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boopsahoy

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    Upgrade Bid Emails

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Just wondering when NCL starts sending the emails asking for upgrade bids for a cruise. We are still 99 days out from our cruise date, but I do not want to miss any opportunities. Any help is appreciated!

     

    Keep checking NCL.com. Sometimes I miss the email but its always on the front page and in your message box. Enjoy your cruise!

    If NCL offered completely non-smoking cruises, would you book?

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    As a non smoker this is precisely why I would say no! Admittedly generalizing, I have had more fun with smokers, be it at the bar or craps table, than the self righteous non smoker. Better stories, more fun and better nightlife, be it at trivia, run at the blackjack table, tubing down some excursion river, on the beach. Just tend to be more easygoing go with the flow, non complaining folks and a lot more fun company.

     

     

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    May 6 Escape to Bermuda

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Overall the cruise was great. NCL staff was consistently great and the Escape a wonderful ship.

     

    A couple of thoughts.

     

    Embarkation hit a snag because of a Coast Guard drill and everything was pushed back a bit. We arrived at the pier early and were checked in by 10:30. Received our boarding group #8. They announced a Coast Guard drill was in progress and there would be delays in boarding. At some point they stopped allowing folks into the terminal to check in due to crowding. A little after noon they announced they were going to begin boarding. Unfortunately instead of using the PA system a NCL staff member shouted out boarding groups; so you had to get close enough to hear him. Pretty lame; a couple of thousand folks pushing in trying to get within earshot. Not pleasant. I think they called our group to board around 1:00.

    We were on board, grabbing a champagne (UDP) around 2:00 . Went to Headliners to adjust our dining reservations. The Coast Guard drill pushed everything back though. Rooms were not ready as in the past, luggage not delivered until after the life boat drill @ 3:30. With muster completed, bags delivered and dining plans fixed all the "business items" were completed and we were able to start to relax.The ship pulled out a little past 4:00

    The weather wasn't good Monday & Tuesday so we used the gym, shopped, and gambled. We saw the shows: After Midnight and For the Record; both were great.

     

    Wednesday we were in Bermuda and decided to take the NCL free ferry to St Georges. A little confusion here since they did not advertise it on the ship or in the dailies. I grabbed an officer on the pier and he gave me a sheet with the schedule for our our visit (file attached); first ferry was 9:45 (later that the schedule posted on line). Also it took a while to find where the ferry would dock. We finally found it would dock just off the roadway feeding to the dockyard on the Heritage Wharf side (a different loc than the map indicated). Norwegian's free ferry to St Georges was a great benefit. Docked close to the ship it relieved all the hassle of getting ferry tix, etc. The schedule I attached was for our visit, recommend anyone visiting get one for their visit.

    We always enjoy walking around St Georges; shopping and exploring. Stopped at the World Heritage Museum to learn a few historical facts, watched a video. We had lunch at the White Horse Inn. On the way back to take the last ferry to the Dockyard (5:30) we stopped into the newly renovated "The Warf" for a cool adult beverage. The place looked great. Worth noting that on the ferry back we chated with a couple that had rented a scooter to tour the island. Quite a few folks offered bandages for the road rash they both had gotten form that experience. Recommend you do not rent scooters.

    Back at the Dockyard most of the shops were closed and we were hungry so we stopped a Frog & Onion for diner. Its a brew pub with excellent amber ale & porter. We ate there a number of times during our visit; Jerome on staff was great.

    Thursday was time for a trip to Horseshoe Bay. We used the mini-buses to go to there and back; it costs $7 each way (replaced the shuttle from 2 years ago). We rented 2 lounges and an umbrella for $45 and relaxed. The water was comfortable, just under cool. Walked up the beach towards Warwick and marveled at the huge rocks & cliffs in the water. Noticed that the lifeguards had picked up the odd Portuguese man-o-war that was on the beach. No problem, in our experience they're always in the waters.

     

    Friday was a dreary day so we shopped a bit in the Dockyard. Around the corner from the Frog and Onion is an Arts Center, local artists work, very well done and reasonable prices.We've always found a painting & craft work to take home.One last pint at the F&O and back on board.

     

    Saturday turned out to be mild so up to the pool deck. Tried the ropes course, very nice; larger than the one on the Breakaway. The tube slide was a hoot; unfortunately the drop slides were down for maintenance. The ship was full but found 2 deck chairs without much trouble. The pool was small but not packed so we enjoyed it. Unfortunately no one was enforcing the "no one under 13 in the hot tub" rule. Appeared to me that a number of young mothers thought is was a day care option; I guess they thought we wouldn't let the kids drown so they dropped the kids in and drank/danced nearby. I got tired of telling the kids (4 to 8) not to splash so I left. I really wish NCL would enforce their rules.

    We love Bermuda, this was our 5th NCL cruise to the island and we think they do a great job.

    Bermuda is a pretty island, do some homework before you go and it'll cut down on confusion there.

     

    This was our first time on the Escape, last three Bermuda visits were on the Breakaway. Although we missed the NY vibe on the Breakaway the Escape had some improvements. Our cabin steward Rose Marie was great; we particularly loved her towel animals.

    One item worth noting was the Escape's wifi, it was great, better than Breakaway (or Anthem). I had received a 250 min wifi plan when I booked; I backed that up with a cruise package from AT&T. The package covered on ship as well as on Bermuda, for $100 it gave me 200MB data, unlimited talk and text. Best practice to minimize conflict on the iPhone was when using wifi turned off cellular data roaming. When using cellular turned off wifi.

    Disembarking was pretty simple, I'd grabbed pink luggage tags in the atrium and that gave me an approx time to leave of 9:20. If I would have read the dailies I would have noted I could have had yellow tags based on Latitudes category with a 9:05 call. The line to get off was basically a tour of the whole deck front to back, no problem. I do think the NCL folks we past should have pulled a couple in their 80's off the line to the assisted exit; he was really struggling. We were off the ship, found our luggage, used a porter, and were on the street by 10:30, excellent. Just a point, Customs no longer require a declaration form unless you exceed allowances. This might be highlighted better in the disembark aid; I spent too much time trying to verify I didn't need the form.

     

    Net-net the cruise was great, the Escape a great ship with an amazing staff. We look forward to our next voyage.

     

    We were on this cruise as well and had a great time. When we received our tags I was concerned we didnt get the declaration form and was told we didnt need it. However talking to someone else they said if you have anything to declare eg. cigarettes, you have to fill the form out.

    Norweigan gem embarkation question

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    The Gem has been sailing out of New York since December 2017. It seems that they do not dock at NY until 10:00 am which I think means that the debark process would not start before 11:30 or so. What time are the new passengers for the next cruise allowed to start boarding?

    The Gem has been sailing out of NY for YEARS!!!

    Trip Report - Escape May 6

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    I agree nothing sounds appealing sailing out of NY.(280 for parking, the waits in on Embarkation and the cold the worse part)

    Unless I lived there and had to save on air fair its FL every time for me. Even when I lived north I went to Fl.

     

    Enjoying your review I did love the Escape.

    I live in Brooklyn and love leaving out of NY. We usually take one cruise in the spring/summer and one in the:D winter. We love the casino so bad weather seadays are no problem for us.

    Trip Report - Escape May 6

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Day 2 and 3:

     

    I am combining days 2 and 3 because they were almost identical in nature... i.e. rain, cold and windy. We spent almost the entire day 2 inside the ship, eating, walking around, playing games at O'Sheehans, eating, have a drink, eat again (I sense a pattern). On day 3, we actually went outside for a lot of the day because it was a little bit warmer. We huddled up on deck 17 under the awning by the ping pong tables for the day. Around 3pm that day, the sun finally broke through and some people were actually able to get some color on their skin. The highlight of those days unfortunately was the comedian we saw on day 2. Her name was Gina Brillon (I think) and she was hysterical. We loved her style of comedy. If she is on your cruise, go see her. You won't be disappointed. There was also a comedian juggler that we did not have the opportunity to see him so I cannot comment. These two days highlight the biggest disappointment that I had in the trip. As a result of the rain, pretty much everyone was inside in the common areas looking for things to do. I would have expected the cruise director (Silas?) to add some additional activities around the ship to keep folks entertained, but alas, nothing was added. The Escape has a unique setup where most of the activities are held in the atrium. I like the concept and you can see from the atrium 6th deck and from O'Sheehans on the 7th deck. It works most of the time until too many people start crowding in because there's nothing else to do. I guess the bottom line is I was a little disappointed that they didn't try and spread out activities, especially when it was raining.

     

    The only other thing of note is that my son and I went to the family karaoke in the 5 oclock somewhere bar. We actually had a really good time watching. When we walked in there was actually a 2yo singing on stage. Was very cute.

     

    Next up: Bermuda

    My husband and I ended up in the casino those days for much longer than planned. Lost our shirts!:o

    What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    We're sailing on the June 3rd Escape. Our bids were quite generous too' date=' but today I caved and just booked what we wanted. Our bids were only about $200 from total cost of what we wanted anyway, and once you've gotten to that point, and you're willing to spend $2000pp, you may as well pull the additional $200 and upgrade it yourself.

     

    I'm going to miss the angst....sort of. I was getting way too obsessed. Mock bookings, checking inventories, you name it, I did it. It was fun, but at the end of the day, I really wanted that forward facing penthouse suite. And with only 2 left....I bit the bullet. Maybe next time I'll have the patience. :')[/quote']

    I won an upgrade to the forward PH on Escape. Loved it. The balcony was small but we rarely used it anyway.Enjoy!

    Is the Haven worth the upsell?

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    We had one of the inside ones (12500) it was great having the two bathrooms, but I really liked the one next door, 12502, the wrap around window was amazing. When we originally booked the balcony the price per person in the DOS was around $3100. I hope that someday we can cruise in a DOS end suite!!

     

    We have sailed in the Forward DOS on the Gem twice. We loved it! Booked in a PH on Gem and thinking about outright upgrading to DOS for that trip. Tomorrow we are on the Escape in a forward PH (won a bid)....Once you go Haven its hard not to go back and that is being said by someone that doesnt really use the Haven Area much!

    What was your upgrade offer and what did you bid

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    FWIW - I just heard back on my upgrade bids for the May 6th Getaway cruise.

     

    Denied! My bids were $800 p/p for Aft Balcony Haven (didn't really think I'd get that one) and $1250 p/p for Two Bedroom Haven. The $1250 was actually almost at the 'fair' mark. I had higher hopes there, but alas, no. The two bedrooms would have been nice

     

    No biggie, I'm happy with my Large Balcony Mini-Suite.

     

    I raised one of my bids to 1000 from 850 and that's the one I got. I really wanted it cause next weeks my birthday.:D I went from large aft balcony (comped by Cas) to the forward Haven penthouse. Can't wait till Sunday!

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