rodndonna

1 hour ago, edin_cruiser said:

I am confused about the $21 per day gratuity for FAS customers. Some posts seem to suggest UK cruisers like me (Who paid £149 to have FAS) don't need to pay this.

 

But the cruise itself is in the US.

 

Can anyone advise?

The 21$/day gratuity for the FAS drinks package in the US/Canada bookings are itemized in our  booking invoice and collected as part of the cruise payment before the cruise.

My "understanding" was in the UK, the drinks package and associated grats are priced/itemized differently, 

In both cases I "believe" there are no extra gratuities (except while in US ports that collect additional taxes which would apply equally to all cruisers)

I'll throw my medallion question in ...

What are the options for attachment? Can I generally attach it through a typical wristband or a small clip (on a lanyard).

Don't want to splurge on the Medallion specific items for carrying in case we don't sail on Princess again in the future.

On 2/22/2024 at 5:51 AM, kazu said:

 

You are correct that is what the article says but it is both my TA’s and my experience that the EBB can run longer than 90 days.  There doesn’t seem to be a way to know for sure, though.

I think this is a  result of the confusion between -

Mariner Society Early Booking Bonus (OBC based on length of cruise) available on cruises booked within 90 days of launch

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/ca/cruise-deals/mariner-early-booking-bonus

Have it All Early Booking Bonus (amped up HIA perks and free crew gratuities) available on cruises booked "early" with no fixed definition of how early is early? months? a year?

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/ca/cruise-deals/have-it-all-early-booking-bonus

I'll add my perspective (which may or may not help) - 

Since Covid - we have been on 1 Celebrity (last April) and 5-6? HAL cruises.

If you like seafood - HAL will likely impress you more than Celebrity in the MDR. As we don't eat meat, for sure HAL wins (by a good margin) with it's seafood offerings in the MDR for us.

As non-meat eaters, we preferred the buffet in Celebrity by quite a margin over HAL (we avoid buffet on HAL if we can).  Many more options for us (non-meat people) and preferred the layout/seating options for overall better atmosphere (for a buffet)

Can't speak to desserts, not really our thing.

My guess would be that you will find HAL to be about the same degree of "hit or miss" quality experience you had on Celebrity.

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

I have a cruise on Celebrity booked for Jan of 26....that said, I have 2 more booked between now and then.  🙂

Same here - Celebrity for Jan 2026... 5 booked before then 😊

600 per person or total?

We were inside on the Viva which was the nicest interior we have been in.  The nice thing about the Viva is there is so much great outdoor space on deck 8 which is where we spend most of on-board time. We really didn't feel like we missed anything not having a balcony on that ship.

That being said, if you are saying $600 total for 10 day med cruise, I would take it to maximize the sail in and sail aways.

If it is $1200 total I would pass and spend the money elsewhere.

2 hours ago, dweidensaul said:

Does anyone have any experience or insight as to what promotion to expect after the current 29 Feb expiration?  Looking at some Med cruise options next Spring (2025).  Curious if I'm risking too much by not being decisive enough right now.  

Something I do when trying to decide if I should book now or maybe wait, is look at the closest equivalent sailing (itinerary and ship class)  for Spring 2024, and see what happened with that pricing.

You can use a site like Cruiseplum.com for that (they are not a Travel agent, just a tracking site so we can name them). You don't have to be a member to do a search. When you select a cruise and the "More Info" on the right, at the bottom you then get a graph showing what happened with pricing over the last year for cabin categories for that cruise.

We just submitted our first request with the "new" method (Stockperk app) yesterday - was easy so  far and now just waiting approval.

I did read on a thread after it approved - you have to then in the app get it to "apply" to the cruise and some folks were not aware of this final step. When you submit your proof of stock, it doesn't ask for cruise info - so I guess that is what we will do after it is approved - decide which cruise(s) we are trying to "apply" that proof of stock ownership to. 

