mking8288

Maybe we should call NCL's new "almost Cruise to Nowhere" sailings. Getaway scheduled to call on DR on Jan 29th and appeared that we can dock either in the Bay or the Cove. IMHO, don't bother to hold my breath to ask this kind of question at the CC Meet & Greet/Mingle, not at all. One can try - they are very good at passing the bucks to corporate HQ in Miami. Maybe, @Laszlo can do a Youtube "Special" about it and we can all give plenty of "Likes" as a CC style "documentary" ... just kidding. Pssst - port fees/charges are not adjusted nor refunded, as a matter of routine practice at NCL. Hence, "keep the change" 🙄 🙄 🙄

This + 1 And, OP, feel free to make use of the Ignore option - of course, indirectly, poster(s) being ignored can still show up b/c someone else jump on it & started quoting and replying, etc. Back on topic, lately - we are also seeing those 10% discount tossed in, showing up only when logged into MyNCL account, apparently targeted selectively. NCL cruise consultants also coming up with 15% additional discount offers, good on "any cruise" (of course, always read & understand the fine prints & disclosures, restrictions, etc. etc.) There's also the Latitudes TRIPLE UP offers coming from TA mass emails, apparently valid & available also directly via NCL ... not going into details to help promote it. Google is often ... Always do mock bookings and calculate the numbers to see if they add up or deduct correctly, click-bait wordings can be easily misleading, unintentionally, for your convenience, of course.

... perhaps, partially associated with that 9% reduction in back office workforce announced ?? It is - I suspect - NOT just machine intelligence being impacted, rather it has to do with them not responding to an assigned Case Number (2nd. request) that I'm not going off-topic. And, it's holiday & year-end vacat' time, LOL with a skeletal staff.

OP's SWA 1341 landed about 7 minutes, MDW-MCO taxiing to the gate, should be wheels locked at the jetbridge in about 2 or 3 minutes according to tracking data. Gosh, whew 😇 - and if they didn't have to gate checked their carry-on bags, can now relax with relief. Prima cruise ahead. Bon Voyage !!

NP, if only they can find flights out of Detroit instead Midway (used by SWA) - perhaps they found someone on their Roll Call to rideshare together - 600 miles of daily driving is a lot to cover even with GPS navigation, easily with 2 drivers taking turn behind the wheels & resting, planning fuel & rest room stops ahead, etc. OP hasn't updated, perhaps they are currently in transit and/or on standby for 2 open & available seats on SWA and/or other flights. Tens of thousands SWA fliers all scrambling to reach their destinations and come home with all those cancelled flights for the past week, not easy ... virtually all holiday flights are at high load factors or fully sold out. I asked my nephew to use his Sabre access to lookup hidden cities pair via Toronto & Montreal to see if they can be routed with 2 connections and it's "no can't do." Maybe, Greyhound and/or Amtrak to their rescue instead. Let's hope they are going to make their cruise.

Ahhh, this brings back memories of the good old, short, cruise-to-nowhere (CTN) with a twist, making a comeback! "Genius" concept and NCL can charge a lot more plus port fees, etc. That's it 😆😆😆 ... cruise with a sense of humor & adventure and be surprised 🙀. Afterall, it's covered by the cruise contract terms. And, cruiselines including NCL wanted their ships to the destinations booked and we spent nearly every vacation dollars with them onboard. This is a clever scheme to sell a premium holiday cruise to exotic locations and then ... oops, and you can't cancel and it's all non-refundable.

Perhaps, these changes will eventually bring positive forward-looking news on NCL (and other lines) quarterly financials. Why not just impost an all-inclusive daily resort fees or "supplement" instead on a per stateroom/suite basis, except $20 p/p per day to clean a studio/solo cabin at 110 sq.ft. isn't exactly the same as a large club balcony suite sleeping 4, even once a day for the "attendant" ... I suspect we all know, some cabins will be rather messy with more towels, garbage and bedsheets to "service" everyday. *** Quoting from "Cruise Center" as a footnote: The first ship to implement the new policy will be Norwegian Epic, starting January 8, 2023. The new company policy will be rolled out to the entire fleet in the following three-month period, expected to be completed with the Norwegian Pearl on March 31, 2023 ... Crew currently holding the junior role will see an increase in salary, but the salary will be reduced for the current Stateroom Stewards. Somehow, I don't see all the stewards smiling & singing happy, happy, washy, washy - and, yes, they signed the contract.

