Medtech2

This might come off a bit wrong for some and I don't intent to be rude but I really don't get all the fuzz about how other people decide to wear at dinner. I do my people watching at the atrium or at the bars but at dinner I'm usually concentrated on either the food or on conversation with my DW. Someone could come in a thong to the dinning room and other than maybe laugh at it for a moment I wouldn't care. It's not gonna make my food taste any better or worse. But everyone's got their preference. That's just mine.

This. I’ve been reading the incessant beating the dead horse unwilling to agree to disagree posts here while thinking “gee, I never notice these things because I’m only concerned with DH and my food.”

Yes, years ago a couple booked an inside guaranty and ended up in a suite. I’ve only heard of that one time, though....and now with this bidding sham/process I doubt it would ever happen again.

We toured with one of Blexie's cars and our driver was extremely cautious and excellent. The street lights all have timers counting down and he would stop even when there were still a few seconds left of green. I have never felt safer. There were no crazy drivers that I ever saw.

The newer cars you see are all government owned. The regular people, by Cuban law, cannot own a car newer than 1959. The busses I saw in passing were super crowded and run down looking. I would not hesitate to tour with one of Blexie's drivers.

What was your incentive to cruise exclusively NCL to get to Platinum?

well, first, when we started cruising Kevin S was in charge and the customer service we received was so outstanding we just kept coming back. Staff actually recognized us years later on different ships and sought us out to say hello. A CD actually ran down a gang plank to hug me good bye. Stewards were highly visible and all of them on a floor would be calling out hello to us, not just our own. The overall experience, at least for us, was far superior to the experiences we had on Carnival. Prices were reasonable also. So soon it was very realistic to say, gee, I want to get to Platinum for the free laundry and the BTS tour. Not a big deal per se, but the very personalized experience we enjoyed was great. I also had a goal of cruising every ship just for the fun of collecting the ship pins. Those are now gone also.

fast forward to now and the customer service is not there. Staff has been cut so that there are no visible stewards. They work very specific hours, they're not around and are either poorly trained or so overworked there is no service to match previous levels. The next tier Platinum Plus is so far up in points needed for minimal extra benefit. For those who haven't cruised until recently they wouldn't know the difference but I can say the experience now matches the experience we have gotten on Carnival when it comes to staff, So, IMO we may as well branch out and Carnival ships are either in our own back yard or within driving distance so the cost difference for the trip is even greater

Do you know if I need to do it before we get on the ship? and any chance I can get her email address to see if she have a opening when I will be in Cuba?

I had to call my PCC before we cruised and tell him I wanted them to handle my visa. I never saw an option to add it on line. Filling out that form on line does not mean they will get you a visa. That form is for our government, not Cuba’s. He told me you had to specifically request it and since it was past final payment I had to pay for it right then.

This makes no sense to me. Did you get to platinum for the status rather than the perks? Because now that you are platinum you get the perks on every single sailing. Go to Carnival and you won't have the free laundry, free dinners, etc.

There is no incentive to keep cruising exclusively NCL to get to Platinum Plus. I don’t know why people are latching onto the first part of the sentence without reading the rest. It was a simple comment alluding to the fact that more and more NCL is de-incentivizing the desire to stick with them exclusively, including pricing their drink package at a ridiculous level.

And this is coming from a former gung-ho NCL cheerleader. I have been a walking NCL commercial for the last 8 years.

This makes zero sense to me. You cruised with NCL in a quest for better loyalty perks, but once you became eligible for those perks, you no longer want them?

 

Based on that logic, I understand your desire for Carnival. And don’t ask me what that means... as I have no idea.

If you read the whole sentence what I said was there is no reason to keep cruising to get to the next level. When we began cruising it was easy enough to reach a level with perks worth having, such as the free laundry and specialty meals. I never said I did not want those perks anymore. And yes, I did enjoy Carnival’s drink package much better, with its $50/drink limit where you could actually try something expensive, and its specialty coffees every morning, along with bottles of Gatorade to take on shore. If I looked at just price I wouldn’t be buying any package. What I want is the freedom to enjoy tasting different drinks without the added bother and the freedom to not finish one I don’t like and order a different one, without thinking about added cost, in much the same way prepaying gratuities makes people stress less about their cruise. Whether they prepaid or didn’t the cost is the same but psychologically they feel more relaxed that evrything is taken care of ahead of time....

I picked up cell service from Digicell while at Harvest Caye. I believe any time the ship is docked their cell at sea is turned off.

Highest daily cost, but still no water included. At least they could have finally included water like the other lines.

and coffee....on Carnival we also got coffees, water, gatorade, etc...

Not to mention pretty horrible drink package with not much of anything included as compared to other cruise line's drink packages.

Now that we are Platinum there is such a wide difference in points there is no incentive for us to keep cruising NCL to get to Platinum Plus.

