ptuder

Great review. I'll be on the 1/9/16 sailing and will be staying in the Haven too. I'm glad to know that Adrian is the concierge. I have the UDP and will be traveling with my daughter (22), my sister, and my mother. Was LeBistro the only specialty restaurant you ate in? After reading through a few other threads, I'll be calling today to make dinner reservations for every night. We eat relatively early (6pm), so I'm crossing my fingers that there won't be any issues. Glad to hear that your Haven experience was as it should have been. I'm looking forward to mine [emoji4]

 

We ate at La Cucina , Le Bistro and Supper Club. All other nights were in Haven restaurant. We didn't have dining package. It was explained to us that the Haven restaurant menu is made up of items from the specialty restaurants.

 

Also wanted to mention that Karen (assistant concierge) told us that Adrian was going on vacation in January and David C was coming to fill in on Escape. We have had David before on Epic and he was excellent. Not sure of dates for the switch.

We just got off the Escape yesterday and had a wonderful week. We were 2 couples traveling between the ages of 50 & 60. We booked this trip in November 2014 for 2 Courtyard Penthouse cabins in the Haven – rooms 17714 & 17716.

 

We live in Sarasota, FL (about 3.5 hour drive from Miami) – we stayed at the JW Marriott Marquis on Friday, 12/4/15 and boarded the Escape on Saturday morning. While the weather was a bit gloomy, it wasn’t raining Friday night in Miami so it was an easy walk to Bayside Marketplace for drinks and dinner. Using my points for Hertz we did one way rentals from Sarasota to Miami and then back to Sarasota. This saved us almost $200 in parking fees between the hotel & port garage for $10 in rental fees and about $30 in cab fees. It worked great for us with little inconvenience.

 

We met at the elevator in the hotel at 10:30 Saturday morning, checked out, caught a cab, checked in at the Haven lounge and we were being escorted on the ship at 11:20 – earlier than expected. Once taken up to the Haven we were told that our rooms were ready so we dropped off our carryon bags and met back in the Haven lounge. One of the attendants handed us a tray of sliders and French fries even when we tried to say no, he was just smiling and insisted that we needed to eat! They really were very good. We had seen the card in the room that the Haven cocktail party was Sunday evening from 7 – 7:45. We had LeBistro reservations for Sunday night at 7:30. There was a restaurant reservation woman working with Adrian & Karen (concierge & assistant concierge) helping with first day reservations. We asked if we could change our reservations from 7:30 to 8:30 so that we could attend the Haven cocktail party. She informed us that the only thing available at LeBistro for Sunday night (as of noon on embarkation day) was 9:45. I said no that that wouldn’t work for us, and asked what other nights were available. Adrian overheard this conversation and just told her to make a note of our request for 8:30 and he would take care of this. We were not expecting this and just talking directly to her, so very surprised that although he is greeting new guests, he had his ear to what was going on at the desk and making sure things were handled. We would have easily switched to a different day but was not needed.

 

We walked around the ship and then went back up to the Haven restaurant for lunch around 1:30. None of us were too hungry since we had the sliders earlier so we just ordered light foods, either soup or appetizers. Our server was a little upset with us not taking full advantage of the menu and kept trying to urge more foods on us! She remembered this for the rest of the cruise! Superior service in the Haven restaurant.

 

We did the lifeboat drill and were sadly surprised by the disregard for the staff during this short drill. The woman in front of us was asked 3 times to please stop using her cell phone. Each time the staff member walked away her and her friends would complain loudly and then should would pull her phone back out and start up again. Geez – it is 15 minutes out of your life. These folks hate this chore more than you, just give them a break, sit there and shut up for a few minutes – you are on vacation with them for a week.

After that – things just slid into place for the week.

