Reesesinmiami

Looking to book a hotel for our pre-cruise stay in Barcelona and the H10 Madison seems nice for the price. Anyone recommend it or have stayed there?

We’re sailing our 6th time with NCL on a transatlantic on the Epic and booked the guaranteed balcony rate. What have been your experiences with assigned cabin? 

This is not a complaint, but as a virgin NCLer (first one in one month), it seems like in order to be freestyle you need to make a lot of reservations first. We will be on the Getaway for 9 nights, so there are a lot of reservations to make.

 

 

 

Pre-Cruise

 

 

 

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• Make reservations for specialty dining
   
  
• Make reservations for non-specialty dining
   
  
• Make reservations for Million Dollar Quartet
   
  
• Make reservations for Burn the Floor
   
  
• Make reservations for the Cirque Dreams and Steam
   
  
• Rearrange reservations for Burn the Floor, since the reservations for the Cirque show did not open until a few days after the rest of the reservations first were available
   
  

 

As I understand it, I still need to show up at least a half an hour before the shows or else wind up with poor seats or with limited visibility seats.

 

 

 

I am aware that I do not need to make reservations for the dining options before-hand, but having to wait in line, even 15-20 minutes, does not seem life free-style to me, but wasting time. Not to mention that I have to get the times to sync up with the shows and other events.

 

 

 

At beginning of cruise

 

 

 

• 
   
  
• Reserve comedy shows
   
  
• Reserve Escape the Big Top (which I have to be on the lookout for)
   
  

 

And I still have to get to these shows at least 30 minutes early.

 

 

 

I am sure that once I make these final reservations I can put the brain on autopilot and not have to think about anything administrative. But it just seems silly to call this "free-style" with having to pre-reserve everything.

 

 

 

Is there anything else I need to reserve?

 

 

 

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• We are not doing the Wine Lovers Show
   
  
• Excursions are booked
   
  
• Reserved the drink package
   
  
• Online check-in finished this weekend
   
  
• DW is reserving any spa treatments (for herself/DDs)
   
  
• Not purchasing any of the misc. "gift" items
   
  

 

I have done the My-Time dining on RCI - is there any real difference between RCI and NCL freestyle besides the lack of a dressing formal once or twice and a lobster night?

 

 

 

With all of the above being said, I know we will have a great cruise, regardless of anything. We had been on one that went through a hurricane (120 mph winds, 24+ foot swells) where the upper deck was closed for two days, and maybe two hours of sunshine the entire cruise, we still had a great time.

 

 

 

The reason I am posting is to ask all of the expert veterans on this board if there is anything else I need to do before or as soon as I get onto the ship so I can ensure that I have a great cruise (and do not need to think of anything administrative).

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

 

Travel R

I've been on a few NCL cruises and I've never made reservations prior to arriving on the ship and have never encountered any issues or a long wait anywhere. Just got back in fact from the 11-day British Isles cruise on the Jade and we made our specialty dining reservations while on the ship.

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By the way, I too was surprised by the large number of very very elderly and disabled folks. I think it's another reason tendering at Guernsey and New Haven (Edinburg) took so long.

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I was on this cruise as well and am enjoying reading your review.

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You accepted the compensation too quickly. But it is done now.

Well there no mini suites available for an upgrade to another cabin category.

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Thanks for all the suggestions and to those who weren't so "judgey." We called and got a $500 onboard credit.

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I understand all that and know they are under no obligation. Prices certainly fluctuate but this is the first time I've paid $2,000 over what I could have paid. It's disheartening.

My boyfriend and I booked this cruise earlier this year. A few weeks ago, we noticed that the price had dropped a total of about $1,000. We called and were able to get a $250. Today I checked the prices and we basically overpaid for our balcony cabin by $2,000. I'm beyond upset. I have not called NCL again but was wondering if anyone had any experience with getting additional upgrades or concessions for such a dramatic decrease in price. :mad:

Thank you for the photos. The staterooms definitely needed the update and the one pictured looks very nice.

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Took this from the NCL Getaway

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We will be taking the NCL Jade out of Southampton and will be staying in London pre-cruise. We wanted a reasonably priced hotel near attractions and near transportation to be able to get to Southampton by train. I have narrowed it down to the Doubletree Tower of London, Hampton Inn Waterloo or Park Plaza Riverbank. I really have no idea what the best area to stay in is. Thoughts or other suggestions?

