jancl57

We used Joe Banana (Italy tour sharing) in Naples.  We did the Sorrento, Positano, lunch at la Tagliata ( superb) and

Pompei.  We LOVED it.  We are taking another Italy/Greek Isle cruise in May.  Naples is a port of call and we are hoping to put together a tour to Sorrento, Ravello & Positano (hopefully with lunch at La Tagliata again). Can't say enough good things about them!

This happened on our cruise on the Dawn in June of 2017.  Port side of deck 5.  Could smell it by the elevators, but it

got stronger in the hallways.  Was "rectified" after 2 days.

I've been on 2 NCL cruises, both on the Dawn and just booked the Getaway for May 2020.  I've only been on 1 , RCCL , the Jewel.  I thought Royal Caribbean was more formal then Norwegian, which we were ok with.  We actually like the formal nights.  We cruised in 2016 and at that time RCCL allowed only 1 person in cabin to purchase the beverage package.  Not so anymore. We found the service on both to be wonderful.  We thought the food in the main dining room better on RCCL and the specialty restaurants were amazing.  We have only gone to Moderno on NCL.  Had reservations at Cagney's, but somehow NCL "lost" our reservation and we wouldn't be seated until 9:15.  2 hours after our original reservation, despite the fact I had my reservation slip with original time. So we nixed it.  No real big deal, things happen.  Didn't ruin our cruise.

 We did comparison shopping for our upcoming cruise in May of 2020, and got the best bang for our buck with NCCL.   

Bottom line, in my opinion, is both cruise lines have pluses and minuses.  Go with the notion that you are going to have  a great time!

On 9/10/2019 at 7:22 PM, Cindyscruising said:

Hi I have an upcoming Greek Isles Cruise ( departing and arriving Venice). Will be using NCL air promo ( from JFK) and arriving into Venice early morning the day of cruise departure so I will not be staying overnight in Venice.

 

I am thinking I will need some Euro's during the cruise shore excursions for items such as souvenirs, food, glass of wine etc as I am sure I will be coming across some places that don't accept credit cards. For those of you who have done a Europe cruise did you exchange cash for Euro's here in the US prior to your trip ( I am guessing many of the large banks can do this for me?)  or did you do the currency exchange someplace in a port?

 

Thank you very much!

Cindy

I always get Euros before we take our flight to Europe.  We usually fly in two days before and stay at a B&B in Rome.  We get a discount for paying in cash.  We use Euros for shore excursions.  I just prefer to have the cash we will need before we get there..

8 hours ago, joejoe 59 said:

We cruise May 28th first time in Europe, flying from Australia.

We are booked on the May 28th cruise too.  We went on a similar one 3 years ago on Royal Caribbean.  Several of the same ports but a few new ones too.  We are really looking forward to it!  Have you thought about any shore excursions yet?  I think we will definitely plan on one in Naples/Amalfi Coast.  We took one 3years ago and it was amazing.  Will probably book one in Florence too, although we visited Tuscany last year.  Lots to look forward to!

1 hour ago, Sauer-kraut said:

Just the name changed, no worries.

There is also a new package that covers more, and it has a different name.

Thanks....and what would the new package cover?  Bottles of wine at dinner?  I'm fine ordering glasses of wine.

On our last NCL cruise in June of 2017, we had the Ultimate Beverage Package as one of our 2 perks.  We just booked a cruise on the Getaway

for May 2020 and we have the Premium Beverage Package.  What is the difference?  On our past cruise we could get any cocktail/wine/beer up

to $15.  Has that changed?  Thanks!

On 8/26/2019 at 4:46 AM, joejoe 59 said:

Love everybody's great positive attitudes, you will find whingers everywhere,  we choose to ignore them & make up our own mind's. 

We fly from oz next year to cruise the Med on Getaway, can't wait.

 

We are cruising to the Med on Getaway next year too.  What date are you booked?

I have a question about the specialty dining.  We will be on a 10 day cruise in May 2020.  We received the 4 perks,

BP, 4 specialty dining venues, internet and shore excursion credits.   We did not have the specialty dining package

on our previous NCL cruises.  Can we make reservations ahead of time or do we have to wait till we are on board?

Thanks!

We just booked the Getaway for the Italy/Greece cruise for May 28, 2020.  Did a similar itinerary in June 2016 on RC Jewel of the Seas.  Really looking forward to visiting Naples (did a shore excursion to the Amalfi Coast, Santorini & Mykonos again. Never been to Kofor, Croatia or Corfu so that will be nice!  Can't wait!

Good morning. Anyone know when NCL will release their European itinerary's for spring/summer 2019? We are looking g to book the Epic in May or June out of Rome or Barcelona

Thanks!

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We were on this cruise in June...we just walked around Dock Square on Sunday...weather wasn't great...explored the shops and enjoyed the quiet of the ship!

Thank you for such a great review! We did the 9 night cruise on the Jewel of Seas last year. Am researching the Mediterranean cruises with NCL as we have 2 cruise next certificates to use. We really want more then the 7 night cruise on the Epic, so was looking for reviews of the Spirit! Thank you again!

We cruised on the Dawn June 9-16. It was our 2nd cruise on her, first after refurbished. We love this ship. We have never cruised on a mega ship before. We like the intimacy of the Dawn. There weren't any issues that we were aware of. Would cruise onnher again in a heartbeat. Enjoy!

We just returned from a 7 day to Bermuda on the Dawn. We too are active 60 year olds. Wished we had more time in Bermuda! Also, plenty to do on the ship. I would 100% advise 7 day!

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I 3rd Castle Island. We love it there. Great lobster roll at Sullivan's for about $12. So worth it. Enjoy!

