littlelulu01

One more question. We're on a longer upcoming sailing, pretty port intensive. Can we order something like moderno or tepenaki and just say give us a little of each thing or since they are a little different set up would we need to save them for going to the venue. Just wanted to know what options would be in case we are tired and don't feel like going out for dinner.

Your thinking is correct.

 

If someone in a suite without the SDP (possible, now that it is optional) or with no remaining SDP credits orders from the specialty restaurant, the guest is charged the a la carte price plus 18%. No need to tip extra to the restaurant staff but something for the butler would be appropriate.

Thanks. That makes sense.

I'm wondering the same thing but outside the dining package perk. If we order speciality dinner to our room outside dining package perk do we pay for the dinner, plus the 18%? I guess in the line that asks for extra gratuity, on top of the 18% grat, I'd put zero - since he may not get any of that either. Then add say $5 more to the amount I'd tip him for butler services.

Thanks again Keith. Your posts have been an immense help.

Have you used phone for driving directions in various ports and is coverage ok?

This is great information! We are in the GV next May to Bermuda for my daughter's college graduation cruise! I was thinking about tripling my usual tips for suites, but since I also think we will be spending more time in the GV, the higher amounts are probably worthwhile.

Can anyone tell me if we should consider the Thermal Suite passes? We usually get them, and since this cruise will have lots of sea days, I was thinking about it. However, the GV has a hot tub and sauna, so though it might be superfluous. I could save the $$ for the tips!

We typically get spa passes but had no need for them in the GV. The hot tub is right there on your deck and is full size. Its pretty nice to just have all that available on deck along with whatever music you want.

We booked a MS sail away rate with zero perks at a cost of $300 pp less than the same room type with perk options.

Then Purchased a dining package for just one of us. I hate being stuffed after dinners and so wouldn't benefit from a sdp- I'll order a $3 Caesar salad or bowl of soup and take a couple bites of husband's steak or whatever. Ending up Not much more than grats cost on the free package this way. You can't share a dining package as in giving entire meal credits to someone else but I can certainly take a bite of his dinner or dessert. That's the way we eat on land and it saves husband a few calories if he doesn't eat the entire steak or entree, dessert....

Only one soda drinker so purchase of a couple sodas per day was way less than the grats on the free beverage package x's 2 and I can drink cans out of mini bar or get a can of soda from bar this way whereas the UBP allows neither option. Also purchased a water package bringing cost of water bottles to within a reasonable cost as water bottles are also not included in the UBP.

The nice thing is that if not taking as a perk you can purchase components for just one. The benefits of taking a sail away rate should be weighed based on savings. if you have even one drinker and one non drinker, paying grats on perk UBP x 2 can still be a savings. Some say they benefit as a non drinker from UBP for the non alcoholic virgin drinks. For me, those drinks taste super sugary and gross. The UBP drinks choice is way too limiting for a non drinker imo.

Thank you, littlelulu01! This is why I started this thread - so much good information. On the Dawn to the best of my knowledge (we sailed her several times before the latest refurb) there isn't a Haven. And the level of service you describe deserves a larger gratuity...thanks for the warning about others being in the area! We won't be surprised by them [emoji38].

 

My DIL was thrilled to hear about the steam room and plans to use it, so the kid will have more duties than the towels. We're also bringing a little inflatable toddler pool for our 2 year old since we have so much room. I am planning to fill and drain it every day, but I have a feeling I'll be losing that chore from what was said on my thread on the Family board....

 

 

 

 

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The steam room is great. I think it takes about 1/2 hour to heat and has an automatic turn off an hour or so after turn on so you'll want to ask in advance for set up. We knew we wanted to take a steam every morning so had the deck steward turn on at set times every day. You can also have them set temperature on hot tub for instance it was very hot outside on our first week. When outside temperatures cooled down second week we had them turn up and our hot tub was much warmer than public area hot tubs. In your case with little ones you can have temp turned down to make it safer for them. tub empties itself on the last night of the cruise, but not till the middle of the night so on debarkation morning there isn't any water in it. They clean in out weekly and it takes a few hours to warm back up.

The kid setting up the outside areas and steam room can be great and deserve an extra tip but your mileage may vary. We gave ours extra and he seemed quite shocked to receive. He also set up common areas of Haven so not sure he is typically a tipped position.

If you set up times that you want steam room on, chairs set up and he gets it done that probably worth something in my mind.

