erdoran

Common sense here rather than personal experience....I would think you have to specify what to use, otherwise the charge would just be applied to your OBC and if you couldn’t use NR OBC then your credit card would ultimately be charged so if there is a question (sounds like there isn’t) it’s wise to make sure.

Thank you!

15 hours ago, david_sobe said:

This is a new one that I got a kick out of.  This is a direct cut and paste from the distressful and disappointing cruise that they are demanding compensation for.  So are you ready to hear about the complaints that caused such stress to demand compensation?  Something terrible must have happened.

 

Here it is:

The glow night DJ had only played the same song over and over.

The ship was extremely rocky the first two days at sea. The rumor on the ship was that they neglected to utilize the stabilizers.

We were surprised to find out that our soda package that we both purchased did not include virgin daiquiris and bottled water so we asked to be refunded because we both don’t drink soda and the staff changed both our key cards but only did a refund for one of us until we went back to guest services to explain their mistake. We also purchased the water bottle package after that and ordered 12 bottles and only received 6 bottles so we went back to guest services to have them reimburse us for the difference in that price as well.

We were disappointed in our cruise that we had long awaited to experience together. We came away feeling we did not get the value and great experience we had hoped for. Obviously we are very disappointed in every aspect of our cruise vacation and how things were handled by the staff causing us enormous amounts of energy resolving issues instead of having fun. We hope that Norwegian takes our bad experiences seriously and compensates us for the lost opportunity to enjoy our cruising vacation.

 

***end**

Ok now, does anyone believe the DJ played the same song over and over?  Are you a ship captain to give advice how to sail the ship to know when stabilizers are to be used?  The ocean does get rocky FYI.  But the kicker is buying the soda package because you don't drink soda.  The word "soda" is in the name of the package.  Why would you buy a soda package if you don't drink soda only to demand a refund?  To think of all the things that can go wrong on a cruise.....the only complaints are 6 bottles of water were missing and the soda package did not cover daiquiris and a DJ playing a song.  This was rated a terrible cruise.

I would say compensation is in order for at least $1000 🤪

OMG, let me see, what are the gripes?

Didn’t check to see what soda pkg includes and then got poor service on a refund?  I didn’t know it was even refundable.

Ordered 12 bottles of water but only got 6.

That’s IT????

Every aspect of the cruise experience???

Yes, that IS annoying, what they experienced, but geez...we get that type of thing in everyday life, this is nothing new or unusual.  Sure, a few moments of annoyance dealing with the water bottle snafu—no sympathy about the soda pkg, they should have asked/read what was included—but then go enjoy the cruise.  If that’s all that wasn’t to their liking, then how did it ruin their cruise?  OMG.

Ummm....about extra tips for steward because he/she has to work harder because you are in a bigger room?  Hotel manager at a Q&A session said stewards are all assigned cleaning by “space”.  I read that as the Haven/suite stewards have fewer rooms to clean than a balcony/inside/studio steward.  

Not to say you shouldn’t tip extra, I absolutely do because our stewards in Haven have always delivered outstanding service and have been properly rewarded - but it’s for the service quality, NOT because of any sense of obligation because our room is bigger.  That’s what the DSC is for.

I set up a line of credit in advance so I don’t have to bring a lot of cash if I want to gamble it, and I’m too cheap to pay 3% and never gamble enough to make any level.  

FYI I had done the line of credit spring 2019 for my Jade cruise.  Went to reactivate it for January and had to notify casino credit, who run another credit check..  My bank insisted I be on the phone for the check and what they want to do is confirm you have, right that instant, the cash in your checking (or whatever account you are writing a check on) account to cover the entire line.  Ummm....my checking account pays zero interest so I keep a minimum in there, if I needed $$ I’d move them from an interest-bearing account at my brokerage.  That was an eye-opener!  Anyway, moved the $$ in, they rechecked and all is good, but I wanted to offer an alternative and a heads-up about a possible “gotcha”.

Hank,

thanks for the clarity.  I was under the impression that Medjet had evacuated your wife.  That’s really good to know for the future, and of course, glad she is OK.  Also good to know that Geoblue is reasonable about medical necessity-your logic makes total sense, much cheaper to send her home and not pay any more bills!

