sanger727

11 hours ago, DebbieCruises said:

Our cruise is not for another ten months, so probably not filling up too fast yet, but I get your point. I just was making the point that that NCL has an excellent marketing department and plays word games (quite successfully) to fool everyone into paying more and more and more and believing it's just the way way "it should be" by putting it in the FAQ page or frequent reposts. 

 

I know I'm kinda old and been sailing a long time, but when we started, we paid tips of $3.50 pp per day in little envelopes at the end of the cruise on the SS Norway.  Now we pay $20 pp (or $25 pp in the Haven) per day DSC, plus 20% for the beverage package, plus the 20% for the dining package charges.  Oh, yes, we always paid an extra $ or so tip for a drink plus the $3 or $4 charge for the drinks, as well as the extra tips paid to the room stewards and others, but now... we pay soooo much more for the cabin to begin with, as well as everything else and still they want us to pay more and more and more tips, gratuities, daily service charges, or whatever terminology they decide to use this year.  Yes, we do continue to tip, and we appreciate the service beyond measure or we wouldn't keep cruising, but it does make me wonder.  We love to cruise in spite of the fees.  I wonder what the next term they will use for tip/gratuity will be.  Let me get my thesaursus.

I guess this depends on when you started cruising. $3.50 in 1970 is equivalent to $27.75 now. Prices always go up. 

This all seems to be going off the rails and out of context. There are many people who enjoy traveling with friends. Having a history of taking trips with these people and the fact that they were invited in the first place, makes this almost certainly a positive surprise. 

It has been noted that most of you would not like random, uninvited friends crashing your vacation. That is fair. 

42 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Thanks for posting this.

 

I was about to post the same about what my daughter (BA/MAT at the time) was told about the Royal Caribbean Corporate  policy for  employment in the youth programs on board their ship.

 

She was also told fingerprints would be needed for that in depth background check.

I'm curious if countries like the Philippines keep high enough quality records to do a useful background check. 

2 hours ago, aborgman said:

 

No, the goal of an employer is to make as much profit as possible in any legal way.

 

If providing better service does that, they will do that. If providing worse service with lower labor costs does that, they'll do that.

Not necessarily. Small businesses rely on repeat business and referrals. They may focus more on a positive customer experience even if that is somewhat less profitable. 

12 minutes ago, aborgman said:

 

Right... which means less effort by the wait staff, not more.

 

Expensive restaurants have more skilled/knowledgeable wait staff. Inexpensive restaurants work the wait staff much harder.

The goal of an employer isn't to work their employees harder. The goal is to provide a better service to the customer. At an expensive restaurant, you should receive better service. Also since they have fewer tables that is a smaller number of tips so to balance it out, the tips should be higher. 

15 hours ago, Salt Lifer said:

 

That said, with hearing about all these overbookings lately, I fear the cruise lines will turn into the airlines.  Will we soon be experiencing a culture where prior to boarding we are sitting in the cruise terminal hearing announcements that the cruise is overbooked and anyone who wants to give up their cabin will be given X OBC for a future cruise, with the amount offered increasing every 15 minutes until they get enough takers?

No, airlines are not comparable to cruises in this situation. If your airflight is overbooked they will move you to a flight later the same day or the next day. Once the cruise leaves, it's gone for several days and there's no option to rebook someone. 

If overbooking becomes a problem, they will contact people ahead of the cruise so they at least don't fly there.

14 hours ago, Joanne G. said:

That would make sense if the waiter or waitress or bartender were selling you the meal or the bottle of wine. But in most restaurants, they are merely bringing it to you.  I really hesitated to get involved in this discussion, but since @kirtihk brought up a point I have thought about, I'll add that at a land-based restaurant, I tend to tip a slightly smaller % for an expensive meal and a slightly bigger % for a cheaper meal.   Their efforts are the same whether there's a lobster on the plate or a grilled cheese sandwich, or whether I order a glass of expensive wine or a free glass of water.   

 

If you wait staff is simply "bringing" you an $80 dish, you aren't going to the right restaurants. In restaurants I've been to, a restaurant that serves $20 dishes and $80 dishes are night and day. For one thing, the more expensive restaurants have fewer tables per server so that they and provide better service. They also hire more experienced and skilled wait staff. The $20 restaurant is entry level. The $80 restaurant is not.

15 hours ago, ORV said:

What would you do about Brazil? Rio and south, no Amazon. 

I usually take doxycycline. It is a malaria preventative and is also an anti-biotic.

I don't believe any cruise lines are taking a cut of the gratuities to add to their bottom line. I have heard on some lines, however, that some of the gratuities go to a "crew welfare fund" that does things like crew parties. So, that might be interpreted as the cruise line taking a cut, but it's still being used towards the crew. 

