Pat.D

I really hope your father gets better soon. This is quite concerning. 😞 I sailed the Prima the week of Jan 8 and had pretty nasty gastro intestinal issues for 48h. I suffer from IBS so this isn't unusual for me, I thought I was having yet another flareup. But speaking to many people I travelled with it would seem many of them suffered from symptoms akin to Norovirus (very similar to my my IBS symptoms) so an outbreak is possible. Noro and C19 are all part of the unpleasant risks of cruising we all accept, but Legionnaires Disease is quite concerning.

Glad to hear it! Do you know if the Elton John cover band that was replacing them staying on?

I hope it's not cancelled! I heard they are taking a long break on the Epic (I am sailing it again in April), as apparently one of the members was recently injured. Glad to hear they do Beatles shows in the main theatre on the Joy, last time I sailed it (last march), they only performed in the Joy's tiny weird cavern club (I preferred the Epic and Bliss' caverns with room to dance).

Same here, sailed the Prima in January and though I did not outright hate the ship (it IS beautiful and the new remodelled Solo Studio staterooms are amazing!) there are so many small irritants that made the cruise less pleasant that I definitely will not be sailing her again. To be perfectly honest out of dozens of NCL cruises this was unfortunately the first time I was not sad getting off the ship at the end of the cruise (I did mention this and my concerns to a bridge officer on the last sea day of my cruise and he admitted they get massive amounts of complaints every cruise and head office knows they need improvements).

I was on the Epic last March and sadly the rain of nasty greasy black soot from the funnels made Spice H2O almost unusable when the ship had a head wind. They even had to move the white party elsewhere as the stuff was coming down thick.

I sailed the Bliss in 2019 and the solo host was the best and most organised of the dozen NCL solo cruises I've been on. Glad to see it's still that way.

I've had guarantees assigned to me anywhere from months ahead, days ahead and even at the port on the day of embarcation.

Things are rough in the Martimes now, Cape Breton has declared a state of emergency and there is considerable damage all over. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fiona-has-arrived-in-atlantic-canada-time-to-stay-inside-1.6594245

Nope... emailed many but found out almost all the active dive shops are across the island (2hrs cab ride away). A few are listed on google around Puerto-Plata but don't offer diving (they are just hotel rental kiosks operated by the dive shops across the island). SeaPro divers did have availability but they are across the island and taxi there is at least $120. Diwa Dominica is closer but required we booked a large group. I ended up not diving in the DR. I went snorkeling the first week of my B2B and did not get off the ship the second week (the place where we snorkeled was covered in trash both under water and floating on the water... we literally swam thu floating garbage, it was GROSS).

I was there twice the last 2 weeks for a B2B on the Getaway, NCL scuba operator is Underwater Adventures. Their boat picks up the divers right at the cruise dock with their dive boat. The boat is fairly large but we were split into dive groups of no more than 6-8 divers. It never really felt crowded. Dives were Wye Reef (down to around 70ft) and the second one is the Cartanza Senora wreck (50ft max). They also do the Discover Scuba NCL excursion on the same boat - separate area of the boat from the certified divers. (instruction, 1 shallow dive and some snorkeling as the area is good for that). Pat

Just got off 2 weeks on the Getaway and walked by very often heading to Spice H2O... never once saw anyone in the the "Diner"... a total waste of space.

Yup, I used Switch to board 2 NCL and one Celebrity ships without any problems. They email you a PDF report of the test within minutes of completing it. Up to 2 days before the cruise is fine so for a Sunday departure you need to test Friday or Saturday.

Train is VIA Rail, there is a station near the airport (5 minutes shuttle ride to the Dorval station), or else you need to get to the Gare Centrale de Montréal which is a tad more complicated (cab, uber or transit). https://www.viarail.ca/en/explore-our-destinations/stations/quebec/dorval Here is the timetable for the trains (it's the Ottawa to Quebec City line, you board in Dorval and disembark in Quebec City). https://www.viarail.ca/en/plan-your-trip/train-schedules/ottawa-montreal-sainte-foy-quebec Your other option is to make it to the Gare Centrale Montréal which has a few more departures to Quebec city, but you'd need to make your way downtown (22km) by taxi, uber or the #747 "express" transit bus. (quick edit: It's unacceptable that NCL air would drop you off in Montreal for a Quebec City departure with no shuttles or connections... Make a fuss if this stands!)

But they still need to get the cruisers to Quebec city... that's over 2.5h drive or a 3-4h coach or train ride. They can't possibly drop passengers off in Montréal and tell them: "Well, make your way to the port". The only way I see YUL being used is as a connection for a puddle jumper flight to Québec city.

Unfortunately the pool deck setup on the Breakaway, Getaway and Escape is hot garbage. It's claustrophobic and closed in, I don't know what they were thinking. Fortunately on the Bliss and newer ships they finally got it right and opened it up so the deck is a LOT more pleasant.

Indeed, being flown to Montréal for a cruise out of Québec city makes about as much sense as being flown to Orlando for a flight out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami.

I was thinking about that, I might try it just to see. I do know that on RCCL they block VPN's thru deep packet inspection so the port doesn't matter, but RCCL's system is leaps and bounds ahead of anything on NCL ships so I'm hoping their vintage setup may be to my advantage.

Ah yes, this I knew. I was hoping to use the regular package as the "premium" package is just not worth it speed wise.

Thanks, that's interesting! I was told most commercial VPN's were blocked on cruise ships so this is good news.

This question is mostly for fellow techno geeks: have you managed to connect thru a private VPN on an NCL ship? I use piVPN along with the wireguard client to connect securely to my home network. I know they block most common commercial VPN ports, but has anyone managed to get a similar setup working onboard and if so on which port range? Thanks!

I've found Cagney's to be very hit and miss this year. Last March I had a wonderful meal there on the Epic, and 2 weeks later on the Joy I had to send back my plate as the steak was nothing but disgusting fat and gristle.

Keeping fingers crossed for St-Thomas, Sailing the Getaway on August 12 and 20th and have scuba diving booked there both weeks. It's a shame about Splash Academy. Maybe they are short on youth activity staff?

Toilet bowl cleaner in a fancy bottle?

I'd say that's probably the best guess at this point. As for future cruises we'll just have to wait and see.

I would prefer a Tres Mojito van 😉