DreamingBig1

Which pier does NCL typically dock at?

I wish the Escape went to St. Martel instead of Nassau. I love St. Maarten, and wish it was on the Escapes itinerary.

Nassau just makes no sense to me.

Do the private island. Anything but Nassau.

Nassau is the cheap 3 day cruise destination.

I would say Eastern. Islands are more exotic and the snorkeling is awesome.

Not a bad idea! Thanks for sharing the tip! :)

Thanks for the responses :). I was specifically asking because I had noticed a few people in different threads mentioned taking cheese and crackers from the buffet at night back to their cabins and I didn't want to hijack the other posts to ask. Yet, I haven't seen anyone mention cheese and crackers... is that not available after 9:30? I enjoy a late night glass of wine on my balcony with cheese or something cheesy. I originally thought I would bring back the spinach dip from O's, but now that NCL has implemented no food taken from the restaurants other than the buffet, seems that's not an option any longer, so now I'm limited to the buffet options or RS (which I'm not paying $7.95 for...so I guess I'm actually limited to the buffet :rolleyes:). Cheese anyone?

Are we able to take food back to our room from the buffet?

NCL does not have a Cafe' Promenade like Royal, so knowing there is an ability to grab a late night snack is nice to read. The Cafe Promenade is a nice feature that most royal ships have in some form. Excited to experience O'Sheehans. This really sets NCL apart.

We are traveling into Port Canaveral for the day and are interested in booking a rental car.

Anybody have any experience and pointers for the best easy breezy experience for getting a one day rental from Port Canaveral?

Lol and I just booked a cruise in Sept 2016 just to get the UBP. I was going to wait until after this year's cruise, but I'm not going to bet on whether it's offered again. It's only 500+ days away.....

I would imagine the UBP will be a periodic perk to give bookings a jolt.

The novelty will wear off if they make it a standard monthly thing.

It seems like variations of the freestyle promotion are a mainstay.

The new promotion doesn't seem like a good deal. I guess if you don't drink and eat at the speciality restaurant's it's a great deal. The Internet package is pretty good if you need to stay connected.

It seems like NCL's version of the poolside grill.

Thanks!

What are the hours?

The NCL website claims there are delicious made to order chopped salads. Is this true?

The itinerary on the Adventure of the Seas does look better. If you guys are just going to lay low, eat a nice meal and have minimum entertainment expectations, then do the Adventure. You will have that, plus go to more islands.

If your looking for a bells and whistles ship experience, then do the Getaway.

If your considering switching over to NCL, you better hurry. The Freestyle promotion (plus kids sail free) that they have is ending April 30, 2015.

To me seems like a no brainer. Go with the NCL excursion.

Seriously, 4-5 hours is enough of a beach day. At least in my opinion. I don't see how it can be much more than that?

We were there last week (NCL EPIC) and docked at the Punta Langosta pier.

Thank you for the information. It sounds like Punta Langosta is the NCL pier.

Is there a certain stateroom category to qualify, or are all staterooms part of the deal? Such as, do inside staterooms qualify?

I don't think its a make or break. However, to compete with Disney, Royal who has DreamWorks, Carnival who now has Dr. Suess, NCL probably should have some connection with a known family entertainment company.

Not sure what that would be. There are really only 3 big family entertainment companies and Nickelodeon is one of them. The others being Disney and DreamWorks.

Dr. Suess has memorable characters, but its not a full fledged top to bottom family entertainment company.

I think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a Nickelodeon show. So if this is accurate, the putt putt course will obviously look different than the advertisement.

Just got an email alert from one of our TA contacts, "The Drink Package will be removed from the (NCL) Freestyle Choice Promotion on April 30, 2015"

 

"Google" is your friend of the above for any additional info or details - as this should be floating around by now. :D

From the current Sky promo, it appears that they are testing the free alcohol as a standard part of cruising with NCL. Its only for Sky cruises, which is actually surprising, because usually short 3-4 day cruises to the Bahamas are jokingly referred to as booze cruises.

I can't imagine they won't roll out the Freestyle promotion periodically throughout the year, or at least annually?

Unless this has been a total money loser for NCL and they are losing more than gaining from having it.

Who knows?

We never considered cruising with NCL until the Freestyle promotion came about. So it did work on us.

It looks like they are toying with many different scenarios to find the best money making scenario.

I am a big fan of Guy Harvey (Escape). However, the one that I love that isn't included is the Getaway. I really dig the mermaids on the front.

How late does the spa hot tubs stay open? We are on a port intensive cruise, and it probably wouldn't be worth our money to get a spa pass, however it's always good to know the choices.

Senior frogs would be a welcome addition for me

 

 

*Living Large*

Well Margaritaville is going to be on the Escape. That's pretty cool.

