UKstages

as noted by @Cruiseandgamble above, it's actually sapphire and above... saphire, ruby and elite tier levels . https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/casino-cruise/players-club the confusion may stem from the use of the word "advance." when you charge funds to your room, that goes on your folio as a standard charge, much like merchandise or food and beverage, and a "convenience fee" is charged. sapphire, ruby and elite players get those fees waived. when you get a "cash advance," that's a financial transaction through your credit card or bank card and the fees associated with that are indeed waived only for "ruby and above."

grand pacific all the way. magenta is OK, with the same menu as others have noted... but it's much smaller and noisier and the overall atmosphere is lacking. also, the ceiling is much lower... grand pacific is much, well, grander (as someone upthread has noted).

i understand the geographic logic of your question , but i don't agree with it. your butler is paid to service your room and likely has a nearby home base, much like your steward. i don't think you should anticipate any reduction in service at all. it's certainly true that if you order meals to be delivered from the haven restaurant, then there is a greater distance to travel. but most of the treats and other amenities you'll be receiving don't come from the haven proper, so there should be no noticeable difference in service provided. and, again, if the butler has several aft cabins to service, there is a very good chance that he will always be nearby. i don't think it's necessarily correct to assume that your butler will be located in the haven when not actively providing service to you and other aft cabins.

my most controversial opinion is that the ship never actually moves, nor does it travel to distant ports. technology has become so sophisticated that they have built elaborate VR and AR simulations of all cruise ship activities enjoyed before the pandemic began. the "ocean water" surrounding the "ship" is recycled over and over, much like the water in a mall fountain. and NCL employs a team of actors, many of whom double as performers in the scripted shows, that meet all guests as they disembark onto a controlled soundstage. they're good, but this is why the "tourists" look the same from "port" to "port," right down to their slogan tee shirts. there is no port... and those aren't tourists. they are actors! the so-called "chair hogs" don't exist, either. there is just one guy, running around at 5 or 6 in the morning, placing towels on all the chairs. those sunglasses and books are "props" left by previous guests. the chair hog guy actually works for the laundry facility on ship and the whole program was designed to cut down on the laundering of towels. he uses the same towels over and over again, from day to day and cruise to cruise. guests who can't get a chair use fewer towels, so there are fewer to launder. the program must be wildly successful because it still continues to this day. there is actually only one del sol tee shirt shop run by a guy named murray. (no company, except maybe starbucks, could actually afford to expand that rapidly around the caribbean.) what you see when you "disembark" and visit "del sol" is a holographic recreation of the original shop in key west. same thing with diamonds international. there is just one store! (and those are not diamonds, by the way, but brilliantly lit shards of glass.) my second most controversial opinion is that the soap, shampoo and conditioner dispensers in your stateroom are the single largest source of disease transmission on the ship.

hmmm... sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but - in my experience - taxes (which are marginal at best) are indeed due on any drink while in select ports. it has nothing to do - again, in my experience - with which drink package you have or whether you exceed the maximum allowable cost for a drink in that package. the tax is on the retail price of the drink, even if there is no charge for the drink because you're drinking for "free" as part of a beverage package.

a sign is usually placed on the bar to indicate that tax will be collected until after you enter international waters. the tax collected varies by municipality, but is usually less than one US dollar per drink. no tax on meals that i'm aware of, but if you order a beverage with your meal and are still not yet in international waters, the drink will be taxed.

