mking8288

Try my ultimate solution, mini 3 LED lights that run off nearly all older USB plugs & outlet, now that Apple is switching to USB-C ... got a drawer full of these. Better yet, use that with lipstick or portable USB power bank, hundreds of hours in run-time. Fancier one on Amazon, got a dozen of them for $5 on eBay, shipped from overseas & nice gifts for any traveler. P.S. Happy & safe Columbus Day to all, especially those CC'ers traveling abroad - be alert 😉

How about 550 paracords 😁😁😁 since I keep them around for emergencies and as improvised tourniquet, if there's nothing else around. On a more serious note, agreed with @MkeCruzn the router will have to in repeater and/or bridge mode, and not AP configuration to share the "masked" or cloned signal with the MAC addresses. Very often, the server handling the traffic can and will detect these and block it ... saved me a few ounces leaving the Roku stick & remote at home.

Jim - what's the count on total # of pubs that you've visited during this cruise, LOL As our CC friend, John @MkeCruzn mentioned (he ran the CC Meet & Greet on the Epic TA and we share an excellent semi-private tour in Barcelona) La Cucina on these "older" ships is located across the buffet, and used as overflow in the morning for breakfast & lunch on sea days, I think the last one we saw was 4 years ago on the Dawn - it looked okay, dim the lights plus the flickering LED candlelight for dinner - odds are 50:50 that the tenderloin can be prepared just as good as Cagney's (yours looked fine, they often over-cook when asked for med-well & presented as well done) I agree, it's probably hard to see ambience dining there - my recollection of that space is that it's pretty spacious vs. what they are using for Moderno, maybe trading their locations. Alas, dangerous to try to be a fair food critic, since it's very subjective, biased & personal ... but, I had to say, that Caesar salad with thinly ?? sliced chicken does look a bit sad looking, for whatever reasons ... maybe it's the colors or camera, in the photography. Aside from tendering, these are mostly easy DIY port stops that one can explore on their own ... lately, NCL really jacked up their crazy shorex prices, maybe still reasonable for a solo cruiser after applying the $50 per port credit. Hence, maybe we will not spend the money on a balcony & book, last minute, 2 Insides and possibly get an extra $100 (or more) shareholder's OBC per cabin - otherwise, resort to our ways of just winging them on the pier.

Haha, you finally (re)discover La Cucina b/c most of your time aren't anywhere near the Fwd Garden Cafe, it was open during the TA for extra seating and acted as the Fwd Observation Lounge for steerage when the buffet was simply too crowded, and groups of pax turned into inside chair hogs, dawn to dust. We had an amazing sunset dinner by the windows - service was excellent - can access the restaurant directly from Deck 14. The tenderloin was excellent, cooked medium for me and the salmon was perfectly prepared. Have you visited the Bridge Viewing Room yet - go find it & check it out (open on sea days) - I believe it's the only mega NCL ships designed with one. I can see that dress code, as expected, is resort casual - trying to remember if any of the specialty restaurant has a stricter & enforced policy on the Epic. 11 days will be gone before you know it - enjoy each & every day and those precious time. They're amazingly fast with laundry turnaround time and you can probably do another load, just in time before disembarkation with nearly all fresh & clean clothing to wear for your land visits ahead.

Hi, John ... read & followed your recent journey on the Star, all is well with both of you - busy lives traveling safely. Good news being that NCL finally started moving the rollout plans for Starlink, fingers crossed that it will be ready when we embark later next month - you might've learned that it's live on the Epic now, wished we had that back in April as confirmed by CC'er friend that we first met at a M&G several years ago, Dan from Ohio. Following several ships to stay "updated" on what's happening these days, including the Sun, Star and the Jewel heading west to Asia (late 2024-25 for us ??) One of these days, we got to catch up onboard again, DW doesn't want to do shorter cruises anymore, LOL. With the basic unlimited WiFi or free airtime minutes plan, you are 100% correct - have to turn off or disabled VPN, and once done - it's mostly smooth d/l and u/l Regards & best wishes @mking8288 - Henry (and Susan)

This has been true, wait until it's past midnight or 00:01 to do the onboard WiFi upgrade, and save 1 day's worth of unlimited WiFi charge. We did that trade-up in April on a 15 nights TA ... but the daily charge was $25 instead of $30 as it's based on 15 days, When we did that on Day 2, the calculated daily rate became $30 per day, didn't save any money despite trading in our 300 x 2 minutes with the allowance. More recently, last month on the Escape, the upgrade price for unlimited WiFi remained unchanged, whether it was done at 00:01 after midnight on Day 2 or Day 3. Reasons to wait until onboard is that we can use non-refundable OBC for the trade-up ($100 allowance for the 150 unused minutes as trade, higher allowance on a longer cruise with 300 airtime minutes.)