 

The Haven is wonderful. This was our 5th Haven experience and we could really see a difference. We ate at the Haven restaurant 4 dinners, all breakfasts except for the morning in Tortola, and lunch a couple of days. While the menu does not change, the options (in my opinion) are great. We are not picky eaters, and while we don’t dislike red meat, we lean towards seafood and chicken. In our party, we ate surf & turf a couple of nights. The sizes of the lobster tails were terrific. We had the Sea Bass, Duck, 1.5lb lobster & Chicken breasts, along with different appetizers or desserts. Some nights we would order appetizer but not dessert or dessert but no appetizer. Our server would just lightly scold us! We tried to get the same server most nights as we really had a lot of fun with her. By the middle of the week she was very comfortable with us and would joke around and create a lot of conversation. We had very good experiences in the Haven restaurant and never had a bad meal. In addition to the restaurant, they also offered pastry’s, coffee and juice in the courtyard every morning, a light lunch menu in the courtyard areas and the 2nd sea day of the cruise they had a beautiful table set up with a wide variety of fruits and would hand cut fruit plates for you. Very nice.

 

We attended the Haven cocktail party on Sunday night which was very well attended by many supervisors from many areas throughout the ship. Much more than we’ve seen in past cruises. The latitudes cocktail party was in Spice H20 on Monday night, again very well attended by staff.

 

We also attended the Meet & Greet the morning of the first sea day and I can say this was the best attended Meet & Greet from any of our cruises, both in terms of staff & guests. The staff attending was impressive and they went out of their way to mingle. Very nicely done.

 

In addition to the Haven restaurant we ate at LeBistro with our Platinum certificates. We used 2 certificates one night and took our friends. We had Dover Sole, Lobster and Veal for main courses. For appetizers we had Escargot & French Onion Soup. We shared desserts, and received 2 bottles of wine. Overall a terrific meal. We also ate at La Cucina one night and again had a very good meal. We ate calamari, lasagna, lobster, veal and lamb, no complaints!

 

We did the Wine Lovers – the Musical Lunch and the For the Record both at the Supper Club. Both came with pre-set menus. While neither one was bad, neither one gets any praise from our group. My steak at the lunch was cooked the way I liked but very chewy, so in my opinion too much work to eat it. The meal at For the Record was better for me but it is such an active show with so much going on that the meal seemed a bit distracting but again, just my opinion. In no way did I not feel that I was being restricted in getting good food.

 

We shared wings and nachos at O’Sheehans after our tour in St Thomas and we shared the Volcano Nachos between 4 of us in Margaritaville after our tour in Tortola. The Volcano Nachos were terrific and very plentiful for 4 people to share.

 

We went to the 9 PM comedy show one night, Howl at the Moon a couple of nights, Million Dollar Quartet, After Midnight, Wine Lovers Lunch & For the Record/Supper Club. All were very good but my least favorites were the ones at the Supper Club. Both shows were very loud for a small venue and as mentioned earlier it was a bit chaotic having dinner with all the business of the show. All performers in all venues are incredible and we enjoyed all of them. We did notice a lot of folks getting up and leaving during different shows which can be a bit distracting. For the sake of others and the performers I wish those folks who think they may want to leave would sit more in the back and be less disruptive, but that is just my opinion.

 

I did the ropes course one morning with my husband and wish I would have skipped it! Just not my thing and I found it very scary. My legs were shaking so bad at times and I was hugging the poles at times. The least scary parts for me were the zip lines. Wouldn’t do it again, but we met people who were doing it daily so obviously very popular!! We also saw a few people chicken out before starting. Wish I would have followed their lead!!!

 

We used the heck out of the Haven and would skip cruising in the future if we couldn’t do the Haven. I know that sounds snobby and we are not that way; we just are not ones who enjoy the crowds and party atmosphere. We used the heck out of the Haven where I read that others wouldn’t do it again as they didn’t really spend time there. Different strokes for different folks but it really is a refuge for us. We really got to know the staff working there and they went out of there way for us. One day we were attempting to throw our towels in the hamper and the courtyard attendant came running to us and scolded us, stated we were on vacation and we are to do NOTHING!!!. We didn’t use our butler for much other than an early breakfast the morning in Tortola but he was always asking if there was anything we needed.

 

Our friends traveling with us hadn’t cruised in 25 years since they did a Bermuda cruise out of New York. They loved it and enjoyed the Haven experience.

