cruisin07family

Why only Saturday departures? That stinks!

I agree with Pokerpro about pricing and why booking early has not given me the best prices. I think the ones that say their cruise has only gone up must be referring to the costs BEFORE final payment. Even the OP said she can book Alaska for next Sept for double the cost of the same cruise this September. Knowing that, why would anyone book early? I'm guessing she won't need airfare but even if she does, airfare could be booked around the dates the cruise is desired and then book the cruise at 45-60 days out. If NCL doesn't have any cabins at that point (seems unlikely!), there are many other lines doing Alaska that would be possible to book. I think I'll stick to planning in advance but booking less than 2 months out.

We have done the martini tastings many times and always found them to be a ton of fun and well worth the $15 charge. We actually had to put our hand over our glasses so the waiters would stop refilling, lol. We could easily have had two full glasses of each flavor by our 3rd tasting that week! I'm pretty sure there were at least 4 flavors but it could've been 5. I have the most recent dailies someone from Breakaway posted and we are disappointed to see that there is only one martini tasting listed. We did 3 on the Epic last January. The bar/pub crawl lists $25 pp and 4 bars. Dh has done the beer tastings and whiskey tastings and enjoyed those as well.

This is a great thread for tips for our upcoming BA to Bermuda. I would like to take the ferry to St. George and then follow someone's walking directions to Tobacco Bay that was also shared on this board. Here's my question....how far is the walk back from TB into St. George to the Swizzle Inn? We're not really interested in the caves and plan to spend most of our time at the many beaches but the Swizzle Inn is also on our "must do" list. Should we consider a bus from TB to the Swizzle Inn or it the distance not too far?

This is the song that never ends.

It goes on and on my friends.

Someone started singing it not knowing what it was,

and they'll continue singing it forever just because.

LOL, thanks now that song is stuck in my head....what is that from?

I look forward to relaxing, being pampered, and dinners with the family with no preparation or clean-up required of ME!!!!!!

Was the Rising Son II excursion private or an NCL excursion? Can you give any details, like duration, cost, what's included, etc.?

Can you provide some details about your Somerset Bridge Watersports day? What times were your reservations if you did both the jet ski and then the 4-hr boat rental? Did they line up back to back or did you have a break for lunch in the middle? Were there restaurants there or did you bring food/drinks for the boat ride? This sounds like something my guys would be interested in doing as well. Thanks.

I thought Spice H2O was an adult-only area; why are kids' movies being shown there?

I hope this doesn't get lost as I don't want to post a separate question...

My sons are 21 and 18. We plan to give permission for the 18 yr old as he will be hanging with his brother anyway. Does anyone know if he will be able to go into the Ice Bar - not to order the vodka drinks, but just to get in? I know they'd both get a kick out of it but I don't want to even mention it if he cannot go.

Uhhh hellooooo, maybe if you're sailing out BACKWARDS!! I obviously type that BEFORE my morning coffee... OMG I can't believe I did that!! :eek: I may now be forced to hand in my Native NYer Membership Card. Holy cow... I couldn't believe it when I re-read my own post.. how stooooooopid! I don't even want to read down beyond this as I'm sure everyone has just corrected my obvious stupidity! :o

No worries Vicki, all of our cruises except ONE has been from NYC and I didn't even bat an eye at your comment. Duh, I should remember this right, lol? We're so excited to finally be sailing (and we've probably already had one of our carry-on bottles of sparkling!) that I have no idea what side Lady Liberty is on. I thought we could see her from our balcony which was starboard but the next is port so whatever.... It's not like she is hidden....

I'm also on this sailing. We looked at the AFT as well but chose an angled balcony on Deck 12 instead. The way we looked at it is that the entire time you are docked in Bermuda, you could face out to sea or the Celebrity ship may be facing right into your balcony so little privacy. I have also read that there is very little air movement in the aft when docked.

The average pp price is based on 4. It doesn't mean that the 1st two cruisers pay $1149. If you do a search for a cabin for 2, the pp price will be $2299, if you do a search for a cabin for 3, they will take the total and divide that by 3 so the price pp will be $1533 or thereabouts; therefore, when you do a search for a cabin for 4, the pp price is $1149. This only applies during KSF promotions. I'm not sure I'm explaining it very well but in my head it makes sense, lol,

You can really just see which categories are available. I have also entered in a cabin in the 'box' to see if it is available where it says "or search for another cabin" or something like that. So we must not be able to see them all.

