mking8288

Doing my late evening patrol to see what's going on with the buffet as far as getting ice, water and possibly coffee & tea, without calling Room Service, waiting for someone to deliver (and to cash tip, as these changes aren't their ideas ... and I saw that sad look on the waiter's face in Cagney's the other night re: possibility of dessert to go. No can't do. ) No crew at all, DIY and only a few Lipton's tea bags left ... no choice of English tea at night. Pool & hot tub all closed up by 11:15 - everybody somewhere else or in their rooms. On my way back, saw these left outside in the hallway / corridor. Not a pretty sight from a fire or life safety standpoint, IMHO. Perhaps, they were granted special waivers to leave them out overnight ... room stewards or attendants are done for their shifts & off duty at 11 pm + Tomorrow is Basseterre, St. Kitts - 11 am arrival & all abroad 6:15 pm. Not seeing anything interesting to us with the switched Dominicia stop.

We are on the move, finished backing out & turning around, heading out ... bye, San Juan

Polo shirt & shorts worked for me in Tropicana MDR tonight, no problem at all. Not too busy, walk in & got promptly seated at 7:45 returning from our quick tour. Live piano music played briefly but no mini show on the dance floor Dinner was good, Red Snapper & Lemon-Pepper Shrimp as our entrees. All abroad at 9 pm, finishing our dessert now - doesn't look like we are sailing on time, already 9:45 pm.

The mini.bus / taxi tour are available just outside the fence / gate on the Pier's waterfront, holding up placard ... can't miss them. A good alternative to ship tours here, done it before & will do it again. An elderly couple, probably from the Getaway, her sandals likely tripped on the cobblestone sidewalk & her head hit the pavement, bleeding but alert, police officer on scene, stitches probably needed. Hope she's okay & after emergency care, able to re-board the ship; and has good insurance. Sorry, folks about the food policies & changes ...just reconfirming what's been shared & reported by other CC'er on other NCL ship's lately. Creative solutions ... is "problem solving" If there's enough noises, perhaps NCL will backpedal again, as it did so years ago. Don't forget to it inform the newly promoted "room attendant" to empty the mini refrigerator on Day 1. 🤫🤫🤫 Got an idea, consider calling "Special Needs" about your special late night craving "needs" & see what they say.

Last batch pix ...San Juan by the Sheraton & Walgreens, Starbucks up the block & shops on the cobblestone streets on the left. Very easy to walk around, comfortable shoes a must. **** Good news, I think, it appeared that about 100 newly landed crew members are reporting & joining the Getaway, waiting at the pier to board. Hopefully, this can help alleviate the staffing issues, at least partially.

Yet more pix ...San Juan

More pictures of old San Juan Gasoline by the liter, expensive

Getting dark soon, plan B, air conditioned mini.bus tour, $20 per person, 90 minutes to 2 hours. Deal !

CD Alvin just asked folks to hold & not rush toward the gangway, looks like Deck 4 Fwd will be used. Ship hasn't been cleared yet and crew still setting up. Shopping here, both Walgreen's & CVS are a short walk across the street, plus Senor Frogs ... Crews from Royal's VOS returning with shopping bags filled w goodies @5:00 pm. Starbucks & WiFi, 2 blocks north, slightly uphill. The rush is on, wave of cruisers stepping off the GA now & heading out.

More pictures ... local time 4:30 pm, almost docked. Side thrusters fully on. Getting the S22+ a quick charge, using Pixel 7 Pro

Pictorials to San Juan ... pilot action up on the bridge's side control - console

Hola viejo amigo as in hello old friend, almost there - San Juan, PR. It's a very brief & shortened port stop to visit. 5G cellular signal 👍

Thanks, not in a hurry ... not a beach day for sure. Just going to do a little as Google Local Guide to pin this stop on my map history, haha. Sunset at 6:13 pm here ☹️ At 3:55 pm - here's our pilot boat, port side & fast coming around back to starboard side ... We are definitely late, late.

Hi, @JIMESOPUS can we have Starlink, could use a little extra help at sea. Enjoy the BA, our first mega NCL ship in 2014. Regards

Local time @ 3:30 pm, 13 nm to port, ship speed reduced to below 13 knots, no pilot boat ahead for escort. Air temperature 85 deg & water temp 82 deg, waves 4.9 ft or 1.5 m. Nearly not possible to dock on time at 4 pm even as ship speed up to 18 knots again. Can't possibly see first wave of pax on solid land until 4:45 to 5 pm if their tours are waiting to go. Stay tuned for our DIY waterfront walking tour later. S22+ at 10x zoom and 20x zoom, lastly Pixel 7 Pro at 25x digital zoom.

