Vyhanek

I think Coronavirus is on the ships.     I think its inevitable with so much of the crew being asian.    

Im just off the Pearl, cruising in the Caribbean.    There was a lot of coughing......a lot.   Is it Corona?    I don't know but there was something that swept the ship.   I wouldn't be surprised if in the next week or two its revealed that there is an issue.      Its going to be an issue with all ships who employ people from Asia.  

These employees worked the holiday busy season on the ships and then the ship lets a lot of them go on their yearly break in January because its less busy.    Now that it's late February they are returning back to the ships from their vacations back home.    I really wouldn't be surprised.

I just got off the Pearl.   I originally booked a balcony.    Tried to bid for an upgrade to the lowest few levels of Haven suites.   I bid $520 but it was declined.   Im Platinum Plus.

It does make you wonder how the groups can host these college Spring Break deals then for the under 21 crowd.   They are making no effort to book an over 21 year old in a cabin with and under 21 year old.

^^^^As far as infantization, I get it.   Just got back from the Pearl and it was a crazy Spring Break fest.   Almost out of control with very inappopriate things going on the pool deck in the afternoon.   I was shocked the Cruise Directors staff was encouraging it and a part of it.   Parents wouldn't want their children to be watching that.     Envision.......Several 225lb large women hanging out of bikini's twerking in the face of a happy Cruise Directors Staff.      The next day reversed.   Very large (as in not sexy at all) twerking in the face of women Cruise Director Staff.    At the end of one, the staff member brings out this white "fluid" and squirts it on the chest (think gross suggestiveness) of an elderly man from the audience.      It was like being at an exotic dance club and only the largest, least beautiful were running up to join the contests.    

On a lesser note, there was a lot of very, very drunk people on this cruise all week.  Its not a place for children any longer or young adults not legal to drink.    NCL is not the cruise line that I earned Platinum Plus status on.   Its changed a lot.   Sadly.   

You learn from it.

I will never book a cruise now more than 2 weeks out.    

I just got back from the Pearl, booked it 10 days earlier.   I got a great deal.     If you book early you have to expect price drops which are out of your control.    If you book late, you know you're getting the best possible deal.    THat's how it works.   Learn from it.

I agree with the shows in Howl at the Moon and every other evening entertainment in that venue!     The main theater productions are very, very weak for NCL.   I think we walked out of most of them.    But the entertainers in the venue with Howl at the Moon were great!     We loved the hypnotist, the magician, the dueling pianos, basically everything you get tickets for once you get on the ship.   The theater productions are crap compared to the old Jean Ann Ryan professional productions.

I also liked the Cirque show in the dinner theater if they still have that.   Its under rated.   I think we booked this the first evening of the cruise and got a discount because it was the first evening.   

We loved Food Republic, its casual and al a carte but really creative food.   

Totally agree with the comments that this is very suspicious.    First NCL ships have medical doctors and I find it hard to believe if a child needs urgent medical attention, a doctor wouldn't get that child into a Mexican hospital as needed.    People get air lifted off flights all the time, I find it hard to believe an urgent situation wouldn't be accommodated for a child.    

Or maybe just being overly cautious and making appearances to take every precaution due to that ship quarantined with the Coronavirus.    

You know...."We're ahead of this virus, look how sanitary we are, don't worry people".

So many on here comparing the Encore to the Escape.   Its pretty clear from that article that NCL is targeting first time cruisers and newby cruisers.    Not experienced cruisers and the return customer crowd like most of us!    It makes sense now.    

NCL really doesn't want us and they are making it more and more difficult for the returning cruiser, those of us that return 15-20 times to keep with NCL.    The OP's survey, I'm not contesting at all but it's clear that what returning customers want isn't what the first time cruiser wants.    I can't imagine the family that has been on 5-10 cruises even would say they care a lot about the water slides and ropes courses.   My kids knew better on about cruise 3 or 4 not to give a crap about the mediocre water slides, even kids aren't fooled after experiencing a lot of the gimmicks.  

I liked the Escape, I like the outdoor bar/deck level but it is very small for the number of passengers.    My main complaint about the Escape is the lack of outdoor space.   Pool deck space, outdoor public decks and indoor venues with views.    Even with the one deck of open restaurants and bars (sorry can't remember the name of that deck) but even with that, for the number of passengers on the Escape, the amount of outdoor space is very minimal.   A returning cruiser sees that right away!

