ShannonSC2

We are new to river cruising and will experience our first one in June. We are arriving in Budapest the morning of our cruise. After doing research on the huge city I wish we were going an extra day but airline prices weren't affordable for the day before. Just another excuse to go back. :)

We will be sailing on Scenics sister company, Emerald Waterways. We are going from Budapest to Nuremberg.

I will look into getting tickets for the Parliament? Anything else?

Can you get on the ship and then get back off?

Our cruise a couple weeks ago I couldn't believe kids running around late at night. I was going up to lido about 11:00 to grab a slice pizza and there were 2 teen boys and a teen girl at the elevator. The girl was apparently hiding one of the boys hat. It was a weird situation. Just before the elevator came she took off like a bat out of...... And they took off after her. Probably 15-16 years old. I just would never have allowed that, and wouldn't if I took a grandkid. Another kid, about 12, just roaming around by himself. Kids talking thru the dive in movie. just a lot of disrespect and rudeness.

It is amazing how many kids run wild at all hours of the night. On our last cruise we had a teen knock on our door at midnight. When I answered all he said was wrong room. No sorry, nothing! He went down the hall and I heard another knock at the neighbors door. Come to find out he was going there where there was a bunch of teens screaming and knocking on the walls, loud music and slamming the door. We wind up calling security and within 5 minutes they came down and made everyone leave. By then it was 1AM! The next night it was quiet. I have no idea where the parents were (must have been where the parents changed rooms). Kids during that cruise was very unpleasant and rude!

It's not the coast guards job beyond 1-2 miles from the coast. There have been people recovered from the ocean that have been out for many hours beyond 12 before. It's kinda silly to not make an attempt.

 

Carnival must not want to pay out everyone's FCCs of 20-30% from people whining about missing a port.

Just heard on the news that the Coast Guard is searching for her. I think they are more equipped with searching.

Carnival is stuck really. Over 12+ hours since last seen. She could be anywhere in the water. No one knows what time it happened. It could have been 1:30 or 5:30. Carnival could stop the ship and search and spend a whole day doing it. Then they would have all the other passengers ticked off because they missed port. If Carnival has video showing the exact location that the person went overboard then they may try to attempt to go back.

I hate to hear when people go overboard. Seems to be more and more common everyday/every week these days. Praying for the family and friends and everyone on the ship!

Love your review and all the pictures. Makes me ready to go back on the Getaway. Looks like you all had a great time.

Are the lines to get back in the ship longer/shorter at certain times of the day? I'm thinking if there is a pattern we would try to time our arrival back at port to coincide.

 

 

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We were on the Getaway this past month and they had about 4 tender boats running. No lines like that. I wonder what was the hold up. Of course we have never experienced lines before. But we get back on the ship about 2 hours before we are supposed to . I wonder if everyone waited until the last hour because of excursions ending. WOW that is crazy!!

I don't understand all this concern over mere strikes (okay I got caught up in a Lufthansa rolling work stoppage 11 Nov, and hence would have missed my connection in FRA to South Africa, but after hours on the phone was able to re-route through Sao Paulo - Europe, South America, whatever; it got us to Africa on-time).

 

Lyn & I did the Devil's Nose train in Ecuador a few years ago, and purchasing a ticket requires ALL of your passport info. I somehow "forgot" to tell Lyn this information was required for the INCLUDED Life Insurance. The train sopped twice to clear rocks from the tracks, and three time to shovel mud off the tracks, but I'm happy to report that neither we nor anyone else collected on the Life Insurance. It was an "interesting" ride.

 

Thom

Thom

Now that sounds like a interesting ride for sure. Sounds like something out of a movie! Glad y'all didn't have to collect on the life insurance! :)

I love your review so far. We are going on our first river cruise in June leaving out of Budapest.

What kind of camera did you use? Your pictures are amazing!

Having lived in Italy for 5 years I agree that they are the worst.

 

In 2011 we returned to show our children where they were born and have a family reunion with my DH's sisters and families in Tuscany. We were scheduled to leave DC on the Friday night in mid-June when United's world-wide computer system went out grounding all their planes just as we were boarding our already 2 hour delayed flight. To make that very long story short we luckily were rescheduled the next night on a flight to Munich and a transfer to Rome (many people didn't get out for days) on Lufthansa.

 

On the flight into Rome one of the flight attendants started whispering to my DH that there were problems in Rome - the baggage handlers had just called a wildcat strike that very morning and walked off the job. The pilot was waiting for guidance from Lufthansa as to whether we would just turn around and return to Munich. Ten minutes before reaching Rome, the attendant told my DH that the strike was ending 'soon' so they had gotten permission to land but no gate and no baggage handlers would be available 'for a while.' They eventually announced that to everyone on the plane as we were taxiing after landing. We waited about an hour before the luggage and passengers were unloaded and then went to claim our luggage only to find that United had not loaded it on the Munich flight - it was still in DC! It was 4 or 5 days before we received our luggage at the villa in Tuscany.

