DCGuy64

As someone who doesn't, I'm not. Actually, I *do* pay gratuities, I've paid them as part of FAS. I resent being compelled to tip a 2nd time in order to actually get what I've already paid for. Imagine being asked to tip your waiter before you sit down, but to actually get him to bring your food, you have to tip AGAIN. Nope.

I wonder how many people actually ever make good on that. Even on this site, I have seen people say such things, only to announce, with great fanfare a few weeks later, "I'm booked on 3 more cruises with them!" I tend to take such comments very much with a grain of salt.

Good question. I'd ask Steve, the guy from that insurance store. I need to speak with him, anyway.

OMG I didn't say "all," either. 😉 I said "every." 🤣

Not true of our last cruise. OK, so it was MSC in the Yacht Club, but still: it isn't true that every cruise line has problems with serving drinks in a timely manner. 😉 I *do* think they could beef up the staff to speed up the wait times, though. More of the "I'm on vacation, I don't want to think" mentality. 🤣

Thanks for weighing in! To me, $1,000 isn't "a little more" as one poster implied. $1,000 is a LOT more!

The two areas where I can sympathize with @MajSteve are these: 1. Bartender issues 2. Embarkation It's well known to anyone who uses Cruise Critic that NCL doesn't monitor check-in times. In fact, nearly every time someone asks about 'what time should I show up,' most people on here will say 'whenever you feel like it.' Well guess what? That means EVERYBODY SHOWS UP AT THE SAME TIME. IMHO, NCL should start strictly enforcing the check-in times to stop these bottlenecks. The bartender issue is a legitimate gripe, and I really think it comes down to poor staffing. It took a VERY long time to get drinks on our last cruise. The Shakers Martini bar had 2 bartenders for about 50-60 guests, maybe even more than that. They just couldn't keep up.

Great! It's nice you took the time to acknowledge that NCL wasn't at fault.

Exactly. Although, one could argue that if the insurance company can always find a reason to deny, why purchase insurance in the first place?

How much more you pay often depends where you live. I have seen many times on this site people claiming they've saved $1,000s by using NCL's BOGO. I don't know about you, but $1,000 or more isn't "a little more." There's no one right answer to this. Some people like to have control over their reservations, while others are happy to relinquish control in exchange for saving money. Same with travel agents. Some like to do their own bookings, while people like me enjoy letting someone else make the phone calls, etc.

I would argue that substituting one flight for another represents a cancellation. If you were booked on flight ABC123 and were moved to DEF456, your 1st flight was cancelled. That's how I'd look at it, anyway. At a minimum, my reservation was cancelled.

Interesting. I have. Pretty much every travel insurance policy I've bought has a provision for cancelled flights, which the baggage fees were a part of. I believe it would fall under the trip cancellation provision.

When we were there in 2022 post-cruise, my wife couldn't stop mentioning the foul stench of weed. And my wife is extremely open-minded about people's choices in life. It is unconscionable that you can't walk down the street in the most populous city in America without being assaulted by the vile stench of marijuana. It also amazes me that the same people who want to ban/have banned cigarette smoking outside are apparently OK if it's cannabis. I hope they ban all of it.

Well said, especially the first paragraph. A classic logical fallacy of the Appeal to Emotion (think of the children, etc.) Doesn't wash with me.

You should have been safe. As @Fogfog has helpfully suggested, I'd try getting insurance to cover that. Not your fault the airline was changed at basically the last minute.

I know how you feel. I paid for seats on a flight from DC to Venice which I then had to cancel. No refunds. Shame on me.

I used to agree with that sentiment. Not anymore, once I've seen what's happened in my city and others that have legalized it. Ban it, period.

Another thing (or two) to remember about price drops: 1. If the price on your sailing drops, you can (as several have pointed out) cancel and rebook, but doing so may jeopardize any perks or promos you had on the old rate. 2. In our experience, if the price drops after final payment, you can only get OBC for the difference, and only one time. IOW you can't get multiple OBC's for multiple price drops. So if you get the OBC and the price drops again, you're out of luck. Not trying to dissuade OP in any way, just making sure he/she knows the deets! 😁

Nice, I hope you have a great time!

Then if that's the case, I blame the Aussies. If they can't sustain a cruise company, the cruise company has every right to abandon that market.

Did you mean to say "booking" your first VV cruise? Or "looking" at your first VV cruise?

We always use a TA for our cruises. In addition to being a personal friend and former co-worker, he travels a lot and is a solid cruiser. The best part for us is that he doesn't work for any cruise line, so no need to have a personal cruise consultant for each of the lines we cruise with. He was able to select a specific cabin for us on VV, which I understand you can't do if you book on our own. The other thing that is invaluable about him is that he ALWAYS responds quickly to emails. Average response time (and no, I'm not making this up) is about 10 minutes. He's even responded quickly while on vacation himself. I asked him about rebooking a cruise (the one we had booked was suddenly cancelled) and I got the new booking confirmation from the cruise line within minutes, even before he'd emailed to say it was done. Hands down use a TA.

From one coffee lover to another: I have tried Black Cat in the past, but it's WAY too bitter for me. I love espresso and make it almost every morning, but I prefer a lighter roast like Illy and Lavazza. (Both of them make various roasts, but generally I do NOT like the dark, oily beans, it's just way too strong and one of the principal reasons I avoid Starbucks). So, would you advise someone like me to get the room service coffee or the drip coffee in The Galley rather than going to Grounds Club? Thanks. (I like coffee, too, BTW, but I don't like darker roasts, French roast, etc.)

I wonder if you could take a plate of potatoes to the omelette station (or someplace where there's a flat top) and ask the chef to jazz them up. Might be worth asking. No sense settling for 'bog standard' spuds on your holiday!

You can always ask NCL or your travel agent. However, my understanding was that when you upgrade rooms, you don't get the benefits of the upgrade. (But that may only be if you bid on an upgrade) Did NCL send you anything detailing what you receive with the upgraded room?