irishteddybear

Cruised Regent twice on the baby “Navigator” a Panama Canal cruise & a 10 night Caribbean, loved both. Would love to cruise with them again, Explorer looks stunning. Done 3 TAs, Hal, Ncl & Silversea on the Spirit in her 1st year which was fantastic. Doing 1st Oceania cruise which is a TA in November. My advice would be do the best you can afford. Enjoy

 

F&B Director Messiah Ritzinger from Germany - always to be seen at the buffet, approachable by staff and customers.

 

Hotel Director Djamel from France - I don't know why people care about the Hotel Director. The cabin Steward is much more important in my opinion.

Have cruised with Messiah twice, on the Epic in 2015 & the Star Dec 2016 with Djamela, Bitch great guys, would be great if either were on the Getaway for the TA on Oct.

Sorry if I have missed this in your great review. What are the TVs like in the cabins? Mini suites in particular? Channel selection info would be great thank you. BTW are they still the fat tube sets shown in pics on NCL site or have they moved to flat screens? Thanks

I second this request

Any one know what the going rate is for the single malts that state 'ask for price'?

 

Cheers!!!

Was on the Epic in February, if I remember correctly, the 4 you see in the photo are all included at $15 or less, I know that J Walker Gold was $17.95 because I bought my cousin a few shots for his birthday, only had to pay $2.95 + 18% I think J Walker was about $23-$25 a shot, there is a great selection at the $15 level. If your having a cocktail that is Whiskey based you can get it made with a single malt for a smoother taste, won't push you over the $15 mark, same with upgrading vodka in the cocktails. Enjoy.

First let me say everyone is free to do with their own money as they see fit.

The casino is one place on a ship that I personally would NEVER tip (with the exception of $.50 if I get a blackjack and get it in the payout, or a $1 or $2 if I hit a number straight up on the wheel of steel) Besides the normal % take that a casino has the cruise takes a lot higher then a land based one, with the exception of 6* cruise lines that return 100% on all casino & bingo tournaments, have you ever watched how many people play the slot or Blackjack tournaments & compared it to the amount they pay out? A few tee shirts, key rings, and a few cash prizes amounting to less then 50% of the take. Also if the casino has an electric poker pro table which I admit I do play, they take up to $6 per hand, no dealers or staff evolved at all, on a cruise 2 years ago the players told the floor that if they did not give us some free drinks we would stop playing and move the game to the card room or someone's suite, needless to say it took less then 5 minutes for drinks to arrive and were followed up every 30 minutes with another round, and NO it was not me who suggested that we stop playing over the free drinks. [emoji1]

As the entertainment staff do not normally get a share from the daily service charge there money is made up from Bingo, it is a huge cash cow.

On one HAL cruise they played bingo everyday saying there were holing a percentage of the money brought in for a Super last day bingo bonanza, last day bingo was moved into the theatre which held close to 2000 people, there was not a seat to be had, a lot of the bingo lovers were playing 2-3- or even 4 cards, last day cost was $20 per card, everyone was expecting close to $50000 in prizes to be given out during that session of bingo, well this is how is went, 10 games, a line or 4 corners paid $50, the full house paid $250 on the first 4 games and $500 on the next 4 games, then came the BIG final cash bonanza game, 1 line paid $250, 4 corners paid $250, 3 lines won a 7 night cruise and the full house won a whopping $3000 yes only 3 zeros after the 3, so do some math and work out how much they made in that one day alone, plus what they held from every other days bingo. I must admit that was about 5 years ago so I don't know if HAL have changed the payouts.

If I get a big win in the casino I would give it to my cabin steward as I am sure he needs it a lot more then the casino staff, remember on most if not all cruise lines the casino staff are European so they are earning a lot high wage then the Non European, in my opinion.

Bubby6, Would you be so kind as to email me the NCL kosher menus please. Booked on The Epic in February, only asked the TA today about it. Thank you.

pellerb@outlook.com

I have heard that the Studio cabins do not have a mini fridge, does any know if this will change after the refurbishment? If not is it possible to request one? can it be done on-board or should it be done beforehand? Thank you.

I have just booked 3 back to back NCL cruises, I had them booked thru a USA web site, not NCL site, but was able to book same cruises with UBP included cheaper from an Irish web site, but they use a UK agent so I still paid in GBP. No problem doing this from any country, I am Irish but in the Far east at present, & a friend is joining for the first leg & he just booked via the Irish site & he is living in the Middle east. I do not know if I am allowed post the name of the site. I will say it is a major international travel site, you just need to use .ie instead of .com. BTW the cancellation penalty is only the websites service fee of 49GBP before 90 deadline.

Delighted to read about the Epic refurbishment as I am booked to join on

Feb 3rd. Makes a nice change to get on a ship a few months after a refurb, sailed on HAL Oosterdam TA a number of years ago, it was the last sailing before a major refurb, we were delayed about 5 hours in FL while tons & tons of materials were loaded.

Megacruiser, Thank you for an amazingly informative photogenic play by play of your Epic experience. It has been a most enjoyably read & made me reconsider my earlier thoughts of not sailing NCL again after a 10 night Med on the Jade 3 years ago. I have just booked 32 mights in the Med from Feb 3rd 2016 in a studio based on your review.

Continued smooth sailing to you my friend.