jomf

Brilliant! Thank you.

Does anyone know if cabin 2001 has a proper window or a porthole?

Can't work it out from the external pictures.

Is Bistro on Five being replaced on all the ships?

We just got off the Jade ( which also does not have the tv viewing of the account). We had a receipt for every drink then they were all zeroed out for the final account.

It was fun adding them up when we got home!!

OMG What makes you the "acceptable police"

Did you ever think that people cruise to have fun? To have laughs? To enjoy THEIR cabin? If you have the issue buy some earplugs or book the 2 adjoining cabins for yourself.

Sheesh

Smoking police, cabin police, but yet no buffet police. I pay more for insurance due to obese people but they complain incessantly about smokers saying their weight does not affect me, yes it does, every month when I pay my insurance bill.

I am not the "acceptable noise police" - society is. NCL has the last say onboard their ships as to what is ok and what is not. I would hope that their policy would follow reasonable people's expectations. Which, if you look at the conditions of passage, it does.

It is not "Their cabin" it is NCL's, we are guests on their ship.

There are buffet policies in place - using tongs to pick up food, not reusing dirty plates, not pushing in front of people. And I do believe, the larger person ( or any buffet eater!) pays more for insurance in part due to the cost of smokers health problems?

The consensus of opinion seems to be that I am reasonable in expecting to be able to sleep in the cabin without being woken at 2/3/4am every night.

Actually you also said this, to which I responded:

"Both weeks of our trip were ruined by noisy neighbours"

 

I sympathized about the noisy neighbors and thought it was way inappropriate, and that the ship should have done something. I just didn't want someone to let that ruin a whole vacation. (your word choice, not mine.) I'm glad that it really didn't!

Apologies, misread the reply. And you were right that I said " both weeks .......neighbours". In my defence I was fairly annoyed and tired when I wrote the post, should have re-read it before posting.

I didn't quiet expect the replies received or the number!

We did have a good time, brilliant ship & staff. 99% of the passengers were fun and good to travel with. The ports great, food very good.

I think its pretty simple. It's NCL's boat, so I believe it's their problem, and so a phone call to the front desk requesting security check on the cabin in question, and just close you eyes and drift off knowing the noise will stop either sooner or later.;)

We called security three nights in a row in the first week, visited the front desk every day. It seems the 6 people were part of a very large group, who were over enjoying the trip!

The neighbours had no intention of being quiet, they were after a good time.

I stay in hotels regularly (about 30-40 nights a year on average) and inconsiderate neighbours are a common problem. In my experience, cruise line passengers are not as bad in comparison, but the problem on a cruise is that you are stuck with them for longer.

 

The solution is difficult. Unfortunately, cruise lines and hotels are walking a fine line when it comes to these things. I personally wish they would act against inconsiderate guests more than they do, but for whatever reason they don't do so.

 

I always think of a day once at a theme park where a group of teenagers/young adults were playing up on a ride, completely ruining it for everyone else on the ride. I asked the operator afterwards why he didn't kick them off (and get security to kick them off the park), and he said that they are instructed not to do so. As with so much in life, the majority have to suffer to avoid upsetting those who don't want to act reasonably.

We, too, have suffered many times in hotels but this was the first time on a cruise and for it to happen both weeks ( different people, different cabins) was particularly bad.

It won't put us off cruising but might push us to shorter trips with a more expensive line.

We had an experience with loud, partying neighbors the first night and next day, we saw them in the bar (we had said hello the first day on board), I sent over drinks for them all and then went over and introduced myself. Took the opportunity to mention how loud they were the night before and asked if they could bring their quiet voices back to the cabin at night so "us old folks could get our sleep".

Rest of the trip was very quiet.

 

Not saying it will work every time either. Just did for us on this trip.

We thought about talking to the first weeks problem cabin but NCL was against it as they were part of a 70+ group of youngsters who were causing more than a few problems!

The second week was four women, their noise was more of the rowing kind, after the fourth night I think the two younger women went to another cabin.

We then had peaceful nights!

We had a great trip on the Jade marred only by other passengers inconsiderate behaviour.

Why do people consider their cabin to be completely soundproof? Or is it that 3am is their normal time for shouting, laughing and banging doors?

Both weeks of our trip were ruined by noisy neighbours ( different sets of people each week), night after night even after calling the front desk to ask them to quieten down.

What are other people solution to this problem or are we too sensitive?

This, and various comments that followed, are simply not true.

 

There is no international law prohibiting people from taking any and all fresh food off of cruise ships into ports.

 

Someone just posted on the Cozumel board that they had a tuna fish sandwich and they were told by the port officials that it would have been fine *except* that there was a piece of lettuce in it.

 

It's one thing to post actual laws that apply to specific ports. It is another thing to try to shame people by claiming that taking certain things off the ship is just generally "illegal" without reference to a certain jurisdiction.

Obviously the laws in each country vary. Therefore each person who takes food off the ship should declare it to the customs officer. If that happens then I, nor most other people, would not have a problem. But what I expect happens is that people try to take food ashore (because it is their right-they have paid for all food!) without first checking if it is allowed.

Wow, I can't believe how rude people can be! How is taking a ham and cheese sandwich from the buffet (real food that you have already paid for) tacky and yet carrying manufactured crap from the US to another country instead of trying the local food when you're ashore isn't?

 

Same goes for the supposed environmental argument. Yes, fruits and vegetables can carry plant pests or diseases. A ham and cheese sandwich? Not so much. And in either case, obviously the wrapper or baggie adds to the trash in that country's landfills, or worse, the litter on their streets and in their bodies of water.

