sanger727

Really wishing I had booked on Celebrity Reflection sailing the same day.

 

Thanks for your answers

 

I don't know that that would be a better option. I sailed on the reflection in October. Was not super impressed, really looking forward to the Epic being a better option. Food was not great, entertainment was not great, and the specialities were way too expensive IMO.

 

So, I"m the opposite of you, really looking forward to the Epic being a better experience based on all the reviews I've read about it. :)

You asked for opinions so I'll give you mine. All rooms on the ship are open to be booked as people book them. (the exception being handicap accessible cabins). If solos book first and you want one, guess you'll have to book earlier. Don't see a problem with them being booked by groups or couples that think they work for them, they want those cabins, they are willing to pay for them, and guess they were available when they booked. There are lots of cabins that are limited like aft balconies, haven suites, etc.

I'm booked on the Epic and this is my first time on a ship with shows with reservations. I understand how to make the reservations, but how does that work at show time? Do you have to go and pick up a physical ticket somewhere or do they scan your card when you go in? Has anyone had success with going to a show without a reservation and getting in?

I don't think pjs are appropriate dinner wear, but if he wanted go ahead in the buffet! You are on vacation after all.

 

Think of it as a restaurant at home. Would he go to Applebee's in his PJ pants? Shorts and t shirts are fine, but not your nightwear. His dress up clothes for nice restaurants at home will work for MDR.

 

Yes, sorry to say I was asking about the pjs. He wears those anywhere from Olive Garden to the movies to a live show. It's embarrassing, but I hate asking him to dress up on vacation (he thinks jeans are dressing up)

 

But luckily it's not too hard to get him into a regular t-shirt, so sounds like we're in luck

On the other side of that, my BF only wears pajama pants with sleeve-less shirts when we are at home. If we go to a "nice" restaurant I can get him into jeans and a polo shirt. If we stick to the buffet, the casual MDR, and O'sheenans, will he be ok in his normal attire?

I'd like to know too. Can't seem to find anything that works with the hours we dock in Nassau so thinking about staying on the ship. Curious about the rock wall also.

Does anyone know if you can buy a pass just for a day and what the price is? What about buying a discounted pass partway through the cruise?

That is crazy... Although, when you do a fake booking they add in $400 (for 4 people) in port fees and taxes, so not quite as good a deal as it sounds like. But guess when it's 3-4 weeks out, $100-$200 for a room is better than an empty room.

I'm sad to hear that guests were treated that way on your last cruise. That speaks very poorly for that cruise line. You won't see that sort of thing on a Norwegian ship. ;)

 

That being said, I totally understand not knowing when you'll be hungry, and I feel the same way. This is why I never pre-book dining reservations.

 

I think you'll discover that Moderno will not be overly busy on embarkation night, and that it may be entirely possible to dine earlier than your set time. A simple call to the desk at Moderno at whatever time you're feeling hungry would most likely result in you being welcomed earlier. If however you've eaten late and still aren't hungry when your time is approaching, again, a call to the desk could move your time later.

 

Moderno is one restaurant that flows completely differently than all the others, and rarely is booked solid. The food is excellent, and I'm confident you'll enjoy your meal at whatever time you get seated.

 

Relax and enjoy... you're on a cruise!

 

Thanks for the input!

You should turn up for when you book hence the purpose of pre-booking. Don't be late as they may well count as no show and charge you quite correctly. Why turn up a half hr early when you could go for a drink , check out the multitude of things to do on ship? Makes things easier for all if you turn up at correct time

 

 

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Sure, and if I knew what time I'll be hungry on sat, 4 weeks from now, that would work easier.... Hence the prob w making reservations in general.

 

Why turn up half an hour early? I'm usually starving by 5 at home... Plan on having a later lunch on embarkation day... Might be hungry at 5 like normal, might be hungry at 7. But, I prefer to eat when I'm hungry, not a random time that I chose arbitrarily days ahead of time to make sure I get a seat.

 

On the last cruise I took, reservations were meaningless. People w reservations waited in one line, people without waited in another. There was absolutely no attempt seat people at the time of their reservation. Hence, the reason behind my question, if you walked up at 6:30, expecting to eat at 6:30, you'd be disappointed, cause someone with a 7:00 reservation would get seated first if they got in line before you.

I"m planning on booking Moderno on embarkation night on our upcoming cruise on the Epic. Thinking that I will pre-book it just so it's not something we need to be concerned with while we're getting settled. But I hate making reservations because I prefer to just show up when I'm hungry. How tightly does Norweigan hold you to reservation times? I.e., if I make 6:30 reservations and show up at 6 will they get me in early if they have room or do they really want you to show up at 6:30?

