pghflyer

I can't imagine booking it unless there were a LOT of sea days (I booked during a transatlantic with 8 sea days out of 13), otherwise I am out and busy in ports.

I just paid $359 for 13-night pass on Bliss (will be my first time ever in an NCL thermal suite). I saw the disclaimer about 20% service charge, but it wasn't charged on my bill and can't imagine them asking me for 20% later.

I found this walk-through video helpful: 

8 hours ago, kcjonesy said:

Jan 4 2025 Panama Canal on the Jade

NCL informed us today that they were changing 3 ports and dropping another....  

Can you share your letter that you received in the thread that tracks these types of changes?

I hear you and don't know the answer but that is one logical way of approaching it. To be clear, I was more referring to the beverage package service charges, which may/may not be handled the same as OSC........all conjecture.

Lots of conjecture that none of us really know (and I am not taking the word of randos talking to randos on the ship).....it would be very easy to program allocating a flat or percentage amount to the person who charges your drink.  I know our bartender who we were with for 14 days on Star said that they do get "credit" (whatever that means) for our drinks so it does help if we go to the bartenders we like and not stop somewhere else......fwiw (I wouldn't believe me either ha ha)

14 minutes ago, CelticWheels said:

I may be wrong but I was under the impression that bar staff weren't included in the DSC as some customers didn't want their money going towards serving alcohol.

 

(For info I'm from the UK and the whole tipping thing drives me mad, just pay the staff properly and charge me accordingly.)

Apologies from this American for our refusal to pay people a living wage and making people grovel for tips to survive.....and then spreading this terrible practice worldwide.  

DSC does NOT go to bar staff.....but if you bought a FAS/MAS package with alcohol included, then those large charges on your bill for that package were a 20% service charge for that service. 

I'm on vacation, so I am not going to worry about how NCL distributes my service charge funds - that is between them and the employees. I will continue to give extra cash gratuities where I feel I received extra service above what I expect at their 20% service charge fee.

Interesting the fees for specialty dining and beverage package are now called "Price" and not a "20% Gratuity" of the previous value......but the FAQ still indicates that the "price" covers their gratuities.

I definitely give extra to bartenders for excellent service BUT I certainly do expect that they are already getting a base gratuity from my 20% fee.

So looking at some itineraries I have been watching for a few months (and haven't changed in price).....my total bill has gone up about 2.5% to 2.90% (appx $200-$300) on all itineraries (all 12+nights) for BF entry level balcony cabins. 

So for that increased cost....I get 2 more specialty dining, a little more flexibility on drinks, and lose half our WIFI minutes.  All told, not a positive but also not a huge change either.  Just disappointed they didn't use this opportunity to make bigger changes.

I am not sure how the "more minutes per stateroom" is really that at all.........other than for people with 3+ people in the room, now the "kids" get some minutes of their own too.  But otherwise, it is the same for couples on sailings up to 11 nights....and then a reduction of HALF for 12+ night sailings.   As someone who almost exclusively does 12+ night itineraries....I would rather have the double WIFI we have now rather than 2 more specialty dining nights.  I suppose the cost of buying an additional 150 minutes per person is probably cheaper than buying 2 additional specialty dining per person so perhaps still better for those who either (1) don't use Internet at all or (2) typically buy unlimited anyhow.  The whole allocation of minutes is overall not relaxing/ vacationish anyhow having to log-in/ log-out, count your minutes, etc. No one else is doing this micromanagement of minutes to their guests.

Holland (Have it All) and Princess (Princess Plus) both include Specialty Coffee, Bottled Water, Unlimited WIFI, and Free Gratuities in their packages, and I think those items are sorely missing for NCL (which is closer to those 2 than Carnival).

ugh that is a rough change and certainly they knew about their fuel plan and any island ship limitations prior to final payment.  On the other hand, at least for Bonaire, the original 6 hours total in port (which is really probably 4-5 once they let people off and cut time for all aboard) was pretty weak as advertised anyhow.

6 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Does anybody here actually go to a specialty restaurant and pay ala carte prices?  I'm sure some first time cruisers without FAS (i.e. sailaway fares) do, but for every ten here who complain about the ridiculous prices, I doubt one actually pays them.  We all use FAS, latitudes vouchers and, if those aren't enough, additional purchased specialty dining credits.

I agree, hard to imagine anyone sane paying the "ala carte" prices but.....my spouse and I often travel with a single friend, all of us Sapphire.  By one of us being their "guest" on the 2-person Sapphire meals....we end up with a final meal all three of us can attend by just purchasing one additional cover charge. Still barely a good price (IMO as a budget spender) with such reasonable food available for free, but it is a nicer experience and only $24 each when split three ways.

