Getaway Feb 1st 5-day Bermuda changed to Bahamas

[EllieinNJ]

2 hours 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

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.

[EllieinNJ]

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.

 

[luckyinpa]

regarding the quiet places to sit comment

 

when i book on a ship i havent been on i take the full video tour of it. some are 30 to 60 minutes. i like to plan for days of rain and 'where would i sit down' inside the ship along with everyone else that cannot go out because of roped off decks

 

on breakaway, getaway, except atrium, there really are no indoor seating areas if you exclude all bars and restaurants.  and well know how big the atrium is..fighting for a seat on even a sunny calm day

 

ive been on 2 princess ships and oasis of the seas and there is much more indoor 'hanging around' seating on those ships. i look at those as good 'bad weather' ships in that respect. because lets face it, no one gets 7 perfect days on a cruise

[poohdreaming]

19 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

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.

 

NCL should have addressed this Non-Refundable OBC in many languages on a piece of paper. A lot of cruisers did not really understand it. When checking out of the gift shop, one lady asked me what was the credit. I explained it to her. She thought it was applied to only her card. It is $100 per person in the stateroom. Meaning other people in her room would have to use it or lose it. Some thought it would apply to the Service Charge, which of course do not.

[luckyinpa]

when we got our obc i was thinking of things to spend it on.  i literally sat in the atrium and when i had an idea id go up to the desk and ask. went up about 5 times. finally i asked if he could split the drinks we had on our accounts so that both our obc would be burned. he said no problem and masterfully split the drinks to most beneficially use up the obc left on both our accounts

 

[2Cruise4Ever]

DH and I were on this cruise.  And, just like everyone else said, disappointing to not go to Bermuda.  BUT, this was our first cruise since the pandemic so we really didn't care.  We just wanted to cruise again!  

 

Some of the food was a bit lacking, some was exceptional - but that is really an individual matter of taste (pun intended).

 

My biggest disappointment was the number of entitled passengers who treated other passengers very badly... and don't get me started on how they treated the crew!  One woman pushed her way through the line at guest services, slammed her key card down on the counter, and just started screaming at the guest services staff.  

 

Another lady was walking around with this HUGE boom-box slung over her shoulder, blasting out the music SHE liked which interfered with the live music the band was playing at the pool.  

 

But, most of the people I met and chatted with were pretty cool.  And, The Million Dollar Quartet was absolutely fabulous!

Edited February 7, 2023 by 2Cruise4Ever
typo

[Laszlo]

3 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

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.

 

Did they still have the band on doing Fleetwood Mac?

[Sugar Magnolia]

31 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Did they still have the band on doing Fleetwood Mac?

 

The Syd Norman's band played 3 out of our 5 day cruise. They did not play Fleetwood Mac's Rumours but instead, played The Prom which is a tribute to 80s music.

 

As usual, it was standing room only even before the start of the show.

 

[Ozmodiar]

The Syd Norman's show I attended on day 4 was a different show than The Prom (80's), more 70's/80's stuff.

 

I'll note that the underused Bliss Lounge was pretty quiet at times, and the area around Cagney's/Moderno was also quiet during the day as well it seemed. 

 

Another observation about crowding - the Atrium space is not helped by the relatively bulky chairs - slightly more streamlined seating would probably add some much-needed capacity.

 

I agree about explaining the OBC better to folks. I ended up buying a couple of watches and some macaroons from the bake shop to bring home. I mentioned the lack of clear communication about why the run to the Bahamas, same with the OBC - what it could be used for being more clearly spelled out would have helped some I am sure.

 

One thing that did surprise me was: one family member had remaining refundable credit from canceled shore excursions, and instead of simply refunding to the credit card, we got pulled out of line at disembarkation to be given cash. Not sure I get that from NCL's perspective. I misunderstood the message left in her cabin about it, I thought if she wanted cash (as compared to a refund to her credit card - my incorrect assumption), to go to the desk prior to disembarking, not that cash was the only option. 

