mbrusyo

I'm looking into options for a European vacation next year, hopefully visiting Italy and/or Greece. My first choice would be an NCL cruise and there are many great options, but I am worried about how my mother in law will do if she has mobility issues. Are all the cruise ports tender ports? She has a hard time walking, so I don't know that it would work well for her. Any advice?

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

What books did you read?

The Perfect Marriage (it was okay), The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (incredible!) and Once Upon a Broken Heart book one (I would probably have enjoyed it more as a light read if I didn’t read Addie LaRue first which was so so so good and so beautifully written). I had been tempted to bring book 2 with me since my friend lent me both but 3 big hard covers and a paperback seemed really excessive 🤣

It’s the last night of our cruise 😭

I truly loved this ship and itinerary. The 2br family suite was perfect for us as a family of 4 and we felt like we made good use of the special amenities and perks of the suite. Our butler Jafar was fantastic- he pretty quickly figured out that my kids are won over by chocolate 🙂 The location was good (floor 11, forward) but since we were vacationing during school holidays it did stay pretty loud with kids running above us and on the stairs until pretty late at night (we did not begrudge them their fun!). Other than that, it’s almost no noise from above which was great, since we were further forward than the pool deck. 

Out of so many meals, I only encountered one that I didn’t care for (beef “stroganoff” in the MDR). By mid way through the trip, my husband and I settled into our favorite routine of going to the martini bar at around 4:30, having a couple drinks, and then having some sushi right when the sushi bar opens at 5:30, as a sort of appetizer before dinner with our kids later in the evening. The kids loved Cagneys the best and our concierge was able to get us one last reservation for tonight ❤️ They also LOVED the wings at O’Sheehans. I liked it there okay, but was kind of disappointed that the tap list was just heinekin lol 

We didn’t go to any shows- we were really more here to just relax and take naps. I ended up reading 3 novels and while I originally thought I over packed on books, I ended up wishing I had 4 🤣 We watched movies too, but I have to say, the movies NCL had available were WEIRD even by my standards. We watched Wakanda Forever and Black Adam with the kids, but most of the movies were really strange (Armageddon Time, Bones and All, Aftersun, The Almond and the Seahorse) 

I loved the thermal suite and highly recommend getting the pass. I used it almost every day and it was a perfect spot to unwind, especially after long port days. 

I would say the only negative on this trip was that there was a really strange and pervasive issue of people sitting on the stairs, blocking the whole staricase and being rude about being asked to move. But it was spring break so I think we just had to be extra patient with younger folks still learning about being part of a bigger world of people 😁

This was our first NCL cruise but I would definitely sail with NCL again 💕

39 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Thank you for taking the time to share what sounds like a wonderful family vacation.

 

My daughter and I loved the rum cake martini on the Epic last month, but then tried the chocolate martini.   No more rum cake martinis for us.

Well then! I’m know what I’m doing tonight now 😁 Thanks for the recommendation 💕

19 hours ago, JGmf said:

Enjoying the review.  Love the Gem. 

 

I'll be in Bermuda in two weeks.  Water will likely still be too cold for snorkeling, but still can't wait to get in at least leg deep!

It was similar to the ocean in NJ during the summer - my kids were in all day and the only real problem was the jellyfish 😳

Today we’re in Taino Bay and honestly, unless you have an excursion you are really into, this port has it all - no reason to leave! Gorgeous pools, lazy river, lots of bars and restaurants with shaded seating and nice music. It’s a perfect way to spend a day! 
 

We actually canceled an excursion to stay here once we learned about Monkey Island which is the #1 thing my youngest son has been looking forward to on this trip. It did not disappoint! He is currently on his second time through and is living his best life 🤣

24 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

It is not the same pizza that is served in the Garden Cafe.  The crust, sauce and toppings are different.  Personally I like the pizza in the buffet better!

good to know! I didn’t try the buffet pizza but my kids thought it was the same 🤷‍♀️ 

Last night we ate at La Cucina, which is the restaurant I was least excited about. However, I ended up really liking my food. I’m okay paying for extras on vacation, but this one was a bit of a stretch tbh. $20 for pizza that was the same as the pizza served in the buffet? And $25 for an entree sized fettuccine alfredo is steep, but tbh I really loved it so I’ll call it a win. I wouldn’t do this one again with my kids, though. They can eat buffet pizza for free  🤣

Today we are in San Juan and got a cab to Escambron Beach, which is quiet with calm water and great snorkeling. 

