NoahtheRed

Has anyone on a recent (since drydock) Bermuda sailings gotten pics of the menus or drink lists? DW and I are sailing on her with friends next summer for a 5-night.

Also ordering pizza there can get you arrested and deported

Ahahahahahahaha, well said :P

we are taking 5 walkie talkies for us and our 3 kids to us on the ship. my question is for boarding the plan I really don't want to pack it in my checked bag but will it look suspicious if I have 5 in my carry on bag??

No. We always see lots of people with walkie talkies on the boat and it's not really the type of thing that'd raise suspicion.

Dining time can range a lot. We went to Cagney's one night and were in an out in under 45 minutes. We went again a different night and it was nearly 2 hours. The same can go for any of the others (though Teppanyaki is almost always about 1.5 hours, since it's a little more structured). I haven't eaten in an MDR for several years, but that's typically a LITTLE quicker. However, if it's busy, you can easily be there for 1.5 to 2 hours.

As for reservations, you get started at that time. We had reservations for 4 evenings and were always sat down by then. If you don't have them, it can range from no wait to several hours.

Bayamo was a mixed bag. We too were at Sugarcane most nights and while Bayamo was never empty, it was also never full. Pichos....however....that's a whole lot of central real estate not getting used. I think in the entire week, we never saw more then 4 or 5 people there.

So just to clarify, UBP covers the beers (bottles, draught) but not flights?

Correct. Frankly though, you can make you own flight....out of pints :P They let you try beers before you get a full pint, or at least for the drafts they do.

Any updates? We sail in less than 2 weeks.

Just got off on Saturday. District is included with UBP. Once all was said and done, I think our actual drinking costs incurred were under $5.....as it was just the tax on the first two drinks we had while still in port. Had quite a few beers at the District, some (very generous) drams of scotch at Tobacco row, and an unholy number of Mojitos from Sugarcane (Bong and Marcos are THE best bartenders we've ever encountered). Everything was covered by UBP. I never signed a single receipt for drinks, either

My daughter and I were very disappointed with Tortola. We didn't book an excursion figuring we would just check out the shops. Well, the shops are minimal, the shopkeepers seemed to have very little interest in the cruise passengers and their money. They all opened later than their posted hours despite having people gathering on the doorstep. The roads are very narrow without sidewalks and the people drive fast and crazy. Very hazardous to pedestrians.

The port area is a mess because they're building a large shopping area around the dock. Once that is completed, it may be a better itinerary stop.

We spent all of maybe 30 minutes off the boat in Tortola, and 25 of those minutes were spent taking pictures of the Spirit and the cargo ships across the bay. Tortola will probably be a pretty nifty stop in a year or two (maybe on the same level as like, Costa Maya), but right now, unless you have an excursion or a plan, there's not much to do around the port.

Bye Granduer of the Seas!

I was wondering. I can see her from my office. She's docked over at Lamberts point neat the USS Cole and Mesa Verde. The Cruise terminal is just down the river from there, oddly enough.

I think if a decision gets made, it will be at least several weeks/months from now. We're only what? 3 days into the first regular schedule cruise? If there's going to be a change, it'd likely require more than just changing some text on the website.

That said, I too am curious to see how the Brewhouse is fairing now that we're getting into the regularly scheduled programming. It's one of the big things I'm looking forward to and I'm excited to give it a shot myself in a few weeks.

Are the Paid for SPA facilities unisex or separate for male/female ( steam and sauna rooms)?

Both. At least on the Epic, there were the communal steamroom and sauna(s), as well as a steamroom and sauna in both the men and women's changing areas/bathrooms. The separate ones were smaller, though.

NCL doesn't do free any more. Nickels and dimes are what they are after.

The Thermal suite pass has been a thing for a while now.

The smoking area and non smoking area of the casino is separated pretty well on the escape, its to the point to where if you go near the smoking machines you deserve the smoke in your face.

Rational people don't take normal interpersonal conflicts and immediately turn them up to 11. A rational person, smoker or not, would not respond to what Funat55 described by being an unrepentant clod. A rational smoker would simply say "I'm sorry if my smoking is bothering you, but this is the smoker's section. Perhaps you'd be more comfortable in the non-smoking section?" Because....ya know...this is a vacation and getting in fights is everyone's favorite vacation pass-time.

That's when an rational smoker gets up

Yeah, I mean when I do things that are clearly bothering people around me, I typically try and be courteous and move somewhere that it's more welcome. That or I just refrain from doing it until it's not going to bother people around me.

and blows it directly into your face

Oh, I thought we were talking about rational people.

Yes Escape. We were not crawling around 3:15. We were up a max cruise speed.

 

Back to a crawl now as we turn to Miami

Yup. On Marinetraffic, looks like y'all cranked it up for a bit there (22 knots and some change it looks like).

