stsbj

I was able to cash out no problem at all. First time, asked for $500 cash. The cashier had to call for approval (because it was more that $400 I think) but with my ID and sea card it was no problem. Second time was the last night of the cruise, to withdraw the last of my OBC. Calculated what charges would be applied (3%) and took out I think about $490. There was a maximum purchase of $1000 per stateroom, but as we had 2 rooms, I was able to buy about $1500 ahead of time.

The cashier did not ask why I was cashing out or if I was playing any games in the casino.

I think I'm missing something simple, where did the medical emergency patient depart? Maybe they skipped Nassau to get closer to Miami and a boat took them to Miami? Many stay on the ship in Nassau so bet many aren't too disappointed to just stay on ship w UBP [emoji4]

 

 

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No, you're not missing anything. I was on this sailing as well. We had 2 separate medical emergencies. One was in the afternoon Monday, and the Captain announced that we would be travelling at full speed to get to St Thomas as quickly as possible as a patient needed hospitalization. We arrived very early to St Thomas. No problem. The second medical emergency happened in the early hours of Thursday morning, after we sailed away from Tortola. On the map that was being shown on the TV, we made a sudden detour towards the closest island, Puerto Rico. Apparently the Peurto Rican coastguard and helicopter evacuated a critically ill patient sometime in the early hours of the morning. The captain came on and announced that due to this detour, we wouldn't be stilling in Nassau. I don't understand why this decision was made, as we still had 26 hours to get to Nassau! They literally slowed the ship down for the remainder of the cruise, and we were drifting along until we docked in Miami. A fellow CC passenger who is very familiar with sailing and has an app on his phone showing the speed that we were travelling, stated the on our way to St Thomas we were going 34 knots , and then slowed down to about 16-17 knots. We literally sailed through the Bahamas on Friday afternoon when we should've been docked. I am fully understanding of stopping for the safety of others, and medical reasons...absolutely! But this decision, I don't understand. My kids and whole family are very disappointed!

Hey there, we are also cruising with you guys in Saturday. It's my hubby Tony and I (Stacy) (mid 40's couple) and our 3 Kids. Sons are 17 and 14, and daughter 10. We are also in a balcony on deck 13 and the kids right across the hall in an inside that have a gazillion rules! Lol

Unfortunately I am on the 3/26 Escape sailing, so we are getting After Midnight and the temporary "show" of the a cappella singers. Not too thrilled at the a cappella group, it might just mean more time in the bar for me!

We're on the March 12th sailing, so it looks like we will not be able to see either the MDQ or the John Hughes show. I really hope that the a cappella group is good.

Two Wheels Only, that's perfect! Just the confirmation that I was looking for. Thank you.

We are travelling on the Escape March 12th sailing and are interested in visiting Virgin Gorda and the baths while in Tortola. We are looking to do this on our own, with the local ferry and transportation. I have done a lot of reading on the Tortola thread and it looks do-able with good planning, but am wondering if anyone who has sailed on Escape recently has done this, and just wondering how the timing worked out. We know it's tight timing wise as we're only in port from 7-3, but plan on catching the first ferry at 7:45. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Doug, have the kids checked out the kids club? Any feedback on it would be appreciated! I'm so loving your review!

Hi Dougout, we are really enjoying your live review! Keep it up! We wondered if your girlfriend's son has been going to the kids club, and if he is enjoying it? How old is he?

I'm really enjoying your review. We will be sailing Escape in March, so it's great to live vicariously through you, and learn more about the ship!

Just print out a copy of your receipt which will show how may $100 certificates you bought. When I log in after purchasing some OBC, it shows that $100 OBC was purchased, but doesn't tell me how many.

Yes there is

Thank you!

Not really - Coki and Magens are going to be swamped. Sapphire would definitely be our choice. When we rent there it's never as busy as the other beaches, even on big ship days. There will be several people around the dive center and swimming beach, but the snorkeling and the natural shade along the shore are to the right.

Thank you Blue_water. Any suggestions of who we could get to give us a tour of the island as well? We'll be in Port from 8am-6pm, and the tour company I contacted (Brenda and Franco) don't start any tours until 11...which is just wasted time in my opinion.

We are on the 7-3 clock as well for our stop to BVI, and are hoping to do our own trip to the Baths. Looks like if we get going early and catch the 7:45 ferry, and head back on the 12:40 we should be fine. I thought I read somewhere that there is a restaurant/bar at the top of the Baths. Can anyone confirm? We'll be on the Escape March 12-19, 2016.

