tiffygirl

Nooo! When you talk about disappointing crew, do you mean your butler and concierge or elsewhere on the ship? Which S6 did you have? We are booked in an S6, so lots of details on which deck you were on and your recommendation on that is appreciated. Can't wait to hear more from a fellow S6'er :) And thanks in advance!

its all going to vary. I have seen several reviews today from folks from this same sailing that had a fantastic time and excellent service.....so don't let the bad outweigh the good! its going to be all about perception....

I just booked 10/11 as well:D

Divinia here I come!!!:p

I must co-sign with everyone about the lobster tails at Carlo's Bake Shop. I tried it first day so it was flakey and wonderful. The cream was not overly sweet and just the right consistency. It cost about $3 i believe but worth it.

the cannoli’s got a bad rap so i did not try those.

However after disembarking of the Breakaway in September NYC (Little Italy) was having the Feast of San Gennaro. the NYC tour took us and i tried a cannoli at one of the vendor/bakery...O M G!!The most amazing cannoli i'd ever eaten. If i had to choose between sex with the Rock and that cannoli at that moment....after a pause... (Not the Rock, bad example...) Let’s say Danny DeVito, the cannoli would have won! So I can honestly say that i would never have a Carlo's cannoli because I know it would never compare to that. However, I digress. What is the topic of this thread???

???:D:eek:

Thanks. Sorry we missed the meet and greet. Completely blew it.

yes you did!! a whole year in the making.... shame on you!....I just knew you were somewhere with a few drinks in hand!!:D we were suppose to take some shots! I had the Shot song cued up and ready!:) :p it happens....a lot :) ...

your pictures are fantastic. I just love st. johns!!

agreed. epic's night life was dead that week. my week in December it was CRAZY, bliss would be packed every night going til 3am or later. All the parties were hopping.

but our week, not so much. it still was a great time. i was able to get some rest and that never happens on the Epic. Just shows how much the atmosphere can change from week to week.

looks like you were getting it in as well. I'm glad you and your family had a good cruise.

thanks for posting your review.

Tiffygirl -

 

Are the cigarettes sold on board available for immediate consumption, or are they like duty-free liquor and only given to you prior to disembarkation? Thanks in advance for the info!

I don't know about the cartons that are sold in the shops, but I know if you purchase by the pack at the casino bar those you can use immediately.

I hope that helps.

It's OK Mike I will continue to try and keep your costs down.

 

In answer to your first paragraph. Although you may be partially right, but probably not something I would agree with. It's hard to explain but I will try, hope it makes sense.

 

Here's the thing from a smoker and a "gamer" (the casinos are very nice to me).

 

Most people, unless you live on the inside of a tree, understand that you won't ever "beat" the casino. No matter what, even if you have a good night, the casino is going to come away ahead eventually if you stay there long enough. Otherwise they wouldn't stay in business long, if they didn't make a profit. So in other words, you are pretty sure when you donate your money, you are doing just that. But enjoy what you are doing.

 

Smokers (at least any that I know), enjoy their cigarettes. Cigarettes are not cheap anymore, especially where I'm from. They are albout $8-10 / pack. What do u do with cigarettes, they burn.

 

So if smokers are willing to "burn" up something for their enjoyment they are certainly willing to take that $8-10 and gamble it for the enjoyment and the chance to double it.

 

Now a lot of non-smokers, who are unaware of the cost of smokes, probably just gasped when I wrote the amount down. There's your difference. We are just not afraid to "burn something away" (for our enjoyment) .

 

"For the poster who wrote that making the casino no smoking, the smokers would still gamble." Perhaps they'd keep a few, but I know every casino I went to before the smoking bans have now lost my business. On the ship there is plenty to keep me amused besides the casino if they went no smoking. So yes the casino would probably lose a lot of their higher gamers.

That explains why the cigs on the Epic were selling like hot cakes per pack, i think it $3 to $4 a pack..unless I heard wrong. Did i hear wrong?....maybe since you said you spend $8-$10 pack.

