mchl73133

23 hours ago, Heckah said:

Did you have to tender into any ports?

No we did not. There were 3 ships in Costa Maya. Maybe 2 in Cozumel. only one in Belize. and not sure about Roatan.

16 hours ago, cincicruisers said:

Did you participate in the canvas by u?

 How was specialty dining?

How was Cruise Director?

 

We did not, but my wife saw people walking around with their paintings and said she wanted to do it next time.

We ate at Teppanyaki (1st night), La Cucina (2nd Night), Food Republic (4th night), Cagneys (7th Night). 

Wanted to do Teppanyaki again for the last night but it was booked. It was our favorite meal all cruise. 

We also had a group of 10 of us and they were able to accommodate us all.

Can't comment on the cruise director, but everyone seemed to be having a great time. We didn't partake in any of the activities that he was in charge of.

Great time, with great friends. I have to say that Justin Golan was the best show, but we didn't get to see all of the shows. 

I have the dailies. I will try and post them.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

7 hours ago, gatorchinsky said:

I can post dailies when I get home.  The Entertainment sheet says that Howl at the Moon is on Day 1, Day 3, Day 5 and Day 7.

Thank you very much! This helps a lot. 

Are you able to post the dailies? Curious to know what nights Dueling Pianos are? Thanks and enjoy your cruise!

Friends of ours bought a cruise next voucher 4 yrs ago when we cruised on the Getaway. They bought it Feb. 21 of 2015. It expired Feb 21, 2019. But the credit stayed on his NCL account when logged in. He booked a cruise for this December about 65 days ago and online would not allow him to add the expired voucher. But a simple call and they added the $250 voucher towards his cruise, even tho it was expired. 

Earlier this year, they called when the voucher was about to expire and offered him to use the credit for a cruise for anytime in 2019 they would honor the voucher, but he did not book at that time and assumed he lost out. 

3 hours ago, Nclcruise45 said:

Interested. $250 for the pair

 

Sorry we ended up booking a last minute cruise with them. Couldn't pass up the price. 

I have 2. what price you wanting to pay?

1 hour ago, IRMO12HD said:

Out of curiosity -- since you got a 1-day deviation, does your (overnight) flight Sacramento-Miami get you in the day before your cruise, or the day of your cruise?

We land friday morning the day before the cruise. We have an overnight flight Thursday night. So we had to get a hotel room for friday night. Hopefully they will let us check in extra early since we land in Miami at 6am. 

23 hours ago, parothd0320 said:

Is this bar hop through a private tour group?  It sounds like fun

Google Cozumel bar hop and it’s the first one that comes up!

We deviated the flights 1 day before at no charge. Booked thru travel agent. and he said NCL didnt charge anything and I was also refunded the airport transfer of $32. 

We did this at about 80 days before cruise. We are now at 59 days.

Our friends booked directly thru NCL.com around 62 days and they were not allowed to deviate. NCL said you can not deviate after 65 days before your trip, not cruise date, 65 days from the date your flight would be. But still they have not received their flight info.

6 hours ago, havanadaydreaming said:

Looking for the BEST excursion you've had from just one of these four port of calls.  

 

Cozumel

Costa Maya

Roatan

Harvest Caye

 

We just purchased 7 nt cruise on Escape as honeymoon gift to 22 yr old son and fiancee, who have only sailed once (MSC) so they will be in awe of anything and everything on the Escape and from these ports. 

 

We plan on pointing them to this thread as opposed to sharing our experiences, don't want them to try to do OUR recommendations...We would rather them read YOURS! 

 

What's the best of the best from this itinerary? 

 

(Thank you for your tips!)

 

 

What dates? You should get them on the Roll Call thread. 

We did the Cozumel bar hop. My wife and I are in our 20s/30s and were the youngest on the party bus, but we had a great time. We are doing it again on our Escape cruise leaving Dec. 7th. We are bringing alone my inlaws and 6 other friends with us because it was such a good time. you get to see another side of the island.

Home/Departure City: Sacramento

Arrival/Destination City: Miami

Airlines: American Air

Number of Connections:  1 Change Planes in Arizona outboard / Return 1 Change planes in Chicago

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - Dec 6th Sac 7:38pm - Phoenix 10:26pm - Phoenix 12:05am - Miami 6:09am

Return Flight departure/arrival time - Dec 14th Miami -1:40pm - Chicago 4:03pm - Chicago 5:25pm to Sac 8:05pm 

Deviation:  Flying in 1 day early

Flight info received - 60 days out

Just called to add a deviation through NCL and it was free. Plus they refunded the transfer from the airport to the cruise port.

