chillyw

Just a quick point of clarification, they are shutting down SIX after this year.

I've stayed at the Aloft Brickell and definitely did not like it. Our room looked completely different from yours, but had a TV hook where there was no TV 😆. 100% feels like a converted building in all the wrong ways.

Up to you, but there's nothing like a suiteeeeeeeee

I just got off of the Encore a couple weeks ago, and the current flyer lined up with the supply that was available. Veuve only in specialty restaurants by the glass, Pommery Rose was available when I wanted it. All of the whiskey's on the list were available at the whiskey bar, and Whistle Pig was all around the ship.

I've dealt with enough small, foreign vendors (and governments). to know they can really suck at communicating estimated project times. Remember, this is a very small foreign port, run by a government entity (which, also, generally suck at communicating), doing a major construction project, I'm sure while coordinating with multiple outside companies. They could easily be saying something like "we don't have a definitive timeline but expect it to be done this summer" or "we expect it to be done in May", only for it to slip each month from project issues. I doubt they're committing to an exact date until just before it opens. I've also dealt with NCL enough to know they also suck at communicating. I wouldn't doubt if they are both playing a part here.

It's the cruise lines themselves that set the bar. The Epic debuted with Blue Man Group, Cirque du Soliel, Legends in Concert, Second City Comedy, a Murder Mystery show, and a Nickelodean show for kids. All were pretty solid (though the food at Cirque sucked lol). That's in addition to the music venues. Today, you're lucky to get one decent show over 7 days.

Generally casinos decide room comps using Average Daily Theoretical loss, not points acquired over time. 10000 points in 2 days is worth more than 10000 points in 100 days.

Can anyone share the wine list from Palomar? I know it's supposed to be different, would love to see it. All the online menu sites only have food.

@jtrollinI noticed you said they opened food republic for the buffet seating. Does that mean it wasn't open for lunch on sea days like Breakway-class ships?

It was definitely crowded, but it was also July 4th week. Prime weather, prime holiday, prime crowds. I did the Bliss when it was brand new in Alaska in October, and way less crowded, but the weather was awful and you couldn't see anything.

A common misconception with casino gambling is that Status = Play. Casinos generally look at play using an Average Daily Theoretical loss (or, in the case of mLife, average trip theoretical rather than daily). A customer that gets to Ruby in five days is more valuable than a customer that gets to Ruby in 100 days.

I know almost nothing about Princess, why do you think their drinks package was way better? The premier looks similar or worse than the Premium Plus to me selection wise

The Spinach Caesar in the MDR on Encore / Alaska was actually pretty great.

They're true, but they don't include all of the context to me. They are building a new pier to increase capacity, and that's the pier that NCL is supposed to dock on. It's also supposed to have already been completed. I don't know if it's as simple as "just take another ship's spot" or "just tender" without having that capacity or good tender ships on the Prima. I'm also not sure who isn't communicating well - is the port saying "it'll be done soon!" every week, or have they given NCL an updated estimate? Very well could be NCL's fault, but it's hard to tell from the outside.

I guess I should proactively reschedule my flights from London 😆

Or take a wine tour up to Woodinville! Some great Syrah's. We got into Seattle two days early (our own flights) and did a wine tour, it was great.

Pros to me: The Central Park area was cool and the sports bar was great - they did sports right. Hiro was pretty awesome. Downsides: Very kid focused and I sailed during a school time (not kid season), specialty dining wasn't as good as NCL in my opinion, didn't think the shows outside of Hiro were great (ex: the ice skating show kept having people fall down during the choreographed parts), the bars and drink package weren't as good, Casino table games have worse rules than NCL (only 1x odds on craps, for example). Not much that made me go "heck yeah, I want to go back". Personal preference obviously. I'm hitting the Prima next, then Virgin for the first time.

You can consider upgrading to FAS+ to get the upgraded beverage package, unlimited wi-fi, and money back on port excursions. If doing 3-4 NCL excursions, that's $150-$200 back from the upgrade. The upgraded beverage package includes bottled water and starbucks coffee, so if you drink those + a few upgraded drinks you're getting your money's worth generally.

I've done one sailing on Symphony and will never go back to RCCL.

Yeah for sure 🙂 Definitely could be some with a TA. Probably better wording is last one on the public facing website for now!

I just booked the last one they have up for April Sunsets Antillies! Sounds like I should book an extra day on the way back, that works, gives us time to see Puerto Rico. I'm also pumped cause I snagged the very last MGR suite.

CAS, in general, is not near as comp-friendly as the other cruise lines, nor as proactive. It also isn't really like a land-based casino. If you want that, you're better off with Royal or Celebrity, but I find their games worse (no pai gow, single odds on craps, etc).

Making American diner a popular restaurant that's free means they'd have to staff it. Might be worth it to them to keep it paid and not busy.

I had a very similar experience on the Encore last week. I ended up killing them on the post cruise survey. It was, in short, boring. The ports in Alaska were great, but I can only drink and gamble so much over 7 days for downtime. Literally the only good show was Choir of Man. I'm taking a port intensive cruise on the Prima next, then thinking about jumping ship to Virgin.

I'm pretty sure it was Victoria. I was sitting in the Mojito bar at the time and listened to the bartenders. They were all open, then the bars all got a call that we were X miles outside of port and had to start shutting down. They told me they were done serving, then I ran to the Whiskey bar real quick and grabbed my drink, right as the Whiskey bar got the same call. That didn't happen in any other port on the trip.