I love the casino bar so i just watching the folks buy cigs. I didnt realized that they sold them by the pack as well.

For that which you seek.

Try going to waves pool bar by the pool (waves is the only bar that had the morning specials). They have the specials in the morning until 11:30am. I have not been on Getaway yet, so im not sure if they are following suit, but start with there first and if they have a deal they will tell you.

We spent a lot of time at Shaker Martini Bar which is right outside of the Ice Bar and honestly none of us noticed any smoky smell.

That is the problem with the smoking debate. Some are super sensitive to smoke and others are not. I had a coworker to sail on the inaugural sailing on the Breakaway she came back and said it was so smoky you could smell it everywhere. Now granted inside her office on the job, she can smell the smoke outside and the smoking section is nowhere near her office. I went on the Breakaway a few months later. I smelled it but i was in the casino talking to the smokers smoking many times, so i may have gotten desensitized to it. LOL so i didn’t smell it like others did.

No one is lying on this issue or presenting it worse than it is; How bad it [smoke] really is or isn't is based upon each one's perception. Unless the ships goes completely nonsmoking. I believe somebody will ALWAYS complain about the smoke no matter what they do..

Lord, help. I am NOT DISAGREEING WITH YOU! Yes, money talks, and when Norwegian gets enough people filling out their surveys and telling them that they are not going to sail on a particular ship again because it reeks, then yes, they'll change it. I never said there were thousands of complaints. I said I doubt it's a situation of 1 in a thousand passengers smelling it, since I've SEEN all the comments and threads about it here and I HEARD many of my fellow passengers commenting on it when I was on board. I have a hard time believing that only a couple of us have commented to Norwegian about it.

 

And it would be relatively simple to wall it in with glass walls. Put up a glass wall with glass doors at both ends and put up a glass wall on that level in the atrium, with a door opening at the stairwell. Negative pressure, of course, so the smoke stays inside when the doors are opened. People can still see in and out, but the smell and smoke stays in the casino.

I understand what you and everyone is saying, You feel as if Kevin is not listening to your concerns and that is frustrating. But at the same time Kevin is the CEO and he has made his decision not to make any changes. So maybe they are looking at some other data. Maybe the positive responses they have gotten may have outweighed the negative reports. We don't know. But its clear that Kevin is not going to make any changes at least right now.

As far them enclosing the whole deck, while you're suggestion make sense, but I cant see them doing that after the fact. I m pretty sure the design team/architects may have thought of something to contain the smoke in the initial prints, but after 4 years after the Epic and the numerous complaints the Epic regarding smoke (at least on cruise critic) they still went and kept the design on the casino and made the Breakaway and Getaway in Epic’s Image.

So what do you do, other than send emails and letters to corporate about the ship smoking policy concerns. Also, to let them know that decision is unsatisfactory and you will take your money elsewhere.

I will say that the Epic a few weeks ago had those smoke ionizers(s) they had quite a few of them. It did a really good job with the smoke. Was it 100% gone ? no, but it was a faint scent to me.

Other than that, I have nothing left to offer.

Indeed, hence my reference to 'Norwegian 'Nicotine' Cruise lines'. The fact that so many decks and eating area's etc are seemingly affected by the smell of smoking, as many of the above posts mention, not specifically the casino where one would expect it, was the point I was clumsily attempting to allude to. Enough to put me off cruising on them.

That is the choice you have to make and you should...

No sense of arguing about it when the CEO said he's going to keep it as it. :rolleyes:That is his answer regarless of whether anyone agrees with it or not.

If folks dont like take it your vacation dollars elsewhere, as you are doing.

