EllieinNJ

I just read on fb that the cruise terminal parking is going up to $45/day. That means my October 12 day cruise will cost $540. Cheaper to Uber from NJ.

I can't understand half the things she says. She drops her voice at the end of each sentence. I'll stick with Tony from La Lida Loca.

We are on the Carnival Pride with the same ports in June. Carnival has nothing listed yet for excursions. Hopefully Sandra's tours dot com will be coming out shortly. I did hear there were hop on hop off buses in Bergen, olden and Haugesund. I'm sure you can Google it.

Our group on FB knew about it unofficially on Tuesday when someone got an email from their private excursion saying it was cancelled because the ship was not stopping in Bermuda. Would I have cancelled? No. Disappointed? Yes. I did discover that I probably would not like a transatlantic or transpacific with five or more sea days. I have another cruise on another cruise line already booked for next February out of NY. Would I cancel because of this cruise? No way. If we miss ports I understand it happens that time of year.

Are you sure you are still going to Bermuda?

To sum up this trip, I was very disappointed in almost everything. The crowds, the lines, no quiet places to sit except outside on deck 8 which was limited by the weather, the entertainment except for Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor. Having the same two comedians four consecutive nights on a five night voyage is unacceptable. I'm not a fan of regge music but the regge band did a Motown review on the last night and they were fabulous. Only the female singer in Howl had a decent voice. The duo that played mostly at Sugarcane was nice but bland. Couldn't get into Syds but the show was based on Prom Night, not Rumors. Did not do any game shows, trivia, bingo or casino. We ate at Cagneys twice and once at La Cucina. Food was very good. the MDR food was awful. One shrimp dish we ordered had shrimp the size of your baby fingernail. Service was slow and the waitstaff seemed indifferent. Could not get into Shanghi Noodle Bar for either lunch or dinner. They told us seating was already cut off even before opening. Ate one breakfast and one lunch in buffet. The line for the omelet station went almost to the pool area. We just had the pizza for lunch. I don't think I want to sail NCL's large cruise ships again. After sailing two Breakaways, the Joy and now the Getaway, I will stick to the Jewel class ships. The Prima and Viva look beautiful but I'll wait awhile for their prices to come down.

We were on deck 10 aft and was able to get off on deck 7. The line started there at the aft elevators, went all the way through the casino and so forth. We thought it wound around the front elevators and had to go back to the aft elevators because there was a line there as well but it seems our line ended when we got to the theater and was let off the ship.

Yesterday we started talking with four 20 something women at an event. This was their first time cruising and didn't know what un refundable OBC was. They thought the $100 pp would go back on their cc . It was 3:30pm so I told them what it was and they better get to the shops or lose it.

Just came off today. Deck 7. If you are forward go to right and you will be at the box office to make your reservations for shows.

We ate in Savor this morning and Taste was open as well . I don't know about O'Sheehans for breakfast but some on our cruise said instead of being open 24/7 they were closed by 1am. Getting 4570 people off the ship at one time was a terrible experience. We walked off with our bags around 8:50am and they still were not calling colors. It took 45 minutes just to get out of the parking lot onto 12th Ave.

Some got off in Nassau but all shops were closed. No one went passed the terminal.

Same comedians on again tonight plus Burn the Floor and something in Syd's (no,t Rumors). Tomorrow BTF again and a Motown group. No Broadway Unplugged this cruise. Disappointed.

So the only entertainment at night has been the same two comedians (they were not funny) twice in the theatre and once in headliners. Thank God for Million Dollar Quartet that only played one night, two shows at 7 or 9 45pm. Burn the floor is the last two nights, one night at 7 and one night at 7 and 9 30pm. Syd's had something last night at 8pm but we were still at dinner. The food at Cagney's was great except the lobster bisque was cold and watery. Last night's dinner in the MDR was awful. Tonight is La Cucina. To use up some OBC we ordered lobster rolls in the American Diner. Just terrible. It was baby shrimp salad and one piece of lobster. The sea has been very calm. We were able to sit outside yesterday afternoon without a jacket. Many were in the pool and hot tubs. This is a very young crowd. Seems median ages 40 and under. No one seems upset we are missing Bermuda. Today is very warm and people like that better. They are letting us off the ship from 9 30 pm to 2 45am. We will just get off for about an hour.

I am on the Getaway now. There are 4570 people on board. A real zoo. The lines are impossible long for anything. During the M&G the officers are waiting to see if Nassau will let us disembark for a few hours and if the shops will stay open. We indeed are leaving at 3 45 am. We are having a tough time using up all the OBC since there are no excursions. We ordered the regular internet, had extra lobster in Cagney's, had some capacinos in Starbucks and still have plenty left. Will go to the shops later in the cruise.

I hope they made a mistake and it was 3 45pm otherwise we have a CTN.

So now we are hearing mixed reports about our cruise tomorrow. Someone on our roll call said her taxi tour in Bermuda is cancelled because the ship is not docking there due to bad weather. Someone from your cruise said the same as he heard it from a worker. Several of us called NCL and they assured us we are going to Bermuda. Can you check with someone with more knowledge and let me know what they say? Thanks Ellie.

We are also on a b2b in May/June 2023. Last September we started looking and comparing prices with flytofun and the airlines direct. It did give us prices for the entire three weeks. By the time we decided to book our United nonstop from Newark to Barcelona no longer appeared on ftf. We panicked and booked privately using more miles than I would have liked. Then last month United changed planes to a larger one but it was too late for us to change.

Henry. Thanks so much for the time and effort you have put into your daily updates. They have been so helpful to plan our Getaway cruise starting tomorrow. Our next cruise after that will be on a Carnival ship in May for a 21 day b2b in Europe. The only planning is being done by the fb group. It sure isn't as comprehensive as it is here in cruise critic.

I'm going on the NCL Getaway in two days. Our cruise critic roll call was almost non existent. But there was a large one on fb. They have arranged the meet and greet slot pull and bar crawl. We'll see how it goes.

Last year Carnival had it's 50th anniversary with a 50% off sale so I wound up booking five cruises (yeah, I know) one which I took in April and was pleasantly surprises how nice it was, two which are back to back in Europe this year and two which are side to side in California for 2024. Now when I was looking to extend my time in California by adding on a RT Hawaii cruise, Carnival was more money than Princess and Celebrity. Last year I got a balcony on Royal Caribbean and this year it's double the price for the same ship, date and itinerary. I couldn't find anything reasonable on NCL so in order to use up my two cruise next certificates I booked a short Bermuda trip. But I didn't realize I was four days short of the 6 months so could only use one. I might have to forfeit it if NCL's prices remain so high. I'm now going to try MSC. If I like it I might start using them more often because their prices are very reasonable compared to all of the mass market cruise lines.

I would like to use OBC to pay for internet. Does the price increase once you are on the ship?

You should always do a mock booking with the cruise line and that price should match what your TA charges your credit card. Unfortunately maybe the price increased by the time your TA sent them your payment.

Yep. Found it.

Henry, was there an upcharge for the beef tenderloin in La Cucina if you use either the platinum or FAS coupons? Someone said there was an upcharge for the filet mignons at Cagney's and/or Le Bistro.

Back to the cruise. How's the weather? How's the food? How's the entertainment? How's the ports?