mshaines

I guess we're in the minority (and maybe this was being on an edge class ship?), but we HATED le petit chef on Apex in March. Took 45 minutes to get a drink. I skipped the drink pairings because it was clear there was no way they could keep up. Everyone was served at the same time and they just couldn't handld it. Food ranged from pretty good to really not good. Show was very cute, but all in 2.5+ hours (we abandoned ship at 2+ hours but before the last course). Loved everything else we did on Apex, including the grand bistro for lunch. But hard pass on LPC.

Hi all. We're sailing Apex in the Retreat on the 23rd. Three questions I was hoping to get feedback on. First, is a romper acceptable evening dining room attire for a woman (if anyone knows)? I have a couple dressyish ones I wear with heels, but I see an argument that they are shorts and therefore not approved. I don't want to put the host in an awkward position. Obviously, can wear pants or dresses instead, but I find these outfits to be fun and comfortable so I thought I'd ask if anyone had experience/knowledge. Second, I know there's discussion on this elsewhere, but I was wondering if anyone has recent feedback on edge class Luminae having the MDR classics available. My husband loves Caesar salad and steak and I am a big fan of french onion soup. I know you can't order off the MDR menu in the Edge class Luminaes, but I've seen conflicting reports here about thinks like caesar salad and steaks just being generally available. Finally, maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen confirmation of whether butlers are back on Apex for the SS. (Sorry, not trying to further the traffic on butler gate! Just curious!) This will be our first X cruise and I'm very excited!

@CruisingTheWaves. Would appreciate if you would report back! We sail on the 23rd of March. Expect it to be a very full ship, so would be nice to have the more specialized attention.

Glad to hear this. Hoping they will be back on Apex for our cruise next month!

Charla - Fellow lawyer and early 40s cruiser here (though I consider myself elder millennial/oregon trail generation lol). Thank you so much for doing this live posting. It has been delightful to read. We're doing our first X cruise in March on the Apex and your thread here has made me even more excited about it! Hope you have a fabulous final evening and a safe trip home!

We were onboard in December. We only took our son in the evening and they were broken up by age group. He loved it.

Thanks!

Seriously considering rebooking an NCL Alaska cruise on the Koningsdam. We're booked in the Have on the Encore just having trouble justifying the price since we don't care about a lot of the large ship amenities. Would definitely want CO, but not necessarily attached to having a Neptune Suite and availability this summer is seeming limited. Forgive the dumb question (and hijacking the thread), but what is the best way to figure out whether CO is still available? Just call HAL? (I typically book online using one of the TAs that does good OBC or refund after the cruise; service when you call them can be somewhat mixed.) TIA!

As promised, I posted a review of our 3 night Seashore experience (Dec. 7 to 10): https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=709638. Happy to answer any questions.

Same and same! Crossing my fingers!

I hadn't seen this before. Thanks!

Trying MSC on the Seashore for the first time next week. Will be in the YC. Any tips for making life a bit better? My husband and I have both read and seen some pretty terrible reviews, so we're a bit worried about our choice.

I don't know that my American customer service expectations can go that far lol. But it was MUCH less painful that I had been expecting based upon this chain, so I'll take it Very excited and will let people know how the cruise goes!

Well, thank you all for the feedback. Jamie, you can throw a party - the VC people fixed the DOB issue for both (confirmed in the app)! So, I guess this is just a system I need to get used to.

Oh boy! But thanks for the warning! Best to set reasonable expectations, I guess. And granted the price differences, there is a degree to which I think it's unfair to expect some things.