Pens fan

Like any time NCL changes their promotions, you just have to see if it makes sense for your particular reservation. For us, we have two cabins booked on the Star in 2022. I saved $1680 with this new promotion and only had to give up our free internet and shore excursion credit. We don't take a lot of NCL excursions, so losing that perk is no big deal to us. Even if we did use it for every port (we wouldn't have), this would still save us a lot of money. We have another cruise booked in 2021 on the Bliss and for that one the new promotion would have increased the price. It all depends on when you booked and what promotion was available at that time.

While on a Disney cruise, two women got on the same elevator as our family. Before the doors began to close, four kids came running up yelling, "hold the door!". One of the woman leaned over and hit the Close Door button. Initially we just assumed she'd hit the wrong button, but she looked over at us sheepishly and said, "it's been a long cruise - we need a break". Turns out they were their kids! 😂

We would probably go back to sailing mostly on Disney, though we'd only be able to take about half as many cruises 🤑. I'm still hopeful that NCL will make it through in some form, though. While we adore sailing on the Mickey boats, we really enjoy the more adult atmosphere (and better pricing!) of NCL as well. We enjoy mixing it up between the two lines. I could possibly see giving RCCL at try, but for some reason every time I check out their website I get turned off and never book anything. No real reason that I can point to, but there is just nothing that gets me to pull the trigger with them.

Grilled Mahi Mahi tacos with strawberry salsa. Maybe make some mojitos to wash them down.

We were in CA in early January including several days in Disneyland. My husband came down with what we thought was a bad cold during the trip and I got sick a few days after returning. It was like no "cold" I'd ever had. The upper respiratory symptoms typical of a cold only lasted a couple of days, then turned into fever, chills, shortness of breath and chest pains. I was worried I was developing pneumonia, but started downing as much Musinex as allowed and after a few days the shortness of breath symptoms improved. The cough, however, lasted for about 3 weeks. My husband mostly had typical cold symptoms (though very severe ones) but it took weeks (5-6) for him to fully recover. Was it Covid-19? We'll never know unless they come up with an antibody test some day. But looking back I do think it's a real possibility. Our son never showed any symptoms, though he had his own room throughout the trip and returned to college the day after we got back home. Like so many on this thread, I really think that this virus has been all around us for quite some time now. We're only just now realizing what everyone has had.

We were in 9276 in 2017. Unless they have completely renovated that room I would not consider it accessible. As your father can walk it might work, but I wouldn’t count on the scooter fitting anywhere except the living room. Also the toilet room is tiny - one of the smallest I’ve seen. There was also an awkward interference between the toilet room door and the bathroom door. None of this is insurmountable but just so you’re aware. Others have mentioned YouTube videos and I agree you should check out any you can find for those rooms or the similar ones on deck 8 and 10. Other than that it’s a great room and the balcony is amazing!!

Thanks for the balanced review. We are looking forward to our cruise on the Encore in 2021. I'm curious about something, though. Were you able to book Choir of Man online prior to boarding? When looking at the Explore and Plan section online for our reservation, it lists that show as being one that is has to be to booked onboard, while Kinky Boots just says it's too early to book. As they are listed differently it appears you can't book Choir of Man prior to boarding. Yet, I've seen others mention booking Choir of Man ahead of time, so I'm curious what your experience was on the Encore. Thanks!

The pizza shop was called Forno. The meat and cheese shop was Norcineria Viola. I did not take a photo of the pastry shop or restaurant where we had lunch, and don’t recall their names. As for contacting Dennis, I’d just go to Rome in Limo’s website and send an email to Jany using their contact info. Then inquire about this tour and ask for Dennis if you’d like. He really was terrific and it was a fun tour.

Food and beverages were included. It was a walking tour, so no transportation was required. Dennis met us at our hotel which was an easy 5-10 minute walk to our first stop. I'm sure if you were staying further away, they could make arrangements for you, though - possibly at an added cost.

Are the wine prices ridiculous? Of course, they are. But at the end of the day we aren't going to let it spoil our fun. Our strategy is pretty simple: 1. Bring on a couple bottles of wine and pay the corkage fee. 2. Try some new cocktails. We rarely drink anything but wine at home, so it's nice to have the freedom to try new things and know the drink package covers it. 3. Occasionally pay the small upcharge for a better glass of wine, though we've usually managed to find at least one or two decent wines that fall under the drink package limit. That's the beauty of the package. If we don't like the wine, we order a different one until we find one we do enjoy. At the end of the day we are probably out less than $50 for upcharges / corkage fees at the end of the cruise. I'm not going to sweat about that on vacation, but that's just me.

Great reiview, as always! I can't wait to try out the Encore ourselves in a little over a year.

Dennis met us at our hotel near the Pantheon and we spent several hours walking through Campo De’ Fiori and the various markets and restaurants in that area. We began at a pastry shop for cappuccino and cannoli. We moved on to a pizza shop, a store selling meats and cheeses and toured the Campo De’ Fiori market as well, sampling olive oils and balsamic vinegars and such. We ended at a lovely restaurant for a pasta lunch prepared by the most delightful lady in her 80’s. Dennis was engaging and so informative about what we were seeing and experiencing. The amount of food provided was surprising (in a good way!). We couldn’t begin to eat it all, so Dennis made sure any left overs were boxed up at each stop and we took it back to the hotel. All in all it was a terrific tour - maybe 3-4 hours in length.

We booked several transfers and tours through Rome in Limo for our recent trip to Italy and couldn’t be happier with their service. The booking process was simple and I greatly appreciated being able to pay for most of the tours in advance. They even offered a discount for doing so. Our walking food tour with Dennis was so much fun and a great value as well. I highly recommend it if you visit Rome. Our day long tour of Rome with Stefano was a delight. We then were happily surprised to find he was also going to be our driver for our transfers to and from Tuscany. He made the ride so much more interesting and fun. Our shorter transfers were handled professionally and courteously as well. They were always on time (early actually), handled all of our luggage and got us to our destination safely and quickly. Overall, we have nothing but wonderful things to say about this company.

This exact same thing happened to me. I contacted them, and they insisted that I did not choose the print at home option. This is not true. I was very careful to select that option, so I know they are incorrect. After several back and forth emails, I've given up. We will have to pick them up onsite as they absolutely refuse to email us the pdf of the tickets. The whole thing is very strange. I really hope the OP's guide is correct and it's actually faster to pick them up onsite, though that seems counterintuitive. Time will tell ....

Thanks for the fabulous review! Your recap has been a refreshing change of pace from the all too prevalent complaining and whining about trivial things on this board. Yes, you were presented with a number of significant challenges on your cruise, but you guys made the best of it and told your story objectively and fairly. I'll just repeat what others have said - we'd love to cruise with your family - what a great attitude you guys have!