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My wife and I and our kids are driving from Des Moines, IA on May 12th and 13th to Miami for our cruise on the Vista that leaves on the 14th. We've never driven down, but the airfare was a little too high for us to stomach with taking our children. I've read some threads about parking at the pier and most say to park right at the Miami pier parking. I reserved some parking to what I thought was the pier, website was miamiportparking.com, but it appears this isn't at the pier and is a short shuttle ride, approximately 10 minutes away, and is located at 8300 NW 7th Avenue in Miami. Has anyone parked at this location? It looks like it's called JetPort Park and Ride Center and I want to make sure it's okay before I go leaving our vehicle there for a week. It says there is security on site and they will provide us a shuttle ride to the pier. Just wanting to make sure as my wife might hurt me if something happens to her Tahoe! j/k ;) Thanks in advance.....

I don't know about that location but I live here in Miami and can tell you that's pretty far from the port and not the safest of areas. However, I have no personal knowledge to say it's not a good option. I believe there is a similar lot near the port that also has a shuttle. Parking at the port is expensive so I understand why you would want another option.

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You'd be better off asking on the British Isles forum. Lots of information on London Hotels on there.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=233

Thanks! Didn't know about that forum.

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We will be taking the NCL Jade out of Southampton and will be staying in London pre-cruise. We wanted a reasonably priced hotel near attractions and the tube. I have narrowed it down to the above since I have no idea what the best areas to stay in are. The Doubletree is by the Tower of London near the Tower Hill station, while the Hampton Inn is next to the Waterloo station in the south bank. Thoughts or other suggestions?

We sailed on the Jade in 2013 from Venice to Greek Isles and loved it! We will be sailing again in the Jade in May. Can't wait to see the changes.

Thank you for the information. Will definitely take advantage of the pre-booked train. I have to wait until it's available.

Hi all,

My boyfriend and I are doing the British Isles cruise on NCL in late May. Pre-cruise, we're staying in London and taking a train in to Southampton the morning of the cruise. How far away is the cruise terminal from the train station? What are our best options to get to the cruise terminal?

Riselda

My boyfriend and I will be cruising on the NCL from Copenhagen on 5/1. We plan to stay pre and post cruise in Copenhagen for a day each. I have not yet booked the hotel as I'm torn as to where to stay. We don't want to spend over $225 for the room (less hopefully). Is it worth staying in city center or another area, or is near the airport where the metro is accessible and hotel offers free shuttle (to and from airport) a better option. We don't mind using public transportation. What do you recommend?

I did the NCL Jade itinerary in 2013...loved the Jade and that trip. First I love freestyle cruising. The cruise directors staff on that ship was so much fun. The balcony cabin was a big plus especially leaving Venice....Amazing!!!! Loved that we arrived in Santorini later than most ships and stayed late as well. We were able to catch the sunset at Oia which is breathtaking. Big thumbs up for the Jade!

Average high temps in Barcelona Oct / Nov are between 13C-18C (55F-64F) so the earlier the trip the better.

 

 

 

The repositioning cruise is the first cruise after Epic's dry dock so there will be pros/cons to that. Nice new carpets, maybe new crew/ents first showing of new musical..

 

 

 

If it's Spain you want to see then the Iberian one will give you a good feel of South and East coasts. The 7nt west med one is more Italy.

What do you think are the cons to a repositioning cruise after dry dock?

When you book now, you are pre-charged the 18% on top of the fare or $136.08 for 2 people in a cabin.

We booked two earlier with the tips inluded! Even paying the tips is a good deal for the drinkers among us!

 

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I agree! We normally end up drinking AND buying the four or six bottle of wine package to have with dinner. So this is still a good deal!

Thank you for the clarification. It seems odd but no wonder they brought the offer back for a month. It seems NCL is tweaking these different free offers to see how they work out. From the bartenders and servers' perspective, it makes sense they would still get a tip :), but from my pocket's perspective not so much. :(

NCL is offering the UBP for free through the end of June. Did they always charge gratuities when you chose this free option or is that a new thing?