Capriccio I have to say you have some great memories. What a crazy and wild adventure. Thanks for sharing your story!!

Amsterdam is on my bucket list. I was trying to figure out how to visit it on this upcoming River cruise but I don't think I can. Just gives me another excuse to go back. :) We are going on our first River cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg in June. I have read so much from the difference of ocean cruise to River cruise. I am very excited.

I know you will have a great trip. The hardest part is the waiting.

You did a great review of you first river cruise. I enjoyed it.

Train workers went on strike while we were ON a train in Italy several years ago. Instead of taking us to our destination, they stopped at the next station and made everyone get off. Loads of fun :rolleyes:

Oh my word that is crazy. What did you guys do? So they can decide within hours just to go on strike!

Glad to know that because we are taking the train after our river cruise to Italy.

Probably a dumb question but do different country workers go on strike all the time?

I know when we visited France two years ago the train workers were on strike and transportation was shut down. Is it common? And what kind of heads up do you get?

We are doing our first river cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg in June. Anything I need to be on the lookout for?

No. there was no misunderstanding. We have a copy of the letter that went out to all the travel agents stating they were giving out 100 percent Next Cruise future cruise Certificates. Now their stating it was a mistake and are stating their not.

I think if you have a letter or email from RCCL with what they are offering then they can't say it was mistake. WOW this is a huge mess for everyone. Someone needs to get fired over this mess they have created.

Someone didn't do their job with estimating how long this project was actually going to take; someone sends out an email with a 100% FCC and now it is mistake. Who is running this company? If RCCL was smart they would do the right thing, come out with what exactly is going on and anyone who has been affected from the 1st and 2nd round of cancellations stop treating them like it is our fault.

I was on the 1st round of cancellations and got treated poorly by customer service because I didn't take the Majesty offer (no rooms available for the date we wanted/needed).

It depends how close your sailing is.

 

We got OBC for May 14 & May 19. (if you rebook)

 

Supposedly the first two cancelled cruises (one is just five days away!!! :eek: ) also get 100% FCC, and the next two get 50% FCC.

I understand that 5 days is not enough time for much planning but when we got cancelled the first go around with 12 days we weren't offered 100% FCC or 50% FCC.

Here is what I don't understand - they know how much money the project is going to cost, and I'm sure that includes the time estimate for completion, and project status to date.

 

How could they be so cold-hearted to leave the April 30 cruisers hanging until day 5 - and even offering them last minute upsales for the cruise that they knew was never going to happen!

 

And why are there no announcements or pictures from the ship showing the upgrades completed to the centrum, rooms, bars, pool, movie screen, dining rooms etc - if they are done - and supposedly have been done for weeks.

 

This whole project reeks of mismanagement.

It is a shame that the sailings coming up have been cancelled yet again. I also can't believe they gave them only 5 days. At least we had 12 days when they cancelled our March 30th sailing. We wind up getting a refund because there were no rooms available because of spring break week. We did go on the NCL Getaway which was a little bit more but we got to take our last spring break cruise together as a family (oldest daughter is graduating in a few weeks).

I am wondering if this ship will ever set sail. I hope for those who changed their reservations the first time around and then got cancelled again is able to get something back. I don't think I will book on this ship until it starts sailing!

The ice bar? Is that on the ship?

Yes there is an ice bar on the ship. It is a neat experience just to say you did it. The drinks are small but the fun inside. :)

Nothing to worry about. We are doing a series of "versus" stories where we compare amenities and such on different River lines. The stories I'm referring to will be Emerald vs Vantage and Emerald vs Viking. Our writers who have been on Emerald like them quite a bit!

This is good to know because we are doing our first Emerald river cruise in June. I am actually looking forward to it. We are doing the Danube Delights from Budapest to Nuremberg.

Yes he is still there. Saw him several times in the Tropicana for dinner and at the breakfast area. He even greeted us with a goodbye when we were leaving the ship on Sunday. Had a candle on his head! Great guy with a big personality!

I have never cruised NCL before, but have one planned for January. The $13 you paid for a drink seems pretty much the norm now days. I think I paid $14 for a cocktail on our last cruise. Our cruise on NCL came with an Uktimate Beverage Package and I am really looking forward to that, as the price of drinks on cruises having gone up so much in recent years.

And as one other person on this thread stated, a cruise is what you make it. Some people have a terrible time on a ship that other people rave about. Personally, I enjoy myself on ALL cruises, no matter what. Give me some sunshine (away from cold Buffalo, NY) and a cocktail, and I'm happy! 😎🌴🍷

I love your attitude! :) I believe it is what you make of it. We leave tomorrow on the Getaway I can't wait. We also have the UBP as I remember last year we were limited to our drinks because of price and no package. I am just hoping for a beautiful week.

