boopsahoy

Am I interpreting the "service charge" for the UBP correctly ? If the UBP is included as a booking bonus and I decide to have three or four drinks during the cruise, will I be paying more in "service charges" than the price of the three or four drinks ?

Yes-thats why we never take the UBP. We dont drink enough to cover the gratuities!:o

Dessert menu.

 

 

I ordered the torta di cioccolata e lamponi.

 

 

This was good, but not really any better to me than the desserts available at non specialty restaurants.

 

In summary, the food was terrible. Overall the worst meal I've eaten on a cruise ship. I would say for sure skip this even with the dining plan. The cost of this meal if I hadn't had the dining plan, $64. I would never dream of paying that much for this low quality meal on land. To charge that much on top of a cruise fare that paid for a meal in the MDR or buffet is absurd and honestly a bit of a turn off. There was nothing here that cost any more to produce than items found at the buffet or the dining room. This was a pure money grab. Please don't fall for it.

 

The service was adequate.

 

When leaving, the host showed us the secret door to get out without having to climb the stairs. That was a nice touch as my mom was struggling a bit coming down and going up was going to be a challenge for her.

 

We are cruising again on my Mom's birthday and I have made reservations for her birthday at Carnival's specialty Italian place. I have never been and it also gets mixed reviews, so I am a bit unsure now and am considering taking her to the steakhouse instead. It will only be $30 total so I won't be out a lot of money, but I would not want her birthday dinner to be as unremarkable as this.

 

After dinner the remainder of my night was spent in the casino. I have no decent wins to post and this was the night I began to realize I might be in trouble in this casino. I'm a big boy though and take full responsibility for my poor judgement. I kept throwing money at the casino hoping for that big win. Luck simply refused to be on my side.

 

Turned in early tonight (to an already turned in mother) as we had an early morning excursion planned tomorrow in Grand Cayman.

The Italian restaurant on Carnival is excellent. We liked it better than the steakhouse.

I got an email

Just got an email and my edocs are changed-woohoo!

Oh ok... duh. Says Pending.

 

 

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Youre still in the running!

It doesn’t say pending anywhere. Just says let’s get u upgraded and when I go more deep shows my bid and review the offer.

 

 

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Review your offers. They should say pending, expired or processing.

Yeah it still let’s me upgrade to an additional choice if I want. I only made one bid and honestly I keep going back and forth with cancelling it as we could get out in a worse section of the ship.

 

 

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Still says pending?

Processing means the bid was successful and your card is being charged.

So am I -when I checked this morning 3 of my bids said expired and one said processing! I think that means I got it! Last year I did get an email saying my bids were rejected. Have you checked to say if it says pending, processing, or expired?

I checked my bids this morning and 3 said expired and one said processing. Now I cant get into that page-says time has expired to bid. Processing means I got it right?

So 2 of my bids say expired and the other says processing-I think that means I got the upgrade fr tom balcony to Haven Forward facing balcony! EDOCS havent changed yet though.....Is this what others that got the upgrade saw?

All my bids say pending-I bumped them all up a little. Lets see what happens.

I remember that before Free Style NCL was the only ship that would guarantee you a table for 2 at your seating and shortly thereafter it went to Free Style. Its the reason I switched from Royal to NCL.

We will have 2 adults and 2 kids (15 and nearly 7 years old) on the Gem next summer. Are all the quad balcony rooms on this ship set up with the small sofa and Pullman next to the balcony? I'm guessing you cannot get to the balcony at all once beds 3/4 are set up? I have a paid membership to a site that has cabin pics, but I've only found one with beds 3/4 showing. That seems like a terrible design flaw if the balcony is blocked off.

 

In regards to the minisuites--are guests 3/4 expected to share the pull out sofa in those cabins or is it somehow able to be separated into two separate beds? Our kids are both boys, but the big one moves around so much in his sleep that I'm afraid if they shared a sofa bed, I'd have one less kid come morning. And again, it looks like the sofas in the mini block the balcony when pulled out because it's so large. Are there any "secret" cabins with better configurations on the Jewel class ships? I almost wish there was a cabin type or option that used the sofa that just pulls out a bit from the wall as a bed and the option of a trundle bed rather than the pullman. I know the trundles are smaller sized, but our 7 year old would fit fine on one. When we sailed on the BW, the steward left the the upper bed down the whole week and the couch left open as a bed in our balcony room.

 

Right now we're booked in an OV and everyone has been told to expect to be like sardines, but I will be watching prices to see if it's worth upgrading, but even with the extra square footage, it almost seems like we really wouldn't have much more space or easier sleeping arrangements.

I can't speak about the configuration of the sleeping arrangements for 4 as I only travel with my husband. But I have seen the inside cabins and I think with 2 boys you should go at least balcony. The balcony itself adds to the spaciousness.

I am getting on when you get off. Excited to hear about your cruise-Bermuda right?

May 6th Escape here. I haven't heard yet either. Still says pending. Good luck to everyone.

