wichitastatecruiser
-
Posts
871 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by wichitastatecruiser
-
-
I also see that the "big drinker"/ "lots of drinks" comments have started. I love judgmental people! We're on vacation people! 4 drinks a day is not a lot when your on vacation!
I last cruised with NCL in October and here is what a normal person might drink in a day (probably less) and the prices.
1 daytime margarita ($10)
1 dinner glass of wine ($8)
1 beer at night ($6)
Total= $24
Plus 18% auto gratuity= $29.26
Assume that you do that for 6 days= $175.56 for a single person
Heck if you only had 1 margarita a day ($12.19 w/ auto-grat) the promo would still be saving you money as your final bill if you had just 1 margarita a day for 6 days would be $73.14.
-
I am guessing they will not offer totally free UBP ever again now, since people would be mad I'm sure if they paid and others got it with grats included later on... sigh! :/
If a better promo comes along before final payment they can always switch. Also the point of promos is to get as many people to book as possible. I'm guessing in August they will do a "lame" promo" for a month then might do something like free or gratuity only UBP and UDP again, NCL know people watch the promos so it wouldn't surprise me if some kind of pattern came around of how often they feature a certain kind of promo.
As far as people getting mad it seems the biggest complainers are people who don't want the promos at all and believe that without them we would be seeing significantly lower base prices, which I don't believe would be true.
-
Oh, the point about not having to pay full fare for the kids at the specialty restaurants is a very good one -- I was sort of adding all that in. That's a good point. I think I probably will get more out of the UDP and UBP, although I hate to give back cash! My one concern is that I'll drink and eat more than I otherwise would just to get the most value, which is silly and which should be a simple matter of self-control!
Just as long as they order off the ship wide kids menu, if they want something off the specialty menu they will be charged full price. Just something to consider. The value of the UDP by itself for 2 people is $200, UBP is $400 then the soda packages are @ $90. So you could be looking at @500 worth of incentives for losing that OBC.
-
Booked last month in a suite, and the promo was $200 OBC, $75x2 ($150) specialty dining, $50 per port excursion credit, and 250 minutes of wifi. The same cabin on the same sailing is available to book today, with the four new promos.
I'm trying to figure out whether to switch. Basically, we would lose the $200 OBC, but we would gain unlimited dining instead of the $150 credit, we would gain the beverage package, and we would get an extra $25 per port excursion credit.
The port increase is easy to figure. We plan to do two of four ports DIY. So, the difference will be $50 savings. The UDP is a bit more complicated. To take advantage of it, we probably would end up spending more than if we just had the $150 credit, because there are four of us in the cabin. So if we all go, to use it, we end up spending more out of pocket. If we had the $150 credit, we would probably just go to two specialty dinings and use it. With UDP, we will end up going more and so paying more. But of course, we will have better dinners.
I'm sort of viewing UDP as a wash. So that leaves the beverage package. Would you rather have it, or the extra OBC? My general view is that cash is king. We are not big drinkers, but would like a glass of wine or two at dinner. Maybe a mixed drink here or there.
In the end, this may be a six of one half dozen of the other, but any opinions of those who cruise more and have a sense of how these things are used would be greatly appreciated.
The rule is that the UBP that Guests 1 and 2 get the UDP while guests beyond that get the Soda package for free. So you get ahead there.
On the UDP only 2 people get it. I'm assuming that your a family. If you have kids they can order from the ship wide kids menu for free while you eat there.
There is more "Value" in the new promo if you'll use those 2 things. If not then the $200 OBC is the better deal.
-
I'm on the 11 day Panama and when I booked it also didn't include the UBP.
However, I don't think I'm going to rebook.
I'm in a suite so I have:
$200 OBC
UDP (they pay the 18% gratuity)
Pre-Paid gratuities
$75.00 Shore excursion per port.
If I cancelled and rebooked I'd have:
UDP - (I have to pay 18% gratuity)
UBP - (I have to pay 18% gratuity)
$75.00 Shore excursion per port
Free 250 min. Wifi.
As I'll have the CAS drinking card and am not a big drinker anyway, for me, I think I'm better keeping what I have.
Harriet
Suites and Haven do not have to pay service charges or gratuity. They are included. so if the price is about the same or less you would be getting ahead by rebooking.
-
Not sure when you booked.....
but how is this promo in June/July better than the promo's from February, March, and April?
Harriet
If they have a studio or inside room all they got was $25 OBC. If their price went down they could get a extra perk like soda package, shore ex, internet minutes for free or reduced charge.
-
I just did a mock booking for an inside cabin with the special dining credit and they charged me $42 for the service charge. Ah, no thanks NCL.
