Megamixer

13 minutes ago, Oakman58 said:

each his own.  Although I am Platinum level with NCL, I prefer the set dining times that other cruise lines offer and having the same table every night.  I like having the same waiter and assistant welcome me by name every night. After the first night of dining we never have to ask for our beverage since they know what we want and bring it automatically.  I also enjoy meeting new people and hearing about their cruise experiences, shore excursions they took, etc.  I wish NCL offered assigned dining as an option.  My wife on the other hand prefers the freestyle dining.

I too enjoy traditional dining. We have met friends we're still in touch with 10 years later.  The best part of traditional is the better service like you mentioned. Your server learns your beverages, likes and dislikes. We're on the Encore right now and with the 3 dining rooms it would be very easy. If say, 150 people want traditional, block off that many seats for early or late seating.  

On 3/26/2024 at 8:05 AM, albingirl said:

BTW, I am of a wholly different opinion w/r/t BBC Earth. If I never have to see those infernal snakes again, I'll count myself lucky.

I have to agree and how long they have been showing it?  I was on HAL in 2010 and I honestly can't remember what the "shows" were like but I know Earth was shown on my trips in 2018, 2019 and 2021.  Plus they added that history of Holland America film.  That was interesting one time but now I feel like I'm watching an infomercial.  I don't want or need the big Broadway type musicals, but I like the Frank Sinatra impersonators, the shows with movie themes, 70's music, etc.  

We haven't sailed with HAL since 2021 which was less than impressive but have a trip booked this fall on the Statendam.  I'm hoping it changes my mind.  Since it seems every other line is pushing for the first time cruiser/family amusement park crowd it seems there would be a big demand for older style, traditional cruising which would be perfect for HAL.

1 hour ago, FiredogCruiser said:

What I find interesting in both the complaints about Norwegian, and the defense of them is the relative lack of any expressed expectations. To me the expectations have a huge impact on whether or not I perceive value in a cruise

I should clarify that my comments on this thread are only about NCL because the original post was under NCL.  I feel the same about all three cruise lines I frequent; HAL, NCL and RCL.  I always expected to pay more for the alcohol I drank or if I wanted to be in a balcony room instead of an inside cabin.  I don't expect to pay an additional $49 (per meal) for a steak I can chew.  I believe the problem with most of us that complain/feel services have been cut is because cruising has become something different than the reason we cruised in the first place.  Compared to spending 2 weeks in a hotel and eating in restaurants, cruising is still a good value for us.

On 3/5/2024 at 11:05 AM, mking8288 said:

It's a good thing that I kept some of these in a bottom drawer ... looking back, how things have really changed.  And, I am touching shows of Jean Ann Ryan Productions ... 😉

 

Thank you for posting these.  We downsized when we relocated in 2016 and I got rid of all my old "cruise dailies".  Many times I wish I had saved them.  I wasn't about to argue with the person that recalled paying $100 a dozen years ago at Cagney's but I knew it was nowhere near that much.  I also miss the Jean Ann Ryan productions 😉

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

There were no "free" specialty dinners.  Now, you pay tips only.

Ha!  The gratuity you pay for the "free" dinners now is more than the upcharge was when NCL first started their "free style cruising."  

Similar question but about the 15% off internet package.  If you have "free at sea" do you get the 15% off the upgrade offer to unlimited?

On 2/2/2024 at 10:46 AM, WatermelonSugarHigh said:

A few notes from first-time VV passengers on our last day on 7-day Caribbean cruise on Valiant Lady.
If you don’t agree or get agitated by opinions that are not your own, keep scrolling, this review isn’t for you. If you like to insult or demean others who don’t share the same views as you, keep scrolling, this isn’t for you. These are just a few personal firsthand unbiased observations aimed to help people who, like me, didn’t have any experience with this particular cruise line. We have sailed 22 times in15 years, almost all out of San Juan, on Princess, Celebrity and Royal.  

 

Embarkation was smoothe, but stick with the time you’re assigned.  They will ask to check your app to see the time.  We had 3:30. We arrived at 3:00.  It took 45 minutes from bag check to lining up to sitting on our balcony. Very nice. 
 

We had an XL sea terrace on deck 11 z side.  Cabin was very well designed with limited desk area. There are plenty of charging plugs, The bathroom was nicely appointed with loads of counter space for three people.  The loo and shower have doors, but the main bathroom dressing area is open to the cabin as there is no door.  Fine for a couple but if traveling with someone you don’t care to see naked or hear their bodily functions echoing through the cabin- be aware there’s no privacy of that type in this cabin.  Not sure if it’s just the XLs that are missing that door. 
The suitcases fit under the bed nicely, and there is a large storage drawer under the small sofa that converts to a single bed. Our cabin steward informed us that this configuration for three pax can not be converted back to sofa seating during the day.  Makes sense since there would be nowhere to put the suitcases if it were sofas, and honestly we were barely in the cabin to sit on it.  I would have liked to see what it looked like once, though. And it would have been nice for my husband and son to sit on instead of the bed, to watch tv while I put my makeup on at the vanity mirror. 

