Semi-Live Getaway: Feb 26 - Mar 10, 2023 NY - So. Caribbean ... 12 nights

[Sugar Magnolia]

27 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

Sitting out on deck 8 in front of the cavern club waiting for the rooms to be ready. It’s 1:20PM.  
 

I wonder if I can hear PA announcements outside?  It’s a bit chilly. 
 

The ship feels very full. The sun is breaking out a bit.  Hope to get some good light for photos for sail away.  Scheduled for 3PM right now. 
 

Can I have one rant about people sitting on stairs blocking the entire staircase?  Not everyone wants to wait for an elevator!

Claim that perfect photo spot, Pete!

 

[Kruizin'Kath]

Thanks for taking us along! It makes up for what we paid when we board her on 3/26! It's like getting a 2-fer!!

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

I'd walk through those stair sitters like they're not even there. If my suitcase happens to *accidentally* bump them on the way past...well that's just a shame isn't it? 

[PistolPete13]

In person muster drill wait a bit annoying but I survived. 
 

I’m shocked at how small my inside room feels compared to the Prima inside. 
 

Having issues logging into the NCL app with onboard WiFi.  Confirms the feeling that my account is still messed up (see post 1)

 

The right selection button of my room remote is broken.  Makes it very annoying to navigate the menus.  
 

ok. Enough gripping. Sail away time!

[Grandmafreddie]

Sitting in thermal spa waiting for sailaway very quite. Have tea water and oranges. Also gave nice robes. Cant get on ncl app.

[PistolPete13]

3:33PM.  The horn has sounded and I feel the ship vibrating but we’re moving.  Did someone leave the anchor down??

[PistolPete13]

1 minute ago, Grandmafreddie said:

Sitting in thermal spa waiting for sailaway very quite. Have tea water and oranges. Also gave nice robes. Cant get on ncl app.

Oh good (about the app).  Guess it’s just not me!

[cruisebeachgirl703]

31 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

In person muster drill wait a bit annoying but I survived. 
 

I’m shocked at how small my inside room feels compared to the Prima inside. 
 

Having issues logging into the NCL app with onboard WiFi.  Confirms the feeling that my account is still messed up (see post 1)

 

The right selection button of my room remote is broken.  Makes it very annoying to navigate the menus.  
 

ok. Enough gripping. Sail away time!

Curious Pete how long from when you showed up to completion?

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

Pete would you please swing by Ocean Blue and see if they've got the brussells sprouts side item anymore? 

[PistolPete13]

51 minutes ago, cruisebeachgirl703 said:

Curious Pete how long from when you showed up to completion?

I want to say about 20-30 mins.  It took a while to leave the auditorium on deck 7 where my muster was. 
 

OK folks.  Fun day having you all along. 
 

I’m heading down to steerage and will check back in when I can. 

[sailorusvi]

1 hour ago, PistolPete13 said:

Oh good (about the app).  Guess it’s just not me!

 

We just got off the Getaway and I had issues logging in the first time, but then it started working.  The only other time I had issues was when they swapped Bermuda for Miami.  My app still had Bermuda, but others had switched to Miami. 

 

 DH never did get his to work. He enjoyed no one was able to contact him and never asked for assistance. 

 

 

[Mlake09]

2 hours ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

Pete would you please swing by Ocean Blue and see if they've got the brussells sprouts side item anymore? 

We just got off this morning and they aren’t on the menu any longer…now it’s asparagus, Cole slaw, mixed veggies, au gratin potatoes, and I think fries…

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

43 minutes ago, Mlake09 said:

We just got off this morning and they aren’t on the menu any longer…now it’s asparagus, Cole slaw, mixed veggies, au gratin potatoes, and I think fries…

Dang...that really, really sucks. Are sprouts that expensive? 

[GSfromCT]

any idea how many guests are on this sailing?

And how would one figure that out if the porters are not saying (saw that in a different thread)?

[PistolPete13]

Alright, sea day #1 today.  It’s still a bit chilly but that’s not stopping people from sitting out on the pool and upper decks.  I’m sitting right by one of the entrances too the Vibe and I’m temped to sneak in because the door takes so long to close!

 

Sail away yesterday seemed to go by very fast compared to my other three trips down the Hudson.  How do I know that?  I barely got one photo snapped before 42nd and 34th streets flew by.  In the past I was able to get several photos looking down each avenue.

 

Oh boy, the Vibe door just closed on someone trying to sneak in.  Better luck next time lady as she slinks away in shame.  Definitely not a native New Yorker who should be masters at jumping onto closing subway doors.  The trick is to turn your shoulders side ways as you jump through.

 

Speaking of doors, I’ve discovered that the close buttons on the elevators do really work and respond instantly.  Very handy to close the doors quickly before people realize the elevator has arrived.

 

We now have another guest with some tools attempting to hot wire the box that scans the card for the Vibe.  No luck for him.  Definitely not a ship maintenance person given how he was dressed.

