Justaddvodka68

Would like to know what do you all find worse....the pool chair hogs or those who save a whole row of seats at the shows.

 

They're both terrible.

But equally so, are the people who get to the show super early because they want end seats, and then act put out when they have to let you get into the rest of the seats. Especially the ones who won't stand up and just move their legs over a little and expect you and your family of 6 to squeeze past them. Jerks.

The real answer is that it depends on who you get on the phone. Some will just apply it and others will make you cancel and rebook. Norwegian is like that.

LOL I wonder what the next complaint of the week will be.

 

1) The price drop was not enough

 

- OR -

 

2) They do not carry the brand of bottled water I prefer

 

 

I'll put my money on item two! :D

For me it's the size of the bottle. Who carries around a 1 liter? :)

Just add some orange juice :D

That was my immediate thought when I saw the new "reward" program. I'll be ordering OJ from room service for balcony mimosas!

There's shampoo in the dispenser and body wash. You need conditioner.

The shampoo isn't the greatest. I bring both.

Funny moment was wife went to toilet as I walked into a bar in the middle of a gay meeting, ordered the drinks in a gruff voice but the night was very entertaining & fun. Best was sailing out of Miami late at night on a aft balcony

 

 

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Ha! As part of the same night I referenced in my post above, my husband and our friend were drinking Aviations, which are purple martinis. Our friend is a tall, fit, handsome, 50+ man who can also really wear a nice shirt, if you know what I mean. we left the Galaxy and went to the casino, where my girlfriend and I played all night. The guys wandered back to the nightclub/bar behind the casino, not knowing there was a Friends of Dorothy Party in full swing. In walks our friend, who has a bit of a swagger, especially when he's had a few, in his light gray paisley shirt and his purple martini and all the men in the bar were like "Hello, sailor!" My husband, who immediately knew what they'd walked into just laughed while he watched our friend figure it out, turn heel and swagger back out to the casino.

Funniest story my husband ever tells.

I lost her to cancer in 2008 and we all know what happen in September 2001. I still cry when I watch that video knowing what is gone.

 

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I'm so sorry. Glad you have that memory though!

Gem in October, hitting a Royal Flush was the highlight of my gambling career!

Other great moments, the 21 hour drink fest, on the Spirit in January. Sea day, started with Irish coffees and mimosas at breakfast, ran into our favorite bartender while having a few pops at Blue Lagoon around 11, more drinks by the pool, a short nap then drinks in the Galaxy until dinner time. Back to Galaxy after dinner, with Norm doing his best to get us pissed. Went to the casino from there and ran into Norm again at about 3 am, having a nightcap and some chicken wings in the Blue Lagoon. Nice steady buzz all day, but still on our feet. He couldn't believe we were still at it!

And just about every moment of the cruise I took with my mom in April. She has never been on anything like it and was amazed the whole time. It was a wonderful trip.

Thanks for the info, yes the itinerary looks great. Not bothered by the one way flights. We can fly to PR from PHL pretty easy, same as flying home from Tampa. Its a toss up right now between this cruise and the 11 day on the Gem out of NYC same period. NYC has a great perk, we can drive to the pier in 90 minutes......decisions, decisions

Another reason people here may refer to them as different is that you can't get the dailies. A ship that runs 15 cruises in a row, eastern Carib, and you can get the dailies someone has posted and know what each day will bring.

I don't mind that. It's Norwegian night out when I get my daily and it says so, and the white hot party is whenever it is. I don't feel the need to know if that's going to be on day 3 or 5. Ya know?

Also, we did the Gem repo and it was fantastic. Don't worry about the weather. You really book it out of there and by day 2 you're even with the Carolinas and it's warm.

Considering a repositioning cruise on the Dawn in January of next year, San Juan to Tampa.

This is an awesome itin !

EMBARK San Juan (Puerto Rico); Philipsburg (St. Maarten); St. John's (Antigua); Fort-de-France (Martinique); Bridgetown (Barbados); Basseterre (St. Kitts); St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands); DISEMBARK Tampa (Florida)

Tip: If you're flying into Florida from the US, price your tickets RT wherever to Tampa and back and price a one way Tampa - San Juan. Could come out much cheaper than a one way from wherever to San Juan and a one way Tampa - wherever.

