don1976

We are on the Epic in a few weeks and got the UDP and SDP (3 meals) included. Can someone please advise if we will still be charged 18% gratuities on every drink/meal? Not such a good deal after all if this is the case! Thanks in advance for any advice.

I think once you've paid for the dining packages then you're done. However any drinks not covered by the dining package (like speciality cocktails), we found still had the 18% added.

When we went on the Epic in July, whilst we were in the Garden Cafe eating and waiting to leave Naples, we saw 4 or 5 hire cars rushing back to port over a period of time, well after the all aboard time.

We must have left port approx an hour late if I recall.

So ships DO wait in some instances, but of course you can't bank on it.

I think don meant to say exactly that and/or experienced it that way. :)

Yes. My point was that people smoked on their balconies. Despite bringing it up at first services, they were seemingly allowed to continue. Or at least they continued regardless.

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Hi Shazpat, I tried to see if there was anything in NCL's terms and conditions about leaving family behind while going ashore, but unfortunately I couldnt find anything. In October it will be much cooler so the hang-out areas in the pools and hot-tubs might not be as attractive for them if they stay behind.

We left our daughter in splash academy on Saturday last week whilst we went in to Marseille. She didn't fancy coming with us that day. It wasn't a problem.

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Priscilla is worth a watch although it's not suitable for young kids (unless you're used to using bad language in front of your kids that is) - I was amazed to see how many small kids were towed a long with their parents to watch it.

The cirque dinner was good fun. It's no cirque de soleil, but an enjoyable evening albeit the food is not that great.

As others have said, bands in the cavern were good.

Burn the floor wasn't our cup of tea but there were plenty giving standing ovations so it appeals to some.

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There's usually one one sail away party, and that occurs after leaving Barcelona.

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We didn't really use H20 this last week, but there did seem to be a food outlet up there.

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Nobody seems to stop people smoking on their balconies.

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Doesn't just a little part of you wonder if the person making the comment has a preconception about Americans and then reinforces that prejudice with observations? A little bit like noticing just how many cars are on the road of the same make and model you just bought when before you don't remember seeing any? I think it's called confirmation bias.

 

I have talked to several "ordinary folks" from other countries who were familiar with tourists in their home countries and they all said the same thing: one certain nationality was worse than others. They never agreed on the nationality, however.

No preconception, just an observation of my week on the Epic. My work leads me to deal with plenty of Americans, in addition we have family living over there so we know it's not the majority of Americans that behave like we've observed.

It's interesting to know if cruising brings out the worst in Americans, or alternatively perhaps just attracts them.

Or, going back to my first comment, we may have simply been unlucky this week.

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Was that after the new July 15 policy?

I thought the new policy was wine at original embarkation only. Otherwise held.

Yes. As per the original post, we cruised this week. We embarked at Barcelona 17/7.

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I'm told Lime green means it's the Epic. Unless you're on a different ship?

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I was just trying to help.

When we rejoined the ship after every port stop, there was a guy sat behind a table after security with a 'wine corkage' sign.

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You hear a lot of other languages being spoken and will also see lots of examples of a lack of understanding of the virtues of queueing. :).

Perhaps we were unlucky this week on the Epic, but the majority of the people lacking queue etiquette had American accents, as opposed to non-english speakers.

From my experience, you will find that there are a high proportion of non English speakers on the Jade. That will show itself in two ways. You hear a lot of other languages being spoken and will also see lots of examples of a lack of understanding of the virtues of queueing. :)

 

This has been my experience on all of our Med cruises (Spirit and Jade) except for those on the Epic, where other languages have been notably less common in our experience.

 

As I said, I don't know whether that is an Epic thing, or due to the fact that all our Epic cruises have been at the same time of year.

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Just to confirm that you're able to buy bottles of wine at the port stops and then pay the corkage.

We are told originally by the NCL customer services on the phone that it could only be done at embarkation, for us at Barcelona - however at the ports we found otherwise during our cruise on the Epic this week.

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I'm just off the Epic today. The proportion of nationalities is difficult to assess properly.

Whilst a huge proportion of the passengers seem to be European, some nationalities make their presence known more than others; the 'louder' of the nationalities make you think that there are more of them.

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Or do as most smokers seem to do, just smoke on your balcony if you have one.

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I'm not how often things like this happen but there was a flood that ended up flooding out 4 staterooms last night. One family I was speaking to thought the ship was sinking when they found themselves in 3" of water in the middle of the night.

It turned out to be a burst pipe from the service compartment behind the shower, and certainly caused a lot of commotion.

How often does this sort of thing happen?

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There's also a lounge called Humidor which is a smoking/cigar lounge. Near all the bars on the lower decks.

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Well, the one we used didn't. We were on the way to the airport before we realised he didn't understand we were going to the cruise port. A lot of loud protests and pointing got us there in the end. When we join the Epic in October I am going to get the concierge to write down the details in Spanish. My heart won't take another trip like that.

 

 

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Why not try to learn that particular phrase in their language rather than asking someone to write it down?

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I totally agree. The way some, who have an issue with the policy, were posting, I thought there would be news crews reporting on thousands of folks up in arms, making a fuss, drinking or pouring out all their water or soda to hold up the lines, screaming, yelling, etc., but none of that happened. From the reports coming back, there doesn't really seem to be that big an issue with the policy from the majority.

In fact, of the discussions I've had on this cruise with people, people seem to be happy that others aren't bringing on litres of liquor disguised as water. Fewer people getting completely wasted on their litres of smuggled booze can only be a good thing, making it a more pleasant cruising experience.

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Question:

 

Dear...

Why is there bottled water in our fridge?

 

Answer:

Why...? What would the neighbours think if we didn't?!?

 

Question:

And....? :confused:

Answer. In case you want to buy it. Just the same reason there are liquor miniatures, in case you want to buy them.

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Certainly none of the people I've spoken to on this cruise are remotely bothered by the new policy.

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Ah, yes, re-reading your post, I see that I missed your meaning about the wine bottle contents - sorry! :o However, as someone else commented, you aren't limited to just 2 bottles of wine as far as I am aware. :)

I brought on 4 bottles.

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And to help stir things up a little, crew are allowed to bring on packs of water.

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They have signs at the port and they physically hand you a piece of paper to tell you.

Regardless of notice period, they are telling you. You can plead ignorance at the port if you like and try to argue, but all you'll do is annoy people.

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