buckeyefrank

15 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

Galveston. Thirty-six times on two cruise lines from 2002 until we walked off in January.
 We've also cruised from Boston, Miami and Ft Lauderdale and I didn't pay attention to if they had two lines. Galveston did as recently as January.

Just FYI, I'm guessing Galveston is the outlier.  We've come back to Charleston, Jacksonville, NYC, Port Canaveral, Miami and New Orleans.  None of those have special lines for passport only.  We've never done Galveston.

8 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

And yet we aren't reading a lot of horror stories about people being left behind and not being able to make it home (the horror stories that I've read are about people in a foreign port who need medical services and don't have insurance). 

Spot on.    In the event that something happens in a foreign country, the impact of not having a passport is an inconvenience.  The major problems come from the medical costs.

On 10/20/2019 at 9:38 PM, Elaine5715 said:

How much would multiple nights in a foreign city, airfare and emergency passport (good for one use) cost?

Let's assume 2 nights in a foreign city, but the emergency passport will likely not cost anything and the airfare will be the same regardless if you have a passport or not.  The only additional cost would likely be the cost of a couple nights hotel, roughly $250 - $500.... still less than the cost of the passports.

20 hours ago, BallFour4 said:

 My preface is we are on our second passport. We also travel international via air and cruises so for us it makes sense.

  What might not make sense is a family of four, first cruise or a cruise every few years from lets say Galveston where they drive to the port. For them the costs of passports that aren't required are a big budget item.
  December 2018, Carnival Valor, a couple without passports assigned to our dinner table received a call about her father passing away that day. Carnival had the shore agent meet them at the pier in Cozumel and they were headed home to Houston before the ship sailed for home. That's the second time we have experienced that in the past two or three years with people we know or have met aboard.
  Sensationalism is telling someone "it takes days" or "you are stranded and can't get home."

  We've cruised thirty-six times from Galveston alone, and the No Passport line is always large at debark. At some point a few of those families had a medical or family emergency and they got home. I'm 5'11" or not that tall.

 .

I've been on 9 cruises at 7 different ports and never have seen a "no passport' line to disembark.  All lines are the same and we've never been delayed because we have a DL / BC.

20 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

There is no waiving of humanitarian or emergergency for cruisers who fail to have a passport.  Cite one valid case that doesn't involve a tall tale posted in cc

That is total bull and you know it.  The United State CANNOT refuse entry for a valid US citizen.  It may take longer but that's the breaks.  You don't think there are situations where people have lost their passports / birth certificates / DL while on the cruise.  I'm sure it happens all the time.  In fact, if you show up at a US border with zero information, they are required to work with you to establish you identify and allow you access once your citizenship is established.

21 hours ago, coevan said:

It sounds like many people here on CC either only cruise or do not travel internationally. We take at least two land bases vacations to Mexico or the Caribbean a year. We do not have a choice and $15 a year is a bargain

it's not $15 a year, it's a one time investment for $150 for EACH person on the cruise.  For those people that go on one cruise, years 2-10 they would get no benefit.  The only way that analysis remotely makes sense is if you cruise at least once a year.  Otherwise you lose the $15 that year.    Wonder if you could apply for a refund since you didn't use it that year... hmmm

13 hours ago, indy71 said:

I like Hampton Inn in Cocoa Beach because I like being close to the beach. It makes me feel like i’m really on vacation. It has a pool, WiFi and free breakfast. I’ve stayed there twice and would do so again in a heartbeat. 

I second the Hampton Inn Cocoa Beach.  We stayed there about 2 years ago.  Right across the street and about 100 yards north is a great italian restaurant named Branos Italian Grill.  Great food.

3 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

Gottcha.  I really don't have a dog in this fight.  I use what is ever on the table which is not much.  That being said, the hubs likes the pink salt.  Don't think it's for "medicinal" purposes, he just likes it.

Fair enough.   I use whatever's available as well.  I can't argue there's not a taste / texture difference though.  I'm sure there is.

