TACoor

Good to know, thanks!

Looks like there's a new itinerary this winter, St Petersburg to Key West. Has anyone on here taken that cruise yet? Wondering how it went, what were the ports and the excursions like, what did they cost? Would love to read a review!

For us, the least enjoyable aspect of past cruises has been heading for the deck above the pool or to Spice after breakfast and facing row upon row of "reserved" loungers. We prefer loungers in the shade and those are impossible to find unless you join the chair hogs and put your book and towel on a couple of chairs at the crack of dawn. We're doing Vibe for the first time in January and I expect to absolutely love it. I wouldn't sign up for it for a cool or cold weather cruise, but it's worth it to me for the Caribbean. Or maybe I'm just foolish. But I do get that there are those who buy and then rarely spend time there.

We have Vibe passes for the first time on a January Encore cruise and I'm really looking forward to it! In the past, it's been almost impossible both at the pool and at Spice to find a good place to sit. Everything is staked out early in the morning. When they "close" the walking track on the deck above the pool and put out more chairs (at 9am?), the loungers are packed hip to hip so you practically have to crawl onto your lounger from the foot and then there's nowhere to put your shoes or your drink. Being Floridians, we really don't need more sun, but shade is so hard to find. Also hard to flag someone down to order a drink. So I know we're going to love the Vibe.

Thanks for the info!

Ship is Encore, 7 days starting January 28. Thanks for all the feedback.

We're booked for a late January cruise, balcony cabin with two specialty dinners plus two for our Latitudes perk. Have already booked Vibe. So I just received our second invitation to upgrade to Haven (not interested in Club balcony upgrade). If they're pushing the upgrade it seems like they're having trouble selling the Haven or want more balconies. In addition, the Roll Call for this cruise is really quiet. So I'm wondering if I should go for it. It would be (minimum) $400 per person to bid. Yes, I know I could bid minimum and give it a shot. How often does a minimum bid get attention? Since we already have specialty dining and Vibe, I wonder what Haven would add that would be worth $800 or more. And probably more than $800, right?

Seems like with all the cut-backs on theater shows, they could easily move some of the atrium events to the theater, especially in the evening. Frees up the atrium for guest services, atrium bar, peaceful meals at The Local, cruise next, shore ex and so on. The "traffic jams" during atrium shows is incredible.

Thanks. I tried that and the problem persists. Guess I'll wait a day and see if their site is still "on vacation."

The website is a mess. I've been trying for several days to compare some mediterranean cruises for next spring and I keep getting "uh oh, looks like our site needed to take a vacation" whenever I try to get more information on a possible trip. Frustrating!

On our next cruise (on the Encore), we will have two free meals as a latitudes perk for the first time plus two specialty meals from our cruise booking. I can't tell from the NCL website which restaurants are included in this latitudes benefit. Is there a certain way I should pre-book our specialty meals? Is it easy to get reservations for latitudes meals and do we have to wait until we're on board to make those reservations? Hope someone can help me out with this.

Thank you! I'd also like to agree with the previous poster who suggested that beach excursion tickets could come with a recommendation to wear water shoes. Not a bad idea.

Thanks, I appreciate that. I wasn't suggesting that the boulder should be removed. Still a bit of a limp but nothing major. And as most things in life, it was a learning experience.

Gee thanks, folks, for the critical sarcasm. Just to be clear, this was not an "oh poor me, I stubbed my toe, I want lots of attention." The point was that NCL seems to want to know if a passenger is hurt on a sponsored excursion so they can decide how (or if) to handle it going forward, so I gave a little advice as to what might be helpful for them to know and when. I did not ask, nor did I expect to see a doctor - the officer in charge asked me to get evaluated. To be honest, I didn't see a single person wearing water shoes at this beach or at GSC so I guess they were all equally reckless - but now we're all aware of the advisability of footwear on the beach. Have a good day.

Thanks, good advice.