dutch50

On 11/24/2019 at 5:18 PM, Cruising Latitude said:

On this ship!  We are moving!   

 

When we arrived at the port we were directed by deck number: odd number deck cabins go on terminal B and even deck cabins use terminal C. 

Thanks so much for this info. We are booked on deck 15 and edocs say terminal C. I’m gonna head to terminal B. You and BirdTravels are a wealth of info. Thanks for your input. ⚓️😎

My DH and I will be cruising on her for a B2B on December 1st. We are not ones to spend a lot of time on the pool deck. Have spent years enjoying the poolside fun and games but there are still lots of other venues to enjoy on this ship. Not disappointed in the new deck changes as we love other options. We love the observation lounge where we can spend some down time reading. The buffet there has great eats.  Also, the bar is a great place to have an afternoon drink and enjoy the view. We love the Cellars pre dinner and maybe a show after dinner. Love the shows!! Our last stop for the night is the observation lounge bar for our favorite espresso martinis. Had to pay an extra $3.90 on the Bliss but, well worth it to us. Have been on more than 30 cruises and every ship has it’s plusses  and minuses. The way to love every one is to have an open mind , let those crew members that are trying their best to make your Cruise a great experience know that you appreciate and respect them and go with the flow!! You really have to try hard to have a bad cruise. So ....ready to board this ship!!! 

Thanks for having us along for this voyage. We are booked for December 1st and 8th (because one week is just not long enough) and it’s great to get all this info from you and Doug. Hoping one of you post a pic of the Onda menu. 
Goddessocoffee posted on instagram a video of calmer seas. Hope it stays that way for you sailors. Enjoy!! 😀

6 hours ago, TheDougOut said:

We went in search of shrimp crisps, but the Garden Cafe was completely shutdown in preparation for dinner.  They were redirecting everyone to the Observation lounge, where we enjoyed a plate of potato chips while surrounded by bare feet on couches.  

 

We just grabbed an Ocean Blue reservation for 60 minutes from now. 

Still amazing to me that people can’t use those beautiful lounges as intended. I’m gonna start going by every one that has a sleeper on it and make enough noise to wake them and keep them awake for enough time to get them to move to their cabin to sleep. Party time at the lounges needs to be a regular event!! 🤣🥳🎉

So looking forward to your review and antics. We are having some regrets about canceling this cruise but the Caribbean is really our happy place. Hope you and Sue have a fun time. Thank you for taking your time to show us around this beautiful ship. You guys really are the best!! Can’t wait to experience her December 1st and 8th. 

Thanks for the info. Definitely agree with the slow WiFi but as you said there is always a bar with its own entertainment while I wait. Love the food so far but disappointed with the size of the concierge cabin. Guess we have to book a sky suite to get a stateroom comparable to a mini suite on other (NCL, HAL, Princess) cruise lines. I am on a cruise so all is well. Happy as a clam!!

51 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

@dutch50 We're with you on the Reflection 4/12. I am taking a portable USB charger bank with us so we can charge and use our phones and tablet in bed regardless of whether there is a close plug. Then we will just leave the bank plugged in overnight wherever the plug is. I did buy longer USB cords, though.

Thanks. I’m looking for a power bank to use for my iPad Pro since the one I use for my phone doesn’t work well on the iPad . I use my tablet during the day to read email and books and post to Facebook so it’s important to me to keep a charge. Good grief, I have way too many electronics and plan to spend more time enjoying the world around me on this cruise. First time my sister and I are doing a cruise together without the husbands and I intend to enjoy our time together!! Look forward to meeting you at the M&G. 😄

Thank you so much for all your time and effort in educating us on the Reflection experience. We will be sailing on April 12 and need some info on charging my iPhone, iPad, kindle fire and Fitbit. On some NCL ships I’m able to use the two bedside lamps as charging ports. Will probably bring something extra, but wondering what’s available in the stateroom. From your posts, I assume the unlimited WiFi is acceptable. Thanks for any input!! 😄

I am only seeing the unlimited WiFi pkg for 2,3 or 4 on the Celebrity website. I’m only interested in a pkg for one that I can split with my sister. Am I missing something?

