khaide612

As a new cruiser, need advice. Booked through Expedia. Our balcony cabin has dropped $100 each for our May 14th cruise. Is there a way to get something from NCL (OBC, ??) due to this price reduction? 45 days out.

Since you didn't book through NCL, you would have to contact the company you booked through to see what they will offer.

What happens if you don't use all of the onboard credit you receive. Do they refund you that at the end of the cruise or is it lost?

Don't think of it as an onboard credit - it offsets the costs of the voucher(s).

You can book the Harvest Caye zipline as an excursion onboard & absolutely use your OBC toward it.

You are replying to posts from 2012

Another spin on the subject, this $18.99 per day "discretionary daily service charge" equates to approximately 20% tip on a 4 day Sky cruise at $399 (someone can check my math if they like). We usually tip 20% when we go out to dinner, where a waiter waits on us, but not when we got to a buffet. If we are sitting at a bar and just order drinks, I usually throw the bartender a $1 for bring us a couple drinks, but it's not 20%. If you went to Golden Corral or the Golden China for a buffet dinner, and they automatically added a 20% tip, you would be ok with that when all they did is clear your plates and bring you water? If you eat at the specialty restaurants, you get charged another 18% gratuity, they are double dipping on the tipping! Not a fan of forced tipping, if they are going to automatically charge you $18.99 per day, just add it to the price of the cruise and call it a day! Just food for thought.

Comparing apples and chocolate. The DSC isn't just for dining & drink service staff. It's also for the room stewards and behind the scenes people. Unless they stopped servicing cabins on the Sky & I missed that? I think the Sky increase is to account for the all-inclusive like how people on other ships that get the UBP have to pay the 18% gratuity.

And just to clarify, I would rather they just included it in the cruise fare.

For those of you who say you received no notification, who did you book with? I'm booked for August and received a notice last week.

Funny story I sent the notice to the rest of my family who are traveling & explained that for our 7-day cruise it was an increase of $3.43 per person total so $6.86 per couple. The next day my sister went to see her in-laws who are booked on a separate NCL cruise. Her father-in-law was ranting about how they increased the service fees and he'll probably never sail with them again. She says, "You know it works out to $3.43 per person on a 7-day cruise right? So $6.86 for the two of you?" He's like, "Ummm, oh. I thought it was way more."

Cruising solo, prepaying only saves me $3.43 so I'm not in a rush to prepay as I'd rather put that money toward some bill that is charging me interest.

Yes they are free and you take a tender from the ship to their private island.

There is no tender at Harvest Caye - the ships dock so you can walk off and on the ship the whole time you are there. The walk is not even 10 minutes though it looks longer & is covered (shaded). Also, there are carts to transport those who can't do the walk.

From the Free at Sea Terms & Conditions...

I think the 18% for dining & drinks is added into your jacked up Suite cruisefare so don't worry about it. If they went over & above & you want to give more, do so.

Your room steward cleans and services your cabin. Your butler will take care of things like snacks and room service, etc. I've left ships without giving the concierge a penny as they did nothing for me and where I gave a really nice tip as they facilitated some things.

There is no set amount. Tip what you feel comfortable tipping and what make sense in the circumstances of your trip - not some standard that you read about in CC. :)

Sadly, there is No longer the famous White Hot Party night. The Kevin Sheehan "Wings" have been replaced by a South Beach Style GLOW Party. Everyone is still encouraged to wear white but it is a glow stick thump thump thump energetic "beat only" type party, and when they do play an older "Disco" recognized song, it is only on for about 20 seconds, then the music (if I want to call it that) reverts back to the thump thump thump over synthesized beat.

The Glow Party is on the newer classes of ships (Epic, Aways, Escape, Bliss). White Hot Party is still going strong on others.

As others have said, check out the ports of call board. Also, just do some internet searches of activities in those ports. I did this itinerary in January and I would say get an excursion in Roatan. We didn't book anything there and just wandered in the port area shops. As others have said, Harvest Caye is a free beach/pool day - you pay for food and beverage but there are free water stations positioned around.

I highly recommend Maya Chan in Costa Maya. It's a private excursion you book through them and includes transportation, open bar, food, private seating area for your group. It's a beach day and they offer 1/2 hour or hour massages that are amazing and cheap!!