The balcony was ample for three with a teeny-tiny miniature table, two metal chairs and a hammock.  We did not sit out more than a few times because of the heavy island stop itinerary. We were barely on board during the day, coffee, off at 9 am and back on at last boarding call.
It was a place to hang swimsuits to dry and to check and see if it’s raining or sunny in the morning. I would not say it was a comfortable place to read or sit for an extended period of time, but that’s how most balcony chairs are.  The Hammock was comfortable.  There is a wooden bench in the cabin under the vanity that can be brought out to comfortably eat on, as well as the little round red chair for an extra seat if you don’t like or can’t sit in the hammock.  

 

Pool area was a typical cruise ship pool area but kept clean with nice seating areas.  Pool was extremely small. We didn’t use it or sit by it. 
 

The lounge and bar areas are where this ship really shines.  So many cool places to sit and have a drink or people watch. Cocktails were on-point. Prices were very reasonable. Wine selections were very nice. The Coffee bar was nice, and the coffees were great. I tried them all. I also had the best Irish coffee of my life at the Sips Lounge late one evening. I don’t know what they did to it but it was magic. 
Sips was my favorite bar and I drank my weight in Moet Champagne on this sail thanks to making an error on the app before leaving home and buying $900 extra in bar tab money by accident.  We already had $1000 and ended up with over $2000 to use because of my error. I mistakenly thought unused portions would be returned so didn’t contact them to correct the error immediately.

 

We all felt the ship needs some type of a main dining room for those who don’t want to monitor the app for dinner reservations but want a reliable sit down service meal.

 

We booked last minute after the 45 days opened up for reservations so dining times for us were very limited.  We were ultimately still able to get into the ones we wanted and were not disappointed.  Selection in the restaurants could be more varied for those with simpler, easier to please palates.  We really enjoyed Extra Virgin but can see some might appreciate a few choices for more traditional Italian fare.  Same for The Wake. Personally, I was not a food court fan and  think it could be improved on. Taco and panini station were open at 7 am but closed during the evening.  Pizza was hit or miss. Salad station was good. Room service menu was… odd. 
 

All in all, we had a nice cruise and enjoyed ourselves.  We all agree we preferred the more traditional approach to dining on Celebrity but loved the lounge areas, shows and bars/fun spots on Virgin. A mashup of both would be great. 
 

At writing, we have over $900 in bar tab that I purchased accidentally, left to use or lose.  My error but I think unused purchased bar tab money should be refunded and not taken as profit/passenger  loss. I asked if we can use it for tips to special crew- No. Can we use it for future cruise deposit- no.
 

They keep it. That will stop me from sailing VV again. 

 

 

 

We cruised on the Valiant in December out of Miami after 20+ cruises with other lines and I decided it wasn't for me also.  I wasn't fond of the food choices and really missed the buffet for breakfast.  The food court was chaotic for us.  I felt like everything I enjoy about cruising was missing.  We enjoy the older ships like NCL Jewel and RCCL Voyager class types where all the reservations aren't necessary.  I also missed a main dining room with just a plain steak or grilled chicken breast option.  Every meal I was grateful for the free internet because I'd have to google most of what was on the menus.  The entertainment we saw was exceptional but again, we missed half of the shows because we were unable to get reservations.  

On a recent transatlantic from Portugal to FL I ended up bringing a bunch of Euros home. I asked at the front desk about leaving an extra tip for the cabin steward in Euros. She assured me the crew could exchange the money. This was on NCL. 

On 1/18/2024 at 1:36 PM, fstuff1 said:

Learned something new about the unlimited internet upgrade.

I'm currently on 10day Encore cruise and didn't activate my 150 free minutes till day 5. (I was using the casino 400 free minutes.)

Wanted to upgrade to unlimited internet but I didn't get the unlimited pop-up.

 

The Internet mgr said It's only for the 1st three days of the cruise then the internet mgr is supposed to turn off the upgrade pop-up.

That's the procedure but many internet mgrs don't do it.

The reason is so not to overload the bandwidth with so many unlimited users.

 

Anyway he manually upgraded me for this 10 day cruise and got charged $110 (as expected) for upgrading on day 5.

7days x $30 - $100 is $110.

And Encore has Starlink! It's advertised at the internet mgr desk.

