Twipenne

On 12/15/2022 at 8:57 AM, pookel said:

I've never been on a cruise before so maybe there's more to it that I'm just not aware of. Can someone spell out for me what the appeal is?

It's relaxing. NCL's ships, especially the ones built within the past 12 years, are huge and bustling places. And that's nice. It means there's actually stuff to do.

But sometimes, being able to get away to an area that's quiet and relaxing makes the vacation so much nicer. Also, personal note, despite only being in my early 30s I got into a bad car accident 10 years ago that left me with lasting back problems and the therapy pool and heated stone loungers are amazing for pain relief.

On 12/20/2022 at 8:59 AM, cruiseny4life said:

And Tony certainly made good use of his studio cabin, based on his YouTube videos when he was onboard the Getaway. I'm a big guy too and don't think I'd have any issues, except that studios are interior rooms (nothing wrong with the size, just the location on the ship). 

Larger woman here and can definitely say the people who designed those cabins put significant thought into how every inch of that cabin is used. Easily enough room for a week (that said, I still remember my West Philly studio apartment, so I may be biased due to experience with tight quarters)

On 12/13/2022 at 1:45 PM, mianmike said:

 

That's totally what's happening.  That has been spoken to during investor earnings calls.  They want to keep the price (before fees) as low as possible.  When people price compared cruise lines NCL was not coming up near the top so they introduced the Sail Away rate.  The Sail Away rate enticed people to NCL, but most end up booking the higher rate cabins.   By shifting more and more revenue from the base fare to ancillary fees enables NCL's initial prices to appear competitive.  But that can only go so far and thus the plethora of marketing gimmicks.   

They're doing it because it works. It's the same reason hotels have introduced resort fees and airlines are upcharging for more and more. The vast majority of people go onto Google/Expedia/Kayak/etc and sort by price. And it's going to continue until we have laws that force these companies to show the actual price of a product after any and all taxes and fees are added. 

On 1/11/2022 at 6:36 PM, KurtMo said:

I'm on the 1/29 sailing of the Escape, so the 1st week back (at this point in time).  Who knows what next week may bring?  I guess I'll play the waiting game...  (Refund preferred over FCC)

Same sailing here! And yep. Now time to just sit and play the waiting game

7 hours ago, Snowrose said:

$99 for an antigen test? Well, now we know where NCL is making their money...

Actually, that's not terrible. The locations around me wanted $129 for an antigen and $239 for a PCR. I just went ahead and booked the Inspire Diagnostics test though, which was only $40

This is my first time sailing out of Port Canaveral and I was wondering what the best way to get from the airport to my pre cruise hotel (the Cocoa Beach DoubleTree) would be. 

I got off my first cruise ever on the Escape just as things were starting to kick off (literally the last sea day was when they decided to restrict access to the buffet) and I had an absolute blast. For what it's worth, I found the solo cabins to be phenomenal. Dinner and show reservations were made for us each evening, the latte machine in the studio lounge meant I didn't have to pay extra for Starbucks and we even got the chocolates that are allegedly reserved strictly for Haven guests (when I saw them, I honestly thought it was a mix up. Why would I be getting these? I hadn't complained once.) I know you said you're definitely going Haven again, but if you want some alone time, a studio is about $4k cheaper and while you lose the bar and restaurant, there were a number of perks that were still offered. 

I loved the thermal suite as well. Best $200 I ever spent, even I didn't have back issues from a car accident 5 years ago. It was just so relaxing. I didn't even get in the main pool since I had access to the spa.

15 hours ago, waterjock said:

I believe the smaller spas are $199 and the the newer larger spas are $250 for 7 nights cruise.

I thought the Escape had one of the larger spas? I just paid $199 yesterday for my cruise this upcoming week.

On 1/8/2020 at 6:44 AM, david_sobe said:

A floating prison.  Just like the hotel in the movie The Shining

I had not done an Alaskan Cruise, so I chose it for my mom and me. My family and I have done lots of cruises. We go cruising at least twice a year, usually 7 days cruises. We have gone on over a dozen cruises. We just got back from cruising with the Norwegian Pearl last Sunday, and we are not to happy with it. My mom stated that she was on a paid floating prison. The captain and cruise director were horrible. There was no clear itinerary. We could not understand the captain and the cruise director over 95% of the time. I was in the dinning room, the Summer Palace, this last Saturday, 07/15/17, and even the staff did not understand him when I ask her what he was trying to announce. The cruise had no festivity atmosphere, we felt like we were on a dead boat. It reminded me of the movie, The Shining, Steven King's horror movie. A lots the time, the boat would come into port late in the day, so we could not really do anything on our own, and they would try to sell you these overpriced excursions. The last port we docked was Victoria, Canada, which we did not get in until 8pm and were told that the ship would disembark by 11:30pm. Where would we go in that space of time and lateness in a strange city? The captain of the ship never announce when we were to reach port the day before. The cruise staffs were disorganized. I have cruised with Carnivals and Royal Caribbean, over a dozen cruises, especially living in the Houston-Galveston area, where the cruise ships come in every week; this is my first time with Norwegian. However, I would never cruise with Norwegian again. I would warn other not to cruise with them.

