PATRLR

And that looks like real gingerbread. Assuming it is, this is great to see, putting crew skills on display. I think it would have been easy to put a reusable plastic display together but they opted for something genuine, something that will be different every year. Very nice.

I don't know why you say that. Early this year we came very close to booking a sail-away rate becuase we don't drink all that much (my wife drinks very little). Had we done that, one of the things I likely would have purchased (if it was available) would be a shot of Bailys to go with my coffee after dinner.

I spoke to the Beverage Manager who was walking around on Encore. He said it was a cutback to limit the number of different brands they were carrying.

@Deacon22 So, yes, there is an additional charge coming. Each day on the cruise you will get a charge of $X per person and $X is going to go up. You can avoid seeing $X on your bill by prepaying the DSC. And, added bonus, if you prepay the DSC, you will avoid the increase.

No - that's the Cruise Next folks.

That was my plan once too. The first couple days of the cruise were uneventful but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and I could see a little out of my left eye, and my leg was healed enough that I could leave the room under my own power. I still have some difficulty when I pee though .....;) (Obviously stolen and paraphrased from a well known joke)

Thanks for this observation. It's becoming clear to me that what's happened here is that the staff has been given permission to stop serving these mixed shots and such. Key words being "given permission". Probably as part of their ongoing improvement processes, they have heard from their staff that the mixed shots take a lot of time and are demanding of the staff. Their jobs would be so much easier if they didn't have to make them. And NCL being the good employer that they are has obliged and told them they don't have to make the shots. The problem is, that puts us, the cruiser in an awkward position. Do I ask or not? If I ask, does that now put the server in an awkward position of saying no? What if the server tells me "no", but Gary (who gave him a nice tip) asks for the same thing? Now what? That's no way to run a railroad, either allow them or not.

A quick Google search tells us that agency is Laura Gould and Kevin Norman, and they apparently work out of their raised ranch home in Enfield CT. DBs.

If you are actually looking for it, check the A-list bar, deck 8 between Cagneys and Los Lobos. Thats where I found it on Encore a couple weeks ago.

Agreed. The idea of lowering service is what I refer to as nickle and diming on the expense side of the ledger. In other words they aren't trying to get more nickels and dimes from us, they are trying to save nickels and dimes from being spent. I think we're going to see that the ban on mixed shots is nothing more than a cost savings - less liquor and less work for the bartenders (e.g. maybe they can reduce the Vibe crew from three to two).

Not surprised. I don't think I've ever seen a reasonable liquor price in a ships store, let alone a good deal.

Just beware that if you ask for a shot of Baileys for your coffee, you are likely to get the imposter they have at most of the bars - and they won't tell you. Hopefully they won't charge your for Baileys. Might be OK for most people in their coffee, but for me I only use about 1/2 the shot and I drink the rest straight. I hate that imposter junk. On encore last month the only bar I saw Baileys in was the A-List, but I didn't do an exhaustive search.

When you get on board, while you still have land based cell coverage, if you don't have something in your room indicating the DSC is covered, I suggest calling the TA again. We had a simialr circumstance and at the edn of the cruise when we borught it up and presented our paperwork documenting that the DSC was suppsoed to be paid, I am pretty sure Guest Services did what they would do if we asked for the DSC to be removed. I was not happy and wished I'd addressed it earlier in the cruise. @chengkp75 gave an excellent description of how the staff is compensated and how the DSC factors into it. This was within the last month. The staff does receive a variable component of their compensation based on the DSC. Based on Chengkp75's description, I am comfortable that the DSC is a reasonable replacement for the weekly envelope (tips) that we used to have. As far as I am concerned, the DSC IS the weekly expected tip for room stewards and waiters. Yes you can do it. Many here will object to doing so because supposedly you would then be leaving back of the house staff out of the tip pool. As I wrote above, chengkp75 (a former NCL onboard staffer) explained how the DSC does in fact fund the staffs variable component (tips) of their compensation.

How are they lost revenue? These are non refundable fares, the airlines aren't losing anything and probably filling the seats with standbys after the ticketed passenger doesn't check-in in a timely manner. You really think the airlines have time for such things? Wow. If they were issuing refundble tickets, I suppose the airlines might have some interest in penalizing NCL for no-shows. Maybe. It's a stretch, IMO. But they aren't refundable tickets. The penalty for no-shows is the airline gets to keep the money for that ticket.

Absolutely not, why would they? If you got stuck in traffic, delayed and missed your flight, does the airline call you to ask what happened? I've missed more flights than I can count and no one ever followed dup with me or anyone else. They really don't care, unless it's part of a multi flight ticket in which case they will cancel the subsequent legs. I wouldn't hesitate to do what I suggested.

Does the Breakaway have the Starbucks machines in the Buffet?

I don't understand why you are talking to NCL about canceling that outbound flight. You said upthread you were on two different airlines. So there is zero risk of your return flight be cancelled if you no-show the outbound. Just don't show up - it's no different than if you got stuck in traffic, you lose that ticket. No reason to say anything to NCL, they will never know and they really have no reason to care. Buy yourself an outbound flight that gives you peace of mind and fly on that ticket. Your return will be the NCL purchased ticket.

For me, it's not about the money. I just find it really annoying to have these little charges every time you turn around when we're supposedly on an all inclusive vacation. And some are truly annoying - If I want a Baileys, I have to sign a slip for a $1.20 extra charge when supposedly I have a "premium" beverage package. I find that to be annoying. If I always used to be able to get coffee in my room and now I need to pay for it, that's annoying. Is it going to chase me from NCL? Of course not for any individual charge. But the culture of finding every way possible way to increase onboard spend does have us looking and one of our next cruises will be on a different line.

Cruisemapper has Encore at Amber Cove on Dec 21. The Amber Cove web page shows two Carnival ships there on Dec 21. The pier at AC fits two ships. Sorry to say, it's probably going to be vague until NCL tells you where they plan to go. My sailing on Encore on Nov 13, we were notified by letter in our stateroom on embarkation, although I suspected a change to AC because it was on their web page.

Why do I feel like I just watched a teacher correcting an exam?

I apologize if I missed this as I only scanned the first few pages of this thread. I can see that Viva arrives in NYC on November 27. I don't see any sailings from New York that I can book, and the next bookable cruise is Dec 6 out of Miami. Is it safe to assume that between November 27 and December 6 will be private cruises and/or repositioning to Miami? We want to book the first public US sailing and it appears that will be Dec 6 out of Miami. Did I miss anything?

And note my language: "they are at least in part gratuities"

I haven't. I'm not a fan of the burgers so don't have them often (they cook them too well for my liking). But, I will grab one when it's hand food that I want. And inevitably I end up with a pile of crumbs and broken bun all around me.

I see they still have clam shells, I assume there is still a charge for them? Booked through the excursion desk and able to use your excursion credit like on Great Stirrup Cay?

Is this in the Prima's observation lounge?