Semi-Live Getaway 2.0 Jan 16 - Feb 1, 2023 NY - So. Caribbean ... 12 nights ( is it Live, Semi-Live or Limited ?? )

[GizmoCat]

16 hours ago, trbarton said:

Since I’m traveling solo I wondering if they would agree to let me have the same waitstaff/table each night with a shared table?

 

Tom😀

Hi Tom I’ve been solo a few times. Definitely go to solo meet ups. They ask who wants to go for dinner and the host reserves a table. Nice to see some familiar faces each night

[mking8288]

@poohdreaming Tropicana, Taste & Savor all served & use the same rotating menu system. Speed seemed to be slower with the larger Trop, as the gallery is 1 deck below via escalators. Hard to say which is better or good, part of it depends on your server team & you table's grouping. 

 

If you have a large group of 8 or higher from multiple cabins, definitely speak to one of the host/ess to help plan ahead, try to agree on an early group dining time together as it's easier for everyone. Taste has more flexibility with large & long tables than Savor. We prefer round tables but that's usual for 6, 8 and some 10's in Tropicana. 

 

I know Taste has 2 elevated semi-private sections that can seat around 20 in total with 2 pairs of long tables combined.

Edited January 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

It's Showtime tonight at the Tropicana Theater - Million Dollar Quartert at 7:30 pm.  Rushed to dinner at 5 pm, informed our server & we finished at 6:30, made a bathroom stop & became first in line at 6:40 and tonight, doors opened promptly on time at 7 pm. Choice of best seats aside from maybe 20 from Haven already escorted inside via the side door. 

 

There's a separate standby time to the right ... looks more organized than last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Tonight's MDR menu as used on Day 11 - braised beef short ribs was good, food temperature just warm.  Just passable & edible, even Mrs M started noticing the little details ...

 

Subject opinions, strictly personal.

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2023 by mking8288

[trbarton]

2 hours ago, GizmoCat said:

Hi Tom I’ve been solo a few times. Definitely go to solo meet ups. They ask who wants to go for dinner and the host reserves a table. Nice to see some familiar faces each night

I see that it’s in a place called the  Illusionarium which I don’t see anywhere on the deck plans. Do you know where it’s located?

 

Thanks for your suggestion. 
 

Tom😀

[www3traveler]

6 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I see that it’s in a place called the  Illusionarium which I don’t see anywhere on the deck plans. Do you know where it’s located?

 

Thanks for your suggestion. 
 

Tom😀

According to the postings (Freestyle Daily) above from mking8288, the Solo Meet Ups are in the Bliss Lounge.

[Bonobochick]

17 minutes ago, trbarton said:

I see that it’s in a place called the  Illusionarium which I don’t see anywhere on the deck plans. Do you know where it’s located?

 

Thanks for your suggestion. 
 

Tom😀

 

Deck 6.  https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/getaway/deck-plans

[brookie848]

On 1/21/2023 at 7:30 AM, mking8288 said:

Back online this morning, waited till after midnight and upgraded to basic unlimited WiFi, $30 x 11 days at $330, less $145 trade-up credit for $185 in costs. OBC will reduce the net cost further and keep DW happy, and we'll share our usage. Plus, still have 300 minutes on the 2nd FAS package to use. 

 

Phone & Messenger app functions still offered at $9.95 per device ... did it once before, not reliable. No Deal.

 

 

 

Henry -- I'm really enjoying your review. I'm looking forward to being able to longer cruises like this in the hopefully near future.

 

One question about upgrading the Internet -- do you have to upgrade both Person #1 and #2 in the cabin? Or can only one person upgrade? Looking online before the cruise it seems that both of us would have to upgrade. Of course I might be able to do upgrade only one of us if I call.

[mking8288]

21 minutes ago, brookie848 said:

... I'm looking forward to being able to longer cruises like this in the hopefully near future ... do you have to upgrade both Person #1 and #2 in the cabin? Or can only one person upgrade? ... might be able to do upgrade only one of us if I call.

Happy & pleased to know that the efforts made to do another "Semi Live" report 2.0 on the GA is helpful and useful to more than a few CC'er as being informative - as after Laszlo's Live Report, wasn't sure if there's much else to add ... apparently, lots of areas for someone to cover - his work helped me to look for ways to compliment & supplement.  Haven & Beverage packaging, areas that I do not cover but pretty well answered thus far.  I was set to just lay low and slip under the radar, stay discrete & only do a very limited coverage or report ... then, with all the purported changes by NCL rolling out ... not good to just leave stones untouched.  

