Robkat

What a shame for everyone who was on this cruise. But, also, what a position NCL is in ... what with a major hurricane hitting the state, the entire state under a State of Emergency, and so much damage down in the Caribbean. Sitting here in Florida right now, with this monster storm about to smash into us, it's difficult to even imagine a ship leaving from here, heading out on a cruise. Sorry to all those who were scheduled to be aboard, but ...

Our understanding has always been that the club balcony cabins are the exact same size as the regular balcony cabin, with the exception of the bathroom being a little larger, with a fancier jet shower nozzle. The video above seems to confirm that. There are two twin beds in the cabin, and the couch makes up into a bed. When you board, If the beds are together as a queen, just ask the room steward to separate them. Enjoy your cruise! The Escape is a favorite of ours and we'll be back on her in November.

Omigosh! Yes, the shipboard stores will have sweaters and, probably, light windbreakers. But they'd probably cost a fortune. It looks like this cruise is departing from Miami, so if you were going in there a day before, if it was at all possible, you'd probably have more choices and much better prices if you could pick up some warm weather clothing there. If you could get to a Walmart, or a Target, or any major department store, you'd find more to pick from, without over-spending on clothes that you might not need again. PS. We live in south Florida, and all the stores are now full of warm weather clothing.

The guest use staircase down to Deck 16 from Deck 18 can be seen over the lady’s left ear at the 3.33 minute mark in the video linked below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FwE9oBpGeE

I believe you can access Deck 16 from Deck 18 via the staircase highlighted on the deck plan below and then walk forward to the Top Sail Lounge.

Funny! And, I'll add, no celebrities on Celebrity (although guess that COULD be a possibility! 😆) As mentioned above, DH reminded me that we've often had Scandinavian captains on NCL cruises. Just got struck by this odd memory ... When we were crusing quite a bit on Holland America, they'd have a Dutch night in the MDR and at each table, there'd be these very strange and not very attractive paper hats that were, I guess, supposed to be Dutch. We didn't particularly like wearing them, but didn't want to appear like spoilsports, so we'd put them on for a few minutes and once the section was filled (this was back in the days of fixed dining with the same people seated all around you each night), we'd surreptitiously slide them off! 😆😆

Think the NCL personnel are there at each FR station more in a monitoring capacity, with the C&I officers there to be summoned if necessary and/ or if the FR devices indicate that C&I needs to get involved. We're loving this new process, and even if occasionally there are some glitches, we think this is definitely a step up in the debarkation process!

This is also how it went down disembarking from our Getaway cruise, in Port Canaveral, in August this year. It was a much faster and more efficient process, and we felt that the C&I officers were right there to deal with any appropriate situation. It was apparent that this new facial recognition process will be dealt with in this manner, and the NCL personnel are there to ensure that the FR equipment doesn't malfunction. Thought it was terrific.

Excellent points!! Wish I'd remembered to include these in my post above! ☺️☺️ We always like to have 1st and usually 4th nights in a specialty, and we always comment how we're sorry to have missed some good MDR menu choices on those nights! And, agree very much about the sides! 👍👍

We're just a couple of weeks off the Getaway (also out of Port Canaveral) and we do miss her so much. Your itinerary is almost the same as ours was, with the addition of Antigua and St. Maarten (since you're on a 9-day), so you will hopefully enjoy it. So happy that you're booked into La Cucina ... we are huge fans of it and have had some of our most favorite meals there. We usually have the shrimp ravioli in lobster sauce as a starter, and it's consistently outstanding. Also, while this might not be your cup of tea since you'll be in an Italian restaurant, it's worthy of a mention that their beef tenderloin is delectable and has been cooked to perfection every time we go. Enjoy your cruise and we'll certainly look forward to following along.

It was reported somewhere that they were testing it out on the Prima to see how people liked it before making a decision to implement fleetwide. When I heard about it, both DH and I thought it was a bad idea and weren't very happy about it, as we really like the current MDR menus quite a bit. However, we looked at the menu and thought that it was quite good. We looked it over, with a view to seeing if we could find items in all the categories that we'd be interested in, spread over say 4 nights (as we've always got 4 specialties available, but usually only use 3). No problem for us ... there were many good choices and options, and we thought it looked pretty good. We've had our minds changed on the issue!

