jcann4444

Boston Globe article

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/07/31/fishing-boat-hits-cruise-ship-nantucket-norwegian-pearl-gabby-g/?p1=hp_secondary

On 7/21/2022 at 12:13 AM, Ixtoras said:

Thats a bummer that they canceled Corfu.  Re porting to Bar for crew replenishment makes sense. IIRC, NCL used Bar City for staging crew during the restart and was often the last port before a ship came online.  Think things are still a bit wonky with crew contracts all ending around the same t8mes.  Some of the crew on the Encore were talking about an upcoming rotation, and that staff were getting offers to extend a couple months.

 

Three questions:

Malevo was the second show in the main theater.  Did you see it and was it any good? Did not see it but others said it was good. 

Dueling pianos - same question.  Have fond memories of the howl at the moon group on the getaway in 2019. Yes good and as exepected for any such kind. 

Last - the supper club....  looks like maybe variety acts?  Did you catch any of those? I did not and did not hear anyone say that they had been..oddly enough I might add, also never really lines of people outside. Appears to be very underutilized. 

 

Thanks 

Jeff

 

On 7/20/2022 at 10:09 PM, marktwothousand said:

@jcann4444 did you notice if smoking was allowed in the casino thank you 

Yes smoking allowed in one section , the middle of the casino, not the casino area near the Bar/Club/Elevators.

Oddly enough lots of smokers come and sit at a slot and do not play but just stay smoke and leave which is annoying. 

As to Hotels, if you want beauty and able to get to Downtown Rome but be in a secluded mountain top stay at the Waldorf Astoria Cavelleri. They also have a shuttle bus to and from downtown from 9 to 9 daily for free.

Touring wise I have used rominlimo many times and they are great. You can tour Rome privately and then they will drop you at the Port as well. The Port is close to an hour away and cab is 150 Euro so it is not cheap to get to Citiveccchia. 

3 hours ago, podaz1 said:

That is very interesting about the staff changeover in Bar. It's certainly suspicious that they could arrange that with such a last minute change. Some of my family had Corfu as they're top spot to visit so it was very disappointing 😞 

I agree wholeheartedly  and can say with 100 percent certainty of the crew turnover as it was told to me by three people on the cruise. I won't say what departments they were in as not sure if they should have shared it. 

On 7/18/2022 at 4:22 PM, jcann4444 said:

Feel free to ask away any questions you may have. This was from Rome and had 5 ports of call.  Will post dailies later for each day. Excellent cruise overall with one negative. Corfu was cancelled the week before and we went to Bar Montengro from 5:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Who gets off the ship at 5:00 AM. I also learned that 250 crew were added and replaced in Montengro which makes me believe this was for no other reason than financial for NCL. I also learned that Bar does not charge for a travel visa for crew. I find it hard to believe that NCL on a moments notice had 250 crew from around the World come to Bar. 

Back to Corfu today makes me think the unavoidable shift to Bar was not done in good spirit..

Day 1 Daily..PDF

DAY 1 DAILY.pdf

10 minutes ago, patch216 said:

Hi all, Wondering if anybody has experienced a rebound / improvement with the NCL ships running out of alcohol?    

Just off escape.  No issues at all. 

On 7/18/2022 at 9:35 PM, Northern wanderlust said:

We are on the Oct 21st sailing out of Rome and we are very excited. 

 

It's our first time on NCL.

 

I'm very excited to check out the dailies when you post them.  I have been wondering if you can use any form of id to get back on the ship when in port or did you take your passport with you?  The real thing or will a copy do?

 

Obviously, we will have out passports with us but the idea of taking it into port every day does make me a little nervous.  

 

Passports were collected by the cruise so the ship would be acccpted by the local ports. I always had my Global Entry ID on me at port. The ship recommended to leave the ship with an ID. You use your key card to exit and enter the ship usually. Many times they used facial recognition screening and no key card which was usually quicker and people do not have to go fishing for the key card they should have ready. 

On 7/18/2022 at 8:32 PM, Georgigirl13 said:

Looking forward to our first time on ncl in October. Did you try any of  the specialty restaurants? Did you enjoy any shows? Was the ship at full capacity? Any covid restrictions i.e. indoor masking required? Glad you had a great and safe trip. Looking forward to your comments.

Choir of man was quite good for a cruise ship musical. 

6 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

Dailies please!!! Do they still have studio lounge for solo cruise event every day thank you 

Note sure As to the solo cruise  info as I sailed with my daughter and did not talk to any single cruisers. Sorry. 

On 7/18/2022 at 8:32 PM, Georgigirl13 said:

Looking forward to our first time on ncl in October. Did you try any of  the specialty restaurants? Did you enjoy any shows? Was the ship at full capacity? Any covid restrictions i.e. indoor masking required? Glad you had a great and safe trip. Looking forward to your comments.

