KeithJenner

There was a poster on these boards a while ago who appeared to think these guys were somehow officially related to NCL. They were posting things and saying that it must be correct because they had said it. I’d never heard of them, so watched a random video out of interest. It took about two minutes before they incorrectly said that a ship (can’t remember which, but I think the Dawn or Star) was Jewel class. Having just seen a little bit of the video referred to above, I can only wonder how anyone watches that. I have no idea what their problem was because I just couldn’t watch that idiot for a second longer after a couple of minutes.

I’m quite sure that our media bang on about the Oscars. There was certainly a load of fuss about someone hitting someone else a while ago. I assume that that is the one being referred to here. I’m fairly certain that most people here in the would UK know who Will Smith is. I’m just not interested myself. I didn’t mean for this to be a discussion on who should know which celebrities. I was just interested in what the problem is with the water but it seems like the poster who originally mentioned it has disappeared now.

For most people they don't

You get just one entree, but apps and desserts aren’t limited. Apparently some wait staff will say that apps and desserts are limited but they are incorrect and if you were to order more then you shouldn’t be charged for them.

It is an upgrade offer and gives two extra meals per person.

What’s the difference between that and advertising no tipping and using the increased fare to make it work out for all? Just to clarify, this isn’t something I feel strongly about. I just add the DSC myself, so it doesn’t make much difference to me (outside the fact that NCL would probably use the change to put dates up again). Just as a general point I’d rather service was just included in the cost rather than have all the confusion and arguments.

I'd prefer the fare to just include the DSC. A few years ago that is exactly what we did in Europe. NCL changed the charging structure to include the DSC. Then not that long afterwards they stopped it. They never said why, but a logical reason is that bookings were effected. There are various factors to take account of (they used the change as a reason to sneak in some increased prices, for example) but I've always suspected that another factor is that it meant that people who removed the DSC could no longer do that, meaning that the cruise is more expensive for them. I have no evidence to base this on, but I'd guess that a lot of people who complain about the DSC actually benefit from it due to being able to pay less than most by removing it.

From what they have said in the post you quoted, I don’t think that I’ve are a million miles from them in how we like to vacation, and NCL works really well for us.

Just to be absolutely clear, im not suggesting that anyone claimed anyone was lying. I was the one that bought that up as a possibility.

To everyone saying that the booking wasn’t available to anyone, read the original post again. There clearly was something available or it couldn’t have been booked. Maybe the OP is lying, or there was some confusion, but if we are responding to what they are saying then arguments about whether the concierge can make bookings when none are available is irrelevant.

Alternatively, they could just go to ask someone else and get the reservation they wanted and apparently want available, which was what they said they did. This point is still being missed.

Sorry, I just assumed you were the original poster. 🙂 I’m really not interested in all that celebrity stuff (and rarely take any notice of who is starring in films). There are probably people a lot more famous than this bloke that I haven’t heard of. 🙂 Out of interest I just looked on IMDb at his filmography. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film he’s in, and have only heard of Men in Black. I’m not really all that into films either it seems. 🙂 Actually, was King Richard the one about the Williams? If so I’ve heard of that too. I think we may be breaking new ground in off topic here. 🙂

Ok, I think I may have heard of him, and I remember something about someone hitting someone else. I really don’t follow any of that stuff. How does that affect the water? (Genuine question, as I assume you mentioned it for a reason).

Dawn is doing 10 day Southampton round trips in May and September next year, all British Isles. I suspect that is outside your possible times, as you’d have noticed them otherwise, but thought I’d mention it just in case.

The thing with the Haven for us is that it really isn’t worth the extra as we are really very happy with the standard cruise experience. People say about the benefits of not having to queue or being away from crowds, but these things just either don’t happen or don’t matter for us. I don’t mind busy places, and we don’t tend to be in the popular areas (we don’t hang around the pool, or eat at busy times etc). Our room steward does everything we want for our room and we like making our own plans so I have no need for a concierge. I also have no wish to eat in my room. The only thing that appeals about a suite is the bigger room, which is why the non Haven Suites on older ships work well for us. We still get butler and concierge but if you don’t ask them to do anything then they tend to leave us alone. As I said earlier, I have no wish to be fussed over, so that is actually a negative of being in a suite/haven, although I think that we probably do get slightly better seats (more window seats etc) in restaurants, which is nice. The one time we have stayed in the Haven (on the Pearl, so no bar/restaurant), we found ourselves spending time in tha Haven area when, in hindsight, we would probably rather have been in the main bars. If we were in a Haven with its own bar then I suspect that would be better, but I can still see myself thinking “let’s head down to a bar on the Waterfront”. When there are so many options that work well for us it seems a bit of a waste to spend thousands to add another. Each to their own though.

You can only get the speciality coffee from certain places, so you will struggle to get one from any bar regardless of the package. In many bars you would be reliant on someone going to Starbucks to get it for you. I don’t know how likely that is to happen.

What should we make of this? (I don’t think I’ve heard of any of these people).

For me, the order is: Moderno Teppanyaki La Cucina Cagneys Le Bistro Having only been on smaller ships for the past few years, I've been restricted to those ones. I miss Food Republic (not been on a ship with that restaurant since 2015), and Onda looks good. I also think that the Asian restaurants on the smaller ships are very good. I would probably still go there if there was a small upcharge.

And La Cucina

Reminded me of this thread from a few years ago. 🙂

I think that it has always been one of those things which is decided by ship. Probably the decision is taken by one of the senior crew. I've never seen any mention in the dailies, but I know that others have.

Yeah, I assumed I had misread the OP, but just went back and checked. The concierge said nothing was available but guest services (I assume the restaurant reservation desk) managed to book them in. Which makes most of the subsequent discussion irrelevant.

Thanks. Just make sure that you leave some Champagne for us. 🙂

Self disembarkation takes about as long as it will take you to walk off the ship. There may be a very small queue (maybe a few people) where they scan your card as you get off the ship. Maybe if you are waiting to get off right when they start there may be a slightly longer queue, but you have no need to be there at that time. We arrived at 6am and self walk off was scheduled to start at 7am. We hung around until about 9am before getting off, and were still at the airport not long after 10am. If you get off before 8am (which will be easy) then you should be at the airport around 9am. No problem at all.

We are on the return trip straight after.