nemini

I would presume because the PCC isn't responding now that the reservation is made, so the poster is trying to get it with someone who will actually help.

Just a guess, but it's at least the most likely possibility. That or the TA is a relative.

Should be pretty simple to get a taxi or van to shuttle you to one or both. Bus ... is somewhat possible, but would involve a lot more walking. (I checked bus schedules and routes when planning a trip to the distillery myself; I ended up attaching it to a snorkeling tour.)

The largest crowd I saw at the Cayman Spirits Co. distillery was 6 people, who came in after I'd had my solo tour but while I was still drinking sample shots. The owner who was pouring my shots took them on a quick tour, then came back and started pouring more samples, basically resetting my sample count. He wasn't too bothered over it, and I was still waiting for my van to get back, so. On the other hand, I was going in the afternoon after snorkeling. I was told that there had been a larger crowd earlier in the morning, before they went to beaches. So I guess I'd recommend later morning or mid-afternoon there.

Don't know personally about Caybrew. I'm more a spirits sort, myself. :D

To be fair--something very few people are interested in, admittedly--by the time the confirmation was printed, it was too late. OP was already booked with a ES rate, and Carnival had the money they wanted.

If no one knows about the "secret" of the P&A, they certainly will after 30 people gather there.

You seem to be more interested in gathering than in eating, given the rapidity with which you shot down Cucina del Capitano and JiJi's. Given that, Ocean Plaza is another option. It's not outside, but it's certainly "people can stand around with a drink in hand." If you really want outdoor, the outdoor seating area for, say, Cherry on Top is another possibility. You could even get P&A food and go over to CoT, which should be really empty. Or just further up the Lanai from P&A, like around the Fun Shops. Again, you could get food at P&A, then run up the lanai/promenade to a different area and sit there.

At least possibly the one referenced in my ticker on my signature, below. (Since I don't really know what URL references will or won't cause problems....) It at least has that general format.

My parents (in their 60s) did the B2B on Vista in the FH area earlier this year and really enjoyed it. They loved the lounge, though apparently there were occasional mechanical difficulties with the doors. They compared it to the Studio Lounge on Norwegian ships, which is admittedly one of my favorite parts of the Studios. They said there weren't any more kids running the halls than normal, and the decor was neat and original. (Granted, they were talking to me, and I'm a big fan of nautical decor anyway, so it would certainly be mentioned.) If I hadn't booked a Havana interior for my own Vista cruise next year, I likely would have gone FH myself.

Havana has 2 (which seem to be the only ones on Deck 5, and are kinda lukewarm according to most reports I've read). Beach Pool (Lido, mid-ship) has 0. Tides Pool (Lido, aft) has 2. Serenity (Serenity, forward) has 2. Oh, and technically the Cloud 9 Spa has one.

So there look to be a total of 7, but only 2 of those are totally open for anyone at most any time. The Havana spas are Havana-only until 7 pm. The Cloud 9 one is only open to Cloud 9 cabins and anyone who's paid for a cruise-long or daily spa pass. Serenity are adult-only.

I did this for my last cruise; I'd bought FTTF and the people in the cabin showed up at different times. We each received the benefits when we showed up. But yes, the FTTF logo was on each of the boarding passes.

I enjoyed Costa Maya, but I booked a private excursion to Dzibanche and Kinichna. My guide and I were literally the only living people at both spots. We ended up going to (the much more crowded) Chacchoben as well, on the way back.

But yeah, not getting there until 3 pm would obviously ruin that.

What are the hours of Mandara Spa for the thermal suite pass?

8 am - 10 pm for most of the cruise.

The last day of the cruise, 8 am - 8 pm.

Did any of the Guy Harvey items also have a ship reference? That'd be another big opportunity. DH & oldest DS wear plenty of Guy Harvey already. Something referencing the ship would be awesome.

