chrisa2711

Just to emphasize, tips are included in your fare - sure you can slip a bartender or server a few bucks but many of them will refuse it. The staff is paid much better than typical cruise lines and have much better perks. 

So the prices that you see on a bar menu are THE PRICES. No 20% gratuity tacked on. And you can see all of your purchases on the app.

And they are no longer (or maybe just currently?) accepting applications for status matches.

On 3/15/2024 at 4:32 PM, ontheweb said:

I know what you mean. When we sailed the Epic in 2012, we were really looking forward to seeing Slam Allen. We read so many good things about him, plus he is from my hometown and I know one of his musician uncles. When we boarded we found out he was on his 6 months off. There was a meet and greet with the officer in charge of entertainment being one of the participants. I told him we were disappointed and why. (I will admit there was a lot of fine entertainment. I later tried to call that officer (who had left his contact information) to tell him we did enjoy the entertainment, but was unable to reach him.

 

We have seen him since, and I told him about missing him on the cruise. (It was actually a cruise for our 30th anniversary.

I saw Slam Allen [he was great!!] on Virgin's Scarlet Lady about a year or so ago, and I just checked his website and it looks like he's performing on Virgin exclusively for the rest of this year.

Room service is another breakfast option... 

I take a quick photo of my bag after it's tagged by the porter in the extremely unlikely event it goes missing...I figure it can't hurt and might help. 

I had some surplus Bar Tab and ended up buying a full bottle of wine to carry off with me. 

I'm on board Scarlet right now and I was there are only 1200 passengers aboard. 

@rfnc07 Thank you so much for the event schedules! I'm so glad that I won't have to try to watch on my tablet.

[I'm having a tough time paying attention to work today while my thoughts are full of packing and getting up extra early tomorrow morning for my flight to Miami!]

Thanks for that idea. I did a cruise on Scarlet Lady a year ago so I'm a Sea-Blazer and get the Deep Blue Perks that includes "Unlimited Premium Wifi (where available) If you can dream it, we can stream with access to our premium wifi."

So I'll keep my fingers crossed... 

Does anyone know if it's possible to watch any of the World Cup action on board the Scarlet Lady either on the in-room TV or in a public venue?

I'll be on from Friday, Nov 25 to Sunday, Dec 4 and am hoping to be able to watch some matches.

1 minute ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Thanks. Yeah the app is terrible. And it’s stressful. Like I wanted to get things and our sailing is only 60% or less and I couldn’t even get on to try. Grog and a few others. Very sad. 

LOL, I'm a retired software product manager and I've been tempted to try to get VV to hire me on a 3-month consulting gig to tell them how to fix the damned app! Especially if I could cruise for free while working for them...maybe I should write to Sir Richard?

4 hours ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Let me just tell you. The app is cluster. We are booking shows and what not and I’m booked at one time, he’s booked at another. I stood in sailor services… then I had to go to entertainment. They are literally just standing there to help with your phone. The app is crashing. I think we got Grog Walk Friday night. Maybe Ships in the night tonight. Everything else is a hot mess. 

Here's the sad thing - the app was a cluster when I sailed on the Scarlet Lady last November. I can't imagine why it still sucks a whole year later! It's probably my biggest complaint about VV - their tech is awful. But I'm still excited to be booked on back-to back voyages from Nov 25 - Dec 4!!

BTW, I'm loving this review...it's getting me revved up for that warm Miami/Caribbean weather. It's currently ~30 degrees here in Saint Louis, MO!!!

34 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Full size bottle

Thanks - that's good to know!

I'm just curious - do you get a full-size (750 ML) bottle or is it a smaller bottle?

On 11/4/2022 at 12:08 AM, _tacocat_ said:

not actual treatment prices, but thermal suite passes are $39 on port days/$59 on sea days.

 

<snipped>

thanks for posting this - I was on Scarlet Lady about a year ago and didn't even know that there was a thermal suite! I will definitely be checking it out on my B2B at the end of this month!

On 11/15/2021 at 7:37 PM, sid_9169 said:

You should be able to book shore excursions on the app under "discover", then click "ports" and swipe to watch different port to see the available excursions... 

Thanks, for some reason the app wasn't showing me the prices before, but it is now! 

I'm booked on the 11/26 sailing and got an email a couple of days ago saying that reservations were open to me but the app only showed 3 dining venues that were bookable.

Also no way in the app to add Voyage Protection, which I thought I'd added during my original booking but it's not there now.

Lastly, is there some way to find out (and maybe even book) the prices of the shore excursions ahead of time?

26 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

It’s after 10am here; the Captain really should make an announcement. It’s obvious to folks paying attention that we won’t be docking this morning, but it would be good to know the plans. (And I’m sure plenty of folks don’t know what’s going on.)

Finally! An announcement from the Captain confirming what we have already figured - the weather is still preventing us from docking. They will try again in a few hours. The forecast is not favorable. 😪

4 hours ago, dporter said:

The Premium Plus Beverage Package DOES include the wine dispensers

 

https://www.ncl.com/terms/premium-plus-beverage-package-full

Interesting terminology:

Includes "wine dispensers"

Does not include "vending machines"

So does anyone have personal experience that clarifies this?

A related question - if we don't finish the bottle of wine, can we tale it with us back to the cabin? 

I had a studio on the Breakaway. Plenty of room for everything. Closet is large and I personally didn't need to use my (one) suitcase as additional storage.

Completely agree with this and with the suggestion to bring cubes or bins to substitute for drawers.

Thats the first I have heard of hot dog carts? Did you have one?

I did - not as good as the ones you get on the street in NYC (I bet the dirty water just isn't the same, LOL) but decent. The tropical drink probably helped!

On the Nov 15 Breakaway, the Sabrett hot dog cart was stationed at the entrance to Spice H2O on at least a couple of days at lunchtime...

Great review so far - looking forward to reading more as I am considering the Getaway for next year.

The thermal spa opens at 8 am. It is a wonderful spot to relax and even snooze on the heated loungers...very peaceful and the view one deck above the bridge is very soothing. I am very glad I got the pass for my Nov 15th BA cruise.

I did my first NCL cruise last month in a Studio on Breakaway and LOVED it! Be sure to go to the Solo Traveler's meetup on the first day (time & place will be in the Freestyle Daily). I ended up going just about every day and each day the mix of people changed. I am generally quite happy being on my own but I met a fun core group of folks of various ages and nationalities and we ended up eating together the last 3 or 4 nights and then bar-hopping. The studio itself felt cozy rather than cramped and there was far more storage than I expected.

I am sure you will have a great cruise!