I don't think both a Margaritaville and Senor Frog's is going to be together.

Not sure about the Mexican restaurant. It seems like decent authentic Mexican can be found everywhere. At one time in the age of Chi Chi's I would have agreed with the Mexican concept. Who's town doesn't have at least a couple Mexican restaurant's there?

I love the German Biergarten concept. The place in Epcot is a good place to pattern it after.

There is a place called Qsine on Celebrity ships which is a neat restaurant that serves little tapas type food.

Maybe a place that serves Indian, Mediterranean, Ethiopian, and Middle Eastern cuisine?

Well, I'm putting on my "problem-solving" hard hat for NCL as opposed to "critics" tin foil hat to address some of the issues - and, regardless, staffing has to be the mix as most of the recent comments about speciality dining is about decent to good food, not excellent food - I considered the same LeBistro dinner we had this year, same as last year on the BA - going from good/VG to simply above average (and, that's mostly for decor & service, a bit slower still).

NCL doesn't need to shut down the smaller Aqua MDR, just rename that the new "fusion" specialty dining as it has more seating - offering LeBistro, La Cucina & even add Ocean Blue, etc. with a choice of menus to pick from. Then, just rename La Cuina next door as the "new" Aqua MDR - with less seating than now. The Fusion places will have plenty of seating to fit lots of UDP pax & resolve complaints of not being able to get reservations ... isn't that a Win-Win deal.

Think outside the "box" and do a test run with the ship for several sailings - who knows, right ?? :D

Actually makes sense.

We sailed the Breakaway last month in the middle of all these changes and things did feel a little different, the bars were very busy and interesting enough, the MDR were busier at lunch - ship was full but - just different compared to almost exactly a year ago, same ship & same itinerary.

 

For the 3 (and soon #4 - the Escape - joining) mega-ships, 29 different dining options (Room Service, now being considered as one - with a convenience/delivery charge) is great on these floating fortresses, but for the 'smaller' Dawn/Jewel class ships or even the POA - I do sense that these UDP can really dilute the speciality dining experience - with fewer dining venue & smaller seating capacity, getting a confirmed reservation can be a challenge ... unless it is capacity-controlled and no-shows are better managed.

 

We had dinner twice in LeBistro, which took about 90 minutes and is relatively good from a time management's standpoint - and, we witnessed first hand lots of unfilled and vacant tables, and, we saw little to no walk-ups, and even if they accepted walk-ins, I wondered if they have the spare staff to quickly reassign from (and where ...)

 

The free mobile App, iConcierge, was useful as I was looking at availability and it seemed that by Day 2, everything at more desirable times were booked up solid - except for a few 5:30's and the rest being 9:00 to 9:45's - even the regular MDR's are closed by (generally) 9:30 PM.

 

Perhaps, NCL is going to convert & modify the smaller MDR on the smaller ships to become speciality restaurant with a choice of menus - and re-designate one of the smaller specialty into the alternative MDR ... or, worst - leave us with just 1 MDR and 1 buffet along with O'Sheehans.

 

With many more sailing in the busy summer season, this will be very interesting to watch as it continue to unfold ... Food quality & opinions are highly subjective, but I too believed that the gaps between MDR and specialty dining are narrowing - and fewer choices being offered as what we dislike the most. Those are not innovations for which NCL used to be proud of - it's time to comparison shop & seriously look at other mass lines to see what they are competitively offering.

Oh my, imagine the fallout if NCL replaced the complimentary restaurants with a specialty restaurant?

I can live with a less convenient room service experience, but to take away from actual dining. I don't know.

Unless the pricing structure of the cruise made it basically all inclusive, and the price is competitive to its competitors.

The percentage of active members (including readers) of cruise critic is probably not as great as people assume. It's one of many marketing mediums that a cruise line has at their disposal.

Of course any company likes to have a handle on their goodwill and message, but in this case, it can't possibly be that big to make a huge difference. So yes, they have to be keeping track silently of what the buzz is.

The message matters, however most companies will act according to what allows them to compete and stay profitable.

You have every right to take your money and go elsewhere. If NCL is making you unhappy, you probably should. It's your hard earned money.

They should value you as a every customer, despite your being a active member of cruise critic.

Money talks. If more people cancel their cruises, then changes most likely will take place.

My gut tells me that the Freestyle promotion is successful, and that NCL will have many new and unique cruisers because of it.

Now they can do one of two things with that. Take advantage and totally ruin this opportunity to grow their business, by not keeping up a level of customer service and value, or adjust and embrace the new NCL cruisers whereby making their NCL experience a great one, where they will come back and share their good experience.

Its a wait and see.