tomk3212

Yes it's VERY helpful. However, at the risk of being labeled a cynic, I'd be willing to bet that some government, somewhere in this wide world, passed a law or invoked a regulation REQUIRING this information be easily available on a website. MSC has had this info on it's website advertising for some time now. I just this moment priced a cruise on RCCL.com & VOILA!!! Taxes, etc. also listed. In VERY SMALL PRINT, but it's there. NCL has merely bowed to the inevitable (or did what they HAD to do...).

Quick answer; yes, 3/7/2025 is during the 'Spring Break' period. History Lesson: way back in the 50's & the 60's at most colleges in the US, 'Spring Break' was actually 'Easter Break' & took place either the week before or week of the Easter holiday & was a 2 week period. Many college students from the Northern US colleges would drive to Florida to escape the cold winter weather. This obviously created gigantic problems for the cities & towns in Florida having to cope with a massive influx of college students during this 2 week period. (college students didn't cruise back then!!) Also the dates of Easter change from year to year complicating the problem. Somehow the state of Florida was able to persuade a number of Northern US colleges to change their 'Easter Break' to 'Spring Break' & schedule it after President's Day and NOT during Easter. Thus the 'influx' of college students was spread out over a 6-8. week period instead of 2 weeks. Over time even elementary & secondary schools in the US changed 'Easter Break' to 'Spring Break'. So this is why cruise ships sailing from US ports are so darn crowded from late February through mid-late April.

We did a TA on Epic in April 2023. We were at 98% capacity & everything was open. The Spiegel Tent wasn't used very much but that was about it. Now we were on a TA on Getaway in April 2019 when she was going into dry dock immediately afterwards (they cut our TA short by three days bc of this!!). Parts of the ship were closed off in prep for the dry docking but all the venues were still open. Cannot recall what our capacity %-age was on that cruise but there were a fair amount; I'd estimate 80% + on that TA. Have a good cruise!

Pre-COVID we did a 14 day B2B out of Venice on Jade in '15 that was very port-intensive also. Had the usual theme nights. Ditto similar trip on Star in '16 & post-COVID on our TA to Europe we also had the usual theme nights. Cannot speak to European cruises post-pandemic, however. Hope you have a good cruise!

They did the same on Escape, Getaway & on Epic when we sailed aboard them. I now think it's SOP on this ship's class for specialty restaurant reservations on boarding day. As others have said if this is the way you're booking, get there early!! The lines start to form quickly even though they have 3-4 people taking reservations. Have a great cruise!

YES!!!

I never knew Leo's last name; his act was simply advertised as 'Leo'. If that's the case Leo was on Epic last April for our T/A cruise. It was his first time on Epic (same for us) & we were chatting while the techies were setting up his guitar, microphone, etc. He is great! We've seen him on at least 3 other NCL ships. He was on Gem for a long time pre-COVID.

Breakaway, by all means. IMHO, Epic has one and only one advantage over the Breakaway/Breakaway Plus class of ships; the size of Headliners Comedy club. On Epic it is almost twice as large as the Headliners on the other ships. In our cruise on Epic last April we had NO issues with getting into ANY of the comedy or Howl At the Moon performances. Yes, it was sometimes crowded but NOBODY had to stand during these performances. Sadly that is NOT the case with Headliners on the other ships! On these ships NCL has tried reservations (they 'sell out' almost immediately which gets us pax annoyed) and are now using a first-come-first-seated no reservations routine (which forces pax to wait in line...also annoying!). Solution for NCL; during the next refit on these ships just do whatever you have to do to make Headliners the same size as on Epic. My 2 cents...lol

Dollar Tree here in the US at times sells cheapie, 3-plug non-surge protected power strips that I've taken on MANY NCL cruises with no issues whatsoever. Maybe bc it's so small I've never had an issue with it being questioned by NCL but, like I said before, I've been using it for almost 7 years. This has become less of an issue now that NCL has upgraded to powered USB plugs on the newer/refurbished ships. Just bring along the appropriate USB cable & plug it in!

We were on Epic for a TA last April & they didn't offer the tour to either Latitudes or for paying customers. I asked & they said they were still operating in COVID-mode so far as this was concerned. Too bad as I'd have liked to see the differences between Epic & the Breakaway/Breakaway+ ships that I have taken the BTS tour on. We went on the Gem BTS tour many years ago & also got about 30 minutes on the bridge! Way cool!!! I still have pix of it!!!

If memory serves they also served the prime rib in O'Sheehans. At least that was the case on our last cruise on Escape in November.

The Headliners comedy clubs on the Breakaway / Breakaway plus ships at one time took reservations. They sold out almost immediately. Only on Epic have I ever been able to just walk into Headliners just before the show began and get a seat. And that’s because Epic’s Headliners is probably twice as big than those on the Breakaway /Breakaway plus ships. They really should have built those clubs to the same size as the one on Epic! All that said, the bottom line is simple; if you want to see one of the comedy shows on one of the ships, get there early and be prepared to stand in line!

I have read on these CC boards that NCL will match cruise status with their other two sister cruise lines, Oceania & Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Also vice-versa with them & NCL. Maybe some other poster can verify this? As others have stated they do NOT match with Carnival, RCCL, etc. Personally, I cannot imagine a Marriott Ambassador Elite status customer walking into a Hilton hotel & being automatically given Hilton Honors Diamond status on a permanent basis. For a one night or a few days visit? Absolutely! As others have stated it's a great way to 'poach' elite status customers by giving them a 'taste' of your elite status perqs. But being able to, literally, trade one elite status for another at a different hotel or whatever on a permanent basis? Maybe George Clooney's character (Ryan Bingham) in 'Up in the Air' could pull that off but I doubt if anyone else could...lol

Seriously??? Your PCC gave you this erroneous info?? As other posters have stated, it's time to get a new travel agent. Or PCC, in this case...if that's possible...dunno if NCL will let you switch...

