anonmom

My sexy husband and I are taking our first solo cruise for our honeymoon, and I'm going to review it here. I'll start with the pre-cruise stuff now and probably continue through sail away, maybe upload a few pics when we have WiFi on shore, and then finish the review after we get home.

 

A little about us: I am 41, he is 33, we live in Minneapolis with our daughter and our cats. We got married in July and had a fabulous wedding/Fourth of July long weekend/family reunion, so we planned our honeymoon for this week so that we could actually spend time with our friends and family after our wedding, and then escape the Minnesota cold in December!

 

We left our house at 7 am, left MSP at 9 am on Delta, arrived at MIA at 2 pm, and arrived at the Intercontinental at 3:30 pm. Uneventful flight, nice clean public transportation, and a beautiful room with great service so far!

 

Only disappointing thing is that my phone is refusing to post pics here. Any one else having trouble with the new picture post format?

 

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I can't find the post right now, but someone posted within the past week or two that menus had changed on the Escape.

 

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We have generally sailed over MLK weekend, so I'm guessing there have been more kids than on a week that has no days off, but nothing like a spring break or Christmas week.

 

In the end, it all depends on chemistry. If she clicks with the kids and counselors who are at Splash Academy that week she will love to go there. If not, you will have to spend more time with her to make the experience special for her.

 

Our daughter was 4 on her first cruise, 5 on her second. She had fun at Splash Academy, but most looked forward to swimming with her father and me.

 

We are going on our honeymoon cruise on Saturday, so it will just be the two of us, but we know that we "owe" her a cruise, so we'll be planning something for next year where we take one of her cousins or one of her besties.

 

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Bathrobes are still included for balcony rooms and above.

 

You can order fresh fruit plates for desert at dinner. We do that.

 

Cookies are scarce, but are sometimes available in the buffet.

 

Sadly Elimis products were replaced with something else.

Wait. I'm currently packing for our Escape cruise on Saturday. We decided to pack bathrobes since they were only available at the spa on the Jade and the Getaway. Are you sure you've seen robes included with balcony cabins? What ships and when?

 

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Who did you work with at NCL to put together the bar crawl? I sail on Saturday and I've been in touch with Ivi to organize the Meet & Greet, but she isn't super detail-oriented and she said that NCL doesn't help organize any pub crawls onboard. But she also said she couldn't provide me with any dinner or drink menus because "they change every week" [emoji849]

 

Our cruise critic meet and greet was supposed to have an epic bar crawl today, but only about 12 people showed up... Either way, great fun was had by all...

 

Sent from my Space Phone 9169...

 

 

 

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If you get to bid on the spa Minisuite, that would be worth it. I just saw someone who bid $100pp and got upgraded to a spa mini.

 

But if the upgrade advantage just shows a guarantee mini for $25+ then I would never bid on it, unless you are only in a guarantee balcony now. I know I don't want to pay an extra $50 and lose my large balcony and nice location, unless there is a concrete benefit like spa access

 

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Thanks for the ideas everyone. Hopefully a new treatment comes, chemo only buys us time. I want him to have a lifetime of dreams in whatever time we have left. We promised our kids Alaska and Canada for HS graduation but they are only in 6th grade..We'll see how he feels this summer and if given the thumbs up from oncology maybe this should be our start. There are several of you that seem to like the Alaska cruise.

If you are looking at 'one last cruise' then you don't realistically think he will live another 6 years. So do the dream vacation you promised your kids! If Alaska and Canada is something you have wanted to do together, do it now. You will never regret it. If he does survive until they graduate, then you will have plenty of time to think up another dream.

 

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Great review! We sail on Saturday for our honeymoon and I can't wait. :)

 

Was the upgrade $200 total or $200pp? How did you get the chance to upgrade into a spa mini-suite? When I go into upgrade advantage, I only get the options to bid $25+ for a random minisuite or $400+ for Haven suites.

Thank you so mich for doing this. Juices are covered under the UBP? That's a surprise.

If you are cruising with a child try this method: Stack your Norwegian card, your partner's Norwegian card, your child's card and 3 American dollars. Hand them to a bartender, order your alcoholic beverage and your partner's alcoholic beverage and then point towards your child and say, "She thinks it is really special to get a fancy juice like Mom and Dad. Can you make her a (pick your child's favorite juice from standard bar juices - orange, pineapple, cranberry, grapefruit, tomato, etc.) and put some fruits and stuff on top?" I've had literally 100% success with this method.

