johnrich

Our last 2 cruises (Escape and Getaway) the checkin person never even took our paperwork that we had signed. We just had to sign the small machine at checkin. I will still always have a paper copy with me though.

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I actually bought a small electric pump on Amazon. It’s around 4”x4”x4”. I haven’t been to GSC but have used it on other private islands. I always found a plug in a restroom to use.

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We’ve been on RCCL, Celebrity, Princess, and NCL and the Getaway is one of our favorite ships (the other being Escape ). We also love those ports. We’ve done them three times so far and would do them again.

We love the food on the Getaway. We’ve only done a couple of specialty restaurants because the complimentary restaurants have great food. Service was wonderful in all the restaurants and bars we went to.

Million Dollar Quartet and Howl at the Moon, as babynurse06 stated, are fabulous. Don’t miss. On our last two times on the Getaway we did not miss a single show at Howl at the Moon.

I highly recommend the thermal spa also. Since the pool can be a bit crowded at times, the spa provides a quiet area to relax and enjoy another pool.

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Just wondering how long it normally takes to get a PCC assigned. We decided since our TA doesn’t participate in bidding and we get very few perks from them, we weren’t going to use them anymore. When we were on the Escape last month we ended up booking another cruise and were told that a PCC would contact us in a couple weeks to introduce themselves to us. We had some questions and are thinking about upgrading but wanted to get to know who is assigned to us. anyone know how long before they contact you?

Thanks!

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• FYI Grand Cayman and Great Stirrup Cay are tendered ports.
  
• Crew will assist your MIL but will not lift her.
  
• Also know that depending on weather and or sea conditions any passengers using mobility equipment may be prohibited from board the tender even if it has roll-on capabilities. Tendering with a mobility issue is at the discretion of the Captain and not the gangway staff,
  

• If you haven't booked any excursions than its recommend for safety reasons not to exit the fenced in shopping area.
  
• Store entrances with the port area are wheelchair accessible. However the aisles may not accommodate a wheelchair.
  
• No accessible taxis
  
• An accessible washroom is located in the center of the port area,
  

• For the most part it's accessible.
  
• Dining and Bar venues are accessible as well as the shopping venues,
  
• Excursions offered are not wheelchair accessible
  

• There are shops and restaurants after you exit the port area.
  
• Curb cut outs are often difficult to locate
  
• Some stores and restaurants have steps at the entrance,
  
• Ramps are steeper than in the USA
  
• Only a couple of accessible taxis and are often pre-booked,
  
• If MIL can transfer into a van the driver will take the wheelchair, There is often an extra charge for the wheelchair,
  

Thank you so much for all this valuable information. It is definitely helpful!

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We decided to book a “last minute” cruise over Thanksgiving. It will be DW, DMIL and myself. Since the Epic only has 4 handicapped accessible cabins that fit 3 people (or so I was told) and they were already booked, we had to get a non-HC Cabin. We ended up getting an aft-facing balcony for the same price as a regular balcony. I hope it’s not going to be too tight. At least the balcony is supposed to be bigger.

Due to the hurricanes, our ports have also been changed. From what I remember, Falmouth and Nassau are normally docked ports, while Georgetown, Cayman Islands is tendered as well as (I’m assuming) Great Stirrup Cay.

My MIL had a stroke in Dec and has recovered greatly, but at 83 she has some difficulty walking long distances, doing steep steps, etc. Although she didn’t want us to, we ordered a manual wheelchair from Special Needs at Sea in case she needs it.

Several questions:

1. Will crew help me get her into the tender boats? She can do steps as long as they aren’t steep.

2. Any suggestions on what to do in Falmouth. We’d like to stay close to the port. We enjoy history, beaches and the ladies enjoy shopping

3. Does Great Stirrup Cay have sidewalks that we could use the wheelchair to get to the beach. She can walk once we get to the sand.

4. We’ve done Cayman Islands before but I don’t think we’ll do any excursions this time. Is there stuff to do in the port area. I don’t remember.

