iceman2a

My last cruise on the Escape we had an M6. We loved it! Great location, great balcony! We had 12 people on the balcony at one time! Some people love aft facing balconies, I loved this cabin and will book similar on Breakaway class ships in the future!

THANK YOU! Great job! I have enjoyed this entire thread.

So glad you enjoyed your cruise!

It was great to meet you and your daughter and niece at the meet & greet!

My niece Lia and her mother Kathy kept commenting on how talented and artistic your niece was!

I completely agree on every point you made in your review!

The crew was fantastic, Sean and Tyler went way out of their way to make

sure everything was perfect!

Just got off the Escape.

 

At the start of the cruise it was painfully apparent we weren’t going to get the Gambee VIP treatment LOL. When you miss out on Vibe passes and the HD hasn’t been notified of your presence, your experience will most likely not qualify as a “VIP” as that of one famous Cruise Critic reviewer.

 

I’m convinced our lack of VIP status contributed to several cruising “firsts” for us:

 

In all our cruises this was the first time our room was not ready when the announcement that rooms were ready. When we arrived at our room after the “rooms are ready” announcement, we found the door wide open with the TV on with cartoons earsplitting loud enough we could hear it 4 cabins away in the hall. No room steward to be found. Trash and towels were scattered on the floor near the cabin entrance. We left and came back about an hour later and found the cabin door closed, trash and towels picked up, TV off, but the floor was littered with sand and vegetative debris. We found our room steward and asked that he vacuum our room. He seemed surprised we would want the floor clean, but he agreed to vacuum the floor. After 10 minutes he had finished vacuuming the room. Definitely not VIP treatment.

 

Another "mini" first: while in the middle of the cruise we returned to our room and found the door open and once again the tv was on at high volume. The room steward was walking toward our cabin as I entered. I have never experienced anything like this situation. Apparently our room steward likes to listen to the tv while cleaning cabins and prefers the volume loud enough so it can be clearly heard in the hallway and nearby cabins. I’m surprised his supervisor is okay with it.

 

First time we did not have a daily delivered to our room on the first day. We did not get our Latitude letter and coupons until we asked our room steward late the first night. He told us to call him on his cell if we had any problems but he would never answer his phone. I beginning to think I'm not a VIP!

 

Another first: we did not tip our room steward (for many reasons). For us this is a big deal.

 

First cruise where we gave up on getting a drink from a server as they were in short supply in the theater and Headliners. We always ended up at the bar waiting for a busy bartender to get us our drinks. NCL needs to hire beverage servers sufficient in numbers as pre-UBP. (Oh how I wish I was one of the lucky Vibe VIPs!)

 

While we have always enjoyed our cruises and this cruise was no exception, there is a moral to the story: Vibe passes are the golden ticket. Being a famous CC reviewer and having the HD notified of your presence means a lot. LOL

 

I don’t have the writing skills, attention to detail or memory of a Gambee, so I’ll just have to get to the port earlier to snag Vibe passes if I want the VIP treatment. :p

You should have attended the meet & greet!

Not that it would have given you "VIP" status but you would have met Sean and other senior staff. I know every one that attended did get something (chocolate covered strawberries, bowl of fruit) compliments of the HD!

As far as "busy" bartenders or servers, I personally never experienced that but then I never went to the theater! Never did I or anyone I was with had to wait more than 2 mins to get a drink!

I have been able to do this on smaller ships (Pearl) but I never attempted it on the Epic or Getaway! It doesn't hurt to try!

If you want "Traditional" dinning cruise on a line that offers that!

NCL is not going to go backwards!

Cruised one time on Princess had anytime dinning and it didn't work very well.

Doesn't mean I will never cruise Princess agian, but I prefer NCL's Freestyle!

Thank You again for taking time to post such a thorough review!

Your pictures are AMAZING!

There are a "million" things I need to be doing to get ready to head to Miami, I just couldn't tear my self away from This!

I first noticed looking at the dallies from the week before and now looking at your dallies from last week that "Oh what a night" in the supper club sez

"complimentary dinner" and for Brenda B "fees apply"!