However those 'Nicotine' cruisers that you are referring to will bring there 'nicotine' dollars to the' nicotine' cruise line. They in turn will keep the price of my cruise down and I will keep sailing the Nicotine cruise line and have some of the best dayum cruises!:D

win-win- everyone is happy

Aren't we, though? We are part of their customer base, and customer reaction drives what the company does. Eventually, when enough people complain about it, they'll either enclose it or add more air scrubbers. I don't want them to make it completely non-smoking, what I want is to stop smelling it over half of the ship. And I'm sorry, but when people can commonly smell smoke over multiple decks when it's coming from one location, either the design IS flawed or their air scrubbers and ventilation aren't working properly. It's not a situation of one in a thousand customers smelling it, it's been remarked and commented upon many, many times.

but doesn't money talk?

The only choice you have is to not sail it. I dont understand what is not to get about this.

You say you smell smoke I say I dont...it can go back and forth.

You DONT have to sail Epic/Getaway/Breakaway. Find ship that meets your needs...simple!

They are not enclosing it. How do you enclose a deck a whole deck...????

Unless you have seen the thousands of complaints you can't quote that number right.

Dont sail on that ship it solves your problem.

clear as day!!

This doesn't make sense. Is like saying......

I say that because most of the gamblers are drinking for FREE. :) I can say that because i spend most my evenings sitting at the casino bar...NCL is NOT making on the gamblers drinking.. soooooo now what?

The 'horrid' looking Epic ? Really?

Dont judge a book by its cover!

The Epic moving to Europe, is the best thing that could have happened for your region. Sailing the Epic is like sailing the Getaway without the waterfront.

Epic is an amazing ship, so much fun, so much to do. Bliss Lounge is the best..COMPLETELY different than that on the Getaway. They have beds, couches, load and loads of comfortable chairs, billards....so much fun..did i say that already :)

The spice h20 is a lot bigger and has a pool that is adults only during the day.

So you will truly miss out if you let that her outward appearance keep you from sailing her. But if that is how you feel, that is how you feel right. :shrugs:

Glad you enjoyed your time on the Getaway, and thank you for posting your review. It was helpful.

Norwegian 'nicotine' Cruise Lines? As other lines tighten their smoking policy, NCL may well become more attractive to smokers it would seem. Hope their are enough smoking cruisers to keep these big ships viable.

The casino is a big seller for NCL. If the gamblers are dropping money and they smoke, why would would NCL elimante a huge customer base for the nonsmoker who make not be dropping the same amount of money. That does not make business wise.

Also for those customers like myself and there a MANY, the smoke does not bother me. Im not sensetive to the smell. I won't judge them on there vices, because I got mine. "I" can still enjoy my cruise being around smokers. when walking through the casino and I will not pass out or fall into a choking fit.

Some of the things i've seen on a cruise is a lot nastier than person smoking. :rolleyes: in my opinion, the smoking section is so much fun than the non smoking section. LOL Im not worried about the second hand smoke killing me for the amount of time i spend on the Epic/Breakaway/Getaway.

As i stated earlier Epic/Getaway/Breakaway may not be for some cruisers. It is what it is. They are not getting the number of complaints to warrant them 'doing something' as you all say.But then you dont know what changes have been made to the Getaway. Anyone who thinks that they should not smell one ounce of cigarette smoke in an unclosed casino that takes up nearly a whole deck is being truly 'unrealistic'(im editing this).

On the Epic the casino is HALF of deck 6. If they wanted to enclosed the casino they would have done so. That was not the design. In fact it was obviously so poplular that the next 2 ship builts followed that same designed so clearly to them its NOT flawed. Bliss and Escape may also follow along those footsteps. Will be curious to see.

If you want to cruise on a ship with a enclosed casino out the way then sail those ships. NCL jewel class and Sun class has an enclosed casinos. But we are not in a position to tell them there designed is' flawed', because some of you don't appreciate smelling smoke or walking through the casino.

Example. on the Breakaway my friend and I was sitting in Wasabi, he smelled smoke, im beside him i dont smell a thing. He is more sentive to it than me. so who is wrong? The best way to protect yourself is research your cruise, check the deck layout, find out where the elevators are how many? Where is the casino, is out the way? How big is the pool? is it too small for you.? Ss the balcony adequet for your needs?

Be proactive when planning your vacation.