Thanks in advance. If you have any other suggestions, please let us know.

John

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I’m on a November Epic cruise and we actually went from 3 ports to 4. Since it is past final payment I wonder if NCL will just pay the port fees for the additional port themselves and we won’t be charged.

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I do not consider myself a germaphobe but always wash my hands before leaving the restroom but get aggravated when they only have the air dryers and not paper towels. First, I think paper towels are more sanitary than the warm air. Second, I like to use a paper towel to grab the handle of the door to open it. If they do have paper towels I always hope they have a trash can near the door.

I have always thought that restroom doors should have automatic openers so I don’t have to touch the door handle after someone just left without washing their hands. My other solution would be to have the restroom doors sit back a bit and then open out instead of in. This way you touch the handle before using the RR and can just push the door open when leaving.

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Ship - Escape

Deck - 12

Stateroom # - 12908

Stateroom Category – B1 Aft-facing Balcony

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Yes

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – Beautiful view off back of ship. Since the suite to the left had a wrap around balcony, if we were standing at the railing of our balcony we could see quite a bit of the starboard view as well as our normal rear view.

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Large balcony. We had 2 lounge chairs, 2 regular chairs as well as a side table and we still had plenty of room to walk around.

Was wind a problem? No

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - No. We had heard it might be and asked the room steward for paper towels so if we went out in the evening or early morning, we could wipe the furniture off. Towels were always soot free.

Any specific problems with this cabin? - None

Any other comments? - Great cabin overall. We are used to mid-ship balconies and were afraid we might feel more motion in this cabin but we really didn't. Loved that they had USB charging ports built into the bedside lamps.

View from balcony:

View of balcony:

View of sofa bed:

View of bed:

View of desk area:

Nice size shower:

Looking for ideas for Falmouth for DMIL (83) and DW and I (40s). She can walk short distances but we may just push her in a wheelchair. We were there in 2011 but the port wasn’t even finished yet. Construction everywhere. So looking forward to see how it has changed since then. And back then she could get around much easier than she can now. We enjoy history, rum, and relaxing to name a few likes.

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Where did you see these changes?

 

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We are on the Epic over Thanksgiving and we received an email yesterday with the updated itinerary through February 2018. I realize this is the Epic and not the Dawn or Breakaway. But they are trying.

MSG_FROM_NORWEGIAN_4[2130].pdf

I’m surprised that the bidding system doesn’t look at # of pax in a room. There are 3 of us and we have an aft balcony on the Epic. I received the bidding email. It had a mini suite but we’re afraid that it won’t be that much bigger and we enjoy sitting on the balcony and ours is probably bigger. Another choice to bid on was a Haven Penthouse Suite but it says it only sleeps 2. I wonder how many people don’t look closely at the description and bid only later to find out it only sleeps 2?

Are the golf carts intended for elderly and handicapped people, or can anyone use them? If we want to jump on for a quick ride back to the ship to eat lunch and come back, will we get dirty looks?

We were just at Harvest Caye last week. You will not get dirty looks but they are golf carts so don’t hold too many people so you may have to wait. DW and I preferred walking. It is a covered walkway and there was a nice breeze.

As someone stated above drinks were expensive. A couple bucks more than on the ship maybe, but they were not as good. At the bar we went to, my DW ordered a Malibu Rum and Diet but they don’t have any diet! And it wasn’t that they ran out. Diet wasn’t on the menu either. She ended up getting a piña colada which was the worse either of us ever tasted. So beware.

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Does O'sheehans still have the ribs? I saw a recent menu and didn't see them listed but they are listed on the NCL site.

 

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Not sure if they have them on embarkation day, but they do still have them as a dinner special at least two nights. I had them one of the evenings.

(At least last week on the Escape.)

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Following. As you know from meeting me, we were also on this cruise.

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A couple of weeks ago I asked if anyone had the names of the officers on the Escape. So far no reply and my cruise is 3 weeks away. Does anyone have any names please? Thanks for the help.

