cruiseman90

I've taken four cruises on her from 2006-2011 (tied with NCL Escape as far as my most-sailed ship is concerned), so this is a major bummer. While she may have not had all the bells and whistles of some larger ships, let alone some of her Fantasy-class sisters, I enjoyed the combined 16 nights I've spent on her! 

I can't speak for Kinky Boots since I've never seen it, but Choir of Man is fairly benign with the exception of some alcohol references as well as a scene that takes place in a restroom in which you can see (fake) urine streams from below the dividers. 

It varies for larger ships like the Escape. Boarding has usually taken less than an hour but on our most recent cruise, we arrived around 1 PM had to wait outside for two hours since they were only using half the terminal and the building kept reaching full occupancy. NCL's new facility should be open by the time of your cruise, so hopefully you won't have to deal with this. 

If I left something like medication behind in my car on embarkation day, would I be permitted to get off the ship to retrieve it as long as there's enough time before the ship departs? 

I'm a ship man all the way. We don't partake in any excursions, so it's not really worth getting off the ship for us since most of the stops feel the same with all the cookie-cutter jewelry shops and clothing stores being front and center. Plus, it's nice to have the ship to ourselves while everyone is out and about.

9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Good Morning Miami!

 

Well, that’s a wrap. Thank you for joining the Bird on the Inaugural voyage of the Norwegian Encore to the Eastern Caribbean. We traveled 2072 miles round trip from Miami to San Juan, St Thomas, and Tortola. It’s been a blast and we hope that our live post has helped answer the most frequently asked questions here on Cruise Critic. 

Disembarkation Metrics

 

Self walk-off started before 7:15. 
 

We left our stateroom at 8:10.

 

We we’re on the curb by 8:30. 

Uber 8:35-8:49 to MIA

 

Checked bags are the counter and at the gate by 9:10 at MIA (using priority checkin and pre-check). 

 

Note: there is no Uber zone at the port and the terminal is very chaotic with police moving cars before you have time to get to them. We would strongly recommend NOT using Uber and just taking a flat rate taxi to the airport. 
 

Was Customs still doing that annoying facial recognition experiment? We all had to do it when I went on the Breakaway back in June and half the guests had to do a secondary inspection since those things were so buggy. 

Not a smoker myself, but I can almost see this backfiring on NCL from a financial standpoint. I still remember hearing about how poorly the Carnival Paradise did as a smoke-free ship since non-smokers typically didn't drink and gamble as much as those who do.

1 hour ago, eroller said:

 

 

Fall 2019 ... we shall see!  

According to the PortMiami website, its been pushed back to Feb. 2020 😕

Sailed on the Bliss 12/1. Two-thirds of our group were on odd decks, with my parents staying on an even deck. Since they were in charge for the expenses of me and my brother, pier staff allowed them to check-in with us. We had to wait a bit since their cards were in the other terminal, but there were no other issues.

I went on the Escape last November, and the only place where I noticed a decline in quality was Moderno (a true shame, since that was one of our favorites). Everything else was fine with no noticable cutbacks.

Self-disembarkation is the way to go. When we sailed on the Escape back in November, we were able to go from the ship to the garage in 5 minutes. :)

Escape 11/11

Captain: Giovanni Cutugno

Cruise Director: Tyler Gray

Hotel Director: Jovo Sekulovic

Staff Captain: Konstantinos Gkokas

Tyler Gray has returned from vacation and is back on the Escape as CD. :)

I hope your father and grandmother are feeling better now

Sorry your cruise was ruined

 

 

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They're feeling much better now, thankfully :). My grandmother was already back in action by Thursday, and my father was well enough to venture out of the stateroom last night.

Thank you for the kind wishes!

I didn't catch it, but both my father and grandmother were infected. When it came to my grandmother, the disease ran its' course in less than a day. My father on the other hand was confined to our cabin for two days.

My mother and I weren't allowed to get off the ship in Nassau just because we shared a cabin with someone who had it, even though we had no symptoms. As I'm typing this, they're quarantining the families affected by the disease (including unaffected members) in the Manhattan Room until disembarkation.

Came back from the Escape last week, and while my memory is still a little fuzzy when it comes to some of the captains/directors, I can confirm that Giovanni Cutugno is Captain, Jovo Sekulovic is the Hotel Director, and Silas Cook is the CD.

At Terminal B, you usually enter through the forward part of Deck 7. Go down one deck, and the service area is located in the atrium.

Surprised you weren't arrested for taking pictures in customs. That would have been a disaster.

 

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I would never take the risk of taking pics in the actual customs area, which is the room with the sliding doors in the last pic. That would indeed be a disaster if I went that far.

Disaster? Really? Inconvenience? Maybe.

I'll admit that I over-exaggerated by referring to it as such, but it was still crazy.

Just came back from the June 27-July 4 voyage of the Norwegian Getaway. (I had a great time, I very much LOVED the ship; The destinations, not so much, with the exception of the beautiful St. Thomas)

Anywho, debarkation on July 4th was an utter mess.

It started off with a line to enter the baggage claim that wrapped around the upper level of Terminal C, it was at least more welcoming than the luggage claim:

They also had ample seating up there, which was a nice touch:

Once we finally entered the baggage claim, it was so congested to the point where it was hard to find our bags. As if that wasn't bad enough, the line for customs was so morbidly long to the point where it nearly stretched to Terminal B.

This pic doesn't do it any justice:

Thankfully, they eventually directed us to Terminal B to take care of our Customs duty since it wasn't being used for our group of colors.

Overall, this was a total nightmare. To anyone who's sailed on this ship before, is debarkation usually this bad?

:D:D:D Very good news!!! I was saddened when I first heard the news of Majesty's retirement from the RCCL fleet. She has a special place in my heart as it was the first cruise I've been on back in 2004. I'm also glad they are putting some money into her, it will certainly improve her lifespan.

Great report! The reverse Moving Walkway story at the beginning was pretty funny. I didn't know that the port had those running when they use that area of the Terminal. We walked through that area when we sailed on the Valor, and those were always turned off. (Even on boarding day, in which they were rushing everyone onto the ship because of Wilma.)

Anyway, it's pretty interesting to see the differences between this ship and the Sun (which I've sailed on.)

This is going to seem like a weird question to ask, but do cruise lines use the same type of hot dog for their entire fleet, or does the type vary depending on the home port? I ask that because the hot dogs on the Oosterdam (The only ship I've been on that wasn't based in Miami) seemed to have different hot dogs than the ships I've been on from Miami.

During debarkation, are you assigned to a terminal based on cabin deck or tag color? I know that during embarkation, the Terminal you use is based on the Deck Number (B=Odd Decks, C=Evens) Any info would be greatly appreciated! :cool: