Realdeal80

12 minutes ago, AdoraBelle said:

 

Not too sure what point you’re making now. What’s coming across is:

 

—college bad

—AA bad

—Don’t want to argue income but do want to tell everyone how much money I spend on cruises

 

🙂 

 

As long as you can refrain from throwing punches onboard, you do you, man. 

Collage is excellent for some no doubt in my mind. Just when I graduated 1999. We were basically told high school grad made 20k tech school made 30k collage made 50k. Also how much better off we would be having that kind of position.

1 minute ago, AdoraBelle said:

 

Not too sure what point you’re making now. What’s coming across is:

 

—college bad

—AA bad

—Don’t want to argue income but do want to tell everyone how much money I spend on cruises

 

🙂 

 

As long as you can refrain from throwing punches onboard, you do you, 

I guess having a decreased price haven room(bidding), set me off as if someone considered "steerage" which I like to think of myself as caused a problem. Aa is subjective on so many levels. Obviously everyone knows what a haven room cost here nowadays?? 

6 minutes ago, AdoraBelle said:

 

This is kind of reductive but okay. I don’t have a college degree either, and I’ve been doing IT Ops/admin for 20 years. Husband is a senior software engineer on a two-year degree from a tiny tech school. I’ll let you do the math on our household income. 

 

I think the more important lesson isn’t to discourage people from higher education, but to discourage them from ridiculously high student loans for useless degrees. Those are the people who are in the most trouble now. It doesn’t mean higher education is bad, though, it just means people need to consider tech or trade school, starting at community and transferring to state school, etc. No one who isn’t a doctor needs six figures of student debt.

 

I have no idea how we got on this topic, though, because regardless of how much money you make or how you got your Haven room, if you’re getting in drunken fistfights you need to reassess your life choices. And possibly attend an AA meeting or three.

Absolutely been to aa a few times. Wasnt for me sorry. Dont want a who makes more money contest either. Just wanted to say I'm pretty much low class get muddy everyday kind of guy who has no problem spending 10k to 20k on a vacation. My girlfriend dosen't work.

10 minutes ago, erdoran said:

Stepson is lineman.  He does better financially than most people I know professionally, most of whom have graduate degrees.  And yes you have to work hard!

Sorry shouldn't have piggy backed my last comment off yours. Awesome trade to be in. Were in dire need of workers!

Btw my old lady would be in the Brigg in this scenario in a second. And we would laugh about it tremendously!

1 minute ago, erdoran said:

Stepson is lineman.  He does better financially than most people I know professionally, most of whom have graduate degrees.  And yes you have to work hard!

I want to cruise Norwegian only cause I only wear and have blue Jean's. Period

On 3/15/2019 at 8:17 PM, ClarkBHM said:

 

I wonder if they bought Haven tickets outright or were "upgraded."

I'm a high school educated lineman with a technical degree(1 yr course not needed). I make good enough money for Garth Brooks to sing about me in his song big money. I paid over 10k to sail in haven for a week. 

Problem with people is telling kids they have to have a college education to make good money.

They just have to WORK!

4 hours ago, blcruising said:

Sounds like a lot of money to pay for the benefit of not having to dress up for dinner.

I only own Jean's. Never where anything but nice Jean's. On land if I cant get in wearing just Jean's I dont belong. I feel the same way on a cruise.

Encore long ways out!!

9 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Priority boarding starts around 11:00 (Suites, Casino Guests, Ambassador, Platinum Plus, and Platinum). General boarding starts between 11:15 and 11:30. 

 

O’Sheehan’s and the Buffet opens at 11:30 for lunch. The Main Dining Room and Margaritaville (extra few) open at noon. 

 

Arrive ar 10:15 to avoid th crowds and board early. 

Does it matter much with haven guest? I have a hard time believing I can get everyone there by 1015 I'm up early my SO and kids not so much.

If we get there at 1115 is it still a breeze or not?

Never done a solo. I have read that ncl has been known also to go out of there way a little more to there solo guest. Also a helpful factor for sid

I believe sid has also had drinks at the bar! The horror!