Karaoke? The whole cruise? Ugh! :p What a waste. Much better as a blues/jazz lounge as envisioned and presented.

 

Pretty sure he said late November, but then these old ears sometimes don't hear so well after sitting up front. November sounds a lot like December. lol

 

Of course, Bart is a musician, and we all know how THEIR sense of time is. :D

Yes, bad, awful karaoke. It was torture. If my friends were not participating it would have been a lot worse. My reason for sitting through that. So I was giddy witj excited when I saw they finally got a band on Fat Cats. Slam Allan was a huge loss for the Epic but a great gain for the Breakaway. So I hope NCL will enter into a long term contract, if not with him maybe Charlie Love.

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I may be in the minority here - but I did not know BEFORE booking my cruise that the NCL breakaway class is considered smoking by its design. I honestly do not decide on a specific ship or cruise line based on its casino, location or design. Rather I look for overall ship amenities and ports. The Getaway sounded intriguing due to the multiple venues available.

 

I expect smoking in a casino; however, I am used to have a nonsmoking environment in restaurants. Am I concerned that smoking odors permeate a myriad of venues on the ship? Certainly. What concerns me more is NCL's understanding that it permeates these areas and, from what I am reading, a seemingly disregard of that understanding until there is an influx of passenger complaints. (I could be mistaken - I am only going by what I have read recently on this board)

This issue could have easily been rectified during construction of the Getaway by including more air handlers/purifiers - it seems that passengers aboard the Breakaway have been complaining a tad about this issue. I

 

That being said, smoke odor will not deter us from enjoying our cruise and the NCL experience. If it bothers us personally, we will simply refrain from venues that are affected by the odor of smoke. Hopefully, this will not be an issue for us - if it is we can simply choose another cruise line for our next cruise vacation. I doubt if NCL would even miss us! ;)

So you booked the Breakaway blindly without any questions, and looking at any pictures, videos or reading reviews? in the age of technology, information is readily available. everything we want to know right at our fingertips. I didn't realized folks still did that anymore. interesting.

my confusion with these these smoking non smoking threads is this. im a non smoker...btw

don't people understand BEFORE they book an NCL cruises especially (epic,breakaway,getaway) that these are smoking ships. by design its in your face. so that means at SOME point on a cruise smokers are smoking and you will smell the some smoke. we know smoke will travel...right?

I don't understand the shock, surprise, anger, or disappointment when you clearly knew this when you made your deposit. they don't hide the fact.

if you think about it, you don't even need to be told you are going to smell smoke. you know the scent of smoke travels. you know the casino is open. you knew all of this. yet in spite of knowing this YOU made the conscious decision to sail those ships (no one put a gun to your head) So at the time you didn't care about the open casino smoke because you booked the ship anyway. or am I off base? some will try to argue or defend there reasons for...but the fact still remain....

so if you have allergies, or any medical condition where the hint of cigarette can trigger a reaction or just bothered by the smell....why are you sailing NCL?:confused:.

you should pick your cruise according to your issues. NCL is not the only fish in the sea. there are so many other option available to us.

oh wait, could it be those other non smoking lines are little more expensive ?

then I wonder about all these 'concerned' consumers that complain about the smoke (after the fact), if the smell of smoke was THAT important, and you were THAT worried about how second hand smoke was going to affect you and your family during 7 days then why did you knowing put a price on your health, your money and the enjoyment of the cruise?

don't come back and be mad at NCL because the open casino advertised was smoky. you can't play the ignorant card on this. this is the product they are selling. its up to you to decide to buy. You made the choice knowingly of your priorities and convictions.

apparently the choice they made is paying off for them financially or they would change there policy. so until it effects their bottom line the scent of smoke is here to stay.

it is what it is.

tiffygirl, thanks for your feedback - much appreciated.. Apologies for any confusion or offense!

