vacation44

4 hours ago, kates6044 said:

Does anyone know if you have Priority Access do we pay the fee? I thought it was part of the upgrade. 

Yes, it is still included (breakfast only) as a benefit to purchasing Priority Access.

Wishing you a very happy birthday and a continued wonderful cruise with your dad.

I still think you should definitely write a book detailing all of your adventures with your dad.   

32 minutes ago, PartyPlannerLady said:

 Yje ship is not going to leave without you and all you will be doing is sitting around for cabisn t be ready.

No, we will be in relaxing in the Vibe with a nice drink.  

Everyone has their own way of doing embarkation day.   Ours works for us.   

15 minutes ago, JGmf said:

@PartyPlannerLady  The question is about Manhattan Cruise Terminal (MCT).

 

For some, there's a need to get limited dates/times booked in-person for dining and/or to acquire limited slots in, say, the Vibe.  Hence, the desire to get on as early as possible.

 

Me? I like getting on the ship early, even if we are waiting on a cabin, b/c I'm maximizing my vacation experience, and yeah, my drink package too. 

 

 

 

I know you know one of the reasons I am posting this question!    

Regardless of our mission for the Vibe cabana, we still are planning on getting to the terminal as our usual early time.   We, too, like to board as early as possible to take care of all the things that need to be taken care of (fixing dining reservations, reserving the latitudes tour and wine event), have our lunch in the Local, which will be empty at an earlier time, then spend the whole afternoon relaxing in the Vibe.

Yes, it is included.

The last time we left out of the MCT (late summer 2022), I remember that the terminal was not acknowledging non-Haven suites as having priority boarding.    Specifically, the Joy non-Haven suites.     There were two separate priority areas, one for Haven and one for Platinum and above which also included those that purchased the priority boarding access (or whatever it is called).   

Is this set up still the same or has it changed?   Also, what is the current boarding order?     In Miami this past February, purchased priority access boarded before Platinum which I thought was wrong.

17 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

Review of my Getaway sailing from 4/19 - 4/29 (finally, after a busy week back at work)

Those that have been crushing NCL, I question your sanity as we had a great trip! Not perfect, but great nonetheless.

 

Embarkation was super easy and quick. We decided to drive in later than usual and park at the pier ($290 total for 10 days!).

We parked at 1pm and were onboard by 1:30pm. We did our muster in 30 seconds and went straight to Vibe and stayed until sailaway.

 

Food, for us, was pretty much the same as it's been since we started back up with NCL in 2018.

Anywhere from mediocre to very good! And most things were good or above.

There may have been less choices in the mdr's, but there's still so much to choose from on a daily basis that it didn't matter to us.

Went to Cagney's on the first and sixth nights and we enjoyed our meals. My lamb chops on the first night were excellent!

We pretty much stayed away from the buffet, especially after the rumors of what was onboard. From the sources I was able to cultivate, I'm sticking with that it was flu like symptoms.

We ate at American Diner, which had a pretty good burger. O'Sheehans was pretty good for a fast breakfast and good late night snacks. We watched a Knick game there one night and had so much fun with some other passengers.

And the mdr's were solid for us but super slow as usual.

And we did do room service once, which was ok. I did prove the theory that the title of this thread mentions and that made me and my daughter pretty, pretty, pretty happy! Lol!!

 

Crew/service was outstanding!

Our cabin steward, Joanne, was terrific! She never seemed overworked or tired and ALWAYS had a smile even though she was tested with an issue we had. My adult daughter slept on the sofa bed in our balcony cabin and it was awful. It's just a thin mat on a piece of wood. For the first 2 days we asked for a topper and extra blankets and nothing really made a difference. Joanne finally came in on the 2nd day with like 5 extra blankets and 5 extra pillows and built something on that sofa that finally improved things for my daughter. She went above and beyond and we thoroughly enjoyed our experience with her. The bartenders, waiters, general crew were all friendly and seemed to do their jobs well. Everyone said hello when we passed and the vibe of the ship was good. The blackjack dealers were friendly too, but they were on my you know what list by the time I was finished! Lol!! A special shout out goes to Mark at the Sunset Bar, which was my go to bar every night before dinner and when we were waiting for the line to form for Syd Norman's. He made a great G & T and took really good care of my girls!

 

Entertainment was very good!

We had 2 comedians. One was good and the other was very good. We did only see the adult shows.

