littlelulu01

4 hours ago, dcipjr said:

Just go on another line if you're unhappy with NCL.

I’ve never had a bad ncl cruise.  No desire to go to another line just yet.  Simply noting a change. 

3 hours ago, rtkenmore said:

 

 

So you're paying $4 more per meal...  Get an extra appetizer or a second desert and move on.  In the grand scheme, that's not a huge deal.

True. I think ocean blue up charge was $10 and now $16 or more for our Bliss sailing.  So we’re now at almost $50 for a, “discount” dinner at ocean blue on the Bliss.  Their signature seafood restaurant on their best ship and no lobster unless it’s in a pot pie?  The signature item on ocean blue is now oysters.  Aqua in Seattle is 3* Michelin and their oyster prices are less $ than Bliss ocean blue. I think at this point in the pricing game it’s worth noting the glaring omissions from ncl specialty venues along with increased prices.  We always purchase specialty dining. I really don’t care what they raise prices to but I sure would appreciate a menu that had options I want instead of giving as a perk and reduced options. 

In 2014, prior to free at sea, I purchased specialty package pre cruise for around $50 and it included a dinner at 3 venues; Le  bistro with a bottle of wine, Cagneys and La Cucina. I had fantastic filet that melted in my mouth at cagneys with beautiful lobster, a just as delicious dinner at Le Bistro and a decent dinner at La Cucina.  In 2015 we got specialty dining Packages that included unlimited specialty venues, no service fee and menus still included lobster. In 2016 we had to pay the specialty fees but got 6 meals for free and lobster.  2017 was 4 specialty meals no lobster options. I’m ok paying more but not ok with the glaring menu omissions.  

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

link?

 

8day sdp is still $150 + 20% ($30) if purchased on board as of 2weeks ago on my 15day Breakaway.

(i had lots of obc to use up and you cant buy the sdp package online with obc. it must be done onboard to use obc.)

3 day specialty dining was $82.80 pre purchase inclusive of 20% - this was price paid on Bliss in September.  It’s now $94.80 pre purchase 20% included. Link?  Idk.  If you have any cruises booked login and see for yourself what the new pricing is.  The cost if taken as a perk is only a couple $ extra with the increase.  But pre purchase out of pocket increase is $12 on the 3 meal sdp 

Poker pro- I think your assumptions are based on ncl’s former wording.  Dsc explanation used to say something about staff incentive programs and lots of folks got hung up on that.  See my screen shot above.  It now clearly reads the Dsc is just a plain old gratuity. 

Staff I’ve spoken with really like the program of dsc compensation. If ncl is telling me they are giving my dsc to employees who serve me as my gratuity, AND crew are happy, it’s good enough for me.  

I took my daughters on a two week mom/daughters med cruise out of Venice on the Ncl Jade in 2015.  Had lots of Greek and Italy ports plus some extras such as Croatia and Turkey.  We had a fantastic time.  We sailed end of May into June.  Perfect weather but a little hot for some tour days.  Always so nice to get back to our nice clean ship and fresh sheets/comfy beds after long hot days.  One daughter had just finished her year study abroad so she wasn’t 21 and the other daughter was just over 21.

Ncl had a program for young adults around my girls age range. Fellow passengers skewed a little more my middle age range but Ncl did an excellent job with the much smaller college crowd. The whole group was only about 20 -30 in this age range and they were a great group/fast friends.  I had originally  picked the sailing as a way to collect daughter and her massive amount of luggage and return her to the states. The extended port times and relatively low number of other ships in port was what sold me on Ncl.

Was extremely easy to diy.  It was not a party ship and much of what you read about all the extra charges on Ncl are much easier not to incur on the port intensive Europe sailings.  If you’re in port almost every day all day and doing intense excursions on your own, you’ll likely not be wanting an unlimited “free” beverage package and all the fees associated with it. The bigger Ncl ships with all the extra pay entertainment... choices don’t sail out of Venice.  With all the world class food available in port many eat a lot off the ship instead of spending a bunch on ship’s specialty dining.  Internet with many carriers now available to USA customers so they can get by without expensive ship  internet packages. When I sailed with the kids we had an obstructed ocean view and it was ample space for us three.  We spent a fraction compared to land based.  Subsequently sailed with husband in a suite on similar itinerary but with just myself and girls would have been a waste of $ to spend extra on the room. 

Have fun deciding.  Have also sailed holland America (not Europe) and they’re great too. A little older crowd though.  I think they also have some excellent itineraries for Europe. 

This is the information Ncl provides regarding my dsc.  Passing out wads of cash is simply not necessary.  They have great staff who are educated, have access to the internet... if ncl is truly just lying to us and pocket the staff gratuity, they would not have the excellent staff retention. Of course the crew is happy to take extra cash tips but you’re not stiffing if you don’t want to give any more. 

Just to follow up.  Received a response from Vatican.  They do allow name change.  They asked for new names so it sounds like they very well might cross reference upon arrival.  Weather or not they actually check is another thing but at least we’ve got the ability to be legit/not have to worry about showing up with two wrong people. Thanks again for advice. 

