erdoran

Why food credit?  Thought food was free?

I noticed that prices were really good when the 20% off sale first happened, but within a couple of weeks there was a 10% price increase.....

So who wants to bet that the Black Friday sale will be “20% off anyway cruise!”  But even the 20% off Latitudes prices are nuts!

I don’t see the gratuity increase.

OMG 2 haven bookings in 2020 have gone wayyyy up on my end, too.  My summer solstice cruise I paid $4500 pp for aft PH - category is up to over $7k!  Yes, I even confirmed the 20% discount was applied.

LOL and my phone rep from NCL said the Haven butler & concierge are both covered by DSC and there is no need to tip them extra, and that Jade Haven has a bar in the Haven “no, it’s not on the deck plan but I KNOW it’s there!”.  Yeah, right?

(for newbies - Butler & concierge are NOT DSC and DO need to be tipped based on services rendered).

What’s a reasonable time range for that type of thing.  We have a Midnight Sun cruise leaving June 14, I would hope it’s fixed long before then....but my sympathies to folks who are disappointed (or worse, have their cruise cancelled) as a result of the problems.

Remember, it is NOT all or nothing-if you want a $18 drink you pay $3 extra, not $18–so for the $18 drinker, even including the autograt (so let’s be generous and call it $19, $4 extra - that’s 9 drink/day for the slightly more expensive drinks to break even on the upcharge.  

The folks that seem to make out are the ones who are expensive champagne drinkers, or like a bottle or two of wine or champagne at each meal, and bring the extra back to the cabin.  Just one bottle/day of $99 champagne pays for the upcharge, and there are some that post they have more than that.

Clearly I am going to have to bring the printed T&C’s with me, just for insurance.  The ones that list Ocean Blue as having no surcharge say nothing about limiting apps and desserts, doesn’t it stand to reason that if the two are related, when the website was changed to show OB with no surcharge would also have added “and we have limited apps and desserts to one each”?

We had the shrimp cocktail in the Haven (same as Cagneu’s from what I recall) and it was 3 or 4 large shrimp.  The way it sounds now “little tiny shrimps” is making me wonder if the “free” shrimp cocktail is a much smaller, lower quality offering than previously, and the upcharge one is the original one, renamed and upcharged even more?

TAs and cruise lines make it hard NOT to buy travel insurance from them, the same way that when you rent a car the agents do everything in their power to sell you their CDW insurance.  When I booked through one TA, he had to UNCHECK insurance on every single page; had he missed one it would have charged me.  And when I was asking about cancellation policies and refunds, he made it sound like I could cancel within days of sailing and get 100% of my fare back....I had to ask some majorly pointed questions before I could pin him down to the truth, which was OF COURSE you had to be submitting a legit claim under the terms of the policy - it wasn’t like “you buy the policy and my agency will give you a cash refund for any/no reason” - which was how he was pitching it.

Good for you for catching the insurance, reading what it offered, and deciding to shop around.  Just don’t wait too long, if you do have a pre-existing condition according to each policy’s definition, there is a short time window to buy the policy before it is excluded.

Also look at evacuation and medical insurance coverage...may or may not be of concern to you.  Worth serious consideration whether or not whatever policy you buy has sufficient coverage for your personal needs.

Not at , I remember when the price of booze went up over the $15 limit, Grey GOose in particular seemed to set off a firestorm, I think it was early this year.  After a week or two of outrage, NCL officially posted here that the prices went back down.

Most policies have a cancellation window, which varies according to policy.  Do you have the policy description?  It should say there how long you have to cancel.   As far as pre-existing conditions, again, READ YOUR POLICY.  Usually if you buy it when you book then they are covered, but every policy is different.

There is a wonderful travel insurance forum here on CC, worth having a look.  And make sure you know what a pre-existing condition is.  In most cases if you have a medical condition that’s controlled and there have been no changes, especially no med changes, within the “look back period” it may NOT be considered pre-existing.  But there are a OT of things to be sure of before you make a final decision.

Call NCL and tell them what cabin numbers you want for everyone in your group, or ask them for cabins on the same deck, as close together as possible, within your category.  Unless you are a guarantee or sailaway you can pick your own cabin, otherwise you can ask but no guarantee you will get what you request.

Upcharge is real.  Someone from my roll call just came back from a cruise and reported it.  There are also appetizer upcharges.

Depending on your carrier, you can do email to text -for example 3022345678@vtext.com for the email address.  Give it a try from home or check with your carrier.  That will work.  

1 hour ago, schildiams said:

Also the dining terms says that everything on the menu is included in the SDP except the seafood extravaganza. Please post menu if you have it, i might cancel the SDP on my upcoming cruise depending on the circumstances.

