Just Jo

That sounds like a great experience. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for that nice thorough recap. Great stuff.

Thanks for reading! (Can I not multi-quote more than two at a time?)

Shhhh, stop telling people how great Vibe is! haha

I agree.

 

First rule of Vibe Club is don't talk about Vibe Club.:D

Right?? My idea of posting how awful it was lasted a second. It was too good not to share.

We were on Escape last week and purchased Vibe passes. There were three birthdays that I knew of and two of the spouses arranged to have birthday cakes brought up to Vibe on different days and some snacks also. It was fun to have everyone join in on the birthday fun.

Short version - loved it! If I'm able to sail on Escape again (doubtful since it's moving to NY) I'm pretty sure I would have to have passes again.

Long version - keep reading.

I've waited a longtime to sail on Escape, and I was intrigued by Vibe. I vacillated about passes though since it sounded like such a stressful situation. Several years ago four of us bought day passes for Epic's Posh. I believe there were only two other people there when we visited and we didn't stay long. We considered it a bust, so DH was never interested in spending the money for our Escape voyage, even though I told him it should be a totally different and better experience. Somewhat fortunately I had a long time (11 months) to bring it up often and share pictures and stories of all the wonderful experiences to be had there: sun! hot tub! He's not interested in either. Exclusivity? Him - why do we need it? Oh yeah,and if the weather is bad we won't really get any use out of it. Ugh, this is gonna be a hard sell. We also usually travel with friends who probably weren't interested in Vibe. Turns out our friends were not able to join us, and we arrived early enough for Boarding Group 1!

I told DH it was meant to be and I'd worn him down enough that he agreed to try for passes. (It also helped that this was for our belated wedding anniversary.) I warned him some people run to Headliners for the passes and assured him I won't be running (because he never would) so if we manage to get them great, and if we don't, we don't. Yes, I was trying to not get my hopes up.

We got into the security line about 9:40. Maybe we were 25-30 people back from the front of the line. Shortly after 10:00 the line opened and we proceeded upstairs. There was barely any wait at all for check-in. Finally in the waiting area I wasn't sure which row was closest to the actual boarding line so I just sat next to the largest group thinking they must be after Vibe passes also.

I think just before 11 the staff made an announcement that they would be making another announcement soon for boarding and at that moment the 10-15 people next to us (other people had sat indifferent rows) jumped up and RAN about 20 feet over to the staging area for the line to board. It actually startled me but of course I jumped up too (but didn't run). The end of the line wasn't far from my seat so I didn't have far to go. And I thought, these people are not screwing around. I will never get a pass at this rate, as I'm sure I will get trampled before I make it to Headliners.

We watched one or two large wedding parties and Haven and Platinum and all the Priority people board. I felt like my chances kept dwindling by the second. Our line finally opened and that first group of people took off running some more. Even though DH didn't want to get the passes initially, he's great about completing a task, so he's questioning me if I'msure I know where I need to go. Yes! And if nothing else just follow everybody else that's talking about Vibe!

You enter the ship on Deck 7 so it's an easy walk down one flight of stairs to get to Headliners. There was a group of two or three young men who heard several of us talking about Vibe passes and they yelled out (as they walked in the opposite direction) "Too late! Vibe's sold out!" I was so sad but knew I had to be a big girl about it and we all kept walking anyway. Of course we want to hear it from an employee. And there we were and we snagged passes 59 and 60! Not sure what the purpose of the misdirect was. Bless their little hearts.

We made it up to Vibe about an hour later and Rommel, Vincent (aka Vinny, Vince, Curley) and Michael made this experience fantastic for us. They learned our names immediately, and always had my DH's beer at the ready for him. I like to vary it up and they fulfilled every request and offered up great suggestions when I needed them. They said several times if they don't have what you want at their bar they'll get it so don't be afraid to ask for whatever. And of course - Shot O' Clock!

The only small drawback for us having the passes was not visiting all the bars and other nooks and crannies of the ship because we spent all our free time in Vibe. And we were ok with that. There was almost no point going anywhere else when you knew the service would be so attentive and fun, not to mention visiting with other passengers we met, some of which we hope to sail with again.

