tgirl25

Because I am out $400 cash. Like I already said, I could have found a cruise for $1100. Sure I get to find a cruise for $1500, but it cost me $400 to do that. I'd have been perfectly happy with just $1100 to use.

Let me get this right.

Your cruise was cancelled 3 days out(which sucks balls majorly) and they issued you a full refund to your CC.

In ADDITION they offered Future Cruise Credit of 1500 to you and 700 to your friend of FREE money towards cruising. Basicly you got 200% of your cruise fare back minus the tax on that 2nd 100% in FCC. And you are complaining that in order to make your friend whole you have to give them 400$ cash? I get that it would be easier for you to send some of your FCC over to him but you can't. But getting 1500$ free cruise cash I would not be upset at all handing over the cash, and most likely on your next cruise you can either take it solo without coming out of pocket a dime or even have the next room you split with someone perhaps level it out and get your 400 that way. Dude, you are getting an entirely free cruise, that is not something to complain about! Glass 1/2 full

OMG!!! YOU JUMP SHIP (NCL)!!!;p;p

I WAS CHECKING OUT RC BOARDS ON ANYTHING REGARDING FREEDOM OF THE SEA...

PLANNING TO JUMP NCL NEXT YEAR AND TRY RCL..... CAN'T WAIT TO READ YOUR REVIEW !!!;)

I have been on Liberty of the Seas though back in 08. Loved the ship, so much to do and see. Ice shows and skating, surfing or just watching Great pools and mini golf, rock climbing, good shows and good food... I am sure you will love Freedom! I have Harmony coming up after 2 NCL's(Bliss and Epic) in Jan 2020

I did see the price of their bottled water...we won't be buying that either:eek: good grief! I sure hope the "regular" water is good

Take a empty Brita Water Filtration bottle with you for each of you, problem solved. I was able to drink water straight from the tap with it, tasted fine(I am a bottle water girl)

That is a good price for a 14 day, and the solo area is a blast as are the people!! Enjoy

any suggestions of where to find something like this

Start looking at Limo service's, a nice sedan and personal door to door services, easy to arrange for the way home too

Tgirl25, I don't think you read the OP's question correctly. ;p

I did, but figured a newbie needed to know how long he would actually get at Disney, basically while it is subjective and I did say it was to short for me, he could think that it is enough for him. Shoot most people don't think that the port is that far away or that traffic can be really bad in the area during certain times.

I had forgotten about the tram/boat/bus thing but now remember doing the Monorail and the boat before now that I think about it and they do wait for them to fill before they leave. The boat though takes much longer

I don't think you will be given the option, it says in your cruise contract basically that they are allowed to change anything and everything about your cruise as long as you get the cruise. Changes like this are why you might want to purchase independent cruise insurance, it can give you the right to cancel after final payment for something like this.

But I would say, go in with an open mind, try it out. Or stay on the ship if you picked a fun one and have it to yourself while everyone else is ashore...

Depends how long you will be ported there. Also keep in mind that it is about 1hr drive from the port to Disney ea way, plus time to get to your rental car, return it before you have to be on board. Personally I think it would be too short because you are realistically going to spend about 3+hrs of your time in port in the car, getting to your rental and driving to Disney not to mention while you do park at the park you will still be a heck of a walk away from the gate 10-20mins ea way even if you can get the shuttles quickly(it is like airport parking). So even if you are ported for 12hrs which is a generous stop, max time at/in the park is around 7hrs. For me, that is not enough time, but then I have been several times and wouldn't want to spend 130+$ for 7hrs especially since some wait times can be an hr plus. If you are only ported 8hrs then 3-4hrs max and that is pushing it to get back on the ship in time and I would say totally not worth it. However if you do not think you will ever be able to goto Disney otherwise, then go. However if you can do it another time where you can spend all day, do that because the park is huge and there is a ton to see and do to the pooint where in a full day I was not able to do all the things I wanted to...

I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up, I suppose... This will go down as the only "Live Review" that never even got within 3,000 miles of the actual ship. Basically, the story here is that Carnival now expects thousands of people to try and get to Miami somehow, not even knowing what sort of conditions will prevail by then. My idea of a vacation is not travailing over downed trees and through puddles of water for 800 miles. They say that they will "pro-rate" the refund for the 3 days that everyone will miss, plus a "future cruise credit" for the remaining 5/8ths of the money...

