Vacation Lover1

Ship - NCL Viva

Deck - 13

Stateroom # - 13304

Stateroom Category – Haven (HE)

Starboard or Port Side - Port

 

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Not really: 

-There was a constant whistling sound coming from the fan in bathroom.

-We could hear conversations/laughter from the pool deck below when we were on the balcony during the day. We could also hear music that was being piped into the area below us on deck 8. It was somewhat faint, but definitely noticeable and got very old after a while - one evening we didn't even sit on the balcony because the techno music was so annoying. We walked around the entire 8th deck (where they pipe the music from) and the only area where we think you might not be able to hear it would be on the other side of the ship, further forward. It seems like the best option for Haven rooms would be higher up or aft.

-Occasionally we could hear the the slide door slam closed & people screaming as they slid down. Hours were limited for the slides, so we only noticed it a few times.

-A couple of times we heard a door slamming down hall. The room doors were all soft close, so we decided it must be a staff door that was just down the hall from us. We only noticed it a few times, but one day it happened multiple times between 5-7am. I think a lot of people had ordered room service then.

-When we were at high sea we could hear the creaking/tapping sounds that others have mentioned in the Prima. It only happened a couple of times when the see was somewhat rough.

 

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

 

 

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. –

Looking straight out the port side or looking aft was fine. If you looked forward you could see the slide. Most of the time it didn't bother us but a couple of nights it impeded our view of the sunset.

 

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal

 

Was wind a problem? - No

 

Any specific problems with this cabin? -

This room does not have a full length mirror.

The shower drain slowed as the week went by, and was so stopped up it overflowed a couple of times.

 

Any other comments? -

View looking forward and aft from the balcony

 

Our cruise leaves from Trieste and stops at Ravenna. Our plan is to fly into Rome a few days early and make our way to Trieste on the day before embarkation. Now we're thinking we should stop at Venice on our way to Trieste since the ship doesn't actually go to Venice. Does that sound do-able? Should we change our hotel reservation from Trieste to Venice so we have somewhere to put our luggage while we tour, and then take the train to the port the next day?

3 hours ago, waterbug123 said:

 

Then I would absolutely escalate this.  Royal charged you so if they are saying it wasn't a Royal-sponsored excursion they are either lying and it IS a Royal sponsored excursion, or they are complicit in misleading you into believing it is since you were able to give only our Seappass, and not a credit card, to pay and it did indeed show up as a charge by Royal. 

 

Niagarawine - I agree with the above statement and encourage you AND your travel agent to contact Royal and reach supervisor after supervisor until this is resolved. Good luck to you!

11 hours ago, Niagarawine said:

Yes I thought that too, that they would wait but they didn’t and we were told they would get us back in time, very scary situation because Malta is so isolated. I tried to get to the bottom of this . Our travel agent contacted Royal and they said they did not sponsor the xcursion but why were we asked for our sea pass cards and why were we billed? Why weren’t we allowed back to get our things? I have been on 14 cruises , Four in the Med, somI know my stuff. What about those who hadn’t been there before? The cost to us was expensive, had to book connecting flight through  Malta to Istanbul to Athens, stay there to retrieve everything, fly back to Rome and wait for our flight home previously booked through air2sea, who supposedly would assist us, nope. I am posting this as a cautionary tale to others, 

 

I'm sorry you went through such an ordeal! Did you book the excursion at the port? I wonder if the excursion people tricked you by acting like they were part of RCCL. When I asked the officer on our ship about people getting left behind, he told me that's a reason to take a ship sponsored excursion - they will not leave you. He told me the exception to that is if the group gets back to the port, but someone decides to continue touring on their own. That doesn't sound like the situation you described though, so I wonder if the excursion leaders misled you.

 

Were both bus loads from your ship, or was it a mixed group from other ships too? It seems crazy to me that a ship would leave 2 bus loads of people in the port! Especially if they knew you would be unlikely to re-board at the next stop. I'd love to hear some more details about your ordeal, and also if anything was ever resolved through your travel agent or RCCL.

