Bonobochick

It was a ghost town whenever I went by it on my recent 13 day cruise other than in the morning where some would eat from the complimentary breakfast buffet.

Thanks for the advice. I think I've got it mostly figured out now. Definitely want to go to JVD in Tortola. While I'd like to see the Baths, I don't want the crowds and just really need to relax. Pretty sure we'll go to the Hilton in Nassau, as Atlantis just doesn't interest me. And probably Magens Bay in St. Thomas. Sounds perfectly relaxing to me. :)

I'm not sure how crowded the baths are as I've yet to make it to Virgin Gorda whenever the cruise I'm on docks in Tortola but I went Jost Van Dyke 2 weeks ago and it was pretty crowded. I had a blast regardless... I just wanted to say that it also definitely isn't crowd-free.

3. If you are in a balcony or oceanview cabin, you get a small coffee maker.

Norwegian supplies terrible tasting coffee packets with them and do, bring your own bag of coffee and small coffee filters. You will probably make better tasting coffee than is served at the Buffet or MDR restaurants.

I had an Oceanview half of my Gem cruise in August 2016 and there was no coffeemaker in the cabin. I was then switched to a Balcony cabin and there was a coffeemaker.

I've been on 5 different NCL ships in a variety of cabins and I've only ever had a coffeemaker when in a balcony. Inside or Oceanview, I had to trek to the buffet to get a cup. Studios have an espresso machine in the Studio lounge.

I felt fine upon disembarkation and still do but I could hear one of my neighbors constantly hacking-coughing through our shared wall the last few days of the cruise, so I am not surprised by the OP's post.

I've been on the Breakaway 6 times. In fact, I just got off of a 13 day cruise just this past Sunday. I have mostly positive experiences with the ship. There are only a few cons for me:

1) The stateroom door slamming. The walls on this ship seem thinner to me (vs Gem and Epic) and it seems like the doors are heavy and slam hard.

2) I'll be glad when they switch out "Rock of Ages" for another Broadway show.

I haven't been able to pull up "vacation summary" tab in 2 weeks. I just get the 500 Internal Error message.

When I called NCL to talk to a web tech about the error message, it was a less than satisfying overall experience. And it's still not fixed and he didn't seem to care to fix it.

The CD is Alvin Oliva. A great CD too. Would be interested also in hearing who the rest of the staff is. I believe the Bar Manager will be Dindo Ramos.

 

 

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Thanks.

I had Alvin on the Gem in August (if it's the same Alvin). I wasn't wow'd by his activities for passengers. Hoping if he's CD on the upcoming Breakaway cruise that I walk away with a better impression.

Hi,

Does anyone have the crew info for the Jan 2nd Breakaway (mostly interested the cruise director, but I'll take any info).

Thanks! :)

The tender will take a lot longer than 5 minutes. And the lines will be long. And you will need to reserve an early time for tendering (don't delay when they make tender ticket available).

 

BTW: When we went to the stingrays off the Epic, there were about 25 of us on a 150 person boat. I think that it was probably an anomaly, but was very comfortable.

From the time I got in line - Cayman tender group B but got on after D was called cause we got cleared quickly and I wasn't ready - It took about 20 minutes from lining up, getting on the tender and getting to shore. Return, which I got on about 5:45p, was about the same. :)

Your description of your Cayman tender reminds me a lot of the GSC tender, which took me almost 90 minutes from leaving my cabin, waiting in the Epic theatre, getting on the tender, and then getting off at the island. :mad: The 50 minutes standing in line to get on a tender to return to the ship at 3pm wasn't much better.

My Cayman tender was quick and a piece of cake but obviously mileage varies. :cool:

You should be fine with Cayman Islands tender. It's relative quick plus a short ride.

It's the Great Stirrup Cay tender you should worry about...

If the "guide" is simply the driver, with little interaction, then we don't tip at all....if the "guide" is personable, and adds to the enjoyment of the excursion, then around $5-10 is ample....

It really depends on YOUR experience! We've also been on tours where the guide is CONSTANTLY reminding you that they do accept tips...and I find that off-putting...they usually get less if they do that!

My excursions 2 weeks ago in Cozumel (Isla Pasion) and Jamaica (Shaw Beach Escape), I dealt with the constant mentions of tips. I'll usually give something at the end of a tour but it became off-putting/frustrating to feel like I was supposed to make in rain in everyone's tip jar with those two tours. :(

Glad to hear things are improving. We were on the 11/12 sailing and it was a nightmare both getting on and off.

 

Platinum line? What Platinum line? We waited for hours and were told to "get in line" and there wasn't a platinum line. :( We didn't even get ON the ship until AFTER she was supposed to set sail. :p But we were patient. I was on vacation and we were going on a cruise. Life is good.

Oh, that sucks :( There's usually a separate line for Platinum & Gold latitudes for embarkation and another separate check-in for Haven. It did help speed up my check-in for the 11/19 cruise being able to jump in the platinum line after the loooooooooooong security line.

Not sure what date you where on the Epic but our Pricilla Show at 10Pm was not full at all.

Sea ya

Eric

 

 

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Yep. It can show as sold out but I went to Priscilla at 10p and a later show of "Burn The Floor." (I was on the 11/19 sailing) Both showed as sold out but the theatre was maybe 2/3rds full for both at the start of each show (1/2 full by the end). I was able to walk in to "Burn The Floor" 15 minutes before start time with ease. If you don't have a reservation, just go 15 minutes before the start time to the box office and they'll let you in.

When I disembarked on 11/26, I saw an Avis shuttle and the National/Alamo/Enterprise shuttle drop off and pick people up at Terminal 10.