Wow... I don't usually chime in when threads go this way but some people are being really harsh to the OP. There's nothing wrong with booking with a TA, NCL every suggests you do it by providing a list.

"A great travel agent has the expertise you can count on to provide you with the best possible options for your specific wants and needs. As experts, they can create an unforgettable vacation experience that you may never have dreamed possible. And one call does it all. Your travel agent does all the work. You have all the fun.
There’s also great value in working with a travel agent. Saving money is not just about price, it’s about getting more out of every precious moment of your vacation – and a travel professional can help you do just that. From helping you choose the best air and ground transportation, to suggesting a once-in-a-lifetime shore excursion.
So now if you’re ready, get set to go. Find a travel professional near your home with our Travel Agency Locator."

That really doesn't sound like they're saying... don't use a travel agent because your own your own if something gets screwed up..

Second of all, for those of you who didn't read the whole thread, the OP is asking NCL to honor the conversation they had earlier this month about them not changing the rate on her cause of the TA situation.

Thank you for the review! We are thinking of doing a similar trip next October. How was the weather in general? Were the seas rough? What about the air temperature?

 

We are watching a cruise with X on 10/6/2014. I am just a little concerned about the weather. Was it warm enough to be by the pool?

 

I am also worried about the seas being rough :( Any details would be much appreciated! Thank you!

 

The weather was fantastic. There were a few days of rain, but it was like tropical showers... a few minutes to an hour of rain and then sunshine the rest of the day. In Italy it was in the low to mid 70's and at the greek stops it was high 70's to low 80's... def got a little sunburn and tan.

 

Warm enough for the pool a couple of days, but loved having the solarium indoor pool for when it wasn't.

 

Seas were never rough enough that it affected the ship... A little rough for the tenders and farries at Santorini and Mykonos. We couldn't dock at the Oia port and I got a little sea sick on the ferry coming back from Delos, was rocking hard.

We were on Reflection last month and thought the adult only late night Sin City comedy shows were excellent (including the stripper)

 

The comedians were great, I might have enjoyed the dancer more if I was there with my boyfriend... but with family, it's a bit awkward.:confused:

We took 3 ship tours on this trip and did the other 4 ports on our own.

 

In Sicily we took a ship tour that went to Mt. Etna and Taormina. Really enjoyed the tour, and with the distance we had to travle for Mt. Etna, I don't think we could have done it any cheaper on our own.

 

In Athens we took a full day ship tour that included a guided tour of the acropolis and free time near the plaka. (touristy restaurant and shopping area). We enjoyed this tour also, you may be able to make more use of your time here doing it on your own, but we weren't sure how else to get around.

 

In Ephesus, we took a full day ship tour that included a tour of ephesus and the terrace houses. Definately worth doing a tour here. The admission to get your into ephesus does not include the terrace houses, which are inside the site. That requires a special ticket which they sell a limited number of, and as far as we could tell, only tour groups were able to get them on the day we went. Terrace houses are definately cool and worth seeing.

 

In Rhodes we just walked around old Rhodes, but that took all day for us. It's a big area. Good stop for sourvenir shopping.

 

In Santorini we planned on taking the speed boat to Oia and the bus back to Fira, through NST. Did not work out well. The seas were rough on the day we were there. We got off the tender at about 8:30 and asked the NST people when the next boat would leave. They said 15 minutes, so we bought tickets. at 8:45, one of the big tender boats docked in front of us, they said that due to the rought seas, this was the only boat big enough to dock at Oia, so we would have to wait another 20 minutes so they could get more people on it. I think it was about 9:45, before we actually left. We went to Oia, and tried docking twice before they decided that the seas were too bad to dock at all there. Shouldn't have been too hard to tell, the waves were coming up and crashing down on the dock. So, they took us to a different port to dock at that was even further from Oia than the original tender dock. By the time they bussed us to Oia it was 11:30 and the last bus back to Fira was still at 2. So, big thumbs down for NST.

 

In Mykonos, we took the ferry to Delos on our own. This was a good experience, there were very few tourists on the island and we were basically able to tour it without seeing anyone else most of the day, really cool compared to all the other sites were you were tripping over tourists the whole day. We took the ferry over at 10, and the return ferry at 1, which was enough time for us.

 

In Naples, we took the ferry to Capri on our own. Island was so beautiful, this was definately worth doing. We caught an 8:30 ferry, and the ride is about 50 minutes. We took the cable car to capri because we couldn't find the bus stop (It's past where you buy the cable car tickets). We walked went to the Gardens and via krupp, it's very easy to find your way around, there are big maps posted everywhere. We walked back into the main square and took the bus to anacapri. The buses are small, but they come fairly often. We had lunch there and then took the chairlift to the top of the mountain. Great views. We had directions to walk down a certain road to find another panoramic viewpoint, but after 45 minutes of walking we never got there, so we just headed back and took the bus back to the dock.

