NickinNY

Part 3

SEA DAY

After the cruise we were split on whether we liked having the one sea day on the itinerary be the first full day. On one hand it was nice to be able to explore the ship, and have a relaxing vacation day. On the other hand having it on day one meant that the rest of the itinerary was back-to-back ports, and again we chose this trip because we wanted to explore each port/city, so the rest of the trip would be very busy.

I should also note that my perspective on this itinerary is from the Barcelona embark/disembark angle. Those of you who embark/disembark in Civitavecchia may have a very different perception of this cruise.

As I mentioned before, the Epic is a good size. Easy to get around, easy to get your bearings. The layout is intuitive and user-friendly for the most part. For you adults, Spice H2O is a nice area. I know, the name makes it sound like a night club. But during the day it's lovely. You get the men of a certain type with the dress shirts un-tucked, the too-short shorts that are en vogue these days, smoking cigars, drinking vodka tonics at 10am, and trying to prove they have more money than all the other guys like them. But they're more amusing than annoying. But there are snacks in Spice H2O, and a bar, and plenty of loungers, albeit in a stadium seating setup. The pool is not really big enough to be called a pool - but that's been true of every pool I've seen on a cruise ship. The big screen is a little dated, with some dead pixels here and there. But from distance the picture is pretty good. You access the sports deck near the bar, so it's not like there's a doorman keeping kids out of there, which probably keeps the party from getting out of hand. They were playing the big World Cup matches on the big screen, and letting kids watch as well, so that cut down on the "adults only" facet of Spice H2O.

TIP: As you're walking toward the buffet on 15, there are two elevator tubes. The one on the left (as you're walking toward the buffet) goes to the Haven. The one on the right goes to the quiet area. And anyone - even us non-Haven mortals - can access it. You don't even need a key card. If the pool deck is bananas, or full, or you just want a break, go check the quiet deck out. I heard, but didn't see, that you can get bar servers up there, too (although it wouldn't be the end of the world to go down to 15, get another round, and then go back up). There are bathrooms up there, and plenty of loungers wrapping around the front of the ship. It seems like most people don't know about this, and part of me wants to keep it that way because it helps it stay quiet. So maybe forget I just told you about it??

TIP: On our cruise anyway, the left side of the buffet (as you're looking at it when you walk up to it on 15) was usually far less crowded than the right side. And the food repeats from one side to the other.

TIP: There are restrooms on 15 just outside the buffet, the men's behind the towel stand and the women's behind Waves bar. They are pretty big, and best of all the outside wall of the bathroom is a window to the outside of the ship. If you were the only one in there, you could just leave the door to your stall open and enjoy a lovely vista while doing your business. Of course you'd run the risk of offering a less-than lovely vista to someone else coming into the bathroom...

TIP: During breakfast and lunch, there is supplemental seating for the buffet downstairs in La Cucina. You walk around the buffet to the fore-most part of the seating area, and then there is an internal stairwell down to La Cucina. The couple times we went down there it was much quieter and less-crazy than the buffet, even at peak meal times.

We spent a little time in the casino. Played some blackjack, even ended up entering the blackjack tournament. We found a really good dealer - fun, kept it moving. Ended up down a little, which is a win in the context of my lifetime casino career.

The shopping on the ship was okay. Not a huge variety of shops. Typical things for sale. Typical prices for a ship.

The fitness center is massive. Tons of options, plenty of each major machine type, really nice facility.

Did a walk through of the spa. It looked like a spa.

UBP. My wife and I did this big analysis of the a la carte drink prices, versus the unlimited beverage package. We ultimately decided that we'd be off the ship so much that we would struggle to hit the per-drink value of the UBP. Our friends just said to heck with it, and got the UBP. You read all the same reviews I have that talk about the bartenders turning a cold shoulder to people on the UBP and whatever. I didn't notice that at all. But, when we bought drinks a la carte, what we did notice was that if you took the time to chat with the bartender for a minute, or just smile, or be friendly, they were as likely as not to even ask for your key card. Now if you walk up there and set your key card on the bar, sure they'll take it and swipe it.

TIP: But if you keep your key card in your pocket, be friendly, and order your drink...maybe half the time they wouldn't charge you at all.

