kayjay76

Hi all,

We usually sail out of Miami so port Canaveral is completely new to us. We will be flying into Orlando mco, at all times of the day the night before our Saturday cruise in Feb 2020. I know its far out but with the super bowl that weekend in Miami... we're looking to reserve pretty early just in case.

I'm trying to get a feel on what plan works best.... stay close to airport or close to port night before. We're leaning more towards close to port but depends on price. Any hotel suggestions and transport idea would be great, ty!!

We're a large group of adults, approx. 40 people so we're looking for a hotel that's clean, not so much a high rise as we like having exterior access from rooms if possible. Must have a restaurant and bar on site at hotel. We're used to booking private transport so not too worried about that. And would like to have a hotel priced under 200$

Any and all suggestions would be helpful even if you didn't travel in a group. Would like to know Hotels you love anywhere from mco to port.

Thanks everyone!!!!

The Escape and the Bliss have decent sized balconies. The Getaway balcony was tiny where your knees hit the glass. But like above... if you can get an angled balcony room which is the same price as a regular balcony room they are nice and roomy for the same cost.

I was on your sailing!! I agree with you on everything. We had a wonderful cruise and the ship décor is beautiful!!!! But I gotta say I loved the Escape better.

Boarding was so super easy this sailing!!! We had group 1 and were on in no time.

Q... funny but I think those people before you were part of my group lol. When we got to the restaurant they were sitting in there and the hostess mentioned something about it. Still have no clue why they were trying to "steal" our resies!!! lollll. We were shocked there was only 4 tables of other diners while we were there.

Our waitress at Q was fantastic!! The food... we did the pitmaster as well. Sausage was great as were ribs. Brisket super dry. Good size portions. OMG my favorite drink the whole trip was the Smoked peach margarita!! to die for!

The garden café... Don't get me started!!!! First.... location. Like you we always travel AFT. It's so nice to hop the elelvator and be right there. I had to listen to my husband the whole week about having to cross the pool deck to get to it. Made for a nicer pool deck but we hated the new location. Very awkward to bring a plate, dessert or coffee back to your room.

Oh lord the set up. Terrible!!! whoever came up with that new concept could not have been thinking about flow at all. We had the same problem of "searching" for items, missing stations and generally fighting the crowds who had no idea which way to flow. You literally have to zig zag the whole buffet to find everything. Poor, poor design! And the "late" night snacks were pitiful to say the least. 

I know you havnet touched on this but 1 thing we were so disappointed with was the 80's party. It's usually my favorite part of the cruise and held in H20. It was held in 1 of the clubs instead on the Bliss. Way, way too small a venue for all who wanted to attend, tiny dance floor, super hot inside and was only an hour. Oh, and speaking of H20.... for some reason it was smaller on this ship and with no screen. Not a fan of this h20.

I'll add a quick review about staff. WONDERFUL!! We were on the Getaway last year and it was the general review by all on these boards the staff was "off". Just bad service everywhere. Really got us scared for this cruise. And we were so very happy to see the NCL great service back. Smiles everywhere!! Washy washy peeps, love em. Our steward was fantastic, servers, bar tenders.... erveryone was AAAA+++!!!

Just off the Bliss.... Small buffet about 15 feet long, at Margaritaville: coffee, juice, milk, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, break egg sandwiches, bagles, toast, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, pastries.

Didn't do breakfast in OL but did catch a light lunch.... salad bar, small sandwiches, fruit, mac salad, potato salad, cheeses. A light selection

Hi all, the pick 6 is ending for ncl today and anyone have any guesses on what the new promo will be?

thank you all!!!

Hi all, for anyone who has been on both the Getaway and the Breakaway.... Are the balconies on the breakaway as small as the getaway balconies? 

If you've been on the escape or bliss... are they the same as these ships?

Just wondering... looking to book the breakaway but wanted to avoid the small balconies that the getaway had. Thank you!!!

yes, you have to reserve a time. and it goes directly onto your onboard account. you can keep an eye out for times on your stateroom tv. Id say we went about 6-8 laps, was just long enough. make sure you wear closed toed shoes!! I had to use a friends lol

We always prebook Super Shuttle for our group cruises thru their website and book a private shuttle. That way they are waiting right there on the curb when we arrive. Cost from FLL to Miami hotel is around 100 including tip. that's appr. 17$pp. Great drivers, had never had to wait, no stops at other hotels... go straight to your hotel. You can also google and they always have a 10% off coupon code to use while booking. supershuttle. com

By the way we're on that cruise!!! Can't wait!!!

On ‎1‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 5:26 PM, leno said:

I bring a small dental repair kit. It helps if you lose a filling!

I bring one too!! I can't imagine if something happened and I couldn't temp fix mine.

* I separate and put everything in zip lock bags... makeup, toiletries, socks, you name it if it can fix in a bag it goes. keeps me organized.

* small hamper that folds flat from dollar store. Took the suggestion from someone on my last cruise and it was great! 

