BirdTravels

There are no assigned bus times. NCL does not "put you on a bus". Transfer buses are first-come-first-serve. All ashore is about 9:30 am, so they will be looking to kick you off the ship at that time. Room service is fine, but your room steward and butler really want you out of the room so they can turn it over for the next cruise that will board at 11:00 am. 8:00 a.m. is the published "get out, your cruise is over" time. (Maybe for an extra $100 tip each, your room steward and butler will allow you to stay a bit longer 😃). The concierge staff will escort you down the crew elevator as far as the Haven/Priority line to the ship's security checkpoint, after which you are on your own. Last year, the ship's facial recognition scan was also the CBP scan and there was no stopping once we got into the baggage hall. But getting through security (after the concierge dropped us off) to the gangway and into the terminal took a [long] while. After getting through the terminal and through the baggage hall, you will join a long like to board for the transfer buses. They have space to load a couple of buses at the same time, but it is slow, and they will try to fill every bus up. 1:16 pm departure is an Early Departure as far as NCL is concerned. You would get an 8:00 bag pick-up by default as a Haven guest. If you were in steerage, you would get an 8:15 bag pick-up time for your 1:16 pm flight time. That 8:15 recognizes that the transfer process is slow and mitigates the risk of the transfer delays causing you to miss your flight. The 8:00-9:30 timeframe is when the line for the transfer buses will snake from buses back into the terminal and back into baggage hall. You can expect a 30+ minute wait in line to get onto a bus. Personally, even with Port Valet, I would not "play chicken" with the transfer line. I would enjoy a breakfast and move on to getting to the airport. The existence of Port Valet is somewhat irrelevant except for needing to drop your bags with your airlines. Pre-check at SEATAC moves pretty fast. I have had a lot more delays in Miami TSA lately. Example schedule from last year.

NCL has tried non-smoking casinos before. They didn't last more than a month or two before the ashtrays were brought back out.

Has it been that different on other ships?

The answer is "yes" you can wire front money. The second answer is "no" I don't know how to do it because we have never done it. My travel agent always asks about assisting us with wire transfers and they said that the request has to be made at least one month prior to departure.

You need to be off the ship by 8:00. Traffic to the airport can be bad. Traffic in the airport worse.

That will work with NCL systems fine. Have a great cruise.

Yup. Spice H20 for parties. My last three cruises have been on the Encore and Viva (plus a few RCCL and MSC cruises). I am in a non-Spice mind frame. Maybe the Encore will have a Spice soon.

- Free at Sea+: With my booking I received regular Free at Sea, but have been offered Free at Sea+ for an additional $350. Between the full internet package (to check in with family), premium drinks (not a huge drinker but love a fancy glass of wine at dinner or a cappuccino in the morning), and two additional specialty dining meals, it sounds worth it. Question - Is the upgrade worth it? I would say no. I would not make good use of the + features except the dining. What can’t you live without and price that separately. - Breakfast Dining: Straight to the point, not a breakfast buffet fan. For Carnival cruisers, I'm a regular at the MDR for the yogurt parfait and fresh pressed juices 😁 Question - What are the breakfast options on the Norwegian Escape/what is your favorite place to eat breakfast? The Taste and Savor MDRs are open. O’Shehan’s 24/7 restaurant is open. The buffet (which is good) is open. And the American diner may be open. All complimentary. - Coffee Shop on Escape: I've read some ships have a full Starbucks, but this one does not. Question - Does this coffee shop also offer pastries, hot teas, etc? The Escape does not have a Starbucks. The atrium coffee shop will sell specialty coffee. There are no pastries. (On ships with a Starbucks,’the pastries are for sale). The escape will have candies and macarons for sale. - Evening Dining: I've booked Teppanyaki one night, but wondered what other specialty restaurants are a can't miss. Also wondering about the complimentary/main dining room dinners. Question - What is your favorite specialty dining venue/what is your favorite meal in the complimentary venues/main dining room? Our favorite specialty restaurant is Le Bistro (French). And the lobster Thermidor (it has an upcharge from the standard dining package). - Evening Activities/Entertainment: Some folks have shared to not miss The Newlyweds Game and other theatre productions. Question - What's there to do after dinner for activities or entertainment? There will be shows in the Theater every night. They often repeat the shows in the smaller venues like the Comedy Club and Syd Norman’s. There will be a dance party by the pool most nights. - Port to Airport Transfer: Straight to the point, never used this with Carnival either. Question - Is this a good/viable option to get back to the airport after debarkation? It's currently $37 from NCL. I assume that you are disembarking in Europe somewhere. It is easier (for us) than worrying about drips for a taxi. We would do it. - What Else?: Any other tips, tricks, secrets, or comments to share for my first time on NCL? Thank you!! The following link is to one of my Live posts from the Escape. it’s a couple of years old, so the information is dated and it was a 7 night Caribbean cruise. But, it will give you a peek at the ship and its venues.

The concierge can help you with dinners. Or, you can do it yourself online 130 days prior to departure (that’s 10 days before steerage can make reservations). There are no reservable shows on the Jewel.

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. mostly Fake News. We’ve been on the breakaway about 6 times and she’s a good ship. You pull a tender ticket/boarding group number once you are onboard. They board by group number. They eventually will call open tendering around lunch time where no reservation is required. Without a reservation, you may have to wait until 10 min before show time and take whatever seats the people with tickets didn’t want. Ocean Blue has fallen down our list after numerous issues every time we ate there last year. Le Bistro would be our choice. wrt lines at bars, people just like to complain. If there is a line at a bar, there is another bar within 1 min walk with no line.

They are available once you get onboard. If you are on a NCL shore excursion, your shore ex ticket serves as your tender ticket. We have used the touch screen kiosks near public elevator lobbies in the past.

A very very very small number of people on the ship spend/wastes money at Starbucks. A ship like the Joy, over 15,000 cups of regular coffee is served every morning.

I do t recall any rules changing with FDR. Most of the current belt tightening came with Harry in charge of NCLH. NCLH missed projections last quarter, so expect more belt tightening and cost increases.

My memory must be failing me too. I thought everyone would get an individual package with two vouchers. One for Cagney/Bistro with wine and one for Monderno/Cucina. . I thought the “problem”’they were trying to solve was when you had mismatched status levels in a cabin. One person that was platinum and one gold where the gold would have to pay the cover charge (back before a la carte dining). Now, as long as one person is a platinum, two people in the cabin can eat a free dinner, a net plus. For two cabinmates that were both platinum, the change was a net zero. A net improvement to the benefit. The only downside was if two platinum people in a cabin don’t want to eat together, now they have to. The most recent change now allows you to eat anywhere. A net improvement to the benefit. It also helps overcrowding in the premiere restaurants Cagney’s and Le Bistro. The new benefit limits you to 1-1-1 (per T&C), but I have never had a waiter try to charge me for the second soup/salad/app on our multiple cruises a year.

Kinda depends. The timing on the last couple to be left behind looks like they would arrive back from their independent tour just before all aboard. They showed up “a few minutes late” and waved at the ship as it left dock. They blamed traffic in the rain.