PATRLR

Ate in Le Bistro last week on the Getaway, no jacket.

The show is amazing. It's not like the Vegas Cirque shows so if you are expecting large scale acrobatic performance this is not it. The performers are amazingly skilled in the Cirque style of acrobatic performance. I would say it is probably the best show I have ever seen on a cruise ship (more than 20 cruises). It's definitely worth the $30.

 

 

Its organized like a typical dinner theater in long dining tables to maximize occupancy and should be expected. The seating arrangement doesn't bother most people at all I don't think. You sit down, the lights dim, the food gets served right away and the show starts. You aren't making small talk with your dining mates, you're quietly watching the show. I cannot recommend this show enough.

This is very well stated. I agree, best show I've ever seen on a cruise ship and worth the $30.

What does worry me is I wonder if this is similar to the first premium (extra charge) restaurant. Start with just one venue, see how it goes, and pretty soon, all the good shows are an extra charge. NCL already has the "reservation" process in place, it would be very easy to start charging for shows. Then, just like the restaurants, good food/shows are an extra cost, mediocre food/shows are free.

From what they put in our rooms, 7:45 starts the self assist.

Just curious, what did they put in your room regarding disembarkation? We received nothing regarding disembarkation and when I called guest services they seemed to indicate that I should have been watching the TV to learn what I needed to know and that I had to come to guest services to get luggage tags.

The last night of the cruise the farewell show includes some members from Burn the Floor but I don't remember seeing or hearing anything indicating they were performing at Tropicana Room

I recall something about Burn the Floor in Tropicana, I think it might have been 2nd to last night. Sorry, Burn the floor wasn't really my cup of tea so had no desire to see any more of it and didn't pay attention to when they were in Tropicana.

How long did it take to get curbside start to finish?

We also just got off this cruise. We left the Garden cafe at 8:30AM and I just checked that my Uber trip time was 9:12. And we had to go find our bags in about the furtherest away place they could have been. It was lots of walking and snaking but as I recall, we kept moving.

I've got the same question, just starting my research. I'll be on NCL Getaway. Next week :)

Any recent experiences with getting a day pass to a hotel?

The Radisson told me today via e-mail that I can rent a day room for $30/hour+9% tax. I don't really want or need a room. I just want to be able to go hang by their pool, buy some drinks at the bar, have some lunch, etc.

except maybe Carnival (Floating frat party and petri-dish...absolutely filthy.)

That's just wrong and inappropriate. Sorry you didn't enjoy your Carnival cruise bu quite frankly my experiences (multiple on both lines) is that Carnival and NCL are very similar.

I am Diamond on Royal Carib. and recently switched to NCL a few years ago. For me, I suits me better. I have done over 20 cruises total, been on nearly every line.

So just how many Carnival Cruises were you on? 20 total cruises, most on RCCL, nearly all the other lines, I suspect you were on exactly one Carnival cruise.

From my research on this board and poking at the Carnival website it appears the only way to add VIFP numbers to an existing booking is to call Carnival. Carnival say I need to call the TA which I will do on Monday. Did I miss something? Does anyone know of a way to add it online?

My wife cruised 25+ years ago on Carnival - anyone have any luck getting them to give you credit for a long ago cruise? If she had credit for that cruise, she'd hit the next level during our Miracle cruise next week.

Thank you very much for the recent replies.

My take away here is, don't worry about my 2:00 - 2:30 checkin, just show up when I can show up and get in line.

Now, I could get there just about anytime, but, it sounds like no point in getting there before 11:00 or so. Right?

Yes.

StolidCruiser - you've experienced this yourself?

Following up on this thread...

If we have a 2:00-2:30 checkin time, is there any point in showing up before that time? If we show up at let's say noon, will we be forced to sit and wait for 2 hours to check in?

We will be leaving April 30 on the Miracle out of Long Beach. First time in a long time leaving out of this area. I have a few questions:

1. We'll be staying in Anaheim with a rental car prior to departure. I hope to drive to the port and drop the car somewhere nearby. Which rental car companies are nearby, or, will I need to drop at an airport and shuttle from there?
   
2. Our check-in time is 2:00PM (ugh). My experience is some ports are strict about check in times and others are not. We could easily be at the port very early. Would we be wasting our time? Are they going to refuse to let us in if we're early?
   
3. Post cruise, need to get down to SNA - suggestions?
   

Thanks in advance!

My opinion is the minority's opinion according to who? We were a group of 100 ! 95 said it sucked! Enjoy your next meal at Golden Corral!

If you read and comprehend my words, your opinion is the majority according to me!

If you read some of the posts in this thread, your opinion is the minority and that is fact, not my opinion.

