100th Meridian

On 7/14/2023 at 9:47 AM, TPS123 said:

Thank you for posting the dailies. I couldn't see any Solo meetings listed which usually take place around 6pm each evening?

 

Do you happen to know if any meetings took place? 

I don’t recall, but they do have studio cabins on the Epic, so they should have something

Just posting the dailies from our recent Mediterranean cruise on the Epic. Embarked/disembarked in Civitavecchia. Seemed like the other 80% did so in Barcelona. During Barcelona, the hallway to our room was “closed” to change Our rooms were ready when we boarded around 1pm. Two drink per card rule, though if you had several cards on the package you could order 4/6 at a time. Disappointed a Woodford Old Fashioned is an up charge now (read previously it was included).

NCL Freestyle Daily Day 1.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 3.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 2.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 5.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 8.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 4.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 9.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 7.pdf NCL Freestyle Daily Day 6.pdf

I guarantee you it won’t be on. They don’t carry live programming outside of news and some sports

Port times are worse though

2 hours ago, kfnesq said:

"Too many snacks?"  Is that a thing???  🤣

Our butler Pedro kept on bringing these sandwiches we didn’t care for. Even after saying we wanted only some gummy bears/chips/m&m’s as a snack, he still was bringing the sandwiches/fruit in the Suite. After a couple days, we learn just to leave a specific note of what we wanted and that only. Hate wasting food, but didn’t want them to begin with.

3 hours ago, roger001 said:

The Great Outdoors uses the La Cucina Italian restaurant for overflow seating during the breakfast and lunch hours usually.  Most people don't know about that and it's usually almost empty.  

We noticed it. But with three kids, easier to try to stay in main area while at buffet. If we were without the kids, I’d wouldn’t mind going there as an option. Well if it weren’t for the kids, we’d would have eaten daily at Moderno.

On 2/18/2019 at 9:44 AM, roger001 said:

Just off the Jade.  We've been booking the SF suites for the last half dozen or so cruises.  We do enjoy the location and view off the balcony.   I think we are kinda burning out on the suite experience though.  We just don't use all that is offered.   The suite prices seem to be going up and up and not worth the difference to us anymore. 

 

On this cruise, first...the Jade crew were the usual wonderful NCL crew that we always found on every ship.  They were great.  They really act like they are family with each other.  We hung out at Magnums, the whiskey bar down on deck 6.  We were on the Dawn last and I though the bar tenders there on the Dawn were fantastic.  I gotta tell you, the four bartenders and a couple of servers there on the Jade might have been even better.   They obviously really liked each other and were fantastic making the drinks.  And the guy we settled on poured heavy for us.  But then with a drink package who cares.  Just get more. 

 

And for suite service, our butler Pedro was a super nice guy and always ready to help, always bringing too many afternoon snacks that I didn't need...but kept munching on anyhow.  The concierge Bruno we never saw except once up the suite breakfast location. He wasn't even at the check in lounge when boarding.  That was handled, including escorting onto the ship, by other NCL employees.   But, not really his fault.   For the entire ship Bruno is the only concierge, no assistants or anything.   Poor guy has responsibility for all suite services on the ship.  He is spread way too thin.  If you are Platinum looking for concierge service, I wouldn't count on it.  However, Bruno did provide contact info and would have helped us had we requested.  We don't ever need anything though. 

 

For us, the suite restaurant breakfasts didn't measure up this time.  We went up first two mornings and both times the orders were either mixed up or cooked wrong or both.   However, the staff were wonderful as usual and would have been happy to get us another order.  Didn't want to wait for that though and just ate what we got.  We hit the Great Outdoors after that.  But again, think we are just burning out on those suite breakfasts a bit anyhow.   

 

Other thing, we had a bunch of non refundable on board credit which I was going to use to give vouchers to the three persons serving the suite.  Have done this before.  Went to service desk, said what I needed (three vouchers), he said can't do, must wait until last day and then fill out a large form he got from the back office.   I said no, little easy forms in your desk there.  He said no, don't use those anymore.  I left, came back later, another guy.  Told him what I needed, he said sure, pulled little forms out of desk, filled them out, gave me a copy.  Worked great.  Told the first guy later when I saw him.  He still said no, it wouldn't work.   It worked fine. So if you know you're right don't give up.  Check with someone else. 

 

I had the WiFi promo and the other Platinum Plus WiFi.  I had a mess signing on and off.  Twice it stayed on line and used up most of the minutes.  However, the internet manager was a super guy, restored my minutes both times.   We both scratched out heads trying to figure out what was causing it.  He did say you occasionally had to sign out twice to get it to hang up finally.  First three days the WiFi was really slow.  Coming back it was very good.  Internet manager said the Jade had been upgraded but ship's position and cloud cover affected it quite a bit.  

