception is at midnight on a saturday night, when they sometimes do maintenance at NCL.com. in that case, check-in usually becomes available at around 6 am. the advantage to being the first to book is to get your preferred check-in time at the pier. typically, those that want 9:30 or 10 or 10:30 am check-in times at the pier need to check in online promptly before those times disappear. check-in time at the pier is not the same as boarding time, but many believe in waiting in a short line at the pier, then sitting around, then being among the first to board, so they can maximize their time on the ship. the alternative is waiting in a somewhat longer line later in the day, but boarding right away. the choice is yours, but if you want an early check-in time. those tend to disappear within a few hours of online check-in opening up.

where did you find these images? none come up on image searches through tineye or google. and the press release for the expanded NCL/starbucks partnership does not mention the availability of this merchandise.

because there are many more readers than posters; CC has nearly two million registered users and over six million visitors a month. there are over fifty million posts, reviews and photos. and its reach goes far beyond that. CC is frequently cited by the media as a leading source of information on cruising: CNN, ABC, fox news, the washington post, forbes, conde nast traveler, travel+leisure, bloomberg, huff post, new york post, the new york times, the los angeles times, boston globe, miami herald, reader's digest, CNBC, us news and world report, a cruise line would ignore those visitor numbers and access to those media outlets at its own peril. perhaps. perhaps not. there was a recent well-documented case in which a woman's cruise (for her and her family) was canceled with no refund because of an app glitch. she reached out directly to NCL and they responded in platitudes and did nothing. it was only after she complained on cruise critic and other social media sites that they apologized and agreed to give her credit for a future cruise. some "travel professionals" may not think highly of social media sites because they make their job more difficult, if only because knowledge is power. years ago, you often had to use a travel agent because they had proprietary knowledge and access to book certain things mere mortals could not, for the most part, that is no longer true. social media sites, along with online booking, have democratized travel. what "travel professionals" don't like about social media sites are fake reviews and what they view as unsubstantiated complaints. and they probably don't like that in many cases they have had to hire employees to document and respond to posts. but they generally love the increased focus on their brands by passionate travelers and the increased business sites like cruise critic bring them.

things that are also not guaranteed: the availability of coffee, tea, orange juice, toilet paper, mini-golf, olives in your martini, swiss cheese on your hamburger or ice in your drink. it doesn't say anywhere that those things are "guaranteed." in fact, there is something in the terms that speaks to the individual components of the booked holiday and how no refund will be due in the case of NCL's failure to provide. but you have a reasonable right to expect that you can have ice in your drink (if you want it) and hot coffee in your cup. people will often complain if access to these items is denied, and rightfully so. my goodness, people practically threw themselves off the duomo in protest of the switch from pepsi to coke! (which is a whole different matter, but it does speak to passengers' dedication and passion.) people have a reasonable expectation of being able to see an advertised show, if they do what is expected of them. in the case of syd's, that means queuing up in advance to get one of the limited number of seats. no reasonable person would expect that the seating capacity of the venue would be reduced by as much as 75%.

you pay to be escorted to syd norman's? where is that listed as a haven benefit? i'm not being a smart aleck; i'd just like to know. most commonly, i see the haven concierge and butler benefit described as offering help in booking "dining and entertainment" reservations and shore excursions. syd's is certainly entertainment, but they don't except reservations, so, i'm baffled as to why getting into an incredibly small venue is an expectation of some haven guests. i've been a haven guest several times and didn't have that expectation. if, as reported upthread, haven guests are occupying 75% of the seats at some shows... that's just wrong on many levels. for starters, haven guests do not comprise 75% of the ship's passengers, so the ratio for the potential benefit is way off. i'm not saying that a mistake was made by stating that haven guests were 75% of the audience. i'm saying it would be a pretty dumb decision to let a small percentage of the ship's guests "rule the roost" in a public venue. the analogy to being able to get a restaurant reservation on short notice when none are otherwise available is an apples to oranges thing... you're asking for one reservation for (presumably) two or four people in a restaurant with a capacity that far exceeds syd norman's. the butler or concierge is not escorting dozens of people en masse to cagney's, i can assure you. as far as disagreeing... what we're really disagreeing about is whether an individual haven guest feels comfortable accepting such a perk. we can't disagree about whether or not it's the butler's or concierge's job to get haven guests into syd norman's. it is not.

no problem whatsoever with taking the liquor provided for one cabin and transferring it to another, as a continuing passenger on the same ship. you can carry it your hands, put it in a sack, put it in your bags, or throw it over your shoulder like a continental soldier. nobody will be the slightest bit concerned.

