Vyhanek

The Haven resteraunt will have the best food on the ship. The menu remains the same, I'm sure to encourage you to dine around back before specialty dining was inclusive. But there are a few days you want to avoid dining in the Haven resteraunt for diner. The first day, because everyone in the Haven has the exact same idea......Eat in the Haven! It's crowded! Wait for the Haven restaurant for night 2. Then everyone who ate there the first night is somewhere else and you will have no crowds! The other night is the last night of the cruise. Everyone in the Haven has dined around all week and realizes the haven resteraunt is the best. Everyone wants to eat there the last night too.

For an additional $500pp yes absolutely the Haven is worth it. I wouldn't think twice.

But this spring I was in a totally different dilemma. The NCL ships I wanted to sail, that had great itineraries, ships I'd never been on, etc. wanted 9k for a 2 bedroom Haven suite. I couldn't justify that when the Epic had 2 bedroom Haven suites for $6k. I've been on the Epic a few times, the itinerary was really terrible but........3k difference in the Haven from one ship to another!!

I do have my own price point for cruising in the Haven. It is below 9k a week! Yes, you do have to decide personally if it's a good choice for you but for $500 per person, this isn't even worth a minute's thought. Yes, of course for that price you jump on the opportunity!

These girls are 20. They know how to get a drink!If your daughter gets the waiver signed, they will figure out that daughter needs to go to the bar twice. Hand drink to her friend.

Not rocket science. These girls will figure out what works in 6 minutes.

No. Lots of weeks they don't offer any POSH passes beyond the Haven guests. You're not only running the risk that you'll be first in line for the few coveted POSH passes but then will there be any even sold that week?!

Go for a room you're going to be happy with. The Epic does have the adult quiet deck up on deck 18 or 19. In the front of that deck they have some really nice outdoor furniture, like they have in POSH. Cruisers don't really discover this place until later in the cruise.

I found the epic spa very nice but also very crowded.

The Epic Haven is the best Haven on NCL. It accommodates less Haven guests AND it's bigger, by a lot. It has POSH which is the upper sundeck but about 5 times bigger (or more) than the Haven sundeck on the Escape with it's own very large bar. It has lovely cushy chairs, lots of umbrella's for shade, its lovely........and less crowded than the Escape on the Haven. There is no chair hogging on the Epic Haven sundeck because there is more than enough space for everyone.

There are 3 bars total in the Epic Haven. The courtyard bar, the POSH sundeck bar and the Epic club bar. Again with less Haven passengers than the Escape and 3 bars, compared to 1 on the Escape.

The Escape Haven has the enclosed courtyard made of this enormous structure of glass and metal framing. It's great in theory but it's really, really loud. Any noise in the courtyard, like well behaved kids playing in the pool, the noise bounces all over the glass and metal framework and it's really loud and echo'y. The courtyard on the Epic is wide open, no retractable roof but also no loud structure.

I like the Escape ship it's self better than the Epic. I love the outdoor promenade and the outdoor dining. I loved Food Republic such amazing food! But the shows on the Escape suck. They are the worst shows in the entire fleet. Not up to NCL show quality at all I think.....I've been around a long, long time!

But if it's the Haven you love and if you spend the majority of your time in the Haven, you will not be disappointed in the Epic. It's a lot better Haven product than on the Escape.

I'd have a lollipop as a back up in case they make you dump it.

I think you're going to have equal amount of kids on all those cruises. I think the one over July 4 will be the most crowded both on the ship, might even be sailing beyond capacity and on the island itself. I'd avoid July 4.

I have a neighbor that loves Bermuda in September and October. Its far less crowded and still very warm.

I've been on all those ships and seen all those shows. It's not an issue that the theme is offensive. It's more that the shows are not great. Especially on the Escape. I think the Brat Pack and Burn the floor are probably the worst shows I've ever seen on NCL and I'm platinum and love the shows.