 

Chicken from the bar?

My mom is disabled and this was her first cruise and last cruise with Norwegian. We experienced several issues on this cruise line. The first day they lost my luggage which didn't arrive to the room until 10 pm. When inquired about my luggage staff members were very nonchalant. In the casino my mother and I was asked by waiters on two different occasions if we wanted to order chicken from the bar. The bar did not serve chicken they only served liquor. We had to educate the waiters that not African American people eat chicken. The entertainment was awful. The food was okay. A piece of hair was found in my food at the Garden buffet. They only catered to a certain genre of music. Also, pay close attention to your receipt upon checkout because they will apply many unauthorized charges. Cruise with Norwegian at your own risk. Not worth the money.

Between you and me, I wanted to like this review. But I would give it zero stars if I could. 

For starters, no mention of a demand for a full refund. That cost me my bingo. And the lack of mentioning it was a zero star experience cost me a double bingo. I have read reviews on Cruise Critic several times, and this is not what I have grown to expect from the CC Reviewer community. People trust reviewers to tell us exactly how the sailing was the worst possible waste of money ever. Theres supposed bad grammar and random capitalization to accentuate the fact that theyr REALLY PISSED OFF.  Reviewer completely wasted my time and should be fired from ever writing reviews ANYWHERE! THEY NEED TO BE BLACKLISTED! I am demanding compensation for my time for reading that, in the form of $25 in OBC for my next cruise (which I'll probably hate as much as reading this).

Ok. How was that? This is my first time giving a negative review on anything.

**Originally posted on the NCL boards and was referred over here.**

I've been considering whether or not to do a transfer to FLL from PortMiami vs taking a Lyft. The main complaint I see from people is that the a transfer through the cruise line is more expensive. Since I'm travelling solo, however, it looks like I'd actually save about $15.

Flight departs FLL at 2 PM and I have PreCheck to (hopefully) expedite security. In my situation would it be wise to save the cash and go through the ship or should I just wait for when they allow independent passengers to get off and schedule a Lyft?

As always, answers are appreciated in advance. (And alliteration is alluring.)

Cusp of spring break means that it's still a good time away. There's plenty of time to ask for time off of work and I can still manage to snag a deal on a flight and a hotel.

If NCL were to start slashing prices now, all they would be doing is training their customers to book 90 days out instead of a year.

4 hours ago, bob brown said:

Agreed!

I would love to see NCL do some more (and more varied) New England/Canada cruises out of NYC.   Most of these are crowded into the early fall.  Would like to see more all summer.   

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the selling point of Canada/N. England cruises to provide New Yorkers access to the foliage in the fall?

Sorry for bombarding this board with noobie questions, everyone.

I've been considering whether or not to do a transfer to FLL from PortMiami vs taking a Lyft. The main complaint I see from people is that the a transfer through the cruise line is more expensive. Since I'm travelling solo, however, it looks like I'd actually save about $15.

Flight departs FLL at 2 PM and I have PreCheck to (hopefully) expedite security. In my situation would it be wise to save the cash and go through the ship or should I just wait for when they allow independent passengers to get off and schedule a Lyft?

As always, answers are appreciated in advance. (And alliteration is alluring.)

So, I've looked all over the internet and can't seem to find anyone else with the issue I'm having. For the Jan 25th Escape sailing, I'm no longer able to reserve anything since they changed the ports around and one of my shore excursions never got cancelled. Every time I try to book something, I recieve the following error:

"There is something already booked or in your cart that conflicts with this activity for guest 1."

It doesn't matter what I try to book or when. No shore excursions, dining or shows. I can't even order internet. Am I SOL or should this be fixed by the time I board the ship?

1 hour ago, blueslily said:

 

Yep. Research could help with many of the complaints we read in the review section. Of course there are things that pop up that cant be prevented by research. During my research, when I realize that a ship, destination, cruise line, process, etc is not a good fit for me, I move on and look at other options that might he a better fit for me. Its not like people dont have options.  Some may have more options than others of course due to various factors. And even if a person never heard of cruice critic, which many have not, there are certainly many other options for getting info. And if you use a TA who doesnt give good info, time for a new one.

