david_sobe

Has anyone ever been on a cruise like this before?

I did not really want a solarium. However the Epic has a rare and fantastic feature with forward facing cabins. You could not enjoy a balcony facing forward with all the wind. The view sailing forward almost makes you feel like you are on your own private yacht. I did not think I would like the solarium until I saw how big it is. The solarium is bigger than the balconies and the views are very peaceful. But if being outside is important to you which it sounds like it is then I would not book it.

To each their own. This would never interest me in the least and I would not want to be on board. But kudos to those that think this is fun. I wont judge anyone but I had a weird experience at a nude beach once. I dont get into nudity at all. But when I moved to Florida I kept hearing how beautiful this one beach was and a part of it was a nude beach. I thought no big deal people are sun bathing in the nude. I kept in my trunks but I sort of got a weird vibe. I got the vibe that people loved to get up, walk around, and let people see them naked. It really creeped me out. I wanted the naked people to stay on their towels. Most of the people were really old too which is a whole different conversation. So I think the pool area would not be for me. 🙉🙈 Does anyone remember the Golden Girls episode where Rose books them at a nudist camp by accident. They wait all weekend to get up the courage to partake in the festivities and go to dinner naked only to have everyone laugh at them as the waiter says "we wear clothes for dinner." So funny! 😆

This is my old video of 16001 from 11 years ago. The room has been remodeled but you get a good look at the room and solarium. The forward views are amazing especially in the shower.

Much of those shows are staged to create drama no doubt. I remember the Oasis of the Seas and the drama the captain would not be able to dock the ship for the first time. I bet he was very capable and knew he was not going to have problems. The fireworks on the Breakaway was unnecessary drama t oo. But it makes for good TV. I know people that were involved in police fugitive hunting programs and the arrest is real. But then they film backwards and create a story of police doing an investigation which had nothing to do that led to the arrest. But its edited together to make it look like it all pieced together. What are the chances there are pier runners the day they are filming. Hmmmmm 🤔

Yes I've seen them. You are really going down a slippery slope. To answer your question there is no rule of thumb how long a captain will wait. Being there were film cameras on those specials I bet the captain waited longer than usual. Again your post does not answer the murky question "how strict is NCL?" It varies. Sometimes a bus will wait for someone running down the street while other times the bus keeps going. A pilot may delay pushing away from the gate for a minute or two. Each scenario is different and every captain is different. Its impossible to answer that question because its a ridiculous question. With the recent passengers stranded in Africa supposedly they made contact with the ship and it did not matter. Bottom line: No matter what line you sail, get your butt on board 30 minutes before sail away. You could always do an experiment on your next cruise. See how long the captain waits for you and then report back to this thread 🤨

I think the question has an incorrect premise asking how "strict" NCL is with on board time. NCL is like most other cruise lines that require passengers board 30 minutes before sail away. Is that being strict? Does not every mode of transportation have a board time? Imagine airports if planes had no set time for departure but waited for all ticketed passengers to board. Its common sense and not an issue of being "strict." If there was no set time ships would be constantly waiting for passengers. Is there not a set time we start work, attend school, get the bus, etc? Its confusing to me to think of this as strict? Maybe the OP meant to ask, when does NCL require passengers on board before sail away?

I have a question to the masses. I can only speak from personal experience but has anyone staying in the Haven found their luggage actually getting priority? I never have and I know people complain about it. But I am curious what others have experienced.

The last Haven cruise I took in 2020, the luggage tags were gold but not plastic. The color or priority word on them don't mean anything. All the luggage is boarded together and in the order they are dropped off. Each piece receives the same priority no matter what deck you are on. I have stayed in Haven and balcony cabins. I have never found that luggage arrives faster in the Haven.

Enclosing the casino or making it smoke free is a great idea. It was a bad design because the Away class ships had these "open concept" venues to save space. Restaurants like La Cucina and the Asian/noodle place was open to the outside with no wall enclosing it from the walkway areas. NCL put their casinos in these open areas and the smoke would just linger into these restaurants while you were trying to eat. I remember sitting at the table outside at the noodle bar and my eyes burning from the smoke.

The 2 cabin suites on Epic 16001 and 17001 are always highly sought after because they are wider than all the other 2 bedroom suites on Epic. They are forward and have a solarium instead of a balcony. We loved the solarium because it was so big and like another room. It even has its own thermostat. Deck 16 is the same floor as the concierge, pool, and restaurant. If you want a bigger suite and you dont mind a solarium, see if one of these are available. I dont know why NCL made these center forward cabins bigger than the rest. The living room is 2 feet wider and the second bedroom is also 2 feet wider.

