MellaJoyce

On 12/15/2021 at 10:47 AM, ElizaSTN said:

Do you happen to know if the day passes ever sold out?  I’ve read they are limited but was wondering if with reduced capacity that might be an issue.  

On our cruise they didn't. In fact, we were able to walk in and book 3 different treatments for same day with no problem at all. The ship was 60% capacity; I'm assuming as they get more people on the ship, the less available things like that are.

9 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

The encore spa is supposed to be one of the best correct? Anyone know how much those passes were recently? Can they be purchased upfront with FCC or only onboard? 

We were on Escape last week and they also have the fancy thermal spa with all the saunas, steam rooms, salt room, snow room, etc. It was $249 per person for the week or $39 (I think) per day, plus 18% service charge. We bought the one week pass for my husband and while it was nice, he didn't go every day and so a day-to-day pass would have been cheaper.

19 minutes ago, notworkste said:

The wifi is adequate for work, if slow. Don't try downloading large files and don't try video calls. I never actually tried steaming though, thankfully I was able to disconnect, but wife had a bunch of studying to do.

It actually broke on our trip before Cozumel and though the IT guy was vague, I was informed they sent over a tech and a dns server to fix it, it was resolved when I checked as we left Cozumel.

We were on Escape last week as well. I had pre-purchased the Unlimited Streaming WiFi package to get the better rate. We brought our wireless router from home and hooked it to our main laptop device with the account on it. Then all our devices just automatically connected and we shared the wifi. Once in a while it'd be spotty or a little slow, but for doing the basics, it was a life saver.

We fought the internet for the first 2 days before we broke out the router. It was awful! Trying to use it on one device, then disconnecting to use on another, then it'd reconnect back and forth on its own....I even out of desperation bought 2 more packages, one for each of us, and it still wouldn't stay connected right. So, wireless router and the high-end package were the answer for us.

Hopefully they'll start opening up those younger kids clubs soon for people with younger kids. For us, we'd just order her room service dinner and then we'd go out to the specialty restaurants. She loved it, and at 12 years old, plenty old enough to be left alone locked in the stateroom while we went to dinner. If she'd been much younger though, that would have really made it hard.

I got my 12 year old the soda package on Escape last week. It seemed to cover everything she asked for - soda (Pepsi mostly), milk, and vanilla milkshakes. The milkshakes she got from the bars and never was there a charge added; the soda package seemed to cover all of the drinks she ordered.

Agree. No package, but can order as needed from bars, etc. In fact, on Escape last week, all the signs just said things like "with parental approval" (a waiver likely) or "with parent present".

We just got off Escape last week. We were onto the ship by noon, but the Haven Restaurant wasn't quite ready for guests yet. So we all went to the American Diner for the "kill time" lunch. While the food was okay, I'd never on purpose choose that diner over the Haven Restaurant. We ate at the Haven multiple times throughout the week; the diner was kind of meh. In hindsight, even the food we saw/sampled from the main dining room buffet was better.

12 hours ago, nicole&darren said:

Could you use it at Starbucks more than once per day? Was there a limit? Trying to decide if it's worth it. Thanks 

We used it more than once a day and never had any charges. We also never had any lines either.

On 12/4/2021 at 8:22 PM, saltsandknit said:

on the Gem it was at Magnums and it was advertised heavily.

On 12/2/2021 at 5:57 PM, phillygwm said:

That's nice, but which bars have Veuve? 🙂

Just got back from the Escape. I was able to get Veuve at every bar I tried except O'Sheehans. Haven, Atrium Bar, Cagney's, La Cucina, a couple of other random bars. 

We just got back from cruising on the Escape in the Haven. After we met up in the Haven lounge to drop off hand luggage, they took us to the American Diner (specialty dining) for a free lunch while we waited for our rooms. That was handy. We weren't in a "let's explore the ship" mood in our first couple hours on board. We were hungry and wanted to get to our room and settle in first. 

After lunch, we popped up to O'Sheehans to have our muster station scanned and there were people already in there eating as well. 

We didn't notice any dress code - basically dress how you would at any other semi-nice restaurant. Shorts, tees, sandals, etc. all were acceptable provided they were neat and not full of holes. My daughter was the only teen 90% of the time in the Haven last week on our cruise, but the older folks wore shorts, etc. without anyone looking out of place. 

The reason they emphasized the "not a drop off" condition is that there is no formal supervision in there at all. I did let my daughter (3 weeks shy of 13) just go in herself while I loitered out in the hall to see if they'd let her just hang out or kick her out once they scanned her card. No one was even there to check. So if you have a mature 12-year-old you can just send them down to hang out during those times with the caveat that they might turn the child away if there is anyone supervising.

On 12/3/2021 at 3:24 PM, marksfamilyof4 said:

Does this boat now have a designated Starbucks store onboard?

 

Yes - It was just to the left of the Atrium Bar (when facing the bar) on Level 6. Took us several attempts to finally find it - it's called the Atrium Cafe or something, but it's basically a Starbucks.

On 11/28/2021 at 2:09 PM, notworkste said:

Not much to add to this thread, but some of my observations.