I had re-read the Geoblue Trekker carefully and there was mention of evac to US if needed, so I started second-guessing myself and hopped onto Steve’s topic in this section and asked him “if Geoblue covers evac to US doesn’t that duplicate MedJet?”  His answer pretty much was that with Geoblue it is up to them whether or not to evac you to the US, they will if medically necessary, but it’s up to them what is “medically necessary”.  If you just WANT to be evacuated home and be treated by your own dr., or to some specialty hospital in the US, but the local hospital is perfectly fine to treat your problem (or Geoblue thinks it is fine) then no evac.  

OTOH Medjet doesn’t require medical necessity to evac you, and they will also transfer you within the US if you need/want to go to a hospital more than 150 miles away from where you are (think....vacation someplace and you have a problem, or need to be treated by a specialty hospital far away).

Dec 5 Getaway BCN-nyc went down $150/pp for us for 2 BR Haven....

1 hour ago, NLH Arizona said:

Some posters just dislike NCL so much, that they blame the automatic service charge/gratuities, that most cruise lines do, on them.  I'd bet that these folks would be the first to complain if NCL added it to the fare, just as many did in Europe when NCL did it there.  Reason, they don't want to pay it no matter if it is through the DSC or added to the fare.

I have no problem paying it.  I tip over and above as well to dsc people where warranted.  I think it’s unfair to crew to make them dependent on the whim of the cruiser. 
 

re land based restaurants it’s totally different.  Kitchen, laundry and other non customer facing staff are paid by employer directly.  It’s a given you will tip about 20% more or less.  Known fact.  
 

and I’m not picking on ncl.  I find the dsc practice deceptive and unfair to crew across the entire cruise industry.  That goes for all cruise lines who bury it.  Just add it to the invoice total at booking time and make it mandatory.  Done deal.  No deceit. Crew benefits.  Cruisers know total fixed cost.  

Agree 100%.  If NCL cares about their employees being properly compensated, having incentives, etc. why leave it to the generosity of pax? Or guilt them into paying a phony gratuity that’s really mandatory/part of their payroll?  Add it to the fare and make sure all crew are properly compensated.  End of story.

Bird, thanks for your booze list.  Glad to know there is a variety of wine choices that are still included in UBP.

When started reading cc I thought there was something wrong with me that I didn’t really mind the various issues that would pop up from time to time.  I was on the Epic maiden voyage in a studio as a solo, and the room was an icebox - after my second complaint they moved me to a balcony!  Made my cruise so much better!  There’s been stuff from time to time but like others say, stuff happens, not the end of the world.  I’ve looked forward to my cruises for a long time and I intend to fully enjoy them.  There’s probably been an issue/annoyance on each - last one the replacement butler (regular one left a few days before the end) routinely delivered ice cold dinners.  Night 1 tepid, night 2 ice cold, and then the cruise was over.  Oh well....great cruise anyway.  If it was that big a deal I would have addressed it.

These are different types of policies for different purposes.  I just bought the MedJet (Black Friday sale) and will be buying GeoBlue Trekker as well, both for our cruise that begins 1/5/20 - and our other two cruises in 2020.  All will be covered by this one buy.

Medjet Assist will take to you any hospital you want If you are admitted to a hospital as an inpatient during your trip, subject to some limits of course, and being medically stable enough to fly.  They cover all of the travel cost, having a medical person (or specially equipped medical plane if needed) but don’t pay one penny for your medical bills.  They also do NOT evacuate you from a cruise ship, or ship to hospital.  FIRST you must have been admitted to the hospital.

Geoblue Trekker is medical/evacuation insurance, but evacuation is to the closest suitable medical facility, which I’d assume is in the country you have traveled to.  If you want to go to a hospital in the US and you aren’t in the US, that’s on you.  BUT—Geoblue pays your medical bills that Medjet won’t pay.

This is my first time buying them - just switching to Medicare 1/1/20 which is why we’re buying the coverage, but I’ve done a lot of reading and to us the combination of the two seems to cover us pretty thoroughly.  Geoblue has different coverage levels, read them carefully and choose the right one for you.  We are going with the highest level ourselves.

On 12/11/2019 at 12:42 PM, Trimone said:

On my latest booking DSC included Concierge.

