sailorusvi

Lawsuits can be good for discovery purposes. When did they know and why did they wait to make the announcement when they did? Should they have made the announcement sooner? Not sure the answer. The delay might have been they knew Bermuda was out, but not know where the alternative was until days/hours later. Telling a 4000+ people they aren't sure where they will end up might be worse than waiting to make the announcement until they had the revised alternative lined up. The situation sucks, but waiting until you had all the answers sometimes is the better course of action. All speculation. They could be a-holes and decide to wait till the last minute so people "couldn't" cancel. Discover could provide some answers, but not necessarily ones people would agree on.

So my experience. Got excited and renewed online on Dec 29th, as we booked the cruise 7 weeks out. Was told 3-5 weeks (feb 18th sail) with expressed service (extra money). Received a confirmation email that day and they took the $208 out of my card for expediated service. Checked every few days between Dec 29 until Feb 3rd. Status was "received", otherwise crickets. And the website was down most of that time. Called the number to inquire and was told to call on Feb 6th. Feb 6th. Spent 4 HOURS on hold (called at 8:0am, when they opened). Then told "oh well" the website had issue, and "no", they could not give me an in person appointment, which you can often get within 14 days out, as I was. Later on Feb 6th, got an email it was now "in process" Feb 7th - status now "printed" Feb 8th (yep, today) - it arrived. The paperwork online was easier than other times I've renewed, but if you have a trip in the near future I would do it via snail mail as it's a different system. Let them work out the kinks. If you have time before your trip, then go via the online renewal.

I am also, but unable to book. Maybe they sold out their online allotment?

agree. I do not generally wear masks these days, but even I'm considering it during the drill.

I think this is one of the items that can be worked out over time as the crew gets use to them again. He was on the first one, I'm not surprised things weren't running smoothly. or funnel me into an area before the actual presentation begins. getting 4000+ people to a muster station takes time. Some areas are going to be ready before others. I'm not sure the sweet spot to send people to an area. That said, I absolutely think they could improve the process. Maybe when a section is ready they can begin? I'm not sure the answer, but agree a task force should be assembled to make improvements while not watering down the drill.

While not on the scale of a cruise ship, I have personally been involved and witnessed/assisted in water emergencies. I think people underestimate the need for a well trained and calm crew. Like it or not, sometimes that training comes in the form of in-person drills. While working as crew and eventually getting my captain's license, I had to take crowd control classes. As much as I learned in the class, I learned way more out in the field. In my opinion, medical emergencies, abandoning ship and fire fighting were all easier than crowd control. And the most I had to do was 50 people, 4000+ is mind blowing to me. I feel like a lot of complaints right now will sort themselves as the crew becomes more comfortable with their roles. Some things like passengers taking their time and talking over instruction will never change because the general public can suck sometimes and I honestly think they do it because they know it's not real. At least in my experience, in real emergencies people tend to be quieter and listen to instruction better, but there are some others who go into panic mode and others are just always a-holes. Drills help crew deal with those issues. Personally, I would prefer to waste 30-60 minutes of my time so the crew can become more comfortable in their roles in case we have a real emergency. But that's just me.

While it's not going to be the highlight of my cruise, I'm not terrible upset. My husband has little patience, so I'm more worried about him. I've already started warning him it's coming, including watching the video last week. Which If I understand correctly, was the first one in 3 years. Kind-of hoping they work out the kinks in the coming weeks before we go on our cruise, as it would be the first time for a lot of crew I would imagine.

It's all I've got on the subject.

Checked in last week for our Feb 18 trip, no safety video. In-person it is.

The OP asked for advice. Based on my own stupidity of not renewing my passport on time and impulsively booking a last minute trip and the issues I am renewing so close to a trip, my advice is go ahead and renew in the summer. None of the above may apply to them, but maybe they are type to impulsively book something last minute? Who knows? They can take the advice or not, it doesn't impact me either way.

Sure for that trip, but you just do not know what the future holds. Leaving with 3 months left on the passport would be too close for comfort for me. Or it could keep them from other trips. Might as well just get it done.

I was so excited to do the online. Technology is great, until it's not.

Ugh. I let my passport expire during covid and just put it off. Then we decided at the end of Dec to cruise Feb 18. 6 weeks - yikes. On Dec 29th I apply for the renewal online and received an email that it was received. They even charged me the $208 for expedited service that day. Since then crickets. The website has been down multiple times a week in the last 5 weeks. Some days can't even check the status (which still says received). Sigh. It's my fault, I had plenty of time do do it, but kept putting it off. If I do not get it by Sunday I will contact them on Monday to schedule an in person appointment since I'm 2 weeks out as of tomorrow. Anyway, OP, do not be me. Get it done long before your trip to be on the safe side.

That's one reason why I suggested to renew. Or better yet, another opportunity to travel out-of-the country pops up and now you are in a mad rush to get it renewed because you have less than 6 months left.

I would renew before I left on the Dec trip.

