Maraloha Travel, LLC: NCL Escape

NCL Escape - Day 3

(Sea Day)

PLEASE NOTE: This review has nothing to do with Maraloha Travel. This cruise was for the purpose of the Reunion Cruise Group that I do every year in dedication and heavy advocacy for Travel Agents. It is also for purposes of giving insight to cruising and my personal experiences. Call your travel agent for more information about experiencing your first or future cruise.

Another day at sea and plenty to do onboard. Today, our Reunion Group had several exciting activities going on. First up was the Q & A Session with the Ship's officers:

(From Left To Right: Sean - Hotel Director, Tyler, Cruise Director, Martin - Food & Beverage Director, Jose - Beverage Manager, Errol - Assistant Hotel Director, and Ronney - Executive Housekeeper) (Last picture read right to left)

The TA's really enjoyed this. They felt that it was very interactive and more of a one-on-one session with the ship's officers that passengers would normally not be able to attend. Lots of questions were asked and answered and overall we were very pleased that these officers were able to spend their time to meet with us. After the Q & A Session was over, the TA's and I stayed a while to talk, mingle, and juggling ideas, sales tips and more at each other along with reviewing the rest of the schedule for our group.

JC and I left as we had made plans to take some professional shots with Perspectives Photography Studio on board. I always wanted to do this but never had any idea what it actually entailed. I should have found out BEFORE we took these pictures but that was the catch. I will explain later. So we got to the studio and met with one of the photographers. We were told that we could take pictures anywhere, on a beach, outside the ship, casual, dressed up--however we wanted. So we had decided to do some pictures outside the ship and dressed up. First, we went to the upper deck in the back of the ship to take some shots of JC and I near the water, etc. After the wind was not cooperating well with our long hair, 45 minutes to be exact, we went back to the studio and decided to do more photos in two days. We did try to do them earlier but there was so much going on the ship that we didn't want to miss certain shows or activities. Two days later, we come back, take pictures in our evening attire and then later that evening we were able to view all the pictures (78 to be exact).

HERE IS THE CATCH: Mind you even though there was no sitting fee, we were told that the MINIMUM package price was $399, $299 for me since I spoke to them the first day of the cruise. Now, I don't mind that as I was willing to spend it. However, the smallest package was for only ONE picture, split on three canvas'! The next was five canvas' for 5 pictures (one for each) but $1,200!! Whoa!!! Geez! I almost fell out of the couch! So then we said what about the flash drive? Can we just pay for the pictures on a flash drive? They said it would cost $1,000!! Damn! That was way out of my budget and I was not going to spend it. They even tried to sell me the 5 canvas pictures with the flash drive for $1,400 and she was giving me a 20% discount which was included in that price. NO WAY! Pictures were nice but I was not going to spend it. So, lesson learned on this one!

Onward now to the Library to meet with Tony and the other TA'S for the infamous Scavenger Hunt! We had the entire group attend and this time everyone did the scavenger hunt individually instead of in groups like the past. Tony explained the rules and off they went! So as the TA's scurried around the ship for the hunt, Tony, JC and I all went to Spice H2O to wait for the first 3 TA's to come back with the right answer to the hunt. So the winners were as follows with prizes:

1st Place - Linda Starkey

Prize: $100 OBC and Bottle of Wine from NCL and an NCL beach bag from me

2nd Place - Robin Cameron

Prize: $50 OBC and bottle of wine from NCL and an NCL jacket from me

3rd Place - Wanda Soares

Prize: $25 OBC and bottle of wine from NCL and an NCL jacket from me

Back at the cabin, JC and I had a few surprises! First we had chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us along with and invite for an intimate dinner at the Haven Restaurant for our Anniversary courtesy of the Hotel Director!! Besides the dinner, the wine we had was also included which would normally not be on the ultimate beverage package. Gotta love that!

It was really wonderful to have a great anniversary dinner with my sweetheart and relax. We really liked the food, the wine, and of course the dessert.