thephillykid

Which one of you is going to stand bridge watch on the overnights in order to subsidize your trip?

When we arrived at roatan, the captain came on and said if you don't have a planned excursion then he recommends not getting off the ship. Pretty scary thing for them to say after arriving.

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Freestyle.....do what you want, as long as you are comfortable. Within reason.

Tux or no tux...it's completely up to you.

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Is the pool fresh water or salt? We were on the celebrity reflection and it was nice to have fresh water in their pool.

Howard

We live in Bensalem! My neighbor's kids are still camped out with them, they are from Yardley Borough, the ice storm was no joke.

 

 

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We live in Huntingdon Valley, and Montgomery county was among the worst hit areas with the ice. We lost 3 electric poles along 232 that still need to be replaced, and we are glad that peco put in a temporary service to get us up and running. We have seen crews from as far away as michigan and canada trying to fix all of the outages. Way worse than a snow storm.

Howard

You're ahead of us. I think we are at 40 inches, and it's also still on the ground. It's not warming up at all. They have also tacked on an extra week (so far) to the end of the school year for us.

I hear you exactly, my daughter goes to a local Penn State campus and it was closed 4 out of the 5 days last week. The local schools were also closed most of the week as well, they took away their president's weekend and added some extra dats in June.

Howard

I wonder how far south she got until the snow melted.

The ship could pick up speed, as the snow weights tons.

We just got over 4+ days without electricity from last week's ice storm. We are tired of having to slave over the generator and making sure that it would not run out of gas. After having to spend over $600 on the stupid thing, not to mention extention cords and gas.we need the cruise now.

You never really think about the power until it goes out.

Philly got hit real hard this winter, thank god it's almost over.

Howard

Was also on gem few weeks ago. Seven ships in st maarten so Gem used tenders...great thing because we avoided crowds on pier and tendered right to other end of the beach....avoided the stores, just relaxed all day onthe beach.... Couldnt imagine waiting for water taxi with 20,000 plus people....met "sweet michael" on beach.... He provided two nice lounge chairs, umbrella, internet wifi password and allowed us six free drinks and use if a bathroom for $ 25!. Pleasant man who kept checking with all his "customers" and refeeshing drinks or bringing ice....he is very appreciative of a tip And even gave us extra cold boted water for ride back to ship😄.... Nice relaxing beach day....

Which beach did you go to?

2 questions please....

On the craps table...what were the maximum odds and what was the table minimums?

Thanks,

Howard

From my last experience on the Pearl,as compared to other ships that I have sailed on, NCL is the most concerned about germs and sanitation in their buffets. Including from what I have seen on pictures of the new Getaway, they have installed multiple hand washing stations at the entrances to the buffet.

That being said, I suspect that you would not be able to directly fill up your travel glass. Just fill up 3 or 4 of their glasses take them back to your table and ghen fill it up.

Howard

For our upcoming cruise, we can get to the port around 10 AM. What is the earliest you csn anticipate being allowed to board the Getaway from Miami?

Let me know what your experiences have been.

Thanks,

Howard

Imho....food is very subjective. It all depends where you are from, what you are used to, as to how you find the food on the ship of for that matter in any restaurant.

Don't get me wrong, but if you always eat at McDonald's, and then eat at a nicer restaurant, then you probably would really enjoy it. However, if you are usual restaurants include Mortons, and Ruth Chris, then the opposite would be true.

It's just how you look at it.

That's why we use this board, to express our own opinions.

Some love it, some hate it.....ymmv.

Howard

Thanks for the great pics and review so far. We can wait to be boarding her in less than 8 weeks. How was the grammy show? How much were the surcharges for the ala carte raw bar? Can you see the magic show without having dinner there?

Thanks, Howard

Please note:* of the $650 shipboard credit for the cabin you will receive from this promotion, $150 of it is NOT eligible to be used towards your gratuities for the cabin.* Please keep this in mind when you board and see your account summary that you must allocate your gratuities appropriately."

 

 

 

This was the email that we got yesterday from our online ta after booking a deal 2 weeks ago. They ROCK........GIVING US ALL OBC instead of being locked into any specific packages.

What an awesome deal! What type of cabin did you book?

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Just a guaranteed balcony, and they upgraded us to a BC on deck 9.

