rajones007

I've personally never had any issues, although we got a similar letter about 2 missing pieces of luggage when we were on the Dawn in Apr 2013.

-On that same cruise I didn't get my suitcase until after ~7pm the first night. I was starting to get worried, so I mentioned it to the concierge and 20 minutes later the butler came strutting up the hallway with it. There was no explanation as to why it took so long. The butler just shrugged his shoulders when I asked. My Priority luggage tags were right there in plain sight, unmangled, properly attached, and our deck and cabin numbers still easily identifiable. It was still locked and nothing was out of place, so it's not like they searched it either.

-Also on that same cruise - the couple in the cabin next to us were avid cruisers and he was telling me how NCL lost his suitcase a few years prior. They kept promising him it would be at the first port. When they got there, nothing. Same promise for the next port. Nothing. Next port. Nothing. Apparently he never did get it back.

Judging by the channel of the uploader, I don't think it has anything to do with NCL or their employees. I think it's just some guys trying to be funny and they happened to use NCL.

Regardless, it was a terrible video.

I use the ships wifi to check emails, credit cards, bank accounts and all sorts of things.

 

It is secure as anything else. Nothing is completely safe but you will be fine.

You're absolutely right. People seem really skittish here because for years and years we were all told to be afraid of the internet.

I do all my usual banking routines onboard the ship because I have no reason to fear. Believe me, if there was cause for concern I would not do it.

I'm not going to get into the why's and how's and technical details. Basic common sense and a secure device is all you need. A user is just as safe using the wifi on the ship as they are at their secure home wifi.

Recently, I too had to make this type of decision. Do I upgrade to the DOS (in my case, the Star) or stay in our 2 bedroom family suite.

Without getting into the financial details which also influenced my choice, I chose to stick with the 2br suite. I admit that the balcony was a big factor in making that choice.

Everybody needs a place to call home, even on a cruise ship. And I don't think I could live in a home without a back deck, or front porch, or whatever you want to call it. I need a place of quiet solitude to drink my coffee in the morning. I also need a place away from the masses to unwind before retiring for the night. And the only place onboard I can do that in a place that feels like the comfort of home is on my own private balcony.

Near CFB Trenton in southern Ontario; my neighbours ash trees have started turning yellow at the top. Mine, however, are as green as ever. On the other hand, I have a locust tree in the front yard that's almost completely yellow now. (It's a baby though. It was just a hockey stick when we planted it 5 years ago.)

Glad to hear they are showing Soccer. Perhaps they will show Hockey too

 

Anything other than football, golf, autoracing, basketball or baseball

Are you me? Because you sound just like me.

I have never eaten at the Bier Garten, but I know they serve those items at the Grill on the pool deck.

When we were on the Star in Nov 2012 they had a small lunch menu up at the Bier Garten. It was printed on one of those stand-up chalk board things next to the bar. It was a burger, fries, hot dog type of menu.

I don't recall an actual server doing the rounds from table to table, handing out menus and taking orders. It was, more or less, tell the bartender what you want and take a seat. When it was ready he (or one of the servers) would bring it to you.

For all I know, they may have simply ran down to the pool buffet and made up your plate and brought it back to you. I don't think so, but I guess it's entirely possible. It seems to me the burger I had at the Bier Garten wasn't a charcoal briquette like the ones down by the pool.

Also, with an NCL excursion you won't need to worry about cab fare to the airport. They will (usually) drop you off right at the airport.

We did the NCL tour of Tampa after our Star cruise a couple years ago. I have to admit that beforehand we mostly thought of it as just a time-killer until our 3.30pm flight. But it was actually quite nice. After touring around for a while and a couple nice stops to get out and look around, we stopped for a nice relaxed lunch at a local restaurant. Then they drove us to the airport.

You have to remember that for every single negative review there are at least 50 positive reviews that never get posted. And that's not just for cruises either, it goes for practically everything else in the world too.

I've been on the Star once (7 day W. Caribbean from Tampa) and have booked her again this coming November for a 13 day Panama Canal (Miami to LA).

I find the size of the Star (and her sister the Dawn, which we've also been on) to be perfect. Not too big, not too little. It's comfortable and cozy. There's lots of space to wander and it never really feels crowded. It's not a razzle dazzle in-your-face ship. It's calm and relaxed.

We're approaching 50 years old and we know how to keep ourselves occupied. It's not like we need water slides and bungee jumping and rock climbing and fireworks and loud music and singing and dancing and drunken revelry to keep us satisfied. We did all that on the Epic a couple years ago. It was fun. It was a nice ship. It was a fantastic cruise. But I would never go a ship that large again. It just isn't our style any more. If we were 20-somethings' again, we probably would. But not now.

For our 12-day Tampa to Boston repo in April 2013 our onboard account ended up being around the $2500 mark for the two of us in a DOS.

That amount also includes the DSC and our tips for the butler, concierge, and the room steward. We put their tips on our account and gave them a slip on the last day of the cruise. I think we gave $200 each to the butler and steward, and $100 to the concierge.

I'm thinking we had $300 OBC to start with. We did a ships excursion at each port, bought many photos (I don't know why we always get so many, but my wife enjoys them so that's good enough reason for me), and ate in a specialty restaurant 5 or 6 times.

I don't drink much alcohol. I recall getting a bucket of beer on the first day, drank 1, and I put the remaining 5 in the cabin refrigerator. They lasted me the entire cruise. I also purchased 3 or 4 fruity girly drinks scattered throughout those 12 beautiful days. My wife, on the other hand, probably purchased 3 or 4 drinks each day.

I like the buffet on all the ships I've been on. There's always something I like.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again...The best prime rib I've ever had (and I've had a lot over my lifetime) was from the buffet in the Epic. We were just wandering the ship one night, seen the 7pm show, played a bit at the casino, and whatever. It was around 9.30pm perhaps, so we thought we'd stop in the buffet for a bit to eat before going back to the cabin for the night.

Well howdy do! There was nice little chunk of cow up there on the carving station. It was straight ahead, just as you walk in, immediately to the left of the bar. How could I, a dedicated carnivore, just walk by and not sample that glorious beast? Answer: I cannot. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

So I asked the attendant for a nice slab of that.

It was melt in your mouth good. Honestly. It was the best I've ever had. Maybe I timed it just right and got it right when the tastiest most tender portion was ready to sliced off. I don't know. All I know is I just had to have more.

But when I went back the attendant had removed it and was cleaning the carving station. She was gone. :(

This was my reaction (and my wife's too, right at the end):

(direct youtube embedding doesn't appear to work any more.)

EDIT. to answer the OP's question. Yes, we sometimes go to the buffet for dinner. We prefer the specialty restaurants over anything else, but we will never hesitate to go to the buffet for dinner if we're in the mood for something quick and decent.

Sort of related: which terminal do the other NCL ships typically use?

We were in the Haven on the Epic and we found the side-to-side (port-to-starboard) swaying movement to be greater than the other ships we've been on. Perhaps it's because we were up high on deck 16, I don't know. But we found the side-to-side motion to be exaggerated regardless of where we were on the ship.

We though the up and down (forward-to-aft) motion was the same as any other ship, however.

EDIT. To be clear - I normally don't take much notice of the movement of the ship, unless it bothers me. But even I noticed the side-to-side movement. And there were times when I felt a little queasy because of it. And it takes a more than a bit to make me queasy.

We were on the Epic during U.S. Thanksgiving in 2012 and I don't recall any crew member even mentioning it. I don't remember any special dinner or decorations or anything like that.

I won't lie - it is entirely possible that I just didn't notice.

EDIT. I just remembered that we were on the Star a year earlier during US Thanksgiving too. Again, I don't remember anything special going on.

I was surprised to see Schweppes instead of Canada Dry when I first looked in the refrigerator of our Dawn OS.

However...the Schweppes Ginger Ale isn't bad once you get used to it. Matter of fact it goes down pretty good. By day 2 I was slamming them back like there was no tomorrow. Our refrigerator was restocked at no cost, so I didn't care.

....How does the whole freestyle dining thing work? Does it get old after two weeks?

I would think that freestyle dining would be most preferable for a 2 week cruise. Traditional dining would get old...real fast.

Where have they started changing colours? Flin Flon, Manitoba? :)

I wish we'd get fall weather. I swear that here in south-eastern Ontario today is the hottest day of the summer so far this year. And tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer!

Un-freakin-believable.

 

I would have stood directly behind them while saying to my wife "Honey, I don't feel to good...I think I might throw up" followed by some loud retching sounds. I'm sure that would have gotten them out of those chairs in a hurry!!!

 

Or do what we used to when we were kids...

Dip your fingers in a glass of water (or anything wet) and then pretend to sneeze. The split second after your fake sneeze, fling your wet fingers in their general direction. They'll (hopefully) feel little droplets of water on the back of their neck/head and reel in disgust.

It's also good for repelling the guy/gal who recline their airplane seat into your lap.

Unbelievable. Post it all over FB or twitter - they'll see themselves.

That's what I was thinking too. If they don't see the photo themselves, somebody somewhere will recognize them.

These inconsiderate jerks need to be publicly shamed.

What did you like and dislike about both ships?

(I'm not the person you asked, but I agree with him/her. If you don't mind, I'll give you my personal reasons.)

I'd take the Dawn over the Epic too. I've been on both, and enjoyed both cruises immensely, but if they were doing the same itinerary I would choose the Dawn over the Epic without much thought.

The Epic was too big and too crowded. Everywhere you went there were masses of people. There's a couple bottlenecks that heavily disrupted the flow of people in the midship area down around the casino and O'Sheehans. No central elevator bank meant having to filter through these bottlenecks almost every time you wanted to get somewhere. Due to the shortage of elevators meant that quite often the wait for an elevator was ridiculously long. Everywhere you went there were masses of people. Everywhere. You couldn't escape.

Luckily we were in the Haven, so outside of our cabin we had ample quiet space to retreat to and enjoy. I don't think I could ever stay in a non-Haven cabin on the Epic and retain my sanity.

Keep in mind I'm probably going on the Epic again this February, so it's not like the issues I found were insurmountable. I do not hate the Epic, I just dislike some aspects of her design. I think NCL learned a lot from the Epic, they made some mistakes, and from what I hear they acknowledged and addressed them in their newer ships.

The Dawn, on the other hand, has lots of space to wander. There's room for everybody. It obviously doesn't have the multitude of entertainment options that the Epic offers, but you'd still have to work hard to be bored on the Dawn.

When we sailed the eastern Caribbean on the Epic in Nov 2013, we only needed our cruise card in St. Martin and St. Thomas.

HOWEVER, before arriving in Nassau we were constantly told to take some form of government issued ID if we got off the ship.

Sure enough, on the way back to the ship the Bahamian authourities were checking for ID.

I just made our final payment yesterday.

We have 80 days to go until our Miami>LA Panama Canal cruise.

Not sure if we go overboard, no pun intended, when adding 20% tip. Wondering if most tip in specialty restaurants or consider it "included" in the prepaid gratuities

We generally tip in the specialty restaurants. The amount depends on the service, as it should be.

We pay it in cash directly to the server so it goes to him/her and stays there. If we write the tip on the bill, I've been told it's divided up among everybody in the restaurant. At that point, sitting in the restaurant feeling stuffed, I feel I'm tipping only for the service provided by the server inside that imaginary bubble surrounding our dining table while we're sitting there. I'm not tipping the busboy or the dishwasher or the guy standing at the door pretending he's doing something important. So the server gets cash. The others can take their cut of the DSC I pay.

EDIT....

....then you tipped a second time in the up charge for the specialty restaurant...

That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Is there an obvious typo that I can't see?

I'd love to see him on Hell's Kitchen. It would be hilarious (and oh so satisfying) to see Gordon Ramsey tear him a new one.

...

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/ncl_cruise.htm

 

Pour yourself a stiff one, get out the popcorn and enjoy.

What I get a chuckle over is that most of the people who write those complaints think they're posting it to some sort of official legal/government agency that is going to help them.