holula

I would be taking it from New Port Richey.

Thanks for the review!

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I'm sailing on the Epic on December 14th. It will just be me sailing. My husband will meet me at the pier on the 21st and then we board another ship, so I only need one way transport.

I've been looking at the NCL motorcoach option but can not find any recent reviews on it. Anyone used this recently? I only need to use it to the pier. Normally we would just drive but as it's just me I would either need to fly or use this.

TIA

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Now that we live in Florida, it's very hard to justify the Disney cost. It's just me and DH, We love Disney, have Annual Passes and even got married at Castaway Cay.

We just sailed Princess (which I really enjoyed). Princess definitely caters more to adults than Disney and there were a lot of things I like better on Princess. Their food is a step up from Disney. Their pools are larger, and I love the Movies Under the Stars. There are a lot more events during the day that cater to adults. They seem to let their staff have a lot more fun in the demonstrations, especially the bartenders. They offer drink specials have have happy hour twice on sea days and once on port days. There is more nightlife and have a lot more bar/cafe/relaxation areas. They don't have any adult only areas but we didn't see many kids on board at all.

Disney excels in service in most cases. We did have poor service on the Dream on both of our Dream sailings. The other three ships have all been good to outstanding in the excellence department. Palo is one of my favorite places to eat at, ever. Disney has larger inside rooms with IMO nicer decor and their ships are brighter with a larger atrium area. However, they fail on the design of the adult only areas where they are right outside the forward elevators causing families to walk right through them. Because of the classic liner ship design, they take away a lot of space which could be used for more public areas.

Is it worth the premium pricing? If you have kids who love Disney, probably. For us, probably not anymore. We have just one Disney cruise booked next year, along with two Royal and two NCL. We will probably still book Disney for longer sailings (transatlantic or Panama Canal) but the 50% cost difference in the 3-7 day make it not worth it for us anymore as we have no airfare to think about.

To the person earlier in the thread who said that CMs spoke their own language on Celebrity, I have seen them do that on DCL. I don't care if they do or don't speak in their own language.

(Their free soda thing annoys me too. You're paying for it in the cruise fare and it's only free at dinner or on the pool deck. If you get it from room service or a bar it's not free. A solution would be to add more soda fountains to the ship that are not on the pol deck.)

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Hi All

A few months ago our experience with the Crown Grill was not good, we were a table for two, we advised the HGM that things were not up to standard, so when we ate there a couple of weeks ago we were not sure what to expect, this time we were 8 of us, we had a full time waiter, backed up by an assistant as well as Godwin, service and food was first class chef even did a special order off , off menu items for us, l still think there is a staffing issue, in that they need more staff when they have lots of small tables,

 

Yours Shogun

 

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I probably would agree with that. Our waiter had at least six tables that we counted. Mostly couples but we had four and there was a group of eight also.

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That's fast food around the world for you!

 

 

 

Hope that you complained to the Management whilst on board and not just Cruise Critic?

We did. We also put it on the questionnaire that Princess emails to you.

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We were disappointed with the Crown Grill. The onion soup was sooooooo good (as were all of the appetizers) but I've had a better ribeye from Outback. My husband enjoyed the filet but he said it wasn't much better than the MDR. It could have been an off night as service was terrible too (and we weren't the only ones on our cruise who said so).

I totally admit to being a steak snob though. Ate at Bobby Van's in NYC the next week and there was no comparison.

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Out of place...probably not...but maybe the only one.

 

 

 

Everyone seems to dress how they feel most comfortable. You do not say which ship you are on and where you are cruising to. We just got off b2b the Caribbean Princess (2 five days cruises) where there was a formal night on each cruise. We saw 6 tux, about 4 suites, and the rest very casual some with ties, slacks and dress shirts but the majority not dressed any differently than any other night.

 

 

 

.

It really does depend ship to ship. We got off Ruby last week and mostly saw suits and ties on our formal night. Some tuxes and a handful of casual people (including someone in shorts).

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We are from the British Isles and I take exception to your views! Where we eat in England we tend to have excellent service and manners. We have dined in Florida and many other states in the United States and have frequently not found the service on par with the United Kingdom! Maybe it's the type of restuarants that you frequent? We dined in the Crown Grill on the Ruby with our American friends and found the staff most attentive and we had an excellent meal!

I'm English. Now live in Florida. Generally I've found that service is so much better in the U.S. than in England. Not everywhere, but in about 75% of places. The further you are from a tourist trap the better the service is my rule! I lived in London for four years and the same applies there too.

I've had some slow meals on cruise ships but the Crown Grill really took the cake.

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"Our food was excellent other than the Crown Grill which had okay food and terrible service. It shouldn't take 50 minutes from sitting down to take an order. We only had two courses and was in there two hours. Crazy."

 

 

 

We had the very same experience. Were you there on Thursday night (Jamaica day)? Our waiter kept switching off with another waiter, neither could get our orders straight, they were actually rude and got huffy when any of our party tried to ask a question about the selections. We waited 40 minutes for food to arrive, and our water glasses weren't refilled until we were nearly finished.

 

I'd expected it to be a "special" dining experience and it was anything but. We fix a much tastier steak on the grill at home.

Yes, we were in there that same night. It was nowhere near what I imagined it to be like! It was definitely not special at all. Maybe they are taking service tips from England since the whole room has the London theme?

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I just did my first non Disney after 8 Disney. We sailed on Ruby. Generally I agree with you and I love Disney. Howeve, we liked the pools better on Princess and our service has always been amazing on Disney other than on the Dream. Guest services on Ruby were awful. To us, Princess was much better value for money.

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Screw all that lame noise. Go to Mystic Mountain (MM) and ride the bobsled.

 

:D

That was going to be my suggestion. It is a LOT of fun!

