realcindylouwho

OP: I would not count on it.

I am Platinum Plus and did a four night on the Epic non suite (and we typically sail in suites) in March of 2018. No benefits except the 30 minutes free internet. No captain's party on our cruise, no free specialty dining, no free bottle of wine,no laundry, no sparkling wine, no free bottle of water, no priority tender, nothing. However, we did have boarding group #2 and P.P were called out to board with Haven and the lattitude level above us (can't remeber the name of that class. I'll likely never reach that level!) We did get on the ship before the bars and O'Shehan's were even ready for services!

I was told to reach out to the concierge on the ship, by our long-time PCC, and we would likely be extended at least the priority tendering. Once on the ship NCL's front desk staff would not give me the concierge phone #. I didn't pursue it any further and managed just fine, even with it being a fully booked, 4,800 person strong Spring Break cruise wink, wink! We made excellent use of the UBP and I purchased a 3 night SDP.

I would have loved to have stayed in the Haven and receive concierge services, but I was not able to book this cruise until around 4 weeks out and the Haven was entirely booked. This was a last minute cruise for my sister whose husband has stage 4 kidney cancer and we needed to wait until his latest CT scan to be sure she could travel away for 5 days and he could be without her care between treatments.

Enjoy your time in Cuba! Those short cruises are fun but they go by too quickly, don't they!;)

Here is our experience with NCL's insurance. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2428364

I was on the Epic a four day March 10-14. Lots of Spring Breakers which I'm certain impacted our cruise experience. This was my 12th NCL, 7th ship and first studio being a suite cruiser. Here are my suggestions:

Siglo in the Cavern Club. They are fantastic and can sing anything from Michael Jackson to Nirvana to Flock of Seagulls to Pink Floyd. They will get you dancing in your seats and onto the dance floor. If you like The Beatles, there was a group that played their music there as well that the crowd loved. I'm not a huge fan (I know, I'm weird) so we left after a few songs and people happily scooped up our seats. Small venue, my guess is it holds 75 total with standing room included? It has a small bar inside that makes a nice Ketle One extra dirty Martini.

The slides. Just do them all, so much fun!

The elevators. Don't. Even. Try. Just take the stairs if you are physically able. You will need to burn off the calories you will drink and eat anyway.

Bowling. At $7 a game (includes the shoes but he sure to bring your own socks) and you will laugh until you nearly tinkle yourself . We had some waves and wind our cruise and the ship was rocking. One gutter ball popped out and ended up knocking down several pins. Even the people in the next door lane were laughing in bewilderment!

Multiple appetizers. Don't even try to narrow it down, order as many as you would like to try. We were given the whole "One appetizer, one entree, one dessert" routine with our SDP. We ordered 3-5 total to share and I was never billed. YMMV though. Life can be short, enjoy.

All the drinks. Sounds interesting? Do you have the UBP? Try it. If after a couple of sips, you don't care for it, set it down and order something else. The Lavender Martini is wonderful at the Martini Bar. My go to drink you can get everywhere? The Toma. Lemon vodka, lemon juice, simple syrup, and prosecco. Yum.

Howl at the Moon. Tons of fun.

Burn the Floor. This was awesome. We had reservations but didn't need them for our cruise. We walked up 15 minutes before the show, they swiped our cards and we st in the second row, center seats. I don't know who was hotter, the guys or the girls, and I'm a 51 year old woman, ha! This show was smoking hot!

Priscilla...not for the easily offended, so it was perfect for me! Funny, heartfelt, had us dancing in our seats. Again, we had reservations but didn't need them. 10 minutes before the show, walked up, swiped cards and sat in the 5th row center. Saw a marriage proposal right before the show started. Nice evening, kind of a long show, so if you have a small bladder, go before the show starts. The chairs in the theater are very comfortable and as reported there are cup holders but they do slant forward. If you have a glass with a stem, you will need to hold it or pour it's contents into a basic glass/cup.

What we experienced that we didn't care for:

Spring Breakers at Maltings. I had read this was an area they didn't seem to seek out. Our cruise, however, this bar was always packed. Too bad because they have some awesome drinks on their menu I wanted to drink and other bars would not make them because they didn't have the ingredients or just didn't want to take the time to do it.

Spring Breakers at ALL bars. Well it was the season for college kids to cut loose. It was not a fast process to get a drink at any bar. Yes, you could walk to another bar, but there was going to be two to three to five deep people around the entire bar. Just had to be patient. I likely drank less than I thought I would.

