cruis247g

I'm not sure if it will be the same when you sail, but in May we were offered the option of La Cucina or Q for one Latitude certificate, even though it still said La Cucina or Moderno on the certificate. 

7 minutes ago, Cruisercl said:

I am Platinum Plus so we use the free dinners each cruise. Have never had an issue.

I do always ask the waiter what is included because I know it can vary with the restaurant and the waiter. They are always willing to tell me and we often get extras.....😊

YMMV.

We had similar experiences until our last cruise (MAy of this year on the Joy), when our Cagney’s waiter informed us that DH and I had limited entree options, unless we wished to pay extra. Officially, he was correct, but we had never had a waiter point this out before. It was a different experience. 

Now it it seems that the menu prices have increased and the Platinum voucher value has increased as well. I wonder if more entrees will be within the limit.

57 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

I was just about to allude to the same issue.  In the unlikely case that there is some medical need or even if the parents miss the ship it  may be prudent to have a limited power of attorney available.  That probably sounds like overkill but I'm a planner like that.   🙂

57 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

I was just about to allude to the same issue.  In the unlikely case that there is some medical need or even if the parents miss the ship it  may be prudent to have a limited power of attorney available.  That probably sounds like overkill but I'm a planner like that.   🙂

I agree. Although unlikely, accidents do happen and guests occasionally miss the ship following an unexpected event on an excursion.

Thanks so much to everyone for this thread! 

Although we tend to like mid-sized ships (e.g., Jade and Gem) best, we had a wonderful time on the Joy and just decided to book a Bermuda cruise on the Encore! I am so very excited and really looking forward to trying out the Encore!

Thanks again for this fun and informative topic.

Thanks very much for your review!

Thank you for all the input! I think we're going to do the Dawn. It's less expensive and since we're not on the ship much anyway, with having so many ports, we'll go for an inside cabin instead of balcony.

 

Thanks everyone!

I think you made a great choice! Have a wonderful cruise!

We disembarked the Breakaway on Sunday (2 days ago) and there were several issues with our two bedroom Haven suite, which we had not experienced in the past. We still had fun, but it was a hassle and they were never able to resolve an issue with the bedroom door, resulting in a situation that required the bedroom door to be open the whole time. They did fix some other issues, such as, a leaking faucet. I don’t know if we were just unlucky or if the rooms just need a tune-up.

Thank you so much for your review. It was very informative and I especially enjoyed the comparison/ contrast to Celebrity. As someone who loves a morning latte, I agree that it would be very nice if specialty coffees were included in the UBP.

Absolutely engaging trip report :D! I wish you a speedy recovery. Thank you very much for posting.

Thank you so much for your review. It was very informative and helpful.

I’ve been pouring over BA info and this review has been incredibly helpful!

Birdtravels: Thanks so much for taking the time to pass this along to all of us!! It is much appreciated.

Sounds delicious! I’ll definitely search for this one:D!

I recently completed a 10-Day cruise in a non-Haven suite. I made all of my dinner reservations and shore excursions myself. There were 3 of us and the only time we used the services of the concierge was for boarding and disembarkation. On the last day of the cruise I gave her a Thank You note with $50 inside. She was also very professional and always made sure that we knew she was available for anything we might need. My thinking was we barely used her services at all and we gave her the equivalent of $25 per service. We tipped our butler $300 ($10 pp per day) because he brought breakfast to the suite for about 5 days, snacks everyday and took care of special requests such as keeping the suite stocked with green tea and honey. We also gave the cabin steward $100 - it would have been more had he not been part of the DSC.

 

I know tipping is a personal thing but I am thinking now maybe I should have given the concierge more? I have seen the figure $5 pp per day and I would have had no issue giving her $150 had she assisted us with reservations or shore excursions. Just for embarkation and debarkation, $150 seems like a lot to me.:confused:

Absolutely fine!

Typically a cruise can be booked under a variety of promotions, all of which your TA or NCL rep can see when booking.

When we were attempting to get to Platinum, a TA failed to book us under the extra Latitudes point promotion without mentioning it, even though we had discussed that promotion. When I asked what happened, the TA said that the LATREWARDS promotion was not compatible with another promo that she used for us. However, in our specific situation we preferred the extra points. If points are important, it’s a good idea to confirm on your statement, as suggested by others. Then you can decide what is best for you. (I don’t mean to imply that this was NCL’s fault — just poor communication between the TA and me.)

