ceilidh1

We have sailed with "not our kids" and had no issues with them being able to use the teen club. I just signed a waiver on the first day that I was their guardian on the ship. These kids were just my DD's friends, so not even family.

Intriguing...it would truly be a small world if you taught at one of the schools my kiddos attend. Or if you were their teacher...lol! Glad you made it home safely - sorry spring break is over...

Always up for a drink. Anmywhere. Anytime. Lol. I live a few minutes walk from the port in Vancouver, so if you're in the area hit me up!

I am indeed! You and dad should join us! That would be a hoot. Prices are darn good right now too…

Hands down, the best spot to watch is ON the Lions Gate Bridge itself! There is a walking path - if you hapeen to be in when the bigger ships pass under it feels like you can reach out and touch them. My fave spot!

Wow! Looks like they literally just ran to the buffet!

This makes me VERY happy! Thank you!

I believe it only applies if a TA adds stuff to a booking in the NCL booking platform (different to consumer site). By adding items, the invoice is left with an outstanding balance so if final payment has passed, that would prompt the booking to cancel. I don't believe that this is the case if a customer adds items to their cart themselves - in fact, I did that very thing myself recently and other than many emails reminding me that my cart was about to expire there was no sign that the cruise would be cancelled. Who knows. Maybe this was due to the Uplift program?

As TAs we get sent this from NCL:

Excellent. Hope they are still on when we board on April 9th!

If dad was on this sailing, I'm betting there would be some classic comments!!!!!

If your TA is signed up for the Partners First emails, it came in yesterday's edition of The Weekly Wave.

It was sent in an email to TAs yesterday from NCL. I got it (as a TA). I also checked in for an April cruise yesterday and had to watch the video (four times) when I checked in....

Loving your review, but also in the "missing dad" camp. Hope he is enjoying your letters home! We will be on Bliss on April 9th doing our "traditional" short trip from LA home to Vancouver. Are Siglo onboard? Love that group!

Good point, but even those first time cruisers would have either something to compare to, or some expectation/standard they are expecting. My first time ever cruising, I compared it to staying at a hotel - and found that cruising offered more service, amenities, value for my family. We have been cruisers ever since. If I was a first timer coming in today and making that comparison, I'm not sure if I would feel the same way. This is NOT unique to NCL, though. I have sailed mostly with Princess and definitely noticing cuts and price gouging there, too. This is the main reason I am sailing other lines more and more - to see what others can offer and to find the one that gives what I'm looking for. Last year I sailed Virgin, Princess, and NCL. This year I currently have NCL, Cunard, and Virgin booked. Hands down, Virgin offered the best in service, quality, and overrall value - what they didn't cater to was my family (no kids allowed). I'm hoping that NCL comes through for us in April, as we really love the Bliss...

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. I had (naively) thought that the once a day service would actually be beneficial to stewards. In my mind, instead of having, say, 10 rooms to service twice a day they would now have 10 rooms to service once a day. I hadn't even thought about a scenario where, in fact, they would now have 20 rooms to service once a day (as I said, I'm naive). So, that leads me to wonder what happened to those other stewards that were originally servicing those rooms? Jobs cut? If so, NCL are raising service charge fees, decreasing service, and cutting positions. Am I correct in thinking this? Edited to add: My naivety came from the position that if service charges were raised while service was reduced, the service that we DID get (once a day) would be of a higher quality.

This is the sad thing about it - I, also, always tip on top of the pre-paid grats for my steward. With the increase in price, combined with the decrease in service, the steward would have to be particularly outstanding for me to do that now!

I will be on Bliss in April with 3 teens (😬) and the closer it gets, the more nervous I become! I'm ok without twice a day "cleaning" but definitely want the sofabed/bunk to be beds at night and put away in the day. On the subject of towels, my issue isn't reusing them, it's getting them dry enough to reuse. Hanging them on the bathroom door usually doesn't do the trick if I shower in the morning and then wish to shower again before dinner...I plan on asking for extra towels right off the bat, so we will see how that goes!

Do you know the rationale for this? It drives me bonkers as I always sail with minors...in April, I have myself and one teen as guest two, then two other teens as 3 and 4. So teen who is guest two gets dining, soda, wifi, but other two nothing - which means I have to purchase separately. If 3 and 4 were adults, they would get it as FAS. I'm not understanding something...

I realise I'm in the minority, but I couldn't care less about missed ports - I cruise to be on a ship, and sometimes don't even get off in ports. What I don't understand, is the not refunding port charges. I'm sure it's somewhere in fine print that they don't need to, but what happens to all of that money that passengers have paid for the port that the ship doesn't call on? It's not something that keeps me up at night, but I am genuinely curious about it. For those that DO book for particular ports/itineraries, I totally get the frustration and sense of mistrust...

I can't believe I only just found this... Looking forward to it!

Yes - it did! My teen was most disappointed that there was no gelato place. At one time, that gelato at the IC was free. Then it switched to being included if you had the beverage package (?!). Then it switched to being a couple of bucks. Now, it's just gone.

Here's a "what goes around comes around" story for ya...on the new Princess ship last year, there brand new, fluffy, lovely towel made it's way back home with me (it actually wasn't intentional - my kiddo just threw everything that wasn't nailed down into his bag on the last night). Anyways, it was, by far, my favorite towel. When we went away over the holidays, a friend stayed in my place and "accidentally" took that towel home with her when she left. DOH!

Getting your Canadian on!

FINALLY!