wolft927

We have sailed Haven many times and Trying the YV for the 1st time mainly becaseu of price. Wife and I are never in the Cabin, so we are gving the YV inside a try for only $3200 total. I will say I love the Haven and we have sailed in the Forward facing, Aft Facing and the 2 bedroom Haven suites and they are amazing. But we never spend alot of time in the cabin at all. I think the YC pool ad deck is much nicr then the Haven

6 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

The only line that has me interested in cheating is Virgin Voyages, they look heaps fun and innovative. They’re here for the Aussie summer so would try them over the Spirit that NCL sends down. 

We are wanting to try VV but damn, not able to get a drink package is stopping us. The ships look amazing as we really dont care about the ports of call anymore. 

My Favorite so fat was the Joy, been on the Escape and Breakaway as well. Joy's SPice H2O has much more covered bar area then the escape. Either way as long as I am on a ship I am happy. 

We booked 4 days out when our 9 night NCL out of Port Canaveral got cancelled due to a Hurricane. We ended up on the Symphony of the Seas on a Saturday. The only down side was we could not select our dining time and got stuck with anytime dining which we did not want as we prefer not to have to wait for a table. also as we drive to the port we had to book a hotel last minute for the night before which was an issue as most hotel were booked solid. Ended up staying the pre cruise night by the airport which we always prefer to be across from Biscayne marketplace. 

On 2/12/2024 at 10:42 AM, ditzygrly said:

 

On 2/13/2024 at 1:24 PM, scottca075 said:

 

Book something now that is fully refundable and keep checking.

Exactly, We booked the Holiday Inn Downtown for our September cruise. We are staying 3 nights before our sailing, but now I am looking at other places close by, and will just cancell and rebook if we find something better. 

So, Cruise bookings across all lines are at an all time high. So if the current offerings are creating this type of demand i do not see the cruise lines changing there offerings. I remember working in las vegas during the financial colapse of 2007. Casinos laid off so many positions and never refilled after the recovery becasue the job could be done with less people.

49 minutes ago, Morgsmom said:

Never heard of someone outside of YC being able to upgrade once on ship.  Going from YIN to Balcony is possible at times.

We will try to go from YIN to balcony but honestly not for a crazy price. Again we got the YIN for our cruise in September on the Seascape for $3200 total. the Balcony was about $5300. So would be willing to spend about another $1k total for the balcony but thats about it. 

18 minutes ago, MNcruisingcouple said:

 

For some, I can totally see this being an issue.  We were concerned too.  We had $900 in bar tab/onboard credit for the 7 days and had to work to spend it.  If craft cocktails, better variety in liquor & wine are important to you, VV is miles ahead of NCL.

Honestly My wife and I are pretty much michelpbe ultra drinkers. Would love to know the average price of Beer on board. Also how did you obtain $900 bar tab, for a 7 day voyage looks like you only get $300 per cabin

My wife and I (44 and 41) want to try Virgin, but the only thing that is holding us back honestly is the open bar we get with NCL. When we cruise the wife and I take full advantage of the open bar. This would increase our cruise price dramaticlly with Virgin. If they had an unlimited drink package that would help alot. 

I agree, No need to worry about a shuttle provided by the Hotel. Simply call an Uber or a Taxi. We have stayed several times at YVE and other hotels and takes no time at all to get a ride and be at the terminal. 

We were on the Norwegian Escape and I can tell you that we had a 9:30 to 10:00am arival time assigned and we got to the Garage about 9:15 and the garage did not open until about 10:15. First time we have ever had to wait to enter a garage at either port canaveral or miami. 

We always cruise out of Florida pretty much so our go to depending on weather for me is shorts and usually a t-shirt of tank top (usually matches my wife cruise theme) and for my wife its shorts and a tank top. Last matching tank top said " Here to get Ship Faced and a little Nauti" 

So my wife and I (41,44) Bring many Bathing suites. I usually bring about 4 and my wife brings about 5. Different styles for on the ship then when going ashore. Wife tries to make sure the bottoms have more coverage when we are on the ship and less coverage when ashore at a beach. 

