Getaway "semi-live" limited NY-Florida (PC)-GSC-Nassau 3.27.2022

[NYFirstTimeCruiser]

On 4/1/2022 at 5:42 PM, mking8288 said:

Tech geeks only - WiFi, the sign-in screen, the meters, devices associated, etc.

 

 

Nice posts. Thank you!!!!!

 

QUESTION ON WIFI USAGE - we have 75mins for passengers 1 and 2 (total 150).

My son is the 3rd and not getting any minutes.  They don't monitor on who uses the wifi

right?  It looks like per device so technically, My son can use my wife's 75 minutes until

it runs out then use mine?

 

Thanks in advance.

[shof515]

4 minutes ago, NYFirstTimeCruiser said:

Nice posts. Thank you!!!!!

 

QUESTION ON WIFI USAGE - we have 75mins for passengers 1 and 2 (total 150).

My son is the 3rd and not getting any minutes.  They don't monitor on who uses the wifi

right?  It looks like per device so technically, My son can use my wife's 75 minutes until

it runs out then use mine?

 

Thanks in advance.

wifi is not monitor, you can share the wifi account. only one device can be logged in at the same time

[mking8288]

These is a random collection of pictures about/on the Getaway - the atrium/Fwd lobby area, center mid-ship atrium and some of the other Specialty Restaurants, which we couldn't possibly visited and explore, let alone eaten there in 7 days ... an excuse to go back again, sooner instead of later, especially when she's coming back to NY for the winter.  Some of the crew members are due for the vacation, likely in June while they are still in Europe - a shorter flight to homes in S.E. Asia, at least one asst. manager said he is willing and likely will extend his current six months contract to earn a little extra money - good chance that we'll see them again, if they aren't going to a different ship in the fleet.  

 

My impression and feeling in talking with them is that, they like and appreciated the opportunities given to them by NCL (being the employer) personally as an employee and are happy to be back - and, as NCLH shareholders - we like that.  Feel free to disagree and believe differently, a matter of personal opinion, "my" thoughts only of course ... no need to discuss or debate.  

 

Perhaps it's part of the Covid preventive measures, there're no vacation hero cards and/or comment cards anywhere, or feedback forms or letters to the G.M. at Guest Services.  Our final itemized statement/billing invoice of all charges posted and credits issued were emailed to the email on file by 5 am this morning, which we've previewed last night using the interactive TV menu option - everything seemed correct and as expected, no surprises and no errors to be found.  It's nice as it can filed online & digitally stored, recalled 5 or 10 years from now to compare the changes, etc. 

 

With just 1,700 passengers onboard the Getaway for our week at sea, isn't it quiet - almost felt like a ghost town.  Kind of sad, except yesterday being the last/final day at sea - everyone was out & about (the transition back into the colder climate, apparently cut down the few chair hogs on the pool deck & send others back indoor) - the Waterfront on Deck 8 was empty & unused for most of the week.  

 

 

[mking8288]

The Garden Cafe is perhaps the most popular place onboard for others, not us and we only visited it once for a quick lunch ... wasn't impressed either, in our opinion.  The pizza improved & DW commented that it's pretty good with the thin crust - wow, okay & noted.  Plenty of available "prime" seating & tables next to the windows, crew moving around to remove dishes & clean.  Nightly from 9:30 to 11:30 pm - late night food/snacks are served there ... afterward, go to O'Sheehan's and/or use Room Service (with a delivery fee.)  

 

 

[mking8288]

O'Sheehan's (The Locals on other select ships) mostly didn't change, the selections are better, IMHO, than what's offered & available daily in the MDR (Savor) for lunch (and, also for dinner) - to me, it is as if, replacing the buffet to be our hangout for comfort food (when you aren't in Haven and/or getting small treats delivered to your stateroom, etc.)  No lines at Starbucks whenever we passed thru the area, maybe it's busy in the morning.  

 

Food pictures from OSH ... portion size clearly now are rather "petite" but, it's fine for us ... It's complimentary comfort food and hit that tummy spot just right, more appealing & colorful.  our numbers at the bath scale gone up when we got home this morning, diet & exercise now in order 😉

 

There're no theme dinner special at OSH this week nor in the Garden Cafe (buffet) that I can recall - if they did, missed nothing - no prime ribs that we can remember.  