I remember an eye opening experience at age 21 (in 01') on the grand princess. I had one 2 hands by the dealer in 3 card poker probably was up 500 dollars or so when his shift was up. I was probably 10 to 12 drinks into the night and just forgot to tip. Well when the dealer left he banged his tip box off the table. I was kinda *****? Lady that came on next said the get paid only off our tips. 

Needless to say I gave the pit boss a nice tip to give him and he apologized next day as did i.

Also have talked to a lot of bartenders on the cruises. Most will appreciate the tip but if asked most will always tell you to make use of the comment cards and list them by name in them.

So when them runners aren't there on time they also get a fine? Never heard that. I'd lie say you missed the ship.

Edit. Thought about it more. Carry on luggage only though. May be obvious.

Idk why but this came to mind

Wheew

7 minutes ago, Newleno said:

There was a gash on the ship, I dont know what else to say.  So you looked at my posted video and you still say that is a dent? is that your position?   

I guess it depends on what your definition of gash is. I see a gash if your meaning that metal was pushed in and lost paint. Fine if your saying metal was torn. No I dont see a breach of the hull at all. 

I would say gash to me means I can see under a layer to something like on my skin. A scratch I can see but not underneath my skin

There a good saying by my favorite comedian. Ron white that could be used here.

1 hour ago, alejorubi said:

Or that they found cocaine at Cozumel in MSC Divina? Jajjajajjaja

Now that's a cruise to be on

1 hour ago, sryan said:

Hi- Has anyone been upgraded from balcony to haven. I wasn’t sure if they offer haven upgrade from a balcony. I am booked in the haven but my mother in law is booked in balcony and hoping to try bidding on upgrade to haven if she is offered to bid. We will be on the getaway. Just wanting to hear anyone’s  experience with this.

thanks

 

Yes you can bid.

35 minutes ago, croix153 said:

Good news!!!!!

 

She's doing 20.4 kts!!!

 

 

Btw hope your single with ads popping up like that. My girlfriend gets a little suspicious when them do cause of cookies and bs.

31 minutes ago, croix153 said:

Good news!!!!!

 

She's doing 20.4 kts!!!

 

 

Awe this threads gonna come to an end now. 

Anybody know of good threads with bad things happening to cruise ship. I was kinda addicted to this one. Wish it happen more often. Just not on my cruise. 😁

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

I think NCL's beverage package doesn't include bottled water or soda.  We don't drink either.

 

The convenience of the beverage package is what appeals to many, however, I wonder how many people kept tabs on their total alcohol spending (we did on all our early cruises)  We never went over $500 total for both of us together for a 14 day cruise.

Of course, when I read that someone drinks enough before lunch to justify the beverage package, it show me that not everyone is like us.  We don't normally drink alcohol until happy hour.  It is a personal decision as one of health.  I had a friend die of liver failure at age 65 and he was one of those guys that had more before lunch that we did the entire day.

I'm not an alcoholic I'm just from Wisconsin!

29 minutes ago, trish1c said:

I got lost somewhere in here.  

 

The package if you "buy" it was about $49 per day per person.  So assuming $100 per day if there are two people in a cabin, that's a $700 per cruise value for a week long voyage.  Now add 18% gratuity & you are adding another $126.  

 

A voyage that used to cost $799 per person when all drinks were a la cart is now selling for $1299 per person because you get the "free at sea" program.  That is a $500 pp difference or $1000 more for the same cruise so I can get $700 worth of "free alcohol."  Now if I select the UBP I still have to pay the tip so add another $126 & I'm now paying more than $1126 to get something that I could have purchased for $826.  Plus being me, I'm still going to tip the bartenders in actual cash to assure good service  Sorry but I don't think that is even close to being "free" at sea or anywhere else. 

 

When I said there weren't many $15 drink options, I meant there weren't many drinks that expensive.  If a beer is $5 & the cost of the promotion is $50 per day, you have to drink 10 beers to break even.   Granted many martini drinks are around $11 but who wants 5 of those per day, especially given the larger size of the cruise glasses.  You are talking 5 is really 7.5 - 8 & given the generous pours, 12-15 shots.  Not that many people can drink that much & still function. Can you say alcohol poisoning?  

