ray98

Cruise vacations are expensive. If you make your decisions on cruising based on a free cup or some free drink on the last evening your priorities are in the wrong place. You should be looking for the best return on your largest investment, the value of the cruise itself compared to the fare you paid.

They have been in stock for a few weeks.

It is all basic math. Sure....the UBP is a valuable add on but that does not mean it automatically makes the cruise a better deal. There are similar sailings on both lines with similar itineraries where Carnival is several hundred cheaper per person. So, yes NCL is giving you beverages but the base fare is higher and you are still paying a percentage of the package. You have to add everything up, base fare + package cost + gratuities and see what that comes out to....that is the only way to know.

We have taken Carnival cruises where we still came out cheaper even having to purchase Cheers. We have taken NCL cruises which were cheaper overall since the drink package was comped. There is no 100% right answer other than 'it depends'.

And btw. Don't take towels from the pool to bring with you to the beach when in port. They WILL charge you for the towels if you don't bring them back! Maybe a third of the people waiting in line were for Towel charges.

Well that should be obvious.....you lose a towel you pay for it.

Quite a scam they have going on.....

I also agree....I have folded and even stapled many luggage tags and not once have I ever thought 'man this is difficult'. Also, not one has ever been damaged or lost.

Don't put so much concern on what deck it is on. There may be a slight difference in perceived motion but in my experience it isn't enough to matter, it just gets overblown. My wife is very prone to motion sickness and there are no spots on a ship that make one better than another location when she is feeling bad.

The true fix is to take the meds as directed.

As above...both scenarios pay the 18%.....if it is on a promo the UBP price is what is comped.

I really don't see NCL as being in a higher class over Carnival. They are both mass market lines with a remarkable number of similarities. I have been on all of the big 3, each have things I like and things they don't do as well as the other 2.

I read on another post that you couldn't use a gift card to pay for Cheers. Does anybody know if this is in fact the case?

No.....we pre-purchased and I paid with a gift card.

We have been in early November a few times and the ship will probably be full. However there will be very few kids so you don't have as many 3rd and 4th passengers in a cabin. It is nothing like a summer cruise.

I don't know why people are oblivious to this....cruise lines pool....land based bars pool....land based casinos pool. That is the way it works.

It doesn't take very long to spend $200 on alcohol on a cruise ship when many drinks approach $10 each. I could spend $200 myself during the week just at dinner with my normal drink prior and one during the meal if I didn't touch a drop the rest of the cruise.

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As opposed to the know it all who ignores facts and thinks his opinions trump those said facts? :rolleyes:

LOL....'facts'. No.....marketing.

The cruise line business is booming since its transition into the mass market. Bottom line, they are now catering to demographics who aren't commonly found in situations where they are surrounded by a multitude of servers who rely on tips. There are segments of the population where that is the norm which just happens to be what was once the main customer base on cruise vacations. Things changed. They all want to avoid the new customer getting 'sticker shock' when they find their family of 4 is going to cough up $50+ per day in 'tips'.

They worked to find a way to make this more inclusive as simply part of the fare since they were certainly not going to back away from that method of compensating the employees. That is when the marketers came into play toying with the names of the program and pushing for automatically billed gratuities. NCL just decided 'service charge' was more palatable for their customer base to ensure their employees are compensated.

All the programs put the compensation of the employee on the customer....they all are based on near identical industry standards when it comes to the amount of compensation.....they just have a different name.

Touche. I personally would like to tip with cash and not pay those DSC. But I am concerned that cancelling the DSC so often would get me blacklisted on some invisible list that may or may not exist. I like handing over the money in person as this is more the cultural norm in the states.

The problem with that is the cruise industry has changed. For example, the days of having the same dining room waitstaff for an entire cruise that you tipped at the end is over for many. Now you are served by a variety of teams. Unless you have the customer tip in cash at the end of every meal like you would at a land based restaurant the only way to compensate everyone is with pooled funds.

Just do it yourself....all the info and research you need is out there unless you are just into hand holding.

I always carry $50 in ones.....never needed more.

LOL....such an outrage. Someone should've made that tropical storm turn the other way.

There are plenty of bad reviews published.

No.

As above....demand is high right now.....that is the key factor in pricing.

Change the comforter? They use a duvet covers for that very reason, that is the part that is washed same as a pillow case. It is the entire purpose it exists.

LOL....some people will still argue even though online reservations are changing and customer service is confirming the change. I guess some just have to the the 'insider'.

This thread is proof of the power marketing has over people. Endless debates over terms when it is obvious to anyone with common sense it is the exact same thing proportioned in the exact same ways at the rest of the cruise industry.

You go on this line and your $14 a day is a 'Service Gratuity(tips)', the next is an 'Automatic Daily Gratuity', and the next is a 'Service Charge'. All are used to compensate employees who provide service which is the historical way of payment. Then sit back and watch some know it all come and argue how they aren't the same thing.