 

 

[mking8288]

The other free option for the evening is Shanghai Noodles, next to or behind the casino, by the no-smoking section (but, it's still smell of cigarette smoke) - there are good reasons to keep a K/N95 or KF94 mask around - filtration works.  We like sitting at the counter and watch the junior chef prepare items cook-to-order at the Open Kitchen ... as close as we can get to "Behind The Scene" tour for the gallery portion below deck.  

 

Food pictures - Char Siu (roast pork) Noodles Soup is our favorite here, along with the crispy Fried Dumplings, and the Panda (fruits) Salad.  

 

P.S.  Open hours reduced, closing at 9:30 pm nightly instead - on the Breakway, it used to close at 10:30 pm - perhaps, maybe ... 

 

 

Sorry, apology if you get hungry after watching and scrolling thru the last 30+ pictures with food.  

Edited April 4, 2022 by mking8288

[Sim1979]

I was on that cruise, and man what a great time we had... after such a long wait (like almost 3 years).

 

Food was awesome (we went mostly to main dining room, we didn't had any specialty)... the salmon on the first night was one of the best i ever had.  Service was perfect (as always), crew were always nice and friendly (no-one seem tired).

 

Shows were great (even though there was only 2 main show)... but the show i think i preferred was Broadway Acoustic in the Illuminarium room (complimentary)... it's a shame the room was like half full.

 

As icing on the cake, i also won big at "Deal or no Deal" on the last sea day... such a great way to end an already perfect week.

[mking8288]

@Sim1979 - Agreed, I had the salmon too and surprised that Red Snapper was served in the MDR, along with Mahi Mahi on different nights - don't recall seeing Prime Rib, maybe we're in Cagney's or Moderno.  The crew was just super, super - did you see the new show by the magician ?  We will hopefully catch the Broadway Acoustic next time on the GA.

 

Here are the other lunch items served in the MDR - which got very busy on Day 6 and 7, the last two days at sea ... everyone figured it was now or next time.

 

This week, DW and I need to go back to dieting and exercises ... because, those desserts, sweets & extra treats resulted in extra pounds. 

 

 

 

[Sim1979]

14 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

The crew was just super, super - did you see the new show by the magician ?  We will hopefully catch the Broadway Acoustic next time on the GA.

 

No i didn't saw the "new show"... i think there was two seperate show, but i was kinda turned off by the first one (magician was very nervous and i knew most of the tricks so it kinda ruins it... and i also ruined girlfriend's experience as well by telling her the trick 😉 ).   Sad if the second show was better  😞

[nikylnn1]

17 hours ago, mking8288 said:

These is a random collection of pictures about/on the Getaway - the atrium/Fwd lobby area, center mid-ship atrium and some of the other Specialty Restaurants, which we couldn't possibly visited and explore, let alone eaten there in 7 days ... an excuse to go back again, sooner instead of later, especially when she's coming back to NY for the winter.  Some of the crew members are due for the vacation, likely in June while they are still in Europe - a shorter flight to homes in S.E. Asia, at least one asst. manager said he is willing and likely will extend his current six months contract to earn a little extra money - good chance that we'll see them again, if they aren't going to a different ship in the fleet.  

 

My impression and feeling in talking with them is that, they like and appreciated the opportunities given to them by NCL (being the employer) personally as an employee and are happy to be back - and, as NCLH shareholders - we like that.  Feel free to disagree and believe differently, a matter of personal opinion, "my" thoughts only of course ... no need to discuss or debate.  

 

Perhaps it's part of the Covid preventive measures, there're no vacation hero cards and/or comment cards anywhere, or feedback forms or letters to the G.M. at Guest Services.  Our final itemized statement/billing invoice of all charges posted and credits issued were emailed to the email on file by 5 am this morning, which we've previewed last night using the interactive TV menu option - everything seemed correct and as expected, no surprises and no errors to be found.  It's nice as it can filed online & digitally stored, recalled 5 or 10 years from now to compare the changes, etc. 

 

With just 1,700 passengers onboard the Getaway for our week at sea, isn't it quiet - almost felt like a ghost town.  Kind of sad, except yesterday being the last/final day at sea - everyone was out & about (the transition back into the colder climate, apparently cut down the few chair hogs on the pool deck & send others back indoor) - the Waterfront on Deck 8 was empty & unused for most of the week.  