Another time, extra suite points were not automatically credited to our accounts for a sailing. It took a number of emails and telephone calls to NCL, but was eventually corrected. (Seemed like the NCL Computer system read our cabin as a balcony instead of a suite.) Based on this, I would recommend checking your Latitudes account after sailing to ensure that your account is correct as well.

Hope you have the promotion(s) you wanted and earn the extra Latitudes points! Happy cruising!

Thanks everyone! We’re sailing on the BA soon and I’m really looking forward to it, but this sounds like one more reason that people love the Escape.

Can’t decide if we’ll eat at Margaritaville or not, but I would like to try their margaritas:p!

On our cruise on the BA last summer, it was NOT offered to Haven guests (we asked).

Thank you for the update.

Does anyone know if this (Margaritaville free for Haven pax on embarkation day) has happened on the BA lately? Thank you.

Thank you all, just switched from a balcony to an aft suit for under $300.

Congratulations! Sounds fabulous!

I’m at 42 days and so far nothing. I did get my luggage tags though!

 

 

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In the past, we have always received a pre-cruise concierge letter, but we’re sailing on the Breakaway in about two weeks and haven’t heard a word.

I had the phone number (from previous cruises), so I called with a request to add one person to two dinner reservations and was told that my request would be forwarded and I could check when onboard to see if the person was added. It would have been nice to receive a pre-cruise letter and follow-up on a request.

OP - as others have said, pre-cruise requests are sometimes met and sometimes not. Unfortunately, I don’t believe your master bed can be split.

This isn’t really hidden, but I don’t believe the souvenir glasses, which are often handed out (sold) when you arrive, are included in the UBP. Hopefully another CCr can clarify, but I seem to recall that the drink was included, but the glass was not or or the amount over $15 was not covered or something like that. (Can someone recall how this is charged?) That could be a surprise.

We've sailed in the two bedroom suite on many NCL ships and the beds have seemed similar, but we haven’t sailed on the Escape, so I hope this is helpful.

From our kids’ experience, the bed in the second bedroom is fine. It isn’t as comfortable as the master bedroom, but it’s okay. If your MIL has sleeping issues, I would try to bring a topper. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.

The couch is another story. The steward will make it up each evening if you wish to use it as a bed. I had to spend a couple of nights on it during one cruise and found it very uncomfortable. One of our children also tried sleeping on it (think he was mid-teens then) and said it wasn’t great, but had an easier time than I did. However, in all fairness, others on CC seem to have found the couch fine.

Enjoy your cruise!

Do you like smaller or larger ships?

How important is a shorter drive to the port?

Do you primarily sail for the ship activities, itinerary, or just to sail?

All of your options seem good!!

Our next cruise is on the Breakaway. Even though we typically like smaller ships, we really love being able to drive to the ship on the day of sailing and driving home after the sailing, with no worries about flights or hotels. It makes everything easier. When we’re cruising the Caribbean, the itinerary is secondary for us. It’s about relaxing, going to the beach (almost any beach, haha), and spending time together. We would probably choose the Breakaway.

Hope that you have a great time on the cruise you choose!

We have simply asked Guest Services for an extra key to our stateroom when we have wanted to give a key to a family member, who was not staying in our room. If this is still possible, it might help you.

If there is a certain time and place you know you'd like to eat... set your calendar for 90 days out. not 91 or 92. By 91 days, most of the earlier times will be gone. Book what you think you'd like... you can always cancel onboard at guest services or simply pick up your stateroom phone and dial the code on phone for resturants and state you'd like to cancel so and so. Easy peasy. Better to make the reservations and get the times you might want than to wait til onboard. Also, you can always head to the restaurant and see if they have an open table. Not the best way, but most times there will be a small wait and you can get in.

Excellent advice! We are sailing in a suite in March, but in the midst of holiday fun (and chaos;p), I completely forgot to make reservations until January! At that point the options were quite liimited. We’ll attempt to modify them onboard, but it would have been nice to skip that step.

DH usually orders the shrimp cocktail, which is good and basically what one would expect. I usually order the crab cake appetizer, which I think is okay.

After reading this thread, I think I’ll try the pork belly next time!