Norwegian Escape B2B Review: July 23 - August 6, 2016

[davidwar]

Can't wait to read more! We have wondered about B2Bs. Thanks for sharing with us:D

 

Thanks, I'll be a little tied up until Sunday, when I hope to continue. Here are some coming attractions: Specialty Restaurants, the UBP/bars, the Art Auction :eek:, the cabin(s), the internet, shore excursion experiences.

[easyboy]

Very comprehensive.

[jdmerck]

Thats so funny about the Beef Wellingtion, my husband and i are looking forward to that as well, do you remember which night that was on??? we did that with Risotto on Royal, needed to try it because of Ramsey

[SNJCruisers]

Thats so funny about the Beef Wellingtion, my husband and i are looking forward to that as well, do you remember which night that was on??? we did that with Risotto on Royal, needed to try it because of Ramsey

I believe it's on day 6 of the 7 night cruise, similar to when the second formal night used to be back in the day, so the entrees are usually better. Look at the following link and in the lower right hand corner it says day 6. http://www.beyondships2.com/uploads/8/2/4/5/8245255/cr_204_man_dinner_5.pdf

[davidwar]

Ok, I'm back. Today I will comment on the much discussed liquor/UBP/bar situation.

 

First off, I got the UBP "free" as a promotion, but as I'm sure many of you know, you still have to pay the tax and gratuities in full, so it's really not free and in fact can be fairly sizable for a 14 day cruise. That being said, I'm glad I had it, because I like to drink, more when I'm on a cruise.

 

Once we got our seapass cards straightened out, I made a beeline to the nearest bar and ordered a frozen Margarita with Patron. I was promptly told that Patron was not included in the UBP as it made the drink more than the $15 price for each drink that was included. I had heard about this limit previously, but didn't think Patron made it hit the limit. I asked what the best tequila was that I could get that was included and the bartender told me the light Don Julio was included, so I said OK. Now later in the cruise I was seated next to a woman from Mexico and she said that Don Julio was pricier than Patron and that is what actually Mexicans prefer, so I was content. Until I went to a different bar and they told me that Don Julio was also not included. This was confusing, so I just asked for Margaritas with whatever Tequila they used.

 

Now my favorite drink is a Long Island Iced Tea and herein lies a tale, which I was surprised I did not see any Cruise Critic threads on. I ordered an LI tea at the pool bar on the first day and expected to see the bartender reach for the six different bottles of liquor and pour each into the glass over ice and splash with sour mix and coke. Instead he reached for a plastic jug which had the label "Long Island Iced Tea" on it and poured that in the glass, then shot the sour mix and coke on top. I was confused so I asked him "what's that?" He said it was all the liquor for the drink. "You mean you mixed all of them together in advance?", I asked. He said yes because the bars get so busy that it's a way to make the drink faster. He said it was directive from corporate.

 

Being the LI Iced Tea snob that I am, I was not pleased. There's no way that all that liquor all mixed together just sitting back there for a long time was good and the drink didn't taste the same as I am used to. Nor have I ever seen anyone make the drink that way on any other cruise ship or bar. I did see his point somewhat as that bar was really busy. Therefore I went to another bar that was not busy and sure enough when I asked for one, they did the same thing. I stopped the bartender in mid-pour and said that I preferred to have the drink made the real way with all the liquor from the separate bottles. A panicked look appeared on his face and he was not overly pleased. One of the other bartenders saw what was going on and said "Oh, you want a live one!" I said yes, I want live ones for the rest of the cruise!

 

The one bartender that understood what I meant was the Chocolate Cowboy at the 5'O'clock Somewhere Bar on deck 8. This guy was great. When I commented that he didn't make LI Teas the quick way he told me that he refused to make them that way as that was not a real drink. He was by far the best bartender on the ship. He attracted his own audience every day, remembered my name and was genuinely entertaining. I wish the bar was inside though because even in the late afternoon it was quite hot at that bar because it's outside on the Waterfront. Am wondering if they could install some sort of ceiling fan out there to cool it down a little.

 

A close second was Bong, the bartender at the Mojito bar. That guy made me 3 different Mojitos in the course of about 20 minutes. Very nice fella and he works hard.