Ball caps in The Manhattan Room. Yes we had a couple seated beside us and the man, in his late 30's was wearing a ball cap. I am Platinum Plus and had met the Assistant Maitre d earlier in the cruise. He asked about our experience dining that evening and I pointed out my displeasure in seeing the ball cap. He said he didn't see it but that there is a strict policy against hats of any kind. He said he would speak with the front hostess, as it is their job to ask they be removed and stay off during their time in the dining room. If they are put on again at the table, it is the waiter's job to ask they be removed. If it comes on again, it would be the Maitre d's job to have it removed or they would be told to leave. Hopefully this will be enforced going forward. There are other places where a person can eat and wear a cap/hat. Let's leave a "dining" room a bit classier.

The Manhattan Room food. Not good, not hot, overcooked medium rare steak, a non flavorful and dry dessert. Sigh. I had not eaten at an included restaurant for supper since cruise number three. I was reminded why I haven't and have choose to grab food at O'Shehans or the buffet if we didn't have a specialty or wanted to eat in the Haven.

Best suprises:

The studio room. I'd would do this again! It was so quiet and secluded. A nice space to come back to at 2 a.m. and crash in. I found it to be just the right size for me and my sister had the room next door. I was next to a large white space on the deck plans and thought it could be noisy crew space. Nope. I don't know what was in that space as I never heard a sound. We did take advantage of the lovely coffee machine at different times of the day. That espresso kept me going.

The Spring Breakers. Yep, I said it. They surprised me. I have been on the Sky during Spring Break and St Patricks Day. Let's just say sloppy drunk. Lots of vomit. Loud. Dirty. These kids on the Epic were not as loud. Not as sloppy. Not as drunk. I didn't see any vomit. And they were some of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. The girl's dressed nicely (yes sexy but nicely) for dinner and many guys dressed up in pants and nice shirts and or jackets. Surprise!

I hope everyone enjoys their time on the Epic. It was slightly bigger than I would like to cruise on again but...it had the best entertainment of any of the other 6 NCL ships I've been on and the restaurants were large and not crammed into a small space like on the Getaway.

So glad to read you are happy to recommend Cortrans. I'm using it next Wednesday after disembarkation from the Epic. I've been rather stressed about the whole transportation issue.

Great topic and here is our advice: cruise the week or the week after Thanksgiving. The weather is usually beautiful in the Caribbean with temp between 78-82 degrees and will have very few kids, usually well under 75 on a Jewel class ship. The second option is to book a Garden Villa with two other couples. Unless you choose, you don't have to leave your suite except to see the shows. In the "off season" you may find this price works out close to a Haven 1 BR times three couples.

We were introduced to cruising when our boys were in high school and we gave them our rules for behavior on a ship. We also pointed out to them that all eyes would be on them and they would report to us. I can tell you we have had crew and passengers complement us about the boys. They were also allowed to purchase and consume alcohol at age 18 on the ship.

Kids. Many of us have them. We don't want to be around ill behaved, screaming, running and slamming into people's legs, throwing items in public and fowl mouthed heathens. If you don't reign them in and parent, I have no issue telling them to stop and getting a crew member who has the ability to do so, make you leave the area. We all have to co-exist on a ship and I don't want to parent your kids. I also have been known to praise kids in front of their parents when I see them behaving well, having good manners, or just being a great human being. It makes the parents proud and lets the kids know that others are watching.

I don't know if each ship is the same, but this is how it worked for us on the Epic last week...

On embarkation day immediately after we boarded as we were standing waiting for an elevator to go up to the buffet, we used the touch screens next to the elevators to book our tenders for both Great Stirrup Cay and Grand Cayman. Follow the prompts on the screen to reach the tender option and then you will see what tenders are available and how many spaces are available on each. There is no specific time assigned to the tender but rather a group number. You will click to reserve, provide the number of seats you want to reserve and you will swipe your card under a barcode reader on the bottom of the screen/ kiosk.

 

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Thank you for this detailed information, it is helpful and appreciated!

Currently on the Epic. I’ll compile a list in the next day or two and post it!

 

 

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Thank you for your help Things from a Realcindylouwho! We know Suess!

I recently composed a review of our sailing on the EPIC, I stand behind my related experiences as described as they were the reality to my wife and me during the sailing. Others have/had a different perception which I respect. Although not a total bust, it had its service challenges. It so happens that I sent the exact review on to NCL home office. They responded with a very nice letter and offered a $100 OBC for us to use on our next NCL sailing. We won't be taking them up but thought it was a gracious gesture to retain customers. Happy sailing folks. Big shout out to those that put together the CC get together and slot pool....that was a lot of fun!!!