Most (actually, I think maybe all) of the Guy Harvey shirts referenced the ship as well. Most of the caps did, but few of the hats. However, I can see where LrgPizza might've missed the references on the t-shirts, as they were mostly on the back, and the shirts were on shelves. I specifically got a Harvey/Escape t-shirt and performance shirt, as I'm a Harvey fan already as well.

I've seen one post of the menu in O'sheehans, by Keith Jenner. I'm not sure it was complete though. I've seen other posts about poutine being on it, but no menu anywhere that showed it. Not that I'm a big poutine fan.

Sadly, no poutine anywhere on the O'Sheehan's menu. I'd've at least ordered it once had it been available. :(

I'm curious about the Dailies; were there any tastings such as a martini tasting or whiskey tastings? Not that we need a structured drinking event but it is always fun to participate in them. We did a few on the Epic and had a blast. Nothing like knocking back 4 martinis at 2:00 in the afternoon at sea!

Strangely, there weren't. I'd been hoping for that sort of thing as well, but the only "tasting" was the mojito flight at Sugarcane. I suspect that with the sheer amount of UBP on this cruise (and for the foreseeable future), Someone decided that additional tastings would be unnecessary. Personally, I find this shortsighted.

As a couple of Margaritaville side notes....

It's definitely open for breakfast, though it was closed for breakfast for the middle half or so of the cruise. (Weather, I assume. Still, it was open for the first couple of days, so dunno.) I loved the breakfast. The Key West omelet (with shrimp and toppoed with a key lime hollandaise) was incredible and probably my favorite breakfast item on the ship. The rest of the breakfast menu was solid, and (unlike prety much everything else for breakfast) was generally unique to Margaritaville.

As far as the 1 hour wait for lunch on the last day.... They were having some sort of kitchen troubles. It was a 40-minute wait for breakfast, after being seated and my order taken. It wasn't--or shouldn't've been--that there was a hourlong wait to be seated, but that there would be an hourlong wait on food.

I completely agree with you on the buffalo rock shrimp. I'm missing that and the tasty dragon roll from Food Republic already. Okay, and the fish tacos and volcano burger from Margaritaville. :)

Honestly, between an interior and a studio on Epic for the same price, I'd take the studio every time. Granted, I've only had the (apparently larger) Lounge on Epic, but that's what's in question here. Hanging out in the Lounge plus the food/coffee available in the Lounge plus the hour-a-day bar really makes up for any slight space difference. Also, the layout of the studio is more efficient than the interiors I'd visited on Epic. I was surprised on my first cabin crawl how much more I liked the studio than the interior cabin.

I rarely went to the cafe or restaurant for breakfast on port days; I'd just have a pastry and/or yogurt and a cappuccino in the Lounge. Late in the evening, I'd often have a chocolate chip cookie and some steamed vanilla milk before bed. (Note: bring vanilla.)

Granted, I'm in a balcony for the Escape transatlantic because my midship balcony was literally cheaper than the studios. But about the same price, for an interior, on Epic? Nah, keep the studio.

Sadly, I'll not be getting into Southampton until a bit before noonish on the day we leave. Cutting it a bit close, but no worse than my last couple of cruises.

I'm looking forward to meeting people onboard! 43 more days to go.... Fewer for some, admittedly. I'm envious, SingleCruiser. :)

I once stepped onto the gangplank about 1 minute before the ship was due to sail away, but again, it was in the Med. (It was also RCI, not NCL, but still....) I had planned to be back about an hour before sailaway, but there were train problems. Ah, Trenitalia....

Fortunately, the ship knew about the train problems, and I wasn't quite the last person on board. (We stayed another 20 minutes for a group to get back, due to similar train problems.) And, again, it was the Med. During my lengthy wait in the rural train station, I'd already scoped out the trains I'd have to take to get to our next stop--which was less than 4 hours' train ride away, once I got back to our port city. I wasn't really stressed over it. My friends who were waiting on the ship were more stressed than I was, especially since I'd told them I was planning to be back earlier. Of course, I'd been hiking seaside cliffs in Cinque Terre, so they were partly concerned Something Bad had happened to me.

