CPD050

You get park west invites by being VERY good customers of their onboard artwork

You will have coupons in your room for the platinum meals.  

Civitavecchia Shuttle Express

We paid 69 euros total for two people from Rome airport to the ship. Met by driver just outside door from picking up luggage at airport. They should give a discount for 6 people.

Yes they do offer martini tastings. They hold them at gatsby’s bar on deck 6. I believe it was once or twice on the cruise as long as they get enough people to join in. For our cruise the magic number of participants was 6. The bartenders were awesome!!

LrgPizza is 100% correct. The setup of the bathroom, if you can call it that, is horrible. That’s why it was never replicated on any other ship. Without raising your voice, you can sit on the toilet and have a clear conversation with someone sitting on the bed. That being said, unless you really need you “privacy”, it’s not a deal breaker for cruising on the Epic. I’ve cruised the Epic twice and have one more planned.

Civitavecchia Shuttle express was 69 euro for the two of us. Met us inside the terminal and dropped us off in front of our hotel. I would use them again.

Hmmm.. they denied me once saying that travel agent bookings were not allowed to get the credit.

Yes it is combinable. Be aware that you can't get the shareholder benefit if booked through travel agent.

Yes

We recently cruised with my children after they turned 18. After that cruise, I emailed NCL with their names and past cruise info. NCL replied with their latitude numbers and correct points which included all cruises sailed as minors.

It's unfortunate that scooterdad had a horrible experience on the Star but thousands have been very happy with the ship and have cruised that Star numerous times. All the problems have been solved on the Star and freestyle cruising is one of the reasons I cruise with NCL.

I booked one of the sailings two days ago. Now, the free tax offer came out and I looked into rebooking with the new offer. Surprise!! Bottom line for the same room would be $250 more. Glad I booked before this great offer came around.

If you have an internet plan then you can just use an app on smartphones to listen to first responder calls. You can then listen to calls from around the world and not just the local area.

Layers is correct. We went in early May and dressed for the frozen tundra. When we got off the helicopter on the glacier we were met by the dog sled owner riding on a snowmobile. He was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts!!!. The temp was in the upper 50s. You just never know. So a couple layers came right off.

Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania Require visas for the US

Has to do with the EU being upset that the US still has not given all the EU countries visa free travel to US. The US still requires visas from citizens of Romania , Bulgaria and a few other countries. I believe 6 in total

I have done it before. Weird thing was it couldn't be done when registering before getting on ship, it had to be done when on ship at the ship services desk. Seemed like it happened often and a very easy process, took less than 5 minutes.

Since you have the drink package, the moscato on board is good and sweet. Drink away. Try the Riesling, I believe they have two kinds on board. A little less sweet but still quite sweet. The ice wine is the best!!! You can't drink a lot because it's so thick and sweet, well I guess you could drink a lot but ....

We used to bring cheap sweet wine with us but after the corkage fee and inconvenience for us, we just pay the on board price of $30 or $32 for a bottle of the moscato.

In January we used Lyft from a hotel near the airport to the ship, $15 for 4 people with luggage. It was a 2 minute wait from the time I ordered it and there were plenty of lyft and uber around. If first time using uber or lyft, there are coupon codes for $15 or $20 dollars off..

We did a VIP art cruise about 1.5 years ago. Park west paid for a nice balcony room, specialty dinners with artists and cocktail parties with the artists. Prior to the cruise, park west put us up in a very nice hotel with dinner and cocktail party. Transportation to the cruise from the hotel and priority boarding was provided. It was a great time and the wife and I enjoyed the other participants as well as specialty dinners and plenty of drinks lol.

Now the bad part. Which really didn't matter to us. Even though prior to the cruise, we told park west which artists we loved. Park west had none of the artists on board nor any of their artwork. We didn't like most of the artwork that was being pushed by park west on this cruise. (Autumn Deforrest and Lebo). We had to go to 3 VIP art auctions during the 7 day cruise and bought no artwork. By the last cocktail party and art auction, we could tell that the auctioneer and his wife were not pleased in our lack of purchase. Oh well.... thanks for the free cruise.

You will find all genre of art at a full spectrum of prices. From what people consider "posters" to one of a kinds. Priced from a hundred bucks all the way up. When you go, read the back of the auction card fully. That explains pretty much everything. And as somebody already said, the champagne is well.... I don't drink it. Most things come framed and shipped as explained on the back of the bidding card. There is usually a walk off section of art also. This is kind of the scratch and dent section lol. The pieces are fine just the frames are a little beat up and you have to carry it off the ship with you. These walk offs are typically inexpensive but you figure home to get it home yourself.

There are no shills in the audience driving up the price....

This comment must be from someone who never went to one of the events and just talking out their back side. It's not really an auction. During viewing and prior to the "auction" , if you see a piece you like then you get a price from one of the employees. If you want to buy it, tell them and it will be brought up for auction. When your piece comes up, you "bid" the price quoted and buy the piece. Only once have I scene a bidding war on a one of a kind piece. It started at about $20,000 and sold for around 25,000. No shills, just a very nice dentist and retired lawyer who loved a piece and had the money. A Famous artist and like I said, one of a kind. Most pieces are not one of a kind so they can sell to several people at the quoted prices.

As probably said before, do not buy as an investment. Buy what you love and can afford. I have purchased quite a few pieces and never jumped at the first price or allowed myself to be pressured to buy. Also educate yourself. Prints, originals, one of a kinds are all terms they use and don't be confused about what each means. If you are interested in a purchase, you can always hold off and jump on the Internet for research. If you do buy, they have some of the best framing I have ever seen and its shipped via FedEx, signature required and fully insured so no worries. If you purchase a one of a kind, it may take up to 12 weeks to receive it due to having to unload from the ship, ship to Miami for re-framing and shipping it to you.

I have never been disappointed with park west

Don't worry about it, enjoy your vacation. We are doing the epic in October and plan on having a great time. I will do what I always do, stay vigilant and always have an exit strategy. It's ingrained in me and has been taught to my kids. You can be prepared but still have fun.