StuckiTribe

Last year (well, May 2014) our 5 children did the dolphin swim and my husband and I were observers. They were so great to let us stand on the dock right by the kids and take pictures and then video of the foot push, but we still bought photos and the zip drive at the end. It was the experience of a lifetime and the kids had a fabulous time!

We're returning to Nassau again this May and are looking for something different to do this time, but had such a great time at Blue Lagoon, we may do back again!

When are you traveling? Prices vary wildly depending upon the season. High season is Christmas thru April and low season is during the summer.

 

 

Our cruise is the last week of May. I'm finding that to get what I want, I can expect to pay $150.00 or more per night. Yikes! Not exactly "budget friendly". :eek:

 

We are also cruising the last week of May. I'm struggling to find anything for less than $150 a night as well- most are $200 and up. There are a lot of bad reviews on many of these hotels listed. I feel like I am spending so much time researching and am not making any progress!

We have been researching the same thing. We are flying into FLL on Thursday before the cruise and need 2 nights hotel. I wish I had just booked a Friday flight because I didn't realize how expensive rooms are in both FLL and Miami! I have checked with several different shuttle services, but we too would like to find a hotel that includes transfer to POM. I'll have to check out Holiday Express- there are several....which one are ya'll recommending? There is one on SE 17th and one that is Holiday Inn Express & Suites on State Rd 84. I'll be checking back to see if anyone has other great ideas. I'm not looking to spend $300 a night for 2 nights, 2-3 rooms before the cruise! I want to spend that money ON the cruise! ;)

We are looking at The Victoria Park Hotel (recommended in an earlier post) but when I just looked on the map, it is north of the airport. Should we reconsider and try to find something closer? I'm worried about cost of taxi/shuttle to the hotel, and then to the POM where we are cruising out of.

Has anyone stayed here before? The family suite would be perfect for our large family. It's hard to find rooms with 2 queen beds instead of 2 doubles (or 1 king). For less than $200 a night, this appears to be a nice hotel.

Thank you both for the info! I think we've decided to stay in Ft. Lauderdale and then just get a car service/shuttle on Saturday morning to POM to board the ship. Hotels down there are expensive, and probably more so with it being the holiday weekend, so I'm hoping to book early! I think being close to the beach will be nice and the kids can play and have an extra day of vacation (and mommy a day to relax hopefully). There are 7 of us in our family, so a larger hotel room would be nice- one of the older kids could stay with my folks in the other room if we can find one that sleeps 6. I was also looking at Newport Beach Resort. I'm just trying to not to spend my "cruise" money before we even get there, so I'm hoping to find a nice, but not crazy expensive hotel (hoping for less than $200 a night for each room since we're staying 2 nights). Again, thanks for the info! It definitely helps.

Another reason you might find cheaper accommodations in Fort Lauderdale is because Memorial Day weekend is Urban Beach Week in South Beach (I don't know if it spills over to Miami or not) when there are 100,000s (Wikipedia estimates over 250,000) extra visitors in town.

Ooh that's good information to know. We probably want to avoid those areas. I'm not specifically looking for hotel recommendations, I was asking how other people have planned their stay, either staying in Ft. Lauderdale, or going ahead to Miami a couple days early. I have never vacationed in either area. I have been reading and reading these boards trying to glean info! Just wanted some opinions. :)

We are booked on the NCL Escape on May 28- June 4, 2016. I have been researching flying into either FLL or MIA from OKC to see which is cheaper, and we finally booked into FLL this morning when Southwest finally opened their June schedule (and 1 flight sold out and the other went up $60 in less than 4 hours from me checking at 3:30 am this morning- wow!)

When we booked our cruise, I didn't realize that it was Memorial Weekend, so we are actually flying in on Thursday instead of Friday (since the flight time we wanted was already sold out). Now for the dilemma and I'd like some advice from seasoned travelers.

There are 9 of us going on the cruise. We could stay in a hotel (and get 3 rooms probably) in Ft. Lauderdale and hope to find a nice hotel with stuff for the kids to do and restaurants within walking distance so that we don't have to spend vacation money renting a car. I am hoping to find a hotel with free airport shuttle. Now, I figure we will use a car service (I have read about Jim's or John's and GoShuttle for around $15 a person I think is what I remember) to get to the POM.

OR, we could fly into FLL, then just head on down to Miami and stay near the port and hope to find a hotel with free port shuttle. We are flying home the same day we return from the cruise, so we only need a hotel for the 2 nights pre-cruise. But it's the beginning of Memorial Weekend, so I am hoping to reserve our hotel now.

