Marine Mom

Fortunately there are plenty of other lines happy to take my $$$$ if they do go down that path.

Me too! The benefit of cruising to me was that the price included food, entertainment and hotel but if the food choices continue to disappear, I will find another cruiseline to sail with!

Piece of advice: if there are any activities at night in the Bliss lounge that you want to see, go early. The Bliss lounge fills up, there is not a seat to be found.

Noted, thanks for the advice. Reminds me of the Spinnaker Lounge on the Dawn, same thing.

Thank you! I am getting excited for our cruise in 4 days on the Dawn. I have not been on the Dawn yet so all new to us.

Just dinner, as far as I have seen. (I'm aboard again now, if you have any questions.)

Hope you are having a great time!!!

You had 25 responses on the thread you started earlier today regarding the Dawn and posted this message

 

"

Thanks guys that's awesome. Can't sleep too exited so safe to say it looks like it's being booked. Even talked my mum and brother into it so we are a party of 7 now lol �� "

 

The cruise you are looking at isn't until January 2018. Why do you have to book the cruise tomorrow? If you're not sure then just keep researching until you are satisfied it is the right choice. If you book it and change your mind at least for US "bookers" there is a pretty wide window where the cruise can be cancelled without penalty charged by NCL. If you use a travel agent be sure they don't have their own cancellation penalty - there are some out there that do.

 

We loved the Dawn - ate in both the specialty and regular dining venues including the "buffet" and had no complaints. Some meals were excellent and some were maybe just pretty good. There was only one main dish (a fish of some sort) I didn't care for so I ate the sides and picked up a snack elsewhere later in the evening. Could have requested another main dish at the time but didn't think it was necessary. Options is one of the beauties of NCL's dining program. We thought the Dawn crew was wonderful and received great service.

 

After 17 consecutive cruises on NCL we're cheating and taking our first cruise on Royal Caribbean Explorer of the Seas the end of September. The itinerary is really great, we don't have to fly to the port and NCL has nothing similar so we're stepping out of our comfort zone. We've enjoyed every cruise we've ever taken and expect we'll enjoy this one too. A positive attitude is really the best preparation for a good cruise. If you do book the cruise sign up for the Meet and Greet on the roll call thread and join in on the discussions. Our Dawn roll call was really amazing and the fellow participants really added to our cruise enjoyment. I wish you the best in whatever you decide.

 

Good answer! Although I favor NCL, I have been on the RC Explorer of the seas and really liked that ship. The ice show was awesome! I hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

Wondering what we should do the day we leave Bermuda. On Day 1 we plan to go out to St. George's. On Day 2 we have an all-day beach package at Elbow Beach.

Just curious, how did you get an all-day beach pass at Elbow Beach?

We are sailing in the Haven in 3 months. I was considering buying the Vibe pass because I heard the Haven can be over run by rowdy kids. What are your thoughts of the pros and con of buying a vibe pass while sailing the Haven.

We sailed in the Haven on the Breakaway in April and there were no rowdy kids at all. All the kids in the Haven on that sailing were very well behaved. I don't think you need the Vibe passes but that is up to you. Very quiet in the Haven and plenty of room at the sundeck. Good luck!

some posters are taking this thread waaaaaaay too seriously. The op simply asked an innocent question out of curiosity' date=' and only one person, mking8288, has actually attempted to answer the question that was asked. If you don't know, fine. No worries. But there's no need for hippa lectures.[/quote']

 

I agree with you!

We have little interest in the megaships of any cruiseline.

I'm with you!:):):)

Last January I went from an inside to a balcony for $300 total for three people, called the last hour the upsell department was open the day before the cruise.

Thank you! So there is hope. :):)

We try and do that was well... But if you wait too long, they usualy are sold out... as the GEM is as of Monday for this Sat's cruise.... We were able to get a balcony room after booking an inside room a couple weeks ago after seeing the price drop to something affordable. But (as we were told by our NCL rep) that you can only upsell, or upgrade, once per reservation... We wanted to try to do it again, since our new rooms were very far apart, but it would have costed us 600 per person to do that...

Thank you for your reply. Our trip is still a few weeks away so I'll try maybe next week.

Anyone have luck getting an upsell on the Gem? We were able to get an upsell on our last cruise on the Breakaway but I don't see many upsells on the Gem. Anyone been lucky?

Was just on the April 3rd sailing on the Breakaway and we missed GSC due to rocky weather. We headed to Nassau and arrived there around 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and did not leave Nassau until 6:00 p.m. on Thursday evening. I think it happens alot with the Breakaway as she is so big and if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate it is dangerous to tender back from the Island. Trying again in August on the Gem this time....keeping my fingers crossed!!!

We sailed on that sailing and I wasn't happy with BA and will never sail her again. I agree with you regarding the atrium and finding a seat. I will go NCL again and we like the Gem so much better. I think the "megaship" is not for us.

I somehow doubt the mom is looking for sympathy from strangers on a message board. Especially from this holier than thou crowd.