Let me just say, it is a Panama canal sailing and that is what the OP booked I m guessing. Who cares about one port being changed except someone who enjoys stirring the pot. The cruise hasn't even taken place yet. OP might, if he/she opened their eyes actually enjoy the new itinerary. Griping before one ever gets on the ship is a wasted of energy and asking to be disappointed. The entire cruise experience is what should matter, not missing one port or having a port change. This happens often as most of us know It happens for many reasons. As for not posting before the itinerary is set. The cruise dates come out as early as 2 years before sailing, so many things can happen between then and actual sailing dates.

I am not a complainer and understand that port changes are sometimes necessary. I don’t even have a big problem with the changes here as they don’t affect any of my plans. However, I booked this cruise 3 months ago and they have changed the itinerary for the first 4 days of the cruise several times. Sunday was a sea day and now a port day, Monday was a sea day then a port day(Cabo) now a sea day, Tuesday was a port day(PV) now a port day(Mazatlan), Wednesday was a port day(Manzanillo) now a sea day. These changes make it very difficult when trying to book excursions, dining and entertainment. I assume anyone that booked this cruise and made plans for those days is a bit frustrated by now and unsure if they should book anything at this point. Hope anyone can understand the frustration.

For my meet and greets, I've had non CCers attend. I figure after the M&G they may want to join anyway. They just don't have a CC id to fill in the on the NCL sign up sheet when they arrive. For the Bliss M&G I'm hosting, I've got couple folks signed up already. We cruise at the end of October.

Thanks. That makes me feel better. I really don’t want to uninvite anyone interested in meeting fellow sailors. I will be sailing Getaway for 2 weeks in August because one is just not long enough, Bliss in November LA to Miami, Bliss in December and Encore TA next November. I’ve become a NCL junkie the past 4 yrs. LOL

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I make up a single page fun type reminder myself. Get the cabin numbers from those want one. I usually deliver them myself. But, I have had them deliver to places I can't go, like the Haven or the Studios. They've told me at multiple M&Gs that if I wanted they would have delivered all of them. You just need to ask at guest services.

Thanks for the info!! I will ask the ship coordinator when I get their email. I have 56 people signed up for the M&G and only 11 cabins have requested an invitation so far. Five weeks till sail.

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A Cruise Critic Meet and Greet is considered to be a privately scheduled event for Cruise Critic members. It will not be listed in the Freestyle Daily.

 

 

 

I have hosted a number of M&G's. I would ask the ship's coordinator about invitations. I have never asked them to do that. They will provide name tags.

 

 

 

All of my M&G's have been held in one of the restaurants or lounges from 11 A.M. until Noon on the morning of the 1st Sea Day.

 

 

 

The M&G's are always interesting meeting those on your Roll Call and getting to meet the Senior Hotel Management staff. They provide a card with all the Officers names and phone numbers if problems arise. Their line is "We want to deal with your problems while you are on board ship and NOT read about them later on CC". Yes, they do read CC reviews.

 

 

 

Enjoy

I’ve been to 4 M&G on Getaway and all have been at Cagneys so I assume that is where this one will be. On my question about inviting people from the fb group I’m not sure what to do about the ones who would like to participate but don’t want to join CC. 50 are CC members and 6 aren’t so I’m not advertising the M&G on the fb group any longer since I’m not sure about the rules. I’m signed up to attend a M&G on a November cruise and many have signed up on a spreadsheet that the organizer has posted on fb and are not CC members. All 5 of my upcoming cruises have private fb groups and all advertise the CC M&G. Guess I need to submit my question to a CC moderated. Thanks for your help!!

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Basically you try anything people want to do. The key is making sure there's interest. There's nothing worse than setting up a M&G and ended up with more NCL officers than participants. Unfortunately I saw it happen on the Epic. The poor girl that hosted it, started it late, and didn't really follow up well. Didn't get people invested. I felt sorry for her sitting in the room. But that happens.