We're trying to decide as well between Coki and Sapphire. There will be 4 ships in port the day we are there, about 13000 passengers! Maybe if we hit the beach earlier, then sight see and shop later we'd be luckier in terms of crowds???

How is the snorkelling at Sapphire Beach compared to Coki?

Take a look at the exchange rate for buying Gift Cards or OBC through the gift section in my ncl. Do a mock purchase of $100 OBC and that will show you what the exchange rate is at the moment.

The Blue Man Group

Cirque Dinner show

That my kids as well as myself and husband all had a great time! There's something to please everyone!

What about posting on your roll call or the cruiseline ' s thread and asking if there are any nurses, doctors or paramedics who are skilled in IV insertions and are willing to help you out. If you know how to run the infusion, and just need an IV inserted, there my be people willing to help. I'm an RN, and would definitely be willing to help someone with something like this. You could ask for their credentials ahead of time and check things out.

I am so delighted with my travel agent, and NCL. We were able to make the changes with the passengers and managed to get the new promos, as well as keeping us in the same rooms! I realize that there is a service charge applied to the UBP, but honestly, we would have paid way more than that just buying wine!

This is what the TA sent me from NCL...

"· I spoke with NCL and we could potentially move Mom into the balcony and Son (17yr old) to the inside cabin….BUT, we would have to leave out his DOB to override the system to permit, due to his age, and in doing this, the passengers would not be able to do an ONLINE CHECK IN on that booking (as it would require DOB) and therefore without the check in, they couldn`t print documents. Instead, check in would take place at the pier on day of embarkation, not an issue if they are comfortable with doing this but some passengers are not comfortable without having paper form documents, although, they’re not actually required, they only need their passports and booking numbers at pier."

So this gets all accomplished! Thankfully the balcony cabin price was still the same, and the inside was only $20 more. So we lost the $25 OBC from the inside, but would have paid more than that just for the soda package for one kid...I'm happy!

I just wanted to add, if the Escape is set up the same as the Getaway and Breakaway the balcony and inside cabins are not truly across the hall from each other. The inside cabins are entered through a separate hallway that is by the elevator corridor.

 

Some folks are not aware of this, just wanted to point it out :)

Slice of Life, yes you're absolutely correct. We have very carefully chosen a balcony room that is at the end of the inside corridor, and the inside room which is on the corner...literally steps away from each other! Thank you though, it is an important thing to remember!

I actually believe that I have read several times here on cruisecritic that if the parents are in a balcony cabin, and their children in the inside cabin just across the hall from their parents, it is considered as a "connecting stateroom". If you let NCL handle your new booking (instead of doing it yourself online), then I am pretty certain they can list you and your husband in the balcony cabin, and your daughters in the inside cabin that is situated across the hall. It is at least worth a try.

 

The rules from NCL when travelling with minors are as follows:

"Company policy dictates that a passenger under 21 years of age must be accompanied in the same or connecting stateroom by a passenger 21 years of age or older at the time of embarkation."

 

http://www.ncl.com/faq#age-requirements

That would be amazing! Thank you for your help! I booked initially through a TA, but I will contact NCL directly to see if I could switch around. I'd rather do everything on the up and up.

Thank you Demonyte. That was what I figured...just thought I'd see if there was any way around it! I can't justify paying for the UBP for myself, as I wouldn't spend anywhere near that amount on alcohol, but as a promo, it is fantastic!

Hello, I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight. We have booked 2 rooms on the Escape, one a Balcony, and one Inside, directly across from eachother. We are a family of 5, so I have my DH, and 2 sons booked in the balcony, and myself and daughter booked in the inside. My kids are 17, 14 and 10. Our plan was to shuffle around once on the ship and have the 3 kids together on the inside, and my husband and myself in the Balcony. We've had to book this way due to the fact that you need an adult with each room.

Now that they are offering the UBP again, we would like to rebook under this promo. So my DH would get the plan, but as my sons are not of drinking age, they would default to the soda plan. I would presume that they could not transfer the UBP to me in exchange for my Soda package. My question is once we are onboard, can we "officially" move us around so that my DH and I are registered in the balcony, and my kids in the inside, and therefore I could get the UBP as well, or does an adult always have to be "in that room"?

If we are out of luck on this, and my son ends up with a "free" soda plan, do I still need to pay the $68+ service charge for his UBP (which is more than the soda package for the week) or would they decrease this to the service charge for the soda plan?

Thank you Meltingmoments, that's great. It's quite different from the ones they had last April...I guess we will need to start sampling some more wines before our cruise. Purely for research!

Does anyone have a link with the wine selections and prices for the Viva Vino Package? I can't seem to find it on the NCL site. Thank you!