dominicr

19 hours ago, aggie182 said:

A few things I wanted to mention for folks who are Carnival regulars trying NCL like we were:

 

Drink Packages - The drink package on NCL is better, you can get 2 drinks and there's no limit.  Drink selection however, is much better on Carnival.  I asked at one of the bars if they could make a "Twilight Zone" and handed them my phone with the recipe and they couldn't make it, though they had all of the ingredients.  It's essentially a Pina Colada blended with melon liquor with a Blue Curacao floater.  At Shakers, my wife asked for one of the drinks on the menu, but with vodka instead of gin.  They told her they couldn't because it was pre-made.  It felt like at a bar named "Shakers", they could whip up and shake up any combination within reason.  My wife had a harder time finding drinks.  

 

Dining:  I'd give a slight edge to NCL on the typical MDR food.  Moderno was good, but didn't blow us away and the Steakhouse was similar.  I got prime rib at Cagney's and it was good, but I expected a bit better.  The prime-rib was Texas Roadhouse level.  My wife got the filet and said it was great.  Service was awesome throughout all of the restaurants.  O-Sheehan's was good as well, but expect to wait if you want it at a typical meal time.  At times like 3-4pm, and 9pm-late, there is little to no wait.  We were quoted longer waits in the typical lunch and dinner times.  No big deal, but wanted to mention it.  What the biggest let down was for us, was the noodle bar.  People were lining up as early as 3pm to get a reservation. On a different day, an hour before they opened, the line stretched from the noodle bar, down the middle of the casino and around the corner to the coin pusher machine that's by the craps table.  I wish it had extended hours, even lunch on sea days or something, or would let you reserve early like the MDRs and special dining.

 

Rooms:  They feel a bit smaller than Carnival's similar offerings.  Our balcony was only 8'x4' so it made navigating around the chairs difficult.  No big deal, but worth mentioning.  The shower did have a shower door, which is nice.  No shower curtain stuck to your butt like on the older Carnival ships!  The bed wasn't the best or worst but there's this weird zipper type device under the sheets that we didn't totally understand, but it was torn up and loose and would end up under your body so it was uncomfortable.  Not sure what the purpose was, but whatever it was, it wasn't working!  The is a typical gap in the king bed configuration so bring ratchet straps if you intend to really "go to work".  I kid, I kid!

 

Public Spaces:  This was the biggest let down.  They are extremely crowded!  It was totally nuts at times.  It was a spring break cruise so it was likely over capacity, but at times the public spaces were suffocating.  The bars were extremely crowded as well.  The pools are set up in an odd and confined way.  The ropes course has very limited hours and is only open like 3 hours a day on port days and a 2 and a 3 hour stint on sea days.  They stack deck chairs in the afternoon so you can't use them any more.  A lot of places just kind of felt weird, got lack of better words.

 

Staff:  They bar staff, casino staff, and restaurant staff were great!  Our room attendant did a great job with the room, but we rarely saw in.  Maybe he was busy in other sections of the ship but I missed the "Hello Mr. Aaron!" in the hallways that we get from our Carnival room attendants every trip. 

 

Overall, we had a great time and we'd got back on NCL in a heartbeat. 

 

 

I am glad we weren't the only ones let down by the noodle bar.  If something is going to be that busy then make it require reservations unless they are banking on people standing in line removing them from other parts of the overcrowded boat.  

For the entire week I felt we spent more time waiting in lines to either get our 8 and 4 year old into kids club (which they really like to go to and play) or to make sure we can get a seat at Syd Normans or headliners than we did actually having fun.  Because of all the waiting we had to choose to just eat the buffet all but 2 nights to make sure the kids didn't miss kids club or we couldn't get into a show. 

This was our 3rd time on NCL but the other two were on POA so I guess not much of a comparison.  If the waiting in lines to do anything is the norm then I can confidently say we will be sticking with RC in the future.  

No reservation noodle bar was booked for the night by 645.  

Thanks for all the answers 

15 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

What are you signing for on Royal? We have never got a receipt to sign. And we just got off a cruise last week. 

 

Are you talking about a bar bill?

 

If you have a drinks package, they will take your card to order the drinks and you won't have anything else to sign. 

That’s correct.   Even with drink package they always still bring a zero out slip to sign.   

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Wouldn't you do that before dinner? 

Thought we would get a receipt to sign.   You do on royal.  

What do most people do after dinner on ncl in main dining, taste, and savor?   They don’t give drink tickets or anything to sign after like royal does.  Just curious if I should run to casino and break some 100s from tips.  

5 minutes ago, justhappy said:

The drinks are the important thing!

haha 100% they are for me.  

Following along for the week.   Sitting at the kids pool right now the the 4 and 8 year old.   Too damn cold for me to get in the water but the drinks are flowing nicely.  

Have fun on the cruise.  We are on the boat also but our kids are younger….8 and 4.  
 

I can tell you the toilet paper at the Hyatt isn’t any better. 

39 minutes ago, boffoboffo said:

Didn’t take pictures but did a quick walk through. Looks like most tables were $10 minimum except Mississippi Stud at $5 and roulette at $2. Maximums were either $1000 or $2500. 

Awesome thank you.   Was hoping 10 minimums and not 25

6 minutes ago, boffoboffo said:

I’ll see what I can do. 

No more speciality dining. I’ll take what’s included but no desire to pay for more. We’re always satisfied with the included offerings. No issues with any of the food yet this cruise. 