12 minutes ago, Spunky946 said:

Oh I think it’s totally amusing and that people are stupid,  we love looking for runners trying not to miss the boat.  It’s their own stupidity that has put them in that situation.

 

I asked the Captain what happens when the ship leaves someone in port and he said, "The ship doesn't leave anyone. They leave themselves." 

Interesting info. I never noticed that there was a number for the cruise port manager, will get that info next time, just to be on the safe side!

 

My daughter went to a Q&A with the entertainers and said that some new Grease cast members joined at the end of June. She also mentioned that there was an empty seat at the karaoke judging table (which was judged by the entertainers) so I'm guessing this was our guy. Glad he was able to jump on Majesty without problems. I wonder if that would ever be an option for a passenger? I'm thinking not.

20 minutes ago, Retired LEO said:

That was actually a crew member that missed the ship. He went on the Majesty to be taken back to Port Everglades 

 

Oh wow, it sure looked like a college kid to me! (In fact, I panicked for a minute that it was my son, LOL!) How do you know it was a crew member?

 

(I'm still curious what the procedure is if someone gets left at port though, if anyone knows details.)

We left someone in Costa Maya last week and it's really got me curious about what a person would do if they get left at port. How would you go about getting home, especially in a remote area?? I was so curious that I asked some officers at a Q&A for some details. I was told that if there's time, the room steward will gather your documents and if possible even throw clothes in your suitcase. Then they'd remove it from the ship at the last minute so it's waiting at the port for you when you finally arrive. Often they don't have time to do that though, and the steward would pack your belongings and they would be waiting for you after the ship returns to the home port. There are port representatives who will give you some direction about what to do next to get back home. Other than that, you're completely on your own to reserve and pay for lodging, food and travel. Anyone have other details about what happens next - or has this ever happened to anyone on these boards? 

 

If you're wondering what happened when we left the guy in Costa Maya, here's how it went down. All aboard time was 2:30 ship time (1:30 Costa Maya time, but we were all told to stay on ship time.) At 2:30 they announced 5 names and asked that they report to guest services. Right after that, we saw a group of 4 running for the gangway and they made it on the ship. Meanwhile, a large group was walking up - they must have been on an RCCL excursion that ran a little late. There were about 25 people and none of them hurried. All walked right on the ship. This group finished boarding around 2:50 and the towel return was taken down, then around 3:00 they started removing the gangway. Right after the gangway was removed, we noticed a guy running down the dock and passing the Majesty, which was also in port that day. Once he made it to the ship there were 4-5 officials waiting for him and they walked him back down to the port entrance. The ship left right after that.

Stay on ship time! We were on Harmony last week and left someone in Costa Maya! All aboard time was 2:30 ship time/1:30 Costa Maya time (they're pretty clear about that, with reminders on the loudspeaker and also a note in your cabin.) They waited and pulled the gang way up about 3:10 and the guy came running up a few minutes later but it was too late. 

 

When you leave Port Canaveral, set your phone to NYC/Eastern time so it doesn't change when you get to a port in a different time zone.

I went back and forth about getting The Key, especially after all of the mixed reviews, but finally decided to go for it. There are 5 of us and we paid $24.99/day each, so about $875 for our family. Pretty steep, but if it saved us some time waiting in lines and allowed us to relax a little more then maybe it would be worth it. I was hopeful! We typically buy front of the line passes at amusement parks and I like to have great seats for plays and concerts so The Key seemed like it would be a good fit. Some parts of the program were great and worked just as I’d hoped, but other parts were a complete fail. I’ve broken our experience down into each different aspect of the program below.

 

BOARDING

We arrived around 10:30 so crowds were light. I asked where to go for The Key as soon as we got there and was pointed toward the area everyone was checking in and told that there would be signs. The signage was clear and easy to find and we were immediately checked in. The regular lines were light though, so this only saved us a few minutes. They had just begun boarding and we walked right on the ship, along with everyone else who had checked in at this point. The time from walking into the terminal to entering the ship was less than 20 minutes.