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I encourage you to reframe your thinking on this. If you are trying to recreate your previous cruise and the amazing time you had, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. I'd say the same thing if you were going on the same ship and itinerary as the previous cruise. I've cruised Alaska four times, and each has been different and each has been amazing but in different ways. If you go expecting the same experience you had before, you may be constantly comparing and the present often falls short of our cherished memories. Can you tell I used to be a therapist? LOL. :)

 

I'm doing the same Epic itinerary in the fall but I'm boarding mid-week in Rome. I cruised out of Barcelona last year and spent several days there pre-cruise. What an amazing city! I let myself get lost in the Gothic quarter and it was an awesome day! I'm really looking forward to September's cruise and being back on the Epic. I suggest you look at photos and read reviews. The Epic is a quirky ship and it seems people either love her or hate her. When I sailed on her last year, it was my first time on a mega-ship and I was hesitant, but I ended up loving her. I would have preferred more sea views, but other than that I thought she was a great ship and can't wait to be on her again!

Thank you for your response. I'm not trying to recreate our cruise of last year. I know that would be impossible. It was my first trip to Europe and that in itself made it so very special. I'm pretty sure we are going to book this cruise for the spring of 2019 and stay in Barcelona for 2 or 3 days prior. Looking forward to stopping in ports we haven't been before.

We are actually sailing on the Epic in February, Western Caribbean itinerary. She will be our first mega ship. Have read the reviews. It seems people either love or hate it. I'm pretty sure we will be fine with it.

I look forward to reading your review when you return!

It is per person per cruise....not per day! Good luck! Hope you get it!

We booked our recent cruise with an online TA. The OBC was on our account by the time the ship sailed at 4:00!

I have read the reviews and it does have me excited about doing this cruise in 2019! We will be on the Epic in February, so will know if we want to cruise on her again. Since we are not picky at all, my guess would be that we will book the Barcelona trip on the Epic when we return! We will definitely do a few days post cruise in Barcelona. Our previous European cruise did not include Barcelona! Will anxiously await your review! Thanks!

A short & sweet review. This is the 2nd time we have taken the Boston/Bermuda cruise. Last time was in 2012. Same week. I will say, 5 years ago the weather was nicer. Although, this time around, we had just as much fun, maybe even more! We were in an OV cabin this time. Last time a balcony. No issues with the OV at all. In fact, if we do this cruise again, I would probably book the same cabin (5582). On port intensive cruises, we love having a balcony.

Cabin: OV 5582. Could not believe the amount of storage in these cabins! More then enough! Raymond, our steward was great. Barely saw him, but always had our cabin clean and when we did see him, always had a smile!

Dining; Average. We dined in Aqua the first night and thought the food was very good. Service was too. From there it kind of went south. But, we are very easy and my feeling is, "I didn't have to cook it or clean up after it so its a win/win". We preferred eating in Venetian for breakfast. Only ate at the buffet for breakfast twice. While in Bermuda or on Sea days we usually got lunch at the Bimini Grille or grabbed a sandwich from the buffet.

We loved Moderno. Food and service was great. We "had" reservations at Cagney's, but

somehow they got messed up. We arrived on Wednesday for our 6:15 reservation and was told our reservation was the night before. I didn't check the slip thy gave me when I made the reservation. I said Wednesday, but apparently they heard "Tuesday". They really didn't do much to try and accommodate us. Offered us 8:30, but the couple we were with wanted to go to the 9:00 show that evening. No biggie. Went to Aqua instead and was seated right away.

Entertainment: Only went to Band on the Run and it was great. My brother-in-law and his girlfriend went to most of the shows and reported back that they were all great!

We loved DJ Dan. He was great. Also loved Gino and Simon, Assistant cruise director.

Casino: Went every night after Bliss Karaoke. Won every night! Not much, but a win. Only stayed for an hour tops. Came home with more money then we started with! Even after purchasing, for $250, $500 worth of cruise next certificates!

Ship: I love the Dawn. I have no problem with the "mid" size ships. Although, that is all we have ever cruised. I would book this cruise again.

We had a great time and wish we were back on the Dawn!

Balywick, thank you for your review! We are seriously considering taking this cruise in June of 2019. (I know...2 years away is a long time). We just got off the Dawn's Boston/Bermuda. Will be on the Epic in February. Last year we were cruised RCI out of Rome and loved it. The Barcelona itinerary intrigued us. we would prefer a 9 night, but since we've done Rome, that could be a quiet day for us. (We did Naples too, but would do the Amalfi Coast tour again in a heartbeat, but nix Pompei). Thanks again, you may have sealed the deal for us!

By let down I mean, we had such an amazing time last year and sometimes when you try to recreate it is a let down. Having said that, we were on a 9 night cruise with RCI, Greek Islands, this one is different ports so only thing I think will be a let down would be the 2 less nights! Thank you for your response!

p.s. "Barcelona transfer cruise" is a typo! Sorry....started thread on my iPhone. Auto correct. What I meant was Barcelona r/t cruise.

Maybe trans-atlantic?

 

It is not until 2019 which is way beyond my thinking stage anyways. Rare we would book anything less than 6 months out - often more like 3 months.

 

As to cruising on the Epic from Barcelona - yes, lots of people have done it. Bet there are a number of reviews. As to let down - please explain your concerns and folks here would be glad to help out.

By let down I mean, we had such an amazing time last year and sometimes when you try to recreate it is a let down. Having said that, we were on a 9 night cruise with RCI, Greek Islands, this one is different ports so only thing I think will be a let down would be the 2 less nights! Thank you for your response!

I've done the Caribbean twice. Once in April and once in May. We are doing the Caribbean in February, 2018. Very excited about that as we are from Boston and Lord knows what our winters can be like! I did enjoy April & May... a very nice reprieve after our long winters.. but I think the February cruise will break up the winter for us! Also, we are both recently retired and really looking forward to cruising more often!