DavidOrawan

Why for royal is the drink package so expensive? It make the cruise so much more than other cruise lines. It's almost as much as the cruise itself? 89.99 per person + gratuities. And that on-sale precruise.

Does anyone have information on how busy the aurea top 19 Solarium is on the MSC Seashore/Seascape?

48 minutes ago, D_And_K_gocruising said:

Exclusive Club Balcony Suite Amenities

• Distinctive Purple Keycard
• Pre-book onboard dining as early as 125 days prior to sailing
• Pre-book entertainment as early as 21 days prior to sailing
• 1 complimentary valet laundry
• 1 bottle of sparkling wine upon embarkation
• Treats delivered to your stateroom twice per week.

 

Well their site says one of the perks of a club balcony is an exclusive purple card.. so, there's that.. 🙂

 

Crap, my last cruise Club Balcony and have a green card. Maybe I shoild complain 🤔 

Club balcony on Breakaway was green in January 

Big price difference between VV and NCL for same cruise.

VV 4842 no extras

NCL 3778 with drink, dining, wifi, excur, pkg

July cruise same dates and ports.

If on a cruise with warm weather and a day or 2 at sea definitely worth it. If like our last cruise from New Orleans in January, unusable 1st 2 days and last sea day would have been wasted money. I canceled before and so glad I did saving 3 x 229. 

6 hours ago, unionhall said:

We are just back from the 5 day Bermuda cruise on the Getaway. These are my comparisons from cruises this past year. We never had a bad meal on Virgin Scarlett Lady and we never had a great meal on the Getaway. The food was cold in American Diner and in the Garden Cafe consistently. The salad bar and dessert were better than the meat in Moderno. This was the first cruise for me where there was always a half hour wait when we went to OSheehans and we tried all different times. I believe there were 4400 passengers sailing so it was a busy ship. The food was not once worth the wait.  The best meal we had was at Teppanyaki and we all joked it was because it was hot when we were served. The entertainment is lacking during the day. The worst was a Scattergories game where  the host didn’t give a letter for the question so it went on for way too long listening to over 30  people read out their answers.(ie.. the way the game is played the question is name 5 countries that begin with C. When people write the same country you get knocked out but when your not given a letter there are way too many options.) There were no afternoon shows in the theater. There was a time when you could see a magic show, a juggler or a mentalist but now it’s bingo. There was more daytime entertainment on the  RCL Oasis and definitely more evening shows. Million dollar Quartet was enjoyable but we have seen it many times. Rumors was not on this week in Syds.  I liked the late night  pizza on Oasis over the wings in Osheehans. Watching a football game in Playmakers is fun watching the games on Getaway with no sound not so much fun.  The casino could do with the glassed in section for smokers that other NCL ships have. Oasis wins there with its non smoking casino in a different area.  Getting a drink while playing slots in the casino was almost impossible some nights. The worst was when they took your card and then didn’t come back for twenty minutes holding you hostage to the area. We had previously booked the ten day Caribbean cruise on the Getaway  for February and for the first time in over 45 years of cruising I am not looking forward to a cruise. I was platinum on Carnival when I stopped cruising that  line in 2016 because of the poor quality of food. I am Sapphire on NCL and I do enjoy the dinner with the officers but that isn’t enough to get me to book NCL again. We sailed on the Prima in January out of Port Canaveral and then in March to Bermuda. The ship isn’t for me. I liked the cabins and the food hall. The outdoor space was amazing when you could use it but out of NY in the cold weather there wasn’t much time. It was too crowded  inside on the bad weather days. The point of my post is we are lucky  that there are so many options to chose from when you want to cruise. When your usual line no longer makes you happy don’t be afraid to try out another brand.. I am booked on Royal and Celebrity this year and I am looking forward to finding the line that suits me now. If Virgin would home port in the NYC area that would be the front runner.

Where is everything getting this cold food? Just off a week on the breakaway and the only cold food I got was supposed to be cold.

On Breakaway it was 12 or 16 oz cans last week.

On Breakaway last week. Wait in line about 30 minutes then when they opened the doors 75 cut in front of people waiting.

6 minutes ago, CruisingSince1982 said:

Married adults and adult child. It's going to be tight. I doubt we will do it.

Doing it right now on the Breakaway, 

Plenty of room and storage.

Parents and adult daughter.

Keep checking, I just cancel 3 vibe passes for breakaway Jan 7th cruise.

229 for January cruise on Breakaway 

Last cruise on Escape we got off at approx 10:30 latest available.

Good idea, get it before it's sold out.

Travel agent said was for the $20 pp per day for 1st 2 guests in a room. So 7 day cruise $280 not sure if room credit or they just pay NCL directly?

Thanks for the responses, I went and got the 3 passes for Vibe. I figure better to have them and not need them then to need them and not have them. It is vacation and we can afford them so what the heck.

1 hour ago, vacation44 said:

I have 12 passes reserved for our June 2024 extended family cruise on the Joy and will be paying for eight of them so I understand the big additional cost factor.  When I did my budget 18 months ago, I factored it in.

Yes, if it was a summer cruise I would have already got the passes too, just that my last cruise we did have Vibe but the bar outside Vibe, same bartenders was never really crowded and we really didn't have an issue finding seating nearby, but if I was going on same cruise again would definitely get it again or for any spring summer or fall carribean cruise

Yep, had Vibe on Escape last week April, was nice but have to see if it's worth the 700?

Just now, zackarykeef said:

What ship and itinerary?

Breakaway out of New Orleans Jan 7th western carribean 

2 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

Only port hours (or storms) are likely to make H2O and pool decks less crowded.

 

Thanks, just trying to figure out if it's worth almost $700 for the 3 of us? Shouldn't be to many kids and a little cooler weather?

For a cruise Jan 7 has anyone been on cruises this time of year and think Vibe passes are needed or is the H2O and pool decks not as crowded?

Have to agree, if you are worried about covid last place you want to vacation would be a cruise.

6 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

I can't speak to wines, but for cocktails, they had more mid-shelf items in the plan.  Plus, the plan included specialty coffees, fresh squeezed juices, smoothies, bottles of water, and yes, actual entire cans of soda if you wanted them.

The princess package is $420 it looks like if you compare with and without. 

I would like to try one of the bigger RCCL ships but they are very expensive for the same cruise. For Seaview balcony with beverage and dining. I do see the special pricing on balcony are interior balconies. 

22 minutes ago, MacGuffin3 said:

How many beers did the cast pour for you?

None why?