Most controversial cruise opinion??

[The Shrike]

3 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I don't really like to "spectate" those things either.  But I use plan B.

 

(just skip them altogether)

Plan B = "Booze in a quieter location."  😃

Edited August 5, 2022 by The Shrike

[Northern wanderlust]

8 hours ago, DrSea said:

With how you like to vacation, IDK if NCL will be the best fit for you tbh. We are basically the exact opposite in terms of what makes us tick. I love NCL. IDK how you will like it. 

 

Keep an open mind. 

 

I am pretty confident NCL will not be my favorite line.  Again, if we were cruising with the kids we may like it better but for just me and DH I actually think Celebrity has a lot of potential for us but, like I said, NCL had the best itinerary for us this time.  It's an 11 day cruise with 10 port days.  I don't think we're actually going to be on the ship all that much anyway beyond sleeping and some meals but since we'll be in Italy and Greece we're planning a lot of meals in port anyway.

 

Whether NCL turns out to be a good fit for us or not it should still be a great vacation.

[pcakes122]

21 hours ago, Northern wanderlust said:

But if I'm paying $5,000 a person for a week long cruise then I will be on Viking or Silversea.  It sure as heck wouldn't be NCL.

So, I'm going to throw this out there as food for thought.  I don't really think there are very many people at all paying $5K a week to cruise in the Haven.   NCL may be pricing the Haven in the stratosphere, but it would be interesting to see just how many people are ACTUALLY paying those prices.  During this discussion alone there were at least 3 or 4 of us who jumped in and acknowledged that we either don't pay for the Haven at all or we getting it at a deeply discounted fare.  Then factor in all the people who are bidding to upgrade, which is also a deep discount.

 

NCL has created an illusion of this super-expensive can't-touch-this exclusivity,  but I honestly can't imagine who is paying full price.

 

Right before the pandemic I cruised in the Deluxe Owner's Suite on the Bliss.  I was comped for two passengers by the casino, but I had to pay for guests 3 & 4.  My total cost for all four people (including port taxes) was $5,500.  The online price for for that cruise & suite for the week for 4 was $36K.  First, was it worth $5,500 to me? Yes. (Plus, as an aside, I won all that back in the casino that week so yay me lol.) But second,  would I EVER in my life have paid $36K for that cabin for a week? No way!  And most importantly, is ANYONE paying $36K for a week in the DOS on the Bliss??  Not only do I highly doubt it, but if they are I think someone needs to ask them if they're OK.  The pricing and exclusivity thing is just a marketing ploy, IMO. I don't believe anyone is paying those prices.

 

That's said, the Haven is still super nice and I wouldn't want to cruise any other way on NCL.

 

PS  This also may explain why people are disappointed when they expect class and decorum in the Haven.  Most of us are just a bunch of degenerate gamblers who got in for free LOL 😉

Edited August 5, 2022 by pcakes122

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, The Shrike said:

Plan B = "Booze in a quieter location."  😃

Same thing.  🥳

[juju2454]

2 hours ago, DrSea said:

I'm glad we have no animosity toward each other. You didn't respond to my comments or misread it. No where did I mention elite and you ran with an argument that I didn't make. 

Thought you weren't going to write to me anymore?  That said.  I don't get mad at people on forums.  Not wort the effort.   But no you actually did make the argument as you said in your post " I can't believe I am defending haven" and "I hate that."   No?  Either way you went on to tell me to block you and a few other temper things but at this point you have made the point that you lost your temper.  I never said you said elite, I said elite,  and I have the posts to prove that in here and else where.   Me thinks  you doth protest too much.

[juju2454]

3 hours ago, MrsTocko said:

I got you.  We get a balcony mid-ship by elevators...I grip the railing whether we are moving or not.  Most terrifying thing I did was the rope bridge in Northern Ireland.  Look up Carrick-a-rede rope bridge and you will see what I mean.  BUT I conquered that fear that day (only), is a bit easier now, but not much..

