swedish weave

Can you please explain what would be open for dispute?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't need to explain. NCL DOES THAT WITH THE TERM "RESTRICTIONS APPLY"

Read that and you will understand.

Sometimes, it really depends on the ship. I'm on Epic next month and am spending a grand total of $141 dollars a day for unlimited food, beverages, entertainment, transportation, taxes, and gratuities. To me that is an amazing deal.

The word UNLIMITED is open for dispute if you check the terms and conditions of what you are buying.

Maybe not so amazing!!!

Have you compared prices of NCL to Carnival and Princess lately? Cheaper to sail on NCL to the Caribbean on MANY cruises.

I have found better rates on HAL for the cruises I choose.

You can do Yelapa on your own if you want.

Www yelapa.info

Check out Uber or Lyft for transportation. Their rates are usually lower than taxis. Also, your hotel may have a shuttle to or from the port.

You can google Uber estimate for their rates.

The service charges are the tips for all the crew members that bust their butts for us every waking moment. It includes the "invisible" behind the scenes people that would normally be totally forgotten. Like the engine maintenance crew, the kitchen staff, the people that are constantly cleaning, painting, fixing things on the ship, the laundry staff... the list is large. There is literally an army of people that we may never see or acknowledge- but without them, the cruise would not be the pleasant experience that we vacationers have come to expect. I'm sure you have noticed that most are from very poor countries, they work for comparatively low wages- a lot less than Americans would be willing to work for. They are away from their families for months at a time, and what money they do make they send back to their families who may have little or nothing. We are all "rich" in comparison. Please don't whine about paying these hard-working people the extra money they deserve- and other wise would never get, if it weren't for the service charges. If you can afford a cruise, you can afford to open your wallet a little wider to help them make a decent living. If the tables were turned, would you not appreciate the extra financial help?

The truth is the crew are paid a contracted salary that is about triple the amount the same type of work pays in their home countries if they can find a job. They have a union that spells out the wages and working conditions, and these are in accordance with ILO standards.

The crew members I know want respect, not a pity party.

Many forgot to mention that you must pay a higher booking rate to qualify for the "FREEBIES".

If your ship docks at Puntarenas, you can walk off the dock and will be in town. You will see tour sellers on the dock and on shore.

They usually have a flea market right off the dock,

If you dock at Puerto Caldera, you will have to take a shuttle to the port gate and deal with taxi or van drivers for a tour. There is no town within walking distance.

They have a small area in the port building with souvenir type stuff.

Caldera and Puntarenas are about eight miles apart.

The tour sellers have several tours they like to do, or will make the tour as you like it if you have enough people to fill their vehicle. Study the tours offered by the ship and others, and choose the items that interest you .

Alaska Air flyers-

 

We have not been to LAX for at least 9 years, so we are not familiar

with current layouts.

Our Alaska flight lands at 1:04 pm in January (a Thursday) and we will need to get transportation

to San Pedro for Princess cruise.

I would like to make reservations for transportation but how long (assuming we arrive

on time) does it take to get from Alaska Air terminal to the outside?

How much time would you allow- we most likely will not have checked bags.

 

TIA

It shouldn't take over 20 minutes to get out to the shuttle stop.

If you are using Super Shuttle, they are pretty flexibLe with their schedules. If using Uber or Lyft, they will probably ask you to contact them by phone when you get outside the building.

I am thinking about the Jewell class ships. Official info lists aprox. 2300 people capacity but I know when we were on the Pearl last time we were told we were at full capacity but then there were going to be aprox. 400 more passengers the following week? I know about lifeboat capacity in terms of passenger location meaning there can be one cabin with 4 or more people but then they need to leave one cabin empty because they have reached lifeboat capacity. I guess what I am asking is if all factors line up right what is the maximum number of passengers they can accomodate on the Jewell class ships. The Gem seemed much more crowded in August than the Pearl in November but we were told on both they were full up.

They use two terms.

Capacity is the count if all cabins are booked with two people, and maximum is the count when all berths are full.

Go out of the terminal and turn left. About three blocks to the dirt road that goes about another block to the water taxi terminal. The paved road turns right at that junction.

If you stay on the paved road, it will lead you to El Faro. You can see it from the port terminal.

The dock at Quetzel is in use. We docked there on HAL Oosterdam in late November

Do you know it is not going to staff? I'm sure none of the staff wants the minimum wage and works hard for those extra dollars. I agree, if folks think something shady is going on, instead of having an issue with it on here, go to another line. For me, I've got no issues, so I'll continue to enjoy NCL.

The crew get the contracted salary and are allowed to keep cash tips.

The salary is spelled out in the ITF agreement.

NCL can shuffle the numbers however they choose, but if enough people remove or reduce the DSC, the cruise line must make up the shortfall.

The minimum salaries are almost triple the amount the crew can earn in their home countries, so they are pleased with the contracted amount they are paid.

At least those I know personally are.

If you do the math, you can see that the recent increases in the DSC produces enough revenue to more than pay the crew salaries. We will never know what NCL does with the excess.

Check with QLS. We,were going to use UBER from POM to Port Everglades recently, and a man from QLS heard us and offered two of us a ride for less than UBER.

We were in the van with some others who were dropped off at FLL before they took us to our ship.

Does anyone know for a fact that all gratuities paid by the passengers end up in the pockets of the staff? My understanding is that the auto gratuities go into a pool and then its divided amongst qualifying staff, but that understanding was based on comments on this board.

 

I'm assuming the staff have no right to audit NCL (and other cruise lines with similar programs), particularly because they are contractors. I can easily see the cruise lines skimming a chunk off the top if they need to manage earnings during any particular quarter.

