Aprille

I have used this credit and what KeighJenner says is accurate. You can book excursions by phone and they won't be charged at the time. They will be onboard charges. Then upon completion of each excursion you will be credited the $50.

We've been to Disney World 13X on land vacations and always spend at least a week there. Epcot is one of our favorite parks. That said, it's 65 miles from Port Canaveral so you're looking at 2 1/2 to 3 hour round trip transportation. I don't know how long you're in port but I would definitely keep the transportation time in mind when making a decision. IMO, Disney World parks are made for land vacations so you have plenty of time to explore. Even a couple of days for one park (especially Epcot) is not enough. Again, IMO.

22 minutes ago, Speasda said:

you are spot on for excursions.  Call and they will make the reservation without any charge.  when you get in they will add the price to your onboard bill and credit you the $50.

Correct. Except I will add you don't get the $50 credit until *after* you take each excursion.

Guest services will have local postage stamps for each port of call (until they run out). There is mail box near guest services where you can deposit your postcards and they will be offloaded and mailed at the next port of call. Guest services can tell you the latest time you can put your postcards in the mail box.

Thanks for the detailed review. We'll be on Getaway in Feb 2020 (loooong way away!).

We're with you on cruising in The Haven. It sure spoils you!

I'm really enjoying your detailed review and pictures. Looking forward to more!

43 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

We find the pre-concierge pretty useless. We would rather engage directly with our butler and concierge on the ship to build that relationship for the cruise. There is nothing that the pre-concierge can do that a discussion on embarkation day can’t do better. 

Except if you're in an OS or DOS (which the OP is) it's nice to have your liquor and mixers waiting for you when the cabin is ready on embarkation day. We had plenty of face to face interaction with our butler and had a great relationship with her. Requesting items through pre-concierge takes nothing away from that. 

We were in the DOS on Bliss in September.

Requests:

The bottles of liquor we wanted and mixers. This was all waiting for us on arrival which was nice.

Egg crate mattress toppers for both beds which were not needed. When we met our cabin steward he told us he hadn't put them on and to try out the beds first. If we still wanted them he would get them for us.

Shower seat. Also not needed. There was a window sill in the master shower to sit on.

Reader pillow. Not available.

I think that was about it. We sure loved our DOS. My mom and I hardly saw any of the ship because we enjoyed the cabin so much. LOL!

Enjoy!

120 days. 130 days for Haven (and maybe suites). 

5 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Lanie would make an excellent asst concierge or even concierge.

We had an amazing assistant concierge while on the Bliss in September. Elena. She was going home after our cruise. She did way more for us than the concierge. Maybe she'll come back as concierge and Lanie will be assistant. They made a great team for us as assistant concierge/butler. It would be well deserved for both.

2 hours ago, RushFan said:

Yes she remembers you well.   She has been very busy training for her promotion so we have not bothered her too much.  

Lanie's getting a promotion?! How wonderful! Where does one go from butler? Assistant concierge? She would be GREAT at that!

Tell her we said congratulations!

Have you had a chance to tell Lanie hi from Aprille, Mary & Marty? 

Sure do miss that Haven treatment. Coming back to real life is tough. LOL!

6 minutes ago, saintsfan777 said:

If we wanted to, would we be able to order desserts from Q to be delivered to our Haven suite?

Yes, but you would be charged for it.

1 minute ago, RushFan said:

Bit of a rough time at Q.  Took 20 minutes to get water.  Family hung in there and we got to order. Pretty decent Bb “Q” but the deserts stole the show.  The mason jar banana pudding, bread  pudding and peach cobbler were all excellent. 

Oh, man. You didn't get the pecan pie with bourbon caramel sauce?! Delish!

Sorry the service wasn't up to par. That sucks. We had good, efficient service at Q.

41 minutes ago, RushFan said:

Yes Lanie is our Butler.  She is awesome... We have Jose as assistant with her.   

Isn't she the best? Please tell her Aprille, Mary (my mom) and Marty (my hubby) say hi. And we miss the pampering and afternoon snacks. LOL!

19 minutes ago, CincyJen said:

Sigh... Los Lobos! I miss it so much.  My absolute fave on the Bliss. 

We loved Los Lobos too. Being from Texas we can get really good Mexican food here and we were pleasantly surprised.

On 12/8/2018 at 10:16 AM, RushFan said:

Going to post a bunch of photos while In port

Is that Lanie in the lower right-hand corner of the 2nd picture? She was our butler in late Sep. She was AWESOME! I recognize the bartender with the glasses. Forget his name.

Who is the concierge and assistant? We had Elena as our assistant concierge and she was magnificent. She was going home when we got off so not sure if she's back yet.

I'm really enjoying your live review and pictures. It takes me back and makes me want to be there again. And the food pictures make me hungry. LOL!

Assigned/chosen check in times are not enforced. Show up when you want.

I've been able to get diet Sierra Mist on all of my NCL cruises. Of course, I add bourbon and several lime wedges. Then I can hardly tell it's not diet 7-up. LOL! But I think the lime wedges really do help with the taste.

Enjoying your very detailed blog/review. Looking forward to the rest.

For the Sep 22nd sailing of the Bliss we got our luggage tags 49 days out. 

Enjoying your review and I'm not even planning on sailing on Escape any time soon. Keep it coming!

5 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Did you use a SDP at Q?  There menu looks like huge portions.  Think I could fill myself up on just the sides 😉

We loved Los Lobos on the Dawn and are so happy they have it on the Bliss.  Have our dinners pre-booked!

Yes, we used SDP at Q. And the portions are HUMONGOUS! There were 3 of us and we split a plate of all the meats and the sides were large enough to share too. We split the meat plate, 4 sides and 2 desserts. We couldn't eat it all. 

Be sure to get the fried okra! And try to save room for the pecan pie with bourbon caramel sauce. YUM!

Our choices on Bliss were Cagney's, Los Lobos and Q. We had a great experience at each of them. Teppanyaki is great too but we'd done it twice on 2 previous cruises so skipped it this last cruise on Bliss.

Can't speak for the Star but on Jewel the GV has full front and side views.

We had an aft penthouse suite on our Panama Canal cruise on Jewel. The day of the full transit hubby was running all over the ship looking for the best view and finally decided it was on our balcony. I kept the TV on for the commentary on what we were seeing. It was awesome. 

11 minutes ago, NYcruzzer said:

 

Is your current fare same ? One of my future cruises went up $30.00 PP Would actually lose $10.00 unless they go by my original fare and just add the $50.00 OBC

Yes, cruise fare and promos are the same. I only booked a couple of days ago.