 

One note about our rooms. We had 2 Courtyard Penthouses that were next to each other. It worked perfectly for us traveling together. Our balconies were adjoining and then on either side of us were the windows with the bathrooms for the 2 bedroom suites so we could visit on our balcony without disturbing anyone next to us. We opened our dividers at times and would have happy hour drinks before dinner. The rooms were very quiet and the beds very comfortable. There was a family with 4 kids next door to our friends and they never heard any noise from the adjoining cabin.

 

Fantastic cruise, fantastic ship and fantastic crew. Really no complaints. A few minor things that we didn’t like more than others but nothing that distracted from our trip.

 

Also – regarding elevators and being on the 17th floor. We NEVER had any problems getting elevators up or down. We were prepared to run the stairs down as we did have problems getting elevators on the Epic but for some reason this ship worked better and we never had to run stairs (although we probably should have for the exercise!). We were told there was about 4500 passengers on board which included 900 kids.

Have they changed the terminal to check in for Haven? We have been terminal C before but our Escape docs list terminal B.

Is it me? The menu looks the same as last May. What are the changes?

 

BTW, if anyone from NCL is reading this, the butter roasted chicken with the polenta comes with waaaaaaaaaaay toooooo much polenta - like enough for 4 - 6 servings. That dish really needs a rethink - maybe include a vegetable and serve a single serving polenta cake instead? Anything to lighten the plate as the polenta is overwhelming the dish.

 

Nope not you, exact same menu. I was hoping for a change. I'm a bit surprised.

I saw that picture and it looks wonderful but I believe it is a handicap cabin so it is probably a bit larger. Thank you

 

Yes this is a handicap cabin, my parents had a similar one on Epic. It is the same square footage as the 2 bedroom (at least it was on Epic) suite. I am surprised that this was the penthouse suite they opened for viewing as it is not the typical penthouse. Perhaps they wanted to show the features of the handicapped suite but I've not seen that be the focus.

 

We also have a penthouse suite booked and waiting for pics. Otherwise I will see it in a month!

Jimmy Buffet

 

My favorites - fish tacos and conch fritters!! :)

I was able to purchase soft drink package in advance for just 1 person in our cabin. We are sailing on Escape in December. I purchased a few weeks ago. It gave me the option of selecting which individuals I wanted to purchase for. Have a receipt confirmation from them so I'm not expecting to have to purchase for others.

I believe they should be longer as they run the width of the room whereas the 2 BR balconies are shorter as they are losing out on the portion that houses the bathroom. The living room portion of the 2 BR units would not be as wide as the PH (in my uneducated opinion!).

 

We had both types of rooms on the Epic and the Penthouse had a bigger balcony but the 2 BR units were much nicer for us. I loved being able to get up in the morning while my husband slept, make my tea and hang on the balcony. We will have a penthouse on the Escape. We will have friends in the adjoining penthouse, their first cruise. Hopefully the LOVE it!!!

My parents had this room on our last cruise. It is a handicapped penthouse. It is a great room and my parents loved it. I don't recall it having the round bed but it may have. The square footage of the room is the same as the 2 bedroom suite but it is configured into 1 large room. As you walk into the room the bathroom is to your right. The sink and vanity is separate from the toilet/shower area. As the shower is configured to roll in some water does get under the shower curtain. The shower and bathroom has bars and seats for handicapped.

 

The room is very wide and spacious. Nice built in wall unit, table with 3 or 4 chairs. The area where the master bathroom is in the 2 bedroom suites has a sofa next ro a large window. The balcony is the same size as the 2 bedroom. They had a lounger and chair with a small table. It was perfect for them and like I said very spacious. For your 3rd person they would have the sofa area but no privacy with a wall or curtain. Great ship, loved the Haven there and all of the team of people. Have a great time.

Our first and only aft cabin was on the 10th floor of Epic. We were in one of the penthouse rooms in the middle. While we loved the location and view and we never noticed any motion while sailing we did notice a lot of vibration when going in and out of port. It was laughable to us as the hangers in the closet were rattling. We have seen others comment that it didn't bother them but since we typically pull into port early, especially on the last day we had some early wake up calls. Keep in mind I am a very light sleeper.