I would love to take that $100 OBC off your hands for my March Epic sailing but NCL won't allow it, darn! Even though your cruise didn't meet expectations, your review had points that will be helpful for others sailing on the Epic in the near future. I'm nervous for various reasons about my cruise next month and I'm scouring reviews and other sources to get tips to help prepare for the best cruise experience I can have. Thanks for the update from NCL.

May I ask for an update for the Concierge and the Hotel Director on the Epic please

I read multiple articles before we cruised to the Southern Caribbean for our late 2017 cruise out of PR. It is customary to tip 20% of the cost of an excursion, per person. We tend to tip anywhere from $15-30 total for couple while on an NCL excursion (cost $65-80 p.p.) but we typically do activities on our own or book a private excursion.

Over our ten years of cruising, we also watch others closely. Most do not give a tip to the excursion host/driver/captain. I do feel this has lead to lengthier and pushier talking about tips before the excursion has ended.

Tipping needs to be budgeted into the overall cost of your cruise vacation. Going against what is customary for the area one is traveling in, is a slight insult to its people and customs in my opinion. You can find out information about the area by doing a Google search and reading several articles to gather information. Or simply go to your local library and check out a few travel books or explore their data bases about travel.

Still there week of Thanksgiving 2017. It came in handy too!

We are thinking about the GV on the Dawn for a December sailing. I was wondering what might be included in the cost. Does everyone get a drink package or just 2 (we are booked on the Breakaway in an H2 and 2 have to purchase a package). Also is the limo service from airport to ship and then ship to airport or just one way? Last, are the speciality restaurants included or are they also an added cost? Thanks for all the info. We are former Star Class on Oasis and are giving the Haven suites a try.

Looking forward to hearing pro's and con's.

Although I haven't cruised on Oasis, I may be able to answer questions specifically about the Garden Villa on the Dawn. We cruised in 14500 the week of Thanksgiving 2017 and enjoyed the amount of indoor and outdoor space it offered. When we dined in the suite restaurant for breakfast and lunch (Cagneys and Moderno for this ship) our son and daughter-in-law ordered alcoholic beverages (they were booked in the GV but did not purchase the drinks package) our waiter said they would be taken care of and we were not billed. This was our experience. We booked 6 in the GV. The first two had drink packages as a perk, only one other person purchased the UBP. The remaining three purchased drinks at cost. Our experience was that not everyone in a cabin has to purchase the drinks package or even the soda package. Since we had the 6 bottles of booze, sodas, mixers and a small ninja like blender we asked for, the alcohol was used for cocktails we made in the suite. We asked for margarita mixer and pina colada mixer I believe. We threw in some fresh fruit also. Yum! You will have unlimited sodas and bottled water provided in suite too.

The other questions you have asked have been answered but I will let you know that we have cruised in a GV three times and twice we were taken back to the airport in a stretch limo (Miami and Houston) and once in a van (Puerto Rico). So the method of transportation might vary depending on where the port is located.

Go for the Garden Villa on the Dawn. You will enjoy the privacy and the space for your family and friends. No other ship in the NCL fleet except for the Star has the amount of space.

Everyone has given such helpful opinions and advice, thank you! I am super excited about staying in the studio, I don't have any phobias with small spaces or darkness and I think it would be neat having my own personal cabin. Free yummy coffee...yes please!

A couple more questions for those who have used this hotel/shuttle option:

If we use a shuttle service from the port hotel to the port the morning of embarkation, do they have early pick up options? I want to arrive at the port between 10:45 and 11:00 a.m. I worry about being picked up early, say 10:30 or so and then driving around to other hotels in the area and not actually getting off the shuttle until another hour passes by.

What is the earliest you have arrived at the port using a shuttle service?

I think any cruise during a National holiday or the month of March will probably have an increased amount of kids. We survived a 4 day on the Sky in March (what we're we thinking when we booked, we WEREN'T! It was our college aged son's spring break and we thought "Let's hop on a cruise.") AND it was St Patricks Day. Just prepare yourself for a different cruise than you may have expected and bring earplugs or a sound machine. You can download a free app for your phone as another option for white noise.

So I'm going to tell you what I'm doing and hope that it helps you out. I'm staying in a studio on Epic next week.

 

Flying into Orlando and staying at the Radisson at the Port. I've got to call the hotel and make a reservation for the shuttle which is $33/person I believe. Then in the morning I'm sure you can get a shuttle to the port. It's not that far away. I wanted to stay near the port because I don't want to have to deal with traffic and any delays in the morning.

 

My studio is on 12 near the lounge and near the elevators. I figure 12 is less busy than 11.

