KeithJenner

I don't know why. For some reason they didn't contact me to let me know. 🙂 Se can all speculate though. Here's my guesses: 1) Exactly what you say. To be clear, I am not saying that the DSC isn't smokes and mirrors. 2) Never ask a supplier of anything to change the way that they charge you. It takes a quite exceptional company to resist the temptation to use that to also increase their prices, and NCL are certainly not that company. Yes, prices went up and by more than the DSC (and other things included) 3) Despite many people (and this applies more to the UK and Europe than the US) saying that the DSC should be included, they haven't really thought it through. Lots of these people remove the DSC anyway, and they found that the prices had increased and they could no longer opt out of some of it. Basically, my point is that whilst it is easy for people to say that the DSC should be rolled up into the fare, it really isn't that easy in practice. It won't just be a case of the prices increasing by the DSC amount and then we all live happily ever after. Many peoples opinions are really just self serving excuses for why they think that they should pay less (or on NCL's side to charge more). Rolling the DSC into the fare wouldn't solve many of the issues, and then in a few years time when NCL announce that they are going to start another charge to replace it (quietly ignoring the fact that it is already included in the fare) we would all be paying more. I haven't studied the numbers in detail, but I believe that is what happened in Europe at least to an extent. I have no side in this argument. I know that in the end we just pay what the cruise line can get away with charging (or decide not to cruise with them). How it is all labelled is irrelevant to me. I don't believe that fiddling with it will help.

You get access to Cagneys/Moderno for breakfast and lunch. No idea about escort off the ship, I’ve always managed to find my way without help. Butler and Concierge are there to help and hinder as usual. Basically, everything you would expect that doesn’t include a Haven area.

People often say this and I always point out that they did exactly this in Europe a few years ago. It didn’t last long.

That isn’t something that I ever recall happening.

This is nothing to do with the free at sea gratuities. This is the service charge which is added to your bill every day during the cruise (unless you prepay it).

I believe that is correct if you pay it online. If you add it when booking then it is taken with final payment and I don’t know what happens if you were to phone to add it. Regardless, if it isn’t already added to your booking then you certainly don’t want to pay it now for a cruise that far out. Just wait until March 2024 and pay it then.

I hope you didn't move.

Yes, you can still do that. It is still stated in the T&C's

Absolutely. It has always baffled me why this is such an issue. Just take it into account as part of the final cost and ignore how the staffs pay is made up. That is between the staff and their employers to worry about.

You were very clear

Nobody here knows.

ChiefMateJRKs point is that you don’t need to agree to prepay them when booking in order to lock into that old rate. Even if you hadn’t added them when booking you can still pay them before sailing to get that old rate.

In fairness, the tax in Spain has changed so many times that I could forgive staff for not knowing about past rules. I've had just about every possible combination of Spanish Tax (no tax, tax in ports, tax for the entire cruise on purchases), and know of people who have been taxed on all drinks even using the beverage package for entire EU only cruises. When we weren't served alcohol in port in Greece (just one port on our cruise) there wasn't even any mention of it, just closed bars. Later cruises did have signs and messages in the freestyle dailies, but NCL still denied it for a while when people phoned to ask. I suspect that is more because the shore staff genuinely didn't know, but they still shouldn't have dismissed peoples concerns when they were presented with evidence.

If you are happy using the train then it is by far the best way of getting there from London. Direct train from Waterloo and it is much cheaper than taxis or transfers (unless you can get a good deal on a large group). Easiest would be a taxi or transfer, but it is very expensive. Some people add a trip to somewhere like Stonehenge to transfers.

Good luck. NCL's reply last time was to tell people that those onboard saying that they weren't able to get drinks were mistaken.

Having the gratuities added to your booking when you make it doesn't mean that you pay them then. You actually pay them with final payment. Not as good as two days out, but far better than paying when you book.

I wouldn't worry too much about this for your cruise. This was a problem for Greek cruises for a couple of weeks earlier this year (it was then changed so that people couldn't buy drinks but could get them if covered by the package) and now this one report from Gibraltar. I have never heard of this problem in Mainland Spain, France or Italy and wouldn't expect them to arise. There is potentially the issue with paying tax on drinks on your cruise. I'm not up to date with what is currently happening there, as it does change from time to time.

Any tax charged would be on the value of drinks consumed. It is relatively common in certain places (US ports for example), but is not consistent and can change in some ports from time to time. I've not been to Iceland or Norway for a few years, but when I have done (including an overnight in Reykjavik) I'm fairly sure that no tax was charged. Free at sea covers the whole cruise, whether in port or at sea. You may see a current discussion about drinks not being served in a port (Gibraltar) but that is an exception.

NCL seems to be having trouble dealing with these issues. When this was happening in Greece there were two NCL ships anchored off Santorini. You could get a drink on one of them but not the other.

NCL don’t use a fixed terminal in Southampton. I have used almost every one when sailing with NCL, including once where we sailed from one terminal and then arrived back in another.

I think that they meant they go by the MDR during the day to look at the menu, not to eat. We do the same thing if we aren’t booked in somewhere in the evening. Have a quick look at the menu that gets posted outside the MDR during the day to decide whether to eat there or go elsewhere. An attraction to us of the fixed menu is that we can make plans knowing what will be available. Some of the current MDR restaurants are a lot less appealing than others.

Good spot.

I believe that the only way is to change who is listed as guests 1&2. I’m not sure how easy that is to do, especially as you are changing both 1&2. It will certainly involve a call.

Yes, you can book using the app or online at 125 days if applicable. Before that it usually gives the date 120 days out, but it opens at the correct time, in my experience. In future, rather than call NCL with questions like this, I’d just phone a random number and get whoever answers the phone to have a random guess. That is basically what the NCL staff seem to do, so it will be about as reliable.

How you connect has varied over time, and some people have reported different experiences, but lately I’ve found that being logged into the app before the cruise has resulted in being able to see your package and activate it. If you struggle with that bit then just see the IT person onboard. Similarly, how the free minutes are allocated has changed over time, but you should each find you have those minutes on your accounts, so make sure that both people have an account set up beforehand. You log on my joining the Wi-Fi and connecting. Always end a session by hitting disconnect or typing “logout.con” to stop the clock.