BruinsFan08

Just now, Pirate at 50 said:

I am reading some misleading reports.  Is the Encore being damaged by bad weather in the NA on her transatlantic.  Or is that another ship.  Can someone verify.

 

On it now and I’ve not seen nor heard of any damage. Some decent waves (around 30 ft.), but nothing too bad.

11 hours ago, Victorious8 said:

Final bar crawl list! I will make updates after the Inaugural TA if they are needed! ENJOY (responsibly)! 

Norwegian Encore Bars List .pdf 4.92 MB · 7 downloads

Thanks for doing  this! I'm sailing in steerage class, so I can max out at 19...

On 8/17/2019 at 9:46 AM, TTEllis said:

That's great!!! Ship looks awesome. What length is that transatlantic?? GREAT choice!! That's a nice cruise and I don't cruise NCL. 

it's a 9 day. 8 to cross the Atlantic and an overnight in NYC. I think that means they are going to swing south to grab some decent weather.

I would stay at the the Royal Sonesta or the Hyatt Regency Inner Harbor. They are a block away from each other and roughly the same quality, so just look for price.  It's about $20-25 uber from BWI (I live in the area and have to fly out quite a bit). $9-10 Uber to the Cruiseport. The area is great. You are blocks from the heart of the Inner Harbor, a 1/2 mile from Little Italy, or if you go the other direction (right on Light) you can go right into Federal Hill. I live in Fed Hill and the food and drink scene is great. Some young bars on weekends, but there are plenty of good places to avoid the college crazy and you avoid chain food...

As far as Little Italy, I'm a fan of La Tavola, or if you are looking for more tradional red sauce kinda food Chiapparelli's or Amiicci's. Wherever you choose, save dessert for Vaccaros.

On 8/14/2019 at 4:36 PM, squick64 said:

 

 

 

I've not been on the Bliss, although I'm booked for next November (in a spa balcony, though, not a studio).

 

I did a studio on the Escape, which was my first NCL, and it was very memorable. I found the cabin space a little awkward, but it was comfortable enough, and there's a lounge. NCL's really good about managing their solos. I didn't end up hanging out with them all the time--probably less and less by the day--but the coordinator was very energetic and good at encouraging people to join in. They set aside a row in the theater just for the solo group.

 

We had a mix of people there--largely in their 30s-40s, but we also had a woman in her 70s+. We were there for various reasons. One woman was a teacher and could only get away at certain times. Some people (who we largely didn't talk to) were there with larger groups--they were just the solo young adult in the party. One guy was there celebrating his divorce, heh. (He said he'd been eyeing the cruise on the website, and as soon as his lawyer called to say the paperwork had gone through, he hit the "book" button and found a last-minute flight to Florida. 😄)

 

Of course, you don't have to socialize with the solo group itself. I find that on any cruise, I manage to exchange a few words with various people--at the bar, in the pool, on an excursion or tender, you name it. It doesn't generally result in a friendship or plans or anything, but basically, everyone's in a good mood (with or without a few drinks) and feeling amicable. And especially on a megaship like the Bliss, there's tons to do either way--swim, go down the giant slides, read, drink, dance, play trivia, whatever floats your (oversized) boat.

Thanks for your perspective. I pulled the trigger last night. I actually chose the Encore transatlantic instead of a Thanksgiving cruise. Looking forward to it!

10 hours ago, TTEllis said:

Your all are going to have a blast. I've been solo cruising now since I was 37 years young, now going on my 18th year and 15 solo cruises. Spent last Thanksgiving week on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale then hopped on the Caribbean Princess for 14 days solo, I'm not really sure I would ever cruise any other way. Have a great time, solo cruising for me is the only way to go. 

Don't be deterred have a great time Todd

Thanks Todd... I'm putting in for the vacation and booking the soloas soon as the approval comes in.

16 hours ago, madcat444 said:

If the perks are the same and you think you'd spend a bit of time on the balcony I'd go for that. You can still go to the solo meets in the lounge but you wouldn't have access throughout the day. 

Guess it depends on the itinerary and what you like to do. 

Same price I'd go for balcony 😁 

That's a fair point MadCat... Thanks.

Suddenly single here at 48. I love cruising and am thinking of avoiding the family at Thanksgiving by going solo on the Bliss. I was concerned that I would be bored going on my own, but reading some of these threads has me a lot closer to pulling the trigger. Has anyone done an NCL Studio?

On 2/17/2019 at 9:01 PM, EganFire said:

Single male, traveling solo on NCL Bliss March 2, 2019

I'm looking to do my first solo cruise this Thanksgiving (avoiding family). The Bliss is the same price for a studio or a balcony. I think I'd prefer the studio lunge area over the extra space in the room, but I haven't pulled the trigger yet. Did you go in studio or solo in a regular cabin?

We are on the Escape now (18 Nov cruise) and got passes for my DW and myself. We were group 2, but the boarded groups 1 & 2 at the same time. We camped out by the bathrooms in the waiting area and were amongst the first to board when they called our groups. We went straight to Headliners and got our passes. 5 minutes after we got ours, the final 10 or so were handed out.

Great review/observations! We are hopping onboard Thanksgiving.

Here is a link with all of the trains going through BWI and/or Penn to Union Station. Most are Northeast, but a few other lines go through as well (such as the Cardinal line going East-West).

https://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/1018/288/Northeast-Corridor-Schedule-W06-111416.pdf

Personally, I think that BWI is much easier to get to, with no city traffic. But... as you will see with the schedule, there are more options out of Penn on the weekend.