 

I had a hair stylist who went on her very first cruise during hurricane season. She used a TA. When she got back, she told me about some weather issues, but says she still had a good time. I asked if she knew it was hurricane season. She said no and that the TA never mentioned that. I scratched my head. Glad she still had a good attitude about it, but she said she wont use that TA again. She could have selected another option if given more information. This was years ago. I dont think she was doing her own internet research back then. No hard feelings about TAs, just sharing an example. Her attitude helped her get the most out of the bad weather situation. Good attitude helps sometimes. 

 

Are TA's supposed to mention things? Mine did nothing but add an extra free at sea perk to my booking and send me an invoice (though I get bombarded by the agency with shore excursion emails despite take the excursion credit as my extra perk)

I'm sailing solo on the Escape on January 25th and am trying glto book my dining reservations. When I pulled up Bayamo, it showed that every night, the only reservations are for even numbers. Can I book a table for 2 and Judy show up by myself or would I incur some sort of penalty for that?

Error

On 7/15/2019 at 7:55 PM, YankeesFan4Life said:

Here's a better question, totally not to sound cheap...since I've already spent a small fortune on this cruise anyway, what's another couple hundred, right??

 

Wife and I are booked in separate rooms...one each with a kid, did it that way to gain extra OBC (so again, no complaints about spending a couple hundred....)  What if I took the PPBP,  and she stuck with the PBP, and I went to the bar and ordered two drinks on the PPBP???  Ordered ONE bottle of wine at dinner and shared (which she did on her Sky cruise in May with no issues)......Is that a bad idea?  Think the bartenders would hesitate giving me TWO drinks worth $35 at a time???  Or should I just stick with the plan of both getting the package?  Inquiring minds want to know.....

I'm a solo traveller, so I never looked too heavily into how Norwegian stands on this, but I have heard some lines have in their fine print that "same cabin" extends to every cabin bolted with the same credit card. So, if NCL follows that logic (provided you and the wife aren't paying for your trips separately), you might be SOL right out of the gate. 

If they don't, then how lucky do you feel? You're breaking the rules. You know it. (And this isn't a lecture; I really don't care whether others follow the rules. I'm just stating facts.) Is the savings worth the risk of whatever might happen if you get caught? 

3 hours ago, BNBR said:

Oasis because it'll ruin everything else for you.

 

And you are WAY overthinking "reservations" for shows being a bad thing.  It's awesome.  You don't HAVE to have reservations, you can go in standby all the same.  But it's nice to be able to just walk in earlier and grab the best seats, stress free.

For me, half the fun of a vacation is the months of planning. It gives me something to look forward to at work.

1 hour ago, clevercruiser said:

Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Crystal, er...🤔

Nope. It's the Independence, the Oasis, the Symphony, the Anthem, the Encantment, the Allure and the Rhapsody.

Just an FYI, the dining package prices were still the same for my cruise in January on the Escape. I literally just booked it less than 2 minutes before writing this. So now might be a good time to pull the lever and book a cheaper SDP if you still can.

Alright, so time for stupid newbie question. Am I allowed to book a specialty dining package from NCL if I have a TA or will my agent have to do it for me? 

On 6/29/2019 at 5:41 PM, PortFees45 said:

Frank Del Rio is going to miss customers like you when the economy slows down and the "millennials" he has such a fetish for disappear. 

I know, right? He should be catering to the demographic that is soon to be on a fixed income with 401ks that are heavily market dependent. And as the boomers start moving from their 60s and 70s to their 70s and 80s and start leading to a smaller market overall... well just start scrapping ships, because why cater to people in their 30s and 40s?

9 minutes ago, Kingkonig said:

Sometimes I feel that people on here don’t realize that English is usually the crew’s second or even third language.  Also, while NCL has fantastic crew members, sometimes what one views as rude (a short curt answer), others view as helpful.  

Also, people need to understand that the crew are human. As such, they're going to have days where they aren't at 100%. I'm sorry you had a bad experience OP, but 1 or 2 less than perfectly friendly crew members out of several hundred is hardly "the worst customer service on the seven seas."

As an example, let's take a look at my trip to Disney World in May. When I had dinner at Spice Road Table in Epcot (a meal which would have run me $68 if I didn't have a dining plan mind you), I had one of the most inattentive servers I have had in years. And not just at WDW. Anywhere. Now, I could use that encounter to blast Disney's customer service. Or... I could step back, realize that I had an amazing interaction with literally every single other cast member on property and see that it was a personal problem, not a company problem. 

On 6/28/2019 at 7:52 PM, david_sobe said:

Many cruisers were retirees who were not impacted by the economic crisis in 2009. 

You mean the same retirees who had their 401ks wiped clean?