There is absolutely no proof of vaccine needed. I've gone to several countries with malaria and was always advised to take prophylaxis. I think that right now the vaccine is only recommended for children living in countries with high spread of malaria. I don't know if you could even get it in the US,

WHO recommends R21/Matrix-M vaccine for malaria prevention in updated advice on immunization

I personally wouldn't take malaria meds for Mexico or Roatan, but that may be worth discussing with your doctor. 

1 minute ago, Keys Kathy said:

I believe that's called your cabin!

 

I personally don't find it unreasonable to have a "quiet" area of the ship. People have suggested that ship libraries are quiet areas. If you go to the spa, usually the relaxation room is a "quiet" area. I believe "the hideaway" on ships that have it request that it is a quiet area.

Designated quiet areas are a good idea, everyone has their own idea of what a fun cruise is. Expecting that you can walk into a random lounge for quiet and another person who wants to take a cell phone shouldn't do the same is unreasonable. They are taking their cell phone call in there for the same reason you came in. No background noise and not many people around. 

2 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

Okay.

But cell phones don't link directly to satellites - back to NCL.

I don't know what to tell you. If you choose to connect to cellular service while are at sea without a cell phone plane; all of your charges will be from cellular at sea. If you purchase a cruise plan like this, ATT is paying cellular at sea on it. All of this is completely unrelated to the ship's wifi plans.

The idea sounds neat. But I agree that this should be a couple you know well and would spend time with outside of cruising and don't go into it with the idea that you are going to "hang out " all week. Planning a couple dinners together and meeting up for drinks a few days would be reasonable. Expecting them to change any of their plans to accommodate what you want to do with specialty dining or excursions isn't. 

31 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

So, no doubt AT&T pays NCL for this service.

Call it what they will, they must be using ship internet to connect, just not requiring separate fee for it.

No. They pay cellular at sea. Cellular at sea is a completely separate company from cruise lines. I believe cellular at sea uses satellites for their network.

Just now, cruiser2015 said:

Interesting.

Are these packages cruise line specific?

Does AT&T pay a fee to the cruise line?

I can't believe they let you uplink without a fee.

You mention that you don't need ship Wifi - but you are connecting through the ship's systems. 

Yes, the packages are cruise ship specific.

You are connecting through cellular at sea; not using the ship's wifi. You do not need a wifi package for this.

14 hours ago, olemissreb said:

In my group of 4, we have  3 iphone users and 1 android (me). We are all AT&T customers and I noticed that AT&T has a special add on feature for people on cruises. Has anyone used that? And does it work just as if you were on land? Or does it work through Starlink? I've looked at it and don't really understand how it works...do we need the ships wifi?  We all have FAS, but I may upgrade mine to FAS+. 

Here is what ATT says:

Your AT&T Cruise package will activate 9 to 11 nautical miles from shore. Once you’re at sea your device will display Cellular at Sea, wmsatsea, 901-18, or NOR-18 when you’re connected.

Your AT&T Cruise package only works at sea. You’ll want to add AT&T International Day Pass to stay connected throughout your adventures at port and on land.

So it will only work at sea, not on land. You will not need the ships wifi, but everyone who wants to use it will have to have their own cruise package through ATT

If you do this you will have to be really careful about having cellular on while you are at sea, but turning it off once you get to that 11 nautical miles from shore point. Once your phone connects to the local network you will be charged $10 under the travel pass. The nice thing about wifi is that you can always leave it on. So you dont' have to remember to turn it off and on.

18 minutes ago, bikerunner said:

My ta advises and my experience from working in the travel industry, is to never book with a 3rd party vendor    Yes much more convient most of time but when situations like this happens its a nightmare.  Since like mentioned not sure who has ckntrol of the ricket now.  Hopefully it gets worked out but does take lots of patience and time from the one time i did it, to good of a deal to pas up but took me many hours to sort out air after changes were made and all flights not available thru the 3rd party vendor.  Good luck with getting it sorted out.  

I agree with this. Not quite the same situation, but we booked a hotel/airfare package through a TA. On the day of the flight, it was cancelled. The airline didn't offer any substitutions besides flying out a day later. We found another airline with a flight that we could make. We confirmed with our original airline that since they cancelled the flight, we could get the first leg refunded. That was where the problems started. The airline offered us a ridiculously small refund. What they kept referring back to was the low class and price of the ticket our TA bought. And there was absolutely no way to determine how much of our package price went to airline tickets. 

27 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

Wow - your information is great; clearly written & jargon free.

I only need to use this with iphones, so the android option are not currently of concern.

So, you're saying that if wifi calling is switched on, voice calls will work onboard, right?

Only problem remaining is that I can't find the imessenger app. I just googled  for location assistance and nothing works. I don't see any option other than for SMS.

I know my DW is using it; I'll have her find it for me when she gets home this afternoon.

 

Thanks for your great response.  👍

That app you use for sms texting is the correct app. It will use the wifi connection to text between iphones. It does this all the time when you are at home, uses data instead of sms, you just wouldn't notice. 