That is my fear is the edge of a ship.  now smaller boats no problems.  Heights? no Problem.  The rope bridge would be no problem too, for m, but I get where you are coming from.   I see the bridge in I think it is Japan that is glass and as you walk on it it reacts like it is breaking. 😮  could be freaky.  Zip line can produce some interesting feelings too.   I got you too! 😉 .

 

[DrSea]

2 minutes ago, juju2454 said:

Thought you weren't going to write to me anymore?  That said.  I don't get mad at people on forums.  Not wort the effort.   But no you actually did make the argument as you said in your post " I can't believe I am defending haven" and "I hate that."   No?  Either way you went on to tell me to block you and a few other temper things but at this point you have made the point that you lost your temper.  I never said you said elite, I said elite,  and I have the posts to prove that in here and else where.   Me thinks  you doth protest too much.

Lost my temper? See...this is what I am saying. You are reading into things that just aren't there or didn't happen all while you type out this line by line response. This is straight up projection. 

 

And you're right, I shouldn't be replying to you.

[DrSea]

34 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

So, I'm going to throw this out there as food for thought.  I don't really think there are very many people at all paying $5K a week to cruise in the Haven.   NCL may be pricing the Haven in the stratosphere, but it would be interesting to see just how many people are ACTUALLY paying those prices.  During this discussion alone there were at least 3 or 4 of us who jumped in and acknowledged that we either don't pay for the Haven at all or we getting it at a deeply discounted fare.  Then factor in all the people who are bidding to upgrade, which is also a deep discount.

 

NCL has created an illusion of this super-expensive can't-touch-this exclusivity,  but I honestly can't imagine who is paying full price.

 

Right before the pandemic I cruised in the Deluxe Owner's Suite on the Bliss.  I was comped for two passengers by the casino, but I had to pay for guests 3 & 4.  My total cost for all four people (including port taxes) was $5,500.  The online price for for that cruise & suite gor the week for 4 was $36K.  First, was it worth $5,500 to me? Yes. (Plus, as an aside, I won all that back in the casino that week so yay me lol.) But second,  would I EVER in my life have paid $36K for that cabin for a week? No way!  And most importantly, is ANYONE paying $36K for a week in the DOS on the Bliss??  Not only do I highly doubt it, but if they are I think someone needs to ask them if they're OK.  The pricing and exclusivity thing is just a marketing ploy, IMO. I don't believe anyone is paying those prices.

 

That's said, the Haven is still super nice and I wouldn't want to cruise any other way on NCL.

Lol, I was always under the assumption that most people in the Haven paid full price as bids winning was rare.

 

I don't typically cruise during peak season. But I have booked the Haven in Dec/Jan at market rate, which is less than 5k/pp. This was when my schedule was set and I had little flexibility. I had to book months in advance. I will freely admit that I am always looking for the cheapest bargain. 

[MrsTocko]

5 minutes ago, juju2454 said:

That is my fear is the edge of a ship.  now smaller boats no problems.  Heights? no Problem.  The rope bridge would be no problem too, for m, but I get where you are coming from.   I see the bridge in I think it is Japan that is glass and as you walk on it it reacts like it is breaking. 😮  could be freaky.  Zip line can produce some interesting feelings too.   I got you too! 😉 .

 

I cant look at that glass bridge on my computer, and my legs start to tingle.  after we got to the other side of that rope bridge, DH said "you know we have to go back right?" "Yup, as soon as I have feeling back in my legs, we will be good to go"

 

Me no like heights.  me no like bridges. I think about my dropping something over an edge...nope.

I started cruising before I started swimming.  and still not a strong swimmer, but not as afraid as I once was (near drowning will do that to you).

I try to not let my fears conquer me.  I am stronger than my fears. it just may take me a while to conquer it! Thinking about a zipline one of these days. not like the one at Icy Strait...but still thinking about it

[billslowsky]

16 minutes ago, MrsTocko said:

Thinking about a zipline one of these days. not like the one at Icy Strait...but still thinking about it

The ropes course on some of the ships (like the Encore) has a short zipline (and walk the plank), then you can progress to Oasis ships on Royal, and so on.

