PortFees45

17 minutes ago, bones774 said:

every $250 cert you put down only cost you $125. every cert you use you save $125.

that's why the 2 per any cabin is a good deal and people are always looking for that deal

Nope. If you buy one $250 cert you get $100 in "free money." 

If you buy 2, you get $250 in "free money" - not $200, so you do really save more by buying two. Those savings end if you get more than that. 

1 minute ago, bones774 said:

The way NCL markets these things makes it so difficult to grasp the deal. The best way to look at it is you are buying 1/2 price gift certificates.  You get 1k of merchandise for $500. If you put  down 4 you would get a 1k drop in price that only cost you $500

Yes but there's no more actual savings (ie "free money") for 4 versus 2...it just means you've paid more up front. 

18 minutes ago, bones774 said:

You just found out the financial incentive to get more. There really is no financial incentive not to have a full load. They are resellable,  last for four years and there is a active market for people who want them. You can usually resell them in a day.

Nope, NCL is still only kicking in $250 to match your $250. If I had 4 cruise certs now, it just meant I spent more in the past. 

It's not like how if you get one $250 cert they kick in $100, but if you book two they kick in $250. If you bought 4 certs and they say, kicked in $600 instead of $500, I'd buy more than 2 at a time.

18 hours ago, gatorchinsky said:

The rationale is that the go karts and laser tag did not impress us.  Why would we then go on the Encore which has the same for fee activities and even less public deck space?  With both ships out of Miami when we sail we chose to go back on the Escape.  We love the Escape and will have a great time.

I'd bet good money the Escape will have less public deck space after the drydock. They'll do the disgusting Vibe expansion that they just did on the Getaway. 

1 hour ago, Budget Queen said:

Why didn’t you use 2 Cruise Next per cruise???   Now that’s a deal.    😀😀😀

I only buy two cruise nexts at a time. There's really no financial incentive to get more than that. I used one for each leg of the trip. 

It's for your convenience. 

And the return trip was unfortunately much, much more expensive...at $299.

With two CruiseNext certs (one for each) this really is coming up on being cheaper than staying home. 

Not wild about the Inside cabin, but unlike the Dawn (other Canadian route I was looking at) the Gem has Great Outdoors and Spinnaker, which makes such a huge difference. 

7-day to Quebec City out of Boston is available on NCL.com right now for $229 for a solo inside sailaway. 

I don't think fares get much lower than that. Do they? 

11 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

 

Oh for goodness sake stop worrying about trolls will ya. All is welcomed here.

 

I too will miss H2O so I switched my 2021 Encore in Caribbean to Bliss in Alaska. Did the first P Canal in 2018 and I will be happier.

Wish all ships had the H2O that Escape has. The BEST ship.

Escape is NCL's last good ship. 

It's mostly fat people in there, so no judgment. You'll be fine.

2 hours ago, TheDougOut said:

Have we seen this before?  Maybe it’s just a different angle, but I don’t recognize this at the end of the new vibe area...

 

That's where the special Haven only lifeboat is stored.

"This thread can go on forever.  Nothing can change the already configured "Encore" which was built/designed by people greedier than us. Sorry folks."

Fixed it for you. 

2 hours ago, GA Dave said:

I have to wonder what has been happening on the Getaway since the refurb with their expanded Vibe area.  The few reviews I have seen said that Vibe was virtually empty while in the Baltic.  Anyone been on the Getaway recently in the "warmer" weather Europe has been seeing?  If it's Vibe is still running virtually empty even with warmer weather, NCL may actually consider a reasonable daily pass rate to fill it.

Or how about they just leave it as public deck space as originally designed? 

7 minutes ago, UFMOM said:

 

We were on the Bliss and the casino had a totally enclosed smoking room. There was just a strong stale cigarette smell right near the door to the room.  There was no smoking in the rest of the casino. It really made a difference. I think Encore is going to have the same set up.  Hope they install this in the casinos on the Away ships during their dry docks.

 

 

Mary Ann

They didn't do it on the Getaway in April. They just expanded the Vibe. 

I honestly think the public deck space on the Encore is so small that the risk of fights on the pool deck is something to seriously worry about. 

14 minutes ago, TheDougOut said:

It’s possible that Vibe will be released with a $29 or $49pp cover charge, and it’s so perfectly-designed to handle the masses that this will become a big non-issue.

 

Well, other than the fact that the highly sought-after aft views are never coming back.  

Why would they lower the vibe price when the demand will be higher?

4 hours ago, AeroXWD said:

We were planning to go on the Encore December 1., and were looking forward to be on a brand new and beautiful ship. But the more I've read, the more skeptical I've become, and am now considering alternatives. 

 

The fact that such a small portion of the sundecks are open to everyone is a potential showstopper. Moreover, from what I've gathered you can't even know if you'll be able to purchase Vibe passes until you're on board and what they cost? This will me and my gf's first cruise, and if the only place we can find to sit outside is on our balcony, I won't be able to convince her to cruise again. The hull art, on the other hand, I think looks good - even though I don't generally like hull art.

Keep in mind that because of the (shameful) elimination of the public sundeck space and SpiceH20, the masses are going to descend on the Waterfront. Instead of being the peaceful, usually sparsely populated quiet zone it's going to become an extension of the pool deck complete with chair hogging and people playing music on portable speakers.

The Encore is disgusting. 

5 hours ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

Nothing a $50 million dry dock can't fix (after two years of service..)! 

Oh what a Joy that would be!

3 hours ago, gatorchinsky said:

I think if the laser tag was indoors it would be better.  With it being outside opening times are limited because of sunlight and you have the weather to deal with as well.  When we were on Bliss we had 2 scheduled times to do the laser tag but both days it rained so they were cancelled.  We never got to do it because we couldn’t get other reservations.  Why take out a very popular portion of these mega ships (Spice) for a space that’s not even open majority of the day.

So that NCL can squeeze more revenue out of the ship while reducing the quality of life on board for anyone not it he Haven.

After all, it's not like FDR could make 10 million a year instead of 20 million a year. He'd starve!

2 hours ago, TheDougOut said:

 

Disney attempted it with DisneyQuest, and it closed due to low attendance.  I actually think it all feels a bit dated.  

Exactly. I mean, what's more modern and 2019 and hip than an...arcade?

2 hours ago, QueenOfZoom said:

 

Well that was specific and helpful 🙄

Almost as helpful as your reply!

This ship is disgusting. 

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

"other maintenance" like removing the ropes course and sports court and installing a for-fee go kart track

Is this really in the works? 

21 minutes ago, shof515 said:

yes the escape is headed for drydock for the first time. it will engine maintenance and other maintenance work

"other maintenance work" like turning a giant chunk of the public sundeck space into a pay-only zone? 

Sail the Escape while you can, folks. She's NCL's "last good ship" until this drydock. 

8 hours ago, RNCheryl said:

I just received my son's "translation" of NCL's explanation:

 

It's not our fault that we suck but we will be happy to provide you with more unremarkable service the next time you book with us.  Your comments will be added to the other guests comments.Thank you  

...for your convenience