ohhbother

We have been booked for nearly a year on a Carnival cruise out of Charleston to Cuba. Literally, Cuba is the only stop - it’s a four-night cruise. Trip is in late November - l’ll be so disappointed if we don’t get to go. 

Portugal! We loved it and can't wait to go back.

5 hours ago, hayleybirk said:

 

Did they have the air perk when they booked, and is the air perk still available as a perk?

No, they didn't select the air perk. They have dining and beverage packages.

My sister's family and my parents both called this week and were upgraded at no cost from balcony to midship mini-suites - thanks to price drops - for our May cruise to Alaska on Bliss. They kept all their perks. 

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading the rest! We sailed on the Bliss last fall and will be back on board in late May.

As an older sister who was always "stuck" with my kid sister, I'd advocate for letting them go their separate ways. It might be enjoyable for both of them to make friends their own age. Of course, I have no kids and may not know what I'm talking about. I just remember how much I resented my mom making me take my little sister when my friends and I were hanging out. 🙂

How nice of you to do that for your fellow cruisers! Thanks for spreading some sunshine today!

To the person who asked about Disney Magic Bands, they are waterproof and are fine to wear in the pool. So that won't be an issue if cruise lines ever decide to go that route.

Our extended family of 12 -- ages ranging from 11 to 71 -- is going to Alaska on the NCL Bliss in late May. DH and I did a five-day Pacific coast cruise on the Bliss last fall and LOVED the ship. Yes, it's large. But it's also new and has many, many wonderful features.

The observation lounge is amazing, as is the thermal spa. And we loved the food - both quality and variety. We're very experienced cruisers -- have sailed extensively with Celebrity and Princess, in particular -- but the Bliss is our new favorite ship. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for sharing. We’re on this cruise in February 2020. Counting down the days!

Sometimes closed. Certainly not often - at least during our cruise.

16 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I meant to look at the piece of coral  I n the stateroom to see if it was real or plastic (or plaster or?).  Does anybody know?

I looked at it pretty closely in our stateroom. It's not real but not plastic -- some sort of ceramic or something. I'm not sure -- terrible with naming materials! It's like something you'd find at HomeGoods.

You can still cancel online. I just did it a week or so ago. Admittedly, it took 10 minutes of searching around to figure out how to do it. They’d buried it.  But the ability is still there. 

I sailed Dec. 1 preview cruise. I was booked on an April 7 seven-day but have since canceled it. I didn't care for the lack of variety in food offerings and for the lack of organized activities. We were not fans of the IV either.

The Edge was an OK ship but, for the price, there are other ships we like more. 

We canceled our April 7 cruise on the Edge as well. We had an S1 corner aft booked at $6K total - a great price based on current pricing. But we were on the Dec. 1 preview cruise on the Edge and, while we liked the ship, we didn't love it. So we've decided to save our money and book a cruise on a ship more to our tastes. I suspect Celebrity was happy to see us go. The S1 corner aft will bring them a lot more than $6K at current pricing.

6 hours ago, boscobeans said:

 

I believe that is the point that I was making.

I was responding to the last part of your statement about possibly something new being discovered with the design of the IV cabins. Just wanted to clarify there’s no new solution - they have the same problem, probably even worse, than a standard balcony room where the door is left open.  

8 hours ago, boscobeans said:

 

We have been cruising the Caribbean exclusively for almost 20 years and always in what are the months of January, February and March.  

In our experiences over those years leaving our veranda door open would almost always make our stateroom extremely uncomfortable to say the least.  Maybe they have discovered something new with the IVs?? 

 

We had the exact opposite experience with the IV in our Dec. 1. cruise. If we had the window open, the room became uncomfortable hot and muggy very quickly. So we just didn’t open the window. We wouldn’t book an IV again, as I’ve said previously. 

So interesting. We are loyal Celebrity cruisers and had never considered sailing NCL. But I had a conference in Seattle this past October and really wanted to add on a Pacific coast cruise. The only one that worked with our dates was a five-day on the Bliss. The ship blew me away. Loved everything about it.

