pmk515
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Posts posted by pmk515
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Thanks for your review. We will be on the Escape 7/9 sailing. I was wondering if the smoke infused drinks were available in other bars on the ship or just the Haven bar. I know one is on the menu at Tobacco Road, but wanted to know if there are others and at what bars.
Mary Ann
I'll try to double check for you tonight or tomorrow night, but I get the feeling that Tobacco Road and the Haven Bar are pretty similar. Only difference I've spotted is that Tobacco Road doesn't have self-infused liquors at their bar while Haven has several (6 IIRC). I'll double check while walking past TR tonight.
But the Haven bartender did confirm that TR does the smoke infused drinks when I asked her about them as she was making it. Pretty cool experience to watch.
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My wife and I talked a few of my new friends from the meet n greet / bar hop to come to The District tonight to watch Tom "not his real name" Wolf perform. He was again very entertaining and I have henceforth been dubbed "buttercup" as a result of my apparent over-exuberance during that certain The Foundations song. Sorry, I'm not sorry that I have a loud voice that carries when I sing a song I happen to enjoy.
Aside from Mr. Wolf, the best part of the evening was Jeannie (I hope I spelled that correctly) as she not only advised on drink choices but made sure they were spot on to each of our specific tastes or she would take them back and fix it. Amazing service from her and I cannot speak highly enough of the job she did tonight.
Another special mention is deserving by Sylvia in the Haven Lounge/Bar. The pride she takes into her drinks is remarkable and it shows in their quality. I've had some good Hendrick's Gimlets in my days, but this one just blows others away. She also does the fancy smoke infused drinks that I've read about on previous reviews, I haven't sampled one myself yet, but I plan to do so tomorrow as it is another sea day. Soooo WEEEEEEEE!
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Apparently I was just oblivious last night walking through the casino and missed the live card hold 'em poker game. 2/5 NL, which I figure are fair blinds, but the 10% rake kind of makes you roll your eyes a bit.
But it is live card poker so WEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! They can have 10% of my winnings for offering live poker and not that awful "machine" poker where you have to put your hands on a screen to see your cards "flip up". Gross. If I wanted to play online poker I would play poker online. Well done to NCL for having a live dealer and live cards for poker.
Given the demand I saw tonight, maybe a 2nd table would be in order, especially considering the 10% rake would earn NCL a fair chunk of change every hour, but I'm not a casino pit boss and I'm sure they know more than I do.
Anyway, I'm still up because my adrenaline is still pumping from taking down a good profit from playing against a few good players (and a couple not so good players) tonight.
More actual interesting review stuff next...
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Only real complaint I have so far, granted it is partially my own fault for not fully reading up on the "perk" I signed up for when originally booking, is the internet "package". Even though the beverage package is for two people, the dining package is for two people, and the shore excursion package is for two people.... the internet package is just for one person. Which makes little to no sense in my mind, and I was also told that we could upgrade from the promotional 250 "free" minutes that came with the package to the unlimited the first day of cruising before we used any minutes and just pay the difference (by somebody at NCL's call center), but this is quite clearly not true.
So I went from thinking both my wife and I would have the 250 minutes that we could upgrade for about 80 bucks a pop once on board to only me having the 250 minutes and her having nothing unless she used my login information. NCL won here because we both signed up for the unlimited internet plan (her from day 1, me this morning, saving 30 dollars), but still a cheap way to squeeze a few extra dollars out of your customers, IMO. Especially for an internet product that was promised to be upgraded by now but is still rather slow.
And I acknowledge a good level of blame lies with me for not fully understanding what I was getting with the package, but my mine gripe is with the promotional offer itself. 250 minutes for 2 people to share over a week is just, well, weak.
Related note... I also overheard a patriarch of a family of 4 that was none too pleased about 250 "shared" minutes for his wife, two kids, and himself for the entire week. He made his feelings quite well known to the staff.
But again, this has really been my only complaint so far. Tremendous service, people are remembering our names and always greeting us with a smile on their face. NCL is a business and I get that, so it is what it is, I just don't understand their long game here. It could cause me to not travel on NCL again all other things being equal. Which absolutely has no reflection of the staff on board.
