Costa canary

I was recently on the Escape and was rather disappointed at the pricing , the last time I was on ncl was 4 years ago long before they gave the ubp as a perk and I purchased the drinks package and was very impressed as there was almost nothing that was not included, we were drinking top shelf scotch, bourbon,gin and vodkas all week and never payed more for anything. This last time , a couple of weeks ago was very poor , the best scotch available was dewars , which is ok  but not glenmorrangie ok !  on all the menus they also had monkey shoulder which is a blend of single malts , I  like it , but it is does split opinion , but alas despite being on every menu they sailed without a single bottle on board ! I mostly drunk buillet or JD rye .

Your right ,embarkation was a disaster we arrived just after 12 and were pretty much standing up for the next 5 hours even when we went to the buffet we had to stand in the aisle and eat as everyone had camped out there and were not going to move even after they had finished eating ! 

What I would also like to agree with are all the staff on board were absolutely fantastic, even with there vastly increased workload not one of them failed to remain happy and smiling at all times , 10/10 

Getting off the ship was almost as bad , we were the last to leave , about 10.15 and it took us an over an hour and half before we got to the pavement outside the terminal, I loved NY but I don’t think I want to use the Manhattan cruise terminal again , it can’t cope with the big ships 

despite these issues ( which weren’t that much of a problem) we had a great time 

Make sure you go to the choir of man in the theatre,it’s a great show and get there early and go up onstage and have a beer as they do a sort of pre show hanging around and talk to the guests kind of thing !

dont miss howl at the moon , our favourite place to hang out in the evening 

i agree with the above post about Pincho tapas , well priced and very tasty 

Marco in the bar at margaritaville was my favourite barman and made my favourite drink on the ship ( uptown top shelf margarita) and you can now enjoy the volcano nachos there ( $8.99) without having to both have a meal 

although it has mixed reviews we thought Moderno was the best meal we had in the 2 weeks onboard, I had 6 of the 12 different meats offered and they were all surperb 

i also agree the Peking duck in the buffet was excellent 

the supperclub is a great venue , we went 3 times , 2 free and 1 paid for , the wine lovers the musical we paid for and it was great fun , all 3 times I think the food was better than the mdr and with much better service , plus you get to see somebody sing whilst you eat , what’s not to love about that !

Just off the Escape on Sunday , there is no charge for the choir of men in the theatre, make sure you go it’s an excellent show ,get there early and go up on stage and get a beer and talk to the cast !

no one on the ship for the whole 2 weeks mentioned anything about the premium drinks upgrade , I only noticed it on the last 5 days when the bar menus finally came out ,

Hello , we are on the Escape in a couple of weeks , does anybody know if they have spelt bread available or if we need to phone ahead to ask for it ? or wait until we get on board , if we have to phone ahead for dietary requirements does anybody know if there is a specific number.

thanks in advance for any info .

Ncl in the uk are changing their offers all the time so keep checking each week , they always offer an all inclusive price or a sail away price then add a few changeable extras to the AI price ( we got obc and excursion credit & 250min WiFi  ), the AI price includes all drinks up tp $15 plus specialty coffee in restaurants & bottled water in cabin, but not WiFi  What extras you get also depends on what level of cabin you pick . If you have children they often do a 3rd guest goes free , I’ve never seen them offering free airfare on the uk site ? , go on the website and sign up for the newsletters so you don’t miss any deals , then wait a little while for any offers that suit your needs .

On 1/2/2019 at 8:41 AM, SNJCruisers said:

Option One

Option Two

Option Three.    Sail on Carnival and buy Cheers, it includes all of the bottled still and sparkling water that you would like and all espresso based coffee drinks as well.

Or move to Europe , as the ubp includes water and coffee , although we probably pay more for it !

Hi Don , I think nearly alll the wines by the glass are included in the ubp ,although I thought I saw some that were over $15 

Hi , I will be on the Escape on 20th Jan , can anyone recommend the best place on the ship where I can get good views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty as we sail away , I have looked at the deck plans and was thinking about one of deck 8 waterfront (if it goes all the way around the aft of the ship ) , spice H20 or the sun deck on 19 , any suggestions?

thanks 

23 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I was introduced to the "Golden Margarita" on Breakaway.  My new favorite drink:

• golden tequila
• splash of sour mix
• splash of OJ
• twist of lime
• Grand marnier topper

This sounds good , are you drinking this on the rocks or frozen ? 

My favorite cocktail is a strawberry margarita on the rocks .

When we went on the getaway in 2015 we would go to the buffet about midnight and get a white choc chip cookie , they were great , I do hope they still have them when I go on the escape in January 

17 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

For breakfast, it is hands down the CRISPY Bacon! I love soooo much that they have a specific tray labeled "Crispy Bacon". Why would anyone choose the non-crispy bacon? I love to put sausage gravy on my crispy bacon.

 

Otherwise, my go-to foods are the hot dogs with chili and whatever the Indian options are from the "Tastes of Asia" buffet.

You Americans and your crispy bacon 🥓😜 A better description for this is over cooked fat , there is almost no meat on it , now what you need to do is find the English bacon section ( although it’s probably Danish ) 3 or 4 slices of that between 2 slices of thick hand cut fresh bread 🍞 maybe some ketchup or even an egg sunny side up and there you have it “a bacon butty” , the best breakfast you can get ( apart from eggs benedict ) 

The fairest way to solve this would be to have a “vibe lottery “ anyone interested in the vibe would collect a ticket after boarding (2 people per ticket ) then later on that afternoon when everybody would have had a chance to enter they draw out 200 tickets (or whatever the capacity is ) , that way everybody on board has an equal chance regardless of how quick you run or what cabin category you are in .