To give you an idea of how much we liked it, we recently took a three-day cruise on the all-new Celebrity Edge. We also had a weeklong cruise booked in a suite on the Edge in April. We liked the Edge but loved the Bliss. So we ended up canceling the Edge cruise and booking a week on the Bliss in the Haven on an Alaskan cruise. We also convinced the whole family to join us - my parents, my sister and her family and my brother and his family. So we’ll have a group of 12 on the cruise in late May.  

I never expected to like an NCL cruise,

much less love it more than Celebrity’s brand new ship. But that’s what happened. We are Bliss converts. 

1 hour ago, B-Rizzle said:

 

That is untrue. They don't chain Tarzan to the Jungle Cruise Ride, you can see the characters all over the park. ANd you know what? I've never been on a cruise but my ex and I almost booked The Magic several times, and I'm tempted to try one of the three new ships because I bet they're going to be AWESOME!!!

 

I'm really excited to see what Branson has to offer in February when the sailings open up, and watching what's happening on the Edge. Eden really IS a great option for those of us open to it and it sounds like they have FANTASTIC Food and drinks. But obviously not for everybody!

Ummm -- Tarzan has nothing to do with the Jungle Cruise. Two completely different stories, and Disney would never mix them. And, actually, characters don't roam freely at Disney World. You interact with them at set attractions, restaurants or character greets.

I find the continued comparisons of Edenists to Disney completely uninformed. I'm a Disneyphile -- annual passholder, DVC member and very frequent park visitor. Performance artists rolling around in pillows in Eden pale in comparison to the suberb, professional product Disney produces.

1 hour ago, Tao Diva said:

I find it startling that you wouldn't consider performers as "actual real people". It's not like any one is saying that there really is a person named "Bloom" from planet EDEN that eats dragonflies. But she is still an actual real person, practicing improvisational performance art. Some people (myself for instance) may think it sounds like fun to play along. If you don't, no worries. Even my 5 year old granddaughter had enough social grace to politely tell Goofy that she would rather he not come too close. (He is kind of big and overwhelming.) It wouldn't take too much effort for an adult to respectfully decline having their head fondled as part of the act. No need to get all indignant about it.

You missed my point entirely. The OP drew a comparison between the Eden characters and the people who live in the ports tourists visit. That is what I find troubling. It has nothing to do with the performers playing the characters. I’m sure they’re lovely, talented people who are 

performing the job they’ve been given. 

You realize they’re paid performers,

right? When her shift is over,

Bloom goes back to being Brittany from

Minnesota - or whoever she is when she clocks out for the day. 

In my opinion, a comparison should never be drawn between performers on a cruise ship and actual, real people who live in the countries a cruise ship visits. It’s troubling - again, in my opinion. 

“The temp went up rather quickly and the humidity just flowed in when we opened the window.  The  veranda space is so teeny tiny that it is almost claustrophobic with the doors closed.”

That’s a very good description! The humidity did just flow in, and the veranda space was definitely claustrophobic when the doors were closed. It certainly wasn’t enjoyable to stay in that little box the doors created. 

2 hours ago, dodger1964 said:

I thought if the window was open the AC didn't work (or at least worked at a reduced output). I thought the doors had nothing to do with it??

 

(but my impression is just from reading these threads)

 

thoughts?

 

I can’t say with absolute certainty. Other posters may know for sure. Just from room “feel,” the cabin was uncomfortably warm when we lowered the window and left the doors open. It got hot almost instantly. 

The one time we closed the IV doors when we opened the window, the main portion of the cabin stayed comfortable. We didn’t stay in that setup long - maybe 15 minutes. But the AC definitely felt as though it was working. The temperature didn’t seem to change substantially. 

If I were guessing, I’d say the AC remains on regardless of whether the doors are open or closed. But that’s just a guess. 