Is this true? No charge for supper club on more than 1 night?

Wanting to just do our own beach excursions and need suggestions for the best beaches in both places. Thank you kindly for any help you can provide.

Mandy412

If you plan it right you can go to St. Johns on your own!

Do what Turtles06 suggested, go to the ports of call boards and

do some reading. St. Johns beaches are beautiful and may be a little

less crowded.

NCL excursions may not spend enough time at the beach but they will get you back on time. If you go on your own, like oldgoat61 said "MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THE FERRY"

Non-refundable can not be used for DSC nor in the casino so daily charges (food, drink, shorex, spa etc) are charged against that till it runs out. than they, and the DSC, are charged against refundable till that runs out!! Then you get a bill!!

 

Mike

I understood that, I know I didn't have enough "refundable" OBC to cover the entire DSC I just needed to know how they applied each and as long as the apply non refundable first, I am good!

Thank you all for answering my ?s. I understand it better now!

Each day they will apply your non-refundable OBC for all charges except the DSC or the casino. They will use your refundable OBC towards your DSC. If your non-refundable OBC runs out first - they will then use the refundable OBC for everything until it is gone. I should be receiving a $15 refund check shortly. :D

OP -- Be sure to check the OBC. On two NCL cruises last year, the first OBC from my TA was entered as refundable, and on the second cruise, same OBC and same TA, it was entered as non-refundable. When I questioned it, I got nowhere with NCL.

This is the first time I have ever had to think about it.:confused: Every other cruise I new I would spend more than I had in OBC so it was a mute point! Now with the UBP plus ($350 NCL MC OBC, $50 NCL OBC & $100 TA) and if I buy a FCC or "crusie next" credit I guess I'll be eating in a lot of specialty restaurants and buying a ****load of photos:D

Thank you! If they apply non refundable first I am good with it!

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Non-refundable OBC is just what it says it is- non-refundable

 

Let's say you have $200 NR and $200 OBC from your travel agent(which is refundable). You spend $225 on the ship. You should get $175, or at least that is what every other cruise line I have been on(15+ cruises on different cruise lines). Just to be sure, check with them at the front desk. Also, good reason not to pay tips in advance or book cruises until you get on ship, so that way your OBCs will not be lost, no matter what NCL's policies are.

 

PS-did not understand what UBP and DSC meant so answer might not be addressing what you are asking-sorry.

I meant that with the UBP(unlimited beverage pkg), I would not be spending as much $$ as on previous cruises. So say I have $100 TA OBC & $100 non refundable, I spend $150 on the ship, last day my bill is $339 ($189 DSC daily service charge, which non refundable OBC can not be used for) Do the apply my $100 TA OBC to the $150 I spent, then apply $50 from the $100 nr and charge the DSC to my CC and I forfeit $50?

With UBP and the amount of OBC I have I can see at the end of my upcoming Escape cruise losing some non-refundable OBC and having to pay some of the DSC out of pocket!

Does anyone know how NCL applies OBC and can I make sure that 100% of my refundable OBC goes towards the DSC?

lol $600 is retail

 

It probably costs Ncl $100 cost

 

The excursion credit a joke though because all it does is guarantee pax book the overpriced Ncl excursions

 

 

We took the Internet package

To me, the "internet package" had no value! I am not going to spend my cruise online especially with painfully slow internet! So the UBP and shorex offers were of more value! Everyone gets the choice that works for them!

The best value I think would be "lower" fares with no "promos"!

Great photos!

Must have been a relief making the ship after

that experience!

Welcome home!

I really enjoyed following you on your cruise.

Thank You!

Love your review and the pics!

Sailing 2 weeks from today and this is getting me

more revvved up!

Thank You!

