jason3695

These great pictures really gives you a sense of how immense these drives are since a worker kindly stood by as they were taken. Almost unbelievable in size!

It's a floating city for sure! Like you said, the man next to the azipods is tiny...and look at the man in the genie lift! The ship is enormous!

I know the title says "Getaway", Meyer Werft needs to get better proofreading protocol.

http://www.meyerwerft.de/en/meyerwerft_de/medien/presseticker/pressemitteilung_detail_20617.jsp

There were 4 new interior pics from the August 4 NCL partners first webinar of 678 ocean place, mondavi wine bar, brew house and the Haven outdoor eating area. I have low res images. I'm waiting for the originals to be emailed so I can post them. Or do you guys just want to see them either way?

Let's see em! The float out is coming soon.,..there was a press release today from Meyer Werft.

:D:D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

....sorry! just got a kick out of this post!! All really good points, btw. Watching a movie under the stars with popcorn and a fizzy drink sounds heavenly, no matter where it is on the ship. I am sooo looking forward to the cruise. Double digit anniversary coming up very soon. :)

I'm counting down the days too....

We are "not big drinkers" either, so when booking our cruise, I originally chose the UDP. Then I did the math and switched to the free UBP and bought the UDP. The UBP free is a much, much better deal, even if you are only a moderate drinker. I think a lot of people are going to choose it. Even if NCL does not reduce bar staff or bar hours, there will be more people buying drinks, so longer wait times.

 

 

 

I'm not a fan of the drinks at all-inclusive resorts. They tend to be watered down and not premium brands. Maybe this is ok for people who like quantity over quality, but I will take one top shelf martini over gallons of watered-down sugary punch, which is what you get at a lot of those resorts.

 

 

 

And the drunks tend to choose the all-inclusive resorts, so you are not necessarily hanging out with the best people.

 

 

 

Didn't Carnival used to be all-inclusive years ago? Isn't this how they got their reputation as a party line?

 

 

 

If NCL goes all-inclusive, that would be a reason for me NOT to sail with them, especially if I travel with my kids.

The pressure to go all inclusive isn't just from the bottom of the barrel but the top as well. The luxury lines have always been all inclusive. But now, the upper premium are moving this direction as well. I just sailed the celebrity reflection in the med and nearly everyone on the ship had the beverage package from their 123Go! promotion. When everyone, including the premium lines, has promotions like this; it's only a matter of time before all the mass market lines do as well.

With the change of CEO I have noticed a lot of changes that are turning me off on NCL. We took a couple pre Sheehan and didn't like the product. Boy did he turn it around, now I find myself rethinking their strategy and I'm not very interested anymore. Going back to play with the other cruise lines again.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think you may be right. I'm feeling it too. Going to sale escape though and see if you and my gut are correct.

I am thinking you may be right on the all inclusive drink topic. I think NCL putting one ship with all inclusive drink package is a way to look at the costs. There are cruise lines that offer more inclusive packages so perhaps this is something NCL may consider for certain itineraries.

I feel the entire industry is headed in this direction. I'm sure some disagree, but in the next 10 years or so I bet you will see.

There is no more nickel and diming on NCL than there is on CCL and any other mass market line. It is entirely possible to spend not one penny after you board the ship and you will have a great time. The free options are more than adequate if that is the way you want to go. (I would urge you however to leave the service charges that go to the crew alone.)

I agree. I think the concept of freestyle just makes people think they are getting up sold all the time. I actually experienced more upselling on one of my carnival cruises than any of my ncl cruises.

This is the coolest change I have ever heard of. If I was on this sailing, I would've been doing backflips. This is just like a slot machine jackpot. Congrats to all of you.

More and more cruise lines are pressured by the rest to have all inclusive drink packages, not to mention the competition with the Caribbean all inclusive resorts. I suspect this is the new norm for all cruises in the near to distant future.

I so disagree with this advice. Why limit yourself to one cruise line? Variety is the spice of life. How do you know what you like or don't like unless you try it? Cruise line is never the most important factor for me when choosing a cruise. It all depends on what we are looking to get out of our vacation so the factors we are looking for vary. Usually most important to us is it has to fit our time off with time for travel. After that it could be itinerary, embarkation port, price, or sometimes it is the ship itself.

 

 

 

DCL is by far my favorite so far....having said that we haven't sailed them since 2004 because I'm not willing to pay the price to sail them unless I have kids at the age to get the most out of it. After that NCL and CCL run neck and neck for us. I usually give NCL a slight edge for the entertainment but DH likes CCL a little more. We both agree that Princess was the cruise line we least preferred. We didn't have a bad cruise but we did feel the demographics were too old for us (seemed to be mostly FL retirement village groups and snow birds and this was during Spring Break time), the service wasn't up to our other cruises, and the nightly entertainment (after the shows) became repetitive and boring. We will probably sail them again, but probably not for a while.

