Ciara01

I took a weekend msc cruise on Divina in the fall.  It was one of their 1st US sails after Covid.  I had zero expectations.  The food was good, not amazing, but better than average (comparable to Princess).  The private island was awesome!  The Covid protocols made me feel safer than other US vacation options  although the stress of waiting for my pre-cruise pcr was awful.  (Binax is worth the cost to alleviate that stress).  I breakfasted on hand tossed buffet breakfast pizza before leaving the ship, it was that good.  (I almost never waste tummy space on pizza on a cruise.)

I was just regular (steerage) class in a balcony, so yacht class would probably be awesome.  

Hello neighbor!  I was in 13105. 🙂

I had excellent service in all dining areas, but somewhat slower bar service.  All other customer service was friendly & efficient, though I had no special requests & no expectations.
 

The food was average, but there were a few standouts - buffet pizza crust was amazing!  Fresh pasta on Italian night & some of the deserts were excellent.  Some of the fish was so so.  Overall the food was better than I expected.

I agree, the ship was much classier than I expected.  Mirrors were everywhere & I kept thinking I saw someone who looked like me, then realized it was me.

The shows were meh.  I’m not a Tina Turner fan, so skipped that one.  Enjoyed the juggler & strong men the 2nd night. Left the 3rd show due to no interest in the football- cheerleader 80s performance.

Nassau was Nassau but without the straw market.

Private island was beautiful & the salads at the buffet were awesome!  I’d go back just for the beautiful private island day.  I parked myself on a secluded beach & enjoyed the palm shade, the breeze and the cocktails while working on my sunburn.

Totally enjoyed my time on this ship & thought it was a very good value.  I hope they sell enough cabins to keep solvent.  
 

Covid test was the most stressful part of the trip.  Yet, with everyone tested & all > 12 vaccinated, I felt very safe.

Until next time!

Bottled water & specialty coffee are excluded in the bed package...

Yes, bring water.

I've not tried to rig the A/C, but I sleep with the door open & don't get too hot overnight.

I have found that if I put my room key in the light switch, I am the only person who can find their key later.:)

We had connecting balcony rooms on the Epic. We fought the kids for the room with the bed by the balcony. I think if the room slept 4, the bed was not by the balcony. If the room slept 3, it was. In the room with the bed by the bathroom, once the bunk bed was opened up, you could barely get past it to go out to the balcony (& I am small). I also love cracking the door to hear the ocean sounds & will sacrifice the A/C for it. We were also disappointed that our room steward would not open the dividers between the balconies (I heard it was a safety issue). On the newer ships they will. Enjoy your cruise!

We leave in the Escape in 1 week. We cruised on the Epic almost 2 years ago. I would go on the Epic first and then Escape. Epic was wonderful, but it will be older. They have the controversial bathrooms, but we LOVED having a separate shower room & since we cruised with our young kids, we didn't mind the see-through walls. We also loved BMG, but that has evolved. Escape has more entertainment for the kids - high ropes, fancier slides, mini golf... I'd cruise older ship to newer so you have the new innovations to look forward to. From what I've read, perhaps the service will be better on Epic? Enjoy your trip!

We are looking forward to the UBP on our trip this month, but would not pay for it. We cruise with our children, so must not drink so much that we cannot parent our children. Additionally, those pesky ports cut into our bar time. If, however, we went without the kiddos & went on a cruise without ports, we just might sign up for it. Usually, we have a drink around the pool, a glass of wine or 2 with dinner & a maybe a cocktail over the course of the rest of the evening, so at an average of $30-50 per day, it doesn't make sense to purchase it on this trip.

So the lesson is to just keep asking and don't settle. Nice that you don't have to keep asking the same person or your PCC. Enjoy your vacation!

We have a Dollar rental car reserved through MIA. They have a free shuttle that will pick us up at POM. We will then tour the Everglades for the day until our late afternoon flight. Then will drop our car at FLL & head home. Our res is about $55 for a larger car. Less expensive than a shuttle for 4 & we get a few hours of scenery (& maybe traffic!)

We have an 8:30 reservation for the Brat Pack show, so shouldn't be a problem. The other shows we plan to bring our children to, but will definitely sit at the back on the aisle, just in case they get restless. I'm not sure I will be able to sit through them either!

BALCONY ROOM 10114 - Sofa by the Balcony.

 

We booked a Balcony GTY and we loved our room. The location is a little far from the elevators but not a problem for us. The balcony is a lot bigger than our balcony on the Breakaway.

 

Two huge bags were able to fit under the bed. A lot of storage space for 2 adults and 1 child.

 

 

Thank you! We are in 10132 & I bet it will be similar for space, but bed by balcony since our room sleeps 4.

When you check prices on ncl, they calculate the total and divide it by the number of people, so it looks like you are paying the same price for the kiddos and adults. But... When you book, you usually see a larger price for the adults than the kids - for example, passengers 1 & 2 are ~ $700, 3 & 4 are ~ $300, but the average price is $500 per person. For us, our kiddos were "free", but we still paid port on them, so not exactly free.