2 minutes ago, ShakyBeef said:

Funny, I had been passively reading this thread a few minutes ago, and just now, this article popped up in my Google news stream thingy:

 

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-pink-salt-took-over-millennial-kitchens?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

All you never wanted to know about the gimmick that is Pink Salt.

Funny how that works.

12 minutes ago, Butterbean1000 said:

I don't know about studies, but my BIL just had open heart surgery and the doctor told him the only salt he can use is the pink sea salt. My son also has high blood pressure and his doctor told him the same thing.

I'm not being argumentative, just presenting something to think about.  I was actually referring to the pink himilayan salt that a lot of people tout as being much healthier.  That has not shown to have any additional health benefits by any study that I have found.  History is full of scientific "facts" that have later been proven to be wrong, misleading or outright false.  For example, doctors believed bloodletting was a good thing for disease in the middle ages.  Another example is that nutritionists even today aren't sure what level of salt to recommend on a daily basis.  The fact is that everyone is different and they can't even say that if you reduce salt intake it will reduce blood pressure.  

Their doctor could be recommending sea salt for a variety of reasons.  Maybe the doctor just doesn't want refined salt or salt with iodine in it, which most table salt has.  Honestly, though most of the salt intake we get is through the food itself and not added after.

On 10/14/2019 at 5:03 PM, Palmetto Pilot said:

I've heard it's the best salt but it's very expensive. 

Actually, there are no studies that have ever correlated pink salt to be healthier for people.  There are trace elements of many other minerals in the pink salt, but not nearly enough in it to make any kind of difference in health.  It's not worse than regular salt, just there's really no difference.

1 hour ago, FSHLOT said:

I always thought it was 18yrs old for beer/wine, but not the hard stuff. I'm probably wrong but i remember when we had nephews that were 18/19 yrs old drinking beer on the ship. 

You may be thinking of NCL or another cruise line.  I believe NCL will allow 18 / 19 YO to purchase beer and wine with signed parents permission.

19 hours ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

Correct - and since some cruises do have the air promotion and some don't...they already have all the templates ready. It's mostly a matter of copy/paste plus a little coding.

 

The reality is that it's just NCL doing what they do best...mislead customers. False advertisement is illegal last I checked and you can't hide behind the "well my IT department couldn't get to it...".

They aren't misleading customers.  Good lord.  It's a simple case of supply and demand.  Pricing changes, pricing structure changes, get over it.  If you're buying a car and trading in a used one and you negotiate, what happens is they give you a better price for your used car at the expense of a little worse interest rate.  The dealership will get their revenue either way.  Same with all the cruise lines.  

I have a strange question but we have 3 in our inside room for an upcoming cruise in 2020 to Bermuda.  My daughter is going with her boyfriend currently booked into a different room.  There is a possibility that the BF might not be able to go.  My thought is that I want to be pre-emptive because I don't think the price will go down.  I'm thinking of change my booking and putting her in my room.  She would be double booked (once in mine, once in her room).  If her BF ends up not going, we could cancel her room before the cancellation period with no penalty,  If he does go, she could be a no-show and we should get taxes and port fees back.  we would book on 3rd / 4th sail free.

With that I have a couple questions for experienced cruisers.

Would NCL's system allow my daughter to book herself into 2 different rooms at the same time?  She has been on NCL before and has a lattitudes #.

Pricing the room, shows taxes and fees of about $240 on their website.  Would we get all of that back as a no-show?  Something tells me we wouldn't get all that back.

Thanks

57 minutes ago, erdoran said:

I think the issue is less about how DSC is distributed than whether 100% is distributed to crew, or if NCL keeps some percentage to fund its basic payroll that should be NCL-funded, and only distributes a portion to crew.  By tipping crew directly, in theory 100% goes to the crew member(s) and 0% to NCL, which is how it should be.  I've already paid my cruise fare, that's what I owe NCL the business, now any tips or DSC do NOT belong to NCL, they belong to the "tippees".

