babebutters

Hi,

In the images posted in the excursion section of the site, both the hillside and the poolside cabanas clearly have outside decks. The ocean cabanas do not show a deck. I am hoping that there is one around back where the ladder down to the ocean is.

Does anyone know? I posted to the Q&A,but didn't get an answer.

Thanks,

Kathryn

Hi all,

I am considering a Jan 1 2012 cruise on the Valor. We are looking at getting two interior cabins, and in looking at the deckplans two of the interior cabins at the very front of the ship on the Upper and Empress desks are a very odd shape. They are the cabins sort of at the corners. Carnival's site says they are "Interior with Picture Window (obstructed views)"

Has anyone stayed in one of these? Any pictures or descriptions of the room layout would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kathryn

I won $8400 on a cruise on the Carnival Liberty with my kids (DH had to work) in January. It was the Little Green Men slot with the stacked wilds. I have also won $200+ numerous times on the Wild Wolf/Wolf Run slots, also with stacked wilds.

They give you your winnings in cash, probably in the hope you will give it back. I was good,though; I put it allin the in-room safe and surprised my husband when we got home. Boy was he a happy camper!!

Well, I apparently have WAAY too much time on my hands. Here is the list, grouped in a way that made sense to me. YMMV.

1. Shows

a. BMG Best time to see Blue Man group without reservations is Saturday night. Lots of open seats and the first two rows is a “splash zone” where they provide ponchos and have plastic seats.

b. Second City Comedy id great...but the Comedic-Magician is ok but not for kids.

c. Cirque show: Go the washroom before you watch the show , they do NOT let anyone leave for the whole 2 hours. Also, the show is a bit risqué and uses double entendres (for kids) and has lots of gay and sexual references. The food also was considered fairly bland and very average.

d. No recording or flash photography allowed at shows in the Epic Theater or Spiegel Tent. Take your camera anyways for candid shots before the show begins.

e. Regarding getting into shows: you should get to the shows about 30 minutes before it begins in order to get good seats (although the Epic Theater didn’t have a bad seat in the house, the comedy club had some terrible sight lines).

2. Food/Restaurants

a. Fish and Chips, wings, chicken pot pie, Strawberry pound cake, Apple Crumble or Brownie Sunday very yummy....and milkshakes (extra fee) from O'Sheehans. Best value in beer: Dos Equis Lager draft beer in O’Sheehans. $6.84 (with tax/gratuity) for a 25 (estimated) ounce glass.

b. O’Sheehans (the only 24hr venue with a reservations laptop also)

c. Pretzel Rolls (some call them pretzel balls also)......and for a cool snack...$5 pizza delivery almost anywhere (except to pool side or the casino tables) for a 16" in 1 of 3 flavours.

d. Lobster Night Monday served in Taste ad Manhattan Club on Monday (TBA)

e. The pistachio cake and lemon pound cake is very yummy at the Atrium Café

f. The cruelest joke is the amazing salad bar at Moderno....and the Garlic beef was awesome.

g. There are at least four places to get a made to order omelet in the Garden Café at breakfast.

h. If you want any fruit-juices throughout the day or evening for yourself or your children (grab some during the breakfast time only - up until 10:30 am). They will offer, cranberry, orange and apple juice and that is it.

i. Highly recommended by me is Wasabi, Moderno and the Noodle Bar.

j. Specialty restaurants have various covers charges, for extra special items they ask for an additional $10. So if you want the same 32-ounce porterhouse steak at Cagney's, you can have it at Le Bistro and save yourself $5

k. If you so desire a super-snack – try ordering ‘the home-made potatoes chips with blue cheese crumble’ trough room service.

l. Just it case it pertains to you - you are not being allowed to wear flip-flops in Manhattans dining room, but sandals are ok.

m. Alaskan King Crab Legs are cut in half at Cagney's so you don't need to crack them to eat them.

n. Spice H20 was a good “away from people” spot for lunch on embarkation day.

o. You can order as many appys and deserts as you like in the specialty restaurants.

p. all menus for all restaurants are available for viewing through interactive in cabin TV.

q. Pastries in the Atrium coffee shop are free, coffee is free, but specialty coffees cost money.

r. Murder Mystery Lunch: Not sure this was worth the added cost. I’d probably recommend just going to see multiple showings of SecondCity shows during the week rather than this lunch.

s. Buffet was well laid out and had a good variety, BUT, was the same every day and by the end I was rather tired of it. Often VERY crowded and hard to find seats. I had read that crew members would direct you to open seats but I never saw this. For a treat (maybe dinner) or for real gourmet dining plan to visit the pay restaurants, but then you will have the best dining experience at sea. I did not find the buffet was "the same every day" simply not true, I could not find something I loved ever again at the buffet. There was always some similar items but usually with different meats or ingredients.

