kpms

44 minutes ago, DandDM said:

I've seen threads before from folks asking for help choosing a cruise and never really understood the purpose... seems like only the individual can really know what they are looking for on a cruise. But now I understand as my wife and I have been thinking about this for a couple weeks and cannot make up our minds!  Hoping that someone out there as that one item that will sway us one direction.

 

Here is our dilemma:  Quite a while ago we booked a14 night April 2020 crossing from New York to Barcelona on the NCL Dawn.  We were(are) happy with the ports of call and especially visiting Ibiza.  However, we are not excited about the smaller ship.  On previous crossings we have been on different sized ships, and on our last one on the Jewel of the Seas, realized that we prefer the larger ships and increased entertainment options they provide on the sea days.

 

Based on that, been monitoring prices of other cruises and found a price drop on a 15 day crossing on the Epic.  The cruise is a day longer (sea day) and itinerary is very similar - the material change is that it does not call on Ibiza.  Price for a mini-suite (same as we have on Dawn) is $350 cheaper than we originally paid (and about $1000 cheaper than current price for same category on Dawn).  Perks with booking are the same on either and we would fly to either port as we live on West coast.

 

Being a planner, made a detailed spreadsheet on pros and cons of each cruise and boiled it down to our biggest three items:

1) extra cruise day vs missing Ibiza

2) larger ship (Epic) vs larger cabin and balcony with a more 'traditional' layout on Dawn

3) sail away in New York harbor (which we have not done before) vs potential hassle dealing with logistic in New York compared to Miami (which we are familiar with)

 

Any and all thoughts are appreciated!

 

Cheers,

I am on the same Cruise as yourself. I have done the Epic from Port Canaveral to Barcelona, it's a great ship but I am looking forward to the smaller ship - for the fact of more relaxation. Also less people in the ports. 

Ahh another Vancouveritte :) Surrey here. We have done two TA’s one each way. On the Breakaway in April 2013 and the Epic April 2017. We are in our mid 30’s and had a blast on both. Not a lot of kids :)

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My PCC called me tonight and I was able to book 2 cruises on Bliss. 14-day LA to Miami-Panama Canal and 7-day Mexican Riviera. Solo studio cabins on both cruises. I'll be celebrating a milestone birthday with my bucket list destinations! And on a brand new ship to boot! :D

Congratulations! We are booked on the Miami to LA :D super exciting!

Our PCC Just called us as they knew we wanted to book the

Miami to LA Panama Canal

We booked in a H4 Cabin

Total was $19200.00 CDN for the Trip! :)

He knew we wanted to book this back in October when they announced. I am more excited then I was at Christmas, New Years and my birthday all rolled into one!

I have no experience with Carnival but with NCL and Holland America we found both lines to be very LGBT Friendly. We have met some of our best friends at Friend Of Dorothy Gatherings on the ship. We traveled to the Baltic's including Russia and didn't feel worried. We of course are respectful of other cultures.

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Beautiful video. I especially appreciate all the touring scenes in ports. Looks like you had a fun time too. I'll be on the Getaway's first sailing to the Baltics in May. You've given me a great preview.

Thank you!! I tried to capture it all :)

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What we found was the long security lines at CPH. Took us nearly an hour to go through Security.

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Jo my apologies. I missed that you replied. Yes I want to explore Europe more I think the Med will be soon. We are booked on the TA from Florida to Barcelona in Apr. with a couple nights in Barcelona.

I don't have a share site at the moment. Also didn't take many pics while in Russia. I was always worried I would get in trouble.

Yes the Friends of Dave tour was expansive. It was though one of the better tours we did.

I kind of wish we did a private tour for Russia. Something I wanted to see was the subway stations.

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Loved Your Review!

Will be aboard the Epic when she goes back to Barcelona in Mar/Apr - Sounds like you were in amazing company and had some great memories...

We are also Canadian, though on the West Coast :)

Can't wait to read more!

Kris

We are booked for this cruise (and have been for almost a year)

Today I went on to see what the new Promos and do a Mock Up and it's showing that the ship is sold out besides interior rooms.

Never really heard of Transatlantic's being fully booked.

I could only think they are doing some Refurbishment.

Anyone have an idea?

Hi all!

 

kris ~ nice job on the video & it looks like a great trip, thanks.:D

 

 

 

I have some questions please:

1) is the 1st bit all in Warnemunde or did you go elsewhere from there?

 

2) did you do a tour in SPB & if so with which company & were you happy with the tour?

 

3) did you fly something other than economy that you got such yummy looking food?

 

I'm sailing the Baltics next May on the Getaway & am trying to decide what to do in the ports. I'm also flying to London on BA next month & wondering what kind of meal will be served.

 

I really couldn't tell you what will be served on the BA Flights but all the meals we had were tasty and hot...

 

TIA for any help.

