nicoleinwi

Was on NCL Escape in June, casino opened at 9pm when in Bermuda. Not sure on closing time as we were in our room by midnight (they were still open then).

There’s nothing to do in most of Bermuda past 9pm so that’s why they allow it there, as they know tourists are not being taken away from local attractions.

Tried up upload and says failed.... I think photo is too large but I don’t know how to change on iPad

You’re taking away the fun of being surprised :p. We were on last week of June and if I can figure out how to upload I’ll post below

DH & I as well like trying weird food. But nothing in Bermuda seemed weird at all. Pepper jelly was a big thing. You'll find fresh fish (I think it's cod) and fish chowders. Rum cakes, which you find in Bahamas. The only thing I found there that I hadn't had elsewhere was Dark & Stormy (rum and ginger beer). I didn't care for it, but it wasn't anything weird.

When we did the Med cruise on the Epic (left from Barcelona) we did all excursions with the ship with the exception of Rome, which isn't where you need advice on. But for others, Rome is so easy to do on your own with the train.

Our rationale on excursions is if it is close enough to the ship we do on our own, if we are going far away we do with a tour group.

For Livorno port, we wanted to hit up Florence and Pisa and Florence is about 100 miles from port so we just did the bus trip. It was nice as got a good nap between Florence and Pisa.

For Naples we did an excursion to Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii so it was hard to do them both on our own.

Cannes did a ship excursion to Monte Carlo.

My issue when I have tried to book 3rd party places I am concerned about them not having enough people in the group and the tour not going. At least with the ship tour, I know it will go. We rented a private driver / guide before and the experience has been so-so. Once we had a person we loved. The other couple times we really didn't care for the person, so we are done with private guides as we don't want to spend the day with someone we don't really like. At least on a tour if we don't like the guide we don't have to feel obligated to make small talk with them.

We were just in Bermuda a few weeks ago. I can't remember what time we could actually get off as we had an excursion meeting at 8:50 so we walked off at 8:30. But I remember from watching sail in, people were getting off well before we were.

As for return time, you can stroll in at 3am. Not sure that you will actually be able to find anything to do in Bermuda at that time, but I think there is some night foam party at Snorkel Park (which is right by ship) and they are starting to have a Dockyard festival one night but that'd probably only go until 9 or 10 (saying that time because the night festival in Hamilton only goes until 9) .

We sailed Escape last week of June and I didn't bring home the shore ex brochure, but I remember being surprised by what was offered on the last day compared to what I could book online. I remember the Hidden Gems and the Cave/Aquarium being offered on the last day where I didn't see online.

We only saw For the Record. I wouldn’t say it had a strong story plot, but it was a good show. It followed around a group of teens and their lives intertwined with detention. Basically followed various **** segrements from 80’s movies.

H

So, if on your last day there you want to see fish and hang out and relax within walking distance of the ship I would not hesitate to suggest you go here. I would suggest that you wear water shoes or flippers as the entry is very rocky.

We just got off Escape last week. I'm glad to hear about Snorkel Park. We discounted that place due to all the negative reviews. But on our last day it sure would have been a nice option, as we already hit up Tobacco Bay and Horseshoe a previous day. We loved Bermuda and will be back, so we'll keep that in mind for last day next trip!

I was just on Escape last week and did the 2-tank dive through NCL. They worked with Fantsea. There were 6 divers on the trip and 4 snorklers. I'd contact them http://fantasea.bm/ and ask as options.

Our plan one day is to take the ferry to St George and hit up Tobacco Bay. After that we want to go to Warwick Bay and walk to Horseshoe.

Looks like a site I found online shows $44 taxi fare. I realize in googling most say to take the bus to Hamilton then taxi it over. But from what I can tell online it's less than an hour drive from Tobacco to Warwick and the bus just to Hamilton is almost an hour in itself. My main concern is saving time.

Will taxis just be waiting outside of Tobacco Bay? Anything special I need to look for, like a registered taxi logo? I've heard of an app much like Uber, but I don't want to use data unless I really have to.

Thanks!

