kismetique

NCL has a cruise leaving November 24 going to Saudi. We're having a huge discussion on our roll call about the requirements of a Saudi Visa. NCL is NOW, less than 30 days before sailing, telling us that we need a Saudi Visa to even be allowed to board the ship. Did you have to have a Saudi Visa and if so, can you please tell me how you applied and how much you paid for it and how quickly you received it? Some of us have applied a month ago and have heard nothing from them. Thank you ever so much for any information and help you can send my way! Kismetique

As long as the Dawn goes - we will be on it. We've always understood the pitfalls of traveling abroad and while this time the danger is ramped up a bit, we're excited and we are going! If we make it home, just think of the stories to tell and if we don't, just think of the stories our children will have to tell! I bought an international health insurance policy when we booked this trip with a healthy sum to repatriate our bodies should the need arise. My son, emailed me and thanked me for thinking ahead! 🤔🤣

Yes, they were stingy, but we just kept going back and asking for more because the food was so much better than the buffet! We were still pretty new at cruising at that point, and with no specialty restaurants, if you didn't like your table mates in the MDR, the buffet was the only alternative. Speaking of table mates... Sounds like you had interesting ones! Sometimes you have to wonder if it wasn't all a rouse. Like an inside joke between the two of them to spin such a story. Likely she was on the level, but I could see my son pulling such a stunt. He absolutely loves to mess with people he's forced to spend time with. Telling them the most outlandish stories, and the problem is, he's so good at it, they believe every word! I would have been uncomfortable with her story and like... What do you say to someone like that? I'm sure you tried to change the subject or stear the conversation in a different direction, but given that the story was told in the first place, I would imagine she couldn't be deterred!!🤣 I read your post to my husband and he got a belly laugh from it! He said, I would have ran too!

I didn't realized the Sun was still in service. We did a 12 day on her to South America and loved loved loved that ship! Of course, that was back before specialty dining. I think they were just starting to experiment with dining options and they had this little Bistro set up on the back of the ship, tucked away by the buffet dining area. They didn't advertise it, but once we stumbled upon it, we kept going there for dinner each night. It was like ordering Tapa's. They wouldn't give you very much at at time, so you had to keep going back and ask for another serving....but no one knew it was there and we were usually the only ones! It was magical and free of course! Our concierge on the Jewel was fabulous. The butler seemed somewhat new and not comfortable with his duties yet. I had to keep asking for lemonade and tea each day for the room. I told him on day one, that's all my husband drinks and to please provide a pitcher of each, each day. We were also celebrating 4 birthdays and I told him I would like to have a cake one evening after we had our meal in Cagney's - but I didn't tell him what night - I told him I would let him know. We got back to the room after the Azura dining disaster to find our room decorated with balloons and streamers and a birthday cake! We didn't eat it because of the dining snafu and the next day he kept saying, but Madame - you said, you said. I told him it was fine, we would eat it eventually, not to worry. He fretted over the cake until we finally just threw it away so he would stop worrying. I'm looking forward to this same cabin on the Dawn. That bathroom is to die for and I'm seeing the newer ships don't have that configuration for that type of suite. I may just have to stick to the older ships ...or switch lines.