20 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

$76 US

From $71 today ($59 plus 20%)

Goodness I feel dumb, I have always been a little envious about how many cruises "Dorothy" and "Bill" were on and that they were so popular they had special rooms for all their friends. Ugh I hope the clandestine naming was done at the request of the participants because otherwise that feels very 1950s.

IDK, I am less concerned with the beer than the number of people who refuse to shower before using spa and sauna facilities in general.  Just went to a number of these in Iceland and couldn't believe how many people (they were all Americans) don't bother to shower at all, even though it is clearly shared and noted everywhere.

FWIW just looked at my transatlantic (8 sea days) on Bliss and the 13 day pass is $359...so to my mind (very unlikely to go on port days), that makes this $45 per day in a BEST case scenario (I actually want to and do end up going every single sea day).....

NCL can't help if this dynamic situation has changed since they created the itinerary.....perhaps they didn't share their decision as timely as they could IDK and they aren't sharing when they realized they wouldn't be doing it the way it was sold....but they CAN choose to not force all their customers to stay with an itinerary they didn't book and no longer want. 

Changing of an embark or disembark should really trigger the option for a cancel/ refund. Yes, I know their contract may protect them otherwise...but things that legal aren't always the right way to do things.  This is different but similar from earlier this summer when initially some of the cruise lines (not NCL) in Baltimore would not allow customers to cancel when their embark/ disembark port was changed to Norfolk (5 hours away).  This wasn't the cruise line fault, but didn't make you feel good about how they were treating their customers either. Eventually I think all relented and unofficially did allow cancel/ refunds.  If an airline knows in advance that they cannot get you to the destination you booked, they are required to let you cancel for a refund. Shame it doesn't translate here and they aren't motivated to do the right thing for their customers.

Just now, Panhandle Couple said:

Just a guess, but not too many ships can get from Halifax to France in 18 hrs, (while losing 6 hours along the way) then make it back to Newfoundland in 12 hours (although you gain the 6 hours back).

Ha ha true but France has island territory in the area.....:)

Really a shame about St. Pierre & Miquelon as that is a rare and unique port. At least they did it before final payment was due.

The biggest thing you can control is choosing to go when there will be longer / darker nights - so i the northern hemisphere (for northern lights), that means trying to avoid May - August.  This will increase your chances significantly....the rest is pure luck (clouds, solar storms, ship lighting). 

We just got off NCL Star and saw Northern Lights in Iceland, they even have a TV channel that you can tune to in the evening and it will stay (relatively) dark and no sound unless the lights are available and then it will alert you.  We found that even with the TV backlight and brightness at Zero, it was still distracting to our sleep....but it did work.  

Assume you know you very rarely can see the lights with your native eyes and will really only see the colors via your cell phone. Otherwise they just look kind of cloudy/ hazy........FWIW

yeah unfortunate just looked at a 2026 sailing and they only offer a Drinks Inclusive option with no mention of WIFI anywhere.

Yup, the ship culture is different (and what we like), but it is used to be a little higher level quality (think Target instead of Walmart), but I feel like in the last 2-years they have cut quality back to Wal-Mart (still have the nice differentiating culture though) while raising prices since we all keep buying every cabin on every ship anyhow.

5 hours ago, Viajera7 said:

Perk for higher tiers like Back Stage Tour, Dinner with the Officers, 2 Specialty Dinners, etc. I think they need to add something extra for Diamonds.

Great point, the status program is far ahead of any I have seen up through Platinum level with really substantive and valuable perks at an achievable threshold.........but once you hit Platinum, then you have to cruise DOUBLE (75 more nights, Sapphire) just to achieve a mere Dinner with Officers (no thanks), then DOUBLE (200 more nights, Diamond) again to achieve a Mixology Experience (I have free drinks already, meh, and how many times will I do this?) and a one-time one-category cabin upgrade (worth what $500-$1000?), then DOUBLE (350 more nights, a whole year!!!, Ambasador) again to get a one-time 7-day balcony cruise (maybe about $2-3K?).  

Platinum is still comparable to a lot of the higher levels in other programs, but definitely it seems like they don't make much of an extra effort to award you after those 75 Platinum nights.

1) No real dress code

2) Real free dining times (the RCL version on their smaller ships....all I have tried....is terrible)

3) All inclusive packages

4) More unique itineraries and ports