-
Posts
546 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Everything posted by Ellis1138
-
Plant based (vegan) options for Pride of America?
Ellis1138 replied to markwfpb's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
In my opinion, the PoA is best used as a floating B&B. Sleep there, get up, eat breakfast and then eat a really good, big lunch on each island so that all you need is maybe a salad or light dinner. The food on PoA is edible, but not even as good as standard NCL cruise ship fare. -
Plant based (vegan) options for Pride of America?
Ellis1138 replied to markwfpb's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
I'm not sure if this is where the Access Desk Form is warranted, but definitely contact NCL ahead of time (like a month maybe) to see where it is that you should put in the request. There are definitely plant-based options, I remember seeing those when I was scouring the menus for allergy purposes. The PoA has the same exact fleet-wide food, though, and sadly they were not as up to the task of special dietary needs as the other NCL ships I was on. Go to https://profcruise.com/ncl-menus-2024/ (Prof cruise menus) and you'll be able to see the approximation of what's offered and what you might be able to eat. One caveat on all NCL ships is that certain items are "sourced off ship", meaning they get loaded on the ship already made. So NCL can't guarantee the ingredients. -
I just hope my mother doesn't see this article, since I'll be on the Encore in December. But yeah, anything can happen anywhere, no matter how safe a place seems.
-
Timing for booking thermal suite pass
Ellis1138 replied to FlippieFloppies6's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
On every sailing I've been on, they offer day passes or 3-day passes or on embarkation day, they have the full itinerary ones. So I would guess they hold some back for that. -
NCL Escape: Is this a cruise ship or a floating casino?
Ellis1138 replied to albatros1's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
It's possible, although I do have allergy to the plant products themselves (tobacco leaves as well as cannabis/hemp). I also react more to Marlboro and Camels than to other brands. However, I also get terrible reactions to VOCs, which as you point out are in the smoke/vapes. I have such a sensitivity that if I go into a room where someone had, at some point, smoked, even a few days earlier, I react. It's very inconvenient, but doctors don't have a cure yet. -
NCL Escape: Is this a cruise ship or a floating casino?
Ellis1138 replied to albatros1's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
I am allergic to tobacco smoke, so avoided the 7th deck, and couldn't eat at O'Sheehans except for breakfast. But the Escape also had the copious outdoor areas like the Waterfront. I also found that staying on the grotto side of Spice H2O was smoke-free, even though the smoking section was on the other side. The worst ever was my time on a Royal Caribbean ship where they have the indoor space going up like 5 decks. The casino smoke floated up the stairs from the casino and the indoor promenade turned into a chimney. -
Will humidifier set off smoke detector / alarm
Ellis1138 replied to Bryton-1's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
My father was an HVAC engineer and salesman. He used to take me to work and on job sites. He taught me how to get the lime scale off humidifiers, how to check the general humidity of places and what the ideal should be for a regular residential house. I also got to see clean rooms and the filtration levels for those. My grandfather (his father) was also in HVAC and was a maintenance technician and would take me on his rounds whenever I visited. I didn't go into HVAC, myself, but still remember all of it. -
Will humidifier set off smoke detector / alarm
Ellis1138 replied to Bryton-1's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
It should not set off the smoke detectors unless the humidity in your cabin reaches 85%. That's pretty extreme humidity. I take along a nice Accurite Hygrometer and stick it magnetically on the wall in my cabin. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013BKDO8 You could take one of those along and if it looks like your humdifier is getting up to 80%, you can turn it off so it doesn't set off any alarms. -
Port of Call Exiting Ship Strategy Questions
Ellis1138 replied to The Broski's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
1. It will depend on when the ship clears customs. Whatever time it generally says on the Freestyle Daily for arrival is usually the time they will let people get off, not when the ship starts docking. This can vary based on weather, port issues, etc. My strategy is: get up early, eat as early as possible and go down to the deck with the gangplank so that when it does open, we're close and not waiting on elevators. 2. Check the Freestyle Daily for tendering instructions on "Early Bird, no tickets". You don't need to pay for Priority Access, nor should you, since it won't get you off earlier than Early Birds. And for tendering, you don't get Priority Access on the way back; you have to stand in line. Get to the waiting place for Early Bird and wait until they let you on the first tenders. -
NCL First Timer With Many Questions!