 

Boarding score: 3/10

Since we arrived at the terminal before the crowds we didn’t really need The Key. I’d say it saved us 10-15 minutes at most. I could see some value if you were arriving later with peak crowds, but if you’re able to arrive early it’s not very useful.

 

 

CARRY ON DROP OFF

Once we were on the ship we asked and were directed to the area where you could drop your carry-ons and have them delivered to your room. I had a small carry on and wanted to keep it with me, but my daughters each brought pillows and a blanket, along with a small bag that they wanted to drop. Dropping everything was quick and easy and the items were in the rooms as soon as we were able to get in.

 

Carry on drop off score: 7/10

It was a nice perk to be able to drop off the bags and walk around the ship without having to lug everything around, but it wouldn’t have been that difficult to carry everything with us.

 

 

CHOPS LUNCH

We went to Chops for our lunch but found out that the lunch was actually in the main dining room because of the large number of guests with The Key. The menu was a much shorter version of the Chops menu, but the food that was offered was good.

 

Chops score: 10/10

I’m not a big fan of buffets, so having a full service meal was so much better to me than dealing with crowds in Windjammer. The meal was relaxing, the restaurant was not crowded and service was great. I was finally able to feel in full vacation mode at this lunch.

 

 

 

 

 

RESERVED SEATING FOR SHOWS

This is one of the main reasons we purchased The Key. We wanted to have good seats for the shows without having to get in line really early. I’d heard that the seats weren’t the best in the house, but I was hopeful that they were good. We did have reservations for each show, but I don’t remember them scanning our cards to check that we had reserved a spot.

 

1887 Ice skating Show

We almost didn’t go but decided to at the last minute and arrived at Studio B right at 15 minutes before the show. The place was almost full and there were no seats together except for in The Key section. We were escorted to the section and after we sat they released the remaining seats. Our seats - and it looked like most of the Key and Suite reserved seats - were not good because they were right behind a huge post.

 

1887 Score: 5/10

It was nice to be able to get there at the last minute and still get seats together, but we were disappointed in the location.

 

Grease

We arrived about 20 minutes before the show and there was a huge line to get in. I asked about The Key and was directed to an entrance on the floor above. We walked right in and the reserved seats were in the balcony. Balcony seats on The Harmony are terrible because the railing at the front of the balcony area is high and blocks your view from the first couple of rows in this section. We ended up going downstairs and finding some better (but still not great) seats on the main level.

 

Grease Score: 5/10

It was nice not to have to wait in line to enter the theater, but the reserved seats were terrible and we didn’t even use them.

 

A Fine Line

Our dinner ran late and I had to skip dessert and RUN to grab seats. I got there 12 minutes before the show but they hadn’t released Key seats yet. I was led directly to a great spot right in the center of the stage and out of the water zone, and was able to hold seats until the family got there a few minutes later.

 

A Fine Line Score: 10/10

This is exactly the benefit I had hoped to get from The Key – being able to walk in at the last minute and still get good seats.

 

Columbus: The Musical

We arrived about 15-20 minutes before the show. I knew to go to the 5^th floor entrance this time, but it wasn’t necessary since it wasn’t that crowded. There were plenty of seats available, and we went downstairs to try to find seats together but decided the reserved Key seats in the balcony were just as good and went back up there. We had to sit 3 rows back to be able to see over the railing at the front of the balcony, and even then it blocked the stage a little bit.

 

Columbus Score: 2/10

Even without The Key we would’ve found seats together just a few minutes before the show, and the seats we got were not very good.

 

VOOM INTERNET SERVICE

I had originally planned to buy the 4 device plan for the 5 of us to share and I factored this into the cost of The Key package. Internet was a little spotty, but for the most part worked fine.

 

Voom Score: 10/10

I was going to buy it anyway and it was nice for each of us to have our own plan.