Still not quite sighting land in the distance @ 2:45 pm Outside views from of the - photos of the ocean ...

Our lunch, simple & light, but the dessert ... just wish speed was a little faster and our server apologized

@Mlake09 will do & update later. Dine w Officers is now tomorrow evening, perhaps not to disturb invitee's limited time ashore after 4 pm arrival & all abroad time of 9 pm. Today's MDR lunch menu, it's different than the one used on Saturday. Thanks to another CC'er (Helen) - neighbors not too far from nearby Floral Park, NY on the island for asking, only 1 free bag of laundry per Platinum member for 12 days, cruise of 14 days do get 2 free bags. We'll plan & adjust accordingly. Walk thru the Gift Shop last night, empty shelves and very limited selections & choices, hardly any keychains or magnets, etc. Not even suntan lotions. Taste MDR at 1:30 pm, still full ... service is good, pace or speed is normal, that's nice but slow as usual - 20 minutes in between appetizer/starter and entrees. Since we aren't docking for another 2 hours, patience is ... But, still a bit difficult to explain. My Cobb salad was caught in traffic, sat at the station for a while, forgotten.

Casino corner serving a very simple continental breakfast this morning at 10:15 am. Plates provided for DIY & no signage against takeout ...

Breakfast this morning at Taste, round table next to us that seat 6 were shared by 3 different pairs. Happy with my salmon bagel & hash brown potatoes. Starting to hear coughing & echo from different corners.

Good late morning, Day 4 - about 100 nm from port, expect to be met by pilot boat at 3 pm to help escort & navigate and docking at 4 pm. All abroad is 9 pm on FSD for 9:30 sailing, letter delivered stated otherwise ... whatever.

Almost midnight, 300 nm to San Juan, waves at 4.9 ft. instead of 8 to 9 ft. earlier, ship doing 19.6 knots and expecting on time arrival, perhaps about 3 pm - faster 4G cellular signal from land towers ... will be nice 👍 BTW, received invite to Dine w Officers tomorrow evening in the MDR - will RSVP to Mario's secretary in morning. Should be an interesting one, I think ... Almost forgot about the balcony's night light.

Speedtest results with Pixel 7 Pro, faster one using 5 Ghz WiFi, slower results on 2.4 Ghz ... still cannot get Galaxy S22+ to match anywhere near these results ... YMMV

More screenshots for tech geeks, other can skip ahead ... self explanatory

I would consider it noticeable and we had an AFT balcony last year on Deck 10 or 11. We've been running nonstop out of NY at 20 knots. Tonight, waves at 8.2 ft with a tail wind, anyone not accustomed to ship's natural rocking & rolling will feel it. We sleep better with motion unless it's a combo of strong gale, diagonal crosswind, very rough sea state, 25 to 30+ waves and large swell. As answered above, shorts are fine in most SD and MDR for dinner, unless specify otherwise. Causal Dockers or similar long pants are more than adequate everywhere plus a collared / polo shirt. Navy blazer, leave it home. You are sailing to tropical climate in the Caribbean and/or Bahamas or Bermuda - I have 3 colorful Hawaiian shirts and the they fit right in ... years ago, they joked that am I off-duty. Your memory was (is) correct until 2022. It is 2023 and the new, changed NCL. I dragged 3 eyewitnesses to help verify and document the change tonight with photos, and it is closed & shut down nightly at 9:30 pm and will open in the next morning again. (fleet-wide) Starting about 9:15 or 9:20 pm, crew behind the food stations started winding things down and by 9:25 pm, steamed tables were shutting down for cleaning. It is not a popular change. Sadly, other lines are doing similar things as well. Rough times ahead for the cruise industry while prices go up ... someone has to pay for those delayed new builds, the Viva & Prima, etc. Better to be prepared than to be surprised. Boeing 707 had 34" legroom in coach back in the 70's - now, lucky to not pay extra for 32" legroom on a B737 Max. Happy to report that hash brown potatoes are back and available onboard ... 😹