bambione

I have to agree with most people here. Definitely go to Cagney's for dinner, and Burn the Floor. If you like Burn the Floor have dinner one night at the Tropicanna main dining room when they are performing. I also liked Legally Blonde, and the piano bar. I loved to relax on the waterfront in the mornngs and just read a book. I'm going again in January, and this time I want to play "Let's Make A Deal".

It's been one week for me and I've lost 1 pound. I've been eating really good this past week and I'm logging all my calories into MyFitnessPal. That is good motivation for me. I've also been going out and walking every day, except for the days it snows! Today I had some popcorn from Target. It was just so salty that I just felt really blah after eating it.

With the connecting rooms can you leave the door open between the rooms at night?

Myself, I'd probably go with the Family OV to save money. I've been in those OV rooms and they are roomy enough since your kids are smaller. There is a curtain that you could pull between the bed and the make up couches, which would help with naptime for the smaller one.

I think it all comes down to money. If you can swing the two connecting rooms I would probably go with that option, a little more privacy and room to spread out. Plus during naptime you can relax on the balcony.

Is this different when you receive the UBP as part of the promo? My husband and I plus our 21 year old daughter will be in the same room. My husband and I both received the UBP package, but our daughter (much to her dismay) only receives the unlimited soda package.

So lets get it right

Since my February 2015 cruise

the following has happened

 

ROOM SERVICE

Has increased from FREE to $7.95 a delivery

 

DRINKS

have increased in price. 14% for my tipple

 

DRINKS SERVICE CHARGE

Has increase from 15% to 18 %

 

SPECIALIST DINING

Has now 18% added to the bill

 

DSC

has been increased

 

What else? has disappeared or added.

 

please added

 

these increases on there own are not much but when lumped together add a great deal.

i intend to enjoy my next cruise, in April to the same same level as the last be intrested in the increased cost.

 

NCL certainly no how to upset there customers

j

I looked at your list, and it was nice to have it all posted to look at it.

1) I don't do room service, so that doesn't really affect me.

2) I have the UBP, which I am thrilled to be given. So I don't have to worry about drink prices and service charges.

3) Specialty dining auto gratuity. I usually tip around 20% anyway, so that's no big deal. However, I do hate an auto gratuity at a restaurant and would adjust according if service is bad due to the fault of the waitstaff.

4) DSC-I did prepay this so it doesn't affect me.

The price of my oceanview cabin has gone up in price since I booked. So all in all nothing has affected me. However, I can certainly understand the ire of those who have made their final payments and found all these price changes that could possibly affect them. If I did room service constantly I'm sure I would be bothered by this change.

I personally think NCL should have done all these price changes at once, posted them on their website, send out an email, and have them take affect in a few months. This last minute sneaky stuff does bother me!

It is my understanding that the NCL luggage tags are the wide size. I just purchased the luggage tags from Amazon. I believe it was 8 tags for 16.95. I am going on my next cruise with a bunch of people and I'm using those tags are prizes for finding a margarita or beer glass picture in a monthly cruise newsletter that I'm doing for my family. I haven't received the tags yet, so can't attest to the quality of them, but the reviews were good.

I went with a large group on the Getaway a year ago. Not all of us would be in the same picture at the same time. So if I was around when they were having a picture taken of maybe just a few of them I told the photography to put it on my room. That way I could get all the pictures for the group price and just give them copies.

I also had the pictures put on a flash drive, made it easy to give everyone their copies.

I've been following this thread as well. I am so happy for you. It was also really nice to read this thread with all the positive comments in it. I just loved all the encouragement you received from everyone.

I also wanted to thank you. We sailed the Getaway March 2014, and are going again this January. I am sending out a monthly newsletter about our cruise to other family members going along (total 13). I am going to include your final compiled tips to send along on one of the newsletters. One of my favorite things to do was to relax along the waterfront, and yes, there were some waitstaff that would come along and take drink orders.