We have option to pay in advance, we did, it must be a U.K. market price 

Are you Haven or Joy concierge cabin?  The reason I ask is that when I asked NCL the question about why the Haven DSC is higher-also asked TA same question - both said because it includes tips for butler and concierge, so I don’t need to tip additionally.  We all know that is misinformation, so that’s why I’m wondering about your concierge tip.  But, being from the UK it may be different.

I have a 14 day cruise on Bliss coming up in three weeks and am trying to figure out if I save anything by buying it before sailing or it’s the same price aboard.  I think it’s $224.95 to upgrade from my 250 free minutes, and it’s stated as an upgrade.  Anyone know what’s the going rate without the free minutes credit? Plus I have my platinum minutes, I guess those don’t count towards the upgrade?  Do I have the option to sail, use my free minutes, and then pay for fewer upgrade days?  What’s my cheapest option?  TIA

4 hours ago, bones774 said:

I don't know how it was handled then either. it was a serious question to anyone

Maybe the cruise lines paid them properly out of revenue rather than passing their obligations on to pax.  

Drinks are NOT free in Haven.  If they were, then NCL’s advertising would say so, and you wouldn’t be offered the free booze perk and charged the $20/day/pax service charge.  I’m surprised they aren’t running your card, they usually but probably not always, ran our cards in our Haven stays.  

Prove it to yourself, order something above the $15 threshold and see how fast they ask for your card 😆

11 hours ago, 2fromTampa said:

I have never posted before, but have used these boards for the last 15 years for research, and thank you all for your helpful posts.

 

We cruised the Western Caribbean aboard the Norwegian Dawn over Thanksgiving.  It was our 4th cruise on Norwegian and 11th cruise overall. We were an extended family of 11 and would consider ourselves "low maintenance", only expecting ice and clean towels from our cabin attendant. One of our party did not meet their cabin attendant until the third day of the cruise, and another tracked down the service cart to help himself to ice every day - a self-serve cruise, that's a first! The kids were disappointed that there were no towel animals, but adults would have been happy with clean towels.

 

Unfortunately, we were disappointed in this cruise over and over again. There were problems at the port, resulting in over 2-1/2 hours wain in the hot sun - not Norwegian's fault, but no communications at all from Norwegian. A text, email, or simply an employee walking the blocks-long line letting passengers know what was happening should have been standard procedure. Half of our rooms had inoperable safes, which seemed to be a problem throughout the ship. Customer service basically said they didn't have any replacements, not even saying "sorry".

 

Once on board, we waited in the customer service line repeatedly over the next three days trying to straighten out our drink package. Even though we had a receipt, we were told that our package was cancelled and that we were unable to reinstate. Apparently on-board staff could not access records, but had to get information from the home office in Miami, which was closed on the weekend. The gentleman at the Excursion desk was from China and could not understand our request to have our entire party on the same excursion. He told us he didn't have time to assist us.

 

We dined in several different venues throughout the cruise, and the food was on par with hospital food. It was the first cruise that I actually lost weight!

That said, the cruise wasn't all bad. We all agreed that the shows on the Dawn were the best cruise ship entertainment we had ever seen. The excursions were also very good, especially the Amazing Secret River in Cancun/Cozumel.

 

When we returned from the cruise, we tried to contact Norwegian to straighten out the charges for the tips on the drink package that we never got - only to be told that you can NOT call customer service, you can only request a call back on line. I wonder what older people with no computer skills do?

 

Needless to say, we will not be choosing to sail on Norwegian again any time soon. I find it very sad that customer service continues to decline on the middle-range cruise lines, and will stick to Wind Star and Celebrity in the future.

My iPad won’t let me color the section but it’s bolded. 

OP seems to have tried, at least for booze package, with no success.  

Read original post.

No excuse about drink pkg!

I found my TA through the site where TAs compete for your cruise business.  She gives me a discount on the cruise price that’s about equal to the OBC I see others offer.  I much much prefer the discount up front, that way there is absolutely no question about whether or not I got what was agreed to.  My invoice from the TA shows the promised discount immediately and I pay the TA the discounted price.

Can’t you get these free with the UBP anyway?  And can people mix different booze like that and not get sick?

Prayers for your son!  You KNOW what matters!

Your butler.  All Haven cabins (regardless of where they are on the ship) have a shared butler who delivers your food with no room service fee.  

Are there zero wines without upcharge?