nutocruzing

So I was last on her in the fall of 2019 for a Mediterranean cruise with a great itinerary. I took the cruise for the itinerary and didn't have high expectations of the ship because my only experiences had been with Carnival's old ships and Norwegian's newest ships. The Star far exceeded my expectations which were admittedly low. The only frustration I had was around tendering which involved very long lines and waits but the service, food, entertainment and even decor were great overall. Definitely didn't love it as much as the big ships but I was pleasantly surprised. 

2 hours ago, Sydneyberlin said:

We’ll be on the repo cruise from Miami just before you board her. From our experience, cruise ships are waaaay less bad in terms of seasickness than smaller vessels. I, too, used to be very afraid of this before first cruise as I remember well during childhood, when you used to take a ferry or hovercraft to England, it usually took me 5 minutes and I’d turn green. And that crossing the English Channel! But on any cruise ship- no such thing. Not even down here in the Tasman sea that can get quite rough at times- nothing.

 

Now everyone is different so who knows, maybe grab some anti seasickness tablets at CVS just before you go. I’ve heard of others that they do the trick and it’s a bit of a psychological thing to know that you got them in your bag, just in case. I’ve personally never needed them, not a single time so best of luck to your husband!

Thanks for this.

I should clarify that I haven't felt much motion on cruise ships before myself either. Despite my username I have been on quite a few cruises now, but even when the weather was bad the motion hasn't been enough to bother me. The couple of reviews I've seen that have suggested bad motion make it sound like Encore is abnormal for even cruise ships.

I was hoping a recent cruiser on Encore specifically would have thoughts on whether it was particularly bad. We will definitely bring gravol and the behind the ear patches just in case but I'm mostly afraid my husband will decide he hates cruising when it's my favourite way to vacation.

Thanks for sharing! I am about to sail on a four night repositioning cruise from LA to Vancouver. I have seen a couple of reviews complain about additional rocking or motion felt on Encore compared to other large NCL ships. Was this something you experienced? My husband has never been on a cruise and I'm hoping this won't turn him off of them because I've never had significant issues with feeling motion on ships before. 

18 hours ago, themnms said:

Hey, Saw your note on the Spa. Does it have the heated loungers now? We loved them on the Pearl and the Breakaway. We are taking the Star for a South American cruise in Feb and wondering if we need to get Spa Passes.

 

Thanks in advance

Yes! There are about 6 of them! I definitely think the spa passes were worth it though they were fairly cheap this cruise. 

Day 1 – Venice and Embarkation

The next morning, we were up by 6:30 or so. We got ourselves all packed up and ready to check out and grabbed some continental breakfast. The plan for this morning was Doge’s Palace. I had purchased the 11 museum pass online. Unfortunately, I printed off the wrong confirmation. I was a bit panicked about how we were going to be able to get into the museum but we went back to the hotel and were able to get the concierge to print it off for us which was greatly appreciated.

Doge’s Palace was lovely and we took some time to enjoy the Reubens exhibit they’re also currently housing. We had arrived at the museum by around 9 am and our checkout back at the hotel was at 11. By 10:30 we were convinced we were permanently lost in the prisons. After some short-lived panic (mom announced several times she had had enough of the prisons) we found our way out and were able to make it back to the hotel on time to check out. We then went to the San Zaccaria Alilaguna stop (to the east of St. Mark’s Square) and purchased two tickets to the cruise ship terminal. There was a great deal of confusion over whether we were in the right area or not but there seemed to be lots of people with Norwegian baggage tags so it seemed a safe bet.

We arrived at the port around 11:30 a.m. and moved fairly quickly through the embarkation process. By the time we were all checked in they were calling boarding group number 20 or so. We had opted in the end to bring our luggage on ourselves as I wanted the opportunity to grab my rain jacket (it had started spitting) and some other things. Although I had originally thought we might be able to get back off the ship, (still not sure if that’s allowed or not) I was quite plagued by the jetlag and some seasickness (thanks water buses!) and wasn’t really feeling up to it. We dropped our bags outside of our room (that’s where they leave them anyway so it was no more or less safe than the bags would otherwise have been) and wandered around to find food. As a general rule we like to avoid the buffet so we tried to find an open MDR. The Versailles Dining Room was open at the back of the ship (you have to go to the back of the ship on deck 7 as the galley is in between the two restaurants on deck 6). We shared calamari (not the greatest) and I had the shrimp salad while mom had a tuna sandwich. It was an acceptable though not outstanding lunch. Near the end of lunch they announced that the rooms were ready so we headed back down to the room to unpack a little.

(Link to video tour of some of the ship)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd2-im-_PJk&t=85s

This was my mom’s first time travelling in what I fondly refer to as “steerage” – inside cabin, bottom deck, and she was surprised with how happy she was with the room. I will say that we could definitely hear the shows and rehearsals in Stardust but it wasn’t too bad. The rest of the time the noise and movement wasn’t bad at all… EXCEPT for when we got to port. I don’t know exactly what was going on but sometimes when we were at anchor it literally sounded like a jet was taking off next to us. Luckily being in port usually meant we wanted off the ship so it wasn’t too inconvenient and I wouldn’t hesitate to travel in one of the forward low deck inside rooms again.

