sailorusvi

So this was my first cruise in 25 years and husband first cruise ever. While we knew it would be crowed due to school break, but it was way more crowed then we even imagined. 4800+ passengers! Upgrading to the Haven was well worth it price. We were in Haven proper (deck 15), which was great because we didn't have to navigate the crowds to get up the bar/restaurant. With the exception of the concierge, the staff was amazing. Food was good. The bar staff is great, plus they had all of DH's favorite bourbons. That said, the kid situation was out of control. They estimated some 40 kids up there. Even the Haven staff appeared to be overwhelmed with all the kids. They took over the hot tubs and pool, snorkel gear and all. They were running around upstairs in the "adult" area, including the smoking section in the front. The concierge was telling people that kids were allowed up there now. What the hell? People were pissed! They (along with kids from other parts of the boat) were having cookie fights in the door way of the Deck 15 Haven entrance. Cookies EVERYWHERE. Kids were blocking the stairways leading up to Deck 16 (which only had one side) The concierge didn't seem to care. I never saw a manager up there to be able to address our concerns. Someone on here was making fun of us getting Vibe passes, yeah, well they came in handy this trip. Breakfast we mostly ate in the Haven, but did go to the buffet once, which was decent. When not at port lunches were mostly at the buffet. Which is funny because DH typically hates buffets. It was easy as our cabin was on deck 15. DH can't eat a lot at one sitting and having 3 sit down meals a day was too much for him. We do a quick pop in for something small then leave. A few hours later he would do another "drive-by" by grabbing something small again (or soft serve ice cream, boy did he like those). We ate at O'Sheehan on the first day, which as only okay. The "spinach and artichoke" dip was a joke. One piece of spinach and I'm still looking for the artichoke. Dinners were at Ocean Blue, Wasabi (3 times), Le Bistro and the Haven. All our dinners were good. Except for not having chocolate milk the 2nd day, we were able to get everything we wanted. Entertainment wise we lost money at the casino (never saw a casino payout so little before). We saw Broadway Unplugged, Million Dollar Quartet (wasn't a fan) and went to Sid Norman's 3 times. Rumours was my least favorite Sid's act, but it was still entertaining. Last night before the show started the guy next to me got into a verbal fight with a guy behind him that resulted in him getting kicked out. That was interesting. Wifey was pissed. Sea days we hung out in Vibe, I got a great massage and was able to squeeze in about 5 minutes on the rope course before it started snowing. Disappointed I didn't do it earlier on the trip. In PC we went to the beach. GSP more of the same. I would absolutely try to get a cabana, villa or at the very least an umbrella should we go again. My skin needs a break from the sun. Since everything was sold out we went back after a few hours. Some people were upset being re-routed to Miami instead of Bermuda. Even more so because we all had to disembark to go through immigration and you couldn't get back on until the ship was cleared. There was a video of people waiting to reboard booing the final 2 people who they had to go and find 🤣. It sounds like they started the reboarding process sooner than they estimated. Anyway, we were happy with the change. We enjoyed our time in port. Went to South Beach, walked around and ate some great Cuban food. Overall I had a good time, but DH said he wasn't a fan. I think it was more because of the 1800 kids then anything else. He liked the ports, food, Haven Bar, the hot tubs in Vibe and bought a couple Cruise Next certificates. So I think he liked it more than he is saying. One thing is for sure, we will NEVER cruise during a school holiday again.

I just got off the Getaway and saw a few groups sitting at the same table every time we were there. I did notice they were not sitting others at a 4 top near the windows, then a party of 3 came in and was sat there. I'm assuming they worked out something with the host. We rotated been 3 different waiters, the restaurant on the the Getaway isn't very big and believe it would be easy to request a certain server.

At one point we couldn't walk up to deck 16 (forward) to get up to the Haven because they were blocking the entire staircase. So we decided to just go through the Haven door on 15 and walk up from there (are cabin was on 15 anyway). They had that mostly blocked too. Later on they had a cookie fight both inside and outside of the Deck 15 Haven door. Cookies everywhere. Even in the door frame. In the Haven they were running all over the upper deck that was suppose to be adults only. The concierge told us they changed the rules and they were allowed up there. What the hell???? They completely took over the hot tubs, with snorkel gear no less. Even the Haven staff were overwhelmed by the shear amount of kids. Needless to say we will not cruise during a school break ever again.