You get to visit different countries without the hassle of unpacking and finding new hotels. If you like a certain location you can go explore more at a different time.

You can try new foods and different flavors of food from Italian to Japanese to Seafood.

You make new friends with different people from different places. Also you become friends with the crew and you learn different cultures.

You can drink and not worry about driving. The captain has that under control! :)

You can gamble and see a lot of different entertainment.

You make memories for a lifetime. Something for families, children and teens.

That is why we love cruising.

I totally agree with you. When I read what others say about service, sometimes I think you get what you give out. A smile and a kind word goes a long way. I see posts where folks complain about waiting in line for a drink, can't get a second appetizer, crew was rude, guest services line was too long when they went to complain or remove their DSC, etc. and some times I just shake my head and feel I must be on a different cruise line. Maybe there are just problems on the mega ships, which I won't cruise on as they are just too big for me.

 

On my last cruise in December on the Dawn and all my preceding cruises, the service was and has been outstanding. I've never waited more than a couple of minutes for a drink (and in some of the specialty restaurants, they brought me a drink before I asked for it, because I had been there previously on the cruise) or food. There was more than enough food, if I wouldn't have been able to get extras, I could have gone to another location. I've never walked down a hallway or past a staff member where I didn't get a smile and good morning, etc. On the Dawn, between my Butler, Room Steward and Concierge, these tremendous employees had been with NCL for 17 years for two of the staff members (they actually started on the same day) and 10 years for the other, showing that NCL attracts good employees and keeps them.

 

Things change; they've changed on Celebrity (the other line I cruise on) and prices go up, so it is happening to all cruise lines. As long as people will purchase cruises, pay the price of the drinks, pay the prices and the 18 percent gratuity on the SDP and UBP (none of these things I have an issue with), prices will continue to go up.

I feel the same way. I speak to all the cruise members when I pass by with at least a hello how are you today or have a great day? I will sometimes make small talk like are you going to port today? Speaking to people especially the crew members goes a long way. We have never had a bad experience with anyone on NCL.

We don't order room service because we eat as a family upstairs for breakfast, use the buffet for lunch because everyone is on their own schedule and we try to eat dinner together (depending on the teen club schedule).

I know people don't get why NCL keeps going up but it is happening on every cruise line. And I am sure it will continue.

I believe it is up to you. Some TA's like to be in control of all reservations and others will let the client do it.

Sometimes using a TA you can get additional perks (extra OBC, or other things).

Sorry about the interior room comment, I was feeling under the weather yesterday and must of misread it. Those balcony rooms look really nice, and the balcony actually looks larger than the ones in Breakaway. My guess is that NCL decided to increase the size after all the complaining. But you're right, they are still small when compared to say Oasis. I hope I get to upgrade to a balcony, but I bought at such a low price that I am not sure that it will dip any lower than that. But one can hope, right?

 

The pool area is definitely tinny for that ship, I noticed that long time ago. It was actually small on Breakaway, so I can only imagine how it feels on this ship. Hopefully there is some room for mom and I in the free Jacuzzis, because I have no intention in paving extra for Vibe/Spa.

 

I was not aware of the smoke issue, I thought they had enclosed the smoking section fully.

 

Once again thank you, you're doing a fantastic job :)

I often wonder why the pool deck is smaller on these big ships. The Getaway has a small pool deck also. Of course I am not one who likes to sit close to a pool. I do like to people watch though and there is a lot of entertainment on these big ships.

Well let me be the first: Unless you need it for work purposes why does anyone need to be connected? What happened to the days when we took vacation to get away? Our first 3 or 4 cruises we didn't even have TVs in the cabin.

I agree. This is why I love cruising. No internet, no contact to the outside world, nothing. Just me and the ocean and 2000 other people. :) The news is so depressing why would I want to see whats happening while on vacation. :)

We are actually getting it this time because we have a business and need to stay connected but only my husband will use it.

The longest balconies were on deck 8, then deck 9 is a little shorter than 8, and finally deck 10 had the standard size balcony as all the others going up.

 

The guy in red is on deck 9. You can see that his balcony is much larger than ours, as he has his elbow on a table.

 

The bottom balcony level is deck 8, and they had lounge chairs.

 

This is good to know because we have a balcony on the 9th floor this coming week. I was on the Getaway last year but we had an inside cabin. I never paid any attention to the balconies. Thank you for posting this.

I still wonder how many are going to show up on the 30th of March wondering where the ship is. We were on that sailing also but received something from the TA.

Glad you got everything worked out. We wind up cancelling and are now on the NCL Getaway leaving Sunday.