jrsegrl

There are 2 upcharge items and they are the same in all the restaurants. A whole steamed lobster for 19,99 and a large prime rib for maybe 14.99?

Prime rib is available at no charge at other times just not the large cut.

service food and misc

SR Host is pretty much the same. Friendly, towel animals.

Dining - There are 3 main dining rooms all serving the same menu, a buffet and a 24hr place called O'Sheehans. O'Sheehans is comfort food but they also have dinner specials. The 3 I remember were prime rib, ribs and an all you can eat seafood bucket. Felt the current food quality was better on NCL and there is more variety, esp. at the buffet. Although food is subjective there were a few items we had on both the Magic and Escape within days of each other so it was easy to compare. Calamari - lighter, crispier and more tender on the Escape. Crab cake - similar size and seasonings but fishy tasting on the Magic. And a beef dish my husband commented on being much better than when he had it a few days earlier forgetting that the first time was on the Magic. Overall though both have decent food. Biggest dining difference is the setup. NCL you are not assigned anywhere, you just go when you want. You can sit alone or with others. Service is more like a restaurant so you won't have a dining team follow you. I did notice that you can now reserve a dining time and restaurant at the complimentary venues too. Families or people with specific dietary needs may find this helpful but we've never done it so can't comment. People love the interaction with their dining team on DCL and when you have a good team its great but more times than not we've had a not so great one. Aside from the complimentary venues there are several pay restaurants. Its not necessary to go to them but they do provide a nice change.

Misc - No self service laundry. Excursions are basically the same with same providers. In room tv does not have all the choices DCL has. There is a channel that plays a variety of movies, one that does a variety of tv shows, one that was kid friendly, one home improvement and a few news and sports. No free soda. Most of the things DCL charges a fee for are the same except for the soda and near O'Sheehans there is a specialty ice cream bar that incurs a charge. Otherwise ice cream is free - soft and hard with toppings. There is some kind of room service charge too - but not for everything. With food available 24 hours a day I never felt the need to order in.

This is probably more than you wanted to know but hope someone finds it useful. If you have a specific question I'll try to be more concise. LOL.

p.s. someone asked about embark/disembark. DCL Pt Canaveral terminal is welcoming and gets you in the cruising spirit. Port of Miami is not the same. The terminals are more like warehouses with seating areas. The process itself is the same - for both lines -just not so fancy.

The Escape is a beautiful ship. The décor is very modern (not usually what I go for but the overall look is polished, classy and beautiful). Since you are already familiar with Disney I'll just mention the things that are different on the Escape.

Atrium - lobby really has a large screen on one wall and a lot of activities take place here - wii stuff, dance class, trivia, etc. On off times there might be a movie or just slides of different places in the world. Nice place to hang out too.

Kids Club - Deck 5 (decks are numbered 4 -17 ... DCL starts at Deck 1) No experience with them but did check them out. I was told that they close from 12 - 2 though and after a certain time at night it switches to paid babysitting. Think it was very late at night but if you ask on the NCL section I'm sure someone can help.

Deck 17? - Sports stuff like DCL basketball...Minature golf, Huge ropes course with a zipline and walk the plank feature. Water slides.

Entertainment - some kind of arts and crafts thing. Think there were other family type activities during the day but didn't pay too much attention. They have two major shows on the Escape. Million Dollar Quartet and a dance show After Midnight. Don't think kids would find either very interesting...and think both ran about 90 minutes each. When those aren't playing they will have something else - Magician, comedian, ventriloquist, etc.

Staterooms - Balconies and Minisuites are about the same size as DCL. No split bath if you are a fan of that, glass shower doors rather than that curtain and most do not have a tub if you need one. I think the rooms that specify they are family staterooms might have a larger bathroom and tub though. The insides and oceanview are much smaller than DCL with no sofa - but again there are family ones of those too that might be bigger but I don't know. The suites are in a class by themselves.

Decorated doors and Fish Extenders - non-existent if that's important to you.

Overall -found both lines to have a similar friendly, we are family vibe even though NCL is more relaxed and DCL is more regimented. Although we've made lasting friendships with a few fellow DCL passengers overall we've found the people a little friendlier on NCL. Every cruise is different but that observation was made after doing 49 cruises on 4 lines -so no flames.

I'll touch on service and food in another post but a few last comments. The price difference between DCL and other lines might have more to do with their lack of a casino, and although reduced but more liberal alcohol policy than anything else. There is smoking in the casino.

These are the 2 lines we sail on and actually just did the 11/29 Magic followed by the 12/5 NCL Escape. We enjoy both for different reasons. Did you have specific questions or do you just want a run down of the basics. Also were you looking at the Breakaway class ships or Jewel class.

Sorry, but I don't know. The cert said LeBistro or LaCucina and that is what we used them for. Prefer to have the wine with these meals. Had a stateroom credit for Moderno so I never asked.

Even though the restaurants are ala carte there may be a charge. I am platinum but purchased a 3 day spec. dining pkg. The first 3 reservations showed up as no charge. Thought I would go ahead and book our platinum also but even though they said 0.00 for the cost when I clicked on it to reserve there was a cost. Looked like it was just charging me what a 4th day on the meal plan would be. Figured I'd just wait then rather than complicate things with a credit. Just got off the Escape and had no trouble booking onboard.

We do this every year. You never know. One year we were sweating on deck (think it was Jan. 6) last year we left in the middle of an ice storm. It's generally cool the first 2 days but unless you are outside you won't notice. Sometimes you can hit a path of rough water going or coming home but it usually doesn't last long. We like the rough water and don't get seasick but a lot of people use the meds available - patch, bands, etc and seem to be fine. There are rails to hold onto all over so no worries there. Love the Breakaway. Have a great cruise.