that's not entirely true. they WILL let you use this money, provided you use this money (FCC) under the terms you agreed to. look, i think everybody here is sympathetic to your plight. you either didn't keep close tabs on the expiration date, and/or never looked closely at the terms and/or life's circumstances have prevented you from focusing on redeeming these credits until now. but your characterization of NCL as being unbending and inflexible for doing what they said they were going to do is odd. i get that you're disappointed, but you should be disappointed in yourself for letting such a valuable credit (nearly) expire. i regularly find fault with NCL policies and practices and customer service (or lack thereof), but this is not something about which i would get my knickers in a twist. THIS may be your best shot. you could make a direct appeal to NCL stating that until "recently" you were prevented by government regulations from traveling freely. and that NCL FCC restrictions don't acknowledge that. chances of success with that line of reasoning are better than simply saying the expiration deadline is unfair. this strategy assumes that you accurately represent the governmental travel restriction and it very much depends on how you define "recently." if it's a year, as you mentioned in the beginning of that sentence, then your plea may not be successful at all, as a year would generally be considered adequate time to plan and take a cruise, under the original terms.

the venue on the prima is very small and many assume it will be the same on the viva, as well. so that may mean that it will be difficult to get a seat.

i don't travel on princess, but my experience tells me that the cruise you're already booked on won't show a casino rate for that cruise because you're already comped or discounted on that specific cruise. is that functionality built into the site? can you normally view casino rates for a cruise that you're already booked on? as for no other cruises showing casino rates... how many cruises do you currently have booked and does princess have a limit to the number of cruises you can have booked at one time? if so, have you reached the maximum? (in which case I can understand why they might not display casino rates for you.)

many people do this on every cruise. sometimes there are 40 continuing passengers, sometimes 200 or more. depends on the itinerary. i'm on an upcoming prima roll call here on cruise critic where it seems like half the ship (or at least half the roll call) will be doing a B2B. you will need to vacate your first cabin at the usual time, probably no later than 9:30. most areas of the ship will be open for you to hang out in, however, food service may be limited. yes, you can stop in at guest services and confirm that you are on the list of continuing passengers, but your travel agent or cruise consultant is chiefly responsible for first noting this in your reservation. i did a B2B on the joy last year. in that case, with new york being the port, they did not require us to get off the ship. they brought immigration officers onboard who cleared everybody in one of the clubs or lounges. you will receive special luggage tags in your stateroom a day or two before the first cruise ends. they will indicate that your bags are continuing on the next cruise and the packet will have complete instructions on what to do. generally, they ask you to leave the bags in your room, with the luggage tags attached. my understanding is that it is the first stateroom's attendant who is responsible for transporting your bags to the next stateroom. if you're able to stay onboard, listen for the crew announcement. at some point, the captain or the cruise director will come on the PA and address the staff. you'll learn how many passengers are on the next cruise, their average age, how many kids will be traveling, as well as which staff departed or will be new to this sailing and various other data points or obstacles relating to the upcoming cruise. it's usually pretty interesting.

most of them, yes. thanks very much for asking. i'm a very frequent flyer, a super premium elite flyer, the kind who gets rebooked by the airline before the flight is even canceled, while the connecting flight is still in the air. i do know what most of those codes and numbers mean. and none of them carries a hidden message to treat flyers unfavorably if they purchased their tickets through a so-called "third party." (which is, in most cases, actually a second party, but why quibble among such esteemed friends and fellow cruisers?) the source of the ticket revenue can be found by any gate agent or airline employee with just a few key strokes, but it's irrelevant to the rebooking process, unless a refund is being offered.

um, no. in the case of rebooking after an air travel interruption, the priority is super premium elite frequent flyers, followed by premium elite flyers, followed by elite flyers, followed by premium cabin passengers, followed by coach passengers (for instance, a passenger who has united airlines global services status traveling on a discounted coach ticket has greater status than a generic united mileage plus member who has purchased a first class ticket.) how they purchased their ticket - directly from the airline, through a travel agent, through a consolidator, through another airline or a travel website or other so-called "third party" or by cashing in frequent flyer miles - has absolutely no bearing on the airline's legal responsibility to get the distressed traveler to their destination nor does it factor into the priority or courtesy given them during the rebooking process.

i am not.

using a specific certificate at any of those restaurants is the same, sure, but the certificates and the credits are not the same. first, you need to determine at which meal you want your "free" bottle of wine. you only have one latitudes coupon that includes a free bottle of wine. your remaining latitudes coupon and your FAS dining credit each carry different restrictions. the latitudes coupon is good for one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert, whereas people report some success with the FAS credit in getting additional appetizers, sides and desserts. (that may be changing with all the recent changes and cutbacks.) so, some strategy many come into play in deciding where to redeem which.

