Cyclops32

I know! I don't get it? You could sail luxury lines for that price. To me, it's lunacy .... I just shake my head. I don't think "wow, the Haven" ..... I think "you paid how much for this small area and on NCL? Seven Seas, Crystal, Regent .... Not getting the "best room at the Holiday Inn" on NCL for those prices.

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You could also talk to the crew when you are on board as well. I take all my paperwork with me just in case something does not show up and then I have a chance to show it at the desk and try and work it out in person. May work in your case, may not but is worth a shot to work it out in person

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We were on the Escape this time last year and it was almost half of what our Bliss cruise is in about 3 weeks. Both are Haven bookings. We got the Bliss Haven a bit cheaper at about 7500-8000 range per person but we also booked it about 18 months out

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Hmmm, having cruised (we cruise once a year) in all categories of cabins since 2004, I have enjoyed all of my cruises except celebrity in 2004, (those were the days of having to dress up in formal wear and sit with new friends, strangers), I really enjoyed that one too but once we tried NCL freestyle, that suited our likes better.

We have only cruised in the Haven twice. It is very expensive, but the food, the service, the experience is just over the top!

I hope that I wasn’t putting my nose in the air; only trying to share my experience. Yes we did enjoy the Haven restaurant and Haven spaces a lot.

We did do 2 rounds of the go carts. It was super fun! I wanted to do the water slides and loops. They look fantastic. I should have done them when it was hot. By the time I got the nerve up, it was cold. I have a fear of heights and as you can see we are big people and I had a little fear of getting stuck.

Instead we thoroughly enjoyed the spa (which is why we chose the cabin we did).

I think cruising is a great experience for a lot of people specifically because there are so many choices of how you want to spend your hard earned time and money and how you want to experience YOUR particular cruise.

I love people’s reviews of their vacation experiences and thought that I would write a semi live review of our great Bliss trip.

There was a time I had to get the cheapest trips I could fine and even at that I loved to see the high end suites and service others got because they could afford it. It allowed me to dream about having that ability and then after many years of hard work I can now afford the finer things in life.

Thanks for sharing and hopefully some day others who can afford it today will be able to someday in the future.

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I know about the surge protectors but how do you know if your extension cord is rated for a CPAP? I have brought extension cords before and never knew about that. I was lucky enough to be on a Holland America ship in Feb. that had recently been redone and it had BOTH a USB port and an electrical outlet by the bed. It was great so I was hoping a new ship like the Bliss would also.

If you can not find that info out then make sure the extension cord is atleast the side of the cpap but preferably larger. Thicker the wires used the more load it can carry safely

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As stated above, most of the time 3rd and 4th passengers are lower priced than the 1st and 2nd passengers. But most lines will average out the price so that it's shown as a per person price (total price $2,000; per person price $500/pp), rather than showing 1st and 2nd at $750/pp and 3rd/4th at $250/pp.

 

Most of the lines will offer either a kids sail free or 3rd/4th sail free at different times and on different ships/routes. You just need to keep looking. And even when they don't pay cruise fare, they will pay taxes and port charges.

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Loop them around a handle. Do not put them flat on the bags, they will probably come off.

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Did you already have dining booked? Cause you can’t book a 7:00 or 7:30 show if you have dinner within a 2 hour window.

 

 

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They aren’t sold out cause they only allow a certain percentage of advanced reservations. That being said, every show for every day was available for my cruise on 6/16.

 

 

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I too had no issues with getting the virgin drinks for my kids who had the soda package. Technically they should have been charged but no place ever did.

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Think tracking like UPS and USPS are able to tell you exactly where your package at even given time around the globe. Rarely have we been on a cruise when there has not been some sort of announcement about mislayed bags requesting passengers to be on the look out for them. If they were scanned when delivered to a cabin, there mislocation can quickly be centrally discovered. Sure, a ship is not anywhere as complex as a airport or the post office, but having to worry or emphasize about some poor fellow passenger missing their luggage is priceless.

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Are the haven sun decks on the bliss adult only?

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I loved deck 15 on the Escape. Did not need the elevator unless we went down to 678. Hardly heard any noise from above. We could hear stuff but it was very muffled and unless I was listening for it it would just disappear.

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Have stayed in the Haven Spa Suites. Loved them.

 

You have access to the Haven Pool, the Haven Bar, the Haven Restaurant, the Concierge Desk, etc.

 

Not sure I follow them not being a part of the Haven?

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Try this:

 

1 - Turn off Airplane mode

2 - Turn off Mobile Data (it's in quick toggles if you expand them)

3 - Go to Hotspot settings, make sure the "WiFi Sharing" is enabled

4 - Turn on hotspot.

