bellevuemountain

I would also be upset. I hope HAL steps up on the issue.

Chartered groups seem to be common on different cruise lines. NCL passengers posted a thread (it's apparently been deleted once, perhaps the link to this one will be deleted):

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2318763&referrerid=0

OMG I guess I'm not normal...:o

I clean the cabin. And I mean clean all surfaces. With Lysol wipes. And Windex.

After I relax with a nice glass of white wine.

Putting aside any frustration I may have had, I am just very curious how someone with such a severe allergy copes on a cruise. It's one thing for her to not eat nuts herself, but how does a person with severe allergy that cannot come into contact manage in a setting such as a cruise?

For example in small settings, such as classrooms, peanuts and such products are not allowed in.

Hi! I can answer your questions - although I don't think you're asking a question - sounds more like you did not enjoy your flight :-)

Firstly - perfectly understandable that cross-contamination can occur from a mere one row apart - let's say you are allergic to peanuts. The person behind you eats a snicker bar, coughs, touches your seat as he / she gets up to go to the bathroom, doesn't wash his hands, there you go. You've got obvious cross-contamination. So imagine in a plane... Closed quarters and you can't land in a nutshell, no pun intended.

On a cruise ship - simple rules for anyone with allergies. I cruise a lot and I've never had any problem.

1) special needs need to have it on file before you get onboard

2) never eat in the buffet - under any circumstances - I don't even walk through the buffet

3) private table slightly away from other guests in dining rooms

4) usually you have the menu the day ahead and choose ahead of time

5) self-responsibility - you carry your epipens with you at all times, benadryl, prednisone

6) avoid specialty restaurants where known allergens are the speciality

7) have good insurance

I'm guessing you are not acquainted with anyone having serious food allergies.

One HAL ship library had the book "French Women Don't get Fat". Her tip was eat no more than three, well-savored bites of anything. Then move on and finish eating before you feel full..

I loved this and will look it up! I usually starve myself before the cruise, eat and hit the gym during the cruise, and feel guilty after the cruise. I admire every one that has the actual willpower to go through a cruise without gaining a pound. I'm weak.

So thanks for the three bite tip - suits the glutton in me - I'll give it a shot next time!

I was on the 24th Jan sailing. The suggestion that this is now a training ship could be spot on.

 

This was undoubtedly, by a very long way, the worst cruise I have been on. Service in restaurants was good, but then we had UDP and dined in speciality every night. In the buffet I had the misfortune to hear an officer yelling at a young man who was clearing tables. This sort of thing is unacceptable in front of guests. It should be dealt with in private and hopefully in a supportive manner. Rubbed me the wrong way but I used to make my living teaching and training. Saw a bartender being run ragged by sheer volume of work. Two others seemed to not know what to do so stood there watching with wide eyes like deer caught in headlamps.

 

Training would be the answer to a lot of the service issues and why some of the more experienced staff seemed stressed and not as friendly as I have known NCL staff to be. The other reason would be that the ship was said to have 2400 pax on board and it seemed most has UBP. It was rare to see anyone sign for a drink. Sadly I think this was the main reason we didn't enjoy the cruise much.

 

I'm sailing again on May 1st and will see if it has changed at all when I get there.

I was not on the Dawn but was on a 21 day cruise on the Epic. I also noticed a huge difference in service since my last cruise, same observations as you stated. Thanks for the feedback!

They printed a new freestyle daily which had the usual seaday offerings and the bars opened earlier. We should have gotten port fees refunded but it was never announced and actually didn't happen automatically.

I was also on the sailing and can confirm that the port fees were not refunded, which was odd to me. We had been billed 240 CAD for the port fees (February 3 - 14 sailing). We asked guest services and were informed that there would be no refund.

I was not expecting freebies - only to be fairly reimbursed the port fees.

Where art thou, SwissLe? We are missing your prose!

I just posted the Freestyle Dailies from this trip.

 

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=48665333&posted=1#post48665333

Thanks!

Thank-you for your review - very helpful! Enjoy your cruise!

Love your thread, your writing is so pleasant to read!

Thanks for movies on demand info, would you happen to know if there are any French translations offered in the movie choices?

Enjoy the cruise!

I agree, I don't see a political agenda either, to me it is just entertainment not a deep statement. I have also booked the show for our upcoming trip in March and we will watch it from the standpoint of theatre and not politics. Each to their own I guess.

I agree also. I'm also looking forward to seeing the show at the end of the month!

 

Tonights entertainment was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and it wasn’t very good. The music and choreography was fine, but the story line was, at times, hard to follow. On top of that, it was just bad, and nothing I go on a cruise to see.

If NCL wants to do a show about how we’re all supposed to accept Transvestites, and feel bad for them because a bunch of Australian Bush Cowboys don’t, then put that information right up front. And even if I had known that going in, the story and presentation was bad.

 

I walked out of there feeling ambushed. No different than if Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump had walked out on stage and started giving us their political viewpoints. I think it was the worst show I have ever seen on ANY cruise ship.

 

]

 

 

Hi! Enjoying your review, but I have a question... I am personally looking forward to this show! I've always enjoyed musicals and was happy to get the occasion to see this one onboard NCL. Out of curiosity, was it the subject or the actual rendering of the musical that you did not enjoy?

 

Sat Palma, Majorca, Spain

 

Oh we love Palma, a quick run up to the cathedral and then a mooch about town, last chance to grab some cut price Zara before we head home. Good job we've got excess luggage on the flight home!

 

No plans for dinner tonight as myNCL was being tricky, perhaps a main dining room for the last day?

 

Sun Barcelona, Spain

 

Oh dear, it's all over! We'll be dragging our oversized bodies and luggage off the ship as late as possible before using the port to airport luggage service. A day exploring the city before our flight home at 10pm.

