kajasmin

Thanks everyone! My son may have to do some online summer college class work. TBD. 

Wifi needed for service in Alaska with Verizon?

Want to book train in Skagway. Should we book now and is it refundable to a point? My research shows maybe 30 days out is new policy?

I've never gone with celebrity before. I can't seem to find information about what the daily entertainment is etc for our cruise. Not our maim goal of this trip but also wanted to see. 

Hi. Just booked a cruise for my family. We are in the concierge class on solstice and Oceanview (we have 3 cabins). We will need wifi. Does the concierge class include any of the things in the "premium access" add on? I was looking at it and it has a disclaimer that some rooms already have this. I can't find the info tho .

Thanks!

I'm super bummed. The forts are so awesome. I thought about going to the rainforest but it seems like it is still in bad times.

Hi! Our ship will be in San Juan on Thanksgiving. I was so excited to take my dad to the forts but they are closed. I've done a lot of research and most of the things I keep finding are closed. Any ideas for things to do that day? 

Thursday was the worst but from Day 1 out of miami it was rolling.... the entire cruise, even in what seemed liked very calm waters.

I live in Miami and slept thru Thursday night in my hi-rise, but many neighbors said there were hurricane-like winds in the night with incredible pelting rain and thunder. We had family here and they were woken. So some big weather thing DID happen Thursday night. It was short-lived here but sounds like it was even worse where the ship was.

We were between Tortola and Nassau.

Yeah, we were told there were hurricane force winds Thursday night. I'm only telling you what I saw on the little navigation channel. I have no way of knowing what was right or wrong, just what I saw. For all day Thursday it was saying 22 knots and 11.5ft waves. It was a big storm with lightning and thunder etc. I think it was gusts at 77mph. I live in Florida so I was surprised as I know hurricane winds well. Maybe it was in m not ft? What unit do they use on that channel. I could be wrong on the units. I did think that 14.5 ft sounds small myself, haha.

 

I really dont know- I'm not technical like you are. I just know what it felt like and what it looked like. I definitely think the majority of the last half was more "rolling" as you said... like the front would go up then the back, etc. But sometimes we were in calm seas and had a lot of movement too.

Maybe someone else knows more than me... anyone?

Hmm, something doesn't add up here. 77mph winds are Hurricane force winds on the Beaufort scale, so if you were in that, I would suspect any ship to pitch and roll, no matter which ship. However, with those winds, 14.5 foot seas would not be normal. That kind of wind generates 14+ meter seas (45+ foot), and no one would not be sick in those seas.

 

Now, a PP mentioned "strong gale" winds, which would be 75+ kph not mph (about 50mph) which would generate 10 meter (30 foot) seas. This would be more likely that a cruise ship would go through, though again, any ship would ride hard in this weather.

 

Lets say there were 30' seas. The Captain does not want to meet those seas head on, as the ship would "stagger" or lurch like an airplane in turbulence. He also doesn't want to run parallel to them, or the ship will roll very far over. So, he will try to meet the seas close to head on, but at an angle, which will have the ship pitch but not stagger, while the angle to the seas will cause some rolling. It sort of becomes a balancing act to get the right motion, and it can vary minute to minute, requiring constant attention by the helmsman and the bridge officer.

Yeah, we were told there were hurricane force winds Thursday night. I'm only telling you what I saw on the little navigation channel. I have no way of knowing what was right or wrong, just what I saw. For all day Thursday it was saying 22 knots and 11.5ft waves. It was a big storm with lightning and thunder etc. I think it was gusts at 77mph. I live in Florida so I was surprised as I know hurricane winds well. Maybe it was in m not ft? What unit do they use on that channel. I could be wrong on the units. I did think that 14.5 ft sounds small myself, haha.

I really dont know- I'm not technical like you are. I just know what it felt like and what it looked like. I definitely think the majority of the last half was more "rolling" as you said... like the front would go up then the back, etc. But sometimes we were in calm seas and had a lot of movement too.

I already mentioned this on the Thanksgiving Roll call thread.....

 

Thurs nite was worst rocking & rolling thru that storm I have ever felt on a cruise.

 

I did ALOT of praying that night. We had on balcony Deck 9 Midship.

I usually choose mid-ship for less motion.