An UNLIMITED OPEN BAR means all drinks the bar serves will be free with no limits. A package of any type indicates that it only includes items in that package and thus NOT everything. The new name is misleading not the old one.

I agree with this , as a Brit if I see the words “unlimited open bar “ then that means there are no limits to what I can have for free from that bar , which is clearly not the case here as I can not have free bottled water or top shelf drinks or certain cocktails all of which the bar serves .

I don’t really care what they call it as I’m happy with what’s on offer , but beverage package is a better description or it should be “unlimited open bar * (*with limits }

I’m away from a computer at the moment, but the £61.22 will include the gratuity. It costs $69 plus 20%, which works out at around £60 when converted into pounds.

 

 

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The £61.22 definitely does not include gratuity, it says so in the t&t’s ( sorry I don’t know how to add picture )

I think you may find that it is actually charging you 20%. My bookings say 18% like yours does, but when I run the numbers it is actually charging 20%.

 

If you want to check it then you need to work out the exchange rate which its being used for your booking. This is set based on the rate the day you booked. To find out what it is, I usually look to see what they are charging for $10 OBC.

 

Using that rate, you can then find out the dollar cost that they are charging for the dining package. When I do it for my bookings, it comes out at $82.75, which is pretty well $69 plus 20% (it actually seems to be $68.95 plus 20%)

How are you getting that screen shot ? I just logged into my ncl and the 3 meal plan is £ 61.22 and does not include the 20% gratuity, this means it will cost £73.46 ( $96 ) total , how much is to purchase onboard,

You should buy some silicon straws , totally reusable and much better to suck on than metal or plastic or paper

As a UK resident I always find it surprising that there are electrical points in U.S. bathrooms. In ours we may have a shaver point and/or a pull cord ceiling mounted switch for an electric shower. Switches and sockets are outside.

 

But then we also have gallons (proper gallons [emoji6]) and miles ...... and litres and kg as well ...[emoji848]

 

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My house here in Spain has the light switch and a regular power socket in the bathroom ( 1 foot from the sink ! ) as do all the other houses I’ve been in , in fact I’ve never seen a shaver only socket in any bathrooms here except in hotels .

Actually, the higher prices that you pay cover what others are complaining about. With "Premium All Inclusive", you don't "see" the charges but you still pay them.

On my upcoming 2 week cruise on the Escape I got a price from NCL,s UK website and then got a price from NCL,s US website and a price from vacations to go and no surprises the price was almost the same , the uk price was a bit higher but it included more perks ( water in cabin every day and specialty coffee and 250 mins internet ) that were not offered in the US deal at that time . I do think the European way is better as I don’t have to sit there with a calculator and add up all the different charges just to get a final price .

It’s the same for hotels , I was in the process of booking a hotel in NY and you get all these daily service charges and other amounts added , the price you first see is never the price you pay , this is actually illegal in the UK as the original advertised price is always the final one .

Will it be in the buffet at lunch or dinner serving , Indian is my favourite food, it’s practically a national dish in the uk. I do not remember seeing any on the getaway in 2015, I’ll be on the Escape for 2 weeks in January and would love to be able to have a good curry .

Hi , we received 120 min free ship to shore phone credit on our upcoming cruise , but I can’t seem to find any terms & conditions on this , does anyone know how it works , like can I use it from my cabin phone but more importantly where can the call be made to , I live in Spain and that is the only place I would want to call , thanks for any help

If you have not been before you should definitely take a trip to the top of mt teide , beautiful landscape , 3000 mts. ( nearly 10,000 ft ) at the top , there is a cable car that goes up the last part , you can’t go right to the summit but you are not far off . And at that time of year it will probably be snow capped , take something warm as it will be hot in Santa Cruz but considerably colder at the top . If you have family the Loro parc is a nice day out .

This subject does seem to bring out a lot of extreme views on both sides , I would be happy if all inside spaces were smoke free , my wife suffers from asthma and if she’s in a room with a few smokers she will be on her inhalers later and probably spend most of the night coughing her guts up but if your sensitive to smoke your probably sensitive to lots of other things as well , she would certainly be even more ill if they started spraying them dry ice machines around , they’ve put her in hospital in the past . But neither of us have a problem with anyone smoking outside ( especially on a moving ship ) we spent a lot of time on the getaway sitting at the smoking area on the waterfront and spice h20 and had no problem ( and our 2 friends are smokers ), I do find it hard to believe when people say they can’t sit on there balcony because a nearby cabin are smoking on there’s .

It’s not just cruises it’s travel in general , in April 2015 we spent 10 days in Orlando and then 7 nights on the getaway , I priced up the same trip for April 2019 , both the cruise and the hotel are 3 times what we paid then and the airfair is about 30% more , I’m pretty sure my wages aren’t 3 times higher though.

You may view that as a benefit but you still "pay" for it. I just priced the exact same cruise using the US site and the UK site (all inclusive in UK)... Know what? The UK cruise fare is almost $200 more than US cruise fare when you convert pounds to dollars and the US booking includes onboard credit that is not included in the UK.

 

So enjoy your "free" bottled water.

I know I’m paying for it , that’s why I put quotations around the word give , the offers vary from month to month , the deal I got included ubp + coffee + water + internet + excursion credit + dsc + all gratuity’s on drink and onboard credit ( 150$ ) , I not stupid enough to think I’m getting things a lot cheaper it’s just that everything is paid upfront so there are no surprises onboard .