 

- we were advised by NCLs reservations (UK office) initially the package was available - mistakes happen at all levels, not the end of the world

- certainly don't expect a different operator to mimic other operators policies, we've been on enough cruises to know each have company have there own way of doing things

- primary concern was the description given by the NCL agent (US number) that due to "passenger demographics" the drinks package was pulled - this lead to an impression that we were booked on a ship that was unsuitable for us. Having travelled over Spring break many times before (and not noticing anything significantly different) the comments made by the NCL agent caused alarm.

- in addition there were several NCL issues that effected our booking which were subsequently resolved - this caused a poor first impression but could happen when dealing with any organisation

 

Hope that clarifies our position and thanks again for your positive feedback on your NCL experience.

ok I see. I know im sailing getaway in april, the ubp is not available.

Can anyone confirm if NCL pulls the UBP fleet wide for the blackout dates or is it just Caribbean/Bahamas sailings?

I m thinking "passenger demographic" is just legal jargon for ... you will be paying by the glass, because we got to make that money! money ! money!!

I ask if its fleet wide because the percentage of spring breakers sailing on itineraries outside the Caribbean/Bahamas would be relatively small. those sailings would not have the same 'passenger demographics'. so I wonder if it was an all or nothing decision.

if so...you should look at from the angle of MONEY versus rowdy drunk passengers.

so your poor impression was not just the bad facts given ubp it was more little things that added up... I gotcha. we each have our own tolerance level.

hopefully NCL can redeem themselves, the Epic is my favorite ship.

Gose, the bartender at Maltings bar deck 7 aft is great, my other favorite .. fun bar!! also go and see the Chocolate Cowboy..(that's his name he's known by) he's at the casino bar on deck 6. he works from 6pm until close THE BEST BARTENDER ON THE SHIP!...Gose and the chocolate cowboy makes some good drinks. also go to the bar on spice h20 as well...but always send the ladies to the bar :) not the mean ones LOL..the smiley ones.

o'sheehan's bar I would avoid for mix drinks...you might as well purchase a virgin drink.

Don't miss the quest, cirque show or BMG.......oh the blue man group drink Is good too, but you can only get it at the blue man show.

do the martini tasting and margarita tastings. The best money you will spend... you will get 4 to 5 martini /margarita's for $15 ea..if Gose is on his game...he will send you to bed afterwards.

the martini flights are a pleasant surprise. one of the strongest drinks on the ship. 6 mini martini $15. vodka and gin marini's. they are small but they pack a punch OMG! you will need help to finish them.

Maltings bar also has Patron flights its either 3 or 4 of them , its the gold, silver and another patron served in the TALL shot glass $15...you gotta like tequila but that is a SUPER DEAL straight liquor; no juices.

they also have a beer and wine tastings $15 each..but you are getting bang for your buck check the dallies to see if they have a pub crawl, they don't have those every sailing so you have to check.

the waves bar by the pool only from 9-11:30am 50% ( $5 and some change)off select cocktails bloody Mary's, mimosas, screw drivers and one other I forgot!

if you run into any problems regarding any of the bars ask for David , the bar supervisor and he will make it right!

this is what I heard, I know none of this by fact!:)

Apparently there wasn't a charge when bowling was first introduced and someone asked why they began charging at a M&G I attended. You're right, there were people spending so much time there, not just avid bowlers but others just playing around, that it created problems for the crew trying to manage the situation. There were even some altercations between passengers. The small fee fixed the problem.

I can see altercations easily... agreed the fee changed everything. on all my ncl cruises I don't recall anyone bowling. if they did its few and far between, give me a choice between bowling (fee) and a cocktail (fee)...hmmm let me think........I choose cocktail!!!!! lol I guess im not the only one. however I do have coworkers who sail NCL and they LOVE the bowling.

So I guess im confused.:confused:

You have a poor impression because a DIFFERENT cruise line has DIFFERENT rules. But you wanted to try a DIFFERENT cruise line to experience something DIFFERENT.

So you dont like the 'rules' that are stated clearly of the black out dates (UBP). SO now DIFFERENT cruise line has now made a poor impression to you due to there business decision.

You would like us to tell you..... that you are going to still enjoy your cruise by buying a drink by the glass?

