dnl_in_Illinois

If the room had Walls... I am now really #$%@ with NCL for not being honest.

 

If the room was doubled booked... I am now really #$%^# with NCL for not being honest.

 

I still am waiting for a written relpy from NCL. I wrote to the President and every VP I coul find on thier web site and annual report.

 

Not one person has responded.... AMAZING!

They will respond Richard. Good companies always do. If they don't - well you have choices and you should tell them why.

I find this interesting considering that I actually saw the suite. It was not like my suite next door. It had curtain dividers and not walls. I also find it interesting that Gigcruiser spoke to NCL and they confirmed that the suite is one room with curtain dividers.

 

There is no mystery in my mind. I saw what I saw and unless they completely reconfigured the suite, it is one room with curtain dividers.

I agree ascatsob as I have no doubt about your sincerity. None. It is "interesting" as I was shocked when each of the stewards gave their responses. I was not the only one they told that to by the way. We were traveling with friends who also asked. I only wish I could have taken photos. Could it be that the stewards were told to communiate the rooms were the same? And for what purpose?

Still of issue however is that fact that Gigcruiser had the room reserved for back to back cruises yet the people I spoke with said they booked the Aug 14 week "months ago". But that is a whole different issue.

Just returned from the August 14 Epic. We had suite 16010. I attempted to take a photo upon arrival to the Courtyard area and we were waiting to get into our suites but the room was closed.

I spoke with 2 of the stewards, ours and the one who worked that side of the ship (we were port and 16029 was starboard). Both said the room was just like all of the others except for a wider entrance door. I noticed that as well - the wider door that is - as well as the fact that the suite was located at the end of the hall just down from the concierge area making it easier for ingress and egress. So NCL did think about what they were doing when they identified this as a special needs suite. I asked both stewards about "curtains" and both said "yes" as the divider between the bathroom area and the bedroom just as our suite had. There are no curtain walls.

I spoke with the people who were staying in 16029. Unfortunately when I asked them at the life safety presentation they had not yet been in their suite so they could not provide any additional information. I also asked them when they booked the suite and they said months ago - so I believe there was a double booking for the week of August 14 that NCL never "fessed up" to.

I'm sailing on my first cruise in October and I'm very excited. Thanks so much sdmike for really giving me an idea of what to expect. My fam and me will be sharing a villa (16000), and thanks to your pix I have an idea of where it is on the ship. Again, loved the pix and really appreciate your efforts on the daily log.:o:o:o

Hello jusgorjus. We're sailing next week and will be in 16010 Villa. We're obvously looking forward to it. Just wanted to give you a heads up as others have been surprised about this. Some view it as a positive, others are disappointed. The 16000 Villa is in the front of the ship. It *does not* have a balcony/veranda. It has windows that open. The positive is that it gives you a little more room. The negative (to some) is that you do not have the balcony. Somewhere there if a photo of your suite, but I am sorry I can not say where it is on the boards. Have fun!

I asked my NCL rep about these shirts and she tried to get me one but said they were given out at the Inaugural and there were no more available. Who did you contact. I would love one!!

Try: http://www.zazzle.com/ I ordered shirts for my grand daughters that has a photo of the Epic on them and "I'm sailing on the Epic - August 14, 2010" They are reasonable quality and cost about $30 for 2 of them. If you're a Facebook user you can see the shirts here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111909088847790&v=wall&story_fbid=136666823038683#!/photo.php?pid=30992083&op=2&o=global&view=global&subj=111909088847790&id=1466328751

It's been answered many many times.

 

It's part of your freestyle dining so you just show up. Same as O'Sheehans & buffet restaurants.

 

One thing I am reading more and more is that there really hasn't been any need for restaurant reservations. Even when the board is showing full or fully booked people are turning up at all different times and getting seated without a reservation at all the restaurants by the sounds of things.

Okay, fine. How about the last part of my question -- are their lines and a wait time to be seated. A few minutes is to be expected -- I'm thinking about wait times over 10 minutes?

