Senoj84 Posted June 25, 2011 #151 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Great review! Love the pics :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mitsugirly Posted June 26, 2011 #152 Share Posted June 26, 2011 150 pages is a lot of reading. So I'm book marking this so that I can come back on a non-work day. So far, the pictures are GORGEOUS! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Travelinggiraffe Posted June 26, 2011 #153 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed my review!! As far as security and dress, I read the same thing......so I bought a Pac safe "neck pouch" for me and a Flat waist money pouch for my husband. But the bottom line is we were cautious, but NEVER felt like someone would want to pickpocket us....I saw people with purses and backpacks and never saw anyone attemptig to pickpocket them and we did alot of people watching.....So I would say be cautious, but don't be worried or feel uneasy.....We felt VERY comfortable walking the crowded streets of Barcelona, Italy and Palma.... I'll second El on this. I have traveled around europe before and heard about how bad Barcelona was. I don't know anyone who has gotten pick pocketed, I didn't see anything like that happening either. I did see some gypsies, but they were just begging. I would still recommend stepping up your normal security type things you do. Make sure bags are zipped. An easy thing to do with backpacks is put safety pins on the zippers so someone has to work to get into it, they'll move on to someone else. Don't keep all your stuff in one place or large sums of money. If you keep a wallet in a pocket put a rubberband on it. If you have more then one credit card/ ATM card separate them. Make sure you have the information for your bank incase you need to call and cancel them. Have a copy of your passport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted June 26, 2011 Author #154 Share Posted June 26, 2011 150 pages is a lot of reading. So I'm book marking this so that I can come back on a non-work day. So far, the pictures are GORGEOUS! :) Yes it is alot of reading....but worth it in my opinion!!! LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajw Posted June 27, 2011 #155 Share Posted June 27, 2011 i'ii be in this cabin in feb for eastern carr cruise. do you have a picture of the room with the bunk pulled down? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted June 28, 2011 Author #156 Share Posted June 28, 2011 (edited) i'ii be in this cabin in feb for eastern carr cruise. do you have a picture of the room with the bunk pulled down? No, sorry I don't have any photos of the bunk pulled down. I did look up to see where it was.....It's in the ceiling of the cabin, so the room steward would have to pull it down. You will love this cabin....it's in the perfect place...right near the elevators and stairs. No you do not hear the elevators at all!! Also, just walk up 2 flights and you will be near the buffet....I thought it was at a perfect spot! Edited June 28, 2011 by elsplace2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted July 5, 2011 Author #157 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Great review! Love the pics :D Sorry forgot to comment on your post! Glad you enjoyed the review and pics....are you planning a cruise on the Epic too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karrie3399 Posted July 5, 2011 #158 Share Posted July 5, 2011 That was a terrific post/review. I enjoyed every minute of it. thanks! I am sailing on this ship at the end of September, 2011....just one question.....Is the door to the balcony a slider???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted July 6, 2011 Author #159 Share Posted July 6, 2011 That was a terrific post/review. I enjoyed every minute of it. thanks! I am sailing on this ship at the end of September, 2011....just one question.....Is the door to the balcony a slider???? Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!! Yes the door to the balcony was a slider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
810jw616 Posted July 7, 2011 #160 Share Posted July 7, 2011 El, thank you for your review. We sailed with you to Alaska and I remembered all of the great advise I got from you before that cruise so I looked you up to see if you had posted anything recently. It was great to see that you had already been to our next destination! We are leaving out of Barcelona on the Jade for a 9 day r/t Canary Islands in April of next year. Once again your review is full of tons of helpful information! Thank you for doing the research for us and most of all, for taking the time to post your reviews. Your attention to detail is fabulous! We are thinking of Hawaii for our next cruise so I will be looking for your review of that one, too! Keep up the good work! (You know, Cruisecritic should hire you as a consultant!) Jolana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted July 7, 2011 Author #161 Share Posted July 7, 2011 (edited) El, thank you for your review. We sailed with you to Alaska and I remembered all of the great advise I got from you before that cruise so I looked you up to see if you had posted anything recently. It was great to see that you had already been to our next destination! We are leaving out of Barcelona on