peteukmcr

Been on the Epic 5 x's and booked again for January.

 

 

 

If your cruise is port intensive would you really spend enough time in the spa to warrant the $260 ($130 ea)? I would not but that is something you have to decide.

 

 

There is no bar on the Epic for a good view of the ocean.

 

 

 

If you want a quiet place with sea noise, I would suggest you book a balcony.

 

 

You can book the ice bar ahead of time but I have never seen it full. When it is open there is no line and have had friends just walk up and able to go in.

 

 

The Epic is a great ship but it is different from most. No promenade and definitely no bar to look out over the ocean.

Thanks for the tips. We're first time Epic sailors too and on the westbound TA leaving Barcelona on Nov 4th. Maybe too early but they are not offering reservations for the Ice Bar yet. We've already booked speciality restaurants and Priscilla and Burn the Floor.

Tell me about it! 2 years ago $13 for a Chilean Chardonnay 🤨

 

 

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It was around $16 in May on QM2 before grats! A G&T and Jack Daniels & coke around $24!

£40 per day on Cunard would be great value !!

I agree on Cunard that would be a bargain if our recent sailing was anything to go by!

Oh ok if it says that in the press it must be right lol.

These surveys are done with a small number of people.

I suggest they come to Newcastle or any other city centre at a weekend for a true reflection of drinking habits.

Or Manchester [emoji1]

 

 

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Yes but don't expect that on P&O, the service standards on RCI and Celebrity are far higher than P&O.

However at the proposed price, and since both passengers need to have the package, there is no way it would be worth it for us. Unless of course P&O increase their drink prices like Celebrity did when they first introduced a drinks package. If that happens I might have to resort to smuggling alcohol on board, and do all my drinking in the cabin.;p

I can't comment on the service standards on P&O compared to RCI and Celebrity as we have to date only done 1 P&O sailing, but I admit the service wasn't great but we put that down to the short sailing.

 

Looking at P&O's prices, the current package would not be of value to us either, especially as I won't pay the same price for a package that includes a child option as I don't travel with children and so that implies the £39.95 price is loaded to cater for this and so I'd expect a lower price without this option.

 

It amuses me that the package rules state a 15 minute interval between serving, it's a shame they don't enforce that to their staff as on Azura we were constantly harangued to purchase more drinks and that was definitely within 15 minutes! It'll be interesting how servers react to those with packages.

 

Unfortunately, the cynical of me would suspect that drinks prices will rise as I mentioned earlier to close to the £6.95 as other lines have done when introducing packages.

This is the going rate on other cruise lines, we’ve just paid nearly £2000 for a drinks package for 2 on a 2 week cruise with Celebrity.

 

 

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That seems really expensive even though I know Celebrity have raised the price of the Premium package to $69 pppd plus 18% gratuity which is $81.52 pppd. At the current exchange rate that should be £61.52.

In my experience the wine was served quite quickly in the MDR on my last cruise with Princess with the drinks package, wasn't a problem.

Same experience on RCI and Celebrity, glasses always refilled without asking once the servers knew we had a package.

What about reversing the logic by hoping they lower the price of the drinks package to encourage people to buy.:)

 

 

 

I think they should keep it optional, as it appears some are happy with the current package price and equally many people would prefer to pay as you go.

I’m sure it will be optional, as it is on other lines (except when included as a perk in the cruise fare, which it is anything but a perk, as the fare has been increased accordingly) and so for everyone saying they don’t want it because perhaps they don’t drink enough, it’s not compulsory.

 

So many get worked up about it, but it’s not mandatory.

 

The only time it’s mandatory is when 1 in a cabin buys it, then the other has to. That’s to try and stop people sharing.

 

The reason this rule is in place is because people are basically dishonest and share packages. RCI used to let just one person in a cabin purchase a package, but reversed the decision because too many were abusing it.

 

So the minority spoilt it for the majority.

 

 

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I wonder if the drinks prices will increase now to encourage people to buy the package

That’s exactly my thoughts too. Every other line we’ve sailed on which now offer packages (few offered them back when we started) have done exactly that. Cocktails on RCI used to be around $9-10 now they are around $13. Wouldn’t be surprised to see some on P&O go just below the £6.95 limit.

 

 

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Interesting development from P&O, coming into the 21st century :)

 

However, considering the price of dinks on P&O, the Ultimate is an expensive package. That’s roughly the equivalent of $52.95 and I can get a ‘deluxe’ package on RCI for less than that with no time limit, no daily drink limit and including large bottles of water and cans of soda included. On RCI and Celebrity, the drinks packages are good value when you consider a G&T is around $10 (a US measure which is nearly a U.K. double) and a Martini $13 and a glass of wine $10, so getting to $50 is easy when you add in the non alcoholic drinks (coffee, tea, water and sodas).