I'm not sure what the $20 for each meal was! I was simply appalled! This was a Mexican Riviera cruise on NCL Jewel in April of 2023. It was in the Azura MDR. The hostess was tacky and standoffish and the wait staff were completely indifferent to us. It was the first night of the cruise and I was dreading the rest of the meals under these conditions. It shouldn't matter, but my son gave his room key to check us in, he was in a club balcony next door to my 2 bedroom suite. We hadn't cruised in over 10 years so I didn't really even understand what the Haven was all about. It's my understanding now, that the Jewel doesn't really have a Haven proper, but yes, I had purchased 3 cabins for this cruise, a 2 bedroom suite with balcony and 2 club balconies next door. I tipped the concierge very well up front so that all 3 rooms could have SOME of my suite perks (priority tender, reserved show seating, etc)... Of course, they couldn't go with us to Cagney's and I never even asked for that. So we didn't any of us partake of that perk. I did have room service breakfast each morning, but the butler would only bring enough for the 3 staying in our room, which was irritating that he got to decide what was enough for each of us, as I was not ordering for the rest, they all loved the breakfast buffet! My husband is a huge breakfast eater and will usually skip lunch and just have dinner. I usually had to share my breakfast with him because our butler was stingy! 🤣 His second 'end of cruise' tip envelope reflected my displeasure too! Here's the funny thing. At first, I thought the bar tenders were being nice to an old lady not charging me for my Cokes!!!! I kept telling my husband, I'm going to the bar alone to get the Coke so they don't charge me! Hahaha. I finally realized, it was the color of my key card and I could have asked the butler to bring me some Cokes for the room! I prefer to think they were just being nice to me! 😁 The last time we cruised years ago, your Latitudes tier level was the big deal. We could book an inside and still get perks because we were Platinum level, which apparently means almost nothing now. We used to have ALL KINDS of little goodies in our room upon arrival. NCL Pins, tons of snacks, nice selection of drinks, coupons, invitations, etc. I think we had a warm bottle of Champaign in the room upon arrival in April, and that's it. Cruising has changed drastically since we last cruised! Some for the better and some for the worse. Being retired, I have more money for cruising these days and I'm sorta wishing my cruise line of choice had not been NCL all those years. We are on a 19 day Middle East Cruise in November on the Dawn, in the same type cabin just for the 2 of us this time (that bathroom is to die for!!!) and I better get everything I order for breakfast this time!! 😁 So, no Haven proper, but I do plan to maximize my suite perks to the absolute MAX! Now that I know what it's all about!

Completely agree. For us, Daisy was the exception, not the rule. And since she didn't just give expected service, but WAY, WAY over and above every night, she was handsomely rewarded. That's what I believe a tip is all about. Trust me, she earned every dime! I've not had that level of dining service since our first cruise 20 years ago!

That's the whole point of tipping so well, when you find one you like, to keep getting them!!! The first night on this ship we went to the more modern MDR (forgot the name). We had to wait 20 min for a table, despite the dining room being half empty. We waited another 10 min to be brought menus. We ordered with the VERY unfriendly waiter. Our party of 8 had to be broken up into 2 tables that weren't across the restaurant from each other, but not very close either. The two dad's got the two kids. I inquired about the steak, the waiter shrugged his shoulders at me. I asked about another dish, same response. We all ordered and 30 min later, the plates were thrown in front of us. We've now been there over an hour and the two children have gone to sleep in their chairs. The dad's ask to have the meals boxed so they could take it to the room and put the kids to bed. $20 EACH!!!!! WHAT?!?!? They walked out and left the food, put the kids to bed and when we got back to the room an HOUR LATER, they went to the buffet. This is unacceptable. The service was terrible as was the food! So when we got Daisy the next night.... We made sure she was our go to waitress the rest of the cruise. One night we went to Cagney's. It was equally as bad as the first night in the other MDR, so we skipped Maderno all together and opted for Daisy in the MDR. I not only plan, but expect to tip well on a cruise. When we now talk about the cruise, Daisy is always mentioned, so good memories and money WELL spent! We all have different priorities. 😊

Will do, we get back 5 days before Christmas!

I agree with the letter, but I only give half their tip up front. I give this in an envelope with "Butler - Envelope #1" on it. Likewise with the Concierge (2 envelopes with a letter). Hopefully, they understand, there's another envelope with "Butler - Envelope #2" on it, IF I get good service. That way, if it's bad service, I'm not kicking myself the whole trip that I already gave them the $$. This next cruise is 19 days and I'm not about to tip it all up front! I'll order room service breakfast every day, and will order items that are not on the card menu... If I get them, he/she will get handsomely rewarded. If not, there might be money subtracted from the envelope!

If they went above and beyond and made my dining experience more than I expected, I would tip that evening.... And this is not going to be popular. I might tip $20, even as an individual if I wanted this waiter the rest of the cruise. You want to incentivise them to want YOU at their table and have a chat with the maitre d. I feel certain this is what Daisy did, and why that table was always waiting on us .. Even though she had NO guarantee what time or even if we would come that evening! We never made any prearrangements or reservations. I'm a huge tipper IF I feel I was adequately waited on and they went above and beyond. When I ask about a dish, but decide on a different one, yet the waiter brings both dishes without me feeling bad for ordering 2... That's worth $20 to me especially when paired with other niceties ( drink waiting at table, honest recommendations, etc. ). Here's why she kept getting $50 a night from my husband and me. I like salads, but I like protein in them, so I would combine 2 appetizers and asked that they be served together, like the salad of the night topped with shrimp scampi. No problem, no questions, no hesitation! All this while carrying on separate and personalized conversations with everyone at the table! This is their livelihood and when they excel at their job, I want to reward that so they feel inclined to give others this same service. Her service was so good, we cancelled our second specialty restaurant meal and went to the MDR instead.

