Cruising Lynne

Just now, ChiefMateJRK said:

I ordered the onion rings every time I went to Cagney's.  They were very good in April.

Just came to say that taking away onion rings is just wrong. 

16 hours ago, living at the beach said:

Departing in just 3 days from Boston on the Gem going to Bermuda. Does anyone know which main dining room will be open? Much better alternative to dealing with the buffet with fool on luggage 

O'Sheehan's may be open as well.

19 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Our first 2 cruises were with RCCL before they started building their oversized ships.

 

Funny, the first was in 2002 on the Splendour of the Seas. Everyone on our plane to Barcelona seemed to be either going on our cruise or a similar Princess cruise. Our ship was next to the Princess ships which was actually BIGGER than our RCCL ship.

Times have definitely changed. Our very first cruise was also in 2002 on RCCL Adventure of the Seas. At the time, it was one of  the largest cruise ship in the world.. Now it is overshadowed by the mega ships. It did get me hooked on cruising though! That and the warm Caribbean itinerary. We went to Aruba, Curacao, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Our first NCL cruise was the Wind in Hawaii in 2006. Much smaller than Adventure, but I really enjoyed that ship and itinerary as well. It was our Honeymoon.

16 hours ago, ontheweb said:

The Epic might just be 1 ship, but it is a very, very large ship. It's the largest ship we were ever on, and I do not intend to ever again go on a ship that large or larger.

Epic and similarly sized ships are the largest I will go on. I also enjoy smaller ships like the Spirit. It is fun to mix things up if you can handle all the extra walking you get on the bigger ships. Mostly, I am really looking forward to checking out Agua next year.

On 5/31/2024 at 5:27 PM, ontheweb said:

We are all overlooking the real problem here. The ships are getting too big! And that is why some ports are beginning to say no to cruises or at least limiting the number of passengers they will allow in a single day.

I agree. 

This is why I will not cruise on RCCL anymore. They insist on always having the "largest cruise ship" in the world. I feel that these behemoths overcrowd ports and give cruising a bad name. It leads ports to want to ban ships altogether instead of just allowing more reasonable sized ships. 

3 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Oh, Joy...

 

We're booked on the Joy next year for 15 days/nights. Sounds like it may be rather ho-hum, entertainment-wise. Sounds like we'll have to make our own fun...although, at our age, fun ain't what it used to be.

 

This has the potential to be our last NCL cruise. We're finally Platinum, but it's feeling more and more like we need to spread our wings and fly the NCL coop and try another cruise line. MSC maybe? We shall see...

I enjoyed being on Joy right before they refurbished it. I hope they have the entertainment figured out before your trip. We are cruising on Jade in September. This will be after having tried out HAL, MSC, and Princess. Have previously also sailed with RCCL and Celebrity, but mostly with NCL. I am hoping to feel like coming home again. I have always felt at home and enjoyed the Freestyle vibe on NCL.

2 hours ago, joestein514 said:

Just got home today from Joy 7-night sailing to Bermuda.

 

Overall, a relaxing enjoyable cruise.

 

Some highpoints.... Staff is excellent. Food is generally good.  Bartenders are also very good.   Ship is very clean and pretty.  Love the observation lounge.

 

The big low point is the Entertainment.  There is very little.   I personally am bored by Elements - that is 2 nights of the cruise.  A third night is the magician from Elements (who is boring IMHO).  3 other nights were the comedians from the Social Comedy Club doing the same act in the Main Theatre.    One night was the Beatles who perform in the Cavern Club other nights during the cruise.   One of the comedians even joked how many people were in the theatre show because there is nothing else to do on the boat other than gamble.    

 

The District (beer bar) has a piano entertainer who is quite good.  He was getting complaints that that the crowd was too noisy - so he had to tone it down so much - he was no longer any good.  Social and Cavern Club are small venues and you have to wait in line like 30 minutes prior to get in.  Many can't get in.  There is just very little to do in the evenings.

 

 

 

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a mostly good time.

NCL needs to step up the entertainment. The entertainment was what always drew me to book NCL cruises (besides the Freestyle dining) They really should go back to having two major shows per cruise. Not just adding the Beatles shows and game shows to the ship's theaters. They could still put games and Beatles in the theater, but at other times of day from when a major show would be there.

I just came off the MSC Meraviglia, and the entertainment was quite good. Many great shows and lots of solo acts, duos and bands through out the ship to keep things interesting. So much happening every where. From Karaoke to silent disco, to theme parties, to dance classes taught by two dance professionals, to the dome shows in the Galleria. The only things I missed from NCL were Freestyle Dining, but MSC does have a package you can book to get that, and The Local/O'Sheehan's. NCL needs to pay a bit of attention to the competition.

6 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Hope you otherwise had a great cruise!

