buckeyefrank

1 minute ago, Laszlo said:

Do the math......Its $150 and its good for 10 years. If you can afford a few thousand for a cruise and can't afford $150 for a passport your doing something really really wrong

You can't pay $15 this year, $15 the next.... etc.  It's $150 up front for each person.  It's a little ridiculous for a family of 4 going on a quick 4 day cruise to the Bahamas costing $800 to put out $600 for passports for one trip.  Everybody has a different situation.  A passport is not a one size fits all thing.

The article is VERY poorly written.  The mother said she wasn't leaving the ship because she didn't want to be stranded then turns around and says they went to the US embassy.  She made the decision to not go to a hospital.  The lack of a passport had nothing to do with it.  The US embassy would have gotten her and her child clearance to travel when he was better.  It would have only take a day or two.

I agree that a passport is the best way to establish your identity, but it's not the end of the world if you don't have it.  There will be an inconvenience but it's not like you can never get back into the US without it.

2 hours ago, Laszlo said:

Its a no brainer, for $15 a year you can have a passport. I got my first one at 16 and I'm now 57. If your doing any traveling out of the country its just foolish not to have one

It's not $15 a year, it's a one time $150.  there's a HUGE difference to some people, especially when you have 3 or 4 to buy.

On 1/26/2020 at 8:32 PM, mugtech said:

There are many cities in China in which many people wear masks all the time due to constant pollution, not sure why people on a cruise should stay home rather than wear a mask.  Don't have to be worried, just taking proper precautions, like washing hands before dinner.  Since people may be contagious before showing any symptoms, wearing a mask could be doing you a favor.  What is the problem with wearing masks?  Think there might be more robberies?

Washing your hands and not touching your mouth is great advice, however; the masks are virtually worthless with this virus and the coronavirus is spread airborne also.  Washing hands won't help that.

I'm not sure I understand the need for the spreadsheet.  Just figure general drinks are about $10 a pop and beer around $6.  That'll get you close enough to determine if it's worth buying the package.

25 minutes ago, PrincessArlena'sDad said:

Do they ever have the MDR open for lunch on embarkation day?

 

Disney cruise does this, and we loved it.  Upon boarding, we went right to the MDR, and didn't have to worry about getting food and getting a table while keeping rack of our carry ons.

Never seen it open for embarkation day.  NCL does though.

On 1/31/2020 at 7:34 PM, 2wheelin said:

Exactly my point. OR PASSPORT which was not mentioned in their first post (nor did the statement mention flying). Quote: ALL US citizens are required to have the Real ID driver's license by October 1, 2020. 

Most of us who read the news know the passport alternative, but not everyone even knows there are changes coming for travelers.

This is incorrect.  US citizens are not required to have the Real ID by 10/1/20.  It is required only for domestic air travel.  When i renewed my license, I was given the option to go with standard DL or the Real ID.  I opted for standard.  It expires way after 10/1/2020.  Either way I personally think it's ridiculous to require (basically) a passport for a domestic flight.

We did it last year.  Had no issues at all.

As a couple said, I don't think you can do the caves.  They are guided tours that take off at predetermined times and can get quite busy at times with extended waits for tours.

The rest is doable.  One option if you're taking the ferry to Hamilton is to take a taxi or mini-bus from Hamilton over to Horseshoe Bay Beach.  It is absolutely beautiful and they did have refreshment service when we were there in May.  

Don't forget that the dockyard area has some nice shops and restaurants.  It also has one of the coolest putt putt courses I've ever seen.  I don't play putt putt at all but that place is pretty cool.

Let her be a no show.  Do not cancel the 2nd person.  Even though you originally booked as a solo and paid double the rate, you are no longer in that category.  According to Carnival, each of you paid half of the total cost.  If you cancel her, they COULD charge her a penalty for the cost of her portion of the cruise.  Now you are solo and they could come back and charge you for the solo supplement.  The chances aren't high that they would do that, but legally they could.  I've also read about someone it happened to.

Do NOT cancel the person.  If you cancel that person, Carnival will keep that person's cruise fare as a penalty.  Now that you are solo, you would be subject to the solo supplement, which would be the same price as the person who cancelled.  Basically if you cancel, they could end up charging you again for the 2nd berth.

The best option would be to see if you can get a different person and do a name change, even for a fee.

8 minutes ago, April42749 said:

Is every time an adult tosses a kid in the air and catches the kid a crime?  I'm not a lawyer but I don't think so...or the jails would be full.  But, when the adult fails to catch the child and the result is brain injury, then is tossing the child in the air a crime?  Or, when you put out a hot drink and the child climbs on the table to get it...and ends up burning herself?