 

Tried to make it the entire 10days on 550min but couldn't 

I've been scrolling through all these posts trying to figure this out but still confused.  On my upcoming 17 day cruise, in the NCL app, it says I can upgrade to unlimited basic Wifi for $279.83 which is basically about 16.46 per day.  Is that price considered "trading in the 300 Free At Sea minutes?  Is it better to upgrade now, or are you (fstuff1) saying it's better to wait until I'm onboard.  I can no longer remember the cruise line, but sometime in the past 2 years I remember checking the upgrade internet package page in the app and there was a "sale" that last for a few days.  That could have been RCCL or Princess though.  

42 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

perhaps.

 

respectfully, if i thought it was clear from the question asked and the answer given, i would not have commented.

 

the poster asked...

 

 

it's the word "each" from which i inferred that the poster was talking about each of the guests in the cabin receiving status meals... ...  "do we also get the 2 meals each because of Latitude status for a total of 4 meals?" i inferred that "two meals each because of latitude status" meant the poster was expecting two coupons per elite status guest in the cabin. and they both apparently have the same status. in addition to the FAS meals, the poster is inquiring about 2 meals each because of latitudes status.

 

and while all platinum or sapphire or diamond meals are because of latitudes status, it's unclear what the poster meant because there are two issues being conflated at once. how many meals a passenger gets to eat vs how many they are given. words like "both" and "each" are very confusing when you're talking about latitudes coupons because both people get to eat, but they don't both get a coupon and yet each has two latitudes meals... because they are using each coupon to dine together.  if it weren't confusing people would not return to the forum over and over again to ask the same question.

I think I'll just eat at the buffet so as not to confuse anyone 😂

Thank you, that's how I understood it from reading.  I was slightly confused because I didn't remember that from the transatlantic last spring but thinking back; I guess that transatlantic moved us up a level.

We just booked a 17 night Panama Canal cruise.  With the "Free (not so free) At Sea" we get 2 meals each.  Do we also get the 2 meals each because of Latitude status for a total of 4 meals?  Also, it says Sapphire level gets 15% off an internet package.  According to the reservation, with the Free At Sea 300 mins, I can upgrade to unlimited for $279.  Would I get $15% off that.  All these decisions 😁

I think most of the people that are against the app and the medallion are more just pining for the "old way" of cruising - I frequently use the term "traditional cruiser".  I get the look and question "What is a traditional cruiser" but that's what I consider myself.  I miss the old days of traditional dining, a chocolate on my pillow along with the towel animal, getting a mint on the way out of the dining room, not worrying about making a reservation for the show, all those things.  But then I also miss paying for cable and getting all the channels without all the "tiers", not having to deal with kiosks in fast food places but times change and I attempt to adapt.  I can't recall having any problems using the app or the medallion on our last Princess cruise.  I did enjoy walking up to my cabin door and seeing "Welcome John" and having the door unlock.

Also there are still travel agents that do things the old way as much as they can.  Even though I tell her not to waste her time and money, our agent still prints out our itinerary and information from the cruise documents and she prints out and laminates our luggage tags then we get a big package in the mail.  Her company even uses an APP (gasp) with everything in it day by day including phone numbers for the airlines, hotels we've booked, travel insurance contacts etc.  I will admit to have a jewel of a travel agent and hope she doesn't retire while we're still traveling.

20 hours ago, Tedferg said:

I have never made a cell call from onboard, however our upcoming transpacific has lots of sea days and so I need advice please. Do we turn on Airplane Mode and Wi Fi calling? Do we need to be logged in to the App to get to Wi Fi? And there is no cell charge for such calls, right?

Just to make sure you understand, it's not just the Medallion app you need to be logged into for the Wi-Fi calling.  You also need an internet package and be logged in to that.

NCL isn't my favorite cruise line but we seem to end up sailing with them frequently.  I will say we were on the recently refurbished NCL Dawn for a Christmas cruise and the Dawn is lovely now.  Cabins were refurbished very nicely.

1 hour ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

And what type of cabin and how much was your cruise to get those perks?

We got a $600 bar tab plus $100 loot and booked the normal balcony cabin.  They call it "central sea terrace".  I just looked at my 2 invoices.  For the Virgin Cruise we're paying approx $700 more for an 8 day cruise than the 7 day Princess. (We are getting $300 onboard credit on Princess that we most likely will use for the daily service charge)  It's basically a wash between the higher fare or adding on Princess Plus.  

12 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Princess is now sending out notice to those that are booked. Just go a notice linked to my October cruise.

We're booked for a cruise the end of September and I received the email today informing me I was in "steerage" unless I upgraded.

3 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

If you follow the conversation, the answer is they are not concerned about loyalty.  They have determined they do not have to be and that is their choice.

Customers can continue to buy their product and that is their choice.

 

While I do not like the changes, it's pretty clear that they don't care and instead are more interested in new cruisers who have no history of being able to cruise without packages and cruising being a value vacation.

