bluelagoon543

First time sailing with NCL that week with Julie as the CD and I was surprised she was even one - too rehearsed and a bit dull personality wise. Assistant cruise director was much more entertaining and engaging with guests.

That is the first time I've seen a report of going to Nassau right away if GSC gets missed. I wonder why that was - open spot at Nassau or something else?

There was only 2 other ships in port, and we were the 2nd to arrive along with the other NCL ship that skipped GSC. They left early the next day.

Casino was open in Nassau which I was surprised at, first time on a cruise in Nassau where that happened. Shops were closed though.

We were on this sailing as well, casino was open on that day we were supposed to be at GSC, it also remained opened the next day in Nassau which I found interesting. My dad enjoyed that and entered a few poker and blackjack tournaments and won.

This was our first NCL experience, and there are certain pros to it (food was better than previous cruises), I think overall I preferred sailing on RCL Harmony, Oasis and Allure in terms of megaships.

The escape felt extremely crowded at times. Especially the pool deck areas. If they somehow could squeeze one more pool in there (perhaps on sundeck), it would be a bit better I think. Adults general pool was super super crowded on the nice sea day we had. The shopping deck was also very very crowded at night, and as pp mentioned the elevator situation was rough. We landed up taking the stairs alot with our toddler to avoid waiting meltdowns, which was tricky. Not so great for my dad who has mobility issues, once took 45min to get on a elevator. Not sure how they could fix that, maybe even one or two elevators somewhere midship might help as pp mentioned.

Customer service standpoint, there were some really nice staff on board, and then there was some that were nearing the end of their contract and were pretty grumpy. One bartender at the deck 17 bar had some chip on his shoulder, arguing with people on whether they asked for soda or sprite in their vodka soda for a few min. Buddy, let it go. lol. The female cruise director was pleasant, but a little dull personality wise, she seemed too rehearsed like a television anchor. The male assistant cruise director had much more natural energy, initially I thought he was the CD.

First time considering purchasing internet, if we purchase unlimited internet does only one person in the state room need to purchase it and is it good on multiple devices?

Hi there,

New to NCL, just wondering if we were to rent the clamshell umbrella chairs while at the beach in GSC if we could charge that to our room or do they require cash on the spot?

Just wondering how much to bring ashore or not?

Thanks so much, I found the details on the website!

I should have looked a bit harder!

Hi everyone,

First time cruising on NCL in January on a big family cruise on the Escape to who knows where right now, booked a Eastern Caribbean but we don't get where we port.

Just a quick question, I booked my parents the specialty dining promo as part of the pick 2 free promotion. Just wondering how many nights this promo is usually for? I was considering buying the same package for DH and myself. It wasn't detailed in the booking, or if it was I missed it. I can't look into their reservation right now as it was booked separately.

Thanks!

Happy Cruising to you all!

Hey all,

Pardon my novice question here, this will be our first cruise with a baby on a big family reunion cruise so not really sure the guidelines. LO will be 7 months on our Eastern Carribean sailing with NCL (we don't get if it gets re-routed), so she meets the min age requirements. But when they say no infants under 12 months for 3 or more days at sea, they mean sea days (travel to port) days right?

Just doubting myself a little and the call centre is backed up with Irma callers.

Hi all,

Experienced cruiser, but first time going with a baby, so pardon my question because the language on the NCL website seems a tad bit confusing.

We're booked on a 7 day Eastern Carribean sailing in January on NCL (we're fine with it being re-routed), there are no more than 2 consecutive sea days on the cruise. Will my then 7 month old be allowed? When they say no infants on cruises longer than 3 days at sea, they mean travel days right?

I am doubting myself and the call centre is backed up with Irma callers.

Absolutely get the package. It is so worth it.

3 drinks can put you over if you add on tip. I honestly lost count most days how many I had, but with that hot sun by the pool the drinks go down rather easy. I know DH had a whopping 20 drink day on one sea day...needless to say the next day was slow moving ;).

I think people forget that the ship is constructed and designed by various companies and contractors. We've all had contractors in home improvements whom have not delivered on their promises (actually isn't it a regular occurrence in home reno's haha).

Its better to have something done correctly than to rush it out just for the sake of it being finished.

