Carinthalas

My vote goes for the H4 over the H6. The fact you have a separate family space to gather and each have your own room with a door to maintain space is great. If someone needs some quiet time, the rest of the family have somewhere to be that is in the cabin to watch a movie (as an example).

the Haven area on the Getaway is out of this world and the service is superb, being in the area you get a greater chance to enjoy it rather than traversing the entire length of the ship each time for Breakfast, Lunch and Diner.

The sundeck is also large enough to accommodate all who want a bed on this cruise (was on the 16th to 25th May)

Where will the Table Tennis be on Disco 2?

I will be on Discovery from Sunday for 14 nights, any other table tennis players going to be on-board and fancy meeting up for a few knockabouts?

We had an overnight in Havana as part of our trip.

We booked a 1965 classic Oldsmobile to take us on a sunset tour of Havana. He met us at the ship and we spent 3 hours touring the area and it was awesome, our driver was a legend, well informed and excellent English. The total cost for 3 hours including a tip was $100.

We found it to be one of those places where you can literally just absorb the culture and atmosphere.

We did the Cuban Fusion as part of a cruise last Xmas on the Dream.

We have done a number of cruises with both P&O and Thomson and given the choice I will take Thomson every time over P&O.

Excluding the ships being older and smaller, Thomson win every other encounter in my opinion. Better Food, better entertainment, better atmosphere and great staff.

Cuba is fantastic and the highlight of the trip in my opinion. Being there before it changes will also be a good thing.

Being from Ireland we don't have a tipping culture like Americans do. Quite simply nobody in Ireland (bar waiting staff) expects tips. As a result I don't know who I should tip and what amount. Can folk make suggestions.

 

We're just coming to the end of an incredible week in the Getaway which completely exceeded our expectations.

 

We're in the Haven so that might add to whom we need to tip.

 

Thanks.

 

 

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Rob

We are from the UK and as with yourself not really used to tipping. We stayed in the Haven on our May cruise and like yourself it exceeded expectation.

As such, we tipped as follows: -

Room steward an additional $50 for the week

Butler $50

Concierge $50

Pool Valet who was out of this world a star $100

And yes, we left the daily service charge in place.

Some would say it was over the top, but I felt it reflected the truly great service we had received.

M&A

Dear all

When we sailed on the Dream there was an option on board to upgrade the drinks package to include for the premium drinks. Can anyone that has been on Discovery confirm if this is offered on board and what is the cost?

Many thanks.

I am also on board for the 1st October Cruise.

I guess if they have a package I will buy it and if they do not I will not. Either way I will not let it spoil the holiday.

Greetings all.

We are on the NCL Jade on Saturday and have a suite booked. Last time we were there the queue to drop off the luggage was huge. As a suite guest with priority tags, can we skip the queue for the drop off?

Mike

Hi all

Can anyone confirm if there are any Table Tennis facilities on-board the Vista?

Thanks in advance

Mike

Hi Sue

We are on-board form the 14th for a week so may see you in a bar somewhere.

We have been on the Jade 3 times before and she is a great ship. Quirky in its décor, but great in all aspects.

We are also from the UK and can confirm we have had no additional uplifts as we have had UBP and SDP on all occasions and they have a great range of Teas and Coffees on board.

Also, make sure you see the sail in and sail out of Venice as it is breath taking.

Mike and Amanda

The only downside we faced when going for the UDP was missing the interaction of being on a mixed table as we would have been in the MDR. It is harder to start up a conversation with tables as the spacing is more generous in the speciality restaurants than the main dining room.

My solution for the next holiday is to put a card on the board about finding others who are on the package and feel like sharing some meal times.

We had no issues with booking (excluding New Years Eve) but as it was a seasonal holiday, can not really blame the cruise line for that as a lot of people wanted bookings made that where most likely not on the UDP.

I will do a review when I get back.

My thoughts on P&O are that the food is very good quality, but it is a very safe menu directed at the normal British tastes.

Celebrity food has better variety with the chance to try things you would not normally eat at home.

The basic quality is much better than RCI and also higher in temperature.