it's not entirely true to say that cruise ship casinos are not regulated. they follow the gambling laws of the country in which the ship is registered. and many follow CLIA (cruise lines international association) policies which stipulate that the ship's casino must adhere to the regulatory standards of the nevada gaming control board (or another licensed jurisdiction). that is supposed to include payback. however, they can choose to follow the rules of a licensed jurisdiction with lower payback than nevada. even new jersey has lower payback than nevada... minimum payout is 85%, which is what you presumably and typically would find penny machines set at in atlantic city. that being said, you're in international waters, so - the theory goes - they can pay whatever they want. well, they could conceivably do that, but there is just one problem: nobody would play. and if the prevailing theory is also that they can do whatever they like with you because you're a captive audience and you're never coming back... well, the cruise line that does that does so at its own peril. because, at any given time, a large percentage of cruise casino patrons do actually come back... a lot of people on every cruise have received some sort of discount or comp from the casino... so clearly people do come back. they don't expect to win, but they do expect to have fun and "time on device." and if the slots were set to a ridiculously low return, then they would never come back. lots of people don't win a thing on cruises. lots of people have a really bad run, during which the only thing that keeps them going is a trip to the ATM, the only machine in the casino that reliably pays out every time. but when people say that a cruise line or land-based casino has set the payback really low, what they really mean is that they didn't win anything on that casino visit. those are two different things. i am sorry to hear you had a bad experience on the jewel. sounds like you lost. but that is different than knowing that they have set the slots "much lower" than any other casino you've played in. your short-term experience was apparently very bad. that's random chance, more than anything. i don't do a damn thing differently when i win than when i lose. one needs to play a million or more spins on each machine to get a true look at what the payback of a particular machine is. and even then, it's just a guess. unless one has access to the purchase order for the machine and can see what payback the EPROM chip is set to, or unless one has access to the virtual reels, it's truly just a guess. some people will win and some will lose. and people who play longer will almost certainly lose more than those who play for just a short time. but not every time.

i only ever used the mobile phone to call my butler from within the room to order room service. yes, it works everywhere on the ship, but i just never felt the need. some people will pick up the regular phone to order room service while in the room... but that only delays things. use the mobile to be connected to your butler.

coming late to this newly resuscitated thread. some interesting views here. my perspective: cruise casino comps are generally based, like "regular" casinos on land, on ADT... your average daily theoretical loss. that may be the "imputed" loss spoken of above. it's a relatively simple formula and is based on the expected loss of the games you play, multiplied by how much you play in a day (your coin through on a slot machine), multiplied by your average bet. the game's theoretical or expected loss is what's leftover after you subtract the game's return. if you're playing a machine that returns 85%, then the casino hold is 15%... that's equivalent to your expected loss. for example, if you put $500 coin-through an hour and you play for three hours, the amount of money you run through a machine is $1500. If you play three hours each day and your bet level is consistent on each day you play, then your expected loss is $225 per day... if it's a 5 day cruise, then your expected loss for that cruise is $1,125. don't confuse "cash" with "coin-through!" you could have a $500 bankroll, but if you keep winning and put your winnings into the machine, that counts as "coin-through." you might be able to put several thousand dollars through the machine on your $500 bankroll. and that's what counts. actual loss doesn't generally enter into the equation. you could win $12,000, or you could win $2,000. or you could lose $12,000 or you could lose $2000... your expected loss, your ADT, is still the same $1,125. and that's what your comps are based on. while your actual loss doesn't matter much, the reverse can be true... if you consistently win... and win big... they may not want your action. but that applies to very few people, because most people will lose over time. the casino doesn't care if YOU win in the short-term... the house always has the advantage, and math is on its side. i've had some very big winning cruises recently on NCL... and i still get comps. i started on NCL with balcony offers through caesars entertainment, but now all my cruises are booked directly with NCL's CAS. and my comp offers are usually for a suite or - on ships that have it - the haven. i also get slot tournament offers on select cruises. i haven't seen my NCL comps diminish. @aubreyc1988, it's difficult to say what your coin-through is because you only spoke about your loss. but based on those dollar figures, i would agree that you're severely under-comped! you should most likely be getting more than a percentage discount from NCL and probably comped suites or higher. as for how "tight" cruise ship casinos are... historically, they are tighter than land-based casinos, for sure... the ship has a captive audience and all that. but on my last cruise on the gem, i found the machines to behave pretty much like those on land. i played all the machines i'm familiar with and the bonus frequency and payouts "felt" like they do on land. i won a 6K jackpot on a five dollar lightning link machine and i saw somebody hit the same jackpot (for 5K) the very next night. i also play video poker... the pay tables are not very good on cruise ships, but the machines, of course, draw randomly and behave just as they do on land. please understand that every day, many people walk out a casino saying the machines are tight. and that same day, many people walk out of that very same casino, talking about how loose the machines are and about how much they won. we make these observations after having played based on our own perceptions... but the machines are the same for both players... the one who wins and the one who loses. same thing on every cruise ship and every sailing. random chance likely has more to do with how well you fare in any casino over a short period of time... actual return on a slot machine is only achieved over a million or more spins. will you do better in the long run in a land-based casino? depends on which land-based casino, but, generally, yes. can and do people win on cruise ships? you betcha. on every sailing. does one cruise line have higher return (payback) than another? i doubt it. random chance dictates whether you win here rather than there... and if you win, well, yup, that's the casino you want to return to. one thing people forget to take into account is the volatility of the games they play. many newer slot machines, particularly those from konami, aristocrat and WMS, are extremely high volatility games... that is to say, you either win big, or you lose your shirt. but that's about game design more than a particular casino's return.

