Kenlorz

Thanks everyone! I totally missed the Miami starting port! Also, I now see the 4-day is an Easter Break cruise… that’s a deal breaker for us. Oh well..

I’m looking at doing a back-to-back on the Aqua in April of 2025. It’s a 4-day followed by a 7-day. However, the 4-day is the 21st through the 25th and the 7-day begins on the 26th. Usually, on back-to-backs you don’t have to pack up your room (if you’re in same cabin) or leave the ship. It seems odd to me that there is a full day between these cruises. Can someone explain how the back-to-back process will work? If I manage to get the same cabin for both, will I have to completely pack up at the end of day 4?

On 1/19/2024 at 8:09 AM, EllieinNJ said:

Why can't NCL put the Rumors show in the main theater for at least one night?  I know the atmosphere wouldn't be the same as Syds but it would allow many of us who cannot stand in line to see it..  They did it with the Beatles shows on the Joy last year for those who could not get into the Cavern Club.

According to something I saw from NCL directly, it has to do with the licensing of the songs. They can only have a certain amount of seating to stay legit and legal with the material

2 hours ago, Frogger22 said:

I have just seen on NCL website that 3/26/23 is not cancelling GSC but instead switching the order of the ports. Original Miami, GSC, Sea, St Thomas, Tortolo, Puerto Plata Sea. New Miami, Sea, Puerto Plata, St Thomas, Tortolo, Sea, GSC. It looks llike St Thomas and Tortolo are on the same days. I expect my booked excursions will be fine, but what about booked for GSC - will those transfer. The App has not updated this schedule change yet. 

We are on that cruise with you…

May I ask where you saw the itinerary change? I noticed this same change on a port schedule website back in July, but didn’t know how accurate it was. I’m curious if NCL is now reflecting the change 

57 minutes ago, Jim The Lizard said:

… However, boarding at the new NCL terminal is a free for all; lots of people pushing to board regardless of boarding group or latitude tier/priority access.  

Thank you so much for the feedback! This was very helpful. Though this last sentence is a bit concerning. Did the staff do nothing to control the boarding process?

Considering purchasing the priority access pass for our March 22 Encore Cruise. Can someone whose used it in Miami explain how the priority boarding works in this port? Any separate lines or waiting areas? In what order will you board? Are you just put in with the people that had early check in times and are in general boarding group 1 (after Haven and Handicap)? Or do you board in between Haven and group 1? We plan to purchase a couples spa treatment on one of our port days, so the spa credit will be utilized for sure. We also have a tender port to Great Stirrup Cay, so early tender would be nice. Just weighing out if the early boarding is worth it.

The thing I hate that others love: the pool deck along with all its group activities. There are just WAY too many people around the pool for me. You’ll find me in the Vibe or on my balcony or some other quiet space where there are no crowds

The thing I love that others hate: Dressing up for dinner! I love getting all dolled up and feeling like a million bucks, taking the time to pose with the ship photographers. Then having a swanky cocktail at a nice bar before having dinner at a specialty restaurant. It makes me feel like my husband and I are back to our pre-marriage dating days when your heart skipped a beat when you saw each other for the first time for the evening. Even now just typing about it makes me feel all dreamy

4 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Some are confusing the Escape room with another venue.  I was not aware the Epic had an escape room.  They never had one so when was it added and where is it?  The Encore has one and there definitely is a charge.   You definitely need reservations because the times are limited and you can only do it in small groups.  Its fairly clever and it made me feel like an idiot.  My team was fairly experienced with escape rooms but we still failed the test.  The crew did help us out towards to the end otherwise we would have never gotten through it.  Not really for kids.  Its for people that love to solve puzzles at any expense because you have to do some wild stuff to solve it. 

Crazy stuff? As in you need to be physically able to do crazy stuff? I have bad knees, so I would be very disappointed to find I couldn’t solve it for lack of being able to crawl around on the floor. I was planning on doing this activity for sure as I love solving puzzles. Maybe I need to rethink?

12 minutes ago, KiddieKruzer said:

Someone will correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think these balconies are any bigger than the size on standard balcony rooms. The “larger” in the description describes the bathroom only. 

We booked the angled balcony cabin directly next to the club balcony with large balcony suite. The balcony for our cabin fits a large table with two chairs and two loungers

Thanks to those who already responded!

We booked this cabin for the large balcony (and bonus larger bathroom). 
 

I think the perk question I truly have is in regards to the wine and snacks. I’ve heard it would be canapés twice in the evening. I’ve heard a boring snack delivered once. I’ve heard chocolate covered strawberries. I’m curious what people have had delivered and how often. Is it completely discretionary to the cabin steward or is there a standard?

We are booked in a Club Balcony Suite on the Encore. For those who have recently stayed in a Club Balcony Suite,  can you share what perks/benefits you receieved? What I’ve read on NCL and what agents have told me and what my TA heard from NCL are slightly conflicting. I‘d love to hear first hand experience.