"Good Afternoon,

*

Thank you for recently booking your upcoming sailing on the Norwegian Getaway with [AGENCY NAME REMOVED TO PROTECT THEM]. We are very happy you were able to take advantage of this very rare opportunity.* With this particular promotion, you were set to receive Pre-paid gratuities for the first two guests in your cabin, $150 shipboard credit for the cabin, an Ultimate Dining Package for the cabin, and an additional $100 shipboard credit for the cabin on top of everything else.* Because of this particular promotion being as rare as it was, we wanted to let you know the entire package totals an amount of $650 – which means it will appear as complete shipboard credit for the cabin – you may use the funds as you wish within the guidelines of normal spending accounts with Norwegian.*

*

Please note:* of the $650 shipboard credit for the cabin you will receive from this promotion, $150 of it is NOT eligible to be used towards your gratuities for the cabin.* Please keep this in mind when you board and see your account summary that you must allocate your gratuities appropriately."

This was the email that we got yesterday from our online ta after booking a deal 2 weeks ago. They ROCK........GIVING US ALL OBC instead of being locked into any specific packages.

For my upcoming Getaway cruise, I am using the same online TA for the second time in 6 months. They gave us $650 in obc for a balcony guaranteed cabin. The same day, I called NCL directly to compare the deals. NCL could not meet the same deal. They seem to go to bat for you with the cruise lines, as we had a price drop on our last trip,and they gor it for us. The only down side I see is their operating hours...no nights or weekends. They book group cabins and give you deals, it works nicely for me.

Howard

We leave the of March and booked a gty balcony about 2 weeks ago. I checked the reservation yesterday and a cabin has been assigned already. Maybe it was the luck of the draw, but we got assigned a cabin really fast. They gave us a bc on deck 9.

Howard

I too went to BJ's and purchased a red velvet cake that looked beautiful, but was inedible. It was made by a 3rd party company Dawn Foods. It says on the box that it would be impossible for them to make fresh cakes for the whole usa from their 1 bakery in hoboken. The cake was really bad and I really wanted to like it as I am a fan of the show. I would have to believe that they get to the ship frozen and are similar to the ones in BJ's. This is the onpy possible way they could have them on the Getaway in mia.

Howard

Yo Adrienne............

This is coming from the land of the Art Museum steps, I hear rocky in my head.

About the UDP, I think it's being offered so that travel agents can add it to the perks given to sign up.

On our upcoming trip on the Getaway, the TA included the UDP as a perk along with $250 OBC and I think its a way for them to give us something more.

Also, on the UDP, you can go to multiple places on the same night. You could have a late lunch at say 5 pm, and then have a late dinner at a different restaurant at 10.

But there is 1 drawback, you will need new clothes at the end of the cruise.

But for most people, its better to pay as you go, as you might just see something at the mdr that you really like and save the surcharge.

Howard

Since NCL reads this board, anyone wanna bet this will be a topic of discussion in some board room?

Even if they are discussing it, you are buying the liquor from them already, and not smuggling it on board from another source. I guess it's better to get half a loaf than none at all.

Great blog so far!!!

These 60 + days waiting to board are going to drag out until we get a chance to explore her as well. We can't wait for more details. Keep them coming.

How was the food in the mdr compared to the specialty restaurants?

How smoky was the 678?...the rest of the ship?

How busy was the casino? What were the table minimums?

Thanks for the details.

Howard

FYi...

Having sailed on the Celebrity Reflection over the thanksgiving holiday and having their ultimate beverage package, almost every beverage on board the ship was included. Every bottled water, every coffee drink, every frozen drink, every spirit, every martini, every shot, all beers us to $12 a bottle, wine up to $12 a glass. It was a pleasure not having to worry about a bill at the end of the cruise.

NCL needs to get real with their drink packages.

Howard

Obviously, with the dates of my upcoming Getaway sailing, we are in the blackout period for the drink packages. I plan on buying a few drinks a day on board. Can I purchase a soda package just for me, or do I have to get it for my wife as well. Will NCL allow us to carry on come 12 packs of diet coke? How about a case of bottled water? Is there a limit? My wife only drinks water and it would suck having to pay double.

Howard

Today. I saw the video of the new getaway and their balconies and I can't believe how small they look. They look like you can't even move the chairs straight facing the water. Seems kind of silly to me to build such a huge ship with such small balconies. We just got off the reflection thanksgiving and we had a balcony on their hump. Now we have a guaranteed balcony and we hope to get a decent sized one.

Howard