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Going to make this a quick review :)

 

 

 

Embarcation a disorganized mess!

 

 

 

Food not so good:(

 

 

 

Kids on board.. well if you like kids dumping cups of fruit juice in the hot tubs and without parental supervision this was the cruise for you!

 

 

 

Cabin steward (Gervacio )Baja deck forward. Wonderful! Knew how to keep this low key couple happy without intruding.

 

 

 

It was a funny kind of cruise staff present but not really there... Hmm

 

 

 

OBTW: Princess met plenty a first time cruiser you upgraded...just wanted to say thanks:) Yeah we get it we are not valued!

We were on the same cruise as you and had mostly opposite feelings. We are first time Princess cruisers. Embarkation was horrible. Enough said!

Our food was excellent other than the Crown Grill which had okay food and terrible service. It shouldn't take 50 minutes from sitting down to take an order. We only had two courses and was in there two hours. Crazy.

We barely saw any kids on the cruise and the ones we did are were VERY well behaved.

Our room host was excellent too. Guest services was awful. We only had scalding water in our shower one night and they claimed it was because we were in warmer seas. (Eventually they sent a plumber.)

We didn't get an upgrade. ;) Neither did our parents (also first timers).

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I took the money, not the dining package. It's likely we'll spend all the money by dining in the specialty restaurants...but if not...then it'll go towards other shipboard expenses.

I took the package but I only would have received $38.90 in OBC! I'm not too worried about making reservations on the ship but I wish there was a way to prebook with this offer.

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The show is non-sensical no matter how long it is....

You read my mind. I saw Cats in London and hated it. There are so many musicals out there that much more enjoyable than this one.

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We are taking this cruise too because it fit with my sister in law visiting us. She has a late evening flight home on the 6th. I'm looking forward to it even if I know it will be short and rushed.

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So what you are saying is that if you have the right type of hens, you don't need to color Easter eggs.

Yep. :)

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Nope! That is incorrect. It's the color of the hen that laid it. White hens = white eggs. Brown hens = brown eggs. Feed has nothing to do with the color. Do an internet search and you will see it has nothing to do with the feed.

It has nothing to do with the hen color either.

Underneath everything, a hen either has the genetics to lay blue eggs or white eggs. They then apply a certain amount of coating to the eggs, which is why you can also get brown, green, olive and chocolate colored eggs. The darker the egg the thicker the shell will be. More breeds lay brown eggs than white eggs, simply because most hens will apply at least a small amount of coating to the eggs. The most popular white egg layers are White Leghorns and the most popular brown layers are Production Reds or Rhode Island Reds (not the same). There are only a handful of chickens that lay blue eggs - Ameraucanas and Araucanas are the two main breeds. Green eggs are usually a crossbreed between a brown and blue egg layer. Marans lay a dark chocolate brown egg, and if you cross a Maran with a blue or green egg layer you will get offspring who lay olive colored eggs.

The feed can affect the color of the yolk inside. Chickens who free range and have more access to plants, bugs etc tend to have a darker yolk in their eggs than your normal caged chicken eggs.

My husband breeds chickens so I am well versed in genetics!

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The first week of Dec is crazy good ($349. with any of the available discounts). I'd book it for myself if I could get away with it-DH might object as we're on the Nov 16 cruise. Hope the one you're looking at does the same or better.

 

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I'm looking at the 12/14 sailing. I leave on another line on 12/21 from Miami so it would be perfect. There are still a ton of cabins available!

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pokerpro5, this was a great read! I'm currently watching a studio on the Epic for December so this was very helpful. :)

I love to travel. My son says I should just do laundry and repack it. Always try to go somewhere I haven't been. Some places though do not appeal to me.

I wish I could do that too. 54 countries and counting. :)

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I have never traveled overseas with a passport so maybe someone who has can verify this but I believe that to enter the US from another country (the exception being a cruise departing and returning to the US) must show a passport/visa and an exit stamp from the country the person traveled from. I certainly will stand corrected if anyone knows from experience.

I have a UK passport. Most countries do entry and exit stamps. Some (like New Zealand, Canada, America) only have an entry stamp. But unless you are flying between schengen countries or have a UK or Irish passport and are flying within the EU there is always an entry (and usually an exit) stamp.

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I have never used the Fastpass+ kiosks in the park. I have an annual pass and therefore pick my rides and times on the Disney website prior to the day. I know when then started in January of this year I was told by the Disney employees that it was only 3 per day (which ticked me off). I can't find anything on the Disney website that says you can make more than that. Who told you this and when did it change?

I have an AP too. It changed a few months ago, possibly June time? I'm not 100% sure on the dates. I REALLY hate FP+, but this at least does give a little more flexibility.

Sorry but that is incorrect. You only get 3 Fastpasses a day with the new system.

This is no longer true, and the PP is correct. You can make 3 FP+ when you enter the park. When you have used those three, you can make another one. When you have used that one, you can make another etc. This is all subject to more FP+ being available.

However, if MK is predicted to be an 8/10 for that day, then it's doubtful there will be anything left after the first three has been used.

Walt Disney World is going to be absolutely RAMMED that week. Christmas and New Year are the two busiest weeks of the year, especially in Magic Kingdom. Be prepared for 2+ hour waits for every ride.

I know that isn't what you asked but that is the reality of Christmas week at WDW.

You could do it cheaper by renting a car or looking into a car service such as Happy Limo but it would eat into time in the parks.

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We are one of those new cruisers that Princess has attracted. We live in Central Florida, late 20s/early 30s, no kids. For us, it was a great price and a perfect way for us to try them out. We are looking to sail to Alaska again in the future and Princess was our top choice as Glacier Bay is a must. Now we get a shorter cruise to find if they are a good fit for us.

We never had any plans to cash out at the casino either. ;)

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