sailorusvi

Exactly. When I say I'm going to Brooklyn, I say "Brooklyn". If I'm going to a Yankees game I say "I'm going to the Bronx". If I say I'm going "to the city" it's Manhattan.

Same tonnage ship? Same amount of passengers/crew? Same day of the week? Same dock? Literally one or more of those things could trigger a difference. In the BVI arriving on Sunday or a holiday would trigger OT costs. We could take the same amount of passengers on Saturday and Sunday and the fees would be different. Port fees/taxes are not a linear as everyone wants them to be.

No you are not wrong about sailing on NCL, but after working on boats in the islands having to deal with port fees, I have first hand knowledge how they work on the company's side. Fact is port fees are an estimate. Fact is until the end of the cruise no one, not even the captain, is going to know what the port fees/taxes are going to be. That is because itineraries are changing on the fly. Even at sea. Heck, even if 2 people are medivac out can impact the fees at the next port as they are down 2 people. So I speak in generals. It's possible they might get money back (others on CC have), but it's possible they might not. Not taking the bet, because I don't think they will add a port, but didn't they add Nassau to your last cruise? Anything is possible.

Possible, but not until close to the end of the cruise. Port fees/taxes fluctuate based on one or more of the following: tonnage, passengers/crew counts, which dock you use, how long you stay, even arriving on holiday can trigger extra fees in some locations, just to name a few. They might pick up another port, they might extend an existing port, etc. They will not know until the last day if enough fees were collected or not (they do not ask for more if less is collected though).

I'm from Delaware and would never call DE the northeast, let alone DC. It's mid-Atlantic.

This is something they could possibly give you after the cruise, but not before and I'm not sure the front line phone employees would even have access. Reason being there are so many factors that go into port fees. Tonnage, passenger/crew counts, docking or tendering, which dock, how long at port, etc. Even arriving on a holiday can trigger additional costs. I use to sail from the USVI to the BVI almost daily for 15 years. Even I couldn't give you the exact amount it would be and I the paperwork (which the port fees also covered). I could get close, but not exact. Sometimes what we paid was based on who was doing the paperwork. I.e. some agents would charge us "overtime" for being in port passed 4, when we always left around 2-2:30 in order to get back to US immigration. Others not. Not saying they are not getting extra money out of the deal, but calculating the per passenger cost are not as easy as you would think. Especially in some of these smaller islands when sometimes they make up numbers on the fly.

We had a PCC flat out give us wrong and misleading information. We demanded a supervisor replay the recordings of our multiple calls to the PCC to prove we were misled. They ended up giving us what we were sold. This is our first cruise, so it rubbed us the wrong way, but also letting you know we didn't have status either. So I do not have an experience on your specific issue. I would get a hold of a supervisor, give them dates and times of the calls and see if they can pull up the recordings to prove you were not informed. "This call may be recorded for quality and training purposes" can work both ways.

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They most likely meant the Feb 18th -26 cruise as it's President's Day week (most school are off for mid-winter break). I'm on that ship, even though we are kid free. WHAT WERE WE THINKING? 🤷‍♀️🤪 Oh well, we will have plenty of ziplocks to take snacks from the buffet and free water to consume during the in-person muster station, and a stack of $2 bills in order to tip the staff after the drill.

your comments are valid. Unfortunately, changes in supplies and labor impacted the hospitality industry very fast on all levels. Last year eggs were about 8-10 cents per egg. Today? 58 cents PER EGG! Do you know how many recipes have eggs? Case of romaine last year about $27-33, this year $77-128. That is just a sample of the craziness, butter, milk, beef, paper products, not one area is immune. Labor OMG! Dishwashers went from $17 p/h to over $20. Which means cooks are now in the mid-to-high $20s. Sous Chefs even higher. Not to mention prices of electric/gas/fuel, etc. No part of a hospitality has been spared. They don't really have any more time to do a wait and see approach. Most business absorb the cost increases over the last 6 months, but are finding it's not sustainable as the costs have not leveled off and are continuing to increase.

Exactly. I have a hard time also. I use to live in the islands, sometimes you wouldn't even get option D, let alone option A. We would be out of potatoes. The entire island. Or Coors Light or whatever due to shipping delays, customs being closed for a holiday, or they took the day off for the unofficial "day after holiday" or no power (would go out at least a few days a week). I just can't sweat the small stuff. Disappointed not having a filet? Sure, but I just can't stress over not getting my first choice. I would tell people "In the states you make a dinner menu and then go to the grocery store. In the islands you go to the grocery stores and make a menu off of what you can find. At the end of the day you still have dinner, it's just a different path getting there."

I believe it, we were charging $32 for a lobster roll this summer and not making money. It was insane. We had some functions already booked with lobster on the menu and we lost a lot money as a result. Stopped offering this year as we do not know what the cost is going to be and the meeting planners didn't want to pay the increased price.

They mentioned there were no flights available to other ports. In additional to what the weather did to flights all over the country during that period, Christmas in Hawaii, hardly surprising. Too many people heading that way and not enough seats available. Not surprised there were wasn't NCL available early flights or hotels in Sept(?) when the booked either. Again, Christmas in Hawaii. I don't know about their insurance policy to speak about that. Nor do I know NCL bookings for the future to know that availability either. Inside cabin? I imagine they would, another category with only a few cabins? Maybe not? Nor do I know if they cancelled "properly", whatever that means. I like these threads as I makes me ask more questions in the future.