[kylenyc]

I didn't want to repeat what others have said about this cruise but I wanted to share my experience on this cruise because my previous cruise was also on the same ship and itinerary back in Dec 18, 2022. I feel that the problems I experienced with the restaurant and bar service, and food and beverage quality, and other problems, are not isolated to this one cruise due to the change in itinerary or large number of passengers.

 

Had I not already paid in full for this cruise I would have cancelled it. I've already cancelled my next cruise and ate the 25% cancellation fee. I'll be reading reviews and social media closely before choosing whether to sail with NCL again. Regardless, I'm no longer recommending NCL to family or friends. I have more reservations to cancel if more of the same is reported here and social media in the future.

 

TLDR; On my last two NCL cruises, both Getaway 5 day NY to Bermuda, the staff were professional and work hard. They were attentive and mindful when their station was properly staffed and not overwhelmed by guests. The bar and restaurant staff were understaffed and under-trained. The staff resolve problems that I brought to their attention but there were too many problems and so much time wasted. Food and beverage quality and service have gone down noticeably. There are too many passengers compared to bar and restaurant staff resulting in long waits, wrong orders, wrong charges. I don't go on vacation to waste time waiting for subpar food and drink, or wasting time on hold, on the phone, or at guest services trying to get problems fixed.

 

I've been on many cruises with NCL. No cruise is perfect. There is usually a glitch here and there that keeps the cruise from going from "Very Good" to "Excellent". I've considered the food and beverage quality to be very good over the past 30 cruises. On every trip, I usually meet a few crew members who are memorable, particularly attentive, or go the extra mile. Not so on these two NCL cruises.

 

On the 12/18/2023 cruise, I encountered what I thought was an unusually high number of problems. Here's just some of them: There were problems most dining services at the main dining rooms and at specialty restaurants. At the main dining room, a waiter lost my key card, they delivered the wrong food, and wrongly charged me for items. At Wasabi, another guest (who I didn't know) and I arrived early. We sat without water or even a menu while other guests arrived later and were served. The service itself was slow and had mistakes. At La Cucina, service was also slow and I was served a pizza that resembled the buffet pizza. One of the casino managers and a couple of dealers were simply unpleasant. Room service wait times were long, deliveries were missing items or had mistakes.

 

I would have considered cancelling my 2/1/2023 cruise but I already fully paid it. I hoped that service and quality would improve. Instead, it's become worse:

 

On Day One, I settled into my cabin only to realize it had not been cleaned. The bed linen appears clean but there were stray hairs and makeup on closer examination. There were stray hairs throughout the room too -- On the nightstand, on the table. Crumbs on the carpet, dirt (the icky kind) on the mirrors, floor, shower were dirty. The manager blamed it on a departing steward whose contract was over. The new steward cleaned the room promptly. However, such a problem should never have happened. This was the start of more problems to come and a ship that is understaffed, overwhelmed, or inexperienced.

 

Room service - Room service at times was unreachable. After being on hold for 10 minutes, the phone system automatically routed me to the operator who sent me room service to wait another 10 minutes, only to have this process rinse and repeat ad nauseum until I either give up or tested my patience. Most orders were wrong in some way - Missing items were charged to my bill. Missing condiments (fish with no tarter, fries with no ketchup, free beverages like coffee and tea were usually missing.

 

OSheehans - There were many times when it took 20 to 30 minutes to get a bar drink. After I placing my food order, it took 50 minutes for a simple food order of wings and a burger to arrive.

 

At most bars - Many time the bartenders were overwhelmed and understaffed. They were overwhelmed or inattentive to who was next in line. Many drinks were inconsistent - missing ingredients, wrong ingredients, subpar ingredients. This happened at most bars. The premixed drinks were weak and flavorless - Mudslides for example were premixed and poured from an unlabeled bottle. They aren't made with classic ingredients of Baileys, Kahlua, and Vodka. Bloody Marys were often missing garnishes and made with the wrong ingredients. The bloody marys and peach bellini's came premixed out of an unlabeled plastic bottle at some bars and tastes subpar compared to those traditionally mixed.

 

There were problems with most main dining room and specialty restaurant services. Individually, they were minor. But when the restaurant service is consistently slow and there are mistakes at most meals, all the issues combined make for a memorably unpleasant experience. Most waiters were professional and worked hard. They brought drinks quickly from the bar. However, food service itself was slow. The variety and quality of food at the buffet seemed noticeably less than on past cruises. We were double charged for an item.