Norweigian and Royal have issued full refunds, above and beyond the price paid for the cancelled cruises. Carnival has decided that their bottom line is more important than their passengers. Carnival can roll up my "future cruise credit" tightly, and stick it deeply where the sun don't shine. I'm done with them forever. I have gone ahead and booked the NCL Escape for Halloween week, and will try to put the lost money behind me. I honestly feel that Carnival is shooting themselves in the foot with this move, but I am not the one making that decision. They had their chance to really step up and show people that their passengers were their top priority, and they failed miserably...

That's pretty much it, folks. For those who made it this far, thanks for following along. I will pick up where this led off on the NCL board inabout 45 days from now. Until then, adios. sid=out...

Did you not purchase travel insurance? That is always a good idea when traveling during hurricane season. Still possible to be hit by more Hurricane's before the end of Oct

On the Epic, December 2016. While sitting at the bar, an announcement was made on the PA system: "Code Alpha" I asked the bartender what that meant, and he said a medical emergency... Fast forward about an hour, I was going back to the Solo Cabin area, and there were several security guards outside the cabin a few doors down from mine. The next morning there was red tape over the door to the cabin where the security guards were the previous night. I asked my cabin steward what happened, and he would only say there was a "medical emergency" Later that day, there was red tape on the cabin across the hall from where the original "incident" happened. Now I knew there was something more serious going on. These two cabins would remain taped off for the remainder of the cruise. I later found out from another passenger that they found a dead body in the first cabin, and in the second cabin, the perpetrator.

I wonder how often this happens? I was on the Epic Feb 4-11 cruise and we also had someone die of suspicious circumstances with a room on the 13th floor taped off. Maybe it is all the booze from the UBP making everyone crazy!

I've been reading some threads mentioning people blowing a fuse in their cabin when using their hairdryer from home, so I'm considering not bringing mine (pretty sure it's 1875 watts and I've read that NCL's in room dryers max out at 1600 watts, so it sounds like I wouldn't be able to use it). I have had problems on two Celebrity cruise ships where my hair straightener has taken forever to heat up to a useable heat (or not heated up at all) and now after reading these threads about the hairdryers, I'm worried that I'll have a problem on Breakaway next week. I just checked my straightener and it says it's 120 V/40 W. Have any of you ladies had issues? I feel like it's one thing to take a chance on a "new" hair dryer if I know I can rely on my straightener to perfect my blowout, but if the straightener doesn't work too, I'm looking at a week of really bad hair, lol (I have naturally curly hair that I straighten). Thanks!

Avoid straightening your hair under the fire alarm. In the studio's the mirror is in front of it and i had to. Set the fire alarm off in my room and had to wait for a couple of officers to come and verify everything was ok before they could turn off the lloud noise!!

Simple answer, the social media 5$ day plan will only cover facebook and have heard it is not even very good for email. Have heard the cheapy plans will not even allow you access to streaming sites. Streaming is pretty much impossible and buffers for a minute pretty much every 30seconds.

I agree with others, download a bunch of movies and such to your tablet or laptop if that is something you have to have. I used to bring a personal DVD player with a 10" screen i would take on cruises along with a stack of DVD's in a case, but then that was before streaming anything.

Your review is AWESOME! I will be searching for your other reviews when I finish this one! Just for clarification as I am always trying to learn as much as possible about efficient ways to travel: so you used your cc to purchase Carnival gift cards and paid for your cruise with them AND you used the points that you earned from the purchase of those gift cards to purchase more gift cards so they could be used as OBC. In the meantime, if you buy the cards at a grocery store you get fuel saver points on top of all of that?! I'm cruising Disney in January for the first time. I still have a balance to pay in a few months. What you're saying is I should find a local retailer (I think I've seen ppl on cc say Costco sells Disney gift cards) and buy gift cards for the remaining balance and pay for that balance with the gift cards I purchased then use the cc points I got to purchase additional gift cards and use as on board credits for the cruise PLUS I'd get fuel saver points from Costco for gas so I'm WINNING all the way around?! Is that what you're saying?! Hopefully so!! Super excited about your answer. Lol. Thanks!!!