Went to Cagneys, Teppanyaki. La Cucina and Moderno. I have eaten at all four before and I thought they were all very good again, as far as quality as well as service. Never made it it too Food Republic sadly as always enjoy a good lunch there.  

On 7/18/2022 at 6:56 PM, Jmustang67 said:

We are booked after dry dock for October 12

was the ship somewhat full and were masks required 

The ship was at 70 percent capacity per the few staff I asked.  All crew must wear masks all the time. They are quite strict on this.  Passengers are not required and I would say less than 5 percent wore them.  That may even be a high estimate. 

Feel free to ask away any questions you may have. This was from Rome and had 5 ports of call.  Will post dailies later for each day. Excellent cruise overall with one negative. Corfu was cancelled the week before and we went to Bar Montengro from 5:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Who gets off the ship at 5:00 AM. I also learned that 250 crew were added and replaced in Montengro which makes me believe this was for no other reason than financial for NCL. I also learned that Bar does not charge for a travel visa for crew. I find it hard to believe that NCL on a moments notice had 250 crew from around the World come to Bar. 

Corfu cancelled on July 10 from Rome. Now will spend the day in Montenegro

No more than about 10.00 cab ride in no traffic. Its a two mile drive.

38 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

@dexddd......saw that.  Crew were looking for you....something about payroll checks!!!🤣

Be sure to hit BaHa mar tonight as most of the gaming pits do not open until 12:00 at least tomorrow. I sense you are a CAS comped guest, call it a hunch. Great updates on the cruise. I will be in an AFT Balcony next week on the Escape. Any idea who the casino manager is? Also, just one Pai Gow table as usual on the Escape or is the second one open as well?

 I highly recommend that you go to the district brewhouse    They have a competition where you need to drink one of every beer that they serve.   Try to do it in the first five days of your cruise, that would be an impressive feat  

2 hours ago, jennyct said:

We were on that cruise - got off around 8 AM today, Tuesday, Feb 26. 

We had been told a few days ago that the course would be changed to avoid the worst weather. No problem, since we've actually been in a hurricane once. On Sunday, the captain announced that the ship would be late - docking at around noon - later than usual. We were told to leave the rooms by 11AM. So I was waiting with others in O'Sheehans when we realized the ship was turning around. At that point the announcement was that we would  try and wait for the winds to die down. 

Well, not too long after, the announcement came telling us that we would not be docking until the next morning. There were some hooting and hollering, as well as some angry and upset passengers. I overheard one couple lament that they had rescinded their prepaid tips and now had to face the room steward again. Others, like us, had only the clothing on our backs (personally, I like clean underwear). A few of us had important work meetings or kids missing school and we all felt bad for those waiting at the docks. 

The service was good in the restaurants, but I found the extra 'free' day to be bare bones. All the perks we had were non-existant and the unused liquor we purchased on board had been thrown away by then. No replaced soap, etc. unless you asked for it. Not complaining at all, just found it to be interesting. 

 

Oh, some poor teen had the misfortune of vomiting her breakfast in the disembarkation line in front of us and NO one was around to even clean it up or help her get through the line quicker!

Curious about a few things;

1- Were the specialty restaurants able to be booked?

2- Was the casino open all day?

3- Were the shops open all day?

4- Did the Ultimate Booze Package stay open/ and if so were you taxed for each drink.

Thanks

It appears for 38.00 a day, you get any booze for the most part.  I wonder if say Johnny Blue will be included and such. But the big kicker is bottled water and coffees etc....That clearly has value. At the end of the day it appears NCL retreated on a poor or would it be pour(LOL) business decision with many liquors, but not all. If you get the booze package, it is still a great deal, and if you pay ala carte, you are paying NYC Five Star drink prices which on a cruise is getting screwed. In short, they want everyone to take the booze package as their add on.

First two names on the reservation get it.  Just switch the names.

Maya Chan is a great place, and a great price for a day trip.

The areas you drive through from the Port to Maya Chan may be some of the most poor socio-economic areas in the world. It was truly eye opening.

 Everybody is talking about the delayed sailing.   That is certainly a reasonable concern    How about the thousands of people on the ship who will not make their flight home tomorrow.  I wonder how NCL addresses that for those that do not have trip insurance 

22 minutes ago, jdro said:

Congratulations, we are on this cruise also but have not gotten an upgrade yet 😞, stalking it multiple times during the day but I'm not sure if it will happen, not too many Haven rooms left (which I bid on) and the lowest balcony category is at a guarantee, so I'm not sure how the algorithm works and if I even have a shot....

Its totally random I agree. My college aged son who also is comped a cabin from CAS has not had any luck on his upgrade yet. I preferred the old days of calling the upgrade mine. Had more certainty. 

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Wow, that is very early! Can you tell us how much you bid and what category you were initially in? Have prices for your sailing recently dropped?

100.00  from an inside cabin to a B1 Aft balcony.  As I said it is the March 10 sailing and prices are very strong.   Not many cabins for sale it looks like.