schwartzy

I can't say for sure because I wasn't looking for them, but I recall only seeing loungers and high top stools near the pool. However, I do remember seeing lots of regular chairs at Spice H2O.

Just back from our Feb 10th cruise on Norwegian Escape, Western Caribbean itinerary. I was traveling with my husband, two kids (aged 5 and 7) and my in-laws (the grandparents.) This was really the perfect vacation and ship for our family, so I thought I would share some key thoughts and tips, especially because this site and others helped me so much with planning. 1) I’ve seen complaints here about the slides and ropes course being closed a lot. This also happened on my cruise. Honestly, this is totally weather related and I can’t imagine that another ship or cruise line would have handled it differently. My tip: don’t plan for your sea day to be your slides/ ropes course day. For example, all aboard after Cozumel was 3:30 but we didn’t sail away for a while. Winds were low and it was the perfect time for the slides. Tendering at Cayman started at 10- well, the ropes course opens at 9 and we were docked already, so we did it then. Overall, the slides and ropes courses were the highlights of the trip for my kids who spent a few afternoons going on the slides over and over. Then, on the windy, chilly sea day, they went to Splash Academy. 2) Thank you to @APDMOM – the pictures you took from your balcony of Ocho Rios helped me so much! We were docked at Reynold’s pier since the main pier was damaged. NCL had not communicated this to us. At breakfast in the Garden Café, looking out the window, I knew immediately that this view was “off.” When we got off the boat I asked Jack (cruise director) how to get to the walkable beach (Bay Beach) and he was able to show me and explained it’s only 5 minutes longer. A word on Ocho Rios – the entire walk to the beach cab drivers were accosting us to go with them. They did not seem dangerous but just annoying, and they were LYING about the beach saying stuff like “why are people walking that way? I live here and there’s nothing that way!” (total lie). Just ignore them and say “no thank you.” Bay beach was inexpensive and totally fine for the day. My 5 year old was not big enough for Dunn’s River and other excursions, so this was great. 3) Don’t trust the MDR menus you see on certain websites (or even on cruisecritic if they are old.) They are dated and inaccurate. Don’t plan your specialty dining around those menus. 4) I had seen complaints here about lines - for tendering and other things. I think this is dependent on when you’re cruising. Our cruise was not during a school vacation. We really had no lines for tendering (although you should still make tender reservations on day 1), Splash Academy was never full, and there were no lines for bars. One thing I would definitely do next time I’m booking is to check itineraries to make sure there is only 1 ship at Great Stirrup Cay instead of 2. We were the only ship and it was pretty pleasant, but the 6 of us could not get chairs together until people started moving – so I can’t imagine what it is like when there are 2 ships there. My only complaint about the crowds (very minor complaint) is that the specialty dining gets overbooked and they sit you in overflow areas like the noisy bars. They also squished in the 6 of us at a table for 4 – which they did to other people as well, not just us with kids. When my husband and I had “date night” reservations at Le Bistro they tried to sit us in the atrium area where you can hear the noisy casino and smell the smoke. We waited instead for a table inside. It was a short wait, but we were only 2 people, had reservations, and showed up on time. 5) About the food, I was a bit nervous because I had read that that the food had gone “downhill” in the past few years. So the food quality was a pleasant surprise! Just for fun, here are the top 5 things I ate 1) Crab cake at Cagney’s 2) Duck breast at Le Bistro 3) Lamb shank at the main dining room 4) Indian food at the buffet (we are not buffet people at dinner, but we went on Super Bowl Sunday, and I made a plate of all the Indian offerings and it was great!) 5) Since this was definitely a surprise, I have to give a shout out to the buffet at GSC. The jerk chicken and salad was a great lunch! My husband also loved the lemon pepper shrimp at the MDR and the garlic shrimp at the buffet. He ate a crazy amount of shrimp. I’m happy to answer any questions about this sailing.

There will always be minor setbacks or negative aspects on your vacations. It's all how you react to it, and if you can put it in perspective. In 2015 I sailed on the NCL Sun around South America. It was an older ship about to go into dry dock. It was 14 days long with a lot of sea days. We like to eat lunch in the MDR on sea days, but there were only two menus that rotated, which got really boring by the end. Towards the end of our trip, my husband and I sat next to another couple and we discussed how on a 2 week trip there should really be more variety. As the conversation went on, I realized that the man was seriously upset about this. They also complained about how the ship needed new upholstery. These things ruined his vacation. Meanwhile, I was having the time of my life on this vacation and I loved the Sun, even with the worn upholstery and repetitive menu. Of course I would have rather had more variety but in the scheme of things, it was nothing.

