ddakrt

Hi-output waterproof LED flashlight for personal safety, anyone ?

I usually have one on me. Here's a good one to carry that's currently on sale!

http://www.foursevens.com/products/CALF-HE

As far as the poster who mentioned jumping-of their balcony, we always have a balcony and there are a few scenarios in which it would be a better alternative to me. Given all the other things you could die from at sea, the first thing would be drowning.

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I'm curious as to what those sceanarios are. :confused:

The most dangerous thing that can happen to a ship the size of these cruise vessels isn't them sinking, it's fire. You're probably right though, how most unintended (and not from natural causes) deaths that happen on a cruise ship is drowing... in the swimming pools.

I'm with you on this. I was somewhat uncomfortable not have a life jacket in the cabin on the Escape TA. I did mention my concerns to NCL via email and did receive a response. Not a generic one as they did respond directly to my concern. However it's obvious that my concerns are not their concerns since life vests are not in the cabins.

 

It won't keep me from cruising but that thought of having to jump off a balcony - although highly improbable - is still in the back of my mind.

Honestly and I'm not trying to be snarky, I cannot think of an instance where jumping off a balcony would be the ideal way to escape a ship in an emergency. And If I were to have to jump from a balcony, I don't think having a lifevest on would be the greatest of ideas.

I'm sure they cared, enough so to respond to you directly. I trust that this company knows what they're doing better than the general public when it comes to safety on their vessels, and they (along with the shipyards) have done studies and simulations as to why lifevests are where they are instead of where some of their passengers think they should be.

I was in HK in Feb and took this pic of the Dream departing for her 5 nighter...

Where is everybody??

Interesting that this ducktail is actually different than the one on the Genting Dream. Wonder why given the similarity of the two ships.

From other overhead pics I've seen today, it has one small pool. I'm guessing the Chinese aren't big pool folks. So, I'd hope the pool deck will completely different. One would assume for Alaska, they'd have a retractable roof over the main pool area on the Bliss. As we all know, they surely won't have a 3 deck casino. So, other than the race track, which I heard was going to on the Bliss, I'm not sure what you can take away from these photo's. It's obviously not a ship most of us will ever board, since it's not intended for us at all. .

There's two pools, although we don't know how deep either are.

I'm really liking how it doesn't have teh bar and Marketplace on the lido, opens up the pool deck so much more than before.

Nobody have any decent pictures?

The hull art looks very nice!

Here's a short blub from CC. It was announced a few months back, basically an extra deck below the bridge and another extra deck for the Haven.

+1 for the Captain Lars fan club!! :D

Thanks for all the excellent pictures CW!! I've never been on the Spirit and truthfully I never had the desire to, but you might have just changed my mind here.

Thanks!

The hull balconies on the Epic is only about 2/3 the size of the hull balconies on the Jewel.

On the Jewel I really wouldn't mind a hull balcony at all, but I'll pay a bit more for the extra pane of glass on the Epic that a regular balcony gives you.

Unfortunately several poorly planned refits and too many management changes at NCL to recall, pretty much did her in. She went from the top priced ship in the Caribbean where you had to book a year in advance to even get a cabin, to the bargain basement ship of the Caribbean with standard $399 fares.

 

Even so I loved her to the end. I had a fifth cruise booked on her but that never came to be. :-(

 

Ernie

Do you have any other pics of Norway Ernie? I'm very interested in the changes to her over the years.

Wow Ernie, thanks for this! Very cool.

I just finally ran into this highly entertaining review from last year. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us Don (and Tom, Cheryl, and Mike too)!

You guys are awesome...thank you for your responses and insight! OK, stupid question from a lurker who fully takes advantage of your wisdom!

 

OK, we are booked on the July 10 sailing (please, no delays!) and want to know if my balcony room 11021 is in-hull or not. I have tried to follow the conversation thus far, but am finding it hard to determine if mine is in that category. Any clues? Thanks so much!!!

It looks like you have the 2nd "regular" balcony from the front on deck 11 starboard.

Hope that helps! :)

Here's a very quick chop I did with zanxnaz's picture to reflect the opening on the Epic. Don't mind the quality... :o

Hello Everyone... here is a photo of the hull balcony most are calling obstructed due to the surrounding hull and the railing itself obstructing an otherwise 180 degree view. The area below the railing is plexiglass however above the railing is open.

