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Stealthdog

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Everything posted by Stealthdog

  1. We ended up going last night (I’ll post about it today). What a difference a cruise makes. It’s interesting seeing the difference between two cruises. It’s like the ship has completely different personalities every cruise. The more I see, the more I realize that last cruise was one of those Party Cruises I’ve heard and read about. This cruise is a Family Cruise and has a feel similar to what we are used to on a cruise ship.
  2. Yes - we remember! We love having those conversations with avid cruisers because everyone’s perspectives are different we like to hear what other people’s thoughts were on some experiences we haven’t had yet. It was great meeting you two! Hope the rest of your cruise was awesome (I think our dinner was about halfway in).
  3. We haven’t and haven’t come across anyone who has. We saw people doing it during the first cruise. Looked really fun. It’s still something on our list, so it may happen by the end of this week. A group completion sounds like a blast!
  4. Dinner tonight is La Cucina. We had the option of sitting inside or outside on the waterfront. I couldn’t resist this view with all aboard in 15 minutes. 🤭
  5. Day 3 (Cozumel) and back on board. Like the Eastern ports, with T-Mobile you get coverage in Mexico (in this case free data and call service), so you can go off airplane mode and ship Wi-Fi while in port. We spent some time in Spice H2O - not many people on board so it was nice to relax in the hot tubs and loungers. And I finally found something on board that I am good at (besides drinking). Introducing your NCL Escape Dec 16-23 Bean Bag Toss Game Champion…….😁
  6. I don’t know why mine had a tub and yours didn’t. Maybe some decks have them and some don’t. I’d actually prefer not having the tub - we don’t use it and have to climb in to shower.
  7. Ordering the filet without the fois gras came with no surcharge. The server at Bistro will ask you when you order. I’m not a fan of fois gras (agreed, yucky), so had no bill for dinner.
  8. We typically get outside insurance. I don’t know much about the Amex insurance and what it covers. Eric tracks all that. I should probably pay more attention to it. My fee is an alcoholic drink if we ever cross paths. 😁
  9. It is an absolutely beautiful day in Cozumel. It’s a little windy and the waves are still going strong….otherwise it would be perfect. We are docked in Punta Langosta by ourselves. We can see two ships docked in another section - a Celebrity ship and what looks like a Royal Caribbean ship, but it’s too far away to tell. We haven’t docked at this particular pier before - it’s nice and feels safe. It’s multi level mall style. We walked out the mall and to the older shopping district towards the commercial ferry pier. Lots of restaurants and shops to check out. There is a very lonnnnnnng pier to the ship. Best pier runner viewing will be waterfront Deck 8, deck 17 near the Haven area, or cabin balconies on the left side of the ship.
  10. A trivia dream team has been formed this cruise. Eric paired up with @D41. Mr D41 and my role is to keep those two focused on the questions and not get distracted, while we distract ourselves with drinks. We got 19/20 in 1980s music, only missing Martha and the Muffins. It’s time to send Eric back to remedial training. 😂
  11. We are sailing down the Yucatán right now - we just passed Cancun, and have some nice views of the Mexican coastline. Skies are completely blue and it looks like it will be a great weather day in Cozumel today. Yesterday we were thinking about doing the Lucha Libre excursion because it looked like something we have never done before, but when we checked with excursions it was sold out. We have been to Cozumel 6-7 times already, so it’s not a terribly exciting port stop for us. I think our plans for the day will be to go to the gym after we dock, have a spice H2O afternoon on board, and maybe finally try the slides on the pool deck. We might get off for a few obligatory photos of the port, but we are kind of leaning against that.
  12. We saw the Choir of Man last night again. Because we were dressed up and I didn’t want to be called on stage again, we didn’t sit in front of the stage (third row on the right instead). To ensure I wasn’t selected, I avoided making eye contact at the point in the show when I knew it was coming - I looked down at the phone and pretended to be going through photos 😂 They were missing one of the performers from last week’s show, so it was a slightly different show because others had to pick up his songs and the choreography had to change with one fewer performer. If we hadn’t seen it last week, we wouldn’t have known. Note - if you do the behind the scenes tour (at least the complimentary latitudes rewards one), part of the tour takes you to the dressing rooms in the theater. The producer (Carlos) for this cast will answer any question you have about the show. This version was just as high energy and entertaining and we (and the whole audience) really enjoyed it. The performers do ad lib a little with audience participation which is really fun to watch. NCL has done such a great job in getting Choir of Man on their ships and putting on an outstanding theater show specifically on the Escape. If you think about it from a financial standpoint, a ticket for a Broadway, West End, or National Tour is typically about $100/person, at the low end (we have spent more than $200/person depending on seat location). The Choir of Man on the Escape is the same quality as those national tour shows (I won’t say that for most other shows on cruise ships), so getting that complimentary on board is awesome. If you are on a NCL sailing that has Choir or Man, make reservations for it. It’s an incredibly entertaining show.
