luv2kroooz

6 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

So it makes more sense to drop Grenada and lengthen the port times in Curacao and Antigua (for the full day excursions) and have a sea day steaming from Curacao and Antigua at reasonable speed to save fuel.

What would make even more sense is to recognize this at the itinerary planning stage. The distances to Grenada haven't changed in a meaningful way since the itinerary was created and published or while NCL collected revenue on this sailing. 

23 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

NCL has been sailing recently with ships close to capacity.  In cases where more than two persons occupy a stateroom, some ships have sailed with more than the rated capacity.  So far, their practices have not scared off more passengers than they have been able to attract.  It seems that NCL is following the advice attributed to P.T. Barnum, that there's a sucker born every minute.  As long as NCL can continue to attract newbies or those who do not object to last minute itinerary changes, they will continue to make those changes if they think that will net them more profit.

Undoubtedly true. The entire industry is experiencing record demand. I am so glad the other lines have not  adopted NCL's practices.

Just now, edspec said:

Well, they can do it, that doesn't mean everyone is going to sail with them.  It's a shame since I liked NCL but I'm not paying for a "surprise" cruise.  I was looking at their Asian and African itineraries last night and then thought nope, can't count on any of these stops, need to book with a more reputable company.  

Couldn't agree more. Our last two NCL cruises had multiple last minute changes for what I call matters of convenience - itinerary optimization, customer feedback,  etc. We caught on to their game. By the way, we support itinerary changes for safety reasons...unrest, weather, etc. 

Since that time, we have done one Princess and two Carnivals with a third on Carnival coming up next month. Fortunately, no itinerary changes due to matters of convenience. 

If you are truly committed to an itinerary, NCL is not your best choice. If you couldn't care less where you end up, then it might be a good, value-based option. Best way to vote on this is to take your business elsewhere. They can fill their ships with unsuspecting passengers or passengers that are indifferent to the itinerary they are purchasing. If we wanted to play  "guessing" games, we'd join the circus.

Sounds about right. Itinerary changes just a few weeks out to disrupt your plans, for your convenience, of course.

As long as they say they are working hard to deliver and then apologize, everything should be ok, right, lol?

If they were being truthful, the time for working hard and optimizing experiences should happen at the itinerary development stage before the cruise is published and before they collect money from 2,000 guests. It's the typical sell X but deliver Y. NCL has mastered it and they will continue to do it because they can.

NCL....No Complimentary Lobster.

If important to you, try Princess, Carnival or Royal. They all serve up decent, not outstanding, lobster for FREE.

vertoe.com

Hope this helps.

What everyone said above is accurate. In Galveston, we did not have to leave the ship. Customers came to us and processed us through while we were at our meeting point. Then, straight to the lobby for mimosas, which has since changed to a drink coupon.

Welcome to post-Covid NCL, with once a day stateroom service and cheap food included, for your convenience, of course. 

We've never experienced a dirty ship, though, with dirty public restrooms. It's been about 5 years since we sailed Gem, but we truly loved the layout of the Jewel class. Hope the next cruise goes better for you.

We had never been to Cannes, so we opted for the walking tour. Quite informative and free.

Also, you might have success posting your question in the ports of call forums on these messages boards. Have fun.

https://whattodoriviera.com/cannes-free-walking-tour/

14 minutes ago, DominicAUS said:

It’s about costing the cruises up and seeing the value for you. I’ve done many comparisons and NCL still comes out cheaper with a drinks package. I reckon I can swallow $20 whilst in port for a few drinks. As other have said, cruise lines are factoring this into the fare if not charging you. 
 

 

Interesting. We've had the opposite experience. If you can find a decent price base fare on Princess with some onboard credit, we think Princess beats NCL. 

We just did an 11 day. We bot the package onboard for $660 pp applied $300 pp of on board credit, which left us an out of pocket $360 pp, $33 per person per day, for daily gratuities, a far superior beverage package, gratuities on the beverage package, drink taxes included, and unlimited premium wifi. 

NCL is $20 daily gratuity, plus $21 beverage gratuity, plus whatever taxes they want to charge. But yes, if you make out better on NCL, you should crack on.

Edit. Base fare was interior for $698 plus $194 of port charges.

9 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

That is not true about competitors not collecting sales tax.  A few will pay the tax for the customer and not pass it along but those are the small minority.  I know Princess, Carnival and MSC charge the customer.

We sailed Princess from Brooklyn a few months ago. No add-on taxes passed on to passengers during the cruise or in Brooklyn. We always joke that NCL adopts a Spirit Airlines approach where there are a lot of little add ons.

We did it last year. Weather was unusually warm during the crossing and actually for all of our ports. We took good advantage of the Sapphire level free laundry service. We packed too much cool weather clothes and not enough shorts and t shirts.