For "your" convenience, of course, I'm sure NCL will cheerfully provide an extra daily housekeeping evening service routine for a nominal upcharge, say $20 or $25, on demand, LOL. Not buying - IMHO - the notion and concept of "environmental sustainability" by scaling back service level while raising the mandatory daily charges. Why can't NCLH be direct, straight forward and honest with us, the customers behind the products - namely, cruising - and say, it is to (also ??) help maintain & restore its financial well-beings too. Whether the stewards and others below deck are well paid, competitively, or not ... in the cruise industry remains a private matter & close door topics with NCL and the signing agencies that recruited & placed them. From cruise news sources, it's clear that job titles are being changed, reclassified and some will be realigned into other functions onboard. Perhaps, this helped partially explain grumpy crew onboard these days. And, not to go off-topics substantially, some of the "non-verified" reports lately of live onboard entertainments being replaced with big-screen movie shown in the main theater are just comical, LOL. Pretty soon, we might see the gallery (and formerly housekeeping) crew on stage doing talent shows as the primary and lounge show with robotics AI ... LOL (hey, gotta have a sense of humor these days.) Not saying the grass is greener elsewhere but going to have a difficult time telling Mrs. to continue to be generous in tipping extras onboard.

Good luck to OP, perhaps they are on a Greyhound at this moment making their way down to the Sunshine State. SWA could not and will maybe, possibly masked some of the cancellations last week on weather; but, not with the subsequent & massive system-wide cancellations and delays, essentially a total meltdown. Worse than and comparable to what B6 (JetBlue) went thru in the winter of (Feb.) 2007, triggered by aircraft de-icing problems associated with a major winter storm/blizzard in the Northeast. SWA's failure is partially associated with crew scheduling & computer networking systems, and point-to-point operations vs. other carrier's hub operations. Looking at today's data - DL, AA, UA essentially ran 99%+ or better with no cancellations. JetBlue cancelled 3% and Spirit cancelled 4% of its scheduled flights. SWA cancelled 61% (sixty-one percent) of its US flights today, that's 2,509 flights cancelled out of 2,890 total US flights; with another 8% delayed (346 flights for SWA). There is simply no way that SWA can blame it on weather and evade DOT's oversight (which has been at arm's length from deregulations ...) To what extent will SWA refund and make good on its promise, remains unseen, beyond the price of the purchased airfares - extra compensations and/or reimbursement for missed cruises, hotels/lodging and food, ground transportation, etc. is going to be a tough one.

Surprised 🙀 not at all. This is consistent with hospitality trending elsewhere, realigning of service level. Perhaps, there will be a "new" self-service element next to these, soon thereafter, i.e. towel exchange, trash disposa, etc. to hold down further increases in DSC. Hahaha 😂 Welcome to the new $40 daily fees for 2 in "steerage" cabins for 2023, shared by many behind the scenes. The great "Takeaway" version 4.1b How does this fit the tagline of going above and beyond as vacation heros, some of us will need to really look harder & think about it.

Sure, that's 2 days worth of driving ... Are you nearby, available and offering to give them a ride 😉 see post #5 - "Given our ages, 73 & 77, 1200 miles to Port, and car rentals one way, nonexistent, driving almost not an option. I even checked flights from Indy to MCO, and that was not promising either." DOT said they will hold the airline accountable for the meltdown. SouthWest CEO said to keep all receipts for ... Only planning to staff and fly about 1/3 of their scheduled flights this week, at best.

We did only 2 full bags of free Platinum laundry on our last 14 days, about 5 or 6 days apart - that was 2019. Could've done 1 or 2 more bags free if we needed to. Just beware that the "new" paper bag is thin and smaller, hold about 1/3 less than before - stayflation ... thus, might need to do a 2nd bag if on a longer sailing. Why not, especially if it's complimentary.

