mollydogsmom

Do you know the difference between champagne and sparkling wine?

 

Champagne is sparking wine.

On our last couple of cruises we asked our cabin steward if we could exchange the sparkling wine for a bottle of red. He said he'd have to check for availability but both times they did it. We don't care for sparkling wine and never drank it on previous cruises so this was nice. Not great wine but drinkable.

We had a cruise on the Jade for next March cancelled about 2 weeks ago, l called and had the deposit credited back to my card. No problems at all. It took 5 business days. This is the third time this has happened to us, always a 10 or more day cruise. We're looking at other options now.

We were booked on the March 19 cruise on the Jade. We were informed this was cancelled due to a charter. This is the third time this has happened to us. The offered replacement cruise is in January which we find to be a little cooler weather. This along with the rising fares is turning us away from cruising for a while. All I can say is aloha.

That would work for me too!

You could make it mandatory by including it in the cruise fare. I also don't like the higher prices to offset the freebies. We are moderate drinkers and would pay much less paying as we go!

We stayed there last year and they had a room to store your luggage after we checked out.

There are tables outside the Mojito Bar that are pretty quiet also there are some sofas around the other side that are very nice. The Waterfront area is nice and mostly quiet.

Was the food quality (or lack thereof) because of taste, temperature. or some other reason? Just curious.

 

 

 

I haven't sailed Escape (yet) but I agree about the current itinerary. Maybe when Getaway leaves, there will be more variety.

 

Perhaps you're a good candidate for the Haven...

These big ships can only dock at a few places, how many times can you go to the Bahamas.

I am afraid the Haven is out of my vacation budget. I have 2 more cruises booked, after that we'll see.

We were also on this cruise and I must say she's a beautiful ship. We loved the Mojito Bar. The cabin 14804 was nicely appointed and spacious enough for the my wife and myself. The balcony is tiny but we knew that going in. The swimming pool area is totally inadequate. The lounge chairs were all taken or covered with towels by 7:30 am. We were never able to get near the pool all week long. We ate in the main dining room 3 times and never got a very good meal. I've never complained about the MDR before but the new menus are very limited and food quality was poor. Having all the activities, trivia, games , etc. in the atrium also did not work for us. to much activity to pay attention to the show or game. We still had a great cruise thanks to being with great friends, but I doubt we would cruise on this ship again. The itinerary is too limited and the ship too crowded.

I guess that give you more time to search out other option. I never buy cruise line excursions and have saved a bundle!

I'm booked March 19, 2017 out of Tampa, is that going to change? I just booked last weekend and there was no indication it would change. If NCL does this to me again this could be the last straw.

The prices for the bottled water packages are incredibly high. I can't imagine they sell very many of those, but who knows.

Anything to stay away from.... Land

Thank you to all. I appreciate the information.

I did look into the train and I also have read about the drive to Emerald Lake. So many things look good. The scenery alone is going to be fantastic.

It's not like they are using walkers or anything, but just didn't want zip lining or anything like that. They definitely get around just fine.:D

Does anyone know if the town itself is nice to talk around? Shopping or restaurants?

Thank you all!!

Any recommendation of things to do while in Skagway? Will be with older parents so nothing too strenuous. Any suggestions/recommendations will be appreciated.

Sharon

I would think if you trust the adult to split a room with your daughter you can probably trust them to get her onboard also. The consent form is not a big deal, just do it in case it is needed.

I must be in the minority but we had posh passes on the Epic and found it to be pretty dull up there. We need a little more stimulation than posh offered. :rolleyes:

Wouldn't it be nice if NCL and other lines would just pay their employees and not try to make us feel like it is our obligation. It is okay for them to pay their employees next to nothing but if we don't tip them we're the bad guys! I'm sure they hold back some of the money as a processing fee because they don't do anything for free.

Tortola is a beautiful island with very nice beaches, maybe get off the ship and see if there is much wind. At the very least you can get a taxi and do an island tour to get an idea where to go if you come back. Good luck. I recently had LASIK on both my eyes and was given googles to wear, looks kind of dorky but served the purpose.

We've been to CGB several times and have never had a problem getting loungers.

Maybe you can get him some goggles and go to the beach.:rolleyes:

I guess what I'm saying is if you brought me a free Margaritaville hamburger on the cruise Id give you $10 so I didn't have to eat it.

 

I just don't understand the whining on this thread. Maybe I'm out of touch, but the whole world charges for things I want. If it's worth it I pay, if not, I don't but I don't whine about it, especially if it's $5 hamburgers.

I did buy you that $10 dollar burger, do you need my address so you can send me the money?

True, sometimes the pool area is VERY crowded. Maybe they need to charge a la carte for that. X amount of money for X amount of time. That should help with the crowd.

 

Harriet

All they have to do is realize that they are leaving untapped revenue on the table and you just might see this happen, for our convenience of course!

No. They re-branded that grill as Margaritaville, then heavily advertised it as a reason to book compared to other ships.

So I see a thread about all the people in swim suit in the Garden Cafe in the not to distant future.

Does the Escape have the poolside BBQ's like they have on the other ships?

No, I meant yours specifically (I think hers was meant in a more punitive nature to take up a seat without revenue if you are on the UBP. Speicifcally, designate some tables that can't be serviced right now as a bar area with limited or no menu. This would increase the revenue from the area (UBP aside) and take some of the pressure off the finances, perhaps leading back to a cover charge for the dining area portion.

 

This has the added benefit of adding a seaside beverage area to the options.

That is indeed what I was thinking. We are beyond final payment so our options are limited. Might try to see if I can go the whole cruise without any extra expenditures. I hear people saying we have the freedom to chose to pay or not but we already had the choice to wait or not! This is all about an additional revenue stream.