wbehlert@comcast.net

Yes, we are on the 3/17 Gem sailing, just today upgraded from mini to regular suite.

Really happy to find the Cagneys is included for breakfast, and perhaps lunch.

Just off Summit with Aqua class and classic beverage package. Only ONE bourbon...Jim Beam. For martinis, Beefeater gin OK, Bombay on occasion (depending on the server), Tanqueray NO. Wine selection very limited, but there is always Proseco. List I had seen about liquors available on the classic package were not what Summit was offering.

Mast Grill not free: Keep in mind that Ocean View is enforcing dress code. No pool attire. So if you are at the pool, you are now forced to pay for lunch unless you go back to your room and change. Celebrity has joined the NCL nickel and dime club.

We sailed Reflection in March. I unplugged the HDMI cord on the TV. The TV swings out to make this easy. Then I plugged in my Sony DVD player which has AV output into my AV to HD converter. Plugged that HDMI cord into the television. Voila! Got my dvds to play instantly on the television, using my Sony remote. To go back to ship TV, just turn everything off and replace the ship's HDMI connection.

We seniors (DW and I) sailed Reflection in March, and had early dining with other guests. We have sailed Celebrity several times before and always considered the MDR fare to rate excellent plus. A step or two above NCL and part of the reason we would choose X in a choice. But after our last cruise, all of us at the table were disappointed with the menus and the meals served.

 

Let me first say that waiter service was personal, prompt and attentive. Cocktail service not so good because the server had too many tables to wait on. We learned to bring our cocktail into the MDR and then just order our wine. Luckily we were seated near the wine attendant and he was particularly responsive. Kudos.

 

Appetizers: Previously on Summit, I would have difficulty choosing among all the great choices and usually ordered two. This time, everything was so ORDINARY, that few items were really enticing. One night I did order two salmon tartar. It was loaded with strong onion. Never had that before and the onion ruined the dish. The shrimp cocktail was available nightly and quite OK. On our last cruise on NCL, there were few nights with this item offered. Things this time on X were good, just nothing outstanding.

 

Dinners: Prime rib on night 1. AOK. Downhill after that with many lamb offerings but no rack until Thursday. At that time, they also had the good lobster tail and beef wellington. This selection should have been three different nights. The Wellington was awful. Gooey crust (actually not a crust, just a mush), small portion. Not at all well seasoned. More like a roadside diner roast beef. We did not try the daily offered sirloin steak and probably should have tried it.

 

By Friday, everyone at the table who had sailed Celebrity before stated disappointment with the dinner meals.

 

We are platinum with NCL and now see X to have come down to this menu level. At least for this Reflection cruise.

 

BTW, the breakfast buffet was every bit as good as ever and better than NCL. Lunch buffet very ordinary.

 

 

 

 

Celebrity Horizon 1995 Southern Caribbean

Carnival Legend 2005 Caribbean

Disney Magic 2008 Caribbean

NCL Jewel 2010 Western Caribbean

NCL Pearl 2012 Western Caribbean

Carnival Pride 2013 Bahamas

Carnival Glory 2013 New England & Canada

Celebrity Summit 2014 Bermuda

NCL Getaway 2014 Caribbean

Celebrity Summit 2015 Bermuda

NCL Spirit 2016 Caribbean

NCL Breakaway Bermuda 2016

Celebrity Reflection W Caribbean 2017

Just off Reflection. It was simple for me to get my dvd player connected and working. I have a Sony portable DVD player which only has AV outputs. I connected these to my AV to HDMI converter box. I removed the Celebrity HDMI plug on the back of the TV (which was in HDMI port 2) and plugged in my the HDMI cable from my Sony setup. Voila!

Works instantly and perfectly. To go back to ship's tv, just reinstall the Celebrity HDMI.

Jelayne

That's the advice I was looking for...thanks a bunch.

I have seen several discussions that discounts to the specialty restaurants are available after boarding.

How? When?

Is this something posted at the restaurant or listed in the daily?

Does one ask for discounts?

Obviously, we have no clue, so advice will be appreciated.

We will cruise Reflection in two weeks.

As I understand, many of the liquor stores ask for or require cash. Do they allow cash and carry? Can you take your purchase with you to the cruise ship?

How about the local rums that may not be duty free?

Thanks for any advice.

BB

NCL Breakaway What the forums were saying

 

DW and I, seniors, cruised NYC to to Bermuda 9/25. This cruise put us into Platinum. I spent a lot of time reading the boards before departing and found so many of the complaints to be generally justified. We don't like these mega size ships, and I think most of the expressed dissatisfactions are due to ship size.