I'm not positive if there's a bubbler system onboard, though. I believe the Quantum of the Seas is the first cruise ship to try it out, though it could be added to the Escape later on if it proves to be a fuel savings game changer.

No, you would still be responsible for payment of the 18% gratuities on the price of the package, but they would pick up the hundreds of dollars in the cost of the packages itself.

Unless you made your reservations back in like....January

Wow...a large bar in the District Brewhouse. Looks like you beat Captain Obvious to that piece of information. :rolleyes:

 

I'll have to disagree, because I believe that people using the other chairs DO, in fact, matter. They obviously mattered to the person to whom my initial post was directed, else we wouldn't be talking about it.

 

And, right...change to the UBP is going to be the BEST outcome if the bar continues to be a lounge without hitting revenue targets. The WORST outcome is the repurposing of the entire space.

 

 

What really makes no sense is that after all of the haranguing on these boards over getting NCL to serve the craft beer market, when they finally make that commitment and people don't drink the beers...they just sit around and stare out the windows. I'm certain FDR loves the idea of spending money to build specialty venues that don't generate revenue because they are full of people sitting and looking out windows. :rolleyes:

I'm just hoping that the better weather in the Caribbean leads more people to sit and read outside. Otherwise I've going to have to get loud and obnoxious in the bar or something :P

OK everyone we are on the ship on the 14 November 2015.

 

I promise the minute I get back, I will post everything that is going on.

 

I know that it drives everyone a little crazy, cause it does me.

 

All of you on the TA gave us so much info, I just want to pass on what I find out to those who are sailing after me.

 

Is there anything else that someone would like to know?

 

The last time I will most likely be on is Fri AM or early PM.

Status of whether Margaritaville is complimentary or cover charge.

Status of whether District is included or not included in UBP

Status of smoking onboard, particularly in reference to the casino area.

Status of the Thermal Spa (apparently parts of it are still being worked on?)

How well stocked are the bars? Are there unforseen shortages of things you shouldn't run out of?

Wait times for restaurants, both to be seated and to get your meal.

Pictures of the tap/bottle list at District

I can understand the issues with some of the beers, but they were out of a lot of wines as well (ones that NCL sell on other ships in Europe).

Well, either way, here's hoping they get their act together. If FDR wants to make a big deal out of being a higher brow experience than NCL of years past, he needs to be sure those supply manifests are nice and fat. The biggest ship in the fleet shouldn't have shortages :P

LOL. We did ask and were told at Cagney's "With the SDP, you live like Kings and can have as much of and anything you want". We laughed at that, as after ordering 14 lobsters, they'd likely say something, but it was clear it was pretty much all covered.

Here's hoping they stick to it :P I want to be in a meat coma by 8pm every day.

I makes sense, really. They basically just needed enough supplies to make it from the UK to florida without a passenger mutiny. I can't imagine how annoying it must be to try and sell american craft beer on a cruise ship, too. If you've got Dave's brewery in downtown Miami and you want it on your cruise ship, you have to first of course strike the marketing deal with Dave's Brewery....then get your account and logistics set up with their distributor (who also wants money)....and customs/ATF/whatever likely wants to be involved since this is international. I did some promotional work for a bourbon distiller and got to chatting about this topic (in reference to them selling it on cruise ships).....yeah, the hoops that everyone has to jump through to appease the tax man is crazy.

The only problem with that theory is that NCL do a number of transatlantics each year and I've never heard of similar shortages on those.

It could have also just been the difficult of getting certain beers in large enough quantities over there. Wasn't it primarily american brews that were running out?

Not true for everyone. I usually get a wedge salad, small filet and baked potato and at the a la carte prices it would be $26 including gratuity, where the SDP, purchasing for the weekl, would net down to $20 per meal with gratuity.

Dang, I guess the prices changed since then (No shocker there :P)

*edit*

Nvm, I can't scroll up :P Small filet is 5 oz

Food Republic is not incuded in the SDP - they never said it would be, and it is not.

 

At Cagney's with SDP, you can have as many apps and sides as you want. There is no limit. Same goes for Le Bistro and La Cucina.

You must be thinking of the (no longer available) UDP. If you got it before the name/terms change, it will work as you described. You can go to Le Bistro, La Cucina, Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and Moderno and eat as much as you like, as many times as you'd like.

The more recently offered SDP is essentially a pre-paid dinner package that covers a meal a day and only like....the typical parts of the meal. I remember someone did some math and figured out the SDP only really becomes beneficial if you have like the most expensive items on the menu every night for dinner.

However, you are correct about Food republic. It is not covered in either the SDP or UDP. I believe they receive a 25% discount on Food republic (and bayamo, the tappas place, etc).

Ultimately, I think NCL would like to try and do away with the packages entirely, though I can't imagine many people buying them are even physically up to the challenge of getting more value from it than NCL. I know for the UBP, you basically have to drink yourself into unconciousness....daily to really come out on top.