FlatFooted Freda

Morning all. Countdown on for a Wonder cruise on Sunday. Not that we're excited or anything.

So, we are Wondering (sorry), what's capacity like these days, especially on the Wonder. I was offered a Royal Up - but it was pricey. Makes me think the ship is nearly full. Mid January cruises in past years have not been crowded, but I've heard that in this post-Covid era the pax have flocked back to the ships (especially the newest ship).

Would love to hear your assessments. Thanks to all who answer. 

Hotel Pulitzer on Carrer de Bergara. Nice. Reasonably priced. Near the touristy bits.

Thank you both for taking time to respond. I signed back onto the AON website. When I sign on with name and ref #, I can can only navigate to site asking for more documents, and a link to upload. No other info available, including specifics re: my claim. So I am unsure if it was trip delay vs interruption. This is my first rodeo with travel insurance. Live and learn. Certainly will never use AON again, and will happily share this info with my Cruise Consultant. I will attempt to call AON to get more info. Thank you so much for the link Babr. I will at least try that, and see what they say ( which I bet will take at least a month to respond).

I'll take any help/advice.

Cruised Norwegian in May. Barcelona. Tested positive (2 days) after off the ship. Had booked all thru Norwegian, including travel insurance,  flight & post cruise hotel. Helpful NCL consultant advised to file claim with travel insurance. At that time, we had to present a negative test to board a plane ( American airline) to fly home. Also CDC guidelines were to quarantine for at least 5 days. Spent 6 days in Barcelona , waiting to test negative. 

Once home, I filed a claim with AON. I'm still waiting. 

They allowed only trip interruption claim. So I filed hotel receipts. Max I can get is $500 - a drop in the bucket but I'll take it. Finally in last weeks, AON sent an email requesting a copy of unused airline tickets, which I do have. But they are also requesting a copy of the quarantine order from a government official. That has me stumped. I was in Spain. Regardless of the quarantine guidelines of either country, I was there because I could not board a plane to my home until I tested negative. 

Any thoughts or advice? Anyone been thru this as well? CDC guidelines sufficient?

I love Norwegian, but I seriously doubt I will purchase insurance thru them again.

We were on the Epic in May ( loved it!). We felt we made the mistake of taking the earliest check-in available - 9:30 as I recall. We arrived at that time, and stood in line outside for nearly an hour. Once inside, we were checked in quickly. But then we sat around and waited to be let on the ship. My recollection is on the ship between 11 and 12. At the time, we were not aware that others were boarded from Civ, so did not try to disembark. So can't answer that question. If we had it to do over again, would just take a later embarkation time, and spend more time touring Barcelona. So much to see and do there. We had a suite, and I was not aware that made any difference during embarkation.

Once onboard, went to the buffet ( as usual!). Allowed in staterooms after approx 2 hours. We also made show reservations immediately. No Priscilla yet. Burn the Floor and Quintessence (?- I think),a great cirque-like show in a small theater. Quintessence sold out quickly. My recollection is there were empty seats for Burn the Floor.

There is one sports channel on board, that they will play in the rooms and in the bars. 

Cocovail Barcelona is a great sports bar , in the Eixample area.

It was a great cruise. Enjoy!

On the Epic the week of 5/15 - loved it. We were upgraded to a balcony suite days before sailing. Our wonderful room steward gave us a laundry bag mid week - gratis. So grateful for that, it was really nice. But it was a total surprise. 

Agree w/ Cobra. We didn't see any testing at the pier. We purchased a proctored home test. E-med ( from Abbot) has been the easiest we've tried. They come only in a pack of 6 , so you can use them for pre-flight home  test as well. 

We're leaving early, will be in Barcelona 3 days prior to cruise to do some touring. Haven't registered yet as I read on Cruise Critic we needed to make an appointment. I'm unsure what we'll be doing & when with the 6 hour difference. Can I make an appointment quickly, say for later in the same day?

We're boarding Sunday in Barcelona. When doing check-in, I knee-jerked and took the first available slot at 9 am. But then  realized, I wouldn't mind having more hours walking around Barcelona. 

Would it be a big problem if we show up late? Or, can we change our check-in time 4 days prior to check in ( if yes, how do we do so?)

Thanks all!

Another question please - boarding Sunday, May 15!