The GV requires a little extra maintenance and as a result can tend to be almost a public space at times. There's no make up room or privacy dial on the outside of the villa, just on the specific bedrooms. The door bell won't even be heard if outside because the suite is just too big. We were not too keen on Having room steward making up beds after we returned from being gone all day in port. The butler can make sure maint done when you are out of the room. He however will be around more often but isn't intrusive or creepy. It's not like a regular suite where he comes and fills coffee, checks on you and delivery of afternoon treats. He's in making sure you have the berries for smoothies, bringing platters of food quite different from what you typically receive, restocking bars, making sure your laundry is sent off and returned right away, taking notice and ensuring you have everything you want inside the room.

Not sure about the Dawn but On the jewel class each of the two Haven butlers have one side of the Haven. So each GV has a different butler. Judging from past Haven jewel class sailings the butler spends a lot more time on the GV but still has the Haven suites on that side of the Haven so best to let him know in advance what time you want breakfast or anything special delivered. They alternate rotation every two weeks with night shift butler rotation being their easiest two week rotation and GV/Haven rotation being probably the busiest rotation. There is only one butler for all suites on nights. We never used this person but they are on call if say you have jet lag and wanted some food in the middle of the night. I assume if you used them it would be appropriate to tip upon delivery because you probably won't see them daily.

Congratulations on your upsell. I treat the room steward and concierge about the same as I would in a regular suite. Room steward is part of dsc and so the same extra I normally give seems adequate. Concierge we had was excellent and got a good tip but again no more than I would give if in a regular suite. Butler is the guy who really made our vacation. I would leave it open depending on service, but the biggest difference we found was that the GV was like having a ship within the Haven. Pretty much anything we wanted was delivered ensuite and butler took care of. At first I was thinking $10 pp pd for him but i doubled it. I think that was an amount that he knew was a genuine, "I appreciate you VERY much." I know it's personal and different for everyone depending on needs, who party consists of... but that's where I ended up on a comfort level.

Thanks! Very helpful.

We switched our car reservation to europecar in port. It's twice the price of thrifty but no thrifty in port and want to get a easy start on the day.

Did you use google for driving instructions or have a plan mapped out in advance? I've printed up some instructions but am hoping that we can just turn on maps on phone to guide us.

Pictures link for instagram works great. Kim

Thanks for the pics. Interested to read about your specifics with car rental... enjoy!

I was accustomed to traveling very nicely and at great rates during much of my adult life. There was a several year period when people were afraid to travel certain places or the economy was poor and so deals on vacations were plenty. Then a couple years ago the economy recovered. At first I was angry. I thought these corporations will simply go out of business charging twice the price for half the product. And the luxury vacations I had become accustomed to affording were all of a sudden insanely priced. But... as time went on my love of travel didn't wane and I succumbed to the increase in pricing. I try to cut back whenever possible and I'm always on the lookout for a deal but realize that all travel, land based and cruises, has increased significantly over the past couple years.

Planning a trip for family to Hawaii for holidays, land based, and the pricing makes my eyes water. Taking them on a cruise would be a bargain in comparison but the family doesn't like just cruises.

I think the best way to book a cruise anymore is to plan as far out as possible in the least expensive room you will be happy with. If price drops then upgrade along the way or if booking is eligible, cancel prior to final payment and rebook. I myself have had just as much fun on cruises in the lowest priced inside cabin as we've had in suites, especially when I get a deal. I'm not much for booking the balconies or mini suites because i guess it just seems like not that much more to just get a suite where as the inside staterooms can still be had for a fraction of the cost if booking at the right time.

if vacation costs seem absurd today take a break and when things turn around price wise you will be able to take advantage of the deals like we'd become accustomed to. The cruise industry is a fickle business. There's so many variables that can reduce desire to cruise and it's only a matter of time before the next poop cruise wards away the masses and the deals reappear. It doesn't even have to be a negative occurrence. The cruise lines make mistakes and some cruises don't sell well. Be flexible with where and what line you want to sail and deals with appear.

I will add my own recent horror story. We were to sail on the Jade out of Hamburg on July 16 so I booked flights for July 14. We were to spend the 15th in a Hamburg hotel. We had a 3 hour layover in AtL so was just a little worried but knew there were lots of flights out of ATL to Europe. Well our flight was 3 hours late leaving, but our aircraft was still at the gate in ATL but they wouldn't let us board....said gate was closed....code for we gave your business class seats away because the flight was oversold! The rest of the trip was a nightmare. We finally arrived in Hamburg about 2:00pm on the 16th. The ship was to sail at 5:00 but all aboard time was 3:00 pm!

