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I got all 3 on Epic at the latitudes desk, I think cruise next may have them on the other ships.

I've been on Epic twice, once in an inside cabin for a Mediterranean itinerary where you're basically only on the ship for breakfast and dinner. The second time was a studio cabin on a southern Caribbean itinerary and there was only 1 day without a port. Spice H2O is a handy adult only sundeck that even has a small pool for cooling off. The ship as a whole needs a bit of a refresh, they were having soot issues last year that caused Spice to be closed but AFAIK those have been fixed. On the last refurb they re-did the entire Haven area so that is apparently very nice now but the other cabins are showing signs of wear and tear. The 2 main bugbears of people on Epic are normally 1. the bathroom setup: Separate toilet with a frosted glass door, and separate shower cubicle also with frosted glass door. there is a curtain to block view the toilet/shower area from the rest of the cabin but they are either side of the door into the cabin. 2. general wear and tear: Epic is older than the Breakaway/+ class of ships had hasn't had a serious dry-dock refurb in quite some time, she was due for one in 2020 but... covid, so they wound up only doing the Haven area of the ship. As for crowds, all things are relative, my 2 Epic cruises were post covid and on the first one there were less than 1,500 guests on board. I've been on Getaway and Breakaway when they've been near full capacity (this is higher than the double occupancy figure given on the website) and while waits for bars were lengthy the sheer numbers weren't a major issue for me, however I travel solo so I'd imagine families would have more trouble getting tables at restaurants or loungers on the sun decks together.

Possibly if you booked less than 14 working days ago (assuming the UK has kept that EU rule). Otherwise nope! You might get lucky and persuade them to move your deposit to a new booking, I managed to do that once but that was before covid and they're a lot more reluctant to do that these days.

Demand for Vibe access has to vary depending on the itinerary. I'd certainly consider it if I was going to be on a warm weather cruise with more than 1 sea day, and for sure if it's one of the ships that doesn't have Spice H2O.

There are companies that do customised itineraries as well. The main selling point a lot of the organised tours have is their "skip the line" capability at popular sights like Pompeii or the colusseum. I used get your guide to book a same day tour of the Colusseum that included ground level access. There's also HOHO companies in some of the cities if you want to DIY, I think the one in Naples picks up at the port (unfortunately Italy still had covid restrictions in place when I was there).

exactly my thoughts too!

That could have been an allergic reaction to something. I remember having a vegetarian pasta dish at a function once and had to make a dash to the bathroom because it had red peppers hidden in the tomato sauce. Capsicums (sweet pepper) = losing my dinner, chili’s = skin reaction.

I had it happen on booking excursions & package upgrades but I got it to work on another device. Basic rule of thumb with NCL website and app always have a backup form of access, and ideally more than 1 backup.

You’re not forced to join the organised activities or meals for the solos on NCL. You can join or avoid as the mood takes you. It’s just handy to get to know some people so there might be someone you can ask to watch your stuff on a sun deck or share a seat on excursions.

The trick is to spray it when somewhere sheltered and ideally the first application should be 30mins before you go outdoors.

My first cruise was on Escape and I had such a good time I’d booked my next within a week of getting home. Have fun! I hope to sail on her again sometime in the future.

Oh that’s the standard for most Irish holidaymakers, usually yarn of their county colours. To me it’s just one more thing to get stuck on machinery and potentially cause more damage than good.

US customers - refundable as long as it’s not a cruise next or other voucher that is now expired. european customers not refundable

I thought I saw a margarita tap in a photo someone else posted from the lounge.. it might not be acceptable as I think it was strawberry.

After reading this thread I’m going to be getting a roll of sticky labels and write the relevant details on that as a backup on the outside of the bag. I use hard shell cases these days and never black after the experience of Charles De Galle in Paris delivering the wrong bag to me when it didn’t show up on the carousel. basically anything you can add that will make your bag unique increases the chances of getting it back if it goes astray.

The bed in the studio cabin looks like a twin … I was suspicious when I saw the original plans but it definitely looks smaller than the beds in the studios on the breakaway/+ class ships. I can see that putting off people that are used to the bigger beds.