 

1. The Pool. About the size of a living room. For 4000 people, a joke. Consistently overcrowded, both in the water and outside it.

For this reason I made sure to book a spa balcony. While this does not have a swimming pool, the indoor Thermal Suite does have a warm pool with air jets and other bubbly features. Also a separate and warmer hot tub. Nice lounging chairs, robes, mens and womens locker room with showers, hair dryers, hot and cold drinks. Quite a treat and often not crowded.

 

2. Slow dinners: We took our dinners about 6:30 all nights. Specialty and complimentary dining rooms took 1.5 to 2 hr for dinner. Lots of waiters and bus people, but seemingly slow out of the kitchen. All staff was very busy looking. One dinner at Taste was particularly slow. One night at Manhattan, I looked around and found more than 50% of tables with seated patrons to have no food at all. At both 7 and 8 oclock people were waiting and waiting.

 

3. Lack of outdoor seating for early morning coffee. This ship had no aft outside tables. The rear of the buffet was indoors. The only outside place to have coffee and watch the sun rise was deck 8, the promenade. Coffee was available inside at one of the bars if you were lucky to spot it early in the cruise. On this deck, you need to choose port or starboard because it does not wrap around. Pretty nice area with comfy seating. But may be wet in the early am.

 

4. Atrium too small. Very true.

 

5. Uptown Grill is now gone, replaced by a pay for food Margaritaville. That leaves OSheehans as the only place to eat other than the buffet and sit down restaurants. And OSheehans is great.

 

6. Casino: BAD video poker pay tables. Slot machines were the tightest we have experienced in our 11 cruises. We were not able to find a single penny machine that kept us going enough to be fun.

 

7. Embarkation in NY. Lucky we got there very early and were ushered to a seating area. A thousand people spent 1.5 hour standing in line waiting for boarding to begin at 11:25

 

8. Breads: At no sit down restaurant did we get warm bread or anything interesting. Same 3 items every night. Nothing better than at a neighborhood diner.

 

Bill B

 

Celebrity Horizon 1995 Southern Caribbean

Carnival Legend 2005 Caribbean

Disney Magic 2008 Caribbean

NCL Jewel 2010 Western Caribbean

NCL Pearl 2012 Western Caribbean

Carnival Pride 2013 Bahamas

Carnival Glory 2013 New England & Canada

Celebrity Summit 2014 Bermuda

NCL Getaway 2014 Caribbean

Celebrity Summit 2015 Bermuda

NCL Spirit 2016 Caribbean

NCL Breakaway Bermuda 2016

DW and I, seniors, liked the gardens very much. Easy access from one of the buses. Free. Nice walk with beautiful flora and some fauna. Went in 2015 and will do again Sep 2016 :)

As you enter the terminal, an NCL rep will look at your paperwork and direct you to the correct Latitudes line.

The NCL Spirit, January 23-30 from Port Canaveral to Key West etc

 

Here are some of our observations, not yet mentioning ports of call. If I get a round tuit, I will post more,

 

DW and I, seniors, traveled I-95 from New Jersey to Port Canaveral. We like to get off 95 in Delaware, taking 301 and 50 through Kent Narrows, across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and reconnecting with the Beltway at Washington. This bypasses the heavily congested section of I-95 for very nice roads and a loss of just a few minutes drive time. Also saves on the massive Delaware toll.

 

We stayed at Days Inn Cruise Port West, adding the park and cruise package (actual transportation is provided by a contracted separate company). We noted lots of poor Days Inn reviews from other travelers and our stay was not without issues. We stayed two nights (in order to visit Kennedy Space Center which was not far at all). There was no Wi-Fi for most of the two days. Three front desk clerks kept saying that maintenance would reset the router, but I do not believe this was the problem. The shuttle service to the port was excellent. We elected the 9:45 van and were at the ship in 20 minutes. The return trip was not nearly so good. Since we were among the few staying at that Days Inn, there were no regular shuttles returning. Eventually I elected to get on a nearly full van going to the airport (by myself). I was dropped off at the Days Inn, retrieved my car and returned to pick up DW and luggage. It took about 1.5 hours to get on the road after disembarking. Breakfast was with 1/2 price hotel vouchers at the on site restaurant. A very good cooked to order meal which came to less than 10 bucks total for the two of us.

 

Kennedy space Center: $46 each for seniors, plus a hefty $10 parking! This is a great trip and though we had visited two years earlier we came again to see space shuttle Atlantis. A memorable and moving experience, as is the entire Space Center visit.