[MrsTocko]

52 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

The ropes course on some of the ships (like the Encore) has a short zipline (and walk the plank), then you can progress to Oasis ships on Royal, and so on.

Our next cruise has quite a few zipline excursions...I might try one of those...DH has done ziplining in Puerto Vallarta (with the ex) before and said it was great...PV is a stop on our next one.

[pcakes122]

1 hour ago, DrSea said:

Lol, I was always under the assumption that most people in the Haven paid full price as bids winning was rare.

I don't know that winning bids is that rare, but if most people are paying the (crazy) full prices even me - a die-hard Haven devotee - would be the 1st one to say that there are specialty cruise lines that do luxury WAAY better than NCL if people want to drop crazy money on a cruise. And those ships are usually smaller and can visit many exotic and unique ports of call that NCL ships cannot.

 

My particular issue is that I get comps and those smaller, luxury cruise lines don't have the big casinos (or casino programs) that NCL does (or I'd be there in a heartbeat.)

[juju2454]

5 hours ago, DrSea said:

Lost my temper? See...this is what I am saying. You are reading into things that just aren't there or didn't happen all while you type out this line by line response. This is straight up projection. 

 

And you're right, I shouldn't be replying to you.

But you  do, and yeah you did project a temper,  what started out as a simple what you like what you  don't , you managed to take to the level of defending Haven, and blocking and  a few other things, go back and read your posts.  

[juju2454]

3 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

I don't know that winning bids is that rare, but if most people are paying the (crazy) full prices even me - a die-hard Haven devotee - would be the 1st one to say that there are specialty cruise lines that do luxury WAAY better than NCL if people want to drop crazy money on a cruise. And those ships are usually smaller and can visit many exotic and unique ports of call that NCL ships cannot.

 

My particular issue is that I get comps and those smaller, luxury cruise lines don't have the big casinos (or casino programs) that NCL does (or I'd be there in a heartbeat.)

I would honestly say that yeah people really do pay full for Haven.  As I have said I am in at least 6 groups "elsewhere" and they all pay full unless they get lucky like when ships were at half capacity, and bid but even then they bid a few thousand pp to go Haven.    Most say they "will only book Haven", no mention of bidding.   🤷‍♀️

[juju2454]

3 hours ago, MrsTocko said:

Our next cruise has quite a few zipline excursions...I might try one of those...DH has done ziplining in Puerto Vallarta (with the ex) before and said it was great...PV is a stop on our next one.

Zip line is a lot of fun,  we did it on St Kitts,  6 lines from top to bottom.   Even the then 6 years old and 8 years old grandsons did it.   🙂 

[cruiseny4life]

11 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

So, I'm going to throw this out there as food for thought.  I don't really think there are very many people at all paying $5K a week to cruise in the Haven.   NCL may be pricing the Haven in the stratosphere, but it would be interesting to see just how many people are ACTUALLY paying those prices.  During this discussion alone there were at least 3 or 4 of us who jumped in and acknowledged that we either don't pay for the Haven at all or we getting it at a deeply discounted fare.  Then factor in all the people who are bidding to upgrade, which is also a deep discount.

 

NCL has created an illusion of this super-expensive can't-touch-this exclusivity,  but I honestly can't imagine who is paying full price.

 

Right before the pandemic I cruised in the Deluxe Owner's Suite on the Bliss.  I was comped for two passengers by the casino, but I had to pay for guests 3 & 4.  My total cost for all four people (including port taxes) was $5,500.  The online price for for that cruise & suite for the week for 4 was $36K.  First, was it worth $5,500 to me? Yes. (Plus, as an aside, I won all that back in the casino that week so yay me lol.) But second,  would I EVER in my life have paid $36K for that cabin for a week? No way!  And most importantly, is ANYONE paying $36K for a week in the DOS on the Bliss??  Not only do I highly doubt it, but if they are I think someone needs to ask them if they're OK.  The pricing and exclusivity thing is just a marketing ploy, IMO. I don't believe anyone is paying those prices.