After checking out the room we headed upstairs for the spa tour – they will try to sell you on all of their products but they weren’t pushy at all and we got a free short massage out of it. We also got tickets for the spa raffle. Mom wasn’t optimistic about our chances of winning but we filled them in anyway. After the muster drill we explored the ship a little bit and grabbed some drinks at the bar by Spice H2O. Marcello was our first bartender of the trip. It was too funny as my mom asked if they made caipirinhas and we hadn’t even noticed that he was Brazilian; of course he knew how to make them! He was charming and funny and it was too bad we didn’t seem to ever run into him again on our cruise. By now it was getting close to time for the raffle. We headed to the spa where they tried some more sales pitches between draws. Note: there is more than one spa certificate drawn for, so there should be 5 opportunities to get a discount on your spa experiences. Many times they drew names for people who hadn’t shown up – remember, you can’t win it if you aren’t there! Funnily enough, they drew my mom’s name for the very last certificate. She couldn’t believe it! What a great addition to her birthday trip! Note: there are lots of restrictions on the use of these certificates, port time only, not combinable.

We headed back to the room where mom called to make her spa appointment and we awaited for sail away and further unpacked. We headed up to the deck around 6:30 and we had only just started pulling away. Note: for the best shots you might want to find a place at the aft of the ship where they have railings without the glass blocking the view. Sail away was sprinkling rain but quite pretty. One of the strange sights along the way was a gigantic luxury yacht that was frankly a bit of an eyesore. We heard rumours it belonged to a Russian billionaire. It was really interesting during sail away listening to all the many languages and accents around us – so much more international than the Caribbean cruises I’m used to.

After sail away we got dressed for dinner and headed to the Aqua Dining Room. There was a half an our or so wait before we got in. I really liked this dining room! It had wonderful modern ambiance and the twinkling ceiling lights were a great touch. This night mom and I both had scallops (too undercooked for my liking), mom got the stuffed pepper and I got the porkloin (delicious!). We skipped dessert as nothing on the menu really appealed too much. In the end I ended up ordering room service dessert before bed. After this we went to the spa for a bit. Mom was completely blown away by the spa – she knew we had passes but didn’t realize the extent of the facilities. We definitely got our moneys worth this week from the spa, and it was rarely full. We headed to bed around 10:30 which meant the shows were all over and we were pretty quickly able to fall asleep.

Ok, so I'm finally back! It's been exhausting adjusting to the jetlag and being back at work and the sub-zero temperatures and snow have not been helping morale haha.

On to the report!

Final Preparations and Pre-Cruise

Approximately one week before we were set to leave, I received an email in my inbox advising me that the company I had booked our first hotel in Venice through had gone bankrupt and that it was likely the hotel would cancel my reservation. I had booked the hotel in April! Unbeknownst to me, this particular third-party company didn’t pay the hotel ahead of time and after multiple emails and phone calls I was able to confirm that the hotel had in fact cancelled my reservation. I did manage to find another hotel room for only slightly more money at Hotel Citta de Milano which worked out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise (more on that later). Unfortunately, I was unable to recoup any money from Visa as the purchase had been made so far in advance, and my travel insurance didn’t cover bankruptcy. That’ll teach me to be prepared! While I do think this is a good lesson to be careful about who you’re booking through online, the reality is that any company or hotel could have gone bankrupt over the course of 6 or so months. You win some, you lose some, I guess!

With that settled, I was off bright and early on the Friday morning from Calgary headed to Toronto. I met up with my mom at YYZ and we headed to the Premium Plaza Lounge where we enjoyed some free lunch and wine to pass the four or so hours before we were to board our flight. It was lucky we got there when we did because shortly after we got there a huge line developed. We ran into a couple of lovely women who were also off to Greece, and even noticed some NCL baggage tags for the Epic on the carry on of another couple. Before we knew it, it was just about time for boarding – and the first of many long lines on this trip.

In the end, Air Canada Rouge wasn’t that bad. The seats were tight, but not too tight and the food was more than satisfactory. Both mom and I were able to get a bit of sleep on the flight over. As we neared VCE airport we got a spectacular view coming over the Alps. When we finally landed, we had to bus to the terminal where we were met by a very long line for passport control. On the other side of Immigration we searched around for signs to water transport. There are aqua coloured signs posted all over the place so it wasn’t too hard to track down the way to the Alilaguna port, although it was a pretty long walk. We purchased two tickets to Venice but opted not to get the round trip (a good choice in the end). I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this method of travel to the island – it was a very slow, very long trip with insufficient luggage storage and the windows were up so high you couldn’t really take in the views; I would save the money and take the bus instead. We finally made it to the San Marco stop around 10:30 or so in the morning.

Our new hotel, Hotel Citta de Milano, was located in the San Marco neighbourhood and was indeed about a 5 minute walk to the hotel from the square – once we found the entrance which was down a rather sketchy looking back alley. Note: Google maps is pretty much useless on the island because the streets are all so close together; if you get lost, I recommend asking a local for help. We hoped to be able to store our luggage but in fact they were able to check us in right away! The hotel room was bigger than expected and had excellent internet. We were able to freshen up a bit and organize ourselves before heading back out to explore.