 

If you're going to run one, you have gauge the roll call. How active they are, how many relationships have been started. All those things add up to how committed they will be to attend. Having things like gift exchanges or other activities they have to sign up for, and actually prepare for, works well too. If you do all the right things, like keeping the list current with CC names and the first names of everyone attending, and a total. Make sure it's visible at all times. Reminding them periodically, that the cruise is closer, and asking if there are any updates to the list. The norm for attendance is 50-60 percent. So, if you get 50 people that say they'll be there, you'll probably end up with 25-30. NCL knows that. So when you give them the number they know about what to actually expect. To improve that percentage on one cruise, I asked if anyone wanted to be reminded on board. They gave me their cabin number, and I left a flier the first night. I got about 70% for that one.

 

Unofrtunately, it doesn't sound like you have a very active, engaged, roll call. If that's true, informal may be the best way to go. Just so you know, those are usually attended by even a lower percentage than the formal ones.

Do you happen to know if NCL will send invitations to the M&G attendees if I provide the name and stateroom number? I’m a first time organizer and waiting for a reply from the ship coordinator. Also, do you know if the attendee must be a CC member. There are a few people on FB who would like to attend. Thanks for any info you can provide.

I agree; a rope course on 1 side, a rock climbing wall on the other and a LAZY river right in between.... leading right over to that little bar at the other end... :D

 

 

 

guess where I'd be... :')

I love that idea. Too bad they don’t let us design the ship!! Gotta have a bar at the end of each entertainment venue!! [emoji854]

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A question for the experienced cc users. Is it correct that ncl gives free tips on drink package and or dining when you have a roll call group ?

Never heard of this. Been in many roll calls and still had to pay the tips. While I would love to save money it just wouldn’t be very fair to the hard working crew.

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Thank you so much for sharing your cruise experience with all of us!! We are sailing the November cruise from LA to Miami and you have given us lots of great info. I am so ready to get aboard!! Again, thanks. [emoji4]

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Quick question

 

Who cares about Haven, if you dont use the Race Track or Ocean Loop?

This is what the ship is about and not about people who have their nose high in the air, because they book Haven.

That is way unfair to these two cruisers who shared a lot of their cruise experience to educate us on our future cruise. Why is it important to anyone what stateroom the reviewers are in? They gave a great informative review and I am grateful to them. They took a lot of time out of their cruise experience and should be commended. [emoji4]

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Thanks for this terrific thread. Lots of useful information here that will help us enjoy our November LA to Miami cruise. Thanks for sharing! [emoji4]

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The last cruise we did on the Escape I split the unlimited WiFi cost with another cruise critic roll call member. He used it odd hours and I used it even hours. It was perfect!! Hope I can get someone to share with me on my next 3 cruises. Definitely saves me and the other money. I really love to see and post to Facebook and I actually needed it to take advantage of a great cruise trip value. Also, hate to come home to hundreds of emails to catch up on.

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The worst part about that horrible smell is that it’s so close to the dining venues. Can always hope it will be smoke free one day.

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Very cool videos!! 6 months to sail!

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Thanks for your great info and pics! November 3rd is so far away so it’s great to see this now. Enjoy your cruise!!

Thanks, Joyce for your wonderful live thread. We are taking the November 3rd LA to Miami cruise so this is very helpful in our planning. You are doing a great job and hope you two have a terrific time onboard. Now, I must go find something to nibble after viewing your dinner pics. Yum!! [emoji39]

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Thank you so much for all the info, pics and especially for the entertainment!! This is the best thread I have ever read and I had so much fun reading it. I booked the December 8th cruise while on the Escape in February and last night booked the November 3rd LA to Miami. Now we are thinking about the Encore TA. NCL should pay you to take that cruise with all the people you have convinced to book both ships. Hope to run into you and Sue on a future cruise and hope you have a speedy post cruise recovery. Safe travels!!

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