Lupush

There is no Haven lounge at Port Canaveral. It's a room that is separate from the general boarding area. You do get priority check in, however the boarding experience at Port Canaveral is nowhere near as pleasant as Haven boarding in Miami. I highly recommend the Silver Cove Villa. There is a safe to store your valuables. Prices for the Villa will be considerably lower if you book it in advance.

I've never seen swim diapers allowed in any area other than kids splash zones on any ship I've been on.

I was on Pearl over Christmas and stayed in the Garden Villa. Breakfast/Lunch was in Moderno with the exception of the first day which was in Cagneys. Haven Courtyard was small but nice, with attentive staff, and was more than adequate given the size of the ship. Overall, the Haven service on Pearl was far superior to what we experienced on Prima in March of last year. The one big difference was without a Haven Bar, there were no venues on board that had ultra premium liquors (Johnny Blue, higher end scotch, etc.).

I found that navigating the ship to get to the Haven on Prima was much more challenging than on other NCL ships. If you're not taking the dedicated elevators there's not an easy way to get there.

This is one of the biggest misses of the Prima Class ships so far IMO. Splash Academy holding a max capacity of 50 kids on ships these sizes is unacceptable. Especially during Holiday/School Break cruises. On our Prima sailing last march kids club was a total disaster.

I've never done it, but that excursion has received a bit of unwanted attention fairly recently. This is the ship where the kid jumped overboard and was eaten by sharks.

Hi Fellow Cruisers, Does anyone know if the shops near Port Nassau are open on Christmas Eve?

Pearl clutching posts like this always make me chuckle.

Just saw them. Enjoy! Thanks for another entertaining review.

What art piece did you buy? My Wife and I enjoy the Park West auctions very much.

There are plenty of brands/companies that I have stopped using due to business decisions they've made that might be right for them but are not for me. You spend your money the way you want, I'll spend my money the way I want.

When you've sailed all of the other ships (some multiple times) you look forward to new ones. I've sailed just about every ship in the fleet.

NCL will be losing my business if they continue with the Prima/Viva designs the way that they are. Everything about these ships is sub-par to the BA & BA+ Class ships. Cabins, decor, venues, replacing water slides with dry slides, flow of the ship just to name a few. There is not a single feature of these new vessels that makes me want to sail them again. They've really dropped the ball so far.

I highly recommend it, it's pretty wet in October. Not sure if you're in South Florida, but I got all my gear at the North Face outlet in Sawgrass Mills. Most of the stuff I bought was 70% off.

I too am from Florida and did Alaska on the Encore last year. You're going to love it. It will get chilly, but by no means is it frigid yet in the month of October. I was fine with a heavy North Face fleece most of the time. Highly recommend waterproof hiking boots, ground is consistently wet and slick. Personally, I've done Royal's megaships as well as some of the smaller ones and prefer NCL in just about every way, especially when it comes to food. Cruised on Royal last Summer and the food was atrocious.

@Saint Greg A few tips/recommendations from an NCL vet. - You have 3 meals in the specialty restaurants. I personally would go with Le Bistro (never miss it when I'm on NCL), Moderno, and Cagneys or Teppanyaki (if you're into that). I tend to over indulge on red meat when I'm on a cruise, Moderno and Cagneys scratch that itch. - Cruise Next is a good deal if you think you're going to sail NCL again. Often they have offers where you can use double or sometimes triple (for Haven) cruise next certs when booking. We usually do the $500 for $250.

@Saint Greg I highly recommend you take advantage of some of the top shelf spirits they have on board. Some really nice Scotches and Bourbons are to be found in the right bars on NCL. Also, if you like cognac Hennesy XO is included on the P+ bev package. Lovely after dinner drink.

Pre-COVID has nothing to do with present day. MSC's musters are a mess by many accounts. If the other lines can figure it out, they should be able to as well.

Standing in a crowded stairwell shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of strangers might be your idea of an enjoyable way to start your vacation, but it's certainly not mine. Your sarcasm is not appreciated.

I've seen some horror stories over the Seascape muster drill. Not going until March, but this is stressing me out.

The biggest problem with the Haven Suites on the Prima class ships are storage. There's just not enough, especially in the bathroom. Breakaway class ships Haven Suites are much more functional and appealing IMO. To answer your question, the living area is much smaller than on Getaway.

We were on the Encore in Alaska last year. The only port that had a really long line for a shuttle was Ketchikan. Icy Strait Point and Juneau you pretty much get off the ship and can walk to the area where your excursion will be. Skagway was cancelled on my voyage, can't comment on that one.

Thank You @Two Wheels Only!

I've enjoyed following along. Thank You for sharing.

I have a YC Owner's Suite booked on Seascape and wanted to make a partial payment towards the final balance. The website says payment must be in full, however final payment date is not until December. Is this normal for MSC? I am used to NCL/Royal where you can make partial payments in advance of final payment date. Does this policy change if I call reservations?