You could always just bring your own mask and snorkel which won't take us as much room as adding in fins. We have done that many places, sure having fins is always the preference, but if we're at a place that isn't known to be the top snorkeling destination then we are fine with just our mask/snorkel.

Most of the previous posters had good information, but you ask about any "traps". In the sense of scams or traps that you might come across in a City, I don't think you will run into any of those on the ship, at least I don't recall doing them. The daily event guide is going to show a $ or some other icon if there is an extra charge (which you might be floored by how much it is).

We'll be on the Escape end of June. Fantasea is located in Dockyard, and their time is the same as the NCL diving excursion, so I'm thinking it might be the same one. At least that's what we are banking on as Fantasea looks good to us. I booked through NCL even though $20 more pp. We had the $50 shore ex credit we are using. Plus I figured if any delays with getting into port on time, we didn't have to worry as book through NCL vs direct (which requires prepayment and 24 hr cancellation).

We could not find another company that was easily accessible to Dockyard.

DH & I also did this same cruise from Barcelona three years ago. Due to timing and fitting what we thought was the most in, we ended up doing all NCL excursions except Rome.

This is what we did;

Livorno: Tour to Florence which included going to see David, free time in the city and a guided walking tour, then went to Pisa and climbed up the tower.

Naples: Tour to hike up Mt Vesuvius (on our own not a guided hike), then a guided tour of Pompeii. We arrived back to the ship with a little time to spare so we just started walking to find a pizza place (it was nothing special).

Mallacora: Bike tour, I think it was about 10 miles. Very fun and stopped at many places.

Cannes: Tour to Monte Carlo, which was a guided walking tour, free time to explore the city, then entrance into the Monte Carlo Casino.

Rome: This was the only place we did it on our own, just because so much cheaper then a transfer with the ship. We took the train in and did the 3rd Ring Coliseum Tour, Roman Forum, Parthenon and so much more I can't even remember everything we saw without going through pics. We did not do Vatican City though.

For those of you who have used the mini bus service, do you know how late it runs until? We're thinking of going after we do a dive excursion, so we wouldn't get there until maybe 3 - 3:30pm so not sure if it pretty much shuts down around 5, where we wouldn't be able to get mini bus or even a taxi. Thanks!

We were on Escape in November and the MDRs had the same menu each not got. What is there to decide?

Maybe it was Royal but I’ve been on ships where MDR each had different menus, some of the same entrees but a few different. So the decision is what we felt more like having. But yes if they are the same then there is nothing to decide!

It's been a few years since we've been on NCL and I don't believe we booked our MDR in advance. I thought we just showed up when we wanted to eat (just 2 of us). For our upcoming cruise on the Escape I see that we could book MDR ahead of time.

What is the benefit in doing that? Knowing we won't have a wait? Part of our morning tradition is to check out the menu at each MDR in the morning to decide where we want to eat dinner. Is it still possible to just do walk up when we want to eat?

Another option is we still do our morning tradition of checking out menus then going to the TV to reserve a time at the MDR we want.

Thanks!

It would be of help to see the 2017 NCL free ferry to St George's schedule:

 

 

SBtS

Thank you for posting this!

Thanks so much! I’m a novice to Europe. Plenty of Caribbean cruises under my belt 🤪

 

Were you able to see much from the top of Mt Vesuvius? Worth the hike?

 

 

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We like hiking so for us it was worth it. It was a pretty easy hike, just wear gym shoes. It's a hardened rock and dirt trail.

One side you look down into a crater, it's blackish (but you don't see bottom). At the top (and even the trail up) you have nice views of Naples and the harbor. But you are pretty far away. You are not going to be able to see the cruise ship decent. I have pics that are completely zoomed in and it still seems a ways away.

Thanks everyone. For the dive, on our own or through ship it is offered at 9am or 1:30pm. We figured 9am works better so we are then done for the day vs having to make sure back to do the excursion.

Our initial plan was to do St George and Hamilton on Day 2 but it didn't look like much was there of interest to us.

In Hamilton the main attraction for us was to visit Fort Hamilton, which closes at 5. Good point on going after diving to Hamilton, we'd make it in time for seeing the fort then we'd have Harbour Nights.

