Getaway Feb 1st 5-day Bermuda changed to Bahamas

[njhorseman]

11 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

How is the crowding situation onboard?  I was up early this morning and peeked at the Nassau webcam.  The ship was there at 2:30AM but when I looked again around 3AM, she was gone. 

I was expecting a 3:45AM departure unless the island is one hour ahead of EST...

Nassau is on EST.

[mking8288]

Didn't someone reported that GA came in 1hour early & perhaps left earlier than scheduled ?  Not much to do past midnight & beyond, maybe over to Atlantis? 

 

I would be surprised that the shops by the pier stayed opened that late. 

[njhorseman]

2 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Didn't someone reported that GA came in 1hour early & perhaps left earlier than scheduled ?  Not much to do past midnight & beyond, maybe over to Atlantis? 

 

I would be surprised that the shops by the pier stayed opened that late. 

My guess is that some genius in NCL's corporate office thought Nassau is on AST and listed the arrival and departure times one hour later than they actually were.

[EllieinNJ]

 

 

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

[Sugar Magnolia]

58 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

 

 

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

I got off the Getaway in Nassau after midnight. All I saw were local police carrying big guns as the welcome party. 
 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I do not recall what dining venues were open in the past for breakfast on disembarkation day, but the only restaurants open tomorrow for breakfasts on the Getaway are the Garden Café buffet and Savor, not Taste or O’Sheehan’s. I might just hoard some food from the buffet today IN A ZIPLOC BAG and eat that for breakfast tomorrow to avoid the arm to arm combat with 4700+ other passengers. 
 

[Rfemle]

I originally thought they were giving us a 20% FCC IF ANEW BOOKING. that is not correct it is 20% of this cruise fare to our account. Which I believe is 20% of what just the room cost. This is peanuts and disappointing. Of course we got $100 OBC EACH which seemed ok    When I thought 20FCC I WAS looking to book NCL again this year. Now looking at MSC THAT is now sailing from nyc. MSc will match loyalty and since we are platinum should be fairly good. Maybe MSC will buy NCL. 

[nmuller328]

11 hours ago, Rfemle said:

I originally thought they were giving us a 20% FCC IF ANEW BOOKING. that is not correct it is 20% of this cruise fare to our account. Which I believe is 20% of what just the room cost. 

Yea - it's a rebate on what you spent- not what you want to save. This is the industry wide way they do things. 20% off any cruise- would be unheard of- just think- someone was in a sail Away inside room- 5 day cruise  takes the 20% off a 12 day Haven room- no way any cruise line would do this- you're compensated based on your piece of the pie from this cruise.  Could they have given you more- of course- but the offer isn't really all that bad.   

 

[shof515]

As of 6:20am, the Getaway is slowly approaching the terminal in NYC and will be docked shortly

 

 

 

[Rfemle]

8 hours ago, nmuller328 said:

Yea - it's a rebate on what you spent- not what you want to save. This is the industry wide way they do things. 20% off any cruise- would be unheard of- just think- someone was in a sail Away inside room- 5 day cruise  takes the 20% off a 12 day Haven room- no way any cruise line would do this- you're compensated based on your piece of the pie from this cruise.  Could they have given you more- of course- but the offer isn't really all that bad.   

 

I hear ya. My hopes were up for that 20% FCC. I guess it is not all bad. 

[EllieinNJ]

On 2/5/2023 at 10:48 AM, Sugar Magnolia said:

I do not recall what dining venues were open in the past for breakfast on disembarkation day, but the only restaurants open tomorrow for breakfasts on the Getaway are the Garden Café buffet and Savor, not Taste or O’Sheehan’s. I might just hoard some food from the buffet today IN A ZIPLOC BAG and eat that for breakfast tomorrow to avoid the arm to arm combat with 4700+ other passengers. 
 

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.

[Sugar Magnolia]

30 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

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.

 

Glad to hear Taste was open as well. It was not listed in the "You'll Be Leaving Soon" bulletin and I thought it was odd that Savor was listed but not Taste.

 

We woke up early and had a leisurely breakfast at the buffet at 5:45 AM before the swarm of humanity arrived.

 

We walked off with our bags too around 8:30 AM though I do not recall how long it took to reach the terminal exit, perhaps 30 minutes. The more frustrating part was not being able to take the elevator to Deck 7 where we disembarked, as some elevators were locked out of reaching Decks 6 and 7.