 

• check in and Covid testing was very easy. We decided to do a 1430 checkin and take it easy and it was a breeze. Only hiccup was the covid board, stopped working. 2 of us got texts, 2 didn't and eventually we were let through as a block.
• walked all over ship last night, it was dead, it was really nice
• busier today, lots of walkers on jog track at 7am. had whole basketball court to myself with a football (soccer) for an hour
• food at garden cafe is great (but Encore was better), English bacon!
• washy washy really stepped the game up, we're serenaded now to weird al worthy crew singing "wash your hands" to jingle bells
• Manchester United v Chelsea switched over to NFL games not even started, 10 mins before end of the game, and crew blamed the bridge!
• Big bad. The daily has info on offers at Tradewinds, it's false. They actually printed out a new daily at some point. Felt like we were lured there under false pretenses. Crew blamed Miami making errors on the daily.
• Staff are absolutely marvellous
• The captain sounds little like Blofeld in Her Majesties Secret Service, hypnotizing you with his little chat on the intercom!

 

 

Hahaha on your observation of the captain's voice! One day he was announcing something and was listing off numbers and he sounded just like the Count from Sesame Street. We loved his accent and way of wording things.

On 11/27/2021 at 5:48 PM, drumexpert510 said:

I will find out.

We just got off this sailing as well. They told me they were at 60% capacity for passengers. It was great - no crowds, no lines. On port days, the ship felt virtually empty!

We just got back from sailing on the Escape with our 12-year-old daughter. Entourage was not budging on the age limit, even with her being 3 weeks away from being 13. Totally understandable.

However, they did open up the Entourage room for "Feel Free Play" time for families with kids of all ages. It wasn't a "drop your kid off" program, but opened up the facilities to offer more kid-friendly activities.

My daughter went in there once, found the one other 12-year-old on the ship (or so it seemed). They played a little Mario Kart, but really there wasn't much to do. She spent some time at the arcade, water slides, and ropes course, and would pop down to the Haven Bar for a milkshake or to the buffet for a snack. She and I attended the art auction and participated in some of the Trivia games. Otherwise, there really wasn't much to do without kids her age to hang out with. She ended up getting extra "vacation screen time" to play games online with her friends back home. 

I will say that we felt pretty safe having her walk the ship unattended. She obviously wasn't roaming the corridors with staterooms, but the public areas, the Haven areas, the buffet - all felt pretty safe to us.

I am on the 11/27 Escape sailing and can confirm that Grand Cayman has turned into a Sea Day. This was the reason given: Our team has been working diligently with the local government agencies to be able to return to these great destinations. However, at this time, the Cayman Islands are not yet ready to accept cruise calls, and therefore we are unable to continue with the original itinerary.

This was one of the two ports we had an excursion on so a little disappointing but I don't mind an additional sea day. It makes the cruise feel longer if we're not super busy on excursions and are just relaxing instead.

On 10/2/2021 at 4:35 AM, SpainAlien said:

I haven't been on our first cruise yet (11/27 departure), but I'm curious...why are these chairs such a hot commodity? Most of them look like they're under some sort of roof or overhang, and they're not appearing to be overlooking the sea, just other chairs or a railing. 

My 12-almost-13 year old daughter will be with us on our 11/27 cruise so that’s why I was asking. (She’s vaccinated). Maybe I’ll try again calling the cruise line. Just wasn’t sure if anyone had their vaccinated kids onboard yet. 

I know there was a lot of questioning around whether the kids' programs (Splash Academy, etc.) would be active in the current sailings since children under 12 won't be cruising. I was curious from those of you who've been on the recent sailings, did they still have the programs for kids 12-17 running? 

We're on the Escape leaving November 27. I was able to book excursions and all dinner reservations online a week or so ago with no issue. Maybe it was just a glitch or something to do with that ship?

We're in a Deluxe Owner's Suite w/Large Balcony (Haven). To us, it was worth the extra $ even before we were able to use so many accumulated FCCs. 

1. We hate being in crowds, so a 'haven' away from the crowds to relax is a must.

2. We are "sip drinks and read books on a balcony"-type people, so we wanted a lot of our own space plus the less crowded sundecks.

3. We almost went with the 2-bedroom family suite but the balcony on the Escape is small. The DOS w/LB has 2 bedrooms.

4. If - IF - worst case happens and we're quarantined in our room for any length of time, we wanted a large room vs being trapped in a small inside/balcony stateroom.

We spent around $10K on our original booking for a 2-BR Family Suite in the Haven, but the subsequent 6 cruise cancellations built our FCC up just over $15K, so we're cruising in style. 🙂 I already warned my daughter we'll never cruise at this price point again so enjoy it!

96 days and counting! After 6 cancellations I think we’re finally going to get to go! This will be our first cruise ever. 

We’re on the Escape in the Haven DOS with Large Balcony. It has a second bedroom and bathroom even though it’s not advertised as a 2 BR. It’s a fold out but in its own room vs the living room. Perfect for a child or extra guest so they don’t have to sleep in the living room. 

I just got this notice today for our 11/27 Escape cruise:

Given the guidance of globally recognized experts, including that of our SailSAFE Panel led by former Commissioner of the Food and 
Drug Administration Dr. Scott Gottlieb, we will continue to require: 
1) all guests and crew to be fully vaccinated at least 2 weeks prior to departure, 
2) all guests to acknowledge vaccination status prior to sailing, and 
3) al guests to present proof of vaccination at the pier at embarkation in order to board. 
Guest vaccination requirements are for all sailings through December 31, 2021. Guests who are not old enough to be vaccinated will not be allowed on these sailings.

So looks like there will be no kids under 12 unless they expand the vaccine in time for younger kids.