Love, love all the pictures - 😁 😄 😎 is this the NCL "Best of Rome" Selfie walking tour, everyone appeared to be facing in the same direction, listening, except for the fellow wearing shades & backpack, as if he's on security watch for the "group" - got quite a crowd in this pix whereas the others aren't ? Now that Starlink is active, curious as to whether options like PAYG by the minutes are still being offered and price changes, we only saw 100 minutes and 250 minutes as the only other options for $75 and $125 respectively. If and when you get a chance, please check, TIA. Enjoy the overnight stay - night life after dinner ?? BTW, all the pictures are loading & posting "right" side up and not upside down, well done with the tips on fixing it. FYI for others: Camera settings - just did this to my iPhone SE22 to make it more compatible with Androids for unlimited storage: How do I turn off HEIC photos on my iPhone? Go to “Settings” and scroll down. Find “Camera” and click on it. In the opened tab, click on “Formats”. Now you can choose the format “Most compatible

@news70 - I can only go by what we saw last month onboard the Escape - 2 PAYG plan options offered onboard, $75 for 100 minutes or 75 cents a minute and $125 for 250 minutes or 50 cents a minute. Did not see any last minute, end of cruise specials (in years past, 30 minutes and 60 minutes option were available to purchase ... not this time, however. Prices and options might vary by specific ship, YMMV - if Starlink has been activated, then it's perhaps worth spending the money if access is a must, otherwise, wait until you have access to (roaming) cellular data from a land tower. Noticed that we're within range of 4G LTE signal and at that time, Escape (is) was still using EMC as the ISP

Duty-free cigarettes & liquor shouldn't be in the "gift shop" sections of the ship, now that you possibly getting VAT refunds, go hunt them down - if I remember correctly, they are located in a different area, toward Mid/Fwd section of the ship, walk toward the Fwd elevators but they only open up on sea days, outside in open water. It's in another spacious area, just ahead of Tradewinds, starboard side toward the Bliss Lounge & Fwd open atrium. BTW. loving these great pictures.

Love that hideaway lounge/iCafe on Deck 9, above the atrium ... with O'Sheehan's just below. The Dawn refurbished that space and put comfortable sofa & lounge chairs in there, could easily fall asleep there ... called that the mini Observation Lounge (of the "actions" below) while listening to atrium music/band playing, minus the giant picture windows on select mega ships. With the past few days, NCL has resumed shuffling ship schedules again for 2024-25, dry dock & changing (seasonal) home ports ... think we are going to put a freeze on making any plans, aside from one of the older & smaller ships for the Alaska season next Spring. As expected, last minute deals beginning to pop up again with extra Latitudes point(s) - doesn't matter to us - besides, not exactly thrilled to see Bermuda in December, January or February, even as a quick en route stop. Joy's "pure" westbound TA, all sea days only, returning to Miami after dry dock is dirty cheap ... $449+ for Insides, DW and I can each book a cabin for transit, LOL. Back to the Star, how is she in terms of wear-n-tear (should be expected) anything stood up, looked like generally speaking, in good working orders, no plumbing issues or sewage odors, etc. Enjoy those pub & tavern crawls ashore, are you counting how many you've visited thus far 😎

Good afternoon to you, beautiful weather & sunny skies - morning here & another tropical storm sliding north toward NE-Canada again, via Bermuda but not looking bad like last Friday here in NY. How was that pizza place ?? Beautiful pictures, wandering around town on your own or doing one of the NCL walking tours, using that shorex credit plus Latitudes discount ... "incredible" 🙄 😳 😬 prices for joining a selfie tour in town on where best to take scenic pix, LOL. Have you checked out Spice H2O outdoors on the back of the ship, it was pretty quiet during our TA and undiscovered by many in steerage, thus quiet & tucked away ... without all that extra gimmicks like race tracks and virtual 3D gaming, etc. Empty loungers, chairs & places to sit back, relax & read, etc.

