SpainAlien

On 10/15/2021 at 8:17 PM, Happycrafter123 said:

I booked via points with my time share and hence it is construed via a travel agency.  I called ncl to see cost to upgrade room and told it would have to be done via travel agency and they won’t do it direct.  Did not expect that, thought they’d be excited to collect more $$$ from me, but apparent they don’t want my $$$$ (???). 

That is normal if you book through a travel agency you have to go through them for room repricing. In my case my booking was part of a group booking with the TA as such we didn't get the triple points and the price didn't go down at all however I could bid using the upgrade advantage from the MyNCL page

I was on the Epic for Halloween in 2018, they had a haunted house set up in one of the meeting rooms which was pretty good.  You walked through a maze of sheets and people dressed as ghosts, vampires, zombies, etc jumped out at you 

There were also Halloween decorations and a costume parade

29 minutes ago, Notamegagirl said:

Thanks for the replies; been to italy before; so ok missing shore excursions. Prefer italy independently, maybe do one excursion.

Was the pools heated?  Looks like coolish weather...

Are most epic restaurants open for lunch on port days? 

Thanks, any recent cruisers that have first hand experience??

The pool in H20 was heated

16 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

I just booked a cruise and when I did check in I was offered to upgrade the internet for about $85 for the week and I did it for myself but it says it is not available for my girlfriend. Why would the exclude her from such a wonderful deal

The wifi part of the free at sea offer is one per cabin (first named guest), not per person

2 hours ago, Yinster said:

On the Epic just now.  Can someone confirm, we need to fill out another Spanish locator form to get back into Barcelona and one for the UK as we will be flying back that day?

 

Thank you in advance

Yes, you need to complete both forms. NCL will give you a letter showing the website

Having said that nobody in Barcelona checked our forms 

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

This is a standard coffee machine 

 

I quite like the coffee we get from this machine even with the nasty creamer and it's easy to make tea with it.

Thanks everyone, I guess we could ask for the standard machine they have in balcony cabins instead. The trouble is I like fairly weak coffee and by the time I have added enough milk to an espresso for my taste it's cold.

We are on Joy soon in our first Haven suite and are looking forward to all of it except the Nespresso machine. We prefer lattes, cappuccinos, tea or hot chocolate, do they have a machine that does that instead?

16 minutes ago, lucyjlou said:

We are currently looking into booking our first Mediterranean cruise on the epic for July 2023. I see that the pool area is not as large as we have seen on previous ships. I’m wondering because of the port intensive itineraries, if the pool deck area gets as busy on these European cruises? We usually sail in the Caribbean where the pool area is very busy most of the time.  
 

 

It can get busy but you can always find a lounger a little away from the pool or on an upper deck

I reported it as a missing cruise and got this response

Not one person on our Facebook group who was on the sailing from Barcelona 26th Sept to 4th Oct has had any Latitudes points awarded yet, don't they normally appear within a day or two? Is anyone from other sailings finding the same thing?

Is this specific for sailings to Bermuda or general sailings from the US?  Don't NCL test you at the pier and if yes doesn't that count?

3 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

 

You can buy an ultimate Pavillon pass, go kart pass, laser tag pass. Or a combination of three for $400. 

Excellent, thank you. Do you buy that onboard?

Does anyone know if the Ultimate Arcade Package works on any of the VR games in Galaxy Pavilion on NCL Joy?

I went on the website a few days ago and there were lots of cruises available at $10-$25. We booked one that tied in with a cruise leaving Miami on 5th Dec we already had booked. Same price for inside Cloud9 cabin as it was for an inside cabin.  This was not a casino offer as we don't gamble. I hasten to add it isn't available anymore 

Hi all,  

I am getting off Carnival Sunrise on 4th December and embarking on NCL Joy the same day.  In accordance with NCL's FAQs I have to have a negative antigen test prior to arriving at the port, unfortunately Carnival do not offer tests onboard so I need to get a quick test done elsewhere.  Does anyone know of the closest testing facility to the Miami cruise port please?  

I cannot use the proctored tests because I do not have an address in USA as I live in Spain and we do not have them over here plus I routinely fail the lateral flow tests despite being negative.

Many thanks in advance.