 

~ Jo ~ :)

1) We went to a total of 3 Cities while in Germany. Warnemunde, Wismar & Schwerin

2)We went with a tour company for Germany - It was called "The Friends of Dave Tour" - Simply awesome the tour guides were great and it was nice not having a 3 hour train ride each way. For Russia we did the Ship Excursion. I would have liked to have done SPB however our travel companions had already booked the Excursions through the ship and didn't want to change.

3)Flying from Vancouver BC to London we flew British Airways on the A380 in Premium Economy - The meal was really good.

Our flight from London to Copenhagen was changed to Jet Time - No food was served.

Our flight from Copenhagen to London we got bumped to Business Class (Which isn't that big of a difference - just at the front of the plane) and had an amazing salad.

Our flight home from London to Vancouver we were upgraded again to Business Class and that was in the pods - The meals on those flights were outstanding.

Great video! Nice combination of stills, video, and most importantly: close-up cocktail shots.

 

Those long fisheye shots... GoPro with stabilizer?

Yes - The GoPro 3 Black (I Think) Recorded at 60FPS

With a Handheld Gimbal :) Was one of my first trips traveling with it so was playing around seeing what I could do.

Thanks for sharing the link to your fabulous video. It looks like you had a great cruise holiday. Your video brings back some wonderful memories. What program did you use to put that together?

 

 

 

Thanks again,

 

 

 

 

 

Rochelle

Hi Rochelle

I used Final Cut Pro on my Mac, all my editing was self taught :)

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Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share my video that I did up of our trip to the Baltic's this

May! Please let me know what you think :)

Kris

Just about to leave London back to Vancouver. The cruise was amazing. We missed Stockholm due to weather but it was still an amazing trip. Russia was beautiful and more amazing than I thought it would be. The crew aboard the ship were full of laughs and very enjoyable. The ship could use a little freshening up in some areas. The couch in our room sank to the floor when you sat on it but nothing to ruin our trip about. When home I'll do up a little review

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Well the time is finally here!

After 487 days of planning, dreaming and brain storming our trip is finally here!

We will board British Airways from Vancouver to London tomorrow at 8:30PM landing at 2:30 PM London Time on the 6th. We will spend the night (Because BA did a slight flight change) and we had an amazing connection to an illegal connection. Then another flight to Copenhagen.

This is where we will meet our friends from New York who we met on our Honeymoon cruise aboard the Breakaway 3 years ago! This will be our 2nd planned vacation together.

The plan is to do the ports mostly by foot, except for Russia and Germany were we have tours organized.

After our Cruise we go back to London for 4 more days then back home to Vancouver Canada.

We will be aboard the Star in a SG Suite (Which their are only 4 of) and our friends are in Penthouses Forward and AFT - Will definitely get to see the different views.

If anyone has questions or things they want me to look out for aboard the Star please let me know!

Will be aboard the Star! I love seeing pictures of the ship!

I can't wait!

Thank You

13 Days. Baltic's on the Star. 9 days till we fly out

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Will be cursing in May through the Baltics! What an awesome review! Don't get too many reviews about the Star

Will be in a Suite as well! I can't wait

Which cabin where you in?

Love the information in this thread!

Will be boarding the Star on May 8/16 and have had this trip booked since January 2015 - We are going with 2 groups of friends.

We've decided to 1 day in Copenhagen then the cruise (We are doing on our own except for St. Petersburg) back to Copenhagen then flying to London for 5 days.

It's been lots of work planning but one of the most exciting to plan for...

Kris

We will be sailing on May 8/16 - and love hearing reviews about the Star!

Kris

Will be on the Star May 8/16 - The Baltics! Love hearing about the Star reviews :) Been planning for almost a year and half now!

Curious to which video you were watching,

I will be sailing the Star the first week of May and love watching videos

about our upcoming trip

We are in 12012, so you are either next to us, or across from us on the other side of the ship. So excited there's another PH person on the meet and greet!

 

See you at the meet and greet,

 

Junogirl

We are in 12510 !! Aboard the Baltic's Cruise in May :D

My wife and I have done three Transatlantics, one eastbound (Norwegian Breakaway's inaugural crossing) and two westbound (Norwegian Epic, both times.) She was initially concerned she would be bored, but we both discovered there's only a couple of Mudslides between bored and relaxed.

 

It is one cruise where you will have days of nothing planned - which I love. After a week of being in the Spinnaker Lounge before 8am for excursions on Caribbean cruises, sleeping in every day is really nice.

 

Even westbound, you get used to losing the hour, and it's certainly preferable to losing them all at once on a flight!

 

It will skew towards older people - I'm 55 and the average age this year was 58, so I told my wife I had to watch out for Cougars :) I almost expected to get carded at the bar. However, being the youngest is not a bad thing when compared to a Christmas cruise with over three thousand people, a third of which are children.

 

There is always something to do, but if you have a book you've been meaning to read (or write), a Transatlantic is a great way to spend ten days or so.

The Breakaway was our First TA and NCL Cruise. Loved it! We are booked on the Epic in Apr 2017 from Florida to Barcelona :)