detroitlions

18 hours ago, UKstages said:

this story seems more like a fantasy borne of your friend's desire to impress upon you how posh the haven is than anything that actually happened in real life.

 

NCL banned smoking on balconies in 2014 and in staterooms in 2011. the "haven" didn't exist (under that branding) till 2011, although some of the same concepts, rooms and amenities were available as early as 2005. so, smoking has never been allowed in a haven stateroom, although you could smoke in suites before 2011.

 

so, when did your friend sail? was it actually in "the haven?" or just a two bedroom suite?

 

and, perhaps most importantly:

 

can he explain how a butler would know that a cigarette was about to be smoked within a stateroom, so he could rush to the guest's side to hold his ashtray?

I believe they were joking.

But some of the smoking areas on the ship could be unique. I did not know the small area by the Haven you could smoke.

Last year on the Escape they expanded the smoking area the bar above the pool was smoking. 

On the Bliss it was a tiny area one sided of the H20

Prayers for your mom. I hope you can continue your cruise.

I did see some decline in the food a year ago. I leave on the Joy in March I hope its not even worse or near your experience. 

I have not been to Maderno in a long time I thought the meat was not very good quality.

I am not a fan of the main dinning room on any of the cruise lines I have been on but there is always a couple things I like on the menu. The list of fish you mentioned are all the fish I wont eat especially Tilapia and Flounder Yuck.

My last cruise on the Escape my porter house steak was chewy as hell everyone else had great steaks the fillets and the ribeye. 

I know when these cruise lines call beef angus beef it is not as good quality as choice or prime cuts you can buy at the store.

27 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

I'll be the negative Nelly to dispute what everyone else is saying. It depends. 

 

Depends on the embarkation port. Depends on what time you are trying to gather and go together. Depends on the weather that day. Depends on what the other 3000+ fellow passengers decide to do that morning. Depends on what happens with the debarkation on the sailing before yours. 

 

We've been at ports where we weren't even allowed inside the terminal building until we were within 15 mins of our printed check in time. We've been at ports where we've stood in the rain for hours before being allowed inside the terminal building because everyone showed up early and there was literally no where to put people. 

 

I think the bigger question is why are you trying to all check in together? If you each have your own reservation, just check in when you get there and decide on a meet up place either inside the terminal after folks have gotten their key card, or even better somewhere on the ship. The first folks in can be the scouts to secure a table or couch nook for the rest to join you when they get on board. Will be much faster if the early arrivals already have gone through the process and are just waiting on say 1-2 other couples, rather than waiting for all 8+ of you to go through the process.

I will have to disagree with this. In all the cruises over the last 18 years or so I have done not 1 time did they check those check in times. Now I never sailed out of New York maybe its a thing there but I doubt it. Also a lot of folks get excited when they go on a cruise and they want to all meet up together. I do not always do that but we have. 

I have checked in my family and received drastically different check in times with in minutes apart of clicking the check in button.

I don’t understand how folks do not have potato chips in there house. Seems un American. My in-laws never have cookies or chips. When they come to my house they devour all the chips and cookies. I don’t get it.

12 hours ago, LloydJr said:

Nah.  I'll book inside and stop at McDonalds to get some hash browns.

In 2 years Mc D raised the price of that tinny Hash brown from $1 to $3 a piece crazy

On 2/9/2024 at 9:31 AM, Asawi said:

I like white chocolate! But overall I'm wondering about NCL chocolate. Wether in desserts or in "chocolate treats" (they had quite a few of those at Gem) It is really poor quality! No big deal though. I'll just find something else to munch on. Like more food...  or cheese... or... 😄 
 

I have noticed this for years on NCL there chocolate tastes funny I dont know why. The desert will look good you take a bite and yuck.

Can you let us know what the prices were on drinks like beer wine mixed drinks? This would be helpfull for those that are worried about there final bill.

What were the prices for the drinks if you did not buy a package. Beer wine, mixed drink, boat drink?

On 2/7/2024 at 12:11 PM, david_sobe said:

Congratulations Jacksonville.  I wish we would get a Jewel class ship in Miami again.

They do in Tampa! 1 hour from my house. But I like the Breakaway + ships so I always drive to Miami or Port Canaveral.

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

You can.  They have them in and around Customer Service!

I am with you on just using my phone app. Way too easy. Every cruise I throw out all that paper stuff.

Cruising is not for everyone. I know a few people that tried it and did not like it.

You should have booked a land resort vacation this would of solved most of your issues.

I would have never wanted to connect dining with that large group.

I have gone with large groups and just made sure myself and my immediate family were with me. I would not want to keep up with 18 people all at the same time for dining and getting off the ship for excursions. 

