lynnber

Feeling kind of foolish for not looking closer... taking RCCL Majesty on Thursday to Cuba & Nassau. The itinerary says Day 2 Havana, Day 3 Havana, Day 4 Nassau... but it leaves Havana on day 3 at 5:30 AM so its not like we get to do anything in Havana on that day. Why don't they call day 3 a sea day? 

Sheepishly cancelling my day 3 tour...

It was not a problem at all. We all went to the same terminal (whichever one was on the left) and they took us all and asked no questions at all. It only took two or three minutes for them to get our cards. It was truly one of the smoothest check-ins ever.

One thing I forgot to add... and I know it's not a biggie, but I thought the Thanksgiving decorations were beyond tacky. They were the paper cutout pumpkins you can find in any kindergarten classroom this time of year. It just seems that if you're going to spend hundreds of millions on a new boat, you might want to purchase decorations that can't be bought at Party City. 

This was the sixth Thanksgiving cruise we've taken, and every other ship had magnificent decorations to truly make the holiday special. And I'm pretty sure that this is the only one that didn't have any Christmas decorations happening yet also. 

Again, not a big deal, but it's the little attention to detail that makes a cruise truly outstanding.

Just off the Norwegian Bliss and was somewhat underwhelmed. A little background – we are experienced cruisers, and this is our sixth Thanksgiving week cruise. We were a group of 18, 12 of us who were on the RCCL Allure last year. We had a fantastic time last year, so this cruise had a lot to live up to. We had a fantastic time this year as well – but would probably not do this particular cruise again. Still, any day cruising is a great day cruising and the company and experience of being together was awesome!

The Good Parts:

Very smooth and easy embarkation – no waiting whatsoever. Even though some of us were to embark at different terminals, we were all still able to board together.

The Garden Café (buffet) had very decent food, and was laid out well enough that there were never long lines at a particular station, and we were always able to find a table – even in the busiest time. Miraculous, really.

Greeting when we got back on board after being on the island(s), staff was there to greet us with cold towels and cold drinks.

The crew talent show was well done, and the staff thing afterwards was very nice.

Beatlemania in the Bliss Theater was awesome! However, when the ‘Beatles’ performed in the Cavern it was way too crowded, and very uncomfortable with the folding chairs. Actually, when ever anything was in the Cavern – Karaoke, other music, it was very uncomfortable.

The very entertaining bartender (and the drinks) in the Mojito Bar. Actually all the cocktail wait staff were pretty good and efficient, and we never had to wait long for a drink anywhere – even the pool deck and Bliss theater.

Great screen in the atrium – crystal clear to see anything it was showing… BUT the chairs in there were limited, and there was a lot of folding chairs going on.

It was nice not having someone in your face the whole first day trying to sell drink packages or spa services.

Digital screens worked well throughout the ship, the television in the stateroom had a decent lineup of movies and shows to watch, the NCL app (extra charge $9.95 for the week) was WELL WORTH IT, and worked very well to text and phone each other onboard.

The ship musicians were great, especially Familiar Strangers and 4 Blue.

The Washy Washy man in the Garden Café!

The Random Observations:

Awkward layout of ship. Parts of it felt very closed in with low ceilings. Almost never had a reason to pass shops on deck 8.

Kind of boring décor – very subdued with lots of brown (almost looked like that old brown wood paneling from my basement when I was a kid) and a lot of the artwork looked like they simply framed a swatch of wallpaper. I can’t think of any artwork that made me go “wow” except maybe the bullet sculptures outside the District Brewhouse.

Casino layout was very choppy and hard to find anyone. It was nice that the smoking section was separate, but hard to see inside the whole room to see if someone was there. Also, you have to be playing in order to smoke in the casino smoking section, so lots of machines were filled with people betting 8 cents. Speaking of casino… the machines were also pretty tight, but that’s to be expected. There wasn’t any music in the casino, so sometimes it was crazy quiet, and sometimes all you heard were loud obnoxious drunk people.

The running track on the pool deck. It got a little obnoxious to have all these runners passing by and making you get out of the way in the middle of the day when it was crowded on deck.

Lackluster comedians, who were all booked up an hour into the cruise.  Also, the Social, where they played, was small and seating was folding chairs.

