ddakrt

Hi everyone,

I've tried to search but it just made me more confused... We're boarding Norwegian Escape in a little over 2 weeks in Civitavecchia. I'm seeing some people having good experience with lifecenters.ca, but I'm completely lost in how all of this works.

We're all vaccinated and boosted adults, so I believe we need an Antigen test that's negative within the last 72 hours. Do we just get an antigen test from our local pharmacy? How does a website like lifecenters.ca come into play? 

It would be greatly appreciated if someone can shed some light for me. Thanks a bunch in advanced. 

Those two blue stripes along the hull are they a part of the hull art or....?

 

 

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Those are bumpers for tugs or when the ship docks, it doesn't scratch the paint. I guess they decided to paint them blue to make it kinda look like part of the hullart.

I have to admit, I didn't think this existed for a cruise ship but it makes sense that in an emergency you need a to get people off quickly. Obviously, glad they are testing it.

 

Found a youtube video that explains how this works.

Pretty sure those are for crew.

She looks incredible, and as much as I loved the Joy's hullart, Bliss's is the best in the fleet. I wasn't expecting the waves to extend down almost the entire hull!

Is anybody else loving the blue tinted glass? She’s a beauty!

 

 

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Those are just protective film, the glass themselves will be clear. TBH blue tinted glass will drive me nuts lol.

 

Crappy generic rendering that doesn’t show observation lounge.

Ya, it's weird that they based the rendering on the Escape, when they already have the Joy and Bliss that actually reflect what Encore will look like.

At least we know for sure it won't be Escape 2 based on the block plan. Interesting that there seems to be an additional enclosed deck aft. Looks a little weird IMHO.

Somehow I doubt this "big, big mistake" will actually affect bookings in any ways whatsoever.

No he did not sail a safe distance behind it. If he had there would be no issues.

Just curious, what would be a "safe distance"?

No disrespect, but some societal norms are BAD if it's not your society. It's ok to say that, it doesn't make you prejudiced, a xenophobe, racist, etc.

 

The reason I wouldn't cruise on Joy has little to do with the Chinese...I don't think the itineraries look great.

The difference is context. Someone can say that their social norms are bad if they're here, but as a foreigner travelling to their country, saying they're wrong or they're rude and ignorant at their own home is not the way to think.

Agreed on the Joy's itinerary, it's mediocre at best.

Lol. I posted the above before reading the entire thread Thankfully not everyone is buying all this PC nonsense.

 

 

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Everyone in this thread has been very clear about the difference in social norm, PC has nothing to do with it. Please don't bring politics into this discussion.

At the end of the day, if you're to travel overseas to their country, you need to understand that it is their ways of life, they're not being rude or ignorant, that's their norms and we as visitors should try to either conform or tolerate.

Good point GateGuardian. We are flying in and out of Shanghai. If we don't cruise we are planning on going to Beijing and either Tokyo or Hong Kong (actually we going to Beijing even if we cruise).

I've been to Hong Kong several times and would easily recommend going to HK over the Joy. Yes the Joy looks like a very nice ship, but it's still your typical cruise whereas Hong Kong is just an amazing City overall. Aside from things that most travelers know already (westernized culture, large population knows English, night life, great food, shopping, safe and super accessible city with a tons of things to see), there's also a great natural side that most people don't talk about like islands with small fishing villages and great hiking to different mountains and beaches.

I love Hong Kong, highly highly recommended.

Regardless though, your family sound to be very open minded to other cultures and understands that you'll be at their country and need to adjust to their ways of life; you're going to be fine whether you choose to sail on Joy or go somewhere else. Have a great trip!

Actually neither of those is a right.

Then why are you claiming it's invasion of privacy when you yourself is now saying privacy is not a right in public?

Can't have it both ways.

If someone buzzes me with a drone, I'll ask them to stop. Do it a second time, and they'd better hope it's not within arm's reach. If so, I'll grab it and starting breaking pieces off and/or toss it in the pool and/or rub the helicopter parts in the sand (if we're on a beach).

That's ridiculous. Nobody is going to fly within an arms reach of you, at that point it's not a matter of being annoyed, they're obviously a very irresponsible flyer and is dangerous to the public. It's also not a good idea to grab other people's property, and an even worse one to try to get at something that can do serious damage to your hand.

Is it possible they just needed the added width for the spa vs. the Joy's Galaxy Pavilion?

 

I agree with your preference for the lines on the Bliss. Looks sweet!

 

Joy...

 

Bliss...

Oh, that's the Galaxy Pavilion? Thought the Joy's spa was in that location as well.

Deck 16 aft is different than the Joy, the Joy's narrows following the rear bump out whereas on the Bliss the width continues after the bump out.

I obviously prefer the Bliss' as it offers more space and balances out the look aesthetically. Wonder why the difference between the two ships though.

A few pics of her in HK here too.

Joy is calling at Salalah, Oman after I assume a safe passage through the Gulf of Aden (Yemen).

I wonder if there was any extra security when transiting the Gulf of Aden.

I really like how the Joy is turning out, but that new oval shaped atrium looks so much smaller than the ones in other Breakaway ships.

Because Chinese isn't a language. ;p

It should be Mandarin

Not exactly true. You don't write in Mandarin, you either write in traditional or simplified Chinese. You speak Mandarin or Cantonese or whatever, but depending on the geographic location, you can speak either Mandarin, Cantonese or whatever else but still write in the same form of Chinese.