In the Caribbean, where getting to the next stop would have been more challenging, it might have been a different story.

To be completely fair, SeaShark is somewhat incorrect in the first statement--there is no contradiction here. The OP has a cancelled cruise, even if NCL hasn't been in contact yet. According to NCL's press release, "Norwegian Spirit will offer a series of seven-, 10- and 11-day Eastern and Western Mediterranean sailings from November 2016 to May 2017." Given that, OP's original cruise on Spirit from Port Canaveral sometime in April 2017 has certainly been canceled, whether or not NCL has contacted OP.

I don't see why this was so difficult to understand. Regardless of the assumption (and likely reality) that OP was getting information just from CC, it's not necessarily true.

Yes, both times I've been on Epic. :D

First time, a group of solos from the studios went with the solos coordinator and had at least one drink from nearly every bar on Epic, along with some entertaining sophomoric games like seeing who could chug a bottle of beer the fastest and ending with a game of flip cup. Second time, a group from the roll call decided we were doing a bar crawl. In both cases, we skipped the theater bar (which may have been closed at that time of day, come to think of it), but added grabbing drinks at O'Sheehan's. Both did include going to the Ice Bar. Also, looking at the listing on the website, Norwegian oddly forgets the Spice H20 Pool Bar from the listing of Bars on Epic, which is where both tours ended.

It's not ridiculously bad--10 or so drinks--and if it's spread out over a day (instead of going directly from one to the next), it's very feasible, depending on tolerance levels. Even if spread over a day, I don't know that I'd do it the same day as the martini tasting, though. ;)

That's how I'm reading it as well, LrgPizza. Plus the usual 18%.

I'm debating with myself over Halloween. Definitely dressing up, but I'm not sure if I want to try to bring along makeup and such or stick with something less involved. I suspect I'll end up with a mask of some sort, depending on how much room I have in my luggage.

Of course, luggage room may be limited because I was planning on at least minor room decorations. I may just put up some cobwebs and some window clings or something. Hopefully I can persuade the room steward not to take down the fake cobwebbing....

Correct. The excursion gets around with large (thankfully well-air-conditioned) tour buses, with one's luggage locked up in the compartment underneath.

I did it a year and a half or so ago in December 2013 and really enjoyed the tour. Like others have said, I wouldn't worry about the time. I was back at FLL before 2:30 pm. (Sadly, as my flight out wasn't until 6 pm.)

Have fun!

I haven't, though my brother's family did when we were on Freedom last December. They had a fireplace and chimney out of craft paper, with stockings hung on the mantel over the fireplace. It was all flat, since it was just paper. The parts that were affixed to the door were affixed by 3M Command strips, which came off cleanly.

If this premium access wifi supports music streaming and Skype, can you also use other apps with it. Like games?

Sorry, not tech savvy. Just trying to figure out how to make everyone happy.

When I was on Freedom back in December, a friend of mine used the Premium package to log into World of Warcraft while at sea. He said the connection wasn't fast enough for something like raiding, but he could do his daily stronghold quests and crafting just fine.

So something turn-based would certainly be fine; some games would be okay; a lot of time-critical games would likely experience too much latency to be enjoyable.

I had Value myself, and had no problem checking my e-mail, occasionally reading the news or looking something up online, and keeping my e-book place synched via Amazon's Whispersync. (As sometimes I'd read on one device, then log out and end up reading further later on another device.)

You planning on booking the Carnival Vista? I see lots of Carnival on your signature.

I've been looking at Vista a fair amount, and I like some of the changes while being a bit wary about others--like everyone, really. I suspect I'll book on her, though, while she's on this side of the pond. I'm wanting to check out Havana and the coves too much to ignore her.

All that aside, let us know how you end up deciding, OP! I really think you'd appreciate the Escape.