 

I haven't booked from the ship to the airport yet but I've got to get in touch with Contrans. They've got a shuttle that runs at 8:15, 9:00, 9:45, and 10:30. http://www.cortrans-shuttle.com/schedule/

I looked at the Radisson at the port too and saw their transfer service. It looks like they will pick you up at the airport ( Orlando) and take you to the hotel near the port. I need to call and ask them about how late at night they offer this and if they would sit at the airport for awhile to pick up additional passengers arriving after our flight. I want to get into a bed and de-stress as soon as possible.

I also looked up Contras for transportation from port to MCO. That one looks like it might be a good option for us as well.

Enjoy your time on the Epic, I'd love to read your experience on her! A cruise is what you make of it and we've never had a bad one.

First, I am very familiar with cruising NCL but I have never been on the Epic. I may be booking a cruise on the Epic for a 4 day cruise out of Ft. Canaveral. I would be taking my sister, who has never cruised let alone go on a vacation further than 5 hours from home. This is a gift from me to her and I'd like to have some quality time with her. Her husband has stage 4 kidney cancer and the outcome is poor. She has spring break this week (she has been an elementary teacher for 26 years!) and this may be the only chance to take a cruise until her kids are grown.

Hubby and I cruise in suites, with the latest one on the Dawn in the Garden Villa Thanksgiving of 2017. Suites are what I know but all the suites are booked for this week. Please, no nasty comments like "It must be nice to be rich." Seriously. My husband and I work hard for our income and we are thrifty, invest and save for our vacations. It's just rude for some people on C.C. to make those types of comments, we've all seen them. *steps down from her soapbox. I've read hours of reviews and posts about the Epic bathroom situation and I think our best option would be to book two studio cabins. This would give us a bit of privacy, two toilets, two showers and our own bigger beds. I've strongly considered a balcony, but the ones left are right next to the stairs/elevators or have noisy areas above or below. I've cruised enough to know that tweens and younger teens love to sit on the stairs and hang out during the late evenings. I'd like to avoid that noisy fun. Maybe our PCC has a few NCL has kept out of inventory and I can nab a better one?

I've never sailed out of this port and the transportation issues are kinda freaking me out. We are flying in late the night before the cruise and I'm trying to decide if it would better on my nerves to stay at the airport area and then do a private transfer to the port in the a.m. or transfer late at night from the airport to the port area and stay at a hotel there. But then what about getting to the port in the a.m.? Are there taxis near the hotels or do I call early in the morning for a taxi to pick us up? I do not want a shared shuttle to the port. We want to arrive early (by 10:45/11:00 or so) and I've read horror stories about the shuttle arriving late and running out of room.

As you can assume from the above, I am a freak about making informed choices and I'm feeling very rushed and uncertain about my decisions. Once I get checked in at the port, all will be well! Can you help answer some of my questions and offer some opinions about the Epic? I'd appreciate it!

1) Should I book the two studio cabins on deck 11 or deck 12?

2). All of the adjoining studios are booked. Should we stay across the hall from each other or should that matter at all?

3) Should I stay nearer to the entrance doors of the studio halls for convenience or would it be better in the center area of the ship with possibly less passer-bys in the hall? I am a light sleeper and use ear plugs and a sound machine to help keep my brain from hearing noises.

4) Stay at a airport hotel the night before or transport to the port area and sleep at a hotel there? We will be arriving after 11:30 p.m. on Friday night at the Orlando airport.

5) We have personally used groundlink several times for transportation fom FLL to the Miami area and had no problems. I've looked into other private services, any other recommendations?

6) What about these shuttle services that say they can take you from the Orlando airport to a hotel, even ones at the port area. Do they run late at night? I wouldn't mind a shared shuttle that night but I don't want to have to wait around for an hour at the airport if they aren't reliable when they say they will arrive.

7) After the cruise we will likely use the NCL transfer bus to the Orlando airport. I think the cost is around $30 p.p. I've read other shuttles that are small buses or vans can be booked but also read they were hard to locate the pick up area at disembarkation. I won't be in any rush to the airport as our flight is after 1 p.m. Does anyone have experience recently using another complany that may be cheaper. Again, I need simplicity post-cruise. I won't be stressed out and in a hurry.

Thanks for sticking with me on this long post. I've goggled and youtubed myself into a frenzy over this cruise. My hope is to give my sister an experience she will be able to hold onto and look back upon when her life feels out of control. I can't book it until after we get my BIL's CT scans on Wednesday morning to see if they will continue his infusion treatment or jump to radiation for the metastasis. If there is continued advancement, the cruise will be a no go. Fingers crossed for no new tumors and no advancement of the ones he has. BTW...cancer sucks!

