Trickster999

Thanks

No they never mentioned the free coffee.

We thought the coffee out of the machines was ok and never bought a speciality one.

Thanks Rhea.

Yes we know you could arrange independent tours at a fraction of the cost of the ncl ones.

We didn't do this for two reasons.

1. The fear that there would be some sort of problem and we would not get back to the ship on time. I know this is extremely unlikely. One group on our cruise took an independent trip to Florence from Livorno town. One of the party got lost and they had to wait ages for them.Then there were hold ups with traffic. Rather than dump them in Livorno town the driver diverted straight to the ship and they just made it.

2. We were happy to stay in the ports. I can't see the point in embarking at say Cannes, which is a lovely place to spend a few hours, and by passing it and being bused to Monaco/ Monte Carlo. Even Livorno we enjoyed. We took a local bus to the village of Montenero, and went up the funicular to the monastery. Then we wandered round the canal area and fort which was interesting. An exception to this would be Rome. Civitavecchia is ok I believe, but we had two days in Rome prior to the cruise ( see my review... We came to Rome, in the TA Rome forum) so that didn't apply to us.

My wife has just woken up and I've read my review to her. She has raised a couple of points.

After a meal, you could stay at your table and have free drinks. However you could not order a coffee unless you paid for it. That is penny pinching in the extreme.

Seating in the Cavern. .... It was usually quite full but if you hung around for a while somebody would leave and you could get seated. My wife can't stand for long periods and on occasions a traveller gave up their seat for her. She would have liked there to have been more quiet areas where she could relax.

Embarkation and disembarkation were very efficient.

Tables in the buffet were quickly cleared of used items and we never had to fight for one.

We got back yesterday. I can't work out how to do a review in the main section so will do a brief one here. We, U.K. Based couple nearly 70, thought it was marvellous. I started reading the reviews in January when we booked and as quite worried as they were mainly poor. However as time went by and the weather improved they got better.. We had an inside cabin on 11 which was fine. We looked at an outside one when it was being cleaned and would upgrade to that if we cruise again. We had the UBP which was a promotional freebie. Without that we would have been frustrated by the very high drink prices. We only ate in the complimentary restaurants, all of which were excellent. The exception to this was when we paid to go into the spiegle tent. The show was amazing. We had ring side seats and I was one of those dragged up to help. It was great fun. But bizarrely the meal was the least good. We went to all the shows which were of a very high standard, and there was music everywhere. We loved it all. We always got a seat in the cavern and saw my idols, The Beatles three times there and once in the theatre. They were so authentic it was uncanny. The staff were friendly and helpful. We never experience over crowding and problems getting a sun bed. We met some lovely people from all over the world. We didn't take any excursions. I consider the ncl prices a complete rip off. For instance for a ten hour trip to Florence and Pisa, they wanted nearly £300 each. From our local airport in uk for a little more we could buy a three day city break. In stead we never left the ports all of which were interesting and enjoyable.

Two last things. Many thanks to all those who answered my questions before we traveled. Because we were lucky enough to be born at a time and in a country which nurtured us we were able to participate in a journey that say 75 years ago would have been the privelage of the wealthy elite.

Finally a word about the bad reviews. There is a recent particularlyy poor one from "travelling journalist" He/ she has slagged everything off. He even objected to the fact that most of the passengers were excluded from the Haven and likened us to third class citizens in steerage. Well as far as I'm concerned, if people have the money and want to upgrade to a place where they are waited on hand and foot, then good luck to them. For me, I'd actually be with the common people.

So don't be put off by the bad reviews. If you fail to have a good time I'd be most surprised.

Thanks. Will do that tomorrow when I'm not so knackered.

Just back

Attempted to submit a review in the review section.

Wrote it all out. Got to the end. Hit submit. Was given option to log in. Tapped that. Screen didn't give me option to log in and wanted me to register.

Any idea where I went wrong?

Thanks, I agree, teenagers now are more worldlywise than parents...certainly than grandparents.

Do we have to book the shows onboard, or even before we board online on ncl??

To be sure of a seat you can book on line so many days before you sail.

Your cabin type governs how far ahead you can book. In our case it was 100 days.

Reason you have to book. .. The theatre only holds 800 so with 4000+ on board it's the only way. . People who haven't booked can wait in the standby line.

Thanks tel. I take your point.

I think the Mega ships like the epic Berth a long way from the town centre and pedestrians might be prevented from walking on the quay side

Yes the ncl excursions are ridiculously expensive.

Us..

Rome we have two days there before hand so don't need them

Livorno. Just going to monteneroband the town

Cannes doing our own thing in the town

Marsailles ships shuttle ( rip off at 15 eu) to town and do our own thing

Barca. Port should (2eu) to Ramblas and do our own thing

Naples ... Will take a ncl trip to Pompeii as wife won't risk going independent in case we mis the boat.

Ther is a village a couple of miles south of Livorno called Montenero. You can get the number 2 bus there. Your ticket include the ride up to the Monestary on a funicular. Once up there you can take in fab views. There are lots of posts about it on TA

Could you explain what CAS is please.

And are you saying that prices of cruises drop just before sailing

Thanks again Keith.

I do use TA a lot.

But you said look at the ports of call section on cruise critic.

I don't know where that is

Thanks people

Kieth.... What do you mean by "the ports of call Section" please?

After we dock in Naples, will we be able to walk from the ship into the town or do we need a shuttle. If we decide not to do an excursion is Naples a place you can while away a few hours just wandering round the streets. If so, which ones would you recommend?

Thanks

We're on that cruise Robert except we join it after you in Rome.

There are plenty of Epic reviews on cruise critic

Thanks for that info

Thanks for the review. We sail next week.. Did you do your own excursions?

Thanks again

Thanks.

We fly to Rome next Monday and embark two days later.

Looking forward to it.

Have learned a lot from the existing reviews and will do one on our return.

Thanks Kieth.

Is that each way or return?

Typo... Not Lou pylon

Loopylou

I've been following the reviews on the cruise critic site. They seem to have dried up. The last one was by loo pylon a while back. Maybe my settings are wrong.

Can anyone else see more recent ones?

When we dock at Livorno, we don't want to do any excursions. Instead we just want to go into the town, have a wander for a while then go back. Do we have to book and pay for the shuttle before hand or do we just board and pay quayside. How often does it run

Thanks