 

 

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I think what she is saying is that she uses her business CC, that the business purchases a huge amount of product accumulated a HUGE amount of points using those points to get the gift cards to pay for the cruise. Essentially because the company runs so much inventory she is able to get many, many 100$ Carnival gift cards to pay for her cruise as well as expenses on the cruise.

Honestly, this is pretty brilliant but would only work well fro someone who has a business where they use a business CC to pay for purchases and incur a decent amount of points.

don't like the idea of the ones where I have to arrange my own transportation but it is included in the room. Would rather have a shuttle at least offered.

I do know about and am thinking about the 119$ deal at Microtel Saraland but if there are other hotels that are less, offer free parking and maybe have a per person fee for taking a shuttle I would be interested as well. Just looking to have the best option. Driving in the day prior(13-14hr drive), staying the night and then off to the races the next morning. Have FTTF so want to get there early

Oh, wow. Someone did say there was a fatality. How very sad to have your 20 year old go on a cruise and not return.

 

 

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I know right, I would freak if my son at 21 didn't come home since he is still living at home, much less never to return. So sad. I had to really look for the info too because no one published it and unless you talked to someone who went by the door you would never had heard about it at all. The fact that it didn't effect the ship at all and life continued as normal was kinda crazy. I believe it happened the night of the Glow Party so goodness knows what happened.

Glad you had fun on the ship. The bathroom thing is a little strange but I was in a studio by myself so it was not too bad. thanks so much for helping me relive my awesome experience! Wnderful for you to have shared with us.

I will add a few things.... Priscilla was great, I really enjoyed that show, the eye candy was plentiful with both hot women and men on stage. If you can handle the story line you are in for a great show. HOWEVER, please if you are thinking about going to this show make sure you have an idea about the story line 1st. There were a bunch of people who walked out 5-15mins in and not only did they block the views of the people seated but it also meant others who would have liked to have seen the show had been turned away and now would not get those now open seats.

Bowling, I watched but did not play. It was too funny though because you could tell the games where scewed by the rocking ship.

OShehans was nice with plenty of seating in the eating side and bar side. The food I found just ok, nothing really stood out. Tried to eat the famous cheesecake brownie pie, ended up just eating the cheesecake top off. Too rich.

Mac & Cheese they were awesome. No not the food the guys, they sang well and really got you grooving with them. they were either in the Atrium or the martini lounge when I saw them. My fav act onboard I would say and not bad to look at either.

I liked the ship, was surprised there were so many that were just dead set they hated the ship but I liked it and am thinking to do it again because it has an awesome solo program and my son works alot and can't go with me everytime anymore...

Take care and thanaks again for sharing.... Makes me want to go again

Background;We are Jane, (74) and Morgan, (78) who took our first cruise in 2007 and thismarks our 8th cruise since. We live in the state of Delaware which means if we have to fly to a port we must drive 2 hours to either Baltimore, MD or Philadelphia, PA since DE has no commercial airports.

 

Since the Epic leaves from Port Canaveral, FL, we decided to take the Amtrak Autotrain which runs from near Washington, D.C. to Sanford, FL which is near Orlando and only 45 miles from Port Canaveral. Once again, a two hour drive to Lorton,VA to get the Autotrain. The Autotrain does not make any passenger stops. It makes one stop overnight to change crews. '

We drove to Lorton, VA where we spent the night at a Comfort Inn in Lorton, VA so as not to miss our train. The hotel seemed to be filled with, “Snow Birds,senior citizens who go to FL for the winter !

 

We had dinner with friends from the area at Glory something. Good meal, and good time. We arrived at the station near noon, stepped out at the terminal with the small suitcase of medications and a change of clothes, two throws in case the train was chilly, some bottled water and a few snack items.Our van was then driven to be loaded in the Autotrain cars. I stood in a line behind 2 other people to check in, and that was it. The train departs at 4:00PM and is scheduled to arrive in Sanford the next morning at 9:00.

 

Since we have mobility issues, our dinner and breakfast were served to us at our seats because the dining car is on the upper deck of the train. Sure enough, several of the other 12 people on our train car had stayed at the Comfort Inn, too. We had plenty of leg room in the handicapped seating because instead of facing two other seats, there was a fixture in that space that could be used to secure a wheelchair or scooter. They do have sleeper cars, but believe me when I tell you, neither of us was about to sleep bunk bed style.