23 minutes ago, CMOTO said:

WOW! I wonder if I get to keep the whole can since if i have to pay for it all.  Seems kinda silly that the alcohol is included but not the other when the whole drink wouldn't be over the 15 dollar limit.

Thanks for the answer!

Red Bull is very expensive even at cost. The liquor is pennies, verse at cost I believe redbull is a little over a dollar a can. 

7 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Tito's is included, energy drinks are not. You pose an interesting question.

 

You will be charged for the entire price of the Red Bull as it is not included I. The free at sea program. 

We are not heavy drinkers but is there a limit on how many per day? No limit, 2 drinks per card about every 5 minutes.

How does this is the free-style dining?  We just decide which dining room and just walk in? Yes, There are several main dining rooms depending on the ship, walk up when you want to. Peak times sometimes will have a short wait. 

We also have two specialty dining options.  Do we reserve now or is it too early? Reservations can be made 120 days out from sailing, Haven cabins can make reservations out 125 days

Reading different posts trying to get a feel for the ship.  We have 6 ports and won't book an excursion except for maybe one or two.  We also have $50 credit for shore excursions per person.  I'm sure that's just for one right?  So I have Cruised the Breakaway several times and it is one of my favorite ships. Love the Layout of the ship. The $50 shore excursion credit is only for the 1st person in the cabin, not for all. 

Parking at the Manhattan terminal?  Cost?  Reservation required?  Only thing I can say is I believe Manhattan has one of the most expensive parking out of any cruise terminal. Check the NCL forums or look up online for daily rates. 

Can you let us know the itinerary. 

So I will say I was on the Escape less then a month ago and our experience was completely opposite yours. As far as Tortola docking at 6am? Pretty sure you knew this prior to booking. Weather is out of anyone's control. As for the smoking there is a midship smoking area at the bar above the pool deck as well as at Spice H2O. Also wanting to be compensated more because of weather? That is crazy. All cruise lines in your cruise contract stipulates itineraries can be changed and ports can be dropped for any reason. Complaining that elevators were full is also insane...cruise lines cant control that passenger traffic of an elevator. We were on the Escape less then a month ago and found that the ship was fantastic. Food was excellent never any issues with reservations (but then again was not 14 of us). As far as the ropes course and the slides, looks like you had windy weather and rough seas if the ship was moving that much as you claim, so think it would be smart to have people going on the ropes course 20 stories up while the ship is moving in windy conditions? Maybe you should stick with land based vacations. 

Thanks for the info. Currently there are 14 YC cabins available for our September sailing so almost positive they will sell out prior, but i will check after final payment and see if there is a price drop and maybe just upgrade the old fashion way by paying outright. 

If price point is there we will go out of Jax, instead of Miami or Port Canaveral. We prefer the Breakaway and BReakaway+ class, but would be a shorter drive to JAX. 

I would like to know as well, we have a YC inside booked for September, and once on board i will try and upgrade to a balcony YC cabin. Anyone ever have luck with that?

38 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

There’s a formula out there somewhere.  I don’t know if he still posts here but there was a fellow who was someone I believe an engineer on a cruise ship who posted technical details in these theads!  He quoted it, but it‘s been a while ago.

Ok, I worked onboard Cruise ships for years, and was wondering if they are also putting into fact the Life rafts and not just the lifeboats. 90% of the crew will be assigned a life raft not a lifeboat. 

According to Cruise tracker the breakaway is under way using engines. I would say no. Also Breakaways webcam does not look like they are docked. The international Pier has 2 ships docked looking at the live webcam

Alright, so I am wondering where we are getting the total lifeboat capacity number from? Can anyone assist?

There is also a Hyatt across from the Convention center, its a 5 minute walk to the cruise terminal. Right next to parking. 

The Joy is a great ship! We were on her last April and Had a blast. Embarkation at NCL new terminal in Miami is pretty easy. Drop off your luggage, park your car (if driving) and then walk into the terminal. The Joy has several water slides which is nice for the kids as well as us grown adults. Will you be getting the free at sea package?