The other thing our friends realized was that they could order two drinks at a time with the UBP. So, and I know this was a flagrant violation of international maritime law punishible by death or at least a good keelhaul, they ended up getting most of our drinks for us. We wouldn't be obvious about it, at the bar, or with a waitress. But they'd go up to a bar, order two drinks, and then walk away with them. Then we'd meet up with them around the corner or whatever and they'd give us one of the drinks. So:

TIP: We said if we ever do a NCL cruise again, the way to do it is one couple would get the UBP, and the other wouldn't. But the couple that didn't would just pay the couple that did half of the UBP charge. Then everyone gets to benefit from the UBP at half the price. I know you're not supposed to do this. I'm sure I've angered the Norwegian Gods just by typing those words. But NCL should tighten it up with their own barkeeps if they're that touchy about it. If you choose the UBP as a free bonus it doesn't really matter. But, if you're paying for the UBP, I don't see a reason why all of the adults in your party should pay the full amount. Or why any of the adults should, for that matter.

The iConcierge app stinks. Two complaints with it. First, the activities list doesn't sync up with the time of day. So every time you open it, you have to start at the top of the list, with the activities that happened first thing that morning, even if it's 8pm. That's a minor gripe. The other thing is that the texting feature is A) too expensive at $10/device, and 2) doesn't push notifications so you only know if you get a text if you have the app open. I realize it's NCL's prerogative to profit from as many different things as possible. But charging me to allow me to communicate more efficiently with the other members of my party so that, oh I don't know, we can arrange to go do something that NCL might profit from ("Let's all meet at the shops and buy expensive watches!") is ridiculous. First time on NCL, we paid for it. Wish we hadn't.

Moderno

We spent our 2nd (of 3) specialty dining credit at Moderno. Where Cagney's was blah, Moderno was fantastic. At the a la carte price it would be a spectacular value. The servers were fun and engaging. They didn't rush us at all. If you've been to one of the Brazilian churrascaria places in the world you know the drill: the salad bar is a trap. They want you to fill up on the high margin stuff so that you don't eat as much of the low margin stuff. It's a dirty trick. Get those cheese rolls out of my way; there's unlimited bacon wrapped filet on SWORDS! But actually the salad bar here was really good. One in our party doesn't eat red meat and she raved about the choices at the salad bar. The pineapple was also a big hit with our group. We ended up returning to Moderno later in the cruise for our final specialty dining package meal.

The Epic handled a sea day really well. By that I mean we didn't feel like sardines packed in despite the fact that everyone was on board. And they had tons of activities, and a fun vibe all day.

Part 2

EMBARKATION

The BCN cruise port feels like a typical cruise port, at least the ones that I've seen. It's big, industrial, a little imposing, couple of big boats hanging around.

We had taken taxis from our friends' flat, and my family got to the port first. our driver ended up dropping us off at the wrong terminal, but it was a 5 minute walk to the NCL terminal Honestly, after four days walking up and down the hills of Barcelona in the heat, that was nothing.

When you walk up to the processing area (and we got there about noon) outside the terminal there is a taxi line drop-off/pick-up area in a big lot, an area with temporary tents set up where the porters are doing their thing, and then a snake line to get into the terminal to then go through security. There was a super long line from the taxi stand with what looked like a guy directing people from the head of the line to the porters' area. Since we had come from a different area than the taxi stand line, we weren't sure if we were supposed to go get in the line by the taxi stand. But a porter came up to us and started doing the thing with the bag tags, so, no line. I honestly don't know if we cut the taxi stand line or not - but if we did, then it was not intentional and I apologize to anyone we cut in front of.

TIP: Have your taxi drop you off on the side of the building and then walk up to the porters' area from around the corner. With all due respect to the people waiting in the taxi stand line, the porters don't care if you wait in that line or not.

From there it's passports, security/metal detectors, then the check-in desk with the paperwork and the room keys and the stateroom charge deposits or credit card swipe. That was a little chaotic, but not moreso than any other cruise check-in I've ever done (except the time we were able to check in for a Disney cruise at the concierge/suite check in desk in Port Canaveral).

Then it's the cheesy group photo in front of the picture of the ship, an escalator, through the terminal, up the gang plank and onto the ship.