12 hours ago, Pitzel said:

On the Prima, the for-fee mini golf never worked right, so they couldn't charge for that. They did have darts (also for a fee), but I never saw anyone actually playing darts there. Some people sat around on the couches, but it didn't look like they made any money from that space (at least not on our sailing). Not the reliable money makers that they were hoping for.

It was the same on the Viva late January. Mini-golf was free although was no "interactive" feature and did not see anyone play darts (although we did not spend much time in the area.

They were charging $5 for the zoom video you take from the top of the ship which I had been led to believe was free at one time (from Youtube reviews)

12 minutes ago, ksmetamaid said:

We are considering booking an inside cabin on the Zaandam for an Alaska Inside Passageway cruise.  I know that's not ideal, but our Alaska trip overall (we have an extensive independent land itinerary as well) is getting expensive and the current thinking is to put more money into excursions rather than cabin.  But when I look at deck plans, I basically don't see any decks!  Surely that's not right.  Could someone who has been on the ship since the 2017 refurbishment please comment?  I did find and old discussion on this topic, but would like more recent information.  Thank you.

We were on Zaandam last June - definitely outdoor decks - with a full wrap around promenade. Skyview pool area in back is good.

We were also inside cabin and wouldn't have booked it without ample outdoor space.

https://www.cruisemapper.com/deckplans/ms-Zaandam-572

Where were all you folks and your great advice when I was younger??

We're a little past the hangover years now, but one thing I now use at times when I feel I am not drinking enough water is to use the little bottles of Mio "water enhancer" that you can buy in any grocery store. They also have "Sport" versions have electrolyes and essentially another alternative to having Gatorade.

3 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Just to understand, NCL adds a mandatory gratuity to their drink package?  It cannot be removed or modified?  That isn't really a gratuity.  It sounds more like those notorious mandatory resort fees.   

If you take the "free" drink package included in the "Free at Sea" cruise fare, you would have to pay gratuities which are added to your booking fare. You can remove the drinks package at booking and the gratuities are removed. 

I don't think any cruise line allows you to remove or alter gratuities on drinks or drink packages (but they are typically included in a "drink" package). 

9 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Currently EBB is shown as including crew appreciation.

Have It All Early Booking Bonus | Holland America Line

 

So you would need to plan at least a year ahead of time as EBB runs only either 60 or 90 days after the itinerary is launched.

 

HAL may run an additional promo, maybe twice a year -- I'm thinking Black Friday (Cyber Week) and some week in early summer -- where they include crew incentive on bookings outside of EBB limits.

I think you are confusing the Mariner Early Booking Bonus (OBC) with the EBB (Early Booking Bonus). The Mariner Early Booking one is the one that is super early (90 days within launch)

https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/ca/cruise-deals/mariner-early-booking-bonus

Early Booking runs much longer after launch, but,  if you're within 90 days of launch you can get them both 😎

On 2/16/2024 at 2:14 AM, Mike B Landlubber said:

Actually, I am cheating on my main squeeze HAL when I sail on NCL! 😉 I am mostly driven by itinerary and price, but I really try to be faithful to HAL. I strayed to NCL for the first time when I took a cheap TA fling with MSC and wanted a quick trashy affair with one of those stylish European trips before I flew home. NCL had a port-packed Baltic cruise that was inexpensive if I used an inside cabin, which I did. I recently signed up with NCL again, not for a cheap thrill this time, but for a rather pricey cruise from South Africa to Portugal. An itinerary I lusted after for some time… 🙂 I generally prefer dining on HAL, but really enjoy the Pub food on NCL.

Like you (at least since Covid) we have sailed primarily with HAL (Casino discount!) but it's not a line I would think of a typical alternative NCL. That being said we took our first NCL in 15 years last month on the Viva. We have since booked another NCL on the Sky and curious to see if that experience is a little more HAL-ish feeling being a smaller ship. We're not meat eaters so the dining on HAL is a big advantage for us with regards to seafood offerings (The Viva seafood offerings left a lot to be desired)

Of the lines we've sailed, Celebrity would be worth considering as an NCL alternative - I put the vibe somewhere between HAL and NCL ....a little bit of the contemporary cruise elements, but more relaxed with a more lively and fun vibe.