I never actually saw my room steward. My husband saw him a couple times, and he was efficient, but there was none of the happy greetings that I’ve come to expect in hallways on cruises.

The public bathrooms were a nightmare. Everything was automatic – the toilet flusher which was on a weird delay, the soap dispensers and the paper towels. It would almost be comical to be in the restroom, waiting for it to flush so you could leave, then fight with the soap dispenser to pretty please give you a dollop of soap, then wave wildly under the paper towel dispenser for your tiny sheet of one ply sandpaper.

The bathroom situation outside the Bliss Theater – one side has a men’s room, and the other side has two ‘family’ restrooms, that can be used by men or women. So there are only two toilets for a theater full of women, if a man isn’t in there splashing stuff all over.

Havana – a borefest; Jersey Boys was very good, but a little long. There was no actual entertainment for a family to enjoy together – we all watched both shows but the kids/teens didn’t get it or relate. They were looking for WOW, like what we saw on Allure last year with the Aqua Show and Mama Mia.

I would have liked a Piano Bar, instead of a piano bar player that moved around the venues.

Balcony chairs – they are not adjustable and just sit straight up.

Why show movies at night in the atrium when you could show them on deck? You couldn’t hear them in the Atrium and had to read subtitles.

Laser tag and race cars – it was all booked up by the time we got to it the first day. Why not open it for more hours so everyone who wants to participate can? (And don’t get me started on the extra charge, which I think is ridiculous but is also a non-issue since we couldn’t get a reservation.)

No espresso/cappuccino included with the beverage package.

There didn’t seem to be anyone doing regular random cleaning. We would see piles of food/drinks stacked in the corner of the elevators and hours later it would still be there. Or there would be stacks outside cabin doors for hours.

The Deal-Breakers:

Ridiculously inefficient and indifferent staff in the Manhattan Room. Dinner would take way longer than it had to because staff would deliver two dinners at a time and then go back for two more. And if you wanted something like an iced tea it would hold up the proceedings for a good half hour. Even sit-down breakfast at Savor took way longer than it should have.

The food in the Main Dining Room(s)  It was all pretty basic, plain, and not very good. No shrimp cocktail, escargot, lobster… They never came around with sauces/dressings/cheese unless you asked them for it (sour cream for your baked potato; fresh pepper and parmesan for your pasta). YES, I know I could have eaten in the specialty restaurants, but I’m not paying for a cruise to then pay extra for decent food. (We did actually have a 3 restaurant package, part of a booking perk- but since we were a large group intent on eating dinner together every night, and the specialty restaurants weren’t open for lunch, we didn’t use them except one day at Margaritaville.)  I will say, though, that the Thanksgiving dinner was nicely done.

No 24 hour place to just grab a quick slice of pizza or sandwich to go. Yes, the Local is open 24 hours, but it is a sit down restaurant that takes time, and does not allow to-go orders. Sometimes you just want to take a plate of cookies to your room late at night…

Again, opinions are like you-know-what, and everyone has one, so take mine with a grain of salt...  All in all, we had a GREAT TIME despite the things we didn’t like. We did get off the ship, however, and immediately start researching next Thanksgiving back on Royal.

Beatlemania in the Bliss Theater was absolutely the best entertainment of the week. In the Cavern it was very crowded and you had to sit on uncomfortable folding chairs, IF you could get a seat. They don't take reservations for it. They are amazingly talented though!

Just off the Bliss and we were a party of 18. I emailed months ahead of time asking for a set reservation at 7:00 each night with the same waiter. The largest they can do is a table for 12, so they told us we would have two tables side by side for ten each. NOT ONE SINGLE NIGHT were the tables in the same place, and they never had the same waiters. Definitely book it in advance though - otherwise expect to wait a while. There were tons of large parties onboard - of course it was Thanksgiving week.

Teppanyaki can definitely do ten.

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

This is where a working knowledge of embarkation procedures helps vs "I hate the idea of not checking in together." A question on CC before you book vs. the night before embarkation could have helped avoid the problem. 

I've been on many cruises and have a "working knowledge of embarkation" but have NEVER had this situation, so I find it a little snarky to say I should have checked sooner. They just sent the email about the terminals yesterday! 

We're still not sure what the right answer is, but we will somehow figure it out...

Getting ready to walk out the door for our awesome vacation!