 

I did a rough add up of our daily consumption at P&Os prices (according to their website) and I wouldn’t make a saving paying £39.95 per day.

 

Obviously Carnival are imposing the same limits they have on their ships with the number of drinks per 24 hour period.

 

As for 1 drink per card, that’s never been a problem to any member of the bar staff on RCI, Celebrity or MSC for us. Present 2 cards to the server, 2 cards swiped, 1 zero vaue receipt printed and returned.

 

I suspect/hope amendments to the package following the trial before we sail on Britannia in 2020.

Another vote for Romecabs. We’ve used them on 2 occasions and found them reliable and extremely professional. Just make sure you have your destination written down as the drivers English may be a little basic. But they are dressed smartly, the cabs clean, extremely comfortable and they are very courteous.

What always confuses me about these threads is WHY is it considered perfectly acceptable?!?

 

 

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It's not, but there are many who will call you a liar, pillory you, and downright be rude should you say anything against their favourite line. Not just on NCL boards, but on every cruise line board.

 

You should have read the thread I was involved in regarding the cancellation of our Jade 2016 sailing back in 2015. Despite providing evidence, I was told by so called cheerleaders that I could not have booked flights for the cancelled cruise, that 'there's more to this story' than I was reporting, and that I was basically lying.

 

All I was doing was trying to get NCL to pay up. At first NCL said they would pay for our cancelled flights (luckily less than $300 pp) but then they rescinded the offer, despite 2 NCL employees having previously confirmed in writing that they would pay.

 

In short the cheerleaders on this board were extremely rude and it put us of NCL for 3 years!

 

So it's not surprising some are not sympathetic to those who have been affected. I am, because we've been there, and my recommendation would be, don't give up, keep all correspondence and take a note of every persons name you speak to on the telephone. That's how we got NCL to pay up, even then as I mentioned it took 3 months for the deposit to be refunded!

 

Don't take no for an answer.

This is exactly why we primarily cruise with Royal Caribbean or one of the Deluxe brands! Cruising has become "cheap", and I don't mean it just in a dollar amount. When we first started cruising you were made to feel special! People dressed up for dinner! People acted like they had some sense while on a cruise! Nowadays, it's quite different. There are a bunch of foolish people on a cruise. When anyone can cruise..."Anyone" cruises!!! Is it too much to ask everyone attending the dining room to dress up "1" freaking night??? Oh well, you get the point! Freestyle is not for me!

Well having just returned this year to RCI after a couple of years break (I'm not sure when you last sailed with them) but I found very few dressed for dinner. So I wouldn't level insinuation that it is just Freestyle on NCL where dress standards have dropped. It is across the board as so many who sail in the Caribbean are now saying it's too hot to dress in anything other than shorts and t-shirts, despite the interior of a cruise ship being air conditioned. Check out the threads on CC for RCI where many are now reporting that shorts are acceptable in the MDR.

 

In my experience Europeans dress more 'formally' than those who sail in the Caribbean, despite the fact it can be just as hot in the Mediterranean. :):)

 

Even Celebrity have abandoned formal night and replaced it with 'Elegant Chic', but again this now means nearly anything goes.

 

I'd be interested in which brands you consider 'Deluxe'.

I beg to differ with the nonsense you just posted and that I highlighted in red.

I started cruising in 1971......in my 47 years of cruising, I have NOT experienced ONE SINGLE cancellation.

Please do not try to give this any kind of positive spin, there is NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING positive about this cancellation to the people it affects!

I agree with your comment about there being nothing positive about a cancellation.

 

However, you have been very lucky IMHO as we have been sailing for 14 years and out of 28 sailings we have had 2 cancelled. 1 by Celebrity and 1 by NCL (on the Jade coincidentally).

 

I have to say the compensation and alternatives offered by NCL were far inferior to those offered by Celebrity, in that NCL did not offer any comparable sailing, did not offer price protection (no discount) and the OBC was pitiful. Whereas Celebrity offered comparable sailings, price protected for the same grade of cabin and provided $150 OBC.

 

Needless to say the service offered by NCL (took 3 months to get our deposit back as we cancelled) left a slight bitter taste and did put us off ever booking with them again, but we have relented and are trying them again later this year.

What penalty do RCI impose on those passengers who reserve a table and then don't turn up and don't inform the dining room that they will not need the table that evening?

In the MDR, no penalty, you are just requested to advise you won't be dining as a matter of courtesy, but even then, no charge for no show. For speciality restaurants reservations, the published cancellation fee is 50% of the cover charge if cancelled within 24 hours, in practice, no fee if date/time changed to another day/time.

