Sky111

I was new to vlogging when I recorded these NCL Getaway videos back in 2019. I am just getting around to editing them and uploading to Youtube. I hope this is acceptable to this forum, if not please remove.
 

have you seen this? It is a link from the W.H.O click on the tab at the lower left where it says Cumulative Cases.
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/685d0ace521648f8a5beeeee1b9125cd

They said no flights to China but when I went to a couple websites I was able to  book round trip flights. From SFO to various cities in China, futhermore if you go to FlightAware you can see several flights in and out of Wuhan. 
Is this all some kind of hoax? What is REALLY going on?

27 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

IF people aren't running to get the passes, and they don't sell out within 30 minutes, the price is probably about right.  IF they are still running, and they sell out very quickly, the price is still too low.  

I think it was nice before when it was a perk for those in the know don't you agree?

9 hours ago, Phaedrus78 said:

Sounds like basic supply and demand to me. 

 

That’s fine. It’s not like I was going to get a pass anyway. I’d rather not start my vacation by stressing out hoping to be fast enough to pay for the privilege of hanging in the Cool Kids Club. 

 

Of course, the pay-for-exclusivity areas are my least favorite thing about cruises in general. I’d love to see the Haven go away entirely, but of course that’s not realistic. 

Agree, I did not see may "Cool Kids" up there nor on this ship nonetheless.  I think NCL and Carnival are either for the very frugal or new cruisers. My mom, who would save Christmas paper and tin foil loved NCL.  I saw most passenger with the peached colored badges meaning they are new cruisers to NCL. 
Although we enjoyed our cruise and the crew was excellent, NCL creates this little irritants that piss me of so much I will not go back.  
A FREE drink package is really $175 for 2 on a 7 day Cruise, does not include bottled water, specialty juices or specialty coffee? If you grab a beer or soda from the Mini bar that is charged! If you order a drink with room service, that too is charged and not on your drink package? - Why would they do this, Was this irritant worth the 2 or 3 coffees or juices I may might have ordered?
The ropes course, open just a few hours per day unless at sea, several bars in popular areas close early, just makes no sense. They spend so much on advertising only to put a fly in the ointment for their passengers once on board it just makes no sense. They could have raised my fare $50 to avoid the irritants. 
Yeah no rush to get a vibe ticket, maybe soon the airlines will follow by making coach and economy passengers stand on the pole so first class has room for a dance floor?
 

This is the Vibe on the Getaway March 4, 2019 after price increase on a sea day 8:30 am. No need to hoard a recliner.

1 hour ago, cruiseguy2424 said:

Glad to hear about the up charge, it will possibly be less busy. I will gladly pay the price increase. It was WAY to cheap before.

At $400 for two people? You might just have the place to yourself, be sure to get your drinks lined up early as the bar closes at 7, never heard of a bar closing at 7PM before. Also bring a weighted cup holder and cover to keep your drink from tipping from the wind. I had to hold my hand over my Mudslide to keep the contents from being blown out of the cup from the wind all over the deck. Yeah, it is that windy up there. And if you would like a snack it is a long walk down a flight of stars and a long walk to the opposite end of the ship to get to the buffet.  No, its a major inconvenience, a long walk to get there and was not worth it to IMO. The bartender(s) up there were great and was fun when we all did group shots but to be honest I think it is better to go on an upscale cruiseline than paying extra for an oasis away from the heard.
For the added fee of the Vibe, I think the cabanas should be included, not one was rented, there should be some Hors d'oeuvre's, and a wait staff or something.  We had to get up and go to the bar to get a drink at the Vibe everytime were were there except for the first day. At the main pool someone came and brought us a drink no problem.

 

It is because of Chair Hoarder.

I have Ooma Voip service at home, if you don't have it check it out only $5/mo. So I installed the NCL app and the Ooma app on my phone and on my first day was able to upgrade my 250 free minutes to unlimited Premium internet service for I think it was about $200. Kept my phone in Airplane mode and was able to make and receive calls and my wife would use Facebook messenger to video chat with her mom.  I tested the speed and was able to do a live Youtube webcast on the first day. During the Glow party I tried to do it again but had problems. Other than that all I can say is to try and get a voip app and the premium Internet unlimited service if you need to stay in touch.
I heard the Internet is slow on the ship but I had no issues with it.