Also I highly recommend, if you have a family in your room vying for precious shower access after long days on shore, get that spa pass! Every time we get back to the room, I just grab some dry clothes and head upstairs to shower, soak the sun away, and get dressed and ready while my family fights over “the good shower” in the room (the one with the window!) 🤣

Today we docked early in St Thomas but our excursion didn’t leave til 9 so we had a leisurely breakfast at Moderno. My family wishes they had woken up early enough to do so the first half of the cruise 🤣

In St Thomas we booked a full day catamaran tour through Viator - the vendor is Seas The Day. I cannot recommend this highly enough!! It was literally the perfect day. Our captain picked us up right at the cruise pier, steps from the ship, and we told him we mainly wanted to snorkel and have lunch somewhere so off we went! He spent the entire day taking us from spot to spot, where we had the best snorkeling we’ve ever done. He took us to a pizza BOAT! Seriously! It was just floating in a quiet bay and we pulled alongside, ordered a pitcher of something fruity and boozy and got a fresh pizza, which we ate and then swam around the bay a bit. We snorkeled more after that and met some turtles 🥰

This was the only excursion I booked do I just spent the whole budget on this one, basically, and it was 100% worth it. 

Today we’re in St Maarten and we got a cab for $5 per person over to Little Divi Bay where we rented chairs ($5) and umbrellas ($10) and we are enjoying a crystal clear sea. My boys are snorkeling away and I’m enjoying a cocktail from the resort bar right on the beach. I got a Divi Delight and it’s fruity and refreshing ❤️ 

There’s a taxi stand right out front of the resort so this is all incredibly convenient. 
 

last night we ate dinner at Cagneys and were blown away - everything was fantastic. My family still isn’t waking up early enough for breakfast in Moderno but I finally just went without them and now I wish I had done so every day. I had an egg white frittata with mushrooms, leeks and ricotta that was delicious and the french press coffee is exactly what I needed. The regular coffee is fine, but not as good as what I make at home- this absolutely was. 

16 hours ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

Where else will your cruise take you to?  We'll be taking a 10 day out of New York on the Joy, going to the GSC, Nassau, Cape Canaveral, and Bermuda.

we are on our way to St Maarten now, then St Thomas, San Juan and Puerto Plata. Bermuda was an itinerary change pretty soon after we booked last summer, and I was originally pretty disappointed, but now I'm glad we went 😊

we have a sea day today that I just started with a cozy coffee and book session in Spinnaker lounge. It's completely empty in the morning and full of comfy nooks with plush chairs and couches, plus floor-to-ceiling views. 
 

Last night we ate at Magenta and my boys both ordered NY Strips - one was fantastic but the other was tough. We all really enjoyed the cherry pie. 

One thing that's been kind of wild is the elevators- it's almost impossible to get on them and it's so strange, like it's not super crowded around them but it takes FOREVER for one to stop and it is always packed full. After dinner last night my son wanted to stop for ice cream so 3 of us waited for an elevator to go from 6 to 12 and my youngest took the stairs instead. He got up six flights, walked to the back of the buffet, ordered an ice cream cone, waited for us a bit, thought maybe we decided to skip ice cream and went back across the ship to our room - all before we made it up 6 floors on an elevator 🤣

Update: the Rum Cake from the martini bar is now my favorite 🤩 

We set sail from NY on Wednesday and have had an absolute blast the first two days of our trip! We are in Bermuda today and spent the day at Horseshoe Bay, which was gorgeous. I was sure the water would be too cold for swimming but my kids didn’t mind it and spent all day in the ocean. We did the $7/person mini bus transfers and it was SO easy. I don’t know why anyone would do the NCL transfer for so much more $$. The driver gave us a fantastic tour on the way there - I loved it! At the beach there were places to buy water and Italian ice. We headed back around 2 pm and my kids set off to see if they could get some time on the basketball court (it’s been crowded and also closes pretty early, at 5 pm). I’ve been recovering from a hot beach day by napping in the spa 🙂 The thermal suite pass for the week is definitely worth it! 
 

So far everything on the ship has been fantastic. We’re in a 2br family suite and thanks to this forum I knew to push it when every port worker at every part of embarkation didn’t believe we were “Haven” - we’re not, but we’re supposed to get all the same benefits, which Pier workers have no way of knowing unless you force the issue and ask them to check their list. They were all gracious about it after that 🙂

Our last family vacation was to an all inclusive resort in Mexico that had the worst food and drinks I have ever experienced (who LOSES 10 lbs on vacation!?) so my expectations may be messed up but we are LOVING the food on this ship. We ate at the buffet, the lunch at Cagneys and Moderno so far and my boys have been eating their body weight in room service 🤣 (pre-teens!). One tip for Moderno - don’t eat too much that you don’t have room for the pineapple!! It’s so good!! 

The bars have been great - drinks all taste perfect and we have never waited more than a moment to be served, though it’s a pretty full ship. My favorite so far is the bushwacker, but I can’t be drinking multiples of those (it’s basically a booze milkshake) so I am heading to the mojito bar soon to try out the raspberry guava mojito I’ve seen recommended here. 
 

oh! And my kids have the upgraded unlimited wifi, which has been no issue so far. Works fine. 
 

let me know if anyone wants me to scout anything out while I’m on board! I had so many questions leading up to this trip and this forum was a godsend ❤️

picture from my comfy spa lounger, currently looking out at the Getaway docked in front of us 

Yes please to any other photos! I am living for this thread right now 😂

I’m loving your review!!! We are on basically the same cruise, also a 2br suite (11018), in about 3 weeks. Your pictures are making me absolutely giddy! And I swear I searched high and low but this is the first I’ve seen it confirmed that the living room area couch can also be a bed! That’s going to be a huge improvement over having both our kids in the second bedroom. 
 