He would die of embarrassment! So of course, I'm going to try this one too!

We have 6 flights... So plenty of opportunities to try out different scenarios! I can't wait!

Yes, after the first night in the main dining room with Daisy we tipped her excessively well as we each got up from the table we handed her folded bills. There were 4 families and each family tipped her individually. I would imagine she made a haul that night, although we didn't tally the tip between us. She was absolutely wonderful. She made recommendations and even brought extra dishes when we were indecisive... Didn't ask for them, but she knew we might want to try them. We had 2 children in the group and she catered to them, bringing them over the top desserts and fixing hamburgers just as they liked them. We didn't get her the next night, so we asked for her table the third night. And again, she was fabulous and I'm sure we all tipped her well. Each of the following nights, a table for 8 in her section was waiting empty for us and she never knew what time we were going to show up. I would estimate, between 4 families and 5 dinners she probably made $600 in tips. She was THAT good! She was the ONLY server we tipped individually, outside of my room steward, butler and concierge.

Yes!!!! Excellent... Thank you!

My family are outaged that we will be separated and that he's in First Class.... While I am secretly ecstatic about it!!!🤗 I can't wait to bend down and kiss him while he's already sitting in First Class as I walk past to economy! I think it will be very amusing! I'm planning to ask to buy an upgrade to premium economy if it's available, but I already have really nice seats reserved in economy, if not.

Nope, not a bit. I don't care one whit what someone else thinks about me. I care about what I think about myself and how my actions affect others. It's about MY principles and morals, not about what they think. There's a difference. I gladly accept my perks that I worked hard to pay for. But when my perks interfere with others enjoyment and experience (pushing them aside on a narrow gang plank to get by and cut the line), that's where I draw the line. I'll either go to the back of the line next time, or, as I plan to do on my up coming cruise, get there early enough so I'm one of the first on the ship, negating that issue all together. It's a personal decision. There's simply no reason to encroach on others as a way to advertise for NCL... "See what you get to do when you buy the Haven?" 1. I don't see it as a perk, it was annoying as hell. 2. Why would others want be as uncomfortable as I looked? Was it really a perk? I had absolutely no problem getting on a tender ahead of others, because I was taken through a priority line that didn't push others aside, although they saw us getting on before them, I wasn't inconveniencing them at all.

Oh, I wasn't offended, just curious why anyone wouldn't enjoy that. I say that, but my son would prefer to go to the buffet of all places! So, yes, I get what you're saying. As we've gotten older, we like to sleep late and have breakfast service. I don't mind the buffet, but I just think it sorta all starts tasting the same after awhile. I really enjoy finding a server in the main dining room that I like and asking for their table each evening. On our last cruise, we were a party of 8 and our preferred server would hold a table of 8 open for us because she knew we tipped so well. When she would see us arrive, she would order our drinks and have them on the way by the time we were seated. That's the way dining used to be and we really miss that aspect of cruising.

Why why why? We close the door between the living area and the bedroom/bathroom area. He cannot see us and as heavy as that door is between the two areas, we would KNOW in a second if he tried to open it. It's the greatest! No early phone call to say he is there and no ringing of the doorbell. Just sudden smells of breakfast and coffee and then he's gone and we get up and saunter into a hot breakfast! It's the absolute pinnacle of being pampered! You really should try it!!! It sure beats throwing my robe on and letting him in and standing there looking oddly at him while he sets the table then serves the breakfast!!!

See, I think this is great! Some of us have gotten past their idiosyncrasies and others, like me, haven't. I absolutely agree with you 100% and wished I were more like you!

