Stealthdog

OBC these cruises will be the most complicated we have experienced and sadly, I'm going to have to track everything to make sure we use it all, particularly the non-refundable so we don't lose it. We have a total of $300 non-refundable OBC per cruise. $100 for shareholder benefits. The benefits submission for NCL was quick and the approval was applied within a day. Kudos to NCL for streamlining this process and making it easy. $200 for AMEX Platinum benefits - our TA did whatever training or partnership necessary with AMEX to be able to apply the AMEX benefits. Only requirement from our part was to pay for the cruise with the AMEX card. For NCL (7 day sailing), the benefits are $200 OBC and 1 dining at Bistro (for two). Non-Refundable OBC is very specific on what it can be used for - don't think it can be used for DSCs, Casino charges, or Cruise Next (someone can correct me if I am wrong). So, the plan is to use it for Spa charges, individual drink upgrades, and Starbucks, and whatever the balance remaining on the last day to make purchases in the on-board stores. We also have $300 refundable OBC ($50 TA, $250 purchased) for the first cruise and $325 ($75 TA, $250 purchased) refundable OBC for the second cruise. We are not as concerned about these because we will get back any remaining balance. We will probably spend these on bingo and casino charges.

We have a number of free at sea, pre-paid packages, and mixtures of OBCs we have to track this cruise. We of course have the standard Free at Sea: $50 off shore excursions 2 meal specialty dining 150 minute internet package Beverage Package We did not pay for the whole Free at Sea Plus upgrade, because it just didn't make $ sense. We really aren't using the NCL excursions (1 per cruise) and don't really care about the alcohol package upgrade (for a few reasons, which I will get into later). We did get portions of the upgrade. We had an AMEX Platinum promotion offer to spend $1K on NCL and get $200 credit back. We got the offer past final payment, and because we were going to spend the $ anyways, we wanted the free $200 back. We both had the promotion, so each of us had to spend $1K. We did get the 2 pack Free at Sea dining upgrade per cruise. For us, being happy with the food on a cruise is probably the most important factor into our overall enjoyment of a cruise ship. So, we think it was worth getting the two extra speciality dinings. We had already booked this before the AMEX promotion, so we cancelled the upgrade, and repurchased it so it would apply to our required $1K spending. We also purchased 1 internet upgrade to the unlimited premium wifi per cruise. We were having some challenges with doing the upgrade on the app because its default is to force the upgrade for everyone in the cabin, with no way to edit it. ***You can buy the internet upgrade for just one person in the cabin by using the website***. We don't need 2 unlimited wifis. The last couple of ships we were on have all have great internet speed - on one we brought our laptop and logged into a server of a MMORPG (online game). There was no lag and connection was stable. We will see how good it is on the Escape. We prepurchased gratuities on both sailings to apply that towards our Amex purchases. Normally we will not pre-pay (unless they are part of a promotional booking) and have them charged to the onboard account. We did buy 1 excursion per cruise through NCL. Cruise 1 we got the Virgin Gorda and the Baths excursion, and Cruise 2 we got the Discover Cayman excursion. Georgetown is a tender port, and we prefer to go through the cruiseline at tender ports just for the ease and not have to worry about getting back to the ship late. Typically, we prefer private excursions because they are usually cheaper with fewer guests. Note - the fine print of the AMEX offer specifically excluded excursions from the promotion, but when this charge hit out AMEX accounts, it applied to the offer. We finished our AMEX offers by each buying $250 OBC....and the $200 credit has already hit our AMEX accounts. We did not buy the Thermal Suite pass this cruise - just didn't seem like it was worth the 7 day price. In previous NCL cruises, buying a spa treatment also gave a day pass to the Thermal Suite for the day of the treatment. Not sure if the Escape does that, but will find out soon! We also did not buy the Vibe pass. We just don't spend that much time at the pools to make it worth it to us. We will be trying both the Platinum wine tasting and Platinum ship tour (at least for the first sailing). First thing I do Saturday when we get on board will be to go to Cruise Next to make those reservations.

