FWCruisers

My family went on the Getaway last week and we did not receive a towel animal during our cruise. We had 2 children with us, 5 and 7, and were excited for them to see the animals. We were unaware of this policy change and didn't say anything to our steward thinking he may be newer to the ship. It wasn't a big deal to us and I understand their change in policy. 

Sounds like NCL dropped the ball big time. Needed to keep in constant contact with their guests aboard. Need to get rid of that Captain right away. Can't keep people in the dark in this kind of situation. :(:(:(

That's the conflicting part for me. As far as navigating the storm...the Captain did handle that well. I have been with great Captain's on smaller vessels and you can tell which Captain's are seasoned in heavy weather operations. I never felt like the ship was in danger, but it sure did take a beating. It's a sturdy ship as others have mentioned, but at the same time, there is a limit of punishment that ships can take. Luckily the ships are still pretty new, but there is a lot of wear and tear on them and general maintenance can only go so far until the next dry dock.

If there was just some solid communication I think the PR wouldn't be so bad right now. There is no reason for hours to go by without a single announcement. And the following announcements just talked about winds being strong, optimizing speed and direction, and waves being rough. Being a Captain involves more than just driving the ship.

Suzycruise - I had stateroom 9320. I believe the aft received the least amount of damaged rooms. The wind wrapped around both sides of the ship so all we could see out of the back of the ship was a barrier of rain with minimal water in the room, at least compared to others. All of the glass was cleaned up by 1200 the next day so the room was perfect after that.

I know many people have commented on this post describing what it was like on board, but I wanted to add my 2 cents. To preface - I have worked for the USCG for 08 years and was stationed on an 87' cutter out of Rhode Island that regularly patrolled the Hudson and Long Island Sound area. I have been in way worse situations than what we experienced, but to say this trip was unsettling is an understatement. I know the ship was going to make it through the storm, but it's easy to see how others would not be so comfortable. Around 0100 I woke up to being tossed around in the room. I didn't think much of it, but my wife started to be concerned when our aft balcony door kept coming unsealed. She went out of the room to check in with guest services to make sure everything was alright. I just laid down to try and get some rest, which is when she came in and told me that "I had to see what was going on!". We went down to deck 8 where water was pouring through the ceilings by the stairs, and in the casino. The ship was leaning hard enough that our upper body was at least at a 15-20 degree angle when walking. People looked like zombies in the casino and by the elevators, trying to ask for help or to figure out what was going on. After a minute we went back up to our room and lay down again. Within 15 minutes our cabin door opened up, the balcony door seal was at least an inch from connecting, and everything on our counter flew off and all of the glass broke everywhere on the floor. My wife tried to go to customer service and at the stairs on deck 08 security asked her what she needed and told her to go back to her room and to call the desk. Everything was shut down, we weren't allowed to travel to any part of the boat, and there was no announcement. To think cruisers should expect something like that cruising out of New York is laughable from the standpoint that water was coming through the doors, the ceiling, almost all balcony staterooms, and at least 02 inches in some hallways and all with no communication whatsoever from the bridge.

I have a picture on my phone from Sunday that showed what type of storm we would be heading into. Every single weather scientist that I follow expected the worst part of the storm would be the Atlantic Ocean with waves potentially reaching 50'. I doubt they reached the 50' as predicted, but consistently 25-30 with some reaching 40'. I would be interested in looking at buoy data to know the true measurements as none of the officers I talked to would provide an educated guess. If the captain would have made an announcement at 0130 letting everyone know what to expect and to re-affirm to the guests that the ship was made for this type of weather than many would have been calmed. Instead, we were greeted by security telling us to go back to our staterooms and to just ride it out in silence. That was unacceptable, along with trying to tender people over to GSC. Anybody that looked outside before we anchored knew that it should have been cancelled, and they would know that information from the bridge. Sorry for the long post.

Last June I stayed in room 11918, which is a handicap accessible aft-balcony. Being the first aft balcony we have cruised in..we were shocked at how much smaller the normal sized aft balconies were after visiting a friends. I would say it's at least double the size (maybe seems bigger because no couch) and the balcony fits multiple loungers and PLENTY of extra space. You will notice the neighbors looking over towards your balcony many times. The bathroom is also extremely large and has an amazing shower.

JW, I love you. I want to sail with you and Jerome.

 

I just can't imagine a better time than sailing with you two.

My wife and I have sailed with JW and Jerome and they were absolutely a blast to hang out with and talk to. There were many times we sat around and watched them (mainly JW) gamble and we laughed the entire time. I already miss the laughs...and maybe down the road we can connect again on another cruise! Until then I can't wait to read the rest of the review and especially the follow up review as we look to book our next cruise on the Escape in the near future.