 

As for the UBP, it's convenient. You don't have to worry about anything unless your drink is outside the price limit. I don't remember having this issue on Royal Caribbean, but maybe they've changed it. Generally all the drinks I had (with the exception of the "non-live" LI teas) were made well and tasted fine.

 

Also be warned that you have to pay tax on your drinks even with this plan when you are docked in Miami. Never heard of this before either, they must have changed the law.

[ddcrabb]

Ok, I'm back. Today I will comment on the much discussed liquor/UBP/bar situation.

 

First off, I got the UBP "free" as a promotion, but as I'm sure many of you know, you still have to pay the tax and gratuities in full, so it's really not free and in fact can be fairly sizable for a 14 day cruise. That being said, I'm glad I had it, because I like to drink, more when I'm on a cruise.

 

Once we got our seapass cards straightened out, I made a beeline to the nearest bar and ordered a frozen Margarita with Patron. I was promptly told that Patron was not included in the UBP as it made the drink more than the $15 price for each drink that was included. I had heard about this limit previously, but didn't think Patron made it hit the limit. I asked what the best tequila was that I could get that was included and the bartender told me the light Don Julio was included, so I said OK. Now later in the cruise I was seated next to a woman from Mexico and she said that Don Julio was pricier than Patron and that is what actually Mexicans prefer, so I was content. Until I went to a different bar and they told me that Don Julio was also not included. This was confusing, so I just asked for Margaritas with whatever Tequila they used.

 

Now my favorite drink is a Long Island Iced Tea and herein lies a tale, which I was surprised I did not see any Cruise Critic threads on. I ordered an LI tea at the pool bar on the first day and expected to see the bartender reach for the six different bottles of liquor and pour each into the glass over ice and splash with sour mix and coke. Instead he reached for a plastic jug which had the label "Long Island Iced Tea" on it and poured that in the glass, then shot the sour mix and coke on top. I was confused so I asked him "what's that?" He said it was all the liquor for the drink. "You mean you mixed all of them together in advance?", I asked. He said yes because the bars get so busy that it's a way to make the drink faster. He said it was directive from corporate.

 

Being the LI Iced Tea snob that I am, I was not pleased. There's no way that all that liquor all mixed together just sitting back there for a long time was good and the drink didn't taste the same as I am used to. Nor have I ever seen anyone make the drink that way on any other cruise ship or bar. I did see his point somewhat as that bar was really busy. Therefore I went to another bar that was not busy and sure enough when I asked for one, they did the same thing. I stopped the bartender in mid-pour and said that I preferred to have the drink made the real way with all the liquor from the separate bottles. A panicked look appeared on his face and he was not overly pleased. One of the other bartenders saw what was going on and said "Oh, you want a live one!" I said yes, I want live ones for the rest of the cruise!

 

The one bartender that understood what I meant was the Chocolate Cowboy at the 5'O'clock Somewhere Bar on deck 8. This guy was great. When I commented that he didn't make LI Teas the quick way he told me that he refused to make them that way as that was not a real drink. He was by far the best bartender on the ship. He attracted his own audience every day, remembered my name and was genuinely entertaining. I wish the bar was inside though because even in the late afternoon it was quite hot at that bar because it's outside on the Waterfront. Am wondering if they could install some sort of ceiling fan out there to cool it down a little.

 

A close second was Bong, the bartender at the Mojito bar. That guy made me 3 different Mojitos in the course of about 20 minutes. Very nice fella and he works hard.

 

As for the UBP, it's convenient. You don't have to worry about anything unless your drink is outside the price limit. I don't remember having this issue on Royal Caribbean, but maybe they've changed it. Generally all the drinks I had (with the exception of the "non-live" LI teas) were made well and tasted fine.

 

Also be warned that you have to pay tax on your drinks even with this plan when you are docked in Miami. Never heard of this before either, they must have changed the law.

 

Thanks for the great review. I was wondering if they did the premix with any other drinks? Also, when you were docked in Miami what was the tax on each drink? Was there tax on the drinks in the other ports?

[SNJCruisers]

No law was changed regarding paying taxes on drinks while in a us port. It starts when the bar opens on embarkation day and ends once the ship reaches international waters after sail away. With the new 700 departure, this means that Fla gets another 3 hours of taxes collected. The embarkation time was reverted back to 400 from late July through Sept 2.