Gail

We were on 5he Epic last week, we had booked an inside cabin but were upgraded to a Club Balcony for the minimum bid, the ship was at about 70% capacity

3 hours ago, lixogab said:

Usually you can get a cheese tray for dessert at MDR. For free.

It includes some variety of blue cheese, brie and couple of others.

The $75 ( I see it $63 + tip) try will be definitely bigger and delivered to your room but given limited supply on the ship I doubt it will be much different from what you get on MDR dessert.

I asked for a cheese plate for dessert every night in the MDR on Epuc last week and only one hot it, after that they said it wasn't on the menu so no

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

It is just unfair and maddening when you want to have a chair just for you only to find out that someone else had the same idea and got there first!

I don't object to someone getting there first and using the lounger but to put a towel on it and not use it for 2 hours or more is just plain wrong.

2 hours ago, MellaJoyce said:

 

I haven't been on our first cruise yet (11/27 departure), but I'm curious...why are these chairs such a hot commodity? Most of them look like they're under some sort of roof or overhang, and they're not appearing to be overlooking the sea, just other chairs or a railing. 

I burn easily so only sit on the loungers in the shade, however 8 do like to be outside. If there were shady spots higher up with bar service I would go there but unfortunately they are all near the pool and as such in high demand

12 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Are you not going to tell us what happened and hour later?  That's the best part.  Please don't tell us you didn't hang around to find out.

Most of the people who had towels out returned 2-3 minutes before the security man arrived (about 1.5 hours later) with the exception of one group of three spanish ladies that turned up half an hour later and shouted at the guests who were sitting on the freshly vacated chairs.  Of course the new guests just stated that there was nothing on the chairs when they got there and some spanish guests sitting nearby advised them to see security about retreiving their abandoned belongings.  We had deliberately stayed in our seats all this time to see what happened.

19 hours ago, complawyer said:

spainalien: in that case i'm moving to barcelona. loved that city when we where there. i sincerely hope you were not insulted by my previous response. that certainly wasnt my intent,, but $20,000 in the u.s. puts you at or near the poverty level 

Where I live the majority of people who have contracts earn approximately 12,000€ per year.  Most waiters are not on contracts and receive on 30€ per shift plus tips, tips are then sometimes taken by the bar owners, tips are typically 1-2€ per table.  

In the village I live, a 3 bedroom townhouse has just gone up for sale for 85,000€ but they will probably accept less, it is fully refurbished and good to go.

As you can see the cost of living is significantly less over here 

21 hours ago, complawyer said:

acruzaholic, no it's not per person,

 and it's just in response to a prior question. extra tipping is not required on a cruise, and whether or not you tip, and/or how much, is completely up to you. if you read through other posts, some people tip much more. i know others will disagree, but it's my feeling that if i'm spending$1000's of dollars for a nice cruise, why not give the people that are servicing me a little extra

and to my friend spainalien, i'm not trying to be a smart a** or insult you, but unless youre being facetious,  if truly some weeks you dont make $400, i would look for another job. that's about $20,000 per year, and at that rate, i couldnt even consider taking a cruise

Thanks for your career advice but living in Spain 20,000 per year would be classed as very well paid 

1 hour ago, SomewhereGirl said:

Interesting.  How is that enforced?  How do all the people socially distance in the little swimming pool?  Disembarking must be interesting.  Genuinely curious.

In the dining rooms, bars, theatre and casino there are places marked that they are not to be used. You are not allowed to sit at the bar at all.  There are spots on the floor for queues with spacing and the lifts can only accommodate 4 people (one in each corner). Hot tubs are restricted to 6 people, the pool in Spice H20 was restricted to 5 people.

Masks are required inside at all times unless you are in your cabin or sitting actively eating/drinking. Masks are required outside if you cannot socially distance.

People generally abided by the rules without being told

15 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

That's ridiculous that they would put out less chairs outside to socially distance when there is no social distancing anywhere else on the ship indoors.  Heck, they bring out folding chairs for crowded events in the atrium.  That makes me mad and I don't even use the sundecks.  If there are chairs stacked and tied up, has anyone politely asked a pool deck employee to set out more?  Do they actually decline?

In Europe social distancing is a requirement throughout the ship