Bonobochick

I'd rather it be a Los Lobos

The strawberry margaritas I had at Q were good. Otherwise, I thought everything else I ordered was terrible.

I went to Moderno's on my Breakaway cruise a month ago on the second night. Moderno's has always been a fave of mine but it was SO disappointing this time around. The salad bar is still very good as is the grilled pineapple. All of the meat choices, which has really been whittled down the last couple of years regarding a strong variety for guests, were so absolutely flavorless. 😐 I actually spoke with the restaurant manager about it and he said there'd been a bunch of feedback that the meats were "too salty" or "too spicy" so the result of that feedback has been them basically grilling almost all that meat with no seasoning. There was one meat (I can't recall which at the moment) that was seasoned with lemon & supposedly rosemary and all I could kind of taste was lemon. Even the parmesan drummettes were flat. You can't cook meat without seasoning. My next cruise, if I go to Moderno at all, it'll just be for the salad bar, black bean stew, and pineapple until they start seasoning the meat before cooking it.

Has anyone done this excursion? 🤔 I don't see any reviews for it on NCL's website and a few other cruise lines that have similarly titled excursions, the reviews have been very mixed.

I haven't had any issues and I've sent them pretty much every type of garment to wash at some point except for knickers. I also write LOW HEAT on my laundry slips, so while I don't know if they do abide by that request, I've not gotten back any item feeling hot or having shrunk. 🤷‍♀️

Co-sign. I had one year where I went in early May, mid-June, and early September. Mid-June had the most inconsistent + rainy weather of the three cruises. I will say last week was the windiest I recall it ever being with any of my Bermuda trips. Friday was definitely the overall best weather day although I did get some beach time in on Thursday before the rain. That was an absolute mess. I was off the Getaway in January in like 15 minutes as I always do easy walk-off disembarkation. The Joy disembarkation, there were barely employees helping with the aft exit line (there was one employee, I think Megg, who I saw bouncing around but it was chaotic with no clear organization) nor once we were off the ship in the long line to get in to the terminal to go through customs. 😐

I was on this sailing too and i was VERY disappointed here. I don't eat in the buffet much but the Asian station is usually my go-to when I do. the options were extremely limited and unimpressive unlike in the past. I didn't board til around 3p yet I did notice more folks than usual with luggage around the ship even then. I was around for a few of the rooms on this deck are ready announcements. My initial keycard didn't work on my door so I was also delayed in getting new one. I enjoyed the cruise... more positives then negatives. I will say disembarkation was a mess, though. I did easy walk-off and it still an hour due to questionable logistics.

I got off the Joy yesterday. I had an inside cabin near the aft elevators (13641). I could hear the chimes. If you have a balcony cabin, you are a bit farther away and won't hear them.

Which displeases me as that was one of my go-to items along with the nachos. I have noticed that. I feel like with each cruise I've taken in the last year or so that there is less and less variety. 😣

Pretty similar. IIRC, O'Sheehans still has a few "Irish Classics" that I don't recall seeing on menus for The Local.

I haven't been back at Teppanyaki since they switched from filet (my go-to meat choice there) to sirloin. I've seen a few posts that folks haven't been able to notice a difference so that's promising. My fear is by the time I cruise again and go, the beef option with all the cost cuts will be chuck.

I was on the Jan 8th cruise and booked it maybe 8 days before departure and it was being marketed as a cruise to DR when I bought it until at least right before sail date (I was logging in to check if my guarantee room had been assigned then for edocs). I never did get an email with not only NCL updating with the news about dropping DR for another sea day but also the change in Antigua port hours that ended up putting the kibosh on my NCL prepaid excursion. I found out on here going through roll call the like a few days later after booking that some people got an alert about DR port day being canceled despite it still being marketed as a cruise to DR.

I still got this a few times on the Jan 8th cruise but it was definitely quick "how's everything?" with no lingering at all after answering. I am one that tends to eat later so usually the restaurant was emptier (lots of times I end up watching servers switch up the tables for breakfast service). I did notice things seemed to be more hectic in general in the restaurants and guest services. I mostly ate in Savor in the same area so the servers "got to know me" quickly so I feel like I didn't have as much of a waiting issue tho there were times, especially during lunch, where that water or iced tea refill took a very long time. Worse in O'Sheehan's IMO. I was also surprised by Moderno service being much slower in bringing out the meats plus fewer salad bar options since my Sept 2022 cruise. I have seen the posts about Shanghai being particularly busy the last couple of cruises but I skipped even trying this time (Shanghai is only ok to me). I went on my Sept 2022 cruise and it wasn't that crowded but that was a quieter cruise is general. I never got the numbers for the Jan 8th cruise but I would guess it was maybe 85% capacity. It certainly felt it despite my ease of getting off the ship once we got back to NYC. My biggest complaint truly were the bad logistics exacerbated by delays for the first several ports. I was fine about missing DR cause we got a longer stay in St. Thomas, which was nice. TLDR: there's definitely a decline in service which has been made worse by the full ships.

I attended dinner with the officers on a September 2022 cruise. My first since I hit sapphire. Now granted our officers were one of the stage managers & an assistant art gallery manager but my table had a good time as the two ladies were very fun to chat with. It was 10 total at my table in the Tropicana. I skipped attending the dinner on my cruise last month cause they scheduled it for 6pm while we were in St Kitts and I knew I wasn't going to be back in time to the ship since all aboard was 6:30p after a 12p pm arrival (with delayed port clearance). I would definitely do it again if the scheduling doesn't conflict with afternoon / evening port. Now the wine tasting I've missed twice but I've read mixed reviews on that event.

I noticed that too on the Jan 8th cruise that the mega-sale is now $15. I wasn't planning to buy anything either way but it raised my eyebrows a bit. As you've posted, there are definitely little changes... with many not necessarily for the better... and if you're a frequent cruiser, they're noticeable. Not enough for me to say "never again" to NCL but with the increase in daily charges, has me side-eyeing a bit a few times. Didn't get the unwrapped butter, though. And you got tea options in the buffet unlike on my cruise. 😊