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We had the meet and greet and bar hop today. Met some great people so it will be fantastic to see friendly faces the rest of the week.
The wife and I broke away after stop 3 to hydrate and get some food in our bellies for the remainder.
Started out at the mojito bar and the bartender there (I'll be going back for his name) was an absolute machine. We sat down with 15-20 people and all people had a drink within a few minutes as he was making 5-7 at a time.
Then to 5 o'clock somewhere where the Chocolate Cowboy entertained everyone with his bar tricks, including one handed push-ups balancing a bottle of rum on his head!
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Following--would appreciate pictures of Haven room.
Thumbnails work?
I apparently left most of the picture taking up to my wife. I'll get some more later today. Uploading thumbnails isn't that bad and wifi much better today.
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Not as bad thru the CC app. Thumbnails will have to do instead of uploading them and going that route.
Pictures carefully chosen to not show her face.
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On this evidence, it just isn't going to be a "live picture" review because I simply don't have the patience that Gambee, Doug, and many others have shown these past few months. Waiting to try to upload a picture to then use it on here is beyond infuriating. So I do apologize, but I just can't be bothered with it when I know how easy it will be to do once on the islands with reliable WiFi or back home to do a full pictorial review.
In the meantime... fantastic story from tonight back down at The District. I got back to there around 11 which was just in time to see a good crowd had formed again for Tom Wolf, but one person is particular stuck out from the crowd. Not because this person was a celebrity or anything fancy like that. No, this was because she was the only person standing and singing to her heart's delight about 10-12 yards from the piano where Tom was playing. "Awesome, she's having a good time. ...What pint should I get?," my mind wondered.
I soon learned that this 10-12 yard barrier of respect for the artist's space would not last long after my arrival.
Thanks to more quick bar service I soon ordered my pint of choice (Stone IPA for those wondering) and had him swipe my card and then I turned around on my bar stool to see that she was no more than 5 feet from the piano and pointing at him with a menacing look of determination in her eyes.
"Oh, this is about to get so very interesting..." I thought to myself. I didn't know what her hazed brain had concocted as a good idea, I just knew I was going to enjoy the result of said concoction...and it wouldn't really be a good idea.
I love it when I'm right.
The next song, he breaks into a melody of "Can't Buy Me Love" but with the lyrics "I don't care too much for water, water can't get me drunk" -- which are clearly good lyrics for a piano bar scene, but this girl loved them more than anyone should love a cover song. She quickly erases that paltry remaining 5 feet and (unknowingly?) starts to lean on the piano as she is singing "with" Tom and accidentally pushes the piano back into him, and by result, Tom nearly into the wall behind him. He clearly has no idea how this snowballed so quickly.
He asks if anybody in the crowd knows her.... two gentlemen raise their hands in affirmation... Tom asks for help... none arrives; they just continue to sit in their seats. "OK, then", says Steve Avery. (sorry if you don't get the reference)
Tom still looks a bit bewildered how not even 5 minutes previously this girl was just a bit tipsy and dancing/singing to his songs and now seemed to be on a mission to crush him with his own piano with the wrath of drunk Neptune himself. She then grabs his drink off the piano and sips from the straw. She then, presumably as a peace offering and a sign of good will, kindly offers him a sip...from his own drink...after she put her mouth on the straw. He rightfully declines and instead, seeing no other clear alternative, says, "F (full word used) it, let's rock."
He proceeded to get this nice lady to air guitar a song or two, dance away from and towards the piano to his vocal commands, and pretty much do his bidding for a good 15-20 minutes. He was the Pied Piper and she was his little mouse and it was glorious for the rest of us.
God bless her, because while she may not have the memory tomorrow, there are about 25 of us that will.
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Seeing as how I've never even done a single post-cruise review before, I figure the best way for me to get into this cruise review fraternity is to just do a live one.
