lovelights

Are you seriously announcing how to circumvent the new policy the vast majority of people like. I suggest we all bring our cameras/ smart phones on the balcony to take a picture of people (proof) who flagrantly violate this policy to turn into guest services for expulsion from the ship. E Cigs are just as deadly and more testing is still being done to further the facts about their risk.

Geez... what a way to enjoy a vacation. By spending it being more concerned about what others are doing. When we cruise, there's only one thing on our minds, and that's about enjoying our family on the cruise. I could give a rats behind what smokers or non-smokers are doing. You just stay on your smoke-free balcony and take your pictures. I'll be up at the pool deck, listening to the music, and having a fantastic time.

Just cancelled 3 cruises [ a total of 35 days] so you all non-smokers have at least 3 more lovely suites to choose from! Enjoy!

We're canceling a balcony because of it. Why pay more for a balcony, when you get the same result in an oceanview for about $200.00 less? Another balcony for the non-smokers. They're definitely doing a happy dance. I think they should ban food and alcohol on balconies too. :O Bet that would make a large riot.

That's an easy answer - the one breaking the rules. They always do especially with an unenforceable rule like this. There is no way you can distinguish between a player and a non-player in a packed casino. As someone else said, they can sit and put 10 cents in a penny machine and then sit there while they enjoy their smoke. They're playing and there isn't a damn thing anyone can say to prove otherwise.

 

The thing that irks me with these new rules is the higher than thou smoke police with their halos all pretending that they're going to race to get a balcony. Hogwash. The other thing that gets my goat is the cruise line pretending they care about the health and well being of their guests AND EMPLOYEES. If they gave a rat's behind about their employees they wouldn't subject them to hour after hour of second hand smoke in a packed casino that now is going to be even worse. They'd ban it down there and allow it in a well ventilated upper deck area. They didn't ban it in the casino because $$$ trumps their own employee's well being so before we go all gaga praising and hugging NCL, lets not fool ourselves here. Its all about money and only money. Their employees on their ships are replaceable with ease and they know it. Will the day some that smoke free ships rule the day? Maybe but that day is a long way off and it will be done only when they feel they stand to lose money and business by not going that route and not one minute before.

Fantastic post you have here. I agree 100%. I think they should ban food and alcohol on balconies too. Wouldn't those non-smokers just love that? The last time we were on a cruise, the smoking area on the one side of the pool deck was so full, that there was only standing room. Imagine adding those that use to get balconies to smoke, will now be standing there too.

Also, Princess has tiered balconies on most of their ships, and we stayed in one, and woke to breakfast from the balcony above us, on the floor of our balcony. I say ban food on balconies too. And what about the cruisers that over drink and hang out on their balconies at all hours of the night, being loud and obnoxious? Ban the alcohol on balconies too.

I'm a smoker, and I just wanted to jump in the crowd of all the non-smoking complainers.

And for those non-smokers that are saying they got OV or inside cabins because they didn't want to smell smoke...... that is so much BS. They got the OV or inside cabins because they were less expensive, and that's the only reason. If a balcony was the same price as an OV, those non-smokers would have jumped at getting the balcony immediately.

I've been on over 15 cruises and almost every one of them had a sign at customer service indicating that you couldn't change your room because the ship was at full capacity. I guess it was because all of us smokers booked all those balconies, while the non-smokers had to get inside cabins to save them from our smoke. I'm doubtful that you would see many of those "full capacity" signs if the smokers decided not to cruise.

We're booked on a cruise at the end of 2015, and we got a balcony, but if this non-smoking rule is still in effect 90 days out from our cruise, I will be downgrading, or canceling. If every smoker canceled, two things would happen. Non-smokers would have to find something else to complain about, and cruise ships would not go out at a full capacity of passengers.

Any suggestions please . They both have the same itinerary. One sails a day after the other, and the price is only 10.00 different? Which ship is better? I cant see many differences. Thanks.

I've been on both. Carnival Inspiration was much better, as far as service. We disliked Carnival Imagination so much, that we told ourselves that we'd never cruise with Carnival again. But we're starting to reconsider, and maybe go out on Carnival Paradise. It could have been because of the ports we went out of though. Tampa seemed to have a more calmer group of passengers, than Miami did, and Inspiration went out of Tampa.

As far as the appearance of the ships, they are both identical. The only thing we saw different, was the name.

Then cruise Carnival. Nobody is stopping you. Why are you here in the NCL forums?

 

NCL is still filling ships and has big returns from Latitudes members. They obviously are doing something right with a large percentage of people. NCL hardly entices anyone to retire at 7PM either. Oh, that's a laugh!

 

Here's something for you to ponder. Do you really think the Captain can just up and say we'll go here or there on a whim instead? They have to get permission. NCL has to absorb extra port fees in place of GSC. The port has to have room and accept them. Also storms around GSC can blow in quickly with little warning. There isn't always ample warning. So whine if you have to, but know that NCL doesn't go around purposely messing with itineraries.

I was thinking the exact same thing. Why are they in an NCL forum, instead of a Carnival forum? We've been on Norwegian Dawn and Sky, and going back on Sky in 4 weeks with our family, and there was never a night where there was nothing to do after 7pm. That's when the fun started actually. I've been on RCL, Princess, and NCL. I'm not saying one is better than the other, because all ships have their pros and cons. My husband and myself can always take any situation and have fun out of it. I guess some people just aren't like that. Sounds like to me that someone went on an NCL ship with "Carnival" on the mind, and no matter what NCL did, it just wouldn't have been good enough. I say..... "go back to Carnival".

We've made it a few times and now no longer get off to go over to the Island - we stay onboard and enjoy the almost empty ship.

 

We're lucky enough to live in S. Florida about 15 minutes from the beach and we don't even go to the beach when we're home:D. We lived at the beach in South Jersey for 20 years and I guess we're just beached out now.

 

However, if NCL would build cabanas on GSC similar to the cabanas on Half Moon Cay (HAL's private island), you can bet we've book one in a nano-second and be on the first tender over! Hey, anyone know who to contact at NCL to suggest they consider building private cabanas and offer them as a shore excursion like HAL does?

It's not HAL's private island. It's Carnival's Private Island. And for those that have never been on HAL, when you book it to be able to go to Carnival's Private Island (HMC = Half Moon Cay), make sure that along with visiting the Private Island, you're also going to be visiting your stateroom much earlier than other cruise lines, because HAL closes up its sidewalks at like 10:00pm.

We were on Dawn last November and the photo department had the scrapbook and scrapbook embellishments displayed, but they said they couldn't sell them, because they hadn't received approval yet from the cruise line to do so. They kept telling us to check back the next day, and every time we did, they weren't allowed to sell them. It stayed that way the entire cruise, so we never got one. However, when we saled on RCL's Majesty of the Seas, we purchased a scrapbook there, along with the embellishments and it's pretty much identical to the one that NCL had, other than the scrapbook cover was a blue color, where NCLs was an orange color.

We now purchase our scrapbooks for our cruise ships from Michaels Craft Stores, and just whatever kind we want and we purchase the cruise embellishments from Michaels as well.

As far as I know, the only place you can get what you're looking for is on the ship. I even contacted the company that makes them and was told they're only sold on the ship. It's the same way with the cruise ship models. If you don't buy them onboard, you don't get them.