3. Bars/Clubs/Lounges

a. Fat Cats for major blues (amazing show)

b. Bowling at Bliss (but if it is busy, wait there or you will lose your place)

c. Ice Bar: Wear socks and long pants (it will help keep you more comfortable)

d. Pub Crawl Reunion Tour happens 2x in a week: Saturday and Thursday Night. We met in Martlings Bar at 9 pm. It was $25 per person. We visited 5 bars in 55 minutes. We had 4 large shots. I would say like a double shot size. We also had one whole beer along the way from one of the games and then more beer during the flip cups game, and we finished with a full-size Bahama Mama.

e. Take cash with you to Howl at the Moon so you can tip the musician to stop playing an awful song... like your rival college football team fight song. ha ha ha

f. When you order a drink, they will give you a short glass unless you specify a tall glass, which is only a couple bucks more and you can keep the souvenir cup. You may also order a double, double the price and more then double the booze!

g. NCL's White Hot Party was at Spice H2O ... Sunday night, starting at 10:15 pm.

h. For other games...air hockey was $1.00 and pool was $1.50. You just swiped your card.

4. Water/Sun Activities

a. A q u a P a r k (expect long lines during busy times or hot weather) - The best time for the waterslides is on embarkation day.

b. Try the water slides before they close,. less busy time and the green water slide is the fastest and scariest, but go purple if you want short lines

c. There's an awesome out-of-the-way place for shaded lounging... under the sports deck starboard aft

d. The public sun decks on 18 are virtually empty, even when the pool is full ( seating for about 100 people up there)

e. Feeling ill, go to the front desk for FREE sea-sick pills.

f. Wear your shoes while walking on the decks outside ( I kid you not the deck got so hot that we met a woman who got second degree burns on her feet rug runners have been put down but NOT everywhere

g. the rock climbing and rappelling walls were a hoot

h. For you sun-worshipers: brings lots of aloe gel or we also highly recommend a product by Berts Bee's called Aloe & Linden Flower After Sun Soother.

i. The slides are fresh water, and the pool is salt water (pulled and filtered locally). So, if going down the slides and you get some in your mouth - you will be fine.

j. When you head off to any of the beaches, it is good to bring some OFF-spray....epically if it has deet.

k. The slides are a lot of fun. I waited until the port days to use them since we weren’t getting off the ship anyway. I would recommend doing the same. Even if you’re getting off the ship, maybe before you leave or right after you return, try the slides. The green and purple slides never had more than a 2 minute wait, and the most the orange plunge slide had was about 7-8 minutes, when compared to a wait well over 30 minutes on a sea day.

l. The batting practice on the sports court is real. They only do it on port days from 11 or so until 1, so I only was able to check on it when we went to Cozumel the second time. They have batting helmets, and the bats were 32 in/22 oz. aluminum. The pitching machine was set to “as slow as it could be to get it to the batter in the air,” maybe 50-55 mph. Wasn’t that hard for this slow pitch softball player to get in some good cuts.

m. Well, my advice is don’t bother with the water slides on a day when the ship is in port, as this would appear to be the time they choose to do the processing (of human waste). And the start of the slides is right next to the funnels. From which the fumes are emitted

5. Rooms

a. Take a power strip with you. There's only one outlet with two plugs in standard balcony room

b. The ship doesn't supply conditioner or bar soap. Bring some if you need it.

c. Discovered the fix for the sink splashing.......don't turn the faucet on full blast.

d. Note that the cabin telephone is very bright. It’s like a giant cell phone that is constantly on. On the upper right of the screen there is a light bulb, touch the bulb and the phone goes to sleep

e. A simple tip for future cruisers, You don't need to use your key card to keep the lights on. Any card will work. Just put it in the slot by the door.

f. On the outside where your room number is there is a wheel that you can change between Welcome, Do Not Disturb, Please Make up Room, and Please Turn Down Room. That’s convenient. Your cabin steward won’t even knock if it says not to disturb.

