salty dingo

1 hour ago, USA41018 said:

Called NCL and was able to upgrade from Sailaway Balcony to Guaranteed Balcony for $280 total each and received the 4 FAS offers.  Free drinks, 3 specialty meals, $50 per cabin on shore excursions and free wifi.

Great! So now you know exactly what "free" costs: $280 + gratuities on the drinks + gratuities on the dining. Times two.

Happy Sailing!

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

You need to check carefully. The Free at Sea promotions are typically not offered to Guarantee cabins. 

When we sailed on Escape a few weeks ago, we were in a guarantee balcony and got all four free at sea perks.

The difference for us in the non-free-at-sea rate was $200 per person less. So it makes sense if the OP can upgrade for $280 pp... in fact that is a bit high compared to the rate we got.

Raising prices is true of any business that wants to stay in business. It is also good for competitors who can come in and take a companies customers if they can deliver the same product at a lower price.

This is a perfect example of why I cannot be loyal to any one line. Carnival and NCL have had most of my business but I am always open for a change and have no loyalty.

The package price is a gimmick to charge the highest possible gratuity for it. You pay for the rest of the price in the form of a higher base fare that is charged to get the perk.

I think the actual price you pay is higher on Carnival, but it includes bottles water, energy drinks, and specialty coffee. Since those drinks are not too important to me, I find NCL is the better value.

8 minutes ago, xcell said:

 

Plus they typically overbook flights.

Good point. Nobody gets bumped from a cruise.

At breakfast we were served a plate with those little thimbles of cream along with coffee. So yes, they have plenty.

On Escape the MDR food was hit or miss. One very memorable meal in the Manhattan room, with great view live music and good food. Another meal in the same restaurant with no music, no view, and a shank my dog would not eat. It was so bad we just up and left after the main course.

I think everyone is sympathetic for the OP's medical condition, and we can relate to the disappointment of planning a cruise for two years and not being able to go at the last minute due to something outside of our control.

It is great, and a bit surprising, that the airline made an exception to the rules but I do understand why the cruise line does not. How long does a flight last? Not long. How long was this cruise? Three weeks. No comparison - it is senseless to say "the airline helped me so the cruise line should too."

On Escape, it is a nice deck area with a bar, water grotto, and bathrooms. There unfortunately is a smoking area near the bar but when the ship is moving the smoke dissipates pretty fast. Not pretty to look at, tho.

When we were there, the loungers were packed next to each other, they were touching. No little tables to set drinks on. Trying to get maximum people accommodated. Par for the course on a huge ship, but we made the best of it.

7 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Private sundeck. So you get a lounge chair in the sun. You need to be one of the first people to board the ship because there are only a couple of hundred tickets for the 4500 passengers on the ship. Total waste of money. 

I agree from what I have heard... never been to Vibe. Here are some observations I did see a couple weeks ago.

We got to Manhattan cruise terminal at 9:45 am and were in boarding group 14. We got in the Vibe line by mistake when trying to change restaurant reservations, and passes were still for sale. Maybe there was not too much demand because the weather was lousy.

There were some padded lounge chairs right outside the Vibe door and we parked there on the last sea day. Weather was nice. There was a bar right there which seemed to be an extension of the Vibe bar. When the door opened we could peer in and did not see many people, but the people there seemed to be close to the staff... hugging them, etc.

I am glad we did not spend the money because on this cruise anyway there were plenty of available places to sit and the bars were not crowded.

Imagine if the man had a heart attack and was hospitalized in Mazatlan, and the ship left without him. Upon discharge he would be in the same situation regarding how he got into Mexico and how he would need to leave.

The Mexican authorities, not the cruise line, will have the answers here. I would not expect the cruise line to facilitate this for the OP - I think he needs to take full responsibility.

At each port there is an agent whose job it is to know the local laws and to handle port matters for NCL. It should be easy to find out the agent info. It is printed in the freestyle daily. Contact the agent and work with them.

Inside rooms are noticeably smaller than balconies, so with 4 in a room, I would get the balcony if you can.

Sure, bring snacks if you want.

1 hour ago, erdoran said:

The captain is the judge and jury on the ship and has absolute power to kick you off the ship for anything or nothing....

True, but you have to do a lot more than give someone a drink. Heck they don't kick people off for smuggling booze, why would they do that for sharing?

Now if there are special circumstances you could get in trouble. For example, a passenger has a drinking problem and the staff cuts him off and you give him another drink, that could be serious.

On Carnival this would not even be a topic for debate. They price their package fairly (unlike NCL where price is a gimmick) and they require every adult in the room to get the package if any does.

I would never recommend you buy a package on your own. It is highly overpriced. Much better to just pay as you go.