I had purchased passes for St. Mark’s Basilica for 3 pm (no line reservation), so we had lots of time to kill. The plan was to wander down to the Rialto Bridge and then take a vaporetto from Piazzale Roma to St. Mark’s to listen to a Rick Steeves audio tour. We did get quite lost trying to get to Rialto but you really need to just expect and accept that in Venice. In the end, we made it to St. Mark’s just in time to catch our reservation (look out for a sign with no line that says online reservations or something like that). The Basilica is… I’ll call it impressive. Certainly, the mosaic inside is stunning, but I can’t bring myself to call the building beautiful. To me it seems too much of a clashing of designs and materials. I will also say that they do try to charge for every little thing. Around just about every corner was another line for something that cost extra. We did end up paying the €5 to go up to the second-floor museum. There was some interesting historical/preservation information and the view from the balcony outside was worth the money but it was up an awful lot of uneven stairs so mobility impaired individuals might have a hard time with it (and most old European buildings I suppose).

By this point it was around 4 pm and we were exhausted from jet lag and lack of proper sleep the night before. We wandered a bit trying to find a restaurant and ended up deciding on the one right outside of our hotel. We each ordered pizza for dinner and filled ourselves up before wandering back out to try to waste some more time before we let ourselves fall asleep. We found some gelato and a full sized bottle of shampoo (fyi, European pharmacies really stick to medicine so you might be best off looking for a grocery store for the toiletry items you want). We found some sunscreen but it was absurdly expensive and only SPF 15 so we decided to pass on that. Note: I brought some sunscreen in a stick form that was SPF 50 and waterproof. Because it was solid it didn’t count toward my liquids as we did carry on only luggage. This was a wonderful purchase. It was so easy to apply and we didn’t get burnt even once – I highly recommend this especially for carry on only travel! Around 7 pm we headed back to the hotel room to sort ourselves out a bit, chat with family back home and get some sleep. The square outside our hotel room was a bit noisy until 11 pm or so but it didn’t stop either of us from getting a good sleep in.

Just back from this trip today and will shortly be putting together a detailed review. Overall I was thrilled with the cruise but I am surprised that the review from the week before implied there weren't many lines. I've been on the larger NCL ships before and never encountered the lines I did on this cruise. Anyway, lots of information and hopefully photos to follow!

Day 5

Mykonos!

For this day we don’t have terribly formal plans. According to Rick Steves it’s a good port to just wander around so I think that’s the plan. Alternatively, or perhaps additionally, we might take a ferry over to Delos. Has anyone done that? Is it worth it? I’m always a little leery of doing non-ship excursions to locations I can’t relatively easily walk back from but I’d rather not spend a ton of money in every port especially if they’re entirely enjoyable to experience without spending big money.

Ohh! One question I thought of that isn't just related to this port, but how do we know which ports we will tender at? Or is it all somewhat dependent on how many ships, order of arrival etc.?

Day 6

For Argostoli we’ve opted for the Drogarati Cave and Melissani Lake tour. Our tickets are through Viator with Avalon Kefalonia Travel Services. It was about $60 CAD per person for a four hour tour. We’ve given them our cruise info and will apparently receive confirmation of pick up by email but the tour does include pick up and drop off at the port. I’ve seen kind of mixed reviews for these kinds of tours (Cave and Lake) but it looked too beautiful to me to pass up. Any other recommendations for Argostoli? I’m not sure we’ll have much extra time anyways.

Day 7

Dubrovnik might be the port I’m most excited about! A couple of years ago I made my mom sit down with me and watch the entire series (up to season 7 at the time) of Game of Thrones. For this port we’ve booked the Game of Thrones Tour from Dubrovnik Walking Tours. I think it cost about $56 CAD for the both of us. This port stop is actually a relatively short one and a relatively early one. Our tour starts at 9:30 and is two hours long. I think we need to be back on board by 1:00 so even with a tender this should leave us enough time to wander a bit and do the tour, but not really much else.

Day of Debarkation

This will be my mom’s birthday!

We’re staying in a different hotel on our return to Venice – Hotel Arlecchino which seems to have a good deal of character. In my mind I can’t imagine wanting to stay in a modernized hotel in Venice – give me the authentic experience! Hopefully we can drop our luggage off here again first thing in the morning. Then, depending on the weather, the plan will be to visit Murano and Burano. I have also made reservations for dinner at Caffe Centrale which is relatively close to San Marco Square. It had good reviews and the right kind of ambiance and I was able to make a reservation online through a website called The Fork. I received immediate confirmation from The Fork and shortly thereafter was contacted directly by the restaurant concerning my request for a canal view table (they aren’t able to accommodate my request at this time but will let us know if they have a cancellation for a canal view).

September 30

Our flight leaves around noon on the 30th which is great timing - still leaves us time to sleep to a reasonable hour and get to the airport ahead of our flight.

A couple of things I didn't mention earlier that have to do with planning/travel:

1. I always travel carry-on only for cruises. This helps prevent over-packing and lessens the risk of lost luggage. In cases like this one where I worry that I may want to bring home some souvenirs, I pack with luggage that is expandable so that I can always choose to check it on my way home. I try to buy liquid alternatives to limit my liquids (think face wipes instead of cleanser, sunscreen in stick form, stick deodorant etc.) and can always buy full shampoo/ sunscreen etc. once I get to my destination and then check my luggage on the way home. Added bonus for Venice: less weight to carry over numerous bridges!

2. I highly recommend looking into a travel friendly credit card. Mine comes with all kinds of travel insurance (health, car rental, cancellation etc.), no foreign exchange rate charges AND (my favourite part) lounge access! My mom and I will have several hours in the Toronto airport and you might as well do that with access to comfy chairs, phone chargers, and free food and alcohol! I also get points on purchases that I can either use to buy flights through my credit card company or apply to travel related charges on the card. It easily pays for itself (annual fees).