There's nothing quite like stepping onto your cruise ship for the first time, right? I can't even remember what deck we boarded onto. It might have been 5, or maybe 6. Doesn't matter. You're so pumped, you're disoriented, trying to stuff your passport back into the backpack you're carrying. There's one voice in your head screaming "BUFFET TIME!" While another voice is shouting "THE BAR! WHERE'S THE DAMN BAR?!" And you're trying to help your daughter get her key card into the pouch on the lanyard before she loses the thing . And your wife is saying "Did you want to go to guest services and change that dinner reservation?" And the crew member greeters are all "Can I help you?" Doing their best to act like they're beyond thrilled to see you even though they just got rid of the last horde of goobers a couple hours ago. But you don't really know what you want help with more than any other thing at that moment and you also kind of want to look like you know what's up, plus you're a guy so asking for directions is anathema to your psyche in the first place so you just ignore them and cram into an elevator and hope no one sees that you're sweating. It's a great moment in life.

But what I don't want to lose sight of is that, overall, the embarkation process was very easy. It was reasonably well organized, definitely well-staffed, and it moved fluidly. No complaints about the process at all. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and use your head. Understand the steps that you'll have to go through, and remember that you'll have a whole week on the ship. If this part of the process takes 5 or 10 minutes you'll still have more than enough time for the Mr. Sexy Legs competition.

THE SHIP

Aesthetically the Epic is a lot prettier inside than it is from the outside, in my humble. And it's a good size. We were on Royal's Allure of the Seas last summer and that ship is massive. The Epic is big enough to feel like an adventure, but you can still get from one end to the other, plus up or down 10 decks in a reasonable amount of time. Sure there are choke points that got jammed up during peak times, but that's been the case on every ship I've been on. It's not shabby by any means, but it's not sparkling clean perfection like the Disney ships, and it doesn't feel as new as the Allure did. But I couldn't complain about the condition of the ship at all.

TIP: They only want you to access deck five via the escalators from deck six, midship. They have the main stairs blocked going from six to five (unless they're using the lower decks in port). Once you know this it's not really a problem. The escalators are located right in the middle of the casino just past O'Sheehans. So, if you're at sea, you will have to go through the smoke in the casino to get to five. But that's not a deal breaker to me (and I don't smoke). It's a little strange only in the sense that a lot goes on on 5, but it is what it is.

Stateroom

As mentioned before we were in a family mini suite on deck 12, aft. It was right by the main stairwell, and two decks directly below the spa. It was a great location. Easy access to everything (we used the changing rooms in the spa as backup for toilet and showers) above us. Not too far from the action below and fore of us.

I know people are generally split on the staterooms on the Epic. We loved ours. Three sleeping surfaces (including the pullman). Enough space to move around when all three were engaged. No you can't walk two-abreast through the room, but let's be reasonable here. It is a stateroom on a cruise ship. As noted in may reviews TONS of storage. The split bathroom thing wasn't an issue for us, although I admit part of that was our relative proximity to the spa and the bathrooms there. The sink was the only issue. It's just too damn small.

TIP: When turning on the shower, make sure you turn the handle all the way around. Our caught about halfway through. We thought it was all the way around, but it wasn't. This meant that the cold water wasn't coming through. But we thought the shower was broken. So we called and they sent a nice maintenance guy up who was like "Uh, it's working just fine. You just have to turn it all the way on." We felt stupid.

As compared to our room on the Allure, and the Disney ships, we thought this was the best room we've had.

We barely saw our room attendant guy. No complaints at all there, just didn't interact with him much.

Safety drill was normal.

We had a 3-meal specialty dining package, and for our first night we ate at Cagney's. It was fine. Nothing special. Decent value at the a la carte price. Our waitress just couldn't wrap her head around the idea that we wanted to order our starters and then take a few more minutes to decide on our mains. She was kind of pushy and rushed. I wouldn't eat at Cagney's again, especially if I was paying the a la carte price.

We were on the Epic western Med cruise from Barcelona (BCN) departing on July 1, 2018. We're a family of four (am43, af42, g13, g11), and were traveling with friends (am42, af43, g13). None of us had cruised on NCLbefore, although it was my family's 5th overall cruise (3x Disney, 1x Royal),and our friends' 8th overall cruise.

We booked this cruise primarily because of the itinerary, and the Epic being among the larger ships(from all lines) cruising this itinerary, within our price range. We also wanted to try NCL so we could decide which of NCL, Royal, and Disney we wanted to start to build up some loyalty status on.

We were in a family mini suite(#12262).

PRE-CRUISE

It was our first time in Europe as a family. Our kids have done their fair share of traveling, but within two or three time zones of where we live. So, we planned on building in a few days in BCN before the cruise for the jetlag to wear off. When we found out our friends were moving to BCN, the whole thing fell into place.

