PATRLR

This is really what it comes down to. While I agree that there is plenty of money in many pockets, I wonder if there is plenty of money in enough pockets.

Having never been allowed pas the gates of steerage I was unaware of the bed configuration in the Haven. I assumed the sofa was convertible into beds 5 & 6 (like a hotel sleeper sofa). If you are saying one of the 6 beds is actually in one of the BRs, then I agree something doesn't make sense.

But if there is any Haven room available for upgrades, then why not give that Haven Room to OP? I know why - revenue. But regardless, I think that's the OP's point, if there is a Haven avaialbel, give them that instead of the balcony. Right? Completely dismisses the fact that the OP consciously decided to book 5 adults in that room. Typical CC. But the CC crowd won't let that stop them... But in this case the OP is paying for Haven for everyone.

Bingo - that's the situation I'd not experienced and therefore hadn't contemplated. Thank you for explaining. And in the US as well. But, at least in the US there is a purposeful shared toilet available. A purposeful shared toilet is different from "your toilet doesn't work but you can use the restroom down the hall".

I'm on the 11/13 Encore and I got our bid e-mail yesterday.

In many municipalities the residence would be condemned - meaning people couldn't live there until it was fixed.

I think those small boats are the best way to whale watch. We went with Jayleen's uncle, Steve Olmstead (Alaska Humpback Adventures) and had a similar experience. As I recall at one point Steve was on the radio to Jayleen and next thing we know we're zipping towards her location to see a group (pod?) of whales. Seems those small boats have a lot more flexibility. Loving the review, we're on Encore when she starts Caribbean cruises in November.

Thank you for the kind words. But, to be clear I am not an engineer, I was a mechanical contractor. However, I most definitely defer to the expertise of chengkp75 here who has stated that it could take days to unclog something. I take chengkp75 at his word but running a roto-rotor on the same clog for 3 days straight, by 3 men, is beyond my imagination.

What I wrote was "It shouldn't take 3 days to fix a plumbing problem on a ship like the Encore." To which you replied: "So NCL purposely took 3 days to fix everything when they could have gotten it fixed in one day? Not only is NCL to blame for someone's pratfall but now they are purposely delaying to fix the problem? " It is that twisting of my words that I objected to. I never said they did anything "purposefully". I just said it shouldn't have happened. And I stand by that statement, it shouldn't take 3 days to fix a plumbing problem. If you must know, I am a licensed mechanical contractor for over 35 years. And believe it or not land based mechanical contractors are frequently are engaged to work on large ships in port. That being said, I've never personally worked on the mechanicals in a cruise ship. Of course not, but that shouldn't matter because I very clearly stated "I have no idea why it took 3 days" which most reasonable people would infer means that I don't know what the root problem was. I also said "Maybe they don't have the right expertise..." and "maybe they needed parts..." - more indication that I didn't know what the problem was. I'm sorry you weren't able to comprehend these basic facts from what I wrote, hopefully you understand now. Yeah you did, see the first point in this post and the next one. And this is another example of you twisting my words. I used the word "maybe". I'm sure you know what that word means. The fact that you take my "maybe" and change it to a definitive statement ("you are saying NCL does not have properly trained mechanics and plumbers...") is in fact twisting my words. I think everyone agrees on that point, I certainly never said anything to the contrary. Oh - so you know what the problem was ("clogged major lines")? You are a a maritime plumber who was on board and diagnosed the problem? Why didn't you say so? Can you explain exactly what you and the maintenance team were doing for 72 hours to unclog that line? I never said anything about cancelling cruises. Where did that come from? It would be much easier to understand and follow your points if you weren't all over the place with them.

I never said anything of the sort. I have no idea why it took 3 days. Maybe they don't have the right expertise on board to fix it and they were bumbling around trying but failing? OP said it was mid cruise when it got fixed, maybe they needed parts or expertise that came aboard in San Juan or St Thomas? I don't really care what the reason was, all I know is that many people in this thread (including you) seem to agree that toilet clogs happen. If it's that regular of an occurrence, then, the ship should be prepared to deal with it in less than 3 days time. And if they aren't, shame on them. Twist your words? You blatantly put words into my mouth I never wrote.

Sure, but with 2000+ "apartments" and being at sea, you better have staff on the ship to deal with these things. It shouldn't take 3 days to fix a drain problem. But NCL knows that "yoyo"s putting the wrong stuff in the toilets is a risk and they should be prepared for that. It shouldn't take 3 days to fix a plumbing problem on a ship like the Encore. The problem isn't the fact that toilets clogged or were unusable, the problem is it took three days to fix.

I agree with this statement, especially the favoritism.