 

NCL Spirit boarding: With our Latitudes Gold, we were among the first to board at 11:30, proceeding immediately to the buffet, Raffles. Seating here is insufficient for popular eating times, so our priority boarding was a good benefit. Spirit is a small ship, older and supposedly built for the Asian market and perhaps explaining the small accomodations. It is in beautiful condition and well serviced. Room steward, servers and other staff were friendly and attentive.

 

Balcony room 9550: smallest balcony we've ever had. For storage, there was one small set of drawers and some shelves in the closet. Luckily we brought some extra hangers and by hanging as much of our clothes as possible, the provided storage was satisfactory. There was a tiny desk, totally unsatisfactory in size. Otherwise the room was about normal in layout with one couch for sitting. There was one 110 V outlet at the desk. Using our international converters I was able to use the 230 V outlet as a second power source. One outlet got our power strip which had USB ports, and the converted 230 to 110 got a standard extension cord for use bedside. Beds were quite firm so the foam pad that our steward added made it comfortable enough.

 

Bathroom: as described by others, small but okay. Shower stall was fine. Not quite enough room for the classic towel drying of your back. Hairdryer a bit slow to get hot enough but adequate. BIG PROBLEM! Our bathroom had a foul smell for the entire trip in spite of efforts by room steward and other maintenance people to correct this. We noted the same bad odor several other places midships. Customer service people apologized but that's all they did.

 

Raffles buffet: Pretty much as expected. We had breakfast here every day. About 5 omelet stations. Good variety and quality. Tough seating after about 8am. We had lunch here several times, and it was also good. A carving station was average except for the excellent whole suckling pig one day. No smoked salmon or herring available for lunch (only breakfast). There was self serve soft ice cream and a separate ice cream station featuring one hard ice cream flavor and one sherbet daily. Had prime rib at dinner here one night (only).

 

MDR: Windows and the Garden Room are the two main dining rooms, the latter allowing shorts and t shirts at dinner. Same menus, similar decor and the same service. Lobster, surf & turf and prime rib available only with stiff up charge...they call it a la carte. This continues the NCL nickel and diming behavior. We ate here every night and found enough good choices. The main dining rooms featured a strip loin roast which was their substitute for prime rib, and it was quite good. But overall, the NCL menus are, in our opinion, a small step down from a year ago. Service in the MDRs was expectedly excellent.

 

UBP: We got the unlimited beverage package as a perk, not realizing that NCL would add a service charge. Not a gratuity based on the actual drinks you ordered, but 18% per person on their "value" of the package. Since my wife does not drink alcohol, her 13.50 per day add on was just plain gouging. On the plus side, service of drinks was excellent and a large selection of top shelf booze was available. One could get a "double" of anything. I usually carried one cocktail into the MDR, and when seated, ordered a Prosecco (sparkling) and a red wine to have during the hour long dinners. This way there was no need to send the waiters for drinks but once.

 

Entertainment: Theater shows were up to the high NCL standards, particularly Elements--their biggest production--and World Beat. The performers were amazingly multi-talented. Cruise Director Giovanni outstanding in every way. He usually ran Name That Tune, which was a lot of fun, but got overly crowded at Champagne Charlies. Should have been run in the big Galaxy of the Stars lounge. Trivia was also fun. There was a general lack of lounge musicians during the daytime. With cool and cold conditions outdoors on several days, listening to the band at the pool was not much of an option. Karaoke in Henry's pub was fun but this venue is tiny, as are most of the other lounges on this ship. The NCL 6 member band played not only for the theater shows but also in the Galaxy lounge. They were extraordinarily good (but boy could a vocalist make this very great entertainment).

 

Television: in room programming was pretty skimpy as expected. Unfortunately, as compared to other cruise ships we been on, we could not use our DVD player with the TV. All external sources were blocked and could not be unblocked. As mentioned, lounges and bars were quite small and not very good for watching US football. Only the lounging area adjacent to the casino provided decent seating for the televised playoff games.

 

Misc: 4 hot tubs at main pool, 2 aft near kids pool. Decent work out room. Deck 13 had a walking/jogging path. Good walking, shuffleboard, ping pong and chairs available outside on other decks. Galaxy of the Stars was a large lounge and observation area forward. Good seats got full early when approaching a port. The outdoor patio at Raffles was a good spot for early morning coffee, watching the sun come up.

 

All in all, Spirit rates next to the bottom of the cruise ships we have taken, mostly due to small size of venues and room features. We loved Jewel and Pearl. Getaway ranks lowest on our list.