 

Again...I'm not a lawyer and I don't what legally constitutes putting a child in danger.  I don't think there are hard fast rules...like don't hold a child out the window.  I believe it's using "reasonable thought".  Everyone here says "grandpa put the child in danger" and I agree...but, only the District Attorney can decide if he thinks a crime was committed.

Oh come on....  There is no question that dangling a baby out a window 150 feet above pavement is criminally negligent behavior.  Comparing the tossing of a baby in the air to dangling the baby out a high window???  That's ridiculous.

Just now, mjkacmom said:

What facilities? There are chair/umbrella rentals, and booze in a coconut, and folks trying to sell you stuff. It’s beautiful.

At the Paradise Island beach club there is a mini-convenience store with facilities.  That is what I was referring to.

13 hours ago, sunlovinchick said:

Is Junkapoo a nice beach? Do they have any food stands there? Bathroom facilities?  Thanks!

Went their once and it was junky.  Trash buried in the sand, the water area was rocky and the pier / dock was crumbling.

For a better option, take a taxi to cabbage beach.  It's about $4pp each way.  There are facilities there.  For a little more seclusion, take a taxi to the paradise island beach club.  Still cabbage beach, just a little further down and there are no vendors.  Perfect sand too.

On 1/15/2020 at 9:12 AM, scifimonkey said:

I am happy enough if each drink has to be individually bought as long as it is straight forward and simple process.

Frankly the amount of alchohol my son drinks probably would not warrant a drinks package on a price basis alone so in actual fact NCL will probably lose money on not allowing the purchase of the package. Its more about the convenience of three of us sitting together at a table and ordering drinks and having the faff of operating different systems for doing so.

Also since you're going to Bermuda, the drinking age their is 18.  Assuming you will be docked several days, he can purchase alcohol in port all he wants.

On 1/5/2020 at 7:13 PM, GoffCruise said:

So we are docking in Bermuda during our RCI cruise in July.   We have never been here. Is Bermuda a good stop for a beach day? I know some ports have better Beaches than others. We are also stopping at St Maarten, San Juan and Labadee. Can we just walk to the beach area from the dock? Any recommendations for this or an excursion are appreciated. TIA! 

Assuming you are docking at the RND, there is a beach within walking distance but is not recommended.  It has an entry fee of like $5 and is named snorkle park.  Not very high quality.

The best option is to do a taxi / mini-bus to Horseshoe bay.  Fantastic beach with facilities.  There will be a lot of people but you can keep walking down the beach to find space.

If you have a little time to burn after the beach, the Dockyard area has several neat shops, bars and a really unique putt putt course that has to be seen to be believed.  Really cool.

Charleston is unique in disembarkation procedures.  The FTTF, platinum, etc meet in a location at a certain time.  I can't remember but I believe it was around 6:15 as stated above.  Then self-assist is called floor by floor.  After self-assist they start disembarking by zone.  We were off the ship and in a taxi no later than 6:45 from what I remember.  We used self-assist.  Was the most organized disembarkation we've ever had... of course we were 800 people short due to a hurricane so...

On 2/22/2019 at 8:30 PM, coevan said:

do you guys really think Carnival is going to ask a 6 year old for ID? I'm pretty sure their age is not on their S&S card, if they even have one, probably not. 

When they swipe the S&S card, their age will be in the kid's profile.  I'm pretty sure it's something they would look at every time.

On 1/5/2020 at 12:42 PM, Joe817 said:

If I were a chemist, I'd invente a biodegradable 'plastic straw'. I'd make millions! 

There are already plastics that biodegrade in approximately 30 days in sunlight.

On 1/4/2020 at 9:29 AM, erdoran said:

Restaurant servers get paid their minimum wage directly from the restaurant, and tips are theirs to keep or tip out to others.  Their tips do NOT go to pay the $2.13/hr or whatever the ridiculously low figure is.  

 

As an American, if I give a tip I expect it to go to the person I’ve handed it to, and that person has control over what happens with it - whether it’s pooled (they are aware of pooling), tipping others internally, or ??

I'm curious if you question the tip you leave on a credit card?  Same situation as with NCL or any other line.  81% of transactions at a restaurant are credit card transactions.

On 1/4/2020 at 6:42 AM, erdoran said:

I’m also the school that NCL needs to be more transparent about the DSC, AND since I’m paying it, I want to be sure it is going to employees over and above their salaries...

