anaslile

6 minutes ago, BostonGal35 said:

if you had a travel agent, i place the blame squarely on them.  its their JOB to advise you of every aspect of your trip, including travel document requirements.  To blame NCL the airline or anyone else is wrong, IMO.

 

I would agree with the above poster. More than anything you should be asking your travel agent why  they did not advise you to obtain new travel documents considering yours were under 6 months validity and hold them to some accountability. I am not a TA but if I were I would be advising my clients to get a new passport if it was anywhere near that 6 month mark as one of the first things I do. 

But then again I'm an experienced traveler and I would never let my passport get anywhere near the 6 month mark without renewing due to all the country/airline/other requirements related to that date. 

Disembarkation on December 29th for the Dec. 22nd sailing didn't start until at least 6:30.  An acquaintance had two fully refundable flights booked. One for 8 AM and one for 5 PM.  Knowing that when I heard the notice at 630 my first thought was "she's not going to make her flight". I never heard if she made it or had to wait until 5.  If you do self-disembarkation and are flying domestically I'd say the earliest is a flight at 9 AM.  If dealing with luggage or an int'l flight I'd push it to at least 10:30 or 11 AM.

17 minutes ago, SummersOff4Me said:

Thanks so much for the dining information.  I am not staying in a solo cabin, but I will definitely try to find the solo host to check into dining with a group of others. If the dining time for that group is usually an early one, that would be great!

Your key card won't work for the studio lounge but there's always people in there usually from 5-7 PM when the bar tender is there (at least he was on the Epic).  Solo meet ups each evening were usually in the 530-545 range with dinner at 6 in one of the main dining rooms.   YMMV though as this is based off of my experience on the Epic.

The Bliss has the Studio Lounge for solos which means that the Solo coordinator should be arranging a dinner time every night for the solo travelers.  Of course it's always possible to eat by yourself or make your own arrangements, but having just come off a cruise, I really enjoyed eating with the other solos.  Even some people who had balcony cabins etc. but were singles or solos joined us. 

5 hours ago, cruisegeek1974 said:

Hi all, wanted to comment briefly on our recent Epic cruise from San Juan.  Just for background, I have sailed on 4 NCL cruises (last one on the Epic in 2014), 3 Celebrity, 3 HAL, 1 Princess, 1 RC and 1 Carnival.

 

Before boarding I had read a bunch of poor reviews and was actually a little anxious that the cruise would not live up to expectations.  I consider my wife and I to be very easygoing and overall we had another very enjoyable cruise in general, and we enjoyed the Epic in particular.

 

First thing to comment on is the arrival and departure that might help others going on the Epic.  As others noted, the port is not built to handle the two ships that are docked there.  That being said, we left the airport around 12.30pm to go the port and while there was traffic as you started to get to the port, it wasn't terrible and we ultimately boarded the ship around 2pm.  Once out of the taxi it was fairly quick to check in and get onto the ship.  The cab driver did tell us that he took another couple to the port in the morning and he said traffic was so backed up that when they got close to the port the couple just got out of the cab and walked the last bit to the ship.  On departure day, we did the self walk off option leaving the ship around 8am and had no issue getting into a cab and getting to the airport for our 12.50pm flight.

 

The ship condition was good and kept clean.  Despite some opinions we read, we found the staff to be friendly and had no issues at all.  Does every crew member run over to us say hi? No, but I don't expect that.  95% of the crew we encountered would be polite, say hello, etc.  The other 5% didn't, and that is fine.   I always wonder what people expect from the crew.  I understand that no crew member should be rude, but other than a polite hello, i don't expect much else.