I don't think I have too much more to share at this point in time but do let me know if you have specific questions you want answered and I will do my best to see what information I can get for you while on board!

10 hours ago, simpson168 said:

you mention on day one that you might check in on the ship them go back out. Can we do that? I had assumed that once you went through all of the check in and security that you couldn't leave and come back. Very interested to know if you have done this bef ore.

Interesting! I hadn't really necessarily considered it might not be an option. I assume they keep track using your card of your comings and goings the same way they would at any port of call. I think I especially assumed this would be the case in Europe where people won't want to tote luggage around but might want to actually explore the embarkation port more than say Port Canaveral. I suppose it's worth asking them at the desk but certainly I see no reason why we couldn't leave our luggage with a porter. 

Day 1

I think our plan for this day is to maybe wander around for a bit and grab something for breakfast before we check out. I plan to then check in at the ship or at least drop off our luggage before we head back out to explore.

There are a few museums we might check out. Mom and I have both been to Venice before and that included visiting Doge’s Palace so we may or may not elect to do that again. However, as we have almost 3 full days in Venice, we think it will be a good deal for us to get the Venice Museum Pass: One Reservation which includes 11 museums for 32€. This includes Doge’s Palace, Correr Museum, the Archaeological Museum, Monumental Rooms of the Marciana Library, Ca ‘Rezzonico, Palazzo Mocenigo, Casa di Carlo Goldini, Ca’ Pesaro, Murano Glass Museum, Burano Lace Museum and the Museum of Natural History. This allows one entry to each museum and no waiting in line. Seems like a good deal to me if you aren’t so pressed for time that you have to choose just one. We plan to go through a museum or two before heading to the ship.

Once on board there will be the obvious necessities of exploring, unpacking, muster and dinner. BUT I also got my mom and I spa passes. I know many people would not think it would be worth it for such a port intensive cruise but the reality is that while we’re in port every day, we’re also only in port for a few hours each day. Also, the spa on the Star is located on one of the highest decks and at the front of the ship which should make it a good place for viewing sail in/sail out from each of our ports. Plus the passes were actually cheaper than they generally are ($145 CAD) so it seemed like a good deal to me.

Day 2

I’m a little bit bummed to hear that we might not end up making it to Kotor. Montenegro would be a new country for me and is probably one I’m unlikely to go out of my way to get back to again in the future. If we do make it to Kotor our plan is to climb the wall and/or wander Old Town. From what I understand it’s only a few euros (3) to climb the wall so it shouldn’t be an expensive day excursion wise. Worst case scenario we’ll really get our money’s worth out of that spa pass!

Day 3

This is another day we don’t have overly exciting plans for. We intend to just wander around Old Town in Corfu. While they’re out of date, I highly recommend taking a look at Tom’s Port Guides for some of these European ports. The great thing about Europe is that things like ruins and old fortresses don’t tend to up and move over time so the must-see sites will always be wherever they are making even old maps and guides somewhat useful. Obviously you should compare with online current information, but in our case we’re not too caught up in what we intend to see in this port so it won’t matter if we get a bit lost. Anyone have any recommendations for Corfu? I’ve seen some pretty mixed reviews about the Achilleon Palace, would you recommend? Is it something you need a tour to appreciate? If so, what do you suggest?

Day 4

I am so excited about Santorini! I’ve been to Greece before but only Crete (highly recommend, especially if you’re on a budget) and Athens. Santorini is the epitome of Greece in my mind and I can’t wait to take it all in. I’ve read that it can be a really long line to get up the gondola especially when there are lots of ships in port as there will be when we’re there. So mom and I are hoping to take a speedboat over to Oia (which we wanted to see anyway) and then take a bus back to Fira.

Can anyone give me some info about this option? Do we have to book it ahead of time or will there just be speed boats there for hire? How much will this cost?

Here’s what I’ve found in terms of the schedule for the bus to Fira and the gondola schedule:

Bus Schedule: 07:10 , 08:50 , 09:35 , 10:20 , 10:50 , 11:20 , 11:50 , 12:20 , 12:50 , 13:20 , 13:50, 14:20 , 14:50 , 15:20 , 15:50 , 16:20 , 16:50 , 17:20 , 17:50 , 18:20 , 18:50 , 19:20, 19:50,  20:20, 21:20, 22:15 (2€)

Gondola: From 7:00 til 22:00 every 20 mins. (5€)

I'm so excited that we're going to get to be in port for sunset! I’ve made a reservation at a restaurant called Argo for dinner. It looks like it has good reviews, proper Greek food and spectacular views. It also happens to be located right at the top of the donkey trail.  I’m really looking forward to this as I LOVE Greek food. Our plan is to be able to catch the sunset at the restaurant before heading back toward the gondola. I know there will likely be quite a line to get back down but if we’re headed back by 8 or so I think we’ll be safely on board well before 9:30.

More to follow!

13 hours ago, ppcox said:

We are on the 1st September sailing I was going to mention the bus from Trevino but seems you know. We used it on a previous trip to Venice. Easy and cheap.I’m sure the hotel will store your luggage I’d take the bus to the Piazalle Roma drop the luggage and go and enjoy Venice on foot from there.

I’m looking forward reading your review. Its a shame we wont see Kotor.  Was looking forward to the sail in/out...