On the "Plus" ships, I highly recommend choosing Taste or Savor, the 2 smaller MDR for a quieter dinner at a table for 2. It isn't as noisy and services typically a notch faster, and tables can be spaced slightly further apart, instead of being 6 inches from the nearest table if it was a table for 4 and they simply split and pull it apart slightly. Better for small talks and semi-alone for 2 people dining together unless you are happy to socialize with table mates next to you, etc. Happy cruising !

Names of senior officers onboard, GM, F&B, CD, etc. if someone has them. Thanks in advance. P.S. Noticed that GA had a planned stop at GSC but ?? It appeared that, based on Marinetraffic data, she visited or stop at Nassau yesterday and went out to sea again, and is docked at Nassau today (again ??) - a very busy port with 6 ships there now, wall-to-wall crowds in town. Happy cruising 😎

Not in the form of nonrefundable OBC, rather - you aren't charged for additional days in the beginning of the cruise. Just make sure you don't login to use those free minutes until 00:01 on Day 2. These are the upgrade pricing on a 7 nights cruise. Screenshot shown for 7 days and 6 days, with the trade-in value credited and net cost ... NCL hasn't raised these prices in years, unlike just about everything else ... psssst, hush. I suspect that if and when they team up with StarLink, the cost will probably go up, but at least it'll be comparable to land speed over cable broadband or Fios ... For that cruise that we are both on, we have 600 minutes in our "bank" to use, except it isn't much allocated over a span of 12 days, even if one don't use anything on Day 1 and that last (Sea) Day coming home - nearly 5 full days at sea, at 2 hours daily.

Our friends just came back from Bermuda last week and saw the NCL ferry docked next to/across from the Getaway - it's free / complimentary, show your NCL Guest Keycards to board andreturn from St. George's. Schedule should be tailored to ship's departure time and available/posted onboard - otherwise, just step out there to check - it's posted on the pier. Bermuda's fast ferry services (blue route) is on her winter schedule for 2022-23, like the other routes - and essentially, no services in the evening after rush hour to go back to Dockyard. There is no ferry services between Dockyard and SG's during the winter schedule months. Travel time is 45 minutes to 1 hour each way, including prep'ing the gangways & securing the lines, etc. - weather permitting. Some are the shops in/around the "Square" are closed (remain ??) for the season (for good ??)

Did another lookup on cruisemapper dot com this morning for January 2023's Amber Cove (updated ??) schedule - there are now, about, 16 NCL ships listed as docking there (and not downtown Taino Bay, not easy walking distance for sure) even the mid-size ships like the Dawn, Sky & Pearl are heading to Carnival's owned dock when it's not full with their own fleet. Hey, it's revenue for Carnival and other lines including MSC and Royal are using the Cove also. Whether, NCL is going to cancel and substitute something like GSC, which they own themselves, is another story. Escape that's doing the same itinerary as our 12 days already informed guests booked that they are not going to DR at all. It seems like the Bay is simply out of the question for next month. NCL calculated and collect the port charges/fees/surcharges for each of the posted - if they skipped and/or substituted port A for B, or cancelled entirely - it's mostly not refunded or adjusted these days ... kept and pocketed (as a general expectation), unless I'm mistaken & stand corrected. It's a different can of worms by itself, let's try to steer away from this controversial subject area. As for whether the NCL's onboard shorex team knows or not - of course, they should know by the time we are on the ship and sailing away from homeport - short of any real last minute changes from weather, emergencies & disruptions unplanned for - as one can bet that their tasks are to promote & sell, not to process refunds and create more work for accounting & bookkeeping.

We are scheduled to be at PP-DR end of next month, after the Encore, will see. Not booking any shorex. Perhaps, NCL simply wanted nobody to dare book excursions independently except with them directly - and with the short 5 hours on that scheduled stop, not worthwhile to spent another hour going into town & back to the Cove, and do the long pier walk to board the ship again. Tailored expectations and just happy to get out of this cold weather in NYC, no snow whatsoever on the ground (unlike Erie County / Buffalo & places up to our northwest) and NY Eve temperature here in the 50's ??