 

 

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Nikklas ? was the Captain and here are the rest.

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Sounds great. Are you able to make phone calls?

To be honest, I did not know about WiFi calling so never tried. I just tried to change it in settings to allow it but you must be in the US to turn it on for Verizon - at least that is the message I received when trying to turn it on. I will know next time to turn it on.

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I am currently on the Escape right now and have sailed on the Getaway twice before and I have always been able to text other iPhone users (via iMessage) without having any WiFi plan. I did have IConcierge downloaded on my phone but was not messaging through that. My wife did not have iConcierge downloaded and was also able to send messages to me on the ship but never tried anyone else. We will try tomorrow.

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How many announcements a day are there on NCL? We cruise with Celebrity which has one announcement per day.

 

 

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I think it depends on the captain and the cruise director. We usually hear 1 or 2 from each a day. On Getaway we also heard a couple others each day making announcements about activities.

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Thank you everyone! With this being our first cruise I am a little nervous and not sure what to expect. (Which I hate, I prefer being organized and having things planned). I just found out about CC at the beginning of this week and I very sad because we have had this cruise planned for almost a year, I am sad we are going to pay more than what we could have, but a week out, cancelling our NCL reservations seems a bit of a gamble! Hopefully my husband and I love cruising and next time we will get our act together sooner and can go off the beaten path!

We will be on the Escape with you leaving on 9/16. On our first cruise 15 years ago we did ship excursions but since then I believe we have only done one and that was on RCCL. We were the first ship to dock in Falmouth and were afraid since it was a new port the local tour companies might not have everything down yet. Good thing. Our ship sponsored excursion did not get us back to the ship until almost 25 minutes after all aboard. Luckily because it was a cruise line excursion they had to wait for us.

If I were you I would still check around early this week for private excursion. They are so much better and cheaper than NCL ones. I believe (but not sure) you can cancel the ones you have booked as long as it is at least one day before we sail.

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We started out as Royal fans. Still are but started trying NCL because of the price and now all the perks. We would definitely sail RCCL again if we found an itinerary we liked that was in our price range. For our cruise next week, we had looked at both NCL and RCCL. Compared two cruises with either the same or very similar ports in a balcony cabin. For NCL we would get the free WiFi and Drink Package (yes I know I have to pay the 18% grat on the free drink pkg). After adding the cost of two drink packages and an equivalent WiFi package, RCCL was over $600 more. Since we feel the food and service are very similar, we couldn’t justify paying the $600 extra. If NCL prices increase or RCCL prices decrease we would probably sail Royal again. But right now for the money we love NCL. Love the ships, food, and entertainment on both. But staff on NCL seems more personable.

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We’ve been on Getaway twice and both times we were able to use FaceTime audio on our iPhone to call others who had iPhones. We tried regular FaceTime (with video) but the quality was very poor. Using just audio it worked great! I believe there are some Android apps that will do the same thing but in either case I believe both caller and receiver must have the app installed whether FaceTime or the Android app.

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Just be aware if you're at port and use your UBP, you will get drink tax by whatever port you're in. It's not a lot, but you should still be conscious of it

 

 

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This depends on the port. At some US ports you may get a drink tax but I am not sure I was ever charged a drink tax in any foreign ports.

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My wife and I have done interiors, OV, and balconies. We will now only do balconies. I enjoy getting up earlier than she does so will get coffee and go sit on the balcony as we’re docking. We also are always on our balcony as we leave each port. In the evenings we both enjoy sitting out on the balcony to just unwind from our day’s activities whether in port or at sea. It seems to calm us and helps us to decompress before bed.

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I use CVS pharmacy and my pharmacist said that if I have their app, it will show the prescriptions and I would therefore not need to carry the pill bottles with me. Not sure how authorities would feel about that, but it sounded legit. Who is to say Someone doesn’t put Prescription A in the Prescription B pill bottle.

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