 

I just did it and tested it with my Note 8. Worked flawlessly. My laptop is connected to my phone's hotspot and shows it's public IP of my home FIOS connection, not T-Mobile's pool.

I did verify it was using different radios. The actual wifi was connecting to 2.4 and it broadcasted its SSID on the 5 gig band.

Now I just need to make sure I turn off the roaming ability when I do that

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Radios don't matter. I have Unifi access points that blast out 4 different WiFi networks. One for my IoT setup, 5.8ghz for streaming devices, one for general, and one for guest access. So 3 networks on 2.4ghz, and one on 5.8.

 

Samsung definitely does have capability to share WiFi hotspot.

 

Literally first Google result: https://wccftech.com/how-to-enable-galaxy-s7-wifi-sharing/

 

Edit: Airplane mode, by default, grays out everything. Once airplane mode is active, you can enable WiFi and bluetooth individually. You just have to tap on them to turn them on. You can also completely exit airplane mode and keep cellular radio disabled.

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*** Note to casual non-geek CC readers *** this is technical matters not of general interests, it's fine to skip over & bypass ... discussions more suited on XDA-Developers Forum online than here. :halo:

 

As a general rule, newer generation of smartphones & iPhones, subject to carrier rules & configured APN settings and profile loaded on the device, allow or block advanced WiFi features, such as calling and/or hotspot sharing - we have lines on AT&T, T-Mo & Project Fi, all of which support & allow these features on compatible (and, approved) devices - running stock/OEM roms ... bootloader unlocked, rooted custom Rom's can bypass the restrictions. But, it doesn't sounded like this is the case ?

 

WiFi/Mifi hotspot features will use the "in-bound" mobile (data) signal and share (re-broadcast) it - in a # of ways: repeater, bridge and/or other modes ... sometimes, to bypass & override carrier's detection, as it will "consume" more data and take up the bandwidth that all users shared . I must getting old with early retirement going back to the IBM System 370 mainframe and PC-DOS generation to keep up with things lately ;p - but I am unaware of device's unmodified ability to take a WiFi signal and share it without using a 2nd. "radio" (modem/router, etc.) on a smartphone.

 

From time to time, I do, on an as needed basis and not as a matter of routine since most "public" & hotel networks are too slow & unsecured to effective do this and support power & speed hungry apps, nevermind streaming services, but I've done it by taking cellular signal and put it out again with a different SSiD and sign-on, making a hotspot/MiFi router out of it - on all 3 carriers but never, ever, on in-bound WiFi.

 

I travel and cruise with the Sony Viao notebook PC running Windows 10 Pro-64 bits and it has an unique WiFi hotspot feature - the ability to use an ethernet (data) signal over hard wiring, and, over WiFi - and relay & rebroadcast it, changing the SSiD using WPA-2 to support and share among other devices, on a single connection. For good measures, I have a matchbox-sized TP-Link nano router that do that in connection with the Sony Viao for tethering or hotspot support.

 

Looking thru the OEM data sheets for the S8+ and Note 8, I am not seeing or reading any indication how this is possible at all - strictly on a WiFi connection. It is possible that the "posts" mistaken the hotspot sharing while cellularly connected and then switched on the "enabled" tethering & portable WiFi functions. My older, backup iPhone SE (factory unlocked, iOS 11.x) do that nicely - but not while connected to the ship's WiFi data network, it is disabled by design while on Airplane Mode & WiFi only (enabled).

 

If I am overlooking a well-kept secret, I am going to hijack & seize one of the niece's Samsung the next time I see them, and borrow it to play for a few hours ... shopping around for a new "toy" since Android P is coming.

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Your phone can definitely do that. I've served wifi to people on a commercial flights.

 

Go to settings, search for Mobile Hotspot and Tethering, tap on actual WiFi hotspot (not the switch next to it) and it will take you to settings page. Enable "WiFi Sharing"

 

It worked fine on my S8+ and my Note 8

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You can easily go around this limitation. And VPN limitation too (I will confirm that later, I guess).

 

With newer Samsung phones, there's an option to "share hotspot"

 

So, connect to WiFi, turn your phone into a WiFi Share Hotspot, and it will use your phone's internet connection to connect up to 10 devices.

 

As for VPN, things like OpenVPN on standard port (443, for example) should work just fine. They will most likely block typical VPN ports, like 1723, 500, or 4500. But port 443, which is standard web port, should be open. Once you are on VPN, you should be able to stream YouTube/Netflix/Hulu.

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Here's a simple rule: Using your cell phone as a cell phone (as opposed to an internet device, which is different) while on the ship, while at sea will ALWAYS go through the ship's Cellular at Sea service and will always incur expensive charges from the Cellular at Sea company as well as any charges for roaming from your own cell service provider. So, if you do not want to pay those extra charges, put your phone in Airplane mode whenever you are on the ship at sea.