We live in Rochester, NY. I travel a lot for work. So I was able to use my accumulated miles on United to fly from Toronto (YYZ) (about a 3:30 drive from our house) to BCN, paying only a small amount per ticket (~$100) to use my miles. Based on the fares for our tickets when I checked right before we left, this saved us upwards of $7,000.

TIP: Even though I was able to use my miles, I’m United platinum and we were flyingAir Canada (AC) to Zurich (ZRH), and then SWISS to BCN - the same in reverse on the way home. United, AC, and SWISS are all in the Star Alliance (SA) - in which I am Gold. Like most airports (and certainly all large airports) there are SAGold-designated check in lanes at YYZ’s AC desks. I don’t remember seeing a SA Gold lane for security, but security in Canada is extremely relaxed compared to security in the States. And, while you are able to access the SA Gold-designated airport lounges when flying internationally without extra charge, you are only allowed to bring in one additional guest/family member with you. If you have more than one, there's a per person charge to bring them into the club. Finally, as SA Gold wewere allowed to board with group 2. As United Platinum I'd have been in Group 1 if we were on United flights. In other words, the privileges I would have received as United platinum on United flights were slightly different since we were on AC and SWISS. Not a big deal, but just a head’s up.

TIP: Parking at YYZ is expensive. I found a deal through Parking Panda (app, website) for $10/day that included "valet" service from the lot to the terminal and back. It worked fine. There are less-expensive off-airport parking options, but this had a nice combination of price and features (valet service being chief among them).

AC’s YYZ-ZRH service is very nice. The setup in economy is 3-4-3 for most rows. Two meal services (maybe technically one meal and one snack), and don’t forget wine and beer is gratis on international flights. My wife had requested a GF meal, and they came through on that without a problem. The in-seat entertainment system on our plane was great. Huge array of options including movies, games, TV shows, podcasts, etc. And there was a USB port in the entertainment system.

TIP: So you could charge one thing in the normal plug under the seat, and another thing through the USB port in the entertainment system, at the same time. It was very nice to have my phone and my iPad both remain charged the whole flight.

We went through passport control in ZRH on the way to our connection, which was cool because we got the stamp. One of the bummers about this trip was that, transiting through the EU and then on the ship, we were in a bunch of countries for the first time, but didn’t get passport stamps. The kids were a little bummed about this. The parents, too, TBH. ZRH felt like IAD a little bit going from the international terminal to the other (EU zone?) terminal. It’s a clean airport, very modern. I liked it.

Where Air Canada felt like United or Delta or American in terms of quality and service standards, SWISS felt like Southwest or maybe Allegiant. Not quite Spirit, but sub-JetBlue for sure. Gate agents were brusque and dead-eyed, generally disinterested in being helpful much less friendly. Cabin crew went through the motions with ill-concealed ennui and a hint of contempt for passengers. And both of our SWISS flights (ZRH-BCN & BCN-ZRH) were delayed, which isn’t necessarily the airline’s fault, but just sort of added to the charm. Luckily it’s a pretty short hop from ZRH to BCN. More luckily it’s a stunningly beautiful route, the alps, the Mediterranean Sea, and all.

Upon arrival in BCN we caught up with our luggage, and made our way outside to find a taxi. We kept expecting to have to clear customs (first time EU newbies, remember), and were a little stunned when we were suddenly outside the airport, with nary a customs agent in sight.

I’ll talk about Barcelona at the end, but for now suffice it to say we loved that city. It was great being able to see it with quasi-locals as guides. But it’s far more than just a beautiful Mediterranean metropolis with cool architecture (although it’s definitely both of those things). Anyway, we had four days between landing and embarkation, and that gave us enough time to enjoy the city and work through the worst part of our jetlag.

Was just on the Epic last week, first time on NCL.

We ate at Cagney's and it was fine. Nothing special. Standard steakhouse menu, standard cruise ship quality. It's a fair value if you're doing it a la carte.

The problem (for Cagney's) was that we ate at Moderno the next night. Staff were much more engaging and friendly. The food was of a generally higher quality, and obviously variety. If you've ever eaten at a Brazillian steakhouse you know the drill: the salad bar is a trap to get you full on the high margin stuff before the low margin stuff comes out. Frankly, that wasn't the story at Moderno. The salad bar had some nice options - we had a non-red meat eating person in our group, and she absolutely loved the salad bar at Moderno. We had planned to use our final SDP night at the teppanyaki place, but decided to go back to Moderno instead.