Hi Everyone,

I'm Karen and right now I want to lose about 20-25 pounds. I should lose 25 more but I'm starting with that goal. I just started my "diet" 3 days ago and I'm doing good. I got the "myfitnesspal" app and I love it. I'm inputting all my calories which is good accountability for me. It has a scanner to scan bar codes for calorie and nutrition information, and a search feature. I just found out a slice of Costco pizza has 700 calories. I'm surprised I don't weigh more than I do! I'm also going to walk more, but I have a bad ankle so I need to take a lot of Aleve.

What works for me? I think tracking my calories exactly will, plus eating a decent breakfast with protein works, and having a midmorning snack with protein as well. I also get bored easily with food, so will have to search and find more low cal foods to eat, especially for dinner. The good thing is I love salads, I can eat one of those every day.

I like what one poster said, about allowing two cheat meals a week. That would work for me.

I want to go from wearing a 1x top to an XL top to start with. I can find so many more clothes options if I don't need to be in the plus department. Bottoms I'm fine with, since I take a large. My top and middle area are much bigger so I suffer there.

I'm looking for some good inspiration with food choices. Anyone know any good websites that have good suggestions for healthy foods?

Thanks everyone,

I agree with what everyone else has said. My husband loved the Flamingo Grill, we both really liked Cagney's, and I did enjoy a few mojitos. Burning Down the Floor was a great show, and then we saw a mini performance at the Tropicana dining room. I also really liked Legally Blonde, although that show isn't for everyone. I'm going on the Getaway again January 2016, and want to see those shows again. I also really enjoyed The Newlywed Game, and listening to Karaoke. But I think my favorite part was just lounging on the couches at the Waterfront, just reading a book and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.

We didn't do any ship excursions. For both St Thomas and St Maarten we just walked off the ship and did a town excursion through a private company. We didn't have advance reservations, just showed up.

Have a great trip.

We are looking to book on the Breakaway as well and wanted the oceanview, but my concern was the same. Deck 5 looks as though it could be loud, being below the restaurant, comedy club and atrium. Can you tell me what room you had that was quiet. I would like to try that. DH likes a quiet room

Many thanks

We were in room 5102 on the Getaway, but as far as rooms goes it has the same layout as the Breakaway. When we go in January we are staying in 5178 and I hope it's as nice as 5102.

March 2014 we stayed in a family oceanview on deck 5, midship. It was quite roomy and had no noise. My husband slept better than he's ever had.

I always enjoy reading people's lists of what they should have brought/have done. I especially liked your list item "have more me time". When I went on the Getaway March 2014 the part I enjoyed the most was just relaxing on the waterfront in the mornings all by myself reading a book. I don't know where my husband was, or my inlaws, and didn't really care! Just enjoyed the quiet time relaxing on a couch.

Thanks for your great review. I also read your Getaway review and enjoyed that since I have been on that ship before and will go again next January. When reading your Getaway review I noticed that you are a "scrapbooker". I think scrapbookers have the best pictures, because they look for the day to day things and unusual items to photo. You certainly do well with that! My family would sometimes make fun of me for the little things I would take pictures of, like all the food pictures when I was on my Danube cruise. But when they saw the album I made for each of them afterwards they stopped making fun of me. I had a complete two page spread of food dishes! I do digital now, I design my pages in Photoshop Elements and upload them to Shutterfly to print out my books. I think the next time I cruise I will look for some of those scrapbooking elements you mentioned were there on the Getaway. I can scan them and manipulate them in Photoshop.

Do you print out your "review" and put it in your scrapbook? It certainly has a lot of information that will bring back fond memories to everyone. Sometimes my kids look back at their old scrapbooks and just laugh and enjoy those moments. It's a lot harder now to get them to pose for pics or to even secretly snap a photo (I like a lot of unposed pics as well).

You are giving the best gift of all to your family, being able to look back at these pictures and written down memories and enjoy them for years to come.