Ship - NCL Getaway

Deck - 10

Stateroom # - 10802

Stateroom Category – Mini Suite

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Nice room, nice bathroom wide double sink, multi-jet full sized shower and our Steward "Asep" was very responsive and helpful.
No bites, no bugs, no problems

No, did not sell out, and the most I saw people there were on the first day. about 1/4 of the recliners were taken and about 4 seats at the bar in use.  Sea Day was too windy to enjoy, on the way back sea day had so many activities we did not make it to the vibe at all.

Yes 7 day, i wonder if my badge still works? 200 for a lifetime membership would be good 😁

I agree, that is why we choose to spend our vacation money elsewhere in the future. Sorry to offend the brand loyalists out there.

Personally I feel that when you spend good money for a cruise you shouldn't have to spend more for a recliner and access to a bar.

Doesn't really matter to us what they charge. My wife and I have discussed the good and bad with NCL and have decided that that this is our last cruise with them. Too many better options.

We have 2 days left I got tkt 17 and 18 and boarded Group 2, went straight to Headliners when they broke the news of the new pricing. Half the people left without buying. It is not crowded at all but had I known they close the bar at 7 I would not have.spent the money. I think they said day spa pass was $59 we are on the NCL Getaway

We have 2 days left I got tkt 17 and 18 and boarded Group 2, went straight to Headliners when they broke the news of the new pricing. Half the people left without buying. It is not crowded at all but had I known they close the bar at 7 I would not have.spent the money.

To my dismay Vibe access is now over $200 each $418 for 2 people. They just so happen to raise the price March 3rd. To be honest this is no longer worth it. They close the bar at 7pm. We thought we would use it for the at sea days but turned out to be way to windy to enjoy.

I use LugLoc and Tile Locators, in a large room I can find my bag in seconds. Can even tell when it is coming up on the conveyor belt long before it arrives on the turnstyle. The LugLoc will tell me where the bag is via Cellular and if no signal it will use BlueTooth. 
Both are very cool devices and the Tile is very helpful if you tend to misplace things a lot.

7 for us! 🤩

K thanks guys, we have decided that will be taking our passports with us, use the ship's excursions and attentive to the time, our surroundings and stay sober when off the ship anyways. 

1 hour ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

Are you selectively reading posts and skipping some? Your concern has been covered in posts #9 and #11. Why should we AGAIN describe the process if you can't be bothered to read responses already made to you questions? Sheesh!!!!!!

This is a serious matter
They said cruiseline will check your safe for passports, where did they get this information? Says who?

Because, I called NCL and they said they never heard of it and the State Department said DO NOT LEAVE IT ON SHIP, so I would like to see someone confirm or substantiate it, if this bothers you perhaps you can un-follow this thread. 
 Sheesh!!!
 

I just called NCL excursions dept. He said some people take them and some do not, they are not required to get back onto the ship. With that said, he said he had never heard of anyone going into your safe and removing the  passports and giving them to the port agent at that port of call if you are not back and that was directly from NCL. So if someone has something contrary to that I would like to know the source.

He said you need to get back to the ship on time (ya no kidding) but if you got injured or like what happened to us in the past where our snorkeling boat would not start you could be late getting back.

So I then called the US State department and spoke with someone in the passport agency division. She highly advised me to take my passport with me when leaving the ship. She said if you do not have it YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO TRAVEL, this means you could not even catch the ship at the next port of call because you would need to make arrangements for a replacement passport which she said could take SEVERAL DAYS!

So, I think we are going to take our passports with us on excursions and hopefully won't need them but will be thankful if I do.

thanks for the responses and I don't mean to be paranoid but what happens when you only have a drivers license and a credit card and you miss the ship for some unforeseen circumstance? Wouldn't that mean since your passport is on the ship you will now have to some how get to the Embassy and wait for a new passport top be issued? Where is the Embassy anyway Mexico city? That is a long and dangerous way from the port!
Has anyone missed the ship without a passport? What did you do?

Ok got it, but what would you do if you could not make it back to the ship for some reason? No passport, phone or credit card in a foreign country doesn't sound very assuring  I have only been on one other cruise and did a swimming with the stingrays encounter. They could not get the boat started when it was time to go. We barely made it back on time.  I appreciate your advice but wonder if losing a passport worse than not having it if needed?