FWIW, our $100 NR-OBC were originally posted to our Nov cruise in mid July, with $50 for DW (pax #1) and myself (pax #2) the 2nd $50, as it has been the case for us over the years. It disappeared & when Shareholder Relations readded that $100, no questions asked nor explained what happened ... $100 assigned to DW as pax #1 ... it's from her brokerage account. Either way, doesn't matter as we settled our onboard balance with BOA joint account. Perhaps, another one of NCL's IT thing and subtle changes that's insignificant to most but matter to others, a handful or otherwise - just something to be mindful of & check again. Wasn't there chats a while ago about solos sailing under certain conditions only given 50% of the OBC, don't quote me on this but I seem to remember some spirited discussions.

Have a safe trip coming back to NY, hold on to those railings if & when using stairs, NY is bracing for rain, wind & thunderstorm, etc. starting tonight into tomorrow evening ... you know the rest. Thanks for the update & good luck if the pier visitors choose to stay behind. P.S. She can go 22 knots, faster with a good tail wind, except ship will come across strong cross wind coming port side, best to stay indoors but odds are for safety reasons, outdoors & outside decks will be closed off.

Other TA, including friend of ours, offer terms that are better & more competitive, i.e. Free DSC or gratitudes that has much higher value to us (i.e. 11 or 12 days of $20 DSC p/p x 2 x 11 = $440 or $460) when booking a balcony and/or higher - (15 days of "free DSC included in the prices paid is $600 vs. chasing NCL's $250 OBC for it, as otherwise, it's mostly just $100 non-refundable, and, restricted, OBC to use) The choice is fairly obvious, and, yes - these deals aren't always available and sometimes on a last minute basis, and other promotional offers might not be combined. We do our "homework" in researching options before booking our NCL cruise. United Vaca ... has also been offering bookings with free DSC, not that their flight options are on our short list to consider since their long haul flights are no longer the best for us to consider ... I don't always like the answers and appreciate the help, or lack thereof, when calling or chatting with NCL's call center agents that answered the call ... and, we have more than a dozen plus PCC over the last 2 decades to fully trust or depend on her/him to always come thru. NCLH shareholders credit hasn't been an issue for us for over 10 years, until lately ... so, it pays to check & re-check, and print out the confirmation & booking codes, etc. & bring digital or paper copies along. There are still "minor" issues with our Latitudes accounts with missing cruise credits from last month, which NCL acknowledged as "their" internal I.T. issues more than 2 weeks ago, and, they messaged back to ask for understanding & patience for another 2 weeks worth. Well ... still waiting for a resolution on a simple fix. NCL, consistently inconsistent, for (y)our convenience ... sail & sustain 😤🙄😳😬😠 LOL

It's likely, part of the problem is somewhere within NCL's infamous I.T. systems and database(s) tracking these ... while we do use/book thru TA sometimes, we always submit our request OBC directly to NCLH and no questions asked, issues, aside from the recent problem last month not showing up. As far as we can see & tell, no changes with the rules, restrictions and exclusions, etc. - problem fixed now. Emailed NCLH Shareholders Relations this afternoon and about an hour later, got a reply that it has been READDED to the reservation and per our request, an updated Amenity Summary also emailed to us. That's good enough, going to save a PDF to the smartphone and print out a hard copy, just in case. It wouldn't 'hurt" to take a few minutes to log in and check it, especially if sailing shortly and previous submitted successfully, and there is a chance of it NOT being there. Message as followed: Thank you for contacting Norwegian Cruise line Shareholders. Your shareholder benefit onboard credit has been readded to your reservation. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us again. Sincerely, Norwegian Cruise Line

👍 Joining the locals for Cappuccino on those side street's hideaway cafe 👌 with Tappas at half prices vs. the tourist traps on the main avenue. Enjoy another cup b/c nothing like what they served onboard at Starbucks.

FWIW, we're on our Escape cruise last month and were approved back in July for $100 OBC, fine & amenity confirmation and/or email sent (DW's account) Listed in MyNCL account and fortunately, printed that out & took it with us as part of the printed documents. It was not shown or credited onboard and by Day 3, went to spoke to Guest Services & a case # opened, sent copies of the printout to Miami - straightened it out or what not, credited us by the next afternoon - Guest Services called & left a voice mail also with the update/success ... check the MyNCL App for onboard charges/credits daily (also due to skipped ports & issued refundable OBC, etc.) All good. Catching this "alert" - logged into MyNCL and sure enough, not seeing the OBC now (anymore) - email from ShareholderBenefit at NCL was added to our upcoming reservation (next month) back in mid July. Call center is busy and did a quick online chat - here's what the agent keyed in ... I do not see your benefits. Due to contractual relations, we have to refer you back to your travel agent for this. We are not able to access your reservation. I am sorry for any trouble. For those of you using TA and have upcoming cruises and booked via TA (or not) with shareholder OBC issued/posted already - best to log in and check, will be interesting to see if this is another I.T. issue or what, a new restrictions - for our convenience, of course. Annoyed at this ...