 

The food, as we find on every cruise ship, was very good.  My wife is a little picky compared to me so a few dinners just didn't have an option that jumped out at her, but again, she finds that on every cruise for the most part.  Having last sailed NCL in 2014, I really can't remember small details going that far back.  One thing my wife and i were wondering however is that since NCL seems to be pushing these "Free At Sea" perks on a consistent basis, are they cutting back on some other things to balance out costs.  For example, no smoked salmon at breakfast; cut up fruit was very limited in both the quantity and selection; no lobster night; the food choices at dinner seemed slightly more limited/repetitive.  Again, i'm not an NCL expert, but in comparison to say Celebrity and HAL, the food was just maybe one notch lower.  Don't misunderstand me, I really enjoyed the food, but in some ways I would just give a slightly lower rating.  I just think of one reviewer saying the food was "inedible", I just shake my head at a comment like that.  For this person, nothing would make him/her happy.

 

One thing I don't understand is the whole signing out for the pool towels.  Despite having to sign them out, they don't seem to actually track them upon return so I really don't understand why they do it.  It just creates one more lineup you have to stand in.

 

One thing I still love that NCL does is to really try and force people to use the sanitizer when heading into the buffet; i don't know why every cruise line doesn't do this.  I get that it is not a silver bullet to avoid sickness, but it is still a great policy.

 

This is already discussed enough, but we have no issue with the bathroom design but i can see it being an issue if say two friends are travelling together. 

 

I would also say that for entertainment, NCL is still tops in this department.  Not going to detail out what we did, but again NCL gets high marks for entertainment.

 

While my wife and I are only able to cruise during the high price season, we often have to seek out our cruise based on pricing, and I would certainly go on another NCL cruise in the future.

 

A fellow solo and I actually made up a bit of a song from all the refrains of "washy washy" in regards to the hand sanitizer on the Dec. 22 sailing. I don't remember the exact words but it went something like this. 

"You put your right hand in,

you take your right hand out,

you do the washy-washy as you spread hand sanitizer all about

and you kick the old germs out!"

I'm no St. Lucia expert--but I am familiar with news lately.  Have you heard of the White Island eruption which killed a few Ovation of the Seas passengers?  After this Royal Caribbean, of which Celebrity is part of, cancelled any activity even remotely related to anything volcanic.  It sounds like that probably happened with that excursion. 

I can't speak personally, but someone on my roll call (12/22) boarded for a B2B today and had no problems with embarkation.  I think they were on on the earlier side though.  Hopefully now that they've got the first time under their belt things are going better.

41 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Stay tuned as to how embarkation will go on future sailings based on recent thread about first trip for Epic out of there if that's the ship you are on.

Exactly.  The next few weeks will be telling as they work through issues.   Keep checking your e-docs for information and your reservation.

Pan American Pier last I checked my cruise docs (sailing the Epic on December 22). This may be subject to change though. 

Coming out of lurking to say I now have plans for St. Thomas when I sail the Epic over Christmas.  Taco Chelles. Already investigating the dollar buses and seeing what I could arrange and do in addition to have to try the tacos. 

I totally get wanting to go  to Siem Reap.  But I might suggest staying in Bangkok. It would be a lot of money for a very little time, and Angkor Wat deserves at least 2 solid days to explore.  Flights will be expensive, plus you will have to pay for a Cambodian visa.  If you've seen Bangkok before you can consider flying up to Chiang Mai for a night, or down to one of the islands for a night.  Flights and hotel obviously at your own cost.  

There are a few nice places within a day trip outside of Bangkok, too. 

Edited to see that you have decided to go to Siem Reap. Enjoy! I loved the ruins. 

I sail on the Epic from San Juan leaving at 9 PM.  Does anybody know if the drink package is available on embarkation day and if so is sales tax charged then as it is the US?

9 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Volcano, mud baths, mineral baths, most waterfall sites, hikes, Pigeon Island, etc all will be open.  Zip line tours, open. ATV tours, open. All in the main, that deals with tourism, open.

It's most all shops on Holiday hours or closed, local restaurants mainly closed while those in the main tourism areas (port, Rodney Bay, etc) open, etc. 

If you want to zip line, Rainforest Adventures or Treetop Adventures are your best bets..

Thank you for your response. Good to know that most "tours" will be running to the main places. It helps me plan!

Sailing the NCL Epic over Christmas and will be in port on Christmas Day and wondering how much there will be open beyond the port area and what tours may be affected. My guess would be the following (based on Googling): many shops and restaurants, especially beyond the port and tourist areas will be closed and some historical sites or buildings may be closed.  

