JimR24

5 hours ago, AllAboardatSea said:

Bingo. You’ve hit the nail on the head. We bought the CruiseNext certs 4 years ago and they were going to expire, so we booked a cruise for next week a few months ago and we’ll be done with NCL after this. I would rather be spending the money on RCCL or Celebrity as they understand loyalty and not looking at customers as walking ATM machines. If NCL ever get out of this phase and improve quality, we’ll look again.

And I'm sure you'll be back sooner rather than later once you realize that all big businesses are the same.  None value loyalty and know you are being replaced with someone who is mad at RCCL and Celebrity this week.  You know, the 2 brands who walk on water and value their customers.  I'm sure if you pop over to their boards, you will only see positive reviews.

Wait - so you get free NCL cruises and you're complaining about price?  Uh huh.....

Tips go a loooong way with the bartenders.  I never had issues getting 2-3 drinks per transaction.  It got to the point where I didn't need to order with certain guys and by the time I got to the front, my drinks were done.   

Drink.  Is there any other acceptable answer?

I live in Tampa and travel the state for work.  I really don't like going to Miami.  We have left out of both ports and I would take Canaveral over Miami every day of the week.  I find the traffic in Miami to be god awful.  

Sun

Getaway 

Epic

Got the Escape this time next year.  Trying to fit another cruise in before summer or adding one the week after the one we have booked already.  

I would think it has to do with the weather.  I live is Florida and the weather in the summer is unpredictable.  I'm sure they did their research and made the best decision possible for them as a company.  

My wife loves the Sun but I have no real preference.  Been on the Epic and Getaway along with the Sun and it didn't matter to me.  Destination matters more to me.  

Unfortunately,  this is the way of the world right now.  Lots of people are feel they are "owed" something, even when they are not.  And if they don't like the answer, they just scream louder until they get what they want.  Sooner or later, they are given something just to shut them up.  Then they will complain about what they got.  

I'm going to have to take a peek at the site and read some of the reviews.  The drive by complaints on this board are usually pretty comical.  

We always eat in the main dining rooms when we cruise and I wear shorts/polo shirt every night.  They are nice shorts that I golf in but I don't bring any long pants at all and have never been turned away.  

We will be doing the Western (1st on the list) out of Canaveral next December.  We did the 2nd one on the Epic and loved it.  Roatan and Costa Maya were our favorites.  Harvest Caye was ok.  If we did that port again, we would venture out away from the port.  

I would like to do the 3rd one because the first two ports are ones we haven't hit yet.   

1 hour ago, ColeThornton said:

OH NO!   Now they have to go get those people from the New Orleans airport back on to the ship and sail them to POM.  Will it never stop!

Lets hope they get all the keycards reprogrammed.  NCL doesn't need 500 people at the service desk complaining.  

2 hours ago, onetimearoundtheworld said:

This defending of NCL is super ridiculous. They are a million dollar business, scheduling ships during the hurricane season year for year. Of course every customer should expect them to have a couple of alternative scenarios played through in advance, some of them including adding a day or two to a voyage and having to end it at a different disembarkation port.

 

I have no idea how anyone can seriously think its okay that NCL isn't prepared for that.

Whats even more ridiculous is being on a luxury cruise ship headed to New Orleans and complaining about a keycard not working.  All the while, people are in the Bahamas have lost their lives and others lost everything they own.  I'm sure it's an inconvenience but not one I would complain about on a forum.  But I guess it's the selfish way of the world these days.  Only a matter of time before someone bring a lawsuit against NCL for keeping them safe in a hurricane.  

To quote Ron "tater salad" White - you can't fix stupid.   

1 hour ago, hilomelko said:

Hardly anyone’s key cards are working they have the stewards in the hallways opening everyone’s doors ...because there is over 500 pissed people at the desk bitchin about having to stay in NO 1-2 nites....it’s like a maiden voyage..comedy of errors....they don’t even have the luggage tags out they have no clue they are so overwhelmed...it’s quite funny...they actually made an announcement that your key cards don’t work in your stateroom but you can still buy things so don’t worry....I hope they loose many millions on this disaster,they deserve it...

And coming to CC to complain about is going to help?  Go get a drink and relax, oh and say a prayer for the people in the Bahamas that are still being battered by Dorian. 

I love being somewhere my phone doesn't work.  We never get the Wifi package so we can unplug and not be bothered.  We shut our phones off and they go into the safe until the cruise is over.  And you know what, my job and the stress that come with it are there when I get home but I feel better (at least for a little while).  We mix it up on our itineraries too.  My daughter likes port heavy trips while my wife and I enjoy sea days in between.  My son just likes "free food".  It's fun to see him grow and try things he never would if we were paying for it.  I ask them to try 2-3 different things each trip.        