Somewhat similar… I’m too lazy to do detailed changes in photoshop, I just don’t have the patience for it. I’ve done a few classes so I know the power of it and if suitably motivated I will make the effort. I once lucked into a fab black & white version of a colour photo and I’ve no clue how I managed it. The black & white was so popular that the pro rugby team featured sent out a print of it to every member of their supporters club as part of the membership pack the next season. I actually find the apps on mobile devices far more user friendly and powerful with a lot less effort, but when posting on Instagram I rarely use their filters unless I specifically want something to look different. There’s a reason #nofilter #nofiltersneeded are popular hashtags on instagram.

Did you feel the 70-200 had sufficient range on the boats? I have a sigma ex 70-200 f2.8 but I also have a canon EF L 100-400 f4.5-f5.6 and a Sigma EX 100-300 f4.5-5.6 the canon lens is a legacy of my sports photography and the sigma 100-300 was my late father’s which was used for surf photography. Both the longer lenses are over a decade old, heck I’m pretty sure the sigma is from 2006. I’m in two minds as to whether it’s worth hauling one of the longer lenses with me when the shorter one is faster.

Perhaps true in June, but for my October sailing Bliss will be alone in each port as the other ships arrive different days on those last couple of sailings for the season.

@FoggyEthan On a regular NCL booking they offer a package called Free At Sea, the inclusions in FAS vary depending on promos/length of cruise/category of cabin/location from which you are making the booking. As I am in Ireland and generally book a studio cabin on a 7 day cruise the standard FAS package I get costs €149 which includes: Premium Beverage package (and gratuities), 1 special dining credit (with gratuity), 150mins of free internet and $50 excursion credit applicable to each NCL excursion at each port. AFAIK USA customers don’t have a FAS package fee but do have to pay the gratuities associated with the beverage plan and specialty dining. there is no limit on how many people can purchase the FAS package and there’s also now a FAS+ which you pay for to upgrade the beverage plan, get extra dining credits, more internet access and the $50 excursion credit is expanded to the 2nd person if you’re in a 2+ occupancy cabin. I have no idea if Sixthman cruises offer the FAS package but if they do it should be more economical to buy that rather than the individual components unless you just don’t drink alcohol.

The minutes start counting down from the moment you login and stop when you logout. But have to explicitly go to login.com to start them. You can use the ship’s WiFi for free for checking the NCL app , possibly also for apple iMessage and cruise critic. It’s when you want to access anything else online that you need to login. You can upgrade to an unlimited plan which will be discounted by the value of your minutes if you upgrade before you start using the minutes. You can also buy additional minutes during the cruise if you don’t upgrade to unlimited. the login is not tied to a specific device so you can use multiple devices but only 1 at a time when logged in.

It seems really weird that they’re discounting for one specific cruise, mine is that April 16th sailing on Escape as well. I usually book a studio but they’re already sold out for that sailing and an inside is coming up as €2400 with FAS and DSC included

My understanding from one of the behind the scenes tours was that new shows are worked out on-shore where they have replicas of the ship stage and when the cast moves on-board it’s only a few days rehearsal. I was two sailings where new show casts arrived and in both cases their show was scheduled for the back end of the cruise (7day). However moving all the stage stuff into place may take a little longer and it seems like Priscilla has a particularly awkward set to get off the ship which is why it remained on Epic as long as it did. Chances are it’ll be chorus of Man or Six that will replace it, or something else relatively easy to setup.

A couple of tips I see time and again are: 1. bring tape or something to preserve the integrity of the bag you stuff the laundry into as it’s a paper bag 2. Bring some colour catcher sheets and stuff them in the pockets of whatever you send for laundry I haven’t used the service so far but I’ve seen the above tips mentioned time and again.

customers have the worst timing. The amount that come into our shop 5minutes before closing is ridiculous. Not to mention the days when we haven’t had a single person in so I throw on a live stream of a sports event and within minutes a customer appears from nowhere.