* car air freshener for bathroom... my 1st cruise my cabin steward told me what a great idea lol

* gin gin ginger candy from amazon. best ever if queasy

* hair products I never use "on land". I'm a hairstylist and on my 1st cruise I didn't even think about needing anything extra until I curled my long hair as usual stepped out side and went flat after 10 minutes. So now I stock up on travel size styling products. And alwaysssssss my shampoo n conditioner. If you have colored or processed hair don't you dare touch the all in one stuff in the shower loll. 

* room list of the others in our group. 1st year trying to figure out where 13 other couples were... not easy lol

You're looking at more of a haven suite or such to get any type of privacy. A suite on the breakaway class just gives you a bigger bathroom. Certain Rooms come with an extra pull down bed over couch and with 2 single beds that can be separated. Some people have no problem jamming 4 people in a cabin ( 1 on couch, 1 on pull down, and 2 on beds). I can't even imagine it. A balcony room for just me and hubby gets tight lol as there is nowhere to escape but the balcony.

When you are 60, I think, days out you can pick your boarding time. They usually start boarding, security around 11 or so.

(unless its different with new terminal this is usually how it's done) When uber drops you off you'll find a porter to take your luggage right there out front on the long sidewalk. You can then approach the doors to security and they will check your papers and you stand in line waiting to go thru security. If you arrive at say 10am you'll be standing in line before security. Next, go thru scanners and such, grab a health form, stand in check in line where they will sign you in, give you key etc. Then you move on to sit in the terminal to wait. Once boarding is underway they will call boarding groups and you enter and get on boat 

without a doubt id try to change the flight to a day earlier. much cheaper getting a hotel for an extra night or 2 than losing out the cost of a cruise.

our cruise is in 3 weeks and we've agreed if snow comes and we have to drive straight 22 hours to get on that boat we are doing it lol.

Can you bring extra pods onlboard?

I bought a 5" usb powered mushroom fan on amazon. Will this be on to take on my Bliss cruise? Has anyone used USB fans before? Thanks all!

I buy a few things of the Lysol travel spray to go at target. 1st thing I do after putting bag down in room is go thru and spray main surfaces like the remote, door handles, railing on balcony, closet doors, light switches etc. Because the can is so tiny I put it in my clutch and spray where we sit in the buffet. And I try to never use my finger tips to hit the elevator buttons lol. Don't know if it helps but anything to help keep the germies away!

The water from the tap tasted just like bottled water IMO.

I did everything Bird said above on The Escape... was literally like the 4th person on for general  boarding... and still passes were sold out. I planned everything down to a T. Take my advice... look at it as a perk but not a must. Don't let it ruin the trip if you don't get the passes. I had a 5 minute pitty party lol then said oh well and moved on. 

And birds right... all 10 of you would have to be present, not just 1 from each cabin. You can't buy your husbands and vice versa

I just read on the website that it's still closed. Can anyone confirm this? We will be in port early Feb and were thinking of stopping here before hitting the beach. Thanks for any recent info!!! 

IMO I'd skip the excursion and grab a cab ,which is super easy to do, only because it's nice to have the freedom to stay as long as you'd like. If you're beach people it's such a beautiful beach to stay awhile at.

Went to Linquist 1st our last trip then heading to sapphire after. Wish we stayed at Linquist.

Linquist was stunning!! Most beautiful beach I've ever seen. Very quiet. Nice new bathrooms but that's it. No rentals, chairs food or drink at all.

Sapphire was absolutely beautiful but the day we were there it was super crowded, people everywhere. It's on a condo resort. Had food, drinks, bathrooms but too many peeps for me.

We rented a jeep last time we were here. It was nice but..... driving on the other side of the road can be a bit off putting and since you pay more attention than normal to driving you'll miss a lot of views and such. I don't think my hubby, who was the passenger saw anything than his white knuckles grasping the dashboard because apparently all the roads we were driving had some good cliffs which I didn't notice because I was trying to stay on my side of the road loll. Sooooo… if you're looking to really see the views while driving, grab a cab.

Plus the cost was at least $100 for the jeep, more expensive than cab fare. And they were adamant that the jeep return with absolutely no sand whatsoever or you lose your deposit.

My husband is on several meds a day including insulin. For us we've always just stuck all his pill bottles and shots in a clear ziplock bag for traveling and place in our carry ons.  We've never had issues. I know plenty of people use the pill a day boxes and have no problems at all.

For us we look at it like this... what if we get stuck somewhere for whatever reason... then he has enough meds til his next refill. I'd rather him have too many than not enough incase anything ever happens and delays us from getting home

Hi all,

Any spots anyone can recommend that aren't so crowded for sunbathing? We usually head to spice h20 on the other ships but I've never explored away from there. Any nooks and cranny places you enjoyed on a lounger on the Bliss?

Thanks all and merry Christmas!!

A friend of ours just did this and  had no problem doing this for our Feb 2019 cruise. It was past final payment ( about 50 days before cruise) so the couple had already paid off their room and decided they did not want to go. So we found another couple who did want to go. The original party called our NCL rep and she was able to switch the names no problem. The  couples had to work out on their own the paying the other couple for the cruise.