 

Her’s a suggestion for food/wine https://www.timeout.com/venice/restaurants/enoteca-al-volto

I know! I'm bummed about Kotor too since it seems unlikely we'll ever go out of our way to get back to Montenegro in the future. It sounds like it's worth sending an email to the hotel to give them a heads up we'll be in early and ask if we can store our luggage. Here's hoping you have a wonderful trip - so close now!

18 hours ago, All4chaneys said:

I will be on the Star in March/April next year on a 9 day Southern Caribbean itinerary.  I too have struggled to find any good information on this ship. Thank you for taking the time and consideration to keep us informed.  I am looking forward to following and reading your review.  Have an awesome cruise!!

 

What room are you booked in?  Thanks.  

We're booked in 4501. It's not a great room by any means. We have a couple low bids in for upgrades but overall we aren't too concerned about it. It's technically under the theatre which might be a problem but we don't expect to be going to bed terribly early most nights or anything so I'm hopeful it won't be a disaster. 

I'm really hoping to take lots of pictures. There are very few pictures/videos since the recent updates in 2018. Are there specific things you're wondering about?

Hi everyone!

I’m going to be boarding the Star in just over one month for our Mediterranean Cruise! This trip has been a long time in the making having made the deposit for this trip almost a year ago as a gift to my mom for her 60^th birthday. I sent my mom and dad off to Alaska on the Bliss last summer for my dad’s 60^th birthday, but this time my dad suggested I go with my mom instead (obviously I did not object!)

I was late to the cruising game, going on my first cruise in my mid-twenties. Since then I have converted large swaths on my family to cruising, even completing a Christmas family reunion on the Carnival Imagination back in 2016. Funnily enough, the main reason our family didn’t cruise sooner was because my mom has always been super prone to sea sickness. After my first cruise I managed to convince her to give it a try and lo and behold: no sea sickness on cruise ships! Now my mom is probably my greatest convert to loving cruises.

I have noticed that a lot of people do detailed picture reviews for the newest ships, but the older ships really seem to get overlooked. For this cruise I found that I had to look much harder to find helpful advice and information both for this itinerary and this particular ship. Accordingly, I’m hoping to be able to put together a decent review/trip report upon my return.

In the meantime, since I have been planning like crazy I thought why not get a head start by describing my planning process! It might be helpful for others currently in the process of planning and maybe I could get some tips from people who’ve already done the itinerary or at least some of the ports before. Also, if there’s something in particular you’re wondering about, I’ll do my best to get you the information about it while I’m on board.

DISCLAIMER: I make no representation with respect to the accuracy of this information so please cross-reference with your own research!

PLANNING

Pre-Cruise

We’re flying into Venice (VCE) on the morning of the 21^st flying Air Canada Rouge (I know, I’m not thrilled about it either but it is what it is). Pro Tip: Remember there are two airports that get advertised as “Venice” – Treviso and Marco Polo. The Treviso airport is not in fact in proximity to Venice. That being said, it’s a relatively easy train ride to get to Venice, and the train station is located right by the port so it isn’t the end of the world if there’s a cheaper/better/more  convenient flight into TSF – just best to know where it is that you actually are and to plan accordingly for the journey to Venice.

Right now the plan is to take the Alilaguna blue line on a bit of a milk run around the lagoon. The tickets are apx 15€ and can be purchased at the airport. Our reasoning for this is that our flight gets in relatively early and we are a bit concerned about having somewhere to leave our luggage. We feel like waiting a couple of hours before stopping in at the hotel might increase our chances that the room will be ready or that they will at least let us keep our luggage behind the desk since we’re obviously not very interested in toting that around all day. I’m fairly confident we could find lockers at the train station but I’m also pretty sure it would really suck if someone stole our luggage so I’m a bit paranoid about that. Note: other options include ACTV Bus Line 5 which goes to Piazzale Roma Venezia (8€) or a water taxi (pricey!). If the weather is crap we might take the bus instead.

Our first hotel is going to be the Hotel Al Sole. This hotel was a reasonable price, had a decent amount of character and reasonably good reviews. Note: if you have a horror story about this hotel – I don’t want to hear it! I booked these hotels many months ago and options were already starting to run low. Also, I’m POSITIVE I have stayed at a worse hotel – just ask me about the time I stayed in the Florida equivalent of the Bates Motel in Pensacola in the middle of a Tornado watch – fun times! You guys, the sink was literally held up by a 2 x 4! Ok… moving on. Best of all though, this hotel is located a very short walk from Piazalle Roma which is right by the port meaning we can just walk there on the day of the cruise (and without having to haul our luggage up and down a thousand sets of stairs on the tiny canal bridges).

Once we manage to find a place to store our luggage we plan to head toward the Grand Canal (original idea – I know). Our plan is to hit up the Mercato di Rialto (Note: not open on Sundays!) and see the Rialto bridge as we make our way over to San Marco Square. We’re hoping to find somewhere casual to grab some lunch before we get to the Basilica for which we have purchased a reservation (3€ each). You can buy the ticket ahead of time online through their website. This will let us skip the line as long as we arrive in our time slot. We’ve downloaded a Rick Steeves audio tour for the  Basilica so we don’t have to pay for a guide. The Basilica closes at 5 pm so we’ll have a little less than a couple hours to see it. I imagine we’ll be ridiculously jet lagged so our plan is to grab dinner somewhere along the walk back to our hotel and call it an early night.

More to follow!