 

The train ride was interesting as we traveled through Richmond, VA. Savannah,GA, Charleston, SC and Jacksonville,FL. Although we didn’t sleep much, it was an enjoyable experience. So much easier than going through airport security, lines, crowded gate areas, retrieving luggage, renting a vehicle,then finally leaving an airport exhausted. Our van was unloaded, with all of the luggage we’d packed in it at home, I jumped in the driver’s seat and off we went.

 

We spent on night in the Country Inn and Suites in Port Canaveral, had dinner near the hotel, made a stop at Walgreens for lotion, had a good night’s sleep, a decent free breakfast at the hotel, then waited for the hotel shuttle to take us to our ship.

 

Smooth sailing so far, but wait ! The dream is about to end. My cruise nickname is Calamity Jane and I am about to live up to it. The waiting room for the shuttle was packed. Our driver announced that the Epic had been 90 minutes late arriving and that traffic getting to the ship was horribly backed up . He predicted that what was just a few miles away would probably result inus being on the shuttle for an hour or more. Ok, what can you do? Shuttle loaded and off we went about 1:00 instead of 12:00.

 

He was right, it was a nightmare at the NCL Epic terminal. We saw two ambulances leaving the area as well as several police cars. We later learned from a passenger ahead of us in a line that there had been a fatality on the ship ; a young manhad died of alcohol poisoning and that his girlfriend had been taken off in handcuffs. Very sad IF that was true.

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Getting to the check in line took a long time. There were long lines outside as people waited to enter the building. As mobility challenged passengers, we took the elevator rather than the escalator to reach security. The line there was extremely long also. We had requested wheel chair assistance for both embarkation and debarkation, but we had to walk and stand in lines before we reached a place where wheelchairs were available.If we had not had a rolling walker with a seat, I don’t know how my husband would have made it. As it was, he was overheating and tired due to the heat and effort of walking. The scooter I rented for him from Special Needs at Sea would be waiting for him in the cabin.

We finally went through security, then, had to wait another 20 minutes or more for the wheel chair assist. We arrived in our cabin, 10275 about 2:30.Our cabin was a handicapped one which was HUGE! So was the balcony. Yay, we were on board. Let’s get the safety drill over with and sailaway.

 

This cruise was a family one arranged by our sister-in-law, Nancy to celebrate her sister, Diane’s 60th birthday. Wouldn’t you know that while we were going to our cabin, we ran right into Morgan’s brother, Howard, and some of the other 29 who were part of the celebration group. Most of them are from Texas with a few from Pittsburgh. With 4,400 passengers aboard, it was perfect we found each other so easily.

 

After the safety drill, we retreated to the Garden Café, (buffet on Deck 15,) to grab a quick bite to eat but I think we missed lunch and it was too early for dinner. We later ate wings, salad and apple pie at the Irish Pub. That location became a favorite hang out spot. We had several meals there during the week.

 

I wore sandals for the first time since last summer and my feet and legs were killing me. I’d just completed two months of PT for stained hamstrings, so I quickly realized what I knees already knew, sandals do not offer enough support for the walking you do on a ship. When Morgan suggested I take the rollator to use, I had a bit of an attitude, “I don’t need that, I can just use a cane.” Let me tell you, I am SO glad I had the rollator. Morgan has already said that the next time we cruise he will insist that we rent two scooters. He’s right. I hate to admit it, but these old knees are no longer 35 years old.

 

That first night we set up our two C Pap machines without difficulty because the outlet is on the same side of the bed. Hooray, no need for duct tape to cover a cord running from across the room. (Carnival, are you listening?) Every night we slept like babies with the gentle waves that provide that heavenly gentle movement. That is one thing I LOVE about cruising. End of Embarkation Day.

 

SEVERAL GENERAL OBSERVATIONS;

Epic is a beautiful ship.

 

Staff was friendly and especially sensitive and helpful to physically challenged passengers

 

Balcony seemed more private than those on Carnival because of solid walls with a door between balconies.

 

P.S. to Embarkation Day; Once through security, a man nearby was looking around trying to find his wife. “She was JUST here, now where IS she ?”he said. His wife suddenly appeared with a cane in hand. It seems I had picked up her cane by mistake when we put the items on the screening belt. OOPS. Her husband’s C Pap machine bag looked just like ours so I suggested he check to make sure he had the correct bag. He did.

