xkritter

Definitely breakfast in your suite for the last day - and we have suite breakfast on port days as well. And, in case you weren't aware - there will be a breakfast order form to fill out but you are not limited to what is on the form. You can request other items.

What we started doing was leaving our butler a note when we went to dinner that just had our breakfast request on it and the time for delivery. My sons became quite spoiled with filet and eggs....LOL.

On the Dawn in August Le Bistro's steak was so much better than Cagney's steak that we changed another night's dining from Cagney's to Le Bistro.

 

Cagney's does have more of the overall variety of foods I like, but there was no comparison in steak quality. I had heard that before, but hadn't ordered steak in Le Bistro, and found it hard to believe that they'd out-do the steakhouse. Well, they did - not even close.

Agreed - we found the steak at Le Bistro to be much better than Cagney's when we were on the Jade.

Besides the daily snacks they bring we asked to have a pitcher of ice tea in the suite. It was nice to just be able to have a glass of tea.

The regular daily snack changed each day and included things like: cheese, veggie plate, chocolate covered strawberries, small tarts, finger sandwiches, canapes.

One of our favorite items to have them bring was a BLT after returning from excursions. For some reason those were the absolutely best tasting BLTs.

My youngest son (who was 14 at that time) enjoyed watching a late night movie and having pizza brought in.

And then having breakfast brought in on excursion days was great. We told our butler to just come in at the designated time - so he'd quietly set up, leave, and we'd have a nice hot breakfast prior to leaving the ship for the day.

We had an H4 on the Jade and no, the 2nd bedroom did not get a towel animal or chocolates. However, it was my 2 sons in the 2nd bedroom and they didn't really care - and I seem to remember us all sharing the chocolates left in my room. And, if they had wanted a towel animal I'm pretty sure that mentioning it to our butler would have made it happen since anything we mentioned was taken care of.

Now - if I were sharing an H4 with another couple - and all parties paid the same share I would not be happy with having the 2nd bedroom the entire trip. The difference in the bedrooms and especially the bathrooms is HUGE.

The boys definitely received the same degree of service when alone, or with me.

I'd definitely give the Haven another shot and hopefully you'll get the full experience because it definitely spoils you.

Agreed, had the porterhouse on Epic and it was hard work! Also had the ribeye and filet in Cagneys and thought the ribeye was tastiest. My favourite steak on NCL is the filet in Le Bistro but will be trying the 32 oz for two (there will be two of us!) when next on board Spirit.

Agreed that the best filet was at Le Bistro. I ordered the one at Cagney's and my oldest son had the Le Bistro filet - I will definitely be switching to the filet at Le Bistro in November and having something else at Cagney's.

It is very good - my son had our butler bring it to the cabin twice on our last cruise. Since we had the UDP on that trip there was no charge. This next trip we have the SDP so I guess we will see if there is a fee or not because I'm pretty sure he'll want to have it again.

I did sneak a few bites and I'm pretty sure it was dark chocolate.

We were on the Jade in March of this year and the Tomahawk was on the menu then.

I'm hoping the Epic has it on their menu in November because we didn't get it in March and now my son really wants to try it.

For beach days we have done and loved:

Cozumel - Nachi Cocum - this is a favorite of ours. You book direct with them and then just take a cab. When you are ready to leave let your server at Nachi know and they'll call a cab for you.

Roatan - we did Little French Key and loved it. Again, we booked direct with them.

I'm not a beer drinker however when I was on the Jade in March there wasn't any frozen drink that I ordered that was not covered. And I tried a lot of other drinks - and each were covered.

My main complaint was the wine by the glass choices. Those were very limited and IMO not very good. So, I just drank something other than wine for that week.

Ours for Epic have been slowly coming in as well. And the cabanas on GSC are still not available to book.

If you want relaxing at the beach then in Cozumel I'd book independently. We love Nachi Cocum and normally go there. This time we are doing an all inclusive with Iberostar - hopefully it is as good as Nachi always is.

Also in Cozumel you can do the Cozumel Bar Hop which is awesome!

And in Roatan I'd book independently and do Little French Key. We went there in March and absolutely loved it.

I've been searching hotels in South Beach / Miami Beach for a one night pre-cruise stay and the prices are really high. (Or seem really high to me - $400 a night or more.)

So - any suggestions where to stay for a night before sailing from Port of Miami? We fly into FLL and get in around 10:40 am. I don't really want to get a car - and it is my two sons (18 and 15) and I. I think I want on the beach - but have thought about just staying downtown and maybe doing the hop on hop off bus for 1/2 the day Saturday.

I just booked our PCC to Universal transportation with Sunshine Limousine. I found their rates to be very good and so far, their customer service has been great. And I've done it all online. :)

Now - I haven't used them yet - so I can't comment on that but the reviews that I saw on trip advisor and google looked good.