Doubtful that NCL would schedule their ship's officers, entertainers and crew members on routine rotations & vacation to travel during the busiest period around this time - maybe, errr, a very, very small number from that "group" since they are most likely from overseas or abroad. Passengers booked on flights, whether directly by NCL and cruisers flying independent with individual arrangements, even if they're scheduled inbound 2 days early ... could be stranded, depending on their originating airports and transit/airline or airport hubs involved, i.e. this past weekend, DEN, ORD, ATL RDU and even SEA were hit pretty hard by delays and cancellations. Even MIA were experiencing problems ... and SouthWest cancelled 70% of their scheduled flights today with another 17% delayed, for whatever reasons (ouch !!) That reminded me of JetBlue (B6) quite a few years ago with their JFK and Northeast route operations before/after a major winter storm/blizzard. One of my "go to" is to look at the MiseryMap maintained by FlightAware, bookmarked on mobile browser, for an overview - not available on their i/smartphone app. https://flightaware.com/miserymap/ Trip/travel insurance - most infrequent travelers ignored adding it to their calculations in the planning, until it is needed or not covered. JFK/EWR/LGA didn't do badly this holiday weekend - finding available seat pairs for 2 or 3 flyers together on re-routed flight connections to MCO (Orlando) for another 1 hour transfer to PC, where the Getaway arrived very early & docked today ... not easy. Onboard entertainment - enough said by others. Perhaps, ask whether they can make those PPV movies free for all staterooms ?? We always load up our personal contents from Prime Video, etc. on our devices, a set of earbuds or headset, a powerbank for extra charging options, just in case.

@Laszlo psssst MCT/Pier 88 has free WiFi for public access, non-secured (of course) and when we're there doing our Sept Joy check-in, worked flawlessly & it's quite fast, better than trying to get a cellular signal (VZW is better, T-Mo & ATT aren't as strong inside the terminal) We showed our eDocs on the smartphone to the screener guarding the first section before security, just a quick glance and fine with it. Did have printed copies with us, just in case ... never liked handling multi-pieces of papers. Our roll-call will be lurking & following your sailing, do let us know who the senior/junior officers are onboard, post them if & when attending the M&G. We're just chatting that let's hope we aren't going to doing that on the Hudson Rivera at Pier 88 next month, like this past week, LOL.

We're fortunate to be on, I believe, 1 of the 2 Getaway sailings early this Spring to actually made it to the Dine With Officers (split us into 2 groups, table of 8 to 10 each in the MDR w plenty of complimentary "bottomless" wine to go around.) There's a live TR/blog onboard the Jewel now, also reported they are signing up Sapphire members for Dine With Officers ?? - not yet confirmed that it is really taking place (was supposed to happen on the GEM on this T/A crossing). Story told, that they should / will restart the complimentary BTS tour sometime in 2023 ... probably going to depend on trifecta trending, but not with folks coughing all over. It would be informative to get a hold of that TA partner communications as mentioned above to read about it. Latitudes tiers, as said, really don't mean much above Platinum, on our way toward Diamonds but no desire to chase points for it, not much in terms of any meaningful perks & useful recognitions ... Let's just hope that they won't follow the routes taken by airline's FF programs. As for these "older" ships, hard to believe & true, the Dawn is almost 20 years old, after several dry docks. Gem and Jewel aren't far from it - wish NCL has the cash to update the stateroom interiors, but we understood how those go - look close enough in out-of-way places, signs of aging do show up - not much difference with more recent mega ones like the Getaway, salt water spray will rust & leave metals nasty looking quickly, constant maintenance & care are a must.

Out of curiosity, did a lookup for an upcoming 12 nighters out of Pier 88 next month - Pier 83/Circle Line parking will be $400, same as rooftop & secured outdoor parking above Pier 88 at MCT (it's capped or max'd out at $400 for cruises of 10 days and longer). Parking stalls/lanes above the cruise piers (88, 90 and the seldom used 92) are wide & "spacious" for nearly all oversized, overwidth vehicles including full-size vans, pickup trucks and extended length - little chance of getting dinged & accidentally dented by those parked next to you, or having to squeeze yourself to get out or get into the parking spot. For cruises of 5, 6, 7 or 8 days - Circle Line reserved parking might be okay, but that can still be a long & freezing walk in the middle of winter to go back & forth, on a day like today ...