Corrrect me if i got this wrong...

ok...

You will still have a great time without the UBP! Great shows and food. Find you a heavy pourer bartender so each drink will have longer lasting affect. Passengers are fun...Music is great. Dont miss the white hot party, or the caribbean deck party. Try the line dance classes and the salsa dance classes by the pool...Be brave a partcipate in the sexy legs competition...so much fun..if you win you actually will have a trophey! Don't compare...its not carnival,royal, or CCL , NCL has there own way of doing somethings...so just go with it.

bon voyage!

So if they're the only cruise line to offer a certain activity they should charge extra for it? RCI ships offer unique activities in the same vein as this with no additional fee: zipline, carousel, flowrider, ice skating, etc.

 

For that matter, what other ship offers a ropes course? I don't see NCL charging for that. It's just arbitrary it seems. I'm still looking forward to my cruise, but I won't be bowling. ;)

If you would apply common sense you would get it. NCL has 2 bowling lanes on each ship.Ice skating, ziplining, flow riding and ropes course are built to handle more than one persons or the its over in a minute so you can have people on and off every few minutes. ..how long does it take to bowl a game??so the wait to bowl would be extremely long if free..then the masses will moaning and whining because they could not bowl, blah, blah, blah

Its pretty simple to understand why the charge. Its $5. Cheaper than a drink.

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I spoke with Bart a number of times, nice guy. I'm pretty sure he told me they had been on the ship since late November. No idea who is the replacement band.

 

Looking at his website shows tour dates starting Feb. 28 so maybe they go into February a week or so.

 

My beef is with the seats. Yeah, uncomfortable for the most part. Mostly high back chairs like from a dining room, a few love seat types. Site lines at the sides might not be that great either, especially at right end of room. I was able to get seats in front most nights I went, and seemed like enough seats so as to avoid the far end of the room.

 

Room is good acoustically, has a good look to it too.

Hey Tom, I was on the sailing December 7 and unfortunately bart wasn't there. Fat cats was used for karaoke the entire cruise. In fact no music was played in fat cats the entire week. So maybe he was on vacation or came on after that sailing.

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FYI Tiffygirl, there was a thread about the Sega Key Hole machines not long ago and there is a lot of stuff on the internet. The machine is a game of chance, odds set by the casino, not a game of skill.

oooh really????I should have known!!!! :eek::D:rolleyes: thanks for that tid bit!!

In my experience guest services knowledge of the English language is extremely limited unless you speak to a supervisor.

 

Having sailed prior to the wonderful ships that have bill viewing on their TV. I went at least every 2nd day and have my bill printed. Two reasons, I want no surprises at the end of my cruise and to keep an eye on my expenditures.

 

They took my cabin number, printed it on their printer that the paper came out upside down. Then flipped it over as they handed it to me. Not once did they look at my name, or any place I seen that could have matched my photo. They didn't even double check to see that what they printed matched my cabin number. I also seen the exact same approach for everyone in front of me that had the same request.

 

Also while on the subject of customer service practices, a funny story to us, but possibly a worrying story to some. The first morning at sea, DH went to grab a bite for breakfast, when returning to our cabin forgot his cabin # and of course they are not written on the room key. He sheepishly went to the front desk to find out what room he belonged in :D. Now here is the part that may worry some. All he did was give them his first and last name and they gave him his room number, no need for ID, did not hand them his key card.

Remember they take our pictures at embarkation, Im darn sure they saw his picture before they gave him anything.

I say that because I lost my id while i was in St. Thomas. Long story short. When they finally let me through the gate and on the ship...the only thing I could give them was my name and room number...but they could verify my smile :)

My 40 years old niece decided to try this the last night of our

Breakaway cruise.....for 'laughs and giggles'. Just $3.00 in she

won $500.00! If I didn't see it with my own eyes I wouldn't have

believed it!

 

Harriet

Laughs and giggles huh?

Are you serious...?? some folks have all the good fortune!!:D:D