eileeshb

I generally fly in a couple of days early and depending on flight time I may stay a night after the cruise too. I would recommend joining the cruise roll call both here and on Facebook to see if anyone else is arriving early. check the home ports section of this forum for recommendations from other cruisers and also trip advisor. I always check trip advisor hotel reviews before finalising a hotel booking when possible. And those reviews will often include tidbits about the neighbourhood the hotel is in and what is close by. There are also forums on trip advisor that include participation from local residents who will give advice in response to any questions. I do a lot of online research and pin places on google maps, you can download maps for offline usage and you can also download languages in google translate. the worldwide emergency services number is 112, most countries have another one that’s better known to their populations but with the advent of mobiles someone decided there should be number common across all countries and 112 was the one picked.

Personally I’ve got enough allergies that I just bring my own stuff so I have a fallback option if I have a reaction to whatever is on hand. I know I can’t use the stuff in the Spa as I’ve had a reaction to that before.

Not in Europe, there are no gratuities charged against FAS but there is a FAS charge instead.

the FAS terms did change at some point last year. I made a booking last January that gave me 250mins and 2 specialty dining credits, but the same booking now would only get 150mins and 1 specialty dining credit. They have also now introduced free at sea Plus which you can upgrade to. FAS+ changes WiFi to unlimited, and adds more specialty dining credits as well as extending the excursion credit to the second person in the cabin and upgrades you to the premium plus beverage package.

Good to know as my next sailing is on Bliss.

Hmmm.. I always use the stool in the studios for my own storage, normally the bottles/cartons of water I order.

There are definitely certain airports known to be worse than others. Charles De Galle in Paris is notorious for losing bags and was the airport I first experienced it at. Atlanta used to be so bad it’s system was an actual problem solving study I did in my computer engineering undergrad back in the 90s. The main cause (pre covid) for lost bags was either the wrong info printed on the tag or a short transfer at a major hub airport, e.g. you should always aim for at least 90mins in London Heathrow. I had bags miss connections in Johannesburg twice due to delayed incoming flights where I made it to the next flight but my bags didn’t. since the resumption of travel a lot of airports are extremely short staffed , which has been made worse by new training & certification requirements for air-side staff (in Europe at least). When Dublin airport hit staff shortages in security there was talk of deploying army resources but to get them verified would take 8 to 12 weeks. Dublin wound up redeploying cleaners and other airside staff to security and baggage handling and wound up with complaints about the lack of cleaning of the facilities. it seems these days putting a tracking chip of some sort into your suitcase is a necessity until all the staff shortages are finally resolved. Those shortages are everywhere in every country and industry as the world tries to recover from covid, extreme weather events and natural disasters.

I’ve had checked bags go astray a few times on non-cruise travel, as a result I always have essentials in my carry-on. since I started cruising I fly in a couple of days early if travelling transatlantic so I can go buy anything I might need if my bag goes wandering.

I saw those tours in Aruba, I went in the safari truck but the atvs were all over our route and yes the dust!!

Why has it taken so long to resolve the legionnaires contamination on Norwegian Prima if guests were suspected of getting it aboard on the November 19th sailing and another guest got it on the February 5th sailing? (See thread in this forum) Are cleaning standards being sacrificed to save more money for you and your nepo-babies to continue to be overpaid while short-changing staff and guests alike? How come Prima has a soot issue so soon after launch when a modern design should have no soot whatsoever if properly designed?

best wishes and get well soon to your father! Certainly seems that NCL have not gotten to the source of the contamination if he picked it up on a sailing that recently.

There’s a pretty random gap in those dates, the guests were on November 19th sailing but the letter was sent to guests who sailed January 22nd onwards? Were guests who sailed after November 19th and before January 22nd notified? I’d have thought those on the sailings immediately after the infected pair would be at highest risk.

