luvtheships

So if a passenger removes their tips would their steward still share in the overall ships tip pot?

in other words is the total divided up among all. Some weeks moreo e weeks less. Depending on how many remove tips 

Omg how formal are we talking here? 

On 12/17/2018 at 5:23 PM, mugtech said:

I found that NCL starts out high, but I must wait until final payment time or beyond to get what I consider a reasonable price.  I am Platinum Plus on NCL but 3 of our next 4 cruises are on RC simply because we can book far enough ahead at reasonable prices.  The cruises I like on RC only increase from the starting price.

My experience on Ncl has been just the opposite.  I’ve book a year in advance and gotten insides at dirt cheap thenive bid for a balcony and gotten an upgrade for around $ 200 for the cabin or $100 per person [for those not familiar with Ncl bidding it's only 1 and 2 pax that pay ] 

also the price i paid for those insides a year earlier have always been much more-expensive at 2 or 3 weeks pre cruise  

fwiw I refuse to pay big bucks for any cabin. I’ve traveled too often and too long to actually think I need to pay high prices     Same with airfare

i actually feel sorry for folks who aren’t savvy enough to know prices and must rely on a travel agent. 

Of course im fortunatetohavetraveled so much and certainly do understand the “trip of a lifetime” thinking 

After many ncl cruises all booked well in advance and at reasonable cost, we are jumping to RCCL because when I looked at ncl prices I saw significant price gouging for 2019 

i was looking at least a year in advance too just like I always do so now we are looking forward to our first rccl cruise 

my high school senior is taking 2 days off and I know that all I will hear from the school is enoy your trip...they grow so fast...go make memories...

of course we do live in a very nice normal suburb of NYC that has nice normal families of all diversities sending their nice normal kids to the public high school

ny state isn't going to play games by withholding funds for our high achieving school district

what others are describing though certainly does happen in other states/areas etc 

its all about  the overall reputation of the school system and how the respective state can either encourage it or screw it all in an attempt to save funding it or in an attempt to increase funding it 

Assuming everybody has an I-phone is really foolish and unhelpful

Not foolish at all. However for those without iPhones/smartphones

this info should make them aware that iPhones do indeed allow you to make voice calls over wifi

I'm sure androids do as well but I don't like an android phone

I fought giving up my basic cell back in 2013 but once I realized the benefits of a smartphone I never looked back.

Anyone that travels frequently at home or abroad should just consider a smartphone a necessity

It's a new world out there. Dump your landline at home and go smartphone if $$ is your issue.

Just an FYI...regarding FaceTime and being able to see the person...well if you want to burn thru your free wifi go for it but FaceTime audio saves your free wifi from burning thru

IMHO using FaceTime video should be reserved for when you pay $$$ for unlimited wifi on the ship

Since I take wifi as the freebie I only use FaceTime audio

As a frequent traveler I also invested in an iPad mini. Best money ever spent.

Sometimes there are costs associated when one travels frequently. Lol

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Playing a bit of Devil's advocate here, but you don't know what kicked it all off, whether it was out of character and triggered by some exceptional circumstance, whether there were apologies to NCL, etc. The cash might have been handed to security for safe-keeping (maybe that was what the argument was about?). If NCL didn't throw them off or lock them up then presumably the explanation was accepted by NCL.

 

I wasn't there so am not in a position to comment upon the seriousness of the incident, and whether your reaction to it was in line, but regardless I can appreciate and see it was very distressing for you.

 

As others have said, the key issue now is the speed of the response from security and whether that was appropriate.

Who would ever hand over cash to a security officer in the hallway?

If you want to keep your cash safely in a place other than the room safe then you make arrangements with guest services/purser etc and hand it over in an official manner

IMHO this op is overreacting and who really knows what happened but if the female pax did indeed hand over cash to the security personnel I highly doubt it was for safekeeping

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that whatever this transaction was for it was not run of the mill

Now IMHO that is something NCL should be very very interesting in knowing about

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I always get the free wifi as a perk and always use it to FaceTime audio with my kids

I use my iPad mini so I don't have the stress of worrying about Verizon charges on my iPhone even though I know I could use the iPhone and not get charged I'm much more relaxed knowing I can't be charged when using a wifi only device

I have no need to call a landline or anyone else

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A non smoking casino

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This is where the GEM will be going on the (revised) 11-Day Caribbean:

 

 

 

1. Basseterre, St. Kitts (8 to 5)

 

 

 

2. Castries, St. Lucia (8 to 5)

 

 

 

3. Bridgetown, Barbados (8 to 5)

 

 

 

4. Fort-de-France, Martinique (7 to 1)

 

 

 

5. St. Thomas, USVI (7 to 1)

That's a nice itin !!!

7 to 1 probably makes sense for st Thomas

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Same lame argument?

 

Just ask Carnival cruise line & Atlantic City's Revel casino how that worked out for them and see which comment is truly lame.

Ah yes the carnival paradise....something like 20 years ago? Times they are...and have been...a changin.