 

Sure I saw a lot of people over indulging on embarkation day . . . woo hoo "free booze!"  I also saw a decided drop in visible passengers on day 2.   Many people made themselves so sick they had about 1 drink per day for the rest of the trip.   Seriously they told me that.  

 

So go back:    $826 for 2 people to drink for 7 days. (But you are really paying closer to $1200 because the price of the cabin went up)   On day 1 you run up a $100 bill.  Then maybe for the next 6 days you drink 1-2 drinks each day for 2 people let's even say they drink $22 worth of booze (2 martini type cocktails.   We'll round it up to $150-$300.   The cruise ends.  They paid $1200 to get a "free" UBP of which they consumed $250-$500 worth of alcohol.  How is that a value proposition?  

 

Call me cheap if you like but for me the better value was when the cabin prices were less & I paid per drink.  

Hmm. Me and my girlfriend have 3 or 4 mimosas just to get outta bed in the morning. How much are they a la cart?

My experience has been this is how much cruise cost. This much ok. So when I get on board if I have a semi bad hangover I can drink that 5th mimosa and not worry about how much its costing me. If I dont get the drinks package I feel that im held back and nickel and diming myself.

After all there are almost always sail away rates if your that concerned with the normal cost.

On 2/15/2019 at 2:32 PM, JamieLogical said:

Before I move on to Monday's activities, I wanted to touch on two subjects before I forget: drinks and the casino.

 

Drinks

On the Gem in June and on my last Escape sailing in October, we noticed more and more of the drinks being pre-mixed. My SO actually had a conversation with one of the bar tenders at Tobacco Road on the Escape about it and found out that it was something they had started doing since SO MANY passengers have the drink package now and will ask for a drink, try it, and not finish it. Taking the time to make so many drinks individually, only to have so much go to waste was a drain on resources, so they started pre-mixing what they could.

 

I saw VERY LITTLE of that on the Bliss, so I don't know if it is a fleet-wide shift or not. The only time I received a partially pre-mixed Mr. Worldwide was once at the Observation Lounge bar, though all my other Mr. Worldwides I ordered there throughout the week were fresh made. On that occasion, the Pimm's and Vodka were premixed in a Pimm's bottle with the label crossed out with a red X. All the other ingredients were added separately as usual.

 

At many of the bars, the liquor for a Mudslide was all pre-mixed in a Skyy Vodka bottle. And then, of course, at the poolside bars, they had some of the drinks pre-mixed in their slushy machines, like the Mango Meltdown. But they did make me a couple of those fresh as well when the machines were empty.

 

Towards the end of our sailing, two different bars we stopped at (Observation Lounge and Surf Bar) were out of Bailey's. Also, on the last day (Friday) they seemed to run out of the large, clear, NCL branded plastic cups at the poolside bars and used much smaller, translucent solo cups.

 

And of course, straws were in limited supply. I only received paper straws at specialty dining restaurants, never at any of the bars. Once, as described before, I received a straw for my frozen margarita at Los Lobos. And then at the end of the cruise, we had our last dinner at Ocean Blue where I ordered a mojito and eventually received a straw for that. We had brought our own reusable Final Straws and had them with us most of the time. Since they are kind of a pain to keep clean, I only used mine in my mojitos and in the occasionally frozen drink that really was just too frozen to sip. I do recommend them for anyone who thinks they will need a straw, because they fit nicely in pants pockets.

 

Final thought on drinks. The new prices had gone into effect, but had zero impact on us. We don't drink wine and we mostly do mixed drinks where the quality of the liquor is not such a big deal. I only drank a few specialty drinks at the specialty restaurants, screwdrivers, Mr. Worldwides (my favorite NCL drink!), mojitos, Mango Meltdowns, vodka sours, and Irish Russians. An Irish Russian is something I discovered on the Escape in October. I tried to order a White Russian at the District Brew House (which does have a full bar, not just beer), but they had no milk/cream, so they offered to make me one with Bailey's instead and I was like "YES!!! Why did I never think of this?!?!!" So since then, I never order regular White Russians anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you love that as do I. I recommend a Colorado bulldog made with ice cream instead of cream. That's at least easier not to have a bad hangover in the morning. 😏