Considering a repositioning cruise on the Dawn in January of next year, San Juan to Tampa. In the past I've read about Repo cruises being "Different" Not really sure what that means, we have sailed on the Dawn from Tampa and like the ship. She was a little warn out but has since gone through refurbishment

Repos are different in that they don't round trip to the same port. So you're traveling to one place to go, and returning from a different place.

Without the need to get back to the home port, the itineraries are different than the usual route. For instance, we repo'd in October from NY to San Juan and we visited St. Kitts & St. Martin, two islands NCL doesn't visit often, along with Tortola & St. Thomas, two islands on a lot of eastern Caribbean itineraries.

They're also sometimes a bit longer. Our October 2016 cruise was 8 nights. Our upcoming one is 11.

We're doing another in Oct 17 and it's hitting a lot of out of the ordinary (For NCL) ports, like Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

We love to cruise but it's expensive!

 

A one week cruise on the Epic next summer cost almost $10000 in the Haven so it's not difficult to find a very nice all inclusive which is cheaper but nothing is better than a cruise. I think!

But you could take that same cruise in a non-Haven for much less.

You'd have to compare that to having the penthouse suite or whatever the equivalent to the upgrade is at the all inclusive, with the butler and all those extras you get in the Haven.

And I'm sorry, but I'm kinda LOLing at someone complaining that the Haven is expensive. That's an upgrade. The Spa is expensive too - as is the Casino if you're losing - but I wouldn't count money spent there as part of the vacation, since it's optional.

it nice having a ship homeport in my city. just take a cab and hop on the ship. instant vacation start. no need to fly or drive long distance :)

#RetirementGoals!

 

So I got to thinking - why do I choose cruising over other vacation alternatives?

 

What are your reasons?

I'm relatively new to cruising. Always knew I'd love it, but my ex-husband who traveled a lot for work was not big on vacationing at all. Liked to stay home and relax or do home improvements with his vacation time.

Husband 2.0 is game for anything and we've discovered we love cruising.

We spend more when we do land based vacations. Cruising is a great value, for sure.

Things we love about it:

Being at sea. Husband just loves being on the water and I've learned I do as well.

Ports. Getting to sample ports - although I can see where after some time they'll become monotonous, since we're new, there are still a lot of places to discover. We visited St. Martin on our last cruise and loved it so much we exchanged our timeshare to go back in May for a week with another couple.

The Casino. I love to gamble. I don't love Atlantic city or Vegas.

Unlimited drinks and no driving - with many bars with different vibes to choose from.

Having so many great choices for eating out, while at the same time having a fixed cost. We do upgrade our dining, even when we don't choose it as a perk. We love to eat out and usually spend a lot on dining when we're land based.

The entertainment. We generally like the big shows, but even more we enjoy the music and comedy and whatever is going on in the bars and clubs. Never a dull moment, unless you want some!

Meeting people. I've never experienced the friendliness and camaraderie you find on a cruise ship at a land based resort. Whether you're striking up conversation in the smoking room or at a bar, or having a blast in the casino, people seem open and friendlier on ships than on land.

We just took the kids on their first cruise in December. We enjoyed the availability of the teen club and the various things to keep them busy. It was definitely less work for me to entertain them than a land based vacation where it's a non-stop thing. (and a non-stop flow of money out of my purse!)

Even just the feeding. Kids eat constantly! When we do our timeshare, the first whole day is a waste for me. You travel there then have to go to the store to stock up on breakfast & lunch foods, beer, pop, stop at the liquor store, etc. Haul it all in, unpack it all. Realize what you forgot, run back out . . . it eats up an entire vacation day.

Then all week you're driving around. Driving to restaraunts for dinner, driving to activities, driving to shopping . . . one of the best things about cruising is a full week of no driving!

We've also done all-inclusive, land based in Mexico - the selection for dining wasn't as good as on a cruise, the liquor selection was more limited, (although adequate.) And you still had to leave the resort to do anything but hang at the pool and go to the beach. That also wasn't cheap compared to cruising . . . base price for the all-inclusive was about 30% higher.