NCL and Carnival both charge and collect these taxes. Celebrity absorbs the tax and does not charge the cruiser. I forget what RCIs policy is.

[SNJCruisers]

The tax rate is whatever it is in Miami. It is only charged in US ports, so if you stop in Key West, you'll be charged as well. The premixing was done in other bars as well. I had gotten a premises batch of a rum drink in the District.

[Dayana]

I thought with the UBP you simply pay the difference in price between the the $15 limit and the up price for a top shelf liquor. Thereby if the drink let say the margarita wither patron was $19. You would pay the additional $4 difference.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Dayana

[Love.II.Cruise]

Thanks for taking time to post your review!

[davidwar]

Thanks for the great review. I was wondering if they did the premix with any other drinks? Also, when you were docked in Miami what was the tax on each drink? Was there tax on the drinks in the other ports?

 

I did not notice that they premixed anything else, but that doesn't mean they didn't. Maybe someone else can enlighten me. I don't know the tax %, but it wasn't that much, less than a $1.00 per drink. This only happened in Miami, nowhere else.

[davidwar]

I thought with the UBP you simply pay the difference in price between the the $15 limit and the up price for a top shelf liquor. Thereby if the drink let say the margarita wither patron was $19. You would pay the additional $4 difference.

 

You are correct. I wasn't clear in my explanation.

[Dayana]

Would you happen to have the dailies for the 6 night portion of the sailing? Belize Roatan and Cozumel leg?

 

 

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[Daghis]

Note, I'm not an alcohol aficionado, so I don't understand the price difference between Absolut and Grey Goose, or why Patron was put in the >$15 tier.

 

That said, I don't understand why a Long Island Iced Tea that includes five different alcohols is included at no extra cost in the package, while a single shot of Patron isn't. Is Patron really that much more expensive?

 

To me, the pricing looks arbitrary.

[LarissaRose]

I'm wondering if patron being extra was a recent change. 3 people in my party all ordered patron margaritas at the same bar (spice h2o), same time, all had ubp and were all charged a different amount! Was very weird

 

Note, I'm not an alcohol aficionado, so I don't understand the price difference between Absolut and Grey Goose, or why Patron was put in the >$15 tier.

 

That said, I don't understand why a Long Island Iced Tea that includes five different alcohols is included at no extra cost in the package, while a single shot of Patron isn't. Is Patron really that much more expensive?

 

To me, the pricing looks arbitrary.

 

Long Island iced teas usually have the cheap "well" liquor, if they were pre mixed probably has basically the worst level of the liquors you can think of haha

[FloridaGram]

I didn't think you were judging me and you are right, there is no option to just stay on the ship. (We would have done that if we could.), but there were definitely other people doing what we were doing and they did offer excursions which would return you to the ship much later than when we got back. My point was just that there should have been a better procedure in placed.

 

I agree with you this was very poor treatment! If you ever sail Carnival this is how you can expect to be treated. We were told to be in the lobby at a certain time and after all the other guests had cleared customs we were walked down as a group and then then escorted back on the ship right away. It was fun walking down a glass walkway and looking at all the other people checking in as they looked at us and wondered why we had such special treatment! Then we were greeted in the lobby with Mimosas or soda and Goldfish snacks and they took a group photo of us and gave it to us for free!

 

I naively would have expected something like this on other lines so I appreciate your warning of what happened. I know we could have gotten off the ship and I am not sure how that would have played out. I would have expected pretty well though since they seemed to know what to do. Also, we had to change rooms but we packed up our stuff and the room steward moved it for us and we were able to go to our room right away.

 

I am looking forward to the rest of your review since we are considering the Escape.

[SNJCruisers]

The increase with the Patron was very recent, about July 15.The price of all of the Super Premiums went from 10.95 to 16.95 and some of the mixed drinks with those liquids went to 17.95, like a Dark & Stormy. What really makes no sense is that Grey Goose is covered under the UBP in the plain version, but the 3 flavored varieties are now 16.95. And if you want to buy a bottle from the duty free gift shop on board, all four varieties are the same price. The best tequilas covered by the UBP are 1-800 Reposado or Cazadores Anejo. They are so screwed up on the ship because the Food Republic had a drink called Toro Toro which was 10.95, covered by the UBP, was delicious and supposedly had Silver Patron in it. Since Food Republic is a sit down restaurant and not a bar, I did not see it being made, so possibly the Patron was switched out. But, it was my favorite drink I had on the cruise.