 

Went looking for the menu I saw and don’t remember where it was, but there were a number of appetizers with upcharge, Ocean Blue too.  The Seafood Extravaganza is old—a few months ago SDP got Ocean Blue included free, no upcharge, and the Extravaganza was removed from the menu.  Then just recently someone on my roll call talked about how lobster & surf & turf are upcharged on SDP, and I saw menus posted someplace else with multiple appetizer upcharges.

There are lots of nice sounding choices with no upcharge, and that is exactly what we will be ordering with SDP and with Platinum.

The new Cagney's menu has several appetizers with SDP upcharges - but - if I keep my Platinum dinner entree to under $35, can I then order any appetizer and dessert I want and walk out owing $0?  Anyone know?

Waste of $$ to pay for haven if you have non-Haven people along, save the $ and book a regular cabin.  There are cabins with “free” spa access at haven and non-haven levels but you can always just buy a spa pass, so problem solved there.

We were going to travel with brother in law & wife who wouldn’t pay for Haven, so hubby and I talked it through - and realized to be with family we’d be giving up use of the Haven quiet space, uncrowded pool & sundeck, in-Haven uncrowded and outstanding bar service, Haven restaurant, potentially saved seats at theatre, priority embarkation/disembarkation - so why pay for that and not use it?  It’s a crapshoot whether or not the non-haven family members could use any of the above; most likely the priority disembarkation but not definitely; the rest less likely.

Yes, you absolutely CAN escort your family members into your haven suite and spend the cruise there and have butler deliver food for all (but not booze unless you want to pay per drink).  To me not worth it, but to each their own.

In this vein, hello to all from my local hospital’s cardiac ICU, where hubby landed after a routine cath.  He’s in for tonight too, and I’ve just cancelled a land-based weekend getaway.  Thank goodness our cruise isn’t until January!  But...most likely not pre-existing because he’s had no problems or med changes for over a year until this past week, and meanwhile I’ve got 3 cruises booked and insured courtesy of Chase Sapphire Reserve - with 6 month look back.  You better believe I’m gonna have Geoblue medical insurance for all 3 trips, and of course will now have to buy trip cancellation coverage that covers pre-existing, unless I choose to self-insure.

Hubby should be fine, though, which is the most important thing of all.

Mine is a 14 day cruise....description says 10 nights.  Anyway, at this point I’m pretty sure my Amtrak is non-refundable, but this is a great option for the future, thank you!

The gratuities on the SDP are beyond a bargain, they are very low for what you actually get!  UBP is another story, as we all know, but OP asked about SDP grats.

At least they are being displayed as grats.  When I booked my first “free at sea” I had no idea what my $225 “special services” charge was!   Back then they weren’t making it very clear that there was an autograt at all.

Hadn’t considered the park, ride & cruise type of thing.  I see it on the Hilton Garden In website but not on Hampton Inn Ridgefield, do I have to call and ask about it?  May be too late for this cruise, we already have our Amtrak tix, but perhaps in the future....

BTW someone on our roll call is saying that Cagney’s and Ocean Blue are now surcharging for lobster....

Here’s another possibility which I think is legit - if one of the parents is platinum, at their platinum dinner they get a free bottle of wine - but I suspect there is no rule that prevents them sharing it with their non-UBP dinner partner.  Now—here’s the trick - the UBP diner can use UBP to drink free throughout the dinner in addition to their included bottle of wine, which they can give to the non-UBP person.

Have I got that right?  I don’t think there are any “rules” being broken....

Best deal on the ship for pay by the drink is the various tastings.  I went to a Martini tasting for $20 plus autograt on Epic and well worth the $$, I think we got 4 or 5 full size martinis....I know there are other tastings as well.

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Insurance and the credit are two completely separate things.

 

Insurance is offered by an insurance company with typical policy restrictions and limits. 
 

The cancel for any reason credit is offered by the cruise line in the event that the insurance company declines your claim. 
 

NCL offers a 75% or 90% future cruise credit if you buy insurance through them. And your insurance claim is denied. 
 

So, if I decide to cancel because we could not get a dog kennel arranged, we file a claim with the insurance company. If they turn us down for a non-covered loss, NCL would give is a 75% or 90% future cruise credit on the cruise fare penalty. (Port fees and taxes are automatically refunded in full for every cancellation). 

Hang on Bird—you don’t mean that if I buy non-CAR insurance from an insurance company of my choice, and I cancel because of illness—the company declines because they consider it pre-existing, I get a FCC?