 

I'm definitely going to bring reusable lunch pouches when I go on my cruise, and I'm not going to feel bad at all about taking reasonable amounts of non-fruit/non-vegetable items for in-port snacking.

In the UK we had an outbreak of a disease called Foot & Mouth. The cause was thought to be a ham sandwich chucked into a pig pen by a tourist.

The number of animals that were slaughtered was heartbreaking.

I would not like to be the person who MIGHT have been the cause of such devastation.

Keep to the rules, you are visiting another country, they have rights too you know.

I bring zip lock bags and make mini turkey and cheese sandwiches off the breakfast Bar. I have never had problems.

I would hope that one day you are caught and fined. The rules are there to protect the environment, why try and save a buck at it's expense?

Has anyone actually experienced this? While I was on a Celerity cruise, someone asked the Captain about this and he replied they didn't open passenger safes because of the liability involved if something went missing.

We haven't experienced this but have seen port officials holding passports waiting for passengers who had not turned up. So I would assume they retrieved it from their safe, unless it had been handed in at the beginning of the trip ( which we had not).

We nearly missed the ship in Lisbon. We were on a private trip, had asked the people organising it to be back at 4pm, one hour before the ship left. Neither of us were wearing watches ( something we will NEVER do again), the trip was late back, we had to run for the gangway, much to the amusement of the balcony watchers.

Was that our fault, possibly, but we trusted the organisers to get us back at the time we asked!

So to all those who were hard on the ladies, please don't be unless you know the circumstances of the delay.

There is always the chance it will happen to you!

Yes you can, just make sure you take the appropriate ID and your cruise card.

Make sure also that you are back onboard well before sail away time!

I'm sure the missus appreciated that as well! :rolleyes:

 

*couldn't resist*

Just hit the "like" button!

The port Authority would most likely have been given her passport and possibly credit cards if she had left these in the safe.

We have seen this happen several times and almost to us once!

Taking the cruise lines shore excursions does, sometimes, have a benefit….

A search provided me the wonderful list of pillow options for haven suites, but I am trying to find out the contents of pillows for regular rooms. Is it polyester or foam or down?

You could take your own pillow! If you do then just make sure the cabin steward knows not to take it!

Well, the latest promo (which I think is about to end but lasted for two months?) has been giving UBP to everybody who wants it (exception: those booking Studios). This means pretty much anybody who drinks is likely to have selected UBP over the other promos. The longer this "free liquor to them as wants it" promo continues, the greater the incentive for NCL to restrict liquor wait staff. There are plenty of reviews out there that have said two things: (1) longer waits at bars and (2) no longer are pax being "hassled" by waiters looking to make sales. "Aggressive" bar wait staff used to be a common complaint; now it's pretty much the opposite: where are the servers?!

 

Given all this I think it's a very fair bet (and suspicion) that IN FACT NCL has been cutting back on bar service. Obviously there's a limit -- they need to please customers and if you simply couldn't get a "free" drink no matter how hard you tried, that is going to lead to a lot of negative feelings about the cruise -- NCL already has a fairly well deserved reputation for "bait-and-switch." In the long run restricting liquor service might wind up hurting NCL, but in the short run it's likely the opposite. NCL would hardly be the first corporation to focus on the (VERY) short term when making decisions.

 

Whereas there used to be a clear incentive for NCL to try to SERVE as much liquor as possible (because there was no UBP and every drink put money into the coffers), there now is a pretty clear incentive for NCL to do the exact opposite since most every drink served dings their bottom line.

 

If they continue with "free" UBP in the coming months, you should be able to read the writing on the wall: UBP will lose some of its value as NCL puts less emphasis on giving away free liquor.

I am in agreement with you.

We took several Celebrity cruises, the first two before the expansion of free beverages packages, the last two when most people seemed to have the package.

Our normal bar went from four staff to two and sometimes ( even during busy times) only one. Wait times increased massively.

Think of it as an extra two hours on the ship! :):):)

Like the attitude!

Will do, we have the UBP so will get an extra two hours from that..

Our shore time has been shortened as well. We were not notified, would have been nice to. If we were booking our own excursion or meeting friends then two hours would have meant missing the ship!

I know the time back onboard will be at the gangplank but advanced notice helps with planning!

We have eaten at several of his places. Always good food and perfect service.

Would be a good addition to NCL.

it's not like they control this, as you only go through an x-ray/whatever machine when boarding...

The reason for the food ban is that products ( meat, dairy fruit etc) from different countries can cause serious damage to the local environment. We had a very bad case of foot & mouth in England possibly caused by something brought in from abroad.

It helps if people keep to the rules even if the sniffer dogs or X-rays aren't being used.

They don't have the rule to stop you having fun just to keep their country safe.

We will be doing TA on QM2 4/8 with our two teenage children (16 & 14 but look younger).

 

My son (16) has a black suit he wore for his prom so is sorted for formal evenings but doesn't have a jacket for informal. Will he be OK with chinos and a shirt without a jacket?

 

My daughter doesn't have cocktail style dresses but does have some nice dresses but they are not really formal. Two years ago we did a Royal Caribbean Med cruise and she wore black miniskirts with lacy tops for the formal evenings there but since then her dress sense has gone more casual. She's tiny (Uk size 4/6), looks quite young and it's quite hard to find something that fits, is formal but more importantly is age appropriate. (I really don't want her in bodycon dresses as they look too grown up but the dresses she has are skater style so less formal). Any thoughts?

Your son will be fine using his black suit for the formal nights, he could also use the jacket for informal nights if he wished. Paired with light coloured chinos it would look great.

Your daughter will be absolutely fine with the skater style dresses, she will not need formal glitzy wear.

Don't let the old guard worry you! In their world we women would still be wearing corsets and long gloves!