 

By the end of the evening we both noticed our feet were extremely swollen. I imagine our long train ride, limited fluid intake and being seated so much, sodium in foods contributed to the problem. Each night we noticed the swelling. After a few days back home where we elevated our feet and drank more water, the swelling went down.

 

We were so tired that first night, I was setting up our C Pap machines and in doing so first I accidently hit the button on the phone that signals an emergency. I had a call immediately to see if there was a problem. Five minutes later, I accidentally hit the red button on the wall behind the night table that was the emergency button. Call #2. I decided I’d better turn on my machine and go to sleep before they threatened to charge me for false emergency calls.

I was on the cruise before yours, the 4th-11th and according to the ships minutes there was a young lady 20yrs that died of suspicious circumstances in her room on deck 13. They had taped up the door and had a guard on it 24/7 since at one point a small group of us were talking to a man just a few doors down. Really sad but didn't know what had happened, just that someone had passed.

Glad you made it safe, looking forward to reading the rest

If and when I do another Alaska Cruise I will be taking Holland America. I prefer for there to be pools I can swim in and on NCL to Alaska they are all closed because they are outdoors. On Holland they can be covered so that you can still enjoy the pool deck and use lounge chairs without being cold.

That is just my personal opinion though. I do also encourage a balcony room as well, didn't want to feel crowded with everyone on the lido watching the iceburgs as you cruise into the glacier, it was nice to crack open a bottle of wine and celebrate it from my own balcony for pictures and not having others bumping into me

Does anyone ever tip the person that brings roomservice? even though I know tips are prepaid but I always feel bad if I don't tip room service because I was to lazy to go up the the buffet to get my coffee[emoji39] do you tip room service? How much? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

I have followed what I was told, it is customary to tip 1$ per person eating the RS. So in my case usually 2$ as my son regularly comes with me

Well about 30 pages into the review and I finally found the first "neat" photo you were talking about. :eek:

 

The 360 camera to do those kind of pictures is a little over $300. Or...you can just do it in photoshop. I have never seen this thing called "Tiny Planets" before, but it does have my attention.

 

So...I figured why not give it a try. Now the key to doing these is using a pano picture. I really don't have a lot of pano pics and the ones that I do have are not quite what you need to do these. But...I figured why not give it a shot. And "shot" I did. LOL

 

Don't laugh...it's my first try. (If only these 2 people were not in my picture)

 

 

 

 

I guess I'll have to keep trying. :D

If you photoshop the people out of your photo 1st it might turn out better.

I wanted to thank you again. I just got off from Epic 2/11 and had a much better understanding of the ship when I arrived on 2/4 then I might have without it.

Embarkation for me was fine, shuttle picked me up at my hotel about 10a, to the port approx 11:15a and dropping of people for Magic 1st(was on her in Dec 2015, great ship). However a bus had backed up into another bus and busted out their front window so there was alot of mess and cleanup going on so getting over to Epic at the complete opposing end of the port took 45-60mins along with the wait wait wait of everyone trying to drop people off. Off the shuttle about 12-12:15ish. Tipped the driver, found a porter, dropped my bag with another tip and took off for the escilator.

Security had a line but only took about 10-15mins to clear, then I was on deck 12 so had to go all the way to the end. Good walk but there were no lines over there for the higher decks. Got right up there, turned in my paperwork and had my keycard and was told, "Oh you are Silver, you can go right on". Walked straight on and was on the boat about 20mins from arriving. SO.... They seem to have figured out embarkation at least.

I had a great cruise, loved the solo cabins and meet ups for dinners and shows. Was nice to just be able to go and not have to sign up for much until it was time to go. Glow party was great but white didn't really show up well, however neon colors looked crazy! Danced for hours even though I am a bit fluffy too.

Going ashore seemed organized and had no problems getting off when I wanted without to much of wait, but then we skipped GSC because they had no power and well we also had a death on board so needed to get it investigated and off the ship. Poor lady. So had a stop at Nassau instead(didn't get off the ship).

Thank you so much for your review of the Baths!! I was going to do it but your review changed my mind. Am a bit claustrophobic as well as a bit fluffy so that would not have worked at all! I did the Zipline Canopy Tour and it was beautiful. So thank you for saving me from that.