[quote name='Sand and Seas']Well said! I doubt Jimmy Buffet would allow use of his name and logos unless he approved even a limited but good menu. Parrotheads will demand no less:cool:[/QUOTE]

Hehe. Yes, us Parrotheads have done well by Jimmy 😜🎉🌴 and he is pretty particular so I am hopeful that it will be good. I don't expect that it will be the full menu but I'm hopeful some of the signature dishes and drinks will survive. I'm hoping with my fingers crossed for jammin jerk shrimp. Will find out in December From looking at the NCL website it looks like just breakfast and lunch.

Interesting, ptuder! Does that mean that Kevin Sheehan really wasn't "undercover"? What did the signs say?

 

I wouldn't have known Kevin Sheehan if I was sitting next to him in the bar but considering the known filming I can't imagine he was too far undercover.

 

Early in the cruise Simon the cruise director told my husband and I about a film crew on board but not the name of the show. The signs were posted outside venues where they were filming such as the White Hot party. They stated that by entering you understood that a film crew was filming and if you were filmed or included in any way they had your permission.

 

I never saw anything that would have interfered with using any venues.

As a video professional I can say this could be done with a large impactful to your cruise crew or with 2 or 3 guys that you probably wouldn't notice. I was on the first Breakaway sailing that did the FLA & Bahamas run and there was a small crew that I only new were professionals because of their gear and what they were doing.

 

I've worked mostly as a one man crew so I can say this with experience. Hopefully that is the case and it isn't a large production crew, because that certainly would go noticed.

 

I was on the Epic when Undercover Boss was filmed. Other than seeing the cameras occasionally and some disclosure signs at filming locations it really wasn't an issue.

Please someone else correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that the soda card need not be purchased by all guests in a cabin. Only the UBP (which includes alcohol) must be purchased by all.

 

This was correct for us on our Epic cruise. We did not have the UBP and my husband purchased the soda card, I did not. Only 2 of us in the cabin.

Is the epic so bad lol

 

Like anything in this world some people love it others hate it. We are in the love it category. We have been on the Epic 3 times and each time was better than the last. We were sad to see it leave Miami.

 

Have a great time. Whether it ends up being your favorite or not you are still on a cruise for a week, it is hard not to have fun!!!

We have cruised 4 times with NCL and have 2 booked. We used a NCL PCC once since I read about people getting great service from their PCC. We obviously didn't hit the jackpot there. He did as little as possible while booking 3 Haven suites. Once booked it was like pulling teeth to talk with him again.

 

Since then we have used a TA and they have given us some terrific benefits. On our next 2 cruises we have over $500 in OBC in addition to the perks offered by NCL. They do charge a $100 cancellation fee which we haven't had to use yet but if we ever do have to play that card we are still better off with what we received so far.

 

I wish we would have had better luck with PCC.

We have stayed in the aft suite on the Epic and you are correct it is a tub/shower combo and it is a high tub to climb in. If you have any mobility or balance issues I would not recommend that cabin but the view is nice.

 

We had friends stay in the spa suite and they had no complaints about noise.

 

If money is not an issue I would take the 2 bedroom within the Haven on floor 16. The extra space is great and the shower in the master is wonderful. It is also so convenient to be able to walk around the corner for breakfast or grab a drink. We loved being able to walk out our room into the hot tub in the evening before bed.

 

Lastly, there is a handicapped penthouse suite on floor 16 that my parents stayed in last year. The square footage is the same as the 2 bedroom but it is one large room. There is one bathroom with a shower only. It worked great for them as my Dad has a lot of mobility issues but you have to support the need for a handicapped room.

 

Have fun, we loved the Epic and the Haven.

This is the last thing to be nervous about while cruising NCL. :)

 

My husband likes NCL for the freestyle and lack of strict dress rules. On our last cruise we were invited to dinner with the captain and almost declined as he didn't have a jacket but we were very clearly told that it wasn't expected as NCL lives by the freestyle rules. Hubby wore nice jeans with a long sleeve button down shirt and I wore white jeans with a nice sweater. We had a blast and didn't feel out of place. Have a GREAT trip.

We boarded the Epic this year the day of the marathon and had no problems. The one item that is new this year than prior years is the new port tunnel so many of the vehicles coming in and out of the port are using the tunnel which avoids the downtown streets. Previously you only had one option for getting in and out of the port.