How was the weather? Deciding what to pack. All HOT weather clothes, or does it cool off in the evening?

Thanks!

On the Encore in Jan. There is a burger section in the buffet, Garden Cafe. I asked the server for a veggie burger. She ran "backstage" to bring one out, grilled it. Told me to come back in 5 minutes to pick up. It was great. Encore had great food and drink options. One of our favorite ships. Enjoy!

On 4/28/2022 at 7:03 AM, jls pebbles said:

Entertainment is Burn the Floor  Prescilla Queen of the Desert Howl at the Moon Juggeler and Ariel Duo.

Thanks for the info!

Were you able to reserve a show prior to embarkation? If not, any trouble getting a reservation? 

Also, please comment on excursions. Easy-peasy or any sticking points? Did you do any NCL Excursions, and what did you think?

We cruised with HAL in 2018 to Alaska, then Encore in Jan ( Epic in May!). Loved both. The observation lounge on Encore, as previously noted, reminded me of HAL. It would be great for cold weather cruising. It is a wonderful  spot. Encore in Jan had very few kids onboard. Royal Mariner in March had a TON of kids. Spring break, which apparently is all of March, until 1 week after Easter. Won't do that again -  until grandkids ( :  .

As noted above, agree that NCL has more variety in the buffet, esp great Indian section. 

Norwegian does crush HAL in the entertainment category. We loved the Beatles show. 

HAL is more chill.

Having said all that, wouldn't hesitate to cruise either line again. 

On 4/13/2022 at 9:26 AM, hallux said:

This seems to happen a lot.  I don't know how often RCI missed theirs before the pier was built (I was there during the construction and we made the stop).

I agree. Same happened on our Encore cruise in Jan. Have been to Royal's Perfect Day at Coco Cay twice, and it is awesome. I wish Royal would just dock there overnight and let us have 2 days there. Or, a hotel - would pay to stay there. 

16 hours ago, hallux said:

Sail a different NCL ship (Escape, Bliss, Joy and many of the older ones with the Bliss and Joy still having the OL) and they have Spice H2O, an adults-only sun deck with hot tubs.  Encore is the first ship without it, and it seems future ships won't have it either.

Thanks hallux!

We are on the Escape next month. I just did a deck-plan search, and the Escape has Spice H20. Excellent! It's a west-med port intensive cruise, but still another great option for our days. Any one have a guess as to why NCL eliminated on the newer ships?

We've been lucky enough to cruise both in the last year - Royal Odyssey & Mariner, as well as Norwegian Encore. I too think both lines are similar. We found greater differences d/t the age/size of ship ( Odyssey & Encore vs Mariner). 

NCL, IMHO, had better shows/entertainment. I enjoyed that the drink and dining package were thrown in on Norwegian ( and yes, we do pay for that). I wondered however if all those free drinks were not the strongest I had ever had. 

Odyssey was nearly "brand new" when we sailed her in November. It was a beautiful ship. But we thought that was more of a function of it being so new, fresh. We enjoy the variety of the buffets - Odyssey and Encore were very similar. 

Royal has the Solarium, the adults only enclosed pool area. Love those.

Norwegian has the observation lounge - enclosed, open to all, indoor venue - not a pool area. We felt that would be better for an Alaskan cruise, so perhaps for Scandinavian as well. 

But we love both cruise lines, and have both booked in the near future (yay!!)

Just now, FlatFooted Freda said:

Great post. I hope others give this sort of side by side comparison. Will be shopping for Princess opportunities, just to give them a try. 

oops. Wrong quote. Meant for smillerholmes  post. Sorry

3 hours ago, JGmf said:

 

Are you sure it's $320/pp for the gratuities portion of your 'Free at Sea' Open Bar?  Are you sailing on a 16 day trip?  It's usually $20/pp/day for gratuities...which in my opinion, is a true bargain.

 

If you don't have the drink package, drinks are usually in the $10-$13 range.  They advertise a special drink of the day which, I recall, is around $9.

 

Good luck.  Have fun.

 

Great post. I hope others give this sort of side by side comparison. Will be shopping for Princess opportunities, just to give them a try. 

9 hours ago, Toledosfinest said:

We are travelling on a cruise out of Rome on May 11, and we just received an email from NCL on our flights at day 38.  We were also able to pick out our seats with American Airlines.

