butterfly4108

Go to "Explore and Plan"...entertainment should be listed there 😄

It's a little above your price range but our total for 2 nights with breakfast is $663.00 at Hotel Edison on 47th St. right at Times Square. They also have a shuttle available, at a charge of course, that can pick you up from the airport, take you to the cruise port when you need to go, and is available for other things like going down to ground zero (places that are a little far to walk). That price included hotel taxes and fees so it's pretty good for that area!! Good luck, it's tough to find anything affordable in NY! 😄

You have a whole lot of suggestions here so I'm only going to address the seasick portion 😄 Seabands....never failed my husband yet and his seasickness without them is "railhugging" lol....no meds at all. Just accupressure and the ships actually sell them onboard but they can be gotten at your local store for about 8 bucks or even amazon...happy sailing!!

I honestly don't care what anyone wears, what I DO care about is that the same rules apply to all....on our last cruise my hubby saw a few men, well into their 30's so not children, wearing shorts, tanks, and baseball caps turned backwards. Again, I don't care BUT since they did it he decided the next day he could wear his shorts too with a nice polo shirt. I advised against it but....they actually asked him to go put on slacks! So is it whether you have nice legs or not???😂 Just make the rules apply to all...

Yes, mine was stolen by a port worker so it does happen!! Eventually they found it in a closet hidden and I did recover it minus MANY things after the cruise was almost over. Now we use neon "seat belts" on our luggage once we get it from baggage claim at the airport and use locks before handing it over to them. So far so good...we figure if it's not easy to get into they'll move on....

They will let you go at the earlier time...happens to us all the time 😄

Our New Years cruise was so overloading with children running free with no supervision we could barely walk thru without getting (unintentionally) shoved by running pre-teens. One evening while waiting for an elevator there was no less than 8 teen girls sitting in front of them screaming just to see how loud they could get. No one approached them to tell them to stop either. Rather than suffer thru it others like us took to the stairs and we are physically challenged but the pain in our legs was better than the screaming! The worst part was having them run down the halls kicking our cabin doors at 2 a.m. though.... Also saw many children in the buffet without parents (you could tell by their plates, lol...cake and fruit ALWAYS, it was cute) but most seemed well mannered in that area. Still not okay imo...I was always within earshot/eyesight of my girls but then again I'm old 😄. Parenting has certainly changed and the world isn't NEAR as safe as when I had children!!

And I thought I had all the bad luck with luggage, you beat me for sure!!! 😄

It really won't matter, it will arrive after being kicked and thrown a few times looking like someone else's luggage🤣. I've tried it ALL...the best advice I can give you is buy TSA approved locks, especially to place on your luggage before you leave it at the port as well as straps. I've lost many things IN PORT having my suitcases gone thru by port workers. So the airlines destroy it and the port workers enjoy it. The straps and locks make it harder to take the time so they'll find a suitcase easier to access.

Oh my!!🤣 So much for my "safety" plan lol!!!!

The ship is beautiful but our sailing in January was somewhat disappointing as well. They ran out of so many things it was hard to order food or drinks! The entertainment dancers and singers apparently were all sick (totally not NCL's fault) so no shows except the repeated magician and not so funny comedian (he was the only one laughing) and unbeknownst to us it was still winter break in other countries so we were bombarded with screaming kids with no parental supervision (again, NOT NCL's fault), the one thing I do fault NCL for other than the food is the lack of space for people to branch out. Everyone was crammed in the Atrium area and they were playing games in there as well as people lining up for restaurants. Due to overcrowding and lack of space planning people were lined up to eat all the way to the elevators which also made getting anywhere difficult if you weren't in line to eat. We eventually gave up and ordered room service, then grabbed a dessert later in the buffet. The food wasn't that great anyway in the MDR. Cagney's was great however! So does the Breakaway suck? Not really...poor planning on ship layout, and lack of information on our part made it harder for us but we're going on it again in April to give it a fair try... 😄 Our cruise is TA and 16 days so not expecting so many little ones...

We recently had the same experience but also cruise with Celebrity and Princess. The last one 2 months ago was even worse than our NCL experience. I've seen this same complaint across the board for all of the usual cruise lines so I think there's a problem with all of them honestly. Cruising as we knew it seems to be gone, at least for awhile. I'm with you, I have a budget and the luxury lines aren't included in it. I'm just learning to "adapt" and look forward to our port days 😄. I DO bring travel books for our destinations that I spend some time using to plan and explore which has been helpful and enjoyable during down time....

NCL - November 2023, 19 days. Includes all you asked for with the exception of Rhodes...so they'll probably have the same come up for 2024 under Extraordinary Journeys. They usually do but they release them later in the year. I believe we were only able to book ours about a year out. The intinerary was very similar last year as well so it seems this may be a normal route in November for them. Good Luck!!

It seems like all the big cruise lines are in a bit of a mess lately unfortunately...the right hand doesn't seem to know what the left hand is doing, never has cruising been this stressful. We're just learning to expect the worst and hope for the best so we can still see many destinations we might never have seen otherwise. The fact that NCL is (usually) port intensive is why we choose to stay with them as we aren't big fans of sea days. I hope if you choose to give them a try again you have a much better experience!! I would have lost my mind with all that went wrong so I get it! And I'm OLD too 😄

Actually there are certain states that have broken up spring break into two months so for instance my grandkids (high school age) were indeed out of school for a break during your cruise and then they only have one week at Easter. I'm sure Washington isn't the only state doing this now so unfortunately it's luck of the draw....we just don't sail until mid April lol 😄

Once you get your air confirmation you will need to call the airline immediately to request seat assignment. NCL does NOT do that for you. We almost had a problem in January as we didn't realize it was up to US to get our own seats.... 😄

When I click on the restaurant it show "view menu" right below it's name. Obviously it's probably a sample menu but something anyway....

Recently on the Silhouette and paid the 25.00 surcharge for the lobster tail willingly. I just happen to love it so it's worth it to ME....UNTIL IT ARRIVED...it was billed as a 6 oz lobster tail (small enough) but arrived at about the size of a 4 oz...I no longer "feel the need" LOL 😄

We take Beef Jerky and a few candy bars from home for my blood sugar when it drops if we have a long tour..

I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread!! Thank you!! My hubby and I thought it was "just us" as our last two cruises (one with Celebrity and next with NCL) were the worst we've ever experienced. No shows (unless you consider comedians and magicians) and the worst food we've ever had! I swear I lived on bread and fruit because nothing seemed edible or even recognizable when it arrived to your table! Service was also lacking sadly....I guess this is the new "norm" but I sure hope not or road trips may be in our future instead....we miss the old cruising! Thank you again for your posts all!!!!

We were told by phone that they offered the airport shuttle free but you are correct, it seems they are no longer offering that service according to the website so we may just be changing hotels ourselves 😄

Cache Boutique is also a nice choice...free airport shuttle and arranged for our transportation to the pier. Right near Times Square as well so lots to explore....they are super friendly and accomodating and fair price.

I mistyped, thanks for catching that I threw the "app" in there CruiserBruce, I need to proofread LOL! 😄

The ArriveCan app is definitely required even if not leaving the ship. With all of the covid protocols changing daily I can't definitely say the covid test will be required but I would hazard to guess the answer is yes for awhile at least. If he doesn't believe you he can google "do I need to have arrivecan if I'm not getting off the cruise ship"....the answer instantly pops up 😄 .

Recently travelled with two 14 yr old girls, a 16 yr old boy and 19 yr old. We were on the Bliss but also had the go cart race track, etc....based on our experience the Encore would win hands down...they were on the cars most of the time 😄