hallux

1 hour ago, zombiehunter said:

The person running it basically had it set up like an AA meeting

Yeah, the one on my last cruise got that way.  I went to 2 or 3 and then just found a group of solos that were of the same mindset and we did our own thing.

The enclosed area by the pool may have been a dry-dock addition, but nobody has really reported from the ship since that was completed a couple weeks ago.  

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

Get a hotel room for the day and explore Vancouver, then enjoy a nice dinner. You will enjoy it. 

This.  Or find a local tour company and do an 'excursion' that will take up much of the day.  I did one that went up the Sea to Sky Highway to Horseshoe Bay, Shannon Falls, the Sea to Sky Gondola and Brittani Beach Mine.  That got me back into downtown Vancouver around 3, but they wouldn't take my bag on the bus.  For my bag, it just took a tip to the concierge at the Pan Pacific Hotel (attached to the cruise terminal) and my bag was secured for the day.  I grabbed dinner, grabbed my bag then walked down to the train station to take the Sky Train out to the airport.

Stanley Park also looks really nice, I didn't get there.

21 hours ago, Jordan61 said:

I think it ended in January.

19 hours ago, FBegg said:

No SIX last week on the Bliss.

I believe the last show was on the cruise ending Feb. 24, on the Bliss.

11 hours ago, complawyer said:

forget about good, it was amazing, you have to give the girls extra kudo"s non-stop singing/dancing throughout the show with nary a breather

I agree - I'm baffled that SIX didn't get the attendance that Jersey Boys did, SIX is arguably the better (though less-known) show or at least on par.  Even more amazing is that the 'swing' girls can do THREE PARTS!  I was talking with one, she was an American and had to do three parts with different accents!!

37 minutes ago, JarsInColorado said:

there was no Bible in the library

wait, that's not in the drawer in the nightstand?  lol

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

I think Bliss has a Spice H20.

She does - 

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The Bliss has an outdoors adults-only sundeck,,, which is really not a selling point for Alaska.

But I agree with this, it's not a huge selling point in Alaska.  Alaska would probably be the only place I'd sail on Encore, unless they remove the laser tag and put in Spice during her next dry dock.  But, knowing how NCL has been going they'd probably find a way to charge for it...

8 hours ago, complawyer said:

prior posts have d**ned 6 and praised jersey boys to the heavens

Probably not the place for this, but I thought JB was so-so on my recent Bliss cruise.  I was on one of the last that had SIX and I thought the first night was EXCELLENT, the second night was good but not as good as the first (and I said as much when I took a pic in front of the stage with two of the cast members that were in the first night but had the second off)

10 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Band from the Philippians who had a huge cult following back home called Ice Bucket. They did rock covers from all decades covering things like Bon Jovi, Journey, Toto, Chili Peppers, Beatles, hair bands like Guns & Roses, and all sorts of stuff

Sounds like Siglo on the Bliss - FANTASTIC group!!

4 hours ago, cruiser2015 said:

Well, on the Bliss last month, they were a thoroughly enjoyable group of fellows from Argentina

I saw a slightly different Beatles Experience group than you did (I think Ringo and one of the others swapped out between our cruises, which actually makes it all the more incredible) and I thought they were good

27 minutes ago, K32682 said:

No one expects the flight crew of an airliner to be walking the aisles or acting as greeters when passengers board.

and yet sometimes they do.

28 minutes ago, K32682 said:

but the people steering the boat and getting it to the next port should not be burdened with an obligation to "experience the customer experience."

The Captain has the ultimate oversight over all activities on the ship.  He should be out for this...

3 minutes ago, UKstages said:

some companies provide links to easily download purchased products (airline tickets, theatre tickets, hotel reservations, etc.) to the apple wallet for storage and retrieval.

A lot of them are providing links to download for Android's wallet as well...

58 minutes ago, cabincop said:

Some of us don’t want to print out & waste tons of paper.

I download a PDF of the document and save it to my phone.  Easier than trying to get it into a 'wallet' of some kind.

9 minutes ago, Carol Loves to Cruise said:

1.  Will they provide additional opportunity to reserve once we’re on board?

yes, as soon as you board get to Teppanyaki (deck 6?) and they'll be doing reservations there.  Not all of the reservations are made available prior to embarkation.

10 minutes ago, Carol Loves to Cruise said:

2.  Or is there the possibility they will allow walk ins?

Maybe?  Some people may cancel reservations because they decided to go elsewhere.

10 minutes ago, Carol Loves to Cruise said:

3.  On Royal Caribbean, we were able to order lobster tail (for additional price) to go with our steak in the Main Dining Room.  Does NCL do that per chance?

NCL recently added some selections from Cagney's on the MDR menu.  One of those selections is surf-n-turf for $30.  This is available every night.

24 minutes ago, adidreh1234 said:

I'm a little nervous about this because the departure time is 5pm and I thought we were supposed to all be on the ship two hours before departure.  I feel like it doesn't make sense that they would have a check-in time so late.

