Live From The Getaway..... 1-8-2023

[Laszlo]

Not quite "Live" yet, going to attempt to do a live review if my enthusiasm holds up.... 67 days to go

 

We booked this 12 day cruise about a year ago after our friends had said they were booking. We all booked Spa Balconies, actually right next to each other. Fast forward a bunch of months, final payment is done and we get an offer to put in some bids which I do. About a month after putting our bids in and tweaking the numbers I notice the price for Haven Cabins are dropping. No surprise as their were a lot of Haven cabins still available. Middle of last week I sent our TA and email asking to give me a quote on a Haven Spa Balcony. They are one of the cheapest Haven Cabins, I get the quote back and its about $600 cheaper than my max bid on the same cabin in the "Good" range. So at this point it's a no brainer, they're are only two Haven Spa Cabins left and I grab the one on the port side. I had a budget going into the cruise and it seems to be holding. Going into the cruise we knew we wanted Thermal Spa passes, it seems to always work out its cheaper to book a Spa Balcony than get a regular balcony and add on the passes later.

 

At this point we are 50% checked in, two NCL excursions booked and one Non NCL excursion booked and a handful of dinner reservations made. These were all done prior to getting the Haven Cabin. This will be our 12th NCL cruise and our second time in the Haven. Personally I would rather be sailing on one of the Jewel Class ships since they are our favorites but we wanted to do a 12-14 day and nothing really lined up. This will be our 5th time sailing out of NYC. We live about 90 minutes from the pier so for us its much easier than flying anywhere. Another big advantage is really don' have to worry about baggage weight. I tend to bring a fair amount of camera gear and snorkeling equipment. I just got a new mask with "Readers" in them I can't wait to use. I also got a underwater scooter. Our goal for the cruise is beaches and snorkeling. I'm really excited about our excursion in Barbados. I booked a 5 hour catamaran sail with "Silver Moon Barbados". The reviews for them are stellar. We had booked with them in 2018 for our 14 day cruise on the BA, however due to a hurricane our itinerary really got changed and Barbados was dropped.

 

I typical shoot a fair amount of photos and videos while traveling, I've promised my wife I will try to hold back some on this trip. I will be using a new GoPro 11, DJI Action and Pocket Cameras along with one of my trusty Nikon underwater cameras. 

 

Links to my equipment here...

GoPro 11 https://amzn.to/3DTyL4j

DJI Action 3 https://www.dji.com/osmo-action-3?site=brandsite&from=nav

DJI Pocket https://amzn.to/3NwwOOr

 

Lefeet S1 Pro Underwater Scooter...  https://amzn.to/3sOIt1A

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship / cruise let me know and I'll do my best to answer them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 2, 2022 by Laszlo

[cruiservictor]

Will look forward to your reports as we are doing the same itinerary on February 6th.  Is there any way to modify the title of the thread to say 2023?

[Laszlo]

22 minutes ago, cruiservictor said:

Will look forward to your reports as we are doing the same itinerary on February 6th.  Is there any way to modify the title of the thread to say 2023?

Have great trip.... Fixed

Edited November 2, 2022 by Laszlo

[Laszlo]

A quick edit / add. I had originally booked and paid for Vibe passes 2-3 months ago when you could get them online. Since we are now booked in the Haven I canceled them. I must have spoke to 5 different people at NCL customer service. First person said I had to go thru my TA, second person didn't know how. I'm not sure about the third or forth, I got transferred to managers who never picked up. I finally go to someone who said no problem. Within 10 seconds it was done, at least it's not on my reservation anymore. Hopefully in 7-10 days my CC will get the refund

[Laszlo]

Not the change I was hoping for. From what I was reading about NCL and the DR I knew we were most likely not going to stop there. However I though we might stop at GSC or Nassau. We are also loosing three hours of beach time in St John. Maybe the distance between Barbados and St John has change since NCL originally planned this itinerary Lol

 

 

[brookie848]

So sorry your time in Antigua is cut short. It is my favorite port (we go to BeachLimerz). The cruise I want to book in 2024 has a stop there.

 

Even with the changes, enjoy your cruise!

[cruiseny4life]

Well that's not the kind of change you want to find out about. I suppose it's better now than once you board. I've never been to St. Thomas, so I hope there is something there that will keep you interested/entertained for an extra three hours. 

 

Personally, I'd be thrilled about an extra sea day, but I know not everyone shares my enthusiasm about being @Trappedontheboat for even more days. 

[Laszlo]

7 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Well that's not the kind of change you want to find out about. I suppose it's better now than once you board. I've never been to St. Thomas, so I hope there is something there that will keep you interested/entertained for an extra three hours. 