So you think it makes sense to display $1149.89, and within the context of that $1149.89 mention Furutre Cruise Credit and Onboard Credit with no details as to how much each one is in relation to the 1149.89? People are just supposed to guess? Or, I guess you've stated it elsewhere, they are supposed to know NCL's intent ("Through this whole pandemic, any and all cancellations have been either refunded to the method of payment or to FCC....NEVER to OBC"). Well, believe it or not, it should never be incumbent on the customer to know the business's intent. No, it is not a guess at all. It is a direct response to your claim. You are the one that is guessing - remember when you wrote this: "Had there been an OBC, there would have been information below both headings." That is what I was responding to as indicated by the quote of your words above mine. (I assume you are guessing. Have you actually seen what you described? Can you show us the screen shot? Or perhaps you've seen the specification for the user interface?) Really? You found it important to explain the distinction between "IT" and the application developers? Thanks, that's really helpful to the conversation. The error was somewhere in the chain of application requirements specification through to program execution and display to the end user. Is that better? Technically, it's all "IT".

That makes no sense for the screen layout shown. What you are saying is the $1149.89 could potentially be multiple forms of credit (FCC and OBC at the least). If that is true, then, it should have indicated under the FCC heading just how much of the credit was FCC and presumably state under OBC $0. That screen doesn't communicate anything like that. This really looks like an screwup on the IT side, a bug in what information is being displayed. I agree the OP has a very legitimate complaint.

I don't know, I'd think others on this board coudl answer better. Lacking any other information, I'd check myself in and not check in the no-show. Get to pier and play dumb - I hope they make it, but, I don't know when they will get here...

I'm sorry, what are we looking at? Seems like some random delivery of provisions, but, I assume it's not or you wouldn't have posted it.

They may not pack it to go for you, but, I can't imagine that they would stop you if you got up and walked away the plate. I like to nibble during the night so I often take food to go from the various dining venues. Some will pack it to go for you, others like the buffet I just take with me. I can't recall specifically that I've ever taken "The local" to go.

I can't answer your question but thank you for coming back and letting us know how it's gone so far and please do come back and let us know how it went on the check-in process. Enjoy your cruise.

My only cruise with an Observation Lounge was the Bliss in June 2018. I don't recall any entertainment in the OL on that cruise. They had a few events (e.g. the binocular selling event, some speakers, etc) but not entertainment per se. Is this a thing now that they have entertainers in the OL?

Thanks for sharing. Having not served I can only imagine your state of mind. Your story did remind me of my father, a WWII Marine in the Pacific. He had a really, really bad time dealing with going out to the Arizona Memorial and seeing all the Japanese tourists there too. It really bothered him. He knew it wasn't their fault, but, it still really bothered him.

I second the Tracy Arm excursion as the best I've ever been on. Hands down the best. And the funny thing is, probably the best non NCL excursion I ever did was the whale watch (Alaska Humpback Adventures) we did the morning of the Tracy Arm excursion. It was a busy day, we were pretty beat, but, absolutely best day we've had at a cruise port. We were planning on summer 2021 to do a cruise that included St Petersburg. Then Covid messed up all the scheduling and so we were looking at summer 2023. And now we can't go there anymore. Hopefully that situation resolves itself soon.

Can you sleep in the Vibe too? Exactly. But @BirdTravelssays we can get this for free. Perhaps Bird can explain how, because I really do like free.

We do them on sea days. On port days, we like to get back on the ship and unwind, have a drink up on deck and watch us sail away, etc. If we did Specialty Dining on port nights we might feel rushed when we wanted to relax. On sea days, we'll be relaxing all day, much less likely to feel like we're being rushed off the deck to go get ready.

@Tippyton If your cruise is doing Tracy Arms, I also highly, highly recommend the Tracy Arms tour. I did it on Bliss pre-pandemic in 2018 and it was worth every cent. Much closer to the glacier than the ship gets. If you are looking for something to do in Juneau, for a whale watch I recommend Steve Olmstead and Alaska Humpback Adventures - had a great experience with them.

@RandomUser123 Many of the comments stating its worth it are referring to the mandatory gratuity cost that you have to pay for the drink and dining package. That answers the question about whether you should accept the free drinks or free dining offers when you book a rate that includes the "free at sea". If you drink more than a couple a day, per person, then it's worth it. The dining is pretty cheap, so, I think its worth it. If you are asking if you should book a "Sail Away" rate which includes no perks and does not allow you to choose your stateroom, you really need to break it down by total costs. I did exactly that here: Note that in my case, I was also getting free pre-paid daily service charge from my TA so that is included in my comparison (but easy enough to remove for your comparison). For us, the Free at Sea was NOT worth it because we don't drink much at all. Another difference is I happened to be getting a rate code that did NOT include Free At Sea but DID allow me to choose my cabin. Most rate codes that do not include Free at Sea are known at "Sail Away" rates and do NOT allow you to choose your cabin.