Glad to read you enjoyed sailing on Escape. My first cruise was on that ship and I had such a good time I bought 4 cruise next certificates and booked my second cruise within a week of getting home. No point in booking while aboard as a European customer as the pricing and inclusions/exclusions are a mess in comparison to the eu side of the booking system.

You can also get dehumidifier sachets I keep one in my camera bag when shooting in wet weather. They’re basically extra large silica gel packets, they’ll help prevent condensation build up

Some good suggestions have already been made but here’s my take: during the day the Waterfront area on deck 8 tends be fairly quiet and I think there’s a coffee station there in the mornings. I’m not a coffee drinker so can’t verify this. for morning breakfast, you can pay for room service, go to O’Sheehans or one of the MDRs but the service in the MDRs tends to be sloooowww. when margaritaville was on getaway on deck 16 they had a complimentary morning buffet egg station up there which was never as busy as the main buffet. I don’t know if that service has continued since the conversion to American Diner. There are specific competitions/entertainments that will draw larger crowds to the Atrium or Pool deck, if you want to see something going on in the Atrium but avoid the crush go upstairs to O’Sheehans bar side for a view down into the atrium. Avoid the pool deck and the overlooking sun deck during the mr sexy legs and the equivalent female version. Spice H2O should be quieter as it’s adults only during the day but the smoking area is often right by the bar there. On warm weather itineraries the night time parties are in Spice H2O. You should still be able to buy passes for the Thermal Suite which has a hydrotherapy pool, heated loungers as well as sauna, steam, salt and snow rooms.

That is a great document! I wish they had it for the other ships for NCL novices or those accustomed to a particular ship class. Epic drove me cracked when I sailed on her after having been on escape, getaway and breakaway. anyhow there is a kinda mini plan on the wall beside each elevator bank listing which public areas are on which decks and whether they are forward, aft or mid-ships.

They change them quite regularly, I was sailing from San Juan at the end of February last year and pre sailing it was the fairy lights but when I was back after the cruise they were just finishing putting up pink butterfly type sails in the first week of March, picture below. The guide I had said it’s the governor’s wife who picks what the overhead display is.

Guinness are on a never ending quest to produce something that will taste the way it's supposed to no matter how it's poured. The latest effort is the nitrosurge device for canned Guinness, back in the 80s it used to be bottled Guinness with this little plunger thingy you stuck into the bottle. BTW american students that come to Ireland reckon the Budweiser here is actually palatable compared to the version back home. The vast majority of beer sold in Ireland is produced here regardless of the brand.

Found a pricelist from 2018… price on the left is standard, price on the right is the reduced price when in port.

That is absolutely nuts, I’ve had a Swedish massage on the ship in the past and it was never that price even before the port day discount. You can get a thermal spa pass for that price for the entire week and let the jets and heat do the work instead. I’m going to see if I can find a pricelist from a past cruise…

Thank you for another great live and all the lovely pictures of Prima. I may have to book one of her Northern European itineraries if I can ever get the dates to line up with my down season at work. safe journey back to Atlanta.

My one and only experience of great stirrup cay had a bunch of folks miss their morning excursions because the tender queuing was so badly managed. I had a ticket for the first tender after excursions and vips and it was after 1pm before I made it to the island, the tenders started to be called at 11am.

There are 3 main dining rooms on Escape, Manhattan is the biggest and usually not open for lunch on embarkation day. However one of either Taste or Savor will be open, and if there’s sufficient demand the other may also open. The times will be on the back page of the freestyle daily newsletter you get at check in.

Apparently that is gone unless you’re in one of the expensive cabins. They reduced the charge per room service order but added the new lower charge to what used to be the free continental breakfast room service. I think it’s $5 or so, I haven’t sailed since the change but it was mentioned in one of the threads in this forum.

yikes... no way am I hauling 3 dSLRs with me, juggling 2 is my limit and I'll have my phone for the wide shots if needed when I've longer lenses on the cameras. If my friend decides not to come along with me I might bring the mirrorless camera kit as it's small and light for drier days.