Checking in at 2:30 should be fine.  it's not like they make you sit in a 2 hour 'quarantine' before boarding, once you're checked in you should be able to go right up the gangway and still have 30+ minutes to spare before all-aboard.

In case anyone wants to dispute the definitive info posted earlier, this info is in the NCL FAQ right on the website, easy enough to find - https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruise-faq/when-can-i-pre-book-dining

11 minutes ago, poona1 said:

1) Are Vibe or Arcade day passes available to book onboard?

Vibe - maybe, if there's a cancellation.

11 minutes ago, poona1 said:

2) Whats the difference between CruiseNext and CruiseFirst?

Am I correct that CruiseNext is the common registration desk?

CruiseNext are purchased on board, and ONLY on board unless someone is selling one to recoup some money because they need it.  CruiseFIRST are available during booking (or maybe through the website).

13 minutes ago, poona1 said:

3) And related, Whats a double up promo in CruiseFirst?

Exactly what's 'printed on the tin'.

Boarding time is 100% dependent upon how long it takes to clear the ship of the passengers from the previous cruise.  If there's a delay with customs (as there was with my cruise from Miami in January) it can delay disembarkation and cause boarding to be delayed, and there's no way to know from one week to the next if that's going to happen.  There could also be those people that insist on spending every last second on the ship that they can, forcing a sweep of the ship to get them to leave.

2 hours ago, graphicguy said:

Go have a biscuit, or a cookie, or whatever you want to call  those sweet or savory things that are good to eat

not gonna lie, I thought you'd next say hashbrowns.  lol

I've always enjoyed the theater shows on cruises, and having 4 nights of them on a 7 night cruise (two for each show) has been nice.  However, on my 15-night cruise there were STILL only 4 nights of the main theater shows, leading to lots of 'filler' nights.  I still found plenty to do!  As disappointing as it is to have some of the shows go away, I feel like having to only fill an extra night (if I only went to one performance of each of the shows) isn't going to be a deal-breaker for me.

Side note - on the ships with SIX I feel like it could have actually been the superior show, yet there was ALWAYS extra seating for that show and the other show typically packed the house.  

I would contact the access desk.  They can have a fridge put in the cabin.

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising

I can speak to the Bliss, Joy and Escape - the internet cafe on those ships is part of the Atrium, a place that is not often quiet.  I would not try conducting a Zoom meeting there.  I'm not sure how good of video quality you'd have on the free minutes, you might need to have the streaming package to have a decent Zoom call.  You MIGHT be able to get audio-only to work, but you'd definitely want headphones with a microphone to make it easier to hear the other side.

6 minutes ago, shaunmostashari said:

do these ships with no solo cabins have a solo lounge for the solo cruisers?

It was kind of implied in the replies you received, but there is NOT a dedicated lounge if there are no Studio cabins.

ALL ships now have 'solo' cabins, but many lack the Studio cabins that also have the lounge.

17 hours ago, UKstages said:

are you saying they are supposed to block known streaming services such as disney+, max, siriusxm, spotify, netflix and the like? i have never found that to be the case. my understanding of NCL's streaming package is that they allegedly increase the speed. that's the extent of it.

My understanding was different.  Maybe I didn't try the 'big ones' because I assumed it to be the case, but with the standard package I did find some things blocked that could be classified as 'streaming'.

36 minutes ago, cincicruisers said:

I was hoping there would be more show choices.  

As noted - they're not going to license or produce (and somehow load onto the ship) an additional show for the odd 9 day itinerary if the ship is regularly doing 7 day trips.  The best you'll get is a different selection of comedians partway through, maybe a magician and possibly some kind of 'variety' act.

We had 4 comedians on my 15-night cruise, 2 at a time.  I think some extra Beatles Experience shows were booked in the theater and one of the SIX cast members had a self-produced show that seemed a bit of a vanity project for her, which was done in the Atrium one night.  Oh, there was another singer that I never saw perform as well.  Some of these might have been typical on a 7-night cruise with others being the 'fillers'. 

51 minutes ago, UKstages said:

many have been able to stream without the upgraded "streaming" service

Interesting.  I wonder if someone botched a firewall configuration as the ports needed for typical streaming services would be blocked unless the streaming package was paid for.

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

and some guest entertainers are granted "passenger status" and live in passenger cabins.

I definitely saw that on my recent 15-day cruise.  I saw one of the comedians around the ship several times.

I also noticed quite a bit more than usual that the show performers were out and about the ship, sometimes even stepping in and doing a song or two with the bands during their performances.  That also included seeing them dining in the same areas as guests.  I guess some of that had to do with it being a 15-day cruise and they still were only responsible for performances on 2 of those days (for the theater shows).

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

and on a limited number of times per month

On my cruise last year the solo coordinator joined the solo group for dinner once during the week.  He did indicate that it was rare that he could, and his other duties (running activities) needed to be scheduled around it, but it was great to have the chance to 'break bread' with him as part of the group.