Oh! On the last night everyone was saying good-byes to the guys and we got caught up in it all and DH forgot his room key in Vibe, and we didn't realize it until almost 8, long after they closed. We thought we heard that Michael would be in the Skyline Bar that night so we went there and a bartender there tracked Michael down in his room and Michael actually came up to that bar, told DH he/the guys at Vibe saw the card was left behind and somehow knew we were eating at Bayamo/Pincho Tapas that night and had sent the card there for us already! Michael then called over to Bayamo (from Skyline) and they brought they key over to us. This was so far above and beyond the call of duty! When the Skyline bartender first told us Michael was coming up (he even could have relayed the info over the phone but didn't) I left to go to our room to grab some cash to give to Michael as a thank you but it took too long for me to get back and he couldn't wait for me. I felt so bad I couldn't give him a token of our appreciation.

And yes, we did know that we could've just gotten the card replaced at Guest Services. However, the Vibe bartenders will sometimes (often?) put stickers on your card and we wanted to keep it for sentimental and souvenir purposes.

Thanks again Michael and Rommel and Vincent. You guys are the best!!

Just off Escape today. It was the best food I've had on any ship so far. I also vouch for Bayamo, Pincho Tapas, Food Republic (surprisingly dark - I look forward to lunch there next time) and Le Bistro.

Sid! I couldn't wait to get home and read your review. It was great to meet you and we were so glad this trip was better for you than the last.

By the way, Pincho Tapas may have been the best food I had on board (it was close since there were several great meals). Thanks for that tip.

See you on board Sid!

Thanks for the great review Big Al. Definitely one of the more positive ones I've read. Makes me all the more excited for next year.

I'm sorry for your troubles, Oakman. And hilarious! Looking forward to reading your reviews, especially the British Isles trip. Thinking about that one for 2019. Safe travels.

What a great review! It was so thorough yet succinct. I didn't even miss not having pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Another vote for 150 Central Park.

8 days!

I'll be coming on when you get off! Leave the Escape in good condition for us please! LOL 😁

15! And I'll be embarking when you're disembarking!

30 days / 1 month!

Jumping for joy here in NH! Just found out our bid was accepted for 11/4's Escape!

 

We are going from H9 (Spa Haven) to the H2 (Owner's Suite)! So flipping excited!!

 

Our bid for this was $760 pp ($1520 total).

 

Our first NCL cruise and we I don't know how we are going to top this!!

Wow that's fantastic! I hope you come back to share the experience. Congrats!

I once had a 98-pound Cagney's waiter raise an eyebrow when I ordered the 32oz Porterhouse. My delicate sensibilities were in no way disrupted when Batman then ordered the Cod ....

 

I took her eyebrow raise as a challenge. I'd like to say I won, but did I really?

Hilarious!!

Thank you POA1 and AlexandNessa for this highly entertaining and informational review!

We prefer aft facing balcony rooms and we've been fortunate enough to do so our last four or five cruises. We're on the balcony a lot - sail away, coming in to port, leaving port, open water. We have yet to nap out there though. Hopefully we'll have time on our upcoming sailing and plenty of room!

Will be following also....SADLY as we were supposed to be ON this cruise....

We were originally booked on this sailing also. I've been looking forward to your review Chris, have a blast!

60 days!

I'm Eastern time zone and since my 90 day mark was on a weekend I set my alarm so that I could book just after midnight and booking wasn't open. I tried again at 0100 and 0200. Finally after 0300 I was able to make reservations. And it was all for naught because Irma came along.

No thanks to Irma 75 days. Grateful to be going.

21 days!!!

Thank you, everyone! Until next time...

 

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That was a perfect ending to yet another fantastic review. It almost brought a tear to my eye! Bravo Doug and thank you!

Great review, thanks for posting! I hope to see Alaska in a few years.

2 months / 62 days :D

Great review, thanks for posting. We were originally booked for this itinerary later this year but had to reschedule and switched to Eastern. I look forward to visiting Harvest Caye one of these days.