In March 2016 my hubby, 19 year old son and I were on the Sky. We were 50 years old and freaked out when we finally realized just how many college aged (drinking aged!) kids would be on our cruise. We cruise yearly, in suites and we were in an aft suite on this cruise. We survived the cruise! Yes, there was lots of loud kids who were mainly having tipsy to drunken fun. We also were having tipsy drunken-ish fun.

Our co-cruisers were mostly polite and talkative to us. Probably because we extended the same to them. Maybe they were nice to us because of our age, maybe we were a curiosity to them?!

I can say there were incidents of feather ruffling, chest puffing and some near fights, but we never witnessed blows. I would NOT get into a hot tub as some people didn't leave for hours. We witnessed a man stay in a tub on our Dawn cruise out of PR for over 5 hours. He actually had people bring him hot dogs which he ate in the tub! Gross!

The last night there were people running up and down the halls and banging on doors. I slept through it thanks to my earplugs and the alcohol, but it kept hubby up 'til very late/early.

BTW...we did sign for my son to drink beer, ciders and wine. The bartenders did not serve him anything outside of that and their computer system oly allowed a certain number of drinks per hour as once he was denied service and had to wait a bit before he could get a beer. The bartender was not rude, simply explained the situation. I do not know if they still have this policy or not.

Go with an open mind, earplugs and be friendly to all and you will have a good cruise! Also, you may want to go to the sit down restaurant for breakfast and lunch to escape from the boisterous fun. p.s....watch where you step. Yep, you will experience that as well.

OP- This is an excellent question to ask! If one doesn't know the cost of activities how does one budget? I've been on 10 NCL cruises and we always try to plan in advance what the additional costs will be, from buying water at the airport, to tipping the porter at the port to tipping the room steward for the extra work they may need to do if we bring our messy college aged son along with us. This helps us plan for the cash we will need to take and the denomination amounts.

Of course one can cruise without any additional expense (the DSC can be prepaid) but that was not what the OP asked about. I'd like to kow the costs as well since I am thinking of sneaking in a cruise on the Epic in March and I've never cruised on her.

I am the original poster and wanted to do a quick follow up to my post from December 2016. OUR SON HAS REACHED ONE YEAR CANCER FREE! We've also sailed twice on NCL since then and have another cruise to look foward to this November. As a friendly reminder...males-do a monthly testicular self exam and if you notice any changes call your doctor immediately to schedule an examination. Early detection saves lives!

Happy healthy cruising to all in 2018.

There are holes in the knees that look like this and like this. The smaller and singular hole in the knee pants may get in with a nice blouse/shirt accessorized with jewelry. The other pair...it depends I guess!

Why is it, that no one posts pictures of their Haven cabin pictures? Or have I just missed seeing them?

"If you had just a few people in the GV would that change your opinion for any reason? It would be a warm weather cruise".

If we had only 2 or up to 16 friends (BTW we had only me and hubby. 18 y.o. son and 14 y.o. son in the GV on the Pearl in 2010) the Dawn wins for amount of outdoor space. We seldom used the Haven on the Pearl or the Jewel ( we had a total of 6 on that cruse in 2014) so that access to us went unused. If it would have been a bad weather cruise, having the enclosed Haven may be better. But only if every one else booked with Haven access would not be using it all at once. The space is small. Don't even get me going on the whole "but we want to invite 2 friends to visit the Haven even though they only booked an inside , what's the harm" drama.

"If you had just a few people in the GV would that change your opinion for any reason? It would be a warm weather cruise."

We were on the port side GV on the Dawn the week of Thanksgiving 2017. The windows facing the pool are not soundproof. When the band is playing or during the outside White Hot party, you will hear all of the music, not just the bass beat while you are inside the living room. It caused us NO issues. Great space for our party of 16 people.

We are currently on the Dawn (11/23/17) and sailed out of San Juan. The ship's guests comprise of at least 65% Puerto Ricans. They are extremely happy to be on this holiday. Our taxi drivers and hotel/restraunt workers we encountered on the island were thrilled to have the tourists back. Yes, the hurricane was a horrible act of Mother Nature, but life moves forward and it runs on money.

Saturday, November 18th we had 6 rooms booked at the DoubleTree in Condado. They were on full power, plenty of hot water the pool and all restaurants were open. We walked to Bebo Cafe and had authentic P.R. food and then walked to a charming bar with a barbershop theme with handcrafted cocktails ranging in price from $9-11. Plenty of taxis from the airport/hotel to port.