getaway4fun

Hi Getaway4fun!

 

Thanks for finding the info out for me! Good to know we can change the res. I kind of thought we would as we were able to do it on a Celebrity cruise as well. Will you be diving at any of the ports?

My pleasure! :)

DH and DS are diving in Costa Maya and Cozumel. It's a shame that they don't offer a dive in Jamaica. Our DD does not dive so we have made plans to hang onboard and hit the water slides (and maybe the spa!).

Thank you so much! I hope you had a great time and I really appreciate you taking the time to post these. :)

Thanks for the wonderful review! Sometimes a short and sweet review is just the thing to make the countdown clock go faster. :D

I just spoke to my Concierge and she confirmed that if you get "invited" (aka sign up early enough to get on the list!) to the Chef's Table and have a restaurant booking elsewhere, the onboard concierge, if you are in a Suite, will reschedule your previous restaurant booking so that you may attend the Chef's Table. If you are not in a Suite, just contact the Restaurant reservation staff and they can assist you in switching the reservation, but this should be done 24 hours in advance. In addition, if you are in a Suite, you may request to be put on the potential guest list for the Chef's Table via the pre-concierge.

If I remember correctly from other postings, the spa pass is $199/p/week.

I hope this helps! :)

My DH and DS always book the dive excursions on our cruises and have never had a cancellation. (Grand Cayman, Belize, Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya, Tortola, St. Thomas, etc!) When we have been on resort holidays, they have had problems with dive boats breaking down and fellow divers not surfacing when they are supposed to which makes the trip longer. This is the number one reason why we always book through the cruise line instead of booking our own dive trips. Really don't want to miss the boat because of these problem!

I would like to know the answer to your Chef's Table question, too! I am calling the preconcierge tomorrow. If they have an answer, I will let you know.

It was Thursday night on last week's cruise. Not sure if this is the same each week. We booked it the first day we boarded. I don't know when it sold out but it was full. Very enjoyable!!!!!

Thanks so much! I am booking my specialty dinners today and wanted to avoid the day that the Chef's Table occurs. We have our fingers crossed that we get lucky and get to book it. It looks amazing!

My entire family dress "up" every night for dinner and for the shows. My DS (16) and DD (just shy of 15) actually enjoy it. I think my DS enjoys the attention that he receives from the young ladies because let's face it: everyone looks amazing dressed up! :)

Enjoy your cruise!

Yay - 55 days out - WOOHOO! I had this already sitting out on my desk just waiting for the countdown clock to finally strike this magic number. If I am this excited about 55 days, I can't imagine what I am going to be like at 0!

Here is the information:

NorwegianConciergedesk@ncl.com or phone - 855-625-4283

Just curious, what are you going to be requesting?

What day is the Chef's Table on the Epic? Thanks!

Probably because they lose money from the usual nickel & diming I'm starting to see as a huge pattern with NCL.

No matter what you do in life, there are rules or policies. Not nickel and diming! Don't like the rules, don't cruise with NCL. Personally, I'm just happy that I can bring my favorite bottle on board.

The Jewel is a wonderful ship! We have sailed her twice and would not hesitate to go again. Your DD will have a great time no matter what cruise you choose so I would look at it from your perspective - a happy Mummy, makes for a happy family! :)

OK, I was on the cruise last week and will try to get a review up in a few days. In short, we had a great time.

 

I did get the Freestyle Daily and a few other docs scanned and posted at the following:

http://moonlightnew.wordpress.com/

 

The formatting is not the best, but it was a rush job:) Hope they help.

Thank you so much! You are AMAZING!

I couldn't get on to Cruise Critic yesterday so this was a very nice bonus this morning! Thanks again and I hope you had a fabulous cruise. I look forward to your review!

Thank you for an amazing review! We are so looking forward to our holiday on the Epic and your pictures are just bringing everything to life for us. Can't wait for the rest of your review!

My DD would have loved to join you for "breakfast" each morning as the chocolate covered strawberries are her absolute favorite treat onboard. ;)

Totally ready for our cruise and between you and me, I think my countdown clock is broken because it doesn't seem to be moving fast enough. :)

We are expecting more snow on Wednesday and Thursday and the only people raking it in around here are the grocery stores! Just returned from going to the grocer on my normal shopping day (silly me!) and stood in line for over an hour. We are only supposed to get 5 inches, but around here that is like getting 5 feet. All of our family in Ohio laugh at our wild traffic and weather stories!

To all: stay warm, be safe and have wonderful cruising dreams!

