TrpngBilly

Sailed on the Breakaway with family who had cabin 12100, same category as the one you are asking about so I suspect the layout is likely similar if not the same.  I remember that the bed was in front of the window with your head nearest the window so you would basically being laying down with your head toward the front of the ship.  Our family enjoyed the room and said there was plenty of storage.  They loved the forward view and said they would definitely book a similar cabin again.  Their only complaint was that from time to time the window had to be covered because of reflection of the sun into the bridge, which was up a few decks from them.

Family of four in port from 8am-6pm with two other ships also in port at the same time on Tues Feb 19th.  From those of you who are experienced with an on your own venture to St. John, are we in good shape to enjoy the day without having to buy the excursion offered by the ship.  It's a considerable savings and I figure if we get to St. John by 10:30am we will stay until probably 2pm and head back.

I see that a taxi to Red Hook seems to be the overall favorite method for those on their own, then the ferry to St. John and then another taxi to Trunk Bay.  Anyone done that trek recently that can share thoughts, tips, tricks, suggestions?  Thanks in advance.

On 1/22/2019 at 11:45 AM, alyssazoll said:

Saturday - Day One - Miami (continued):

Our stateroom = 9922, Aft facing balcony! At our current point in our lives, we have no desire to cruise in the Haven because we want to cruise as much as possible right now. The minisuites don't offer us enough to pay more, and while a spa room would be nice, I don't think I would utilize the spa much with this type of itinerary. We spent a good amount of time on our balcony on the last cruise, so we decided to spend the extra money on an aft facing balcony. I'm not sure we'll ever cruise another way! It was amazing! I did a lot of research trying to pick the best deck. For Bliss, deck 9 is the deepest, which is why I picked it. I was worried about noise from the Waterfront, but it was never an issue. The A List bar is right below you, but doesn't open until 5, but was a good place to grab a drink at night, or go back to balcony with. Other close bars on deck 8 were Sugarcane, Maltings, and the Cavern on the Waterfront. The stateroom was standard, but the balcony had 2 loungers, 2 regular chairs, and a small table. The room had plenty of storage for the 2 of us. 

Ugh. I miss it so much. 

 

We booked our brothers an inside room, and at the time it was only GTY rooms left. About a week after we booked them, they were assigned an inside family room, 12685, which was right above us 3 floors up, so it worked out well! I have no pictures of their room because they are 20 & 22 year old gross boys 😂

 

We went out and explored before muster and sail away. I did not take a lot of pictures of the ship since other reviews have done that so thoroughly. Muster drill was quick and easy. The bar was back open, and we decided to watch sail away from our balcony! 

Having cruised in balcony cabins, mini-suites and the Haven, I agree with you completely.  We bid on a Haven upgrade on Escape and to our surprise we got it.  I will say that the Haven Aft-Facing Penthouse was incredible.  Ours was on Deck 9 and we found out that the Aft Haven balconies on deck 9 are the largest on the ship because of how the ship is designed.  And while I say it was incredible, I could never justify spending the extra money outright for the Haven experience again.  For our lifestyle, the Balcony cabins are just fine for us.

Your review is excellent, I'm enjoying it and have pointed several of my friends to look at it as we get closer to our cruise on Bliss.

Terrific review, thanks for sharing it. Any chance you saved the freestyle dailies to share?  Boarding in Feb and would love to get a sense of the happenings.

On 12/4/2018 at 7:44 PM, MrsLucky3 said:

Does anyone have more recent dailies? I am thinking since these were at the very beginning of this itinerary there may have been some changes as they settled in and I am a bit of an OCD planner  🙂

Same here, would love to see more recent dailies if they are around.  I'm also a bit OCD, but I refer to it as Obsessive Compulsive Designation.

On 11/18/2018 at 3:26 PM, Sailing Smooth said:

We went to Trunk Bay on our own.  Took a taxi to the ferry.  You'll need another taxi to get to Trunk Bay.  You'll need cash for taxis so plan accordingly.  We were almost short!  It's beautiful!  You can pay for ferry and  park entrance fee with credit card.

Do you mind sharing what the per person cost was for what you mentioned? I keep finding conflicting info.

