meggie711

Thank you!

22 minutes ago, suzequ said:

You need to carry it with you to check-in instead of checking it through with the porters when you arrive at the pier.

In NYC we check our suitcases and then head up to the check-in floor, go thru security screening/scanning where they will see the bottles in our small rolling bag we use for cosmetics, medicines, incidentals — and wine.  Security will diret you to the table NCL has set up for wine corkage processing.

I tell them how many bottles we have, show them the bottles, they write up a charge ticket with our cabin number, put the sticker on each bottle.  Done in less than 5 minutes.

The charge usually shows up as being from one of the Main Dining Rooms.

Oh, packing.  I’ve wrapped them in bubble wrap occassionally, but t-shirts or other clothing seems to work just as well.  The wine isn’t going into the mass of checked luggage, I’m taking care of it, so special packing isn’t crucial.

Hope you enjoy your cruise - and Cheers!

Thanks so much!!

I thought the shore excursion credit was per person and not per room. We paid in full as we sail in less than 30 days.  Totally my mistake.  Is it too late to make changes and pick a different offer?

Any suggestions on how to pack it safely?  And you said they return it to you, is it taken out of your luggage?  Just curious how they make sure to get it back to you. Thanks for the time, we have cruised with NCL often but never brought wine aboard.  

It's been awhile but I wanted to followup and say that the Hampton Inn was a huge success - thanks for the recommendation! We found the hotel to be incredibly clean, got a good rate, hotel staff was helpful, and convenient to the port and food/entertainment. We stayed on Thanksgiving and literally only saw one other person in the hotel that night. We had the rooftop pool area to ourselves - felt like we were the only ones in the entire hotel. lol We ate over at Havana 1957 (within walking distance of the hotel), and I cannot wait to go back to Miami just so I can go there again! I enjoyed my fair share of mangojitos and some of the best food I've ever eaten. We were cruising with our son (6 years old) and felt perfectly comfortable eating with him there. The server was fantastic! Altogether, it was a fantastic experience!

Thanks Keith! I'll check it out! Do you happen to know what they changed the Sheraton on Brickell to? We were there for our honeymoon in 2003 and I'd love to see the hotel now, just don't know what it is now.

While I know it can be a pricey area, we were looking to keep it under $250 (fees included) for the night.

Could anybody make suggestions for a 1-night pre-cruise Miami stay that happens to fall on Thanksgiving Day? We haven't found a hotel yet, would gladly take recommendations for that as well. We're looking for suggestions on hotels that are around restaurants, but not sure that we would find any place open on Thanksgiving for dinner. It will be me, my husband, and our 6-year-old, so nothing fancy, but not McDonalds either. lol

As far as hotels go, it seems that most do not including parking or "resort fees" in the rates. Can anyone recommend a hotel that doesn't have a lot of extra fees, is kid-friendly, has a pool (maybe beach access) and parking?

Thanks in advance! :)

I booked for Escape as my first cruise on 2017. I read a lot of different companies like Carnival, Disney and RC. I see they offer shows for kids, does NCL offer the same? Or all shows are for adults?

We went to a family friendly show on Sky with our 5 year old and he really enjoyed it. As the other poster mentioned, we sat at the back and left when he lost interest closer to the end.

Awesome news! We love Epic and would love the chance to go again.

Excited that we can drive down to Fishlips to watch her sail! :)

Just to throw in my quick two cents..

I greatly enjoyed the food in the MDR and at the buffet on NCL. We ate specialty dining a couple of times on Epic (Le Bistro and Moderno). I would absolutely love eating at either of them because it's a more unique experience for us (we can eat at a great steakhouse or hibachi, etc. at home but a Brazilian food fest and French restaurant aren't common). We enjoyed the MDR as well with plenty of options. I spent every night finding a new favorite (their soups were fantastic)! That being said, we will be getting UBP on our upcoming cruise because we will more than get our value out of that option. We will book Moderno because we enjoy it so much and think our DS will love it as well.

Just saw you on the roll call. I'm also on your May sailing. :) Can't wait!

Awesome! :)

Just booked this week for a May 2016 cruise on Escape! So excited to be back on CC and following this thread! We booked an aft-facing balcony, our favorite. Can't wait for more details, and super excited for those who will be sailing soon. :)

If you are pissed off at anyone it should be the cruise line. They are the ones not paying the crew so little and trying to dictate where the passengers tips go.

 

I am removing mine too and tipping directly to the people who serve me. What they do with it is their business. As far as the behind the scenes crew, laundry, entertainment etc, that's between them and their employer, and none of my business.

NCL has a long way to go in transparency for their fees, service charges, gratuities, and so on. Most of us can agree with that. My commentary is only directed at those who make a show out of removing their DSC, and then feigning amazement that people disagree with it.

