snownow

As much as i hate to say it.. cancel. We canceled out July Med trip. Refund took about a week, so we got in before the delay in refund or that topic is over blown... Sad thing is flights there are now 1/2 price. 

Ours took a little over a  week to process. 

We are booked for July for the  Med... On the bubble of canceling now with the outbreak in Italy.... Not that i am really worried about catching it, but being stuck in a cruise room for weeks on end with any scare... i can pass on that. Any one else? Thoughts?

Another vote for VIP diving... They squeezed me in last last week on short notice. One of the nicest shops and staff i have used.  Well staffed, clean and our dive master was pretty amazing.  For a beginning diver, this is the place to go. 

In Aruba Happy divers never picked me up. I got an email later that day saying oh, we picked up someone with your first name... sorry???? Really? But Pure divers was on the dock picking up some other cruise ship groups. They were pretty good, I would feel safe with them as a new diver. 

So summer plans include Western Med this summer.  I know there are some archaeological dive sites off Naples and Majorca. Any tips? Dive sites you have visited from a cruise ship? Shops you have used? Other stops include Cannes, Barcelona, Rome, and Florence. 

Also just used West side Scuba last week. Peter the owner picked me up in the port, on time. First wrecks in the harbor, about a 5 minute boat ride,  a very busy spot for divers and snorkelers (fun but not amazing). Second wreck a little further out, about 10 min on the wreck, then a nice drift dive with some pretty good current.  Nice crew, nice boat, diver master heather seemed to know her stuff. They did well managing some people who had not dove in a very very long time.  Shop is Meh... in a bar/beach area. I would use them again if i was there just due to the nice staff. 

Not sure about shore dives with them, they are in a very busy boat traffic area.  But if your looking for 1 tank, im sure they could work it out on the boat just due to the close dive sites. 

34 minutes ago, nhtravels said:

Are the bathrooms in the Haven "weird" as well?   - asking for a friend 🙂

So we had an AFT haven room, and the bathroom was about all we did not like. Still a little close for comfort. But at least the bathroom was separated but a curtain and not in the middle of the room like standard rooms. We did look at the 2 bedroom, and that layout is more than fine.  Our bathroom gurgled a little at times, and had... well that smell. Its about all i did not like about this cruise. 

Just got off Epic... I have to agree ships layout is weird, bathroom layout in the standard rooms is also odd. We had our first Haven room for this trip, and... well that was pretty awesome. We are booked again on this ship over the summer.

As far as its current itinerary. It was pretty awesome.  Aruba was nice, Bonaire was amazing.  We both thought it could have used one more sea day to relax. Enjoy your trip. 

About to head out on our 5th NCL trip... I think in total i have had 3 meals i thought were not good, and only one that i went that was bad... NCL over all 100% better than carnival, and on par if not better than our Disney trips. 

On the 26th as well, we have not gotten a letter and still show us boarding at noon on our docs. 😥 So who knows...

6 hours ago, bkrickles1 said:

yep. I agree with smplybcause.

I did this on the Escape in 2018 when I brought my 2 nieces along with me, my wife and daughter.

I was paying for the nieces too so money was a factor.

I got 2 connecting inside cabins and it worked out great!

We always just pony up and get connecting rooms... So much nice for them, and for us. 

Matador from the whiskey bar. Wife does not like whiskey... but loves this drink. (I'm partial to it as well). But not all the bars make it well. 

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I definitely prefer the Escape over the Bliss, but I am curious about why you hate the Bliss so much? I mean, sitting on my couch is nice, but it's no cruise!

Ok hate is a bit harsh. We had a great trip on bliss,  but we had amazing trips on the escape. Staff was awesome, food was great every time, my kids spent hours on the ropes course, sport court and teen club.

 The bliss was just ok. I loved the lounge on it, the rest was... just ok.  Food was ok (one horrible meal), had some service issues. Kids disliked the teen club down on lower decks.  Waited a very long time for both carts and laser tag...

And my couch... well it is pretty amazing.  :)  Our next trip is our first in Haven, so we will see if it beats out my couch :) 

Escape our first trip

Escape our second time

Escape our third time

I assume our Epic in a month will be good, so sliding it ahead of the bliss. 

.

.Sitting on my couch slightly better than bliss

and in last the bliss. 

Ours was in the brew house. Flights of beers and servers walking around with appetizers.

20 hours ago, Love my butler said:

Don't waste your time.  The 30% off now is after they jacked up the prices a lot two weeks ago.  Also,  NCL won't give you a current offer and let you keep your old promos.  It just doesn't work that way.

So we have a cruise booked for Jan, fully paid. Could not get any credit on it, we have a cruise for July, our rep got us an additional $1200 off per room in credit for that one based on current prices. If you have one booked, do a mock booking to check the prices and drop your rep an email.  (haven 2 bedroom for reference) 

Just now, Blue90 said:

Do other cruise lines do this? I've never had this from DCL, Holland or Princess. Has anyone ever called back and gotten a better promotion than was offered online? 

Carnival has multiple times for me... told them to take a long walk off a short dock... :) 

My NCL guy normally just sends an email every now and then to check in. Never had him cold call me. 

16 hours ago, Victorious8 said:

 

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Matador!!! 60 days from enjoing one of those. Depending on who makes it... a must try

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From there I decided to head over to the mojito bar, Sugarcane, to say hello to the world famous Chocolate Cowboy.

 

 

 

I had a drink there and then decided to head to Maltings so I could be closer to Onda and speak with the host before they opened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Was not a huge fan of the bliss... but the walled of smoking section was awesome. Made walking through the open areas in the ship so much... nicer (less smelly)

Morning is awesome... afternoon is awesome... We normally do morning as it does get busier with sail boats in the afternoon.  If you have a bigger group look to just get a private charter, a little cheaper and you get to spend all day there. 

IT was fun, the wait sucked. Would not do it more than once or twice on a trip though. The kids had the same opinion. 

Had two teens on bliss, never bored. But they did like the escape much better. They did not like the location of the club on bliss, and missed the court, and free deck activities. (vs waiting an hour for cars, laser tag).

Los Lobos was the best for us. Great service, really good food., Second would be Teppanyaki. Always a safe choice on NCL

Cagney's... was horrid on our trip. Possibly the worse service we have every had on NCL, and we had a great experience with them on the Escape. 

Yes, but using a VPN was sloooooow. Got it done, but it was painful.  May be better if you got ship to shore calls, and dialed in voice that way. 

9 hours ago, JustAPilot said:

Travel insurance, you wouldn't cruise without it during hurricane season, right?(takes care of flight re- bookings) plus extending my vacation on NCL's dime, sounds good to me.

Ditto... Too bad im here at my desk,  and not there...