2026 NCL Cruise Critic cruise (proposed)

[Sugar Magnolia]

29 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

The worst thing was the Comedian/Magician who was neither funny or magical. The grand final was him doing shadow puppets. (Yes, you read that right).

 

OMG I think he was the same shadow puppet master on the Prima TA back in April. We all sat there with a mixture of disbelief, embarrassment and sadness.

 

[debenson0723]

@schmoopie17 I have been wondering how your adventure was going and so glad you checked in! You are not making me feel very confident about my trip to Rome in November...hopefully Delta will do a better job of getting me there than American did for you.

 

Sorry to hear that Mrs. Schmoopie isn't feeling well. That is always the worst on vacation. Hopefully it will be smoothing sailing from here on out. 

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise and we will all regroup when you return.

[schmoopie17]

@Sugar Magnolia @graphicguy @cruiseny4life @debenson0723 @JIMESOPUS

Last night was a great night. Went to Moderno for the first time. We were a bit apprehensive due to the reviews saying it has gone downhill, the meat is overcooked, salty, yada yada. Turns out everything (and I mean everything) we ate was great. Highlights were the filet, pork loin, spicy sausage, pork belly…and the rice. I ate almost a whole bowl of that awesome rice. Also tried sushi for the first time on the salad bar. I don’t do raw fish, but it wasn’t as disgusting as I had anticipated. Somebody should have told me not to eat a spoonful of Wasabi. YIKES! And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the pineapple.

 

What can I say about Choir of Man that hasn’t been said a million times? Very talented group of guys. I only wish the beer they give you on stage wasn’t Heineken. Never been a fan…but beggars can’t be choosers…and I managed to choke it down.

 

Mrs. Schmoopie is feeling better. Still hobbling around but at least her digestive issues seem to have cleared up. I’ll spare you the gory details, but it wasn’t pretty.

 

Not looking forward to the flight home on the 24th. I agree with jimesopus that I would rather take several days crossing the Atlantic on a ship vs. nine hours flying.

 

My T-Mobile is spotty…but reception is decent at the moment here in Sardinia, of all places. The ship internet is the next closest thing to useless. It kept booting me out, making me sign in repeatedly, etc. I’m done with it.

 

Edited yesterday at 10:13 AM by schmoopie17

[Sugar Magnolia]

2 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

@Sugar Magnolia @graphicguy @cruiseny4life @debenson0723 @JIMESOPUS

Last night was a great night. Went to Moderno for the first time. We were a bit apprehensive due to the reviews saying it has gone downhill, the meat is overcooked, salty, yada yada. Turns out everything (and I mean everything) we ate was great. Highlights were the filet, pork loin, spicy sausage, pork belly…and the rice. I ate almost a whole bowl of that awesome rice. Also tried sushi for the first time on the salad bar. I don’t do raw fish, but it wasn’t as disgusting as I had anticipated. Somebody should have told me not to eat a spoonful of Wasabi. YIKES! And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the pineapple.

 

What can I say about Choir of Man that hasn’t been said a million times? Very talented group of guys. I only wish the beer they give you on stage wasn’t Heineken. Never been a fan…but beggars can’t be choosers…and I managed to choke it down.

 

Mrs. Schmoopie is feeling better. Still hobbling around but at least her digestive issues seem to have cleared up. I’ll spare you the gory details, but it wasn’t pretty.

 

Not looking forward to the flight home on the 24th. I agree with jimesopus that I would rather take several days crossing the Atlantic on a ship vs. nine hours flying.

 

My T-Mobile is spotty…but reception is decent at the moment here in Sardinia, of all places. The ship internet is the next closest thing to useless. It kept booting me out, making me sign in repeatedly, etc. I’m done with it.

 

Great to hear about the turn of events and that we did not have to talk you off the ledge. 
 

I have always preferred Moderno over Cagney’s because of the buffet and I can choose to eat, or not eat, a variety of small pieces of meat. Last time I dined at Moderno on the Escape I only ate the pineapple, two pieces of the picanha, and several helpings from the buffet.

 

Very happy to hear that Mrs Schmoopie is feeling better. We’ve all been there and it’s a miserable state of being. 
 

All along I wasn’t sure whether you would want to fly all the way to Istanbul. Guess we have an answer now. Perhaps your fabulous travel agent can find a side to side cruise for you. I will be sailing out of New York to Europe next month and sailing back to New York shortly thereafter. 
 

Sorry about the ship’s poor internet performance. I did experience issues like having to constantly log back on but still managed to report (barely) a Live from the Escape.

Hope the rest of your trip continues to improve. Enjoy!

 

 

Edited yesterday at 12:15 PM by Sugar Magnolia

[mking8288]

2 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

Great to hear about the turn of events and that we did not have to talk you off the ledge. 

... Very happy to hear that Mrs Schmoopie is feeling better. We’ve all been there and it’s a miserable state of being ... 
Sorry about the ship’s poor internet performance. I did experience issues like having to constantly log back on but still managed to report (barely) a Live from the Escape.
Hope the rest of your trip continues to improve. Enjoy!

Ditto, I'll second that "motion" with anyone cruising, have a great time as it is what "you" made out of it, poor souls here been busy with housekeeping, laundry, provisioning, accounting, etc. (at "home" base ... haha) and can't wait to embark again next Thursday to check out another line/ship to compare and see how competitive, and, the changes all are seeing, reading and experiencing first hand.  

 

Sy, perhaps on your crossing next month ... see if you can have a cordial, nice conversation with the internet (iCafe) manager onboard to ask them, what's going on with onboard satellite WiFi at NCL, without and with (if installed) Starlink as most definitely, other line's ships aren't this horrible.  Our friends/CC neighbors will be on the Getaway doing the TA shortly, not sure if we'll get together with them for tea before they leave ... they will likely just use their 300 minutes x 2 to do whatever (unless the spouse "needs" to do some remote work into the office while away ... most likely, she'll wait till they are docked at a port & use cellular data)

 

Now that I'm nearly finishing up the QE trip reporting & writing up the off-line summary before I post it over there, time to catch up on the news, gossips, rumors and "issues" with NCL base here, and figure out the strategies ahead ... going to do a call into our TA that we're booked with (free DSC for 2 with the balcony booked  ... not from NCL) to re-price, looking that we can save about $300 on that itinerary, that's a pretty steep drop & lock that it (heck with the double point promo, most likely won't be able to keep it - but nowhere near saving up to $1,000 but we'll take it)   Being frugal meaning we can take taxis, Uber or car services instead of luggage on trains & subways and walking for blocks - with the clan following behind, struggling with their heavy bags (and, "I told them so")  

[JIMESOPUS]

I think I found the perfect ship for all of us " Luna " tics here on this thread, 

I present Luna, thanks to @Nathan Graveson for posting this on the other thread.

 

 

[JIMESOPUS]

Bookings are already open for the Luna, all out of Miami which is a nice drive, flight, or even train ride.

[Sugar Magnolia]

14 minutes ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Bookings are already open for the Luna, all out of Miami which is a nice drive, flight, or even train ride.

A B2B would be fun. Easy peasy.