It's a crowd control thing. If they said the deadline was say 11 am. Guess when the majority of the ship would show up? Yep, 11 am. Which would have caused even a longer wait to reboard. Note: They seem to be process us at an averaging over 1200 p/h. So the deadline is a moving target. People leave when told and no delays, you can make the final call sooner. People lingering, that time becomes later. We left at 9:50 and was told less than 2k were left to go. From another source, passengers were let on around 11:45. Betting expectations. There is a video of the final 2 passengers who had found getting booed as they got off. Lol.

Here is our letter. It was given to us the day they made the announcement. Maybe it was too early and people forgot?

Muscle memory. Getting comfortable with their muster role (which maybe new from the last time. Crew changes often. i.e. I've meet a bunch of new crew, others coming off of 3 month vacations, etc. I know at least 3 people going on vacation tomorrow from Port Canaveral, meaning new crew arrive tomorrow. By your logic sports teams shouldn't practice daily because it should have stuck from the last time.

Muscle memory. Getting comfortable with their muster role (which maybe new from the last time. Crew changes often. i.e. I've meet a bunch of new crew, others coming off of 3 month vacations, etc. I know at least 3 people going on vacation tomorrow from Port Canaveral, meaning new crew arrive tomorrow. By your logic sports teams shouldn't practice daily because it should have stuck from the last time.

Muscle memory. Getting comfortable with their muster role (which maybe new from the last time. Crew changes often. i.e. I've meet a bunch of new crew, others coming off of 3 month vacations, etc. I know at least 3 people going on vacation tomorrow from Port Canaveral, meaning new crew arrive tomorrow. By your logic sports teams shouldn't practice daily because it should have stuck from the last time.

Our drill on Saturday on Getaway was easy. 30 mins they gave us a warning. We headed down to the theater. Check in and sat down. Talked to the head station crew while she checked people in. 15 out they gave another warning. It started on time and lasted 10-14 mintues. Total time for is was 35-40 mintues, but could have easily come on later (but on time) to cut down they time. Admittedly our location had good seating and sound system. Other muster stations might not have been as comfortable. We see our head muster crew all the time. It was nice to get to meet her. I guess we make the most of a situation.

Day 1 We were the first ones to the O'sheehans bar. Bar tender was polite, but very green. Said we had to go the restaurant side to eat because the computers were not up. So we went over and sat down. We split the "spinach and artichoke" dip. In quotes because there may have been one spinach leaf and never did find the artichoke. The chef needs to rethink this recipe. DH had the hot dog, me the cheeseburger. Both were ok, but took a long time to recieved, especially since we were one of first tables to sit. Drinks took even longer. Dinner was at Ocean Blue using the FAS credit. Service was excellent. It helped that our server (Tracy) was our head muster crew member. DH talked to her about food as she scanned cards and we waited. She knew our names when we sat. The wine stewart was good too. He saw in in the Haven this morning and greeted us by name. I guess me made an impression. We both enjoyed our meals. They were very clear on 1-1-1-1. We opted out the dessert (too much food for us). We love the Haven bar. They are awesome bar tenders and quick. I went to the bar across from Ocean Blue (didn't notice the name), while DH gambled before dinner. Waited forever to even be acknowledged. They had one bar tender and 2 bar backs. Lack of staff was clearly the issue. She was working her tail off. Felt bad for her. I have a feeling we will be getting most of our drinks from the Haven or Vibe. Serivce at breakfast in the Haven was disappointing. I think she forgot to ring up or fire our order. Larger tables that ordered after us got their food before us. DH got the Benedict and me an omelet. No modifiers, so not sure why it took 25 mins. to get. Only 4 tables were sat when we arrived and some had food already. The food itself was good. Have a great day!

They just announced rooms are ready. Although hubby started his nap 1 hour ago in our room. Happy sailing.