I cruised the Disney Big Red Boat when I was a child with my family, and my wife and I are now on our 4th cruise together. First one on the Celebrity Reflection for our honeymoon back in January of 2013, next one a year later on the Allure of the Seas also in January for a "whoa...are we still married? Let's take another cruise!" cruise, and finally this past January on the Celebrity Constellation for a 5 night cruise.
That last cruise brought us here through very good fortune, because on the last night on that cruise we won a decent chunk of change playing roulette when our numbers just kept hitting and hitting (it was insane and will never happen again). That was enough to get us an balcony on a 3-night cruise that we booked for her birthday. After a month of that, we saw this cruise and it was only a couple hundred extra per person more, soooo.... hey! we have few responsibilities outside of our jobs (and have wonderful family that stays with our dogs while gone) so let's just do a week long cruise instead!
My wife (29 as of yesterday) and I (35) had booked a mini-suite guarantee and ended up with a nice mid-ship one on the 15th deck in that lottery. But then I started hearing about this mysterious "upsell" thing that we weren't used to with Celebrity or Royal. But as we read about it we were very interested. Fast forward to 3 weeks our from cruise...we called in and upsold to a 2-bedroom Haven Suite! (#18110 for those interested). Which is gorgeous, more on that tomorrow.
Boarding was a breeze and we were on the boat and in the Haven in ~15 minutes after checking in and sipping on either a "fruity" or "minty" drink shortly after that. I went for minty because... well, because I like minty things, I guess.
We muttered around for a bit and suffered through the muster drill, then we ate at Cagney's at 6 so we would be at an aft facing table for sail away at 7.
...And this is where I was going to try to upload some pictures of our dinner choices and our drinks at various bars during the day/early night, but the internet it being frustratingly slow, so that will have to wait for now. Hopefully it will be faster tonight with fewer people trying to use the network -- wasn't this supposed to be a faster internet by July? I just loaded the Norwegian section of CC and it took 24 seconds.
Escape, your internet. Woof.
The Mrs. is taking a bath and heading to bed so she can be refreshed and ready to take on the first full sea day from the start. Me? Well, tonight I am going to explore the ship...
She is the smarter one of the two of us.
Well, I'm off! I will probably eventually end up back at The District where Tom Wolf already entertained the two of us with his rock piano sing-a-longs. So much fun! We will keep seeking him out for sure. And hopefully later tonight when fewer people are sucking up all the bandwidth I'll be able to get some pictures up here.
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We first met Clarence on the Transatlantic, and at that time he was working in the bar up at Margaritaville. When we sailed May 21, it didn't take us long to track him down at his new location, The 5 'o Clock Somewhere bar. At first we didn't recognize him because he didn't have his hat. He told us that 2 weeks earlier, a female passenger had stolen his hat right from his head and ran away with it! Who does that?! He'd had the same hat for many, many years, and it was very special to him. At one of the ports on our cruise, he purchased himself a new hat that was even better than the first, although he obviously still missed his original.
WHAT?!!? They stole the dude's hat?
I would get it as a joke and taking a picture with it on "ha ha ha" stuff. But then give the man his hat back!
Some people...
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I'll be on the escape for the last 2 QFs and 2 semifinals. Going to claim a seat in the brew house.
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I really don't think that many people travel with multiple parties staying in separate tiered categories or feel compelled to invite strangers back to the Haven area. Most of this is applying to immediate family and close friends vacationing together. So no I don't think it will be overrun if they visit for a bit and have a drink.
Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app
I agree with this.
That said, people shouldn't get perks that they didn't pay for. It's kind of like slipping a free drink you get because of a drink package to somebody without a drink package. It's not right, IMO.
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Really nasty giving people knowing incorrect advice and potentially disappointing them when they get on the ship. Shame on you!
It was clearly said in a very facetious way. Put your sarcasm hat on, my friend.
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As I've posted in other threads, there were times in the morning or afternoon where I was with my family in the Atrium for trivia or balloon animal making, etc. and all I wanted was a cup of plain black coffee.
I was repeatedly told that I could either buy a cup of coffee at the Latte Bar (or whatever they call it on the Escape), or they could bring me a cup of coffee with a shot of Bailey's on the side that I didn't have to drink. "Ummm ok, can you just pretend that you poured me a shot, so you don't waste alcohol?" "Sorry sir, we can't do that."
