thatjoeguy

It’ll be my first cruise, and I’ll be solo. Kinda freaked out about it, but focusing on the warm beaches we will see.

Cruises are awesome. You'll do great. :D

Log on to Myncl, choose your cruise, then select my vacation home and look under Spa.

When I do that, I see a big list of spa treatments (all saying "please book onboard") but nothing for the spa pass. :( Is it possibly just sold out, and that's why it's not listed? This is for the Escape in mid January.

Hi all,

I'm looking to book a spa pass online, and can't seem to find where to do it. We're 46 days out for the trip. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks!!

Thanks all! Any notes on how much the cabanas go for?

Hey all. We're on one of the MANY trips that was rerouted due to hurricanes. We normally cruise the Eastern Caribbean, and only previous time we had a ship that was headed to GSC (6 or 8 years ago) we couldn't stop due to rocky seas. As a result, several questions:

1) What all is and isn't included on the island? We have the UBP, so I'm hoping that all the drinks are included? Is all the food included as well? I read that there's the normal buffet type place as well as a taco bar. I assume rentals are NOT included. (We normally bring our own snorkel stuff anyway.) Any other activities that require a fee? Nothing is showing up in the excursion ab for that day yet.

2) What's the deal with the cabanas? Do I rent through the excursion department if we want one? Any notes on the different sizes (there are two, I think?) and cost? We're sailing with some friends, and have several kids in the group, so thought this might be nice.

If you have any other tips and tricks, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!!

Hey all. My husband and I will be on the Escape this January with some straight friends. Any other family aboard?

Hey all. My husband and I will be on the Escape this January with a single gay friend of ours (assuming he ever gets around to booking) as well as some straight friends. Any other family aboard?

I actually purchased a collapsable pet bath that does not require to be blown up and folds down to a 6 inch square block and fits perfect in the suitcase. I found it on amazon and it wasn't that expensive. We will be able to use it multiple times including out in the back yard next summer. The baby is just over a year now and we will be using it on our 17 day cruise to the Caribbean next week.

Did you order the small (8" x 32") size? If so, did it give the kiddo enough room to walk around/play in it?

I saw on some dailies that the same comedians perform multiple times. Do they do the same show, or does that change? And does the Dueling Pianos show change each night?

At Howl at the Moon, the dueling piano players will stay the same, but they will get different requests each night. (You'll probably see some of the same numbers, like Piano Man, each night though.) We've gone too all the dueling shows (16 hours in a week) when there have been good players, and most of each show is new.

I am single gay daddy with my 8 year-old little girl. Disney cruises are good for kids but they cost a lot! Since I am single, I need to pay two adult prices for myself and my kid. Even that I don't mind paying more, I would love to travel with other gay parents with kids. Please connect with me! Cheers! :p

Late to the party here, but DH and I are taking the kiddo on his first cruise in January, on the NCL Escape. He'll be 15 months at the time, and we chose that ship because a) we like NCL, b) we like that ship, and c) they have a nursery for kids under 3, so we can have some alone time. Good luck!

We're sailing on the Escape in January, and hoping to fly home on a domestic 11:10 am flight out of FLL. We have TSA pre-check. Should be no issue, right?

Thanks all!

Wacky. Thanks all!!

We started on some of the smaller ships (Jewel, Sun) before upgrading to the mega ships, and I don't think we're going back. We're fans of the Broadway type shows and the dueling pianos, and I think (as others have said) the bigger ships give a wider variety of stuff to do at any given time. We've had Vibe passes on a few of our mega ship experiences, but it hasn't ruined our trips when we haven't. (We didn't arrive in time to get them on our last Escape cruise, but the Escape was our favorite ship - go figure. We were usually able to find a bunch of seats together, as we didn't sit by the pool.) Having done both the Escape and Bermuda, we're excited to combine them this spring!

Hello! Husband and I have been on three cruises before kids, but this is first time with kids. We are cruising Escape in a little over a month, with our 3 year old and 14 month old. So while we haven't experienced it yet, here's a few things I'm planning for based on my research so far.

Are you planning a review when you're done? We're taking our then-15-month on the Escape in January, so would love to hear a current Guppies experience, if you have one, and any other tips and tricks you figure out by then, or realize afterwards. Thanks!

I agree with RevCindy. My concern would be that vaccinations are not fully executed yet. I believe that the most important vaccinations are completed at the 1 year visit (I could be wrong). If your Pediatrician is comfy with your little one leaving the Country with current vaccinations, then all good. :)

 

Have fun and enjoy your cruise :)

When we were planning on traveling out of the country with out little guy, our pediatrician gave him an extra round of the MMR vaccine at 6 months. It doesn't replace any in the cycle, but it does give immunity for those few months before the standard dose at 1.

