HazelSmrf

No

NO

 

how about a non drinking cruise, so harmful to your health, safety and others!

Oh i'm SO sorry if the smell of my wine glass made you have to go wash your hair to get the reeking smell out of it. You can't even compare the two, yes they're both harmful (well, one is always, the other it depends on how much you take) but one of them affects every person within a wide range, and the other doesn't (or shouldn't) affect you. Well maybe someone near you is going to be a bit louder or more annoying, but at least you'll be able to breathe.

As for the casino, it's not like there's just some tiny little smoking area. The smoke drifts even if you're in the non smoking area. And the smoking area might be where the slot machine you want to play is, some are way more fun than others. Point is, the person being inconvenienced should be the one choosing to do that harmful thing that impacts everyone else, not the person that just wants to breathe clean air.

In vegas I have no issues with the casinos or smoke, and they allow smoking there, but they have way higher ceilings and a way better system to recycle the air, if the cruise ship was as smoky as a Vegas casino i'd be fine with it, but it's not.

There are areas where you have to be where the smoke is, like the casino. No matter where you go, it's smokey.

I'm a former smoker, and now really sensitive to the smell of smoke, it just makes me nauseous - but I don't think a completely smoke free ship is necessary. But I do wish all indoor areas were smoke-free (other than maybe some closed off lounges). My hope is that they will eventually ban smoking from the casino (allow e-cigs as a compromise?), I have to quarantine any clothes that I wear to the casino or my whole closet feels like it reeks of smoke afterwards. As for balcony smoking, I don't really care, maybe make port or starboard completely smoke free and allow smokers to rent rooms on the smoking side. (Maybe they already do this, no clue, I haven't cruised in a few years!)

Wow, right after leaving the spa I would have headed straight for guest services and stayed in line to pay what I owed. "Sniffles" wouldn't keep me from paying my debt, and IF for some reason I had cluelessly decided that I had time to take a nap first, the first phone call would have clued me in that maybe I needed to go take care of my obligations before napping.

What you're eating will impact your water needs too, someone eating canned soup will likely not need as much water as someone eating peanut butter on crackers for days, if you don't have access to veggies etc, you may end up drinking more than you normally would.

If you're going off keto I would start winding that down the week before and not go straight from 10g to EAT ALL THE PIZZA or you might become good friends with the bathrooms :) Not that I'd know that from personal experience *cough*.

I think it was Anthem, or at least Anthem sailed into a nasty late winter storm and made news doing it.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/02/08/anthem-cruise-ship-storm/79997114/

 

I suppose eventually someone will come along and say, "I would NEVER book a cruise outside of the month of May ..."

Too many bugs! :)

To all: Please don't let anyone shame you for booking a cruise during hurricane season. The official 2017 Atlantic hurricane season runs for a full SIX MONTHS. People with other problems in their lives are taking the opportunity to momentarily feel superior/smug by making these comments. Ignore them. Really.

Exactly, and cruising at other times has its own issues too. Whenever the kids are out of school I likely can't afford to cruise, the prices are too high. Also I don't really wish to go to the caribbean or Florida/gulf Coast etc in the high heat of summer. When we cruised in January out of New Orleans there were huge storms causing havok with flights, we had to scramble at the last minute to get on the last flight out before everything shut down for days. We were lucky that we had flexible schedule and the budget to allow us to stay in New Orleans a few extra days. Our first ever cruise was rerouted over a storm as well, we ended up doing an Eastern itinerary over the Western (and the people were pitching fits in line, like... do you PREFER they sail you into a storm?). Feb to April you start getting the spring breaks. So that leaves what, a few weeks of December before winter storms might become an issue?

That's just it; it's not the case.

 

Yes blizzards happen. However, they don't have anything close to the same impact of a hurricane. I lived in Boston for twenty years and they know how to deal with snow. You could have a blizzard shut an airport in the morning and have flights operating in the afternoon. Hurricanes heading for a port city end up causing evacuations and days to get operations back up to full strength.

We had an ice storm here in Quebec about 20 years ago, my parents had no power for 3 months. The ice completely crumpled all of the power pilons over a huge area. No heat for 3 months in the dead of winter, snow isn't the only hazard in the winter here. I mean I'm not comparing that to Irma and the devastation it's leaving behind, or to Harvey etc. But still, let's not downplay it to "oh no the airport might be closed for a day".

The storm seems to be veering right so right now it looks like it'll go north up to florida and then either stick to the coast or maybe even back out to sea? It's not looking likely that it'll head into the gulf, but things change. Either way, the ship can easily stay ahead of a storm that is advancing at 15 MPH, and that storm in the south of the gulf does not seem to want to budge from that spot.

Yes. What was stated was fake news. The ships cited cancelled because the could not get to port to pick up their passengers.

I think your definition of what "cancelled" means is different than everyone else's definition. Fake news flash: Cancelling a cruise because you can't get into port is still *cancelling a cruise*.

