AliceIn02

I'm shocked that a problem like this exists.   I just can't fathom coming in and seeing someone sleeping on a couch in a crowded Atrium in the evening while a show is going on- that is absolutely shocking to me.   The level of rudeness, lack of commonsense and decency goes beyond anything that I've ever seen on land.      I haven't sailed on a ship with an Observation deck yet (we do have an Encore sailing coming up in December).   I'm hoping enough complaints go in that Norwegian does something about this issue.   

It's one thing to sleep in a chair or a lounger - clearly that is a seat meant for one - sleep if you like and enjoy it.   You aren't ruining anyone else's enjoyment.   A family may want to sit together on a couch - lying down on the couches is just rude.  That's for your own living room, not the ship's.

We did a pool cabana for our August 2017 cruise on the Escape.   Had we not had the cabana, we would have had no shade.   Our sailing was sold out, and there were loads of kids.   If you weren't on the Island within the first 30-45 minutes, you couldn't find seating - let alone seating in the shade.      We enjoyed our cabana, but I'm not sure that we enjoyed Harvest Caye enough to want to spend that money the next time.    The beach wasn't very pleasant, and we can swim in a pool anywhere.    The cabana itself was nice, and the attendants came around fairly often to offer drinks and food for sale.    It was difficult for the staff to keep the non-cabana guests out of the area.   Each pair of cabanas had a table with umbrella and chairs for 8 between it so you can sit and eat.    All day long people kept coming in and trying to take those seats or remove the chairs.    The staff was very busy trying to patrol the area to keep people without wristbands out.    It was a very hot, sunny day, so I'm sure those chairs in the shade looked inviting.    We were in the first cabana closest to the bathroom and beach, so we saw a lot of very annoyed people marching in and out.   It was uncomfortable for us to see that.

We stay in the Haven, and I always assumed that the prepaid gratuities covered the service staff other than the ones who served us personally throughout the cruise.  We gave tips above and beyond DSC for our butler, the concierge, and for the maitre d' at the Haven restaurant.   

On 12/21/2019 at 10:09 AM, kayteecat said:

Deck 7 Features:

 

Encore Casino: Taking up most of Deck 7 is the casino, full of table games, slot machines, video poker, as well as other casino mainstays. Unlike other ships, the Encore has an established casino smoking section that has glass doors and walls across from the Skyline Bar. While you can still smell cigarettes in the area immediately surrounding this section, the smell doesn't permeate 678 Ocean Place the way it did on the Escape, so I'll consider it an improvement.

We are booked on the Encore in December 2020.   We cruised on the Escape in 2017, and while we loved our cruise, the smoke in 678 Ocean Place kept us out of that area for most of the cruise.    The entire area smelled like a dirty ashtray.

It sounds like these enclosed smoking areas are a great compromise - smokers have a place where they can go on the ship and have their cigarettes in peace, and the non-smokers don't get exposed to second hand smoke.