I can't speak for the other options, but I thought Moderno was a great value, a fun time, and a delicious meal.

**Plus the pineapple....oh my goodness the pineapple. On our second night there, we talked about the pineapple so much the dude let us take down a whole one at one time.

Cruise fares, gratuties, excursions, incidentals, air fare, airport parking, transfers, add up to a very expensive vacation, especially when traveling with a family

Everyone's economic situation is unique, so I'm not going to try to tell you a cruise ISN'T getting more expensive to you.

But, just for the exercise of the debate, for a land vacation from north of the Mason-Dixon line to south of the M-D line in winter, you'd still pay for all of those things except the cruise fares. But you'd pay for hotel/accomodations, meals (either a la carte or if you're at an all inclusive that would likely be accounted for in a resort/hotel per night rate that was higher than if it was just a hotel room without meals), and possibly a rental car. Could those things add up to less than the cruise fare? Sure. But not necessarily.

I think the bottom line is that leisure travel costs in general feel like it's at a high point in its cycle. Which, if true, I suppose the silver lining is that the economy must be doing well?

At the end of the day we can't control what they do/the choices they make. If your kid had gone through life and always given you every reason to think they would make good choices on a cruise so you gave them freedom on board, and they ended up making bad choices, that's not on you. That's on them. As a parent you make the best decision with the information you have at the time.

Obviously there are parents out there who don't care about the impact their behavior, and that of their kids, has on the environment around them - and that can be exacerbated in a "closed" environment such as a cruise ship. But by the virtue of starting this thread in the first place it doesn't seem like the OP is one of those parents. But again, you never know, right? That's the point. Telling the OP not to give her kids any freedom - period, the end - is as irrational as telling the OP to control every decision their kid makes.

As a parent I don't want to try to control every decision my kids make. That sounds terribly frustrating and inefficient. If they have earned independence, there's nothing wrong with giving them independence appropriate to their abilities (social, physical, etc). If they stop earning it, don't give it to them. It is absolutely all about knowing your kids....and accepting that doing so doesn't guarantee they'll make the right decisions.

We just stayed at the Renaissance Ft Lauderdale Cruise Port. Very close to the air- and cruise-ports. Completely functional, if not luxurious. Had family of four in a room with 2 queen beds, and no problems. But it was only one night and we didn't really unpack because we were leaving the next morning. Limited food options on foot from the hotel. We found a seafood place for dinner in the yacht mall next to the property, and it was fine. I think there was an italian place in the same mall. So, not a problem, but there weren't a bunch of options to choose from.

I think they had a port shuttle service available, but we called an Uber and it was like $8.

We've had good luck with the Easy Snorkel brand (Amazon).

Famous last words! Even "helicopter parents" don't know everything that goes on with their children. I don't expect you to understand now and hopefully your children will meet your expectations when they become teenagers and you will to continue to "know your kids".

Sounds like your kids gave you a real run for your money.

Thank you for this review. We're sailing this itinerary next July with our tween-age kids, and it will also be our first cruise on NCL. So I'm very keen on what you have to say.

Your kids are at the perfect age to do what they are suppose to do. My daughter was an angel until she was 15. Hope that continues (although unlikely) when they reach 14 and above -- the age where teenagers can become the best kids in the world in front of you and convince you that they are doing everything right ....until they are not....... just something to think about. Teenagers want to hang out with other teenagers and the attraction to the opposite (or same) sex can be overwhelming (those darn hormones).

Yep, we were all teenagers once. Pushing boundaries is part of the deal. This gets back to "know your kids."

I echo what others have said about it being up to you to know your kids and how much independence they can handle.

That being said, here's our experience with this. We have two daughters (currently 12 and 10), and we've been on four cruises with them. Our first cruise (ever) was when they were 8 and 6. Getting on that ship I was interested (but not concerned, per se) about some safety things. Could they get over the railings and fall overboard (they are kids, afterall)? What was the counselor-to-kid ratio in the kids clubs? Things like that. They didn't get any independence that first cruise, outside of the kids clubs, because they didn't have the awareness/weren't able to make the necessary decisions on their own to make it worthwhile for all of us.

