BaWBarmy

More than enough as long as you disembark early. The transfer from the cruise terminal to the airport is around half an hour. We made our morning flight with plenty of time to spare even after a luggage mishap. That was from the Epic. We are also doing the Spirit 10 day Morocco and Canaries cruise but in late November. Our pro led is finding a flight that gets us into Barcelona in time.

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No mention of any promo code and I haven't seen amenities invoice for either cruise. We have got an extra $100 on board spend.

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How can I confirm that the bookings I made for this years cruises are Insider deals. I booked them from the Insider deal page whilst logged into myNCL but have no confirmation that they were booked as Insider deals. What with the new Latitudes rewards tier situation I want to make sure I'm getting all the points I think I'm entitled to.

Just read the FAQ's and you stay in whatever tier you were in before 3rd February. e.g. I have 28 points and was Silver, the new minimum for Silver is 30 pts but because I had over 20 pts before 3rd February I still remain Silver.

I too am Coke dependant but on previous cruises with NCL I found that I could just about put up with Pepsi. When ashore I would usually seek out the nearest establishment selling Coke and get my fix, on board I discovered I quite liked Mountain Dew and could cope with lemonade.

On our last cruise with NCL we had the UBP and I discovered that I really really liked cocktails. I had actually discovered I liked cocktails after a Martini tasting session on my very first cruise but now I could afford them. :D

We were on the Epic 25/9 to 02/10 and once we had asked, the Latitudes people were quick to hand out as many as we wanted. No mention of them being discontinued.

PS has anybody else got a spare Gem Pin. My daughter has just cruised her first cruise as a latitudes member and so has an Epic Pin but her first cruise was on the Gem, as such she didn't get a pin, but would love one. She's due on the Spirit next November although it seems Pins will have been discontinued by then.

A guaranteed cabin can be considerably cheaper but you run the risk of being put in a cabin that most people wouldn't choose, it could be noisy for instance, or right in one corner of the boat. We also noticed when booking our next cruise that guarantee cabins are usually not eligible for promotions such as the Free at Sea.

Just been on the same cruise as OP and I honestly can't understand all the negativity. The Epic is a great ship. The cabins are great and well looked after by attentive stewards. The service was excellent and sometimes went beyond that. The food was top notch except for one late night snack at O'Sheehans, so one poor meal out of about 150 (there were 7 of us).

My complaint isn't about the actual ship but more about NCL's insistence on trying to squeeze every penny out of you :mad:

Before anybody says yeah but, I have sailed with NCL before.

So Epic = great, NCL less so.

We sailed on the Braemar in 2014 and had the drinks package. Unless you are really hung up about which brands you drink, it is really good value. We are not heavy drinkers but easily got our moneys worth out of it. A drink with dinner, a drink at the show and a nightcap, or just an evening in the bar, can easily see a tenner gone at todays prices.

The bar staff are very attentive and will not let you sit without a drink for long and they are also very quick to learn your favourite tipple.

We are cruising with NCL in September and fortunately their £400+ drinks package is thrown in and that's just for 7 days. This really puts into perspective the value of Freds drinks package.

The bus stopped a couple of times but only for enough time to take a few photos. By St. Isaacs Cathedral, by the Church of the Spilled Blood, On the river with a view over to the Winter Palace (would rather have stopped at the Winter Palace) and next to The Aurora (the gunship that fired the first shot in the Russian revolution) We passed the Peter and Paul Forts but didn't have time to stop. Then there was the stop at the souvenir shop. You were allowed to wander at the stops but there really wasn't enough time to wander off.

My wife, in-laws and I were on the Baltic Festivals cruise on Braemar in June/July 2014. We only booked excursions in Stockholm and St. Petersburg.

Stockholm was the Panoramic City tour was good but was unfortunately interrupted by an impromptu toilet stop at the Vassa museum which robbed us of half an hour of our two and a half hour tour. Braemar was able to berth so close to the city that in the afternoon we just walked back and looked round ourselves.

In St. Petersburg you have to go on the excursions or stay on board. We took in the Panoramic City Tour (again) which was good and included a stop at a nice shop for souvenirs, coffee and vodka. In the evening my wife and mother-in-law went to the ballet. Neither of them have ever expressed a liking for ballet but they were in Russia and they loved it. The next day we split. The in-laws took a tour of the Gulf of Finland, this was a bus tour with very little walking, they thoroughly enjoyed it. I think we trumped them though as we went to the Hermitage which was brilliant (if you like art etc.)

No need to really book any excursions elsewhere as Braemar gets to berth very close to the centres of cities like Tallin and Copenhagen.

Hope that helps.

NCL's UBP needs to be totally unlimited at the price it is. It's my only real gripe with NCL. At between $54 and $60 per person per day that's about £250 sterling for a week. We sailed Fred. Olsen last year and their pack worked out about £140 for a two week cruise. :confused: