UKstages

people win with "poor" bids every day! it all depends on the room you have, the room you want, the availability and demand for those rooms and NCL's super secret formula that dictates how they can best maximize revenue. you did exactly the right thing, in my opinion by submitting a "poor" bid...this way, you can laugh all the way to the poor house when your bid is accepted!

it is. see post #3. "corkage fee is not applicable to guest with beverage package."

it's a relatively recent change... instituted in the past two months or so.

that's great! congrats!

when you say, "studio," i assume you are a solo traveler. so was your bid $105? or $210? my understanding is that all upgrades are based on double occupancy, so a bid of $105 would get you a balcony for $210. and a bid of $210 would get a solo traveler a balcony for $420.

actually, you don't agree at all with what i am saying. and my statements certainly do not support your point. you either believe that the internet is "table stakes" for hospitality companies (including cruise lines) or you don't. i can't change your mind on that. you eschew the internet and have little use for it. but that doesn't change the fact that 92% of americans have some sort of internet connection and most use it every day. respectfully, the flaw in your logic is actually why NCL internet sucks so badly. it was built for the world in which you live, a world in which few people use the internet while on vacation, rather than the world most NCL customers today inhabit... one in which daily internet connectivity is required, regardless of where they are or what they are doing. and i certainly never implied that 80% of cruisers were "hyper-focused" on anything and certainly not on skeeball. my arcade, american diner and casino references were to illustrate that if any other part of the ship's services are not functioning, there are systems in place to ensure guest satisfaction and rectify the lapse in service. they wouldn't knowingly or intentionally serve you raw or undercooked food and if they do, there are a series of corrective measures that they take to ensure that it (most likely) won't happen again. but NCL's attitude on internet is seemingly that "this is the very best we could possibly do" and "if it doesn't work properly because the number of passengers using the internet exceeds the capacity of our provider to provide the expected speeds, please do not expect a refund or OBC." and not for nuthin', but a substantial number of cruise ship passengers do indeed gamble and NCL does focus many resources on a robust player development program. the casino is a major revenue center!

whether or not somebody works on a vacation, or sends an email or makes a video call to friends and family, is a personal choice, much like whether or not they eat at the american diner, make use of the arcade or the casino. but if you do decide to pay for a meal at the american diner, you expect your food to be cooked, brought to you within a reasonable amount of time and served on plates with the use of free utensils and napkins. similarly, if you play skeeball, you expect nine balls to drop down each time the machine is activated and tickets to spit out after a successfully completed high scoring game. if you should be fortunate enough to get a handpaid jackpot at the casino, it is reasonable to expect them to bring you the correct amount of money without a three hour wait. if they make you wait three hours to get paid in the casino, or if they serve you an uncooked hamburger at the american diner or the skeeball machine only dispenses six balls and no tickets... you have a right to complain. and in many cases, you should receive compensation. people who complain about internet speeds and reliability on NCL have a legitimate beef that remains largely unaddressed by NCL's resolution team or those responsible for the IT infrastructure on the ship.

free and fast internet is "table stakes" in the hospitality industry. if it works properly, even if slow, cruise lines could justify charging for it. but NCL has subpar internet at best. i bought the so-called "premium" plan on my last cruise and suffered through speeds (1.5 Mbps) that might amuse a dial up modem. i'm about to head out on a 15 day back-to-back and will not purchase a plan. i'll make do with a few minutes here and there and then use cell phone service in my port-intensive itinerary to bermuda, new england and canada. as for whether or not people work while cruising, many do indeed work while on holiday, or at least need to check on certain things, even if they are mostly taking it easy. but whether they are working is largely irrelevant to a person's need or desire to satay connected. email, banking, monitoring security back at home, social media, keeping in touch with friends and family... these all require an internet connection. again, in 2022, free and fast internet is table stakes.

off-menu shrimp cocktail? i never thought to order this! thanks for the tip.

vastly prefer diet coke over diet pepsi. not a fan of coke zero at all. on that front, i have met a surprisingly large number of people who enjoy coke zero who insist that it has no caffeine. that is, of course, incorrect. the "zero" refers to "zero sugar," although it originally referred to its lack of calories. it is a caffeinated soda, for sure, and yet - when talking with food and beverage professionals and asking them about their offering of caffeine-free beverages, they often proudly point to "coke zero" when they explain they have no need to offer "caffeine free diet coke."

just to clarify... the newest NCL ships have non-smoking casinos, with a glass enclosed smoking section. the older ships, sadly, allow smoking throughout (except during a relatively brief covid cessation).

it's been said many times, many ways, but NCL reserves the right to choose whatever bid it likes. as far as i know, it does not have to be the highest bid. sometimes, the deciding factor may in fact be the room you're vacating, not the one you're moving up to. if they can upgrade somebody to the room you're vacating, that kills two cabins with one stone. they get the upgrade revenue from you, plus upgrade revenue from putting somebody else in your cabin. this is why category upgrades from already desirable rooms are more likely to succeed, in my opinion. nobody knows for sure how this works. NCL reserves all rights. and they can do whatever the heck they want. and usually do.

