Oldsweets

Well I can say that ncl must have changed and improved the stock holders benefit. We just got notification of approval for $100 obc which is the first time in many attempts over the years. In the past if you had discounted fare it seemed to reject your eligibility. This trip I started with a free inside room from cas which upgraded at booking for a balcony and just this past week we accepted accepted an upsell to haven owners suite. It does require some follow up as we started the process last Friday and as I hadn't heard any response I contacted them today. They did then make contact saying they hadn't gotten any of the required paperwork so I resubmitted. Within a few hours got approval paperwork. Impressed with the changes.

100 shares is requirement and in past cruises we never could get to eligibility for obc but they would give me dinner at Cagney's with a bottle of wine. We had stopped sailing with ncl about 16 months ago because of frustrations with the line as platinum members so we don't know what to expect today. We just sent in our paperwork yesterday (Friday) morning for an upcoming trip on escape and haven't heard anything yet but suspect it will be rejected.

I also have enjoyed this review and it has been helpful for our upcoming escape trip on 25 June As platinum members and stock holders we also stopped cruising ncl cold turkey given our frustrations. We instead just continued our quarterly cruising with our many other options. A free cruise from Casinos at Sea lured us back for another try. We started in a Balcony and after reading the difficulty in getting vibe tickets and that our flight doesn't arrive into Miami until noon we decided on trying the unsell line and moved into the Haven. So for us this is a real test as our last two Haven experiences were dismal with the overflow of unsupervised children taking over the pools and hot tubs. So this is a real test for our jaded thoughts of the ncl product. Thanks again for this helpful review.

We are booked and have 1 ticket and interested in a second ticket contact us at

Oldsweets@aol.com if you have one for sale

You are correct sorry I failed to say that its the Panamacanal Cruise with a 11 pm departure. It helps that we are a flexible group although we always like working with the correct info

While we are looking forward to our upcoming Jan Cruise on Journey I will admit a bit of surprise with the results of my call yesterday to Azamara Customer Service. We had a question given we had booked a pre cruise hotel and transportation to the ship with Azamra. The question was regarding times so we could make a decision about booking an afternoon excursion from the port. The information sent out by Azamara said we would depart the hotel at 11 and take about 75 minutes to drive to the port. Azamara also posted get boarding wouldn't begin until either 3 or 4 ( sorry I don't recall) but this caused me to wonder what happens between our boarding time and arrival time to the pier. Not thinking to call my TA I called Azamara Customer service and got a rather terse lady who said call your TA and then guessed "maybe" we (Azamara) has other hotel pickups. I knew that Azamara wasn't the right folks to ask a rather simple question about its cruise and called my TA.

Bottom line my TA who I then called found that boarding starts at 1230 not the time posted by Azamara and that they are wanting everyone checked in if possible by 430 (reasonable but not published by Azamara). I failed to ask what time muster will be but I assume that it will be closer to our 11 pm sailing time on the 3rd. So we booked a 3 pm excursion after checkin going from the pier and getting us back 630 in time for dinner and muster drills. Bottom line don't depend on the paperwork or published information being put out as without checking it could have changed or simply been wrong.

All great answers and we would agree having done both. Without question our favorite beach is soggy dollar and it never gets old. We have gone at least a half a dozen times over the past 10 years and find that the crowds only get heavier and would recommend that you go as early as you can 10ish. We were just at soggy dollar in March and wow was the place packed. We got onto the beach early and enjoyed about an hour and a half of pure beach bliss before it was wall to wall people.

Thank you for your email and taking time to write to us!

The Star Legend will undergo a renovation in just a few months now, before she starts sailing with us. $8.5 million is budgeted for her renovation only. If you'd like to read more about it please visit our website: http://www.windstarcruises.com/Yachts/Transformation/

As for the dress code that, and everything else, is the same as on the sailing yachts. So the only thing that really changed is the vessel itself. The staff will be the same, the restaurants will be the same ( AmphorA and Candles ) and the dress code is the country club casual as it is on the other yachts. So no need to bring ties or sport jackets.

As for the pool and the hot tubs, I have not heard that we would be changing those. I imagine it would be the same as on the Star Pride. There are 2 hot tubs in the middle of the deck 7. Also, though it's not huge ( wouldn't be able to swim laps ) there is a pool towards the end of the same deck

Let me know if you have any questions!

Regards,

I agree and this isn't all that helpful for you but let's hope someone from Windstar (Hans you reading this?) will post. We are cruising Legend a few weeks after your return so I would welcome hearing what you saw upon your return. Thanks for your help.