Thanks for this review! I'm excited to go to the Turtle Centre on our next cruise. My kids are 5&7 and not very good swimmers. I was thinking we would do the swimming at the turtle centre, but looking at your review I'm wondering if we skip that part. It looks too deep and challenging. Am I missing anything? Thanks so much for any thoughts or ideas!!!!

When we cruised the Baltic in late May we extended our trip to Norway. There were a bunch of things that did not open until June 1st. Also, even though I brought a warm jacket, I was not expecting 0 celsius weather on May 30th in Norway and I had to go buy a warm hat!

What is the shuttle from Orlando to the port? We are thinking of staying at a resort in Orlando the night before the cruise so we can have some fun and enjoy a bit of Florida, rather than just staying at an airport hotel.

Thank you for your response! This is helpful. 10:30 sounds great for embarkation, we were thinking it would be much later to avoid the lines. I know a lot of lines are unavoidable. 15 minutes for Choir of Man sounds totally reasonable.

Thank you for your wonderful posts! They have been very helpful. Since you asked for questions, here's one: Do you have any tips for avoiding long lines? We will be sailing Feb 10th with my kids aged 5 and 7. They are super well behaved, but hate lines. (One of the reasons we are skipping Disney!) If we could avoid long lines for shows, embarkation, water slides, etc that would be ideal! Thank you again!!!

Sorry you didn't make it to Great Stirrup Cay! How much notice did they give you that they extended your time in Tortola? Were people able to change their plans? I am really enjoying your posts! It is such a fun distraction to follow you. We will be on the Escape in February. As for the "runners," on past cruises my husband's goal was always to be among the last 5 on the ship. He will be out of luck if dozens don't even make it back!

On past sailings (granted, I have not sailed since 2017 but planning to soon) I always packed granola bars from home just in case I got hungry for a snack and could not find good places to eat. One time they really came in handy because we realized we didn't have the right credit card after we were seated at a restaurant and it served as our lunch!!! I'm not sure it was against the rules but it was sealed, and not fruit, nuts, or meat.

We did Santiago to Buenos Aires on Norwegian in 2016. Itin looks amazing if you really want to see Antarctica. The main negative I see here is that you definitely cannot do Buenos Aires in a day. If you want to see a lot of the sites of the city, perhaps pick a different itin that ends or starts in Buenos Aires so you can spend a few days there. Not only is it a big city with lots to see, but the sites are in different parts of the city. I had read that more than 50% of cruises with Falkland on their itineraries do not make it there due to weather conditions. We had our fingers crossed the whole time, and I'm so glad we made it. We had chosen our itin because it included the Falklands. It was really spectacular photographing the penguins.

Thanks so much for the detailed responses! They were very helpful. I should have added more info about us: we have 2 young kids and also will be traveling with my in-laws (the grandparents.) I was thinking NCL would have more for our kids, which I think is true, but honestly my kids would have fun just playing shuffleboard with grandma and grandpa so I'm not sure how much it's "needed." All of my prior cruises were before children in Europe, South America, and Canada - not Caribbean. This wime we're doing Caribbean. While the "fun" of Norwegian sounds great, at also sounds loud and crazy as other posters have pointed out. Another bit about us - we're the type of people that decline the drinks package because we would never drink enough to make the tips $$$ worth it. Thank you all!

I have not been on a cruise in 7 years, but before that my husband and I went on a bunch of cruises. Almost all were on Celebrity but we also went on Norwegian and Holland America. Celebrity was definitely our favourite, especially Aqua class - we thought the food and service were much better than the other cruise lines. We're looking to cruise again soon, but reading reviews I'm seeing lots of complaints here about food quality going downhill on Celebrity, but very few complaints on the NCL boards, especially for their newer ships. Question - do we think that the quality has declined on Celebrity where now it is on par with the other lines? Or have they all declined? Are there just more complainers here? Or perhaps Celebrity fans set the bar higher? My husband is pushing for Celebrity because he says "it is better" but I'm not sure what to think. In the past we only chose NCL or Holland America because of the itinerary.