Nope....not holier than thou, just can't feel sorry for someone who clearly knows what time the ship leaves port and still manages to be late especially since her kids weren't with her.....it's amazing, the other 4,000 passengers made it back on time....

She missed the ship - even after they held it up for 30 minutes waiting for her. No sympathy from me. There isn't even a time difference to be blamed.

AGREE 100%...no sympathy from me either....

Didn't someone say the dad and kids got onto the ship together, then he left them and got back off to go retrieve mom? I thought the whole family was together off the ship before something happened with mom, then the dad panicked or something at the thought of leaving without her, so he got back off the ship. I'm sure I read that in this post, but I'm not going through it all again.

 

Regardless, the fact that this happened on a Thursday and the ship didn't port again for mom/dad to catch up until a Sunday sucks for all involved. Mom is a moron. Dad is also a moron.

Agree 100%. I could never understand how anyone is late to get back to the ship and if so, your fault if you miss the boat!

I haven't been on the Getaway but just off the Breakaway (sister ship) and felt the same exact way. I too love to cruise and love the GEM much better. BA lacked good customer service, food was so-so, was just nothing special and would not sail her again. I won't give up on NCL though just not the mega ship.

I just got off the breakaway two weeks ago. I didn't read any reviews prior to our trip so I didn't realize all the negatives comments regarding the crew. I will say this, my DH and I love NCL and we were actually surprised on the BA how rude some (not all) of the crew were. Never came across that before. Of course there were also great crew members too. I am not sure why they were miserable but it was very surprising. I wouldn't say I won't sail on BA again because of that I won't sail again because I personally didn't like the ship. Of course this is just my opinion but I don't believe or at least what I saw, was the passengers were being rude it was obvious some of the crew members don't like their job very much.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

My favorite.....everything....we love the GEM!!!!

So glad you had a great cruise. We were on the April 3rd Breakaway sailing and missed the Gem. We just booked the Gem for July and cannot wait. We always like the entertainment on the Gem so glad to hear it is still very good.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

Since part of your family was not in the Haven how did that work out? IMO the Haven was wonderful- never crowded. The boarding for haven guests was also wonderful- I assume the non Haven guests didn't have the same level of service you had.

We barely spent any time in the Haven other than a few mornings for breakfast and a dip in the hot tub (never anyone there) and dinner at the Haven restaurant which, IMO, was the best food we had the entire cruise. The service in the Haven is amazing and we loved every minute of it.

It was fine that we weren't all staying in the Haven. My DH likes to be at the main pool with all the people and we ate with our friends at the buffet a couple of times. I did show them our room but that was the extent of it.

First, the ship is WAY too crowded. It didn't seem much bigger than the Regal Princess which holds half the passengers. It just seems to have more passenger decks. There's no more common space or things to do, really...just people everywhere! There was no space to sit and relax.

Yes, it was spring break for most families so there were a million kids--ours included. To be honest, I felt like I was on Carnival. The hot tubs overflowed with splashing, obnoxious kids. The main pool was so tiny that swimming was impossible.

 

The food was not great either. I felt like it was better on the Dawn and WAY better on Princess. (We did not go to the up-charge restaurants.) We did go to the Cirque show and I thought the food was horrible. One out of 4 of us ate. O'Sheehans was meh and the waitress we had (twice) could not have acted more bored or annoyed. Pleasant people, children and staff were the exception not the rule.

 

Mother Nature took over the remainder of our trip by giving us rough seas and high winds. Those who could walk were up gambling and drinking, making the most out of it. We chose this cruise to appeal to the kids and fit with school vacation which it did. I'm exhausted! Next time I think we will go back to the smaller ship and a more "couples-friendly" itinerary.

 

Curious what others thought...

We got off the Breakaway the day you were getting on. I felt exactly like you. Not our favorite and will stay with the smaller ships (Gem, etc.). Matter of fact, I feel like we got jipped on this vacation so I booked the Gem for July to make up for that disaster. Our only saving grace on this cruise was we were staying in the Haven so we were lucky. We had friends on the cruise (unfortunately they were not in the Haven) who only sailed with Carnival and they hated this ship. They said they will never sail NCL again and I tried to tell them that NCL is really good it was just this ship.

Just off the Breakaway two weeks ago and my DH and I stayed in the Penthouse Courtyard Suite which was great. Since there are 4 of you, I would go with the Forward Suite which is bigger. The balcony is smaller but our balcony was not that large either. The size of the room is much bigger with the forward facing. I don't think the forward facing Suite's are located in the "Haven" courtyard although you will still be entitled to the Haven benefits. Good Luck. You will LOVE THE HAVEN!

Staff seed rude and unhappy. At times I felt as though I didn't want to ask for anything from them. My brother had a horrible experience with spa staff (very long story) but these don't seem to be isolated reports which is more concerning.

I agree with you. We were on the BA the week before you and felt this was our least favorite cruise so far. We also stayed in the Haven and were thankful for that. The staff in the Haven is amazing but the rest of the ship, not so much. Will not go on the BA again as we really like the Gem and find the service, entertainment and staff much, much better.