[chloemonkey]

We did a back to back previously and didn't have to go thru all that. We were the last ones off the ship and only had to wait in the terminal for about 10-15 minutes and then were the first to reboard. We had the same packet, but there was a designated meeting place where someone escorted us off the ship. Once off, they waited for us and escorted us back to reboard before the normal boarding started. We weren't staying in the Haven so we assumed they did this for all B2B cruises.

 

We were on a B2B - 7/31/ thru 8/14 and did choose to leave the terminal (hubby went into the jacuzzi with his cell phone in his pocket which meant a quick trip to the AT & T store upon our "first" arrival in Miami!) but although our circumstances were different in that we chose to leave the terminal, the letter that we rec'd stated that the wait "could" be up to two hours in the terminal.

 

I think it depends on how quickly the ship clears customs? Not sure but we did have to stand in the regular line of people disembarking....hauled a taxi to the AT & T store....and then came back in two hours to re board. We did have the "Still on Vacation" stickers.....but of course still had to go through security....not sure why anyone would be surprised at this? And then just hooked up with "new" Haven guests boarding. This may be where things get skewed....as we were Haven guests and knew where to join those lines.

 

This was our first B2B and upon our ultimate disembarking...I DID see the area where they have a few juices/snacks set up which must be for those guests coming back on board. Sad that our "drowned" cell phone caused us to have to go into Miami for 3 hours! But VERY happy to be able to go back on board for an additional 8 days! LOVE that "Still on Vacation" sticker....despite the logistics! And hope to do it again real soon.

[davidwar]

...but of course still had to go through security....not sure why anyone would be surprised at this?

 

Thanks for commenting. I didn't mean to give the impression that I was surprised that we had to go through security. That was fine. I didn't think as returning passengers that we would have to wait on line waiting behind all the second week passengers waiting to board for the first time.

[wildtky101]

Following along.

 

 

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[CruisinHarvey]

I like your bar tender comments. Clarence, the Cowboy, really runs a tight ship at his bar. He also makes some really good drinks. Bong, at the Mojito bar, is kind of a legend at NCL. He does enough tricks to keep everyone engaged all night long. We really like them both.

[cincychad]

Thanks for sharing. SNJ - what was the Toro Toro like. I'm a Dark & Stormy fan, but also enjoy a well made margarita on the rocks.

[SNJCruisers]

Thanks for sharing. SNJ - what was the Toro Toro like. I'm a Dark & Stormy fan, but also enjoy a well made margarita on the rocks.

It was made with Patron Silver, chipotle syrup, fresh lime juice and a spicy salt rim. Besides the Toro Toro, I enjoyed the Buccaneer at the District, which was made with Bacardi Oakheart Rum, ginger syrup, lime juice, mint, club soda. And Bong at the Sugarcane Mojito Bar made 3 I enjoyed.....Raspberry Guava mojito, Spicy Passion mojito and the Ginger mojito. You can easily get into a lot of trouble sampling many of the different concoctions available. You just need to make sure to try to avoid the nickel and dime tactics of some of the drinks that are now over the 15.00 limit.

[Victorious8]

I like your bar tender comments. Clarence, the Cowboy, really runs a tight ship at his bar. He also makes some really good drinks. Bong, at the Mojito bar, is kind of a legend at NCL. He does enough tricks to keep everyone engaged all night long. We really like them both.

 

I drank my way through this ship but never made it to see either of these bartenders. Being in Vibe can cause you to explore a lot less, I can't imagine what it would be like being in Haven!

[GrabMyWrist]

I drank my way through this ship but never made it to see either of these bartenders. Being in Vibe can cause you to explore a lot less, I can't imagine what it would be like being in Haven!

 

The Haven was nice. That said, if you remember, we were in Vibe with you! Seriously, the Haven is great but kids take over, making it less than enjoyable at times. We were happy to have Vibe passes for the duration of our B2B.

Edited August 19, 2016 by GrabMyWrist