old nutter

NCL air will not book transfers to flights before 11.00 but as long as you are willing to carry your luggage off the ship yourselves and use a taxi you should be OK with those few minutes earlier. The airport is a bit of a mad house, but it is quite small so keep your whits about you and all should be OK.

We did a full transit around 18 months ago in the Star and it was fabulous. There are two quite distinct parts to the full transit, the locks and the actual trip through the Panama rain forests.

The locks are amazing. To be able to feel a ship the size of the Star being lifted up just by water is unbelievable and totally unique. We read the book about how it was built that made it much more impressive.

Once you are in the canal proper you are effectively on a sea-day where the coast is on both sides of the ship. You pass-by large and small islands and are in the rain-forests for the whole trip.

As well as the full transit, we had a port stop in Costa Rica and spent a great day in a macaw sanctuary where as well as the birds we saw and heard howler and squirrel monkeys and a wild sloth in the canopy. With stops in Acapulco and arriving with a humpback whale in Cabo San Lucas it was undoubtedly our favourite cruise of all time - no contest.

I would agree with Lulubelle about juggling. We were on the Star crossing from Mimai to Columbia on the way to the Panama Canal and we went to the theatre to see a juggling act with the sea and wind arguing about directions causing a wicked cork-screw action on the front of the ship. We were pretty impressed that the juggler only dropped a couple of clubs in his act. However, when we got up to go back to our cabin we were really impressed with his act because we could hardly stand up at all! We seemed to be saying hello to the walls every few steps all along the corridors.:)

I am sure everyone else on your cruise is pleased to have swerved Turkey

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2016_Istanbul_bombing

 

On 7 June 2016, at around 08:40 (UTC+3),[2] a bombing occurred in central Istanbul, Turkey, killing at least 11 people and injuring 36 others, three of them seriously.[3] The attack targeted a bus carrying policemen as the vehicle passed through the Vezneciler district[4][5] near the Şehzade Mosque and the Vezneciler Metro station.

 

Istanbul had already been hit by two deadly bombings in January and March 2016, both of which had been claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

I am afraid that is a somewhat extreme justification for missing out Kusdasi and killing off the chance to visit probably the most significant historic Roman site at Ephesus. Kusadasi is miles away from Istanbul and has not had any issues so far to indicate any problems going there. It is a bit like saying you would not go to Monte Carlo because of the recent Paris bombing, nor wanting to go to Barcelona because of bombings in Madrid or even stopping going to Orlando because of that awful mass shooting last week.

There are some pretty awful people around but if you give into their view of the world they will have won. I wonder just how much longer NCL will carry on booking cruises that visit Haifa after the recent incident in Tel Aviv?

The other port that they could have changed to so that they would avoid the crush at Santorini is Kotor in Montenegro. The sail in/out to get into Kotor through what is the most southerly (and warmest!) fjords rivals anywhere. And there are some great excursions available there.

We are going on a 14-day on the Jade later this year and since we have unfortunately and to us, unnecessarily, been rearranged from Kusadasi would have been much happier returning to Kotor instead of the second day in Santorini, busy or not.

Thank you!

 

A couple of years ago we were on a Disney cruise, docked across from another ship (can't remember the ship's name). Looking across from our balcony, we could see people in the bathrooms on the other ship.:eek: I am pretty sure they were not aware that they could be seen. Since we like to shower after returning from a sweaty day in port, I figured it would be good to know if there was a chance of being on display! :o

Just to avoid any confusion, there is no chance whatsoever of anyone seeing anything day or night, lights on or off, IF you drop the roller blinds on bath tub and shower.

Susanr613, it depends on what you want to do during the cruise and what you already have booked for meals. The Haven on the Epic opens up a huge amount of extra space to you, including the Posh balcony and bar, the Haven bar itself and best of all in our view, is the Haven Restaurant. You also have the run of the Courtyard area with plenty of loungers, the small pool and a couple of lightly used hot tubs (compared to the ones outside the Haven).

Food-wise, you can have all three meals in the Haven Restaurant including superb breakfasts and dinners that will rival most of the specialist dining venues. If you have already got something like the UDP/SDP that may dilute some of the value.

There are lots of other items such as the priority lounge on boarding and the reserved seating in the main theatre. Again, if you already have the priority boarding from somewhere and don't expect to go to the main shows these will also dilute the value.