I don't get taking off the mac-n-cheese either, but sometimes something seems like it should be a winner doesn't sell like one would think. Or they just changed for the sake of changing or based on product availability or of course, costs. I've seen current menus floating around, but only use them as a guide. I'm not under any impression they keep the same menu until my trip. Some items will come and go. Normal in my world. At my work we change the menu DAILY! It's such a PITA. Some items stay. (i.e. burgers), but we might have filet this week, then prime rib next week (which we charge $58 for 😳 - maybe that is why I don't think twice over a $10 upgrade? 🤷‍♀️)

Yep. It weeds out those who take advantage of the situation. Something tell me we will have a couple of bar charges on our bill for the convivence 🤪

It's clear many of you have never worked in the service industry and see people react to "free" food. It's pretty comically actually. Some people scarfed down food like it's their last meal and it was marketing that way. Or even worse, take huge plates of food only to barely touch anything. That all comes at a huge cost and tons of waste. With rising food costs it becomes more apparent. People would order room service just for the sake of ordering. Sometimes even falling asleep before even touching the food. They add a charge to RS to weed out those people. I'm sure the late night buffets were cut for a similar reason. Over time they were only utilized by a small fraction of the passengers and that came a high cost. Food on a buffet must be thrown out if not eaten. That is a lot of waste for the few people who utilized the service. Also a lot of labor. You could ask a cook what they did today and they could say I spent hours prepping food to be thrown away. Now yes, there are some people who have unique needs. Those people now feel slighted. I get it. If you need to grab some cold cuts and bread from the buffet for a special need or a cookie later? Go for it, you are not taking it for the sake of taking "free" food. Taking food for a random snack comes a lower cost then setting up an entire buffet for a few people. Fact is ALL businesses need to adjust their business models overtime in order to survive. What worked in 2000, doesn't necessarily work in 2023. When that happens some people will be left behind, but it's not personal. Ultimately the market will decide if they went too far or not.

We have never sailed on NCL. I have sailed before but it was 1997 on Princess. My husband is a first time sailor. We booked a Haven suite. It certainly wasn't a "deal" We happen to be in the restaurant industry and understand the struggle. All businesses have to adjust their business models over time. The hospitality industry is going through a huge shift right now. Price of ingredients are at an all time high. Labor shortages and costs are also at a all time high. So is gas, water and other expenses. Supply chain issues are a real, even if sometimes it appears as an easy excuse. Are we cruise lifers? Time will tell, but even if we aren't doesn't mean the current or old model is sustainable.

different distributors. What you can get in NOLA might be different than in NYC. What you can get in NOLA and NYC could be different on what you can get in Miami. Even though it's the same company, they might deal with different suppliers as distributors are locally based. Sometimes there is crossover, but not always. The struggle is real throughout the food industry. What should be seemingly to be easy obtain can be hard to get in different parts of the country.

Ha - no we never do. We joke it only becomes a science project. I don't judge those who do though. That said, I get taking cookies or desserts on a cruise, not other food though. If I was hungry for more than a small snack I would prefer freshly cooked foods and order RM or go to O'Sheenas. Knowing I have to "work" for the food would cause me to second guess the need. If it's easy to access I'm going to access it and gain more weight. That's me though.

There are lot of comments on here about stewards and waitstaff appearing to be overworked. Making menu changes and cutting outlet hours, I have to assume labor shortages are also impacting the back of the house also. I know a lot of restaurants on land that are having back of the house labor shortages, can't see why NCL would be any different. On another note, the wellington being removed could be for a variety of reason: not selling, chef likes to change up the menu every now and then, too costly to make, too labor intensive to make, combination of the above.

Pretty much, but saying they are doing it to nickel and dime us is simplifying things. When you have labor shortages AND high ingredient costs for a certain dish, you adjust your menu accordingly. The most amazing dish on paper is useless if your staff can't execute it properly. When you have labor storages you run into that problem. Nor do they want to waste costly ingredients on poor outcomes. I'm a filet girl. I love beef wellington, but I understand the struggles chefs around the world. Menus are being adjusted everywhere right now, not just NCL.

In my short time on CC, odd threads seems to be the norm.

Tell me you are not a restaurant chef without telling me you are not a restaurant chef. Seriously, passengers do not pre-order, so it is hard to figure out if tonight's crowd is beef eaters or fish. Sometimes it's a monkey see, monkey do. They see a dish go pass and they say "I'll have that", then it can mushroom from there. At $20-25 per pound for filet right now (wholesale), that waste can add up quickly.

It's showing up on mine, although we already have the package 🤷‍♀️

I work in the hospitality industry and my husband is a chef. Just the other day we were at dinner with 4 other chefs. They all were complaining about food costs. 1 case of romaine was $128 (was in the 40's a year ago). Fry oil has tripled, eggs were selling for $99 for a 30 dozen when a year ago it was in 25 something. Then add labor. 2 years ago dishwashers were making $14-15 an hour here (note minimal wage here was $13, now it's $14.20) . Now it's more like $18-20 p/h. Sure cruise lines typically pay a lot less, but with the current labor market even they have to start paying more. Also, people LOVE to be served, but the amount of people who want to do the serving has decreased imensly. This is the reality we live in right now. If cutting out underutilized areas saves some money, I get it. Doesn't mean I don't also get people's frustrations. There has always been a lot of food waste on cruise ships, with the current environment it's not surprising they have to reel it in some. Even with some changes, I doubt anyone is walking off starving.