Sorry, guess I was incorrect.

5 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

When did this change? You used to be able to order a bar set up ahead of time (for $80+).

Sorry if I'm wrong about this but I've never heard of that and any time I've tried to buy liquor on board I've been told that I couldn't and was never offered an alternative.

On 1/12/2019 at 6:31 PM, tallnthensome said:

Nobody actually buys the drink package, they get the promotion. My upcoming 15 Panama Canal drink promo cost less than $500 for my wife and I for 15 days. A similar cruise on Carnival has a cost of over $1600 for Cheers. That's an $1100 difference. I can buy a whole lot of bottles water to satisfy or complete the package with $1100 for drink packages. BTW,  when all was added the NCL cruise on the new Bliss was $500 for 15 days than 14 on Carnival's older ship. NCL = better deal this time. 

Believe it or not some people still buy the package.  We were on the Escape in April and talked to a couple who purchased the package.  I was confused because they mentioned choosing the 3-meal dining package and wifi for their promos.  I wanted to ask why they hadn't chosen the drink package but I didn't. To this day I still wonder why they chose to forego the most valuable package for two that are fairly inexpensive when compared to the drink package.

No. Liquor is not available for pre-order and you can't buy a bottle on board and bring it to your stateroom either.  You can bring as many sealed bottles of wine or champagne on board with you but there will be a corkage fee; $15 for 750ml bottles and $30 for 1,500ml bottles.  You can also order wine through NCL but not sure if a corkage applies to it.

18 hours ago, IHEARTSUP14 said:

Hello Everyone!

 

We are booked on the Getaway in Mid-April and being a first time NCL cruiser I have a couple questions I am hoping you all could help me with!  

 

We are trying to book our dinner times, but LOVE to see the nightly shows. Do you know what time the nightly stage shows are?  We would love to coordinate dinner times so we do not miss these.  

 

I have heard that NCL is no longer doing formal "Formal" nights!  Would anyone know which night of the 7 day cruise the Captains dinner is scheduled for?  

 

Embarkation - NCL just told me that they are not doing set boarding times for this sailing.  I know NYC can get a bit hectic - does anyone know what the earliest time we would start boarding is and/or what time we should arrive?  We would love to get on as soon as possible in order to start enjoying our vacation!!  

 

Thank you all in advance for your help!

Showtimes are typically 7:30pm and 10pm on varying nights.  Start looking for the "Freestyle Dailies" here on the boards as the date of your cruise gets closer for more accurate scheduling.  Also, when you make a dinner reservation the system automatically blocks out 90 minutes from the start of your dinner reservation that prevents you from booking anything else that conflicts with your dinner reservation.  But, I've found that it's easier to change a dinner reservation that you already have than it is to get a reservation that may not be available at all.  And while I'm not a big fan of doing it...if you let your server know that you have show reservations for a certain time they'll do their best to move things along for you.  On many occasions they've asked us when we are seated if we have show reservations for that evening.

There is no set formal night on NCL but...tangentially, nobody prevents you from dressing up.  There are a couple of dining venues on board that have a fairly strict dress code (collared shirt and no jeans) so I suggest that you check the specifics of each of the restaurants where you plan to eat so you know what's expected as far as attire.

Your eDocs should have a time listed for you to show up at the pier.  We've cruised out of NYC several times and never been turned away when showing up early.  Be prepared to wait in the "corral" with everyone else before getting on board.  I think the earliest we showed up in NYC was 9:30am and we were on board a little after 11.  But, people that showed up after us waited in line that was a lot longer than our line.

We had an H6 on Escape.  Beautiful cabin and I can confirm that the couch did open up to one double bed.  There was nothing available overhead such as the Pullman style bed that you refer to.

19 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Travel agents first post and doesn't know how to research cruising?

 

Not buying it!

Kinda like an overweight nutritionist.

3 hours ago, betmust said:

I have just finished filling out my online check in. First cruise with NCL.  What do i have to print out to bring with me to my cruise.  My travel agent will print and give me my cruise documents.