Whoops, I didn't go that far in my mock bookings. Looks like there is a service charge for both the dining credit and soda package. $42 is a little high. 18% gratuity for $100 is only $18! Wonder if the "service charge" is gratuity or if they'll hit people with that also.
-
So last moth I complained how the promo was lame. This month and next month it looks like NCL has done a much better job with the promos.
1. They are offering studios and insides a choice of promos so they are no longer stuck with just a lame $25 OBC.
2. They have a nice grid on their site now that shows which promos are good for studios and insides and which are available for ocean view, balcony and mini suite.
3. They have mini-suite on that grid so that should cut down on confusion that mini-suites get all the promo offers just because it has the word "suite" in it.
4. The studio and inside promo codes work even if you book a ocean view or above. At first I was wondering why you would do this but then I thought that this is a great option for people who don't drink or don't want to pay the gratuity for UBP to just get the soda package for free. Same thing for people who don't want to eat specialty every night or don't want to pay gratuity, all they need to do is choose the dining credit and they get $50 a person to spend how they wish!
Overall a great promo that lasts till July 31st. If you haven't booked I would now because I have a feeling that the August promo will be lame again!
-
I have a cruise booked on Breakaway in November with a stop at GSC. I booked a small cabana and I also booked and paid for the Hippo slide as well. We loved it last time. I just received an email from NCL that says they will be refunding what I paid for the slide because as of June 1, it will be complimentary. Thank you!
Greetings,
At Norwegian Cruise Line, our goal is to provide you with the best vacation experience possible. We are writing to let you know that effective June 1st 2015 the Hippo Water Slide will become a complimentary family activity on Great Stirrup Cay. We will issue a full refund to your credit card in the next several days. This refund will be reflected on your future statement.
Thank you,
SHORE EXCURSIONS / Norwegian Cruise Line ®
7427 E. Hampton Ave., Suite 121 | Mesa AZ 85209
Freestyle Cruising ®
So is it only complimentary for families or can couples, solos and singles use it free also?!? :p
-
Haven't lost t on the way to a cruise yet. I did however beat my luggage home once when I sprinted from a delayed flight to my connecting flight, however my luggage remained on the plane I was on and found an alternative route home and was delivered to me the next day.
-
Spice H20 is an adults only area by day and night club by night. If he's into basketball he should be able to find pick up games or just shoot around on the sports deck.
-
Hoping to cruise again next spring, possibly on the Escape. Our son will be a High School Senior at the time but will have turned 18. He will therefore not be allowed in the teen club and their activities which he has always enjoyed even though he is still in High School. Are there any activities for this age group so he can meet others to hang out with? Wondering if we should consider something other than a cruise...
On NCL, sign the drink waiver so he can drink beer and give him casino allowance and you'll be the best parents ever. Make it his "early" graduation present. He's sure to meet 18-25 year olds at Spice H20. Also allow him to eat a few nights at his leisure and not as a family.
-
Those are the only 2 sites for hosted cruises. Not allowed to mention travel agencies on the site. So singles cruise and singles at sea are the only two sites out there that I know of (been cruising for 3 years) that do groups specifically.
Now if you just want to sail solo I know Carnival lists no to low supplement cruises on their site. Vacations to go (Parent company of singles at sea) has "fast deals" that have low to no single supplements but those usually sail within 90 days. Your local TA's also might be able to help you out also as some also do group sailings. Help that helps!
-
Unfortunately the first person that paid this fee legitimized it to the company.
Realistically we can lobby for a Continental breakfast menu that has fruit yogurt and cereal like it used to.
Clawback is the name if the game
Ummm, the Continental breakfast items are still free and have no delivery charge. Just saying. You may want to know what the new room service fees are before posting, just saying.
-
Get used to it !!!! Some will start an argument or dispute on these boards if you say "Good morning" !!!
We are not all that way.
