timmo44

Absolutely a Sealed off casino

 

The best idea ever

The poor staff would need space suits though.

No smoking in communal areas - let them have their own sealed casino (preferably on a tug boat towed half a mile behind the ship)

An O'Sheehans sized bar that also backed onto the waterfront instead of those mini ones dotted about. (Can't believe some people don't rate the Waterfront. For me it was the best thing about these new ships and you can even get some walking done on sea days by doing laps but stopping for refreshments whenever you like.)

All menus and bar lists for ALL drinks listed online

A pool big enough to actually swim in

Adequate staffing in O'Sheehans area - like they used to have.

Serving the 'bubbly' at the drinks receptions actually cold

Bring it to the Med - Caribbean has been done to death

I wish they would turn the clock back a few years to when they adequately staffed the ships. The first two cruises I did on the Epic you would wait no more than a minute in O'Sheehans etc before someone came up to take your order. Now, on Breakaway and Getaway you can wait 10, 15 minutes to get served. Same at the bar.

This is almost certainly not helped by the all inclusive drinks packages given away to virtually everyone now so there is no longer an incentive to serve you at all. The reality is that less drinks served saves them money. Their cost cutting is very obvious.

6 days until we are on the Getaway next Monday with the monster deck 9 Haven aft balcony. Looking forward to some warm weather and being only 1 set of stairs to the nearest bar.

Be warned, once you've Havened, there's no going back...

NCL should arrange and chaperone it one day so they can start it in the Haven bar and Posh accompanied for 20 mins or so. They might entice a few to book Haven next time once they see the extravagance on offer in there!

WARNING.....once you go Haven it's really hard to do anything else! ;) :D

Absolutely spot on. Being treated like VIPs from the moment you hand over your luggage is highly addictive.

We enquired on the Epic a while back and they also said non Haven guests can dine for a $25 per person fee with Haven guests in the Haven restaurant.

The fastest way to Hamilton and St George's is by Ferry. They are 100 yards from the ship and leave regularly.

For the scenic route to beaches etc you can take one of the many buses that pick up from Maritime Lane just off the ship, behind the Frog and Onion pub. On the way back you just hail one down at the bus stop.

Is there a special line for Haven at Check-In? Yes as previously mentioned. Tell the staff you are Haven when you go in and you'll go straight to a special area away from the lines.

Is both the Spa and Vibe included in the Haven suite? No but Haven has it's own sun deck up at the top. If you a Haven Spa Suite then that includes Spa access

As a Haven suite, can we request special seating for Illusionarium (table for two)? I purchased the higher priced option The concierge arranges for you meet in the Haven at a certain time and you go down in a service lift and into a side entrance to Illusionarium before they let the queues in. So you can choose whichever table you wish

Is it difficult to get lounge chairs in Haven suite? We've never had a problem. Round the hot tubs can get busyish but the balcony above and the outside sun deck had plenty of space.

Is the Haven dining room open for lunch during embarkation or do we go to regular dining room Yes. Once they've given you the intro talk in the Haven Lounge they invite you to go into the restaurant for lunch any time after 12.30.

Check out this guy's review. He answers most if not all of your questions: http://www.jimzim.net/NorwegianGetaway.html

Great review. You can't have too many photos IMO. The NCL cards are always printed while you are at the checkin desk because they take your photo to go on them. We had missing UBP and UDP stickers on ours last time but the concierge fixed that as soon as we got into the Haven lounge. Minor hiccups never bother us, life is too short etc...

We got a loser table mate as well - guy was drinking heavily and constantly asking his wife to order him more and more booze. When she told him no, he stormed out mid show endangering the cast who were making quick entrances and exits from various places in the theater. Honestly, I was glad they were gone. The servers were confused, though as they didn't have anyone to present their bar bill to at the end. I suppose the servers were able to figure out who those people were from their reservation. I saw them later around the ship and it seemed that the man was constantly asking the wife to order more booze for him. Very miserable way to spend your vacation babysitting a drunk husband constantly wanting more and more alcohol.

This is exactly the issue. You can get away with it when you are in a group of 4+ for example, but as a couple it's a little too personal when it goes bad or you get the problem individual sharing your personal space.

My wife and I had a table for two right next to the stage.

It was next to the ramp that goes up to the stage on the right side.

Aha, so table for two but almost part of the show... Which is the lesser risk? I know my wife would be right up for sitting next to stage but me not so much!

I have searched and searched for this so forgive me if it has been answered before. We are travelling as a couple and I was wondering if there are any tables for two for Illusionarium so we don't end up thrown in with people arguing/drunk/loud as has happened before (on the Epic sat next a couple who were mid row - and in a booth!)

We are very much sit at the back out of the way people and on the Breakaway we've always headed for one of the restricted space booths with space only for 3. I have studied the Google images of the show space and can't really tell.

Any info appreciated.

The Waterfront

Howl at the Moon is our favourite thing on the Epic and Breakaway. We've had such a laugh in there and stayed up way later than we intended after popping in on the way to bed. It's like being round a friend's with a couple of great musicians who know 100s of tunes and having a great big singalong while people bring you drinks.

If you are lucky enough to get Drew De Four, he's really really good and a real showman. I would definitely think twice about Escape if they'd not had it. But it looks like they have so panic over!

We've done that cruise as a couple a few times. It's very good especially now it goes to Cannes rather than Marseilles.

You only get charged gratuity on things you have to pay for. So with the drink package, you will hand over your cards and get a receipt but it will be for $0 with no gratuity. For all the complimentary dining the same but not even a card required for these so no receipt even. That also includes food in the atrium bar where there are cakes and sandwiches/salads.

If you don't buy any excursions or speciality dining/ice bar/room service/cirque etc then you could get away with spending nothing. The most we ever spent money on was drinks back in the days before UBP.