I did not open the thread awhile back about the Joy's dry dock because I had no interest. I was watching a video last night of all the changes and I was pretty impressed. The Joy had pretty much no spa at all and now it has the largest spa at sea beating the Epic. They converted the gaming complex into the spa. They showed the observation lounge and you would have swore it was not reduced. It still looked a good size. Then they expanded the DOS in the Haven and removed the top part of the Horizon lounge. Originally that area was a Haven casino when it was in the Asian market. The DOS has 3 bedrooms now and some bedroom windows look down into the Horizon lounge. I dont think anyone would miss that area since it rarely was used. I can definitely see these changes coming for Encore. Laser Tag took up the most valuable deck space on a cruise ship. So these changes make sense IMHO. However its sad the Joy could not get a "real" spa. I suppose they could not put in a thermal pool. While the square space is huge and they have countless loungers there is only one small hot tub and a 1 person cold dunk pool. The saunas are normal sized though. I just feel that cheats the purpose of the spa. A very large thermal pool with additional hot tubs like on the other ships. So that is the only downer I see.

That would be interesting.

She's beautiful. Most of this board always flames the new hull art of NCL ships until it grows on them. This I like right away. Very colorful. Not tacky but elegant.

That ain't gonna happen. Everything added is to increase income. Fee based activities wont go away. I remember when NCL ripped up the Spinnaker lounges and what was left over looked like a fire sale. But NCL stopped doing it to their Jewel class ships. It was supposed to be all of them. Is not the Encore already sailing at maximum capacity. They really need 20 more passengers this bad?

I think its a bit extreme to rip apart such new ships to add more cabins. So they will build an owners suite on deck 15 nowhere near the Haven? Part of the appeal of the Encore Haven is having everything in the same complex. So they will make the Observation deck smaller for a few more bucks. Its going to cost a pretty penny to do this too. How about making the race track one deck and removing the track from one deck and put cabins there too. The Laser Tag area would provide some great Aft view for cabins too.

Of course. But its sort of impossible to hide dogs walking the halls during a cruise. Of all the cruises I have been on I have never seen them in the halls and going in sniffing cabins. What I am saying is there is a ton of intelligence data behind the scenes that you are not aware of. If they are bringing dogs on board there is intelligence to do so. The point I was making is the countless threads of people seeing dogs at the port and people post here they were checking for narcotics. Not always. There are multiple kinds of dogs. Its all done for passenger's safety. Its also like when people see police on board thinking someone is being arrested. Not always. Cruise lines do not let police to board with drug sniffing dogs to blindly go on excursions and start opening everyone's cabins or random cabins to sniff for contraband unless there is some sort of reasonable suspicion. Lastly these port calls are pick up places. Even if someone is suspected of smuggling drugs they usually will wait until the ship gets back to a U.S. Port to discover it and make the arrest. Not saying it cant happen but ports of entry are much more intrusive than sail away ports.

Many of the dogs you see at ports are not exclusively are the ones trained for narcotics. To keep the port safe they have dogs that sniff explosive materials. An island like Bermuda is going to keep itself safe and not allow certain food items to come in either. Its a false pretense to assume every dog at the port is looking for drugs. I have never seen a dog some to someone's cruise cabin before. Its likely there was a source of information on that one. There are dogs that sniff currency too. Each dog is trained for a separate contraband.

For authorities and a dog to go to a certain cabin tells us there was an informant or someone snitched the person out and they went to investigate. There is simply not enough time in the day to keep doing drug sweeps in every cabin after every port. Here in Miami people are profiled all the time. They take a cruise, get off in port, wear different sandals back to the ship filled with cocaine. They are profiled and watched or again there is an informant working with authorities. Its put under wigs, in wheel chairs, sandals, etc.

There was no dispute to intervene. I actually started with the concierge and he was not really an advocate for it. He was the one that told me it would have to be up to the Haven restaurant manager. I mentioned it to my butler and he also did not accelerate the request either. It seemed like it was going to be a big deal so I just dropped it. A better reservation came up at Onda that night and we decided on that instead. Maybe it could have happened if I pressed the issue. But I could tell right away it was going to make people uncomfortable and no way I wanted the rules bent for me or given special treatment. I could take a hint this was not a great idea. No biggie. I seriously could care less. I used to read all the special requests in the Haven all the time. Its just something I pondered but the subtle resistance made me change my plans.

That is what I asked. I was told it has to be cleared with the Haven restaurant manager. The facial expressions that I got were of someone in pain so I never bothered to take it further. The butler is supposed to bring things to your cabin, not the restaurant (which I was sort of told).

Special requests seem to not be common in the Haven anymore. Remember the days when people would get specialty dining appetizers for free with their Haven meal. They dont like bringing any outside food into the Haven restaurant for a few reasons. Once someone sees something that someone else got then its a slippery slope with waiters running back and forth between restaurants. The Haven staff want to feel they are exclusive and bringing any outside food in cheapens the experience in their minds. Many years ago they would actually offer you something from the MDR and deliver it to the Haven restaurant. Back in the day when NCL had lobster night in the MDR, the Haven staff would inform you it was ok to order it and it would be delivered. They dont like to do any such things anymore. I asked once on Encore and got this painful look and I told them its ok and forget about it.

The Haven menu for dinner has an excellent selection. Unfortunately they dropped the wild mushroom ravioli that was a favorite for years. But I could easily eat 4 different dinners off this menu and be happy.

As long there is Cagneys, Onda, and Los Lobos, I'm happy! 😁 Throw in a few cookies and I'm ecstatic !

Good size. You see by the photo it can have several loungers, a table and table chairs.