Thanks for all of the replies! In all of our cruises with NCL, we have never been faced with 2 terminals so your info is invaluable. I knew I could count on the wise CC members! :D

Disclaimer: Total rule follower here - just checking the facts!

I am going on the Epic for the first time and have been diligently reading the reviews. A recent post said don't check in at Terminal C, as is printed on the e-docs, but to go to Terminal B instead because that is where they were told the Suites (Haven) VIP check in was located. Not at all saying the OP was not told this, but I am curious as to what others have found out at check in. The OP unfortunately missed priority boarding which I think is a nice perk. I just want to make sure that I am in the right place, at the right time.

Thanks, as always, to those that are wiser and more informed than me. :)

My countdown clock just doesn't seem to be moving fast enough. I think it is broken! ;)

Someone please help the time go by faster by posting a review or two. I, too, would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions! I posted a plea for the Freestyle Dailies earlier so hopefully we can get those as well.

Please post a review of your holiday because with your sense of humor, the review will totally rock! Have a fabulous time! :)

LOL- our unofficial meet n greet :)

Maybe one of many "unofficial" meet and greets! ;)

I will be on the Epic April transatlantic for 11 nights and have heard the coffee is really bad. I intend to bring my own coffee, along with filters, to make my own in my cabin in the mornings. Can anyone tell me if I am able to get those little individual half & half containers on board somewhere to keep in my cabin? I also don't want to wait for room service delivery when I want my coffee.

We were able to get a pitcher of cream (it may have been half & half) from the cafe (where they did the specialty coffees). You might have some luck getting some at the buffet. The crew have always been very accommodating. All you have to do is ask.

If you are in the Suites, the coffee is quite good using the Lavazza machine so you may not have to bring your own.

Hope this helps! :)

It took our TA 3 attempts to make our final payment. She did not receive the confirmation of payment email so she called. It took a bit of time for the NCL rep to get the email to go through. Another cruiser on our Roll Call also had trouble. She had 2 bookings- one payment went through, the other did not.

My suggestion is to call and make your payment over the phone and then while you are on the phone have the rep send your confirmation email.

Good luck! :)

Bump, please! :)

Well- I am planning my 2015 vacation and DH thinks we should skip cruising one year and try an all inclusive resort maybe in DR. The boys will be 13 and 15 by then and not sure if they would be bored at one place. They love cruising as do I and not sure if I want to steer away from my favorite activity in the world- cruising on NCL. What has been your experience?

We have done several AIs (Cozumel Palace, spent 7 days at the Aventura Spa in their hurricane evacuation shelter during Hurricane Wilma, and AIs in Italy, Greece and Spain) and have enjoyed our time, but the food has not compared with the variety that we get on our cruises. Some of the Palace resorts have multiple restaurants, but Cozumel Palace only has 3. The evening entertainment has been somewhat lacking at all of the places that we have stayed. We try to go to Cozumel once a year so that my DH and DS can dive to the hearts content, which means they are gone the entire time we are there. DD and I hang out at the pool. There are a few excursions that you can do that are very similar to what is offered off of the cruise. And certainly you can go off resort and go to the beach. Cozumel Palace has snorkeling off of the pool area so DD and I did manage to extract ourselves from the sun loungers and go snorkeling. Not a lot to see, though. If I had my choice, I would choose a cruise over an AI. That being said, I wish that the UBP was available for us to purchase over Spring Break. Our bar bill is the largest line item on our final bill so going AI does seem to make the final bill a little more tolerable.

I love my holidays so I am really quite happy to be going anywhere and anytime! I agree with some of the other posters, do some homework and then have a family meeting to see if your DSs and DH are interested in doing something different. You may find that they too find cruising to be their favorite activity! :D

I read on a few posts that there is a sailaway party for haven guests on the Epic? Any drink perks?

Just saw the post that kids can come to the Sailaway party. We will definitely have to meet up for this! (easier to respond to you this way than on the Roll Call!) :)

With how port intensive the cruise is, if you think of it as a floating hotel, you will not be disappointed.

We found the food to be on par with other ships so we were happy. The staff were nice, but found service to be much better on other ships. We were booked into mini-suites with adjoining rooms with my parents. The rooms were clean and comfortable. My parents loved the balcony and my Mom could have spent all of her time there. We were so busy with tours that we were exhausted so didn't attend any of the shows. If we were to do the POA again, we would book our own excursions and save lots of money. The diving was good, but not Caribbean warm so full wet suits are a must. Definitely rent a car so you can get out and explore.

Hawaii is beautiful and we really enjoyed ourselves, but next time we will just go to the Big Island and chill!

I hope this has helped!