SeaShark

When Project Leonardo was first announced, NCL applied for eight trademark names: NORWEGIAN PRIMANORWEGIAN ULTIMANORWEGIAN OMBRANORWEGIAN VIVANORWEGIAN BELLANORWEGIAN AQUANORWEGIAN LUNANORWEGIAN VELA Two of them are "extra" to throw people off. I'm betting the last ship of the six will be "Ultima"

This benefit offers two dinners for two at a specialty restaurant for Platinum, Sapphire, Diamond, and Ambassador guests. Each stateroom will receive a voucher in their Welcome Back card on embarkation day for: • Dinner for Two with a Bottle of Wine • Dinner for Two Service charges are included in this benefit. Guest to present voucher to their server before ordering. Benefit entitles each guest to an appetizer, one entrée, and a dessert of your choice. Upcharges apply on certain premium menu items. Bottle of Wine offered in all venues offering Complimentary Wine list, Palomar not included. In à la carte restaurants, coupon can be redeemed for 4 menu items per person (Sushi, Wasabi, Nama, Teppanyaki, Hasuki, Food Republic, Pincho Tapas Bar or Raw Bar). Dinner coupons are non-transferable. Solo guests cannot claim two dinners. Coupons cannot be used for the same venue twice. 2 guests maximum. Dining options vary by ship.

No...not nickel and diming. Nickel and diming is used to refer to a minor mandatory extras charge/fee that you have to pay, not for an optional item you can choose to purchase. Imagine if you will, arriving at the pier and you ask the porter for a luggage tag only to be informed that the mandatory luggage tag comes with a $1 fee. THAT would be nickel and diming. Or imagine getting to the check in desk at the pier and you are told that there is now a $5 charge to issue you a room key card. THAT would be nickel and diming.

Not to pick on you, but this is a great example. You set expectations of free specialty dining every night of the cruise and all the free drinks you wanted...NCL never promised that. The reason you were "absolutely and completely ticked" was that reality did not rise to meet your expectations. So you have to ask...did the cruise line fail to deliver what was promised OR did the failure come from the guests own expectations? If a guest doesn't do their own research OR if the guest doesn't use a PCC or TA who can explain things to them, then that is really their own failure...it isn't the cruise line being unethical. And this is why people blame the cruiser and, as you say, give the cruise line a pass.

Great that you mention this...."expect" is the key word here. A lot of time the problem isn't the offering, it is with unrealistic expectations.

How very true. Lots of whining about what "other lines do" (yet they want NCL, not the other lines?) and derogatory labeling (cheerleader, loyalist, nickel and diming) in place of honest discussion. Only proves how upset the fox is over the grapes, right Aesop?

NCL doesn't charge you for what is included either. However, the drink package and the specialty dining are not included...they are extra add ons that you get for free. You aren't required to take them, you could take the sail-away rate without the free add ons, but you choose to take them. Your choice, not included. There are opportunities out there with many lines where you can win/get a free cruise...the cruise is free..you pay nothing for the cruise. HOWEVER, you will still pay taxes....because the cruise is free, but the taxes are not. NCL offers packages covering both drinks and specialty dining for purchase. These come with two costs: one cost for the package and another for the service charge. Two. Different. Charges. NCL offers to give you the drinks and/or the specialty dining at no charge....but they do NOT offer to give you the service charge portion for no cost. (Welcome to marketing 101: it isn't the deal you get, its the deal you think you get). What I'm curious about is why are you on NCL in the first place? It would seem like you are "trying" other lines looking for what makes you happy...and if you had found it, you wouldn't still be looking. When you decided to "try" NCL, what hole were you hoping that they would fill that you haven't had filled by your other cruise experiences?

Well, because you said "I do not go to Meet & Greets" and I simply took you at your word. Was it wrong for me to do so?

However you DO care or else you wouldn't have read, much less commented on the thread. Not to mention the "many" that you have read to justify your parenthetical. Given that you drop into the middle of a discussion, and instead of commenting on the topic you choose to broadly insult everyone with your self-endowed superiority, you can rest assured that you're not missed at the Meet & Greets. Weird however, that up until now you didn't go to the Meet & Greets and you had no idea why.

