cdnsteelman

I have never in ~20 sailings had an issue getting in to the tournaments once on board. I've never once seen a player turned away.

What I have done is quit playing the tournaments because their rules are ridiculous, preferring the cash games that typically get started around 9pm once enough players how up.

1 minute ago, peg013 said:

 

While there are some that are just now finding out about this benefit (not sure where they have been all this time), there are many of us that have been submitting and receiving the benefit since the beginning. I figure I have collected $2150 in OBC from the Shareholder Benefit so far. Sometimes it takes 2 weeks, sometimes it's done in 2 days. If anything it seems to be applied quicker now but the emails are not always sent out letting us know. We just log in to see it has been applied.

I agree there are lots who have been using it for a long time. That said, the dip in stock price over the past ~10 days has the topic being widely discussed again in social media forums educating newer cruisers or previously unaware cruisers so that uptake and, ergo, request levels will surely be on a sharp hockey stick upward.

While I find the app is great for regular tracking of my shipboard account, I'm not always the best at "mathing" - especially when there is both non-refundable OBC and refundable OBC on the account. On my recent Joy sailing, I woke up debark morning realizing I was forfeiting ~$85 in non refundable OBC. There's not much open on the last morning BUT Starbucks was so I bought a latte and gift card for the exact amount and then walked over to the OBC desk before it got lined up to ensure they processed the transaction properly before they closed the system. That's going to be my plan from now on for any residual non-refundable OBC.

10 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

really? since when? They canceled that a while ago. Last cruise we took we couldn't use our onboard credit to pay for daily gratuity charge, we could use it on anything but that.

Non-refundable OBC cannot cover DSC. Refundable OBC can.

Another data point... submitted the form June 16 (for an Oct 8 CAS comped cruise FYI), response within a day that the request was being processed, two emails June 22... one confirming the OBC had been applied and the second showing the OBC on an updated amenity list.

I would surmise that A) as this benefit becomes more widely known and B) as the NCLH stock price recently dipped to the mid $10 range making it more "affordable", response time may slow a bit as the SH Benefit desk has increased submissions to process.

Happy cruising all.

This may be already well known to most but I though I'd share a little hack I stumbled across in case it's helpful... through my own inattention on the Joy last week I woke up disembarkation morning with ~$85 in unused non-refundable OBC. I wandered over to the Starbucks to get a coffee and start buying mugs, etc to use it up. The barista told me gift cards would work, so that's what I did. Just like cash for me as I'm a Starbucks regular. I did have to go over to the OBC desk to have it manually applied to make sure it didn't get lost in the last-minute accounting process resulting in a further charge to my on board account.

Next cruise I'll pay better attention and get the gift card the last sea day to avoid the last minute "stress" .

Happy cruising all.

@Sthrngary Having just waded through this 15-page thread and noticing you were recently on the Joy, I have two questions for you / anyone else with recent, first-hand experience.

1) were there any restrictions in District Brew House on high-end beers being excluded from P-plus... the Chimay line is one of the biggest reasons for me to do this. There is no mention of beer at all on the sample menu on the NCL website.

2) while on the Joy recently did you use your P-plus at the Startbucks without restriction? Another he reason for me to do this.

Thanks for sharing your insight on this topic.

J

One way to get 10% off is if your booking is associated with someone who booked through the CAS desk. No idea if that's what LATMET means.

1 hour ago, pghflyer said:

Just wish this forum would join the 1990s and get private messaging. What kind of community doesn't allow people to have private conversations?  They have the functionality (it is there on our profiles) but just locked us all out.  

Ideally there would just be a pinned thread for selling CN certs if the DM functionality is locked.

It's hard to say if the current issues are the same or different but the Star had major and extended azipod issues in 2017. Only properly-trained engineers with access to all the data could say if this is an ongoing issue or unrelated events. I will say, and it's cold comfort to those affected, NCL is certainly not planning these problems nor is fixing complex engineering issues simple or quick, especially if new parts need to be manufactured, delivered and installed all while trying to maintain some sort of schedule.