 

Personally, I'd be thrilled about an extra sea day, but I know not everyone shares my enthusiasm about being @Trappedontheboat for even more days. 

Will have 5.75 sea days total. We were just going to spend 4-5 hours at Megans Bay in St Thomas. Since we picked up three hours I'm going to look in taking the ferry over to Cruz Bay on St John

[amygutman]

Just booked the Getaway Haven for April 2023 - very much looking forward to your report!

Have a wonderful and safe cruise!

Warmest, Amy

[Davechipp74]

I am on board with this thread as I am on the Jan. 20th sailing, and looking forward to living vicariously through this thread 12 days before my 12 days aboard. 

[lilsdad]

We are also on the Jan 20 sailing. This will almost be like doing a B2B!

Thanks!

Jeff and ML

[RadioPeri]

3 hours ago, lilsdad said:

We are also on the Jan 20 sailing. This will almost be like doing a B2B!

Thanks!

Jeff and ML

 

Okay, I'll make it three in a row. 😊 Hello, fellow January 20th cruisers!

Looking forward to a preview to further whet our appetite!

[zanharst]

4 in a row...lol...we are also on the January 20th cruise!  Looking forward to this live report!

 

Kristin and Andy

[EllieinNJ]

I'm on the Getaway in February on a short cheapo cruise to Bermuda.  We just did this itinerary in November on Princess or else I probably would have been on this or the 1/20 cruise.

[cementhands]

On 11/2/2022 at 9:01 AM, Laszlo said:

Not quite "Live" yet, going to attempt to do a live review if my enthusiasm holds up.... 67 days to go

 

We booked this 12 day cruise about a year ago after our friends had said they were booking. We all booked Spa Balconies, actually right next to each other. Fast forward a bunch of months, final payment is done and we get an offer to put in some bids which I do. About a month after putting our bids in and tweaking the numbers I notice the price for Haven Cabins are dropping. No surprise as their were a lot of Haven cabins still available. Middle of last week I sent our TA and email asking to give me a quote on a Haven Spa Balcony. They are one of the cheapest Haven Cabins, I get the quote back and its about $600 cheaper than my max bid on the same cabin in the "Good" range. So at this point it's a no brainer, they're are only two Haven Spa Cabins left and I grab the one on the port side. I had a budget going into the cruise and it seems to be holding. Going into the cruise we knew we wanted Thermal Spa passes, it seems to always work out its cheaper to book a Spa Balcony than get a regular balcony and add on the passes later.

 

At this point we are 50% checked in, two NCL excursions booked and one Non NCL excursion booked and a handful of dinner reservations made. These were all done prior to getting the Haven Cabin. This will be our 12th NCL cruise and our second time in the Haven. Personally I would rather be sailing on one of the Jewel Class ships since they are our favorites but we wanted to do a 12-14 day and nothing really lined up. This will be our 5th time sailing out of NYC. We live about 90 minutes from the pier so for us its much easier than flying anywhere. Another big advantage is really don' have to worry about baggage weight. I tend to bring a fair amount of camera gear and snorkeling equipment. I just got a new mask with "Readers" in them I can't wait to use. I also got a underwater scooter. Our goal for the cruise is beaches and snorkeling. I'm really excited about our excursion in Barbados. I booked a 5 hour catamaran sail with "Silver Moon Barbados". The reviews for them are stellar. We had booked with them in 2018 for our 14 day cruise on the BA, however due to a hurricane our itinerary really got changed and Barbados was dropped.

 

I typical shoot a fair amount of photos and videos while traveling, I've promised my wife I will try to hold back some on this trip. I will be using a new GoPro 11, DJI Action and Pocket Cameras along with one of my trusty Nikon underwater cameras. 

 

Links to my equipment here...

GoPro 11 https://amzn.to/3DTyL4j

DJI Action 3 https://www.dji.com/osmo-action-3?site=brandsite&from=nav

DJI Pocket https://amzn.to/3NwwOOr

 

Lefeet S1 Pro Underwater Scooter...  https://amzn.to/3sOIt1A

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship / cruise let me know and I'll do my best to answer them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 11/2/2022 at 9:01 AM, Laszlo said:

Not quite "Live" yet, going to attempt to do a live review if my enthusiasm holds up.... 67 days to go

 

We booked this 12 day cruise about a year ago after our friends had said they were booking. We all booked Spa Balconies, actually right next to each other. Fast forward a bunch of months, final payment is done and we get an offer to put in some bids which I do. About a month after putting our bids in and tweaking the numbers I notice the price for Haven Cabins are dropping. No surprise as their were a lot of Haven cabins still available. Middle of last week I sent our TA and email asking to give me a quote on a Haven Spa Balcony. They are one of the cheapest Haven Cabins, I get the quote back and its about $600 cheaper than my max bid on the same cabin in the "Good" range. So at this point it's a no brainer, they're are only two Haven Spa Cabins left and I grab the one on the port side. I had a budget going into the cruise and it seems to be holding. Going into the cruise we knew we wanted Thermal Spa passes, it seems to always work out its cheaper to book a Spa Balcony than get a regular balcony and add on the passes later.