Now I'm fighting with the insurance company who sold me trip delay insurance!

Sorry about your travel troubles. Sounds like a bumpy start to a vacation, especially since you had ample time built in for delays. Good luck with travel insurance claim. I had to make one and it was denied at first and then took months- I think they do that to hope you will say forget it and give up.

Our upcoming Jade cruise is quite expensive. I booked day before arriving to London heathrow and plenty of connection time for 1st leg BUT the airline shortened our connection to 60 minutes in slc, which doesn't have a ton on daily flights. Delta regularly struggles to get us anywhere on time but they won't change our flight because they say we have ample time to make the international connection. I'm figuring if we're 15 minutes late leaving on first flight we're screwed. It's giving me great stress but what can we do. Just hope for the best I guess. Just wish they'd let passengers who stand to lose out on very expensive vacations a little more flexibility to change flights.

A good outcome story- alaska airlines held our plane a couple years ago and even sent a car to our plane to drive us to the connecting flight at sea tac. There was 4 of us going on a cruise and they made sure we got on the ship departure in Vancouver. Last month however the same airline stranded us in the airport. Daughter had arrived to sea and their plane had no gate. She waited two hours before getting a gate and the flight attendant would not let her deboard ahead of other passengers. We missed last flight of night by about 60 seconds and also missed out on our Disneyland weekend trip. They gave us $25.

It's an accessible cabin and so shower/bathroom will be a little awkward for a non handicap person. Sink lower, less storage, curtain for shower instead of shower doors also roll in shower so no raised lip to entrance of bathroom or shower. Close to medical center and stairs/elevator. Accessible staterooms are typically sold last minute booking assignments as a gt stateroom or assigned for more than two in a stateroom when inventory gets lower. We've sailed in the sideways ok ocean view rooms on deck 8 as an assigned gt ov room in the past and they're a little bigger than the standard rooms same category. With only two I'd prefer the non accessible room just for a normal bathroom but I don't think you'll have any complaints knowing the bathroom will be a little institutional feeling. I guess the worst part of 4604 would be needing to walk by potentially sick people and their germs on the way out of the room.

That's a very surprising price....are you sure it's not 25 per day? If this is for real, do you have a link? For 25 I'll be buying it as well!!

It says $25 pp total, not per day and it's for a 14 night in a suite so an expensive cruise. I think the trip insurance I purchased through travel guard was over $600. I'm attaching a portion of email not sure if it will post:

f you have any questions or would like more information about Essentials Travel Protection Plan, please contact your personal travel consultant at 1-866-234-7350.

We are looking forward to welcoming you onboard.

Sincerely,

Vivian Ewart

Vice President, Passenger Services

I received an email from NCL for my upcoming cruise. They offered me something called essentials travel protection plan. Cost is $25/per person for a 14 night very expensive cruise. I already have a total plan with an outside insurance company so didn't look into it but the email says it's underwritten by transamerica and covers medical, enroute (travel delay) and baggage protection. Letter stated it was something new NCL was offering. Signed by Vivian Ewart /Vice President of passenger services. title of email was, "important information about your upcoming cruise."

Add: re the outside plan I purchased through travel guard: I asked and was told that i must insure all costs that are non refundable the day I leave for vacation. The dsc, port fees and certain other costs of the cruise are refunded if you don't get on the ship. Those can add up and bump cost of policy. I read all the fine print in the travel guard gold policy and it's cumbersome at best to understand all the fine print. I've read accounts of people just insuring the entire trip. I think it gets murkier if you got on the ship and then had to leave vacation early. It's going to be a big enough pain at that point to deal with any refunds and so perhaps best just to be dealing with one company.

Biggest fear is claim denial should something go horribly wrong like medical or something big ticket and I wasn't insured properly. They don't make it easy to figure out.

Stunning pictures. Thanks so much for your review and information!

I had an email yesterday for our Sept 3 sailing on Jade, we're in a mini suite, and the costs were from £385 to upgrade to a suite, and £750 to a Haven suite.

Your sailing is also sold out. Not even listed anymore. If you get an upgrade or know of someone on your sailing that does please report success. Good luck.

I just received an upgrade offer for our Jade cruise this weekend. I wasn't aware of them being received by UK customers before (although maybe I've missed it).

 

Some others on our cruise seem to have also received them, so it looks like this has now been expanded to the UK.