 

It's already not the norm in other industries to make compensation for laundry workers, maintenance workers (I assume),  and various other "behind the scenes" workers  tip-related.  I can see tipping out busboys, possibly kitchen workers, hostesses; direct tipping to hotel housekeeping staff - but in what other industry are some of these other back-end staff tip-dependent?  But that's how it is in cruising and I reluctantly accept it - but  my own beef is that I do want to be sure that every penny I put into DSC and other tips are NOT kept by NCL.  I already believe that's not the case "beverage service charge & gratuity" for example.  

 

So that's possibly the reason for some cruisers "needing" to give the tip directly to the crew members.  For me I'll do the DSC because it's easier and there's too much guilt thrown around otherwise, but I'm not entirely comfortable with knowing that my money is going where it should go - to the hard working crew that make my vacation special!

I don't believe (I certainly could be wrong) that the laundry, maintenance, etc are part of the tip pool.  This is not meant towards only you directly but this discussion occurs with each of the major lines.  People on all cruise lines are questioning whether the cruise line pockets a portion of the money kept for tips.  I can't say with 100% certainty but I am a CPA and have participated in both small and large financial audits.  In large companies such as NCL, the primary focus of the audit is on internal control structure and how they are functioning.  If management asserts (which they do) that money from DSC are pooled into an account and distributed to employees only, that would absolutely be tested by an accountant, regardless of whether they are international or US accountants.  In addition, the total DSC amount collected pales in comparison to the amount of revenue from fares, drinks and casino revenue.  Even taking a percentage of DSC wouldn't make any kind of material impact on the financial statements.  The risk of negative publicity alone would keep them from doing that.   To those who say they can "cook the books" or "creative accounting" can do anything.... no they really can't.  Those people who got caught fraudulently manipulating the books were mostly manipulating them through a bunch of different master / feeder structures.  They were funneling things through various other legal entities not included in the audits, specifically to keep them out.  Finally, if the employees are so mistreated by NCL, they can elect to work somewhere else, even another cruise line.

So for me, I have no concern where the money goes.

6 minutes ago, ano said:

It would be interesting to see the correlational between passengers "falling" off of cruise ships, and  ones that purchase "drink packages."  Hmmm, wonder why my local bar doesn't also offer "unlimited drink packages?"  Afterall, drunk people should take responsibility for their drinking.

 

Cruise ships offer the drink packages because they are very profitable, and the cost to them of passengers falling off their ships is very minimal in comparison. 

I agree cruise ships offer drink packages because they are profitable, however; Carnival does not offer an unlimited drink package.  It is capped at 15 a day.  You local bar doesn't offer an unlimited drink package, because you are not a captive audience and don't spend 24 hours a day there like you do on a cruise ship.

At the end of the day, the cruiseline did not make this person drink.  That was his personal choice, so yes, Carnivals 'cost' is zero.

Also, there's no mention that he was staggering drunk.  10 drinks starting around lunchtime through midnight would not necessarily cause drunkeness.  We don't know the particulars in this situation... Maybe he decided he couldn't live with his new wife....  maybe the same with his in laws....  maybe she pushed him over... without witnesses or video, nobody knows.

On 2/9/2019 at 6:01 AM, RWolver672 said:

From what I've read on here, once they put them down, they stay that way all through the cruise.

That is not true at all.  Get service twice a day.  In the morning you room steward will put the bed(s) away and pull them back out in the evening.

7 hours ago, ano said:

Yeah, kinda funny with literally hundreds of people "falling" off of cruise ships every year, and a number of them living to tell their tale, the cruise ships don't learn from them, how they fell, so the "problem" could be solved when future cruise ships are built.  Oh wait, the solution is that cruise ships could stop selling excessive alcohol to their passengers and that would fix the problem?  OK nevermind.

Or maybe people just take responsibility for their own actions and not blame cruise lines for allowing drinking.