We expect our kids to be polite and respectful all the time. They can still be kids and have fun while being polite and respectful. On-board we need to be able to expect that they will be at the appointed place, at the appointed time, that we agree upon. And, in the event something delays them (or us!), we needed to be able to set a fallback plan and then expect them to meet us there.

On our most-recent cruise (July 2017) they were aware and old enough to make those decisions, and so we were willing to give them opportunities to earn independence. It helps that there are two of them and they are going to stay together even if we don'tcare if they do or not. We were on the Allure of the Seas. We agreed that our fallback plan was that, if not everyone made it to the meeting place within 10 minutes of the agreed-upon time, that everyone had to return to the stateroom and meet there. Sometimes you run late, for a reasonable reason, so a 10 minute grace period felt right. And we didn't want to have to carry phones - and in any event, what if someone loses their phone - turning off my phone being one of my favorite parts of going on vacation. But everyone has a room key card, so that makes the stateroom the perfect fallback. Additionally, even though both of our girls are competitive swimmers, one of our rules was that they couldn't go swimming without one of us being on the pool deck. That's not because we think we're better lifeguards than the actual lifeguards on duty, but because we didn't think the crew/other guests shouold have to be responsible for our kids in the event of an accident (and because we'd had an incident with a young boy "pantsing" our girls and other kids in a pool on a prior cruise). I'm not saying I think every parent should act this way, but if your kid is acting like a jerk and/or gets hurt (God forbid) and you're not there, then I will judge you.

Anyway, the first time they wanted to go off on their own we agreed on a place and time to meet up. They actually got there before my wife and I did. So they kept on getting more independence, and of longer duration when possible, the rest of the cruise. This was particularly beneficial because they wanted nothing to do with the kids clubs on this cruise.

Look, let's not pretend like the ability to go on a trip and not have your kids hanging off you the whole time isn't 100% desireable as a parent. Do some parents take advantage of that, and fail to provide enough supervision? Absolutely. But if your kids will conduct themselves more responsibly than some of the adults on board - as measured by other people, not just yourself - why shouldn't they be able to be on their own?

That's what we loved about the kids clubs on our first cruises:

"Daddy can I go to the club again?"

"Oh you mean the place that you love and is safe, that I CAN'T go to? And I could go to that martini making class? Yeah let me think about that for a minute..."

As opposed to the Bataan Death March of the Magic Kingdom??

So yes, know your kids. If they can handle the independence, set reasonable guidelines, and let them determine how much independence they continue to get. If they can't that doesn't mean you shouldn't go on the trip, but I also think it doesn't mean you get to let the crew and the rest of us have to deal with your little barbarians, either. ;)

Old San Juan (OSJ) is a very accessible area - by foot - as long as you don't mind walking and hills, as others have mentioned. If you don't like walking, then stop reading.

Additionally, it is pretty safe, especially during the day.

Previous posters have mentioned the forts - which are both really interesting, affordable, and doable on a shore day. There are a lot of tourist-y shops all over, but also some cool little boutique shops selling more authentic, interesting things. Plenty of places to pop in for a quick bite, a Medalla beer, some mofongo, or just a little AC.

If you have time, make a reservation for a meal at Marmalade (http://www.marmaladepr.com/). It's not cheap, and if you can you'll want to dedicate time for a lengthy meal. But it is my favorite restaurant in the world. The chef is a genius. The staff are wonderful. It's not a boricuan place. It's not a steak and potatoes kind of place. It's not a kale salad wraps kind of place. If you're into food you will be hard pressed to find a better meal in the region at least. And they have great cocktails.

This was a killer review! Glad you both had such a great time. We're doing this cruise, but not until next July. Thank you also for posting the dailies.

For the safe problem, did you call the customer service desk about it?

 

We had trouble with our safe not opening, and they came in less than 10 minutes to fix it. Obviously, not having the safe worked out OK for you. though. I think the safe did not reset.

We didn't want to bother anyone since we were unlikely to use the safe anyway. But if we'd wanted it looked at I'm sure they would have responded appropriately.

Great review! Appreciate you taking the time to do it. Ya'll sound like wonderful cruisers. You set reasonable expectations, appreciate when they're met and recognize when they are exceeded. Enjoy your next cruise on NCL.

Thanks! Frankly my wife and I can't believe that we ended up being cruise fans. But we really like it. As far as expectations, I figure there's no point not taking in all the info on sites like this to get a feel for what will happen. Or, if you don't, then being surprised/disappointed is on you.

