Red-Sol

I hear you....I have one more cruise that I booked through CAS 12 day on Escape early next year. When I booked it in March I was already extremely disappointed in what the CAS offer to me was..but booked it anyways. Since then I have been pricing 10 or more day cruises out of NYC on MSC Meraviglia and Carnival Venezia both of those cruises are substantially less with more benefits than I am recieving now from CAS for Escape. I will wait a little longer until the mad rush against CAS starts to slow down a little but then will call my casino rep and let him know they must do significantly better than what my current offer is from them or I will need to cancel. I have always enjoyed NCL but what they are now doing makes them no longer worth it to me. All of their advantages and selling points to me (and others I'm sure as well) are sadly now gone.

Thanks for that...I was already in the process of applying for Carnivals program but this served as a reminder that I should sign my wife up as well which I just did. I have also done a status match on MSC and will possibly sail on them as well. The three main advantages that NCL always held for me were: The CAS program Onboard Entertainment Many and varied cruises out of NYC Well it seems to me that they are cutting all those things drastically so sadly it may be time to try other cruise lines The Carnival and MSC ships (Venezia and Meraviglia) that are sailing out of NYC both look very nice. And both very much appreciate their casino passengers.

This is spot on! It's not the fact that I can afford to actually buy a drink in the casino if I want one...but it is all about how they value people that are really keeping some of these cruise lines afloat (no pun intended) NCL is showing disdain for some of their most loyal customers and me thinks it is not going to end well for them.

Thanks very much for that...all in all it sounds pretty sweet! 🙂

So true but also so sad. I really want to stay with NCL but the degrading of all the CAS benefits is making it very difficult. My first love is actually cruising out of NYC for many reasons (big one is not needing to fly) but I have already started to look at Carnival Venezia and MSC Meraviglia cruises out of NYC. Both lines do some form of status match.

Stupid doesn't even begin to describe it....it would be interesting to see if whatever bean counter thought that would be a good idea is still still with the company once the fallout from this really takes hold. I believe this will really help cause a fatal blow to CAS entirely...their benefits were already on the low end and this convinces me to try other cruise lines now.

I must admit that if CAS eliminates comped drinks in the Casino then that is a game changer for us. We aren't very big drinkers anyways and never take the Free at Sea drinks package. Actually there have been cruises where we don't even get a drink in the Casino either. However with all the money we donate there having a comped occasional drink in the Casino shouldn't be too much to ask. So my question for others is how do you do match your current NCL CAS status with other cruise lines and their casino programs? Is that even possible?

Normally No...the dinner and show are usually complimentary as far as I know.

My favorite saying from back in the day was "Don't trust anyone over 30" Now that i am over 70 might need to rethink that one! 🤣

All the mentions of Fleetwwod Mac and Stevie Nicks I need to post my all time favorite Stevie song...(although not done with Fleetwood Mac) OMG she has the voice of an angel.

There's a good chance that you are right and may no longer qualify....but it still might be worth a call to find out for sure...you could start the conversation with them saying you just want to know that...as far as any qualifications from years past? 1-877-752-9625

Have you ever called them Jamie to verify?

I will be impatienly waiting to hear you say yes! 😉 I heard a little tip today that if you see insides drop in price to around $700.00 that there either will be or already are some potential savings to be had with specials.

I admit that when I saw the pricing I gulped! However we always book through Casinos at Sea and the fares are substantially lower than the published general fares. If you donate enough money to the Casino you can get different comps which usually cut approx. 25% to 50% or more off many of those published fares.

OK all you NYC Winter cruise enthusiasts.... time to step up and book the February 23rd, 2025 12 day Caribbean cruise (I know it's not 14 days but it may be the best we can hope for.) Officially booked it this morning and found out that it is selling very well. Posting another Pic of the Itinerary and after you look at it you will know for sure that you want to! 🤣 @JIMESOPUS MSC will need to be another time but I am sure sooner or later that will happen. So who else wants to go? Many familiar people are already booked! 🙂 Edited to add...it doesn't hurt that the Escape is my favorite ship either

Yes the November cruise on Getaway was great fun! As I mentioned before we are always up for cruising out of New York for the Caribbean when it is cold here. (Although this winter has really been an easy and mild one...even in the Tundra of Western New York 🙂 ) I hope to know for certain about booking the cruise in the next couple days. We are waiting to hear from our daughter and granddaugher if either can help with watching our dog for 12 days. We also book all of our cruises through CAS (Casinos at Sea) so some of it may depend on what they can offer us. By default though I am already excited for this...already signed up on the roll call!

If you like Breakaway you will probably like Escape too. The Escape is similar but slightly bigger. If you like doing the spa it is in front of ship. There is also a very nice Spice H2O section in the back. Some of the newer builds after Escape no longer have that. Escape also has what is called the "Supper Club" where they have different types of entertainment along with dinner (Usually complimentary) While the food and entertainment may not be the greatest...still a fun way to spend an hour or two.

I totally missed this one...I believe you are referring to the Escape here. The Escape and Bliss are my 2 favorite ships so you have now really got my head spinning as to what to book. Truth be told I am now leaning towards this.

Yep! Something (probably multiple reasons) is happening to cause NCL to slowly leave cruising from NYC. Those cruises in past years were always sold out. Not sure if any of the other cruise lines are reducing sailings from NYC but my guess is they aren't...but I really don't know for sure.

Don't you mean the yellow meat?!?! 😉

My beef (No pun intended) with Royal is that the passengers that were on the sailings I was on (and crew as well) all seemed very disinterested in even being there. People on NCL know how to make their own fun no matter what it is...as does the crew.

I miss those roast beef sandwiches and fresh salads there! But still not enough to make me want to go back!

When we were on Getaway in November they would put cookies out in the Buffet every afternoon around 3:00 pm You could tell where they were based on the long lines! 🤣