Does it work with bottled water too?
"Hi, yes I would like shot of Bailey's with a bottled water chaser, please."
So dumb.
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That's what I did too. If I wanted a fancy coffee, I just got it with a shot of booze. Bam. Included in UBP. I figured... I'm on vacation, nothing wrong with drinking before 10am...
Even with just a shot of Bailey's?
That worked?
What a stupid policy if so.
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Hilarious!!!!
.....but I bet she got a GREAT deal!!
Interesting side note. We did a bus tour of LA the day before we left. As we stopped the tour guide would write in large letters the time we must be back on the bus and he explained it was a courtesy to others and kept us on track.
This one group of men and women kept showing up later and later. The people on the bus (including myself) would give them the evil eye and they were completely oblivious when they boarded the bus. Our stop in Hollywood was the final straw. We waited an extra 20 minutes for the ladies to return from shopping. The bus drive said we are leaving with or without them and the men were very insulted. We did indeed leave without them and it brought a smile to my face.
My dad was a professor of Int'l business so he would take his students to various multiweek trips to foreign countries to visit their business + some touristy stuff too.
One trip to China a person kept coming down to the bus late from her hotel room. Day after day after day. After 4 days in, my dad took out her passport and handed it to her saying in front of everyone, "you have your own passport now. set your watch to the time on my watch. if you are more than 5 minutes late you have our itinerary and I expect you to make it to all our stops today on your own."
She wasn't late again the rest of the 3 week trip.
That story per my dad of course, so I'm sure he played up how hard he was on her.
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You can always have a t-shirt made that says, I'm in the top suite in the Haven if you want everyone to know outside the "bubble".
"I paid for a Haven Suite and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!"
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What about Jagerbombs?
Jagerbombs!
NSFW
Also not safe for people that aren't complete clowns.
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So she wasn't performing emergency surgery or stopping an armed robbery?
No, your details are just slightly off.
She was performing a planned surgery when an armed robbery broke out in the hospital! She stopped that which is why she was late. Otherwise, the planned surgery would have been done in plenty of time for her to make it back to the ship on time. The bags contained her medical supplies.
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Did the people bashing the article read until the end where NCL had a statement of what actually went down?
Obviously not.
To be fair, it wasn't on the original article but has since been added.
Below:
Norwegian Cruise Line told MailOnline Travel: 'During Norwegian Breakaway’s seven-night Bahamas cruise from New York that departed on April 17, one female guest did not return to the vessel by the widely communicated scheduled all aboard time of 5:30pm during the ship’s call in Nassau, Bahamas, on April 21.
'The onboard team located her husband and children on board but the family was not able to reach her nor did they know when she would be returning.
'Due to the circumstances, the ship went beyond normal protocol and waited alongside an additional half an hour for the guest. When she had still not returned and following consultation with the family, it was decided that the husband would disembark with their travel documents to wait for his wife while the children would stay with their uncle and his family on the ship for the remainder of the voyage.
'The company offered travel and lodging assistance to the couple and arrangements were made for them to reunite with the ship upon her return to New York on April 24.'
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Burn him anyway!!!
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damn, that's brutal
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Nobody thinks waiters or dishwashers should get equal pay to that of CEOs. That is a strawman attack.
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Yay ! wow, and your cruise is way after many of ours so you must be really happy :)
haha! I cannot say that I'm upset at all. I'll take a small victory anytime one is presented to me!
Live Review: Escape, July 2-9
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted · Edited by pmk515
Allow me to translate "Candice-ese" for everyone
"I'm not so sure I want to be associated with you on this site at the moment, but I also don't want you to say anything too stupid for words, so I just want you to know I'm watching. Love you."
"You have not embarrassed me yet, so I will admit to knowingly marrying you three and a half years ago.
...but I can't make posts without typos on my iPhone because Androids are an infinitely superior product and it is only my stubbornness that doesn't allow me to be released from Apple's clutches. That and my iTunes account. Love you."