Ditto. Just received info today (April 6) for May 12 flight to Barcelona. Just picked our seats for AA. So far so good. 

DH & I sailed Odyssey OTS in Nov, Norwegian Encore in Jan, and Royal Mariner OTS in March. DH doesn't drink, so we would never actually purchase the drink package if not included. But  I do, so enjoyed the drink package on Encore. I  usually drink craft beers, so took this as an opportunity to branch out. Most of the drinks were fruity boat drinks. I had a nice glass of vino tinto with the included Italian specialty restaurant. And, as previously mentioned, Encore had a pub with an incredible selection of beer. We've also sailed with  HAL, CCL and Disney, and no other ship I've been on had that kind of variety. 

Also as previously mentioned, I too felt the drinks on the Encore were not that potent. I "felt" the big glass of wine more than any of the other drinks. A few of the boat drinks tasted alcohol-free. Sometimes I felt like it was more of a milkshake package. 

Otherwise, we felt Royal and NCL were comparable. The newer Odyssey was the nicest of the ships. Norwegian had better shows - Choir of Man, and the great Beatles cover band ( the only standing room only on the whole cruise was for the Beatles cover  in the Cavern)(Kinky Boots was a Covid casualty). The food on Odyssey and Encore were comparable, but certainly not on Mariner ( which is headed for dry dock within a year). One difference, as of a month or so ago, was that Norwegian had a larger selection of itineraries. At the time, Royal wasn't sailing in South America, and very few Panama Canal sailings.

We're booked for Epic in May, and Wonder OTS in Jan (much pricier)-we still like them both. Also hope to try Celebrity and Princess before settling on a brand loyalty. Love hearing others opinions!

18 hours ago, Biker19 said:

You should be able to test from anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection - don’t believe there are any location limits on that site. 

We completed the proctored test purchase via RC last week. There is a pre-test questionnaire. They ask home state.  I do recall that they asked us current location - specifically a city( I think) .  Thought that was odd. So makes me wonder if would be allowed if overseas. 

11 hours ago, SherriZ366 said:

My daughter, son-in-law and grandsons are cruising on Mariner on April 9.  I hope that RCI staffs up.  It's the boys' first cruise and they are really excited.  This is prime spring break time and it's a 5 nighter.  Any updates would be helpful. 

We are on Harmony later in the month (April 24) but as it's a week past Easter, I thing Spring Breakers will be tapering off.  

I love to give updates!

My DH prefers Windjammer to MDR. Last night was Italian night. Had the pasta station. Was the best of the food thus far. But the wait was about a 20 minute line. 
Yesterday was also Coco Cay. It was a perfect day. Perfect weather. Docked there with Symphony. I was worried about being able to find a chair/umbrella. But no worries. I was out there by around 9 am and found a first, oceanfront chair in South Beach. Left, then returned with DH in the afternoon. Still no problems finding a nice shady spot. 
FWIW, we cruised on the Odyssey in November. Totally different experience. Big new ship. Possibly my best cruise so far ( this is #6 ). Food/staff all top notch. So few passengers on Coco cay it  was kinda creepy. 
My guess is that the new staff here will get better everyday. The Windjammer had more staff last night to clear tables   They’ll figure it out. It’s still great to be on a cruise☺️

On Mariner now. The kids are back ! Literally. Lots of kids. Haven’t heard a passenger count, but seems busy/full. Seems to be staffing problems. Last night in Windjammer buffet, we saw staff in suit/tie bussing tables. Many staff seem to be brand new English speakers. We wonder if staff has been pulled for the Wonder. 

We Royaled Up in Jan , on the Odyssey. From a balcony suite to a Jr. Suite for $50 each. Directly on website. So worth it. However, only 1400 passengers on that cruise, so likely didn't have much competition. 

The Jr Suites on Odyssey are very nice - 2 bathrooms!

Am bidding for an upgrade on the Mariner in March. 🤞

Hey Kyle. Thanks for the review. Hope to be on the MOTS next month.

Is Windjammers buffet open for dinner? 

I too would love to hear about the shows. Are any cancelled d/t staff out? 

In general entertaining?

Also would love to hear the estimate for number of passengers onboard. 

Enjoy!