i never once had any problem understanding anybody who was wearing a mask. can you imagine a nurse or a doctor being unable to understand each other when they were giving crucial instructions during an operation? if you're having trouble understanding somebody on an NCL ship who wears a mask, they might be mumbling or they might have a thick accent or you might be suffering hearing loss. all those conditions will persist once the mask come off. as for people being the subject of ridicule or snarky comments for choosing to wear a mask, this was already the case earlier this year and late last year, during times when masks were optional. now that even fewer people are wearing masks, my experience has been that the maskless feel more emboldened that their decision is the right one and they can mock others. i've seen it many times on board NCL ships, particularly when alcohol is involved. it does not make me very proud of my fellow humans. after all, if one shouts "freedom," that applies to the freedom to wear a mask as well as the freedom not to.

yes.

N.B.: the non-haven suites on the joy do not have the same amenities as non haven suites throughout much of the rest of the fleet. there are a variety of reasons for this, but if suite perks such as a private restaurant for breakfast and lunch and free room service delivery is important to you, the joy may not be the ship for you. the non-haven suites on the joy do include free PPV movies and priority boarding (compliance varies by port) and a token nod to concierge services, but it's nothing like being in the haven.

i never complain about the behavior of children. it's the adults that are the problem, if they allow their kids to misbehave (and i'm not talking about kids jumping in and out of the pool and having fun, as kids do.) it's kids who touch every cookie before selecting... none. it's kids who sneeze directly on the food at the buffet. it's kids who pee in the pool. it's kids who run back and forth in the hallways repeatedly... not on their way somewhere... the running itself is the activity. it's kids who sit in stairwells with their 14 closest friends, sometimes eating an entire meal and leaving dirty dishes on the stairs, and often blocking the normal flow of traffic up and down the stairs. the children come to learn that these things are acceptable or allowed simply thorough their parents' inaction. if there are no consequences for misbehaving, the offending behavior will continue. it's the parents to whom the complaints should be lodged, not the kids, unless, of course, they're much older. that's a different story. but there is still lack of parental oversight at play.

yes, haven pool roof on the gem is retractable and they keep it closed during cold or inclement weather.

THIS. a thousand times THIS. i've said this in other threads, but hospitality jobs such as these, particularly within the filipino community (who comprise a major percentage of the haven workforce), are indeed status jobs... not just on the ship, but within their families and the broader community. this is why @cruiseny4life got unsolicited pretzel rolls and why haven staff will generally fetch you whatever you want and deliver wherever you want. not because you're overbearing and insistent, but because they consider it a great honor to do so. hospitality and customer service is in their blood and they would feel like they had not performed their jobs properly if they didn't fulfill a reasonable request. NCL has (apparently) empowered and encouraged them to do so at every turn, and NCL has presumably defined "reasonable requests" during haven training... which is why other guests should not get their knickers in a twist when somebody asks for something special. if the staff can't do it, they will tell them so and usually apologize profusely. (if it truly affects service negatively for other guests, that is NCL's problem, as has been pointed out by others.) somebody is a vegetarian who really enjoys the indian food at the buffet, while wanting to eat with their haven traveling companions. they paid for haven accommodations and benefits and they want to enjoy the ambiance of the haven restaurant... with their friends and their partner. them's fightin' words! 😀 i would say if it's used interchangeably, it's being used incorrectly. it has indeed fallen into popular usage, which is different than saying it's correct or should be tolerated. there are lots of things that have fallen into common usage that are incorrect. people frequently say they want a "couple books" or a "couple oranges" or whatnot... they drop the preposition. that's wrong, but it's commonly accepted. what they really want is a "couple of books" or a "couple of oranges." so, if one doesn't care about the destruction of the english language, chomp away. of course, there's a difference between communication and speaking the king's english. more people might actually understand "chomping at the bit" because most people have never heard of "champ" as a verb. this is one of those things, like the oxford comma and specialty restaurant meals delivered to the haven, about which people will continue to disagree. but the derivation of the phrase "champing at the bit" does provide a very big clue as to which came first, chomp or champ, and which is "correct." horses don't typically chomp... they champ. that's a specific word for what horses sometimes do with their bit. that's where the expression comes from. but if there's anything i've learned in this thread, it's that just because somebody else does something that's frowned upon, doesn't mean that you have to, too. if that principle applies to specialty meals, it certainly can apply to specialty words.

while i have enthusiastically debated many things on CC, i will not enter into the "is it OK to have MDR food delivered to the haven restaurant" debate, despite having a strong opinion about this. i just wanted to stop by to compliment you for correctly saying "champing." so many people say "chomping" because they don't understand the derivation of the term. it's refreshing to see it used properly in your post!

