karensletsgotravel

I have used Ian at Sugarland Tours for years. Not only for my personal travel but I am a travel agent and have sent him lots of business. My clients are always happy when they return. He really makes the experience personal, fun and not rushed. You won't be disappointed with Ian at Sugarland :)

I have clients on the Breakaway that left yesterday and was talking to them as they were leaving port. It was right on time and she made no mention of any issues. Probably just a safety or security procedure, or perhaps someone fell ill right at sail away and they were trying to get them off. That happened once when I was sailing from Tampa. We weren't even out of the channel yet and the ship came to a stop, the helicopters and coast guard came up to the ship and got the sick passenger and his family off. Could've been anything really. Glad she got off on time - this is my clients first Norwegian cruise so I'm hoping they have a great time!

Thanks Karen for getting to the bottom of the reservations posting. I hope that this "Test Run" doesn't indicate a future change to this way of attending shows. I much prefer the reservations option. I'm guessing the test has something to do with the amount of people who complain that the need for reservations is counterintuitive to the "Freestyle" concept. I'd be interested to know the results of this trial run.

I will be keeping an eye on it as well. From my personal experience and long list of cruises under my belt, in the early years, it was a free for all and fight for a good seat at the shows. With reservations, at least you have a seat and if you're on time, can get a pretty decent one. I'd much rather have a reservation and a plan, versus being disappointed at show time. I dont know, I really don't think there's a right or wrong way to do this; it's personal preference. I like the reservation idea though.

Much obliged & thanks, Karen, for the updated clarification - perhaps they had few reservations for some of the shows & decided to do a test run. so ;) The BA only ship internet plan by the MB was (is) a trial and still good, and, is a welcoming offer - higher prices equal no or fewer users, lower/better prices meant more prospect & users taking the bait = revenue.

 

Show reservations also blocked us out of some dining time last year as we had a small group of 6 but this time, it won't matter as we will go "wing" it or free style. Despite the theater's small size, still took us 10 minutes to make our way to the exits & even more time to the AFT dining room, almost late for our group reservation.

 

The free iConcierge is nice except it won't allow you to cancel a booked show or dining reservations as one must call, perhaps they are running into fair # of no-shows among the "smarter" cruisers with a better feel of how to cruise - and, NCL trying to reconstruct the box. Reminds me of the airline's experimentation with how to best board pax in coach class & up front and FT's war on overhead bin space. Sure to get some more "comments" & " feedbacks" by Monday, if not sooner from those onboard now on their last Sea Day.

You're welcome. ;)

Kind of a strange way for a travel agent to express themselves, but I'm going to assume you don't talk to your clients that way. The issue is not the price increase. All reasonably functional adults understand that prices go up. It's the way the increases have been put in place, with zero announcements (Did travel agents receive notification that the automatic bar gratuity was going up this week to 18%, the highest in the industry? We passengers certainly did not.), reduced menus, confused staff, and inconsistent pricing on board. I am very glad I'm not cruising this week/month, and that is really a sad thing to say.

Notice the smile at the end of my post. I was being sarcastic and off the clock :)

Wow about the shows. Thanks for posting. We sail on Breakaway in 3 weeks.

Make sure you read my updates on this topic Bill. :)

And i'd like to add to my other posts about the increase in service charges and drink prices...

IF you work with a good travel agent (such as myself) you would've been notified about the increase in service charges. We found out that they were being increased from $12 per day to $12.95 per day back in the middle of February. I immediately emailed my clients and notified them of this. Norwegian was giving anyone who was already booked prior to the increase of March 1st, the opportunity to pre-pay their gratuities before their sailing. So, if you weren't notified by your travel agent, then shame on them and if you didn't take advantage of pre-paying your gratuities, then don't complain when you get onboard and they've gone up. Just sayin... :cool:

As far as drink prices, again, prices go up. Cruise prices have remained steady over the past 20 years. They make their money on drinks and casino. You're on vacation - have a drink and if you can't afford the increase, then stay home :D

I went to my local pub last weekend (i don't go out much) and was shocked that I'm paying $5.50 for a Corona. Same price as a ship. Go figure!!

Good morning & thanks, Karen, for making good use of an outside TA's resources & sharing with us all. I just posted a heads-up for our M&G group, we have a fairly large gathering and we will wait to hear, and the sailing this Sunday on its return should be further validation as there are a good # of pro-active CC's on that sailing just ahead of us.