Didn't love the Howl at the Moon people. They were good, but didn't hook us.

We loved Million Dollar Quartet! Very interesting show with a ridiculously talented cast!! Jerry Lee Lewis was outstanding and the Johnny Cash guy was spooky good too! I also loved the guy playing the stand up bass. Again, super talented.

Many from the cast also did Broadway Unplugged in the Illusionarium, which was also sooooo good! Reimagined Broadway tunes done by some talented people. We had front row seats to both shows and that only enhanced our experience.

Syd Normans was everything that it was hyped to be. Very talented band playing some great music in a small venue.

I didn't love having to line up early for all these shows, but we sucked it up and enjoyed them.

The one gaffe we had here was the night of the Rumours show. We were 2nd in line and waited and waited and waited until the show was cancelled right before showtime due to an illness (flu like symptoms). The line behind us was none too happy and they were never able to redo the show, so I was bummed about that. They did do an acoustic show on the last night that was fun, so we saw them a total of 3 times.

We only went to one of the outdoor parties in Spice. We went to the 70's party and it was fun but we were so tired by the time these things started, that we ended up going to bed early. Lol!

 

In Tortola we did Escape to Jost Van Dyke and it was enjoyable like the last time we did it. It's such nice ride back and forth and the beach is beautiful! We had the later time, so it was a little crowded when we got there but a few painkillers did the trick!

In Puerta Plata we stayed at the port. Taino Bay is so nice! We hung out at the loud pool as my wife was missing the action at the ship pool due to us lounging in Vibe every day. We found a great day bed with a canopy, got served some fine cocktails and spent a lot of time in the pool. A really enjoyable day!

 

Vibe Beach Club. I will never sail NCL again without a Vibe pass!

It was everything that I thought it would be and totally made our trip!

Victor was our main bartender, with Jodie being the guy who ran around taking ridiculous care of us.

A couple of things to know though. It gets windy up there which can lead to no umbrellas which can lead to no shade anywhere but at the bar. It can get windy enough to be closed entirely, which it was one day (I think day 9). This actually led to another gaffe. Vibe was closed, so we went to Spice which was perfectly nice and they even came around with fruit skewers like in Vibe. The problem was that we found out the next day that Vibe had reopened that previous day in the afternoon, but we didn't know it. We thought there should have been some kind of notification, but it wasn't a big deal.

Again, Vibe is awesome! Comfortable loungers and day beds, fruit multiple times a day, cold wet towels when hot, fantastic and friendly service and no crowds/kids. Was always able to hop in a hot tub too. It was just so nice to turn to my wife and daughter and discuss where to go for lunch and then go together without the guilt of being one of those chair hogs by the pool or in Spice. It made the trip that much more relaxing!

 

Military Appreciation. I think NCL does a good job with this. The 10% discount is nice, of course, but the recognition onboard was nice too. I know some on here have commented on how there experience was, so I'll quickly mention mine.

The package they give you in the cabin is ok and I did, for the first time, go to the reception. It was not well attended, but there was probably 30 vets there. Officers were lined up when we entered Headliners, and they had a ton of crew serving drinks and apps. The Jerry Lee Lewis guy from MDQ came and sang the national anthem and then there was a group picture taken and individual pictures with your family. The whole thing lasted less than 30 minutes, but was a nice touch. I think we received those pics the same night too.

 

I know a lot was written about debarkation, but for us it was easy.

The problem for others is twofold. With a late arrival time of 10am, a lot of people had some travel issues and a lot of people just don't follow instructions. We always do self assist and that's the first group to debark. We ate breakfast in the mdr and then sent our daughter to get on line. My wife and I went and gathered our bags and joined our daughter and did the long wait. It wasn't enjoyable and some people were downright nasty, but when they started letting people off, we were in our car in 15 minutes and home within 90 minutes.

 

It was a great trip!! 10 days is the longest we've ever done, but we had great weather and the 3 of us barely fought at all!!! Lol!

 

AMA!!!

 

Thank you for reporting back and I am so happy the three of you had a wonderful time.

Welcome to the will-not-cruise-without-a-vibe pass club!   

We will definitely be ordering the seven-layer cake one night from room service as the young adults in our party are going to Food Republic the night my husband and I are taking my sister and her husband to Cagney's for dinner, and they will miss out on the cake.  