 

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When you are choosing your bars, try to account for the crowds. Some of the bars, like the ones by the pool or at SpiceH2O can be a little tough on a sea day, particularly if your group is a decent size. You might be able to cover more ground if you can agree what the drink will be at each bar and it's something the bar can make up as a batch.

 

This is exactly my plan! I've picked the bars, now I just need to go over the bar menus and pick a drink at each one that can be made in a batch.

 

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Great trip report and I appreciate all the details and pics! Just wondering about the MDR. Is the food not to your liking or is it just bad? Seems like more and more people are paying extra for so many meals. I want to try a couple on my future Escape cruise but the other couple going will not spend a dime on food not included. None of us have been on a NCL cruise before so i just dont know what to expect for the dining room food.

 

 

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I would say it all depends on your frame of reference. If you are from a small town, I think the MDR food on NCL will rate as great compared to the dining options you usually have. If you are from a medium-sized city, it will have hits and misses. But if you are from NYC or London and are used to eating in the newest, hottest restaurants, you will think it isn't very good at all.

 

I grew up in a small town (that I still visit a few times/year) and I currently live in a medium-sized city, so I think the NCL MDR food is pretty good. No, it does not compare to a really nice restaurant where you pay $50pp before drinks and dessert, but why would you expect that it would? It is food made for hundreds of diners at a time in an industrial kitchen and it is included with your cruise fare.

 

If you have reasonable expectations and order thoughtfully, you will do just fine with the included-only options on your cruise. I haven't tried the specialty dining options yet, so I can't compare the two.

 

I will also note that the size of the ship matters. On the Jade, all of the food was fabulous, even at the buffet. On the Getaway, the MDR food was pretty good, but the buffet and O'Sheehans were definitely lower in quality.

 

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There is a bar in Margaritaville, but I don't know what its name is. It's just inside the entrance, past the first set of high tops.

Awesome, we need more bars on the upper decks for our combined pub/cabin crawl in December!

 

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Is there still a Chill Bar inside Margaritaville (Deck 17) where you can order cocktails without buying food? Or has this been replaced by the 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar on Deck 8?

 

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Thanks for the great review. I would much rather take two cruises in a balcony rather than one in The Haven. Now if money was no object........

I guess this is how I feel.

 

I had put in a $400pp bid in on the H5, H7 & the H9, but I just cancelled them. I'm going to take that $800 and spend it on tickets and hotel to go to the Dinah with my girlfriends this spring!

 

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I really am torn on whether to try for an upgrade or not. We are currently in a large balcony (B6) so any of the 'affordable' upgrades (H9. H7. H5) would actually decrease the size of our balcony, and I don't think the Haven area will make up for that. I think we'll enjoy the privacy of our own large balcony more than the semi-privacy of a restricted area. Though the Spa Suite is certainly tempting, since there are actual amenities (therapy pool, salt room, etc.) in the thermal suite that we would otherwise have to pay to access.

 

Just can't decide!

I absolutely agree with you here! I always get great service on my cruises, even when I have run out of ones. It just had never occurred to me to request a glass of wine that was listed with only a bottle price. I am just interested enough in wine that I want to try more glasses than are available by the glass, but not interested enough that I want to pay for full bottles, LOL

 

Sorry...I've been travelling and haven't been on the past few days. But yes, we generally tip $1/drink. Towards the end of a cruise, we will tip certain bartenders/servers more if we've become regulars.

 

Honestly, I think a small tip and just being friendly and patient (if necessary) goes a long way to getting great service. And I think a lot of workers would settle for cruisers being nice and treating them with respect.

I'm wondering a bit about this. It doesn't sound like you have been eating dinners in the MDR on your previous cruises and it also doesn't sound like you ate any dinners in the MDR on this cruise. What are you basing your opinion on?

 

Dinner:

We've always eaten specialty almost every night, and used the Haven to fill in the one or two nights we didn't feel like paying (I mentioned the Haven breakfast and lunch being the same as the free restaurants, but that's not so with dinner - the Haven is clearly superior to the free options). But for this cruise, we got 3 meals with the dining package, and another 2 for both being Platinum. That's 5 nights. We ate another dinner ashore in Florida, and our last night, we went to the Noodle bar (free and excellent.) Didn't miss this one bit. But again, we always do mostly specialty anyway, whether we have the package or not. YMMV.

Score: 10 (or N/A if you prefer).

 

...

 

I hope this review helps those in similar situations. If anyone has any questions, I'll try and answer.

 

 

 

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Escape The Big Top is free, but the reservations go fast. Sign up as soon as you can. The contest runs 50 minutes. If you add in the introduction and the revelation, or the part where they tell you how to solve the puzzles and you smack yourself in the head because you got one stinking part wrong, figure about 75-90 minutes total.