 

That's said, the Haven is still super nice and I wouldn't want to cruise any other way on NCL.

 

PS  This also may explain why people are disappointed when they expect class and decorum in the Haven.  Most of us are just a bunch of degenerate gamblers who got in for free LOL 😉

 

I'm not sure how many people are winning their bids on the Haven now that it is typically selling out weeks before the cruise. Of course there are times when A) the Haven doesn't sell out, B) someone cancels/gets COVID/can't sail for whatever reason, which means someone does win a bid. Also, I know not all ships have the Haven selling out, but many do within a few weeks of sailing.

 

I suppose my husband and I are fools since we do pay the rate laid out on the website for the Haven. Of course we don't pay brochure rate, since there is always a 30/35/70% off sale going on, but we do pay what the website says. We don't sail in the deluxe owner's suite or any of the multi-bedroom rooms as it's just he and I, so it's not like we're booking the $10k/person room, but the cost of getting into the Haven is a wee bit expensive, and has been for all three of our bookings this year.

 

Don't worry - it's not just the degenerate gamblers! 🙂 We may pay full rate, but we dress in our flippie floppies, t-shirt, and shorts at all times, including when we dine in the Haven Restaurant. We specifically booked Le Bistro on embarkation day so we don't have to get dressed up. This is one of the primary reasons we choose NCL over those smaller, luxury ships. There, you have to wear pants and a collared shirt - neither of which he and I want to do, although I have some nice summery collared shirts I'll occasionally throw on. Him....nope!

 

Plus he enjoys the casino - I don't, because I just watch him throw our money into those machines and don't see a return on gaming. Now that I say this out loud, perhaps I shouldn't let him be the one that manages our money haha

[pcakes122]

15 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Plus he enjoys the casino - I don't, because I just watch him throw our money into those machines and don't see a return on gaming. Now that I say this out loud, perhaps I shouldn't let him be the one that manages our money haha

If hubby is playing significant $$$ in the casino, make sure he is calling NCL's Casinos at Sea department to see if they can make an offer on your cruise fares!  I've been surprised at the number of people who are not aware of this perk of gaming.  Granted, you do have to be playing relatively higher stakes to be offered a full Haven comp, but NCL casino perks start at a % off, then Inside, Oceanview all the way up to Haven & the DOS.  If the casino offers a free Oceanview for two - but you only cruise Haven - you would just pay the difference between the Oceanview & Haven fare.  Not a free cruise, but a pretty good discount!

 

Make that gaming $$$ pay off - even if it's not at the tables or slot machine! 😉

 

(For anyone wondering what level of play would qualify for a discount - there's no real # - but if your gaming budget is even in the $1K-$2K range for a week, I'm sure you could get SOMETHING from the casino!  Also, the casino loyalty program offers additional perks. Plus, depending upon your actual play on the cruise, you would also qualify for ONBOARD perks.)

[hernando52]

I just had no idea!!  This whole topic about gambling and cruise perks was very educating to me.  I have very bad luck (zero skills) when it comes to any form of gambling.  The most I have ever won on a lotto ticket is $2, so you won't be seeing me in the ship casino or the Haven!  Thank you for broadening my perspective!     

[graphicguy]

@cruiseny4life….I used to do a bunch of hand wringing about bids for upgrades.  Like you, now I just book the rate that looks good to me.  If a Haven deal comes along, I just book it, without worrying about bidding.  That way I know exactly what I’m getting, where I am on the ship, and what to plan for.

 

I know low bids have been awarded with upgrades.  I think the odds of that happening now with the Haven being sold out well before the cruise, that’s much less likely.