Talking of UBP, you should be able to get all of your drinks on that. All pints of beer and virtually all wine by the glass. We drink lots and lots of glasses of Prosecco on the UBP and it's within budget. Same with wine with meals. - by the glass and it's included (apart from one or two of the more expensive ones where even then you'd only be paying the difference over $11.) Cocktails too, I did not notice one over the limit though there probably are some and we tried loads. It's the great thing about the UBP, because you aren't paying for individual drinks, you try ones you normally wouldn't risk for fear of wasting your money.

What you can't get is wine by the bottle, buckets of beer (5 odd bottles in an ice bucket), wine out of the vending machines and cappuccinos/lattes etc from the coffee bars or restaurants. There are a few very high end spirits that are dearer than $11 eg Johnny Walker Blue Label whisky which would probably be £30 a glass here in London. They sell these high high end spirits on board but the prices are not published so you'd have to ask. But premium brands are all within the price range.

For the ports, you can walk into town at both Palma (walk off the ship) and Cannes where the tender (lifeboat shuttle from the ship) drop off is in the town itself. Probably Naples too though I have never done it there. Rome and Pisa/Florence are a good coach ride away.

The destinations are great. For Naples we always go to Pompeii - it's a truly amazing place. And for Cannes we got the coach into Monaco which is the cleanest most landscaped crime free place on earth I reckon.

EDIT: And the food is excellent in all of the complimentary places. Best breakfast was in Taste where if you get a window seat you can so you can eat in view of that morning's port.

The faster the ship is going, the more it rolls. So when we sailed on the Breakaway from NYC to Bermuda over 2.5 days there was no problem. On the way back where it does the same distance in 1.5 days, the motion on the ship was noticeably worse though the sea conditions were calm.

Incorrect.

 

NCL's Guest Ticket Contract clearly states:

 

"The Guest agrees that, except as expressly provided herein, this Contract constitutes the entire agreement between the Guest and Carrier, and shall supersede and exclude any prior representations that may have been made in relation to the cruise to the Guest or anyone representing him/her by anyone, including but not limited to anything stated in the Carrier's brochures, advertisements, and other promotional materials, by Norwegian Cruise Line or NCL America employees or by third persons such as travel agents."

 

There is absolutely no such guarantee that the ship would wait after cruise line sponsored excursion, not in Guest Ticket Contract nor in Shore Excursion T&C.

 

They will do their best but it is not guaranteed. In most ports it is no problem to wait even for hours, but in some ports the extra port fees and extra fuel burned to get to the next port in time adds up really fast. It's all about economics, not customer satisfaction.

What does this have specifically to with excursions? It's a random disclaimer covering everything and anything. If you want to go down to that level of detail you could apply it to everything and anything related to any part of the cruise. They are advertising live on their websites and on the ship (where I heard it first) that the ship will only wait for official NCL excursion guests if they are late returning.

But yes, if Vesuvius was to erupt whilst the ship was docked in Naples I suspect NCL might invoke that clause in the full T&Cs but otherwise I'd say as far as can be guaranteed the fact that they use 'we will wait' as a selling point over external companies, they WILL wait.

If it's an NCL booked excursion the ship will wait. Here it is written in plain English.

'All our operators are safe, reliable, licenced and insured and will pick you up and drop you off right at the pier. In the event of unexpected itinerary changes, there's no need to worry as we will suggest alternative excursions. And, what's more, the ship won't leave port until all shore excursion guests are back on board.'

http://www.ncl.co.uk/excursions/

Breakaway usually does the Bahamas 7 day route you mention and is doing a 19 nighter from 27th Dec 15 to 15th Feb 16 which includes the 7 day round trip you mention from 27th Dec to 3rd Jan. Then from 3rd Jan it is

New York, USA;

San Juan, Puerto Rico;

St. Thomas, American Virgin Islands;

Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands;

Philipsburg, St. Maarten;

Roseau, Dominica;

Bridgetown, Barbados;

Fort de France, Martinique;

St. John`s, Antigua

New York, USA

After 15th Jan 16 Breakaway has no itineraries again until 15th Feb 16. Perhaps it is in for repairs or has been chartered perhaps?

When you are sitting at the bar on the Waterfront in the sunshine watching the ocean roll by - decide then!

And as a bit of an amateur fireworks expert in my time, the ship ones weren't anything to write home about really. A novelty on a ship yes, but basic stuff.

The UBP certainly saved us most cash when we paid full price for it a while back. Worth every penny. What I liked most about it was that we could and did try drinks that we would not have if we were paying for each one. Quite good fun trying cocktails rather than just ordering beers to be safe.

The UBP is also good value but some nights we are happy to go with the buffet or O'Sheehans (and now that the Cirque/Imaginarium dinner show is no longer ever free) so wouldn't get our moneys worth compared to the beverage package.

We read somewhere (might have been on the invite to the Captains drinks reception) that you are asked not to shake hands. This makes perfect sense to stop the spread of germs unnecessarily and that the Captain and officers would be shaking hands all night. Not a problem.

I would shake hands if offered though from a steward etc., especially when you are standing 10ft from your bathroom in your stateroom and can wash them straight afterwards if you wish.

It stated very clearly in the terms (that I assume you read before booking) that you would be responsible for those fees. Despite that, you decided to book anyway. I can understand your anger and disappointment in yourself.

Condescending post of the day award. You must be very proud.

At Palma you can walk off the ship and you are in the middle of the town.

At Marseille you are miles from anywhere in an industrial zone. We were there once and due to a huge road accident on the main route no taxis or coaches could get into town. So we walked out of the port and into the local residential area. Never again. Rough is the best word to describe it. Litter and graffiti everywhere.