What's so good about morning?!? :mad:
-
I returned from the Getaway on 5/16 after a 7-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. I am just now recovering from the worst cruise ever. I know a lot of people on here are fans of Norwegian - I am just going by what happened to me and my husband. We have been on a total of 19 cruises - mostly Royal Caribbean, 1 Princess, 2 Holland America, 7 Carnival. I have never seen such lack of customer service as we did on Norwegian. The ship was nice enough, even though the zipline was down for the entire trip. We had an aft-balcony (9920) with a huge balcony - which was the only good thing on the entire trip. Every restaurant we tried -the food was cold, we complained to the maitre d' and she was useless - the other staff on the ship did not even know who she was (Anna Maria). At one point after not getting service after sitting 10 minutes in the Savor restaurant, we chose to leave - and had to walk by 2 men in full HazMat suits cleaning something up - it was disgusting. We had the UBP - the only way you could get a drink was to go to the bar yourself because there were no servers offering drinks (casino and restaurant). Only one server - Elvis - in O'Sheehans ever offered me a drink refill. Our room steward never introduced himself - when I asked for an extra bath towel he said he used one of the towels for the one and only towel animal we received. When we asked for clean pool towels (since they were on the bed when we first arrived) -he said - take the dirty ones to the pool and change them out yourself. Great customer service. We stayed on the ship when it docked in St. Thomas - just to be able to get to the pool - tiny in comparison to the amount of people. Be sure you wear your sandals as the deck is hot metal and will melt your feet. The second port - Tortola - beware - we got off and there is nothing there - they are in the middle of building a shopping area but it is far from complete. We attempted to find a drug store to buy some band-aids and after being given strange directions ended up in an alley that had an actual sign that said "Enter at Your Own Risk." Are you kidding me? Then when we went to the Bahamas where we have been on multiple cruises - we didn't arrive until 12:30 in the afternoon and had to be back on the ship at 6:30 - great planning on Norwegian's part. This was an anniversary trip for us and the only incentive was the UBP - which in no way could make up for the lack of service. At one restaurant, Savor, we had 4 different people introduce themselves as either waiters or assistants, and it took one hour to be served one appetizer and cold Prime Rib with a baked potato that was so hard you couldn't eat it. When served the Prime Rib in O'Sheehan's - it was dropped off by the waiter, no knife to cut it with and again - cold meat, hard potato. We tried the Noodle Bar - cold noodles with cold shrimp - on a dish that was meant to be hot. I know a lot of people will think I am nitpicking but seriously - even after complaining to the maitre d' you would think that the service would improve. Good luck to anyone who is booked on this ship - if you still have time to cancel - do it.
Sorry you had a bad time. I don't have as many cruises as you but have been on 3 different lines. Here is a list of what I found legitimate about your review and what sound like nitpicking:
1. Every restaurant we tried -the food was cold, we complained to the maitre d' and she was useless - the other staff on the ship did not even know who she was (Anna Maria). At one point after not getting service after sitting 10 minutes in the Savor restaurant, we chose to leave.
This was a bad way to start of the review. Makes it hard to take the rest of it seriously. Every place serving cold food ALL the time? Really? You only mention Savor in this section so am I to believe that Taste, Flamenco , Garden buffet , and Tropicana Room all had cold food the 12 times you ate at the various places? Also did you check in at each place or just walk in. I know at some places people slipped past the Maire D then wondered why they weren't getting service.
2. We had the UBP - the only way you could get a drink was to go to the bar yourself because there were no servers offering drinks (casino and restaurant). Only one server - Elvis - in O'Sheehans ever offered me a drink refill.
Did you ask your server for a drink? Yes technically they should ask if you want a drink ( I had that problem on the Getaway a few times also) but when I saw my server I just got their attention and ordered a drink. No reason to get up and go to the bar. Same thing at the casino, yes they should come check on players on occasion but if you want a drink, just flag down one of the few servers they do have in that area or tell the casino host if your playing a live game. Once you get one they tend to pay more attention to you.
3. Our room steward never introduced himself - when I asked for an extra bath towel he said he used one of the towels for the one and only towel animal we received. When we asked for clean pool towels (since they were on the bed when we first arrived) -he said - take the dirty ones to the pool and change them out yourself. Great customer service.
I don't remember how many towel animals I got. I think I got 3 or 4 on Oasis. Anyhow, were you planning on just keeping the towel animal together all week? When it comes to pool towels unless policy changed you were required to exchange pool towels at the pool to account for them. This included Oasis and my Carnival cruise so to complain about that just doesn't count. I also agree that the room Stewarts on the Getaway or not as attentive as other lines.
4. The pool - tiny in comparison to the amount of people. Be sure you wear your sandals as the deck is hot metal and will melt your feet.
Yup small pool. Only one. Terrible design. Its not going to change. However the deck on all cruises are usually wood or some other material that gets hot in the Caribbean sun. On Oasis they did design it so there is shade around the pool areas to keep it from getting as hot.
5. Your excursions.
Who gave you directions? On the short port time if they did change the port time from what you originally thought it would be that's too bad. However the ship has more than one itinerary so to give the ship a bad review only based o that was pointless.
6. Your final arguments.
Back to complaining about cold food and not getting a steak knife. Talk about 1st world problems. I didn't get a steak knife either. Know what I did? Flagged down a waiter and asked for one!
7. Telling people to cancel if they have it booked because of your experience.
Bad form all around. If your going to give a bad review tell the reasons why people shouldn't book it specifically. Like if your not big on nightly all ages deck parties. Like exclusive all hours adult areas and not just during the day. Not a fan of freestyle dining. Don't want the casino in the middle of the ship open up to all interior public areas. Want more pools and lounge areas. Have the atrium too close to other public areas and the guest services area. Want highly personalized cabin service.