Anyone have advice or think one way is better than the other, or do you think it will all even out in the wash and we could stay either place? I thought the kids could play at the beach or whatever the Friday before the cruise. I'm still researching things to do in both cities, but I thought it would be nice to hear from others who have gone before us.

Thanks!

I agree, I have seen similar posts almost daily. We are flying from OKC to either FLL or MIA May 26th or 27th and are trying to decide which date and which place is better to fly into. My thinking is that if we save $140/pp (there are 9 of us) on a flight to fly into FLL on Thursday before our flight, we will still have the added expenses of food and lodging for 2 days instead of just one night before the cruise. Add in the transportation to get from FLL to POM for 9 of us, and I honestly don't know that we would be saving any money.

Thank you for the tips on the companies to check with. I guess I need to be doing some research today. Southwest just opened their flights for June (we return June 4th) so I was hoping to buy our airfare today, but the price has already gone up $60 since 3:30 am when I was first looking!

I need to just make up my mind and decide because airfare is probably only going to continue to go up, and the prices probably won't come down like I would hope they would. :)

I am so anxious to read more of your review! We are sailing on the Escape at the end of May and will also be 3 generations cruising (my folks, husband and I, and our 5 children: 24, 21, 12, 11, 8). My folks have cruised Carnival before, but were NOT fans and said they would never cruise again and we've talked them into trying the Escape with us. We cruised on the Getaway in May 2014 and loved it and wanted to try the new ship. I am concerned about the smokiness of the open area around the casino...that was one of my mom's big complaints about Carnival (years ago, and I know many ships like NCL have gone "smoke free" in public areas and balconies and have designated smoking areas). I love seeing all your pictures! Can't wait to hear how the rest of the week went!

We have the same question as the OP, so I am definitely following this post! We are cruising in May 2016 (28th on the Escape) but didn't realize it was the start of Memorial Weekend, so flights and hotels already seem to be more expensive- and I thought I was planning early! There are 9 of us, so I'm trying to save as much in airfare/hotel/transportation as I can....I'd much rather spend my money ON the cruise than just trying to get there! LOL! I'm checking out all the hotels already listed above. Thanks!

We are cruising on the Escape in May (I didn't realize until trying to book airfare and hotel now that we leave the Saturday of Memorial weekend) and we like to fly in the day or 2 before so that we can try to be at the port by noon. Since it is Memorial weekend, it seems prices from OKC to MIA or FLL are already expensive, and hotels seem pricier for that weekend as well. I was trying to decide if we should fly into MIA or FLL. There are 9 of us cruising, so we would need at least 2 hotel rooms. I'm hoping to not have to rent a car, so I'm researching transportation from the airport to the hotel, and the hotel to the port. Any people that have cruised out of Miami before that can give me some pointers? We cruised on the Getaway out of Miami, but we flew into Orlando early, then drove our rental car to Miami the morning we sailed. Any advice is welcomed :)

we also used cavetubing.bz for cavetubing/zipline/ATV adventure and we had a great time. excellent customer service. great price. highly recommend!

We did the exact same excursion (zipline, ATV, and cavetubing) with Vitalino last February and we had a great experience as well! No problems whatsoever, except for the fact that I left my brand new, waterproof camera on the bus that had all our pictures from snorkeling in Cozumel and our day in Belize, so I loved looking at all of your pictures! The guy with the tarantula was one of ours that we ziplined with! We are thinking about doing this again when we go back in 3 weeks, so I loved reading about your experience. They had told us in February they were adding more ziplines, so I'm excited to see what is new! Our kids loved hearing and seeing the howler monkeys. Great company- I agree!

Our last cruise in February we took our 3 younger children with only their birth certificates because we booked a last minute deal. I had read on the NCL website that we could use passports or original birth certificates. Once we were checking in, we had to sign the form stating if something happened, we understood that we could not fly back into the U.S. without passports. Now everyone has passports and I don't have to worry. So to answer your question, yes, you should be ok, and then you can renew their expired passports for the next trip. We chanced it once and were OK, but I'm just not comfortable doing that again. Good luck to you!

I ordered the filet mignon and then added on a lobster tail. I think the upcharge was around $9.99 if I remember correctly. Well worth the lobster for my birthday dinner. :)

We have this exact same dilemma! Trying to decide between Paradise Beach and Mr. Sanchos. We are a family of 4 adults (2 grown children, ages 24, and 21, so both can partake in alcohol, but really aren't big drinkers), and 3 littles- ages 12, 10, and 8. I think some of the kids would like to parasail, which is why we initially were looking at Mr. Sanchos. We did Chankanaab in February, so I want to go somewhere different this time. It looks like both Paradise and Mr. Sanchos both have good reviews, so I guess we really can't go wrong with either choice. We are going in December. Any other reviews for me to help me decide??