 

We thought the food at the various places we ate was just fine.  Staff were great and service really good.  Something for everyone on the ship.  Ship pizza will never be gourmet, but the buffet pizza was actually the best we've had on a ship.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it...unless I think of something else.   

 

Here's some Great Outdoors (love those omelets), O'Shehans,  Butler snack partially eaten already, and Osso Bucco also munched on already.  

 

 

 

I was on the Jade 1/24 - 2/1 in a 2BR Family Suite. Had Pedro as Butler and agree...super nice, but brings in too many snacks. Did the suite breakfast a couple of times and had no problems. Enjoyed breakfast in Moderno, was a relaxed atmosphere compared to hectic Great Outdoors (was a bit of a chore finding a table).

We had Effrin as a conceirge, and saw him plenty on the cruise. WiFi was slow for us. 

14 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

Would you be able to get chocolate dipped strawberries delivered to your room every day.

You could....just leave a note to the  butler stating you want them. Best off probably doing it daily

If using the specialty package through room service from a Suite, make sure to clarify with your butler that you are using the package and to check your bill on disembarkation day. We got charged for our room service from Cagney’s, when we shouldn’t have. Had to go to the front desk and get that corrected.

4 hours ago, klarson1027 said:

It will be 6 adults and probably each person will have a suitcase. Do you think we can pack in? What kind of vehicles do they consider uber XL?

With carry on luggage...probably. With 6 checked pieces of luggage. No

4 hours ago, klarson1027 said:

What is the best way to travel from FLL airport to Miami? We are staying a few minutes from the port. There will be 6 of us in our party. TIA.15 days out on the Bliss.

Depends...do you have kids that require a car seat? Do you have a lot of luggage? UberXL says it’s designed for 6 passengers, but it probably won’t have room for everyones luggage if everyone is bringing a suitcase. 

I’m using QLS the day of cruise ($13pp, 5 of us, shared shuttle) to pick us up at hotel near FLL and take us to the Port of Miami. 

1 hour ago, AK Dreaming said:

My friend is on the Getaway now and told me it was $17 for a Jack and Coke.  When he questioned they said they just raised the drink prices.  I was just wondering because I have a UBP for next month and I thought it covered everything up to $15.00? 

Well if they actually bumped the price of Jack, so it’s over the $15 threshold, that sucks. 

Maybe it was the Coke that bumped the price up 🤷‍♂️. If it’s a Jack and Pepsi, maybe it stays under $15.

11 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

It's not a country.

It’s an island that is part of a country (The Bahamas). 

1 hour ago, Georgie562 said:

 

How so? They work 7 days a week I don’t blame them if they “ call in sick “ on such opportunity. 

Well implying that some crew would fake being sick so they don’t  have to work. I’d hate having someone questioning my integrity if I was one of the crew who caught nirovirus.

On 1/7/2019 at 6:22 PM, cathi007 said:

My reason for a no answer would be simple. What if you really LOVE the Haven. Now that is the only way you will ever want to cruise. It is very expensive, you could probably do twice as many cruises for the price. That's why personally I would never do the upgrade. I wouldn't sit at the Haven all day, I like the sun (the roof is closed a lot). I like the specialty restaurants. I would never use a butler, not my thing, and I love the casino. But to each his own, so good luck on whatever you decide and more importantly, have an amazing cruise 🙂

So looks like I screwed myself by booking a 2BR Suite for an upcoming cruise after only doing inside rooms previously 😬

It seems like when they added the free airfare promo/free internet perks, that was in lieu of the onboard credit. Maybe at it will come back whenever they revise their promo.

8 hours ago, Phaedrus78 said:

About to head out on our first NCL cruise in two weeks, and I’ve noticed a few times on this board that it’s been mentioned that “chair hogs” are a problem. I didn’t run into any problem on our only other cruise (Carnival Glory), but we’re on the Epic, our first “mega-ship”. 

 

Are chair hogs usually a problem?  What do people do to combat that issue?  Is there a policy of any sort on NCL?

Depends. If you want a chair near the pool or in a shaded area, those will be in demand. If you are looking on the sun deck, I never had a problem there. 

Our last cruise on the Spirit, they had a kids pool in the back of the ship and never had a problem finding chairs (granted it was In January and school was in session). 