Our group: Family of four. Two adults, two daughters (12 and 10).

Prior cruise experience: We had been on three prior cruises,all with Disney, all Bahamian itineraries, all shorter than this cruise. The new itinerary, and trying RCCL were bothattractive to us.

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at about 11:15, andwere on the ship by about 11:45. Thelongest we weren't moving was about 5 minutes processing our paperwork,passports, getting SeaPass cards, etc. It was an incredibly efficient embarkation.

Cabin: 10554 - main bed, sofa sleeper, balcony. We booked less than 2 weeks before sail date,and got a guaranteed room category rate. Given this, we had zero complaints about the room itself. Not having a third (i.e. Pullman) bed wassub-optimal for the kids, but frankly if that's the worst part of the vacationfor them I don't have a lot of (any) sympathy. Yes, it was annoying only having one bank ofthree outlets. No, there isn't anabundance of storage. But it was clean,comfortable, cool, and certainly no worse than the staterooms we'd been in onDisney.

One minor gripe: the safe didn't work. It didn't re-set to allow us to program in acode so that we could lock it, and when we tried it, it emitted a loud,continuous beep/alarm noise for about 15 seconds which we foundunpleasant. So we didn't use it (no bigdeal). But that meant that the safe doorwas just open the whole time - swinging around when the ship moved. We just had to be mindful of it, lest we geta mind full of it when we stood up from the bed, or walked past it. We might not have used it even if it hadworked, so it wasn't a problem, but getting brained by the safe door would havehurt.

Pre-Cruise: Flew to FLL a day early, stayed at theRenaissance. Very close to the airportand the cruise port. Hotel was fine,nothing special, location was the key.

Transfers: Used Uber from FLL to hotel ($14), and from hotelto port ($7). Had a tight connection atthe end of the cruise, so we booked a private transfer with KSA Tours and they were great (pretty sure it was $37 totalfor all four of us).

The ship was incredible. I don't have anything to add beyond what's already been written here(and elsewhere) about the ship. It tooka day or two to get the lay of the land, but that's part of the fun of a shipthis big. Central Park isastounding. We kept saying that, if youwere dropped there blindfolded from a helicopter, you wouldn't necessarily knowyou were on a cruise ship. Amazing.

Activities on board were fun, plentiful, and varied. Ice skating was another mind-warp. I play ice hockey, but I didn't mind that theygave me recreation figure skates (just had to be careful with the toepick). Or that I had to wear ahelmet. It was just so cool to be ableto skate (on surprisingly good ice) on a ship in the middle of the ocean inJuly. My wife participated in the passenger choirdirected by the Mamma Mia director. Mywife and one of our daughters did the flash mob. We did the flow riders. We did trivia (3rd place in progressive, 1stplace in 80s music, thank you very much). I even got out of the casino only $40 in the hole. We did a try scuba diving thing on the ship, that was also really fun.

Could be just our kids, but neither of them wanted anything to do with the kids' clubs. Didn't seem to be any specific thing that was off-putting to them, just didn't care to check them out. We gave our kids a lot of freedom (and they kept earning it, so we kept giving it to them) everywhere but at the pools, so maybe that was "cooler" than going to the kids' clubs?

And of course we ate. Our service team (Syahrihal and Rhandy) in American Icon wereoutstanding. We have always reallyenjoyed getting to know our service team on the Disney cruises, and franklyit's one of the highlights of our trip. These two were great at their jobs, no doubt. But they went above and beyond and I'd liketo think we were a good table for them on this cruise. We found the Windjammer in the evenings to bea fun place to try to stuff a couple more bites of food down. That was the least busy we ever saw it, and had a tremendous selection.

Lots of reviews for Johnny Rockets for breakfast. It's nice that there's no up-charge forit. But my meal there was easily theworst meal I had on the ship. The omeletcame out in about 2 minutes, and you could tell it had just been sitting undera warming lamp for a while, just waiting for me to order it. The potatoeswere dessicated and tasteless. Park Cafewas far better for breakfast, for my taste. EvenPromenade Cafe was better, for my taste. American Icon for breakfast was great - and for lunch, too. I'd recommend giving that a try before JohnnyRockets for breakfast.