 

[Ozmodiar]

On 2/5/2023 at 10:37 AM, Sugar Magnolia said:

I got off the Getaway in Nassau after midnight. All I saw were local police carrying big guns as the welcome party. 
 

I went into Nassau, it was pretty quiet to be sure - there were a few bars/restaurants open, so did get some Conch Fritters and a couple of Sands (local Bahamian beer) at one spot (Sharkeez) so at least had a bit of local flavor, which was kind of fun. Some government buildings are nearby the pier so walked around those and got some pictures. There were a few police around, no shops opened up, got some local currency from an ATM. Was nice to see the ship at night from the shore. 

[Ozmodiar]

On 2/4/2023 at 6:22 PM, PistolPete13 said:

How is the crowding situation onboard?  I was up early this morning and peeked at the Nassau webcam.  The ship was there at 2:30AM but when I looked again around 3AM, she was gone. 

I was expecting a 3:45AM departure unless the island is one hour ahead of EST...

All-aboard (passengers) was 2:45, crew was 2:00 - my guess is everyone was back early so they got going early - I'm not positive but the two tourist bars seemed to be preparing to close at midnight.

[Ozmodiar]

Mini-review!

 

Not going to complain about the loss of Bermuda, as disappointing as it was - I am not a "sea day" person so a Cruise to Nowhere is pretty much at the bottom of my preferred travel list. Even though this was not a cruise I would have booked, it is what it is, and I enjoyed it for what it was. (Ironically, I signed up for this cruise because my Transatlantic in November on the Sun skipped Bermuda... so 0-2 for Bermuda for me the last few months.) I felt a bit worse for folks who don't cruise a lot and this may have been a bigger trip for them (and a bigger disappointment), but I didn't hear nearly the grumbling I thought I might. Some grumbling, but reasoned grumbling...

 

(As an aside, I do question the lack of explanation about why the ship went to the Bahamas as being bad communication on NCL's part. I am sure many folks on board are unaware of the need to hit a foreign port and that a true CtN is not allowed, and while weather was cited for avoiding Bermuda, they don't go into any specifics such as winds being too strong to dock, etc. I don't get why they won't explain these issues just a bit more for the passengers, provide some of the reasons behind the decisions, like how Halifax was out of the question due to weather as well, or even that the Bahamas were another 300 miles each way as compared to Bermuda and the ship couldn't make better time, and what not). 

 

The things the crew could control, such as the food, the service, the Cruise Director stuff in the Atrium, the music and entertainment - I was happy with all of that. In particular, I thought Ocean Blue was great, possibly the best "specialty dining" meal I have had on NCL. Howl at the Moon was fun, and the one Syd Norman's show I got to was good as well. I did feel like they were maybe one or two house entertainers down - some of the bars/venues I would expect to have some live music for a couple of hours every night had an hour here or there as they moved folks around, and they had almost nothing in Bliss at all. 

 

I tend to prefer the smaller ships, so first time on the Breakaway class - I generally liked it, was a little crowded as the outside spaces went unused on two of the days due to weather so folks congregated inside more. Casino takes up a lot of space, as does the spa, neither things I care about. Lots of options though overall. (Why they don't run the "Broadway" shows 3 or 4 times a cruise so they can accommodate everyone confuses me, not sure what the cast is doing the other days anyway - why not a "matinee" on a sea day for instance.) Main thing I did not like is no true observation lounge, I missed not having a Spinnaker to relax in. And some spots, like Syd Norman's and Headliners, don't feel like a cruise ship, which is not a plus for me either - if I feel like I could be on land in some hotel "themed" restaurant it isn't the cruise ship experience for me. 

 

I thought the 20% FCC and $200 per cabin OBC was fair - we did miss the only port, but NCL had to put about 600 extra miles on the ship and the food and beverage consumption had to go up without 30 hrs in Bermuda for people to be eating and drinking elsewhere. 

[brookie848]

On 2/4/2023 at 9:55 AM, MsTabbyKats said:

There's also "cancel for any reason" insurance.

Not if you live in New York.

[EllieinNJ]

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.

[mking8288]

4 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

We ate in Savor this morning and Taste was open as well .  I don't know about O'Sheehans for breakfast but ...  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 ...

Welcome home to you & others.  "Sorry" about the expected pax headcount being off by 130, but 4,570 is still crazy.  

 

Disebarkation was pretty bad last week too. 