 

5 Bermuda cruises in the past year
2 Bermuda cruises cancelled this year
More cancellations to come if things don't improve.

Edited February 7, 2023 by kylenyc

[Sugar Magnolia]

I echo the comments shared regarding the Feb 1st sailing on the Getaway.

 

As another poster mentioned, there were 4,570 passengers on board. The ship was built to accommodate an even higher number of passengers. However, none of this matters if the crew is understaffed and undertrained. Consequently, we experienced dinner service that lasted 2+ hours, wrong drink orders, long waits at the bars, unkept public restrooms, and neglected dirty tables at the buffet. To be clear, I do not blame the crew as they continue to work themselves to the point of exhaustion and still manage to smile and be cordial, and I wish some of the passengers would see that. Hopefully, corporate heeds the warning to change course and provide proper assistance and training to its staff so that the passengers can once again expect and enjoy the most basic services on a cruise ship.

 

With all the talk about NCL cutting back on entertainment, I was pleased that the Getaway still provided excellent entertainment on this sailing. Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor were exceptional. The Caribbean/Reggae/Motown group Zennhitt was superb. Marsha, the lead singer of the group, brought down the house each time with her electrifying performance. As always, Syd Norman’s band played to a standing room only audience. Howl at the Moon can be a mixed bag depending on who is on stage, but I am glad it is still an option. The Bliss Lounge held some fun late night dance parties. The two comedians lost me on the first night so I did not attend their shows during the week.

 

Disembarkation was chaotic which I don’t quite understand because there should be no mystery there. It is pure logistics performed hundreds of times.

 

Finally, I know many are still upset about the cancellation of Bermuda to which I say, c’est la vie. If the staffing situation does not improve, it won’t matter if we are able to visit every port from now until eternity.

 

[mking8288]

Hmmm, enlightening, interesting and perhaps troublesome post-cruise feedback and evaluations - specifically to the several "recent" Getaway sailings, both when Metin was GM in charge (he's now back as F&B Manager, but will be advancing/changing & becoming GM when NCL's newest ship begin sailing, soon) and with Mario just returning from vacation last month, and now this is the 2nd. sailing under his stewardship.  Both of them do management by walking around, along with others - find it hard to believe that they aren't hearing some of the negatives.  

 

Leadership, command and control begins at the top of the pyramid and spread - if they do not have a firm grasp and understand, appreciation and recognition of the challenges and problems with direct and indirect reporting under them.  Miami HQ, then, has a problem for the long haul. 

 

I did not want to be critical, as I just mentioned this over the weekend, but after reading another fellow CC's on the prior GA sailing about his "take" on 12 nights - this, a short 5 nighter diverted from to Nassau.  Kudo to NCL in issuing refundable OBC to all guests onboard but not nice in not explaining, in simplistic terms of the OBC can and cannot be used, spent it onboard or lose it, etc.  

 

There is one observation that I saw, and it didn't happened, or hardly at all, when we're onboard for 12 nights - that the asst. manager(s) for the dining rooms simply were too busy to bother to walk around, chat with the dining guests, perhaps check to see if things were okay and/or why everyone seated at a table are staring at each other ... waiting for part of their meal to be brought upstairs from the gallery that's one deck or two decks below.  It used to be, especially when the restaurants aren't too busy or overwhelmed, that they will go around and say hi, greet us and ask how are things, etc. - not, wasn't happening - not in MDR and not in specialty.  Am I the only one to notice this ??   

 

We asked for coffee at least 3 times during lunch but also once during early bird dinner, to have coffee with our dessert ...   Well, not once, not even once - nada, nothing, and by the time, the assistant or waiter fetched our dessert, sometimes, easily 15 to 20 minutes later - totally forgotten all about it.  DW and our friends just looked at each other with facial expression or language of "why bother or let's not ask again and waste another 15 minutes".   That's not going above & beyond, hence, truly difficult to name more than 1 or 2 crew member in being "Vacation Heros" on the cruise.  It is not that they aren't trying, they were busting their chops & doing their best - we not only see signs of being stressed, also can sense it, feel it (and, I am not going to "explain" those gut feelings - unless you're on one of the recent Getaway cruises, then, you'll probably agree.  