No clue about the Revel place because I've never been to AC nor care to go

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Here is the breakout for 2 people booking through these crooks

 

Down payment = 17.98

 

Receipt shows down payment plus balance due of $70.00

 

Belize excursion charge to my Cc 110.97

 

I apologize for rounding to 130.00

 

Shore Excursioneer are crooks and the good thing about all this, I have proof of the charges and it's only a little more than a week this happened.

That not rounding that's adding $20 for the heck of it

Rounding in your case would have been $111

$17.98 + 70= $87.98 + 10% or $8.80

$87.98+ 8.80= something like $97 so if you rounded ok say $100 if you must

So even $110 is too much nevermind $ 130

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I hope she is ok and that it wasn't anything serious.

I'm sure it was serious or they wouldn't have to evac the pax.

By its very nature an evac is serious. They aren't sending the coast guard out to get you just as a training maneuver

If the pax had expired there is no reason for evac as all ships have coffins and morgue

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I wonder what the passenger has to pay to the Coast Guard etc for the medivac

You and I pay via our federal taxes

Coast guard medivac is free to the pax

Getting taken off the ship at sea to Atlantic City is not your worry...it's getting home from there that costs.

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One thing I can say about the posters on this board.....y'all sure do keep the moderators busy.

 

 

 

To the OP, apparently there are still quite a few who have not learned to interpret the art of emoji. :rolleyes:

 

 

 

We have friends just like you and have a tremendous amount of fun with them. Our kids have basically grown up together and I would fully expect them to say something to them if I had missed something along the way. It takes a village and I was willing to take all the help I could get. ;)

Based on what I see around me and the nonsense being played out on tv these days by our so-called entertainers I really don't want the village going near my kids

It's not that these entertainers/ball players/failed politicians/sit com screenwriters etc are ever going to help me with my kids...it's just that there are too many in my local well educated well employed "village" that just follow the crowd and feel they must always be politically correct in everything. I'd prefer they not "help" me raise my kids.

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I've tried this but the price stays the same so you end up paying for the promos whether use them or not.

 

Sad because I like Norwegian but it looks like I'll be traveling RCL more in the future.

I always pick the free wifi

No added fees and I want wifi anyway

And yes either free sdp and ubp service charge is added during the next step of the process

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Hope she recovers.

 

 

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You didn't read the article did you?

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We originally reserved an NCL cruise for our family for March, but now have to cancel. Does anyone have experience with NCL refunding their deposit (final pymt isn't due until Dec 4)? Thx in advance.

There is no "experience". You cancel they refund. Of course if you booked with some ya that charges a fee if you cancel you will be paying that

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Sorry, but I have yet to be on any ship on which somebody is FORCED to go through the casino. There are always ways to avoid it.

But on the new builds the casino is open air on deck 7 of the ocean 6/7/8 secondary atrium area

It takes lots of planning to avoid the casino plus the areas on 6 and 8 are basically smoke filled as well as is the beautiful glass staircase

If you want to take a picture on it lots of luck if you are trying to avoid smoke

Le bistro is smelly too and you had better hope you get a table way in a back corner if you want to eat there

Others will now dispute this post but so be it

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This isn't news.

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I think we've decided to book the "bus only" excursion to Sea World, then take an Uber to Disney from there. I believe the two parks are reasonably close to each other. Of course the price of the Sea World excursion is (slightly) higher than the cancelled Disney excursion, plus of course the additional cost of the Uber.

 

I really don't understand why Royal Caribbean would simply cancel these Disney excursions, apparently across multiple sailings. Certainly Disney is THE major attraction of the Orlando area, and has to be one of the more popular excursion options for Port Canaveral. Even if they had some issue with a third party charter vendor, RC is a big company -- certainly they have the means to line up a replacement charter service. It seems like they're just asking for a lot of disappointed customers.

Lots of wasted time here

May I ask why you aren't just taking the car service from ship to Disney direct?

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I reserved the Disney Express bus service during the 30% off sale and I already purchased my non refundable one day Disney tickets through Disney. Royal suggested I take the shuttle to Universal and then a cab to Magic Kingdom . No compensation offered. Very disappointed!!

Just get a private driver/taxi/uber etc. from ship to Disney and back

Has to be cheaper than the ship transfer and if not just gather a group from the roll call

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Airport....JFK

Hotel....lower Manhattan or Times Square

Do not stay near the airport. Don't ask...just don't do it

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Delta codeshare Air France cancelled my flight to Paris 4 hours prior to departure. I made a call to the number on the email and promptly got on a flight 20 minutes later that same day.

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I have good memories of Port Canaveral as a young child visiting NASA...it seems universally no one is excited about a Port Canaveral visit...is it really that bad?

We did NASA when we're were 5 of us and we did Disney when just 2 of us

If we ever ported at PC again I'd go straight to the beach

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So what did they do Where did they go. Did they stay in St. Petersburg or just a sea day ?

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