You just need to let the agent at the car rental place know which terminal you're going to and they'll drop you off appropriately. (I took the shuttle from the terminal, and it was fine other than there being no permanent slot for the shuttles to pull in to).

I really like the Escargots at Le Bistro.

And the chocolate fondue dessert.

Hi all,

 

just got a reply from Don who is currently on board the EPIC sailing Eastern Caribbean:

 

Captain: Frank Juliussen

Hotel Director: Richard Janicki

Assistant Hotel Director: Mustafa Gulbahar

Staff Captain: Zeljko Jurac

Food & Beverage Director:Yannis Kazalis

Cruise Director: Pedro Serra (will leave on Saturday)

Guest Service Manager: Aminta Gomez

Restaurant Manager: Gary Dean

Beverage Manager: Zdravko Kojakovic

Group Service Coordinator: Ana Roque

Executive Chef: Kevin Green

Casino Mgr: Carmen Paraschivoiu

Cruise Next Mgr: Will Fishburn

Internet Mgr: Deiverson Ramos

Cruise director on the 11/19 sailing was Scott. I don't recall his last name, just that he was from USA. He was pretty outgoing and the GLOW party was a lot of fun.

It was ONE cruise that had an issue. :cool:

Nah. I was on the 11/19 cruise and it was messy to get on. The line was at least 60 minutes from outside to actually reaching the counter (and that was me luckily being able to get in the Platinum level line or it would've been much longer). I usually travel out of NYC and once left out of Miami & have never waited more than 20 minutes to check in until that Epic cruise. I spoke with the woman checking me in and it seems like the problem is a lot of people who come in on shuttles arrive in a 30 minute window so it gets ugly from like noon - 1pm. She said 10-11a was dead and they prefer when it's staggered instead of a lot of people showing up at the same time.

The disembarkation wasn't great either with a slow moving & long customs line. I had to take a car rental shuttle. That was problematic as the new area doesn't really label the shuttle slots so people are standing around waiting and wondering which slot to go to for the correct shuttle. The porters don't really know either cause we has one who told us to go to the wrong spot when we were actually already in the prime spot for the car rental shuttle. Plus the traffic coordinators will hold up the buses /shuttles arriving if the slots are all full, which also delays arrivals/departures. The guy at the car rental place told me that they'd had more than a few complaints about the shuttle spots not being properly marked for people and it being problematic.

I agree with Bonobochick, who commented:

>>Give yourself plenty of time for the Great Stirrup Cay tender. I was on the Epic for Nov 19th week and the tender each way was a complete nightmare of long waiting periods. <<

 

I was on that cruise too. The tendering process for both Grand Cayman and Great Stirrup Cay went on for hours, but was worse for the private island. Even with a tender reservation time, there was still a musical-chairs game that went on for over an hour. Returning from the private island, the line was about 200 yards long. Many in our group simply waited until the line almost disappeared, and we got on the last tender -- about 1 1/2 hours after the ship's scheduled departure time.

 

I've never been on a cruise that required reservations for tenders, and I've never seen as huge of a mess in using them as on NCL Epic. It was an, uh, Epic Fail.

OMG, that return line from GSC was ridiculous. I stood in line for 50 minutes starting around 3pm and they finally took a third tender boat out to use cause the line was so long. I also had to stand on the top deck for the return journey as they were trying to fit many people on.

Getting to the Great Stirrup Cay, I sat in the Epic theatre for almost an hour before they started letting the sections load and then it was another 20-25 minutes of loading the tender. I didn't have much of wait either way with Grand Cayman, but that Great Stirrup Cay tender operation was beyond poorly planned by NCL, esp knowing the ship was sold out. :mad:

Tortola and St. Thomas have docks for the big ships, so you're good there.

I tendered in St. Thomas once on the Gem but that was solely cause there were many other ships in port that day. I heard someone say we were the smallest ship and that's why we anchored / tendered. Who knows? Anywho, I actually didn't mind the tender as it dropped us off right in the heart of Charlotte Amalie.

Give yourself plenty of time for the Great Stirrup Cay tender. I was on the Epic for Nov 19th week and the tender each way was a complete nightmare of long waiting periods.

I did it in late August and paid $35 for the day pass.

It was nice and I took a bus there from downtown (about 15-20 minute ride). I'm not a huge fan of the Nassau port stop but I'd go back to this place if I go to Nassau again. It was relaxing with a nice beach area, a few pools, and hotels shops / dining.

I buy travel insurance only when I book far in advance of my sail date.

If it's last minute-ish booking, like a month or less before my sail date, then no.

I think I'll ask on my next cruise about splitting to two nights.

I was on the Gem last month and I just did Le Bistro on my own for the one night. And enjoyed the entire bottle of wine. :cool:

Is Mass or other religious services offered on NCL ships?

There's self-led shabbat service on Fridays,

Hi guys. We will be departing on our first NFL cruise next month. Can anyone tell me if we have a movie channel on our stateroom TV and can we watch in our own time eg over a clue of nights. Sad to say our partying days are over and we love to finish our evening with a cocktail and a good movie!!

Yes. Your cabin TV should have a channel that plays somewhat recent movies, a channel that plays random TV shows, a bunch of news channels, a sports channel, and several NCL info/sales channels. You will also have access to Pay-Per-View movies (I think they're $9.95 each).

Anyone know who the HD and CD will be on the Epic in November?

Gem CD Alvin is currently on vacation.

Good for him. Time off helps. Whoever took over for him while he rests up and refreshes on what are actually fun activities, I hope the GEM passengers enjoy their current CD cause he was running on fumes re: exciting activities during my recent cruise.