Edited August 6, 2022 by graphicguy

[DrSea]

10 hours ago, juju2454 said:

But you  do, and yeah you did project a temper,  what started out as a simple what you like what you  don't , you managed to take to the level of defending Haven, and blocking and  a few other things, go back and read your posts.  

again not my intention. Idk how to spell it out clearer. No temper here. I'm telling you I am not mad, yet you are telling me that I am mad. How are we even having a discussion of how I feel when writing a post. This is ridiculous. I am annoyed with how this isn't getting through. 

 

Feel free to read whatever you want to read into my emotions. This is very odd that you are perseverating on this

[DrSea]

3 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

If hubby is playing significant $$$ in the casino, make sure he is calling NCL's Casinos at Sea department to see if they can make an offer on your cruise fares!  I've been surprised at the number of people who are not aware of this perk of gaming.  Granted, you do have to be playing relatively higher stakes to be offered a full Haven comp, but NCL casino perks start at a % off, then Inside, Oceanview all the way up to Haven & the DOS.  If the casino offers a free Oceanview for two - but you only cruise Haven - you would just pay the difference between the Oceanview & Haven fare.  Not a free cruise, but a pretty good discount!

 

Make that gaming $$$ pay off - even if it's not at the tables or slot machine! 😉

 

(For anyone wondering what level of play would qualify for a discount - there's no real # - but if your gaming budget is even in the $1K-$2K range for a week, I'm sure you could get SOMETHING from the casino!  Also, the casino loyalty program offers additional perks. Plus, depending upon your actual play on the cruise, you would also qualify for ONBOARD perks.)

Wow, I cannot imaging gambling 1-2k per week. My hats off to you. 

[pcakes122]

9 minutes ago, DrSea said:

Wow, I cannot imaging gambling 1-2k per week. My hats off to you. 

That would be entry level for cruise comps. Haven comps you are looking at a minimum $10K per week in play. But as I've said before, you have to consider it in perspective with the overall vacation cost.  Remember, I don't pay the Haven cruise fare!

 

For example, most people here who are cruising NCL in a balcony cabin are paying at least a couple of thousand a week for their cruise.  Well imagine instead of paying that cruise fare they just gambled that same couple of thousand in the casino and NCL gave them the cruise for free. Same difference. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

[DrSea]

Just now, pcakes122 said:

That would be entry level for cruise comps. Haven comps you are looking at a minimum $10K per week in play. But as I've said before, you have to consider it in perspective with the overall vacation cost.  Remember, I don't pay the Haven cruise fare!

 

For example, most people here who are cruising NCL in a balcony cabin are paying at least a couple of thousand a week for their cruise.  Well imagine instead of paying that cruise fare they just gambled that same couple of thousand in the casino and NCL gave them the cruise for free. Same difference. 🤷‍♀️

 

 

I see. Thank you again for your honesty. These little secrets are not readily shared and I appreciate it. 

 

I am paying for my cruise fare, so I really don't want to gamble. It's a chicken and egg situation here. I don't want to gamble bc I paid for my fare. But I can't get my fare comped bc I don't gamble. Lol. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

15 hours ago, MrsTocko said:

I try to not let my fears conquer me.  I am stronger than my fears. it just may take me a while to conquer it! Thinking about a zipline one of these days. not like the one at Icy Strait...but still thinking about it

My fears don't conquer me.  It's my age (and size).   I tried snorkeling in the ocean a few years ago and it just didn't work.  No fear (I can swim just fine), just lack of buoyancy.  🤣  I've since told DW that I'll try any shore excursion as long as it's level "one." 😎

[midgetcoach]

57 minutes ago, DrSea said:

Wow, I cannot imaging gambling 1-2k per week. My hats off to you. 

It is kind of misleading. If your playing with 1-2K per week then your buy-in should be around $300 per session. You should have a loss limit and also a win limit (when its time to walk).  You are playing to run your money thru  machines or across the tables for comp and points. Knowing when to move on to a different slot or table is part of it. At the end of the week look at your seven $300 buy-ins and add them back together. You will be up, down or even but never should you lose the whole $2000 bankroll.  As always good money management is one of the keys.