 

On my Sony Vaio notebook PC again, switching among multiple devices and it's much easier for me answer questions & followup on specific issues with a keypad & mouse ("hate" using touchpads to scroll around) - once I try to log in, the NCL server network warned & asked if it can disconnect the "other" device for the current/newest device to go online - since the user "profile" is limited one device at a given time, as many registered devices as desired (3 smartphone, 1 iPhone, 1 Windows PC, and 1 iPad Mini that I haven't used much ... should've left it home & save a little weight or 1 lb of "extra" but backup gear if the notebook PC crashed on me.

 

Answer to your questions is yes, you can (and, IMHO should) upgrade 1 of the 2 users only - especially on longer cruises like ours at 12 days, and as I mentioned - upgrade at 00:01 on Day 2 (with 2.5 full sea days ahead) - and just share the minutes.  DW's "free" 300 minutes remained usable after "my" upgrade to basic unlimited.  She & I used it for quick online access when the other person is on the unlimited mode - and there's still about 7 minutes remaining, and unlikely to need any large block of extra MB/minutes to be added as we are now en-route back to NY.  Someone else, I believed, confirmed that it's possible to call in & upgrade only 1 person - give it a try.

 

But, if you have any non-refundable OBC on a NCL cruise ahead, wait until you are onboard & then do the 1 person only upgrade - and OBC will cover some/all of the charges, like we did.

 

Our net cost for 11 days of 1 person basic WiFi is just $85 after using $100 OBC to help offset it.  Not bad - still more than my Google Fi's 1 month worth of Unlimited Plus coverage in cost/charges.  DW's Google Fi will get billed about $15 extra in data w taxes/fees as those aren't covered on her Fi plan.  

 

DW was in retail banking for nearly 40 years until our planned early retirement together, and it was pretty difficult for her to do extended cruises - especially in the month of January or February until then.  Looking forward to doing a lot more ahead ... plus other forms of vacation & travel.  Just start planning ahead toward those dreams.  

[mking8288]

3 hours ago, www3traveler said:

According to the postings (Freestyle Daily) above from mking8288, the Solo Meet Ups are in the Bliss Lounge.

Apparently, the solo coordinator onboard the GA is very good - location(s) & time of the solo events are posted ahead in the FSD, tomorrow (Monday) - they are meeting in the Illusionarium - must be a very sizabe group.  They're planning to do dinners together & getting them into the shows as a group, etc.   An old colleague of mine onboard this cruise sounded pretty happy with things as a solo cruiser.  

[mking8288]

Good morning, our onboard navigational instruments showed that we are in the Bermuda triangle, traveling 900+ nm since we left Amber Cove after 4 pm yesterday with a cruise speed of 20 nm.

 

Subtle changes are noticed in just about everywhere, see if a recent frequent cruiser can spot it.  I will chat about this later. OSH for breakfast shortly 👌

 

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by mking8288

[JIMESOPUS]

@mking8288Safe travels north, Windy has it smooth sailing for the next 24hrs, your sailing looks very similar to ours as in weather, strange for the North Atlantic this time of the year

[Sugar Magnolia]

15 minutes ago, JIMESOPUS said:

@mking8288Safe travels north, Windy has it smooth sailing for the next 24hrs, your sailing looks very similar to ours as in weather, strange for the North Atlantic this time of the year

 

Hope the weather holds for our Getaway sailing to Bermuda right after @mking8288. However, right now I see the forecast has winds gusting up to 30-45 mph on Friday and Saturday when we are scheduled to dock. 

 

A big thank you to @JIMESOPUS and @mking8288 for their helpful posts and great pics from the Breakaway and the Getaway, respectively.

 

[mking8288]

Day 13 onboard, a little commentary about food & dining on the GA as we see it on this cruise.  OSH gets the top score for mostly fast services, mostly friendly & almost served as they arrived at our table, hot & not just warm. 

 

It's a rating that 4 of us collectively agreed upon, YMMV and this is our subjective opinion, when hot food is served at or barely above room temperature, it does not meet expectations. OSH serve up a hot, juicy burger - try that in the MDR, guaranteed you will be disappointed.