7 hours ago, Smitheroo said:

Yes, unless you ask them to be removed you will pay them even if you dont drink one alcoholic drink

What I was trying to say was (to a poster saying he wished that he knew or they were just on the invoice), was he grats for the relevent parts of FAS you book (at booking an FAS fare, you have the choice of what elements you want of Beverage, Dining,Internet and Shorex), and if you choose to take the Beverage Package you will have to pay the grats  and if you choose to take the Dining, you have to pay those gratuities and they are detailed on your in booking invoice.

Just now, mugtech said:

We usually sail inside cabins, was smaller than the Gem, Sun, Jewel, Breakaway, Spirit and Pride of America inside cabins.  Also smaller than any inside cabins on Royal Caribbean ships.

Thanks - do you happen to recall your cabin number or area of the ship? Some "look" a little larger but not sure if they are.

The ones in the front Deck 6 (which NCL seems to want to auto-assign us) look the smallest .....

9 hours ago, mugtech said:

        Sky is a good ship for port intensive cruises.  Our biggest gripe back in September when sailing from Baltimore to Quebec and back was the terrible wifi connection.  Every day we were told "Maybe tomorrow"  never even used our free time.  Agree the inside cabin was the smallest ever sailed in, no reason to spend time there.

When you say the smallest you have sailed in, do you mean in comparison to other insides or do you not typically do insides? When looking at the insides, they look at least to be a little bigger than other insides (like the Jade) as they seem to have the heavily coveted small sofa 🤔

1 hour ago, GinaRz said:

So I’m currently being charged gratuity on every drink according to my stateroom account. I’ll have to head over to guest services.

 

See below. And don’t judge me 😂😂😂

Depending on where you are (if in port) those may be additional taxes. When ported in San Juan we had similar charges  on our drinks until sailaway. I know there are some in Europe that do this as well.

24 minutes ago, hallux said:

You absolutely CAN book a FAS room and decline the beverage package, removing the need to pay the beverage service charge.  I've done it on every cruise I've taken on NCL.

What I meant was you can't book an FAS and not have the relevant gratuities added, i.e. if you take the beverage package then the gratuities for it are automatically added to the invoice.

1 hour ago, PaperSniper4 said:

As others have probably said, I had to pay gratuities on the drinks and specialty dining package. Yes, that I would have to is buried somewhere in the contract or elsewhere, but I still think it's sneaky the way NCL does it. Doesn't bother me anymore, I know I will be charged that unless I have my TA get me the prince including those gratuities and putting that info on my invoice.

 

 Doug

 

I didn't think you could book FAS and not have the gratuities for those added to your invoice. It adds them in automatically on the invoice the same way it adds port charges and taxes. They're not like DSC gratuities that you  can "optionally" choose to add to the invoice. 

I assume the appeal of your suggested form of "protest" to NCL management is that it is easy and you save yourself some money. 

As others have stated, PLEASE do not attempt to justify stiffing crew members by calling it a "protest" against NCL itinerary decisions.

29 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

We have an unused CF that also has a 2099 expiration date. 
 

And as magnoliablossom stated, there is no double up for he CF. 
 

We are also doing a Lisbon - Canary Islands cruise in Nov. ‘25.  It’s so far out…but I still get excited thinking about it! 

I checked this morning and there was no roll call - so I was kinda worried no one else booked it - PHEW!

I have nothing useful to say/add but am following as we are close to booking the Sky in Nov 2025  for a 9 day from Lisbon for Canaries/Morocco/Spain - so would have the same issues if there are any.

Thanks! 

I hadn't realized the "double up" thing was a CN promo. Still getting my head around the 2 promos.

That being the case we will probably just book before April expiration of our $100 off welcome back offer and using our $500 CF.