Hi Everyone,

Th menus are going to take a while, but since I know how keen everyone has been for the Fun Times, I wanted to upload them asap. Unfortunately, all I have are photographs. Even more unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to link photos. I used to use a certain site but due to that site deciding to impose fees I no longer am able to link photos the same way I used to. Can anyone help me?

For now, here's a link to my blog where I've posted them:

https://nutocruzing.blogspot.ca/

I look forward to your update then, because I am sailing in April! Do you think you will be able to snap pics of the MDR menus too? No big deal if not, you are already going to be a huge help with the Funtimes! Enjoy your trip!

I'll do my best to snap as many menu pics as I can!

Looks like there's still nothing here. I'm sailing March 10th so I will bring back my funtimes if no one has updated before I'm back on March 18th. I'll do my best to upload as soon after that as possible, but (because apparently I'm insane) I will be in the midst of a move directly following my cruise so things will be a bit chaotic.

Debarkation and Final Thoughts

Sorry for the delay on my final thoughts here; things have been absolutely crazy here at home. I did want to actually finish this up though!

Day 8 - Miami

Some of us had flights around noon out of Miami, so we were up early (before 7) to finalize packing and to try to grab something to eat before we did self-assist debarkation. Here's a picture of sunrise over Miami I took from our balcony.

When we were all just about packed and ready to head up to the buffet my aunt noticed something odd; her room key was no longer on her lanyard! We sifted through things but couldn't locate it. It was very strange indeed that the card somehow managed to come off of the lanyard. A few other "weird" things happened that morning, mostly in the form of things going missing. We took it as a sign that the ship didn't want us to leave! We knew my aunt would need the card to get off the ship so she had to go to customer service. I was really worried that it would take forever at this hour on debarkation morning. Since I was already set, I headed off to the buffet to bring back a few things for us to snack on in the room while we waited for her. By the time I got back, she was already in the room; apparently there had been no line at all at customer service! Phew!

Around 7:30 we all jumped in line for self-assist. I think by the time we got in line they had actually called some of the priority tags as well. There was definitely a line spiraling through the casino by this time, but it moved very smoothly. Something we thought was odd was that we never received any customs forms in our room the night before. We grabbed some from a staff member and to give you an idea of how fast the line was moving, we had trouble filling them out because we couldn't stop for any length of time.

When we got to the terminal a woman happened to grab our forms from us explaining that they were no longer required! Well that explains why they weren't in our room, but it doesn't explain why anyone was handing them out! Anyways, thanks to that it was just a couple short questions as customs/immigration and we were through and into the taxi line. It was no wait at all to get one, and within about a half an hour of getting in line (maybe less) we were in a cab on our way to the airport. We all said our goodbyes in the cab as we were headed to different terminals. It was agreed all around that it had been a wonderful trip.

Here is a photo I took from the airplane on the final leg of our trip home from JFK to YYC. Holy moly those clouds are pretty but this was the absolute worst flight I've ever been on. Soooo turbulent, I really thought we might go down. We didn't though (and yes I'm aware it would be a first for turbulence to take a plane down)!

Final Thoughts/ Overall Review

There is no doubt that we all loved this cruise, and I am confident that everyone in my group would give it 5 stars. I'm going to use a recent bad review of the ship as inspiration to try to combat the downright false information that's being spread with the result that this ship has an entirely undeserved 65% approval rating.

Entertainment/ Activities - You can't go wrong with this ship in terms of activities and entertainment. Perhaps the best part of being on a mega ship is that there are activities literally all day long to keep the guests entertained. Some are better than others but from the phenomenal water slides and ropes course to the escape room, to the supper club to the Broadway quality evening entertainment, you will not be bored unless you try very, very hard.

Service - We received INCREDIBLE service. We were not suite guests so I have no reason to assume we received anything other than standard levels of service. Everyone was efficient and went above and beyond the call of duty. My sister's food requirements were very well looked after and she never once fell ill from food on this trip. Additionally, I can say the staff all genuinely seemed happy, and to love their work. This isn't necessarily the impression I have always received on cruise lines. Maybe they're under strict orders to smile 24/7 (ok, they probably are), but they are very convincing, and it makes for a much more pleasant experience.

Pools - I don't get the obsession. I don't. Like, just go swimming at the beach when you're in port. While we didn't have any trouble popping into the pool when we wanted to, if pool time is a priority for you on a cruise (however insane that may seem to me), definitely don't book on Breakaway class ships.

Value - we paid a very reasonable price for this trip in my opinion considering the amenities and the newness of the ship. We paid about $3300 CAD for a balcony room including the drinks package and 3rd + guests sail free. Was it cheap? No. Was it great value? Yes.

Vibe - just go for it! It seems like if you arrive at port at a decent time and get one of the first few boarding cards you are likely to get a pass. And it is definitely worth it if you can! Incredible service from the bartenders; wonderful loungers; you will always find a seat; great misters near by; very quiet, it's paradise! That being said, I'm sure we would have enjoyed the cruise without it. I definitely found plenty of (non-pool side) loungers free at any given time during the day.

Food - The best I've ever had on a cruise. I didn't care for the buffet much, so I will give Carnival the upper hand on lunch time offerings, however, the MDR food was always good and occasionally wonderful, and our experiences with the specialty dining were so good I would definitely recommend that everyone buy a dining package (or not, shhhh keep the crowds to a minimum in the specialty venues!). Moderno and Pincho were not "comparable to any chain restaurant" - part of me wonders where these people regularly eat so I can start going there instead of my usual chain restaurants!

