sunkey1

I had the same issue so I called in. The first person I spoke with said not to worry, just come whenever, the second person said that times should show up in our edocs on Wednesday. Will see what happens Wednesday and go from there....

I have taken MANY cruises and hope I never fall into that group that becomes so jaded that all they can do is nit pick and look for faults. At the end of the day I am on a ship. I am fortunate that I can take a vacation with someone I love, knowing that I have a lovely home to go back to, and have a good job and no worries about paying my bills. Given what we are seeing in the world lately I consider myself to be hugely fortunate and try to focus on that instead of the negative, as so many others seem to do on these boards. Yes, I want honesty, but some of these people seem totally unable to be satisfied about anything and I'm so happy to read your review where you managed to find the rose in the thorns. Bravo!

I've emailed them about our visit in April, I'll let YOU know when we get back, if we end up going there. 🙂

Have you been recently and if so, how was it?

Not a thing, that was my point. Even having an in-person, walk to your muster station and hear the speech drill, try on life jackets, is not going to guarantee any kind of civility and calm when an actual emergency occurs.

I worked on the SS Norway back in the 90's. I couldn't even get people to listen to me when boarding tenders half the time, does anyone honestly think that in the case of a true emergency that people are going to proceed in a calm, orderly fashion, to their assigned muster stations? 🤣

Agree, the Norway was a special ship and nothing like walking into Club International, everyone dressed (at that time) in tuxes or suits, formal dresses. I love the relaxed ambiance of cruising now but I still miss the elegance of the old days as well.

They didn't push us back that far but I did lose out on about 15 cruises when they started the new rewards (Latitudes) program. Ticked me off enough that I went and became Platinum with Carnival and cruised with RCCL, Princess and Celebrity before finally going back to NCL again. Now I select based purely on ship, itinerary and price, not totally loyal to any one line.

A lot of us do, as we consider the cost and labor involved with producing and mailing something that goes straight into the trash or recycle bin. Pure waste on so many levels.

Oh yeah, My first cruise was on the Sunward back in 1979. Loved it so much that we then went on the maiden voyage of the SS Norway in 1980. Even the difference between those two ships was something but boy have they changed since then! Some changes great, some not so much...

Thanks so much for trying to maintain a positive frame of mind. SO much of what I see lately is negative and it really is disheartening. These operators had NO income for a VERY long time and it's going to take a while to even break even, let alone see a real profit. Combine that with labor and supply issues and increasingly spoiled passengers and it's a drama waiting to happen. Whenever I hit those bumps lately (and we all do) I remind myself that at least I'm not from Ukraine or homeless or out of work. It could be SO much worse than having to wait a few extra minutes for a drink at the bar....

Absolutely the Escape, love that ship. Epic was just "meh" in my opinion.

My only comment would be to not judge by that one cruise. We cruised in 2021/22 on Carnival on the Magic and on the Mardi Gras. Two totally different experiences. Magic was old, run down and lacking in a lot of areas. Mardi Gras was so good that we rebooked on her and had a second, great experience. The Dawn is an OLD ship and none of the lines (from what I've heard) are putting as much effort into the old ships as they are into the new ones.

Still using mine at work as I type. Before that they gave really nice Carnival tote bags that we still carry on cruises with us.

When did you work for NCL? I worked cruise staff MANY years ago on NCL as well. Jean Ann Ryan produced the best shows ever, have not seen anything to rival those yet.

Don't like the in person drills at all but certainly not going to avoid cruising on a line solely for that reason.

It really depends on the older ship too. I loved the Legend and even a lot of the Victory, found a lot of the others to lean more towards the "tacky" side, jmho. Not sure if Farcus was the designer on those or not. He definitely left his mark on the design of so many ships, love them or hate them.

We go to the French side (St. Martin), every time as the beaches are beautiful. Have to say the topless I've ever seen looks more like about 5% than 50%, if even that.

Never said it would stop, merely said that I was going to try doing my part to help in the most miniscule of ways. You're free to keep living your life as you like.

Nope, sorry, but ever since I saw the video of people extracting a plastic, disposable straw from a turtle's nose, I'm trying to do what little bit I can for the environment. Is it a minor inconvenience to do this? Yes. Is it worth it to me, absolutely. To each his own though.

Have to say the decor is one of my favorite things about the new Carnival ships. FINALLY getting away from the gaudy style and getting a little more theme oriented and classy.

I think it depends on the steward. Both times we sailed on the Mardi Gras our stewards searched us out to find out our service preferences and any requests we had were fulfilled almost immediately.

Not sure if NCL has stopped using straws or not but would add silicone or metal straws to the list if it was me. We have those on our packing list now. You can also get collapsible metal ones with cases that are really nice as you can keep them in the case after they've been used until you have a chance to rinse them out.

You just have to make sure that you book the club balcony suites WITH LARGER BALCONY, otherwise you will have a standard size balcony. The ones on deck 9 are very large, the ones on deck 8 even larger (deeper), enough room for two loungers, plus table and two chairs.

Worked on the ships as staff and have cruised for 40+ years as a passenger. Does anyone seriously think that in the event of an emergency people are going to proceed in an orderly fashion to their designated stations? I couldn't even get people to proceed in an orderly fashion onto tenders half the time...