 

Thanks for the help

Having your cruise docs printed ahead of time does save time at check-in.  And, for some reason NCL has hidden the icon for printing your luggage tags.  On the first page of your edocs, look under the heading "At the Pier" and find the picture of a suitcase (toward the right of the page).  Click that and you can print your luggage tags - I also suggest using a color printer if you have access to one.

Enjoy your cruise!

West India Company Dock, also known as Havensight. It's about 5 minutes from Charlotte Amalie by cab.

We always bring some candy, mints, gum, etc. with us.  I also never forget a bag or two of goldfish crackers...they travel easy and don't take up a lot of space in the cabin.

3 hours ago, zqvol said:

 

 

As someone mentioned if you are a coffee snob you might want to pay for that. One thing you do not need is a stack of ones for use on the ship. The crew has all received their gratuities, there is no need to give them any more.

One group of the crew that does not receive gratuities out of the service charges that we all pay is the youth staff.  Even though the OP didn't mention traveling with kids, others reading these posts may be traveling with kids and should know that the staff that runs Splash Academy isn't included in the distribution of the on board service charges like the other crew.  I understand NCL's rationale for excluding them from this pool of funds since technically not every passenger utilizes their services directly.  But, I also understand that the youth staff does an excellent job of keeping kids occupied during the cruise which has an impact on other passengers, even those without kids.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that passengers traveling without kids should feel obligated to tip the youth staff, not at all.  I just think that passengers traveling with kids who use the youth programs should know that the youth staff may be worth considering when determining whether or not to acknowledge members of the crew who go above and beyond.

Very subjective topic with lots of variables.

I've had a good experiences as well as bad experiences in many different ports but as bad as the worst one was...it was still better than shoveling snow in my driveway since we usually cruise in winter.

2 hours ago, BNBR said:

I wouldn't sail NCL with a 2.5 year old.

 

Carnival has full camp for 2 year olds with diaper changes and everything.  Lots of fun activities.  NCL and Royal is 3+ and they have to be potty trained.

 

The other option I would go with is Royal Caribbean, one of their ships that has the new H2O zone like Harmony of the Seas which has a play area for children still in swim diapers.  Plus play rooms, movie theater, boardwalk with carousel, etc. etc.

 

I personally would not enjoy vacation one bit if I had my 2 year old with me every waking moment.  I'd rather just stay home where we can swim and play with their normal stuff.  Which is why I'd do Carnival.

NCL now offers the Guppies program for children under 3.  It is not identical to the other age groups in Splash Academy but it is an option not previously available to families.  Programs vary by ship so I would research the Splash Academy info for any NCL ship you're considering.

On 11/22/2018 at 2:48 AM, bbnjcruiser said:

Has anyone tried this excursion yet?

As a follow up to anyone who answers "yes" to OP...  why?

On 11/2/2016 at 12:53 PM, mamasylvia said:

This is a serious question, honest. 6 of my family members are booked on the Norwegian Pearl next May. It sounds like a wonderful Alaska cruise, but if I had known they only serve Pepsi products and don't allow you to bring your own Coke products on board, I think I would have looked at a different line because 3 of the 6 cruisers are Coke-dependent.

 

I'm sure they are not the only Coke fanatics who have ever cruised on NCL. If you have experienced this, how did your Coke fanatic manage?

After the first four drinks the rum should make the subtle difference between coke and pepsi almost un-noticeable. Thanks UBP!

NCL ships are now "no drone zones" and they don't permit them on board at all.

Cruised when our daughter was 18 months and it was fabulous.  NCL crew always went out of their way to engage her and we had no trouble keeping her occupied on the ship as well as finding time to get her naps in.  It was such a success we have cruised with our kids each year since 2011 including when our son was 13 months and just like previously, crew was engaging and welcoming to all of us.

Our kids are 9 & 7 now and they enjoy cruising, usually getting new pen pals from their friendships made in Splash Academy.  When our kids were younger and we sailed there was no Guppies program but now there is so even the little ones have some things they can do.

We had no issues cruising with our kids when they were under 2.

"I want my two dollars!"

No additional charge for the noodle bar but as pointed out it is very popular and the line forms fast.  Plan on when you want to go and get there early.  I will say that it is worth waiting in line for.