Drinks - Wonderful diversity of options. I loved the specialty venues and their signature drinks. It was fun to try so many new things. And the drinks were definitely not watered down as far as I'm concerned. Bar staff were also efficient and accommodating.

Room - Our cabin was 9160. The location was perfect! It was a quick walk to the forward stairs and it was just one deck about the waterfront, but over cabins so that there was no noise from above or below. We also never heard anything from the rooms beside us. People complain about the size of the balcony rooms. Yes, they aren't as large as Disney or Carnival's rooms. But they are much more modernly appointed. Having slept four adult women in this room comfortably enough, I would say that if the price is right, a balcony is still better than two interiors. However I will admit that it would certainly have been more comfortable for a couple.

If you know you don't like mega ships, then yes, definitely don't go on this one. But if you're just worried because of the reviews, I'd give it a try. Unless you are bothered by having to make reservations for entertainment (are you kidding me, like when's the last time you just wandered into a popular local theatre production without a ticket?) or you really feel you need a lounger by the pool and have no intentions of arriving before 11 am, then you shouldn't have a problem with this ship. It rarely felt crowded. But it also isn't intimate either. If you can afford a luxury cruise line, then try one of the for a more intimate feel.

A lot of people have mentioned feeling a lot of motion on the ship. I will say that we did feel quite a bit of motion, but we also had pretty high seas for the first couple of days so that's probably not that surprising. At many points, we would forget completely we were on a moving ship. One thing we did notice, that I think caused my mom and aunt a bit of concern, is that the ship is fairly noisy in rough seas. Like, it creaks, quite a bit. Especially in the stairwells. I'm assuming that this is no different than a regular building that might creak in a storm, but it was definitely something I noticed so I thought I would mention it.

I have to say I have come to love NCL. Their mega ships are BEAUTIFUL and have such wonderful amenities. However, they are still often more expensive than Carnival, and for that reason, I will always continue to sail Carnival (because my name is Sara and I'm a cruiseaholic). However, I do already have a plan for my dad and mom to sail the new Bliss next year as a 60th birthday present for my dad! So we will return very soon NCL. Keep up the wonderful work!

Strange, I really thought of it as pretty loud at the time (though I wasn't terribly bothered by it). Maybe there's music exclusively by the bar area? That's the only place I really was at Spice H2O. Either way, Vibe is more or less guaranteed to be quieter by virtue of the limited capacity.

On our way back to the ship we ran into K and her family again in the straw market - seriously, what are the chances! Mom and my aunt laughed regularly about how we always seemed to be running into the same people despite the fact that particularly in this port there must have been close to 10,000 passengers in port, and close to 5000 on the ship.

Here are my sister and I next to the bow of the ship. Strangely, this was the first port we managed to get this close to the bow:

After a quick lunch at the Garden Cafe we headed back up to Vibe where, surprise, surprise, I fell asleep. Again. I did manage to avoid a sun burn at least! I also had a delicious mango meltdown this afternoon.

After my nap I decided to do a few rounds of the Aqua Racer again before heading back to the room to get ready for dinner.

Here's a pic of the sunset from our balcony again

To be honest, this was not the most memorable night at the Manhattan Room - maybe because the meal had been so amazing at Moderno the night before.

After dinner Jess and I grabbed some drinks and popcorn and headed to the theatre for the 3D showing of Fantastic Beasts. Since we'd both already seen it twice in theatres, we didn't end up staying for the whole thing. Don't worry too much about showing up early for these events, I've never seen the theatre full for a movie.

We knew we had to be off the ship as early as possible the next morning because we had flights at noon, so we went to bed around 11:30. Not a bad finish to the trip at all and certainly some of the best weather we'd had all week.

Next up: a quick review of debarkation. I might also post an overall review of the ship!

The Carnival Liberty and MSC Divina were also in port this day. One thing we did notice was that there was an ambulance waiting next to our ship. :( When it left the port it's lights weren't going so I hope that was a good rather than a bad sign!

We went back to our room and put on sunscreen to head into port. Our plan was to head to the Pirate Museum and do some shopping and then come back on board for lunch. We wanted to make the most of Vibe today rather than going to a beach, especially with two other large ships in port.

Here I am outside of the museum:

It took us a while to find the Pirate Museum on George Street I believe it was, but start walking toward Junkanoo beach. It's a large maroon coloured building so it's hard to miss once you're in the right area. Admission was $13US per person. It was very pleasantly air conditioned inside which was good because this day was another hot one. The museum was quite informative and well done despite being a bit small for the price. It also isn't exclusively written information. They have some recorded noises and some displays with mannequins. One thing that cracked me up was that in the port section at the beginning there's this one building you can hear whispering coming from. Whenever you get close to the building though, one of the voices would go "Shhhhh; someone's coming!". It was obviously on a motion detector but it was very cute anyways.

I found the information on pirates in the Bahamas to be very interesting and particularly enjoyed the examples of Pirate Codes which were much more humane than you might expect!

Day 7 - May 5 Nassau

This morning we slept in a little despite the fact that neither Jess nor I made it to the GLOW party. We did manage to make it to Savor before the restaurant closed. The service here this morning was hilariously good. They brought 3(!) pieces of GF bread for Jess and 4(!) GF muffins on top of her french toast. We joked that she met her carb requirement for the day half way through breakfast. I got the express breakfast. We also met some folks from Newfoundland. There were actually a ton of Newfoundlanders on this cruise, surprising considering it isn't a huge province. My sister goes to school there so we chatted with them a bit over breakfast.