 

Another guest just tried to scan their Vibe card on the box where the emergency open button it.  Who knew this seat would be so entertaining?

 

Jackpot!!  I just discovered how to open the Vibe door without a card by observing a crew member.  I will set up a Venmo account for those that wish to pay me for this tip!

 

Now where was I.  Sail away, yes.  Very chilly.  Only the diehards stayed on the top deck for going under the Verrazano Bridge.  Again, the ship was flying, I barely had a moment to try and get a centered shot of the bridge while going under it and failed.

 

I had a 7:30PM seating at Savor and was able to get in and out in about 1 hour 15 mins.  It would’ve been faster if I would’ve ate more quickly.  The waiter ending up giving me two desserts.  It was way too much food after I already had a pre-dinner dinner at the buffet.  So at least for the first night, fears of insanely slow service has been alleviated, at least in Savor.

 

For some reason only half the buffet was open for dinner service around 5:30PM.  Not sure if the other side opened up later.  It was prime rib night and the cuts were decent.

 

So far so good right?  Not so fast.  This site is called cruise “critic” for a reason.  I’m just a guppy with only 26 days before this sailing compared to some of the whales on here but here are my observations.

 

The guest services, Internet, and short excursion desks were SLAMMED with lines winding around the entire floor.  I will only speak for myself and my experience with shore excursions.  We had one stop replaced with St. Maarten.  I had an excursion for St. Lucia and it was cancelled.  No credit had shown up on my account yet.  I wanted to see if I could book another one but nothing for St. Maarten was loaded on the touch screens.  I would’ve checked my room TV as well to reserve but the move right menu button on my remote was broken.  How annoying is that??  I could only access items on one column.  I told two room attendants and showed them.  No replacement remote yet.  Not the end of the world.

 

Oh yeah, when I click on my account name on the room, I have two other names listed in addition to my own.  If my right button was working I would’ve tried to book those folks on more excursions!

 

This basically meant anyone who wanted to book a new excursion had to use the pen and paper method and also wait on line.

 

As for the NCL app, I was not able to login anywhere on the ship except in the area near the Internet desk.  In other areas my user ID would get rejected or the login attempt would time out.  I’ve been an IT network admin for the last 20 yrs, things don’t work this way.  What is special about the access points near the Internet desk?  Good thing that issue seems to have fixed itself today.  And just to be sure I’m not insane, I just spoke to another passenger who saw the same thing.  The app would only behave properly near the deck 6 Internet desk.

 

A big shoutout to Tina on Cruise Critic who saw me typing away just now and stopped by to say hello!

 

I’ve relocated to the 6th floor atrium area.  It’s still too chilly to be sitting outside unfortunately.  My teeth were starting to chatter!

 

I’ve visited the buffet a few times and haven’t really noticed any quality decreases in the food being served.  It feels like there is a little bit less variety but I’ll get a better feel as the cruise progresses.

 

What I have noticed is that the appetizers in Taste/Savor and by extension the MDR (Tropicana?) lacked some of the more pricy items had in the past.  I have my first specialty dinner tomorrow night at Moderno but I’m the wrong person to review that since this will only be my second time at a specialty restaurant.

 

OK, I’m running out of creating steam now.  Time for lunch.

 

Note to self, don’t sit on the Internet area with a laptop open looking the way I do <see profile pic). Not all stereotypes are true!

 

Talk amongst yourselves for a bit!

 

PS, I know I’m old now because I have to enter my year of birth to login to the NCL internet.  I had to scroll so far to find my year!!

[PistolPete13]

20 hours ago, LoungerOnBalcony55 said:

Pete would you please swing by Ocean Blue and see if they've got the brussells sprouts side item anymore? 

Nope, I have a photo of the menu and will post when I have better access.

[LoungerOnBalcony55]

"We now have another guest with some tools attempting to hot wire the box that scans the card for the Vibe."

 

That is freaking crazy. Why does cruising attract such scumbag trash people? 

[LadyBerard]

My daughter and her family are cruising with you, so I am enjoying your review immensely and love your sense of humor!

 

[mking8288]

Fun technical question to answer later on, just made notes - don't "waste" those precious satellite WiFi minutes - going assume that EMC is still the ISP and not Starlink with the reports lately of "poor" speed.  How fast is the GA cruising and sailing during this segment ... en route to the first port, 19 knots, 20 knots, etc. and how's the wind / direction ?  From the bow (headwind) across/diagonal and tail (stern) that often help boost the ship's "true" speed ?  

 

If you show up for the CC Meet & Greet and someone there asked, senior officer will say how many guests are onboard (also do it at the CruiseNext/Latitudes welcome back "presentation" & sales pitch) or just find Olivia, the CD and ask, actually - the servers know too b/c those are key numbers written below deck for a given cruise ... and we seen the posterboard "status" while doing the free BTS tours.  

[JandPB]

Here for the snark and 12 nights of fun.