2 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

Yes, poor little NCLH.  They are just giving away cabins on their ships and we expect more service.  The reality is high prices and less service and it is reflected in their income statement.  Look at the net income from 2015 and forward.  All those things that have been cut from your cruise experience has certainly made a difference in their income.  The numbers below are in thousands.

 

So without getting in to the various sides of the debate, I will say that - to be of any use - data must be properly interpreted. On the surface this chart shows growth on gross profit and net income. Of course when you add the capacity of three large ships over that time you would expect these things to go up. It is a flawed assumption that these increases are driven simply by apples-to-apples comparisons over any given time period.

On a personal note I have seen many changes in base offering since my first NCL sailing in 2007, some I consider a "loss" and some I consider a "gain". I'm my own experience only (and I loosely track my per night cost of cruising over the years) I am not experiencing a wildly fluctuating inflation-adjusted cost. I still find cruising enjoyable and relatively cost-comparable way of vacationing.

59 minutes ago, snorklinbarb said:

Just to avoid any disappointment, Dinner with the Officers is "certain" only for Platinum Plus and Ambassador.  You're right though that anyone can join the lottery and usually there are Platinums in attendance. But the "guarantee" doesn't kick in until PP.

Thanks - I'm P+ and had understood that as well.

To all that took the time to respond and share experiences, I'm grateful for your insights.

Happy cruising all,

Jeff

25 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

The benefits chart is clearly marked. Benefits that are marked "(per stateroom)" can be enjoyed by other guests. If not marked, these are only available to the specific latitudes member.

Except that's not what I see... I see some benefits marked "per member", some marked "per stateroom", and others not delineated one way or the other. As such, after doing my research, I decided to ask for first-hand experiences as shared by @FLAHAM (which I appreciate with thanks).

My guess is that tour is per member and the dinner is per stateroom.

I appreciate your taking the time to answer.

Happy cruising all,

Jeff

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=4427

This would seem to indicate that the Sky is a "dedicated" Starbucks and, as such, will accept your gift card.

A very simple question - in all my cruises as plat / plat plus I've never taken advantage of these two perqs and I'm considering it for my upcoming Escape sailing. Looking for first-hand experience, can my non plat / plat plus travel buddy (same booking / stateroom) join for either / both or are these "per member" benefits? The T&C on the benefits page doesn't provide clarity.

Without having an idea of your gambling budget / limit (and I have no desire to know, that's personal), I will say I do carry my "lost" money ($2-3K) in cash and put it in the safe. I get many don't feel comfortable carrying large quantities of cash (and many play much more than me). It would seem the 3% convenience fee with your shipboard account or an advance wire to a casino account are the best way to go if you don't want to carry currency.

To the OP, it would seem you took all the right steps on the original cruise. I have on a number of occasions changed the card I entered when doing my E-docs to a different card when checking in for boarding. Your reason for changing cards is irrelevant, despite others feeling like your motivation is part of the issue. I make card changes depending on the USD-CAD exchange rate at the time as I have both a USD Visa and a CAD Visa and it's a sail date decision how I want to handle currency conversion. This is something NCL gives you the option to do and has the back-end system in place to do. I've never had the slightest issue with this and the check-in agents have always said it's very simple... the card you swipe overrides the card from your E-docs. So, in my experience, you haven't done anything out of the ordinary nor anything that should "confuse" NCLs back-end. Somewhere in here was an element of human error. Keep in mind, entering a CC at E-docs stage is a relatively new phenomenon... most of my cruising life you set up your ship-board account at check-in.

I would suggest some people on this thread are reacting to how strongly you've approach the topic... mistakes will happen at every cruise line. It's a big company that receives more complaints post-cruise (for every sailing) than any of us can probably imagine. From a credit card perspective you actually have not been double charged as that would be the same charge twice on the same card. You're out $300 and that sucks - I'd keep fighting it until resolution on principle alone. You are not entitled to extra effort from NCL because of how frequently you cruise... anyone out $300 should get the same attention. There is also blow-back from your own language in your first post about your wife's approach on the current cruise... you've walked it back in subsequent posts but my read of your original post about "no NCL love" being spread certainly made it sound like it was more than a one-time, quiet word your wife had with customer service.

I hope you get this situation resolved to your satisfaction... it sucks being stuck between to mega-institutions.