While you are absolutely 100% correct, I grew up pretty poor. It was an odd situation, we somehow lived in an upper level neighborhood, but we barely fit in. All my friends I went to school with in my neighborhood were very well off and I was always the kid with the second hand bike, handmade clothes, and always jealous of everyone else. I just don't want others to feel that way - I just had enough of it growing up and I will go out of my way to prevent even the appearance that I have it better than others. We have rental houses all on the same block and I myself live in one of them, although I do not have to. I don't want my tenants to think I'm better than they are - or that they support me living in a better house. It's crazy, but sometimes your childhood can really affect those types of issues your entire life. It's a personal flaw and while you're correct - we paid a lot of money for that cabin and that perk, courtesy of my tenants 🙂 - if I can't enjoy it guilt free - is it really a perk? We all know why NCL parades us past the other guests - and I just don't like it - not even a little bit.

Well - that's a funny story as well. And no - people sitting in their seats already having a drink is hardly the same as families bunched up together wrangling their carry on items on this little gang plank and me having to negotiate around them while I cut the line. Economy people merely walking by in the same space that is used to get to a luxury seat will be me this next trip!!! My husband will be sitting in First Class as I trip by him on my way to Economy! He has blood clots in his legs to the point of having had double pulmonary embolisms, so I gladly give him the airline points for the First Class ticket and since we are retired and spend 24 hours a day together - I'm quite looking forward to few ALONE hours! 🙂

Absolutely! I agree. If you didn't want to be embarrassed, then by all means, decline the opportunity and join the end of the line. We used to cruise a lot, then we purchased a vacation home and stopped cruising and just went there every year for vacation. We sold that house and now we've started cruising again. So - there was a gap of like 10 years where we didn't cruise, so all this was new to me. We had been in suites before, but back then NCL gave perks based on your Tier level and not so much the cabin. I booked the suite ONLY because we needed the living area to gather as a group of 8 - only 3 of us stayed in the suite and the rest had other nearby cabins. Here is how oblivious we were - we stood in the regular passenger check-in with our party. The agent couldn't locate our key cards and asked if we were in the Haven. I said - goodness no - don't think so...those are very expensive cabins! After 10 min, she finally went to the concierge and had him look - sure enough, there were our key cards. We weren't in the Haven obviously since it was an older ship - the Jewel. But they lump them all together I'm guessing - I didn't know! They gathered us up and said - follow her. We obeyed. I had no idea what the hell was going on. Suddenly, we are having to excuse ourselves left and right for passing this string of passengers longer than the ship to get on. 5 Sec at our muster drill station then they wanted to escort us to Cagney's for lunch. I finally caught on and said - Whoa! No. I have 5 others in my party that don't get that perk and I'm not going to exclude them - that much I DID know! However - I also DID know enough to sweeten the pot to my Butler and Concierge to get them included in many of the perks - not Cagney's - as I know very well that was not going to fly and besides - my family prefers to eat at the buffet?!?!? Lord know, why! I dearly missed eating at the special restaurant! Opting out of dining, drink, and airfare packages is a conscious effort. You are literally unchecking a box, or not checking a box. But if you aren't aware of certain perks, you can be lead blindly into a very embarrassing situation as we were. We loved that bathroom and separate living area so much, my husband and I booked it again for our next cruise just for the 2 of us. Knowing now what I didn't know then, we are arriving 2 days before the cruise leaves with our privately purchased plane tickets and declined drink package and will arrive VERY EARLY to the port to embark PRIOR to having to be embarrassed! The bathroom in that 2 bedroom suite is to die for! The Dawn hasn't been upgraded yet, so rather than having this HUMONGOUS shower, we will still have a bathtub, but the bathroom is still glorious! We love having breakfast in our room, so the separate living area allows the butler to set it up while we stay in bed - we just tell him to come on in the cabin and set it up. The noise will wake us and when he's done, we get up and go eat. It's wonderful!

Agree 100%!

While I agree completely... (We are a couple booked in a 2 bedroom suite JUST for the bathroom and separate bedroom from the living area)...I think it's tacky for NCL to parade us past a mile of passengers waiting in the freezing cold to get on the ship. I LOVE the perk of priority embarkation, but maybe they could use an alternative entrance. I don't hide my card, but then I didn't even realize I had a different card until the end of the cruise! 🤣 It had been years since we last sailed. I don't mind singing the praises of the perks, but I'm not one to lord them over on ppl, and I'm not saying you do... Just that I've encountered some that even went so far as to tell me, "you don't look like you can afford anything but an inside, don't lie to me that you're in a suite, so step aside and let me go first!" I kid you not!

Yup.. You're correct. It was the app that was buggy. I logged in online and was allowed to choose which passenger!! Thanks!