g. Impossible to keep up with multiple passengers in staterooms going to different events. Take a dry erase board with a magnet on the back and stick it on your door. Leave messages for your friends & family on the board.

h. NCL has gotten really cheap with certain things. They were very protective over pens and paper. None are provided in the stateroom, so bring a pad-pen yourself.

i. The telephones in the room. The ringers are so quiet, they are not very effective for a wake up call, for me. In retrospect, I did not look to see if there was any way to adjust the volume. Maybe you want to bring an alarm clock to be on the safe side…or use your cell phone for an alarm.

6. Spa/Gym

a. The spa has an aft balcony with loungers and two wicker couches. Awesome spot to watch the world go by (but you have to pay to be there)

b. In the spa, towels are in the huge wall racks, but there are robes hiding in the little basket by the door.

c. This ship has the most beautiful gym I have ever seen on any ship. Great state of the art equipment that even charges your I POD while you are exercising.

7. Shops

a. On the last sea day they have a big sale on Epic stuff in the shops on deck15. 2 shirts for $10 are a good deal for gifts - some nice sweatshirts, jackets, hats and other items for 50% off. The main gift shops don’t have sales the last day.

8. Miscellaneous

a. Secret" aft stairs are aft - on either side at the very back of the Epic. If you look at the deck plan you'll see blank spots there. Here are some aft photos - the stairway has cutouts with side view.

b. NCL ships include screens around the ship showing restaurant status and whether they have space. Green = plenty of space, Amber = filling up fast and red = full.

c. For patrons new to NCL ones or who may not be a Latitudes members yet –for a FEE they offer a private behind the scenes tour. For $55. It was a 2 hour tour that included talks from the entertainment/technical director, head chef, laundry, and other areas. Was very interesting and I really enjoyed it. It gave a new respect for the employees and how they are able to do what they do on such a large scale.

d. To get in contact with people on board or thereafter: we make business cards to hand out that has our home contact information, cruise itinerary as well as the cabin we are staying in. It is a convenient way to give information to the new friends we meet instead of writing our addresses, emails on a slip of paper that eventually gets lost.

e. The carpets on the port side of passenger decks are orange. On the starboard side, the carpets are blue. It took me a few days to notice this, but lights on the elevator buttons and the signage near the elevators are also orange on the port side, and blue on the starboard side. In addition, if you are not sure which was is fore or aft, look at the map of the ship, the front faces front everywhere you are.

f. If you’re going to play in the casino even a little, sign up for their casino club. The deals and discounts ($5 off slot/BJ tourneys, for instance) make it well worth your time.

g. You can drop off of bags at Headliners - to walk around without bags for a couple of hours.

h. Sports fan - on the big screen in the Atrium they will show games!

i. The water fountain in the gym is small and warm because they want you to buy water. Take your water bottle to the buffet, and fill it with cold water before you hit the gym.

j. Like to bowl, it is at BLISS - Bowling is $5 per person per game.

k. Studio Lounge Area: We liked the snacks they put in the fridge too. There are also coffee, salads, sandwiches, etc. Depending on the time of day. We never did see a bartender though, which is depicted in the brochures. Also, anyone can get in. There is not even a slot to swipe your card, so I am not sure why NCL talks about the exclusive key card access so much. They never even bothered to install one at all.

l. They have kiosks set up where you scan your card and it will bring up any pictures assigned to your stateroom. If you do posed pictures you present your cruise card so they know where to assign the pictures, otherwise they use facial recognition.

m. Debarkation Day - go for breakfast in the Garden Café before 9 AM as it is scheduled to close by then (it will be crowded). Everyone had to be out of their rooms by 9am and off the ship by 10:15 We were never thrown out of our room. As a matter of fact we overslept until 9.

n. If you are heading off the ship, need a ride, best transport is a cab. Since it’s only a 15 minute and $24 flat rate drive to the airport. NCL offers transfers for $20 per person, we walked out of the terminal and directly into a cab. $24 versus what would have been $40 and waiting to fill a shuttle.

o. On the last full day of the cruise, when the duty-free liquor store is open in the am, they let you take your purchase with you (rather than waiting until the evening to pick it up). This helps make reading the final cruise bill a little easier (and less expensive)!