the easiest way to make the sofa bed comfortable is to have your upgrade bid to the haven accepted. as for lie-flat business class eats on airlines... on the ones i've flown (chiefly united), the flight attendant will bring out a mattress topper/egg crate thingie on request.

i have a contact in the executive office who tells me they have been working very hard in the marketing department on a special sale that will include all the drinks you want for FREE (just pay a modest gratuity), plus a set number of meals in what they are calling their "specialty restaurants," also for FREE (just pay a modest gratuity). and they are even throwing in FREE wi-fi, which i know is something we have been clamoring for. oh, happy day! apparently, they're going to call this their new "a bunch of fees on the seas" program (working title; this may change). oh, i almost forgot... the best part is they have a tentative deal with most airlines for the second guest in your cabin to fly for FREE on a flight six hours later than you and to reroute their luggage (and yours) to a distant port, again, for FREE. (formerly, only one passenger was eligible for bag rerouting, so this is a welcome change.) it's all very hush hush and i shouldn't even be posting this many details. nor should i tell you that if my sources are correct - and they almost always are - i believe strongly that NCL will be coming out very soon with FREE excursions, provided the first person in your cabin can find an excursion of $50 or less, they can go on it for FREE. it don't get much better than that, my friends; it don't get much better than that!

i know of three people who have successfully fought 1099-MISC valuations for casino prizes. (two of these folks have also successfully claimed gambling losses against 1099-MISC valuations by saying that the only reason they were eligible for and won a particular casino prize was because they gambled.) your mileage - and your mom's - may vary. the key for all of this is the quality of the documentation and the compelling case one makes. the first step is to fight the valuation with the issuer of the 1099. rarely will they agree to revise the valuation. but that's not why you go them first. when you go to the IRS, the first document you provide is your correspondence showing that you tried to deal directly with the issuer. that's why you go to them first. then you show whatever proof you have that the valuation is too high. it might seem imposing, it might seem cumbersome, but it often works, if your documentation is good. you can't simply say this isn't the real price. you have to definitively demonstrate in a "letter of explanation" what the fair market value of the prize was when you received it by showing the exact same prize (not a comparable one) at a lower price. this happens all the time with game show contestants who win cars and boats and appliances. people who are awarded frequent flyer miles for checking accounts also have successfully fought 1099 valuations. in the case of a cruise, make a mock booking on the NCL website; make a mock booking on a travel website; get a quote from a travel agent. the more documentation you can provide, the better your chances of successfully fighting the valuation. people revise the tax basis for the reported income on 1099-MISC forms all the time! the day you take possession of the prize is very important... the price or value on that day is what constitutes fair market value, so don't delay in getting competitive quotes.