Carnival looks better every day....

This is my first cruise with the platinum dining perk. I am doing a back to back on the Dawn. I will be solo on the first cruise and my husband is joining me for the second cruise. Is it possible to save the 2 dinner coupons from the first cruise and use them on the second cruise? It would be so much nicer to be able to share the dinners with my husband than dining solo.

You could ask the F & B Manager during your Meet & Greet. If it’s possible he would know. Everything is computerized so it might not be, or it might be able to be overridden. If not I’d probably ask someone on the Roll Call to join.

Our next cruise in February will also be our first one as platinum. It is 14 days. I'm pretty sure we will only get the two comp dinners. I know you cannot make reservations before you sail but can you make reservations on boarding day?

You can make reservations before you sail, just like everyone else. If you want an a la carte restaurant like Cagney’s you won’t need to pay ahead of time. If you pick Moderno you would be charged at the time you make the reservation but it would be refunded when you use your certificate.

Old thread, pardon the pun

You should know you do NOT have to buy the NCL insurance, don’t you? NCL insurance will not necessarily cover your travel to and from the cruise, or any hotel. Insuremytrip is a great place to start. I personally use Allianz because I like their customer service and they cover everything from travel to and from to hotel to cruise.

You can ask for both bar soap and conditioner. And they’ll resupply the lotion. Personally I did not care for the smell of the Bulgari that we received in the Haven the one time we were in a Haven suite. I did like the “regular” stuff we just used in a regular OV on the Sun. If you don’t like the Bulgari, ask for the other...

I think you can pull up each end of the carton and pull or tear the top, but yes, silly to remove the straws

My grandma wouldn’t let my grandpa out of the house in jeans let alone ripped ones..

 

 

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My father is 90 and has never owned a pair of jeans or jean shorts in his life, I really can’t imagine what he’d look like. He even did yard work in old slacks and Corfams....

If a port is a first for you I would suggest an excursion of some sort, or at least look up an actual walking tour. For us we tend to miss things if we don’t plan. We’ve tried wandering and I always feel like I’ve missed something.

I was recently on the Sun with 30 free minutes from Platinum and they would not let me upgrade. I guess that’s a different animal.

My answer to my own child would be bring them but have a back up. On my recent cruise my dressy sandals were killing me so I wore dollar store flip flops with my maxi dress because I figured they looked better than tennies. I was fully prepared to eat somewhere else though. On another cruise DH had to go get long pants on as he was stopped with nice Bermuda shorts.

It is SO much fun when done on deck but can be way too loud, crowded and lame when done indoors.

I have been wondering if class cruising is coming back? That is are we as a society going back to first class, second class, and steerage. With the increase in perks for suites, haven, restricted areas becoming the norm are we that far away from separate dinning, pool area etc.

Not sure of my feelings on this, just wondering what others are thinking

It never left, and it’s all based on money on a cruise ship. Real class has nothing to do with it. There certainly is not a caste system. You bring money to the table you get the “class” perks. I certainly don’t have a problem with that. It has nothing to do with actual class. There are rich people and poor people and everything in between just as there are people with class and those who do not have class. There is absolutely no cause and effect here. Societally speaking those with true class make all those around them feel at ease, no matter their circumstance, and do not flaunt whatever it is they may have.

And I apologize for going off on a tangent, lol.

Someone mentioned a future where you have Lido, MDR and Haven passengers. Anyone would have the ability to cruise in any of these depending on wants and needs. If it was a port intensive cruise I would most certainly choose Lido. My goal one day is to do a transatlantic in the Haven. Attainable if I ever bother to save enough for it....

Yes - you might have to chase them for it if you need a receipt with a registered massage therapist or similar. I tried acupuncture while on a 14 day cruise. I asked for a receipt with the name/registration number of the person that treated me. Was told it was coming but had to ask a couple of times. Finally showed up on the second to last day in my cabin. It was detailed with all procedures, the name and number of the person that treated me. My insurance reimbursed me for most of it.

Our insurance denied it because they said the doctor wasn’t registered in our state. I gave up fighting them....

Ok, thanks so much for the help!

Our guide took us to a store that had rum, cigars and coffee. The prices were pretty much the same wherever we went, I think set by the government. Be prepared as the stores are crowded with tourists and the service quick, meaning it was confusing. They have all price points. We bought the 7 year and Anejo Havana Club rum and a $50 5 cigar sampler pack for our son but there were less expensive packs. Don’t buy off the street as you may be getting old butts rerolled :eek:

There was assigned dinner seating, smoking was allowed everywhere, our cabin had metal bunks and cash was used....and it was filled with really old people. I remember looking at the Carnival ship docked next door with music blasting wishing I was there, lol. Now I think NCL is more fun.