On our Alaska sailing they were happy to sell day passes for $69. Ymmv on day pass availability but from how crowded the spa was on sea days, it seems they were happy to sell to anyone willing to pay.  Port days were pretty quiet.  Also ability to hit the spa during off hours like dinner time or early morning/late night.  don’t expect to get a locker or lounger during prime hours or sea days. If you really want just one day access then $69 isn’t so bad but it’s a huge savings and gt access to just purchase pass in advance. We absolutely loved the spa and thought it worth $249 pp. 

Thank you so much.  I suppose I could email the Scavi office if I don’t hear anything regarding substitute names.  Your response makes me feel better about our plans.  

I have purchased and confirmed Scavi reservations for a Wednesday at 1pm.  Couple questions.  

Directions are to arrive at least 5 minutes prior and enter by way of Swiss guard. Do we have time to see Vatican Museums 9:30 entry, spending about 2 hours in museums, and then make our way to Scavi office for tour at 1? I understand the Scavi office and St. Peter’s basilica is closed till 1 on Wednesday.  In this case we would miss the Pope but potentially have a little less a crowd in Vatican Museums.  Just not sure if we’re going to be swimming upstream to get to Scavi tour. Will also likely need to eat something on the go in between if possible. 

Second question.  When I signed up for tickets I think I had to list our group names.  The confirmation just has my name.  Two people have decided not to go. Can I replace with two others from my roll call? Would hate to go through the process and have the 2 new people denied because names their names dont match the reservation.

Will a a taxi from hotel near Pantheon to Vatican Museums be feasible on Wednesday am and if so how much time should I allow.  It will be a lot of walking so want to save our feet as much as possible so would love to taxi to and from Vatican. 

Thanks for any suggestions.  

The pricing of the sdp also just went up considerably.

I can’t think of any fine seafood or steakhouse venue anywhere USA that serves pot pie as the ONLY lobster available and won’t offer a porterhouse. 

I’m convinced the free at sea is the culprit.  Give them free drink and specialty dining - just make sure the service fees associated more than cover the bottom line cost.

I guess those of us willing to pay extra for such items are just out of luck on Ncl. 

We enjoyed our Bliss sailing to Alaska. We found a great last minute rate so could justify all the extra expenses.  Had we paid what most did for the Alaska season I’d have felt differently. 

The solution to elevator issues is to book aft if you need to use elevators.  Aft elevators never had the issues.  

Master bedroom has a slight humming noise when the ship is cooking along at sea but not anything that deterred our sleep. 

The livingroom overlooks the pool deck so you need to have the curtains closed at night for privacy.  

The lower deck outside where the hot tub is located has some overflow sounds from deck party music but doesn’t compete with any music you are playing out there.  We brought a blue tooth speaker, the small ones and with that playing we didn’t hear anything from the pool deck. The upper deck areas do have more noise from pool deck but again not anything complain worthy. 

Because of the sheer size of the Jade GV’s , you do see crew around a little more so not always the privacy you would think.  The flags need changed so the flag guys are up doing this above the gv hot tub deck. I think the hot tub guys come in around 4 am through the Haven storage area that separates the gv from the haven sun deck. The hot tub is automatically emptied every week on the last night sometime during the night.  They clean and refill.  Due to size of the tub, it takes a while to heat back up. 

I think it’s got something to do with gt/sail away bookings that can sell drastically lower at the last minute.

I booked a sail away mx rate on the Bliss Alaska after final payment.  I was immediately assigned a MC accessible  Mini.  It was less than half  the initial, “pre-sale” prices they first offered. 

i think the price structures and price dumping patterns also switch up to keep us guessing.  They have to sail full but try not to piss too many folks off with all the reductions necessary to fill the ship.   

The price for my dining packages online pre purchase have gone up quite a bit.  I would love to think it’s about bringing back lobster and higher quality offerings removed from specialty venues the last couple years but it’s likely just an increase.  I assume the oop menu prices will soon follow suit to match the sdp prices. 

It’s really easy.  I just called the shore excursion number and reserved.  As long as you have a shore excursion credit there’s no charge till onboard. Charge is applied after excursion taken.  What’s also nice is that the platinum discount is applied on the original cost and the $50 discount is taken off after discount.  The shore excursion department really has their act together.  Very knowledgeable staff.  The only negative is that the confirmation emails don’t have the total cost. Just the dates and times.  Shore excursion department will tell you what the total running costs are over the phone.  

You might end up loving the location and unobstructed view=more daylight. On The Pearl, getting to a deck and outside is very easy.  It’s not that big a ship and I’d take a guarantee room on any Jewel class. If perks don’t have much value to you you might want to check with ta about upgrading to a balcony guarantee for potentially not much more $. 

46 minutes ago, rwf1 said:

 

Do you happen to remember how many games/which ones were available?  It seemed from past discussions there were quite a few games, but perhaps that has changed now that the unlimited package is available.