Just to be safe, and to have a little variety, have you thought about bringing along a bottle of your own dressing?

That seems a bit excessive to me. We were on the Getaway last March and had plenty of time to catch a 12:30 flight. Depending on how many are in your party NCL also has a shuttle from POM to FLL, it costs $25/per person. It takes about 40 minutes to get from POM to FLL. If you are taking a shuttle are they going to be waiting around for other people to get off the ship? That could hold you up. I'm not an expert, and I'm sure some other people will chime in here as well.

Of course there could always be the usual problems, like a ship arriving really late, your suitcases are flagged in customs, a big traffic accident, etc. But I think you'll be fine.

I probably will not add any extra gratuity if I eat at a specialty restaurant. However, if I'm at a bar or poolside I will give the bartender an extra buck or two.

March 2014 We went on our first NCL Getaway cruise. My husband and I ate at Cagneys one night. I just assumed that the DSC did not cover the gratuity, so just automatically tipped like we would normally do at a restaurant. We are going again on the Getaway Jan 2016 and will probably eat one meal at a specialty restaurant. Now NCL is saying that we need to tip, which we assumed previously we were supposed to do anyway. One poster mentioned that people are upset at being told what exactly to tip, I have to agree there. I don't like being told specifically that I have to tip 18%. Will I still eat at a specialty restaurant? Yes I will. Will I pay attention to whether or not I get good service? Yes I will. If I get less than average service I will just go to Guest Services and complain and ask for my money back. I'm not particularly concerned about how DSC is divided up among restaurant staff, or if it is double dipping or not. I just want to decide how much to tip at specialty restaurants. What is odd is I don't really care if a 18% tip is added on to my bar bill, but I want to decide how much on my restaurant bill.

Thanks for starting this post. While I realize you don't need to purchase nice luggage tag holders, I would rather do that. I'm going to try to find the ones on Amazon and buy a bunch to give to my relatives.

Are you a big coffee drinker? I would suggest bringing along your own travel mug as well so you don't have to constantly refill your little coffee cup. I drink a lot of cold liquids, and really liked the ice tea on the buffet. So I had my own insulated mug for cold beverages that I could carry around with me. I also like to bring along a tote bag to carry around the ship to hold my kindle, beach towel, camera, etc.

I enjoyed reading your review. I was on the Getaway last March and had a great time. Booked another cruise on the Getaway for Jan 2016. I took a few notes on your review of a few different things I want to try, like the pineapple coconut mojito sounds yummy! One thing that surprised me on the Getaway was how much I enjoyed some of the "dumb" shows like the Newlywed game. I thought it would be so stupid but I really enjoyed it. I plan on watching more of those shows when I cruise again.

So thanks again,

We booked our rooms beginning of February for our Jan 2016 Getaway cruise.

I was doing my own research beforehand to check out "deals" on NCL. On the AARP website that linked to NCL it said you could use both promotions. When we talked to our TA (has a big online site) she said we were not able to use both the new Freestyle choice promotion and AARP promotion. I read her what it said online so she called NCL. When she called me back she thanked me and said she learned something new. Evidently this had just switched so you could combine the current promotion and use the AARP discount.

I had just joined AARP to get the NCL discount, so I was feeling really old but was happy to save a little bit of money.

Last March we went on the Getaway to St Maarten. I decided not to book a ship excursion but just get off the ship and see what we could find. We just started talking to this nice gentleman about tours and I asked him his name, it was "Bernard". Immediately lights starting going off and I booked his tour. It wasn't with him, but another person who did a great tour of the island. I told him I had heard of his name from Cruise Critic and he said yes, he did a lot of tours with people that posted on Cruise Critic.

Karen

Do you know that NCL has shuttles from their ship to FLL? I was just checking for airline tickets myself to see which was cheaper, FLL or MIA, and in my research found that NCL has shuttles going to both MIA and FLL. It was 16.00/person to go to MIA and 25/per person to FLL.

Karen