 

PRIORITY DISEMBARKATION AT PORTS

We were supposed to get a special exit at ports but it was never necessary. We did receive a notice in the room how to go about priority disembarkation in Roatan (but not at any of our other stops), but we got it after the Roatan stop! We had done an early excursion that morning that met on the ship in Roatan so I never saw what the lines to exit the ship looked like.

 

Port Disembarkation (at ports) Score: 0/10

It was never needed and never used. All of our ports had docks so it was easy to get off; I could see this being more useful if your ports had tenders.

 

PRIVATE HOURS FOR ONBOARD ACTIVITIES

The times available for onboard activities weren’t terrible, but weren’t good either. The only special time we used was for the zipline on the first day. Close toed shoes were required for this activity and it could have been a huge fail since our shoes were still packed in our suitcases. Luckily, we saw our suitcases in the hall on the way to the room and grabbed them just in time for the special hours to start. We were the only people using the zipline so no waiting, but we had enough after 2 runs each.

 

Private Activity Hours Score: 2/10

We didn’t use the private hours for any activities other than the zipline, and the line wasn’t that bad on sea days for it anyway. Would have like to use it for the Flo Rider, but wanted to sleep in when it was available.

 

FINAL DAY BREAKFAST

On disembarkation day we were able to go to the dining room for a full service breakfast before leaving the ship. We could go any time between 6:30 and 9:30 and we went around 7:45. We were seated right away. The menu had your usual breakfast fare, along with some specials. My son got the steak and eggs, and got a perfectly cooked filet. I had the crab eggs benedict and it was good but not great. They also gave us a couple of boxes of cereal to take off the ship for our drive home.

 

Final Breakfast score: 10/10

The breakfast was good and it was so nice to have one last relaxing meal with the family before we left.

 

 

PRIORITY DISEMBARKATION OFF SHIP

After breakfast, we were able to bypass the line and walk right off the ship. Our luggage was waiting for us in an easy to find spot – by then we knew to look for the light blue “The Key” signs. I’d guess that it took about 20 minutes from the time we left breakfast to the time we got our luggage.

 

Priority Disembarkation (at Port Canaveral) Score: 10/10

In the past, we have self-disembarked to avoid the crowds and get off the ship quickly. This was one of the main benefits we were hoping to get with The Key and it came through.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS

My final score for The Key is 74/120 or 62%. The perks were nice and when it worked like I had hoped, it was great. But the number of times it didn’t work like I had hoped was disappointing. I don’t think it was worth the cost and will not purchase again with the way it is currently set up.

 

 

 

On 6/28/2019 at 10:32 AM, mommyof2monkeys+princess said:

So I called in since the RoyalUp link kept giving me the same error of make sure you are 30 days out and correct information.  She put me on hold for a long time.  She then came back and said it was invitation only and I didn't have an invitation and family reservations are not allowed for RoyalUp and I have a family reservation.  I am bummed I didn't get to try for an upgrade.  Oh well!

 

Same! 😞

Anyone know if Keens qualify as water shoes for this excursion? What about Crocs? or does it have to be the standard beach type of water shoes?

We're booked on Harmony in July and I'm excited to have a room on the "hump" but now I'm starting to worry that we'll hear noise above us on the pool deck. Anyone have experience with this? (We're port side, mid ship, under the main pool in room 14190)

Looking for a good excursion on Costa Maya. We prefer something more active than a beach, like snorkeling, tubing, zipline, exploring, etc. What have you done there that you loved?

Thanks everyone! I knew I'd get an answer quick here!

It's been a few years since we cruised RCCL. When I click the "Best Price Guarantee" it says you have 48 hours to find a better price and they'll refund 110% of the difference. Does that mean they're no longer honoring price adjustments if I find a better deal between now and my sail date? Also, when I was looking at cruises last fall, I remember that there was a new mid-level price and you had to go with that one if there was a chance your date would change. I don't see that as an option now, has that gone away? So confused! ;p

Thanks everyone for easing my mind! :)

We leave in one week and some of the posts about crazy long lines at embarkation have me a little worried. Does anyone have any tips to make the process go smoothly? How early do you recommend we arrive? Boarding passes say 1:00 (earliest option when I checked in); we've arrived as early as 10:00 to begin the process on RCCL. Similar process on NCL?