Thanks.  Much appreciated 

Following along.   We are on this cruise next week.  
 

if you get a chance can you take a few casino pictures to show table limits?  Curious to know those to figure out how much cash to bring.

21 hours ago, Battlement said:

Or, you can look at it like this: if I buy in for $200, and lose it over a few hours, but also drink $200 worth of booze...is that really a loss? 🙂

 

Also, I see you've done both Retreat and Haven. Any comparisons you wanna share?  We have been Retreat devotees forever, but their prices have gone wild and this upcoming NCL cruise (Getaway, aft-facing Haven PH) was just perfect with dates/port/pricing. 

 

(Translation: I love my wife more than anything, but I'm just WAITING to hear stuff like "This was better at Luminae" etc etc;)

 

 

this is what I was kind of getting at with asking about ncl poker.  On royal I usually buy in for 200 and just mess around and sometimes lose it and sometimes win but in the end I always end up feeling no pain from the drink package.  
 

when I play here is St. Louis at the casinos I do not drink while I play and focus on winning money.  
 

if I’m forced to buy in for max well then I won’t drink and focus on just taking money from the baddies but to me this is vacation and if I lose I don’t mind pissing away a few hundred dollars for hours of fun and socialization.  

1 hour ago, skeeter195 said:

The rake is indeed 10% up to $25 max.  2/5 with a 1k max buy-in.  I suggest buying in for 1k and keep topping off if need be.  There will be plenty of bad players throwing money in.  That's why you want to have a full stack when the time is right.  On a 7 night cruise I typically play 3-5 nights late and close down the table.  On my last 7 cruises I have averaged winning $3567 per cruise, that is not counting my huge tournament win in November 23.  If you are good you will make money.  If you are average or worse you can still make money by waiting out and recognizing the juicy situations.  

 

I play a lot of poker and make money at it.  I truly look forward to my cruises where I can relax, have multiple drinks, enjoy the table banter and still come out ahead because of the generally bad play.  

what do the average people buy in for on ncl?  I’ve played a lot on royal and it’s the same 1k max but most people buy in between 200-300….never seen anyone buy in for the full 1k.

I’ll be on breakaway in March for kids spring break cruise and want to make sure I bring enough cash so I don’t get charged stupid fees.   

Thanks.  That’s how I’ve always known it as but read it differently somewhere and didn’t understand the reservations stuff. 

I have read online that when onboard you can make reservations for your kids in splash academy.  Is that through the app we use now onshore to make dining and shore excursion reservations or is there another app once onboard?  I do not see anything on the regular app for splash academy.  

Good call.  I wasn’t thinking about them being busy.  

Anyone have any experience ordering different food in a specialty restaurant?  
 

example: If you go to Hooked can you get something from say chops or Jamie’s?  There are people in our group who do not eat any type of seafood.  
 

I know they would do that for our kids in the past but never tried as an adult ordering something else.  

22 hours ago, kazu said:

 

And a number of us here prefer HAL to Royal 🙂 

 

Seriously, just confirm on board before you upgrade.  There have been reports that the non alcoholic is unlimited with the Elite - I was simply showing you what the package states if I buy it on my cruise.

 

I would confirm before buying and if it’s unlimited - great.  If it’s not, buy a beverage card instead of upgrading (assuming you are only upgrading for the non alcoholic drinks) and use the beverage card for a few of the non alcoholic drinks so you don’t go over in the evening if you are ordering alcoholic drinks.  

 

 

i agree we all like different things.   I have never been on HAL so can’t say anything good or bad about it….just what I have read and heard from friends who have been on HAL.  
 

the beverage card is a great idea though….thank you for that thought about an option.  

7 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I know there has been discussions on the boards regarding the Elite package & unlimited non alcoholic drinks, but when I go to the description on my cruise for the package it says the package is limited to 15 drinks like the others.  screen shot below:

 

 

This is sad if that’s how it is.  If not for the person we are going with choosing this as their birthday cruise then there is no way we would go on holland over royal. 

6 hours ago, CruisinShips said:

Curious why people are looking to upgrade?  I assume it must be mainly for better wines, because from what I saw, most alcohol choices are below the $15 limit.  I typically drink Belvedere vodka, which is considered a premium vodka at bars and restaurants, and even that is below the threshold.  Am I missing something?

I will upgrade for the unlimited non-alcoholic drinks.   I wouldn’t want those to count towards my 15 drinks per day.  On days where you’re off the boat it’s not a big deal but on sea days the wife and I would be over 15 by dinner time.  

For anyone who has been able to upgrade to the elite from the package that comes with the have it all promotion….:what kind of cost was it onboard to make the switch?  
 

We will blow 15 drinks on the sea days out of the water.  

4 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

The Zuiderdam still has one  - The Koningsdam had one last Nov.  The Nieuw Statemdam, and Rotterdam don't' have them.  

 

If they have a table - they will usually run 2 tournaments during the day $60 for 5000 in tourney chips.   At night they will usually have a $1/$2 NL cash game.   But what happens is largely dependent on what type of players are on your cruise - sometimes everyone plays the tournaments and no cash games - other times its the reverse.  

 

Thank you to both of you. 

I just watched a video walkthrough of the Konigsdam and there was an electronic holdem table in it.  Does anyone know if there are usually games going and what the table stakes are?

Awesome.  Thanks for the answers.  I really appreciate it and that was what I was looking for.