BirdTravels

You need to be off the ship by 8:00. Traffic to the airport can be bad. Traffic in the airport worse.

That will work with NCL systems fine. Have a great cruise.

Yup. Spice H20 for parties. My last three cruises have been on the Encore and Viva (plus a few RCCL and MSC cruises). I am in a non-Spice mind frame. Maybe the Encore will have a Spice soon.

- Free at Sea+: With my booking I received regular Free at Sea, but have been offered Free at Sea+ for an additional $350. Between the full internet package (to check in with family), premium drinks (not a huge drinker but love a fancy glass of wine at dinner or a cappuccino in the morning), and two additional specialty dining meals, it sounds worth it. Question - Is the upgrade worth it? I would say no. I would not make good use of the + features except the dining. What can’t you live without and price that separately. - Breakfast Dining: Straight to the point, not a breakfast buffet fan. For Carnival cruisers, I'm a regular at the MDR for the yogurt parfait and fresh pressed juices 😁 Question - What are the breakfast options on the Norwegian Escape/what is your favorite place to eat breakfast? The Taste and Savor MDRs are open. O’Shehan’s 24/7 restaurant is open. The buffet (which is good) is open. And the American diner may be open. All complimentary. - Coffee Shop on Escape: I've read some ships have a full Starbucks, but this one does not. Question - Does this coffee shop also offer pastries, hot teas, etc? The Escape does not have a Starbucks. The atrium coffee shop will sell specialty coffee. There are no pastries. (On ships with a Starbucks,’the pastries are for sale). The escape will have candies and macarons for sale. - Evening Dining: I've booked Teppanyaki one night, but wondered what other specialty restaurants are a can't miss. Also wondering about the complimentary/main dining room dinners. Question - What is your favorite specialty dining venue/what is your favorite meal in the complimentary venues/main dining room? Our favorite specialty restaurant is Le Bistro (French). And the lobster Thermidor (it has an upcharge from the standard dining package). - Evening Activities/Entertainment: Some folks have shared to not miss The Newlyweds Game and other theatre productions. Question - What's there to do after dinner for activities or entertainment? There will be shows in the Theater every night. They often repeat the shows in the smaller venues like the Comedy Club and Syd Norman’s. There will be a dance party by the pool most nights. - Port to Airport Transfer: Straight to the point, never used this with Carnival either. Question - Is this a good/viable option to get back to the airport after debarkation? It's currently $37 from NCL. I assume that you are disembarking in Europe somewhere. It is easier (for us) than worrying about drips for a taxi. We would do it. - What Else?: Any other tips, tricks, secrets, or comments to share for my first time on NCL? Thank you!! The following link is to one of my Live posts from the Escape. it’s a couple of years old, so the information is dated and it was a 7 night Caribbean cruise. But, it will give you a peek at the ship and its venues.

The concierge can help you with dinners. Or, you can do it yourself online 130 days prior to departure (that’s 10 days before steerage can make reservations). There are no reservable shows on the Jewel.

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. mostly Fake News. We’ve been on the breakaway about 6 times and she’s a good ship. You pull a tender ticket/boarding group number once you are onboard. They board by group number. They eventually will call open tendering around lunch time where no reservation is required. Without a reservation, you may have to wait until 10 min before show time and take whatever seats the people with tickets didn’t want. Ocean Blue has fallen down our list after numerous issues every time we ate there last year. Le Bistro would be our choice. wrt lines at bars, people just like to complain. If there is a line at a bar, there is another bar within 1 min walk with no line.

They are available once you get onboard. If you are on a NCL shore excursion, your shore ex ticket serves as your tender ticket. We have used the touch screen kiosks near public elevator lobbies in the past.

A very very very small number of people on the ship spend/wastes money at Starbucks. A ship like the Joy, over 15,000 cups of regular coffee is served every morning.

I do t recall any rules changing with FDR. Most of the current belt tightening came with Harry in charge of NCLH. NCLH missed projections last quarter, so expect more belt tightening and cost increases.

My memory must be failing me too. I thought everyone would get an individual package with two vouchers. One for Cagney/Bistro with wine and one for Monderno/Cucina. . I thought the “problem”’they were trying to solve was when you had mismatched status levels in a cabin. One person that was platinum and one gold where the gold would have to pay the cover charge (back before a la carte dining). Now, as long as one person is a platinum, two people in the cabin can eat a free dinner, a net plus. For two cabinmates that were both platinum, the change was a net zero. A net improvement to the benefit. The only downside was if two platinum people in a cabin don’t want to eat together, now they have to. The most recent change now allows you to eat anywhere. A net improvement to the benefit. It also helps overcrowding in the premiere restaurants Cagney’s and Le Bistro. The new benefit limits you to 1-1-1 (per T&C), but I have never had a waiter try to charge me for the second soup/salad/app on our multiple cruises a year.

Kinda depends. The timing on the last couple to be left behind looks like they would arrive back from their independent tour just before all aboard. They showed up “a few minutes late” and waved at the ship as it left dock. They blamed traffic in the rain.

The Thermal suite opens at sailaway. Prior to that, the spa personnel are busy selling Thermal Suite passes and constantly opening the sauna doors to show people around.

I totally agree. It used to add another suitcase for evening dresses, shoes, and a tux. All of that stays in storage now.

The CAS member has to travel. If not, you will be charged full retail price for the cruise. If the CAS member is not traveling, you should either switch the reservation to a regular booking or cancel and rebook.

For glacier day, we would spend most of it up on the sundeck. The Haven Sundeck has beautiful forward facing views. For that, we have a winter coat, hat and gloves. That, and a hot adult drink from the sundeck drink station 🙂 Haven embarkation starts around 11:00 am. We get to the port between 10:15 and 10:30 to get through security and check in. Then there is time for a cup of coffee before getting the party started.