If they use their card to bring two drinks back to the room and you steal one while they are not looking... 

On 11/2/2019 at 10:21 PM, waterjock said:

Here is a tip I have been on  the escape 5 times you can get off faster by getting on line at the aft of the ship exit line at the NYC pier. It is a shorter walk to the escalators down to customs.

I noticed that but it was too late - I was already on the pier.

I would not do the math at $15 per drink, unless you are always ordering stuff that costs more than $15. The fact is, many of the cocktails you will get are $11 or $12, and if you like beer occasionally, as I do, it's a lot less per drink. A glass of cheap wine may be valued at $9 or so.

I would probably rate the per-drink value at $11 average and not $15.

Still with a break even of just three drinks per day, it's not even worth doing the math 😉

50 minutes ago, UFMOM said:

 

The up charge may change. On the live review by Dougout on the Encore there are upcharges for the Tiger shrimp cocktail, the crab cake, the surf and turf and the cold water lobster in Ocean Blue. And the amounts are not insignificant. The menu is virtually the same as Bayamo.

 

Mary Ann

Bayamo seemed to be a hot ticket on Escape. We had it booked for late on the departure evening but were able to change it to earlier on the next night, once we boarded. Still, there did not seem to be too many open slots and the hostess was encouraging us to go sooner because the seafood would be more "fresh" but it's likely all been frozen in my opinion.

I would not appreciate an upcharge for the surf and turf. The filet was average in flavor and the lobster tail, while good, was not anything huge that would seem to warrant an upcharge. Maybe the upcharge will serve to limit the crowds, because if most everyone has the dining package now, they won't be able to accommodate everyone who wants to use the package there.

It's been a long time but when we went to Pearl Harbor we had a long wait. Best to research that and make sure you get there early to be among the first tickets.

As for the luggage, why not rent a car when you check out of the hotel? You can store your bags in the car and save a taxi ride to Pearl Harbor. Cars are cheap to rent in Hawaii.

1 minute ago, DZcreature said:

 

 

I need ice in my room too. Occasionally, I actually grab a soda from the minibar, and like to have it out on the balcony. I like my soda in a real glass with ice. We also use the ice in our mimosas that we make with our free champagne. With the drink package, I especially need ice water when I wake up at 3 am! 😉

I can totally relate to the waking up with cotton mouth at 3 am. I would always just go to the bathroom and drink some of the excellent tap water. Cold water can give me a brain freeze.

In the past when we had ice, it was appreciated because I usually needed some to fix a drink with my rumrunner of vodka and crystal light. Now I just go to the bar 🙂 ... the ice never seemed to be enough or last very long, and I could never bring myself to drink water from an ice bucket, even though I would take ice from there. Just a quirk I guess.

We were on Escape cruise before last and went to Bayamo. Both of us got the surf and turf. We ate the lobster tails and maybe half of the filet. It was a lot of food.

We ordered the desserts to go since we were totally full, The chocolate mousse and apple tart were plated and wrapped to go. We ate it the next day at Spice H2O as a mid morning snack.

No upcharge, and we thought the food was fine. From the picture I took, looks like we ordered brussel sprouts, asparagus and hollandaise, risotto and scalloped potatoes. All those sides plus a lot of wine make it hard to finish the entree!

I just look at the price of the "free" perks as added to the cost of the cruise fare, which I am paying up front. You may very well get a lower fare (our 7-day cruise was $200 pp less without the perks) if you do not want or need the perks, and you save the extra perk expenses as well.

But if you like the open bar and specialty dining, then it's quite possibly a good deal, only you can make that call. It's a lot more expensive to get "free" stuff, that is for sure, but we thought it was a decent value.

I personally did not mind the lack of ice bucket or bar soap. The liquid soap is just fine, and who needs ice anymore with a drink package? I totally understand how eliminating ice will reduce the steward's workload. We got twice daily service in a timely manner. No complaints.

4 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

When we were on the POA with 2 overnights, we received only $50 once when we were in Maui and Kauai. So regardless of the number of days, it's $50 per port total. 

 

So essentially, the port excursion credit is a joke on a Bermuda cruise when there are other options with a better value.

A long with Bermuda, Hawaii is certainly a place you can see on your own with no need for a cruise excursion. We rented a car in every port on our POA cruise and had the most amazing week.

You can't rent a regular car in Bermuda but you can rent a bike or scooter. They also rent little clown car 2 seat electric vehicles only wide enough for one person (passenger sits in back) but signs we saw stated these had to be reserved a week in advance.

6 hours ago, Caroldoll said:

It is my understanding that you can not carry it on either.

We carried refillable water bottles ashore and they were half full when we returned and nothing was said at the x ray. Probably with so many people with open bar promo, it is not so much of a concern.