the_dylaness

Different strokes for different folks, but I like a nice, relaxed easygoing Caribbean cruise. Just the antidote to too much work in the cold midwestern winters! Sometimes I don't want to have fun, I want to laze around and read a book and be taken from island to island 🙂

On the table? I can't tell if you are exaggerating or not but if not, that is absolutely disgusting. I don't even wear shoes in my house much less on the surface where I am eating.

I understand why some like the hallway connectors rather than in room... but for us, traveling with two young'uns, the interior connecting doors are the way to go!

I respectfully disagree. We had connecting CC cabins 1136 and 1138 on Reflection in November, and the connecting doors were interior. A bit weird that our two rooms had different attendants...

So disappointed to hear of the concerns with Blu... Not that I think it's the best restaurant in the world, but I like it well enough. When we were in AQ on Equinox in Jan 2018 the service was pitifully slow.

I have been on one Carnival cruise (which I will never do again) and a handful of Celebrity cruises. Above posters pretty much summed it up. I also felt that the one Carnival ship I was on had just horrendously tacky decor (Carnival Legend, about 11 years ago). Even when I sailed the older Mercury in 2009 it looked... to have a patina... and a bit out of date, but rather like an aging, classy sort of style, rather than tacky neon crap everywhere. I did not like my Carnival cruise at all. Only cruise I have lost weight. Food was overall terrible, drunk, bawdy, rude people all over the place. Not saying at all that everyone on a Carnival ship is rude and classless but those who were there certainly made an impression.

I had issues with this on Reflection in November. I actually do like some techno music. When I want to listen to it, at a volume of my choosing. Not blared into cafes and lounges without discrimination. Rumor on this board seems they are trying to get millennials and other younger demographics who like to travel, to sail their line... This frequent traveling, frequent cruising (technically millennial although I don't identify with them) thirtysomething does NOT like it.

I don't really want to spend extra on top of what we paid for CC for my kids to eat food they are not likely to enjoy... I will accompany them (and the nanny if she chooses to go) to the MDR for lunch and see what happens. It's not like these are my grown college-aged children and I'm trying to slide in with them. They are in preschool and 3rd grade!

I too am surprised that 2 are booked in an FV... We have tried to book these in the past for our party of 4 and were completely refused. We ended up booking 18+ months in advance (with a 5th dummy person booking) to secure one! Ultimately for unrelated reasons we had to cancel that trip but it was still quite far from sailing so I would think they would still have held it for 5. I know X doesn't cater to kids but I have to say I don't think they offer very many options for families in terms of room arrangements. (I'm sure some of the giant suites are probably adequate but something in a more "medium" price range...) What would be incredible is something similar to an FV but maybe with two somewhat more equally sized bedrooms. A shared central living space, two (small is OK!) bedrooms and two baths.) These could be good for groups of friends traveling together, too. The 2 bedroom Haven suites on NCL Escape are similar to what I'm describing although the second bedroom is quite a bit smaller with an interior bathroom, good for kids, less great if you are the second set of friends 🙂

We have adjoining CC and AQ staterooms in Feb AQ containing myself and DH CC containing our two kids (5 and 8 years old) and nanny We really hope that we will be allowed to dine in MDR with them for embarkation lunch. We have no intention of trying to take them to Blu, ever. But there is not any way that we can enjoy Blu for the cruise (which we've done on 2 or 3 prior cruises and liked reasonably well) AND have a sit down lunch on embarkation day in the MDR, at least that we can conceive of. If our kids are CC and we are AQ is there any chance we can dine with them on embarkation day lunch? Embarkation day sit down lunch is kind of important to us. Call me silly, but it is something that we particularly enjoy. (They don't like sushi.)

No commentary on this topic for Crystal, but it made me think of some hot debates recently on the Celebrity board. Basically, a few "upper level" balcony cabins (Aqua Class, Concierge Class) have been advertised for years as coming with footstools for the balcony chairs. These have apparently started disappearing... and the new Edge ship (and maybe some retrofitted Edge-ified ships as well?) does not have balcony furniture conducive to any sort of dining, apparently. I tried to imagine myself on one of these Celebrity cruises, enjoying what they call "Modern Luxury", whilst enjoying a room service breakfast tray placed directly on the floor of the balcony and eating off it it while sitting on the floor... I really appreciated how easy it was in our balcony room on Serenity in 2017 to enjoy a meal in the room or on the balcony. The raising/lowering coffee table made it simple. I don't do it every day but one reason I love to cruise is knowing that I can order a fantastic meal to my room to enjoy while reading a book or listening to music in my pajamas!

No, we did not request Blu for the passengers in the CC cabin. Our kids have no interest in a 2 hour dinner in Blu. They also like to eat dinner at 530 or so, too early for us. We rarely eat dinner together on a cruise due to different food and time preferences. We almost always have breakfast and lunch together, and for dinner we go our way and they go theirs. Often a buffet dinner or room services for them. We took them to the MDR for dinner once or twice on our 10 night Reflection cruise and no one had fun. So we split and all have a good time.

I have sailed on NCL three times - once on the Jade (not in the Haven, which in my mind was a huge mistake and I would honestly rather have been at home cooking, cleaning, and working- the trip was really bad) and twice on the Escape (in the Haven.... Crystal it is NOT but I had a good time.) All three of the above cruises were with family- my kids though the water slides and pools on Escape were just fantastic. When you leave the Haven it is loud, crowded, a little rough around the edges. The Haven restaurant is slow and the menu is definitely limited but if you eat there 4 out of 7 nights on a week long cruise you surely can find 3-4 entrees to suit your taste. A lot of it centered on my expectations. We don't always (or even usually) sail luxury lines and I've sailed at least once on most of the "mass market" lines so I have a good range of experiences to compare to. I would not choose to vacation with just my husband on NCL but with our kids +/- other family, it was fun. You will not ever find me on an NCL ship outside of the Haven again. Even if the Haven wasn't perfect it was a little break from the noise and crowds (my inner introvert speaking...) Probably once our kids are too old to enjoy waterslides we will not find ourselves on their ships again but I see 1-2 more NCL Haven cruises in our future. Otherwise it was just too crowded/loud/wild/chaotic for my personal taste and I didn't enjoy it. In the Haven I could go with the "someone else is cooking, someone else is cleaning, someone is making tasty drinks, let's have a good time even if it is not ideal!" concept, but not otherwise. I hope you enjoy your celebratory cruise with your mom!

Still so complicated... I sailed on an RCCL ship once, in 2002, for 12 nights in an ocean view cabin. I have 8 points. ???

Exactly! It is so good.