We had a great time. It was our first time on MSC and we liked it a lot. We have most frequently cruised with NCL. It was a bit of learning curve figuring out how a new cruise line does things. I was impressed with all the live entertainment. The shows were good and we enjoyed all the talented individuals, duos and bands that played throughout the ship. There was always something going on. We both collapsed on the couch when we got home! I did miss the Freestyle dining on NCL, but we got a table for two after the first night so that we could dine at our own pace even if it was at the same time every day. 

On 5/12/2024 at 8:06 PM, Cruising Lynne said:

Yeah, I think I screwed up and booked an ocean view on deck 8 for our upcoming trip on Meraviglia. I don't think it will have a couch. I will report back after our cruise.

 

I was also surprised when I booked a balcony room for a Princess cruise that the standard balcony room has no couch. I really do not like the only sitting area to be the bed. At least we have chairs on the balcony to sit in. Maybe there will be enough space to bring one inside the room? One of the reasons I upgrade to a balcony on NCL is to have a couch. I really do not like the only sitting area to be the bed. 

Our inside cabin on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas had a small couch. This is a Radiance Class ship. I do not know about the other classes on Royal.

I am back from from our cruise. Yup, no couch in our deck 8 ocean view room. It was categorized as a Junior Ocean View. The ocean view cabins on deck 5 have couches. It drove me crazy because there was enough space for a chair or small couch.

I do not like that the only place to sit comfortably is the bed. Plus it is nice to have the couch to put your day bag on when you are getting organized to go ashore. Or just returned back from someplace. I like to keep anything that may have gotten dirty off the bed. 

I did like that we only had to go down one deck to 7 to pop outside to check the weather and get some fresh air.

On 5/30/2024 at 2:15 PM, franrtr said:

I think we will also drive to the terminal from Toms River.  Let me know if you did drive yourself and if you have any tips for us.  We are embarking on June 29. Thanks!

We just parked there for our cruise last week. It was $315.00 for the week. We drove in from Massachusetts. It was pretty easy on a Sunday morning with minimal traffic. We used Waze navigation which was a big help with the multiple turns after you get off the high way to get into the port. There are also flag men directing traffic when you are almost there. We followed signs for parking, but before we parked we were directed to a spot to pull in to drop off our bags. We arrived about 9:30 am and there were plenty of spaces. It was very convenient to park right in front of the ship. When we disembarked we just dragged our bags back to the car. 

We were on board the ship about 11:20. We had 10:00 check in time. They seemed pretty organized about calling the boarding numbers.

20 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

Just wanted to update everyone that Ocean Cay is indeed open and other than some minor buildings under construction, there is no other evidence anything was happening…

 

unfortunately my visit was cut short as I was stung by a jellyfish in the lagoon. They were able to treat it on the island within 30 minutes to halt any further inflammation, but the damage was done in terms of being able to relax on the island.

Sorry that you were stung. We were just there last week and started at the lagoon, but heard about the jelly fish. Hubby wanted to go in anyway, but I said no because the water was a little cloudy and we may not see a jelly fish until it was too late. We ended up swimming in the beautiful crystal clear water at Lighthouse Beach. No jelly fish there. Next time I want to check out Bimini Beach. I hope that you are enjoying your cruise. I tried to log on to cruise critic while we were in Florida to let you know what a great time we were having since I knew you were concerned , but was having trouble logging in on my phone. Hope that you are enjoying your trip.

2 hours ago, tomk3212 said:

Maybe this topic has been addressed before; if so, my apologies!

 

Before COVID there was a 7 day cruise out of NYC to Port Canaveral (Orlando), Nassau & NCL's private island offered every almost week.  Now it's nowhere to be found; even in 2025.  We always liked this cruise for a quick, last-minute get away; we live in NJ so it's no biggie to get to NYC.  RCCL offers this itinerary out of their facility at Cape Liberty, NJ but the price is ridiculous!  So I would think NCL could certainly be competitive pricing-wise.  Does anybody out there know what happened to this cruise?

Do not know about the NCL itineraries for these ports, but MSC Meraviglia currently has this itinerary with a stop at their private island, Nassau and Port Canaveral out of Brooklyn.

On 5/16/2024 at 4:14 PM, Lbsahm said:

Don’t worry, they’ll tell you. 
 

it seem to me that that Yacht Clubbers, make up a good portion of the posters here? I wonder if Cruise Critic could add on an MSC Yacht Club sub category. 

I don't think that Yacht Club needs a sub category on the forum. I do not sail in Yacht Club (so far) but may want to some day. Besides that, it is not difficult to scroll past the threads that do not interest you.

Seeing people with a lot of fruit is not bad as long they leave some for the rest of us. I think you will be fine as long as you know that some people may be a bit pushy. 

6 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

?? How can I look at a menu and know that your "old favorites are gone"?

 

Besides, you put 2000+ people on a ship and every menu item is bound to be somebody's favorite.

So true. 