 

 

 

You mention just 1700 pax on board this week with you.  Is NCL still sailing at only partial capacity for COVID reasons, or are they back to filling according to demand?  

We sail the Getaway this summer, and wondering what to expect.  Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[steveknj]

18 hours ago, mking8288 said:

The other free option for the evening is Shanghai Noodles, next to or behind the casino, by the no-smoking section (but, it's still smell of cigarette smoke) - there are good reasons to keep a K/N95 or KF94 mask around - filtration works.  We like sitting at the counter and watch the junior chef prepare items cook-to-order at the Open Kitchen ... as close as we can get to "Behind The Scene" tour for the gallery portion below deck.  

 

Food pictures - Char Siu (roast pork) Noodles Soup is our favorite here, along with the crispy Fried Dumplings, and the Panda (fruits) Salad.  

 

P.S.  Open hours reduced, closing at 9:30 pm nightly instead - on the Breakway, it used to close at 10:30 pm - perhaps, maybe ... 

 

 

Sorry, apology if you get hungry after watching and scrolling thru the last 30+ pictures with food.  

 

This is one restaurant that I'd wish they had open for lunch.  On one of the Carnival ships we'd been on they have a similar restaurant that's open for lunch (they can either do Italian style pasta or Asian style noodles).   For dinner I'd rather sit in the dining room or a specialty restaurant.  But this would have been a perfect lunch stop.

[YVRteacher]

What is that gorgeous treat in the last photo?  Looks amazing!

[steveknj]

I'm surprised there was no mention of our favorite entertainment on our cruise earlier in March, and that was Syd Norman's Pourhouse.   We went there a few nights and the band was fantastic.  if you are at all interested in classic rock music, this is for you.   The band one night just did the Fleetwood Mac album Rumours in it's entirety.  If you do a cruise on the Getaway, I highly recommend this.

[mking8288]

55 minutes ago, nikylnn1 said:

< snipped >  Is NCL still sailing at only partial capacity for COVID reasons, or are they back to filling according to demand?  We sail the Getaway this summer, and wondering what to expect.  

It didn't seen like we even had 1,700 pax onboard, Deck 11 (mid/aft) balconies next to us were vacant and not occupied ... the "true" numbers are posted below pax deck on the I-95 corridor but since we couldn't do the BTS tour, couldn't semi-independently confirm or verify that while on the escorted walk-thru as the gallery team plan the meal services accordingly with those numbers.  This week - 2,700 onboard (waiting to see if Beer Belly and/or someone else can reaffirm the crowd size ... last minute bookings have been up & with Spring/school break - 3,000 for this Sunday and revised upward to 4,000 for 4/17 - Easter week.)   I stand correctly but believed that NCL is aiming for 70% to 75% capacity, up to 100% by Spring - especially now that US-CDC already lowered cruise ship to Level 2 on the warning/advisory.  

 

With the geo-political issues in the Baltic & northern Europe, NCL (and the other cruise lines) is adjusting and redeploying ships in the fleet - near term, I remained doubtful about Asia cruises, including repo's (crews-only being the exception) - I "speculate" that marketing will to their best to meet demands and to fill the ships.  The crew's personal earnings have been impacted, as we all know.  That's strictly my crystal ball & un-proven forecast, flexibility is the key and just make sure your travel, trip & medical insurance coverage are updated to protect against last minute changes.  

 

It's pretty unusual for NCL to put in place the Double-Up CruiseNext promo for last minute balcony and up bookings this month, thru end of June - usually last no more than a month.  Alas, unusual times that we are living in.  

[mking8288]

@steveknj - we think alike and perhaps, someone high enough within the NCL hierarchy is reading this or getting the feedback, that considerations can be given - at least on the GA and BA with the integrated open kitchen design, just a matter of opening it and staffing it on sea days, maybe on those longer T/A but not with port-intensive itineraries.  

 

We walked by American Diner on Deck 16 Mid twice on sea days, it was basically empty with 2 or 3 tables - it's basically not much different than what's served in OSH, publc food ... such a wasted space.  As pictured earlier, my burger loaded with extras was made to order, juicy and included free, ditto for the jumbo hotdog (Nathan or not, fine by me).  This is putting on my/our "critic" hats and personal viewpoints. 