There was a thread here not too long ago (tried to search for it, but CC's "search" engine is practically useless) with someone leaving behind valuable items (pouch filled with jewelry items) - which was apparently turned over to ship's Guest Services (they logged it in and file a report, then it's given to shore staff/port agent & forwarded to Miami NCL) Passenger that left the items are responsible for paying for the delivery (UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc.) and the process took 3 to 4 weeks on the most recent incident. BA isn't returning to homeport until this weekend and timing-wise, with the holiday & offices closed, etc. - there is just not enough time with a tight 2 weeks per OP's post. I would highly recommend filing for emergency replacement passport, not sure what to say on the visa(s) - both this and next week are on a shortened business/office/work schedule, if that upcoming travel is important and not discretionary. Look into cancellation if fully insured and changing & delaying original plans, if those are available options. Good luck ! Edit - founded 2 links, including the recent one ... expect 4 to 6 weeks for the passport to reach you. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2844366-help-item-left-on-ship/#comment-62993538 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2893655-i-left-stuff-in-my-room-when-when-disembarked-help/#comment-64300531

@Birdnutty NCL changed the HD title to GM about 4 years ago, before Covid, in recognition of his/her broad responsibilities. Agreed about not wishing to lost faith in NCL's products and specifics about some of our favorite ships, including the GEM/class .. some can be attributed to difficulties of crewing the ships with newbies, understood that a # of seasoned pool from India did not return. Unclear whether crew shortage issues are related to the massive backlogs with issuing visas at US embassies abroad, nationals from many countries must schedule ahead (2 to 3 years) & get approved after a face-to-face, etc. I recognized the F&B Manager onboard the GEM, he was on the Escape/Breakaway in recent years ... however, below the passenger decks in the Gallery, the Exective Chef & his/her team are in charge. F&B are also personal, subjective and without question, YMMV with biased preferences, i.e. whether it's sodium & spices are excessive, etc. What I see is a fair degree of inconsistencies among ships, services and food quality, entertainment, embarkation and disembarkation issues this year - we've seen it on our own 3 sailings this year and I understood the sound reasons to isolate and protect the "bridge team" and keep them away from direct passenger contacts. CD getting sickened isn't new lately, like the production casts - that's what the Asst CD is there for, and having a understudy for the shows. Whatever ... it is what it is, wasn't there on that day to say otherwise. A time-lapsed (Go-Pro) video of the GEM sailing up the Hudson to her berth at Pier 88 last week, docking on the south side (next to the Interprid at 3:30 am) The Queen Mary 2 arrived almost at the same time into NY from Southampton TA crossing, managed their turnaround and sailed out late to St. Thomas later that same evening, apparently somehow evaded the worst of the storm, whereas the Gem and the Getaway ... ( Posting for/from our Sapphire friends: verbatim with permission, snipped certain sections & details, etc. ) - Last update on our cruise on the Gem ... had a surprisingly delicious dinner at La Cucina with decent service ( still room for improvement) ... expecting Gem to slow down overnight but we kept on top speed of almost 21 kgs. At exactly 0230 we passed the Verrazano Narrows Bridge ... pulled into Pier 88 at 0330. The ship was cleared at about 750 and our section ( yellow priority tags ) was called about 810. Customs was a breeze but there was face to face interview with US Customs ( not just going thru facial recognition ). We called our Car Service and was home by 930. ( Post-cruise, this is appearing to be fairly common & almost expected ) - - - - - had a sour throat then spread to a cold ( probably because we got soaked in Gibraltar and Lisbon. In fact many passengers were coughing on the Gem and may be less than 10% worn mask ( we did ). We will wait a few days and then test ourselves. Slightly off-topics: for our upcoming cruise next month, will be packing more than a little extra healthcare & wellness products into one of the packing cubes, just in case - ships are no longer stocking any OTC meds at the gift shops.

Nowadays, it seems NCL will send out those upgrade bids email much earlier than before (80 or 90 days) and you can place your (multiple ones, as you wish) bid offers once you see your reservation(s) on that system. Within the past month or so, I can attest and confirm, winning bids have been "awarded" at 3 weeks and 7 weeks pre-embarkation, much earlier than usual ... and those are poor to just barely, fair bids for balcony upgrades. YMMV. Happy, safe, warm and healthy holidays to all.