 

Celebrity Horizon 1995 Southern Caribbean

Carnival Legend 2005 Caribbean

Disney Magic 2008 Caribbean

NCL Jewel 2010 Western Caribbean

NCL Pearl 2012 Western Caribbean

Carnival Pride 2013 Bahamas

Carnival Glory 2013 New England & Canada

Celebrity Summit 2014 Bermuda

NCL Getaway 2014 Caribbean

Celebrity Summit 2015 Bermuda

NCL Spirit 2016 Caribbean

Another reply. The outlets at the desk have notes posted "no hair dryer". As I mentioned, the bathroom hair dryer was ok. It heated up gradually to a satisfactory level and generated enough air flow. Still not equal to a high wattage dryer set at max.

You only need an international converter if you want two separate 110V outlets at the desk. I used the 230 to 110 converted outlet with a long extension cord for my CPAP. I used the other standard 110V for our power strip. Gave us lots of flexibility.

Debarked Jan 30. Had 9550 balcony room. Ugly, sewage smells in bathroom all week in spite of attempts by staff to fix this. We also noticed the same bad odor midships in several hallways.

 

Do bring some hangers. Extremely limited shelf and drawer space. You will need to hang as many garments as possible. Then ok for storage.

 

Tiniest balcony we have ever had. With that said, the ship is beautiful with great service and staff. Main dining rooms excellent. No lobster or prime rib without extra cost.

 

We brought an international electrical converter set. This gave us two usable outlets at the tiny (did I say tiny?) desk. At one of the outlets I connected a power strip which also had USB ports. Very handy.

 

WE found the bathroom hair dryer to be adequate.

 

A separate post will follow

Remember. You are not paying 18% gratuity on each drink you have. You are paying 18% per day on the NCL calculated "value" of the unlimited drink package. Somewhere around 70 or 80 bucks times 18%. If you only had two drinks one day, you are paying a fortune for those 2.

Now, does it make sense to add more tip for the servers???
Only if you want a bunch of drinks at fast service.

Seems to me this is the typical NCL nickel and diming going on...at the expense of the staff.

This is our first time sailing on NCL. We are sailing in the Breakaway in February and got the Ultimate Beverage Package included as part of the deal. I am reading the FAQs and I see this now

"What are Promotional Service Charges?

 

 

If you select one of those choices, a promotional service charge will be added to your final amount due. "

 

Your account will be charged 18% on the NCL "value" of the beverage package. Not a gratuity on the actual drinks you receive. So if you have a day with one alcoholic drink you will be charged a lot for "gratuities". You might as well have as many and as expensive drinks as possible. Because you are paying up front for having the max.

Yes you can.

 

I suppose the only other issue would be quality. If I'd spent that money on the a la carte option then I'd hope that there was a difference in quality.

 

Personally, I haven't actually seen or tasted either dish, so can't comment on whether that's the case or not.

 

Spirit does not have OSheehans, as far as I can tell.

Does any of the other complimentary venues have the smaller Prime Rib (if the MDR does not??)

We have sailed several times on NCL. Last just over a year ago. Seems there are changes in the main dining room. Please let me know which of these is true:

1. The only extra cost dinner entrees are whole lobster and surf and turf

2. If they have prime rib, this one is not extra charge

3. I can still order two entrees at no extra

 

If number 3 is false, I see the continuing NCL reputation for nickel and diming continuing. For example, I was pretty upset to see that my unlimited drinks package charges a gratuity on the "value of the amenity", not on the actual useage. My wife does not drink alcohol, so this really nickels and dimes this amenity.

We will take NCl Spirit to the Caribbean next week and I have a question.

 

If we wind up with local currency (Jamaica or Grand Caymen for example), can we convert back to USD aboard ship? Or use it in the casino?

Wondering if a dvd player is part of the furnishings in a Spirit balcony room.

If not, can one be requested?

 

I presume electrical outlets are particularly scarce in the cabin ??

We have a cruise on Spirit in Jan from Port Canaveral. On other NCL ships we have always enjoyed the sing along piano bar entertainment. Anything like this on Spirit these days?

I understand that the Bev Package does not include the gratuity. Is the grat applied to each drink ordered, and no more than that?

So when I look at my account, the statement will show the tip applied only to purchases...not a flat amount for the perk???

 

I'm worried

Our booking for Spirit includes a Beverage Package, but DW does not drink alcohol. On our last Celebrity cruise, the beverge package included lots of specialty coffees, lemonades etc. My take on NCL is that this kind of stuff is NOT included.

We would love suggestions for alcohol free drinks, hot or cold, that can be gotten with the Bev Pkg.

In dining rooms. At bars. At other venues.

Thanks in advance.

Bill B