 

On the Joy, orders in the MDR and even SD ever taken & placed onto their mini iPads or tablets, digitally and it seemed to be quicker, almost errors-free and fewer mistakes.  Apparently, the GA is still on the old fashion ways, using pens/pencils & old fashion order slips.  Maybe, that can help ??

 

We've sailed enough times on NCL at full occupancies (110% of doubled # of berths) over the years to know that they've done it and can handle the surge, crowds and rush at peak times.  In both Taste & Savor, we noticed the crew member (as alwasy) tasked with replacing tableclothes & clean napkins, after a table is cleaned - to get it ready for the next group - to mostly stand there with nothing to do, just watching & waiting.  Reasons, the entire gridlock and service bottlenecks simply make it impossible to do a 2nd. round of tables when only the MDR is only alloted 90 minutes for lunch, and meals are taking upwards of 45 to 75 minutes.  Ditto for smokey Shanghai Noodles, we "got" lucky on one day to signup for the late seating, that was 1:15 p.m. by the time they got it cleaned & setup, our lunch was done until 2:15 p.m. when they're supposed to be closing or closed by 1:30 p.m. - cafeteria style mass feeding in its "finest" art, not. 

 

I don't pretend to get into their mindsets of what's going on with the dining teams and their supervisors lately.  Is it possible that we are seeing, indirectly, perhaps, their passive-aggressive behavior of challenging the latest cutbacks ... and staging subtle ways of carrying out "job actions" to slow and disrupt overall services,   I don't know but also convinced that I can no longer ruled out that option or possibility of things taking place onboard.   Perhaps, it's a subtle conspiracy among the rank-and-file to voice their dissatisfactions with senior management, I just don't know but going to toss this purely unproven theory out here, so that others can kick the cans down the corridor.

 

Explain to me how they can leave those full size deluxe baby strollers, rollators and even motorized scooters in the hallways and corridors unattended - I fully appreciate and understood, recognized and saw many passengers with accessible needs onboard, but it is not a free pass to do as one please - what about the danger & safety it posed to others with their rights to passage.  

 

Going to bite my tongue and get flamed for this - the Semi.Live served a different purposes for all but can't help to be critical.  Received our post-cruise surveys from NCL this weekend ... going to give them our peace-of-mind.  

[cruiseny4life]

13 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

It used to be, especially when the restaurants aren't too busy or overwhelmed, that they will go around and say hi, greet us and ask how are things, etc. - not, wasn't happening - not in MDR and not in specialty.  Am I the only one to notice this ??   

On our Dec/Jan cruise we noticed the assistant maitre d speaking to guests (including us) at Moderno and one was wandering around in Teppanyaki, though I didn't notice them speak with guests. In Moderno, the server grabbed the manager as we had waited a long time for meats. We were seated outside which caused a longer wait. We were actually fine with this wait, but a table behind us wasn't. The manager then offered, and brought all four desserts to us to try. I thought she went above and beyond. 

 

Back in September, the maitre d at La Cucina was everywhere, talking with all guests, but that was a long time ago in the life of a cruise ship. Heck, early January is a long time ago for comparisons. 

[Sugar Magnolia]

6 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

 

There is one observation that I saw, and it didn't happened, or hardly at all, when we're onboard for 12 nights - that the asst. manager(s) for the dining rooms simply were too busy to bother to walk around, chat with the dining guests, perhaps check to see if things were okay and/or why everyone seated at a table are staring at each other ... waiting for part of their meal to be brought upstairs from the gallery that's one deck or two decks below.  It used to be, especially when the restaurants aren't too busy or overwhelmed, that they will go around and say hi, greet us and ask how are things, etc. - not, wasn't happening - not in MDR and not in specialty.  Am I the only one to notice this ??   

 

 

We had the same experience on the Feb 1st sailing. The restaurant managers did not stop by our tables to ask how things are, etc. Instead, I witnessed unpleasant and intense exchanges between managers and waitstaff, which further eroded our dining experience.