In Cozumel we went to Tulum. The ferry ride was the worst part of our whole trip. People got sick. It was so rough. We asked and the crew was like "oh this is normal." But then talking to each other they said it was the worst they ever experienced.

Everyone in a room needs to be there to check in. I don't think there is a way around that part.

Is this new? I've never had a problem checking in separately from people I was sharing a cabin with.

I'm sure OP knows since you're not the first to suggest what should have been done. I feel badly that anyone would have to start a cruise by running to the concierge or housekeeping or GS. It's really not the nicest situation to be put in and really would put a damper on your vacation.

However, the scariest part is the possibility of the germs that would be left behind by someone else.

Breakaway Haven 2-bedrooms are in the Haven. There are phone numbers for the butler, steward, concierge plus there are usually staff in the halls - especially on embarkation day. 1 phone call to the steward to ask him/her to correct the problem. As someone said earlier, he/she may have been in the middle of cleaning and got called away & forgot. Give them the benefit of the doubt and let them fix the problem before escalating to the concierge but don't wait 24 hours in a potentially germ infested cabin.

You haven't spoken to guest services or the steward? Wait. So you boarded yesterday, found your room filthy, cleaned up yourself with hydrogen peroxide wipes, stayed in the room, slept in the bed, used the bathroom (and towels). Why would you sleep in that bed knowing the rest of the room wasn't cleaned? You suspected the towels were used & just left kept using them? Now that I've recapped do you understand why people think your story isn't real?

First thing I would have done would be talk to the room steward and if nothing corrected then the concierge or guest services.

It doesn't work like that. It's pure supply and demand. No single supplement deals, are most always with late bookings. Sometimes just days ahead. This is what I book and have been very successful with. If you can late book, and are flexible, you shouldn't have much problem finding these deals.

 

I suggest, doing a same/next month search on the advance search on the NCL website, and put in 1 passenger. See what comes up.

THIS!

Figure out where & when & what ship you want & keep an eye on the prices. Book when it looks like a good deal. I knew I was going to sail on the Jewel a particular prime summer week with family awhile back and kept watching and scored on what I think was a glitch in the system with a no single supplement Interior Guarantee - wound up getting upgraded to Obstructed Oceanview. Last February on the Breakaway in the weeks leading up to sailing, there was no solo supplement and balconies were cheaper than studios.

Call and ask. Last year before the bidding I was booked in a studio and because balconies were selling for less than studios with no solo supplement they would not upgrade me - they could sell a balcony to 2 people for less than trying to find a solo to book my studio. But there were studios left on that sailing. :/

I think you are looking too far into this situation. If you are in connecting rooms you shouldn't be split up at check-in unless one of you is booked as casino or platinum or something and has a separate line but even so - don't go on that line. Just all go check in together at the counter. Then if there is any question you are right there. I think grandparents take kids all the time without problems but if you are worried write a letter.

I think the $5/day social media package is on Carnival. NCL has internet packages that you can purchase or you can pay by the minute or MB depending on the ship.

I've a question... I've only stayed in the studio on Breakaway once a few years ago and last year I was on the Epic in a studio. The Epic has the changing lights in the studio but I don't recall that on the Breakaway. Did I just miss it or is that one of the additional unique features on the Epic?

They don't have the lights on the Breakaway.

I sailed in a studio last year - ages 21-90!

Also, right before sailing, balconies were less than studios and there was no solo supplement.

Check out Maya Chan in Costa Maya.

On ships without a Haven restaurant, breakfast & lunch is offered in an alternate venue for suite passengers. There is no separate dining room for dinner.

This is awesome! We always want to do one but NCL will let us do for free?

Incidentally, I thought this topic was going to be about some cabin features on the NCL Escape ship being used on the newly ordered ships! :D

I was booked in Studio for Feb 2016 and as we got closer prices for studios increased and it was cheaper to book a balcony as a solo. Two of the solo cruisers I met had booked balconies as they were way cheap and had no solo supplement. One had such a good time that on the 5th day of cruise he booked for the following week and stayed onboard. His 2nd week cruise was even cheaper as he bought cruise rewards/cruisenext. If I were traveling by myself, I would just wait to book unless there were some issue with perks or wanting a specific cabin.