  13. Last night we ate at Le Bistro. It was our third time so far on the B2B and it was another home run. They held our bottle of Tempranillo from Friday night (last night on the first cruise), so we were able to enjoy that with dinner. We didn’t get anything new, so no food pics. Eric got the steak tartar and loved it again. I got the escargot - the only time I ever get it is on cruise ships so every chance I will order it. 😂. We both got the onion soup. For dinner I got the filet and Eric got the lamb. Everything was cooked perfectly, the flavors were great again, and we were both happy with every dish. I knew something was likely coming for desert, so I just ordered anything for desert. I got the Frasier strawberry desert and Eric got the Marquis chocolate desert. The chocolate is probably the best desert in Bistro, so if you only go once, that would be my recommendation. After the deserts were delivered, the mini birthday cake was brought to the table. It was a very light cake and was pretty good. We didn’t eat much of it because we already had cake in the cabin, but the gesture and recongnition of celebrating a birthday on a cruise ship is always nice!
  14. Thanks. We had a nice dinner at Le Bistro last night and went to the Choir of Man again to celebrate!
  15. There are 2 ways to get the Amex Platinum perk - book the cruise through Amex travel or through a TA that is partnered with Amex. You have to pay for the full cruise with your Amex card. There area lot of travel and other perks with the platinum card (refunds for streaming services, Uber credits, hotel credits, etc). I assume you are asking specifically about the cruise perks. Amex has a perk when going on most cruise lines. The perk depends on the length of the cruise and cruise line. For a 7-day NCL cruise, we get $200 non-refundable OBC and 1 dinner for 2 at Le Bistro for paying for the cruise with our Amex platinum card (through a TA partnered with Amex). it’s not enough to pay for the cruise with the platinum card, you have to make sure whoever you book it through can get the perk applied to your reservation. Many of the large travel agencies can’t do it. Between Amex and shareholder benefits, we start every cruise with a nice amount of OBC. Google “Amex Platinum” and “The Points Guy”. That blogger lays out the what you get for it by cruise line really well.
  16. We like the Club Balcony. The bathrooms are larger than the regular balconies, so that is a big positive to us. The location is nice too - we are right above the waterfront deck, so only 1-3 levels of stairs to get to everything. The one perk I wasn’t expecting was the free laundry. We already get it for platinum status, but if you don’t have loyalty status you are saving $29 for a bag of laundry. On a B2B for us, we are using both because we didn’t want to pack too much. We are getting canapés every once in a while, but to be honest I’m not even used if we are getting the for club balcony, loyalty status, casino, or something else. I would look at the difference in prices. If the club balcony is close in price to a balcony, I’d do it. If the difference is large and you like the location of the regular balcony, the better value is with the regular balcony.
  17. The weather strikes again. Because of the winds we had to go slower than normal last night and today and our time in Cozumel is adjusted. Cayman has also been cancelled because tendering will not be safe enough. So we arrive in Cozumel tomorrow at around 11ish instead of 8, and will leave later in the day since we aren’t going to Cayman. Bummer for us because we have never been to Cayman before and it was the only port we planned an excursion. Everyone will get $50 Non-refundable OBC for port fees for Cayman and refunded any excursion booked as OBC (I assume refundable). Hopefully this cruise doesn’t turn into a 2 port, 5 sea day cruise and we go to Great Stirrup Cay on Friday. 🤞
  18. Someone was sneaky today. While I attended the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle by myself (thought he was going to the Spa), someone orchestrated the decorations of the room while I was gone.
  19. There is this bright thing up in the sky…I don’t remember what it is called. And I didn’t know the sky ever turned blue!!! 😉 The sea is still a little rocky, but nothing like it had been the last few days.
  20. Day 2 Daily. We might have gotten lucky yesterday leaving on time. A friend of mine just texted from the Encore. They haven’t even docked in Miami yet - just circling waiting to get approval. Anyone with flights are going to miss them. What a mess!!
  21. After dinner at Moderno, we checked out the show in the Theater - Legends Live from the Other Guys (same group who does the Supper Club and West End/Broadway songs). They told us during the leaving and reboarding the ship process yesterday that they had a new show. Their act covers male and female legends over the years. It was fun and the audience was really into it. I preferred their Supper Club and 4 Sea Sons shows more, but the Legends Live is worth the trip to the theater. Given this was their first performance of a new act and they will probably make some changes over time.
  22. For those following this review, @APDMOM is doing a review of the Escape this sailing as well. Will likely have different interests, focuses, and thoughts. You can follow along here 2 times the pictures, 2 times the critiques, 2 times the answers!
  23. The sailaway party was moved to the atrium because of weather. We went to the Atrium for a Broadway Musicials trivia and got to watch the festivities. Wow….what a different a cruise makes. A lot more (what appears to be well behaved) children on board this sailing and the adults were just having a good time with the singing and dancing. We didn’t win the trivia 😔 but we did pick up the activities sheet for stamps/signatures. We will turn those activities sheets in on Friday to see what kind of prizes they give out.
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