It only went there because you took it there. I only said the I need more than anecdotal evidence. I was just speaking of myself...no one else. There is simply no logical reason to twist my needs into some sort of insult to you. And...even if I was not talking about myself, then the criticism would have been aimed at the people who informed you...again, leaving you out of it as you just repeated what they told you. Either way, it isn't about you. Don't you agree that if "most of it goes elsewhere" that we all need to know the how, why, and where behind that?

So your 'evidence' is simply heresay? I can just as easily claim that I've talked with many employees who have said different...but I don't...for good reason. You claim "much of it goes elsewhere". How "much"? And "where" exactly does it go? Is there actual proof, or is it all simply "trust me, I know"? I once enjoyed "Dinner with an Office" with one of the Sr Accountants on board. We had a long and very eye-opening discussion about the DSC and tips (which, surprisingly, are not the same thing) over dinner. However, since I would only be repeating what I was told, and since I can't name the person to for them to defend the information, I intentionally do not repeat it. It really isn't worth it...people who are going to opt for Reason #1 or #2 are going to do so NO MATTER WHAT IS SAID ABOUT IT. They will willing accept what they want to hear and dismiss everything else out of hand. This is why these threads always take the same path, and this is why the guest services people simply hand over the form without comment or question...it is pointless to argue when someone is unwilling to hear anything other than their own opinion. Too many vague generalities...FOR ME. As I stated previously, I need more than "take my word for it".

You "know", huh? 🙄 Sorry, but "facts without evidence" is the LAST thing that I'm going to believe.

The real question is why someone would ever ask a steward this in the first place? Do you ask the porter at the terminal how they prefer to be tipped? Do you ask your server in a restaurant how they prefer to be tipped? Do you ask the bartender how they prefer to be tipped? I would hope they one day they will stymie you by correctly answering "generously".

Assuming that is true, then what would be the purpose of the removal? If you are really going to 'tip "WAY above and beyond", then why not just leave the DSC in place and then hand out the "WAY above and beyond" part separately?

How very passive-aggressive of you. Problem here is that you didn't ask a specific question...you asked for people's individual experiences. You even said: "Any experiences gratefully received ". When does the "gratefully" start?

Hmmm...why "MOST" and not just "most"? Is the use of all caps significant? I don't think anyone is upset, but speaking for myself, just curious about the reason for the drama. Can't we make a point without the over exaggeration or the all caps or the so many are upset? Things don't need to be extreme to make a point...and if they are, there typically isn't a point to be made. Again, I go back to the Dawn reviews that I previously provided a link to. Out of the 2,930 total reviews, 174 of them are 1-star reviews. This is only a little under 6% of the total, which, IMHO, is far from 99.9% or even "MOST". Where are these terrible reviews that you are reading that would support this 99.9%/MOST conclusion?

The concierge's office on a Jewel class ship is in the crew area behind guest services.

Could the problem be in the reviews that you've chosen to read? Cruise Critic's review section for the Dawn (https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=265) has 2,930 reviews. Using the available filter, you can see that 1,841 of those reviews are either 4 or 5 star reviews...that is about 63%. Given that, I don't know how you calculated that only 0.1% of the reviews were not terrible. I'm guessing that the 99.9% claim was over-exaggeration or drama to make a point, but I don't understand why people feel the need to do that instead of just being honest and upfront.

Correct. That was mentioned in post #14 of this thread.

Just to share, when I was on the Prima in January, I inquired about vegetarian meals. I was told that there was a vegetarian menu for the MDRs. The only "trick" to it was that you had to order on one day (with the Hostess) what you wanted to eat the next day...then, that meal would be available to you when you arrived. Here is a pic of the menu

We're all aware of what the OP was talking about. However, my post (the one that you quoted) was clarifying an error in another poster's response...not the OP's initial comment. The whataboutism is just sad.

Right, right...totally agree. A hot tub on the Miracle is totally related to a thread about cruising on the Legend. Everyone can see that. Of course, you pulled me into this by quoting a post where I simply pointed out that hot tub maintenance doesn't require a dry dock, so some might be confused by how it all ties together.

Not just a bummer, but a real bummer. I'm sorry that this happened to you...especially since it happened on a ship that is not the topic of this thread. I hope everything works out for the best.

Interesting off-topic tidbit...good to know. I should append my original statement to note that you also don't need to dry dock a ship to remove a hot tub either.

Buttons or not, you don't need to dry dock a ship to fix a hot tub.