Jess and I had made reservations for Escape the Big Top for this morning at 10:15. We also needed to claim our Deal or No Deal prizes this morning. This last day of claiming was located in the Library. We got our instant tickets and redeemed them before getting in line for the Escape room.

Note: The Library is so hard to find on this ship! The entrance for the Supper Club is a bit misleading in that regard as you have to actually pass through the big lit up sign to get to the Library.

This game was so much fun! For those concerned about claustrophobia, don't let that deter you from participating. To the best of my knowledge you are not even "locked" into the room. The premise of the game (without giving anything away) is that a sneaky magician turns all of the players invisible and you need to sort through the clues to find the magic words to undo his spell. The games were very challenging so this definitely isn't really an activity for young children, though there's nothing inappropriate about it.

Jess and I were obviously early to sign up for this as we were given tags for Group 1. The staff divide participants into groups. Trust me, you want that - I would never have been able to figure the whole thing out myself! We were paired with two couples from Florida and a mother and daughter from DC area. We ended up winning (though we were given nothing but bragging rights)! We made such a great team with someone figuring out each clue and no one person dominating. I definitely recommend splitting up to tackle things and rotating through clues so you can put a new set of eyes to the tougher problems. The "magician" character will give helpful clues from time to time. And whether someone solves the clues or not, the challenges will be explained at the end.

Jess and I then headed up to the Vibe for a bit to watch the ship come into Nassau. It's such a different island from the Virgin Islands - so skinny and flat. In the first ship below you should be able to see a ray swimming in the lighter water by the shore in the bottom left.

I just got back from the Escape on May 6. We had Vibe Beach Club and I would definitely recommend it if you can afford it. I can't say for sure how busy other places got because in all honesty we spent as much free time during the day in Vibe as we could. I will say Vibe is VERY different from Spice H2O. There's a smoking area by the bar at Spice and it can get quite smokey. It's also a lot louder (Vibe has no music playing). Spice has the grotto, but Vibe has the misters. Vibe also has more shade options.

In terms of lounge chairs, the only place I saw that was constantly crowded was by the pool deck. I almost always spotted a few free loungers on any other sun deck.

The thing to keep in mind about Vibe is that it's weather dependent whether it ends up feeling worth it. Our first few days were really windy and I worried we wouldn't really get much benefit from Vibe. But the last few days were very calm. It's also a pain because you won't know until you get there if you're going to get a pass or not. For your info, we got to the port around 9:30 but weren't checked in until 10:30 due to some sort of delay with security. We got boarding card 2 and were among the first from our boarding group on to the ship. There was no pushing and shoving but by the time we got there there were only about 15 passes left. Get there early if you decide you want the passes, and prepare yourself that they may sell out before you get on board!

Ahhh! Another thing I completely forgot to mention about Thursday! Wine Lovers the Musical!

As a present for my mom for mother's day, my sister and I wanted to do something on the ship (it was early but we weren't going to be together on actual Mother's day). We decided to get tickets for her and my aunt to the lunch show Wine Lovers the Musical. We reserved the tickets at one of the screens. Beware though! My aunt had her card set up to a separate Visa from the rest of us. Even though I was the one who made the reservation, because we indicated that she would be attending, it charged the ticket to her account! This almost resulted in her blowing the surprise because she was concerned to note there was an unanticipated charge on her account!

The sea day showing was around 12:30 I believe. Mom and my aunt enjoyed the Supper Club venue. They really liked the lunch and even enjoyed the show - I believe Mom called it "cute". I'll have to ask her when she's next around what she would want me to add. I did just want to add in here that that was another activity we had participated in!

Forgot the Day 6 daily, what else is new!

What an experience at Moderno! I can't understand why so many people are insistent on complaining about the "nickel and diming" with NCL. This meal was in every way worth the upcharge! As was the meal at Pincho. The meals in the MDRs are great too. There's no reason not to eat there. But it sure is nice having an option to eat somewhere else too!

I've already reviewed the service we got for my sister's dietary requirements. They had these AMAZING cheese buns that were gluten free! As was the fried yucca. They did warn that because they are packaged off the ship they don't recommend them for celiac sufferers as they can't guarantee no contamination. My sister isn't celiac, so she opted to risk it and boy was she happy with that choice! (she may or may not have snuck several back to our room) We all enjoyed the buns and that is not something one can usually say about GF baked goods!

The salad bar was absolutely to die for; seriously, brace yourself because you could easily fill up on this alone!

I also tried the strawberry caipirinha, so good!

The meat was all amazing. We didn't even get to try everything because we filled up too fast. Definitely leave room for the incredible pineapple! They even gave us tips on how to make it ourselves at home!

The three of us who were left at the end of the meal ended up choosing the banana caramel tart and the chocolate tres leche. Oh My G-d! I actually don't think I've ever had such delicious dessert in my life - and I'm a dessert person. Definitely very rich, but very worth it!

After we rolled ourselves down the hall and somehow hauled ourselves back up to deck 9, it was only around 9:30. We had planned to go to the glow party this evening but Jess still wasn't feeling well and I ended up passing out while watching Finding Dory. I'm not the kind of person who rouses well from an hour long nap so mom and my aunt had to go without me. Apparently they enjoyed it though! Here's our towel animal from night 6!