Entertainment wise, it will depend on which generation you are from as on our previous P&O trip it was tailored to people who were already teenagers or above in the 70's where as I was not a teenager till the mid 80's so some of the humour was targeted differently.

That being said, have yet to try P&O outside of the Fjords so that could affect the demographic greatly.

Hi all

I see posts saying that suite guests get to use Cagney's for Breakfast. My question is, do mini-suites count for this perk?

I honestly thought you could not have 123 perks with a guarantee?

I hope you really enjoy it and that you do get all your perks.

Dear all

Please can you advise if there are Table Tennis facilities on board the Jade and if so where they are located on the ship?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

My cruising experience is not extensive in any sense. I have been on NCL Spirit 3 times now and can report the following....

The food in the main dinning rooms is good, not great, but certainly good food. The food in the increase cover restaurants is excellent. We had great meals in Shogun and Bistro as well as a hoot in the Tepenyaki.

As our cruising has expanded (been on Celebrity a couple of times) we have noticed that the food quality in the Celebrity MDR is on par with the upcharge restaurants on NCL.

However, the night life and vibrancy of the ship on NCL is way better than Celebrity.

I guess what I am trying to say is, that we take different holidays at different times for different reason. If we want a foodie type holiday we will go Celebrity, if we want a fun holiday (still with good food) then we go NCL. We enjoy them both.

Hiya

We have had the UBP several times on NCL now and the way it tends to work is you can get one drink per card. Both people do not need to go to the bar and most times the waiters will come find you, even more so if you give a small tip early in the cruise.

You may confuse some people with your thread as the UDP is the Dining package and UBP is the drinks one.

Mike

Knowing the cost of my holiday upfront allows me to relax and enjoy the holiday a bit more. We tend to save money on the cabin as we use it for sleep and spend the money saved on the Premium Drinks Package. The Martini bar and Molecular bar make this very worthwhile for us.

Last year we cruised on both P&O Ventura and Celebrity Eclipse.

We enjoyed both cruises at the time. Ventura was first and our main area's for concern where regarding the food and the entertainment. The food was very good quality, but it was a safe menu. If I want to eat traditional british food I can get that at home. It seemed the majority of the main dining room meals where pick a meat and have the associated vegetables that go with it. The entertainment was tailored towards a more mature market segment than where I currently feel I am and as such was right for the cruise, but not right for me. The exception to this was the trivia, it was incredibly well run and many choices of what type to partake in.

We then went on Eclipse. After this cruise we realised that P&O where not for us as everything was just better. The ship was fantastic with small touches everywhere that just made you realise a lot of thought had gone in to how small things can make a big difference. One small example here is in the bathrooms, there is a bar about 18" off the floor in the shower cubicle for a lady to rest her foot whilst shaving her legs. Not relevant to me as a man, but my partner found it a great use.

The food and quality of the service on board Celebrity was what made them stand out as a more premium product. The choice and selection of food was fantastic and the way they would pair wines to courses was enspiring.

We have booked to go on Eclipse again on 2nd May so will make sure she is ship shape for you when you get onboard on the 10th.

Please tell me that Ian West is still on the Spirit. We have been on her twice and are back for the New Year and it would be great to hear him once more?

Also, is Angel still on board?

We have been on The NCL Spirit twice so far, once with the package and once without. The cost difference for us was almost zero and as such we have signed up for the UBP for our upcomming New Year cruise as I like to know what my holiday will actually cost and as I can fix the price would rather do that than have to "keep an eye" on the tab.

Maybe it is the Brit in me comming out, but I do like to know in advance what something will cost and therefore try to pay as much upfront as I can.

I completely agree with the comments on Whos Carter Hayes. They where great and we enjoyed listening to them on our recent Canary Island trip.

Having just returned from the Eclipse out of Southampton, I can vouch for the ease with which Celebrity handle turn around at embarkation is out standing.

The added benefit is the return journey means you get home at a sensible time of day.

As to the Eclipse, all I can say is wow. She was beautiful and the senior management onboard where attentive and always seemed to be out and about on the ship. My partner described the atmosphere on board as being a very happy ship as the staff and crew where happy in their roles.