So, the value depends on your booking, your preferences for space and a high degree of privacy and if you feel that these balance a grand-worth of cost to you. For us and for many who have experienced the Haven it is no contest - go for it.:)

This is the link I am seeing / using - https://www.ncl.com/latitudes-rewards-program/faq

That one works fine all the time from the UK. That is not the area giving us the error. The error page link happens once you are "inside" the MyNCL password section and when we try to get our own Latitudes data by going to the "View Latitudes Rewards" we get the dumb error page. Once we go "Inside" the MyNCL password we are in the "ncl.com" site so the DNS call has already changed from the .uk site by then - those bits work OK apart from the Latitudes details section. My guess is still either with a geographic code error (looks like this is controlled on the page by java code) or a straight bad page call.

Not a browser issue. NCL is aware of the issue and is working on it. Maybe just a problem for Canadians?

Definitely not a browser issue. It looks like a geographic thing. Whether that is a code bug or a deliberate act by NCL IT group is in doubt. Checking to see if you are in the US or elsewhere is a current feature of the NCL systems because it checks where your IP address is located in the world and then re-directs you to to the site that NCL decides is the right one for your locale.

If you are in the UK and you go to http://www.ncl.com, your browser is automatically redirected to the http://www.ncl.co.uk site. Once you have been switched, if you then log onto "My NCL" you end up back inside the the .com US site because that code is not replicated in the various regional sites. Maybe the site designers have got their links into a mess trying to be too clever for their capabilities and the too-ing and fro-ing is getting knotted up?

Sounds like you may have already booked, but booking in a Haven suite on the NCL ships is probably the nearest equivalent to the concept of the Sanctuary, although that is purely from what I have seen in the advert not experience! You will not get complementary massages, but you will get peace and quiet and significantly enhanced service in both Haven and your suite. The Haven on Epic is superb and includes a high quality restaurant, bar and large courtyard with various relaxers, plus a private gym, sauna and private spa treatment (at extra cost of course). You also get free access to Posh.

The downside is the up-front cost. The Haven is often around twice the cost of a non-suite balcony - but most people who have experiences it will say iit is worth the cost.

The are no changes to the route the ship takes out of Venice yet that affect the Jade because she is just under the max length currently allowed still getting that awesome journey across the front of St Mark's Square. The main benefit of the Haven on the Jade coming out of Venice is, of course that huge private sun deck on the port side above the Haven courtyard. Most of the city is on the port side so you will have the benefit of having your own area to take it all in. You can also see across the stern of the ship from the rear end of that sun-deck, so you can easily see the islands and buildings on the starboard side as you go past them. Speak nicely to the Haven Butler and he will even bring you drinks up there.

The balcony in the 2-bed suite is small because of the space taken up by the big picture windows in the bath and shower, but unless you are expecting to have a sports team joining you, it will be more than adequate. A little tip - try and get a 2-bed suite on the starboard side it you can because then you will always have views to that side from your balcony and if you want to look at the port side, you can use the upper sun-deck as an extra huge balcony.

Having done the Med on both sides of Italy, I would say that the western side is more historic and the eastern side is more picturesque. Doing the western side from Barcelona is an easier board as there is a significant journey from Rome to Civitevechia. On the other hand, if you set off from Rome/Civitevechia you can have pre-cruise time in Rome if you have never been there before and you will be able to see Barcelona easily from the dock there.

The eastern cruise has the outrageous benefit of a sail-away from Venice - an absolutely lifetime event. There are usually stops in the Adriatic as well that are beautiful, plus usual day to see Athens and probably have the chance to see the gorgeous Santorini.

You pays your money and takes the choice. Both are great in their own way.

I always take my pills in a planner pot, but also have paper copies of the prescriptions because they have the full names and doctors signature and details.

Jade is not due to leave Corfu until 1500 and is due into Santorini at 1400 next day. She will be sailing pretty hard to make that so I doubt if she could make it any earlier. The only way to get you there any earlier would be to miss Corfu and that is doubtful, so believe the NCL times.

The highest recorded temp in Santorini in recent years was 104F, which happened once in June. Average lo/hi temps in August are mid-70s F to mid/high-80s F. I just didn't want the OP thinking they were going to Santorini to get heat stroke...

You are correct about those recorded temps but remember that is the official meteorological temp taken in the shade under controlled conditions. The official temp ends up being more or less the temperature of the wind and since Santorini is a small island, that is governed by the water temperature that is somewhere around 2-4 degrees less than that recorded temp. On the cliff face and up in the town away from the sea breeze among those white buildings it will reach a significantly higher temperature, hence my advice. The op will not get heat stroke as long as they are careful in the sun and heed the advice to take in plenty of fluids. I have lived in that area and dehydration can catch you out if you are not aware of the danger when it is very hot. Drink plenty of fluids and enjoy all that Santorini has to offer - it is a wonderful place to visit, even in July and August.:)

The tendering is only half of the story in Santorini....

The ship will moor off the island in the flooded caldera of the old volcano off the town of Fira (Capital of Santorini) that is on the top edge of the caldera edge that was produced in ancient times when there was one of the greatest ever volcanic eruptions (it was thought to be the origin of the legend of Atlantis and may have been the reason for the end of the Minoan civilization in Crete). The tender boats will drop you off at a small dock known as Ormos, below Fira which is then around 700 feet above the sea level.

It is possible to catch other small boats at the dock that will take you to the the other main town of Oia in the north of the island. If you want to either get a hire car in Fira to go around the island or just investigate the the village, you will have two basic ways to get to the top of the cliff - 600+ winding steps up or cable car.

In August you are going to be there in the hottest time of the year and you can expect the temperature to be at least 40-45C (104-113F) with fairly high humidity so climbing up those 600+ steps will be pretty well for Olympic Games qualifiers only. They do hire donkeys to take you up, but you will have to be pretty hard-hearted to in order to inflict that trip on the poor beasts.

That leaves you with the cable car. It travels up and down regularly but if there are other ships in port that day when you are around the queues can be pretty long. At 4 Euros each way it will probably be the best value for money of the whole cruise! The biggest problem we had last year at around the time we got in was trying to work out which queue was for going up and which one was the one for tenders back to the other ships!

The most likely scenario is that the other ships will be going out in late afternoon so as long as you find out beforehand which one(s) will be there and what their timings are you can plan accordingly. I would plan to go ashore in the mid-stay times for the other ships when the dock is at it's least busy in both directions if possible or after they have gone. Once they have gone you will have the cable car to just to the few Jade people who are staying in the village in the late afternoon and evening and it will be virtually walk-on.

Santorini is a fabulous place for a day visit from the sea and the late NCL timing will give you the chance to see one of the most wonderful sunsets in the whole world. Just be aware of those high temperatures and make sure you have plenty of fluids with you and time to have plenty of rests if you are walking around - it really is that hot.

The pool in the Haven has a power system and the kids can have a blast in there and will probably have it to themselves most of the time. The courtyard itself is a massive benefit if you want to laze around because it has a sliding roof and will always be warm if the outside is chilly. Safetywise, you will be able to keep a very close eye on the kids rather than having to keep watching where they go in the bigger outside pools.

Additionally there is a large hot tub in the courtyard as well as a small mini-gym with a couple of machines and a sauna room. The deck above on the port side is a huge sundeck that is ideal in good weather and it gives you a very good view of sail-aways. It is a bit like having a really huge balcony.

You can also get the courtyard butler to serve your breakfast or even lunch in the courtyard if you want as well as any drinks you or the young one want upstairs on he sundeck.

We have sailed both in aft suites without the Haven and in the Haven- it is very different. We use the courtyard to open up a huge extra semi-private space when we are staying on the ship in port or on seas days rather than staying in the suite itself.

The Jewel class ships also have two suites in the Haven that do not have the extra bedroom if you don't want an extra bedroom. They are identical in shape and facilities to the 2-bed ones except for that extra bedroom.

A woman missed the Epic on our trip in March in Madeira and managed to get the pilot boat to get back on board. Pictures here: http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2338124

The captain had sounded the horn several times and she still missed the departure.

This is the first mention of a supposed Haven Resturant on the jewel class ships. With all the post dry dock reviews and NCL releases not mentioned. I think it is wishful thinking. Other then turning the courtyard into a dining area at night. I can't think of any space available on those ships.

Great idea. Actually the courtyards on the Jewel class ships are pretty well dead in the evening and food is served at times from other specialist venues so it would certainly be possible to turn it into a very nice select restaurant in the evenings just for Haven guests. Still serving B and L in Cagney's for all suites would still make ll make sense in that case. The only issue would be storing the tables and chairs etc in the day, but that should be possible. It shouldn't even need a dry dock to implement that!

I know it sounds strange but the number of people on cruise ships, be they Getaway, Jewel class or Star when we have cruised on them doesn't seem to matter. The smaller ships have less people, less space and less facilities and the big ships have more people, more space and more facilities. The general rule of space per person probably is not much different.

Things do come to a head is when the weather outside is not warm enough to sit out without winter clothes on. That can affect all of the ships to some extent because they all rely on passengers using a lot of the outside space to avoid overcrowding. What we have found is that where this happens it is as well to know where the hide y-holes are on your ship. For instance, when the Buffet is crowded o the Epic at breakfast, you can usually go down to the Italian Restaurant and sit down there in relative peace and quiet.

The other thing to be aware of on all of them is when shows start and end because the mid-section areas can seem pretty manic and the restaurants can get much more crowded around those times.

Very bumpy indeed

Bon Voyage......

We were on the last Epic cruise of the winter season to the Canaries in mid-March and one passenger saw the ship leaving the quayside in Funchal without her. The Captain had already waited and kept a lookout for runners and had sounded the horn to alert everyone on the island that the ship was about to leave. This is a sequence of pictures was taken from the starboard side after we had just left and had begun to set sail for Malaga in two days time.

They are probably a good set of images for a caption competition. The Pilot's team was obviously willing to help in this case and she was collected from the empty dock and taken to the Epic as the team went out to collect the pilot from from the departing ship! The Epic lifeboats hid our view of the exchange, presumably up the rope ladder, but she obviously got on board the Epic to a wave from the Pilot.

OOPs

I am sure I got back on time

Could be a bit bumpy

Hold on tight

From a noise point of view we have found them all quiet. As has been said, the two 14*12 suites have the view down to the ocean without that cloth awning so you can see right down then side of the ship without any interference. However, there is still a distant possibility that someone could just about strain and look up from the deck 13 walkway and see into a part of the shower and bathroom through the window, so you may wish to pull down the window blinds at night.

Of the two 14*12 suites we prefer 14012 because it is on the starboard side and the sundeck above the Haven is on the port side, so by going up the staircase you have the choice to have balcony views to either side if you want. This is particularly good if you are leaving from Venice where the views are so special on both sides of the ship as you sail out. If you have 14512 you are only able to see out to the port without going out of the Haven to the non-Haven decks on the starboard side.

I haven't got the new menus, but we were on Epic last week and I couldn't see much difference between what we had this time and the new Escape menus that we have seen on here. There is lobster on the menu in the Epic Haven Restaurant every night and we had it as an excellent "surf and turf" on our last night.

They seemed to be having a lot of trouble getting the new menus up to speed on Epic and there were serving delays in most places across the ship that seemed to be caused more by kitchen issues rather than front of house staff. We had one disaster of a meal in Cagney's but were not able to wait for it to be cooked properly again because we were already short of time to head to a show because the service was so slow. I did take it up with the manager but since we had the full UDP, it was pointless other than to make sure it was sorted.

Overall the new menus are more modern with bigger plates and smaller portions in line with modern gastro practice! There were a few occasions when I would have preferred "decent" amounts of sauce on my plate rather than seeing a sauce on the menu and then finding out it was actually five or six small blobs making it look pretty. Talking of lobster it did seem to be much more in evidence in other restaurants across the ship than it has been recently.

Final thought about the new menus was that making wholesale changes in kitchens the size they are on the megaships, maybe have been a bit too challenging for the staff and a more gradual improvement might not be so good for the PR spinners, but would have led to much less of an issue for both staff and guests than we had. It appeared to be a case of more of the big sweeping "seems-like-a-good-idea" changes than have become the norm with those at the top taking big swings without taking the trouble to see how that would work in practice. Might have worked on small lines with small ships, but it is not working on NCL. The top team should get rid of roulette table planning and do some proper project management in future - that is if anyone up there actually knows how to now.

We recently returned from a cruise on Epic and were not very happy with the coffee machine in the suite. OK I know we were spoiled up to now because we have had those great Lavazza cappuccino machines. They make superb coffee and can also provide steam to warm chocolate milk and hot water for tea.

The coffee machine we had in the Epic was a Nespresso thingy that only made espresso from the little supplied pots. It only held enough water for about four decent cups and if you used it for coffee, there were bits of grounds in it if you wanted just to get hot water for a cup of tea. We ended up getting flasks of hot water from the butler twice a day to make our drinks.

Does anyone know if these little Nespresso machines were there before the recent dry dock upgrades or if they have always been another "feature" of that rather odd ship? If they are new and will be put, or have already been put in other ship suites after dry docks, we will have to start bringing our own instant special coffee packs in future.

We have sailed suites in the Star - no Haven, Pearl and Jade - Jewel Class Haven, Getaway - Megaship Haven and recently in the Epic - One-off Big Haven, so we have experienced pretty well all of the different types.

The original Havens in the Jewel Class ships are small and intimate with just the courtyard inside the Haven itself and use of special facilities in Cagney's for Breakfast and Lunch. They have the courtyard with a small power pool and easy chairs and loungers plus a small area with tables where the Courtyard Butler will serve food at breakfast and lunch. The Courtyard is usually quiet and restful although it can be spoiled if there are either young or old who don't respect others. However the odds favour the quiet side because of the small number of eligible suites and the fact that the area is not conducive to rushing around between the seats. There are no direct elevators into the Haven and access is either by a small staircase and key controlled door just off the landing area outside Cagney's.

I will cover Epic next because it was the second NCL design attempt at the Haven concept. The Haven on the Epic includes several different areas and serves many more suites including some suites all over the ship. The Epic Haven is not a single coherent area and moving around the various sections you are forever pulling and pushing access control doors, some with buttons and some using keycards. The Courtyard is quite large, has no roof and is on two decks although most of the outside area is on Deck 16. Lots of loungers, a couple of hot tubs, a well-equipped gym, sauna and private rooms for spa treatments. There is a substantial restaurant with windows looking out to the rear pools and adventure areas and out over the port side. The elevators on one side of the forward bank come out on Deck 16 onto a landing with general access to sundecks and there is a keycard controlled access door into a kind of snack bar with windows with open gaps between them out to the side of the ship, where there is a bar and snacks are served when the main Haven Restaurant is not open. Going the other way from the elevators is another keycard controlled door leading to the concierge desk and a small lounge with another bar. The access to the main Haven Restaurant is from this lounge and there is also access to one of the glass elevators that goes down to Deck 15 and the buffet and it also takes you up to the Posh sundeck and bar. This elevator is also keycard controlled at several points.

All-in-all the Haven on the Epic is a bit of a mishmash of facilities that seems to have no coherence to it at all. I suppose it took virtually the whole of the first week on the ship before we could find exactly what we wanted without having to think about it! Because of this non-integrated design, you can only move between your suite and the courtyard without constantly using your keycard or pressing buttons to get through the doors. I think it is best described by the words we use in the UK to describe a camel as a horse designed and built by a committee! The Epic Haven seems to have been designed and built by several UN committees none of who seem to have had access to one another. Everything on the specification was there but they were all "combined" a bit like a confused set of Lego.

Having been on Getaway before Epic, we were a bit spoiled for the Haven because the Getaway Haven was finally built as an integral part of the ship. When you come into it though the main keycard controlled door from the elevators you are in the Haven. Past the concierge desk and into the lounge bar and you can go directly to the Haven Restaurant, the courtyard and the suites. The design of the Getaway (and I assume the other "away" ships) flows in a superb way. The simplicity of the way you move around makes for a much more relaxed and homely atmosphere all together, bringing guests back to the sort of atmosphere enjoyed in he Jewel Class Havens. Getaway seems to have pretty well everything that was in the Epic but it has been put together in a much more relaxed and well designed fashion. It also seems to be catering for fewer guests than on Epic although that might be an illusion because those on the Getaway know their way around better.

Did NCL finally get everything right on the Getaway - not quite. The lack of a roof on the Courtyard was a big mistake. When we were on it last fall sailing to the south-east Caribbean, it rained most nights and some days as well and the staff were forever clearing up wet sunbeds and there were precious few days when anyone was in there. How guests will be cope next year in Northern Europe is anyone's guess. The final, albeit small thing they got wrong was the vanity sinks in the suite bathrooms. They would have looked great in the glossy bathroom catalogue, but they were actually pretty useless imitations of a Chinese cooking wok. They held hardly any washing water and sloshed even that out if there was the slightest movement of the ship - a classic case of style over function.

Like others have said, if you came through the Haven journey via the Jewel Class ships they are still probably still going to feel best, but if you went first to the megaship Havens, the extra facilities probably probably swing them better to your taste. What I would say though is that if, like us, you have had good experiences of the early Havens, and were not expecting the megaship Havens to be as good, don't worry they will be at least as good if not better, even on the Epic (just make sure you have a convenient way to keep your keycard on you when you leave your suite what ever you are wearing and wherever you want to go!).