8 hours ago, OriginalBoat said:

 

I'm curious if you have thoughts on what made the Bliss more open?  They both appear to be fully enclosed on the top.  There's a couple differences I can see: the Bliss has some slight openings in the top of the side walls, a solid wall with a door behind, and maybe a slightly lower railing.  "Interior" space seems to be about the same on both ships.  We've got an Edge sailing booked and are considering Bliss for the next one.  I'm trying to decide if it's a trade-off between a convertible space that may be locked vs an always open, but separate area.  Or if there is something more to the way they FEEL.

 

It's absolutely a difference in the way they FEEL.

I'm going to try to describe it in a way that makes sense. Imagine you're on a standard balcony on a ship. You've stepped outside on a porch, in essence. If you step to the edge of the balcony, you can lean over and see up and down the ship - you can probably see into the balcony on each side of you. Even if your balcony is covered, it can still be sunny at times and windy at times. You experience the elements. That's what our balcony on Bliss (which was covered) was like.

On Edge in the IV cabin, you're "flat" against the ship - I don't know how else to describe it. Because you're flush with the ship, you cannot see the "balconies" next to you at all. It's because you're sticking your head out a window and not standing on a porch. It would be comparable to sticking your head out a window in a hotel (assuming hotels had windows that opened, which most don't). Just trying to describe the feel of it.

As for space on the balcony, we definitely had much more on the Bliss. We had two comfy chairs and a table large enough to hold plates. We could sit out there, prop our feet up against the glass and read. We spent a lot of time on our balcony on Bliss. Conversely, the footprint of the IV is so tiny. It's packed with furniture that you have to move to get "in" or "out" of the space. I only sat in an IV chair one time during our three-day cruise. There was just nothing interesting about it. I had the same view and was more comfortable sitting on the bed. As I've said in other posts, I did like that the large picture window provides much greater lines of sight from the bed. I wouldn't hesitate to book an IV on a cold-weather cruise for that reason. It would be a lovely way to experience the Norwegian fjords, for instance.

I keep going back and forth as to whether to cancel our Edge cruise in April. We have an S1 corner aft booked, and we booked the first week cabins were released, so we have a decent price. But for basically the same price, I could book the Royal Suite on an S-class ship for the same week. Decisions, decisions... I'm not sure what we're going to do, honestly. We have until final payment in January to figure it out. We just weren't "wowed" by the Edge. We were completely "wowed" by the Bliss, however. I'm so excited about our Alaska sailing in the Haven in May. That is one fantastic ship. I was always an NCL snob - in my mind, it was gaudy, had terrible food, etc. I have never been more wrong. Bliss is stunning, the spa with thalassotherapy pool is to die for, and the food in the specialty restaurants is hands down the best we've ever had on any cruise line. I'm not sure I'm an NCL convert, but I am 100% a Bliss convert.

5 hours ago, kwokpot said:

We are pulling next to Ncl's flagship (launched April, 2018) Norwegian Bliss. 

 

Reality check. How are OUR IV 'balconies' any different than theirs? Notice any loungers or foot stools? Height of GLASS railing? Is there REALLY more of a sense of openness and exposure to the outdoors than the IV's. I'm not so sure anymore. 

Edit:

We will be on The Allure ot Seas in February and the Anthem ot Seas in March, both times in a balcony cabin. It will give me a great chance to evaluate my feelings on the IV cabins compared to a traditional balcony cabin. 

I feel qualified to speak to this, as I sailed in a balcony cabin on Bliss in October and an IV cabin on Edge in December. To me, there is no comparison. Bliss has balconies. Edge has oceanview cabins with windows that open. You step outdoors on Bliss. You do not in an IV cabin on Edge. I'm a pretty loyal Celebrity cruiser, but Bliss is a better ship than Edge, in my humble opinion. We're booked in an S1 for a week on Edge in April for a week in the Haven on Bliss in May -- looking forward to comparing them again. I never expected to like Bliss more (it was our first NCL cruise), but I did. We'll see if our experiences this spring change that opinion.