Thanks for the feedback. At the same time I posted this to the Board I also emailed the same comments/questions to Windstar as well as the large booking agency I booked through. Late today the Agency wrote me the following as its response to my questions:

The information given to me by Windstar is that the dress is Country Club Casual jackets are not required. The pools are not removed.

Hello, we are past guests having sailed numerous times with Windstar and understand the process, dress code, and set up with the sailing ships. Now we are booked on Legend for the 26 June Ireland trip and I am finding many conflicting stories from a number of locations including Windstar, Cruise Critic and Cruise Booking sites. I am hopeful that Windstar will take the opportunity to send a basic fact sheet out for its new ships so that booked guests like my wife and I know what to expect. Start with something simple like the dress code in the dining rooms since some sites say jacket required while other sites say casual. Some sites talk about the pool and hot tubs on Legend while other sites say the pool is being removed. Help, anyone have a good source for the facts about Legend? Oh, and yes we have reached out to Windstar asking tad same questions.

Sent from my iPad

interesting and helpful! With some lines like NCL it simply isn't assigned so that when you're ready to book you find an Agency you wish to book with, make a decision, and tell them you have a Future Cruise Certificate, and "boom" your done. Obviously, in these examples since your actually booked on a Cruise you clearly have already agreed or accepted a price, the room, and any perks so now if you want to change agency's you should and better have a valid reason. Thanks again for the feedback.

I just received a call from a Azamara Supervisor who says she can help resolve this. This lady was pleasant and understood that the money used and the money that will be paid belonged to my wife and I and that ultimately the decision of how much or little we spend still belongs to us the customer. She said that IF I will send her a letter asking to assign the control of booking to myself that she will see that it happens. I have contacted the Agency one last time to ask that they take the action to assign it back to me so we will see. I am going to prepare a letter.

This all makes sense and while I still disagree with how slanted towards the Agency(s) this process is I am hopeful that we can resolve this in the coming days. Should be simple now that I am talking with someone who can impact the problem as I just want to have some control of my own booking of a cruise.

Thanks for the suggestion on challenging the charge as my wife and I have discussed that and decided for now not to try that. We suspect that the Credit Card Company will likely say that this purchase is from 2 1/2 Years ago and that we can get the product if we will just pay the price asked. Hopefully this latest offer to resolve will fix the problem otherwise we will indeed make an attempt to challenge the charge.

No, what I have is my Credit card info that shows the purchase. Good news is that I now have the Booking Number which Azamara NOW admits is in the system and qualifies for $550 toward the next trip I book as the Deposit. So I will be available to use this $550 Deposit on the following conditions:

IF I book with the first Agency

or if this first Agency is willing to release it.

We recommend that you don't get hoodwinked into placing a Deposit towards a Future Cruise with Azamara. We were on the Journey in Mar 2012 and did put money down and two weeks ago we attempted to book a Cruise using this deposit. What we found was that Azamara stated that they could find nothing that showed we had a Deposit in the system. They suggested we track down the credit card info that showed the purchase from 2 1/2 Years ago and low and behold we found the Credit Card Charge Info. We called Azamara back even with the Charging Information they said sorry they still see nothing that says we have a deposit waiting to be used. At this time I contacted the Travel Agent we had used to book the Mar 2012 and the Agency said they had the number but questioned our Loyalty given we wanted to look at price and possibly book with another Agency. We started our search with this Agency for this trip and found that they were higher.

Azamara tells us that the Policy isthat ONLY the Agent can release you to make an actual booking for a Cruise. Keep in mind we ARE NOT BOOKED but have a deposit waiting to be used on our next booking. That is provided we book with the Agency controlling the deposit or providing they are willing to release it. I asked basic questions like who paid the Deposit (me or Agency), what if the Agency says no, etc? No good answers. My eyes were OPENED when I went to a tread on Cruise Critic that had the Agreement and it is ALL slanted to assist the Agency and talks nothing about the customers (who paid the money) and purchased the Deposit. It talks about the system that gives the Travel Agency assistance with contact to customers who are committed to a trip with money down but says little about the customer. We travel a number of other Cruise Lines and have purchased dozens of Cruise Certificates and never once saw ourselves shut out of the control of booking a cruise with whomever we wanted based on PRICE. I have asked the Agency to send a letter to Azamara releasing me so I can shop for the best deal. I expect that this Agency will do the right thing and release the booking but the business relationship is now damaged.

