rudeboie

Yes. We had one on the Escape and got 2 lounges from the steward.

Which seems like what Del Rio is trying to do.

I am really missing Kevin Sheehan right about now.

Ì

The two most appropriate words that describe the Epic casino are tight and smoky. Those words pretty much describe all the casinos on NCL ships. If you don't mind constantly inhaling toxic smoke and plan to lose, this is the casino for you.

Based on his past posts, this guy here sure loves to bust NCL at every opportunity.

Rather than just identifying "all casinos" on NCL ships as tight and smoky, you might as well include the casinos on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, etc etc as well. I've also been on some of their ships and don't necessarily find them any more or less comfortable or "generous" than NCL's casinos.

The Epic and Breakaway Class ships have the casinos that encompass the main walkway through almost the entire length of the ships, which may cause cigarette smoke and the smell of it to propogate through some of the common areas ( though, i never found it an issue on my cruises on the Epic or Breakaway ... I'm a non-smoker and I hate the smell of cigarette smoke).

The other classes of ships in the NCL fleet have their casinos contained in a more traditional fashion.

Anyone know how to watch in Canada?

Mighty Ships and Mighty Cruise Ships are on Discovery Channel Canada.

50 !

you only get one chance to make a first impression.

However, the choice was not RCCL's to offer the MOS to represent what they have to offer. That's like picking the worst basketball player on a team and applying your judgement of that one player as an impression for the entire team.

That does not put RCCL into an equal footing to be a fair comparison. The OP has been on several Carnival ships yet has only sailed on MOS (the oldest and by far the smallest ship) as a basis for comparison to represent the whole cruise line.

It's not a fair comparison to rate RCCL as a whole based off of their smallest and oldest ship. It's like a frequent RCCL cruiser choosing the Carnival Fantasy and then judging the entire Carnival fleet based on that 25 year old ship. Maybe try out Radiance, Freedom and Oasis classes as well to get a more accurate gauge.

I'm sure RCCL probably wouldn't choose MOS as their choice to make a first impression, and neither would Carnival with any of their Fantasy Class. Though I've sailed numerous CCL and RCCL ships, I'm not trying to side with one or the other (NCL is still my preference) , I'm just trying to say that it's unfair to judge an entire cruise line based off of one ship.

Thanks for the review, however as one poster had said, it's probably more fitting that this review be called Carnival xxxxxxx vs. RCCL Majesty Of The Seas.

Oh hell Ya! On that 9 day, I would think there'll be at least 4 or 5 sea days. What better way to enjoy those days than on an open balcony. Plus you'll have a bit more room and you should qualify to choose one of the OBC, UDP or UBP promotions.

Eying up a 4 day Sky cruise for the fall (October 2015) and currently they have Oceanview rooms for $229 per person for that timeframe. This would include pick a perk (OBC, Ultimate Dining, or Ultimate Beverage). Is that a good price, high, low, average?? I'd forgo all the perks for a substantially lower price but I think those firesale last minute deals are turning into memories now, and it is all about higher prices with included perks which is fine. Not sure which perk I'd even take...

We booked a last minute deal for the 4 day cruise (Jan 12-16, 2015) on the Sky 10 days before sailing and got an Oceanview for $139 pp before port charges and taxes. So sometimes it's all about timing. However, I think $229 is good since you also have a choice of OBC, UDP or UBP which we didn't have at the time.

I use MarineTraffic as well. Can't go wrong with that.

Been on both the Epic and Breakaway (as well as Star/Dawn/Gem/Sky). Though the venues on both are similar enough (however arranged differently), we prefer the Epic mainly because it didn't feel as crowded as the open public walkways are larger as well as some of the venues themselves. With that said, we still enjoyed the BA.

I fail to see why an introduction would result in a bigger tip, especially since he went above and beyond by hanging the decorations that you brought.

Totally agree.

For us, it doesn't matter if we meet our SA or not. Them formally introducing themselves is unimportant to us. We know they are usually very busy so we normally only ask for the room to be serviced once a day, sometimes even not if we don't actually need any cleaning.

We've been on Dawn, Gem, Star, Epic, Breakaway and Sky, and never did we go more than a day without bumping into our room steward. Never had any issues with the jobs that they do either. And we don't go out of our way looking for him or her as having our room steward greet us daily is not really high up on our priority list. In fact, out of all the cruise lines we've been on (Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean), the NCL ones have generally been more engaging and attentive.

Those joining the roll call are still years from being born.

Have read pretty bad reviews on the smoke in the ship. I am looking at the getaway for May. Can anyone comment on the level of smoke? We wouldn't be going to the casino. Also, the amount of sun beds for pool area?

 

Thanks!

It's not as bad as many make it out to be. Is there a smell of cigarettes? Yes, it will be somewhat noticeable if you're walking through the casino deck 7. But it is not unbearable nor is it smoky. I'm a non-smoker who hates the smell of cigarettes and cigars but I did not find it being a problem when I was on Breakaway or Epic. If you are ultra-sensitive, being on Getaway, you can always traverse the ship via decks 6 and 8 ... or take a stroll and catch some fresh air along the deck 7 waterfront/promenade.

booked a holiday of a life time on Explorer of the seas.any advice would be appreciated .. I have never used a forum before I have not even got facebook so be gentle with me.