 

We dined in the Tropicana Room on our last evening. The young man who served us emphatically apologized multiple times for the long waits in between courses, all while he was rushing back and forth in a Sisyphean attempt to serve everyone all at once. Corporate needs to fix this from the top.

 

[Ozmodiar]

I recall visits to the table to ask how things were from a manager at both specialty restaurants, once at the Tropicana during dinner, and at least twice at Taste/Savor for lunch. 

 

I tend to hit the dinner venues early/at the opening, so did not have the delays others reported. Maybe a little more time than normal between courses but not too bad. But I could see, like any backup, that it tends to get worse as it goes along, and maybe at that point the managers are dealing with the backlog.

[Bonobochick]

3 hours ago, mking8288 said:

It used to be, especially when the restaurants aren't too busy or overwhelmed, that they will go around and say hi, greet us and ask how are things, etc. - not, wasn't happening - not in MDR and not in specialty.  Am I the only one to notice this ??   

 

I still got this a few times on the Jan 8th cruise but it was definitely quick "how's everything?" with no lingering at all after answering. I am one that tends to eat later so usually the restaurant was emptier (lots of times I end up watching servers switch up the tables for breakfast service). I did notice things seemed to be more hectic in general in the restaurants and guest services. I mostly ate in Savor in the same area so the servers "got to know me" quickly so I feel like I didn't have as much of a waiting issue tho there were times, especially during lunch, where that water or iced tea refill took a very long time. Worse in O'Sheehan's IMO. I was also surprised by Moderno service being much slower in bringing out the meats plus fewer salad bar options since my Sept 2022 cruise. 

 

I have seen the posts about Shanghai being particularly busy the last couple of cruises but I skipped even trying this time (Shanghai is only ok to me). I went on my Sept 2022 cruise and it wasn't that crowded but that was a quieter cruise is general. I never got the numbers for the Jan 8th cruise but I would guess it was maybe 85% capacity. It certainly felt it despite my ease of getting off the ship once we got back to NYC. My biggest complaint truly were the bad logistics exacerbated by delays for the first several ports. I was fine about missing DR cause we got a longer stay in St. Thomas, which was nice. TLDR: there's definitely a decline in service which has been made worse by the full ships. 

[PATRLR]

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

There's something called "personal responsibility".

Anyone who did their homework would have known that Bermuda is not the Caribbean and that the seas are rough in the winter.

So the passengers are supposed to do their homework and know that Bermuda in winter is a bad idea.  And when they don't do that homework, shame on them for not taking their personal responsibility seriously.  Meanwhile, NCL who presumably can do the same homework, gets a free pass for scheduling a cruise to Bermuda in winter which is a bad idea?  

Fine example of saying "NCL can do no wrong" without actually saying "NCL can do no wrong".

 

On 2/7/2023 at 11:32 AM, EllieinNJ said:

The line for the omelet station went almost to the pool area. 

"The" omelet station?  Away class ships I've been on always had multiple omelet stations and seems like when one had a line just take a short walk to find one without a line.  Is this a case of they really only had one station open?

On 2/7/2023 at 2:15 PM, poohdreaming said:

 

NCL should have addressed this Non-Refundable OBC in many languages on a piece of paper. A lot of cruisers did not really understand it. 

I have no doubt that is EXACTLY what NCL wanted.  Having people fully understand what NR-OBC is and how/where it can be used is NOT to NCL's advantage.  I'm sure they have a darn good idea just how much of the NR-OBC they give out will actually be spent and they count on that percentage being low.

23 hours ago, Ozmodiar said:

One thing that did surprise me was: one family member had remaining refundable credit from canceled shore excursions, and instead of simply refunding to the credit card, we got pulled out of line at disembarkation to be given cash. Not sure I get that from NCL's perspective. 

My assumption is that they don't have the right connection back to the banking systems from on board to be able to issue the credits properly.  A secondary benefit to NCL is that the corporate office never (or, perhpas minimally) has to get involved with onboard accounting.  Everything is settled before you leave the ship.