Apologies in advance, but I haven't read through all 2000+ posts in the "What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid?" thread, and while I've read a lot of the upgrade posts here, I haven't read them all. Feel free to post a link to relevant answers.

We're on our first cruise since NCL has introduced their new upgrade bidding system. We're currently booked in a mini-suite, so only seeing the upgrade options to Haven, which gives us the ability to place different bids on different classes of haven cabin. If we had booked in a balcony, would we have the same thing for the mini-suites (ex. only bidding on large balcony mini-suites, or bidding different amounts on family vs. non family mini-suites) or do you just put in a bid for a generic mini suite? Thanks in advance!

1) Stuff to do on the ship (did several Princess cruises - boring!)

2) Included perks - the UBP is NICE!

3) Dates - I like to get away from Michigan winters, not sail in the summer. Friends we sail with also have school schedules to deal with.

Bonus! Embarkation port - our last cruise sailed from NYC, which was amazing. Even though it violates #3, we're planning another this spring.

Ive read bad reviews on NCL excursion. Its rushed and have little time at the baths becuase how long it takes. 50 min each way..

We had a great time with the ship excursion in January of '16.

Why would anyone pay fifteen dollars for a specialty restaurant in addition to having paid for a dining package. That is crazy!

Why would anyone pay to eat at Ruth's Chris when Outback Steakhouse is so much cheaper? Why would anyone buy a BMW when a Honda will also get you where you need to go? Why would anyone sail in a balcony when an inside gets you on the ship?

Escape also has the Cellars and Tapas place, as well as day care for under 3s.

Good... margaritaville drinks, food overall, rock of ages, ropes course, second city, my angled balcony, always felt there was something to do

 

Bad... long hallways, crowds, rough sea

I'd also add Howl at the Moon (depending on the performers) and Cirque to the "good" list.

I have 2 future cruise deposits that I can use in the next 2 years and have been searching for cruises from Tampa or Canaveral. The prices for a balcony on a 7 day cruise from either port just seem crazy high. Prices seem to be around $2200-2300. We will be going on an 11 night Celebrity cruise shortly that was $2550 by not taking the free perks and will be getting an additional TA discount on that price. I know it's supply and demand but can't believe that NCL is such a hot item to demand these prices. Just wondering if anyone else thinks the 2018 prices are on the high side.

Our Bermuda cruise in 2018 is $50 more than our Bermuda cruise in 2016. Seems like normal inflation to me.

Getaway used to have Legally Blonde and now has Million Dollar Quartet. Maybe you were on when they were changing over shows? The Escape has After Midnight and For the Record. Both of them (as well as the Breakaway, now) have an escape room. They also all have the dueling pianos and comedy club. Sorry you had such a bad time last year. Having been on all three of the above ships, we probably liked the Escape the best, and are super excited that it's coming up to NYC.

I hope that this is allowed.

I did a comparison of the deck plans in .pdf format.

Bliss Escape.pdf

Thanks! Very cool!

Thank you "ThatJoeGuy", At this point we now have 15 cabins and 32 people. Amazingly, and though I originally booked most the cabins on June 30, (paid all the deposits myself), Today we were issued a "group ID number" (left on a phone message by our agent) but have yet to hear from group sales! I must say that I have cruised with many lines ans as a retired Country Club Manager, I had initiated bookings for as many as 150 people on any one cruise. This was always handled through a professional travel agent in the past. However, my experience with NCL, has been the most unprofessional event of all of my travels since I have allowed one of NCL's "Cruise Consultants" to handle the whole deal! I now have a very bad taste in my mouth regarding NCL. Many calls go without a return call, I spoke to a supervisor a few weeks ago only to be told that I have only two cabins booked!!! I then supplied her with all of the reservation numbers and she told me that indeed we are a group and things would change immediately. They did not. The same lack of communication goes on! I am amazed by this! None-the-less, and after arranging our entire family trip (to celibate our marriage the day before the trip at 62), I will stick with it as I have so much invested in the event. Just try to get you kids, grandchildren, and all family members on board to experience the stress! (lol). I will hope for the best but Karen and I are substantially disappointed by the treatment we have received!

OH, and regarding the group sales link (NCL) official site, there are quite a few missing disclosure statements missing!

We have traveled on NCL many times in the past with great experience so we decided to book our family group with them based on our remembrance. Sorry for the verbose negativity, but we are worried as the statements and promises received from our (official cruise consultant) have yet to come to fruit!

Sorry you're having such bad problems. You may want to try contacting the group coordinators yourself. If you go to https://www.ncl.com/group-cruises#f3m1nd input your information, someone should email you back from the groups booking agency pretty quickly. Sadly, I can't put email addresses here, but my person (Ashley) has been fantastic.