This is why, after many, many NCL cruises Ive gone back to the smaller ships where there is respect for outdoor space and respect for indoor venues with views.   The Jade, the Gem, the Pearl all are so much more attractive to me than the bigger ships that have prioritized gimmicks and cabins for public outdoor and indoor spaces.      I understand to a new NCL cruiser what they *think* they want, looking at a brochure or watching a commercial on tv.......race tracks,  ropes courses, mediocre water slides, that is appealing to the customer who's never cruised.    Once you've cruise a time or two, you realize how quickly these things get tired.   You take your kids down the mediocre water slide twice and they're all done with that.    You do the ropes course once and that's all anyone wants of that crap.    

NCL is clearly telling us they don't want return cruisers.   They're giving us statistics and surveys and justifying their marketing and focus.   It's not us!    So where do we go?   Where do the experienced cruisers go that caters to great outdoor spaces, great indoor venues with views, great entertainment, good food and a vacation casual feel?    NCL is telling us its not them.   Who wants the return cruisers money?

Why wouldn't it be NCL's fault though.  Why wouldn't NCL be negligent in catching this before the customer got to port?

If you check in online and if you enter your passport information online ahead like we all do, why wouldn't their computer systems be all over this a week before customers even check in?!     Why is NCL collecting passport info if they don't have the ability to flag issues?

I get it, the passport rules aren't NCL's rules.   NCL is only following the law but NCL has online check in and NCL collects passport information with the expiration dates.   At that point, if NCL is asking for the information, I feel NCL is also obligated to inform this customer at that point......weeks before travel that their passports won't work!    I do see NCL as having a lot of responsibility here.

It's not NCL's rules, I get it.   But if NCL is collecting passport information for the pre boarding process days and weeks and months in advance, they need to have a flag in the system for verifying that these passports will work.

A passport that says it expires in April of 2020 but really expires for travel in January of 2020 is ambiguous and confusing and deliberately troublesome.    For that reason alone, NCL's pre check in system should be able to flag these customers with days and weeks in advance so they can get to a passport office and get things fixed.    

NCL does have obligation to their customers before they arrive at port because they collect the passport information.

11 minutes ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Tonic and Ginger Ale are products of Canada Dry and may or may not be canned/bottled under license by Pepsi.

 

As for DIET Tonic - I thought Tonic was a neutral beverage with no significant amount of anything

that could be construed to be DIET - now add the Gin or other alcohol and well there goes the diet ! 

Absolutely not.     Tonic has lots of calories.    If someone is watching their sugar or is diabetic or is watching calories, regular tonic would be an issue.    The only diet soda on the ships is Diet Pepsi.   

If you want to sail right thru embarkation,  in general, wait until a few hours after embarkation.    Its usually smooth sailing with no lines if you are willing to wait until early/mid afternoon.    

When you get on board, first thing, make (or change) your dinner reservations and book your shows, many shows onboard you can only book once you are onboard like the dueling pianos, comedians, hypnotist, etc.   These days, those are the best shows anyways.    The NCL productions aren't anything like they used to be when production was done under the Jean Ann Ryan Company.   

NCL is very inflexible with this.

Carnival and Royal are much more flexible in my experience in asking to move a child to a different age group to be with cousins, etc..   Not NCL.  

In all fairness to NCL though, the 13 year old will be in with the older kids, 13-15 I think and they will be allowed to wander all over the ship during kids club.   Its more of a free for all with very little supervision in the teen club.    Most parents of 12 year olds won't want that in a "kids club".   

I would just sit tight with the online check in.   It will be a hassle because NCL's website is so antiquated and difficult.   

14 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

Fyi for future reference there is travel insurance that covers work as a reason you can't go. 

 

I would call the charter and ask - they might have different rules than NCL for switching a passenger. I don't think doing online checkin would matter though. 

Oh Wow!   Good to know.   I had no idea and could have used that a couple years ago when I was in a similar situation.   Would you happen to know the name of the insurance company?

