thefleets

I read amazing reviews, too, but was wondering what those who have been thought of the ferry ride over... is it as bad as most people say... lots of people getting seasick in the rough seas?

On our recent cruise, we booked Rome Cabs for airport pickup with the VIP 2-hour mini tour. Since our flight arrived at 8:00am from the U.S., we knew we would not be able to check in to our hotel right away so this option was perfect. We found our driver easily and he escorted us directly to the vehicle without us having to think of a thing. As tired as we were, it was nice to relax in the car and hear about several sights as we drove past. We chose to stop at the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps for a short time, then had some gelato before going to the hotel.

We also used Rome Cabs again for our R/T transfer to the Port. We were a family of four with lots of luggage, so the ease of getting around with expert help was well worth the cost. Speaking of cost, I compared prices for 4 people with several companies and found Rome Cabs to be competitive and not over-priced. I highly recommend them.

We used ItalyTours.EU for our Pompeii and Amalfi Coast tour in early July. I chose them based on reviews and pricing, much less than NCL excursions. The driver was easy to find when leaving the ship, our mini bus was clean and comfortable, and our driver and Pompeii guide were friendly. Instructions for meeting points were clear and all went well. I would definitely use them again. Thanks!

Login.com and Logout.com are your "commands" to sign-in and sign-out against your 250 free internet minutes while onboard, that's about 4 hours of usage for the duration, not a lot.

 

SIgn in (login.com) when you need to do something and immediately sign out (logout.com) and the usage meter screen will pop up to display your usage and remaining minutes. That's is as much alert as you will get. If you go over or run out, it will simply stopped working (some reported that extra minutes were billed as PAYG, thus, it's important to logoff each time, if you forgot - those minutes can add up quickly at 75 cents to 95 cents a minute). If that happened accidentally, speak to the onboard internet manager the first chance you have for a solution or adjustment, etc. - they are generally very nice & helpful, don't wait till the last day onboard. Accured charges are posted to your Onboard stateroom account - you can use the free iConcierge App to check & review it daily for anything out of the ordinary.

 

Satellite broadband is on a shared path with dynamic bandwidth being "metered" and prioritized for ship use, safety & navigation - the # of users active and "online" will affect the experience of all users at any given time. Try to find an "off-peak" time to log-in and you will likely get better results. Can't speak for the Epic, on the Breakaway - it worked great & quite fast for a satellite link (nothing compared to a quantum Fios speed of 75 to 100+ in upload or download, but it works). On the Gem, it was slower but still far better than analog & comparable to old copper DSL line, like 3G speed - but like the BA, upload was faster than download, functional & things like Facetime, Facebook, Hangouts, Skype & basic webmail & online browsing usually loaded.

 

Given the choice of a tablet/iPad or laptop or netbook PC, go with the iPad or smartphone as there's less data "overheads" and turn off background data loading & automatic downloads, as those will clog up and slow everything else down - optimize your setup, ask a tech geek friend to help before leaving to "tune-up" your gadgets first. Have fun !

Thank you!

I had the 250 free mins as one of my fee at sea recently . You log on using the iconcierge app and option given after you register to select the 250 mins package at zero cost. It then clearly shows a circular graph type thing -like you see on speedtest.net - of 250 mins and as you use it can see remaining mins. Then just put in logout.com to browser and it logs you off. I was afraid it wouldn't be clear how much remaining and you could exceed free mins but in fact it was very transparent. Wifi speed in our. Cabin not good. Better on deck. Fairly ok for casual use overall I thought.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you so much!

I'll be on the EPIC but embarking from Rome not Barcelona. Does anyone know if the laundry bag special is still available for those embarking in Rome and what day?

I have this same question for 2017. Leaving out of Rome on a Wednesday-Wednesday cruise. Is laundry bag special on Epic offered?

Disembarkation

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi, I have read before on CC that Epic offers a laundry special sometime mid-cruise but I didn't see it on the dailies. Do you recall that?

What ship and when are you sailing ? What do you wish to do with it ?

 

The free WiFi inTRAnet has limited functionalities with all the options, accessible via the iConcierge App. Some of the features are optional and has a nominal fee, either one-time and/or pay per use.

 

WiFi inTERnet is not free, pay as you go; or, by the minutes or MB plan, or unlimited daily plans; and, in the case of the Getaway & Escape - a new 3-tiered plan including the base social media plan.

 

See this update I wrote up earlier this month -

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2507608&highlight=NCL

 

on T-Mobile, Project Fi or WiFi via dual-sim BLU R1HD using Tapatalk, VPN secured

Thanks on the info about the app... very helpful! Besides downloading the app (and paying the $10 fee per device for the text/talk part), we will also receive 250 minutes of internet use as part of our Epic "free-at-sea" choices. I was wondering how this has been working out for people... for example, if it alerts you when you're about to run out, or automatically charges you more minutes... that kind of info.

We have used iconcierge on the past 3 cruises. Worked great for us on two of them, a few glitches on the 2nd cruise. The reason being I think is I didn't delete the app from our phones and reload it before the 2nd trip. So it was confusing the first cruise phone numbers and that current cruise. Also, regularly close the app and open it again on your smart phone.

 

But on the whole it works well and is great for keeping on touch with the kids.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Thank you!

Just click on the promo and read the Terms and Conditions. Easy stuff.

Good advice!

The drinks and meal options are for me who drinks and enjoys good food are a much better option. We always do at least 1 or 2 dinners in a 7 or 10 night cruise. So for us it is a better choice. Especially when you can get more cost effective and usually (again just my opinion ) more locally run and more adaptive to personalization tours other than the ship offered one's which are really over inflated. . Tax and additional gratuities are more with this choice. I believe the drinks one includes specialty coffees. Just don't choose the free WiFi as it REALLY is not worth it.

 

 

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Forums mobile app

Hi, would you be able to give advice about the "free wifi"? Have you chosen it before and regretted it? Any info you could tell me would help as NCL doesn't give you much detail to go on, such as overage costs, how it works, etc. Thanks!

Specialty coffees are not included in NCL drink package, nor is bottled water.

And I agree--the wifi package is a waste. Upload the iconcierge app to your phone, and you can text everyone in your party that uploads the app too, for the entire length of cruise for only $8.

Hello! Just came across your post while I was researching the "free-at-sea wifi". I have read mixed reviews about the iconcierge app and would love to hear how your experience with it was. I am mostly interested in the communications aspect of it. Thanks in advance for any advice...