PATRLR

Sure, if it's not known when the passengers will arrive of course you don't wait. But in this case supposedly there were passengers in the terminal. "how long do you wait" - not so long that you are late to the next port. not so long that you need to burn excessive amounts of fuel to get to next port. Not all itineraries are that tight. Have you ever looked at tracking for a cruise you were on? It's not uncommon to see ships travelling in circles to kill time, or, slowing down to a crawl or near standstill. As I write above, I'm OK with leaving the pier to maintain schedule and to avoid excessive costs. But leaving late doesn't automatically mean either. Not necessarily. See what I wrote above.

Direct flights definitely can have change of equipment (get off one plane and walk to another). The only thing that makes a flight a "Direct Flight" is common flight number.

Well, maybe coinciding with removal of the beef entrees, they decide they better step up their game on the strip steak. One can hope. Or, maybe it's just different sourcing.

So are you saying that you also wouldn't want the ships departure delayed? May I ask why? I'm not trying to be argumentative here with you or the other two posters. I'm genuinely curious as to why anyone cares when the ship pulls away from the pier. For me, I'd guess that on most of our recent cruises the only reason I'd even known we left was when I felt the ship moving and in the case of Miami, that would usually be well after the breakwaters. NOTE: If delayed departure would mean delayed arrival at next port, I am 100% in agreement. But no one has said that would be the case here.

I'm a bit surprised to read these statements. I wouldn't care about a delay in departure so long as it didn't equate to a delay arriving at the next port (which no one has mentioned). Delay arriving next port, I'm with you for sure. Delay leaving Miami? Who cares, I'm on the ship, I've got my drink, I'm good. Then you probably never met a union nurse.

Yes, there is a strip steak on the "classic" menu. The problem is twofold: 1. If you want to eat beef, it appears your only complimentary MDR option is the strip steak 2. That strip steak is absolutely awful. It's so bad they have to drown it in an overly salted gravy just to give it some taste.

Yeah, we have Antoines for another night which is why we were trying for something else. Really wanted Commanders Palace for brunch but didn't realize you need to reserve that, seemingly, months in advance. thanks for your feedback.

I'll be in NOLA this Saturday (April 6) and was thinking it might be nice to do outside dining with a view. Thinking of something like Tableau over looking Jackson Square. The weather report calls for Saturday daytime high of 78 and evening low of 58. Any sense for weather that would be comfortable dining outside? If we can't dine with a view, there are probably better choices, which is why I'm struggling a bit with this and looking for experiences,

Oh my, I did not expect this - 2nd night with no beef entree. I'll stop commenting now and just wait till the end to count up the score. I sure hope it doesn't turn out to be no beef entrees on any night.

12:30 is kind of a late arrival. I might be inclined to taxi direct from the pier to DIVI and then when coming back take taxi to Phillipsburg and do your walk.

I don't understand. Does it take more time for them to add fewer items to the dessert? What am I missing? (Please don't tell me these sundaes are pre-made)

That would be so sad.

I know this came up elsewhere, but there it is - the only beef option is the New York Strip "steak" from the everyday menu. I'll be interested in seeing just how many days they don't offer a beef dish.

Funny, I was thinking 1/20 of a percent or 1/2000. But on closer reading, I think your assessment is more correct (or, as more correct as one can be regarding a clearly erroneous statement).

They are generally available long before 120 days. People have purchase them a year or more before their cruise date. (perhaps you are confusing dining reservations which are 120 for most people)

Yes, thank you (and I did see that). Of course "1 in 20 chance of dying on the job" is a much different stat than "1 in 20 percent of dying every time he boards a ship".

Well, my uncle's small grocery store and butcher shop would do it if he was there. Heck, he was even known to drive back to the store to help someone out if they desperately needed something. But my uncle's store and NCL are two very different things which is exactly why it's a poor analogy.

I don't suppose you have a source for this claim? I'm pretty sure you don't and I doubt it's even remotely close to true. If it were true, then that would mean 1 out of every 20 ship boardings would result in a death. Even if you meant to say 1/20th or 1%, that would still be 1 out of every 2000 boardings resulted in death. I'd be surprised if anyone on these boards has ever heard of a pilot dying while boarding a ship they were a passenger on. Probably 100s of thousands of pilot boardings - anyone ever hear of a pilot dying while boarding?

Fair point. If we were talking a well developed western country, I might be less inclined to believe a CG got involved. Considering where this happened, I envision the CG consisting of exactly 1 boat, the captain of which is also the overall commander of the CG and able to make such decisions to get involved and eager to help (and maybe looking for any excuse to actually do something with his boat and crew).

I would be shocked if the PA wasn't involved here. I would be shocked if the CG got involved without the PA's involvement. But as you said, no one mentions the PA, so, we don't know.

Why wouldn't the port agent have handed over the passports if they were indeed being brought back to the boat? (Not that I believe they were. I suspect the CG offered to bring them out and the ship said "no")

What are you quoting? Those words are not in the article referenced by OP. The article stated that NCL customer service said that. I thinks it's very plausible that NCL CS would say such a thing: We sent emails to NCL, the NCL customer service emergency number, they said ‘Well, the only way for us to get in touch with the ship is to send them emails, they’re not responding to our emails, I do agree there is more to this story.

@Oddsbet1029 As others have stated, these are legitimate offers. That being said, mistakes happen. We did have one case where the prepaid gratuities message didn't make it to the ship and they tried to charge us on board. I had printed copies of my invoices and receipts clearly showing gratuities included. I showed those to the customer care folks on board and the issue was quickly resolved.

Please stop saying this. It serves only to confuse people, especially in situations like this one where OP is asking if an offer might be legitimate. Regardless of your thoughts on this topic, there are most definitely Travel Agents who advertise PrePaid Gratuities or similar terms that are not "Daily Service Charge" or whatever formal term NCL is using today.

It probably has nothing to do with number of cruises. It might be something like your onboard spending habits, maybe they were targeting people who spend less than you do typically on board. Or maybe targeting people who spend or don't spend in/on specific venues. It could be geographic - they might be targeting people who live in specific areas. There are limitless ways these things can be targeted.