Jldevlin

Let me talk you down ...We are also cruising next September on the Epic. Taking 3 other couples because we love the itinerary also. The ship is great...We were on it before and find it no different than any other ship. Some cruises are great...some not...but we had no issues at all.

I remember reading your posts!! So happy to see you out and about and looking forward to your review.

We have a b2b booked for May to Alaska and then one week in September as well on a casino offer. We have not sailed HAL in years and gamble very little. Maybe $100 between the both of us on a week cruise. They do have a $200 deposit that you get back in onboard credit and we will use that for the spa pass that we always get. We get offers every month now for next year and we are looking into what we might want. We got the Hia for all of them which we do for NCL as well .

Cagneys layer cake or the 5 ( 7?) spice cake in Chin Chin. Although on the Joy last month the Tirimisu in the dining room was really good. Headed out on the Jewel next week and planning on having all of these

We leave sunday on the Jewel for 8 days San Diego to Vancouver and used the $750 for me and the $500 for hubby. We live just outside of Vancouver so it is only one flight for us and we love the Jewel.

We are on the Jewel in a few weeks and I thought I would catch up on how my favorite ship is doing... after the first post I was so invested in you just getting there I forgot this was a cruise review !!!

Hate the toilet situation on the Epic .. But love the ship so we booked it again for Greece next year. Teen girls can surprise you ...cranky then lovely ....rinse and repeat. Having this time with her will be something she will never forget. Have a wonderful time and I will be following along.

Just off the Joy and i love the water slides....but to do the drop slide you can not have any metal on you ...or on your bathing suit. I had metal on my straps and they would not let me on. My friend had metal grommets on his trunks and it was a no go for him too.

This is why I always pack one bathing suit in my carry on.....I can deal with finding new underwear but trying to find a new bathing suit that fits and I am happy with in a matter of hours???

I have seen them in the theatre ... The Cavern club is just too tiny for me. They were okay when singing but when they started the chatter between themselves and the strong russian accent came out it was a little off putting lol.

You got a great port to overnight in.

We are there in two weeks so if you do go could you come back and let us know how it was ?? Much appreciated

Was it the wrangler ??? I rarely eat burgers but hubby ordered it often so I finally did too and it was so good !! On the Joy in 25 days and that is my first lunch lol

If you embarked in L A can you let us know how it went and if you are at berth 46 ... and how the entertainment is as you go along ....Have a great time !!!!

WE were on 3 Celebrity cruises last year but mostly sail NCL the last few years. We found that the entertainment on Celebrity was a little slower and felt more HAL than it used to. Quite a bit of3 piece violin type music about and the production shows were sort of odd. Also the NCL drink package included more different alchohol than Celebrity.... Bombay Sapphire was not included on Celebrity ... None of these are deal breakers but I am happy to be going on NCL this month instead of Celebrity and the specialty dinners are a bonus.

Also remember the shops are closed while in port. So lets say you sleep funny and wake up with a sore neck... you have a long day planned and the shop is already closed when you wake up. Very difficult to explain to a clerk in Portofino that you want Robaxacet lol. So a little strip of that now goes in my emergency meds kit. You dont need a lot of any one thing...just enough to get you through until the store opens or you can get something in port.

Thank you so much for all your advise. We have done the boat snorkel and stingray tour a few times and we will be there in February and looking to do something right in town. We are stronger swimmers but our friends are not so I think Eden will be out. For just a beach day without snorkel being the main thing what beach do you recommend??? We can walk pretty far so I was thinking seven mile beach maybe???

You betcha!!!! Also the Wrangler burger is really good.

The problem for us at the last few shared tables was there was no conversation. They just simply talked...and talked. We got to hear about every cruise they have been on, how they knew the captain, and the best bit was telling us how much they loved sharing a table to be able to share their knowledge to new cruisers. We did not need to be schooled thanks. So we started to get a table for two and have never regretted it.

It baffles me that you can go on a cruise ( that most people around the world cannot afford ) and if your banana is not perfect you take the time to take a picture and post it on social media to complain about it. It is a banana... go get another one.

I go to the dollar store and get blank thank you cards that come with envelopes that I can write a quick note inside and put our tip into.

May is great for Alaska!!! If you have time I really recommend that you walk into town in Icy Straight. It is a paved walkway along the water and May is perfect whale watching right from the path. We saw bubble feeding while walking along and the Shuttle bus passed us so they did not get to see it. It is not very built up like other towns so it is more peaceful. Have a fabulous time.

We have not done a HAL cruise in over ten years. We got an offer similar to this last week and booked a b2b out of Vancouver so we dont have the air to worry about. And then just now got this new one so we are looking at the Ft Lauderdale to Vancouver to again offset the cost of air travel. Also the December San diego is looking good for us. We have been mostly sailing NCL over the last few years with 12 cruises on them and we never get any offers from them. So the attempt to get us back apparently worked quite well lol.... And that is what I think it is...they dont need to get anyone who is currently booking with them to give a cheap cruise to.

We were originally booked from Vancouver and then on two more b2b and we bailed 6 months ago. It was too expensive to be sitting in our room looking out at Fiji while everyone else goes ashore.

We were on this one with two other couples one of which had never cruised before. We have cruised Celebrity in years past and in the last few years mostly on NCL. Ages of our group ranged from 40 to 66. We all found the entertainment lacking in the evenings...the stage shows were awful.. the last night with some really weird giant white puffy things on sticks sent us out!!! The game shows were in an area that everyone had to stand to see anything. We really enjoyed deck 14 observation lounge but that was because we made our own fun. Bar staff was overworked but did their best. We had originally been on for the next two legs but cancelled 6 months ago and we are very glad we did. Dining room was okay with traditional seating and we had great service but I cant imagine eating there for another 30 or so days.