Good morning from NY, afternoon to you ... Epic is docked on the opposite side on the busy cruise piers by the historic Fort & Castle on the hilltop, beautiful at night when lit up. It's a long hike to the waterfront for Tapas, what's your plan for the rest of the day ? NCL running free ? shuttles as local taxis claimed narrow streets & traffic and won't go to that area. @HBCcruiser is spot on - Valiant Lady of Virgin Voyages

Here's a funky question for the Escape ... Do you see hash brown potatoes being served and/or available at breakfast anywhere, not a deal breaker but we're told no longer, for whatever reasons. Apparently, NCL has no difficulties obtaining French Fries & "proudly" served them in the buffet, MDR for lunch and dinner, and of course - at supper or dinner time. Have a great day at Saint John tomorrow and if it looked like Halifax is again, not going due to unforeseen and predictive weather, maybe - an extended stay at Bay of Fundy (based on tidal tables) instead, before sailing back toward the relative safety of NY early - as my feeling is that Capt. Mattias on the bridge rather do so out of an abundance of precautions. Looking at Windy App's forecast charts & tables, Saturday morning coming across toward Cape Cod will still be fine, conditions rapidly worsen by midday with waves at 15 ft. sea swell, windy conditions & rain, etc. Sorry, I'm just calling out what's in front with the latest storm tracking info.

Escape isn't getting theirs until 2024, per iCafe manager when asked last month ... of course, he's not in charge of the rollout schedule. Quite surprised that it's not turned on for the Prima, Bliss and Encore or the Joy.

So true, I wonder if we had the same waiter/team on the GA (although there're many "teams" that worked their evenings there, during the day - they were at the buffet and/or O'Sheehan's like the rest) I just stopped him as he began to mumble on the "restrictions" to stop it, put whatever is not covered on "my" room account/charge. We just order the extras as we see fit, surprisingly, when the itemized bill or slip was swiped & presented for our signature, we didn't get "charged" for the extra soup and salad - and - it was most definitely listed as a line-item !! Thus, I don't see that as a system or programming error, rather, humans are not given clear instructions and directions as to what is, is not, and possible, or perhaps, a supervisor's override. I don't think we had this "annoying" issues sailing the Epic TA when we dine in Cagney's. But, the problem arised for La Cucina as we no longer bother to dine in Le Bistro, can't deal with the stripped bare menu selections & extra petite portions there - both on the Epic & recent Escape, it was obvious they're instructed and would enforce, inform us of not "allowed" to order 1-1-1 plus 1 dessert, rather just one item on the left side and one on the right side plus 1 dessert. NCL - consistently inconsistent, on purpose and otherwise ...

@graphicguy Very nice pictures ... La Sagrada Familia - insider tour booked via NCL (nice if they managed to get tickets for the group, as they are usually sold out ahead of time) or on your own - probably going to book ours ahead as we didn't asked our private tour to get inside tickets for us to skip the line. As for the iPhone pictures taken being posted with the heic file format, if I'm not mistaken, there's a setting on the iPhone to disable or turn it off, then it's CC friendly & minimize the odds of upside down or sideway images being posted ... I'm the Android geek but occasionally pull out the iPhone SE mini to grab some extra pictures, just in case & had run into issues posing, should look into that myself too. Ah, yes the Grandi Navi Veloci---Italian shipping company - going to see a lot of similar combo cruise/transport/merchant ships sailing in the Med sea, lots of them transporting people, vehicles & cargo, inter-islands & just as efficient (maybe not as fast) as flying for vacations among EU residents with a carry-on, backpack and/or rollerboard - buy tickets, wait & have an expresso & board the ship. We saw quite a few of them during our TA once within the Spain & North Africa coastlines ,,, and, also smaller high speed ferries - especially near/around Palma (tomorrow ...) at the downtown, city centre ferry terminals (ship will be docked further away - requiring a shuttle ride, wasn't free from NCL then) As for Cagney's - was fine with our filet mignon but we're pleasatly surprised with La Cucina's filet, done right at medium as ordered. Jumbo black tiger prawn replaced with jumbo shrimp is just not the same & lately, it just lost that visual appeal ... I know, food opinion are just that, personal & subjective and biased. And, you should have a good cellular signal for several hours (overnight) sailing close toward/around Palma before docking pre-dawn, as we did leaving there for BCN. Showing almost 20:00 all should be onboard & ship ready to set sail, the other ship docked in front of the Epic has left already -