We are really looking forward to Breakaway class. We have typically preferred the older, more traditional cruise ship feel, but went on RCL Oasis class ship last year (Symphony) and loved it. Even though there were so many people on board, the ship design did a really good job of making it feel like it wasn't so packed. I think the waterfront concept, it may be the same on Escape too.

Paul - We are only a few days out. See you and Chuck soon. We will probably stop by the LGTBQ+ social the first night (715 at the Skyline Bar).

Thanks! I love the private islands. I would go on a cruise that just goes to a private island and stays there for 3-4 days. First time for Great Stirrup, and have some research to do this week (though running out of time). Of the recent islands, Coco Cay is my favorite, followed by Castaway Cay.

We typically prefer specialty dining on cruise ships because we have been disappointed too many times in MDRs....and have seen too many unsanitary guests in the buffets so normally avoid that as much as we can. We have a total of seven specialty dinings per cruise to use and this review will be very heavy on the specialty dining restaurants, light on the MDR, and probably just a few comments on the buffet and cafes (I'll still post menu pictures): 2 pack - Free at Sea (with booking) 2 pack - Free at Sea Upgrade (purchased upgrade) 2 dining - Platinum 1 dining - Amex Platinum perk We have already booked five dinners per cruise but will need to adjust that because of Supper Club shows we want to go to. We will probably end up doing six dinners and one lunch per cruise in the specialty restaurants. The plan is to do each restaurant at least once, minus Moderno and Teppanyaki. Our favorites on other ships have been Le Bistro and Cagneys, so we will probably go to those two multiple times.

We are in a Club Balcony (MC), 9th deck, the same cabin both cruises. We typically like longer cruises in December (12 days+) because they tend to be cheaper and have fewer children on board. The last 2 years its been more challenging to find a longer cruise that was affordable, and one we were interested in. We still had 4 Cruise Next Certificates to use before they expired, so used 2 per cruise. We also got the 10% military/vet discount from the fare, so this B2B ended up being a very affordable 14 days of cruising. Port Canaveral is a cheap port for us because we don't have to pay for lodging the night before and can get a ride to the port to avoid the parking fees. Its about a 1 hr ride for us - a family member (who is our also our TA) is taking us this time, so this review won't have any information about the parking garages, prices, or experience. We are Platinum status and will be looking to book some of the status events on board, particularly the wine tasting event and the ship tour.

I'll take pictures of all the B2B instructions for you. We booked the same room on both cruises, and didn't participate in any upgrades because we didn't want to run the risk of having different rooms. We are still finalizing excursions this week. So far we booked 1 each cruise through NCL (mostly to spend enough $ on AMEX to get the cash back). We have been to some of these ports several times (Cozumel and Puerto Plata), so we may stay on or close to the ship for some of the stops.

We made reservations on both cruises for Choir of Man. If we like it enough, we will probably keep the reservations on the 2nd cruise and go again. The Pour House is kind of 3rd priority right now to us - we chose the Choir of Man dates we wanted, and then penciled in the nights for the Supper Club we are interested in. I need to go back to the dailys and see what is happening on the other nights we have no plans and will probably do a couple of the Pour House shows.

We are excited to be in our sailing week for a B2B on the NCL Escape, December 9-16 & December 16-23 out of Port Canaveral. Special thanks to @CAKEisgood for their live review from the Escape last week and posting of the dailys, which has been incredibly helpful in planning this B2B. This week before boarding I'll post some background information, packages we have purchased, pre-cruise planning, and hopefully start collecting questions from people looking for information on board. This will be our first B2B, so really looking forward to learning and experiencing that. We did a side by side last year (Royal then Celebrity), which caused us to disembark, go to another pier, and embark a different ship. Planning a B2B has been interesting so far because we can spread activities across two sailings and not try to cram everything into one. This is our first NCL sailing since COVID, and first Breakaway category ship, but have been on the Pearl, Epic, Sun, and Star. Our last cruise was an Alaskan Princess Majestic Cruise Tour (7 day cruise followed by 5 day land tour in Denali) June 2023. Itinerary NCL Escape Cruise 1 (Dec 9-16): Day 1 - Port Canaveral Day 2 - At Sea Day 3 - Puerto Plata Day 4 - St Thomas Day 5 - Tortola Day 6 - At Sea Day 7 - Great Stirrup Cay Day 8 - Port Canaveral Itinerary NCL Escape Cruise 2 (Dec 16-23): Day 1 - Port Canaveral Day 2 - At Sea Day 3 - Cozumel Day 4 - George Town Day 5 - Ocho Rios Day 6 - At Sea Day 7 - Great Stirrup Cay Day 8 - Port Canaveral