I like to see guides on tipping, especially in areas where we have not frequented before. We already paid the DSC and package service charge and didn't have a point of reference. We generally tip generously, as most hospitality workers do, it's a curse working in the industry. 🤪 But you do you. When I worked for tips, some people over tipped, some people under tipped (not even necessarily because of service, they just were low tippers - looking at guy who came in every Sunday and only tipped $1, regardless of the table size), most were in the middle. It all average out in the end. No need to stress over the practice.

I'm on the same trip. And we are kid-less 😬 I'm not banking on Bermuda and will not be upset if it's dropped. I thought it was a little odd it was even included. I would be annoyed (yet understand it was due to weather) if I was on a 5 day. Unfortunately, it's the chance you take traveling in the winter months.

Going all the way to the Nassau for 6 hours doesn't seem to fit into their Sail and Sustain campaign. Can't imagine all the fuel they will be consuming?😬 What's the over/under they will actually dock in Nassau?

🤣 Seriously. The general publics' complaints are so contradictory it can be mind-blowing. The general public on vacation ups the craziness. I once had a customer complain her double vodka on the rocks was too strong. 😳 Umm, okay. My husband and I could write a book on our experiences working in restaurants, especially the ones that were in vacation locations.

I've never sailed NCL, so I can't give my opinion on if it's worth it or not. After reading this thread I'm no closer to knowing the answer than I was when you first posted. Fact is it's very subjective. Everyone has different likes/dislikes and budgets. We are in Haven. We booked 2 specialty dinners (1 through FAS, the other a la carte). We enjoy variety and do not mind spending extra even though we have food already included in the cruise fare. We are not you though. We are under no illusion any of the food will be amazing. We want decent food and a good experience, which means differently to different people. Time will tell if it's "worth it" for us, but I don't see than happening until we've hit all the Specialty dinning restaurants.

You can always add spice, you can not take it away. With 3000-5000 taste buds and various health issues, I get making foods on the less spicy, low salt side. But agree some sort of condiment bar/menu for those who might want more spice would be a good compromise. I personally am a wimp when it comes to spice, so I appreciate the menu not being full of spicy items (I'm finding an increase number of restaurants having a large amount of "spicy" foods). Boy do I love salt though (blood pressure levels are in the lower side). Husband likes spice, but he needs to watch salt levels because of high blood pressure. So he appreciates lower salt levels, but would appreciate being able spice to his foods. In general, people just want options.

Some people drink more average, others less than average, in the end the house still comes out ahead. You set the a la carte prices to it appears like a value. Also they bank on some of us (including us) not to do a breakdown to see if it was worth it. We were comfortable with the price we paid via the FAS and know our own drinking habits. It will definitely be worth it to us, others it won't. Note: we compared the prices of the specialty dining packages to the a la carte prices. Based on our eating habits, we choose not to take the package. That said, you can NOT compare NCLs prices and the price you get at a liquor store. Prices are set to include staff wages (including purchasers, stocking, delivery, etc), equipment, detergent, , ice (yes ice has a cost), fun glasses (including restocking due to breakages/theft), delivery costs, warehouse space,, blah, blah. And of course profit. You are better off comparing prices to your local restaurants.

It does matter. Some taxes/fees are fixed (typically based on tonnage and/or length) and would be dived by all passengers. Others like the departure tax are often per passenger. If your fixed fee is $1000 and you have 100 passengers the per person price is $10. If you have 200 passengers is now $5 per person. If you happened to come in on a holiday your fixed costs are now 1100 ($100 for holiday OT fee). Your 100 passengers would be paying $11 or $5.50 for 200 passengers. A 10% increase simply for arriving on a different day. I'm not saying there isn't some skimming off the top, but these things are not a cut and dry as you want them to be. Give us 2 identical ships (length/tonnage), same passenger counts, same dock, on the same day and let us know what you come up with, until then it's all a guessing game as there are way too many variables on how these are calculated.

Already happens. Cruise lines can negotiate port fees (typically in a contract for a few years). Yep, in addition to all the other stuff (tonnage, passenger counts, etc), they could have also negotiated better fees/taxes. You come to an island year round, you will get better rates than just winter ones. I doubt it's 1/2, but all those difference can add up.

Everyone learns differently. Some better with emuster others the old way. I think both have their benefits and weaknesses. When EVERYONE is heading to their muster station at the same it simulates a real emergency in terms of crowds. It might make you think twice about using the elevator so those who really need them. It might make you think twice on how to get to the station more efficiently in a crowd situation. Some people will get nervous, anxious, inpatient, etc. during the drill which want happens in a real situation. You might not be able to hear some instructions. Just like a real emergency because your fellow passengers will not shut up. Some will come away learning absolutely nothing. Some people will absorb a lot, most somewhere in the middle. The crew will learn about the passengers. I was crew on sailboat, we obverse the passengers during safety speeches and with pretty good accuracy we can pick out the "problem people". They were the ones late to the boat at a port, they snorkeled where you said not to, they are the ones you have to hold their hand for every little thing, they are the drunks ones and it was like herding cats to comply to anything. Every trip has them and the safety briefing is often where the assessments are done.