 

Although I know other lines have encouraged prior bookings, on our first RCI cruise last year the dining room greeter expressed his fervent hopesitting that RCI would ditch it, as it made his job ten times more difficult, especially with some passengers arriving later than their booked time .

Well with having 21 RCI cruises under our belt, most using MTD I suspect this door host is in the minority and not doing their job properly. The more stressful door hosts are those trying to pacify those turning up without reservations and it’s very doubtful RCI will drop reservations for MTD as it helps them organise the dining room for better than our experience on Azura which was nothing but a shambles IMHO, so it better be good when we’re on a Britannia TA.

 

 

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Well if P&O are only to offer Freedom dining then they need to start offering reservations as most other lines operating ships of similar or larger size do. E.g. RCI, Celebrity, NCL etc.

 

I have just been able to make reservations for our upcoming TA on NCL 120 days before sailing and we've not even made final payment yet. Even better than RCI and Celebrity as we can request a table for 2.

 

I've always been able to make advance reservations for RCI and Celebrity but this doesn't mean you can't make changes once on board. But this does prevent you having to wait in line and be given a pager.

 

P&O need to get in the 21st century.

I have been following this thread as we were considering booking Oriana due to her itineraries. Anyway that's a moot point now.

 

However, if I read it correctly, I am shocked at how P&O are treating those guests who have had cruises cancelled. It would appear that there is no price protection for alternatives being offered and the OBC is a paltry amount for the inconvenience.

 

We have been affected by cancelled cruises by 2 lines (Celebrity and NCL) and in both cases their offers of price protection/refund/OBC was far superior to what I see with P&O and was similar to below.

 

Friends of mine are affected by cancellation of 2 sailings of 1 specific ship with RCI and their offer is price protection for 3 alternative sailings, $200 OBC for all categories of cabin up to Balcony and $400 for suites and reimbursement of non-refundable airline charges for any changes or full refund of any deposits paid if they choose to cancel.

I agree that anytime dining is a bit misleading. My recent observation on Oriana was that there was already a considerable queue formed by 5.30pm before the restaurant opened at 6pm for all those wanting to eat early. As a result that filled all the tables up immediately so there was no rocking up at 6.30/7 o’clock as all the tables were taken. So by default it became two sittings anyway, with the added inconvenience of having to queue if you wanted to eat at 6pm.

The major problem with ‘Freedom’ dining on P&O is that you cannot make reservations like you would in a normal restaurant, be that for 6:30, 7:00, 8:30 or whatever. Both RCI and Celebrity let you make reservations in advance, be that in advance or on the day which reduces the lines for those who just turn up.

No Laundry rooms on any NCL ship but if you are needing to iron, you can request an iron and ironing board from your stateroom steward or by calling guest services.

Never knew that, that's the beauty of this forum! Thanks

You said it better than I did (on the poll thread). My experience is that Anytime/Freedom on other ships was a disappointment.

 

It just doesn't work.

I beg to differ. ‘My Time Dining’ on RCI, ‘Select’ on Celebrity and even ‘Your Time’ dining on Carnival works wonderfully imho without the need for pagers and you don’t need to be prepared to eat ridiculously early or late. The only line up to now where it was a joke was P&O with unacceptable wait times.

Frankly, when sailing with Cunard, I would consider any table for two, at whatever level of accommodation, rather self defeating.

Why?

Always table for 2, that’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Had too many bad experiences with large tables at breakfast, takes far too long by the time the orders for every specific requirement has been taken (oj, apple, cranberry, prune juices, breakfast tea, green tea, decaf coffee, regular coffee, white toast, wheat toast, bagel, srambled, fried, egg white omelette etc) you get the idea.

 

As for dinner I cannot stand the 3 question interrogation to size up your worth. Where are you from? What do you do? Where do you live? And the worst, what type of cabin are you in and how many times have you sailed?

3 ice cubes in a large tumbler, 25ml of Bombay Sapphire, filled with slimline tonic which is flavoured with a touch of lime, wedge of lime.

 

Another favourite, 3 cubes of ice, 25ml of Martin Millers, 1 sliced strawberry, dash of ground pepper, pepper corns, topped with slimline tonic (plain, not flavoured).

 

Third option, again no more than 3 ice cubes, tumbler, 25ml of Bombay, 3/4 filled with cranberry juice, topped off with ginger ale.

If you make reservations in advance online for say Moderno or Teppanyaki (where there is a fixed fee of $24.95 or $29.95), do you pay at the time of booking?

 

 

Yes unless you have the SDP before you book as your information with NCL shows that.

 

I understand Cagney's, La Cucina and Le Bistro are al la carte so how are these charged in advance if you make a reservation? Again we intend to use a package in these venues.

 

 

They are not

Many thanks, so the trick is purchase the SDP first, then make reservations. So used to another line where if you book a dining package you can only make reservations once onboard.