26 minutes ago, Momma Rene said:

I've sailed Celebrity and Princess with an adult beverage package.  At dinner, they freely served glasses of wine.  What can I expect on NCL?

If you have the beverage package you can freely order as many glasses of wine as you want throughout your meal at a price point of $15 or less. If you order a glass of wine worth more than $15 you will pay the difference.

44 minutes ago, amberoc said:

We are sailing on the Breakaway next weekend. We are bringing a cooler on board to keep my breast milk cold and need to keep it full of ice. I need our room steward to bring a LOT of fresh ice every day. What is the best way to request this? We were thinking of giving a tip up front for incentive. 

 

Thanks !

You could have them empty out the mini bar in your room and keep your breast milk in the refrigerator as another option.

On 11/1/2019 at 9:33 AM, Ennzo said:

DSC always ends up in the staff's hands, NCL doesnt pay us salary you do, DSC is our salary, how it works is everything gets pulled and distributed evenly among hotel workers(galley,housekeeping, restaurant, bar etc).

Hmmm... everything I've read suggests bar staff don't participate in DSC.

Just now, davencl said:

I love math. 🙂   Isn't there another cost to factor in?  The prepaid service charge on the drink package of hundreds of USD. Making the cost of drinks even higher.

No - it's factored in to my math per my notes above.

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

There is another difference between an IX and an IF, which may have a value to some people, the ability to chose your room. This is quite important to some people. To those who don't care about the location, the whole price difference is an extra cost due to the beverage package, whereas for others a few hundred dollars could be due to room preference.

Absolutely there are lots of puts and takes. The delta between the sail away and the non X fares can range significantly and I would personally never let NCL select my cabin so it's a sunk cost for me anyway. I was simply just magnifying the $$ factor in my example and this is something newer cruisers may miss.

So here's a real life, real-time example of the real cost of the Free at Sea beverage package. Obviously one would need to calculate this on a particular sailing of interest but this is illustrative of a cruise I have coming up on the Escape on Dec 7, 7 nights out of Miami.

(NOTE: I'm in Canada so all prices in CAD)

The all-in Sail-Away Inside (IX) rate is CAD $1525 per couple and includes NO Free at Sea perq choices.

The all-in rate for the least expensive Inside cabin (IF) that does include one Free at Sea perq choice is CAD $2163 per couple (this price has the auto-grats for the beverage package included).

As such the true cost of the "free" beverage package is CAD $638 per couple on this sailing (~$485 USD at today's exchange). That's ~32 beverages at a cost of $15 USD each to break even over the course of the cruise or 2.3 drinks per person per day @ USD $15 / drink.

In terms of play on ship, CAS tracks your play using a points system. On my last cruise (March) the points were $5 per point on slots, $10 per point video poker and table games, and ZERO points for Texas Hold'em (note that is not losses, that is money wagered). I tend to spend a lot of time at the poker table for which I earn no CAS points. I do play enough other qualifying games to be a ranked CAS player but nowhere near the higher levels. In fact in the last qualifying year I didn't even make PEARL (5,000 points) because I spent almost all of my time playing hold'em. The point of my post, however, is to say that even if you are a casual player you should use your room key or player's card to track all of your play for at least two reasons: 1) once you're in the system you'll get mailers several times a year for "free" cruises on set sailing dates and itineraries and 2) as has been mentioned you can simply call the CAS desk to ask what sort of a discount they will give you on  sailings of your choice. In my case they have offered 20% off and, again, I'm not a casino whale by any reach.

To the OP I see a couple of different angles to your question. If you "won" the free cruise somehow through a land-based casino and are not concerned about earning similar such rewards from NCL CAS then there is no need to ever step foot in the casino (as others have said), think of it as a one-and-done prize.

Depends is the answer... what is the port of embarkation, what is the port of debarkation, what is the port you want to leave the ship at, and is there a distant foreign port on the itinerary? It is likely this wouldn't be a problem because Panama Canal cruises between to different US destinations typically stop in one distant foreign port so as to not contravene the PVSA. If your desired port of debarkation is also in the US (say Miami to SF with a second to last stop in LA) then I think you're safe from a PVSA perspective but asking NCL is the best way forward.