falkensmaze

Just booked our 5th cruise (UK) Escape, Caribbean 2020 and I have always paid the DSC up front, however this time I booked via VPN to get a phenomenally better deal paying US$ as opposed to GPB £ but I had to phone up to convert my Cruise next from pounds to dollars (which was simple enough )to seal the deal and whilst on the phone the NCL TA advised me (seriously) to remove the DSC and fill out a waiver on board to state i would tip as a choose!

1, Is this normal

2 Will I have a probelm when i board?

Thanks 

We want to mix up beach with some fun days so to speak, seriously looking at the Beach Buggy tours in Cozumel, any input here to help us decide would be welcome.

We have done both, the bonus in Rome is super quick embarkation and the room is ready early as crew have fewer romms to turnover and luggage is delivered much sooner. i recon 20% board in Rome so when you get on board most people are off doing Rome stuff! and you have a quiet ship to explore. 

I think you may find that it is actually charging you 20%. My bookings say 18% like yours does, but when I run the numbers it is actually charging 20%.

 

 

 

If you want to check it then you need to work out the exchange rate which its being used for your booking. This is set based on the rate the day you booked. To find out what it is, I usually look to see what they are charging for $10 OBC.

 

 

 

Using that rate, you can then find out the dollar cost that they are charging for the dining package. When I do it for my bookings, it comes out at $82.75, which is pretty well $69 plus 20% (it actually seems to be $68.95 plus 20%)

In a nutshell there’s nothing in it then? I’ll still probably purchase it onboard as I have some obc. Thank you.

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yep although it is 18%, either way you are correct there is little difference if there is 20% stuck on onboard purchase.

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Online price is £62.66. = $82.44

 

 

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Unless they have added the 20% at this end. ???

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Sorry, one correction, the gratuity is now 20%.

 

 

 

I'm a bit confused about you saying it is $13 more to buy it now than when onboard. The price that I am getting charged is the same as I believe they charge onboard ($69 for the 3 meal package).

 

 

 

You are aware that the 20% gratuity is also charged on the dining packages? That may be where your $13 is coming from (20% of $69 is £13.80)

Online price is £62.66. = $82.44

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Thank you from a fellow Scotsman.

Only a Scotsman would try and save $15 on a $3000 Cruise [emoji23][emoji23]

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Excuse the minor correction but the dining plan is the SDP. UDP was a dining plan from years ago that had different terms/conditions.

Your excused ;)

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Yes thanks for this, the 18% charge seals the deal and we will just get the UDP also worth noting that it is $13 more expensive each to buy it here in the UK (online) than it will be onboard, so onboard it will be, and like you say it gets it out of the way and lets us dine freely. Thanks :D

Just a follow up here, if you forgo the UDP and just opt for pay and dine (Al la carte) will your bill be the final total or is there a 18% charge on top of this? We will probably eat at le bistro and La cucina only which are fairly inexpensive imo, and might not be worth purchasing a 3 plan UDP i.e. 3 courses could be $20 whereas the udp works out at about $23 dollars a feed, granted small amounts but better in my pockets than someone else! ;)

I was on the 7/8 sailing out of Barcelona and booked the 7:30 tender ticket (7:30 is the earliest tender) right after I boarded on Sunday. The actual day in Cannes, I was in line with several people that boarded in Rome that did not have the early tender tickets, but they were told by shore ex staff to go down early and go “stand by”. Everyone that was waiting near me got on the early tender.

 

I was gold on this sailing (hit platinum on the last night) but found it easier to book a ticket since I was able to do so. You can book the tickets through iConcierge or your TV in the cabin.

 

 

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Grateful for this information, thank you.

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I’m sure they could do better than this though, and this looks like a normal balcony. We will be in the ships bump-balcony in October where you can fit a lounger. Even this balcony pictured could take a table twice the size.

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Perhaps I just thought mine opened early to coincide!

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It cannot be a huge issue though or there would be another system.

Unless the fact that only 300 or so board in Rome vs 4000 in Barcelona and there isn’t enough adversely affected people for them to bother!

Hope it’s not the case, either way you can book everything else online tenders could be done this way also, As the 90 day window opened the same time for everyone.

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Did you ever find out? The tiny tables are a huge let down.

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Thanks we’ve always enjoyed Howl but your spot on about the tips! But it’s always been standing room only on previous ships! I see the Beatles play most nights so we will try and get in early one time. Thanks for this.

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Did this cruise a month ago also boarded in Rome.

Became available the night before and you could book the tickets right through the television.

Thank you. Off topic was howl at the moon packed as always? What about the cavern club?

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We did this cruise in September, we embarked in Barcelona but everything was level across the board for both Barcelona and Rome boarding passengers. Tender tickets were not available until the night before (Florence/Pisa) night which was the day after the Rome passengers boarded. Everything was clearly laid out in the freestyle daily.

This helps thank you. Like I said we are gold now and latitude rewards states priority tenders for gold so hopefully this will also be useful. Like everyone else no doubt “we want to be off early” as we are planning to take the train to Monaco and catch nice on the return.

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Thank you I done this 6 years ago from Barcelona and thought I booked them earlier on the cruise. Clearly I am mistaken. Thanks again.

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Yes we are planing on getting train to Monaco and catching Nice on the return so timing is essential

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I’m within the 90 days out (81) and had no problem booking dining and shows. Just hope it’s the same with the tender as it is booked onboard. I’m gold so also wondering if this will get me priority tender as it mentions this on the latitude site.

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As we are getting on the ship in Rome will be at the bottom of the pecking order for booking our Cannes tender as the majority of pax will be already on board from Barcelona. Looking for an early tender on that day.

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Thank you cruising in October and I always get a cruise next, will keep an eye on them dates [emoji1360]

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Thank you. Itinerary not that important provided it ends in LA!

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