spdwain

When we were on a different line precovid, we were allowed to carry our own bags off the ship if we wanted.  Does RCCL do this?

I have the app, but can't find much info.  My cruise is over 30 days out. Could that be it?  Does the app work more robustly on the ship?

Does anyone have a wine list from a recent cruise?  We are sailing on Vision and enjoy a glass, or bottle, of wine with our dinner; but would never be able to justify the price of the beverage package. Just curious on the prices.

We were thinking about going to The Fred on our day in St Croix.  Has anyone been there recently?  Is the beach swimmable?  I have read a number of mixed reviews.

Can anyone tell me if the sofabeds on Sun are real fold out sofabeds?  We find the futon like sofa, like on Breakaway, where you simply remove the back is very hard and uncomfortable.  We sail as 3 adults and really need a comfortable bed for the 3rd person. 

Are there actual opening sofabeds in balcony cabins.  The futons with a removable back on Escape and Breakaway are OK for kids, but it is like sleeping on a hospital gurney for an adult. 

Oceania has contacted passengers on upcoming cruises.  If they have visited China in past 30 days they do not want them on their ships and will give them a full refund.  I am not sure how they determine that unless they see a passport, but it sounds like one step in the right direction.

Not something I would do again.  I guess it depends on your group.  Our group seemed too big.  One person sort of "took over" and the rest of us were pretty much left out unable to see the clues, hear the discussion etc.  We also had a lot of young kids running around putting random numbers in the "treasure chest".  Eventually they were the ones to get it open by chance.  I honestly would have enjoyed Howl at the Moon, a comedy show, live music etc. much more.

13 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

You know that it's not recommended to do that, right?

Wear only one patch at a time. Do not cut the patch.

https://www.transdermscop.com/

Yes I do.  But I have been using it this way for years with no problem.  I suspect it is about getting the medication on your fingers and into your eyes etc.  You have to be very careful.  I wash my hands etc. very carefully.  The amount of medication with 1/2 patch works for me and I don't have any side effects.  If I used a whole patch maybe I would.  This is my choice and I am not recommending anyone else do it.

I used the Transderm Scop patch on a recent cruise that went through the remnants of Diego.  The seas were high and there were lots of people seasick.  I always get seasick, but the patch works for me.  I actually cut it in half and use it.  I don't get any side effects other than being a bit tired at night.  I could not cruise without it.  I have tried everything else, but for me this is the answer.

Just got back from Escape in the Caribbean.  We had the good fortune to have out Grand Tour of St Kitts led by Mr Grey.  This was the best tour I have ever taken.  The man is so knowledgeable about his island and it's history.  Unlike other tours that drop you off and say be back in 30 minutes, Mr Grey went into every venue with us.  At Romney Manor he knew the common and scientific names to all the trees and plants as well as where they came from.  If we went through on our own it would have been pretty, but we would not have gotten as much out of it.  I missed the demo at Carib Batik (long bathroom line) and when I mentioned it, Mr. Grey took me back in and I had a private demo.  We never felt rushed.  During our drives Mr. Grey would tell us about famous people who grew up on St. Kitts and could recite their poetry and even treated us to a few songs like "Amazing Grace" and we all joined in "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" with him.  He knew where everyone on the tour came from and tried to tie in pertinent facts from their homes.  He even wrote "Congrats David on your MBA" on the van window when we mentioned we were here to celebrate that, along with Happy Anniversary to another couple.  All I can say is I was blown away with this tour. 

Just curious if people bring alcoholic drinks into the spa.  I'm used to seeing people drinking in the pools and Jacuzzis on deck.  Not sure what to expect in the spa with all those beverage packages.

We are staying at the Fairfield Inn and suites in North Bergen, NJ.  They also have a cruise package and shuttle to Manhattan or Bayonne.  They are a fairly new hotel so I have not read much about them on these boards, but they get great reviews on Trip Advisor. They were very helpful on the phone, extending the length of time we could leave a car with them at no extra charge.  I would love to hear from anyone out there who has done the cruise package with them.

I have sailed on both Breakaway (I think this is a "sister" ship to Escape) and Summit to Bermuda. I agree that sailing out of Bayonne is much easier than Manhattan.  Driving in NYC is a nightmare for us.  In fact, on our next Escape sailing we are staying in New Jersey and letting them shuttle us back and forth to the port so we don't have to drive.  The ships are very different. ( I would love to see the Summit after she is overhauled.)  NCL appeals to a younger more active crowd with ropes courses, slides etc.  There are so many activities at night it is hard to be bored if you are a night-owl.  I find Celebrity a bit more refined with great entertainment and food. We sailed at both times in June.  The Summit never seemed overcrowded.  Breakaway was packed with people. I felt it was too crowded.  We actually were thankful to have an aft balcony to "escape" at times. If crowds are a concern, be careful if your date is when schools are out for the summer, and many schools get out in late May or early June depending on the state.  