 

At this point we are 50% checked in, two NCL excursions booked and one Non NCL excursion booked and a handful of dinner reservations made. These were all done prior to getting the Haven Cabin. This will be our 12th NCL cruise and our second time in the Haven. Personally I would rather be sailing on one of the Jewel Class ships since they are our favorites but we wanted to do a 12-14 day and nothing really lined up. This will be our 5th time sailing out of NYC. We live about 90 minutes from the pier so for us its much easier than flying anywhere. Another big advantage is really don' have to worry about baggage weight. I tend to bring a fair amount of camera gear and snorkeling equipment. I just got a new mask with "Readers" in them I can't wait to use. I also got a underwater scooter. Our goal for the cruise is beaches and snorkeling. I'm really excited about our excursion in Barbados. I booked a 5 hour catamaran sail with "Silver Moon Barbados". The reviews for them are stellar. We had booked with them in 2018 for our 14 day cruise on the BA, however due to a hurricane our itinerary really got changed and Barbados was dropped.

 

I typical shoot a fair amount of photos and videos while traveling, I've promised my wife I will try to hold back some on this trip. I will be using a new GoPro 11, DJI Action and Pocket Cameras along with one of my trusty Nikon underwater cameras. 

 

Links to my equipment here...

GoPro 11 https://amzn.to/3DTyL4j

DJI Action 3 https://www.dji.com/osmo-action-3?site=brandsite&from=nav

DJI Pocket https://amzn.to/3NwwOOr

 

Lefeet S1 Pro Underwater Scooter...  https://amzn.to/3sOIt1A

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship / cruise let me know and I'll do my best to answer them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing your information. Heard itenarary might change as far as Puerta plata. We’re going later in January. Wife loves Zumba and dancing so dailies and information will be greatly appreciated 

Thanks

[trbarton]

On 12/21/2022 at 5:16 AM, Laszlo said:

Not the change I was hoping for. From what I was reading about NCL and the DR I knew we were most likely not going to stop there. However I though we might stop at GSC or Nassau. We are also loosing three hours of beach time in St John. Maybe the distance between Barbados and St John has change since NCL originally planned this itinerary Lol

 

 

I’m on the February 6, 2023 cruise. Did NCL notify you about the changes?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

[AtlantaAlly]

2 hours ago, trbarton said:

I’m on the February 6, 2023 cruise. Did NCL notify you about the changes?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

Not the OP but yes- NCL notified him. The screenshot with the highlights on the itinerary where there were changes came from an email from NCL.

[trbarton]

2 hours ago, AtlantaAlly said:

Not the OP but yes- NCL notified him. The screenshot with the highlights on the itinerary where there were changes came from an email from NCL.

Thank you very much. Hopefully I’ll get a notice from NCL if our schedule is changed. 
 

Tom😀

[Chesneygirl]

Have a great trip! Looking forward to your live feed! 

[cruiser123!]

f you like art auctions, be sure to go on the Getaway.    Adrian was the most fun Art Director we have ever seen.     My teenage son even enjoyed it.   We went EVERY day.   ha

[bren61]

We are on Jan 20th & following. 

[Laszlo]

Looks like the itinerary change is official. Why some people and TA got the change last week and others did not is beyond me. Just checked in a saw this

[cruiseny4life]

We are heading back to NYC to hand the boat over to you. This caused much consternation as we would all like to stay on forever...alas, our better selves won over and the ship cruises north.

 

I say all, but apparently there are a few that can't wait to get off this ship if elevator conversation is to be believed. 

[trbarton]

I’m on the February 6, 2023 cruise  & here what’s the current NCL website shows for our cruise. 
 

 

 

I also looked at the port schedule for Puerto Plata & it shows that we are still going there so we’ll see what happens. It shows us arriving on February 15, 2023. 
 

Interesting as some ships are scheduled to go there & some are not. 

Tom😀 

Edited January 6, 2023 by trbarton

[trbarton]

I’m on the February 6, 2023 & here what’s the NCL website shows. 
 

 

I also looked at the port schedule for Puerto Plata & it shows that we are still going there so we’ll see what happens. 

Here’s the current reply from Chat. 
 

Here’s the current reply from Chat. ‘Thank you for waiting. I do not show any itinerary changes for your sailing. If a change is made we would notify the guest at that time.’
 

Tom😀