I found the food to be quite good in the buffet, lines weren't too crowded. You really do have to go around to a lot of stations though because sometimes the same station will have one or two items different and it's the only place they will have it. Like one station had fries, one had waffle fries, and then in another place it was a bowl of chips.

Money is a huge problem though. Companies raise their prices and people freak out. Look at what is happening with room service etc right now with NCL. If they don't raise their prices, they choose a cheaper ingredient. They cut some corners. Bands start to get replaced by DJs (Carnival), production shows become small and stale (Carnival!). My problem is not that Norwegian does not have maple syrup, it's expensive stuff. Even in Quebec where lots of people know of someone with a sugar cabin. But don't market it as real when it's not. I would prefer them to say 4.95$ charge for real maple syrup and have the option to "upgrade", but then it would raise a big stink about nickle and diming so instead you just don't get the option.

Why thank you! I will continue to enjoy exactly what I choose. I didn't know I was answering to the nutrition police. :roll eyes: Thank you for your permission to "continue to enjoy…blah blah blah." Any other stones you wish to throw?

Hmmm quite, this is probably also a person that enjoys a bit of dihydrogen monoxide, all those nasty chemicals! :)

Because it was 3am, I was there alone and my mother was in our cabin, I wanted to take a burger and fries back to eat on my balcony before bed. Instead I ate there by myself as quickly as I could and headed back to my room. I would have enjoyed my meal better in my room with my book in my PJs :)

I was on the same cruise. Had great fun but thought it was weird that O'Sheehan's refused to let me leave with food. I could leave the buffet with food but after 11:30pm your choices are only to spend 7.95$ on room service or to go eat at O'Sheehan's.

My grandparents owned a sugar cabin in rural Quebec so it's in my blood. We've always had the real stuff. The real and good stuff is always abundant in our grocery stores at all times of year but especially at this time of year.

This morning I had breakfast on the Getaway in Taste, and was pleasantly surprised to see the menu list REAL Vermont maple syrup! Yum! So I asked for pancakes with REAL maple syrup. Grosssssss. It was definitely not real Vermont maple syrup or syrup that came out of any maple tree. It tasted like some sick joke of a substitute. My husband loves Aunt Jemima (gasp!) and I would 100% have preferred "pancake syrup" to the gross stuff they served me. Needless to say I just stuck with the bacon and hash brown side and didn't touch the nasty chemical stuff. So no, they do not have "real" syrup, they do not even have a decent store brand pancake syrup. It's just nasty.

We're also going to Tortola on the April 25th cruise, but you'll be getting on the ship when we get off so won't have time to post the dailies for you.

You can pay per photo, or for a package of 10 photos or a package of 20 photos, you pick the photos you want.

They have planned activities for kids and teens up to 17. Then they have family activities and adult activities. Single cruisers, FOD, FOB they even have a club for teens 13-17 Entourage. But nothing for the 18-20 group.

 

An adult teen get together 18-20 would be great on the first night of the cruise IMO.

 

The legal drinking age in most states in the USA is 21.

 

So at 21 they can do all the adult activities not all families would or should allow their 18-20 year old to drink.

But whether or not you decide to allow your 18 year old to drink, the point is they ARE an adult. So they can do the adult activities, you do not HAVE to drink to participate in adult activities, there are plenty of sober adults on the ship too. Almost every activity that is organized is OK for an 18 year old to do, so there's plenty to do. I don't agree with 21 as a drinking age, I think it's ridiculously high but that's not really the point.

The thing is where do you stop that? Should there be special activities for 20-25 year olds, and 26-30 year olds etc? At some point, adult is adult. The legal drinking age is 18 here in Quebec so at 18 you can do whatever any other adult does, the cruise is what you make it, there are a lot of activities on the ship, they're just not specifically targetted to a tiny age group. At 18 or 30 you know if you like trivia, or dancing, or just laying by the pool, or bowling etc. If he's outgoing he'll find friends, if he's shy and introverted then it might be a bit harder.

If you're really mostly worried about the caffeine withdrawal, you know you can get caffeine pills too.

I get it! I would choose a line that offered Coke products over Pepsi as well because I find Pepsi disgusting and Diet Cokes are my beverage of choice. BUT I absolutely adored my cruise on the Epic and so I'm booked on the Getaway next week. I've done the Valor too and it's a great ship, but I liked the extra live entertainment with NCL. You just can't compete with live music vs a DJ, or the Carnival shows vs the Norwegian shows. If soda is a deciding factor do not worry about it, carry on your coke and replenish in the ports, you will do FINE :) Also if you're like me, Diet Pepsi is doable when it's in a mixed drink.

I've done 3 Carnival and 1 NCL, and I chose NCL to book this time around. I was very pleasantly surprised with my cruise on the Epic and can't wait to see if the Getaway lives up to that.

I would seriously have been a nervous wreck, I'd have been in tears. I always fly the day before because my poor nerves couldn't handle it otherwise! I'm always terrified of lost luggage too, at least this time I have a direct flight so they have no excuse :)