the Jade for a 9 day r/t Canary Islands in April of next year. Once again your review is full of tons of helpful information! Thank you for doing the research for us and most of all, for taking the time to post your reviews. Your attention to detail is fabulous! We are thinking of Hawaii for our next cruise so I will be looking for your review of that one, too! Keep up the good work! (You know, Cruisecritic should hire you as a consultant!) Jolana Hi Jolana! It's great to hear from you!! Thanks for all the kind words! I'm sure you will love your cruise! I'm not sure of all the ports the Jade will be stopping at but I hope some of them are included in my review. Be sure to try and see some of the places I mentioned in Barcelona, especially the Magic Fountain! I LOVED that place!! If you have any questions, ask away!! As far as Hawaii, we have already been there in 2007....but I didn't write a review back then, like I have been doing recently, from my last 3 cruises, here on CC with pics.....Although, I believe I wrote one in the "Member's Review" section. We went on the Pride of America. I think I just discovered CC around that time.....which by the way I LOVE and I thank each and everyone here on CC with their awesome advice and reviews, as well!! Our next cruise adventure will be in the Caribbean to St. Martin, St. Kitts, St. Lucia (Never been to any of those islands, so I'm really excited).....so look out for that review in February if you are planning on going there too, someday! Anyway, glad you found me again and that my review was alittle helpful to you!! Edited July 7, 2011 by elsplace2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luci5 Posted July 11, 2011 #162 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Great review, thanks for posting. I have a couple of questions. In the casino, do you use cash (USD) or do you charge it to your room account? What denominations do the slots take, do they have pennny slots or are they 25c or $1? I noticed that it was mentioned that the gratuity for the spa was in addition to the "18% tax". My understanding from the NCL website was that 18% gratuity was added to spa service, not that it was a tax. Can someone clarify? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted July 11, 2011 #163 Share Posted July 11, 2011 I noticed that it was mentioned that the gratuity for the spa was in addition to the "18% tax". My understanding from the NCL website was that 18% gratuity was added to spa service, not that it was a tax. Can someone clarify? You pay both. So for the Spa you have a 18% Gratuity and add 18% Spanish VAT. I.e $100 treatment would cost $136. In Bars it's 15% Gratuity and add a 8% Spanish VAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luci5 Posted July 11, 2011 #164 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Thanks for the clarification. I thought Spanish VAT was 8%, not 18% or is it different for goods and services? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted July 11, 2011 Author #165 Share Posted July 11, 2011 (edited) Great review, thanks for posting. I have a couple of questions. In the casino, do you use cash (USD) or do you charge it to your room account? What denominations do the slots take, do they have pennny slots or are they 25c or $1? I noticed that it was mentioned that the gratuity for the spa was in addition to the "18% tax". My understanding from the NCL website was that 18% gratuity was added to spa service, not that it was a tax. Can someone clarify? I'm glad you enjoyed my review. As far as the casino...we used cash.....I'm not sure if you can use your card as well, I don't think so, I think it only takes cash....but I know you can get cash out on your S & S card at the cashiers desk....although I think they are starting to charge a 3% fee to do the fact that people were taking out cash in the casino to save on ATM fees yet NOT using it in there. Oh and they had penny, nickle, dime, quarter, dollars and $5 slots that I noticed. Thanks for the clarification. I thought Spanish VAT was 8%, not 18% or is it different for goods and services? I don't know about the different percentages....but when I did actually look at our receipts, I noticed there was an 18% VAT tax. in both Italy and Spain.... So I'm not sure what it was on. I think goods and services. Edited July 11, 2011 by elsplace2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted July 11, 2011 #166 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Thanks for the clarification. I thought Spanish VAT was 8%, not 18% or is it different for goods and services? Food and drink 8%. , goods and services were 18%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luci5 Posted July 11, 2011 #167 Share Posted July 11, 2011 Thanks both. We have plenty USD left from our latest Vegas trip so that's not a problem. Just need to remember to take them as well as euros. We have done umpteen Med cruises including P&O and Princess and never had additional VAT added. We are used to sales tax being added in the US, but it is normally already included in prices in Europe as receipts always state "IVA included". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinskier Posted July 12, 2011 #168 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Vito met with us and walked us to a nice casual Italian restaurant where we all enjoyed some authentic Italian Margherita pizza. (For those of you who didn’t know, Pizza was invented in Naples, Italy. A chef created the Margherita Pizza , in honor of Queen Margherita of Savoy. He garnished it with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and basil to represent the colors of the Italain Flag.) It was delicious, the best pizza I ever had! After lunch they gave us all a complimentary shot of the infamous Limoncello. Speaking of Lemons….we thought we were seeing the biggest lemons we have every seen, but Vito told us they were not lemons they were “amacello”???? Sorry, I can’t remember what he called it. Thanks for the great review and the pics. We did a med cruise about a month before you and your review let us relive some of the highlights of the trip. We also did 3 tours with RIL and had lunch at Tasso in Sorrento pictured above. And the Limoncello is truly a treat :D We cruised the Epic last summer and I am not sure that we would have had time on a port intensive Med cruise to enjoy all of the entertainment onboard....but it looks like you were able to squeeze it all in. Thanks again for taking the time to post your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Single Cruiser Posted July 12, 2011 #169 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Thanks both. We have plenty USD left from our latest Vegas trip so that's not a problem. Just need to remember to take them as well as euros. We have done umpteen Med cruises including P&O and Princess and never had additional VAT added. We are used to sales tax being added in the US, but it is normally already included in prices in Europe as receipts always state "IVA included". Yes there is several threads on this. The receipts onboard Epic show the two extra prices for gratuity and VAT. Even though as you say European law states the price advertised should include VAT. It's broken out as non-eu passengers can claim it back on goods purchased. As Epic doesn't stop at any non EU VAT territories such as Gibraltar, Ch. Islands, Canary Islands the Spanish government raise more revenue has enforced it for the duration. In previous years on my cruises we have always paid it when in Spanish Waters/port but that was because we stopped in Tunisia or Gibraltar for half a day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogofman Posted July 12, 2011 #170 Share Posted July 12, 2011 In previous years on my cruises we have always paid it when in Spanish Waters/port but that was because we stopped in Tunisia or Gibraltar for half a day! so that's how they got around it, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sherry84 Posted July 12, 2011 #171 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Great review and fantastic photos, thanks for sharing and bringing back memories of the Epic! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted July 12, 2011 Author #172 Share Posted July 12, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the great review and the pics. We did a med cruise about a month before you and your review let us relive some of the highlights of the trip. We also did 3 tours with RIL and had lunch at Tasso in Sorrento pictured above. And the Limoncello is truly a treat :D We cruised the Epic last summer and I am not sure that we would have had time on a port intensive Med cruise to enjoy all of the entertainment onboard....but it looks like you were able to squeeze it all in. Thanks again for taking the time to post your review. Thanks! I'm happy to hear you got to relive your cruise via my review. I love doing that as well!! Thanks for the name of the restaurant....I didn't notice the name when we were there, but it was sooooo good and worth the visit. Yeah, it was NOT easy squeezing in all the entertainment the Epic offered, luckily we had 2 sea days.....we still didn't get to it all, but I made sure we did the ones we REALLY wanted to see/do. I guess we will just have to go back again some day and do the ones we missed!! :D Edited July 12, 2011 by elsplace2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elsplace2 Posted July 12, 2011 Author #173 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Great review and fantastic photos, thanks for sharing and bringing back memories of the Epic! :) Glad you enjoyed the review.....yeah, I miss the Epic, she was a great ship!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helencw Posted July 12, 2011 #174 Share Posted July 12, 2011 El, I want to thank you too for your wonderful review, and for sharing such great info! We will be on the Epic in a few weeks, and I linked your review in our roll call. We have decided to follow your example in doing the meet and greet at O' Sheehans after the muster too. Thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScubaNPcruiser Posted July 13, 2011 #175 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Thanks El for posting on the Spain port site also. We will be on Serenade RCC next May with similar ports. VERY helpful. I agree you can really gather a wealth of knowledge on CC. Thanks for the comprehensive review. My DH and I same age so fun to read your perspective. Happy cruising! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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