aimeel

theworms

hi cutie -

is your siggy pic from a ncl cruise?

AimeeL85

It sure is - and it's the same ship you'll be going on I'm sure! The Norwegian Dawn is the one that goes back and forth from NY to Bermuda every week. I really like the ship...but was just on their website the other day and now they have a new ship with huge water slides...I think I need to book another cruise..

theworms

water slides - that sounds awesome!

what deck was your room on?  we're on 9th deck in a balcony room

AimeeL85

We were on 9 in a balcony too!  Because it was our honeymoon we got a "suite" (bigger than a stateroom but not anything like what you would picture as a suite, still really small!).  Random fact that you probably didn't want to know...on a cruise before ours a woman went overboard from a balcony room on the 9th deck when she tried to climb from one balcony to another (sooo don't do that!).

In fact if this picture works, although I look terrible in it, I can show you exactly where we were...

theworms

i promise not to do that    

we're in room 9552, which is aft (no idea what that meant so I wikipedia'ed it)

 

AimeeL85

DH remembered our room number...9736

theworms

going to check out deck plan

and our room is towards the front, even with wikipedia i suck at boat lingo

i got an awesome deal with crucon.com, we have a $200 shipboard credit and dinner for 2 in specialty restaurant, so we'll use it in steakhouse you rec'ed

do you happen to know what rec. gratuities are on the ship?

AimeeL85

I can't remember what we did, but this is what it says on their site:

"Guests should not feel obliged to offer a gratuity for good service. However, all of our staff are encouraged to "go the extra mile," and so they are permitted to accept cash gratuities entirely at the discretion of our guests who wish to acknowledge particular staff members for exceptional or outstanding service. In other words, there is genuinely no need to tip but you should feel free to do so if you have a desire to acknowledge particular individuals.

Also, certain staff positions provide service on an individual basis to only some guests. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities. For example, for guests purchasing bar drinks the recommended gratuity is 15 percent. For guests purchasing spa treatments the recommended gratuity is 18 percent. Similarly, for guests using concierge and butler services, we recommend they consider offering a gratuity commensurate with services rendered."

I like their approach better than Celebrity's - they automatically charge gratuity to your bill every single day and it was $11.50 per person per day - I think that's SO tacky!! I guess in a way it's easier than making sure you have enough cash and giving it to your waiter, maitre'd, housekeeping, concierge and everyone they expect you to tip, but still, totally defeats the purpose of tipping.