schwartzy

1 hour ago, mrsaruba96 said:

Thanks for your review!
can you please tell me are there regular tables and chairs near the pool or on deck? I don’t care for loungers and prefer regular table and chairs. Thanks!

I can't say for sure because I wasn't looking for them, but I recall only seeing loungers and high top stools near the pool. However, I do remember seeing lots of regular chairs at Spice H2O. 

Just back from our Feb 10th cruise on Norwegian Escape, Western Caribbean itinerary. I was traveling with my husband, two kids (aged 5 and 7) and my in-laws (the grandparents.) This was really the perfect vacation and ship for our family, so I thought I would share some key thoughts and tips, especially because this site and others helped me so much with planning. 

1)    I’ve seen complaints here about the slides and ropes course being closed a lot. This also happened on my cruise. Honestly, this is totally weather related and I can’t imagine that another ship or cruise line would have handled it differently. My tip: don’t plan for your sea day to be your slides/ ropes course day. For example, all aboard after Cozumel was 3:30 but we didn’t sail away for a while. Winds were low and it was the perfect time for the slides. Tendering at Cayman started at 10- well, the ropes course opens at 9 and we were docked already, so we did it then. Overall, the slides and ropes courses were the highlights of the trip for my kids who spent a few afternoons going on the slides over and over. Then, on the windy, chilly sea day, they went to Splash Academy.
2)    Thank you to @APDMOM – the pictures you took from your balcony of Ocho Rios helped me so much! We were docked at Reynold’s pier since the main pier was damaged. NCL had not communicated this to us. At breakfast in the Garden Café, looking out the window, I knew immediately that this view was “off.” When we got off the boat I asked Jack (cruise director) how to get to the walkable beach (Bay Beach) and he was able to show me and explained it’s only 5 minutes longer. A word on Ocho Rios – the entire walk to the beach cab drivers were accosting us to go with them. They did not seem dangerous but just annoying, and they were LYING about the beach saying stuff like “why are people walking that way? I live here and there’s nothing that way!” (total lie). Just ignore them and say “no thank you.” Bay beach was inexpensive and totally fine for the day. My 5 year old was not big enough for Dunn’s River and other excursions, so this was great.
3)    Don’t trust the MDR menus you see on certain websites (or even on cruisecritic if they are old.) They are dated and inaccurate. Don’t plan your specialty dining around those menus. 
4)    I had seen complaints here about lines - for tendering and other things. I think this is dependent on when you’re cruising. Our cruise was not during a school vacation. We really had no lines for tendering (although you should still make tender reservations on day 1), Splash Academy was never full, and there were no lines for bars. One thing I would definitely do next time I’m booking is to check itineraries to make sure there is only 1 ship at Great Stirrup Cay instead of 2. We were the only ship and it was pretty pleasant, but the 6 of us could not get chairs together until people started moving – so I can’t imagine what it is like when there are 2 ships there. My only complaint about the crowds (very minor complaint) is that the specialty dining gets overbooked and they sit you in overflow areas like the noisy bars. They also squished in the 6 of us at a table for 4 – which they did to other people as well, not just us with kids. When my husband and I had “date night” reservations at Le Bistro they tried to sit us in the atrium area where you can hear the noisy casino and smell the smoke. We waited instead for a table inside. It was a short wait, but we were only 2 people, had reservations, and showed up on time. 
5)    About the food, I was a bit nervous because I had read that that the food had gone “downhill” in the past few years. So the food quality was a pleasant surprise! Just for fun, here are the top 5 things I ate 1) Crab cake at Cagney’s 2) Duck breast at Le Bistro 3) Lamb shank at the main dining room 4) Indian food at the buffet (we are not buffet people at dinner, but we went on Super Bowl Sunday, and I made a plate of all the Indian offerings and it was great!) 5) Since this was definitely a surprise, I have to give a shout out to the buffet at GSC. The jerk chicken and salad was a great lunch!  My husband also loved the lemon pepper shrimp at the MDR and the garlic shrimp at the buffet. He ate a crazy amount of shrimp.

I’m happy to answer any questions about this sailing.
 

There will always be minor setbacks or negative aspects on your vacations. It's all how you react to it, and if you can put it in perspective.

In 2015 I sailed on the NCL Sun around South America. It was an older ship about to go into dry dock. It was 14 days long with a lot of sea days. We like to eat lunch in the MDR on sea days, but there were only two menus that rotated, which got really boring by the end. Towards the end of our trip, my husband and I sat next to another couple and we discussed how on a 2 week trip there should really be more variety. As the conversation went on, I realized that the man was seriously upset about this. They also complained about how the ship needed new upholstery. These things ruined his vacation. Meanwhile, I was having the time of my life on this vacation and I loved the Sun, even with the worn upholstery and repetitive menu. Of course I would have rather had more variety but in the scheme of things, it was nothing. 

On 11/22/2023 at 9:41 AM, mitsugirly said:

We recently stayed in GC and went to the turtle farm. We booked online the day we went (and you get a 10% discount by doing it that way). We had a great time. 

 

Here's my review and pictures of when we went. 

 

And a video I made of our day

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this review! I'm excited to go to the Turtle Centre on our next cruise. My kids are 5&7 and not very good swimmers. I was thinking we would do the swimming at the turtle centre, but looking at your review I'm wondering if we skip that part. It looks too deep and challenging. Am I missing anything? Thanks so much for any thoughts or ideas!!!!

When we cruised the Baltic in late May we extended our trip to Norway. There were a bunch of things  that did not open until June 1st. Also, even though I brought a warm jacket, I was not expecting 0 celsius weather on May 30th in Norway and I had to go buy a warm hat! 

On 12/26/2023 at 7:52 PM, MD_Dan said:

To answer the OP's question, I prefer to stay in Orlando.  You have to pay the shuttle to get from MCO (or Orlando) to Port Canaveral so the only question is when!  Some prefer a very quiet evening before the cruise, while others (like us) prefer to do something fun in Orlando (and then take the shuttle to Port Canaveral in the morning of the cruise).  If you'd like a list of fun things to do in/near Orlando, we can provide that list also!

What is the shuttle from Orlando to the port? We are thinking of staying at a resort in Orlando the night before the cruise so we can have some fun and enjoy a bit of Florida, rather than just staying at an airport hotel.

17 hours ago, APDMOM said:

 

I will try, based upon our own experiences.  Maybe others can chime in.  🙂

 

- Arrive around 10:30 at the port for embarkation - it can be hit or miss, but we had no lines. 

 

-We had no lines for shows in the main theater.  Be sure to make a reservation for Choir of Man if you plan on going. Show up about 15 minutes before the show starts.

 

- Don’t try to leave the ship as soon as it is cleared in port.  Rather wait about 1 hour. 

 

- We have only seen a line outside Syd’s Pourhouse.  We were not interested in going there since it gets packed, so I don’t think there is any way to avoid that line.

 

- Make dinner reservations before 6 - we only ate at Savor for sit down restaurants and never had a long line.

 

- Try to use the slides, etc. on a port day. Lines are almost non existent or very short while the ship is in port. 

 

Hope this helps!  Let me know if you have other questions. Enjoy your cruise! 

Thank you for your response! This is helpful. 10:30 sounds great for embarkation, we were thinking it would be much later to avoid the lines. I know a lot of lines are unavoidable. 15 minutes for Choir of Man sounds totally reasonable.

Thank you for your wonderful posts! They have been very helpful. Since you asked for questions, here's one: Do you have any tips for avoiding long lines? We will be sailing Feb 10th with my kids aged 5 and 7.  They are super well behaved, but hate lines. (One of the reasons we are skipping Disney!) If we could avoid long lines for shows, embarkation, water slides, etc that would be ideal! Thank you again!!! 

1 hour ago, Stealthdog said:

It turns out, Great Stirrup Cay is already canceled on Friday, so they extended our time in Tortola until 430.  We haven’t been to Great Stirrup Cay yet, so that’s a bummer.  Hopefully next week. 

Sorry you didn't make it to Great Stirrup Cay! How much notice did they give you that they extended your time in Tortola? Were people able to change their plans?

I am really enjoying your posts! It is such a fun distraction to follow you. We will be on the Escape in February. 

As for the "runners," on past cruises my husband's goal was always to be among the last 5 on the ship. He will be out of luck if dozens don't even make it back! 

On past sailings (granted, I have not sailed since 2017 but planning to soon) I always packed granola bars from home just in case I got hungry for a snack and could not find good places to eat. One time they really came in handy because we realized we didn't have the right credit card after we were seated at a restaurant and it served as our lunch!!! I'm not sure it was against the rules but it was sealed, and not fruit, nuts, or meat. 

We did Santiago to Buenos Aires on Norwegian in 2016. Itin looks amazing if you really want to see Antarctica. The main negative I see here is that you definitely cannot do Buenos Aires in a day. If you want to see a lot of the sites of the city, perhaps pick a different itin that ends or starts in Buenos Aires so you can spend a few days there. Not only is it a big city with lots to see, but the sites are in different parts of the city. 

I had read that more than 50% of cruises with Falkland on their itineraries do not make it there due to weather conditions. We had our fingers crossed the whole time, and I'm so glad we made it. We had chosen our itin because it included the Falklands. It was really spectacular photographing the penguins.

Thanks so much for the detailed responses! They were very helpful. I should have added more info about us: we have 2 young kids and also will be traveling with my in-laws (the grandparents.) I was thinking NCL would have more for our kids, which I think is true, but honestly my kids would have fun just playing shuffleboard with grandma and grandpa so I'm not sure how much it's "needed." All of my prior cruises were before children in Europe, South America, and Canada - not Caribbean. This wime we're doing Caribbean. While the "fun" of Norwegian sounds great, at also sounds loud and crazy as other posters have pointed out. Another bit about us - we're the type of people that decline the drinks package because we would never drink enough to make the tips $$$ worth it. Thank you all!

I have not been on a cruise in 7 years, but before that my husband and I went on a bunch of cruises. Almost all were on Celebrity but we also went on Norwegian and Holland America. Celebrity was definitely our favourite, especially Aqua class - we thought the food and service were much better than the other cruise lines. We're looking to cruise again soon, but reading reviews I'm seeing lots of complaints here about food quality going downhill on Celebrity, but very few complaints on the NCL boards, especially for their newer ships. Question - do we think that the quality has declined on Celebrity where now it is on par with the other lines? Or have they all declined? Are there just more complainers here? Or perhaps Celebrity fans set the bar higher? My husband is pushing for Celebrity because he says "it is better" but I'm not sure what to think. In the past we only chose NCL or Holland America because of the itinerary.

We brought snacks to ports, granola bars and stuff like that. It looked like they were only confiscating fresh food like fruit people brought from the buffet.

Moderno is open to anyone, but it seems few people know about it. It was my best find of the trip!

I think the Beagle Channel took an hour or so. It was early in the morning for us, and then we docked in Ushuaia at noon. We could see scenery outside our balcony, so we thought we were in the clear, but the glaciers were on the other side! Luckily I decided to go to the Observation Deck or we would have missed it completely. We only saw 2 of 3 glaciers. For the other scenic cruising, any side of the ship was fine. The captain went twice around Cape Horn so you can see it from all angles. We did not leave our room for Cape Horn. From what I understand, he does NOT always do this - it is time permitting.

To answer your questions:

- In the Falklands, there were 2 other ships in port at the same time. My husband emailed everyone he could find and all non-cruise excursions were booked up. The ship did NOT go to Volunteer Point. I don't remember the name of the excursion we did, but it was the one that said it has Kings and Gentoos. It was on private property and they only do tours through the ship. It cost $204pp I believe. It was worth it to me to see the Kings. We typically do not use the ship's excursions. We didn't book with the roll call. Our roll call was not that active.

-Solo Exp in Punta Arenas was around $85pp and I think our Puerto Madryn private tour was $90pp. In Puerto Madryn there was a kiosk selling bus tours to Valdes for about $100pp with an English guide - much cheaper than the ship. The kiosk was immediately outside the ship. They sold out within an hour of docking. Unfortunately we decided to explore our options before booking with them and then we were too late. There were no better options in town. In retrospect the private Spanish guide we ended up with may have been better because it was private and he was very nice, but only my husband speaks Spanish so that was interesting....

- The weather is extremely variable, from what I have read. The previous sailing did not make it to the Falklands due to wind and had snow in Ushuaia! I did not even need a jacket hiking in Ushuaia... although I had 3 layers on including an athletic turtle neck top. Bring various athletic layers, scarf, hat, and gloves. I only wore my warm coat once - in Punta Arenas. But you really never know. I never once got to wear my bathing suit as none of the days at sea were warm enough for me. A "day at sea" in the ocean is not the same as a day at sea in the Caribbean! I found the ship very warm when we were in the cold weather ports, and cold when we were in the warm weather ports. Montevideo was sweltering. Bring a poncho and umbrella for rain. We had bad rain in Puerto Montt.

- One more thing: Chocobuco sucks. Pardon my language. Chocobuco will forever be a private joke between me and my husband. We did the public bus from the ship to Coyhuique which was scenic, but I'm very glad we did not spend good money in this port. Honestly, it was by luck that we found the public bus - I'm not sure I can tell you how to do it!

This trip was truly wonderful. Good luck everyone! This was our 4th "sightseeing cruise" together (we've also done Scandinavia, Greece&Turkey, and Balkans, and my husband has done Alaska) and it was a real treat!!!

My husband and I were on the Norwegian Sun “Around the Horn” cruise, embarkation December 19th. We had an amazing time. Here are some helpful things we learned, and a few opinions.

Embarkation in Valparaiso: The cruise terminal is in one location, while the ship is 2 miles away. You check in and then take a bus to the ship. No one told us this would be the case. Earlier in the day, while exploring Valparaiso, we were stunned to see the ship not where we were expecting it. I was worried because we didn’t have cell service – what if something was wrong with the ship or terminal? Luckily we found a tour guide on the street who helped us out. This would have been good info to have!

Helpful tip: Don’t assume you will see the “scenic cruising” from your balcony, or that you will hear announcements when it starts. In the Beagle Channel announcements were only made in lounges, not in the hallways. Several people missed the Channel (it was at about 7am). The front desk was also very uninformed about when we would see the scenic cruising and which side of the ship things would be on.

What we did right: Rented a car in Puerto Montt -- It was easy, affordable, and freeing. In Punta Arenas, we booked a tour to Isla Magdelena through Solo Expeditions – awesome tour and half the price of the ship. In Ushuaia, we discovered that Tierra Del Fuego national park is beautiful from the trails, but ugly from the road. We hiked for 3.5 hours and loved the park. People who did a car/bus tour hated it. In Falklands, we did a ship’s excursion to see the King Penguins and it was worth the exorbitant price. It sold out, so I’m so glad we booked way in advance. Also, they let us use our on board credit for the tour! In Puerto Madryn we hired a private guide from a tour operator in town to go to Peninsula Valdes, which was much nicer than expected. Our guide only spoke Spanish but it was fine for us, and it was much cheaper than a taxi or larger tour.

Opinion of Norwegian Sun: We really liked the Sun. We liked the size – it made it a familial atmosphere. The staff was also great. Everyone was really nice and worked hard to make it feel like a community for our 2 weeks on board. The ship does need a refurbishment. The décor is dated and old. The buffet area is way too small for the amount of people, yet the specialty restaurants are way too large. One tip – we had breakfast in Moderno instead of the main buffet which was very pleasant and still had lots of choices, including fresh omelets and waffles. We had a bunch of problems with our room, (ex: our balcony door didn’t fully close) but they fixed them and offered us a night in specialty dining for compensation. Our main complaint was that the staff was uninformed about the scenic cruising and ports.

Food: I’ve never sailed Norwegian before, and I’ve only been on Celebrity. On Norwegian Sun, there was a big difference in quality between MDR and specialty dining. I especially liked Le Bistro, where we ended up eating 3 times. In the MDR, there were some things we liked, but a lot of things that were really not so good. Also, there were only 2 lunch menus that rotated in the MDR. For a 14 day cruise, it was pretty crazy and unacceptable. Food is much better in Celebrity’s MDR. However, I did like having more “casual” food – things like quesadillas and swordfish teriyaki, which we would never see on Celebrity.

Thanks for all of your pics, Michael! It's making us so excited for our Dec. 19th cruise. It looks like it's very cold... is it also cold on the ship? During sea days, are people wearing sweaters around the ship? This is a crazy trip to pack for!

-Melissa

Hi Lari. We're on the NCL SUN cruise right after yours. We've been on 3 European cruises and we also love booking our own excursions, or renting a car. Would you mind just sending me which car rental places you used, and which tour groups you contacted? My email is Jnash9 at g mail. Or you can post here. I don't think what you're posting is a "recommendation," just "information."

Thanks so much!!!

Do discounts vary by cabin class? Last year on the Silhouette we used discounts on board and dined at Murano, Lawn Club, and Qsine. This year we're back on the Silhouette. However, last year we were Concierge and this year we're Veranda (we did not think Concierge was worth it.) Want to book Lawn Club again.... any thoughts?

I sailed on the Silhouette last year and loved the Lawn Club. It was a bit chilly, so they gave us blankets to use. This year we're sailing again on the Baltic itinerary. It will be more than chilly - it will be legitimately cold at night! Anyone know what happens to Lawn Club? Do they just rely on heat lamps and blankets? Thanks!!!

Agree, we were on this same cruise and found most of the complaints unfounded. We had an amazing time, the service and food were excellent. Any complaints we had were minor in the scheme of things. Any "changes" to Celebrity did not negatively impact our overall experience. celebrity was wonderful again!

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Has anyone done the hike from Fira to Oia? I think that I would enjoy this much more than sitting in a bus or car. I am thinking hike one way and then take the bus back down to Fira. Most posts I read said it takes about 3 hours and the views are spectacular.

My husband I did this 3 years ago. We happened to bump into another couple from our cruise, and did most of the hike with them. It did take about 3 hours. It was actually pretty tiring, because it was more hilly than we expected. My feet were hurting the next day. But I don't regret it! We went in summer and we wore shorts and t-shirts. It was hot and sunny - there was no shade. In case you're wondering, my husband and I are in our mid-thirties and the other couple I guess were around 50.

I saw the ad with the woman in Italy (maybe?) while on a business trip. It totally spoke to me, it reflected my experiences with Celebrity and why I'm looking forward to my next cruise. I guess I'm the target audience (married in my late 30s, travelling with husband). I don't think any other cruise line is targeting me with their ads - Carnival and Royal are family, and Princess seems older.