As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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It appears that NCL has made it hard for some of its customers (actually, the majority) to get into the popular (read "good" if you've been on NCL in the past 4 years or so) restaurants.
I doubt that DCL is anywhere near in the same amount of danger. One reservation per booking helps. Yeah, a little bit of "classism" (cat 1-4 get "first shot", as do Castaway Club members), but the fact that they save some of the slots for onboard booking is another clear indicator.
Royal Caribbean also avoids this, as does Carnival.
This is kind of like Continental charging more for certain seats (the front six rows in coach, aisle seats in the next 6 rows and the exit row seats). Unless you are a premium President's Club member.
Oh well, I can still get Palo reservations when I walk on. Or go charging on, as the case may be (I can never wait for a vacation to start. Our flight to Maui leaves Austin at 10 am on the 12th. I've actually got a number of alarms set to make sure we wake up on time and get on the road to the airport on time!!!)
Thanks for the information. I'm not much of an NCL fan...didn't enjoy!
Oddly enough, I couldn't get my first choice for Palo when I did online booking, and I had the Walt Suite, and tried to book at the early date.
We were able to change it once we boarded though.
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Maybe your Cat 1 wasn't as Cat 1 as the other Cat 1. You know, all Cat 1s are equal, only some Cat 1s are more equal.
I'm sorry, it's nearly the end of the semester (clinic ended yesterday, finals are next week) and my brain is fried and really weird "stuff" ( substitute your own word) keeps bubbling up. And I'm dreaming of petroid masses and T-spines.
I'd be interested to know the details of the suit. We were on NCL in January 2007, and tried only one of the specialty restaurants that you had to pay extra for (we had a two for one coupon on the entrance fee....)
I'm not too fussy with the food - heck, after a day at the ports we were just happy with dragging our tired selves to the snack bar and getting some fast (pun not intended) food. As I've stated before, there was a Southwestern/Mexican restaurant (no fee!) on Deck 9 that we loved so much our last three dinners were there.
Eating at the specialty restaurants is nice - but our thinking is, since the food is already included in the price, why pay an extra fee when that money could go toward excursions or the occasional drink?
Apparently the attorneys are seeking class action status. Does little for anyone except the original filers, but makes a great deal of money for the lawyers.
I've always wondered what Freestyle Cruising offered that wasn't available on other lines - main dining room(s), alternate (usually buffet) restaurant(s), and snack options at no extra charge, plus a line-up of extra-fee restaurants (five or more of those per ship on NCL) - just about every large ship has all of that. It all comes down to "no assigned dining time."
Their ads make a lot out of the freedom to eat when and where you please, but the obvious challenge to me has always been, "How can they deliver on that promise?" If you leave it up to the passengers to decide when and where to eat, you have to have enough tables and seats to meet peak demand rather than average demand, since it's likely that far more than half the guests will want to eat at roughly the same time. As with restaurants ashore, they have to manage demand by taking reservations, and as anyone who has tried to eat anywhere popular on a Friday or Saturday night knows, only the early birds get to eat when and where they please. If it's true that certain categories of guests have priority for the full-service alternate restaurants, other guests may have far less freedom than they were lead to believe. Without a guaranteed seat in a full-service dining room, the casual buffet and snack bars may be the only option (the Norwegian Star has a capacity of 2300 guests, 800 seats total in the main dining rooms, and 500 in the casual buffet). I suspect the person suing expected to have a full-service dinner, on demand, every night, not the choice of a long wait for a full-service meal vs. a burger or buffet.
I'm sure that NCL knows quite well just what the seating demand is for every minute of every meal time, and that they've planned and built their ships accordingly. They couldn't be succeeding with this strategy if most guests couldn't be reasonably well satisfied. But when you have a system that promises "freedom," but is actually dependent on planning and compromises (being willing to dine at off-hours to get what you want, being proactive about making reservations, etc.) you're going to have some disappointed guests.
So, I can see someone suing. Winning? I'm not sure. Considering how NCL's ships and marketing strategy are desigined with this dining scheme in mind, NCL has a very strong economic motive to fight this with everything they've got. If NCL can prevent the suit from being approved as a class action, then they'll almost undoubtedly settle quickly for cash with the plaintiff. If it does become a class action... I don't expect big bucks for any of the passengers (but enough of a lump sum that the lawyers will be happy for their cut of the pie). If NCL loses or settles, I suspect they'll also have to make some tweaks to their advertising and marketing materials (all that illegible fine print you see in drug ads). I doubt it'll be earth-shattering.
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Co-Author, PassPorter's Walt Disney World, PassPorter's Disney Cruise Line, and PassPorter's Disneyland and Southern California Attractions
How does Freestyle Dining work? Well, you can show up to eat when you want to. Say between 5 and 6. Along with 1000 other people. Or you can try to get a reservation at one of the specialty restaurants. Which might be desirable, since from what I understand, the main dining rooms leave a little something to be desired.
Winning? Probably not. But NCL will settle. The class will get a $50 per person onboard credit for a future cruise, the principals will get about 10 grand each and the lawyers will probably make between 10 and 20 MILLION. Assuming it gets class status. If not, the litigants will probably get about 10 grand each and the lawyers will get 33% of that. Which is why they want to make it a class action.
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