Captain’s Log, Stardate 20160511.1

 

We have arrived at a new outpost called Tortola. It is in the British Virgin Islands Star System. The water here appears to have a reasonable concentration of phytoplankton based on the pure blue-green shade of the liquid surrounding the colony. We awoke at 0800(well The Captain was awake before then but the Commander was a bit delayed due keeping late hours on the Vessel’s Entertainment Decks) and after receiving sustenance, we ventured forth to meet inhabitants and observe interactions. The weather pattern suggested a repeat of yesterday’s precipitation but so far it has stayed overcast by dry. Unfortunately, we did not make it far as planned on our expedition due to an existing injury sustained by the Captain (yours truly) before this trip, which prevented too much exploration plus we failed to come to terms with a charter group that was going forth to map the island. Though we were able to trade with the denizens and gain items to bring back to the Tampa Bay colony with us. With so little data collected, it is hard to make a final assessment of the viability of this outpost and a return mission shall have to be planned at a later date.

 

As for the U.S.S. Escape, overall she is a seaworthy vessel and I would count myself lucky to grace her decks again. But as with all craft, there are a few foibles. For example, the waste disposal system (la toilet) in our quarters does not often work. A couple of calls to maintenance and it still is selective in operations. The Attire Storage Unit (closet) is not easily accessible as the bunks are next to it instead of by the sliding portals. Also the lighting in the quarters is very dim and poorly suited to applying war paint (make up) at the vanity table, making it necessary to retreat to the cleaning room (bathroom) to do so. Thankfully since our mission parameters this time are code name “Freestyle” there has not been much need to apply full War Paint. These are minor deficiencies in the greater scheme of the mission. I will address and categorize other items in a future log.

 

Quote of the day (said by the Commander (DD)): “Wow it is 0950 and I haven’t had a drink yet!” (because of our late start, we forwent our usual morning liquid refreshment of juice of the orange fruit with fermented sparkling grape extract). I am unclear if I should be concerned about my 2nd in charge or proud of her fortitude?

OUTSTANDING! Love this!

The issue was on I-75 south of Tampa around Ft Meyers and Naples.

That sux! If I didn't have to go to Cape Coral first I'd cut across sr50 and

try the turnpike:mad: Oh well, i'll get thru it, knowing what's on the other side!

Nice pics, even though I am going to enjoy you posts, don't forget to spend time enjoying your cruise :)

Finally made it to Miami. Construction on I-75S held us up. Gotta say that the Hyatt-Place-Airport-Doral-West-Summer-Nine or whatever this long name is, is a nice hotel inside. You can see it from 82nd but can't figure out how to get to it as there are buildings all in front of it and no sign out at the street indicating which drive will get you here.

 

But my superior intellect only made one wrong turn before figuring it out! I forgot to take pics of the front but will do later. Here are some of the room

 

 

 

 

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How bad was 75? Driving down in 3 weeks from just north of Tampa!

If I take 275 over the skyway will I avoid most of it?

I am looking forward to following your "live from", already entertaining :D

Thanks for your "thoughts"! Nice to hear that your precruise

apprehensions were not realized!

You don't need to "pre plan" as much as people think! I am traveling with a

large party and made reservations for the mdr for 1 night. There is no way

the whole party is going to dine together every night. As far as entertainment

it has been my experience that reservations are not always needed!

I read on another thread that NCL was enforcing check in times in Seattle, don't

know if that is true or not.

I also posted on that thread that is NCL was going to "enforce" them they need to "tweak" the process.

Example: 2 people traveling on the same edocs have check in times hours apart. 1st person completed on line check in weeks before the second.

Same goes for a group traveling together arriving at the port at the same time,

some have wait hours outside terminal??????

I agree with trying to control the flow at the terminal, maybe it wont come to "enforcement" if people abide by the "suggested" check in time!

Congrats!!! Nice upgrade!! Enjoy it!!

What's the point of a roll call?

First time cruiser.

1) To identify other CC members who are sailing on the same cruise.

2) To share your excitement with others who are sailing with you.

3) To organize a Cruise Critic Meet&Greet where you can meet the people

you have been sharing your pre cruise excitement with.

4) To organize other activities that are fun to do in a group.

I am sure others will share more "points of a roll call" this is just a few!