1) You must give permission for children under 12 to sign themselves out & they can only do so after 2 hours of attendance.

2) when we were on the epic in 2014, we disabled our children's charging privileges. We were told they would link to our credit card & didn't want any crazy surprises. Take your niece and allow her to play games on your card up until you decide she has reached her limit.

3) Additionally, we did not allow our children (age 6 & 10) to move about the ship independently unless it was our 10 year old going to a specific place & coming right back. 4000 strange people (many who have been drinking, myself included in that bunch) does not make for a place completely safe for children to be on their own. I trust my child to make good choices, but just as there are creepy people in our world, the ship is not immune to their presence.

Let your niece decide if she wants to come explore with you or stay behind with the kids in the splash academy. It is her vacation, but you need to ensure her safety first.

Enjoy your vacation!

When we first tried freestyle in 2010 on the Jewel, we had very low expectations. We expected poor service & were astounded to receive the amazing service we did. We mistakenly assumed that without the same servers every day, that our service would be poor. We also had our first aft balcony for less than what we had been paying for RCI regular balconies. I loved seeing BMG on the Epic & now my children (age 8 & 12) are hooked on cruising too. I am not opposed to cruising again on Princess or RCI, but we have found better deals, better food, better service & nicer rooms on NCL over the past 10 years. I actually like the smaller venues for dinner & shows better than other lines' 3-story dining rooms and giant theaters. I do miss seeing all the shows & not having to make decisions about where to eat & what to see. Just feed me & entertain me & I am happy.

Woodside, I got a similar response from the pcc today. Since we booked in Feb for our Jan cruise, an upgrade would be very pricy. ($1500 to go from balcony to mini suite)! They did give me the upsell # & told me to call back in 9 days (14 days prior to sail) suggesting that was my best bet for an upgrade. We will give it a go, but I'm not expecting much.

I just tried to book with them this week. I got a reply 3 days later telling me that my dates were in the blackout period. They were not, but the disclaimer states that the published material may be incorrect. Frustrating!

We booked through Dollar. The plan is for them to shuttle us from POM. I might check with Alamo - I've used them for about $25 one way in the past.

In light of the whole red meat = cancer report, doesn't 16oz of it sound a bit much? Now, we should complain about the lobster because it is unprocessed & white!;). Seriously, on the Epic in 2014, we had lobster (3-4oz) once in the mdr, then stumbled across it in the buffet where we chose to feed it to our children instead of ice cream as desert. Prior to our cruise people were complaining left and right about it not being available in the mdr. They kept saying they would pay more if it were to be made available. Now, for those who feel they need half a cow, or a sea creature, it can be had. I am appreciative that I do not have to drag my kiddos to a specialty restaurant so I can eat my sea creature & dh can eat his cancer-causing half cow. I do not enjoy paying extra for things that used to be included, but for what we pay for the luxury of cruising as a family, I am shocked we don't have to pay for those towels :p

I just booked entertainment on the escape @ 90 days out.

I think it is a booking strategy used by NCL. When I booked my April cruise in January, my PCC told me that after I paid my deposit, I could cancel and get a full refund if I decided on a different trip as long as it was before my trip was to be paid in full. They are hoping you will continue on with your original booking even though the price may go lower. I would never have thought about canceling, until my PCC suggested it. Really, he suggested it as a plan to hold my room & rate while I debated with my husband.

Sarah

Yes. LeBistro! Enjoy your cruise.

 

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Thanks so much! We will!

Thanks for the appetizing photos!

We are on the epic in 10 days. I will take photos to share. Does anyone know which restaurants serve escargot & chocolate fondue on epic?

We booked a balcony on Epic in January (sailing in April) for 2 adults & 2 kids. In February (after final payment) our NCL rep offered to sell us a 2nd cabin & move 1 adult & 1 child to it. We now have 2 bathrooms & 2 connecting rooms for hardly any more $ than 1 room. Am I going to leave my 2 kids in a room all by themselves? I am thinking if I can keep the connecting door open, I might. Will have to wait & see. I think our rep really wanted to book another room & was willing to jump through hoops to move us. It benefited him as well as us. I would absolutely not do it unless they were connecting rooms though.

I too dragged my feet over sailing NCL because of the dining. I thought that service would suffer if the servers weren't invested in making you happy. We were pleasantly surprised with our service on the Jewel in 2010. The food was well done, the service was great, & we had an unexpectedly excellent cruise. (We had very low expectations, & wouldn't have gone but for a bargain rate on an aft balcony.) We are taking our kids on the Epic next month & am specifically looking forward to not having set dining times. I think you can also request a server & probably follow them as they move from restaurant to restaurant as much as you wish to, as long as there are tables available.

Thanks. Those dailies look like the regular ones, are there any recent kids dailies out there?

We are on the April 6th sailing.

Thanks!

Sarah