My husband and I did love the NCL excursion to Jost Van Dyke in February.   So much so, we tried to book a room at the Soggy Dollar for next year but the rooms are sold out for when we wanted to go.    I am waiting for that excursion to open up for our February 2025 Viva cruise so I can book it.

For me, the MDQ is my favorite NCL show. 

Did you book another cruise while on board?

1 hour ago, Acruzaholic said:

We have always been able to secure VIBE passes, not very easy prior to now being able to buy bypassing the running on board early to secure them-On our first NCL cruise we secured VIBE passes by luck-First time was the charm. My wife will now not sail on NCL without VIBE passes-NO VIBE-then cancel the cruise

We feel the same way and our success rate at obtaining the passes was 100% before the pre-sale days.    I was so happy then the presale started as it was such a stressful process.  In addition, after you received your numbered card, you had to wait in a long line just to actually get the pass.    

18 hours ago, JGmf said:

Hope to see both @UKstages and @vacation44 in the Vibe in about a month on 6/2!  (Not sure how we'd know who is who, but that's fine too).

17 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

 

Hope you all get a chance to meet up.

We will definitely be easy to spot as there will be 11 of us (four older folks and our young adult children with their significant others in their 20's!   We all will have our color-coded Yeti's with us (mine is pink).   

16 hours ago, detroitlions said:

in march we had Vibe passes on the Joy and I notice some of the cabanas said reserved not all of them. The ones that did not some folks just used them.

Thank you for posting this information.

On 5/6/2024 at 8:17 PM, UKstages said:

 

i don't know if the cabanas are sold out for 6/2, but if they have any, my best guess is that they will indeed be available on embarkation day. they most likely will not be at guest services, but at a table set up outside of teppanyaki. that's where vibe passes were sold on embarkation day back in october.

 

i'll see you there! 

 

j

 

Thank you for this bit of information.   We will definitely head there first upon boarding.

On 5/6/2024 at 5:19 PM, JGmf said:

 

@vacation44 you may recall that over on our June 2 roll call thread I was talking about my friends who couldn't score regular Vibe passes b/c they were sold out....well about a month ago they called the regular NCL customer service and were able to get into the Vibe via the cabana route.  So, I'm not clear what's going on.  Maybe the cabanas are sold out for our sailing?

Yes, I remember!    While I am very happy your friends decided to join you after all and were able to get into the Vibe, it is a little frustrating for me.  My PCC is adamant that the cabanas are not showing up on the upcoming June cruises.  He said it is not a matter of being sold out since there is no current way to reserve one.    I will continue to follow up but thank you for your bit of information.

Regardless, we know we will have a wonderful time with or without the cabana as we always have been in the Vibe without a cabana except this past February when we reserved one for the first time.    

On 5/6/2024 at 9:51 PM, Devo12 said:

Hi. We will be a group of 13 sailing on the joy over Christmas. For the complimentary dining, do we need to make reservations to sit together or can we just show up? I would think we would eat around 6:30-7. Or will they seat us at 2 tables?

 

thanks. Devo 

You should reserve your dinner reservations through group dining.    We have taken a few extended family cruises and have always made the reservations through group dining.   

Just now, cruiseny4life said:

Well that's just silly!! Here's hoping you actually get access to Vibe Cabanas shortly!

Thank you!   Will still be following up on it daily.   I just hope it is not going to be like the old days of having to run to guest services to get the Vibe passes!  

14 minutes ago, JamesIowa said:

Call when? Daily? This is something they said would be offered months ago, yet released no information. Many of us have been checking multiple times per day for months. We have been calling our PCCs frequently and being told no one knows. 
Thanks for weighing in tho.

 

never attribute to animosity that which can adequately be explained by stupidity.
 

1 hour ago, JamesIowa said:

@vacation44 good news! I called my PCC and she said she was able to add a cabana to my res on joy in Nov. Interesting though it’s listed on confirmation as $699 but on last 15 day cruise it was $749. 

Thanks again for the heads up and I am happy that you were able to reserve the cabana for your cruise.

As mentioned right above, they did not release any for my June 2024 cruise or any other June cruise.    Hopefully, my PCC will come up with a solution or advise me what to do upon boarding.   

16 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

I'm hoping by calling, it'll work for you! I do see online that Joy Vibe Cabana's should be bookable now at a cost of $599 (7 days) which is for guests one and two. If you have more (I think you're traveling with more family) in the stateroom, you'll need to also purchase a Vibe pass for them. 