Does anyone know why there are no getaway sailings for August 2016 either.

We/ve done both - on NCL and Disney. Both had very nice crew. Experience was similar on each but the St. John one takes a lot more travel time. You cant go wrong with either - sorry that's not helpful.... Both snorkeling parts were good but the Powercat goes to a place with young sea turtles which are a favorite for us. St. John one you get the boat ride out to the island which is nice if you've never been. Powercat picks you up not far from the ship but unless things have changed the St. John Cat was a distance away by van.

Snorkel is good either way. Did the PowerCat as recently as April and we did see the turtles but there is also a reef with a lot of fish. Actually saw a fish I'd never seen before and was not aware of. (Unusual because cruise/snorkel a lot and have done it from the Atlantic as far as Hawaii and French Polynesia.)

I did the same for our April cruise. Gave me 25 room credit and said I had Bev Pkg. But when the confirmation arrived in my email - no UBP. Was suspicious anyway since no gratuity was added to cruise fare. Really wish they would have all their ducks in a row when the promos change.

We did the 11 day - 3/26 cruise with the big outbreak. We didn't get it but I too am a frequent hand washer and tend to not get too close to people. Don't know if that makes a difference or we were just lucky. The crew was definitely on top of it. We cruise a lot and have been on previous cruises with norovirus and I can say that the recent Pearl crew did the best job of containing it. Not only did they serve at the buffet but handed out the plates and silverware too. You would think that this would slow things down but I thought it moved things along more quickly. They really worked hard all over the ship to keep it clean. During that time frame 2 other cruiselines made the news with their virus onboard so not just the Pearl. It only takes one person to pass it along ...

Yes, in the past there were cruiselines that had to cancel a cruise to sanitize or whatever they do because of outbreaks - but think it needs to be really bad and not contained before that happens.

Definitely not a deal breaker for us either. About 50 cruises for us and never ordered room service once or brought food back to the room. Food is always available somewhere. Personally prefer to have food and food debris in dining venues.

We were on your sailing also and have to second what a great job the crew did to combat the outbreak. Have to admit that I too preferred the buffet with all the serving being done by staff. It did move more quickly and just seemed cleaner. However one morning I asked for one slice of bacon and got a half plateful dropped on my plate but I guess there is no such thing as too much bacon. LOL

Nice cruise though and one of my favorite itineraries.

Maybe depends on the ship and length of cruise. Just off the Pearl and we each got a laundry bag.

After a mishap on another cruiseline I purchased dress type crocs for myself and they have always worked. Finally bought men's casual crocs for my husband too. He used them on our last 2 cruises without any problems. They weigh almost nothing and flatten to take up way less space. He has big wide feet so the dress shoes he always had to bring were a nuisance. The crocs were a great solution. His are all black and are mostly hidden under his dress pants anyway. Ours are crocs brand but I'm sure there are a lot of similar shoes/brands out there. For dinner clothes - he brings dressier dockers and golf shirts.

Maybe it would have been nice to know that they were working on the ship ahead of time but we would have gone anyway. The huge upside was that the ship was not full. I'll take a smaller crowd and no waiting any day. Staff and fellow passengers were very friendly. We had a nice time.

Thought the food and menus were better than past cruises.

We are Platinum Latitudes members. If we book one of these 'free cruises' do we still get our platinum benefits?

Have to agree that walking in to an uncleaned cabin is pretty gross. We cruise a lot and am pretty sure that the stateroom hosts aren't the ones that strip the rooms between guests, they just make them up. Almost sounds like someone got moved mid cruise to another cabin and the cleaning just got lost in the move. Lets hope anyway.

We just did the 12 day on the Breakaway followed 3 weeks later by a 7 day on the Breakaway. On the 12 day both my husband and myself received 2 laundry bags free (total 4) on specific days. The days they were valid was printed on the back of coupon. On the 7 day we each received one bag to use any day.

It was definitely a marketing thing of some sort. The only perk was the extra on board credit .... but it made my day!

On second thought maybe not casino related. The code just says latitudes VIP. The reservation was in my name as was the onboard account and the FCC was bought in my name so who knows. We were in a balcony cabin. It was my husbands first cruise as Platinum but don't think that gets you anything. Might just be a random thing.

Funny. I do all the booking, surveys, etc and I've never gotten anything. Husband basically goes along for the ride and he gets the special offers.

My husband got this also. We were on the 1/19 - 12 day. I think it is because he spent time in the casino. Came in handy because we were in the process of booking another last minute cruise on the Breakaway the day he got the email. Loved the ship and cant wait to get back on board.

Got off the Breakaway a week ago - 12 day cruise. Pretty sure there was only a silver and above party. They held it 2 or 3 times (we were given a time and day to go) because there were so many repeat cruisers. Don't think the regular latitudes party is held on the larger ships because there is no place to put everyone.

My husband and I would like to do this also and were wondering if you get wet on the airboat. Did you wear regular clothes? Footwear - Shoes, flipflops, Tevas ...? Thanks

Does anyone like Second City? On one cruise on the Dawn out of New York they were ok, but others have been fair to poor. One cruise we took on the Pearl about half the audience got up and left after a 'heart attack' joke. Definitely not funny especially when the crowd is a mature one. My husband and I had gone up to the buffet later that night for coffee when the cast did the same. They sat at the next table and one of them said something about a few of their skits not going over too well - Understatement of the Year.