I spoke with Azamara Corporate Relations and the Loyalty Folks and got no place. Any other suggestions to resolve other than keeping my money in my pocket until we ready to book and thus keep control of our own future costs?

Great thread and as a many year platinum member(s) my wife have seen this change but never really resolved to being a real clear perk. We travel with ncl often (2 or 3 times each year) and when not in suite the help of concierge is almost impossible to get. Like many this is an area that ncl could improve. If offering a perk than simply deliver on it

As a platinum member who will be on the dawn balcony in 10 days I am now also wondering about the level of concierge service? Were you platinum or does anyone have any experience?

We are doing this trip in two weeks and are interested in your excursion comments/advice

I know that NCL really pushes Moderno and that people like it but we had one of the worst dining experiences of our lives there while on the Sun. The meat was very poor quality, t he "gauchos" were clueless, meat was very very slow in coming out, and it took 2 hours 15 minutes to get through. Salad bar and dessert were delicious, sides were awful, meat a disaster. We were comped as were many the night we were there. My husband has been to several Chiascurro restaurants and said that Moderno doesn't resemble that concept in the least. Sounds to me like they are giving it an out of the way venue now.

We also had a bad experience on the Sun but though our group of 12 complained what we got was a sorry. We saw what this writer saw plus they failed to even bother and complete the meat service and went into slivers of pineapple. We asked why given half our table still had green cards up and were still wanting the last two meat options. They brought out one of god two meats and went back to clearing the table and serving pineapple. The serving of pineapple was also done poorly and ran out about half way through serving our group and when they returned started serving other tables in the dining room and we complained and they went to the kitchen and rolled the pineapple I'd sound wet sugar and cinnamon and passed it off to our table. We cruise ncl often but madero is off my list of dining options.

I play UTH mostly. Yes, they charge taxes & port fees.

 

 

Terry, of course the next cruise is based on the last one (so you can interpret it as a thank you). What I found most interesting was the manager's use of the word 'reinvestment'. And he was clear that 30 - 35% was the target. I suspect he could have stretched to 40%, but remember that this was in addition to the $1,000 in comp value I got taken off my on board charges.... so by my calcs I spent $8k, got $1k back immediately, and $3k back against my next cruise... = approx. 50% back. Plus free drinks, and a couple of free meals.

I must be missing something as we cruise ncl often and had earned drink cards while on the cruise 6 months ago and again a few weeks ago and doubt that we will have a drink card until we once again earn enough points on about day four or five

We sail ncl 3 to 5 times per year and found cas and the casino process on points frustrating at best. We never seem to get proper carry over of point and play from one cruise to the next and the one time we called the shore line of casinos at sea we got simply a poor response from a less than interested clerk. While we like to gamble it certainly is the perks with cas that attracts us

Faxed mine in on Wed and while I did not hear from ncl a $100 obc is now posted for my 1 jan trip. I assume that's it. I happen to agree that so far it's a good deal given the stock went up within weeks of purchasing it. We use ncl a lot as platinum members if they add additional perks for stock holders we will buy even more stock.

Here is how NCL won why they lost at the same time. The cost of a balcony now looked good at just an additional $300 plus per person so we PAID for an updrade from Inside to Balcony. So NCL made even more money off us but I don't feel as good about NCL as I once did. I mentioned in other Boards that we find ourselves looking and searching other cruise companies more often and don't feel like we got Platinum Level consideration or service. To be fare with NCL we base this feeling on the Boards that say that many others have been given a upgrade when the prices drop like they did for us even though it was after final payment. I am a big boy and yes I knew the price and yes I knew the rules but yes I expected to be treated the same as others at least. I have three Future Cruise Certificates so I will book NCL but just not as often.

I thinl your post asks a question that gets at the heart of one of NCL's weaknesses. That is a lack of consistancy. We are booked ***** the Gen and booked early hoping for good pricing and after final payment saw the price on our room drop over $300 per person. We also contacted NCL who we booked directly with and they said a FIRM sorry final paymemnt has been made nothing we can do. This doesn't match with many posts that you will read on this Board so no clear answer here. We are both Platinum and have received upsell calls but ONLY when we have already been booked in a Suite of some sorts already. While we have been told that being a past guests helps on getting upsell calls we doubt it and again many posts on this Board will tell you overwise. We believe that you will not really get a real answer to this question as NCL isn't consistant and it is indeed hit or miss. The old story of book the room you want because it isn't likely you'll get a move is very true. Of course like you we like playing the lottery and enjoy the wishful dreaming.