i've certainly heard of this practice within other contexts, but i'm not entirely sure it would be, um, strictly necessary here. but i can appreciate the need for finishing with celery salt, for sure.

the amount listed on the 1099-MISC will likely be the full retail value of the cruise. tip: go online and make a mock booking to see what the actual value of your cruise is. it will probably be far less, with the various discounts and inclusions, than the rack rate. document this, in case you have to fight the IRS on the taxable value.

short answer: change. longer answer: depends on the itinerary, the weather and the demographics of the guests. the biggest problem, IMO, is not the noise coming from guests, it's the noise coming from the band and the PA system during games and activities. and, of course, the early morning scraping of chairs. now, based on the itinerary, the weather and the demographics of the guests (older guests tend to be quieter in my experience; younger guests and kids tend to be louder), none of this might be a problem at all.

i can't speak for the joy specifically (and the joy certainly does march to its own drumbeat with regard to certain suites), but i think the amenity list may be misleading. the haven experience includes the regular room service menu as far as i know... i think the reason it may be listed separately here is because there is no delivery fee for haven guests, whereas those outside of the haven typically pay for everything but continental breakfast. you can certainly order almost anything you like and they will deliver it for you, if at all humanly possible, but the menu you'll find in the room will most likely be the standard room service menu. generally, you call your butler to order off the room service menu, as he or she will be the one delivering it. (your butler's preference may vary.)

that's an interesting theory, but the countervailing legal argument would be that the decision to take the cruise is conditional upon these perks being provided... it's in their advertising, it's on their website, it's touted endlessly in their emails and by their sales reps. and no reasonable person would conclude that "free drinks" would exclude a certain type of spirit. and, yes, i know that there are clauses in the contract that talk about the unavailability of services ... but that language should not apply here, because the basic conditions of what was promised have not been met. they don't have to run out of ALL types of spirits in order to be deficient in this regard. if a reasonable person would expect them to have vodka available, and they don't have it, and that's the free drink that particular person wants... well, that's a big problem. to a vodka drinker, the promise of "free vodka at sea" is a qualifying condition that weighed heavily in their decision to purchase the cruise, a dealbreaker, if you will. "free drinks" means free vodka... there is no way to get around that. so, while it might seem that NCL's liability here is limited to a refund of service charges on the free drinks package, some might argue that the entire cruise has been ruined and NCL would be stuck for a refund of all or a major portion of the cruise fare. in my view, NCL becomes even more culpable if they visit a downline port and are unable to restock. here again, i hate to shatter childhood dreams, but there likely is no "toilet paper truck." that truck is packed with paper towels, disinfecting wipes, tissues, straws and a host of other food and hospitality supplies, including toilet paper... or the stuff that passes for toilet paper on NCL. frankly, no great loss if the toilet paper truck never arrives... the toilet paper is not exactly top of the line.

i suspect we got notice only because this was part of the widely publicized carbon dioxide shortage of 2018 that caused many UK food shortages and supply chain issues. beer was rationed! meat was in short supply! ice cream was unavailable on the ground, too. so, in this case, the absence of ice cream was completely predictable and went on for a good long while.

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very little practical difference. in my experience, only about .75 Mbps to 1.5 Mbps for so-called "premium" wifi, barely suitable for email, let alone web surfing or streaming. i saw no difference at any time vs. the standard unlimited plan. take the "free" wifi and, if traveling in hawaii, use your cell phone in port as a hotspot. if you feel you must purchase unlimited wifi, then go for the standard service. that's my recommendation. if choosing just the free plan, remember to sign off of NCL wifi, so minutes don't get used up when you're not actively using them.