Oh, no - Escape's fall sailings just can't seem to get a nice and continuous break in weather this Fall ... Halifax (and, along with Saint John & Bar Harbor, NS) on storm watch again. This is the latest advisory from Halifax news source - citing "The latest storm track has it making landfall very near the Maine-New Brunswick border late Saturday or early Sunday morning with winds between 85-90 km/h. The CHC says that people living in the area should monitor the storm as it could influence weekend weather. " https://halifax.citynews.ca/2023/10/04/canadian-hurricane-centre-monitoring-the-approach-of-tropical-storm-philippe/ My guestimate is that NCL are waiting and watching, but will not make any decisions until tomorrow, maybe this evening - shortly before all abroad ... and might skip either Saint John or Halifax, and jump ahead and skip one port, and turn around for home early again. As for the CC Meet & Greet - ours were somewhat better & held in the Brew House, attendance was below average to poor, not well organized with the folks anyway ... looking at the senior hotel operations officers in the picture, several of them in acting capacity while the regulars are mostly on vacation (left in September) but will be returning around December - some of them probably not well versed in socializing and/or learning the ropes at these small group events. Sometimes, the CD (acting one here) and 1 or 2 "officers in 2 stripes will stay around briefly to mingle while the rest must take over to another function or event, perhaps back to their duty stations. When we're on the Epic, they had another "presentation" on ship operations scheduled in the atrium right after the CC gathering, so more or less, they did the welcome, short intro & took 1 to 2 friendly questions, then marched off together. I agree that the port intensive schedule with the last day being the only planned sea day, where these CC gathering are typically held, didn't help either & the roll call organizer initially didn't want to be bothered with. As a whole, we found the crew members on the Escape, including the dining room teams, host/ess, etc. to be friendly, smiling and cheerful, and most (not all as expected & obligated with their rules of conduct) will greet & say hello when passing us in the corridors & hallways. Weather forecast for NY - Friday & Saturday aren't good - rain, wind & clouds, make the best of fair weather further north for the next day and two. Check out that Spice H20 on Deck 16 AFT, it's one of the many cool places that we missed visiting last month, and only our 4th time (3rd ?) sailing the Escape, so much to do, see & experience. Enjoy the rest of the week, thanks for sharing & bring us along to re-live our week onboard. Cheers !

@JIMESOPUS Off to a great start. Depending on the ports/itinerary, we would book those obstructed OV for savings and then do WP upgrade if Mrs. "wants" a balcony for fresh air in the tropical evenings & mornings. Whoever is no the side next to that upper bunk/pullman bed ... "mind" or watch your head as it's easy to bump into that, especially if seas are really rough & ship is rocking. That crooked passage is narrow for sure but quiet otherwise, little foot traffic except for pax staying in that area - yours is one of the handful of sideway cabins, correct ... how does it feel ? One of these days, might actually book one (not in the immediate future, however) In the mid/late evenings, you are probably going to hear party music coming up from the atrium lobby below, as NCL does things down there, especially on sea days & if outdoors are closed for weather & safety reasons ... but, they do stop after 11 PM, respecting quieter time, maybe a late night movie on projection TV screen (popcorns too) @graphicguy confirmed/reported that Epic now has Starlink active, onboard and getting decent, usable speed, NCL apparently decided to roll it out while in Europe. Long overdue, to some of us. Continuing to follow, thanks for taking the extra time, effort & sharing.

Darn "auto-correct" and/or my big fat fingers scrolling on the smartphone ... meant to say, "weekend" closure ahead ... past the info along. Experienced taxi, car service, Uber/Lyft & local drivers will know better and tap GPS Map/Waze navigation to find alternate routes, everyone else will be fuming while sitting in gridlock traffic, on elevated highway above and local city streets - yellow taxi's $$ meter running - yike !! Heading down to the Jersey shores next weekend morning & will detour differently, stay clear of the area ourselves. https://patch.com/new-york/brooklyn/full-bqe-closure-scheduled-october-brooklyn-what-know With 2 mega ships in Newport tendering, that's going to the "fun" but good for local businesses, shops & restaurants along the waterfront for the otherwise sleepy town. Happy, fun & safe travel.