But as far as doing the research in the event you are offended.....how about the other way around. I think the obligation is on NCL to do THEIR RESEARCH on the demographics of who's on their ships!! Good lord. ON the Epic a few weeks ago, the average age had to be 65 years old. My husband and I are 50 and we were bringing the average age down by at least a decade! Of course 65 year olds aren't going to be up for Priscilla, flaming, openly, in your face homosexuality like that. Its not like Will and Grace and a little sprinkling of in your face homosexuality. The dance troupe in Priscilla are on a political agenda specifically to offend. With this demographics, it should be perfectly acceptable to anyone on that ship that if they don't like the politics of the message they can leave. If you're going to talk about rude......that's on NCL, being rude for being so dismissive to their demographics.

But in my case, I'm not offended, I just thought the shows sucked. If the shows suck, you get up and walk out and not waste another minute of your cruise. We say "freestyle" on these boards right?! Someone getting up in front of you doesn't block your view for 5 minutes, getting up and out takes like takes like 10 or 15 seconds.

Mainly, bad shows SHOULD be walked out of and NCL is pumping out there share or bad shows!

Is anyone staying in the Haven? They can work that out the first day for all 10, no problem.

UBP I never even wanted a bottle of wine. I think it sat in my room unopened which is where I left it.

The best thing about platinum is the laundry.

Food Republic is amazing!

I agree. I think they should create new shows every 2 years or so. I'd love to cruise the Escape again but those shows were intollerable, of all the cruises probably at least 20 on NCL, those shows were the worst by far. I hated the Brat Pack, I hated the other one which I can't even remember at the moment.

I do miss terribly the Jean Ann Ryan Company.

The drill starts about 10 minutes later than posted. I'm always there right on time and sitting and sitting for 10-15 minutes. Next time I'm walking in 10 minutes late skidding in right when it actually starts.

THat's amazing. Makes me want to check out the Jade now!

The Epic Havenis amazing! You will love it more than Disney. Go on youtube and search for Epic 2 bedroom haven suites. You will not be able to continue to think that Disney would beat staying in the Epic Haven. It's amazing. Way more amazing than Disney.

I think your kids will tell you that the kids club is remarkably similar. The cruise lines all bench mark against each other. Your kids will come back and tell you games and activities they do are EXACTLY like they do on Disney.

I'm sure you will be impressed. The Epic has the best Haven.

The Haven sundeck on the Breakaway, Getaway and Escape are too small to accommodate all the Haven guests who want it. It's a chair hog situation even in the Haven on these ships. And there is no bar on the sundeck, the Haven bar is 2 floors down, the bar service is slow because the bar is 2 floors down. It accommodates probably 25 loungers for probably 200 Haven Guests. In no way is the Haven sundeck adequate for the demand. The Haven sundeck is inferior to Vibe on these ships so I can't imagine NCL buying into any sort of banning Haven guests from buying the passes first. No matter how much the minions complain.

The Haven on the Epic is a totally different story. Adults over 18 have access to POSH which is beautiful, probably 4-5 times the size of the Haven sundecks on the other ships. It has it's own large bar, lots of padded sun loungers, plenty of shade, so much space there is no need for chair hogs.

The answer of course would be to make additional space for a second Vibe on these ships so twice as many people could have access. The problem is with the newer ships they have built so many cabins into the space used to be occupied by outdoor space that there really isn't much sundeck space to make this change.

Oh you definitely need to reserve your tickets in advance if you actually want to see the show! It's not an "if you want to" sort of thing, not at all! There are stand by lines but obviously could end in disappointment.

I just got off the Epic. The big shows that require booking ahead were just ok. I much preferred the shows you book only once you are on the ship like the comedy shows, hypnotists, I loved Howl at the Moon (no pre-booking required at all).

The best food on the Escape imho is Food Republic. Its not on the dining plan anyways!! They serve unique, modern tapas style dishes. You'd go in there and order 2 or 3 per person. We had the dining plan and chose to not even use all the meals because I'd rather be eating in Food Republic and when on vacation, I don't eat just ok food! It's very casual, you order your items from the tablet on the tables. The tables are bar height, it's a very casual feel with great food.

The other one I really like, again, forfeiting the dining plan is the sushi bar. Not Teppenyaki but the actual sushi bar. I liked the Green Tea Martini, I liked several of the rolls I ordered. Again, better food than the Specialty Dining options IMHO.