15 minutes ago, el barco said:

I read in cruise critic news that Carnival Cruise line is resuming visiting Freeport from Friday 11th October, when are Norwegian going to return. Our visit to Freeport has  been replaced with a sea day on our cruise at the end of October, we would far rather go to Freeport and boost the local economy, which I am sure is in need of the tourists return

 

https://cruiseradio.net/first-carnival-cruise-ship-passengers-return-to-grand-bahama-friday/

On 10/8/2019 at 5:10 PM, rochelle_s said:

 

First off I  am not trying to be argumentative but would like to play devils advocate on how this could not possibly be true.

 

Imagine I were to go about my cruise tipping cash as I went, such as an upfront tip to my cabin steward and then cash directly to every waiter who served me along the way. On the final night I go to guest services and have the DSC removed from my account, how would they ever be able to know who received a cash tip or how much?  If it were an honour system how would an employee know that I would be removing my DSC at the end?

 

Seems to me the only employee they would be able to approach is the cabin steward and I am not sure anyone among the staff would think it was fair to single out this one department.

 

Rochelle

There have been confirmed reports (with pictures) in the recent past of lists of passengers who have removed tips in employee only areas (kitchen and housekeeping areas).  I'm not saying it happens in every situation, but I have heard that they are required to put them into the pool.  Let's assume that they stay with your server and steward.  By not using DSC, you actually harm other individuals who rely upon those tips.  Some of those tips are used for other types of employee events and recognition.  If the pool of money is reduced, those activities aren't funded as anticipated.

To each his own, but I don't understand the concept of NEEDING to give the tip directly to the person providing the service.  I pay my DSC, and usually prepay them.  We have given over for great service (generally on Carnival).  On NCL, your servers are different every day along with different busboys, etc.  When someone goes to a restaurant and leaves a tip on the table, do you generally think about who gets that?  That tip is split among several people behind the scenes.  It's just a little strange to me that someone couldn't care less about how a tip is split up in a restaurant but on the cruise ship, they need to control it completely.  A standard tip at a restaurant is 15-20%...  I leave that.  NCL determines the amount of DSC, I leave that.

On 2/26/2019 at 4:22 PM, Shorty6095 said:

 

I hear you as far as being skeptical about NCL keeping a small %.  Also the "gratuity" money that is added onto their checks is going to be taxed, giving them even less money.  And from the estimated calculations you just made, that is very little in tip money for a weeks worth of hard work.  I definitely do not want to cut their wages even further, especially the people behind the scenes.  That calculation definitely puts it in perspective for me and now I am rethinking removing the gratuity charges.  We will likely still tip them cash even if we keep the gratuity charges, cause they deserve better.

This is a USA law / requirement that does not necessarily apply to NCL employees.  From my understanding, removing the tips and then paying cash will do nothing.  I have heard that tips received from people who have removed DSC are required to be placed in the DSC pool.  So you would be removing them and adding them right back in.

On 10/5/2019 at 9:44 PM, Vineyard View said:

We have a public transportation pass from the ship. We can take bus or water - that is how it was explained to us. Having never been I do not know. It was my understanding that we could tKe bus the entire way, or combine bus and water. 

Since you are docking at Hamilton, the water ferry will not apply.  The combination bus / water ferry was most likely from King's Wharf Dockyard area, which is further away.

If you don't mind me asking how much did she charge you for that and how long was she in your employ?

On 9/10/2019 at 3:03 PM, jofred said:

I read somewhere of a nice beach very close to the cruise port in Bermuda.  Anyone have info on the beach-activities-distance from the ship-any other details would be appreciated

Please do yourself a favor and do not go to snorkel park beach.  As others have said, it is man-made and not all that great.  You cannot go to Bermuda without going to Horseshoe Bay Beach.

On 9/18/2019 at 7:34 PM, coevan said:

 

What makes you think Carnival uses contract labor? If you are given time and direction, you are an employee. Don't know about cruise ships but i am only allowed to pay a contract laborer $600 a year. The only time we have used contract labor is when we are stripping the kitchen, we get 4 or 5 work release inmates and pay them cash .

There is no limit to the amount you can pay contracted labor and it certainly isn't a maximum of $600 a year.  That limitation must be put on you by management so they don't have to go through the process of issuing a 1099 at YE per IRS regulations.