Looks like you are having a great time! 2 important questions: 1) What has been your favorite cake onboard? 🙂 2) Have you heard anything about or gone to any of the supper club shows. It looks like they had dinner/show Day 2, Day 5, and Day 6. Keep enjoying your time!

Are the freestyle dailys being delivered to your cabin the night before, or do you have to request them or get them at guest services?

I’ll take the extra adults over no children. 😂

Sometimes we prefer the older cruise ships without the activities because it means there won't be many children on it.

Following! We will be on the Escape for Dec 9th and 16th sailings. Only request is don't break the ship!

Got it on my platinum. Thanks for the heads up!

Who runs that tour group….the Sanderson Sisters?!?

My favorites in no order: 1) Mature clientele 2) Blu Restaurant 3) Longer cruises (though they are harder to find now) 4) Simple, classy ships

All the mainstream cruise lines have been going through cuts. Since cruising reopened we have sailed Disney, Royal, Celebrity, and Princess. Food is the most important experience on a cruise ship to us and the only times we have been satisfied was the Beyond (we ate in Blu) and the Symphony of Seas (we had the ultimate dining package and ate all dinners and most lunches in specialty dining restaurants). We were surprised at how mediocre Disney and Princess were in their main dining rooms (and some specialty restaurants) and the poor quality of meats. Food is always subjective, but I get the disappointment and the questioning of whether the more luxury lines are better fits.

We usually go on cruises early-mid December before Christmas. We prefer the 10+ day cruises - few kids and the ships usually aren't full. But, we had 4 cruise next certificates from before COVID we still had to use so decided on the 2 7-day cruises this time with NCL. We have been a one dog household and have either put him in boarding and dropped him off to Eric's Mom to watch while we are gone. A little more than 3 months to go 🙂

We wore basic hiking boots that provided ankle protection and waterproof. Brand we had was merrell and they were perfectly fine. Any shoes you have that give ankle support should be good. The paths are fairly well managed, but there are inclines and declines and if it rained, it could be a little slick.

I don’t remember a winemakers dinner, but I wasn’t actively looking for it. I love Caymus so could have been convinced! I’ll check to see what brand of hiking shoes we used.

We were June 10th. I loved Mark the Naturalist - he was awesome. We went to a couple of his lectures and listened to his narrations as we were sailing. They were great. We did the same thing - "this is Alaska, this is why we are here" during our excursions and post cruise land tour. 🙂

We just did a sailing on the Majestic (also Alaska, so really can't judge the entertainment either) and I think I agree with every point you made. Princess is a more affordable line compared to Celebrity and I absolutely would go on another one if the price and itinerary were right (or we go on a Princess Casino cruise from the offers we started to get). And the sailing into the fjords and straits were awesome with Princess that you may not get with the other lines, so Princess would be a go-to for Alaska. But, I just don't see Princess and Celebrity being peers. Princess and Norwegian are more similar to me than Princess and Celebrity.

For our 7 day Dec22 cruise, they had different shows on 3 nights (we only went to 2 of them). On our sailing they had a flutist, acrobats who did aerial acts, a hulahopper, the normal dancers, and 2-3 singers as part of the shows. The youtube video was a different show than what was on our sailing, so it looks like they change the shows periodically? Maybe they have scaled back since December as well.....