I think the policy is fine as is. As a consumer I should always be able to reserve the right to adjust a service charge. I do so based on quality of services, which is how I believe it is intended to be used. But it is true, it can be adjusted at guest discretion and you don't need an unresolved issue in order to do it. I wouldn't remove it "just because", and I'd try to resolve service issues, but I would not sail on a line that gave me NO choice in the matter.

 

Seems like those that have a problem, the "it's not the policy, it's the other people" just can't handle others not doing things their way. If someone wants to just remove it for the sake of removing it, there is nothing I can do about that. The company allows it. I also spend about 0.001% of my vacation time at guest services, less if I can help it, and I don't eavesdrop or stalk people to find out what they are doing, mainly because I don't care what strangers do with their money.

Understandable, but it's irritating and disappointing to see people make the decision ahead of time that the crew members are going to be undeserving of the gratuity. When Lovey herself asks for feedback on a cruise that I just took that had the best crew I have ever had the pleasure of sailing with, and she's already asking if she should take off the DSC before or at the end of the trip, that pisses me off. Yeah, I said it.

We didn't find it to be a booze cruise at all, and we went for Spring Break. We found the ship to be extremely family-friendly. I posted a review in the forums and added some pics, we sailed a week ago.

Thank you for your response! That's not as bad as I had expected. I'm glad you loved them and hope we do too! :-)

We were long overdue for family pics, so I didn't feel as bad about spending a little extra on them than I had originally planned! lol They listed the prices in each section as you searched for your pics. I believe the 8x10's were $20 each. One of the photographers helped me go through my pic. When he saw I had 4 8x10's and a 5x7, he told me to switch out the 5x7 for another 8x10, as that would be my free pic (instead of just a 5x7). I thought it was very reasonable, and I can't wait to hang them up! Just an FYI, they also take pics on the beach, so keep an eye out for the photographers! I got two great ones with DS in the water at GSC! :)

Maybe NCL is going to try to attract families with the same intensity as the more upscale cruise lines like Crystal or Oceania. Maybe they are trying to discourage families?

Wouldn't discourage us. Some families don't need characters and and endless offering of entertainment for a good time. We took our 5 y/o on his first cruise last weekend. We were on the Sky, so there weren't character meet and greets or anything and he perfectly excited the entire trip. He enjoyed the pool that had no theme (gasp), the dancing that didn't involve Kids Bop-styled tunes, and the show that involved no cartoons. He did get a Nickelodeon placemat to color on at dinner, but I think I colored more than he did. ;)

I know it will be expensive but I was wondering about the pictures taken by the on board photographer. Do they have packages? What was the cost for photos when you went? Any help would be appreciated. [emoji2]

We got a 15% off with my husband's card (I can't remember if he's silver or gold), and the pictures were buy 4 and get 1 free. So we got 5 8x10's and spent around $65. We LOVED the pictures!

Well it is Freestyle cruising! Personally, I wouldn't touch a kid buffet with a 10 foot pole, but that's just me.

I watched very well-dressed people that were old enough to be my grandparents that were cramming their food in their mouth as they were making plates at the buffet on our cruise last weekend. Hand putting food in their mouth, pulling the food back out, putting it back in their mouth, then reaching for the spoon that I was about to grab. I think I would rather have followed kids! :eek:

I would cruise Epic again in a skinny minute if given the chance!!! :D

Beach between the lagoon and the more crowded beach by the Bacardi bar. This has the rocks and then the shallow area in front of them. This was where we spent most of the day! Smooth bottom but a little rough when you get to the rocks. Still not bad on the feet for us though.

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My 5 y/o DS played in the water for a few at the lagoon but didn't go far out at all. We eventually moved around to the next beach back up (not the busy one by the Bacardi bar). There are rock formations there that provided somewhat of a barrier. We let him play in this area and we were close to him at all times, but felt very comfortable with him there. There are also lifeguards, which I wasn't expecting to see. I will try to post a couple of pictures later of the different beach areas when I get home.

We loved GSC! :)

I apologize if this has been asked. I thought I had maybe saw it on here, but I cant find it. Anyway, with the UDP and so many people eating in the specialty restaurants, do you think that the service in the MDR will be better? I would think that it would, but what does everyone else think? We are sailing in June, so probably the height of the UDP usage.

We only ate in the MDR for dinner on our recent (Spring Break) cruise. We found the service to be fantastic! On top of that, the servers were actually asking us to come see them the next night (some would switch from one MDR to the other from night to night). We really enjoyed the food, had a LOT of options, were given multiple dishes when we couldn't decide on just one, etc.

Still going through pics, will add more tomorrow. I do have a pic of the room, which was a balcony stateroom (9066 to be exact).