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

[sailorusvi]

12 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Just found the ones we had on our last cruise! Don't show this to your husband, @sailorusvi

 

 

🤣    It's a real phobia called Sidongloobphia.  Who knew?  Well I didn't until 2006, but yeah, I still make fun of him at times.  Then I protect him from the big bad cotton balls or q-tips other times.

 

 

[cruiseinfoseeker]

👎

[cruiseinfoseeker]

[trbarton]

3 hours ago, cruiservictor said:

Go to the roll call for the January 20 cruise. On post 417, @JIMESOPUSposted pictures of the senior officer board. The Captain is Konstantinos Gkokas and the Staff Captain is Luksa Stanisic (spelling may be slightly off, the pictures got a little blurry when I tried to zoom in). 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

[Joesantos]

On 1/6/2023 at 5:25 PM, cruiseny4life said:

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. 

Where about is the ship 🚢 regarding to land?

According to cruise ship tracker out off of North Carolina and not moving north. Are you guys moving along at the normal speed? Sorry about asking but we’re driving to NYC later this morning and will be dealing with snow and a long drive to stay overnight with shuttle tomorrow. Fingers crossed no delays! Thanks 🙏🏻 to everyone for posting. Definitely happy with positive vibes 😇

[Laszlo]

38 minutes ago, Joesantos said:

Where about is the ship 🚢 regarding to land?

According to cruise ship tracker out off of North Carolina and not moving north. Are you guys moving along at the normal speed? Sorry about asking but we’re driving to NYC later this morning and will be dealing with snow and a long drive to stay overnight with shuttle tomorrow. Fingers crossed no delays! Thanks 🙏🏻 to everyone for posting. Definitely happy with positive vibes 😇

At 6:40am we are east of Cape Hatteras moving at 18 knots. We have travelled 3866 miles and have another 310 miles to go to NYC.

 

Our last two sea days we have Bering moving at a constant 20.5 knots today we are running at 18

 

Looking forward to getting off tomorrow. With any luck will be off, thru customs and driving home by 8am

 

Its a cloudy cool sea day today

 

 

Edited January 19, 2023 by Laszlo

[Chesneygirl]

They used facial recognition when we got off our cruise in Miami back in December. There was no customs line to deal with. We literally just walked off with our luggage and went straight to our car.

I wonder if it will be the same for you in NYC? 

[JIMESOPUS]

48 minutes ago, Chesneygirl said:

They used facial recognition when we got off our cruise in Miami back in December. There was no customs line to deal with. We literally just walked off with our luggage and went straight to our car.

I wonder if it will be the same for you in NYC? 

They had it setup in St Thomas and was using it randomly, hopefully they will use it on Friday

[luv2kroooz]

Unfortunately, the infrastructure at the ancient piers in New York City is decades behind the modern NCL terminal in Miami. The piers in NYC were developed at a time when ships were not so big. Facial recognition is certainly a step forward, but we have experienced significant backups in NYC.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, Chesneygirl said:

They used facial recognition when we got off our cruise in Miami back in December. There was no customs line to deal with. We literally just walked off with our luggage and went straight to our car.

I wonder if it will be the same for you in NYC? 

When we disembarked on January 8th, we used facial recognition. There was no displaying of passports. Just taking off the hat, looking at the monitor, and freaking out when the red border displayed...just before the green, we know who you are message comes up. 

 

2 hours ago, Joesantos said:

Where about is the ship 🚢 regarding to land?

According to cruise ship tracker out off of North Carolina and not moving north. Are you guys moving along at the normal speed? Sorry about asking but we’re driving to NYC later this morning and will be dealing with snow and a long drive to stay overnight with shuttle tomorrow. Fingers crossed no delays! Thanks 🙏🏻 to everyone for posting. Definitely happy with positive vibes 😇

Oh how I wish I could have answered this question. Alas, @Laszlo probably answered it better than I would have. My message that you quoted was from my ship arriving back in NYC on January 8th. I've just been following along, being annoying, and thoroughly enjoying @Laszlo, @cruiseinfoseeker, and @JIMESOPUSsharing their experiences onboard. 

[cruiseny4life]

11 hours ago, sailorusvi said:

 

🤣    It's a real phobia called Sidongloobphia.  Who knew?  Well I didn't until 2006, but yeah, I still make fun of him at times.  Then I protect him from the big bad cotton balls or q-tips other times.

 

 

Oh the things I never knew I needed to know. You realize I did confirm this with a Google search, right? Why on earth would a fear of cotton balls be named that? Greek or Latin roots I suppose. Anyway, I appreciate the knowledge. At least you know you won't get hurt when you're protecting him from his fears. 

[Laszlo]

1 hour ago, Chesneygirl said:

They used facial recognition when we got off our cruise in Miami back in December. There was no customs line to deal with. We literally just walked off with our luggage and went straight to our car.

I wonder if it will be the same for you in NYC? 