We saw both BTF & ROA last year but reserved it again, if we can't get it - not a big loss to us, plenty to do & our sailing isn't full yet, plenty of mini-suites & Haven cabins available for booking $$$. UBP isn't for us and OBC will take care of any & all beverages, old or new prices, don't matter as we got enough to cover (I think ...)

We CC's helped each others & share, we will sort all these out - unfounded rumors keep some of all these postings going, including the never-ending questions on water & wine, and, of course, the passionate subject of "lobsters" Time to go into Tapatalk again as that was useful on the go to post quick update, even when sailing or at the ports with slower WiFi/internet.

Yea i never come in cruise critic, specifically for this reason. I spend so much time correcting and defending. no time for that! But one of my friends/clients brought it to my attention and I needed to investigate it. I did post another update and confirmed that this was a test run for this past week's sailing only. Direct words from a head Purser onboard.

Thank you for your practical and proactive response to this. I assumed this was probably a misunderstanding, but the NCL customer service people seem to give a million different answers to the same question. It is very helpful that you have higher-up, better-informed contacts at NCL. I look forward to learning the information that you receive as a reply.

I'm not so well versed on how to post here, but i did put an update on.

I'm surprised there have not been other threads about this. There have been no complaints yet. I wonder if it was a computer glich.

There is, and that's why I posted this. I'm not versed so well in cruise critic posting or else I wouldn't directly replied to that persons post. sorry!

Ok this is a follow up to a post i replied to earlier today about the reservations for entertainment on the Breakaway. I did receive thismessage from my friend who is a head purser in Guest Services on board the Breakaway right now. This was her response to the post from cruise critic member who said that reservations were no longer valid and that second city comedy just walked right in 5 mins before the show started..... what you see in the photo below is her response to the bottom of the post that i pasted into her messenger app. So, remember folks, investigate what you hear before overreacting to someone else's experience. And as far as the beverages, everything in life goes up in price. If you have the UBP, don't complain about the price of your drinks. Just make sure when you're ordering that your bartender knows you have the UBP so that he's mixing you a drink that is covered in your package. Any questions, feel free to send me a message. :)

I am a travel agent and have a lot of people booked on the Breakaway so when this came to my attention, of course I was concerned. Since last night, I have spoken to 3 land based Norwegian reservation agents and all got the same answer - yes, you can still pre-book entertainment reservations onboard the Breakaway and that it is not a free for-all. I have also emailed a few departments in the company just as a back up in case these agents I spoke to aren't 100% up to date on major changes. I have also directly sent a message to a close friend of mine who is one of the head pursers onboard the Breakaway as we speak. She, of all people onboard, will know the answer to this because when people are upset about something, the first place they go is the pursers desk/guest services. I, too, have sailed twice on the Breakaway and found no problem with the reservations OR the pricing of drinks. I am sailing with a large group in April to Bermuda so for my own personal and professional reasons I wanted to get clarification on this. So far, the only thing i've been told is that on the Epic, the Blue Man Group reservations were changed on the April sailings. BUT Norwegian emailed all the travel agents and guests who had reservations for that show and asked if they wanted to be re-accommodated to the Burn the Floor show for their sailings. Please know that there is a specific department in Miami that handles all of the entertainment reservations that you pre-book. I'm not saying something went wrong on this guys sailing last night, but be careful how much you take for real. Instead of heresay, pick up the phone and call Norwegian, or better yet, book through a travel agent who can always get you the facts! I will be posting back on this thread as soon as I receive any more confirmation from my contacts in Miami and my friend who is onboard in Guest Services. And to mking8288, i also checked my NCL reservation and my show reservations are still showing confirmed too. hang in there people, I will get the answers.

Hi SCCoast! Saw your inquiry about St. Kitts. I have personally done Sugarland Tours with Ian (aka Lion King) a few times and have sent him other business as well (travel agency). He is my go to person for everything st. Kitts. He loves his country and will show you the best day on the island. You will not only have so much fun, but he will make the day exactly as you'd like it to be, at your own pace! That's the most important thing to me is not feeling rushed. He takes his time and makes it a very personal experience for you. You won't be disappointed!

:)