10 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I missed Donna, the theater show, but I was in Medical at the time!  It’s playing tonite and/or tomorrow again, though.  

 

I’ve caught 2 of the 4 shows in Syd’s, including Rumours.  Caught one comedy show last night.  Will be going to Price is Right theater show tonite.  They have a Motown band who’s excellent and a duo as well as a roaming guitar player/singer!

 

Lots of music on the ship, and all the performers I’ve seen have been excellent!

Thank you this is great to hear on the music. We like chilling listening to music on the ship. By the way this is a great review I picked up last week  just caught up.

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

i have a slightly different view.

 

you are correct, of course, in that most people have smart phones (except for the three onboard the getaway i saw last week with flip phones), but a heck of a lot of them use them only to take and make calls. some know how to use email. some text. but not everybody. my dear departed mother had an iphone, which was a brick unless somebody called her... if she remembered to charge it at all. she didn't purchase an iphone, mind you, we bought it for her.

 

that's what i mean when i say they haven't fully embraced technology... they may have a smart phone, but using a touch screen or retrieving a PDF document or pinching and squeezing to enlarge a document is beyond their ken, or - for some - their arthritic hands.

 

there is also a matter of trust... certain members of a certain generation are inherently distrustful of electronic communication. it isn't "real" if they can't hold it in their hands. these are the same folks who get their bank statements and their quarterly investment statements via snail mail, rather than email. and insist on printing out their edocs, "just in case," even though you can pull them up on your phone or even just download a photo of the bar code, if you're concerned about cell or wifi service at the pier.

I agree with the OP I think to solve this they should have a hard copy somewhere on the ship you can grab that way the baby boomers and older that have the issues with tech can just grab a copy.

3 hours ago, graphicguy said:

This doesn’t include the Motown Revue, Comedy Club and the performers around the different bars on the ship!

Have you noticed the entertainment lacking like most have suggested?

Admittingly I am not huge on most of the show the DW is. I love the live music and the shows like Million dollar quartet or Jersey boys. Blue man was awesome too.

35 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

I agree and if that is what happened, I don't have a problem with someone selecting (knowingly or unknowingly) an accessible stateroom. 

 

What many people have a problem with is when people who don't need an accessible stateroom select one months or even years in advance. The people who actually need one are locked out because those limited staterooms are already booked. 

 

Based on what the OP posted, they selected the stateroom without knowing that it was accessible. Now, the OP is worried about getting kicked out. I doubt that it will happen but it is possible. 

 

 

It probably won't happen but it could happen. 

 

 

According to the OP, the OP selected the stateroom. If NCL opened it up to anyone, the OP did nothing wrong BUT the possibility of getting removed is still there. 

 

 

Again, if the OP is close to sail date, it is unlikely that someone who needs that stateroom is going to try to book. If the cruise is a year from now, someone who needs that stateroom will be wrongly excluded. 

 

Generally, someone getting an empty accessible stateroom when the cruise is days or a few weeks away isn't a problem. It's the people who intentionally book a wheelchair accessible stateroom just for the extra space at a lower price who are the problem. 

 

I once (accidentally) booked a wheelchair accessible stateroom. That's what I get for booking a stateroom on a new class of ship years before it is built. The deck plans weren't correctly labeled. Once I found out that my stateroom was wheelchair accessible, I moved one room over. 

 

 

Yea when it happed to me I said are there any other rooms I did not want a disability room for obvious reasons like not being disabled. And when I booked it would not allow me to choose my own room. That is why I called asking to move me and there were no other rooms. 

The Epic was built before pickle ball got popular.

NCL has assigned me a ADA room when I booked online in the past. And they have to tell you that you can get kicked out. But this is not going to happen. They assigned you the room they are not going to kick you out. On top of this your room is not going to be online available to book. If someone is looking for a cruise and there are no haven rooms available are they going to call and see if they can kick someone out of there room so they can have it I would say no.

Good luck. I tried to upgrade my cabin by calling after final payment. They just quoted me the top bid price not a guarantee price like they used to. 

21 minutes ago, KSSS2013 said:

So you can reserve room cleaning times?

A reservation system for room cleaning. LOL that would make a lot of folks loose it. 

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

one would think! thanks. i probably need to request more play-based offers and - for those - there are probably fewer restrictions. it'll be interesting to see if my offers improve with a higher status. one thing this cruise has proved to me is that i will try very hard never to sail on a ship without a nonsmoking casino. it is extraordinarily unpleasant in there. even the staff is complaining. as always, the problem is that people use the casino as a smoking lounge. groups of people will sit at machines, not playing, chatting for hours and just smoking. they also vape and smoke in the small nonsmoking section that they have, which is very discreet... just a minuscule sign on the wall and a small notice on the screen that has your player data. the ship, as many do, has a smoking problem. smoking on balconies, vaping throughout the ship, and smoking of marijuana in a surprising number of outdoor venues. i did go to check out spice H2O when i thought i wouldn't score a vibe pass and it hits you the moment you walk in... cigarettes and pot,. and the smell is throughout the entire vibe, even though smoking is only allowed near the bar.