If we switched Horseshoe to Day 2, whenever we returned we could then ferry over to St George.

This is really helpful!

 

A question about Rome - did you go to the Vatican?

 

Naples - were those two offered as one excursion? I know Ive seen these two separately but maybe together.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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We did not go to Vatican. I think if you feel this might be your once in a lifetime trip to Rome you could fit it in. With our itinerary we ended up being back to Chivachia (sp?) almost 3 hours before all-aboard. But we didn't want to feel rushed at either place, so Vatican will be another cruise excursion. Just plan accordingly as if this port is still on Weds the Pope does an appearance on Weds mornings when he is in town. So Vatican will be crazy busy because of this. But that might be a big draw for your family. If it's not, plan to go in the afternoon. Another note, we were ready to be off the ship at disembark time of 6am. We didn't want to waste any time in Rome. We ended up getting lost on the way to the train station so we didn't get the train we were planning (I think it was about 6:40 train). We ended up on a train that didn't leave until almost 8am.

As for Naples, yes they were offered as one. On NCL's website under excursions (this is general for Naples not specific to the cruise) it is listed for 6 1/2 hours, title is Mount Vesuvius & Pompeii.

Mount Vesuvius & Pompeii

We did this cruise but it was in 2015. This is what we did in each port (had ship excursions for all except for Rome)

Naples - Mt Vesuvius (they gave you time to hike we make it to the top) and Pompeii (guide tour of the area)

Rome - went on the train on our own and toured on own; Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman forum, Pantheon, Piazza Navona and Spanish Steps. We could have easily fit in Trevi Fountain but it was under construction when we went to we skipped it.

Florence - We pulled into Livorno and did a combo tour of Florence (where we went into Academia Gallery to see David), did a walking tour of Florence then free time, went to the photo op for Ponte Vecchio. After that we went to Pisa where we did a climb of the leaning tower.

Cannes - tour to Monte Carlo. Had free time to wander around the city and the tour took us into the casino.

Majorca - bike tour of island.

DH & I will be on the Escape in June with 3 days in Bermuda (8am Weds - 3pm Fri).

So far this is our iteniary

Day 1: 2-tank dive (ship excursion) 9am - 1pm

Day 2: Hamilton (on our own) and evening Bermuda Triangle Cruise (ship excursion 8pm - 9:30pm)

Day 3: Kayak (ship excursion) 10:30am - 2pm

We have three options on when to fit in Horseshoe Bay and would like your recommendations. Side note, we are not beach people. We'll want to walk the trails, gets some pics and just jump into the water. We don't want to just lay around soaking up the sun for hours. Probably the only time we'd be sitting around is maybe 15 mins after jumping into the water to dry off a bit.

Option 1 - do it after diving on Day 1. We'd take the minibus there, then if that is no longer running when we want to leave take the public bus back. The draw for this is that we'll already be in our swimsuits and have a bag with a towel and our mask and we could possibly not even go back to the ship after we return from our excursion. Downfall for this, will it be crowded getting there probably around 2pm (or maybe 3pm if we are hungry and do a quick buffet stop at the ship before heading back out)?

Option 2 - On day 2 head to Hamilton (by ferry) and have a backpack with swimsuits and take the public bus to Horseshoe Bay when done. Same downside as above, will it be too crowded when we get there?

Option 3 - On day 2 head to Horseshoe Bay and have a backpack to put wet clothes into and take public bus to Hamilton then ferry back. If we did this, we'd probably be out for a bus (either shuttle bus or public bus) around 8am so we'd possibly be there before crowds.

If we did Horseshoe Bay on Day 1, we'd probably do the dockyard stuff after Hamilton on Day 2. If we did Horseshoe Bay on Day 2, on Day 1 after diving we'd stay in the dockyard and check out the National Museum and anything else we see.

Thanks for the feedback!

I'm in the minority and don't get the UBP. I don't really drink. If I have 3 drinks on a cruise, that is probably it. DH might have one drink a night. For us, doesn't make sense to pay the fees for the UBP as a freebie vs paying for our few drinks in cash.