 

(Edited to answer your specific question about texting each other on the ship: No, you will not be able to do that, because when you text with a cell phone you are using the cell phone data .See above. BUT...see below re the internet and FB Messenger for a work around on this problem)

 

On land it's a different story. Your cell service company may have special rate international plans that you can sign up for. You should check this out before you cruise, and sign up before you cruise. Otherwise, if you just turn your cell phone on when you walk on shore, you will likely be able to make calls, but you will be paying whatever roaming rates your company charges, plus whatever you are charged by the local cell provider in that port. On land your phone functions just as it normally does and you will be able to text each other and all your friends and family at home.

 

If you want to use your phone as an internet device while on the ship, you will put the phone in airplane mode and then turn on JUST the wifi connection on your phone. You will need to sign up for a package of internet minutes. On most NCL ships, there are various packages ranging from pay-by-the minute to unlimited. Once you have purchased internet minutes and signed on your device (one device only, at a time, but you can share the minutes), you can do almost anything you would normally be able to do over the internet with your phone. You can use programs like Facebook Messenger to text your FB friends and family on the ship and on shore. If your phone will do wifi calling you may be able to do that. If you bought a higher value internet package you will be able to stream videos. Of course you can send and receive emails. However, just remember that you must always be connected to the NCL wifi internet for any of this to work. Unless you buy the unlimited package of internet, you will not be able to stay connected all the time.

 

Hope that all helps the confusion!

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The aft Haven cabins on BA/GA are all H6 which are very nice rooms plus the large balcony. They might even be considered better than the OS and DOS on 16 in the Haven proper. That's why most people don't mind the distance.

Only down side was that the disenbarked while in Port from the front so I hated having to walk to the front to then walk back to the rear of the ship once we where on the dock. Having the mobility issue bugged me having to walk more then needed.

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I am thinking about booking the Norwegian Escape for November, 2019. I have only cruised with Carnival (3, Glory, Liberty) and Royal (1, Harmony). I enjoyed the mega ship experience on Harmony and am interested to hear from others how the Norwegian Escape stacks up. I have tons of questions and would love to hear you advice, tips, tricks, rants, etc.

 

1. How does Harvest Caye compare to Coco Cay or Labadee? Does the drink package work on Harvest Caye? Do you have to take a tender to get to the port?

 

2. Are specialty coffees (espresso shots, lattes, drinks with Baileys etc) included in the drink package?

 

3. Does NCL Escape have anything similar to the Coke Freestyle machines that Royal ships have? Or are you limited to the canned Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, etc.

 

4. How difficult is it to get a chair outside on a sea day? I don't care if it is by the pool (no kids, we never really go in the pool) - I just want a spot to lay down, catch some sun and drink a fruity adult beverage.

 

5. On that note, how crowded does the adults only area get? Will I be hard pressed to find a chair on a sea day?

 

6. I'm thinking about purchasing a Vibe Beach Club pass. For those who have purchased this pass, did you consider it worth it?Did the area fill up quickly, making it difficult to find a spot to hang out?)

 

7. We will be a party of 2, and we usually dine around 6:30-7. Is there a long wait for a table in Freestyle dining? Can you make a reservation for Freestyle dining to avoid a wait?

 

 

I am looking at cruise options on NCL Escape and Carnival Vista. Please help me make up my mind!

No Coke products. Only Pepsi and it is usually from a bars soda gun.

Have not been in the Vibe but do know it is a small adult only version of the Haven. Only a small group of people can get a pass usually less then 100.

You can make reservations to just about every restaurant. We always make them and have never had a wait. With only the two of you you could still get in many places with no wait or just a short one.

If you can afford it the Haven is the best. You have about 1/3 of the top 3 decks that only Haven guest have access to. The Haven has less then 100 cabins so you figure there are about 200-300 people at best in that part of the ship so you always can find a spot.

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When I went on my first cruise back in the early 80's and saw the same thing as late as mid 2000's they had the two dinner seatings. While group a was eating group B was in the theater. The during the late seating group B ate while group A was at the show.

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Look at it this way. Book early and you are locked in. If prices rise you are protected. If they drop you make a call. You lose nothing plus you get the larger selection of rooms.

Now assume you book closer. NCL is not going to give you any price then what it is at that time. So now you have to gamble as hope they have cheaper rates when you book.

For me take the sure thing knowing I can get the best rate no matter if it is 2 years out or at final payment date

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I always traveled Carnival before but tried the Escape. Now I will not go back to Carnival. Never had any lines for anything we wanted. Always found a seat at the bars.

The pools were very busy however my kids had no issues with it. We did not spend a lot of time at the pool because of all of the activities on the ship.

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