 

If you have any questions or want me to find anything out for you onboard, just let me know. Please keep it friendly :D

Hi! I will be thrilled to read your live post, we're hopping on at the end of January with the same itinerary.

I've already got two questions for you!

1) can you give us the name of the concierge once onboard?

2) cut price Zara... Got to know where!

Cheers and looking forward to your live report...

Wild Lump Crab Cakes

 

food19 by Jenseib, on Flickr

 

Warm Chocolate Volcano

 

food21 by Jenseib, on Flickr

Warm chocolate volcano... My favorited! Would anyone happen to have the recipe?

I agree with Turtles06. The Quantum is stunningly beautiful!!! Loved it!

I have sailed on both the Breakaway and Quantum. Not a fan of the Breakaway. The pool area is way too small and the ship felt crowded. I would recommend Anthem. Loved the solarium - a wonderful, quiet space which is almost impossible to find on the Breakaway.

I kept a blog of our Quantum cruise with lots of photos http://quantumoftheseas2015.blogspot.com/

Wow! Love love love your blog!

We have been finding this already but my daughter wants the cruise ship wedding. All responses to email taken from the wedding guide and no confirmation of requests. We are going to list a few options and hopefully will get what we want. My daughter doesn't want aspects of the day spread about the ship.

 

This site is good as we can prepare ourselves for a reality check.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having difficulties with the planning process.

I truly hope you'll find positive feedback to help you out in this dilemma!

One way or another, congratulations to the bride and groom to be, that's the most important part.

Good luck and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!

Found this thread with someone who did both and gives a highlight of pros / cons for each

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2278498&referrerid=0

Good luck!

 

Hi Cruisers, we are currently planning my Daughter's wedding on the Escape and liaising with the recommended wedding co-ordinators.

 

Do you have any feedback or ideas to share so that we can make this a magical experience?

 

The wedding will be on board and not at destination.

 

Wedding party size between 30-40.

 

Thanks

Welshgirl xx

Try the threads on wedding and honeymoon cruises. You might get more answers.

I can share my experience with the recommended wedding coordinators. I found the exchanges with them difficult once the contract was signed. There weren't many options available, it seemed difficult to plan anything, much less making it a magical day. I felt rather helpless in the decision process - for some odd reason I felt more stressed out than anything. I found it abnormal to be researching on how to plan our wedding instead of having the designated wedding coordinator helping us out.

We eventually opted out and chose to get married on shore and to have our honeymoon onboard instead.

Hope it helps.

My wife and I renewed our vows on the Getaway on our 15th anniversary in February. The Captain did our ceremony because we had the deluxe package (which seems to have vanished.)

 

I'm glad we did it. I was trying to come up with something special for our anniversary and I assumed (correctly) that nobody in either family was going to go along no matter what we did - with the possible exception of one brother-in-law and sister-in-law, so I decided if we could have the ceremony on our exact anniversary on the ship, that would be fun. The Getaway happened to have an itinerary that fit the schedule.

 

It was fun. There were more NCL staff than guests, but it was a great party. The ceremony was short and sweet (because I wrote it), the staff was very helpful, and when else am I going to get the Captain of the ship to serve me and my wife champagne?

 

It was completely different from our wedding, which was on a schooner off Key West, but it had been fifteen years, so we needed a slightly larger boat!

 

[ATTACH]363981[/ATTACH]

Hi xriva, quick question, I read several of your posts and would like to know how you managed to have the captain marry you?

I had originally booked a wedding package on the Epic but I eventually cancelled so we would get married at home.

I figured that perhaps a vow renewal could be a good option, went through guest relations like you but was told that the captain does not do vow renewals. The captain doing the ceremony was a must for me.

Maybe the policy changed since your renewal in February 2015?

Can you share more with your experience?

Thanks!

I appreciate the feedback. I understand I won't really be able to see and do a lot, but the more I dig into my planning the more I'm realizing just how little it allows time for! I'm definitely concerned that these two stops are so brief. We are thinking of doing the Baths excursion in Tortola thru NCL. We had planned to just do our own thing in San Juan, I just fear we'll spend more time aimlessly trying to figure things out than anything else (hence the planning now).

From previous experiences on various cruise lines, Tortola has always been a short excursion. The Baths is wonderful. One of my favourite spots on this planet! Definitely opt for an NCL shore excursion because of the limited time, a personal favorite of mine is the snorkelling excursion. And book ahead of time... I've once or twice been forced to book another excursion since it was sold out!

Enjoy your cruise!

I'm really glad you will get married at home with your family present. I think that is the best decision you could make and will mean a great deal to everyone present.

Thanks! Having read all of the positive tips here on CC helped in our decision. And you are right - it was the best decision we could take!

I'm sleeping better :-) And I can splurge a bit more on everyone I love... Win-win in all cases!

Yes my dear!!! We'll have to share a toast ;-) :D

Small update and useful info for anyone cancelling a cruise wedding ;)

Finally opted to cancel wedding with ROE, we'll get married at home with our family the day we fly out for the cruise.

Good to know info: of course there are cancellation fees, to be expected. I've no problem with that. But the cancellation fees are not as advertised in the wedding brochure given by NCL. The subcontractor slaps on an extra cancellation fee... (example: 300$ advertised + 150$ for subcontractor).

On a positive note: less fretting over wedding dress transportation by plane :-)

Thanks! Will thus pack layers, from bathing suit to coat :-)

We're on the same cruise, aberdare_chick! I am so looking forward to the trip!

i can only answer for the ladies room :-)

No sauna in the locker room. Actually, from what I remember, the lockers where not accessible from the gym. I used my spa pass to have access. If there is a changing room just for the gym - never saw it!