Didn't matter Thurs. night.:mad:

 

I couldn't sleep because it was scary!!! VERY Annoyed that it seemed

the Captain was more interested in getting us to Nassau on time....

than giving a crap about what we were going thru.

 

Even when I tried to lay down, felt like I was going to roll out of bed.

 

There was so much STRONG Gale force wind, howling, motion and more thunder and lightening than I've ever seen on a cruise. Ever!

 

YES, the ship was Creaking alot and I also was scared we were going to

tip over, or it was going to fall apart.

 

Thank god we lived. Frankly, I could care less if we saw Nassau.

Been there, done that.

I would have Rather gone Another route, or go Slower, or go AROUND the storm..... than haul ass to get to Nassau. Was NOT happy Thurs. night.:mad:

 

Other than that.............. good times.:cool:

Yes, our balcony had an issue too and it seemed like we were going to fall off. It was awful.

We were on deck 17 and it was rocking, but we definitely weren't afraid. There was a magnificent sunrise and then came the rain and storm. TV Navigation said 8' seas but it looked more like 12+. My grandson had an upset stomach but took a Bonine and slept it off. We were fine by around 3:00 pm.

 

We were on a cruise in New Zealand a couple of years ago and the wind was so strong we were doing negative 3 knots trying to get across Cook Strait to the Tasman Sea. Now THAT was scary. And we have been in 30' seas near Haines Alaska and couldn't get up the canal to Skagway. Stayed in bed to ride that one out.

I saw 77mph winds and 14.5 ft seas at one time.

There is no such thing as going too fast for the stabilizers. The stabilizers act like airplane wings, and use the water flow over the airfoil shape of the stabilizers just like an airplane wing uses the airflow. The faster you go, the more effect the stabilizers have. Conversely, the slower you go, the less effect the stabilizers will have, and are generally designed to self-stow when the ship gets below 5-6 knots, to prevent the bridge crew from forgetting to retract them when docking, with resultant snapping off of the fin against the dock (it's happened before).

 

One factor affecting ship motion is the relationship between the ship's speed, and the period of the waves (the time between crests). At certain combinations of wave period and ship speed, you will get a "harmonic" effect whereby the motion is greatly increased, and with a slight adjustment of speed, the motion can possibly be greatly reduced.

 

A few years ago, I was on the Dawn doing a New England/Canada cruise, and we left NYC just after a tropical storm. The seas were such that my in-laws in a cabin on deck 4 had solid green water over their porthole.

 

Perhaps some folks could try to describe "rocky" or "rocking and rolling" from their perspective, because I feel it is vastly different than mine. On the other thread about the Escape's motion, this is what I said in respect to the Breakaway:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=48389527&postcount=34

 

maybe that could be used as a starting point for descriptions of motion.

 

To me, "rocky" implies the pitching (bow up/bow down) motion, and the "staggering" the ship experiences when heading into seas. This has very little to do with stability or with stabilizers, and is a function of the bow design.

 

"Rolling" is what I describe in the post linked above. "Heeling" is when the ship leans to one side for a long time, and again, this is more wind than sea affects.

Almost for the entire cruise you could see the front and back going up and down... like when we were on the waterslides you could see the major motion from fwd to aft (rolling), also there was a lot of motion side to side. The hostess at Moderno was holding on to a rail to not fall over. There was way more ROLLING than heeling in my opinion from the way you described it.

We had a great experience with gluten free, but found the specialty restaurants much less accommodating than the MDRs. Dd12 could order practically anything the night before, but for LeBistro and Moderno, they just let her know what on the menu was gluten free. They wouldn't speak with us ahead of time. It all worked out, she likes steak.

Yes, we had the UDP- so I basically ate steak and potatoes every single night with Creme Brulee.

We were also on this one and felt the same about the boat movement. Someone on board suggested we were going too fast to use the stabilizers. We left Miami late and had to make up time and then left Tortola about an hour and a half late and he was going top speed to get to Nassau (along with that wicked storm). You could tell when we left Nassau for Miami that they were using the stabilizers because we were going at a much slower speed and there was far less movement. All I know is that I am still rocking 2 days later on land!

It did seem like we were going SOOOOO fast.

Did you talk to NCL before your cruise about being GF? Did you follow the process they laid out for you in the email from accessdesk@ncl.com?