St Thomas, just did the Gondola to Paradise point and got my Bushwacker. Was good.

Debarkation was a MESS, were delayed and then had to have the authorities on board to check out that room. I was on a tour for the Kennedy Space center since my flight was not till 7:20p. Well now, our guide got hit by an older woman who was mad because we were cutting and yelled and screamed at her. It was pretty nuts and still took an hour for all of us to get through customs and on the bus. The space center is great but you really do need at least a full day to be able to see/do everything.

Sorry for adding my own mini review here, but you helped so much in my planning between both of your Epic reviews that this seemed like the best place since I didn't plan a long review like you do. Keep them up, can't wait to read your next one.

We're sailing on the Epic out of Port Canaveral next weekend. Where/when do you get to check your luggage?

 

Thanks!

To the right of Building 10 there will be porters and big luggage carts. Drop your bags there and go up the escalators to your left to secuity.

I got there at a little after noon and was up and through security fast. Being on a higher deck there was no line at check in, and being a Silver latitudes member they told me I could walk right on so I was from dropping bag to inside in the air within 20 minutes? Security took the longest but even then was only about 10 or so minutes

That's two hours. Doesn't sound pretty smooth to me, especially for the very young and those older.

They were in que for a while before we were ok'd to disembark, pretty sure we got the ok to disembark at 8a. So waiting in line for an hour then 30 for walk off and 30 to make it out is not bad.

Only reason I made it out fairly quick was that I took the Space Center tour, so our guide had us moving around everyone. It was still hectic and you had to look for others in your group to know where you should be walking since people were trying to block us and there was even an older woman who elbowed our guide pretty hard and blew up at her because we were "cutting".

It was super disorganized and I just hope not too many missed their flights. I took a late one(7:20p) so that I would not have that worry no matter how it went, hence booking the tour to kill some time.

Special Circumstances was a death on board and we got into port in Canaveral a scosh late

It was pretty bad, donated mine to the Solo meet up's and had a single glass 1 night I had to drown quickly. Very dry and not sweet at all.

I was told though that you could take it to the dining room and exchange it for a different bottle of wine. Maybe the house wine which might be better but of course then you do have to pay the corkage fee of 15$ I think if you have them crack it open. Not sure if you can exchange and just walk away though.

My son will be 11 on our upcoming cruise and since it will be his 6th cruise, I'm worried that he will be bored with the kids club. I'm thinking he's still too young for us to just set him free on the ship (and I haven't even brought this up to my overprotective wife yet :eek:), but it made me wonder how old kids usually are when their parents are comfortable doing this.

Make sure you bring it up to her 1st, if you tell the kid(s) and she resinds...trouble from the little and the wife = not a great cruise.

I think my son was 16 and almost 6ft before I let him do more then just go back to the room, but then he is kinda quiet so it was only to goto the arcade or get a snack at the buffet.

The running roudies that try to use the elevators as something fun, talk so loud in public area's about things that are kinda inapproriate for their age group(there were some 10-12yrs olds loudly discussing sex and Aids on one of my cruises a few yearz back) are out of hand. My son of course never joined in on a group like that and was usually tagging along with me(still does at 21).

My thoughts are that cruise contracts hold you accountable for your childs actions till they are 21, so the proper age would be when you know your child can hold their own if someone tries to take them. Also that you are sure they will not destroy things, if they do, you are on the hook for it. My sons age was 16, yours might be older or younger but personally much younger and they may not be able to break away from someone trying to harm them, or might not realize what they are doing might break a pricey ship item.

I've seen several places talk about Spice H2O being an adults only area, but if they show kid friendly movies like ET and Finding Dory, doesn't that attract kids? Are they also showing that same movie elsewhere or are kids allowed in when those movies are going? I'm all for respecting adult only areas (sometimes I want to be there when my kids are at their club), but this just seems odd. Any clarification for me?

 

 

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I believe H2O is only adults only till 6p and then it is open to everyone, makes sense since it is the only outdoor movie screen.

thank you so much! I am getting on her Sat and excited! Reading your post helped me remember a couple things and your you tube of the studio cabin was helpful since I will be down the hall from where you were. Can't wait and happy you had a great time and were positive about it. In the end that becomes much more helpful