Included green swipe that i can think of on the Bliss: Mario game in the Local.  In the arcade I think it’s air hockey, a pirate video game, motorcycle game, basketball, and a virtual game where you wear goggles and sit in a chair. 

My understanding is the arcade game pkg is similar to a soda pkg.  you don’t share and can lose privileges if abused but each cabin mate can purchase separately.  Husband’s card had arcade and mine had soda printed on cards upon checking in at the port (with pre purchase.)If the system won’t let you pre purchase I’d just call and purchase individually.  Everything onboard has a tendency to go up in price compared to pre purchase.  At $56 even a couple visits and it’s paid for.  The pirate game can take in hundreds an hour.  The game starts a count down every few minutes of play requiring another swipe to continue on.  I think it’s about $3 or more a swipe so a kid could really do some damage without a pkg on that one.  

I purchased for just one in the stateroom online.  System allowed me to choose passengers for bliss Alaska sailing.  Might have made a difference that only two adults total in room?  I was not charged anything for extra person who didn’t have the pkg.  They had very few green swipe games available. Was a waste of $ for husband but could be a great deal for kids as long as they adhere to green swipe games.  

Yes our sailing completely disappeared from the website.  What was scary was that they had 15 rooms in each category (indicating more inventory) and then overnight it sold out- pretty classic patterns for a charter.  It came back available a couple times but only for a day or so here and there.  After final payment the sailing showed up again.  most categories were offered up at much higher price and as a sail away rate. The leftover suites were almost double their original price. 

I think it’s becoming more common for some cruises to sell out far in advance.  If I remember correctly your  getaway ta had some pretty good pricing a while back.  I was tempted to book at one point. It’s a great ta itinerary with more ports than usually offered on a ta. 

Could be a few groups booked on the sailing too.  My Jade Iceland, Norway, U.K. two week sailing last year sold out a year in advance (a late September sailing).  I was worried it was going to be canceled but it wasn’t.  It was a partial charter.  

Id expect your sailing to pop up here and there as cancellations occur but I wouldn’t expect any further reductions in price when it does. When our jade sailing had rooms back up for sale, after final payment, they were offered at considerably higher fares and less perks. 

I was also told if I wanted free air I’d have to take the transfer option. My pcc is pretty knowledgeable. I also had him check with his supervisor to see if the transfers to /from ship could be removed. Got a no.

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Can’t verify personally because we purchased weekly passes for Alaska at $249 pp. Met a couple who said they purchased one day passes for $59 pp.

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I agree about the included food driving folks to specialty venues. Included fare venues have all the right ingredients but somehow most dishes are just not right.

I just got off the Bliss. The Local food was fresh, hot, good service, and tasty. I know everyone has different tastes but Manhattan, Taste and Savor would never make it as stand alone paying customer venues anywhere USA. My husband surmised they’re making no mistake by consistently producing foods that look good but just aren’t right.

Some positives - the included coffee tasted much better, at least on the Bliss it did. Some of the included venue desserts are now tasty. They seem to be steering away from all the inclusive venue desserts having a gelatinous base.

The Bliss specialty venues had excellent food and service. IMO worth the relatively small extra fees.

Glad you enjoyed the Bliss! Great review too :)

 

Your photos are beautiful with the Fall colors.

 

Your balcony looks to be double the size of a regular balcony.

 

Did you find Spice H2O to have any cigarette smell?

Thanks [emoji4]. Not bad for smell. Not many smokers but idk how that will work when the Bliss does sailings with more smokers onboard- not many smokers west coast. A little soot from smoke stacks too. The racetrack had some soot issues as well but it makes it a little more real feeling vs the electric vehicles they really are. Can’t imagine what the fuel costs are on such a big ship but it certainly does burn black so best to wear dark colored clothes. Spice h2o was right up from our room but was often closed for private functions along with Margheritaville. They advertised quick breakfast up there. One morning I ran up to get a little something to take back to room and they had a beautiful spread set up. Typically they placed, “closed for private function” signs but no signage so I grabbed a plate. Was promptly shooed away[emoji51]. That might have been sailing specific due to filming of commercial on our sailing.

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They offer a couple excursions ending at airport. Even though your sailing excursions are not available for booking yet, you can still look up current prices and options for various ports. Google Ncl shore excursions Europe. Doesn’t mean all will be available for your sailing but it’s likely the two Rome tours that end at airport will be available when your bookings open.

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One thing I find helpful is to request the same servers. We just got off the Bliss. Had lunch first day in one of the mdrs. It definitely pushed us to purchase a dining package. We had excellent service first night at Le Bistro. We asked servers schedule and then had the hostess book our remaining nights with same server. On the longer Jade sailings this is really beneficial. The right server makes a big difference. Sorry about your experience. It’s hit or miss with mdr dining- so much that we’ve given up on it. But specialty dining, especially Le Bistro should be excellent food and service.