 

Syd Norman's Pourhouse entertainment - of course, (college days then) Fleetwood Mac ... had we stayed on for an additional week, GM's secretary and our favorite MDR waiter are spot on, "just do it."  Regrets - got to made it up and book soon again, before the band move on.  

 

@YVRteacher - Of course, that was cleverly design & artistically done, it is all chocolate - including the flower and hidden in the base, mostly dark chocolate (some with fillings). All of it tasty, perfectly compliment a hot cup of coffee or English tea - even that thin "slice" of pineapple is chocolate.  Perhaps, it came from the Bake Shop ... someone onboard next week, check out the place & see if they got it - darn it, another stop that we missed last week.  Compliments of the F&B Director, or was it the Restaurant Manager ... surely overwhelmed with the extras and unexpected surprises, including a complimentary visit to experience the Ice Bar, from Mario, the GM (thank you all). 

Disclosures: we do own NCLH stocks but otherwise, the review is not endorsing or written expressly to promote NCL's products and cruises.  

[steveknj]

17 hours ago, mking8288 said:

@steveknj - we think alike and perhaps, someone high enough within the NCL hierarchy is reading this or getting the feedback, that considerations can be given - at least on the GA and BA with the integrated open kitchen design, just a matter of opening it and staffing it on sea days, maybe on those longer T/A but not with port-intensive itineraries.  

 

We walked by American Diner on Deck 16 Mid twice on sea days, it was basically empty with 2 or 3 tables - it's basically not much different than what's served in OSH, publc food ... such a wasted space.  As pictured earlier, my burger loaded with extras was made to order, juicy and included free, ditto for the jumbo hotdog (Nathan or not, fine by me).  This is putting on my/our "critic" hats and personal viewpoints. 

 

Syd Norman's Pourhouse entertainment - of course, (college days then) Fleetwood Mac ... had we stayed on for an additional week, GM's secretary and our favorite MDR waiter are spot on, "just do it."  Regrets - got to made it up and book soon again, before the band move on.  

 

@YVRteacher - Of course, that was cleverly design & artistically done, it is all chocolate - including the flower and hidden in the base, mostly dark chocolate (some with fillings). All of it tasty, perfectly compliment a hot cup of coffee or English tea - even that thin "slice" of pineapple is chocolate.  Perhaps, it came from the Bake Shop ... someone onboard next week, check out the place & see if they got it - darn it, another stop that we missed last week.  Compliments of the F&B Director, or was it the Restaurant Manager ... surely overwhelmed with the extras and unexpected surprises, including a complimentary visit to experience the Ice Bar, from Mario, the GM (thank you all). 

Disclosures: we do own NCLH stocks but otherwise, the review is not endorsing or written expressly to promote NCL's products and cruises.  

I have a hard time understanding why The American Diner is even needed.  The food is standard American food and it's not free.  I can get the same thing on land.  Not to mention a lot of that kind of food is available on the buffet. I kind of "got it" when it was Jimmy Buffett's place, because that's a little different and not every location had one of those.  I don't think I saw one person at the American Diner the whole time we cruised on the Getaway.   We would hit the jogging track every day at different times and that passed right by it.  Nobody there.  I think NCL needs to rethink that approach.  Maybe do something like what Carnival does where they have Guy's (Fieri) Burgers and a Mexican food  place that's open for lunch and no extra charge.  It's one of the things I liked about Carnival the couple of times we've done them.

 

As for the noodle bar, same thing, I think it's a perfect lunch spot, not sure about dinner and it's close to the smokey casino which isn't ideal.

[Cruising Lynne]

Thank you so much for this thorough review. My husband and I were also on board. Our first time back in three years. We kept saying to each other that we were getting spoiled with the reduced capacity. No long waits for anything, and mostly empty elevators.

 

We were also at GSC in a clam shell. At GSC we enjoyed the tacos as soon as they opened, and after noon time went to the island buffet. What perfect beach days we had at Cocoa Beach, GSC, and Blue Lagoon Island! 

 

The 9pm Burn the Floor show was so good! We have seen it a few times, and this was one of the best we have seen. We went to the 7 pm Million Dollar Quartet show. It was a very good performance. It is a little long, but we make sure to stay until the very end. It seems like it is over, but they come back for a big finale.

 

I spent a little time walking on the waterfront on the sea days and while in Port Canaveral. In the evening on Port Canaveral day, we enjoyed a cocktail from the Sustainable Bar, which is actually the outside part of the Sugarcane Mojito Bar. Depending on the time of day, I saw quite a few people out on the waterfront. 

 

For our Platinum dinners we ate at Le Bistro and La Cucina. This was one of the best La Cucina experiences we ever had. I really enjoyed the burrata caprese, gnocchi with pesto, and the osso bucco at La Cucina. 

 

We had dinner in the Tropicana Room MDR a few times. The food was good, and we enjoyed the live music while we ate. I just wished the dinners came with more vegetables. I made sure to get my veggies in at lunch time in the buffet. 

 

 Just in case anyone is wondering, the pools and waterslides had heated water. One day we watched people on the drop waterslides. We heard the people scream when they went down, but they were smiling when they got out.

 

It was a great week, and we will have to go back again soon to experience what we we did not have time to do the first time. I hope it is okay to add to your thread, mking8288. Thanks for posting so many photos to remember our trip by.

[OrangeCatRamblers]

Great photos!

 

Does anyone know if you can order a veggie burger at OSheehans? 

[YVRteacher]

Yes you can.  

[mking8288]

@Cruising Lynne - yes, by all means, welcome & no problem whatsoever adding to this at all.  It added depth and perspectives to what we missed and could possibly cover in 7 days, so much to explore, do, see, taste, eat and sample.  We've completely spoiled last week. We love to share and can look back to re-live our cruise again, precious memories preserved.  

 

Meanwhile, no news or posts from anyone onboard this week at all ... PC stop was too short & we docked later than usual, an extra 30 minutes or hour can be so helpful to folks heading into Orlando.

[mking8288]

Post-cruise Addendum

A quick snapshot on use of Norwegian Getaway's onboard satellite WiFi, thoughts, comments & what to be expect - based on the Getaway - as provided by its partner, EMC. - keep in mind we only had 1,700 guests or passengers onboard during the week, a notch below 40% capacity.  

 

Our use of ship's internet dating back to 2003 on the Dawn, which was just slow using ethernet (wired) connection in the stateroom, not wireless.  Within the past 10 years, we've used onboard WiFi services on the Jewel, Gem, Breakaway, Dawn (again in 2019,) Escape and most recently - the Getaway and this ranked as the worst performing in terms of speed, mainly and especially downloads - upload speed wasn't really any better ... reminds me of old copper DSL wiring to the nearest C.O. usually a mile away.  

 

Perhaps, the onboard hardware & wireless routers/AP had not been upgraded - still on WiFi 4 connecting to 5 Ghz, which is usually less congested and faster, as long as one is within range for a solid signal.  Not going into further technical details here or attempt to analyze, suffice to say it was usable but just marginal with a passing grade with the upgraded, unlimited WiFi package that didn't cost a fortune burning non-refundable OBC.  I would not be happy spending $30 daily x 6 or 7 days for this package (trust me, the premium "streaming" package isn't any faster or better, except for being VPN unblocked - the "speed" factor isn't that to watch Youtube, except maybe at 360p, 480p if you are lucky)  Skype video calling should work in addition to voice calling (VoIP) but questionable if a Zoom session can be done without being dropped and/or randomly dropped.  Meta (FB)'s Messenger's inbound messages or posts do show up on our smartphone without being connected to the inTERnet onboard, outbound or sending messages or using it to call - however, require the device to be logged in.  Cruise Critic's forum/boards can be accessed this way free also, but posting is next to impossible unless properly "logged in"

 

With the Norwegian App, there is an optional module that you will only see after connecting to ship's WiFi inTRAnet, it does not require, need or cost inTERnet data, except for the $9.99 per device one-time charge for each user (thus, $20 for 2 of us - charged back against non-refundable OBC).  It worked sometimes for calling, not always but texting is more reliable, as long as the smartphone (we both used Androids - didn't try it with my backup iPhone SE 2020, sorry - can't comment on it)   We will not bother to "spend" the money on the next NCL cruise, unless we see product improvement to the Calling "module" and we "tweaked" and changed various "settings" to try to make it work, no dice.

 

Reminder - if you had signed into the NCL App recently and hasn't log out and/or do a forced "stop" - it remains running in the background, could be tracking & uploading data without you realizing it - "shut" it off until your next NCL cruise.  

 

Nevertheless, this mostly pictorial review for our cruise week onboard would be impossible to be more "semi-live" than we planned for, if it wasn't for the satellite WiFi inTERnet access, connected to one device at a given time.  There is a prompt to alert the user that another device is connected and to proceed to disconnect or drop, then the "newer" device is able to connect - "verified" and successfully connected to be able to go online - apparently, the server has issues randomly, resulting in a failure to connect.  Best way to deal with it, properly disconnect, do the logout.com command to sign out first, then - using the browser to execute login.com - as it will redirect to digitalsea.io to start the sequence to sign in.  

 

Once I figured it out late night, the rest of the week was uneventful - has 6 or 7 devices, including my Windows 10Pro-64 bit notebook PC and the iPad Air, and several other devices as we usually travel with them.  The Fire HD10 (2020) did come along by couldn't or won't properly connect to the ship's WiFi, for whatever reasons - during our Port Canaveral & Nassau stop, no problems connected to roaming cellular (4G LTE) signals with the iPhone serving as the hotspot/MiFi.  Even if it did, satellite speed is just too slow to attempt to watch Prime Video contents online ... thankfully, we had offline MP4's preloaded on it.   Ship's WiFi signal, is, indeed, slightly & marginally stronger and better near the iCafe and Guest Services area, Deck 6 midship around the atrium area, FWIW. 

 

iCafe has 12 micro-Acer PC terminal/HD monitors running the bare basics - not sure if those USB ports are usable (caution advised in transferring anything, aside from pix & videos) - printing is available 75 cents per page, as I recall (many mobile or online check-in for travel these days do not require a printed hard copy ... ) 

 

Our "extra" cost last week using "roaming" cellular data (except onboard) was about $12 USD only - used 1 GB's worth of data vs about 11 GB of satellite data on the Getaway - not sure if we got our money's worth for that unlimited "upgrade".   On earlier cruises, with 300 to 350+ free airtime minutes, we would use about 750 to 1.25 GB worth of satellite WiFi data.  It's just a joy to be re-connected to FiOS again at home with blazing 300/300 speed tier instead of ...

 

 

DW and I both received our post-cruise eSurvey from NCL - not sure if everyone received them or a random sampling, we get them almost all the time after crusing Norwegian.  

Edited April 7, 2022 by mking8288

[JGmf]

On 4/5/2022 at 10:25 AM, steveknj said:

Maybe do something like what Carnival does where they have Guy's (Fieri) Burgers and a Mexican food  place that's open for lunch and no extra charge.

 

Regarding the waste of space that is the American Diner: totally agree.  I walk-up taco bar place would be great.  Less staff and provides greater diversity of food options.  Hell, add a small band there and margaritas too!

 

 

[Jomurbie]

On 3/31/2022 at 11:09 PM, ChrisNY2 said:

 

Thanks for the info! Disappointing, but I'll deal with it. I'm boarding this ship on Sunday right after you on a cruise compliments of the Casino, so I'll have to be in there at least a bit!

 

I just cruised last month on Celebrity Millennium on another comp casino cruise and they took the opposite approach - no smoking at all in the casino. Made for a much more pleasant time in the casino.

Same with HAL in February on the San Diego/Hawaii loop-no smoking in the casinos! But there was a strong masking policy in place as the January loop had quite a few covid cases. Apparently none on our Feb trip.

[DuckTollerFans]

Nice review and great photos.  Glad you had a nice cruise!

 

We're back from our 10 day Caribbean on the Gem. Only 4 ports and 5 sea days which was about 1 too many.  Still, a wonderful time and when I get caught up with stuff at home will write a nice review.

 

As much as we love the Gem, I think our next might be again on a larger ship, or at least if it's a 7+ day one.

 

 

[mking8288]

@DuckTollerFans - thanks, how was your dog while you're away this time.  Will be looking for your review with photos (lots of them, maybe 👴 😄)  The Getaway was great - just like being on the Breakaway and the slightly larger Escape ... DW and I already looking at the Getaway for this winter (10+ days) but locked onto the Joy for a quick one soon, hehe. 

Edited April 12, 2022 by mking8288