This is what we do to save $$ on our cell phone bill & use the WiFi on 2 different devices; since DW & I each have WiFi minutes (we do NOT upgrade to unlimited) we use ONE cell phone (mine) to connect to WiFi using MY minutes. We turn her cell off completely ( we tell the kids to call us on MY phone in an emergency) & just use mine. We connect the iPad to HER WiFi minutes. This way we don't have to switch devices. Just a suggestion. Have a great cruise!

In almost 20 years of cruising we've NEVER run into anyone we know aboard ship. Personally, I think that's kinda weird considering just how many cruises we've been on (not to brag...☺️) but I guess that's how life is. I think OP's plan was a wonderful idea BUT as many others have pointed out I could see that idea going south in a VERY big hurry if the other couple was taking the cruise for 'alone' time or to escape from some drama at home. I wish the VERY best of luck to anyone who tries this idea and hope it works out well. If not....well NCL's ships ARE pretty big & it's easy to get lost...😋

On the Escape last month we got several emails leading up to the cruise to watch the safety video. As part of the online check-in you also have to watch the safety video. You'll also see it when you get aboard at some point also. As soon as you board you go to your muster station & have your key card scanned by the crew waiting there to do so. Easy, peasy!!

It's not too surprising considering the advances made in at-sea communications in the past 20 years or so. On the Dawn back in '03 there was NO WiFi and ANY internet connectivity had to be done at a PC in the Internet Cafe & NCL charged by the minute for, at best, dial-up bandwidth capability. I remember well the horror stories we'd see here on CC back then when unsuspecting pax sent their kids to the Internet Cafe to 'play on the Internet' and get slammed with a $500 bill!!! SATCOM communications has come a long way in 20 years along with WiFi, cellular & the whole gamut of personal devices! Think of what your typical cell phone was capable of back in '03. Not to mention what devices we were using for Internet access back then. It's a whole new world now...(OK cue the Disney chorus singing...lol)

We can confirm; no more up-charge on the Porterhouse steak!! DW ordered the Porterhouse on our cruise to Bermuda on Escape a few weeks ago (I had the rib-eye!). It was delish!!

As several other posters have pointed out NCL is infamous for delaying refunds; this was even before COVID struck. In this now post-COVID world keep in mind that NCL (and MANY other cruise lines) are carrying gigantic (compared to pre-COVID) debt loads they had to assume to merely stay in business during COVID. Also I'm sure that NCL is waiting on the refund of port fees & such from yours & other cancelled cruises as a result of the war. I'm not offering this as an excuse for NCL's obviously bad behavior in delaying your refund; your example of how RCCL handles similar situations is spot on. Contacting your credit card company is a viable option so if you need the $$ back ASAP I'd go that route. Otherwise I'd try contacting whomever you booked the cruise with (travel agent or NCL directly) & see what they can do, if anything. Unfortunately, the 'squeaking wheel gets the grease' so if that doesn't work I'd contact your credit card company & go that route. Good luck & stay safe! You & your countrymen (country-people?) are in my prayers..

As several posters have pointed out expect NO help from any NCL employee if you're doing self-assist. MCT is a 'union shop' and NCL employees/contractors aren't allowed to assist you with your baggage from the ship to the terminal. Once you're in the terminal you can get a Red Cap to assist you. I dunno if you can get a Red Cap prior to going through Customs or not. Someone else can speak to that. Have a good cruise!

On our last cruise on Escape (3 weeks ago to Bermuda) they had 3 or 4 restaurant reservation kiosks set up in the Headliners Comedy Club (Deck 6, I think...). Head right there as soon as you board. I find the screens hit-and-miss; sometimes they work, sometimes not. Have a great cruise!

Celebrity had morning Mass at 0800 on Horizon when we last cruised on her but that was way back in 2001 or so. Back in 2011 we were on Gem on Xmas Eve & they had Midnight Mass in the Gem Theater. It looked like over half the crew was there in addition to us pax who attended! There was a Xmas Protestant service in the theater before the Catholic Mass. I asked the CD on Gem why NCL didn't do this regularly & he said if there's a priest, minister, imam or rabbi who is sailing on the ship during a particular cruise NCL will make the interdenominational chapel available for their use & assist in any way they can. This includes publishing the time & location in the Freestyle Daily. For Easter, Xmas & specific religious holy days they'll bring a priest, rabbi, minister or imam on board to conduct services if they feel there's enough pax on board to justify it. That was back in 2011. I dunno if that's still NCL policy these days. FYI, when we lived in MD our associate pastor took a cruise aboard an RCCL ship out of Baltimore & he told us he said Mass every day while he was aboard in their chapel; they advertised it in their daily paper. So am guessing it's probably the same policy on other cruise lines. On our last two NCL cruises this year there was a Sabbath Shabbat 'self-led' service for our Jewish friends. Haven't seen anything else.

We were on Gem for our 30th back when she first launched in 2007 on a cruise to the Western Med. Our PCC must've let them know bc we got the 'full monty' as others described above; cake, serenade, etc. and also the incomparable Klaus Lugmaier personally came over to our table & wished us a happy anniversary!!! That was up in the Garden! Klaus was aboard as Hotel Manager as this was one of the first voyages of the Gem after she launched in '07.

We, literally, just got off Escape this past Sunday after a 7 day cruise to Bermuda. DW & I were in the Uber on the way home & BOTH of us remarked on how well we slept this particular cruise & how comfortable the king-sized bed in our balcony cabin (14296) was! Weird that I should see your post today re: beds on Escape! Bottom line: our bed on Escape was quite comfortable!!