Ellis1138 replied to CarnivalCruiser875's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
Free at Sea plus opinion: I don't drink, but for the plus, you also get the soda and carton water and (I think) specialty coffees. The unlimited non-streaming internet is a $250 value by itself, so if you're going to use it a lot, it's worth it. 2 specialty dinings are worth about $160-ish. So, if you will be drinking and using all that, it's a decent package price. (Why I never took it: I don't drink alcohol or soda, the tap water on the ship is great to drink and I was in the Escape Studios with the best coffee machine for free. My itinerary was port-heavy New England/Canada, so I had nearby wifi and data coverage and didn't need to use up the 150 minutes.) I tend to go Hobbit Mode for breakfast. I would get up at 5 am, have a coffee from the Studio Lounge machine and then head up to O'Sheehans for extra crispy bacon. (I can't swallow pills with water alone, so I use bacon to help me get them down.) The regular coffee there was good and they do have some nice stuff, like corned beef hash. After my pills and bacon, I went to the buffet for the 'made for you right there as you like it' omelet. Then down to Taste (MDR) for pastries, pancakes/waffles and tea. I never went to the Starbucks but I think they had pastries too. I did Moderno twice on the Escape. I love that salad bar, the pao de quiejo and all the meat. I also like not having to keep track of 1 appetizer, 1 entree, 1 dessert. They cooked the meats as I requested and brought me new ones if I thought the meat was overcooked. My favorite night for the MDR is when they have chimichurri beef. I did none of the entertainment, so do not know how that was. There was a lot of it and the stuff in the Atrium was 85 decibels. I had to wear Hear-Os. The casino tends to be smoky, but I had fun at a slot pull. The Escape is a really good ship and I enjoyed it. -
The Mandara spa's usual hours are 8 am to 10 pm. The exceptions are the night before disembarkation, they tend to close at 8 pm. The day of embarkation, they tend to be open for tours and the raffle from boarding time until the time the muster drill used to be. Then somewhere around sailaway/departure, one would be able to have spa services or use the thermal suite. This is generalized and it could vary per sailing.
-
NCL dropped a destination weeks before cruising
Ellis1138 replied to Ruttrowg's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
I knew when I booked the Prima that all this stuff is possible. -
It's funny that it's getting so much news coverage these days. But maybe word will spread that if you do an independent excursion, aim to be back an hour before all aboard, just in case of delays. Also take a day or 2 of important medicines, necessary items and passport with you. I also always (even for non-cruise vacations) bring a list of all the Plan B places and what to do if the original plans are awry. But they got back to the ship, which is a happy ending.
-
NCL stock...actually (NCLH)...tanking today.
Ellis1138 replied to schmoopie17's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
There's three types of stocks: The one where it looks like a staircase going up. The one where it looks like a staircase going down, or worse, a slide. And then there's the Mountain Ranges. NCLH has been a Mountain Range. When I saw the 2020 crash, I grabbed 100 of NCLH at 10 and 100 of CCL at 7. Not for pure investment purposes, but I knew I would be going on cruises, post-pandemic, and I had faith the industry would make it. I could not also afford to get 100 of Royal, which was 24 at the time. It's going to be rocky rides, with the stocks going up and down due to investor emotions and not based on actual performances. Just hang on for a while and get your OBCs. Right now, the industry shoud be ok and NCLH is still filling ships on NCL, Oceania and Regent. -
Pride of America- help with balcony cabin choice
Ellis1138 replied to mickeysgal's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
In my opinion, do not get an aft balcony. Owing to the complaints I compiled over the past couple of years, the aft cabins on the PoA can suffer from a "sewer smell" that ranges from annoying to nauseating. The main cause needs a combination of factors: The wind has to hit the ship's funnel at the right direction, which then causes the both the sewage plant output and the funnel exhaust to be blown into the AC intakes for those cabins. It worried me so much that I moved our cabin to mid-ish and ahead of the funnel. (Ours was 9622). And without the Na Pali sailing, there's no right or wrong side to be on for scenery. Most of the time, by the time we got underway, it was after sunset, so no scenery at all. I've stopped updating the reports, now that I've taken the cruise. -
NCL dropped a destination weeks before cruising
Ellis1138 replied to Ruttrowg's topic in Norwegian Cruise Line
I happen to be a weirdo who enjoys being out in cold, damp and dreary weather, so as long as it isn't icy or lightning. But yeah, I had a similar thing on the Escape for a New England/Canada cruise, where I was out in the hot tub on deck 19 by myself in the pouring rain. Or where I was the only one in the pool on the NCL Sun in Alaska when the outdoor temperature was 30 degrees. But yeah, our sailing on the Prima is a holiday one and probably very full, so I expect the food venues to be zoos. We'll find out in June/July. -
I thought NCL ships were no longer going to do currency exchange on board. I can always check with Guest Services when I get on ship. The trouble with the ATM thing is the same: We dock and I immediately have to be at the shore excursion. No time to run off to a bank and back.
-
I don't know if this will help anyone, but in addition to the $10 waterproof Walmart wristwatch and my phone's clock, I also set an alarm on my phone, based on hours, not time. Like if we're being let off the ship at 9 am and all aboard is 6 pm, I set an alarm to go off in 7 hours. So no matter if the clocks are not set to local or ship time, I have a backup for the exact amount of hours that we're allotted in port.
- 90 replies
-
- 13