Chuxters

Thanks. I've tried for 3 days to start a new thread on the Regal Princess Oct 14 sailing, but the new thread button only appears on the Princess Forum. Any suggestions?

The roll call is the thread... Just post on that thread and all members of the roll call will see it. I'm also on that cruise and may be interested in a Bar Harbor tour. We just reserved a spot for the following day in St. John with group of 4 others that I found in the roll call.

From the time we embarked on 1/11/15, the odor of sewage in the aft elevator area turned my stomach. It seemed to be coming from the shaft of the far portside elevator. Every time the elevator door opened, the stench would be emitted. That being said, I hope this is the worst ship in Norwegian's fleet... I have never complained about anything on a cruise ship until this one. I've sailed on the Dawn, Gem, and Pride of America. The Sun was by far the worst. Our cabin was located directly below the dishwashing station of the Garden Cafe/Moderno galley. Crash, bang, thump, thud, and the sound of carts rolling along ALL NIGHT LONG... We tried to get moved after night one, but the ship was full. Which we found out later, NCL gave out several "FREE" cabins(including the ultimate beverage package) to past cruisers who live locally near the port of Tampa. They just had to pay the port taxes and gratuities. Unfortunately for me, I am not retired or else I could get in on that. For the most part, we had a wonderful cruise, but it is what you make of it. 99% of the staff is awesome. The cruise director, Richard, is one of the weakest I've encountered. We had to avoid events conducted by Gabi... I think she is worked too hard because she got snotty sometimes. We received a complimentary Specialty Dining room dinner because of our noise complaint. We chose Cagney's... My wife had the Filet Mignon and said it was delicious. I was not at all impressed. I had the Shrimp Cocktail and the Lobster Tail and shrimp entree... Three hours later, I was puking it up... And I haven't been sick in years. I was fine the next day, so it had to be the food. I like the smaller ship though. You are never too far away from anything and everything. There was always a seat to be found so even though it was full, there was always enough room to accommodate everyone. I'm sure it helped that there were a very limited number of children on board. Seven Seas was outstanding for breakfast(3 days,) and dinner(6 days.) We opted for the great outdoors buffet on port days because we wanted to get out and explore. Opted for privately booked(online) tours ahead of time. I recommend Belize Exotic Adventures(Nickoli,) Native Choice Tours(Costa Maya,) and SafeTours Cozumel(Arturo.) All will offer reasonable prices for whatever you want to do... The more people in your party, the cheaper the rates per person. ***One warning... If going to the Belize Zoo, wear long pants AND use insect repellent. We just used "OFF" and still got bit up by many little tiny black flies. The bites did not affect me, but all of my wife's bites swelled up like mosquito bites and itched her incessantly. She has a doctors appt. today to have them checked out and we were in Belize last Wednesday.

So all in all, we had a nice vacation, but again, it is what you make of it. I'm sure there would be some people who would have our experiences and be completely miserable about it. First time cruisers may get a bad impression of cruising on this ship.