And while we were in a large, highly rated resort, the entertainment was so-so. There was a show nightly and some activities planned for around the pool, but other than that, there wasn't much. Just recorded music played in all the areas.

I'm looking forward to the week in St. Martin. I expect it to be very low key, relaxing, lots of pool and beach time, and we all really need a nice boring, mellow vacation. Cruises are a non-stop party for me, and while I love that - I need a little of both in my life.

Sure I was planning on tipping, but at what point does the tipping become unreasonable?

On my upcoming NCL cruise, they charged me $1136.10 for tips on the UBP.:eek: That is more than a 7 night cruise during off season on some ships.

 

Would you be happy being charged over a grand in advance for bartender tips?

On a 40 night cruise, you're paying $14.20 per day each for unlimited drinks. Yes, I'd be happy to pay that.

I'm currently having a moment of silence for the old mussels.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/mussels-with-pernod-and-cream-101586

This recipe comes very close. Made them twice so far.

I'll be the 4th or 5th to say Moderno.

Once is enough there to have the experience. I'm a grazer. I like a lot of small meals and snacks. I was barely able to take a bite of each meat they offered and didn't touch the sides.

Definitely rather have another Cagney's or Le Bistro meal than blow a SD night on Moderno again.

The casino may also be able to help BUT remember while the ship is in port the casino will not be open.

Basically all financial transactions on board are handled thru your Key Card so plan ahead to have sufficient funds petty cash on your person.

 

There are also bill breakers in the casino.

I used to bring a few hundred in singles and 5's on each cruise, but now I take $100's and use the bill breaker. Just keep feeding it the bills until you get it down to the denomination you want. You'll get $20 first, then feed in a $20 to get 5's, and a 5 to get singles.

The mussels in Le Bistro - until they change back to the old recipe with the cream Pernod broth. The white wine version is just no good.

I'm currently having a moment of silence for the old mussels.

Glad you had a great time!

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The NY-Miami and LA-Seattle legs are reserved for corporate/industry promotion and are not available to the general public.

That's unfortunate.

Checking out the itineraries for the Bliss. I see the 12 day Transatlantic ending in NY May 3rd and the next offering leaves Miami May 12 for the Panama Canal repo to LA.

I don't see the New York, Miami repo offered at all. Could it be sold out? Chartered?

I'd love to take that trip, depending on the islands.

The fall 2018/winter 2019 Caribbean sailings are boring itineraries. St. Thomas, Tortola, Nassua, lather, rinse, repeat. They aren't even doing a Western to break it up.

After doing some research here I was able to find out exactly how the CruiseNext program works in regards to applying the OBC. Wondering if anyone has had experience with booking their next cruise and what the additional free offer is they mention on the website?

 

If we like our first NCL experience in a few weeks this sounds like the best way to book for 2018.

 

Thanks

 

 

"Know where you want to go? Place 1, 2, 3 or 4 deposits on specific future cruises and enjoy up to $500 in onboard credit.

 

PLUS an additional FREE offer available on board only! Take advantage of this limited-time opportunity today for yourself and your family – or whomever you want to bring along!† Start shopping now so you're ready to schedule your dream vacation!"

They've been printing that "additional FREE offer" on their materials for a while now, but I've booked onboard twice and both times received a bottle of wine and a cabin upgrade within your category. So you pay for the cheapest balcony, but can get any balcony stateroom within the category, you desire, subject to availability.

I don't see anyone reaching the Admiral tier no matter how long you are with NCL..... Ambassador level is hard enough....

 

:):D:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Ha! Good catch. My bad.

I'm going to say it's probably 1 7 day cruise and it's probably an inside cabin, with options to upgrade, even if you usually stay in balcony or whatever.

 

I'm assuming it's one cruise for each member that reaches that level though. So there's that.

Not that it matters to me. At an average of 2 cruises a year, non-suite, non-insider offer - it'll take me 46 years to reach admiral. Even doubling that, it'll take 23 years!

Admiral level, aside from a few who've already been cruising NCL for many years, will be reached by very few.