SweetPea

What better duck-loving home could they go to?! I'm glad they are now in the right hands! P.S. Sorry, not sorry, Richard Nixon duck makes me laugh

Seriously!

Just a note to say i did fire off that response to Esther. I "Norma Rae'd" on behalf of all of you who were disappointed that complimentary cupcake and sushi classes are no longer. On charging for Captain Jack at PDCC. On charging for wine pairings at Chef's Table. On charging an overage of $2.50 per glass for mediocre Conundrum, that's regularly on sale for $16.99 a bottle here. (Ok that was for me.) All of these things remind me of everyone's biggest complaint about Norwegian: nickel and diming. I also took one for the team and lobbied: The biggest is the lack of perks for Star Class on the FlowRider. I understand that it's popular, but a single one-hour early morning session for Star Class guests hardly exudes VIP experience. I had inquired about this on behalf of a friend sailing soon on Oasis Star Class, and the Genie said something to the effect of, make sure your friend goes because "it's hardly ever busy" during Star Class hour. What does that tell you? Offering a perk at an inconvenient time still allows you to call it a perk without it really being a perk. And finally, i hope my shaming them on this is a small ripple that will eventually lead to course correction, if enough of us follow suit. Now let's talk about the product deterioration that mattered most to us: embarkation and disembarkation procedures. In 2019 on our first Star Class cruise, my husband declared your procedures worth the cost of Star Class alone. A porter met you at check in and your luggage stayed with you, through security, and followed you directly to your room. At disembarkation, your Genie and porter met you at your room at the designated time and escorted you and your luggage through customs and out to the curb. Now? Sorry, you're EXACTLY on par with the Haven. You check your luggage at the port, albeit with a priority tag, just like everyone else. (Exactly like Haven.) You wait for your luggage to be delivered to your stateroom, just like everyone else. (Exactly like Haven.) You put out your luggage the night before (albeit at a later time), just like everyone else. (Exactly like Haven.) You find your luggage in a priority section of the terminal. (Exactly like Haven.) If this is a battle you lost with CBP, i would encourage you to try harder.

I hope your abandoning us just meant you were having too much fun and nothing more sinister happened! Have a safe trip home!

Dang these week-long cruises fly by way too fast! You're probably in the middle of disembarkation hell right about now (and sorry, no matter how smooth it is, it's always hell.) Safe travels home!

We tipped our Genie half cash/half charged to our onboard account. We just picked up the form from the concierge. If you charge any to your account, maybe you let your Genie know as I'm not 100% certain they will know who it comes from otherwise.

Congratulations!!! Post your website if you feel like it! I'd love to see it!

What it must be like to live inside their heads!

Pics or it didn't happen.

How are we all not talking about how BBQ Chicken was a SIDE dish?!

Hopefully they know my C&A level is Brown and this is only our 3rd cruise? If they only want one and done cruisers, that's a pretty risky strategy. Although, we had some very serious issues on Mariner, and i addressed them in our survey, no one followed up with us either. Bygones. Needs to be said. And if enough of us complain, maybe they get the hint. Would i sell a kidney to cruise Star Class again? We had fun, of course. However, it's a real stretch to see the value now. Embarkation/Debarkation really took the WOW factor out! Oh P.S. i am negative for Covid, everyone, so there's that!

Amen. Thank you for your post. I will definitely respond, even about the FlowRider which doesn't affect us at all, but i know how important it is to so many of you, so i will add my feedback to the score.

I've been sick as a dog today but i just realized i got this message. Yes, i didn't rate them that highly in the "likely to recommend" category because of the cost, for one (what do you kids say? Too bougie? Sure, you too can defer retirement for a full year to pay for one week in Star Class!). And two, embarkation and disembarkation were what sold Batman on the cost. Now their embarkation/debarkation procedures put them exactly on par with the Haven's procedures. (I told them this already. Not sure what else they want me to say)

These updates make my day! Although i can't wait for you to get on the ship, i know there will be shenanigans on your way there and i want all the juicy deets!

I'd never be allowed to cruise with my phone again. Which of course would result in me hoodying up all in black and purchasing a burner with cash ....

If only I'd have been prescient enough to know that half this blog would revolve around undies, I'd have rethought the blog title ...

Hard to beat that!

I wish this had come up when i was still in the app. I could've checked to see where the $0 charge came from for our drinks at Izumi. Of course, @JVPIII can simply check his account on the app to not keep us in suspense!

Haha, yes! The Chicken Karage was awesome! Also, @JVPIII, was mom not offered to order from the Hibachi side? Batman was only going to Izumi for me, and Lety was very clear as Star Class that we could order from both sides of the restaurant. She met us at Izumi and made sure both menus were on the table, waiting for us. I failed to mention this in my blog, probably because Batman found enough to eat on the Sushi side.

I'm glad kiddo seems ok. Sounds like despite the medical reroute and propulsion issue, you're still having a great cruise. Also, I'm assuming you all have adequate underwear so there's that.

First of all, nice win in the casino! Second, i just submitted my survey, expressing my displeasure at their new luggage procedures, so maybe if they get enough complaints we'll reverse this stupid course. And third ... did you paint your toe nails orange? Love it!

I know you're probably home now, so thanks for taking us along! I enjoyed all your pics so much and your commentary.

I truly hope it's worth the wait! And hey, you have two kidneys. That's what the spare is for! (i think @SMOKEY0202's plasma idea would take too long. )

NCL's CN program is awesome! And buying them onboard is super, super easy. If you only want some certs, you just need to fill out a form at your convenience and drop it in a box. If you want to actually book onboard, i understand you may be able to upgrade for free within a category (does not apply to suite/ Haven). For example, if you booked the lowest inside/outside/balcony room category, you'd get a bump or two up from that within that category. Note: that tidbit was from 2019 while we were on Bliss but check it if it that appeals to you. They often run Double Up promos where you can apply 2 CN certs at a time, so i always like to keep two. And ... if you have OBC (I think it has to be refundable OBC now, it didn't use to), the certs get charged directly to your onboard account so they're even a better value. While we were on the Escape one year, i had $750 OBC from my TA. I used that to buy 2, $500 Haven certs. So that TA essentially gave me $1k off my next cruise and i had 4 years to use it. And that $1k counted as a full deposit.... which was REFUNDABLE. I hope you do like Norwegian! I'll share one story. I don't go into a lot detail on this, but our first cruise on Royal was 2008 on Mariner. To this day in all of our 40 cruises, that is the cruise of which we do not speak. Worst ever, and for so, so many reasons that Royal could've handled better. But hey, we tried it and moved on but were done with Royal until 2019. When the Norwegian Breakaway had her inaugural season in NYC, i began researching it and decided, hey, it can't be as bad as Mariner and we don't have to fly. Batman shrugged his shoulders and agreed reluctantly. That cruise was a Sunday to Sunday. On Tuesday evening, we were sitting in the pub and Batman turns to look at me with a huge smile across his face and puts his hand on my knee. I'm giddy over the thought of him declaring his undying love for me. What did he say? "I KEEP WAITING FOR THIS TO SUCK AND IT DOESN'T!"

It's definitely going on the comment card!