brookie848

From what we got from our PCC, a lot of cruises are sailing at or over capacity. We received an upgrade email this week for our February cruise. The funny thing is that I don't think there are any cabins above ours available. There is one that is showing up, but that is a "guarantee" with no ability to choose a cabin number. We are past final payment, so there likely won't be a lot of cancellations at this point. Like others have mentioned, this is an automated process. If nothing else, they are gathering information about how much people are willing to bid to upgrade their cabin.

Epic Haven is pretty awesome. The restaurant is really large and there is a weird outdoor restaurant part that really isn't outdoors, it just has open sides (Courtyard Grille). Epic Haven has its own small gym and spa treatment room. You also have access to Posh, which has a bar and loungers (no hot tub). The regular bar/lounge area is quite large and there is another bar in the Courtyard Grille for a total of three bars in the Haven. The pool is not covered, like the Escape's is, but hopefully the weather will cooperate. If I had to choose between the two ships, it would be tough. I love the Escape as a ship and the Haven was good on the Escape. But Epic's Haven is slightly better. I would take into consideration port times and cost and what the Escape has that the Epic does not. What matters to you? We've done the Epic three times and the Escape twice.

Okay...I just had to say this. When I was quickly scrolling through your pics, I initially thought those four rolls of wrap in this picture were eyeballs of something looking over the meat or cartoon eyeballs added after the fact. Really enjoying reading about the Viva. We sail on her in February.

Where does he stand alphabetically compared to you? On our cruises, my husband is Guest #1 on the booking (and he pays for everything), but he never gets anything in his name. They are always addressed to the third person in the cabin and me. All of the NCL mail we get to our home is addressed to the third person in the cabin (even though they don't live with us). Initials are DF (3rd person), BG (me) and KG (husband).

Yeah...lots of posts about this on Reddit yesterday. It's always sad when things like this happen.

We're booked for the Viva in February of 2024 and February of 2025. We really hope we like the ship! Both of these sailings have zero sea days, so we're curious how that's going to work out with things like tastings and other events. On the 2025 cruise the port times aren't that great, so there will be time for those things. For the 2024 sailing the port times are what I consider to be pretty stellar, so I'll looking forward to how that all plays out.

I thought that might be the case...sometimes a chance to do something different can be welcome. And if they really enjoy the decorating it gives them to opportunity to go all out. It also helps that I think the cruisers really appreciate it all.

I'm enjoying this report! You have to wonder if the staff enjoys creating all the "fun" stuff for the holidays or if it is just an additional task to them that takes extra time. I could see it going both ways -- but it certainly looks fun in the pictures.

On the Epic earlier this year they wouldn't even allow us to switch someone with a Platinum that didn't want to go. Like others have mentioned I think it depends on the ship/people working at Cruise Next.

I thought the Getaway had a martini bar, but I was confused. We did a martini tasting on the Getaway and I believe it was held in the mojito bar.

It was never even mentioned.

We've traveled to all of these islands and taking this itinerary again in February. We've never run into any necessary additional vaccinations.

Vibe is now available to book before you sail. In fact, I'm assuming that's just about the only way to book it now.

I'm looking forward to your review! We have two cruises booked on the Viva -- one for next year and one for 2025. We hope we like the ship! Both cruises have zero sea days, so if we hate the ship, we'll have something to do every day (except for St. Lucia -- not our favorite). I drove from Pittsburgh back home to Albany last weekend. The colors on the trees were nice, but the Thruway was a cluster on Friday (like it always is on the weekend). Enjoy your trip...I'll be following along.

We take pictures of their name tags and let them know why we are doing it. Our favorite was an obviously new server in La Cucina. He was trying so hard and took care of some special requests for us. Later that night we realized that we never took a picture of his name tag. We went back down to the restaurant and asked the host if we could see him. He was SOOO nervous -- he thought we had a complaint. He was definitely relieved and delighted when we told him why we wanted to chat with him. We've gotten a few cards with the names already on them. We always tell them that we will turn them in when we turn everyone else's in to Guest Services. The last day of the cruise we usually end up at a bar, have a drink, and fill out our hero cards.

I know whatever is going on now is worthless for the Caribbean itineraries, but I was hoping that they would be open when people made their dining reservations for the San Juan sailings. I wish NCL would open up both at the same time so we wouldn't have to move things around once the shows open up.

Our sailing will open up for restaurant/show bookings next week. For those of you whose sailings have already opened up, were shows available (specifically Beetlejuice) for booking? If so, which nights? I'm trying to mentally prepare our schedule around this very busy cruise.

We were in a 2-bedroom on the Epic in February -- our third time in that exact suite. The first or second night my husband got up in the middle of the night and proceeded to turn on EVERY light in the master bedroom/bath -- all at once. I did a middle of the night yell-complaint. For our next cruise, one of the musts is to figure out which light buttons can be touched in the middle of the night. We had a great cruise in February with a great group. But we have definitely been on cruises with "those people" -- and do our best to avoid them.

When we have a third person staying in the second bedroom, they generally request an egg crate topper. It is definitely a viable option. If you are on the Prima or Viva, the bed in the second bedroom is an actual queen-size bed.

We were on the Epic in February and actually had a great bar experience, which I was happy about. The main bar was never too crowded and when we normally would get a drink (9ish) it was pretty calm. The bartender, Ron Ron, was awesome and I never had the same drink twice. There was another bartender in the Courtyard area who was also very good. Our experience on the Getaway was not great, but we had okay experiences on the Escape, minus some really crappy fellow passengers. We're hoping for a good experience on the Viva.

We usually get a liquid exemption and it is noted on our boarding documents. On all the cruises where we've had this, we've only had it and our liquids questioned once (at Miami).

I take a picture of this information before we get off the ship...just in case.

How well do you do you know this couple? It looks as if along with losing the second bedroom, I believe you are also losing the second full bath. Would that lack of a second shower bother you? Plus, if you are on different schedules having people sleeping in the living area can be awkward.

Yep. We got to see the KLM 747 on our first cruise back in the day. We're disappointed that one that size no longer lands there, but Maho Beach is the main point of our stop. The friend who sails with us isn't looking forward to this, but she considers it her "payment" for her free stay in the second bedroom of our cabin.

These are actually all repeat ports for us -- every San Juan cruise has been a more southern route. This will be our third time in Barbados. Our current thoughts are to make solid plans on three islands (Tortola, Antigua and St. Maarten). We will just stay on the ship or wing the rest.