mcdermott

I am sailing 9th Feb and was also a little concerned.Have joined a Spanish web sight and they were critical at first but now they are coming back with positive comments about both the ship and the food.If you are sailing before me would appreciate your comments

The issue is not whether water is free- it's not, no more than the rest of the meal which Costa advertises as included in your cruise fare. The issue is why can't I have "a bowl of soup, hold everything except the water". If I promise not to take a shower tomorrow, can I have a carafe of water now?

Singling out filling water bottles as sources of contamination, that's just a scam to sell water,it's no worse than dozens of other places on the ship, like elevator call buttons (there was a recent study in several Toronto hospitals, the elevator buttons were worse contaminated than the washrooms).

That is why I never touch hand rails press buttons in the lifts with my fingers etc.

Thanks Joe...

 

I am excited about this 30 days cruise ..... Booked my AI today at about 58 Canadian $ a day for the two of us ..... I think a good value I think...... It just looks bad when u see over 1700 bucks together spent on alcohol...... But the off set of that is the worry free with Mimosas for breakfast before leaving for the ports and night caps without worrying about the bill.

 

I will start a thread and see what people think ;)

 

AJ

Yes do start a thread we Joining the ship on 27th out of Miami for 17 nights leaving in Malaga

A lot depends on whether you wish to sight see in Barcelona if you dont there is a hotel called El Prat Sallas They will pick you up at the airport take you to their hotel B&B and the next morning to the port to board your ship

Given the price of Spanish Taxis usually 40€ to the port from the airport the cost of the hotel is very reasonable We have done this many times and have booked it again for Feb on the Diadama

just a note based on our experience

don't pre book online as there were several people having difficulty proving they had pre paid and fortunately had printed off documentation to show to desk in atrium where sticker was added to sea pass card

wait till you get on board and go to desk-they wait till out at sea until applying to your account so don't get charged local tax

Dont forget if you pay on board you are liable to the extra tax from the port you embaraque probably another 15% or more

This is not a problem but you have to use the currency of the ship ie US dollars

That sounds a good reason not to sail RCCL as that would really wind me up! 😡

It would wind you up even more if you had paid for the large suite and the reserved seats were full of kids and you couldn't get one .It happened to us

NCL say you dont have to book you just turn up however on the Epic in June we did this and were told we would have to wait 30 minutes as we were meeting people we went to another restaurant.My advice is if you take the package book your table

I have had UBP C&C and UDP on both the Spirit and the Epic the service has always been excellent and to those who gave very good service I took their names and filled in Hero card and they must have been pleased because we were thanked the next time we were onboard

You cannot upgrade online. You have to call. I upgraded my kids package over the phone. Be careful and explain you are just paying for the upgrade $11 a day or whatever it is. The first rep I spoke to when I called to inquire was confused and at first quoted me the entire price. I called again a day or so later and spoke to another rep and I was very clear. I had to pay with a credit card for the upgrade amount (for some reason could not just be billed to the cc on file).

We have done this through travel agent I believe that it us cheaper before you get on the ship rather than after

Have just booked the dinner package for Sept. You have to take the first dinner the first or second night.The others you can book the rest once you are on board

Sorry but the answer is no

If this cruises starts in Barcelona or another port things will be as normal the day you disembark.Should you require to stay on board longer you can pay extra and stay until 3.30pm.We did this last August on the Equinox

Hi,

We are due to cruise on Spirit shortly. We are inside cabin cheapskates. My wife would like me to ask a couple of really important questions:

 

What are the in-cabin hair dryers like? Needs to be high powered for my Mrs!

 

If no good, what are the cabin sockets like for using her own? Are there UK and US or European outlets and are they 110v or (less likely) 240v?

 

We are from UK so would appreciate feedback from anyone who has experienced what the Spirit has to offer in the hair dryer department.

 

This will be our second cruise this year with NCL having cruised earlier on Jade which we quite enjoyed. Looking forward to see what the Spirit has to offer. By recent accounts she seems to get positive reviews despite not being one of the younger ships and despite being somewhat different from the more traditionally designed ships.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Del.

Hi The hair dryers are not good and I have taken my good dryer and used it in an outside cabin

There are three plugs in an ourside cabin I European(Spanish)1British (3pin) and 1 American which should suit most pèople but maybe not the chinese

I usually give the steward €20 they work hard and I feel they deserve it

Hi

We are drinkers and find the packages a great for us .Last cruise on Celebrity we elected to buy several wine packages before we embarked but found it a bit of a faf waiting for people to go to the cellar to get the wine.

On other cruises we buy the packages and it gives us the freedom to wander the ship and drink in any bar.We were lucky we booked our cruise very well in advance and got it included in the price and although there is no such thing as a free lunch we think we shall enjoy it(We have never felt we had not had value even though we usually pay quite a lot for the package itself)

Thanks very much for the insight, 20pluscruises, Classynfun1, CRUZBUDS, and ghstudio.

 

A friend of mine, who works for Celebrity, had told me about the Pied Piper group, awhile back, and I knew they had more than 1,000 guests in their partial charter, but I didn't put two and two together to make the connection with our difficulty getting that last couple in our group on late dining.

 

I've heard they are good people. It's an LGBT community group, which ought to be a lot of fun.

 

My gut tells me that our fifth couple will be pulled into late dining, whereas they are cross-referenced for dining with we four couples who are confirmed for it, but I'm taking no chances. I will go directly to the maître d', upon boarding, and I will have a fifty dollar bill in my hand.

 

I'm prepared for the worse case scenario, which is all of us dining together at the early seating. Not too bad, considering none of us are port people. We go for the shipboard experience.

 

Besides, we'll all be on a cruise. How could life get any better!?! :)

I noticed that you are Elite I would therefore have a word with the hostess she sorted a lot of problems for me and was really great worth a try

Just one pont if the vouchers have to used 5-7 what happens to the people on second sitting in Europe dinner is not until 8.30 could the vouchers be staggered

for 2nd sitting this would mean one didn't have to rush to the bar (ie Sky lounge but would still get the drinks)doesn't really matter to us as we have the beverage package.

Or heres one could they not just upgrade the drinks package wouldnt matter to those who don't drink as they don't drink

This is the same with all the cruise companies we have sailed with.We drink and usually take the drinks package and yes we certainly more than break even

Hi

We are sailing this cruise on the 29thNov out of Malaga.

This will be the fourth time on this itinerary and because of this we have booked and outside deck 5 opposed to our usual suite or balcony we actually tried for an inside but couldn't get one other than a guarantee and I like to choose my cabin hence the outside.Any one else on this cruise

Hi

Could you please tell me where you obtained this informations

Thanks Sue

We are sailing 14Jan to Dubai from Barcelona and I have just spent days trying to book the wine packages ie 12 bottles at a time to no avail Spanish RCI say its not available because I used an American TA British RCI say its because RCI are stopping pre booking and prepaying wines packages .Could this be that the All Inclusive is coming to the Serenade? Came off the NCL Spirit yesterday and they have just introduced an all inclusive package there 49 dollars per day plus 15% grats. plus 8% Spanish tax This is the only cruise I have left with more wine than we arrived with.We took 12 bottles on board to pay the corkage and were given a bottle whilst on board hence the reason we had more