In addition to the great Epic Spa, the Haven on the Epic is also the best in the flleet.   It is much nicer and bigger than all other NCL ship's Haven's.   There is room for everyone, even on the sundeck......no chair hogging necessary in the Epic Haven.   

On 12/30/2019 at 6:43 AM, Topdog52 said:

Going to New England and Canada in May on the Pearl. Any guesses on how crowded the Pearl will be at that time of the year. I am hoping May will b off season and the ship will be a little less crowded. 

It won't be very crowded at all.   It is an off time to go and it will still be very cool in May.   May is early spring in Northern New England.   

Haven:   Epic has by far the best Haven.    

                Escape Haven is a distant second

Non Haven:   Gem

                        Pearl

                        Escape

                        Sun

                         Norway

                         Breakaway

                         Epic

                         Dream

Im back to small ships.     I've sailed most of the NCL fleet.   5 years ago I was attracted to the large ships....more to do.....I thought.    I had younger teens, I thought they'd do more.   Turns out we really didn't do it all.   Turns out after 3 or 4 runs down the water slides we'd all grown tired of them.   Turns out kids didn't love the ropes course, didn't miniature golf, etc.   Turns out we really don't take advantage of all the extras of the big ships.

Then I got to thinking about the amount of people packed on the bigger ships.    The deck space is so jammed tight on the bigger ships.   I enjoy daytime outside on the deck with some space and no so many people.   You don't get that on the big ships.   Not by the pool definitely but also not on any of the upper decks either.   Its so packed lounger to lounger to lounger there isn't a spare square inch!     You definitely get more space  on the decks on the smaller ships.    I also feel like the interior of the smaller ships were made more for lounging, socializing, enjoying.   The smaller ships have windows out in the public areas.    The larger ships have so completely maximized the interior and exterior for more cabins....packing more people onboard.    Whats lacking on the big ships is space, interior public spaces and deck space.   My family has all learned that this is what we care about.

This ^^^

The Pre-Concierge is useless.   They have no better access than what you can get online.....which is very, very little.   

Once your son gets onboard he will be introduced to the Concierge immediately.   At that point, they will ask for dining requests.   Its a very normal, every single cruise routine that Haven guests enjoy.    Don't worry about it.

My other Haven tip is to dine outside of the Haven the first evening.   The Haven restaurant will be really crowded with all the Haven guests wanting to eat there that night.    If you wait until night 2, those people will have moved on to different restaurants on the ship and your son will have great service in the Haven restaurant because they won't be that busy.    He should also avoid the last evening dining in the Haven.     Same theory applies.   Everyone else has dined the other restaurants around the ship all week.   Then comes the last night and they all realize the Haven has the best food and service on the ship and they want to eat in the Haven on the last night.   Its also very crowded.

I've done a NYE cruise on NCL.   It was mostly families.    Families who wanted to stay home over Christmas but then wanted to leave to cruise for the rest of school vacation. I would say 80% were families.    

Then put on your winter coat and hat because the next 1.5 days will be freezing.   Same for the return 1.5 days of really cold weather even thru mid April..

I've sailed out of NYC and defiantly don't recommend it.    It might save you money in flights to Miami but you will have to embrace a freezing cold cruise.   

I was on the Gem a few months ago to Bermuda and I was pleasantly surprised at the food quality.   There were only a couple things I didn't care for.     I've been around NCL for a long time seeing the food quality swing dramatically.   I have to say the Gem is at its peak.  

Is Vibe adults only.......Age 18 and over or is it  age 21 and over?   

The issue is not in cleaning the ship, the ship gets cleaned daily, door knobs get cleaned daily, toilets cleaned.

The issue is for the norovirus to make it's way thru the crew onboard.   The crew who cook the food, handle the plates, wrap the silverware, swipe your card.    The crew live and eat and work in even tighter quarters than the passengers.   It will spread thru the crew quickly.   

Even if you book the Haven, which opens up the dining reservations many days earlier than the regular cruiser, still Ive never been able to get my ideal dinner times online.    Even using the Haven Concierge that calls you a few weeks before the cruise.   Even that concierge only has availability for what's online.   It's useless actually.

But I have found if you book dining as soon as you get onboard, you will get your preferred time.   They hold the majority of the reservations for onboard booking.