Leaving from Sacramento to Miami. We do not have our flights yet but we are 71 days out.

How was your glacier viewing day? Was is still scheduled? Can you see anything from the ship? Are the open decks overly crowded with people? Did you partake in the spa at all? If so, how were the crowds in the thermal suite for example? Thanks!

Yes glacier was amazing. I thought there would be to many ice burgs but they navigated right up to the glacier. Great views. Obviously they cant get that close but close enough for pictures. The front of the boat was open. The waterfront did not look to busy. A lot of people were on their balconies.

My in-laws did the spa pass. Recommend purchasing in advance. It is more expensive on the ship.

The first morning they went. (Sunday, sea day) and they said it was packed. Couldn't find a seat.

But the rest of the cruise was ok in there.

We leave Saturday thanks for the information on the Beattles. Do you need reservations for the cavern club?

No reservations. Just recommend getting there about 45 min. early. They have several different shows like Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper, etc. The dailies do not say anything about Beatles. I think they said Britains Finest: Abbey Road or Britains Finest: Sgt. Pepper. The guys that were on our shipped were leaving this ship so there is a new band now. But the ones on our cruise were great and funny.

Thank you so much for your detailed answer! It is very much appreciated. I do have a few more questions, since you offered :halo::halo::halo:

 

How was crowd management on port mornings? Are we best off ordering room service those mornings or is it pretty efficient getting people in and out of main dining rooms / buffet in a timely manner?

 

Did you catch any of the typical cruise shows in the atrium, and how was the sound/seating? I've heard mixed reviews about sitting at the local for the best seat in the house because deck 6 is a madhouse and crowded, but I've also heard you can't hear anything from there.

 

Did you see if the bow of the ship was opened for passengers on glacier viewing day?

 

And I know food is totally personal and subjective but I'd still love to hear it, what was your favorite meal from your cruise?

Im not a breakfast person. But my in-laws said it was busy on port mornings. Maybe try room service.

Atrium was busy for sure, we didn't attend any shows that were shown there. We did see some from The Local while having lunch a couple days and yes you can hear everything from up there.

Yes the bow of the ship deck 8 I believe was open. We had balcony rooms. 1 on each side of the ship, same deck, so we jumped back and forth from each room for the better view. The shipped spun around 1 time and left. We made it to the Glacier and could clearly see it. But I guess it changes daily. We got lucky with weather the whole time. Locals were saying it was the nicest week this year so far.

Favorite meal for me is always Teppanyaki. But I didn't have a bad meal.

Also for those wondering, there are no Crab Legs during the Alaksan Seafood night. I've seen lots of the pictures floating around on the internet, etc. That was for the Inaugural cruise only.

Los Lobos was very good also. To much food if you got the dinner package. I calculated it and its cheaper to buy the different portions separately than buying the UDP. The table side guacamole was amazing and way to much for 2 people. 3 Whole Large Avocados. Tacos were very good as well.

We just got off the bliss on Aug 4th and when we sailed they had the Embarkation photo stops before you got on the boat.

I believe it was right before you went up an escalator before boarding. Fyi the fastest and easiest boarding ever. NO WAIT. Walked right on. Got there at 11:27am, drink in hand by 11:49am.

I could see how some people missed the photos with the boarding process so fast.

Wanted to give everyone a heads up about the Photographs on the Bliss.

They do not have the photographers in the main dining rooms anymore like other boats.

They do have the stations set up during dinner on decks 678.

They also have photographers in the Specialty Restaurants, BUT here is the catch. You must purchase these photos from the Specialty Restaurants separately that night. I believe they are $25 ea. You can not get them later nor with the Photo Package at the end of the cruise. We always buy the 10 photo package, but did not this time because some of the photos we like are from the Specialty Restaurants. So we only bought 1 photo from Teppanyaki.

Im guessing they figured that most people weren't buying the restaurant photos and only the backdrop photos outside the restaurants. Let me know your thoughts on this. Other than that, the bliss was amazing. Let me know if you have any questions. I still have the dailies and other info if anyone needs.

Thank you everyone for the responses. Is this second night still the Dress Up or Not night as well?

Does anyone know what day the seafood is available in the buffet on the Bliss? Is it everynight? Ive seen some videos and pictures and it looks amazing.