As far as the Specialty Dining, I did eat at Cagney's and La Cucina. I was able to book a table outside both times and that made it great. But honestly if I wasn't eating outside, I could take or leave both of them as well.

The Haven Restaurant is always amazing but serves the same menu all week. If staying in the Haven on the Escape you'll want to avoid dinner there on the first night and on the last night. It gets really crowded those nights and the Escape packs in a lot more passengers into the Haven than some of the other ships so the amount of people and trying to get a table where they don't take reservations is an issue, unless you avoid those 2 nights.

You'll be fine. I've had an early flight out of FLL. I got off the ship right around 8:15am, was in a cab to FLL and at the airport before 9am. When you get to the airport that early, you beat all the other cruise passengers. You'll get thru security and be at your gat by 9:30am. You will be fine.

Yes, yes, it will be a huge spring break week there will be college students, there will be lots and lots and lots of kids! It really will be a huge spring break week!

And as far as the comments above about college students not affording Spring Break?! This isn't 1985. Yes, they do afford spring break and they absolutely cruise. Especially on a cruise line that offers unlimited drink packages. Good lord. Last week there were 1500 college students on the Epic.

If you don't like that crowd, always, always avoid a Caribbean cruise from March 1- April 15.

The ships have very little shopping for necessities like that. A pair of khaki pants, sandals or even flip flops, casual clothing for evenings.......there's hardly anything like that on NCL ships. You will be lucky to find a bathing suit and cover up! Personally I found all the swimsuits to be ridiculously ugly and suitable only for the 60 year old and older crowd. There is no way you could shop in the ship's stores and be happy with your purchases for a whole week.

Why not take 10 minutes, dig out some summer attire? That may sound like a hassle but it will be a lot easier, than spending hours in Miami trying to find necessities or making due with the over priced and inadequate stuff you're going to find on the ship. Think this thru.

I like NCL's food. I didn't say that 5 or 10 years ago but now they do it right. With the exception of this one restaurant. This one I think it horribly over rated. Last week on the Epic we ate there only once and I told my family never again. It's like a low level Applebee's......much lower than Applebee's but that same similar style of food.

Our food came all at once. Our drinks come and then all at once our appetizer and main dishes came all at once. If I wanted my food out all at once, I would be eating in the buffet. This irritates me so I start looking around, over and over, this is the standard mode of this resteraunt. My advice, order your appetizer and then force that to come out first. Then order your main dish. Its unbelievable that they can't better work basic food service!

Then the food.....not good. It's dark, I could smell smoke. The buffet is a big step up.

I think NCL is going to require the waiver from a parent, married or not.

In the US, If you are in the military you are absolutely allowed alcohol on base. The argument is irrelevant.

Eighteen year olds are in high school. Keeping alcohol away from the high school population is actually the intent. That's why 25 years ago, the drinking ages were raised from 19 to 21. There actually is a reason the drinking age was raised back then.

Keeping alcohol away from high schoolers who are also newly licensed drivers is the issue.

If you choose to join the military, though, drink away. It's legal. That argument is irrelevant.

You didn't know March would be a big Spring Break college month? Who doesn't know this? I can't imagine where you live that you wouldn't know March is a huge spring break college month. The entire month.

I was on the Epic last week....intentionally staying away, far, far away from a 3 or 4 day cruise in March. Pretty much everything you are complaining about didn't happen last week on the Epic. The food was great! Seriously good food and I am critical of food! I didn't see one falling down drunk person at all last week. There was plenty of drinking but no bars were overtaken, no crazy nothing.

The problem is that NCL shouldn't offer 3 and 4 day cruises in March. It's asking for the huge Spring Break, on a tight budget college crowd. But you should know that too. It's like saying you would have no idea that Disney would be crowded in March either. Its ignorant.

NCL should know better. You should know better.

Just off the Epic. No forms at all. No forms handed out, no forms collected, no discussion of any forms. Almost a complete non issue other than instructions included with the Daily on what you do if you've purchased more than $800.