 

I have booked these cabins for my clients after showing them the photos and they have all come back thanking me for the great deal and they have all said how much they loved it. :)

 

These cabins are especially nice when doing the Alaska cruises as they help to shield you from the cool breezes. Another great perk is that these cabins can be as much as $400 less per person than the one category above it.

 

Hope this helps... ;)

Hi there, you picture looks like it's from a Jewel class ship; the Epic's "in-hull" opening only goes down to approx. waist height, there is no plexiglass. :o

Yes they should give us information about this ahead of time since we have booked this ship sight-unseen. Here's a question:

Should people in this room go ahead and switch. Or should we wait until we get onto the ship and they say something like, "I wanted a balcony room with a glass "screen/railing" so my kid can look at the water?" and see if they will upgrade or give ship credit for the misleading advertising of this room. My TA has called and NCL even assured us this was a normal balcony. Thanks in advance for your advice.

I would do it now and wouldn't expect any sort of comp. if you decide to leave it until you're aboard.

The funny thing the glass balcony is still there on other NCL ships. You do see mostly the steel however.

 

The Epic looks a bit different that the above arrangement. From the pictures of the Epic you can see the holes only open to the level of the railings of the "open" balconies.

The Jewel class ships in hull balconies' holes are quite large and is more squarish in shape whereas the Epics are more a rectangle. I wouldn't expect a glass railing in the Epic's in hull balconies because of this.

So no glass railing?

No glass railing.

Your observations were correct. Just call your TA and switch rooms.

also I highly doubt the groups will put their best people on the cruises. it's probably like a training or break-in session before you move to the real shows on land. so they probably don't get paid as much.

I doubt the quality of the "blue men" on the ship will be all that different than their land based counterpart, I'm sure the company behind BMG would want their product be consistent throughout and protect their brand. NCL also likely wouldn't be all that pleased if they got a second rate BMG production, they paid a lot for the big name entertainment, I'm sure they expect the same quality and type of shows these big name venues are known for.

The actual show will be modified for the Epic though.

I'm sure NCL took into consideration how much they are paying for these big name entertainment when they came up with the price of the fare and entrance fees (if applicable), so I don't see that changing too much for them to make a profit on the Epic.

What I think might happen is that the fare will go up not to just break even, but because how popular the ship is. If bookings remain this strong in the future it will only be logical for NCL to increase pricing to reflect the demand.

Listen I was just saying I did'nt care for my cruise with NCL. I had a better time with Carnival. I wasn't the only one on the ship that felt that way......Maybe if I was a person that went to bed by 7 p.m. I would of liked it.......The Captain knew what the weather was like he should of took us to Nassau instead of waiting to we arrived to GSC.. and cancel it.

Which is totally fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I was simply asking some questions to the points you tried to raise in this thread.

BTW I'm in my mid 20s, I'm positive I'm more suited to the "party crowd" demographic that Carnival is known for more than yourself, yet I have no desire to sail on Carnival anytime soon.

If I want to party, I'd much rather go to Cancun and hit up Coco Bongos than a cruise ship. Cheaper drinks, more people that stay up past 7pm, and bigger venues.

When I cruise, I enjoy the port of calls and usually have plans for each one. This calls for me to wake up early so naturally I'm not going to stay up until 5am to party. Still though, I've always found things to do until at least 1am when I start to get tired, even on a NCL ship.

I've been trying to tell people that exact thing for a while now, oh well more staterooms for the rest of us

Come to think of it, Beachsausage is right! The people of Roatan made me pay when I went ziplining there, and I had to pay to go parasailing in Key West!!!

How dare them!:mad:

We did'nt stop because of the weather....We felt 4 hours in Nassau is better than nothing....I guess they did'nt want to pay the port charges or they could'nt make money on excursions....This was my first and now my last NCL cruise.

They meaning NCL would probably be charged if we would have docked at Nassau, and they would not make anything on shore excursions....We just feel NCL is a low end cruise line that nickel and dimes you for everything....They want to charge you for a behind the scenes tour...give me a brake...my brother came off the Gem the week before and he said people complained about the food and ect.

Huh? What does Nassau have to do with anything? And why specifically 4 hours?

This was your first and last time on NCL because they canceled a port because of safety? You're going to be running out of cruiselines since they all cancel for various different reasons.

I always wonder how exactly only NCL nickle and dime passengers, as if other lines don't charge (more usually, in fact) for specialty restaurants or on board tours.

Crazy.