We went to Chankanaab in February and we just got off the boat, got a taxi, and went into the park. It wasn't crowded at all! I was amazed at how cheap it was to swim with the dolphins vs. the amount we paid at Dolphin Encounter in the Bahamas! We didn't swim since we had just done that on our last cruise, but we thought about doing the sea lion or manatee swim. We took Fruit Loops from the ship (mitsugirly has great reviews that I read through!) and we had chairs and shade, the kids laid in the hammocks, we walked around the grounds....all in all, it was a great day and we saved a ton of money by doing it ourselves! We didn't book through an excursion company at all. The taxi fare was $25 each way for the 6 of us if I remember correctly. It honestly was a great day! Enjoy yourselves!

I haven't done .com either, but we did .bz last February and it was great. Very personal service, they did transport the tubes for you so that you don't have to carry them, and the lunch after was delicious. It was my birthday, and they made me a homemade cake for dessert after lunch (enough for all 10-12 of us in our group!) I was so appreciative...so thoughtful of them! It was overall a great day and our kids had a blast. We also did the ziplining with them! They are GREAT about getting you back to the ship on time. Highly recommend this tour!

I received the same email this morning. We have one cruise booked for Dec 2015 and one booked in May 2016. The May 2016 cruise was booked during the free DSC promotion, so we're good there, only the Dec 2015 is affected. I do think though, for those of you that posted above that leave either August 2nd and final payment has passed, or the one with the 3rd passenger that is not allowed to pre-pay should adjust your DSC on the last day to the original DSC ($12/day) and when asked why you adjusted it, to be honest in telling NCL why (and not feel bad about adjusting your charges).

We typically adjust ours because we never eat in the main dining rooms and prefer to pay our specialty restaurant wait staff and room steward a higher tip and pay them in cash instead of having it all dispersed throughout the main pool. But that's just us.

I will say that I didn't think the email was clear. I still think the butler and concierge are not included in the DSC, but the email was vague and I could see how people might think the extra $$ for the suites might include them. I think when we cruised in Feb 2015 DSC was still $12 a day, and not $2 more for suites, so is this 2 increases in less than 6 months? Or did I just not pay attention back in Feb to our bill?

We did Blue Lagoon last May and it was fantastic! I would highly recommend it. The 5 kids swam with the dolphins and they allow my husband and I to watch (closely) and take pics/video. They have great inflatables, paddle boards, and lots of water toys to rent, or you can just hang out on the beach. We booked ourselves, not through NCL, but had no problems at all and would totally do Blue Lagoon again. I agree that mitsugirly has great reviews and pics. You might be able to do a search for her and look for the link in her signature line.

We were supposed to do this ship/itinerary in May, but I still would love to do this itinerary someday! It's nice to see good reviews....I may have to start planning for the next next next cruise! LOL

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/dragdeck.php?ship=Norwegian-Escape&zoom=1

 

You can drag the decks to see at this website. you can click and drag deck 19 over the top of deck 18 and line up the area "open to deck below" to see where the hot tub is.

Thank you so much for this link! I called our NCL TA just a moment ago, sent him the picture, and he told me he didn't think they were hot tubs, so I sent him this link. I lined up the 18th deck and you're right- the hot tub is directly over 18120! Ugh! I agree, that could get noisy! He said they have 17116 and 17118 available still (we have 18120 and 18122 booked) so I may go ahead and switch. I was just excited to be on the highest floor without anyone (but the sun deck) on top of us! Though I will admit, on the 2 NCL cruises we have been on this past year, we really didn't hear any noise from the other cabins around us.

Again, thank you for your help!

What??? I need to be on this cruise with DH! *sneaking off to look for the dets on this cruise!*

Yep, although it does appear to be more over 18120 but it does "spill over" (no pun intended) to your window/balcony.

 

Its also the public hot tube, FWTW

We are in 18120 on the May 28, 2016 sailing. How can I tell where this is on the picture? Is the hot tub above the balcony? Should I consider changing rooms?

I was JUST getting on here to post the exact same question! We are going to Cozumel on the NCL Jade in December and I want the 5 kids to be able to parasail if we have the opportunity. Last time in Cozumel, we went to Chankanaab and had a great day, and may do a day there again, but I know the kids are all wanting to parasail (they are 8, 10, 12, 21, 24). I want to make sure we go with a safe company. Who have ya'll parasailed with before? Any companies to specifically avoid?