1 hour ago, Davechipp74 said:

Really not trying to push a "narrative" as much as just making post. Some years ago my now ex wife and I were trying to get friends of ours to go on a N.Y. to L.A. cruise (17 days on NCL Jewel) they have never been on a cruise so they wanted to try one out first. They did a CTN out of Baltimore aboard Carnival, they came back with horror stories and videos, said they would never cruise again, and did not join us. Many videos on YT of cruises on Carnival I've seen of savage behavior, of all the worst videos I've seen aboard cruise ships, had one common thread (CCL)

Ok. That is cool. You are free to believe that about CCL. I mean you clearly have reason to. Just sayin' lots of posts that contradict that on CCL boards. I've read horror stories on these boards about every cruise line, and I've personally experienced them. They are the exception. I've yet to have a cruise on any line that was horrific. Happy cruising.

Great answer immediately above. Fog can be a real issue.

5 hours ago, Davechipp74 said:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRTSgrJn/

This was earlier today. Aboard the Freedom and not the first time it happened on the Freedom. Perhaps this would be a more true Carnival experience.

Well, Freedom doesn't do 3 days CTN from Baltimore....reported to be a lightning strike. Try again. This doesn't fit the narrative you are pushing.

Just now, BandAgain said:

Like beauty...true & false are in the eyes of the beholder. Everyone has an opinion (and an a-hole)...they are entitled to both.

.....still undefined, though.

2 hours ago, Davechipp74 said:

To get the true Carnival experience book a 3 day CTN out of Baltimore during spring break 😱 

Brilliant. Now we have an undefined "true" Carnival experience. What is the "false" Carnival experience????

1 minute ago, omahabob said:

 

10 days on Beyond out of Ft. Lauderdale.

 

My comment about Carnival was somewhat tongue in cheek. The atmosphere can change quite a bit from ship to ship on the same cruise line, or even from cruise to cruise, so there are no absolutes. But you'd have to be fairly blind and deaf to not know Carnival very much has that reputation, and there must be at least some measure of truth to it. There are no guarantees, bu the smart person plays the odds.

There is a lot of truth to it. Just go on a three four or five days cruise and you'll see it.

However, the question asked involves longer sailings from NYC. An informed cruiser picks their itineraries carefully to match the experience they desire.

You'll have a great time. We used to exclusively sail Carnival back in the day, then switched to NCL, but have now switched back to Carnival. We prefer longer itineraries on their newer ships If you are sailing out of NYC on the new Venezia, that ship is one of the most beautiful I have seen. It was designed for Costa originally. Also, if you are sailing out of NYC to the Caribbean, you'll be on a longer sailing which typically attracts a passenger base that is different from a 3 day cruise from Miami - less partying, less families.

Don't believe comments from confused members that don't sail Carnival about "partying hard" and being "drunk all day". I.mean there will definitely be opportunities for that as on any cruise line, but you can enjoy a classical trio, Latin band, movies up on deck, comedy shows, etc. something for everyone. Enjoy your cruise.

High end sipping tequilas at Blue Iguana and specialty sipping rums at Red Frog can be in excess of $20. 

No. That would be something new. Not sure  they have a legal right to keep port taxes for a port you never visited, especially if the taxes are assessed on a per passenger basis. Carnival either needs to turn the funds over to the ports or refund them to you.

We get a deli sandwich at lunchtime and then take it down to the mini fridge and enjoy it after midnight, if we are hungry ( or drunk, lol).

I don't know man,  too complicated for me to wrap my simple mind around. Still trying to understand why NCL needs $20 per day to make their model work. First world problems. Everyone have a good day.

34 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Could it be that NCL has a lower percentage of the crew's compensation being wages, and a higher percentage being DSC,

Yes, add that to list of hypotheticals. I think what you are saying, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, is that their wage expense is less and they can use the savings to do whatever they want with it.

Something doesn't add up for me. NCL charges the highest DSC in the industry on a per passenger basis. Why?

Do more NCL passengers remove the DSC requiring them to have a higher daily rate just to "make ends meet"?  Probably not.

Is NCL crew compensated better than industry standards? If true, why would anyone work on Carnival or Princess at a $16 per person per day rate?

Is a higher percentage of DSC retained by the company to offset non crew operating costs? Put another way, does NCL require it's passengers to pay a higher percentage of crew base salary, by shifting that cost to the customer?

What I know is the NCL DSC has reached a level that requires some more explanation. They, in theory, collect the most amount of DSC money in the industry. A family of four is now asked to pay $560 for a seven day cruise on NCL vs $448 on Princess or Carnival, for a similar service model. Princess offers twice daily stateroom service.