 

Other than deserts I had no issues with getting what I wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner as long as I planned ahead (ie ordered for the next day). Your account is a dramatic divergence from what I experienced on the Escape TA less than a month ago.

I did do that as well. I spoke with the Restaurant Manger as well as the asst matrade on daily basis. I did go and order for the next day ahead of time. They only pointed out what I could have and made no attempt to change things for me. I basically could only eat what was already gluten free.

Did you contact the ship prior to the cruise to discuss your special gluten free restrictions?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Yes, I did.

Good to hear about the UDP - we booked it a while back where everyone in the cabin gets it...1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th passengers. Were you able to order anything...

 

As per the rocky, I had the opposite... Disney Dream I was walking like I was drunk with how rocky it was but I will let you know how I fair on the Escape..

Yes, we got all 4 passengers too. We ordered whatever we wanted. The last night we had a not pleasing desert at the La Cucina so we went and ordered two creme brulees from the Bistro to go :)

How was Tortola? It is the one stop I have never been too.

Good but we went to Virgin Gorda to the Baths. It was a bit crowded but beautiful.

I will be going on my first cruise ever. After reading many reviews on the newest Escape that I will be on next week, I have prepared for the worst. Many of the negative reviews are made by newly registered members with only one review. So I don't know if these negative reviews are real or libel.

 

Some of the items that I find disturbing are these.:confused:

1. Long lines at restaurant even when the reservations are made months prior.

Not true. The problem is the hostess seats everyone...its just that, nothing else.

2. Restaurants are closed for private functions without notice. Apparently some groups are more important than me.

Not an issue for us.

3. Shows are cancelled during the entire duration of the cruise.

Million Dollar Quartet was moved from Tuesday to Friday but the booking moved too.

4. Generally, the overall service are not up to par.

Dinner was SLOW. Other than that, everything else was great!

5. Restaurant has changed to fee based rather than complimentary. (Jimmy Buffet)

Just got off, it was complimentary but an hour line.

Are these problems the norm or uncommon? Will this be the first and possibly the last cruise with NCL?

It wasnt bad at all.

Hi guys! I'm back from the escape.... wanted to quickly address a few issues that I had concerns over in case others wondered.

- Gluten free---eating in the main dining room for breakfast was good or an omelet at the buffet, lunch was a bit more difficult- but they did have chicken grilled I ate everyday--almost all of their meat was marinaded with some sort of soy. But the chefs were very knowledgeable and helped. We ate in specialty restaurants every night- dinner was good, but they would do very little in the way of changing things so I could have them. On Carnival they would change stuff a lot more, there was very very limited desert choices.

-UDP from January booking was honored and well worth it. We saved a ton of money.

-This was the rockiest boat I have ever been on (its my 6th cruise). On Thanksgiving even the hostess at Moderno was having to hold on to a bar to not fall. The boat would creak and groan and I thought it was going to fall apart. Our room had some sort of issue with the balcony framing that could not be fixed and when the waves were high we could not sleep. They did put us in another room to sleep that night. It was a hassle but better than the alternative. I did hear we were going in 77mph gusts of wind, however, I've been on a Disney boat with that strong of wind and you could barely tell... I honestly don't think I'd go on this boat again... from the time we set sail it was rocky, definitely don't go if you get motion sickness.

The staff and crew were excellent. Million Dollar Quartet was FABULOUS.

it is cheaper if you pay online?

I have celiac disease. I have cruised with carnival and found lunch to be very difficult to eat (buffet). On NCL I understand I can eat at MDR during lunch so I'm hoping that will be easier. Carnival I could eat an egg omelet at the buffet for breakfast and it was ok... anyone know how breakfast is for gf people on ncl? My reservation has celiac noted and I've filled out all paperwork. We leave Saturday on Escape. Tips appreciated!

I'm on Escape next week. I have the UDP from January for all 4 of us. When you say 1 meal does that mean I can only dine at the restaurant once in the 7 days? I have Moderno reserved for two different nights. Thanks.

Thank you!

I've asked this before, but now that some people are on the ship-- I booked in January when I got the Ultimate Dining package before all this ala carte nonsense... have you been able to use it as you were told? Or have you had to pay the upcharges?? Slightly worried!