Many people graduate from Carnival to NCL or RCCL. I rarely (if ever) see someone go from NCL to Carnival and prefer Carnival. People do tend to prefer what they are used to experiencing. If going with an open mind, I think that most people would prefer NCL to Carnival.

 

Escape is a great ship despite the complaints about the size of the pools (plural), and the "bottlenecks" that occur in certain areas of the ship. They can be avoided by walking one of the alternate routes but people tend to only use the main/central route which can make the ship seem crowded. I was easily able to navigate away from the crowds to get to where I needed to go (back and forth between the Haven and aft-facing suite).

I have had offers for free cabins from my land casino on carnival. 1 perk is that their free rooms are much more "free" then Norwegian. I enjoyed 2 of 3 cruises I took on Carnival but for the money they were fine. I still favor NCL.

So if your bid is accepted I'm assuming you can't decline it? If you just bid on a balcony and it's an obstructed or you just don't like the cabin selected can you just stick with what you originally had booked?

Nope you have to take it- They will bill your credit card immediately upon accepting your bid.:eek:

Do your research first before jumping into Haven booking. It depends on the ship, as far as getting the Haven experience described on NCL website.

The Jewel Class ships ( jewel, pearl, jade etc) have "Haven" space but NOT restaurant, Haven lounge, concierge lounge etc.

We just got off Jewel, Haven cabin and the Haven was NOT worth the price. Others , who had been on the newer ships were complaining what a terrible Haven experience it is on these older ships.

I wish I would have taken a pic of Haven area when we were getting ready to disembark .

It was like a totally different ship. They had it all laid out with the padded loungers with HAVEN embroidered covers on them. Hammock frame we looked at all week was complete and looked inviting.

Umbrellas out and open . It looked like a beautiful 5 star hotel pool area. I asked workers why it looked so nice now.

This was done because Travel Agents were coming onboard and getting a tour and free lunch in Cagney's that day.

(I wanted to call BS on this whole thing,...talk about false advertising)

What we got during the cruise were loungers stacked and tied down .We were told they are not available for use during cruise. Even when we were in port for 2 days, No loungers, umbrellas, or assembled hammock available.("so Sorry") Some tried to drag out a lounger and were told not to.

Ironically, the other side of the sun deck, open to all the ship guests, had their loungers and side tables out throughout the cruise!! They were constantly hanging over the railing looking down at the Haven pool area.

So, on the newer ships with "complete" Haven experience, if you can afford it, go for it.

I would skip it on older ships.

We paid $10,000 more for Haven 2 bedroom Suite than 2 Bedroom Suite on lower decks. Not worth the money. This was the only Suite available for this cruise and we thought we would change after other lower Suites opened up.

Found out later, you cannot go down in categories but only up.

We are now moving on to MSC, Yacht Club. Pretty much done with NCL .

8 Day Yacht Club Deluxe Suite was $4300 for both of us combined. (Newer ship, 2016 ).

We are Plat Plus with NCL and they matched us to BLACK,so we get 5% off that price and other perks.

Will be interesting to try new cruise line (for us, at least).

Did you tell your Concierge? I would think he would get them to put out the loungers...

You have a choice. Don’t cruise.

 

At home, don’t go to a restaurant if you want to stiff the server because they are already being paid to serve you.

 

Don’t go and get a haircut if you don’t want to tip the stylist because they are being paid to cut hair.

 

Don’t take a cab if you don’t want to tip someone who is being paid to drive.

 

Don’t tip your housekeeper in a hotel because they are being paid to clean your room.

 

 

 

 

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Wheres the like button? :-)

Hello we are of to a cruise this Friday on the Dawn and it's our first time in a 2 bedroom family suite with a Butler. I know that at the end of the cruise you give your Butler a tip, but do you also tip during the week? Like if you order breakfast to your room do you tip than or just give one large tip at the end?

 

 

Thanks

We tip at the end but if we use the night butler we tip him a few bucks there and then.

I wonder if they somehow take into consideration what you paid for your original cabin? I bid last year for upgrade from PH to OS n Gem and then realized for a few bucks more than my bid I could just upgrade outright and get the room I wanted.

I'm now bidding on upgrades from a large aft balcony room to os/aft ph/forward ph/spa suite on the Escape. We will see. We feel the included breakfast and lunch in a dedicated restaurant and quick embarking/disembarking plus the butler and concierge are worth it. Also we got the cabin we are in comped by CAS so the price with the upgrade isn't outrageous.

There is a smoking area on Spice H2O by the bar. You can't smoke on the loungers/sun deck area.

Thank you!

Thanks for the great review! We are going on Escape 5/6 to Bermuda. I have a question-is smoking allowed at Spice H2O? I know it was on Breakaway and it was a great place to smoke and not bother anyone that wasn't smoking..

Since you have prepaid the service charge and the gratuities for the drink package its up to you. You could actually go home with a zero bill. Do you need more specialty dining? Are you going to do any martini tastings? Are you playing in the casino? Will you be drinking at GSC (I don't think its included in the drink package but I am not sure).

It feels like they just raised it!:mad: