3 meal specialty dining package or free wi fi perk on Getaway?

The current deal being offered on the Getaway (and other ships I believe) include a choice of three free specialty restaurants (savings of up to $84 per person) or an Internet Package Time Plan of 250 minutes to use throughout the ship (savings of $125). (I already chose the beverage package as my other one) (we get two since it's a 7 day cruise).

As between the internet package or the specialty restaurants, which would you choose? DH and I like to be able to be connected to check our emails and Facebook, check the news (ugh why would we do this to ourselves) but in my experience, wi-fi on cruise ships has proven unreliable in the past (not NCL, but on RCI and Oceania).

We do like to try the specialty restaurants and probably will do so regardless of the package deal, so should we take the three "free" specialty restaurant deal and pay for the wi-fi or take the wi fi and pay for the restaurants?

Your thoughts and experiences, please. First time NCL traveler.

Choice #3: Take the SDP and unplug for the week. If you are an absolute innerwebz addicted zombie, find some free or cheap connections in ports.

I would take the dining. We used free wifi at ports to check in on Facebook, emails etc. Especially if you aren't worried about a family member at home or something like that, I would take the dining.

We are in the same predicament. However, being a realtor, I need to be in touch with my clients, who usually don't expect us to have a private life. We took the drink package and wifi as of now.

Choice #3: Take the SDP and unplug for the week. If you are an absolute innerwebz addicted zombie, find some free or cheap connections in ports.

Seconded! Unplugging was one of the best parts of my last cruise. I get that you think you need it. I am a professional web developer. I spend 90% of my waking hours online usually. But a week without the internet was one of the best things I could have done for myself! Meanwhile I got to enjoy three delicious meals in the Specialty Dining venues! Definitely made the right choice!

Unless you absolutely need the internet for work, go with the dining. If I had to do work I would have to upgrade to premium anyways since that is the only one with VPN. I'll just have to cross my fingers on sea days. Can do everything I need in port.

Agreed with above, I would take the specialty dining, and try to unplug from the internet, maybe find some free wifi in ports.

If you are hell bent on staying up to date with news and emails, however, I would take the wifi and pay out of pocket for the specialty dining, since it makes the most sense dollars-wise.

take the specialty dining as NCL has some good restaurants like Cagneys and La Cucina.

You can basically get over 110 dollars worth of food for just under 20 dollars for tips add on. Hey do Cagneys only and you will benefit more. Great menu.

You are on vacation so unplug. If you need to know something just ask around when you see folks who are on their computers.

Go with the SDP! :) In July it will be our first cruise having it and I have already made our reservations. Very excited to try Cagneys, Modernos, and Cagneys again, lol. On our last cruise, I simply paid by the minute for the internet and honestly it wasn't bad. I just checked emails quickly and of course, made the pop in to Facebook. Have so much fun on your cruise!

Agreed with above, I would take the specialty dining, and try to unplug from the internet, maybe find some free wifi in ports.

 

If you are hell bent on staying up to date with news and emails, however, I would take the wifi and pay out of pocket for the specialty dining, since it makes the most sense dollars-wise.

I guess that's what I was wondering, which makes most sense dollar-wise. We would probably do 3-4 specialty restaurants regardless of whether we take the package or not. No kids at home, no jobs to have to work at while we're away but we do enjoy staying plugged in so we probably pay for the wi-fi if we didn't take the package. So from a $$ perspective, the wi-fi is a better savings even if we would eat at 3-4 specialty restaurants?

I guess that's what I was wondering, which makes most sense dollar-wise. We would probably do 3-4 specialty restaurants regardless of whether we take the package or not. No kids at home, no jobs to have to work at while we're away but we do enjoy staying plugged in so we probably pay for the wi-fi if we didn't take the package. So from a $$ perspective, the wi-fi is a better savings even if we would eat at 3-4 specialty restaurants?

If you really wanted to select the wifi promotion, then feel free to do so.

If you selected the dining promotion, you would have to pay 20% gratuity on top of it.

Most of the specialty restaurants are at a la carte price. You chose what you want and pay for that portion.

However, when comparing between 2 promotions - the dining package worth more.

For me, I would not choose the wifi because when once docked at a port - can use free wifi and it is time to unplug and to enjoy the cruise.

For now take the SDP. Then watch the offerings as they change every week or two and you can rebook strategically. If you have family that you want to be secure with/must be secure with then by all means consider the internet package; note that the time on line must be used very carefully as it might not be enough, you might want/need an upgrade.

Specialty dining is very nice. If internet for family security is paramount then it might be a better option to forego a dining experience and pay for it for a nice out of dining room experience.

If you want wi-fi for fun and playtime without any compelling family or work need, then review the options that are offered, all offernings do not get you the freedom of navigating as you do at home, there are limitations to what you can or can't do or access.

We are in the same predicament. However, being a realtor, I need to be in touch with my clients, who usually don't expect us to have a private life. We took the drink package and wifi as of now.

I was able to expense my wifi..If you can't expense couldn't you at least deduct the wifi cost?

I'd go for the dining package.

We found the wifi on the ship was awful anyway, so go for the dining! If you want to see full review, plus pictures of most menus, I put them all on this post: https://gotravellife.com/2018/01/03/about-us/

Hopefully that is helpful for you. Enjoy.

Choice #3: Take the SDP and unplug for the week. If you are an absolute innerwebz addicted zombie, find some free or cheap connections in ports.

This, exactly this...

The current deal being offered on the Getaway (and other ships I believe) include a choice of three free specialty restaurants (savings of up to $84 per person) or an Internet Package Time Plan of 250 minutes to use throughout the ship (savings of $125). (I already chose the beverage package as my other one) (we get two since it's a 7 day cruise).

As between the internet package or the specialty restaurants, which would you choose? DH and I like to be able to be connected to check our emails and Facebook, check the news (ugh why would we do this to ourselves) but in my experience, wi-fi on cruise ships has proven unreliable in the past (not NCL, but on RCI and Oceania).

We do like to try the specialty restaurants and probably will do so regardless of the package deal, so should we take the three "free" specialty restaurant deal and pay for the wi-fi or take the wi fi and pay for the restaurants?

Your thoughts and experiences, please. First time NCL traveler.

without kids or job specific needs, i would take the sdp.

as others have said, you get free wifi at the ports.

but if you do get the wifi package, upgrade to unlimited.

(dont remember what the fee is to go from 250min to unlimited)

OK I think where I was confused was the "up to $84" price on the specialty dining package. I did some more research and it appears that the specialty dining package will cover most restaurants, three per cruise, for two of us that is a savings of $168, whereas the wi-fi package is $125 for 250 minutes total, and from what I'm hearing, the wi-fi isn't that great, and there are options to plug in while on shore. Also, I think there may be a data package I can look into from AT&T I think we used that on our last cruise. But, if we want to add on the internet package, we could add it on for $125 which is still less than two specialty dining packages. The frustrating part is that with either the unlimited or the 250 minute package, it's only one device at a time. I probably would want to go for the unlimited package anyway, which is outside the "free" offer, so I guess we'll switch to the specialty dining package.

New question--do you pick which restaurants ahead of time?

OK I think where I was confused was the "up to $84" price on the specialty dining package. I did some more research and it appears that the specialty dining package will cover most restaurants, three per cruise, for two of us that is a savings of $168, whereas the wi-fi package is $125 for 250 minutes total, and from what I'm hearing, the wi-fi isn't that great, and there are options to plug in while on shore. Also, I think there may be a data package I can look into from AT&T I think we used that on our last cruise. But, if we want to add on the internet package, we could add it on for $125 which is still less than two specialty dining packages. The frustrating part is that with either the unlimited or the 250 minute package, it's only one device at a time. I probably would want to go for the unlimited package anyway, which is outside the "free" offer, so I guess we'll switch to the specialty dining package.

 

New question--do you pick which restaurants ahead of time?

sdp is not $84 for 3 meals. it's $69.

4 meals is $84 but u only get that promo on 10+ day cruises.

so 69 x 2 = $138

The current deal being offered on the Getaway (and other ships I believe) include a choice of three free specialty restaurants (savings of up to $84 per person) or an Internet Package Time Plan of 250 minutes to use throughout the ship (savings of $125). (I already chose the beverage package as my other one) (we get two since it's a 7 day cruise).

As between the internet package or the specialty restaurants, which would you choose? DH and I like to be able to be connected to check our emails and Facebook, check the news (ugh why would we do this to ourselves) but in my experience, wi-fi on cruise ships has proven unreliable in the past (not NCL, but on RCI and Oceania).

We do like to try the specialty restaurants and probably will do so regardless of the package deal, so should we take the three "free" specialty restaurant deal and pay for the wi-fi or take the wi fi and pay for the restaurants?

Your thoughts and experiences, please. First time NCL traveler.

I would go with the food package, and pay the appx $200 for unlimited Internet. THe speed and reliability on Getaway are good, and if you have an iPhone, you can use IMessage to make wi-fi calls. The 250 minutes, is really not that much Internet time, and compared to the unlimited package is over priced.

BTW I was on Getaway in March. I got over 3MB per second download speed and I did not have the best Internet package. That is plenty fast enough to do anything you want except stream multimedia.

sdp is not $84 for 3 meals. it's $69.

4 meals is $84 but u only get that promo on 10+ day cruises.

 

so 69 x 2 = $138

According to the website including gratuity it comes to $84 pp

According to the website including gratuity it comes to $84 pp

wha??

that makes no sense... you pay the tips!

wha??

 

 

 

that makes no sense... you pay the tips!

When I called to switch from the internet package to the dining package I questioned the price and was told it was $69 + gratuities thus $84.

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Also, remember on the Internet packages, you can use multiple devices, just one at a time. My wife and I usually split an unlimited package.

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When I called to switch from the internet package to the dining package I questioned the price and was told it was $69 + gratuities thus $84.

 

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but you said on Page 1 that you would save $168 for you and you wife for getting the 3day sdp.

that comes out to $84/person.

you dont save that much.

you save $69 x 2 = $138 because you are paying the tips

anyway, i would choose sdp over the internet package since you can usually get free wifi at the ports.