Currently on weekends there is no PATH service between Hoboken and 33rd St due to track work. http://www.panynj.gov/alerts-advisories/advisories_path.html

 

However there will be weekend service directly from Hoboken to World Trade (this is normally weekdays only) stopping in Jersey City at Newport and Exchange Place. Service from Newark to World Trade is unaffected - trains will stop in Harrison and in Jersey City at Journal Square, Grove St, and Exchange Place on the way to World Trade.

 

However, this track work should be done by January.

Thanks for the info.

Hey Cruising4, if I read the timetables correctly, they are saying that the outage will be completed on Dec 19th, so we should be good for February.

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I am looking at flying in 5/10 - my hotel budget is fluid - we are SPG members with a healthy chunk of points we will likely allocate for that night - so Westin and Sheraton properties are our targets.

 

Thanks for the car service options - we will definitely be a party of 2 - we may become a party of 4.

For SPG, if you fly into EWR, you can find a W in Hoboken and a Westin in Jersey City. Both are an easy train ride into NYC and are close to Cape Liberty.

I am out of Cape Liberty in February and am staying at the W.

Thanks for the info! While we liked the Secaucus area, we hated that hotel location. I'll try to stay away from it this time around lol.

Hey Jyllie, we are on the same cruise. We are staying at the W in Hoboken, but we only had to get 1 room.... You can find decent rates, on the PATH, in Newark, Hoboken and Jersey City. We chose Hoboken due to it being on the Hudson.

This is the current thread about the exit 14a construction - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2375544&highlight=Chosin

 

These directions are not the most current. Traffic patterns have been rearranged at exit 14a. The construction has actually improved the signage at the exit. There are now two fairly well marked ways to get into the port via either route 440 or Avenue E. Written directions are probably best. Read through the thread carefully to see if you have questions. Our Bayonne cruisers have been very good about providing construction updates and answering questions.

 

Which Feb cruise are they on? It's always good to have a plan B in the winter. I'm sailing Feb 7 for 12 days and am using the trinity reservations package for a sleep/park/cruise for the Ramada. This works well for me because port parking would be $240 and the package is $219. However, the other Feb cruises are 7 days, so parking is only $140.

 

Is your friend coming from Virginia Beach? It's at least a 6 hour drive. I love the idea of staying in Jersey City, but it may not be worth it unless they also want to go into New York for the evening. I would suggest looking at the hotels on International Blvd in Elizabeth at Exit 13a - Embassy Suites, Country Inns, Courtyard Elizabeth, and Residence Inn. These hotels are next to the Jersey Gardens Mall and are an easy on/easy off the turnpike.

Coming up from Baltimore for the Anthem on Feb 26th. Even though I am a few hour drive, we always come up the night before. Too may ways for traffic to stop/crawl on 95/Turnpike for me to feel safe about making it on time. They are running an SPG member special right now and we got a decent price at the W in Hoboken. on PATH to NYC and easy drive to Cape Liberty.

This is true. Took April 2016 cruise out of Bayonne with our 4 kids last year. First day out and last day back where spent at the seaplex and indoor pool. My kids had a blast on the Anthem (15, 14, 11, and 7). One of them even cried on the car ride home : ) We had 3 cabins and the 15 and 14 year old girls came and went as they pleased. Great vacation.

I'd second the Anthem (I loved the Quantum).

But did you consider looking at the Allure or the Harmony out of FLL? If you play with the flights, including Jet Blue and SWA you can get relatively cheap flights. For Holy Week 2017, I did Jet Blue with a late, night before, flight to FLL and a 7'ish (pm) return trip from JFK for about $450 pp.

I didn't cancel my original package at first and instead went through RC by phone when i saw this because it looked too good to be true when i saw it online.

I guess I buried the lead.....when I called, it turned out to be true. Rebooking it today essentially got me the VOOM for free.

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I bought the Deluxe Drink Package a while ago (for a Feb 26th sailing on the Anthem). I canceled it today and went with the Sip and Stream (combines the Deluxe Drink Package with 1 device VOOM) for $8 less.

So i got both VOOM and the Deluxe for $8 less than I originally paid for just the Deluxe Drink Package.

I didn't cancel my original package at first and instead went through RC by phone when i saw this because it looked too good to be true when i saw it online.

Yes , we stood on the top of the bridge wings when we left from Southampton and Cherbourg - great views but no seating. The port wing has a glass floor!

Glass floor? I am such a creature of habit that we only went out the starboard side! This is now another excuse I can use to have us catch the Harmony in Florida....

Campolady, I want to thank you for highlighting so many sights/things to do in Malaga. We loved strolling around then enjoying the fish, meats, and wine of the Ataranzas indoor market. We never would have found it without your recommendation and we loved it!

I hear you on sometimes not really feeling like you are at sea on these. That is one of the reasons we ended up in a balcony. Did you ever make it to one of the viewing areas which come out from the solarium? They have amazing views and were quite peaceful.

If they had 30-60 minute history lectures about ports of call I'd go to every single one.

We are on the Harmony right now. This morning, we had our 2nd History and Culture guest lecture. He's a PhD (I can't remember his name). I haven't seen these on the cruises we've taken before, but maybe it is because this is our first European cruise.

Well I can speak to the 3 & 4 day cruises. Whether or not the ship has now rectified the problems that were encountered earlier does not in any way help the "guinea-pig" passengers.

 

If you are onboard the Harmony now and are having a good time then that's great - it's what you paid for and you deserve to enjoy it. But those less fortunate then you (on the 3 & 4 day cruises) will continue to pursue Royal until proper compensation is forthcoming for a sub-par holiday.

Relax, I never downplayed the first two cruises' issues nor did I say they should drop it. As I said, I was telling future cruisers to not worry. I actually agree that they didn't advertise those cruises as shakedowns and they should address the people affected by "non-cosmetic" issues.