Edited February 8, 2023 by PATRLR

[PATRLR]

On 2/6/2023 at 5:15 PM, Ozmodiar said:

(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). 

NCL definitely has a reputation for poor communication to its passengers.  NCL apologists probably don't like me saying it, but that has been my experience and it seems to come up in NCL reviews much more than other mass market lines.

I can only assume this is a corporate culture thing.  Not sure if the culture is "Don't say anything so it can't be held against us" or perhaps just no one setting the tone at the top that communication to their guests is important.   But I consider it a problem and seems to be pervasive throughout the company.

[MsTabbyKats]

@PATRLR"Everybody" knows going to the Caribbean during hurricane season is a bad idea.  NCL doesn't warn people.

Winter Bermuda cruises started only because other ports still had covid restictions.  And, based on how many Bermuda stops were cancelled....it doesn't take a psychic to predict that it will probably be eliminated from itineraries going forward.

[PATRLR]

1 minute ago, MsTabbyKats said:

@PATRLR"Everybody" knows going to the Caribbean during hurricane season is a bad idea.  NCL doesn't warn people.

Winter Bermuda cruises started only because other ports still had covid restictions.  And, based on how many Bermuda stops were cancelled....it doesn't take a psychic to predict that it will probably be eliminated from itineraries going forward.

But your position is, it's still the passengers fault.  Got it.  I understand loud and clear where you are coming from.

[MsTabbyKats]

4 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

But your position is, it's still the passengers fault.  Got it.  I understand loud and clear where you are coming from.

I don't think you do.  When I go to any new place....let's take a restaurant....I check the Yelp listing and/or the menu on line.  Let's say I eat mainly vegatables/fish.  If I didn't check Yelp etc...got there...it's basically a steak house with very few "healthy options"....whose fault would that be?  The information is out there.....as a patron, it's your responsibility to check it.

[Ozmodiar]

24 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

My assumption is that they don't have the right connection back to the banking systems from on board to be able to issue the credits properly.  A secondary benefit to NCL is that the corporate office never (or, perhpas minimally) has to get involved with onboard accounting.  Everything is settled before you leave the ship.

 

Are you saying that since something like the Shore Excursions were charged pre-cruise by corporate NCL, that is likely separate from the on-board accounting system? I hadn't thought of that but can see that makes sense, the on-board system may not know how I paid for those Excursions, just that I have a credit to cover the excursions that has been passed through to them, while everything else on board is done using the card (or cash) provided at check-in.

[Ozmodiar]

I certainly knew Bermuda at this time of year was riskier, but it should be noted that I think the ship could have gotten there and docked no problem a day or two earlier or later. So just bad luck, which can happen anytime. No one is really to blame.

 

I think the one thing NCL might want to consider if trying this again next winter is only scheduling 6-day cruises, direct to Bermuda for 2 overnights - that would give them more flexibility to adjust, either add a sea day before or after, or hit Newport over or back, or if needing to head to the Bahamas, allow 24+ hours there. The short duration provided no good options to adjust, and I do think when scheduling they ought to have a contingency figured out.

[MsTabbyKats]

@mking8288Wow.....thank you for posting your experience on this thread.  Although we rarely eat in the MDR....it sounds like there are just too many cutbacks.

I'm wondering if they watered down the buffet (I know...no more late night snacks.

 

[MsTabbyKats]

5 minutes ago, Ozmodiar said:

I certainly knew Bermuda at this time of year was riskier, but it should be noted that I think the ship could have gotten there and docked no problem a day or two earlier or later. So just bad luck, which can happen anytime. No one is really to blame.

 

I think the one thing NCL might want to consider if trying this again next winter is only scheduling 6-day cruises, direct to Bermuda for 2 overnights - that would give them more flexibility to adjust, either add a sea day before or after, or hit Newport over or back, or if needing to head to the Bahamas, allow 24+ hours there. The short duration provided no good options to adjust, and I do think when scheduling they ought to have a contingency figured out.

I think they should just drop the "Bermuda in the winter" thing.  It's not the weather in Bermuda...it's the weather/currents getting there.

Newport in the winter.....I don't think so.

They should look at their pre-pandemic itineraries....those worked.