islandgirl70

Why would another guest ask you to change cabins?

I read awhile ago that the rumour was new menus in June... I guess we can only hope. They've had these menus at least 4 years and I am definitely ready for something new as we have two 9 night cruises coming up.

So 4 Oasis Class ships all doing Cozumel, Falmouth, Labadee, Nassau over and over and over and over and over and over again. I am missing something because I just can't figure that out. Will the new Tortola pier fit an Oasis Class?? I feel one of them just will have to do longer itineraries (ie. St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Barbados maybe, etc??). All four of them can't do the same thing week after week .... can they?

How much smaller is NCL Escape compared to Oasis class? We sailed on the Escape in December and we visited Tortola. I'm not sure what their new pier will look like as it was under major construction while we were there.

Yes should be.

 

 

 

Everyone says Sabor might be the best restaurant on RC ships. I'm excited to try on Allure in January.

We were just on Allure and loved Sabor! It was a la carte but very reasonably priced. Definitely try the table guacamole. It was probably my favourite meal of the entire cruise [emoji4]

I don't have an issue with suite guests getting to bypass lines or better seats. I do have an issue with the middle section of the aqua theatre being saved for suite guests until the very end. We had reservations, showed up early and got okay seats. When they let the standby guests in they got all the "reserved" suite seats. This kind of annoyed us.

Anthem had a 9n out of Cape Liberty in May 2017. We booked a couple weeks ago and got a great price.

I've been on a few royal cruises and never had an issues with towels. While on Allure they kept making the announcement that we would be charged if we didn't return pool towels. We signed out probably 8+ over the trip and not once did we return them. We left them in our stateroom and every time we came back our attendant had taken them. We were kind of panicked that we would be charged at the end of the cruise but weren't!

We just returned from the Allure as well and did the Escape in December. I ended up liking the Escape better and thought the food was amazing! Especially dessert.

We love Gilberts. Great place for soups and excellent burgers.

Agreed! And try a cookie next time. It was amazing!

We stayed at the Hyatt Place near 17th. We thought it was a great location. Right across the street from Publix, TJ Maxx and a bunch of restaurants. We ended up eating at Gilbert's and it was great!

We were on the same sailing as you and I completely agree with everything you said. The only time we noticed the crowd was in the WJ. We also ended up eating in the Solarium quite a bit.

We really enjoyed Sabor and I definitely recommend it to everyone! It was absolutely amazing!

We saw Mama Mia, Blue Planet and the comedy show. My only complaint about this boat was that we had to make reservations so far ahead of time. I miss just showing up 15-20 minutes before and not having to worry about getting in. We did have reservations for every show, I still felt like we were required to arrive 30+ minutes ahead of time and we were still trampled going in.

We also had a super easy time for embarkation! We arrived around 1030 and was on the boat eating lunch not long after that.

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise, it's nice to see a review with lots of positives! If you are looking for a cruise for next year, Navigator is offering Southern Caribbean 9 nights for good prices!

For the same price I would probably take the promenade. However, depending on its location. We enjoyed the promenade view but I would never pay more for it. You can sit in your room and enjoy the views/people watch. I enjoyed eating breakfast there.

We didn't have any issues with privacy or darkness. However our neighbour across the promenade kept forgetting to shut their curtains ;) Lol.

I would pick one closer to the actual promenade. On IotS we were on the top floor for promenade and it was hard to see at times. It does give you a great view to watch the parade and activities going on downstairs :)

How exactly does this work? We are NEXUS members. Who/where do we first show our card to skip the line?

In St Martin, we did an all day excursion with Capt Bob from Soaliga Destinations. It was the BEST excursion of my trip, with the highlight being snorkelling with sea turtles. The boat was so much fun (at times he let her rip so you had to hold on.. very exhilirating). I am totally doing it again the next time I'm in St Martin! Check him out on Tripadvisor. The dock is walking distance from the port.

I agree! Captain Bon from Soaliga was the best excursion ever! Definitely check them out!