We're just back from the 9/16 sailing out of San Juan and wanted to share a review.

First, we were fortunate to get to San Juan in the small window between Irma and Maria and we had a wonderful time. What a beautiful island! We stayed at the Marriott Stellaris, which had a fantastic pool with swim-up bar, and gorgeous ocean-view room. We ate at Oceana, which was very special, and at Orozcos, which served a mofongo I will dream about for the rest of my life! Getting to the cruise port was easy and embarkation was a breeze. We got there at 11 and were on the ship before noon, despite there being an enormous crowd. It was all very organized.

I'll break down the rest of the review into categories:

The Ship

The Promenade space inside was very nicely done - open and airy with nice shops and bars lining the sides. The only issue I had with this space was that a lot of activities were done here, like Zumba, and if you needed to get to a shop (e.g., to pick up sunblock for the day because you just ran out!) you sometimes had to put your face at risk by sliding between ladies Zumba-ing away and punching side-to-side. Other than that, it was nice. All areas of the ship were clean and comfortable. Our favorite was the Solarium, which is where we spent most of our time. The chairs there are really comfortable and there's a good amount of shade for those who don't want to roast in the sun all day. The only complaints I had were that it closed super early (8:00?!) and it would have been nice to have some music back there occasionally.

The Entertainment

That brings me to my next topic - entertainment. An 8:00 end time to the adults-only pool and bar should have been my first clue that this was not a nightlife-driven cruise. Actually my first clue was the sail-away "party" that was a short series of line dances (though fun to watch). We didn't do many activities during the day, as we were busy napping on the Solarium deck (until the daily 4:00 BINGO BINGO BINGO announcement, of course, which woke me up every single day!) but the night-time activities were sparse. The late-night venue, the night club on the 13th floor, was absolutely dead every time we checked it out. The most active area at night was the Promenade food counter :')

The Food

Here I'm going to compare with my only other cruise experience, which was Carnival. On Carnival, we found the MDR to be quite good with a fun variety that we enjoyed every single night. We only ate at the Carnival buffet for lunch. But on this cruise, my goodness. The MDR was inedible. It was so boring. Chicken marsala and lasagna? Seriously? I ordered roast pork shoulder the one night we ate there, and was served two thick slabs of dry (soooo dry) pork loin covered in thin gravy. It was disgusting. My husband ordered a steak, and received a thin grey piece of meat that was so sad looking we almost wanted to give it a proper burial. We shared some garlic shrimp that would have probably been tasty had they not been completely in-tact shrimp, which we needed to remove shells and legs from, thus making a disaster of the garlic stuffing inside. MDR = gross. Now, where RCI won over Carnival by a long-shot was the Windjammer. We ate there for breakfast, lunch, and several dinners and found it to be very enjoyable! Caribbean night was my favorite, and the morning they served crepes after breakfast. On our last day, they had a carving station that served ACTUAL roasted pork shoulder (delicious! also, amazing roast leg of lamb!), so I have to believe they knew that garbage they served on the MDR was not actually pork shoulder. We ate at both specialty restaurants and found Chops to be very disappointing. The steak was good, but everything else was off. The spinach, mac and cheese and wine sauce all had a ton of sweetener added, which was just weird and gross. Giovannis was an absolute delight from start to finish. I would have eaten there every night :hearteyes:

The Ports

Well, we didn't visit any of the ports we were meant to, but we did go to St. Croix, Aruba and Bonnaire. St. Croix was by far our favorite. We visited the beach that was walking distance from the pier and it was a lot of fun. The beach was nice, with some really good snorkeling. There were chairs and umbrellas to rent, and a great bar that served cold beer, tacos, and coconuts filled with rum! Aruba and Bonnaire were ok, but we just had a blast at St. Croix.

Misc.

The Captain and the cruise director were fantastic about keeping us updated with news about the hurricane and changes to our travel plans. It made it very easy to adjust our plans and expectations quickly as things changed. The cruise director, Elvis, was just adorable. Someone in that role can often be gimmicky and annoying, but Elvis was just so genuinely charming and enthusiastic it was totally infectious!

If anyone has any questions I can help answer having just come off the boat, let me know! Overall, I don't think I'd sail with RCI again unless it was a totally awesome itinerary not during hurricane season (stupid September anniversary! lol) I prefer a more lively ship with a younger demographic. But I would highly recommend this cruise to anyone looking for a slower, adult/retiree type of atmosphere.