Oakman58

As mentioned the balcony cabins are small and I take it for granted you already know about the unique bathroom setup of the Epic. In my opinion, a balcony cabin for 4 on the Epic is in reality a cabin for 2 adults and 2 small children.

Those people made a grievous mistake and paid the price. You can bet they went through a lot of grief trying to catch up to the ship in Senegal. Since they feel NCL should have bent the rules for them, you can bet they won't be looking to book a future cruise with NCL. NCL certainly wouldn't have to ban them. I'm sure those folks will be bad-mouthing NCL for the rest of their lives.

Apparently they wanted to get their money's worth and finish a very expensive cruise. Perhaps they wanted to get back on the ship and give the captain a piece of their mind.

Oh please! The ship would have had to redeploy the steps and platform they use for normal tender operations.

This made me laugh out loud. Ban the couple? I seriously doubt the couple will ever want to book a cruise with NCL again.

The one thing I would like to know, what was the name of the tour operator that caused those passengers to miss the boat. I do have sympathy for those passengers who missed the boat. They made a terrible mistake not booking through the cruise line, but it was a mistake. We all make mistakes, some more grievous than others. And how many times on CC has someone asked about taking an excursion through the cruise line only to have many members tell them to book through an independent tour company because it's cheaper and better than the ship's tours.

I wish I could sit down to dinner with the folks that got left behind. I'd bet the story of getting from San Tome to Gambia and then to Senegal would be incredibly interesting.

Knowing how I am, if this happened to me, when I rejoined the ship, I would give the Captain some grief every time I saw him. "Thanks for leaving me behind without my medications Captain, I almost died." "Thank for leaving me in a 3rd World country Captain that didn't accept my credit cards." Knowing my personality, I would probably push the issue until I ended up in the brig.

I'll say one thing, NCL is getting a whole lot of bad press because of this story. This story even showed up on our local news, and I live in the Midwest. Leaving U.S. citizens behind on an African island isn't going to bode well for NCL, and it doesn't matter who's right or who's wrong. The way the press is telling the story, NCL is the bad guy.

I’m sure we don’t have the full story, but even so, I think that situation could have been handled better. I’d hate to be left behind. From the story. “The harbor master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call.” “Eventually, the São Tomé and Príncipe Coast Guard loaded all eight passengers on a boat and took them to the anchored ship. They said the captain told the Coast Guard to take the passengers back to the island.” If those two quotes are true, I guarantee you I’d be more than upset with NCL and I’d bet every NCL cheerleader on this forum would be just as ticked off at NCL if it happened to them. Perhaps the Captain, who is just as human as the rest of us, was having a bad day and decided to be a jerk. Regardless, I always book excursions through the cruise line.

That's good to know. The Explorer of the Seas did not have a station like that when the WJ was closed.

Is there anyplace on the Brilliance to get a complimentary cup of coffee before the buffet opens in the morning? Room service is out because I don’t want to disturb my wife. When we were on Explorer of the Seas I could go down very early in the morning to Café Promenade for my complimentary morning coffee. Is Café Latte-Tudes like this also? If not is there anywhere else on the ship with an available coffee urn?

I'm Platinum with NCL and finally decided to try other cruise lines. As I mentioned in my previous post, we just did a cruise on the older Carnival Spirit out of Mobile, AL. We really enjoyed that cruise. Here's a link to my review of that cruise. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2993261-we-love-our-cruise-on-the-spiritmobile-al-not-so-much-wpics/#comment-66967737 I didn't notice any difference in the passengers on Carnival from those on any other cruise line. Personally, I think the only thing NCL has going for it is the Free at Sea. I do have a New England/Canada cruise booked on the Breakaway this September.

Sorry, I'm new to Royal Caribbean. I chose a 5:30 assigned dining time on our cruise. If I fail to make that dining time, can I just show up at the main dining room and use My Time Dining? I'm old and sometimes an afternoon nap runs longer than expected.

We've done two Carnival cruises in the past 6 months and had a great time on both. On our 7 day cruises there were 4 comedian on each sailing and depending on the ship, the cruise director is almost as good at comedy. I personally thought the food was better on Carnival with a bonus of the complimentary Guy's Burger Joint and the Blue Iguana. Main Theater entertainment isn't as good as NCL but the comedians in the punchliner comedy club make up for it. The bands were awesome on Carnival. We chose assigned dining time on Carnival and I had forgotten how nice it is to have the same servers every night and how they get to know you and your preferences. As far as I'm concerned Carnival gets a bad rap from many cruisers who have never cruised with Carnival. We were just on the Carnival Spirit (launched in 2000) last month and it looked to be in better shape than some newer ships of other cruise lines. We have a Panama Canal cruise booked on the Spirit for next Mar after she comes out of a dry-dock. I have no issues with Carnival. Also Carnival not only still does towel animals, at some point during a 7 day cruise those towel animals will take over one of the pools for a few hours in the morning. Carnival is fun.

Wait a minute, this was a Haven cabin in this discussion. If I paid that kind of money for a cabin, I would expect no less than spotlessly clean. I would have demanded the cabin be cleaned including the bedding. And that cabin steward should have been reprimanded for doing sloppy work.

When we took our first Princess cruise it was last year on the Diamond Princess. When they did the champagne pour with the pyramid of glasses, they only pour a few bottles of champagne. It seemed to be just a photo op event. So my question is, was there ever a time when they poured enough champagne to fill all the glasses?

In my opinion, Mobile is a NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME cruise port. I will never sail from that port again.

My wife and I go to the Deal or No Deal show but, other than the first time we saw the show, we never buy the cards. The only person that has a chance of winning anything of real value is the person who gets called up on stage.

You speak the truth.

I'm sorry but I had to Laugh Out Loud at your crowds on the pier comment. This is what the Costa Maya pier looked like last month when we visited and there were five ships in port.

The last time we were on the breakaway the only thing they used the Spiegel Tent for was for a Latitudes Party.

Daily activities aren't what they used to be, especially on NCL, but also the other cruise lines. My wife and I enjoy the trivia games and not much else. Our favorite daytime activity has become people watching. We find a place on the ship with high people traffic (hopefully near an open bar) and then make fun of how they look, how they dress, etc. as they walk by. Shallow I know, but it is fun.

"We're sorry that happened to you, thanks for informing us and we'll inform the port authority this is unacceptable" would go a long way in this case. Lack of compassion and caring isn't the best way to keep customers coming back.

I think great cruise directors are becoming a thing of the past on all cruise lines.