Bonobochick

Can anyone confirm if the World Series will be shown on the Breakaway?

 

Some die-hard Mets fans need to know[emoji1][emoji1][emoji1]

 

Thank you!

 

 

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Probably will have it on. I remember the NBA finals were shown in the atrium and O'Sheehans when I was on Breakaway in June.

Just off the Gem yesterday. Seems like the dry dock coming up will be very extensive. The captain said there will be a new Bliss lounge with no bowling , new atrium, new cassino, new pool deck with a new water slide, Spinnaker Lounge with all new decor and furniture. He said no part of the ship will be untouched, it will be like a new ship when it returns.

Hmmm. That's a lot of change. I'll wait and see before really judging this news. I'm all for some refurbishment but I hope it's decor is not changed to be uniform to the other newer ships. I like the ships to have some degree of individuality aside from what's painted on the hull. Guess I'll find out in the near future.

Sprint service works in St.Thomas/St. John and San Juan as I discovered last year.

Philipsburg has restaurants along Front Street & Back Street that have WiFi with purchase (I usually pop by The Hard Rock Cafe for a drink & WiFi use). I don't recall as easy access to WiFi in Marigot. Tortola has a similar set up with restaurants that have WiFi with purchase.

I asked because someone said you could take a bus at the dockyard (I think #7) and that it takes about 50 minutes to the Coral Beach/Elbow Beach area??

I mean, you can, but that's a long way to go on the bus. Now if you were going to Horseshoe from the dockyard, that would be the best way. But Coral Beach sits closer to Hamilton. The main bus depot in Hamilton is like 3 blocks from the Ferry Terminal

There's a good map re: transportation here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=38515184&postcount=14

I would take the ferry to Hamilton and the a bus to Coral Beach. That's probably the fastest way.

I did a similar route to go to Elbow Beach in June and they're near each other. I had 2-day unlimited transportation pass, so the costs were rolled up in to that. You could also do Ferry then a cab from there to the beach.

ETA: There's a transportation info desk in the little building when you first leave the ship. You can get passes and information there. There's also one in Hamilton as soon you get off the ferry

Are movies shown in the atrium on occasion ... or some other public venue? Can someone who has cruised recently on the Gem say what kind of movies were offered?

Yes. They'll list them in the Freestyle Daily. They will also show Football on the big screen. Usually it's a mix of family friendly movies and a movie they're showing on the in-room TV movie channel.

I have the shore excursion credit for my upcoming cruise and I called the excursion number to add two of them to my vacation summary. I was told that was the way to go about it if you choose that promo.

Mon-Fri: 9am - 5:30 pm ET. Shore Excursions 1.866.625.1167.

Moderno was also moved last year. They did some renovations right before the Thanksgiving cruise last year. I remember there were kinks in the service at o'Sheehans and I was told it was due to it being brand new & the staff trying to get used to the new setup.

I've done three Thanksgiving week cruises, one on the Breakaway and two on the Gem.

The Breakaway had a few decorations at guest services but there wasn't a lot around the ship overall. The MDR served Turkey, pumpkin cheesecake, and one of the nest appetizers I've ever had and have sadly never seen again on NCL (stewed apricots in earl grey tea). Guest services also had a plug-in Menorah since Hanukkah fell early that year. There wasn't a big holiday vibe on the ship.

The Gem, however, was decked out in the main atrium and MDR both times I've done a Thanksgiving cruise, but there weren't a lot of decorations around the ship otherwise. I ate at Moderno both time for Thanksgiving, so I can't say what the food was like in the MDR for the holiday.

Here is a pic each of the main atrium and the MDR from my Gem Thanksgiving cruise last year.

I've found the Gem to be just as bad as The Breakaway when it's warm out and the ship is at sea. I've been on 3 NCL different ships (and repeated visits on two of the ships) and there's always a chair hogging situation from what I've seen, unfortunately.

I've only used the pool on a ship once and it was while we were docked in the Dominican Republic (on the Gem) and I came back to the ship about 4 hours before all aboard time, so it was mostly empty. All the other times, it just doesn't seem worth the hassle to me with how small the pools are and trying to find a chair.

Sounds like a pretty canned answer. I thought O'Sheehan's had already been added.

It was added last year. When I took the Gem last November, it had just been renovated from the Blue Lagoon.

If they were going to change away an island, I wish that it would be Nassau.

Yep. I've been twice and I wasn't impressed. And I know they have an issue with crime too. http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2015/03/articles/crime/another-critical-crime-warning-for-nassau-bahamas/

Does NCL go to Turks and Caicos? If not, that would be a nice change up from Nassau. Or Key West if they're feeling stingy about fuel.

Found this interesting... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-nclh-earnings-conference-200040754.html

 

FDR: "On our last call, I discussed weaving the Oceania and Regent market strategies into the Norwegian brand, along with changing the conversation with consumers from one focused on low prices to one focused on high value. This time, I'd like to focus on another related strategy, that being creating scarcity of offerings to drive higher yields."

Thank you for that. It's troubling yet explains a lot about the recent price/cost changes... still waiting for something to explain the crappy customer notification practices and website glitches, though

I've stayed on 8 fwd on this ship and it was nice enough. Mostly quiet with the exception of the occasional running child.

I have seen Indian food for lunch at the buffet. Also, aloo gobi in the main dining room as an entree, but only for one night (that's happened on 2 cruises)

Obviously, if a port had to be cancelled there is a good reason - weather, or some other urgent reason. NCL is just screwing up left and right lately with all of their changes, and people are rightfully ticked off.

IA. I had a port stop in GSC cancelled cause it wasn't safe to do tenders with the weather. I was disappointed cause I'd been hoping to Jet Ski but I wasn't angry cause safety was more important in the bad weather. Changing port times without explanation and/or without notifying passengers, esp those who are on a cruise or soon to be on one, isn't good business. Those letters they've told some they're sending out should've gone out first. The lack of communication is the biggest frustration in this mess, IMO

Please let me know where to send an e-mail. I would also like to send one regarding this issue.

I sent a note to relations asking about this issue. Contact info on here.

When I sailed solo on the Breakaway last month, I ended up getting an inside cabin because it was about $350 cheaper than getting a studio.

All of these recent changes I think can only mean one thing. NCL is really cash-poor right now and possibly going under. Maybe they over-extended themselves on all these new builds and now have insurmountable hidden debt, who knows. But every single one of the recent changes has the effect of quickly raising cash at the expense of losing customers down the line. Raising gratuities a very small amount (twice) but giving passengers the option to lock in the old rate by prepaying right now raises a lot of cash very quickly, because it will cause a lot of passengers to prepay. Expanding the future cruise credit program raises a lot of cash because it causes customers to put more deposits down. All the new charges on the ship (room service, gratuities, a la carte pricing) raises a lot of cash. Even all the great recent promotions go towards this. NCL has been giving away the farm as far as UBP, UDP, onboard credit, etc. just to get people to book now, to increase deposits and increase cash flow right now, at the expense of losing money (in the form of lost revenue from lost onboard spending) down the line.

 

Maybe this is why O'Sheehan left. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall and the company is going under, who knows. But these quick changes like this make no other real sense. There's no reason to raise gratuities twice like this at all by such incrementally small amounts, but for the desire to get people to prepay and raise cash quickly. Anyone who thinks all these gratuities are going to the staff as opposed to NCL's bottom line at this point are deluding themselves. At best, and this is at best, NCL is cutting staff compensation on the back end but making up for it with the increased gratuities on the front end.

 

If I was a stockholder in NCL right now I'd sell sell sell.

Great food for thought. This could very well be the situation.

Is NCL cutting staff too, I wonder? I've seen other inquire about that as well.

I just got an email about it.

All the news I'm seeing about NCL is about raising prices but not any benefits/rewards to take the sting out of it.

I miss O'Sheehan.

May be time for me to be less loyal to NCL when I choose my next cruise since they're too focused on squeezing more money from passengers and not anything else. :mad:

Not a fan. :mad:

Seems like another way to nickle and dime passengers.

I had this happen 2 yrs ago and we ended up going in to Nassau that evening and spending the night docked thus rolling it in to the next day port visit there.