Kierste

Well we are on the Spirit in July. If your cruise is in May, I would be worried you didn’t try and book close to 90 days... I never had problems getting early dining times before, but I booked right at 90 days.

We aren’t quite at 90 days for our cruise, but I am able to book already for some reason. I learned in the past that NCL is bad with odd numbers, so I always book 4 for our group of 3, never had an issue. My question is, will more times likely come open? Or would I have better luck calling? Right now I have no issues with most of my bookings, but Le Bistro only has 8:30 pm and later for any size party I plug in, for all 11 nights... we eat early so DD can go hang out with her new found friends...

Yes. We received the promotion flyer on night 4 of the 10 night cruise. The laundry bag was collected the following morning, by noon at latest.

Thank you! We have a 21 day trip including some land vacation time, trying to plan the minimum we need to pack!

Do you remember which day was the laundry special?

Yay! Thank you for all the work!

Am not sure if this has been answered but sorry if it has -

Do they do decaf Coke / Pepsi. Have to stick to decaf due to medical reasons.

It isn't a big issue but am just curious

Thanks

No decaf soda available... only the ones that are regularly caffeine free... sprite or orange or whatever they are called when they are Pepsi products.

We did spring break on the Escape last year and spring break on the Pearl before that and had no issues... pickup at the end of the night had the longest waits. But not over 15 or 20 minutes. We had a couple thousand kids on the Escape, only about 400 on the Pearl.

Thank you! I was hoping they’d have more organized activities for teens as he’s not super outgoing. I know my daughter will have fun in the kids club.

 

When we were last on MCL they were 5 and 2 and both refused to go to the kids club at all...I got paged to collect them very quickly. I’m envisioning this time will be easier but still I want them to keep busy

Make sure they both go the first night, that is when they do all the ice breakers and form their cliques... my Dd is shy but has a great time in the kids programs on NCL

We had a kiddo in the teen club on the Escape, and before that she did splash academy on the Pearl. Your kids will actually be in two different groups. The younger will be in dolphins which has more organized activities (think scavenger hunts, boys vs girls games themed to survivor or amazing race)... my daughter loved dolphins. Entourage for the teens is a little less organized, they still do activities but the teens often treat it as a meeting place and then go off to do their own things... get ice cream, go to the pool, mini golf etc.

We got my Dd the iconcierge app so she could text us and tell us when she was changing venues or was coming back the the room. We also set a curfew each night and had certain rules like not going in anyone’s cabin. It worked great.

We tip them too... I gave $10 to each of the folks that ran the dolphins group on the last night on the Pearl... the way they acted you would think I gave them $100... it was really sweet and they were very thankful.

Cleanliness should be everyone’s #1. I like a good balcony, so I don’t have to fight the chair hogs for space.

Not quite similar. Champagne Charlie's was more subdued than the Brew Pub. There is not a true match to the Brew pub on Escape on the Spirit, but with the right crowd and entertainer you might be surprised!

Thanks... heck we may be subdued with all the port days!

Just over 4 months until we are on the Spirit! We have done the Pearl and the Escape, loved both for different reasons. One thing we loved on the Escape was the District brew pub, we would hang out at night and listen to the piano guy, and sing along with Sweet Caroline and the like... sounds like we need to head to Champagne Charlie’s for a similar experience?

We also bring empty water containers and fill at the tap. We have also bought the small package of bottled waters to have a few convenient to-go bottles. What you may not be aware of is the small print of most packaged bottled water mentions that it is from a municipal water source. Look at what you buy at home, if it says municipal water source you are drinking tap water.

Sounds like a neat idea, but we wonder if the various restaurants will be able to accommodate you? The staff could be hesitant to sit you at a table with other people because you might arrive late and leave early and disrupt the meal for those at the table. How long you would wait to get a two-top for one when you probably can't specify an arrival time may be iffy too. Nothing ventured, nothing gained though. Worth a shot.

Ncl is like a land based restaurant, you only eat with your party. So the above does not apply.

We will be on the Spirit on July 8, and are bringing our teen. She loved entourage on her previous cruises. Make sure your teens go the 1st night for ice breakers and meeting everyone! The bulk of the US is on break too... so their should be a good mix of teens from a variety of countries!

Curious about the 6 am debark... we have that on our docs for Rome on the Spirit this summer... gosh that is early! Does anyone know how long you can stay on the ship? What about breakfast? We have always had like 9 am debarkment and wandered off around 10 or 10:30.

We have used iconcierge before for texting each other but I think you had to be connected to the ships WiFi for that too... so if she has iconcierge on her iPod as well as I pay for the minutes, that sounds like it will complicate things even more. I may just have to do the unlimited, and then I know we can all use her device if we need too. Thanks everyone!

Well we have 1.5 weeks prior to the cruise and then an 11 day cruise, which only has 2 sea days... I am thinking about the unlimited.... thanks!

My daughter uses her iPod to text her friends, on our last cruise I promised I would pay for whatever I needed to so she could text on our next cruise (we will be gone three weeks... too long for a 13 year old without friend contact!)... she has to connect to WiFi, it’s just an iPod... and will find WiFi in port etc I am sure. But if I got her the 100 minutes package would that work for texting? How does it work, would she have to disconnect from WiFi whenever she wasn’t using her iPod so it didn’t eat the minutes? Or is it only really for surfing and emails and would allow her text whenever and she wouldn’t have to take it off WiFi?

If you google gambee and entourage, you should be able to find his website with all the splash academy and entourage dailies from the Escape. The ships all use basically the same rotation of activities, the only big difference would be if the cruise you are on is longer than a week. Anyhow, there can be more than one dance party night... if you include one just for entourage and one for the glow party.

I think if you go to their profile under their name and befriend them then you can PM?

Anyone know if Costco has joined the bidding program? Our last cruise they weren’t participating, wondering if that has changed.

Thanks for the update! We sail this summer, but do have a balcony room. I figure any cruise is better than staying home!

First of all we loved the Pearl!! Entourage (and all kids clubs) have activities planned throughout the day and evening. Entourage is a little looser in that a lot of the teens just use the space to meet up before heading off to do something else (arcade, bowling, buffet etc)... but there are planned activities too. The Nintendo in the teen club is free. My Dd is anti-arcade so I can’t answer you, but I believe you use your room key and charge for the games.

Since the kids can check themselves in and out, we loaded iconcierge and paid for the texting bit on Dd’s iPod, and she had to text us when she was changing venues or coming back to the room. We also set a curfew for her and gave her plenty of time (15 minutes is good) to come back to the room or check in after activities she joined in.

Have him go the first night as that is when they do a variety of ice breakers and the kids form their groups (this goes for all ages!)

Malts... I think osheehans is where you can get a milkshake... but we never ordered one as far as I can remember.