brookie848

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.

San Juan is now our preferred cruise port. We've done three cruises from there with our fourth in February. We did the ABCs earlier this year along with St. Kitts and St. Lucia on a 7-day cruise. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but our February cruise has zero sea days (Tortola, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Antigua, Barbados). It will be interesting pacing ourselves.

Definitely the Epic. The only way I'd sail in the Haven on the Getaway/Breakaway is if there were no other options. The restaurant on the Epic is huge, plus you have the cool indoor/outdoor grill area with its own bar. I'm not in love with the whole Epic ship itself, but the Haven is outstanding.

Go to the restaurant reservations desk. They should have the MDR menus for the week available. That way you can take a look at what is to come and plan any specialty dining based on that. We've done that on past cruises. Enjoy your cruise and being able to get more than one drink at a time without the 15-drink cut-off.

You are dropped off in front of the Soggy Dollar Bar and chairs/loungers there are first come, first serve. Being that you are taking a 45-minute catamaran ride to a completely different island, return transportation is definitely included. 😁

Every time we've stopped at Tortola, we've done the Escape to Jost Van Dyke exursion. It is the ONLY NCL tour we have ever done. There are usually two departure times. Even though I am not a morning person, we choose the earliest one. This allows us our choice of chairs. You also have to be of the mindset that if you drink, you are going to be drinking EARLY. This tour should allow you some time to browse the shops at the port before or after your departure.

We were on the Epic in February -- the third time. It is still my favorite Haven (we've also been on the Escape and Getaway). We LOVE the huge restaurant and lounge area. Posh is always nice, but our cruise was really windy and we didn't use it as much as we thought we would this time. We also like the private gym and the open-air eating area for afternoon snacks. We're doing the Viva next, so I'll be curious to see what we think of that. We haven't done Breakaway-plus yet, but we hated the Haven on the Getaway. The Escape was better.

You will have no issues with the packaged bars, but you need permission to bring the drinks. As others have mentioned, contact the Access Desk. You can call or fill out a form (this seems to take a while). You may also be able to have your PCC (if you have one) take care of this. We brought sugar-free Gatorade on board on our last cruise. The only issue is that you have to carry it on and that can be a bit of a pain. We have done it for other cruises as well and while we are sometimes stopped at security, it has never been a big issue.