kodesthemoose

I hate these "deals".  Priced out an Aug 2021 cruise a few days ago, it was $7,200 for 5 of us.  Now with the Black Friday deal, it's $8,200!  Awesome. 

Sorry you did not enjoy the massage experience.  I would have asked for an immediate refund and I would not have left without speaking to the spa manager.  But then, to be honest, I view all spas on all cruise ships as a bit of a scam operation.  So many times they are run by third party operators and are only there to upsell you on stuff you don't need etc.  Lesson learned, I suppose.  

4 hours ago, DinaS said:

 

And here's a huge eyeroll right back at 'ya.  

Have a great weekend.

 

 

You too!  Maybe spend the time reading more carefully so your comprehension can increase.

22 minutes ago, DinaS said:

 

I read the sentence immediately preceding the one I quoted.  He said he would share his ideas LATER in the review.  

 

LOL

 

The entire review is like two paragraphs.  You clearly misread it entirely.

Here it is:

How the mighty have fallen. From wonderful cruises on Breakaway and Getaway to the first cruise I can honestly say I regret taking. Everything possible has been done for NCL to cut expenses and increase customers cost, although I have a few ideas to help them I will share later in this review. No lobster night, check. Most blasé repetitive tasteless food possible, check, featuring piles of fatty undercooked bacon to start your day. Entertainment as little as possible, check. Two hour plus to check in, check. I’ll stop there and give a few ideas for NCL to cut costs further. Bring your own silverware. Limit water usage in cabin to three gallons a day, after which you pay a surcharge. Clean your own cabin. Limit lighting to one 10 watt bulb in the cabins, bring your own flashlight. I have a few more but I will stop here.

It's fairly easy to see that starting from "No lobster night" to "two hour plus to check in", the reviewer is listing what's already been done by NCL to cut expenses.

S/he then says "I'll stop there and give a few ideas for NCL to cut costs further".  And then there are the further suggestions.

Huge eyeroll at your clear misunderstanding.

Is flying with Norwegian Air an option for you - they often have really great prices.  I think they fly out of Newark. 

On 9/10/2019 at 12:02 PM, Bavariangirl said:

I wrote an eMail but still no answer. So I have to wait .... will inform you

Don't wait.  Get on the phone and call.  You don't have much time left and if they don't reply till after final payment deadline, the result could be far less desirable.  

We have a YC cruise on Seaside for spring 2020 that I booked ages ago. As in a full year ago.  Price is something like $2200 each for guests 1 and 2 plus $141 in port fees and taxes... $159 each for guests 3 and 4 and 5 (kids) plus $141 in port fees and taxes.  I've been thinking of cancelling, but.... 

Same cruise priced now is $2800 each for guests 1 and 2 plus $191 in port fees and taxes (??why are these higher??) and $389 each for guests 3, 4, 5 plus $191 in port fees and taxes.  

Also Canadian here! 

So sorry to hear about that accident and I do not know how you managed, as I was cringing and clamping my hands on my chair even looking at the pictures.  Here's to pain subsiding quickly!!! 😞

The Getaway is doing 10 and 11 night Italy/Greece itineraries starting in the summer of 2020, I believe, and the itineraries are essentially identical to the 2021 itineraries (except there is one in 2020 doing Athens, but none of the other 2020 or 2021 itineraries visit Athens).  So we will have to keep an eye on how docking and tendering goes in 2020, but it isn't as though the Getaway is going to Venice. 

@Griller - not sure if your post was just edited incorrectly but if you're asking about the value of a regular inside vs a YC inside, it's really not the cabin that makes the difference.  It's the private restaurant, lounge, and pool deck primarily, the escalated level of service, the drink package is of course part of it (but you can of course purchase a drink package separately). 

8 hours ago, Beardface said:

The one thing I've seen as a consistent complaint about MSC is that it sounds like the crew is always trying to sell you on something when you're on the ship.  I'm kind of used to saying 'no thanks' just from the constant people knocking on my front door at home, but I assume this kind of solicitation is avoided when you're in the YC?

8 hours ago, Beamafar said:

 

Not sure where you got that impression from.  While MSC has increased its sales promotions tactics over recent years, they are certainly not 'in your face' about it.  However, you are quite correct about YC - there is NO solicitation in the enclave.

I would just beg to differ for a moment.  We absolutely did encounter sales promotion tactics and solicitation in the YC, right in the top sail lounge and on the YC pool deck (on Seaview in May).  We were asked about specialty dining packages at least 2x (we had already bought the packages, so please stop) and spa I believe 1-2x.  It was a simple matter of saying no thanks, but still found it annoying.  