Every cruise has it pros and cons. Maybe the Breakaway class isn't for you but that would be like someone saying they were never going to sail Royal again because an Oasis class was too big and didn't give them the experience they wanted.
Hope that constructive criticism helped as I was not a big fan of the Getaway for the reasons I listed.
-
I think the only reason they went with a "+" on the class is because of the gross tonnage change. The new ships are going to be @ 20 GT heavier than the current breakaway class, 18 feet longer, 6 feet wider, have an extra deck and carry 200-400 more passengers.
By comparison the new Oasis class ship will only beat out its sisters by 2,500 GT while adding 6 feet in length and 15 feet in width.
-
very interesting.. i would not know where to look up laws and stuff.. But if this is law it would make sense to me that they just registar the ship in anohter country as most ships are.. They are Norwegian Cruise Lines.. I would think they would flag it in Norway.
I think it would also makes sense for other cruise line sto go there under a different flag they would make more money if they costs less and Hawaii wold be better off to.. more ppl to spend money in ports. Alaska does this.. It is all American ports there.. bUt the most money is spent in port not on the ship really
LOL please tell me the Norwegian Cruise Lines being flagged Norway was a joke since its an American based company. If that's the case Royal and Princess need to be flagged British, Celebrity flagged out of Hollywood and Holland America needs to flag some ships out of Holland....
-
Look into the pricing for an aft balcony, large balcony, and mini suite with large balcony also. If its within your budget go for it, all I have to say is loungers on your balcony!
-
Sounds like you made the decision to sail the Getaway. Since your wife won't be allowed to do that many excursions due to her pregnancy I would do the UBP since you might find yourself on the ship more often than not. Plus that way you don't feel that you HAVE to dine at a specialty in order to get the value of the promo.
-
There is a party. You might be able to bring streamers and confetti. Poppers may not be allowed though because of the firework aspect of them.
-
You also need to look at the total square footage for these rooms. The "double" is almost always in a larger room. Plus, I doubt that the two beds are queen size. Most likely, they are double sized beds, often called a "twin". All the hotels I have stayed at in Vegas, including the Venetian, Paris and Ceasar's Palace, had twin beds in the rooms I booked, not two queens. But, that could be because I stay in the standard rooms and not the luxury rooms.
Stayed at Hard Rock in Vegas this past January. Their rooms are 1 king or 2 queens. Minimum room size on both is 460 sq ft on a deluxe room. Price for single can be $39 per night whereas the price for the double on the same night is $55.
Mandalay also is 1 king or 2 queens 550 sq ft on both options.
Mirage is also 1 king or 2 queens with room size on both being 371 sq ft.
Paris website lists an option of 1 king or 2 queens with both options at 390 sq ft.
The Caesar's room are a choice between a king or two doubles.
-
I have not seen this. Most of the hotels I have booked, either here in the US or in other countries, charge the same amount for a room whether it has a single king size bed or two twin size beds. Both arrangements are clearly intended for double occupancy, and typically both arrangements are in the same sized room. What I did see on our Asia vacation in February were a few hotels hotels that offered two beds, but only made them available in a larger room, usually at least 30 sq feet larger. In these cases, you are paying for a few dollars more for a larger room, not the amount of people it can sleep. Either size room still was capable of double occupancy, regardless of the arrangement of the beds.
Go to a travel website and look at the price of a king bed versus 2 queen beds and there will be a slightly higher price most the time for the double. At least that's the case here in the Midwest and in Vegas.
-
Do any of those solo cabins have at least a very small verandah? I could be happy with verandah just big enough for one chair in which I could read and get fresh air. I don't need a big space but I need 'air'.
The newer Royal ships (All Quantum class and Harmony Oasis class and new builds) have/ will have studio cabins with balconies. In fact I think megacruiser stayed in one on his recent Anthem of the Seas sailing.
Link to Megacruisers review, pics of studio cabin with balcony on page 2:
http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2207428&page=2#
UDP: Multiple speciality restuarants in a day?
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted
Q. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE ULTIMATE DINING PACKAGE?
A. With the Ultimate Dining Package, you can dine in any specialty restaurant every night of your cruise, including our exciting Italian, Asian, Brazilian, French and signature steakhouse restaurants. Plus, you can enjoy 25% off the cover charge for dinner at Ocean Blue and all a la carte priced restaurants (not included in Ultimate Dining Package).
So there isn't a limit to how many specialty restaurants you eat at in an evening? I always assumed the way it was worded that you were limited to only one. If I can hit multiples (maybe just for an appetizer or desert) in a single evening I might go ahead and buy the package!