We can add the payment option for our own cabin, but not for the kids. It only gives us the option of using one of their names. I guess because NCL doesn't really link the reservations, its not an option.

So we're leaving TOMORROW(!) on the Bliss out of Miami and got notification about checking on at Terminal B or C depending on your deck... our (mostly grown) kids are on a different deck than us in two other rooms, and I hate the idea of not checking in together. For one thing, my husband's credit card is the one that pays the onboard stuff...for another, pictures. And I just don't want to start our vacation separated from each other, since the whole point is to vacation together. 

What would happen if we all go to the same terminal? Is this common? Do we pick the one least crowded?

Thanks!

We're sailing on the Bliss on the 17th. What day to you get to Miami?

Seems like the first for this ship, which scares me some. I'd love to be able to see how other passengers did with embarkation, excursions, etc with the itinerary we're going on, but of course it will be the first time.

Do they seem organized and confident, or does it feel like a series of firsts?

Does the onboard app actually do anything? Can you text to fellow passengers?

Thanks!

We're on the Bliss on the 17th - less than 2 weeks! 

Would like to at least know what kind of theme nights, if not the actual order. We haven't been on NCL for years so have no idea what to expect.

We just had the most spectacular cruise on the Allure and part of the excellence was the incredible fantastic service we got in the MDR. We were a large group and it was a pleasure to have our servers have our drinks ready each night, know what bread we liked, and give us other dishes to taste. We felt very pampered with the service. Maybe a specialty restaurant for a special occasion, but the MDR was a great experience for all of us.

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Just off the Allure and had a SENSATIONAL time. Really, truly. Just one little complaint.

We had 3 Central Park Balconies, and were surprised to find the Drink, Dine and Discover (I could have that backwards) bottle of wine and voucher for lunch in our staterooms. The paper said we could have lunch in Giovanni's or Johnny Rockets on a sea day with reservations. Of course we picked Giovanni's, never having been there before. So we made the reservation, left the pool area to dress for lunch, showed up on time, yada yada. Then we were given our menus.

It's not the Giovanni's Table menu that other tables had, it was a limited menu with a choice of 3 appetizers (meat plate, soup, or arugula salad), 4 entries (3 pasta and a chicken), and 2 desserts (cannoli or tiramasu). The food was mediocre at best, and we felt like second class citizens watching the 'real' food pass us by. "Look at that calamari!" "Wow, that steak looks good..."

Yes, yes, yes, I know it was free, but I really wish they would have let us know that it was a different menu ahead of time because we certainly wouldn't have bothered. Johnny Rockets would have been so much better. Or even the Windjammer. End of rant :)

We've been on two Rock Legends Cruises on Independence of the Seas, and got points for each of them. In my book, the value you get for this particular charter is amazing! We do the inside cabin because we're there for the music, and spend four days on a boat full of people with the same interests. We're already booked for 2019!

Is there a way of visiting Le Village for the Haitian Cultural Tour without doing the whole Paradise Cove excursion? There's no way I can convince my husband to do anything that involves a beach...

Bumping this one up for my husband...

Our last two Royal Cruises were Rock Legends Cruises, and the ice and fruit sculptures were AMAZING - but it could be because of the theme.

We did the Divinia twice - once was a Moody Blues cruise, and we didn't think much of the service at all, but figured it was because it was a charter. When we went last year, we agreed that we would never do it again. It's just a different level of service - indifferent at its best. The food was okay, but I believe Carnival's was better - except they did have great pizza. The ship is GORGEOUS, but that only goes so far.

I shouldn't ever say ever, because that new MSC ship looks pretty neat, but I'd have to read a lot more reviews before ever considering it again.

Just off the Conquest today. I finally hit my 1500 points around 11 last night, so I got my DOU card, and was able to take advantage of one Diet Coke. Lol.

There were seven of us, ranging from my 7 year old granddaughter, to my 18 year old son and his friend, my other two 'kids' (27 & 30) and my husband and I. We had four cabins, with only my husband and I having a balcony. I won't do a complete review but here's a couple observations:

We haven't done a Carnival cruise for several years - have done many others since. We took this one based mostly on price. I have to say, based on this trip, Carnival has improved EVERYTHING 100% since we last sailed her. Be sure to download the Carnival Hub app. It was incredibly handy to have it to text each other and find out who was where. The $5 per cruise for 'chatting' capability was worth every penny.