Looks like you already got some of your answers. Bring whatever you normally bring for a land based vacation. It's not that much different. Rooms, though a bit smaller than most land based hotel rooms, are similarly equipped.

Just go do what you want to do (within the rules of course). It's your vacation. Eat what you want, sleep when you want, watch whatever scheduled shows/events. Worrying about all the little things will just put needless stress on what should be a time of excitement. Just go into it with an open mind to a week of relaxation and you'll enjoy your "holiday of a lifetime".

I had my first "holiday of a lifetime" cruise back in October 2010 on Royal Caribbean's Freedom Of The Seas.

So go in with nothing to worry other than to relax and enjoy your week away from the rest of your daily grind.

Word of warning: You may get addicted to the cruising lifestyle. If you're Iike me, you may start planning your next cruise before you get off your first one.

I've been addicted ever since my initiation back on October 2010. Now, I'm counting down the days to my cruise #13 (Transatlantic on the NCL Epic) this April.

We did the four day Bahamas cruise on the Sky back in January ($139 pp Oceanview, as a meams to get us closer to Platinum status, how could we not?).

Though being seasoned NCL cruisers, we had never done anything shorter than a 7 day cruise before, and were very worried about a party-like rowdy atmosphere. But to our amazement, the atmosphere was very serene, sorta like on the longer cruises (excluding Carnival). Maybe because it was a Monday-Thursday and not the 3 day weekend cruise. We enjoyed GSC, and the ship itself exceeded our expectations.

Maybe due to the lower passenger to crew ratio, we experienced the best overall service from the staff and crew compared to our previous 11 cruises (NCL, CCL, RCI, PCL). If it weren't so short, we would definitely sail on her again without hesitation ( on the 4 day voyage.)

That doesn't make any sense.

Ship Class - Ship(s)

NCL America - Pride Of America

Spirit Class - Spirit

Sun Class - Sun/Sky

Dawn Class - Dawn/Star

Jewel Class - Jewel/Jade/Pearl/Gem

Breakaway Class - Breakaway/Getaway

Epic (F3) Class - Epic

Breakaway Plus Class - Escape/Bliss(2017)

75 days till we take the Epic across the pond from Miami to her new year-round homeport of Barcelona.

Thank you.

 

Decks 12 and 13 corners look the same size also, yet many have said only 8-11 have the bigger corner balconies. I've got a corner on 9 booked; but there is one on 12 that is available...just not sure based on what I've been reading.

All corners, no matter which deck, should be the same. I'm thinking alot of people are assuming that the corners on deck 12 and 13 are not as wide is probably because they are not fully coloured in on the deck plans. However, by the picture above, all corner afts from decks 8 through 13 are clearly the same width.

We booked a deck 13 aft corner on am upcoming Epic cruise.

No one's been on the Norwegian Escape (still under construction) and there are no true sister ships as it will be part of a brand new ship class (though Breakaway Class will probably be the closest in terms of ship layout). I've been on the Carnival Breeze (and its sister Dream twice). Been on the Norwegian Epic, Breakaway as well as a few other smaller NCL ships. Preference will certainly be based on what you want out of the cruise. Breeze has a more party atmosphere than an NCL mega ship, which is a bit more laid back in comparison. Breeze has better comedic acts at the Punchliner than any NCL ship I've been on. However, the rest of the entertainment as part of the Funship 2.0 was disappointing (pre-Funship 2.0 ships like Dream has better production shows). NCL ships generally have better entertainment and more food options.

Done 6 NCL , 3 Carnival, 2 RCI and 1 Princess cruise. Personally, I prefer NCL for the range of entertainment, food options and Freestyle concept. However, it's your cruise so you need to decide on what matters to you most on a cruise. Food? Entertainment? Atmosphere?

No. On NCL, not everything is for a fee. In fact, you get approximately the same amount of things complimentary as you would on most other mass market cruise lines. We've sailed CCL, RCI, PCL and NCL.

The reason why some people complain about fees and nickel/diming has everything to do with relative perception. Since NCL ships have more specialty dining options and specialty shows (Cirque Dreams, Illusionarium) compared to most ships on other cruise lines, people perceive that everything is for a fee. When in fact, it's simply because there are more "at a fee" options. You will still get complimentary dining at the buffet, MDR (2 or 3 depending on ship), 24 hour pub and room service as well as complimentary Broadway production and regular staff/guest production shows.

Last time we went to Magens Bay a couple years ago, it got really crowded after 12 once all the ships had arrived. There were 6 ships in Port that day (2 in Crown Bay and 4 at Havensight). Being the smallest ship (Norwegian Gem), we had to tender.

10 days away for the Sky. 108 days away for the Epic.

It is correct. Nice jeans are acceptable in the more formal MDR, just no shorts.

Food wise I find NCL better than RCCL (NCL Dawn, Gem, Star vs. RCCL FOTS, EOTS) but a notch below Carnival (Breeze, Dream) and Princess (Emerald).

With that said, NCL is still my overall preference as Freestyle Cruising suits me perfectly! TA on Epic in April, can't wait!

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