 

Good luck! I hope it works for you as I know Vibe makes your vacation complete!

 

EDIT: Vibe is bookable for sailings through 12/31/2025 which I think will work for you. But, in case you're trying to score 2026 Vibe Cabana, patience!

No dice for me yet.  My PCC told me that they opened up the Vibe cabanas for dates in the future, but not for the ones in the coming weeks and we are on the June 2nd sailing.     He reassured me, once again, that he does check daily.   He is going to speak with his Supervisor for advice.   

And yes, this trip we are traveling with our young adult children, their significant others and extended family.   We all have had our Vibe passes since July 2022!

Thank you for touching base with me the information you were able to obtain and yes, we will not cruise on a larger ship without the Vibe passes!

30 minutes ago, zqvol said:

I don’t understand why people don’t just call when they can’t figure out how ( or if it’s impossible) to do something online, instead of complaining. 

I have been calling continuously and emailing my PCC.  Do you actually think going to CC would be my first line of trying to find out.    But thanks anyway for your snarky comment.

Thank you!   I will follow up now also.

22 minutes ago, JamesIowa said:

It’s frustrating to say the least; one should not have to dedicate the time and stress to get this sorted. Seems pretty easy, you have a thing that I want. I want to give you money for this. Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
 Just be consistent is all we are asking. There is no other ship with vibe cabanas that operate this way. Clearly there are people who are willing to pay extra, then extra again, for their own designated sanctuary.

<hyperbole> Is it the biggest deal in the history of the world? Yes. </hyperbole>

is this a big deal for my cruise? Also yes.

Thank you for understanding and I agree 100%.   

As I mentioned earlier, this past February we had one and it was the first time we reserved one instead of the regular Vibe passes.   We enjoyed it and used it more than we thought we would.   

11 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Never seen those Vibe Cabanas for "rent".  I think it's first come, first served.

 

And, you'll stick out like a sore thumb if you try to "CHOG" them.  Be easy to remove someone's "stuff" if it sits there for 30 minutes or so.

The Vibe Cabanas are now reserved beforehand like the Vibe passes.   We had one this past February on the Encore which we reserved when they started preselling the Vibe passes in July 2022.   We also have one reserved for our February 2025 cruise on the Viva.   Before the presell days, you also raced on board to reserve one for the duration of your cruise

The Joy procedure is different right now because they are new to the Joy Vibe. 

And I did not say I was going to CHOG them, I said I wanted to reserve them as the procedure on all of the other ships.

13 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Are you sure they're for rent and not a first come first served type of thing? The ones in the Haven are not reservable. If it's open, use it. When you're done, move your stuff so someone else can use it.

Yes, the ones in the Haven are first come, first serve, but it would surprise me that they would not want to be charging the additional amount for the cabanas as they do on the other ships.

Seems like a lost opportunity for more revenue and we all know how they are looking for ways to get that extra money!

Does anyone have any update on the vibe cabanas on the Joy?    I still cannot find a solid answer on the procedure of securing them and they still cannot be reserved beforehand as on the other ships.   

@Radio  Thank you, again, for posting the dailies.  

I noticed that the shows Elements and the Aerialists (Mr. and Mrs. Fefelov) have not shown up in the dailies yet.   Do you know if Elements is still happening this week?

17 hours ago, SeekingKillerWhales! said:

I'll take Wedge Salad, Cheeseburger, and Creme Caramel? For $500 Alex. 

 

Well, darn. Someone forget to refresh for new posts, and now can't delete. 😄 Sorry! But at least I was right!

13 hours ago, shadowmeboy said:

That is the correct answer! 
 

Had to inject a bit of humor into the review!

I had the dessert wrong with my guess.

1 hour ago, dmwnc1959 said:

Sounds really amazing, and your pictures are fantastic! The one for Hubbard Glacier is running $350 even with the discount, and appears to be run by the same company. Definitely going to have to do some thinking on that one, but on the B2B I hit Hubbard Glacier twice. 

Agree with @PATRLR, for us, it was worth it.   

When I first booked this excursion, I did not tell my husband as I knew he would say that I was crazy.   I finally told him the day before when he was in vacation mode.    He agreed, it was worth it.   The day we went, it was too icy (or foggy, I do not remember) for the Jewel to get anywhere near the glacier and we were able to get up close.     Those behind on the Jewel did not get to see it.