The food was excellent most of the time, with a great variety, and our main dining room waiter was very congenial about giving us extra portions when we couldn't make up our minds. The 'entertainment' provided by the waiters most evenings was corny, but somehow made us leave smiling. We were truly surprised at how the good the quality of the food in the main dining room was.

My crew devoured the Guy Fiere burgers like there was no tomorrow. Between that and the taco bar, it definitely made up for the pizza, which was lackluster, but certainly not something that would prevent me from cruising with them again. The buffet for breakfast and lunch was as expected, and the lines were long but went fairly quick - the cruise was PACKED for the holiday cruise, with lots of large families. We never had trouble finding a table. We did the main dining room for breakfast some days, and it was more relaxing. I loved the "Tasting Bar' - it was the perfect little snack to hold us over till dinner.

My granddaughter spent almost every night in the Kids Club, which was full of children. She left there each evening with all kinds of souvenirs, and great stories about the fun they had. We paid the extra $15 for her to attend the after hours parties, and she loved them. Well worth the money.

The entertainment was very varied. The lobby bar always had a great duo, or this incredible violin group, or this really versatile band. There seemed to be music everywhere we passed through and it was all pretty good....... except - the singers in the main show weren't good at all. The shows themselves were fun, and the special effects they used were fascinating - but the singers couldn't sing very well. The comedy shows were great - both comedians did different shows each night so there was quite a variety, and they were hilarious!

Somehow we lucked into a mid-ship cabin on the Lido deck. I am FOREVER sold on the location of this cabin. I never thought much of it before, and didn't care if I was down in steerage as long as I was on a cruise, but this was just a fantastic location, with elevators and all the pool deck action only steps away.

We've done a lot of cruises and have been to all the locations before, so destination wasn't that important, but we did do two excursions - unusual for us. The first was in Jamaica, and it was the River Tubing Safari. It was excellent for everyone in our party - just the right mixture of fun and relaxation. We had a ball. The second was in Cozumel, and it was the Everyone Loves Rays, a swim with the stingrays and snorkel excursion that was just the right length and well worth the money.

The boat's decor was okay - not elegant, but not cringe-worthy. It was a very comfortable ship, with lots of different areas to hang out, plenty of lounge chairs, and never a long wait for an elevator. The layout was very straightforward, so we didn't have much of a learning curve to figure out what was where. The casino was very big, and my husband and I left with more money than we came with, which is always a plus.

The tiny little things that we didn't like:

• Only having one outlet in the cabin - with everyone having electronic devices these days, there needs to be more room for chargers.

• They needed extra help in the Coffee Bar. We had at least one specialty coffee per day, and there was always a line.

• We had the late dining, and wound up missing some shows because they happened only once, during our dinner. Most other lines have one show before the late dinner, so that we don't have to pick and choose between the production or the comedy.

• Debarkation sucked. I know it always does, on every cruise we've ever been on, but it was really horrible and disorganized.

• And this one is really me whining - the 'Black Friday' sales were terrible. I didn't expect to get all my shopping done, but I certainly thought I would be able to make a dent in it - and there wasn't anything at all worthwhile (to me, anyway).

All in all, we had a spectacular time; everyone got along and we had the right amount of mandatory family time, as well as time to do our own things.

I would DEFINITELY book this cruise again.

Happy to answer any questions!

Just off the Divina. The food was very mediocre.

They advertise a buffet that's open 20 hours a day, but the only things they have after dinner are pizza (very good) and a sandwich station, which has rolls and tuna salad/egg salad/chicken salad. The salads are all made with shredded cabbage filler (very weird, especially in the egg salad). They also had whatever leftover desserts they could find. Never saw an ice sculpture or anything mildly decorative on the buffets. Disappointing.

Was on the cruise when it happened. It was in a fifth floor stateroom - big boom that we could easily hear from the casino. (No one stopped playing). It blew a pressurized window out and water went into the cabin, but they fixed it very quickly and put a note in everyone's door the next morning explaining what happened.

The seas were VERY ROUGH that night - and when we got off in Port the next morning, the people on the Disney Ship next to us were talking about how they thought they would die because the seas were so rough, and it must have been so much better to be on a big ship like Divina.