[Lakesregion]

24 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Welcome home to you & others.  "Sorry" about the expected pax headcount being off by 130, but 4,570 is still crazy.  

 

Disebarkation was pretty bad last week too. 

Those piers were not built for The likes of returning WWII troop ships so they will always be chaos when the NCL Barges dock.

[Sugar Magnolia]

29 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Welcome home to you & others.  "Sorry" about the expected pax headcount being off by 130, but 4,570 is still crazy.  

 

Disebarkation was pretty bad last week too. 

 

@mking8288 You were certainly within the margin of error and that estimate helped prepare me mentally for the week. What I wasn't prepared for was spending five consecutive days on the ship, mostly indoors and without stopping for a normal port of call, with 4,569 fellow passengers.

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Sugar Magnolia

[Laszlo]

17 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

Glad to hear Taste was open as well. It was not listed in the "You'll Be Leaving Soon" bulletin and I thought it was odd that Savor was listed but not Taste.

 

We woke up early and had a leisurely breakfast at the buffet at 5:45 AM before the swarm of humanity arrived.

 

We walked off with our bags too around 8:30 AM though I do not recall how long it took to reach the terminal exit, perhaps 30 minutes. The more frustrating part was not being able to take the elevator to Deck 7 where we disembarked, as some elevators were locked out of reaching Decks 6 and 7.

 

Was this the forward elevators? On our 1-8 cruise on I swear they were working on one of the forward elevators the entire cruise. I think they rebuilt it Lol. They had at least two guys from an elevator company along with 2-3 other crew members

[cruiseny4life]

13 hours ago, brookie848 said:

Not if you live in New York.

It may not be technically considered insurance, but you can purchase "cancel for any reason CFAR" protection in NYS, if you find a commercial agency willing to sell it to you.

 

https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/circular_letters/cl2020_04

[brookie848]

8 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

It may not be technically considered insurance, but you can purchase "cancel for any reason CFAR" protection in NYS, if you find a commercial agency willing to sell it to you.

 

https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/circular_letters/cl2020_04

Did not realize that this was an option for us, even though we wouldn't normally buy this. The only time we considered it was in 2021 for a beach rental. My husband works for a hospital and rules were constantly changing about travel.

 

In general, though, we would not "cancel for any reason" -- the reasons we've had for canceling fall under regular insurance coverage. So while it was a ton of paperwork, we didn't have any issues getting a refund.

[Sugar Magnolia]

15 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Was this the forward elevators? On our 1-8 cruise on I swear they were working on one of the forward elevators the entire cruise. I think they rebuilt it Lol. They had at least two guys from an elevator company along with 2-3 other crew members

 

Yes, yesterday at the start of disembarkation, the forward elevators did not stop on Decks 6 and 7 as they were locked. We took the forward elevator from Deck 11 and got off on Deck 5, walked up to Deck 6 with our luggage, then walked across the ship to the aft elevators where all of humanity converged. From there, we waited a few minutes for the aft elevator to take us one level up to Deck 7 to disembark. The stairs were roped off so we could not walk from Deck 6 to Deck 7.

 

The announcement on the PA requested passengers not to go to Decks 6 or 7 until our groups were called.

 

I did not notice crew working on the elevators this past week. Knowing that it would be a crowded ship, I was prepared to walk the stairs instead and am grateful that I am still able.

 

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

It may not be technically considered insurance, but you can purchase "cancel for any reason CFAR" protection in NYS, if you find a commercial agency willing to sell it to you.

 

 

https://www.dfs.ny.gov/industry_guidance/circular_letters/cl2020_04

 

I think this is why some of the cruiseline policies (perhaps not the 3rd party travel insurance companies) call the CFAR "trip protection" and *not* "trip insurance"... because it isn't really "insurance", so it can be offered.

 

Also, in at least some (most?) policies to consumers not in NY, the CFAR is not a separate "standalone contract"; it is indeed a part of the main insurance policy, albeit for extra cost.

IF this means that insurers *can* sell CFAR in NY and without requiring a separate regular "insurance" coverage, that could be something that some travelers actually prefer.

I wonder if this would spread to other states...?

 

We always get 3rd party travel insurance, and pay the extra for the CFAR.  Although we've had several claims, we've never actually used the CFAR option.  However, there have definitely been times when that CFAR coverage helped with the SWAN factor:  Sleep Well At Night... when we were seriously thinking of cancelling for some urgent reason, but not anything that the regular non-CFAR would have covered.

 

GC