Options. We like the Vibe is on one level. Haven the bar and hot tubs are downstairs ,kid free upstairs. My husband is a hangout out around the bar in a wet suit type. Haven Bar is indoors. Again options.

We are sailing with you! It's DH's first cruise ever. My 4th, but the last one was in 1997 🙂(but never with NCL). We are child-free and picked a holiday week. WHAT WERE WE THINKING??? Truth be told I wanted the 12-day itinerary, but thought it was too much for my 1st time cruising husband. We have a very short window to go on vacation due to our jobs, so this trip won out. We decided to go Haven AND Vibe. We like kids, have tons of nieces and see them all the time, but yeah, We decided to go as kid-free as possible. Wish us luck!! Glad you are going live. Happy sailing!

I'm on your cruise(see you in Vibe 🙂 ) and checked-in via the app 21 days out. The e-docs were available the next day (had to go into the check-in again to view the docs). Are you sure your check-in was complete? EDIT - ignore as I was typing as you were updating. See you in Vibe!

🙋‍♀️ Not on a ship, but I worked on commercial passenger sailboats in the USVI. I had to take STCW (Standards of Training Certificate & Watchman) courses 3 times (you had to renew every 5 years). In additional to that I had to take Crowd Control courses (I think they were good for 5 years also, but not sure). Eventually got my USCG license , (50 ton, with sailing and tow endorsements), which required additional training.

Sometimes a histamine intolerance can have similar symptoms as food poising. Multiple people could eat the same dish, but only the person with the intolerance would get sick.

We cruise this weekend and it's gone from the app also. I chalk it up to yet another "glitch" in the app. They really need to fire the head of IT. We only book 7 week ago and there have been so many "glitches" I'm embarrassed for them. Right now they are showing $249 for Syd Norman's Pour house. Yet, when you click on it, it says we already purchased. Which is not correct, but we did purchase Vibe passes for the same amount. note: we have no intentions of paying for Sids, I just wanted to see what the page side.

So my experience working on boats (not ships) and port fees is often they have a combination of fixed fees (typically tonnage and length) and per passenger taxes (often arrival/departure taxes). If the fixed fee is $1000 and the per passenger costs is $10. If you have 100 passengers, your per person fee is $20. If you have 200 passengers it's $15. That is a $5 difference. At just one port. Multiple ports would change the end costs. Especially coming off covid, they wouldn't have known 6-24 months out how many passengers they would have sailing. In addition to that, some ports have additional costs for arriving on a Sunday or holiday. Or if you leave before 5 pm or after 5 pm. Not that I think NCL should keep the excess. Nor should passengers need to go through hoops to get their own money back. I'm just saying it's not a straightforward as you would want and they are not going to know until the last day if they under or over estimated fees.

I've taken many red-eyes into NYC. Every hotel has had a secure spot to store our luggage. A lot of times we have even been able to check in early. Just depends on how full the hotel is the night before. The late departure would bother me more.

Our 21 day out was 2 weeks ago. We didn't check in until 9:30 am and all slots were available. We choose 11-11:30. I didn't see a need to wait around for the sake of waiting around. (we live 50 minutes to 2.5 hours drive away 😛 ).

So the fact some of us have explained port fees are estimates and even if a port is dropped doesn't mean they didn't underestimate other ports so in the end you might not have been overcharged doesn't matter?

I never received a follow-up email. Later that day I noticed I could download the edocs on the app.

Well my mom had very bad Rheumatoid Arthritis and preferred lower weighted culinary. I personally do need to be able to pick my own 🙂

The thing is they may have underestimated another port's fees. So it might be a wash in the end. That is why they wait till the end of the cruise to issue credits, if any.

They estimate port fees. Until the end of the cruise they will not know if they estimated correctly or not, even with a dropped port. At least in my experience, there are both fixed fees (typically based on length and/or tonnage) and per passenger fees (typically an arrival and departure tax). In addition to that, I've been hit with overtime fees for arriving on a Sunday or holiday among other random fees. My experience was on a much smaller scale than a cruise ship, but figuring out the exact per person costs in advance was not as straightforward as you would expect. I've read some people have recieved port fees back at the end of the cruise, but it's hit or miss.