I've been reading reviews and much of everything and I don't think I've read anything that asks a most basic question that I just thought of: When eating at any of the free restaurant venues like the Taste, Manhattan Room, etc. - do you need reservations or do you just show up? If the answer is the latter -- was there a line and or a long wait?

Thanks for all the great info SDMike and others who have posted.

I'm not sure whether this is a sad commentary on the corporation or sad on the behalf of the patrons who accepts this as "standard operating procedure".

 

Very discouraging state of affairs...

Woah! Good post. Good point.

Stephen,

 

You neglected a very important element of call #2.

"I was also advised that the room had a seperate sleeping room."

Also, I not speaking with a reservation person.

 

The lady who call me said she was from NCL Corporate Offices.

 

Would you not think the Corporate Office Folks should know the room configuration?

 

Richard

Richard, Yes -- I would have expected that the individual who contacted you from the corporate offices **should have had** the correct information, especially since I believe you escalated your concerns to the people in Corporate. As I have said over and over and over -- there is no doubt that NCL will provide us with a good cruise experience. But I believe through my limited but intense exposure, the on-shore administrative functions at NCL are in dire need of modernization and improvement. I could not rate it any higher than a "Needs Improvement".

I don't really know if they did this to all handicap rooms. I only saw the CV handicap room. Come to think of it they wouldn't need to do this to all the rooms 'cause they are already like this! aren't they???? Duhh to me!

Except some of the cabins would not be spacious enough for a wheel chair to pass the end of the beds, so if NCL want's to totally comply with the need for handicap facilities, they would have to do something different. Make the room wider? Or set the beds in a different configuration? Other?

Ascatsob, Wow.... what an amazing experience! We Cancelled the entire trip. I will post a complete update very soon. Thanks again for your posting. You are so correct. If you had not made your posting we would have arrived to find a large hosptial style room with curtain dividers. Amazing... they are selling this room a two bedroom suite and living area.

"Gig" -- just wrote on FB. So sorry about this but thanks to ascotsob the situation was revealed. We're all assuming that you received a full refund of the cruise cost. That is the least NCL should have done. As I've said in the past -- I think NCL delivers (or would appear to deliver based on many comments) a good product to its customers. But the *back room* at NCL needs management action and attention. It's broken for sure.

dnl ~ if you are off the ship quickly after docking, you can make the 9:00 AM ferry and be on the beach on St. John by 9:45. You can take the 2:00 PM ferry and get back to Red Hook by 2:20. You should be able to be back to the ship by 3:00 PM, giving you an hour leeway. But some folks aren't comfortable with that. When we were on Eurodam last November, our captain actually left St. Thomas 20 minutes early leaving passengers stranded as we pulled away. It was very odd and very unusual but I'd rather have a little extra time than be late.

 

As Augie mentioned, you'll be able to get a taxi from Trunk Bay back to the ferry any time of day.

Thanks so much Anne. That gives me a better "feel" for it. There are 5 of us including two pre-teen girls and playing it *safe* is the way to go for us. Your comment about the Eurodam leaving early is shocking. Dave

dnl - you won't have any trouble finding a taxi at Trunk to take you back to Cruz Bay - they are lined up in the parking lot, especially on cruise ship days!

Thanks augie! Looks like you've "done" the Caribbean a few times! Wow.

Host Anne, You've posted much good info about St John and the beaches. I noted that you advised to allow 3 hours to return to your ship. Our ship docks at 8am (departs at 4pm). I figure we would be on the beach by 10am at the very earliest and would have to leave by 12:30 to catch the 1pm ferry from Cruz Bay. Are my time estimates reasonable to you? I'm I likely to easily find a 12:30 taxi at Trunk Bay that would get us to the ferry on time? I'm thinking of the 1pm ferry. I have a hunch I'm trying to squeeze too much into our port time since we're only docked for 8 hours. Your perspective might push me in another direction for this visit to St Thomas/St John. Thanks in advance. Dave