 

Overall it was a good cruise and I would cruise with celebrity again.

Really enjoyed our cruise on Celebrity Reflection. We arrived in Rome 3 days before the cruise, which ended up being the perfect amount of time to explore the city. Day 1, explored the city on foot and saw many of the piazzas and fountains. Day 2, went to the colosseum and the forum, and took the Colosseum's underground tour. Important note: The meeting place for the underground tour is different than the regular tour, we eneded up missing our tour because the ticket people told us to go to the wrong place. You have to go all the way to the end of the hall, by the elevators. Day 3, took the green line hop on/hop off bus tour, which ended up being a good way to get around.

 

We took the train to the port, watch out for scammers. We had a lady latch on to us, take the tickets out of our hands to lead us to our seats, and rip our luggage out of our hands to put it away for us to try and get money. The train ride was easy, took about 50 minutes on the express train. If you buy first class seats there's room overhead for your luggage. But the best part of the trip for me, was how easy embarkation was. There was a free bus to take you from the front of the port to the ship, and from there we were basically able to walk through security, up to the check in desk, and onto the ship. Whole process was easily less than half an hour, absolutely no waiting (we were there at about 11). They did hold our passports though.

 

As far as the cruise itself. The buffet was ok, it's buffet food. Same stuff for breakfast everday and the eggs weren't great. Dinner and lunch also appeared to mostly be the same. There was an afternoon tea everyday with mini sandwiches and some scones. The sandwiches were weird combinations, roast beef with hard boiled egg, one day they had turkey with cheese but there was a piece of white bread in the middle too. We didn't do any of the specialty restaurants cause, for me personally, $35-$45 pp on top of the fact that the MDR is free is too much.

 

The MDR was ok, the soups and salads were great, some of the entrees were good. Nothing we had was outright bad, just not the type of food I really enjoy eating. I'm happier with hamburgers and pasta than lamb and duck. We had select dining, which worked well for us because we like to eat early, so we were there most days at 10 till 6 and the matre'd noticed and always sat us first. But if you prefer eating at 7 or later, select may not be the way to go. They take reservations, but don't require them, so there are two lines that that matre'd has to balance. And she said she had people the whole trip that went in the reservation line without reservations. It's just not a great system, and resulted in everyone waiting for a table. We talked to a couple that tried to make reservations for 7 every night and had a 20 minute plus wait every night.

 

The entertainment was also just ok. There were actually quite a few younger people on this cruise (20's to 30's), and some of the entertainment was really old fashioned. There was one night when there was a solo female vocalist that sang very old songs and opera, and one night there was a male vocalist who sang classical music. And there was a string quartet that played classical music on electric violins, and then the farewell show just combined them all into one show. So there were 4 nights out of 10 where I didn't enjoy the shows. The others were good. There was a mentalist one night, a comedic juggler, and 3 production shows, the last one was amazing with acrobats and a contortionist. We went to one of the comedy shows. It was weird. The comedian was good, but they alternated the comedians with a burlesque dancer (read stripper, cause that's basically all she did), so that was awkward since I was traveling with my stepmother.

I am leaving on the Epic in January and in just pricing the same cruise on Cruises Only, I found the same cruise for 200.00 less per person. I contacted NCL and the rep told me that was a very good price.I asked if she thought my price might change. She that the possibility would be very likely since the ship still has a lot of availability. I have until the end of the month to make my final payment. Has anyone had similar experiences where the price did go down? If so, did it occur before or after the final payment? Ship credit is okay if it matches the lower price.

 

I like the room that I booked but it's not worth a 200.00 difference.

 

Either way, I'm cruisin'!:D

 

200 pp is a great price decrease before final payment. Before you sit around and wait to see if your price drops, consider the possibility next week the sale on cruises only could be gone; they may only have a few cabins for sale at that price. I'd call and see what cabins they have available and if they're acceptable, cancel and rebook. Sometimes those great prices are gone before you know it!

Called dolphin discovery to try to book their buy 1, get one for $1 deal; but was unsuccessful. 2 points to think about before you call. 1, they ask which line and which ship you are cruising with, so think about what you're going to say before you call. I said royal caribbean (I'm traveling with carnival) and didn't both to look and see if any of their ships would be in port that day... not sure if they check, but should probably have looked first. 2. I may try back again, but the lady I talked to said that once she put my information in to try to book it, if I call back another day, it'll bring that up in the system and I won't be eligible for that discount anymore. not sure why that would be.

 

Also, does anyone know if any place does a dolphin/manatee/sea lion combo anymore? More interested in doing that than the royal swim.