NCL RAISES SERVICE CHARGE

People are going to complain anyway. An additional $14 er couple for a 7 day cruise.

People that like to complain about gratuities will say that the staff is actually very well off in their own country. But the have to be away from their family for months at a time to provide for them.

Let me correct that. Its up .50 pp p/d from what we were paying. But I agree with you...these are the same folks whose garment hems never get wet. Anyone who has taken the time to talk to these folks knows .what kind of existence most of them have onboard..7-8 months at a stretch.

I feel for the workers but this nickle and diming by NCL will have a ripple effect. What goes up next?

Not at all surprising at all considering the pronouncements and propaganda that has been coming from Del Rio lately. This was more or less expected. Ah well ... life goes on and we must cruise therefore the best we can do is to grin and bear ... and cruise on ...

AND make some adjustments possibly. Havent cruised on CARNIVAL in years..but the VISTA ports in Galveston. Same distance almost exactly as NO. Actually an easier drive..no more tinkertoy speedtrap towns. Been doing a BUNCH of research. Their whole pricing structure is different than NCL. And that ship has something called a "SERENITY RETREAT", linked to "Havana CABINS"...seems VERY interesting. Gonna head over to reviews a bit later and read some more. Tell you one thing...call it ego or whatever you like...took us awhile to get up in the rare air perk-wise with NCL..its tough to almost start over...I bet the beancounters for each line know this and count on it...they call it "brand loyalty"...I call it a symptom of an addiction hehehe.

Now that we are Platinum on NCL, we have decided we like RCI better.

I understand. The more I fiddle with other lines, the "healthier" my attitude becomes. If you follow.

There were things missing on our last NCL cruise. We will still use them if the the itinerary is right. We have the points for Diamond 4 days into our next RCI cruise, so we will be looking to make the next one after it an RCI, for sure.

Speaking of NCL I see Breakaway had a health inspection on May 10 and failed with a score of 84. The report listed 42 points on it. Not very flattering at all for a ship that has never scored below a 90 before. Maybe the new charges are so they can maintain things a bit better ;)

The new charges won't help a bit to fix something that shouldn't have needed "fixing" to begin with...I'd sure like to see that report..where did you get it?