 

We were trying to figure out if the District Brew House leader board was updating or not. It was a little hard to tell. I'd grab a copy of the menu pages and keep track manually. Maybe take some pictures with your phone. This last tip might also help you explain your headache the next day. Drink plenty of water, too. Safety should be your #1 priority.

When and where should we sign up for Escape the Big Top?

 

Any update on the DBH leaderboard?

 

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There's a Jeroboam of Veuve Clicqout on display outside the restaurant. There's also a Jeroboam of the widow's wine in the wine bar.

 

A 3 oz tasting of this Champagne is on the dinner menu at Le Bistro. It's $13 on the dinner menu.

 

See attached:

 

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s88/sh/c9e5e278-65cd-4b7f-8883-f64a7c719e93/c28110f57be26e518a38388d421b0315

 

Obviously, $13 exceeds the $15 per drink limit, so it's not available. (The video of our servers explaining how $13 is greater than $15, is priceless.)

 

We found the food at Le Bistro to be excellent. We rank it in the top two restaurants, food wise, on the ship.

 

More on the food to follow...

 

 

Fascinating. I was almost going to switch our Bayamo reservation to Le Bistro, partly to have Veuve Clicquot that was included in the UBP. Good thing I skipped it!

 

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(We may have overdone the evening dress thing.)

 

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

 

 

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We loved the wine bar when we were on the Escape. We were there every day and sat at the same table the farthest away from the bar so we could people-watch and chandelier-watch.

 

Although this was back in 2016, I agree that the staff was excellent. They got to know us, saved corks for us (our friend collects them) and would pour us wines that weren't actually available by the glass. It just goes to show that tips, being friendly and getting to know the people serving you can really be a benefit.

 

I can't wait to visit the wine bar next month on the Dawn to try it out and when we are on the Escape again in February.

 

I'm really enjoying your review!

Oh! I so needed to hear this.

 

I tip $1/drink when I'm on a cruise. I'd love to hear if you had this result while tipping in the same range, or if you were tipping more generously.

 

TIA!

 

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Both the servers and the venue manager are very knowledgeable about their list. I didn't do them justice. I have to learn to shut up.

 

If you are on the Escape, please visit this bar. It would be a shame to lose it.

 

 

I honestly can't wait! How many of the 40 wines by the glass would you estimate were covered by the UBP?

 

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We did not make it into the parrot cages (oops. "wildlife habitats.") The people in front of us managed to stir the parrots in a frenzy. If you have ever been to the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disney, imagine the part where the gods are angry and the birds go into a frenzy. Only it's not audio animatronic. There's no happy singing finale. Oh, and the birdies have developed a taste for human flesh.

 

It was a crazed whirlwind of canary yellow, toucan green, and shrieking. In short, it was great.

Oh, the questions I have! And comments. I also have comments. Ok, I'm going to try to pare them down:

 

1. Are you implying that the animals on Roatan are not well cared for? I think that the sloth and monkey place, and LFK/BFK, etc. are probably taking advantage of formerly wild animals, right? I mean, I would love to see them up close like this, and I know some people swear up and down that these are legitimate sanctuaries, but...

 

2. What is up with the price of transportation on Roatan? It seems like the bus is very reasonably priced, and I know you can get a reasonably priced taxi from Coxen Hole to West Bay Beach, because I've done it. But why do people pay so much for "private tours" when they could pay a cab driver $30 to drop them off and pick them up a set amount of time later?

 

3. Why are both ports on the South side of the island, when both of the big touristy areas are on the North side of the island? I don't actually expect you to know a reason for this, but I'd like to bxtch about it while pretending to just be asking an innocent question.

 

4. You killed me with the comment about the Haven guest with the unsatisfactory embarkation experience. Killed. Me. (Seriously, I'm dead, I'm a ghost.)

 

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I've had good luck going to the buffet on the Jade and the Getaway and just asking a cafeteria worker for some soy milk. I've also just written it in on the free continental breakfast form.

 

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Back at Doug's house. Dogfish 90 Minute IPA. DW sticking to Maduro. It's her favorite and she'll have it again on Saturday when we go for pizza.

 

We're not getting to The District as often as we'd like, so I'm working my way down starting from the higher ABVs. Seems like a plan.

 

 

How is the leaderboard contest being run? If you recall, pretty much all of the balls got dropped on Doug's cruise. I'm really hoping the District has gotten their shiz together by now and is updating the leaderboard regularly.

 

Also, is there a charge for Escape the Big Top? If so, how much? How long is the whole experience?

 

Thanks!

 

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