 

Sorry if this is old news.

I'd be very curious to see if anyone actually, "wins" a suite bid on your sailing. Your sailing and mine have been sold out of full suites for some time now. I've been told that if there's a suite available on the ship that it's put on their site for purchase by anyone but I suspect they are keeping out some for upgrade advantage.

If you end up with a suite no hassle with tender ports getting off ship. I know you've sailed in suites in the past so that's all I got to try to entice you to place a bid.

The whole game of NCL is to effectively give every NCL cruiser a

$125 discount on a future cruise (for an Inside or Oceanview cabin) or

$250 discount on a future cruise (for a Balcony or higher cabin)

Its that simple!

The use of terms like ''OBC'' etc only confuse people.

This is a smart way to multiply their bookings exponentially. Like 1 cabin buying 4 more future cabins! Multiply that into 4000 cabins & they will have sold 16000 future cabins! If everyone bites the bait of a $125 discount.

And to avoid reducing their profit, NCL simply keeps the price of an Inside & Oceanview cabin $125 higher & a Balcony cabin $250 higher.

Therefore, NCL fares are usually MORE than RCCL, Carnival, Celebrity, etc.

They want you to rebook on their line. The way it's marketed many pay the actual $250 and take the obc/end up spending a little more on something they wouldn't normally.

Your theory on increasing price on all their cruises doesn't hold. I've used them for last minute inside stateroom for Alaska cruises where I've also received obc essentially making the cruise about the least expensive of any vacation I've ever taken. It's all about when you purchase your cruise and going price and promotions on that date. They change it up all the time. The one thing that stays the same is the cruise deposit reduced coupon purchase on board that is good for 4 years on any 6+ night sailing. If taking another cruise it's a no brainer to pick up one or two-especially if you have obc.

I don't have the pricing but it's not terribly expensive. I sent a few items out in between bag days and it was around the same cost as bag special. You can pay a few $ extra for same day return. I remember thinking that total cost on our laundry for last cruise was less than cost of having checked bags fees.

I'm not sure if I should post here or not but I am sure people will let me know for the future... :-D

 

In the past we have always pay for the cabin we want outright. On our upcoming Dawn trip we have a Owner's Suite with Double Balcony. There is only 1 cabin above that a Garden Villa and the only upgrade offer we could submit. We are not bidding because the other half has put his foot down based on what everyone else is paying and what we paid. I am of course heartbroken as I feel that we need a 3 bedroom space for the 2 of us as I am a brat.

 

Our offer started at $1250 / person ($2500 total) for 2 people. This is after spending more than $7000 for the 2 of us for the 7 days. Hence why I can't even get him to listen to the idea nevertheless really consider it.

Probably not wise to post intentions prior to award but just FYI, this new system is set up to reward you with a much lower winning bid.

The inside and ov can't bid on a suite but can bid on the balconies. They pay extra for the balcony. The guy in the balcony and mini suite bid on the suites. Ncl can make more $ by giving them your room and then selling you the GV for much less. You can potentially get the GV for a poor bid as a result. This in theory makes everyone happy.

I understand completely about denominations and OBC. My question is, exactly what can you use the OBC for during the current cruise? Since we already have the UBP and the 3 SDP, plus $100 NCL OBC from booking, not sure what I could spend $250 or $500 more OBC during the course of a week. Can it be used in the casino, or only for food and gifts, etc?

I don't know if the still do this but I was given extra obc if taken as casino credit example: purchase one $250 FCC and receive $100 obc. Ask cruise next consultant for casino credit voucher and purchase one FCC/ get $125 casino credit.

If you don't want to purchase anything else onboard, one FCC will just be charged $150 to onboard account so the one $250 FCC credit cost is actually only $150. The obc is just a way of wording to make you think that you should spend extra onboard. The actual charge is just the cost of fcc's minus the discount(s). In your case with $100 obc, if you spend zero extra onboard and purchase one FCC your final bill for the one $250 FCC will be $50. If you purchase 2 $250 FCC worth $500, your on board account would be charged $150 (discount is higher if purchase 2)

When exactly did this charge start? If you booked b4 they started charging do u still have to pay the 18%?

 

 

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For USA bookings I think they started the charge in 2015 and have upped it a few times since then. They included it for booking full suites until around June, 2017. It's a charge paid prior to start of cruise. So most likely when you booked your cruise, it was included in the final payment. When looking at bill it will read, "choice promotion service charge" not to be confused with the DSC which is a separate charge.