My wife loves the idea of not worrying about anything once we get on the ship.  We spent 10 days in Jamaica this summer and food was always an issue.  Paying one price and then being able to eat in a restaurant is great.  We've been on the EPIC, Getaway & Sun and have the Escape booked next year.  

Hard to find a negative.  We are very easy going and just take whatever bumps there are and move on.  We're not going to let chair hogs, smoke or a wait for free drink ruin a vacation with our kids.  It's just not worth because I am not working.  

We were on the Sun a few weeks back for a 3 day.  We showed up at 11:15am, checked in and I was having my first drink before 11:45.  It looked to me that boarding started around 10:30am.  Not sure if that is the norm but it worked out great for us.  

Sailed on the Epic on our first NCL and would cruise again on her if the itinerary meet our needs.  With a little research we were able to be prepared for EVERYTHING.  While the bathroom setup was different, we knew about it before hand and prepped our kids.  

We were off from work, kids were not in school and we were on vacation in the Caribbean.  A bathroom setup, room setup or any other petty complaint wasn't going to ruin our time.  I laugh at most of the people complaining on the boards.  A petty complaint would never stop us from trying something for ourselves.   

20 hours ago, kjb0629 said:

Booked May 10 on the Sun for a quick getaway and surprise - found out I was pregnant with my 2nd the week after booking!

I'm usually a drinker but obviously will be foregoing alcohol this time around.  Anyone here like to order fun, nonalcoholic drinks that can give me some tips on what to ask for?  I will be drinking a lot of water but want to feel a little tropical too!

 

Will be 8 weeks pregnant when we sail, so I just look a little chubby - hopefully you fellow cruisers won't judge the amount of meat I plan on eating at Moderno for the alcohol calories I won't be consuming! 😛

I'm on the same cruise.  I will pick up the drinking slack for you.  

I don't get the hate either.  Especially this day and age when you can review EVERYTHING and there are a ton of trip reports.  We sailed on the Epic 2 years ago and had a great time.  Yes the cabin is different than anything we have stayed in before but it wasn't going to ruin our vacation.  We knew about it going in and prepared the kids for it.  But then again, we have a teenage boy who can be, well, a teenage boy so we are used to bodily sounds.  

I have even heard that the ship is "ugly to look at from a distance".  Never understood that one.  Yes, it's big but we never had issues finding chairs on the deck.  Even went over spring break and the crowd was well behaved.  We would book another cruise on the Epic in a second.  Of course you will run into your entitled crowd but we spent years vacationing in Disney so we are used to them and just laugh and go about having a great time.  

We did not have any issues haggling with any vendor we came across at the port. Got something I wanted that was "posted" at $75 for $40. The major stores have set prices, the vendors in the middle of the port didn't.

HIGHLY recommend Rony. We've toured with him at least 8 times. I would not recommend just walking out and picking a random driver. His fees are very low to have a private driver for the day. We've had an awesome day with him every time!

Totally agree about Rony. We had a tour with them 2 weeks back and had a great day. They met us outside the gates and made sure we were taken care of the whole day.

I had read several negative reports about the Getaway before we left but we are having a wonderful time.

 

At some bars, with only one bartender, service is a little slow but if you don’t want to wait walk a few feet down to another bar.

 

Food has been very good and hot. Service has been good in all the restaurants we have gone to.

 

Ship is full of families with a lot of small children. Have not noticed anyone really drunk.

 

We also have not run in to any rude, unhappy staff.

 

I will say that our room steward has not been our best. I don’t think we have even seen him. The first night we got back to our cabin a little before 10pm and he still hadn’t turned down our room. Not that big of deal but worth noting.

 

For those booked on an upcoming Getaway cruise I am sure you will have a great time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We were on last week and had a great time also. Lots of families also and no issues at all with Spring Break crowds. Glad you are having a great time. How are the seas? Thought we saw a post somewhere saying they were a little rough.

What was the order of your stops? If it was Costa Maya, Belize, Honduras, Cozumel, Can you answer a few questions from the Daily Latitudes? I am trying to plan dinners & shows etc.. The most recent Latitudes I have found were from Nov. 2017 and the ports were in a different order. Not sure if the info would work for my trip.

 

Thanks!

Sea Day

Roatan

Harvest Cay

Costa Maya

Cozumel

Sea Day

Time changes happened a bunch. Make sure you keep an eye on that.

Where did you get the fish pedicure and how much was it?

We did this at Mr. Sanchos. It's called the Islander Fish Spa. I want to say it was $30 for 30 minutes but they do have 15 minutes also. I would recommend making a reservation with them before you arrive. We saw people turned away because they were full.

Thanks for the review! What was the charge to see the monkeys and hold the sloth?

$10 per person. We were in a group of 6 and the guide really took his time with each of the animals.