When you've entered a cabin # in that search box, does it work for you? I've tried that using chrome and ie and I cannot get the search to work.

For me it is smoking on balconies. I do wish they would either disallow, or only allow on one side and then I'd pick a balcony on the other side of the ship. I don't gamble so the casino isn't a problem for me, but the balcony next to me with chain smokers is disgusting and preventing me from using my balcony.

The angled on the Epic are freaking awesome. Here are my pictures from 12241 on Epic: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=39490897&postcount=19

That was a great week and we spent lots of time on our wonderful balcony.

I've read a few reviews that have mentioned cash only for renting chairs & umbrellas at the beaches, for lunches ashore, buying transportation passes, etc. For expensive things as well like renting jet skis or a boat I will need cash? I'm trying to figure out just how much I need to bring because we are not cash people usually. I'd rather throw everything on a cc and pay it off afterward. Please advise. Thanks.

For planning purposes, does anyone know if any of these jet ski tours are payable by cash only or do they accept credit cards? I have read several posts saying you must use cash in Bermuda and I'm trying to figure out just how much cash I might need.

Thanks.

This is something I want to try too so I found this review last week and copied this section to a word document that I'm keeping of notes from other's reviews, lol. Yes, I'm a Type A Personality!

Cupcake Decorating Class

Some advise here book early. This class is only offered once during the cruise and there is limited space. Since we had reservations, we got in. We saw lots of people walking up and trying to join. They were denied entry, because the class was full. The price was $39. It included the class, a Carlo's Bakery Apron, a picture with the Cake Boss (he's not there they green screen it), and the 4 cupcakes you decorate. Not a bad deal considering ship prices the picture alone would be $20. The class begins with a video from the Cake Boss welcoming you to the class. You are given 4 cupcakes, a turntable, icing bags, sprinkles and decorations. A chef is there and he demonstrates on a cupcake then you go back to your station and do it. And then he does the next one and so on. It looks easy, mine aren't going to look like that. They actually didn't look to bad. After we were done we walked our plates to the green screen. That's when my chocolate cupcake took a nose dive on to the floor. It was a big mess of frosting. I picked it up as the staff started to clean up the mess. After the picture. They hand you a cupcake decorating certificate. And box up your cupcakes to deliver to your room. The staff replaced my ruined cupcake with the one the chef made. All in all I would highly recommend this activity.

I think that Mrs Shell is referring to Cream of Wheat hot cereal. Growing up' date=' that was my FAVORITE breakfast. Once in a while I still indulge in it and it takes me back to my childhood.[/size']

Is that possible? There is nothing delightful about Cream of Wheat? Lol...I mean delightful is french toast, eggs benedict, chocolate chip pancakes, but cream of wheat or oatmeal, no, just no.

Create your own pub crawl and see if you can do 3 complete laps before lunch time. UBP comes in handy.

Holy cow - aren't there something like 10 or 12 bars onboard? I doubt I could make one complete lap and still be standing, lol. :D

My favorite days are sea days, lol. We love having nothing we have to do but at least 10 things we want to do. Lazy mornings with coffee on our balcony, a little sunbathing, maybe an afternoon nap or another reason to return to the cabin in the middle of the day, lol, a martini tasting, a few games of trivia, schedule a massage or workout in the enormous gym onboard. I hope to do a transatlantic crossing at some point so I can have 8-10 sea days!!!

Sounds like you made the best of a situation that wasn't your first choice. Personally, I don't understand why anyone would enjoy traditional dining with strangers. I do not just as I can't imagine asking to sit with others in a restaurant at home, but that's just me.

It is a nice change to read a review from someone not in a suite. The majority of cruisers obviously do not cruise in suites, but it seems most of the reviews here are from suite cruisers.

Have a great time! We're still hoping to go in August but cannot book til almost last minute due to one ds's schedule and the son that works for NCL cannot book us til he arrives on Breakaway in July. Fingers crossed it doesn't sell out before then.

Just curious as we're also from Maryland....do you drive up the morning of the cruise or the day before?

Well I actually am paying for a portion of her cruise but I can't pay for her passports to. But my question still lingers. Can they actually cruise without a passport?

Yes, they can cruise without a Passport. We have Passports now but we didn't for several cruises. With the Fl-Bahamas cruise I personally don't think it's all that important to make a big deal about Passports.