Having sailed YC on the Seaview in the Mediterranean for very similar reasons (originally booked Haven on the Epic in the Med; YC came in at less than half the price) I completely agree with what BermudaBound2014 says.  It is not a "catch" but mostly because YC gets to avoid a lot of the issues most commonly complained about with MSC.  The food in the YC that we had was fine, some dishes were great (risotto always a hit) and some were passable - but we talked to friends who dined in the MDR and absolutely hated it, with cold food and super slow service.  Yes, food is subjective and service differs depending on day/server but you will find those to be really common complaints with non-YC MSC cruisers.  

I had OBC from my TA.  It more than covered our gratuities and the one specialty dinner we paid for, so I had about $50 left.  We went to the casino and 'took out' $50 on a slot machine, spun once and won $8, then cashed out, and took the voucher to the casino desk and they gave me $58 back in cash.

2 hours ago, MrMike45 said:

Not to be rude...but rather than ask questions to people here on Cruise Critic...why not try calling the cruise company, MSC?  You said 12 hours ago you would call customer service again...what did they say? 

What is the purpose of posting this... she said she called MSC and if she's in Sweden it's likely nighttime.  There's so much gatekeeping on CC, just let people ask their questions!!  

6 hours ago, tomservo said:

And it appears to be on all 2020 sailings 9 days or longer?

I did see some 7 night Alaska sailings, but the one-way cruises only, not RT Seattle. 

1 hour ago, Jasonmom said:

Sale, "perks", 27 days and going strong.

 

Well in "real" sales news, they did put out the 20% off for latitudes members this month on select 2020 sailings - and it was a real 20% off, not a "we raised the prices first then lowered them for the sale" sale. 

Sounds like a fun and cheap trip. But what is TK maxx? I live in Vancouver and have never heard of it ? 

Those who don't use twitter can still view tweets of Ken Muskat here:

https://twitter.com/kenmuskat?lang=en

2 hours ago, GA Dave said:

Just called and got the deal for our Sept. 2020 Med cruise.  Saved almost $3000!!!!

Haven? 

Thanks for posting this!  I switched my Rome/Greece cruise from June to August and saved $2,200 CAD - although technically the latitudes offer was a savings of $1,300 off that same sailing without the latitudes offer.  

4 hours ago, psmarkle said:

We sail next week for our 2d time in Seaside Yacht Club.  I do notice with the new menus, there seems to be a risotto dish each night...and I love a good risotto!

 

 

We sailed in the Seaview in late May and these menus were already in place in the YC there - and I can confirm that the risotto was delicious every single night :)

46 minutes ago, aero777 said:

On the Skytrain do you stow your luggage or do you stand/sit with it?  Thanks.

There isn't anywhere to stow your luggage so you will have to stand or sit with it (a very common sight on the skytrain)

For sure the bigger ships are more limited in terms of where they can port.  But I don't think it's necessarily hard to find ports you haven't done before.  This year we did a transatlantic and a mediterranean and between the two, we had 12 ports.  Next year we're doing Italy/Greece and the only port that is the same is Rome/Civitavecchia.  I'd also like to do a Norway/Iceland type itinerary sometime, and maybe a Baltics one, or maybe Asia.  You do have to look at other lines and such sometimes.

Hey OP - so I think the situation is as follows:  You have to cancel your cruise based on a medical reason, but you don't actually have independent trip cancellation insurance, you have (credit card based) travel insurance, which means you have out of province medical coverage.  Possibly the credit card based insurance includes some trip cancellation/trip interruption, but usually those are pretty limited, and if it exists in your case, likely the effective date is still your departure date.  When you buy independent trip cancellation insurance, the effective date is usually when you buy the insurance, not when you start your trip.  

Now in a situation where you are having to cancel (leaving aside whether you really HAVE to or not), without good trip cancellation insurance, you are left in a position of having to ask NCL to do you a favour, which they have declined.  

I can understand being frustrated at the situation and maybe even being disappointed that the result wasn't what you desired, but you have to recognize that NCL hasn't done anything wrong.  All NCL has done is abide by the terms of the contract that you agreed to when you purchased the cruise.  It's a crappy situation for sure, but it is not one in which NCL is to be blamed.  That is the risk you take when you purchase a cruise without buying cruise insurance.  Being left with a bitter taste in your mouth vs. NCL is just deflecting fault.

My guess is no, because on the Seaview they would not let my 6.5yo age up to Juniors club (age 7-11) - I asked because he has two brothers in that 7-11 age group and they wanted to be together.