Nice Golden Corral reference. That's what I have used on these boards to describe MDR food on Carnival and NCL lately. Crapola.

You know I was just on Yelp and some people even give the Golden Corral 5 stars, we were on Dolphin with a group of over 100 and 95 percent felt the food was substandard, so enjoy your next meal at Golden Corral, I'm sure you'll love it.

Talk about stating the obvious. Yeah, no ****e Sherlock, there's something for everyone. Thank you for enlightening us on that. You hated the food. I liked it. That accomplished a lot.

Doesn't change my statement that you hold the minority opinion for early 90s cruising.

The food on Dolphin was cheap garbage. The MDR on most cruise lines today are a mixed bag some good some not, the food served on Dolphin was mostly pure crap! Why do you think there out of business? Everything food, rooms, entrainment, service were sub standard!

I am confident you hold the minority opinion for early 90s cruising. It was well and widely known that the Dolphin line had very good food on their ships. Yes, they were old ships with none of the amenities of the new ships at the time, but what they lacked in ship features they made up for in food.

Crappie food

Wow. I don't want to ask what you think of the slop served in all the major line's MDRs today.

We also made sure to bring singles, because we read with the UBP, receipts are not printed unless there is a port tax...so if you plan on tipping when ordering a drink, keep that in mind :)

Is this new? On the Dawn in Sept we had UBP and we had to sign a receipt each time, throughout the cruise.

The service is the same if you over tip or not, that was my experience and i didn't tip more then then the 18% included.

I can assure you, extra tipping is noticed and helpful in getting better service. Especially with the wait staff that wanders around delivering drinks.

An example - about 3:00 one afternoon I finally go out by the pool. I see my favorite waiter on the way and say hi. Shortly after I get seated he shows up and takes my order. As he's leaving, others around me give him orders. After he's gone people are asking why he suddenly showed up and went right to me when they haven't see a waiter all day.

I've been doing a lot of research this last week and have my cruise options for next mid-March down to a Carnival Magic eastern and the NCL Getaway western. I am leaning to Carnival due to itinerary and price' date=' but am still intrigued with NCL because the food looks better (we would get 3 signature dining meals included as part of the current promotion), a Broadway show I would like to see, and Carnival's party reputation, although we would on a 7 night cruise which is supposed to be less wild. We will be 53, no kids on this trip, and we don't gamble, and don't drink much, although we aren't going to be going to bed at 10 or anything.

What is also turning me away from NCL is all the talk on the boards about "nickel and diming" and things that cost money now that didn't before (i.e. room service). Those of you who have cruised NCL before seem to have strong opinions about it. I have only cruised 3 times, and all on DCL, so that is my reference, so I know the service will suffer either way, but does anyone want to give me a reason to keep NCL in consideration?[/quote']

 

Based only on what you wrote and my experiences, I'd go Carnival.

 

I've been on Carnival and NCL in the past 9 months. Been on a few Carnival over the past few years. Carnival's party reputation is way over blown. I don't even think about that any more when I make my decisions.

 

The Carnival food is better, in my experience.

 

However - either way, I am sure you will have a great time. So maybe don't overthink it and just go with your gut?

 

How do the tips get dispersed?

Does the bar staff actually get the tips?

Does NCL calculate how much you drink and divide your $99 to whom it was that served you?

We're heading into a rat hole here. You would do best to stop thinking of the $99 as a tip and instead think of it as a service charge. NCL takes that money and does what ever it pleases with it. In theory some of it goes to the wait staff, but there is no relationship between your specific drinks and how your $99 is distributed. And it is also doubtful that all of it goes to service staff. Folks on this board like to point out that support staff (e.g. dish washers) also get some of that service charge money. Or so they claim.

That's why people (myself included) advise to tip your wait staff when served. I usually do $1 at the bar and $2 to $5 (depending on how many drinks I order) for walk around waiters like at the pool.

:eek: Nooooooooooo........I'm ordering 5 prime ribs then...

5, stacked on each other, will get to about 1/2 the thickness of a typical prime rib. We were on Victory in March and was amazed at how thin the prime rib slides were. It was as if they used a cold cut slicer.

Been reading up on beaches in Nassau. Seems like either Melia/Wyndham day pass or Junkanoo for us.

One thing that is important to us is shade. Doesn't look like either has much shade, are umbrellas available at either?

We're on the Victory March 13 (4 night Bahamas) out of PC.

I see that I can pre=purchase the soda package, is there any real advantage to doing it before hand? Will I avoid long lines? Will I be able to go straight to any bar, or, will I need to go to my cabin, find the paperwork and then go to some specific location?

Sounds like the cash account is the easiest way to go. For all I know, that may be exactly what they want (not everyone charges everything like I do :)).

thanks for your help everyone.