The cabanas for the 11/12 Epic sailing just opened up a little over a week ago. $449 for the small ones and $499 for large. Keep checking!

Thank you! I think the excursion desk is getting tired of me calling...LOL. :cool:

We are on the 11/19 Epic sailing and the cabanas are not yet available for bookings. Does anyone know when they usually open them up to book?

My parents, and oldest son are currently on the Carnival Freedom and they are changing the order of ports around on them due to the tropical depression.

My son said they are now doing Nassau on Tuesday, Freeport on Wednesday, and Key West on Thursday. (It was suppose to be Key West on Monday, Freeport on Tuesday and Nassau on Wednesday.)

They have independent excursions booked in Nassau and Freeport and have already been in touch with the companies and they are simply moving the days around for them - no issues.

Our favorite was Le Bistro and we felt the filet at Le Bistro was much better than the filet at Cagney's.

Our second favorite was Teppanyaki - it was very good.

And then Cagney's would be third.

We liked our food at La Cucina however we found the service to be very slow. And we did not really care for Moderno - it was ok but we'd probably not book it again. (except the grilled pineapple is delish!!)

We were just on the Jade and ate at Cagney's, Le Bistro, Moderno, La Cucina and Teppanyaki.

Based on that experience when we sail on the Epic (and have 4 dinners instead of unlimited) we've decided to go with: Teppanyaki, Le Bistro, and Cagney's with the 4th night either La Cucina or another Le Bistro night.

My son had filet at Cagney's and Le Bistro and the Le Bistro filet was much better than Cagney's....in our opinion. My other son had Sea Bass at Cagney's that he said was to die for and I loved the lobster at Le Bistro.

None of us were overly impressed with Moderno. It wasn't bad....just not great.

And Teppanyaki was very good.

Agree. We had the UDP on our Jade cruise, and it included all 3 of us. I was really disappointed to discover, that the Epic Haven cruise I booked for Thanksgiving - includes only myself and oldest son in the promo - so I'll need to buy the SDP for my youngest. (And, it is only the 4 nights.)

Omar is amazing. He did seem to be everywhere, getting everything done - and with a great attitude the entire time.

We cruised in early March on the Jade, and it was our first NCL cruise. We loved it - and cancelled a Carnival Thanksgiving cruise in order to do another NCL cruise. We even thought about just re-booking the Jade again.

We found the activities similar to Carnival however we did miss having a comedy club. And, IMO, NCL had less trivia activities then Carnival. However, we all thought the entertainment on NCL was better than Carnival.

We loved the Houston port. Dropping off luggage and parking was a breeze compared to Galveston.

Enjoy your cruise!!

We just had our first NCL cruise and it will definitely NOT be our last. We loved it - and if you happen to sail in a suite or Haven - they know how to do it right. I probably will not do another suite in Carnival again - after the service you receive on NCL.

We all thought NCL's food nudge out Carnival's. However, we were on the Jade and they did not have a comedy club - which we did miss. One, small, but nice thing - when you come back from port days they have cool rags and ice water for you.

One tip....a few weeks prior to leaving call their upsell number and see if they have any offers for you. We got an upsell to a 2 bedroom Haven family suite for a very good price. The number is 1-800-625-4309.

Thank you for taking the time that you do on your reviews. They are great.

We are just off the Jade (03/05 - 03/12) and went to LFK and it will be our go to place in Roatan. We went to Maya Key about 4 years ago - and it just doesn't compare to LFK. Plus - we were very impressed with the environment for the animals and how clean the cages were, etc.

Hi Kristin,

 

If you don't mind sharing, what category where you in before getting the upsell opportunity?

 

Thanks!

We were booked in an aft suite - 10166.

Oh but be warned that deck 13 can see you at night in the shower. We just did this test last week and I know people say they can't but we tried it at night and if you have lights on in the cabin they can see you if they look up. Don't forget to pull the curtain on the shower :)

Thank you for the warning!

Perfect. That helps. I'll put one boy in the 2nd bedroom and the other gets his choice between the couch bed in the living room (with a request that it be made back into a couch during the day) or he can have the "wall" bunk in the 2nd bedroom with his older brother.

And I love coffee first thing in the morning and am definitely looking forward to coffee without having to run and get it or have room service.

Does anyone know if the bed in the "master" bedroom can be split apart?

I took an up sell offer to the Haven, 2 bedroom for myself and 2 sons and didn't know if that bed could be split or not.

In a related question, if one of my sons decides to use the couch bed in the living room area - will it be set as a bed all the time or made back into a couch during the day?

(We sailed in an ocean suite on Carnival last year, and they left the couch as his bed the entire time.)