 

It is what it is.

The key part of all that is "as a shareholder".  ANY company with a stock symbol cares more about their shareholders than their customers.  We can complain, suggest, makes posts, etc. and no changes will be made. You won't be listened to until you stop spending your money.  There's been a lot of back and forth here about the price of a pizza but I think for the most of us, that's missing the point.  It's a matter of feeling like you're being treated fairly and getting what you expected.  

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

So you're repeating what was stated, Americans are over charged on crew appreciation to supplement other countries. The dining room was never empty on any of my cruises when we tipped in cash, quite the contrary we were happy to see our tip going to the crew that deserved it. Now the pool has expanded to entertainment, revenue generating areas such a shops and shore excursions. 

I remember the opposite of empty dining rooms.  I remember having to wait to thank the crew and get pictures with them.  That daily added charge isn't "crew appreciation" it's just an added surcharge (of which a percentage is deducted for accounting expenses) to help cruise lines pay their help.  I just consider it part of my cruise fare and those crew members I appreciate get slipped some cash.

(P.S.  I'm not in any way a Princess fan or fan or any cruise line.  Normally I seem to enjoy RCI better overall but we choose our cruises on a number of things; ports, price, where they leave from, time of year, etc.  For instance my next cruise is on Princess and it was picked because it sails roundtrip out of Vancouver where I've never visited and it also makes a stop in Seattle that I've been wanting to visit again.  Also it'll be cool the end of Sept and I live in Arizona 🙂 )

18 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Back to NCL?

We were on the refurbished NCL Dawn for Xmas and that was actually very nice even with the gazillion kids onboard. 

1 minute ago, vampiress said:

this is disappointing.

 

one thing i liked about cruising is i didn't have to make a bunch of decisions.  they are seeming to do away with that and having all kinds of micro charges.  i always referred to cruise as vacation in a box, i didn't have to think much, i bought and paid upfront and then pretty much everything was included except drinks.  now if you don't choose a level of all included package, then you have to think about the drip of cost creep with each micro charge.  it isn't that the fees themselves are outrageous, it is that he concept of cruising is changing that irks me

 

they don't offer levels of the package that avoid the drink packages.  they include things not everyone wants like picture packages, exercise classes, ridiculous desserts.  they haven't managed to make a package level that interests me, so i'll either do ith out or just pay the individual surcharge.  but then i'll be annoyed by th surcharge cost creep.

 

 

 

 

i'm not sure i'm going to stop cruising, but it wil make me give other lines an eye, although i suspect this happens over there as well.

This is the whole thing in a nutshell for us.  We have a Virgin Voyages booked for December which will be very close to compare our Sept/Oct cruise on Princess with.  For me personally, I don't like the whole "dividing passengers up into classes" thing.  It's bad enough sitting by someone talking about what "level" they are.  I think in September whenever I have to ask a question or clarification of something from a crewmember I'll be sure to point out that "I'm sailing in steerage."

This may or may not having anything to do with the original post but all restaurant, pre-packaged, prepared food to me is too salty.  For no reason except my other half isn't a fan of salt, I stopped salting things about 25 years ago and have gotten used to it.  Cruise food was always extremely salty in my opinion.  On my last 2 cruises I found myself picking up the salt shaker and using it several times which I never do.  Maybe they just finally quit over salting?

My husband and I have this cruise booked with one additional night in Vancouver pre-cruise.  Anyone else?

On 7/5/2023 at 2:28 PM, shiny1 said:

we’ve booked the hotel package through Princess for an upcoming cruise from NY. It includes transfers from the airport to the hotel, from hotel to cruise terminal and back to the airport upon disembarkation. The hotel is the Hilton Midtown. The total cost for 2 was $650.00 for one night at the hotel. It is pricey but we won’t need to deal with anything ourselves and we’ve never cruised out of NY before. The hotels are all pretty expensive. 

I saw that price and thought, "What, that's a lot?"  But I checked my invoice from almost a year ago and we paid $1256 for 1 night hotels on both ends of the cruise.  (NYC & Quebec City including all transfers to and from)  You may save a few dollars here and there booking hotels and transportation yourself but we're old and go the easy way.  I have a wonderful travel agent and she knows the location where we like our cabin on the ship and that we just want to pay the bill and get on with the travel.  BTW - we were booked in that same hotel in NYC and really liked it.  There are many things to see within walking distance.  

I love the different opinions on the coffee.  We just got off 19 days on the Sun and one thing I mentioned was how good the coffee was in the buffet when it was fresh.  It is quite strong but that's how we like it.  There were times when I got a cup I could tell had been sitting in the urn for a while but just went and found a cup somewhere else.  Anything is better than the Starbucks in the atrium.