it's usually around 34th street? where is it located when it's not at that location? : ) as for how long one perceives the walk to be... this is really a question of mobility and how used to walking you are. if one typically gets in a car to go to a store three or four blocks away, then, yes, it will likely seem like a long walk. if you typically walk a couple of miles a day, the walk is easy. (and will give you a head start on keeping fit before indulging in all the ship has to offer.) most new yorkers are baffled when they read people asking advice about transportation from midtown hotels to the cruise ship terminal. it's eminently walkable. but we're used to walking everywhere. why somebody might choose to take a cab from the marriott marquis at broadway and 45th street or from penn station eludes us. again, mobility is key. if you are physically impaired, have a disability of some kind or can't physically manage your luggage, then, of course, you are not going to walk. but the distance from penn station to the MCT is about a mile and a half. at a very slow walking pace, that's about 25 minutes. you'd walk more than that in a shopping expedition at your local mall. with traffic, a cab ride could actually take you longer. as for luggage... that is indeed another factor. i maintain that if you have more than one large bag, a carry on and a brief case and/or purse, you've packed too much. each person should be able to manage those items. i live in midtown and always walk to the terminal and i carry those three items every time. as for the marathon... what effect the marathon has on manhattan traffic depends most on what time of day you're in motion. but the marathon route is mostly on the east side and in and near central park and not on the west side, so unless people are coming from a hotel in the central park area or on the east side, there is likely to be minimal inconvenience. also, while the marathon can go on for seven or eight hours or longer, most of the action in manhattan happens from Hour 2 to Hour 4, so the impact is felt from approximately 11 AM to 1 or 2 PM or so.

i was on a united flight from a few years ago, flying business class from london to new york. i received a text eight hours before the flight saying there would be no ice cream on the flight, due to the unavailability of dry ice. i'm pretty sure there is no such thing as a "vodka truck." spirit distributors represent more than one brand and more than one type of spirit. so one truck is likely to deliver vodka, gin, whiskey, rum, cognac, champagne, tequila, as well as all manner of liqueurs and nonalcoholic beverage products.

with seth's big fat broadway cruise, there is no no kristen, but you do have the likes of lucie arnaz, stephanie j. block, liz callaway, andrea mcardle, beth leavel and more. six of one, half a dozen of the other. (specific stars announced well before each sail date.) and, FWIW, you'd be sailing on cunard, regent seven seas or celebrity. O/T: i saw randy rainbow in concert recently. he was good, but he hasn't expanded his shtick to fill the entire stage for 90 minutes. so his concert was basically him singing his greatest hits while video clips played behind him. he's extremely talented and a great singer, but unless he goes broader and deeper with what he does on stage, he's much more effective on the very small screen, in my opinion. he needs to sing more as himself, if he truly wants to take the act to broadway, which he says he does.

if the ship's duty free shop had stock, they absolutely should have transferred (whatever was unsold) to all the bars onboard. however, it still likely would not have been enough for even one cruise, let alone two.

as you know, the casino hold for many of these card games is nowhere near that for slot machines. in addition, ratings for table game play are highly subjective. so if you don't think you're being given proper ratings, speak to the pit boss as you leave and/or when you arrive at the table. be polite, but make sure he or she knows what your buy in is and what your average bet is. this is especially important if your average bet is much higher than those of others at the same table. it's entirely possible you were being rated as a $5 minimum player because you just sort of blended in with everybody else at that table! you can also throw a hundred or so in a slot machine every now and again, even if it's not your thing. it will even out your rating and may - within the computer algorithms - disguise the fact that you're strictly a table game player. as for those other folks getting comps left and right... you may not have the whole story. they might be exaggerating. they also might be strong slot players, who only dabble in table games. or they may not have been entirely forthcoming about how much or how long they play or how much they lost. as for lifetime play, very few land-based or sea-based casinos take this approach. they do take an average of your recent play over the past several visits/cruises, but it's very much a "what have you done for me lately" attitude. they really don't care what you did ten years ago, or even five years ago. what did you do on your last three cruises? they are willing to bet (pun intended) that you'll play pretty much the same way on your next cruise. nobody really knows how casino comps are calculated for any casino, but one of my land-based casinos is known to take the average of your last five visits while "forgiving" the lowest performing visit when they do their calculations to determine offers and comps.