We really want to do the ride over to JVD - my husband's favorite drink is the Painkiller so we have to go to the birthplace right???

 

My question is: from the boat, how deep of water were you in from the boat to the island. One of our travel partners is not a big water person so I'm wondering if this isn't the excursion for her? If it is waist deep water she will be okay, but deeper than that she may be uncomfortable.

 

Thanks for your help!!

I'm sorry to hear that the OP was unhappy with the medical team when they arrived at the scene. It sounds like things were not handled well. I thought I'd share a very favorable experience we had with the medical team on NCL.

 

We sailed the EPIC last April with another couple. After a great week we had our last dinner and made plans to meet in the morning to disembark. Around 11:30 PM my girlfriend was sick to her stomach. Shortly thereafter her tongue started swelling. Her husband called the medical center and they told them to come down immediately. By the time they got to the clinic her tongue was swelling to the point it was sticking out of her mouth. While my friends husband was initially concerned when he saw the Dr, who he said looked to be in high school, he couldn't say enough good about them by the time it was over. They immediately took action, injected her thighs repeatedly throughout the night to combat the allergic reaction she was having. They filled 2 white boards in the clinic documenting everything they did. Her throat was so swollen she couldn't speak. By 6 AM she was doing better but they never left her alone the entire time she was there. They were not comfortable releasing her to a 3 hour drive home. They had an ambulance pick her up at the ship and transfer her to a Miami hospital for further care. Both of our friends are convinced that they saved her life. If this would have happened while on one of our shore stops she may not have been so lucky.

 

On a side note they did have trip insurance which covered all of their medical expenses from the ship, the ambulance and Miami hospital charges until midnight of the day the ship docked in Miami. It was an allergic reaction to blood pressure medication that she'd been taking for years. Young 60's and overall very healthy, but took the insurance just as a precaution.

 

I would like to hope that everyone who needs medical care on a ship would be so lucky to have such good care.

I heard that you can not use it only if it is directly from NCL. It is coming from my travel agent. Has anyone else had this before?

 

On our last cruise in January we had $300 from NCL and $100 from TA. The full NCL portion was non refundable and could not be used for DSC. The TA portion was split evenly between non refundable and refundable. The $50 refundable portion was applied to the DSC.

 

Check with your TA and see how they apply it, that will make the difference. We will have almost $600 from TA in December and TA wasn't sure how it would be split but assured us that the non refundable portion would more than cover DSC. Good luck. Have a great trip.

 

Thanks!!! Love seeing the changes.

 

Does anyone know when the ship gets taken out of this space and when they do sea trials? August or even as late as September?

 

We are going Dec 5 so it's fun to see the pictures of it being built.

Can anyone share the EPIC smoking areas? I'm probably going to smoke on the balcony while no one is around and if I get charged 250 I don't really care, but would like to know where the other options are so I can avoid that.

 

I was on the Epic back in Jan and thought they had a fair amount of space for smokers. The bar side of Spice H2O, main pool deck close to the Waves (starboard ??), Posh (starboard??) next to the bar. One area of the casino, we saw them pointing smokers to the correct area, and cigar bar. Not sure if there are more as I'm not a smoker but did notice them as someone in our group was a smoker.

The land-based restaurants near me don't charge a DSC in addition to an expectation of %-based gratuities.

 

I'm also quite displeased with this. Instead of eating at 7 specialities, we'll stick to the included Haven restaurant. That's $280 minimum out of NCL's pocket.

 

Not the smartest business decision. Mr. Del Rio, now you have to find an extra $330 instead of $50.

 

 

And, frankly, I'm also going to start exploring alternate cruise-lines. The Escape could be our last NCL.

 

 

Stephen

 

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Ditto for us. We will stick to Haven restaurant and platinum dining benefit, so probably a $200 loss from us.

 

Also we will probably branch out after our Escape cruise in December. Everything from DSC, drinks, grats, specialty dining has increased since we booked. Not suggesting that prices on other lines are not adjusting also but one after another over a few months is a bit much. I enjoy the benefits from being long term customer but not enough to feel so loyal anymore.