We got off at Labadee, Falmouth, and Cozumel. Rented floating mats at Labadee, andotherwise just walked around. Yes, themerchants call out to you. If you don'twant to shop their wares, just say so. It's no big deal. We didexcursions at Falmouth (aqua thrill seekers) and Cozumel (Mayan ruins andbeach). They were both fun, and decentvalues. If I'm on a cruise that doesLabadee again, I'd probably stay on board and hope the line at the FlowRiderswas short or something. If you've beento Castaway Cay, it's got the same setup, but maybe a little nicer thanLabadee.

Disembarkation: With that tight connection back to FLL, weopted to walk off with our bags, early. We left our stateroom at about 7:30, and were off the ship in about 10minutes. And we were far from the firstpeople off. Again, could not have beeneasier.

We did not have a beverage package. None of us is a big soda drinker, and my wifeand I enjoy a few drinks each day on vacation, and a bottle of wine atdinner. So we bought our drinks ala carte, so to speak. It was fine. Every time I wanted a drink I got one. And at the end of the cruise our bar bill wasfar smaller than if we'd gotten the drinks package. The iced tea was a little weak a coupletimes, but most of the time it was just fine. Lemonade, fine. Water, fine. I would have been annoyed having to carry the unlimited soda cup around all the time.

We did MyTime Dining, and it was great. No problems. Just know what you want, and be prepared to ask about it. Like I said, we set up specific dining timesfor each night, in advance. But since webooked so late, we were prepared to not have the times we wanted be availableonline. They were, but I think that'sbecause we wanted to eat early most nights. The couple changes we did want to make (to accomodate shows - and thehigh dive show is incredible) we went to the guest services desk and they tookcare of it.

**TIP** At dinner on the 2nd to last night our servers askedus if we'd be interested in doing a galley tour the next day (sea day, finalfull day on board). The head waiter cameover and told us about it. It started atGrande, and was a guided tour of the galley operation, followed by a specialchampagne brunch. I don't know if thiswas by invitation only, but it was not listed on the Cruise Compass, forexample. And like I said, they broughtit up to us. We didn't even know it wasan option. So we did it. And it was one of the absolute highlights ofthe cruise. We had one of the sous chefsas our guide. The tour lasted nearly anhour, and it was amazing to see such a large operation up close. The dessert chef even let us try one of thecakes he was making. We all could askany questions we wanted along the way. (The guy in charge of rolls for the ship makes 40,000 per DAY!) Then the champagne brunch was excellent. Special printed menu, you sat down to horsd'oeuvres of fruit, cheese, and sushi. Ihad a more-than acceptable beef Wellington. And the whole thing - for the four of us - cost $70 total. It has to be the best up-charge value on theship.

We really had a great time. So many things we wanted to tryor do, that we didn't end up having time to do over a 7 night cruise speaks tothe sheer number of things that you CAN do on that ship.

Maybe the biggest difference between DCL and RCCL that I sawwas that the average crew member on RCCL will absolutely try to accomodateanything you ask for. But, on DCL, thatcrew member will also act like doing so is the thing that gives them the mostjoy in life. It's not that the crew onRCCL were unfriendly. But Disney justgets people who want to embody the Disney servitude thing. At the end of the day, how much is that worthto you? Because, if that's the biggestdifference between DCL and RCCL, then I'm not sure I need to pay the premiumprice for DCL, especially now that my kids are moving out of the Princess andMinnie Mouse stage.

We didn't have any complaints about RCCL or the Allure, orthis itinerary. That being said, afterthree cruises on DCL, and this one on RCCL, we decided to try NCL for our nextcruise.

Our plan is to decide which of those three cruise lines wewant to focus on after that.

**FINAL NOTE** We didhear that there was a small GI distress outbreak on this cruise. Our head waiter mentioned it to us, we got anote in our stateroom on the final night about it, and we noticed theembarkation for the next cruise was delayed until later in the afternoon on theday we disembarked (presumably so they could finish sanitizing). None of our party got sick, or noticed anyoneelse who was sick. They're definitelynot as vigilant about hand washing on the Allure as they are on the DCL shipswe've been on. It's more of a suggestionon the Allure, where you didn't have a choice on DCL when you went into anyplace with food.

FWIW, we disembarked the Allure on July 9, and our head waiter had told us the night before that there had been some GI distress cases on that cruise. We got a notice in our stateroom our final night saying the same thing, and asking us to indicate if any of our party had fallen ill (none did). And when we got off the ship, it looked like the embarkation for the next cruise out (which would have been your cruise) was pushed back to later in the day on the 9th? We assumed that was to finish cleaning and sanitizing.