 

Having said that, if the theory that NCL is passing DSC through to wages, the absence of wages on the balance sheet is inconsistent with that theory, because there ARE employees, lots of them, who by no stretch of the imagination are covered by DSC - everything from the ship’s captains through corporate employees and officers.  Even if they outsource their call center, they must still have corporate infrastructure to manage their business as well.

 

 

Not at all inconsistent.  The Balance Sheet is as of a certain date. typically the end of the year.  Money is collected and as each ship is processed into their general ledger system, it credits the specific DSC accounts for the paid amounts, whether on board or prepaid.  I do not know how often the crew get paid, but at least once a month, the amounts collected for DSC would be partitioned out to the appropriate employees and processed as tips onto their paycheck.  So the only thing remaining on the books at the end of a month or year would be the previous month's DSC collections that have not been distributed.  It would not be the entire year's worth of DSC collected.  It would be no more than a month's worth and could be less than that if tips are distributed bi-weekly.  Looking at the 2018 BS, they have 716,499,000.  That is plenty in that line item to cover 1 month DSC.   The large portion of that will be standard payroll accruals along with other misc stuff.

I still don't understand why someone needs to know how the DSC is being divided up.  People don't go into the Olive Garden and question the company how they are distributing the tips left on credit cards.  I don't hear anyone saying the OG needs to be more transparent in how they distribute tips.   What about all-inclusive vacation resorts.  Those are generally tip included.  Nobody's griping about those either.

12 minutes ago, teachncruise17 said:

I am booked on the Vista for March 2021.  I just found out that my school district changed our spring break for next year, so I need to cancel and rebook.  I *think* I booked Early Saver, which stinks, but...whatever.  Anyways, on to my question!  WHERE can I cancel?  I'm usually quite tech savvy and familiar with Carnival's site, but I cannot figure it out!!!!  Also, is it better to cancel myself then rebook, or would using a PVP be better?  (I usually book things on my own...just wondering if they would waive the change fee or...something!)  

I don't believe there's a way to do it on Carnival's website.  You will likely have to call.  I also wouldn't hold my breath about having the penalties waived.  Some people have been successful, we were not.

34 minutes ago, I need a vaca said:

I currently have a feeding tube and need to bring canned formula for my meals. 

Has anyone had any issue with bringing canned liquid formula on board?  

I would contact the special needs department to have them flag your account.  You certainly want to make sure you have what you need to be allowed to board with your food.  I wouldn't rely on advice from a forum board for this issue.

3 hours ago, KateQ22003 said:

You are right, but looking at the balance sheet, there is no such beast. 

In the YE financial report or the 10-K there would be no line on the Balance Sheet (BS) detailing specifically the DSC.  I guarantee you there is at least one, probably several.  One account would be for prepaid, a second for paid during the cruise and possibly a third for those accounts who had them adjusted (not sure about that one).  I'm guessing they have a designation in the account coding string to designate the specific ship instead of using different GL accounts.  This is generally what happens in corporations.  A lot of account coding string lines are combined into one specific line item for the 10-K and the YE BS.  The description of the account on the 10-K and YE BS is going to have a generic name like 'Other Liabilities" or it could be included in  a line named Accrued Wages or Liabilities to Employees.  The exact verbiage can vary.  Also, the amount that would be included on the BS would not be the total amount collected.  It would only show the amounts not yet distributed to employees and would be a small portion of the total amount.

I do applaud you for going and looking at the financial statements and / or 10-K reporting.  Not too many people can trudge through 80 - 100 pages of crap looking for stuff.  However, the FS are designed to allow investors or potential investors in a company a glimpse into the financial health so they can make an informed decision.  They can make decisions on questions like.. Did they earn money?  Do they have enough cash in the bank?  How much cash did they collect?  Are they making a big enough return on their investments?  The detail is not granular enough for anyone outside of the cruise line to see what's going on.  I used to work at one of the world's largest banks and was involved in a piece of their annual audits.  The number of accounting string combinations they have for the total company had to be over a million.  You will never see that level of detail in an SEC filing.

21 minutes ago, HowardK said:

What also bothers me is that- I am paying a lot of money for the cruise- it shouldn't be my problem if NCL is screwing their employees over via allocation methods of tips. It seems to me from looking at their 10-K that the DSC is rolling up under on-board revenue- I doubt they do a 1:1 disbursement of fees collected.

Needless to say- I sometimes tip those who directly assist me, whether it be an excellent room steward, musicians at Howl at the Moon- or 2 servers who comped my meal on time- I gave the tip directly to each of them and filled out a comment card saying they were nice 

It wouldn't be under on-board revenue.  It should be directly booked into a liability account and not roll through the income statement at all. The money collected is not revenue and it's not expense.  It is nothing but a balance sheet transaction.