While its certainly unfortunate Harmony didn't sail her first sailing 100% finished - it definitely isn't surprising.

I'm sure RCL is working through the complaints and compensating accordingly.

thanks for the pictures. she looks like a beauty of a ship. A lot of improvements compared to her older sisters.

I like the new deck chairs for one...

Have an amazing time! We got off the allure a couple weeks ago before the itineraries changed. San Juan should be a lot of fun to stop at! I'll miss St.Thomas though.

In my opinion, the drink package is absolutely worth it.

You might not think so when you see the initial cost. However, the pay per drink method will add up and over the cost per day. Most drinks on the ship are 10-13 (mostly 13). If you want an idea of some of the costs, in one of my recent cruise vlogs I posted the drink menu from the Champagne bar on the allure in Day 6 video (

I also think the package is worth it because you get to try drinks you normally wouldn't drink at home, and if you don't like it...no big deal, no money wasted just get something else and you don't have to worry about the cost.

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay in posting Day 6.

It was my mother in law's wedding this past weekend, and we were out of town for most of the week last week helping her out so I wasn't able to get Day 6 edited and uploaded as fast as I wanted.

Just posted it though, its our day in Cozumel, we didn't do any excursions as we were trying to play it safe with Zika as we want to start our family soon. We did go off the boat though to a fun little spot, Pepe's on the pier. They have reasonable priced beer, and they give you a wifi code with any purchase.

Back onboard, we spent sometime at the champagne bar and I captured the detailed menu for those interested:

Link to Day 6 video:

We lost some of our footage on the top deck in the evening after Quest, it was so windy and loud you couldn't hear much at the 1990s party.

Stay tuned for day 7.

We got off the Allure last week in no word of lie from leaving stateroom to sitting in a cab....3 minutes. 3 MINS!

8:20-8:23.

Global entry is amazing and worth every penny (we also took our own bags off which is key).

Hi everyone,

Just uploaded day 5 which was our 2nd Sea day. We tried the main dining room for breakfast for the 1st time ever, and we had a terrible experience. Breakfast took 1.5hrs in total from start to finish, we had terrible service, but thankfully we had no activities planned that morning. I wouldn’t recommend the main dining room for breakfast. Aside from one of the few places where you can find Eggs Benedict daily, there isn’t anything special about it.

As I commented in the video, the handbag sale onboard isn’t really a deal. The handbags offered are ones you can find at the outlet malls which are a cheaper quality and at the same price. I wouldn’t recommend it, not worth the chaos on the promenade.

Day 5 video:

and of course you can find Days 1-4 on our youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAkEh6zmcpjnVrCU4HBM0gQ

Thanks for following, stay tuned for Day 6 (Cozumel) and 7 (at Sea)!

Subscribed.

 

Loving the videos thus far. (even watched the pre-cruise one)

 

Feedback:

 

Don't fast motion through the walking parts. (screw the short attention span people! :D)

 

Longer = better (Day 2 a little short)

 

Otherwise, good stuff.

 

I have an ongoing thread about cruise vlogs that you can see here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2346557

Thanks for your comments, and feedback. I prefer to keep videos under 10 minutes, otherwise its a lot of fluff. After all who really wants to see endless shots of ocean water, drinking, and hanging by the pool all the time lol.

Day 3 and 4 of the cruise are going to be combined and should be around 7-8min. The Labadee humidity kept fogging up the camera and made a lot of the footage useless. On Day 4 there was far too much wind in Falmouth and made a lot of the footage walking around the port area garbage as the wind killed the audio and made the joby tripod wobbly. And by windy I mean we could barely stand up straight, so you can imagine how a 3 pound camera on a handheld tripod or holding it by hand worked. haha

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the videos so far! :)

I just watched your first video and was curious what cabin you had on deck 7. Our family will be in 7534 and 7536 on Allure in two week.

 

Thanks for posting the videos!

 

James

We had cabin 7136, it was at the front of the ship right before the life boats start so we had a unobstructed view down.Our location was great, it was fairly close to the elevators without being a high traffic area. While it was a connecting stateroom we never heard our neighbours. We only heard noise in the morning from the hallway when room service came with people's breakfasts or the stewards were out cleaning rooms early.

Just uploaded day 2 which was a Sea Day, we didn't do much this day just enjoyed the pool deck and participated in the first day of bingo and checked out some stuff on the promenade.