I actually emailed NCL about this problem about 1 week ago.  This was the response:

Thank you for contacting the Automation Support Desk at Norwegian Cruise Line. We sincerely apologize for the technical difficulties you were experiencing while trying to navigate our site. Our IT Department had been working on our site and it was giving issues like this one. This issued has since then been fixed and you should be able to go through the site without a problem. We suggest that you clean out the cookies & cache from your computer, because this too can cause this error message to appear.

Thanks for all your replies.  Looking forward to the show,  the meal not so much.

This sounds like a must do, but I had a few questions.

1.  What is the meal served now?  I have read bangers and mash may have been replaced with beef wellington.

2.  How early before your reservation should you arrive?

3.  Do you have dinner first followed by the show?

Worst thing I ever brought was 2 bottles of wine on a cruise where we had a beverage package.  What were we thinking? (Drink before dinner or on balcony?)  We never opened them (drinks were easy to get and bring back to room) and carried them off the ship at the end.

I am booked on the Escape in a Spa Balcony.  I recently noticed that the prices of the Aft Balconies had dropped to the point where I could actually change to an Aft, purchase Thermal spa Passes, and still be about $30 ahead.  My NCL guy told me there is nothing he could do.  He also insisted that all the Aft balconies on Escape are 32 square feet. Now I have not been on the Escape, but I have been on Breakaway and I know some of the Aft balconies are huge depending on the deck.  I am in final payment, but I don't see how it would not be to NCL's advantage to move me to an Aft, have me pay for an additional 3 thermal passes ($279x3), and then "sell" my spa balcony off to a high bidder since there are none available on my cruise,  There are at least 15 Aft balconies available so why am I being discouraged from doing this?

Thank you for your reply.  Perhaps I did not make my question clear.  I do know that the Levity Group performs in Headliners.  I wondered why NCL lists them as 2 separate activities you can book once on board.  Is it the same thing listed under 2 different activity headings or are there 2 different things going on. The descriptions are pretty much identical.  Since you can't make reservations online, there is no way to go in and check if the dates and times are different. Just doing some OCD preplanning.

Under the"Entertainment" option in "Explore and Plan" I've noticed separate listings for "Headliners Comedy Club" and "Levity Entertainment Group" which is in the comedy club.  I know I can't book until I'm on board, but can anyone tell me what the difference is?  The descriptions sound pretty similar.

We are also sailing out of NYC on December 9.  We are about 3 hours away and are driving up the day before and staying at a hotel in NJ that will shuttle us to and from the cruise port.  We also bought trip insurance and the thermal pass which will come in handy on the first and last days when it is cold.  Hopefully we are prepared for all eventualities. 

16 hours ago, timf2001 said:

The ship-specific links are simply search shortcuts.  In the course of doing the upgrade, they improperly coded them compared to how they worked previously.  The good news is it's pretty easy to replicate the functionality of the old links.

 

1. Find the Search bar at the top right of the page under your user name.  Note this is different than the search bar that's always present at the top of the page.

2. Enter a one-word name of the ship you want to search for (i.e. Pride, Bliss, Epic).

3. Under "Search In", make sure to select "This Forum".

 

This will return a list of results equivalent to how the previous ship-specific links worked.

Thank you.  This works. ( And remember to click "This Forum".)

I hope they fix all the problems with this "new and improved"  model soon.  I prefer the old one.

I don't agree with this at all. We did a wonderful Southern Caribbean cruise out of Baltimore on Celebrity before they pulled out of Baltimore. Granted it was a 12 day cruise but it had some awesome ports.

 

 

OP I am with you, we would probably sail even more if NCL went out of Baltimore.

I also sailed on Celebrity out of Baltimore and loved it. We also took Empress of the Seas to Bermuda out of Baltimore and loved the 7 day cruise. Grandeur only does 5 days to Bermuda with 1 overnight. I enjoy the extra time on the island and have driven to NYC to sail NCL and Celebrity 7 day cruises to Bermuda. Wish we had more options in Baltimore. The itineraries just don't interest me.

Thanks for your reply.