 

 

 

I would love to try other lines but they have never fit our wants for a given vacation. I just don't understand the cruise line loyalty mentality. To me it is just limiting your choices needlessly.

Im with you. I'm hardly loyal at all. Sailing princess for the first time next year and msc the year after that. I'm not loyal to any business, I'm loyal to vacations that I want to take.

Guy Harvey checks out his art on the Escape!

http://cruiseradio.net/norwegian-escape-hull-art-comes-alive/

We rely on you to report back if NCL doesn't open an O2 on the first sailings! :D

You got it....I will photo document for sure.

Hm, so one third of extra sq ft for the step up to Family Oceanview. Roughly.

 

 

 

This is Escape deck plan with all her O2's in one view, notice the white gaps next to the O2's/...700 series staterooms;

 

 

 

 

 

 

My best guess is that, in line with the not-yet-telling-where-the-balconies-beds-bump-in-out-will-be, NCL thought it would be better to show those O2's a bit smaller to avoid angry forward facing Haven suite guests about their sq. ft. :D

I'm so glad I booked this room. I hope your right about the extra size! I'm in 10700.

Sweetpee, if the balcony isn't a must have you might consider a O1 or O2 Family Oceanview stateroom.

 

 

The one pictures is a O1 cat. and is a regular port or starboard oceanview. The O2 cat. is different and forward facing IIRC.

This is the room I'm in and I'm super stoked about it because it's forward facing. My wife is also happy about the bathtub as we have an infant. It's a very well thought out option for families. No balcony, but more space and the bath.

I agree with xcell. Actually, I'm doing the same. I've always wished to sail Oasis or Allure. And I wanted to sail Escape too so I decided to take the best of both worlds and wait for Harmony. I figured might as well wait and do the worlds biggest ship just a little over a year from now. So tell your son to be patient and practice delaying gratification. Then he can go back to his bragging friends and say that's great you sailed oasis, I sailed her new larger and more advanced sister who happens to also be 2000 gross tons larger and 6 years newer!! And I sailed the Escape!

Another question I have.. if NCL needs to make money off the liquor, WHY continue offering free liquor packages at booking??

I agree with your point, but they probably are doing it because everyone is. Celebrity has the 123GO, Princess is offering free drink packages for certain sailings....it's becoming the new perk the lines almost have to give away. Good for us as guests I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of Facebook. It looks like most of the hull paint has been completed!

Thanks so much! Keep up the updates please.

Where do you find these on Facebook?

I just had a look at the NCL Dailies from a recent Med cruise and it mentioned a shuttle service.

 

 

 

"Shuttle Bus Information: A complimentary shuttle service will run throughout the day. The shuttle will run approximately every 30 minutes from the ship to the town area. The last shuttle back from Mykonos to the ship is at 2:00pm" The all aboard for this particular cruise was listed for 2:30pm.

 

 

 

Hopefully this service is still complimentary for our cruise, otherwise I think we will look into using the water bus.

I was just there last week too and the shuttle service was there. The lines don't advertise it so you'll hopefully buy a tour. Mykonos definitely does not require a tour unless you want to go to one of the beaches not in the town. And the water bus is 2 euros if you chose not to take the shuttle.

No rips, no tears, no shorts. Otherwise, jeans are fine no matter what the colour.

Thanks so much! First time on Celebrity so I appreciate it...

Black jeans and long-sleeved shirts are perfectly fine. Short sleeve shirts are OK too.

What about jeans that are conservative but are denim colored?

Sorry to deviate slightly from the main topic, but those of you who are familiar with the 123Go may be able to help me understand. On the Celebrity website (which may be the main issue given it's issues) I don't see how to find a quote with the 123Go promotion. Do I enter a code? How can I tell if the sailing I am pricing is included in the promotion? Many thanks for anyone who can help me figure this out. P.S. If not obvious, I am new to Celebrity, so please be patient :)

I'm having trouble getting it to work too....the last time it just automatically worked. I saw that there are Promo Codes to be typed in but they just don't seem to work?? If you figure this out, let me know!

Hi Jason

 

Usually it is the first and last sea days .

 

In our case the 2nd night (june 9th ) and the penultimate night ( June 17th)

cheers [emoji41]

I should've just asked you in our thread. Haha!

On an 11 night cruise, when are the formal nights generally?

Just off Summit Sunday and it was. We had the version where Concierge or higher gets all 3 perks (doesn't seem to be offered online) plus extra OBC for booking onboard. I think it was an extra $150 for 7 day cruises. Oh, and I think the 123 OBC was more than online? We wound up with $450 OBC, drinks, and prepaid tips.

Awesome! Thanks for the info...I'm excited to spend some money onboard!!