My family and I would like to do a Discover Scuba excursion in Georgetown. The excursion that NCL offers requires participants to be 12+ and my daughter will be one month short of her 12th birthday. Can anyone recommend a reputable company to use?

Great stories, keep 'em coming!

 

A couple of years ago we planned a cruise as our big family Christmas gift. The cruise was the week before Christmas and since our youngest was still a believer, we had to figure out a way to incorporate Santa into it. We also wanted the kids to be able to enjoy the anticipation leading up to the vacation.

 

Our "elf on a shelf" arrived after Thanksgiving with a note explaining that Santa would be coming early with a big gift that the whole family would enjoy. After that, the elves had a daily riddle/poem leading up to the night before the cruise. The kids had a great time trying to figure out what the gift could be and were so excited when they got the last clue explaining where they'd by going.

 

Here are a couple of the riddles...

 

 

 

 

 

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I agree that the anticipation is part of the fun, but we really wanted to surprise the kids with a pre-Christmas cruise a few years ago. We had our "Elves" leave clues each day for 2 weeks describing a big family gift. They had a blast trying to figure out what it was and were thrilled when they found out it was a cruise.

 

Here are the clues we left. Feel free to borrow and modify to suit your needs.

 

 

Saturday, December 7

What will you do when you see it?

That, my friends is up to you.

You’ll need a bathing suit and ice skates

How’s that for a clue?

 

Tuesday, December 10

The big day is getting near.

We know it’s hard to believe!

Solve this riddle and you might figure it out:

Once you get there, you’ll leave.

 

Monday, December 9

Will you head North? East? South? West?

You’ll find out another day

But here’s a clue to prepare you:

It’s ten hours in a car one way

 

Wednesday, December 11

You aren’t just going one place.

If you count a night’s hotel stay

You’ll be going to four destinations

A different activity for you each day.

 

Thursday, December 12

An island adventure or a day at the pool?

River rafting or snorkeling at high tide?

Dinner with family or hanging with friends?

Who says you need to decide?

 

Friday, December 13

Pack your bags, you’re heading South.

Tomorrow’s the big day!

First stop: Ft. Lauderdale

And then you’ll be on your way.

 

You’ll raft down the river in Jamaica.

Grand Cayman: snorkel the clear, blue sea.

Spend the day on a private island,

Swim the ocean & relax by a coconut tree

 

On Sunday you’ll be boarding

A ship like you’ve never seen.

A FloRider, a balcony, an ice rink!

Fun for every parent, kid and teen.

Okay, I did it! With incentives (free beverage package + excursion credit), NCL Epic is $2,500 less than Harmony. Unless Harmony price comes down before final payment, think we may jump ship for this voyage.

Wondering if anyone has done this, or if there's a reason not to...

 

We currently have Harmony booked for Dec 17. Found a sailing on NCL Epic for the same date that is $2,000 less (one day shorter, but port is closer to home). I'm considering going ahead and booking the NCL while we watch Harmony prices, and then cancel one of them just before the cancellation deadline. Thoughts?

think of the balcony as the base balcony room..... mini suite is the same as a balcony but a nicer bathroom (family mini are closer to kid zones and has a tub) and spa mini suite with balcony adds admission to spa

 

Mini suite does NOT come with suite perks

 

Great info, thank you!

What is the difference in mini suite, spa rooms and balcony rooms on Epic? On the cruise I'm looking at, a mini suite is cheaper than a spa, and only $100 more than a balcony, but it appears that a mini suite would be the nicer room. Correct? Thanks for the input... We have not sailed NCL since our honeymoon in an interior room almost 25 years ago!