The cruise lines are required to pay the crew a contracted amount. That is in line with the ILO standards and the union agreements.

Where the money comes from can be at the discretion of cruise line management, but if the DSC pool doesn't have sufficient funds to meet the minimum, the cruise line must make up the shortfall.

If you do the math, it shows that the recent increases in the DSC provides more than enough funds for the crew minimum wages if all guests leave the DSC in place.

The arguments on these boards are not valid, because the crew will receive their contracted wages and are allowed to keep cash tips even if some guests remove or reduce the DSC.

I have not read this but certainly plan to. Thanks for this info.

I was told by a crew member on last night of our recent cruise the 13.99 pp DOES NOT go to the crew as in the past. That pissed me off. So I guess you can't hold that from being charged to your bill.

My recent NCL cruise was enlightening in that NCL did not try to intimidate me for reducing the DSC.

I told them how much I wanted taken off and they did it.

I also asked a crew member if they had to turn in cash tips and was told they get to keep them.

Maybe this will help correct some of the misinformation that prevails on these boards.

CCL has recently increased the dividends twice and they are now paying $45.00 per quarter for 100 shares in addition to the OBC.

Thanks for the tip on the Tapas. Will definitely seek that out. Actually sounds like the perfect plan for something light to eat after being in port.

I have packing down to a science, we re-wear pants & shorts. Shirts tend to get things dripped on them, because you can't me anywhere. ;p But the real issue is, we just don't own enough drawers to make it two weeks. Well that and knowing if laundry can be had at a good price, that's less to pack!

You can wash the undies in the,sink and use,the line in the shower to hang them up to dry.

You don't. You pay NCL. If you choose to tip above that, that's totally up to you. Which would you rather have:

 

Option 1 - Lower per-person fee for the cruise. They add a small fee to cover labor for services used (i.e. gratuity at the bar, room service delivery fee, etc). Those who use the discretionary services pay to cover the labor.

 

Option 2 - Higher per-person fee for the cruise. They average out their labor costs for additional services (room service, bartenders, etc). Everyone pays for a small portion of the discretionary services whether or not they use them.

 

 

Most people would chose option #1, which is exactly what NCL is doing. Even the DSC is refundable if you choose, you just receive it post-cruise.

I just returned from a cruise on NCL, and when a problem couldn't be corrected, I removed part of the DSC onboard. No forms or explanation was needed.

I also learned that the crew did not have to turn in cash tips.

Things we miss in the MDRs:

crème brulee

shrimp cocktail

escargot

chilled fruit soups

 

Things we miss in O'Sheehan's:

mozzarella sticks

brownie sundae

 

other things we miss:

chocolates on the pillows

dining certificates for EACH platinum member

midnight buffet (before the chocoholic buffet debuted)

chocoholic buffet

the glass fishbowls for the DOD Rebellious Fish

 

But the thing we miss most is actually some specific people who were NCL to us:

Karan Arora

Denis Prguda

Tony (last name escapes me at the moment but he was a FBD from the UK)

Yannis Kazalis

Kevin Sheehan

Tony's last name is Lockett. He left NCL a few years ago and worked at a resort in Jordan. He is now retired. You may find him on facebook.

The cruise lines are paying the crew the contracted minimum salary that is in compliance with ILO standards. If they don't get enough from the DSC, they must make up the shortage.

NCL doesn't require crew to turn in the cash tips they receive, and they did not require a form for reducing the DSC as they have done recently.

I hope this information will dispel the rampant misinformation on these boards.

One reason the crew members like tipping rather than salary increases is some countries do not tax tips like the USA does.

If you calculate the amount of the DSC, it will exceed the ILO minimum salary guidelines if all guests pay it.

NCL does not divulge how,the DSC is distributed, so we don't know if the crew salaries are paid from the DSC or from other sources.

Some cruise lines have ceased holding services, but same will provide space upon request.

I prefer to stay in Ft Lauderdale.

Usually the hotel rates are better and many have shuttles from the airport.

Next morning you can get a shuttle to POM for 15 dollars per person. It normally is a 40 minute ride to Port of Miami.

But the simple math is that 15 or 20 years ago, we (passengers) gave out tip envelopes - usually suggested at around $10/day in total. Today, we have the DSC replacing it. Yes, it's like $14/day now, that's just simple inflation. So we're not paying any more with the DSC vs the old tip envelopes. And the ship crew is still getting compensated; not sure if it's exactly the same as they were during the envelope years, but they're obviously still enticed to sign up. So if we're not paying any more and the staff is still being paid, why do you insist on arguing that the DSC falls to the cruiseline's bottom line?

 

You're just creating excuses for being a cheapo in my opinion.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, the cruise line paid the crew from our fares and we gave tips for good service in cash.

Now, the cruise lines bill us for the DSC in an amount they choose, and we pay for the crews contracted salaries.

If you can't accept the facts and numbers I have posted, I have no further reason to respond to your rhetoric.

The last line of your post is personal, insulting, and shows a lack of common courtesy. Or is it ignorance???

We don't know how they split it but it was brought in to be fairer across the board.

 

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Forums mobile app

The DSC was set up to create a revenue stream for the cruise line.

They grabbed control of this rather large pool of moneythatwas,originally handled and distributed onboard each ship. Now, corporate controls it and distribute the funds "at managements discretion." They are very tight lipped about how they handle this pool of money, bUT it is now large enough to pay the contracted salaries in most cases.

Do the math and look at the union website if interested.