 

There was a line waiting to get seated but not too bad, about 10 minutes ... several empty tables w dishes & plates waiting for extra help, yet to arrive, to clean things up. Crew shortage as assigned & deployed are clearly unmistakable. When the white uniformed "officer" is helping to clean up the tables & doing asst hostess duties, you know ... I'll write up a bit more post-cruise.

 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

It's a zoo at Shanghai Noodles while waiting for the first seating to finish eating & tables to get cleaned up, already 1:10 pm.  Poker tournament being held right next to the restaurant with another crowd hanging up.

 

Keeping our 3-ply face mask on with coughing heard.  Rapid testing result onboard 3 nights ago were negative, 1 line only for the control - good 👍 and feeling good & fine (thus far, staying healthy)

 

 

Edited January 30, 2023 by mking8288

[trbarton]

18 hours ago, mking8288 said:

It's Showtime tonight at the Tropicana Theater - Million Dollar Quartert at 7:30 pm.  Rushed to dinner at 5 pm, informed our server & we finished at 6:30, made a bathroom stop & became first in line at 6:40 and tonight, doors opened promptly on time at 7 pm. Choice of best seats aside from maybe 20 from Haven already escorted inside via the side door. 

 

There's a separate standby time to the right ... looks more organized than last week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do I make reservations each day for the theater & if so where are they made?  Can you make a reservation before boarding the ship?

 

Thanks!

 

Tom😀

[mking8288]

Disembarkation schedule for Wed. as listed & posted.

 

[mking8288]

SH Noodles @ lunch earlier 

 

[tomberly]

Enjoying your review.  My husband and I will be on the Getaway August 8 from London to Lisbon, Portugal.  

[mking8288]

Beautiful & sunny, picture perfect end of January ... winter afternoon sailing back to NY, temp is 83 deg. F, seas 4.9 ft. and head wind from the bow at 23 knots, 480 nm to go at 20.5 knots - should put us at Ambrose around 5 am for the pilot boat & in the Lower Bay around 7, docking before 8 am - don't see any chance of early arrival. Tonight, we turn the clock back by 1 hour at 2 am. 

 

 

 

g

Edited January 30, 2023 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Tech geeks - here's a picture of most of our gears, gadgets, smartphone, and iPhone SE on wireless charger. Mophie 10,000 maH power bank is a must, has both USB and USB-C port for dual charging 2 devices.

 

A 10 ft. USB 3.0 extension + a 6 ft. extension to pair up with a 1 meter charging cord allows us to reach the bed & into the balcony easily to use & charge the device. 

 

There are no USB ports to use at the bedside reading lamps - NCL didn't upgrade them.

 

[mking8288]

Compare to previous NCL cruises, not finding really more than 1 to 2 vacation heros to write & recognize. The friendly, smiling, cheerful & helpful energies that come to symbolize NCL's crews & team spirits, not - not coming together on this ship unlike a year ago & with almost the same senior team. None of them, as we've seen over the last 12 days, in going above & beyond, as the synergy seemed missing.  This is a personal opinion of mine & ours alone.  

 

Frankie & Larry should pay attention and listen & find a solution, with the recent wave of changes.  But, I am afraid ... 

 

[zqvol]

1 minute ago, mking8288 said:

Compare to previous NCL cruises, not finding really more than 1 to 2 vacation heros to write & recognize. The friendly, smiling, cheerful & helpful energies that come to symbolize NCL's crews & team spirits, not - not coming together on this ship unlike a year ago & with almost the same senior team. None of them, as we've seen over the last 12 days, in going above & beyond, as the synergy seemed missing.  This is a personal opinion of mine & ours alone.  

 

Frankie & Larry should pay attention and listen & find a solution, with the recent wave of changes.  But, I am afraid ... 

 

Never in 9 cruises found anyone to write about. What’s changed?

[www3traveler]

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

Compare to previous NCL cruises, not finding really more than 1 to 2 vacation heros to write & recognize. The friendly, smiling, cheerful & helpful energies that come to symbolize NCL's crews & team spirits, not - not coming together on this ship unlike a year ago & with almost the same senior team. None of them, as we've seen over the last 12 days, in going above & beyond, as the synergy seemed missing.  This is a personal opinion of mine & ours alone.  

 

Frankie & Larry should pay attention and listen & find a solution, with the recent wave of changes.  But, I am afraid ... 

 

His name is Harry not Larry.

[misstamster]

2 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

His name is Harry not Larry.

So!!!!