 

the good news is the hosts say that when the getaway is next in dry dock, they are planning to retrofit the casino with a glass wall, and partition it into a smoking and nonsmoking casino. i mean, c'mon, it's 2024 and only 12% of their customers smoke! it's ridiculous that the entire place stinks... you can smell it quite far away. i pity the poor folks who get seated in the "patio" at le bistro and have to breathe that in while they eat. it's also in some of the shops on 8 surrounding the chandelier and the staircase.

 

thanks to @cygnets upthread for reminding me the spirit actually is nonsmoking now. it makes me want to reconsider that ship. i've also heard very good things about the spirit from a couple i met onboard on this cruise.
 

 

yes, indeed.

 

that was not the last time somebody tried to talk me out of something on this ship. they are constantly trying to do that... seems to be a management style onboard the getaway: "you don't know what you want... we do." you go to taste or savor and they tell you there is a 45 minute wait and suggest you go to the buffet. i don't want to go to the buffet. i've been to the buffet, i know the buffet, the buffet is a friend of mine, and this buffet, senator, is no buffet. (with apologies to lloyd bentsen).

 

also, most of us are on to the trick... the "under promise, over deliver" strategy of surprise and delight. when they say 45 minutes, it really is usually only fifteen or twenty.

 

at the casino bar: "oh, sir, we don't have pellegrino. we offer instead a carton of water. same same."

 

well, actually, no, it's not the same. i wanted sparkling water.

 

i'm enjoying the cruise very much, but things are a bit off on this ship... nothing major, but cumulatively, they all add up to a rather lackluster experience. not NCL's best ship or at least not the best ship i've been on... for me, that's been the joy.

 

and even worse is the behavior of some of the passengers. 

 

i will probably come back to update the thread when the cruise is over with more getaway observations.

Yea my last cruise on the Escape out of Orlando about a year ago they kept running out of things and when I first got on the ship the district brew house was out of 75% of the draft beers. They kept telling me when something was out that I would like some random thing better. One word I hate when I am told is "Package". Sir that is not part of the package cant stand it. I can read what is on or not in the package. 

1 minute ago, vacation44 said:

 

Thank you for the update.  Wow.   Very happy for you that persistently paid off.   Not happy that NCL kept telling you it was sold out when it was not sold out.     

 

Love the line "I hate to see you waste your money.  Have you considered that spice H2O has everything the vibe has at no charge?"   Very similar to the other famous poster that always makes the same claim but has yet to acknowledge ever having firsthand Vibe experience.    Again, there is not anywhere else on the ship that offers the same services including the Haven sundeck.   

 

Happy the weather got better, and you are enjoying yourself in and out of the Vibe. 

I also believe they do a lot of things for our own good because they do not want the huge line of complaints. We all have seen the large lines on just about every cruise. 

On 1/30/2024 at 12:02 PM, KSSS2013 said:

 Yeah it hasn’t been any better than the old internet so I’m assuming it’s just really busy. 

Most on here do not understand how the tech works. Most of the speed or connectivity issues have to do with the ship not starlink. For instance access points on the ship. If your in a spot on the ship with lack of access points near you your not getting a good signal.

On 1/26/2024 at 9:23 PM, junieh said:

Thank you. We love travelling and we intend to keep on doing so. Our 12 year old son has been to 25 countries so far and counting 🙂 I guess our expectations for NCL were just too high and maybe land travel is more suited to us for now 🙂

I learned allot after my first 3 or 4 cruises some things you just realize you do not want to eat or do on a cruise no matter which line your on. 

The 2 specialty restaurants you chose are my least favorite I would of went with Cagney's, French or the seafood restaurants.

I hardly ever eat in the main dining for dinner on NCL I do not find the quality or taste of the food to be that good. Breakfast and lunch they are fine and so is the Buffett.

I never give up my land vacations. I go to Hawaii every year for 2 weeks I have gone twice a year a couple times. I would never take a cruise to Hawaii it would not come close to the vacation we have. But I do have long time friends that live there so we have a lot of options.

Loving your review.

A few quick questions I had were Do they have 16oz beers or 12 oz. I do know some never came in 16oz IE Heineken, Corona. 

Did they have the prime rib day I did not see it posted in the dailies.

Did they have a good selection of draft beer my last cruise the draft was very limited even in the District Brew house.