I'm looking for general information (not specific tour providers) about which tours/activities may be affected before inquiring into any tour I'm considering. 

My interest is more doing something such as ziplining or an island tour with something active, history or something along that lines. Though if I have to resign myself to the beach/watersports I will. 

How can a 1A be 220 square feet? :confused:

 

Roz

Because they're often the same size as the other rooms on the ship. :). CCL has HUGE rooms. Depending on which ship you're looking at, a 1A may be exactly the same as the rest of the inside cabins, it's just labeled different. Which ship are you looking at in particular?

We are planning to use Bodden this Nov. We have 2 young children 3&4. Do you think the kids can do the zipline at Victors/Mayan Jungle Canp. Thanks for your feedback.

I'd email Victor and ask him what he thinks. I would think they probably would be okay, but they would have to go tandem with a guide.

I wouldn't be surprised if it has to do with the whole self-taught English thing. I'm living in Mexico right now, and I have a number of friends who can speak and understand English brilliantly, like a native speaker. When they write though, it's painful, I often have to sound things out.

I would agree, Victor probably has some stock responses that he got translated by a professional, and then anything else he types out. It doesn't mean that he doesn't speak/understand everything your write. Just that, he can't spell. Which lots of native speakers have trouble with!

Had friends in 8267, their only complaint wash the greasy food smell from the Lido.

Is This Dock In Town Or Just Outside Of Town???

Punta Langosta is the dock right in town. Over the past few weeks the Legend has been docking PUnta Langosta. This week it's docking at the International Pier (outside of town)

http://www.cozumelinsider.com/CruiseShips

I'm hoping that next week it will dock at Punta Langosta again (as that's when I"ll be on).

Watch Cozumel Insider and you'll get an idea of where the legend is docking.

I booked this trip through Shoretrips and spent about $63 (approx. $4 more than through the website...I think that's what I paid). I can't wait to go! Hoping i can find some people to share a cab with as it's $10/trip for me.

My family will be on the Legend in October and my sister is a vegetarian...

 

To anyone who has been on the Legend recently, do you think there will be many choices for her? Or any vegetarians out there want to put in your past meal experiences? She is not a vegan.

 

This is her first cruise and I want it to go well...so hopefully she can eat while on board! I was on the Valor last year, and I am aware that Carnival ships keep similar menus but I do not remember (because I was not looking for it at the time). Any input would be helpful! Thanks!

They have a vegetarian option every night. Often the pastas are vegetarian, too. When I say Vegetarian, I'm including milk and eggs. So if she has a stricter diet that doesn't include milk and/or eggs she might have a tough time and want to get in touch with special needs.

I'm trying to find recent menus but having a touch of trouble...

Here's some menus for the Pride from Feb 3-10, 2008. The same menu is fleet wide. Your sister can take a look and decide whether there's enough options for her or not.

We knew they had lobster in the supper club...this boy is just trying to find a way to have lobster for dinner multiple nights! :D

 

Thanks! What night is the second formal night? That is probably the night we will book the supper club.

 

Thanks again-

laurie

Umm, about that I'm not sure (I'll know in about 27 days). Recent capers seem to indicate the night we leave Roatan though, Friday night?

Lobster night is generally the first formal night, which is the night of the first day at sea. So Monday night if that helps you. The Supper Club also has lobster tail on its menu, I'm not sure how it differs in quality from the main dining room lobster though.

Did you have any problems being in a 5A since they are above the Atlantic deck (piano bar etc) with noise at all or where they pretty quite?

I am assigned to 4144 on the Legend (had booked a 1A gty, so a pretty sweet sounding upgrade, assuming it's not too noisy).

The Legend just came out of drydock in January. It got a mini golf course and some new carpeting as well as a fresh coat of paint.

I asked this once before but it got lost in all the messages. Does the Legend primarily dock at International Pier in Cozumel or does she ever tender or go to Punta Langosta?