I’m fine with people leaving their chairs for legitimate reasons (using pool, bathroom, grabbing something to quick to eat), I just don’t get the people who find the need to send someone early to reserve 8 chairs for a group who won’t be using the chairs for another couple hours, where all 8 are never using the chairs at the same time and where they hardly using it at all. It seems more of an issue I see at resorts then cruises though. 

14 minutes ago, taraavo said:

Re: the room service / continental breakfast, are you still charged the 7.95 delivery fee for the continental stuff or is straight up included without additional fees? I think having something to get started in the morning on the balcony sounds nice. I've also heard the coffee in the restaurants / room service is better than the in room coffee? Is there anything to that or just BS?

Continental breakfast is free, but limited to basic pastries, cereal, fruit, coffee. If you want Belgian waffles, eggs, etc., that’s when the delivery fee kicks in. 

If the Jade has videos on demand, there is a cost to watch them, unless you are in the Haven or have a suite (mini suite not included). There still are movies on a loop to watch.

Jade was refurbished in 2017 with flat screen tv’s...I thought that included upgrade to on demand videos. I could be wrong though, cause I can’t find anything on it. Found a thread with the Gem (sister ship...refurbished 2016) with on demand movies available (albeit it was a Haven Suite...so maybe just Suites/Haven have it 🤷‍♂️)

1 minute ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

 

Yes, I have heard.  It is honored at GSC though and I am hoping that HC becomes more like that if NCL owns the whole island including the shops/bars/restaurants.

I doubt it...it’s income being generated for NCL. Don’t see them turning back on it now. 

5 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

On the Getaway leaving Sunday.  I would absolutely love it if we could use the ship card and especially the UBP on the island. 

As do I...but the UBP isn’t honored at Harvest Caye.

On 1/6/2019 at 5:12 PM, GizmoCat said:

 

How much is it to rent a clamshell?  Do you think it is worth it?  Thanks

 

I believe it’s $40...if you have a shore credit, it can be used for it...so definitely worth it in that case. 

3 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

So you aren’t allowed ask about things anymore.

 

to be frank I’m sick of hearing people, on so many topics, get told by others that cruising may not be for them. Same as attacks on people asking about various types of drinks or bottled water.

 

i recently asked about Canera brands on a particular line and got similar responses from some, sure the ship not selling the camera I was after wasn’t going to destroy my cruise, but with all the oBC I had it would have been nice.

It’s one thing to genuinely ask or inquire, but the OP post is just a negative rant/complaint. 

Its one one thing to ask if ESPN is one of channels available on the ship, another to complain that it wasn’t available (especially from an experienced cruiser). 

I get what you are saying about the “cruising isn’t for you” comments, but someone coming off a cruise and just posting about all the negatives about it comes across as a person who may want to reconsider cruising on NCL or any other cruise line.

16 hours ago, Fk3908 said:

C’mon now. If you’re concerned about the internet, coke or Pepsi, type of beer, sparkling wine in your room, food at the buffet, etc etc, does that mean “cruising probably isn’t a good idea” also? It’s a nice perk to be able to catch your favorite team/sport on TV for a bit while on vacation. For what it costs to cruise, I don’t think this is too much to ask from the cruise line. Thankfully, from what I read here, NCL DOES show many of the popular “American” sports on TV on most of their ships. Good to hear! 

 I’ll be on the Encore in January 2020 and hoping to catch some hoops while sipping on my favorite adult beverage! 

It’s one thing to ask honest questions about a cruise/cruise line, but the OP post is purely venting dissatisfaction on NCL for them not having ESPN (plus no lobster and soda issue). 

Sure it is a nice perk to catch your favorite team on TV while on vacation, but I wouldn’t expect it on a cruise (unless it was a major event). 

The OP’s post comes across as negative. It’s one thing to say “overall, I enjoyed the cruise, however wished they had ESPN, served lobster and gave the whole can of soda to me” and another to just list the negatives of the cruise. It comes off as those reasons were why your cruise wasn’t good.

As mentioned, the OP has a fair amount of experience cruising and reading boards. I’m surprised he didn’t know this beforehand.

If having ESPN is really that important (that’s what the post is about), and one is upset enough to have a post about it (a completely negative post btw), it comes across as you did not enjoy the cruise and you should re-evaluate whether one should be cruising on NCL or any other cruise line.

Just my two cents

31 minutes ago, Cruising to Retirement said:

Leaving on 1/10 for 5 night Cruise-  Hope all the playoff games are on also-- Fly Eagles Fly... 

They will...have cruised during Wild Card weekend and Conference Championship before and there was no problem finding game in your room, casino, or bars. Depending on ship might have it on pool deck if it is a sea day.