Link to Day 2:

Link to Day 1:

Tomorrow's video is going to feature Labadee, we spent the day at the Columbus Cove beach which I highly recommend! A lot of people warned how beaches were very rocky in Labadee, but Columbus cove is clear and lovely! It was much quieter than the other beaches, it is a walk to get to though and the heat was incredible that day.

The market with the locals was quite an experience. We found just walking in the middle and talking to one another made them bother us less. They are certainly aggressive, but not as aggressive as the locals outside the gates in Falmouth, that was a interesting experience in itself - we had one particular man follow us around and hassle us our entire time as we roamed the streets. More on that in day 4's video I believe.

Be sure to subscribe to the channel to get notified of when we post next - Day 3's video may be either really early or really late tomorrow. I have a 18hr work shift tomorrow...ahh back to reality :(.

Is it better to order your drink package before you board ?

If you wait till you board , where do you purchase it ?

Did you opt for the ultimate drinks package ?

We purchased the drink package when we purchased the cruise online. They had just started the new 20% off promotion for our sailing at that time.

We both opted for the premium package (as with our last cruise), and it was perfect. The ultimate doesn't really offer that much more with the exception of freshly squeezed juice and espresso drinks, but you can easily do without those for the added expense.

Just about to start editing day 2 video, will have it up on the channel in the morning or midday tomorrow...! :)

Hi everyone!

We just got off the much covered Allure Western Caribbean sailing May 15th-22nd. Shoutout to the other ladies covering the cruise too!

My DH and myself did a vlog for our youtube channel of the entire trip and I just posted the first video day 1 onboard. It’s definitely going to be the longest video of the trip as we did a little walkthrough of the ship for those who have never been on her.

I will be posting days 2-7 in the following days, we have a lot of footage and photos to go through which I will try to post on this thread. We also have family visitors over to our home so my editing time is cut short a bit each day, but I will post at least a new video each day of the cruise.

We had a really good experience aboard Allure with some minor hiccups. Our room was very hot throughout the cruise and we weren’t alone as we talked to some other guests who experienced the same thing. For day 3 our section of the ship was without water plumbing/flushing for a few hours, but that was resolved easily.

Dining room was a bit of a disappointment. We were confirmed for a table for 2 (we emailed weeks prior and got a confirmed response) but were sat a table for 6. They tried to move us to 830 but we declined. On the day of our anniversary they switched us to a table for 2 but it was right across from our old table which made the situation a bit uncomfortable but we made the most of it.

For those wondering about the drink package rumour that they were limiting drinks, I can assure you that they certainly were not. DH had 21 drinks in 1 day (…yes 21!!) and he was fine…it was very humid on one sea day, which probably helped.

Any questions? I will be glad to answer them!

Link to Day 1 video, stay tuned to day 2-7 in the coming days:

Subscribe to our channel to get notified of when we post next!

It sounds like there is much more to this story than is stated.

If they limited everyone to 6 drinks, just think of the uproar it would cause on a sailing and the backlash the company would receive.

Sounds like someone was repeatedly over served and their behaviour was noted in their file...?

Awesome!

We're on the same sailing and daily vloggers.

We will be vlogging the whole trip, but I won't be posting the videos till after we return. DH is strictly against purchasing internet packages, we like to feel disconnected.

Were excited, we're leaving for Florida Friday morning a little early for some a bonus sunshine. We're staying on the beach though, not at the port hotels. We did last cruise and didn't find the cab too bad in the morning.

Hope you enjoy the cruise!

Welcome!

I am about to go on my 2nd cruise ever, and I learned a few things from the first one.

The first one being, you honestly don't need that much clothes. I over packed. Most days were spent in a swimsuit and cover up during the day and a simple evening attire at night. You don't need that many daytime outfits. Also don't bring a lot of shoes, stick to comfy ones instead. You do more walking than you expect.

As mentioned before, pack a little pharmacy bag with essentials (tylenol, aleve, gravol, tums, sleep aids, etc). These things are ridiculously expensive on the ship. Also don't forget to pack some sunscreen and aloe, those are also way overpriced but essential to a healthy and happy vacation.

Have fun, be yourself, and take it all in. It's a great vacation experience!