Hopefully will be driving home by 8am

[Laszlo]

Sunny and 70f

 

Just had a great breakfast in the Haven restaurant. It really made up for the lousy dinner in the Italian restaurant last night. I’ve had better Lasagna from Costco Lol

Edited January 19, 2023 by Laszlo

[Peachypooh]

13 hours ago, registrar said:

Is the makeup mirror MAGNIFIED 

I can't quite  remember but my guess is that it is.

[Laszlo]

13 hours ago, registrar said:

Is the makeup mirror MAGNIFIED 

In our Haven Spa cabin it is, however my wife always bring a small chargeable one

 

 

[Laszlo]

Just an FYI….

 

Per the Captain At 10:00am we were 100 miles east of Norfolk, Va. We are planning to pick up the pilot at Midnight, will pass the Verrazano Narrows about 2:30am and will dock at 3:30am…I won’t be deck taking any video, I might set up a time lapse

 

I’ll be back over the next few days and weeks posting links to videos when I have them done

[registrar]

Thanks so much laszlo ……that mirror looks perfect.    Don’t know why you’re docking so early…….Hope it doesn’t affect our sailing.

We get on tomorrow 

[graphicguy]

Thanks…what a great review.  Enjoyed all of it!!!!!!

[Chesneygirl]

I'm sad that this live thread is coming to an end. Thanks for taking us along…It's been fun following all of your adventures. 

[mking8288]

@Laszlo - we are ready to embark tomorrow.  Thank you. 

 

The North Atlantic looking ever so calm, peaceful and just wavelets, beautiful day at sea - enjoy every minute of it.  Last Fall, CruiseNext onboard announced that they had staterooms available on the spot if anybody wished to stay and do a B2B, that they got deals ... LOL as ships were sailing close to capacity.  Not so much tomorrow, like yours, sold out at this point but oddly enough, indirect reports over at another online portal that folks getting upgrade last minute & rushing to re-print eDocs & eLuggage tags. 

 

Tell us about last night with La Cucina, we booked an evening with them ... maybe, we'll bail over to Ocean Blue & make a change once onboard.  Thanks & look forward to those videos later. 

[PistolPete13]

Quick detour.  I know many on the 2/26/23 sailing is following this thread and I know there were some questions on the last stop in DR.

Just got this email from NCL with the adjusted times.  Posting this on the roll call as well.

[Joesantos]

Safe travels back home folks! Loved your information. In Jersey now after driving down to beat snowstorm in New England. Used trinity’s reservation exelent service.

your post were very helpful to all of us who benefit 

[kitkat343]

4 hours ago, mking8288 said:

@Laszlo - we are ready to embark tomorrow.  Thank you. 

 

The North Atlantic looking ever so calm, peaceful and just wavelets, beautiful day at sea - enjoy every minute of it.  Last Fall, CruiseNext onboard announced that they had staterooms available on the spot if anybody wished to stay and do a B2B, that they got deals ... LOL as ships were sailing close to capacity.  Not so much tomorrow, like yours, sold out at this point but oddly enough, indirect reports over at another online portal that folks getting upgrade last minute & rushing to re-print eDocs & eLuggage tags. 

 

Tell us about last night with La Cucina, we booked an evening with them ... maybe, we'll bail over to Ocean Blue & make a change once onboard.  Thanks & look forward to those videos later. 

I'm on the 1/8 sailing.  The risotto and the pasta besides the lasagna was good at La Cucina, but the pizza absolutely should not have been served (my son chose it and didn't eat it, a first for him not finishing a pizza. he'll eat the pizza at the buffett to give you a sense of the quality of that).

 

Moderno has sushi on its salad bar, and good cold cuts there.  The lamb was overcooked, so it wasn't as good as it could have been.

 

At Cagney's, the steak was perfectly cooked but served slightly more than lukewarm.  The garlic mashed potatoes were ice cold, and they ran out of risotto.  The scallops were really rubbery.  

 

Teppanyaki was good teppanyaki food (though we picked it so our kids could watch the show which once again wasn't the best but good enough to keep kids entertained). 

 

Tonight is Ocean Blue so I can let you know how that goes.  If you have access to the haven restaurant (and we don't) you might just want to stick to that. 

 

We sailed the NCL Star precovid, and back then the specialty restaurants served really good meals.  Now, they are generally serving something slightly better than should be served in the MDR.  

[Laszlo]

Last dinner in the Haven. The waitstaff has been great! Anita one of the bar staff is my favorite. Alex the concierge and Mark our butler have been great even though we didn’t really use them for much. Alisa our cabin steward is fantastic

 

I’m ready to get off, have a bunch of things at home I’m working on and I’m ready to see my 90lb Golden Furbaby 

[Laszlo]

6 hours ago, PistolPete13 said:

Quick detour.  I know many on the 2/26/23 sailing is following this thread and I know there were some questions on the last stop in DR.

Just got this email from NCL with the adjusted times.  Posting this on the roll call as well.

Your times are better than ours