4 hours ago, pokerguy90 said:

Boy Mr. Del Rio loves to test us.  So, When the Prima launches they will be testing a "CONCEPT" in the PRIMA MDR's the Menu selections will NOT change during the voyage. However, every night will feature a special item from one of the fee based restaurant menus. It is the hope of UPPER MANAGAMNENT,  you will get so board of the same offering night after night, you will just go to an upcharge restaurant instead. 

 

Interesting... 

The concept will be rolled out across the entire fleet over the course of 2023. I’m super curious to see the Prima’s MDR menu next month. We sail on the Encore in March and since there’s a decent chance the MDR menu will have been updated to a static menu, seeing the menu will determine how many specialty restaurants we book that week. 

I thought it was just me, lol. We haven’t cruised in several years, but prior we were very active on our roll calls and have hosted the Meet and Greets on board. We had well over 50 active and participating posters on my last cruise roll call. This time I had to create the roll call both here and on FB. One has two members (me being one of them) and the other has 7. So even the social media ones, though more active than CC, are iffy at best. Sad. I always enjoyed them. It helped pass the time to chat with others that were equally as excited to travel (and kept our family and friends from being driven nuts by my constant babbling and glee over our upcoming adventure, lol)

The escape room the OP is referring to is a digital/virtual reality escape room located in the Galaxy Pavilion. Sorry, OP, I cannot answer your question, but I also want to do this when aboard in March

Can anyone tell me if this plus package includes the gratuities for the beverage package upgrade at the $50pp per day rate? Or is there an additional 20% added on top?

19 minutes ago, AwesomO said:

The original image in the first post is no longer showing up. Not sure if its just me. Does anyone else have it, or can someone direct where to find it since it's not on ncl.com yet?

I’ve watched several videos of walks around the Taino Bay Cruise Port. Many showed walled off areas saying “Phase Two coming 2022”, but other than a single article from a travel blog stating there would eventually be a water park, zip lines and lazy River, I can’t find any info. Anyone know if construction is ongoing and what is being added in “phase 2”? We are making this port of call in late March and trying to decide if we just want to stay around Taino or venture off further.

@Sthrngary now that NCL is offering the Free at Sea PLUS upgrade for $50 a day pp, what are your thoughts? Seems like it makes creating the Haven Lite experience even more affordable!

3 hours ago, StarTX said:

The first 2 on our roll call and doing vibe—lol great minds think alike!!!

Seems like this will be a quiet sailing. We only have 6 or 7 people on our FB group as well. That’s ok, the quieter the ship, the more attention we’ll have from the crew, lol. Welcome aboard cruise mate!

11 minutes ago, StarTX said:

March 26–Encore

We are on that sailing! See you there!

12 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

Saw this on facebook.

+$49/day per person  😮

If you want streaming wifi, it's +$10/day additional

 

Can you post a link? I can’t find it anywhere. Very interested!

11 hours ago, BamaCruiser39 said:

Available immediately on new bookings as well as existing bookings.

Can you post a link to this? I can’t find this anywhere.

1 hour ago, spanishguy1970 said:

They are more expensive on board, the only benefit is if you have substantial on board credit and then you can purchase them with that. We prefer to buy it when it comes up in our account. We currently have a cruise in November and just paid 399 per pass. Yes, expensive. We hope to bid on a spa balcony or Spa haven suite and take our chances there, if we win then we will ask a refund on our spa passes. 

Ouch!!! $399! 
Are the prices going up again or is this for a longer than 7 day cruise? I’m still getting over the sticker price for the raise to $299… sure hoping it’s not increasing again 

3 hours ago, js said:

Thank you.

 

Right now, you are the longest out that Ive read to get a pass. 
 

I dont cruise until next July but I did call yesterday and tried and got an agent who first told me I have to wait to book it online but I could tell she really disnt know what I was talkkng about. Then I asked her how far in advance can I book and she told me I can book my restaurants six months on advance (is this true, I havent been on the boards since 2019). 
 

I said Vibe isnt a restaurant and then she told me since I booked with a TA I should book through them. Finally, I asked, if I was just calling you today to ask how far in advance I can book Vibe from a reservation date, how long would thst be. She had to put me on hold for about 8 minutes and came back and said 90 days. I said thanks and hung up. 

I booked and paid for a cabana for my 3/26 Encore cruise earlier this week. However, that being said, I have to think it’s a temporary thing with being able to book this far in advance. At first, the agent told me it was too far in advance to book. I told her that people were reporting being able to book 200+ days in advance. She said she would see if the computer showed it as an available purchase. After holding for about 5 minutes, she came back and said it was available and proceeded with the booking. Everything else I checked on while on the phone (spa, dining, etc) was too far in advance to book. Personally, I think everyone that got to book so far in advance (myself included) lucked out in the transition from the ship to online booking process. At some point, they will put It into a 90-120 day window like everything else. Get it while you can.

Depending on when you’re cruising, every night may actually be the same menu. NCL is introducing a fixed menu (a menu that is the same every night… like in the specialty restaurants) on the Prima next month. If it is received well, they plan to roll it out across the fleet over 2023.