the problem with arguing with a straw man is the sudden twists and turns in the wind. oh, it's this thing.... once that thing is successfully debunked, it's this other thing over here. when that is successfully debunked, it becomes some new and different thing over there. for the record, it's the passenger's status, achieved either through purchasing a premium class ticket or by achieving an elite status in the airline's frequent flyer program, that may determine priority or preferential treatment. and that status carries over regardless of where or how they purchased their ticket.

thank you so much for the question. i don't believe it's an "issue" at all. perhaps the OP is simply curious. being as a scoop of ice cream is included with the cake (according to the OP), that is to say it's part of the dessert as detailed on the menu, it's a very good question... why is there an additional charge? if it were a $21 slice of cake, i could see them breaking out the charges separately for inventory tracking, but the slice of cake, with a scoop of ice cream is apparently supposed to be only $12.

well, you've stated as fact more than once that the airline compensates for canceled flights. and that is a very narrow interpretation and not exactly factual. it often depends on which country the flight departs from. the department of transportation is the US does not mandate that passengers be compensated for delays or cancellations under most circumstances. compensation kicks in only when a passenger has been "bumped," that is to say, when the airline overbooks the flight and is unable to accommodate you on that flight. the law in canada is very different indeed and does require compensation for flights canceled less than 14 days before the departure date, but also takes into the account the size of the airline and the length of the delay and whether it was a controllable or uncontrollable cancellation. there is also a provision for overnight accommodations and supplying food and beverages and access to communication services. some US airlines will voluntarily compensate distressed travelers with meals or lounge access or other complimentary services, particularly if they are elite members of the airline's frequent flyer program. and that status often influences how quickly and beneficially they will provide special services or rebook you. but how you paid for your ticket or where you purchased it or where you live has no bearing on the airline's obligation to get you to your destination or their willingness to rebook you. and, generally speaking, at least for flights departing from the US, no compensation will be provided.

the "point" appears to be in the title of the thread. the OP wonders if the waiter or restaurant is somehow "padding" the bill and posits that it may be related to an internal charge and reimbursement for redemption of platinum dining certificates. "padding" may not be the most precise term here, as i don't think the OP is suggesting that there is anything sinister going on... the OP is just trying to figure out why there is a distinct $9 charge for ice cream on the bill. i don't believe there is a complaint at all. carry on.

and there it is. i've often said that the "tip pool" administered by NCL does not have a direct correlation to the actual money awarded to staff. in other words, we have no idea what happens to the daily gratuity collected from most passengers and the thought that 100% of those fees goes directly to "tipping" the staff on a proportional basis is not grounded in reality. "[staff] are compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that your service charge supports." and what that most likely means is that NCL pays competitive wages a little bit above what the staff would earn in their home countries. and that what we pay into the "tip pool" subsidizes the salary they pay. the "onboard service charge" is a revenue source for NCL that subsidizes employment programs. and they probably also throw pizza parties and award gift certificates to the staff store and nominal gifts for exemplary service to those who have won performance-based contests. these may include modest cash awards, but probably not. they do probably have a program in place - funded by our "tips" - that recognizes those who receive "hero cards" or who are praised in customer comments or surveys. there may even be periodic award ceremonies. and some portion of the daily fee likely goes to administer the program, which could mean it funds HR and executive salaries, as well. in any case, it sure does look like our gratuities fund salary and incentive programs... and are not used on to award "tips" in any traditional sense. anything could be considered an employee incentive, including painting staff cabins or buying a pool table for their community room or giving them a discount on internet (or a set number of free minutes). i'm not saying that's right or wrong (not in this post, anyway). i'm just saying that we may need to readjust the way we think about the tip pool and the benefit that individual staff members may or may not receive from it. and this is not an NCL thing, by the way... it's industry wide. and not just cruise ships... all resort properties do this... fund staff incentives from customers. it may be called a resort fee, it may be called a daily service charge... but, in the end, it's basically revenue and it largely subsidizes base salaries and employee incentives and doesn't bestow traditional "tips" to employees. that bit about "certain staff positions" including "beverage service" not benefiting from the service charge... is confusing, perhaps intentionally so. beverage servers may be excluded from the overall service charge, but they - presumably - do benefit in the same way from the gratuity paid on the drink package and on individually purchased drinks.

based on customer feedback, i wouldn't be surprised if they called it "the veuve."

yes, it would be wrong to assume that. the higher daily fee is generally presumed to be because the haven rooms are larger and require more extensive service and more frequent service. butlers and concierges do not participate in the tip pool administered by NCL from the proceeds of the daily fee.

there is no need for a personal attack. i was offering an opinion about the creative process and storytelling. those who are creative artists can create a ninety minute - or a ten minute - musical if they so choose and if they feel that attention spans are shorter and they will lose the audience's attention. cramming a two and a half hour award-winning story into ninety minutes shortchanges the creative artists and disrespects the audience.