22 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I dont think anyone would disagree with you.  Seafood has been cut like crazy over the years. My last NCL cruise the shrimp appetizer was gone for lunch on the Haven menu.  It was replaced by a frozen, deep friend medley of some seafood.  Not the same on any scale but it is what it is.  The shrimp was on the dinner menu as an appetizer but they were a quarter the size they used to be.  Its happening everywhere. I just got home from the grocery store and had a spontaneous craving for BBQ Fritos until I saw the small bag was over $6.00.  We are all paying more for less.

My husband does most of the grocery shopping. I was shocked when he told me how much a bag of chips costs. It is good he was shopping because I am too cheap to pay that for chips, and I would miss having some with my sandwiches.

There are definitely less appetizer choices, but it is in line with the number of choices we had on our HAL cruise. I love seafood and have been disappointed in the cut backs. My favorite appetizer at Le Bistro is gone. I understand making changes to keep things interesting, but they should replace items with something else.

NCL needs to have something to set them apart from other lines if they want people to keep coming back. Another issue I have is entertainment. I told my husband that if NCL keeps cutting back on shows, we may as well cruise with HAL. So far NCL is still my preferred line, but this could change. We shall see after my next NCL cruise in September. By then I will have tried HAL, MSC, and Princess within a year. 

I have enjoyed watching my husband, and other people do the go carts on Prima and on Joy. Watching on Prima was more fun because you could shoot the light on the top of the carts to give people a speed boost. Not easy to do, but I think I helped out a couple of drivers. My bad back keeps me from doing them myself. I am afraid of getting hit by some one who is trying to get past me, so for me it is not worth it.

On 5/12/2024 at 7:46 PM, morpheusofthesea said:

Just another outlook.

Love the last one above. My husband is still "Bank of Dad" to his thirty something year old children. We are turning 60 and 70 this year. I tell him that "someday" is now! We need to enjoy traveling now while we still can enjoy it.

22 hours ago, sunshine55 said:

Your videos have sound but no pic on my screen.  Anyone else have that issue?

I am having the same issue. Only a couple of the videos work for me. I am in Chrome on an older lap top.

2 hours ago, lab_love123 said:

Thank you everyone who has responded for the good info! Appreciate it!

I like to bring a regular watch on cruises that I set to the time that is being used by the ship. This is just in case the time on my phone or on a smart watch automatically adjusts to something different. Plus I do not like to always be carrying around my phone. 

NCL needs to get it together in regards to excursions.

We have a Canada/ New England cruise booked on Jade in September. One of the reasons I picked this cruise was because it goes to PEI. I wanted to see the Anne of Green Gables house. None of their excursions include this. I won't be using my 50 dollar excursion credit here, and we will just explore on our own. Luckily I have a Princess cruise booked with a similar itinerary for August. They had more than one excursion that included a stop at the Anne of Green Gables house and museum. We picked the shorter one that just goes to the house. We have never been to PEI before and I did not want to venture that far out without a ship excursion.

I know a lot of people never do ship excursions but I like the convenience and comfort level of booking with the cruise line. They generally won't leave without you if you are delayed getting back to port when your excursion is through the ship. Very rarely they may have to leave, but they will catch you back up to the ship if this happens.

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

I believe for a sofa on the Meraviglia, you need at least one of the deluxe ocean views on Deck 5.

 

On Princess ships, they don't even have sofas in the balconies...

Yeah, I think I screwed up and booked an ocean view on deck 8 for our upcoming trip on Meraviglia. I don't think it will have a couch. I will report back after our cruise.

I was also surprised when I booked a balcony room for a Princess cruise that the standard balcony room has no couch. I really do not like the only sitting area to be the bed. At least we have chairs on the balcony to sit in. Maybe there will be enough space to bring one inside the room? One of the reasons I upgrade to a balcony on NCL is to have a couch. I really do not like the only sitting area to be the bed. 

4 hours ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Never had a chair or couch in an inside cabin on Meraviglia, Seaside, Seashore or Divina. Just off of the NCL Epic and no chair or couch in inside cabin.  Most inside cabins I have been in (59 cruises, most in inside cabin) do not have a chair or a couch. There isn't enough room. Princess and Celebrity had chairs but they were tiny, thin and slid under the desk. Definitely not a comfortable chair to sit in.

Our inside cabin on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas had a small couch. This is a Radiance Class ship. I do not know about the other classes on Royal.

Good for a night out. Dinner, show, drinks, and casino. Sounds fun if you are local.

On 5/9/2024 at 9:27 AM, mitchtech said:

Hi

Just got off the Joy and was so happy with Spice H20 being non smoking!! Yay!! 

I was wondering 

So happy to hear this! I had been looking forward to using the giant hot tub out there, but the low ceiling above the bar and hot tub area held in the smoke, so we never used it.

My husband and I have discussed that if we had this type of cabin again, we would ask to have the beds separated. I think we would like the floor space in between the beds, and no one would bang their head.