Some very neat features on the inside, some we would really like on features ships too I think! But let's not forget her good looks on the outside, with radar domes and forward mast installed. Taken a few days ago in the Eemshaven in Holland, before she set sail to Bremershaven in Germany for her delivery and the open seas;

 

I agree. Easily the best looking Breakaway ship, I like the extra glass in the front and the new ducktail, not having the rope course makes the funnel stands out more too.

Well, if I were MSC I'd be ticked. The ship is almost an exact replica of the MSC Seaside/Seaview with only minor adjustments on the bow and stern. Even the funnels are virtually identical. Fincantieri must have really designed an economically fantastic hull and layout with the Mille concept for two cruise lines to order nearly identical ships, and/or NCL got a great deal purchasing 4 newbuilds based on a prototype paid for by their competition. (The first ship in a series is always the most expensive.) Of course, NCL has a long history of capitalizing on other cruise lines' investments. Norwegian Sky was an incomplete Costa newbuild acquired by NCL, and Pride of America was partially completed by American Cruise Line before NCL snapped it up in bankruptcy.

Nothing for MSC to be ticked about. They bought an off the shelf design from Fincantieri, NCL did the same here.

Why testing your fire control system with water sucked from the shallow and muddy shipyard's bassin isn't a clever idea..

 

 

:eek:

Jesus, I thought the Joy caught fire...

Wonder whose bright idea was to do this, not exactly Meyer Werft's first ship. :\

I'm not going to spell them all out for you but if my cabin is on fire and my choices are to burn to death or go-out the balcony and chance it, guess what I'm doing? Maybe I can't get back out in the hallway to get to my muster station. What if the ship has turned over and my side happens to be on the side that's up? What if there is a man on the moon? Yes, I'm being sarcastic now because there are very few scenarios in which I would do that. Oh and yes, fires can happen more frequently than sinking but what happens if the fire isn't contained? The ship would eventually sink if it wasn't stopped, etc.

 

I'm glad so many of you completely trust other people with your lives. I just don't. For the 1 millionth time, it was a question that apparently many can't handle. If someone asked you this on person, would you answer the same way? I doubt it. If you did, the conversation would end very quickly. It never ceases to amaze me how snarky people are when they are sitting behind a keyboard. I know this isn't representative of NCL passengers as a whole but usually people are helpful on CC boards and not so judgmental. Of all the other boards I've been on, this is literally the first post I've made on the NCL side and wow... some of you are just trolling the boards with nothing else to do but throw your 2 cents in. Sounds like an action-packed life. I'm sure you all could tell me how to build a rocket-ship too and it's dumb to wear seat belts.

 

 

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Scenario 1 - Your cabin is on fire: You kick down the balcony divider(s) and escape.

Scenario 2 - Can't get back out into the hallway: See solution above. Or if one side of the hallway is blocked, there's usually the other side to escape, or a crew corridor/staircase.

Scenario 3 - Ship capsized: How quickly do you think this happens? The Poseidon Adventure is a movie, even the smallest cruise ships will not simply flop over, it takes HOURS for water to make its way through the many watertight compartments and then decks to sink or capsize a ship. You will have an insane amount of time to leave your cabin and make your way to your muster station before the vessel capsizes.

Please, please, please. Do NOT (!!!) jump off your balcony under any circumstances; for most ships, the lowest balconies are located on a deck the equivalent of a 6 storey building, many megaships are now twice as tall, jumping into water at that height is like jumping onto concrete, you will be injured or worse.

Your greatest chance of survival in an emergency is to find a lifeboat, and the greatest chance of dying in an emergency is drowning in the ocean (if the fall doesn't kill you first). I'm not mocking you or being snarky, you obviously care about the safety of your family, please understand that you're putting them in direct and imminent danger by even thinking about jumping.

Think back to the Concordia, passengers that died either went back to their cabins or they drowned from jumping into the sea (most of the deaths were from drowning). Everybody that made it into a lifeboat survived.

DON'T JUMP FROM YOUR BALCONY!! :eek:

Yes, Allure is an RC ship but the reason I asked is because I wasn't sure if this is the new thing to do across the industry. I can see them doing it to save money, if nothing else. Less life jackets disappear if they are locked-up in muster stations where passengers cannot access them. Some ding-dongs probably take them as souvenirs (which costs the cruise line money), when they are in the cabins.

 

 

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Ever thought about the flow of passengers in an emergency? For a ship of that size, getting passengers to where they need to be instead of getting stuck in hallways and staircases probably has more to do with it than costs of the life jackets. I've heard of pax stealing bathrobes, but life jackets??? Come on now, this is getting ridiculous.

Thanks for the Flames...Knew I`d get em! Ya`ll are as predictable as ever. Just putting my thoughts out there for peeps making decisions about picking a ship and selecting the excursion pkg.

BTW: This boat rolls.

25+ cruises, 1,000+ posts on CC... and you post a review where 50% of your gripes are about itinerary and how ship excursions are shorter than private excursions? Those are noob complaints OP, everything about them were available to you prior to booking, how can you possibly not know that going in given your experience?

This thread is as disappointing as seeing Nassau for the 769th time.