A loud conversation or children can cause as much noise and disturbance as a cell phone conversation. I don't think the cell phone itself is the problem unless people are playing videos or music without headphones. And it's a little unfair to be annoyed that you found a quiet spot to relax and someone ruined it with their loud conversation. They also found a quite place to have a conversation where they disturbed the least amount of people.

I could be on board with a "quiet area", But it should apply across the board. No music, phones, loud talking, kids running around, etc.

8 hours ago, cruiser2015 said:

It seems silly to say so, but I'm not sure what you mean by wifi texting with my carrier.

Personally, I have only used ordinary cell based texting (I'm a light user).

My DW uses Messenger (not sure if that's from Apple or Facebook) and also WhatsApp.

My feeling is that we 've got this covered. I'm checking to clear up the terminology and whose app is what (no pun intended).

"messenger" is the default application on iphones for texting. If you have an iphone, there is built in internet messaging called "imessages". These messages only work iphone to iphone. If you need to text iphone to android, you would need sms to use the regular messenger app. You can also communicate with other various apps that have messenger features like facebook, whatsapp, etc. To do those you would download the app and create an account. 

You can call over wifi if you enable that in the settings. It's under "cellular". Then turn wifi calling on.

So, if you enable wifi calling, while connected to wifi, voice calls on your phone will work exactly the way it does at home

If you are connected to wifi, you phone will send/receive text messages from other iphones like it does at home.

The only thing that you would have to do something different for, is if you wanted to text an android phone.

One idea you might explore if you want what you originally had. Given that the rep made a mistake in the quote - would NCL downgrade you back to your original room with the original perks for the original price? 

On 12/3/2023 at 3:09 PM, pete_coach said:

Actually BirdTravels said "The NCL App allows you to call and text between phones. It requires everyone to pay the $9.95 activation fee. The app is pretty clunky. "

So far, some say you have to be on wifi. Some say INTRAnet...what ever that is. Some say only on the app. Some say you need to pay $9.95. Some say you don't have to pay. Some.like you talk about a "back end loophole".....whatever that is or means.

You say a lot but, say nothing. You too say some are right or wrong or not worth reading.

Hence disparate information.

My question basically, no to the point is, what is the deal. Do I pay $9.95 or use wifi and/or turn on airplane mode and am OK to text my friends?

Someone onboard or recently off that can give step by step explanations?

There are two things being discussed here.

1. NCL offers calling and texting through their app for a cost of $9.95 per device. You would put your phone into airplane mode and turn wifi on. You would not use the browser to "log into" the wifi. Simply by turning wifi on, you are connected to the intranet and can use the app. You wll only be able to text other people who have the app. It won't use imessage, it will create a funky number for you within the app

2. There is a glitch in their wifi intranet/internet setup. Some people find that if they turn wifi on (and again, not use the browser to log into the internet), imessages are able to come through. This is unintentionally and is never guaranteed to work. My personal experience on my last cruise was that I occasionally received imessages but I couldn't send any out. 

3. If you want to be able to use you phone the way you do at home, you will have to purchase the unlimited internet package. 

15 hours ago, peoriaguy1958 said:

Also as a FYI, the dining room staff only income is from gratitudes, Carnival doesn’t pay them any type of base pay, also on Venezia now a was told by a head server that prior cruise just under 50% of passengers removed their gratitudes and their pay was way less. If you figure the hours they work per day if that many passengers are not tipping they making like $3-5 dollars a hour. Never knew only pay they get is from tips.

This is an incorrect statement. Their pay is contractually guaranteed. Some of that contractually guaranteed pay is made up of tips.

This is the same situation in the US with tipped workers. Tipped minimum wage is like $2. Actually minimum way is like $10. Wait staff are guaranteed by law to make at least $10 an hour. They have to declare their tips and if somehow they average less than $10 an hour, the restaurant has to pay the difference. Cruises operate the same way. Workers will not have zero income if everyone pulls their tips. However, they make more than the contractual minimum if everyone leaves their tips on.

We base it on what we are doing. If it's a water or active excursion, we leave it in the safe. If it's an excursion where I can wear a purse the entire time, we bring them. 

13 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

They are getting some bad reviews on BBB. Might as well stick to the devil I know……

https://www.bbb.org/us/ma/boston/profile/travel-agency/overseas-adventure-travel-0021-3848

We had a wonderful tour recently with Alexander and Roberts. The tours are small, I think up to 12 people. But they will go if they have at least 4. That's what happened on our tour, me, my friend, and another couple were the only ones on the tour. We went to multiple cities and were met in every airport by a tour guide and escorted through. The tour was in Peru with machu picchu. The other couple was disabled and unable to explore machu picchu. At the last minute our guide was able to procure an extra guide. That way one stayed with the disabled couple and walked them through the flat areas and the other one took us on the full tour. I can't recommend them highly enough.