We booked our entire cruise in Canadian currency and actually got a decent price for the Oasis class. We've cruised enough to know that we won't spend any money in port and this trip we just won't spend as much at the casino. Also we won't be going down a day early or staying late this trip to avoid spending on a hotel, food, etc.

Does anyone have the Starbucks menu/prices?

Does anyone have the Allure Starbucks menu/prices?

We recently cruised on the NCL Escape

after only cruising with Royal. All four of us preferred most of the food and definitely the desserts. I found they had way more activities and shows going on although I didn't enjoy their Broadway show "After Midnight." We have only cruised the Freedom class on Royal and obviously Escape is way bigger so it's hard to compare.

At night, escape had way more food options like O'Sheeans, buffet, etc. They also had the comedy club which we really enjoyed.

I am so jealous you are heading on a cruise in 9 days! We just returned from the NCL Escape. Our first mega ship and first Norwegian.

We have been to St Thomas and St Kitts but haven't been to your other two ports!

Enjoy your cruise! Hope you have great weather and a fantastic time! And please do a review once you return!

While scrolling through Cruise Critic I came across your title and thought to myself "Who could be crazy enough to plan a cruise for 10 years?" And then I read further. Congratulations on convincing your wife to cruise, I know how hard it is. I recently introduced cruising to my mom and now she has cruises booked all the way up to 2017.

As I'm reading your review and jotting down info to help on our April sailing on Allure, I start going into a full fledged panic realizing I have nothing planned. I tried to calm down reassuring myself we just booked this cruise, we already have our reservations but now I'm in the mood to plan.

As I was reading about your stop in St Martin I was overjoyed that you would be doing Captain Bob's tour. I was equally as sad for you when it was cancelled. I know you cruised again but haven't read a review for that one so I'm not sure if you ever did get to do the excursion. If you didn't, plan for that port and that excursion. Out of all the ports and excursions I've been on, this was hands down my favourite.

I hope you get to continue cruising with your family!

We have only ever sailed RCCL until this year when we tried the Escape. We booked in January of 2015 for a December 2015 sailing. In those months FDR changed more things then Royal had ever changed. For example, increased DSC, room service charge, no taking food out of restaurants which was later reversed, and finally the straw that broke the camels back for me was charging for Margaritaville. I started this cruise with a bad taste in my mouth and was anticipating a horrible time but guess what, we loved it! Loved NCL, they had amazing guest services, excellent food (better desserts than Royal) and just an amazing ship altogether.

After coming back from our cruise we had the option with sailing with NCL or RCCL in the spring and we ended up picking the Allure.

Although I really enjoyed my NCL cruise I vowed to not cruise with them until they stop changing so much. And I really do prefer the layout of Royals boat anyways. I found the Escape to feel congested in some places whereas Royal has higher ceilings and the promenade.

We loved the Freedom and the Independence! Every time before we leave for a cruise I read all the reviews on Cruise Critic and immediately start to panic because they are all bad. But every time we end up having an amazing cruise and always wonder how people complain so much. I've never had a bad cruise and never really had any issues on a cruise.

Freedom was my first cruise and started my addiction ;) She is a beautiful, clean ship with so much fun stuff to do. Our food was amazing and I would definitely sail on her again.

Any idea when they will be changing the menus? I think they have been the same since our 2014 Freedom cruise.

Waiting weeks and weeks for an answer isn't minor. If the issue was minor NCL should just issue the "bed bug letter" (research that if you don't get the reference, it's funny and worth it) and be done with it. I don't care if the issue was a light bulb burned out in her cabin that wasn't fixed, being kept waiting for an answer like this is unacceptable.

I looked for the bed bug letter reference and wasn't sure what it was? Can you please point me in the right direction? This sounds funny and I need to read it!

I love your review! I completely agree about the complainers and I find myself always panicking before leaving for a cruise. I get on CC and read all these terrible reviews about the smallest little things and once I get on the boat I realize everything will be fine.

I'm so glad you enjoyed your first cruise and are cruising again soon (hopefully sooner!) We first cruised in 2014 and immediately booked two cruises in 2015 and one in 2016 when we returned.