they always have something bubbly... either san pellegrino or aqua panna. depends on the ship and - increasingly - on supply chain issues. sometimes what they have in one bar, they won't have in another ... on the same ship. goes without saying, but i'll say it anyway... not covered by the "regular" drinks package.

many threads on CC about the american diner. general consensus is that the shakes are great and worth paying for; but that nearly every other menu item (except for the lobster roll) can be had elsewhere on the ship "for free." most report that the place is almost always empty, with the staff overjoyed to see you walk in because they have little to do. haven guests like to eat there on embarkation day because it is free (for haven guests).

i'm on this itinerary in a few weeks, too. so this info is helpful, thanks. because of canada entry requirements and timing, i don't think they are doing portland and boston first anymore. i think they go directly to canada now. YMMV.

much has been said in this thread about the age of cruise ship passengers and how that might affect their propensity to be vaccinated. In addition, much has been said about how many have always been resistant to cruising for a variety of reasons, which may or may not include vaccination requirements. here is some data: the most common age for cruise ship passengers is between 60 and 69 years; 19% of cruisers fall under this demographic. an additional 15% are 70 years or older. and 18% are 50 – 59 years old. those in their 40s typically make up 15% of a ship’s passengers, on average. and these numbers have remained relatively stable over the past few years, with a modest 1% uptick in travelers over 70. longer cruises and cruises to far off or exotic destinations tend to have older passengers. the notable exception is new england and canada, which, while not very far away for most americans, is dominated by older passengers. the average age of NCL cruisers is 52.5 years, slightly higher than the average age for all lines. (lines such as carnival skew younger and bring down the overall average.) the number of children and the number of elderly affect the average age on any ship at any given time, of course. but it’s fair to say that more than half of all NCL cruisers are over 50 years of age. fewer than 20% of americans have ever been on a cruise. (source for data above: cruise lines international association (CLIA) global passenger report, 2020) now let’s look at vaccination stats by age. as noted upthread, there are geographic, socioeconomic and political influences that drive the likelihood of being vaxxed. but all those factors point toward higher vax rates among cruise ship passengers. the CDC says that 82.2% of those 50 - 64 years old have been fully vaccinated, with lots of others having received at least one dose. 91.9% of those 65 and over are fully vaccinated, with lots of others in this age group having received at least one dose. the CDC doesn’t keep stats on previous cruise ship passengers who refused to be vaccinated at any age. you are free to draw your own inferences from this data. but it’s clear that a majority of NCL cruise ship passengers are older. and it’s also clear that this age group is more likely to be vaccinated. some think the elimination of vax requirements will herald a significant increase in business for the cruise ship industry; others do not. some say it will herald a significant increase in business for the cruise ship industry simply because the cruise ship industry says it will. most people won’t be swayed by such nonsense. just as the plurality of people who have never cruised won’t be convinced to take a cruise merely because vaccines are no longer required. so we’re left with a small percentage of previous cruisers who the cruise lines somehow believe are culturally resistant to getting vaxxed, which is incredibly counterintuitive, since most of them are older and the most likely to already have been vaxxed. the “unvaxxed yet likely to cruise” population represents a very small slice of the pie, but they are certainly quite vocal on social media as are their supporters, many of whom they've never met. as for those in their 40s (15% of a ship’s passengers) who have families, originally, they couldn’t cruise at all. with vaccines becoming available for children, that obstacle has been lifted. and we do know that the CDC says that 69.1% of those 18 - 49 years old have already been vaccinated.

alternatively, you can stay at an LAX (airport) hotel, then - on embarkation day - take the free hotel shuttle back to the airport and meet up with the NCL rep for your pre-booked (and relatively affordable) shuttle to the pier. this assumes that the airport hotel can be booked at a good rate, or that you have hotel guest points to use for a free room.

respectfully, it has been suggested many times, many ways that you should just hang it up... that you either have no genuine interest in learning how this works or you are incapable of understanding how it works. you do, after all, believe in "the law of averages," which isn't a law and isn't a thing. the terms you use above to try to figure out loss and comps are contradictory. i would assume if somebody "spends" 20K, then it's gone... it has been spent. it ain't coming back. but that number only tells you how much they lost. unless they made one 20K bet and lost, it's meaningless. it doesn't tell you what their theoretical average is. so if somebody says they "bet" 20K, it still tells you nothing. and if somebody tells you they "lost" 20K, it still tells you nothing. what the casino wants to know is what is your average bet, what machines or games do you play, what is the hold of those machines and how long do you play. i would guess, but i have no way of knowing for sure, that a person who "lost" 20K playing slot machines, probably cycled 150K - 200K through the machines. of course, if the 20K is simply their "bankroll," it's also possible they could have won. in any case, they would likely be rewarded with a comped haven suite. but the suggestion that you have to lose an amount equal to the value of your comped suite is a nonstarter. as should be evidenced by this thread... there are people on here getting haven comps and discounts with losses that are far, far, far, far less. and some have reported big wins.