[GSfromCT]

On 2/26/2023 at 3:34 PM, PistolPete13 said:

3:33PM.  The horn has sounded and I feel the ship vibrating but we’re moving.  Did someone leave the anchor down??

I'm starting to wonder if this vibration is why the ship has not hit top speed (and getting late to ports) in a while now.  Or are they conserving fuel?

[PistolPete13]

Day two at sea.  The word for today is wind.  So windy that the ropes course, sports deck, and upper sun decks are closed.  The navigation channel showed 36 knots and 44 knots.  Not sure why there are two numbers.  I have to assume one is the wind in real life and the other is what it is on the ship while it’s moving.  What do I know.  Temps are in the mid-70’s but feel less with the wind.  I guess I can finally put the sweatshirt away.

 

All the loungers on deck 15 are taken except for a few by the ping pong tables where the screaming kids are.  That’s where I’m parked right now trying to “relax” while listening to the screams echoing off the metal decks.

 

Oh thank goodness for the epidemic of ADD with the little ones, they just left the ping pong area.  Hopefully I’ll get quiet even with the pool deck music blasting.

 

Dinner last evening was at Taste.  I had an early seating at 5:30PM and was out of there in 90 minutes.  Most of the delay ended up with waiting for dessert, I assume the kitchen had to churn out the first batch and had some minor issues.

 

The atrium area is still packed wall to wall with lines waiting for the shore excursion and client services desk.  To add to the chaos the photo staff set up a few booths with lighting and large backdrops for those passenger that don’t see themselves enough in the mirror every morning.

 

There is a small stage/theater on the Getaway called the Illusionarium.  I was hoping to catch a show there after dinner but one look at the packed hallway squashed that idea for me instantly.  We have six port days in a row coming up starting tomorrow and the last thing I want is to catch anything that could ruin it for me.

 

Around 10:30PM I wandered back to Atrium hoping to catch the movie they were showing and again it was shoulder to shoulder people in that area.  Felt more crowded than Grand Central station during rush hour!  Nope.

 

Clocks were set ahead one hour last night.  I had to manually set the clock on my iPhone.  So much for tech automating this.  Unfortunately the clock icon still shows NYC time even after I set the time zone to San Juan.  Maybe I need a Samsung phone?  Good thing I don’t leave my timezone much.

 

Just left the buffet at 10:30AM and it was still packed to the point of having to hunt very hard to find an empty seat.  Normally I would expect the breakfast crowd to be done by this point!  If someone can find out how many people are on this cruise that would be great.  I don’t recall my trips on the Escape or Bliss pre-Covid to be this packed.

 

One note about the buffet meats served at lunch.  Make sure you have a good dental plan and your molars are in decent shape.  You’ll be working hard chewing at some of those hides being served.

 

That’s all for now.  I need to have a light lunch.  My Free at Sea dining perk will be at Moderno at 9PM and I’m looking forward to it.  Hopefully the other passengers haven’t cleaned out the buffet station in there by that time.  Didn’t think about that when I made my reservation time.

[mking8288]

Isn't there a world/dual clock widget on the iPhone (used mine for backup so I never added one to the home or lock screen)  Android OS, yes with world/dual clock widget on the Samsung Galaxy's - switching over to the Pixel 7 Pro this week & going to have that widget on the lockscreen.  

 

Onboard at sea, those auto-date/time adjustment plus the time zone changes often "confused" smart gadgets, plus, ship does sometimes change the time ahead to minimize issues if a port of call is coming up next ... reduce the odds of folks sleeping late and/or ending up joining the Pier Runners Club with air horn blasting.  

 

Not a maritime weather expert here, 36 knots or the first # is typically the "stationary" wind speed and 2nd number refer to "apparent" wind speed based on calculated speed, ship's speed/direction - as long as you don't indicators of strong gale scrolling across the display plus large waves, rough sea state, etc. in the matrix - and, by then, most people will "feel" it already even without looking out the window or switching to Ch 12 for the shipcam to see what's ahead. 

 

Sounds like another sailing with over 4,000 plus souls on the ship.  Have you check out the fitness center on Deck 15 Fwd, next to and near the Spa area - also, do check out Spice H20 on the back of the ship - it's often not as "crazy" there. 

 

Enjoy the rest of the sea day, Moderno is always fun.  Tomorrow afternoon, you will be scanning the horizon looking for land as mountains begin to appear in the distance.   

[vacation44]

Following along and thank you for taking the time to post.

[Dorhead1230]

Enjoying your review @PistolPete13! Your pictures of the terminal on embarkation day made me happy that we were dragging last week and got there late lol. We may have missed MDR lunch service, but we also avoided that stinky sea of humanity. I would have thought your cruise this week would be less crowded than ours, with it being longer and far fewer kids. Hopefully it’ll start to thin out a bit on your port days coming up. Have fun; I hope all your port visits are very enjoyable!