Oh darn!!!! That was really exciting news and it's disappointing to hear that they won't be a featured show. We saw one of those "black box/light" shows on a recent cruise (the group had won Britain's Got Talent) and it was a phenomenal show ... much more impressive even than seeing it on TV. The live performance was truly mesmerizing and memorable. Oh well ☹️

This is just a guess, but I think a pretty educated guess. Our TA gives us OBC based on the cruise fare, and hence, his commission. When we've had price reductions BEFORE final payment, which obviously effects the amount we pay the cruise line at final, we've seen a corresponding reduction in the amount of OBC from him. Whenever there's been a price reduction AFTER final, and have received FCC for that amount, the OBC amount given to us by the TA has not changed. So, based on that, and given that the cruise line received full payment at the pre-reduction rate, we've always assumed that our TA still gets his original commission. If a TA reads this and we're assuming incorrectly, please correct.

After final payment, there are no credits/OBCs/price adjustments for price reductions, and getting FCC applied for a price reduction is definitely a one time thing ... if NCL approves it after submitting their form. In fact, in their email advising that the FCC is approved, they state quite clearly that this is a "one time goodwill gesture". You CAN wait to see if there are further reductions, but we always figure "a bird in the hand ...", and would be so annoyed with ourselves for waiting if the price happened to go back up! Depends on your risk tolerance! 😂😂 Have a good time on your cruise whatever you decide to do.

We were on a cruise in Sept last year which was at just about 30% occupancy; then one in November at just under 50%; then 2 NCL cruise in Feb at about 50% and then two weeks later at 65%. They were all fantastic cruises and we loved experiencing the less crowded ships. Two weeks ago, we were on the Getaway at around 90% and we found it startlingly crowded ... It was pretty much as it had been pre-shutdown, but we really felt that we had to get used to having the normal amount of people back on. The vibe you have on any of these cruises, we think, is mostly up to you. If you need/want to be surrounded by lots of people, you might find a cruise with lower occupancy a bit "flat". We thought it was fantastic and enjoyed it while it lasted. If your Getaway is back to sailing out of Port Canaveral for your cruise, you might find that it's quite busy, even though it could be considered off season. That's just a popular embarkation port for families. But you shouldn't worry, as it looks by reading all these posts, most people really enjoy the novelty of having a lower occupancy cruise ... It's all in your own mindset. Have a great cruise!

Like I mentioned, the staff and bartenders were terrific ... very attentive. Can't say that we remember specific names ... there are quite a few shift changes during each day, and from day to day. But everyone recognizes and remembers each other very quickly. Jim the Lizard: We have no issues sitting out there in some pretty howling winds! And as much as we enjoy sitting out in the sunshine, there are just certain times of the year where the sun is blistering and the temps are off the chart, so paying for an area where some reprieve from the sun is NOT available ... well, that didn't seem to make sense to us.

Also just off the Getaway on Aug 27. Everything was the same for us for our Vibe booking as noted above. Also agree with Paul's summary comments: we were lucky to have beautiful sunny weather for the entire cruise; however, the lack of sufficient shade availability was brutal. Because of the wind, the umbrellas could only be opened on very few occasions. Agree that the staff there were very good and attentive, but given the lack of shade, probably wouldn't opt for Vibe again. PS. Most people seemed to be using only their card to enter, we saw very few people using their wristbands.

We're just off the Getaway. It was opposite for us ... we asked at the Cruise next desk whether the vouchers could be used at any restaurant, and they told us that they could only be used at the restaurants printed on the vouchers. We were later speaking with the Maitre D at La Cocina, and he told us the vouchers could be used at any of the specialties. It pays to check a few places!

Just off the Getaway last weekend, and on embarkation day we inquired at the Cruise next desk whether the wine tasting and the Officers dinner was a go. We were told yes for both, and that we should sign up with them if we were interested. There was no letter in our cabin detailing about whether the Platinum dinner vouchers would be accepted at any specialty restaurant. We asked at the CN desk and were told that they were only accepted at the restaurants mentioned on the vouchers. However, we also asked the Maitre D at La Cocina, and he told us that they could be used at any specialty. When it comes to asking for information, always good to verify anything you're told!

The information provided above is pretty dead on. Our story is very much like OT-Miami's. Last September, we had decided that we wouldn't be cruising on the E-series ships, as we had no interest in the Infinite Verandahs. Then we discovered the Sunset Verandah category. If you're not wanting to book into a suite category, the Sunset Verandahs are really the only game in town (with the exception of a very few others), if you're wanting an open, "regular" balcony. (As mentioned, the SV's have larger than normal balconies.) Someone posted this photo back then, which we found very useful when booking our SV: I'll reiterate, these cabins, being off the back of the ship, are a longish walk to the nearest elevators, so anyone with mobility issues, should really think twice before booking into one of these cabins. We stayed in cabin 10280, and as OT-Miami said, we thought it was a fantastic location. One issue, these cabins are extremely popular and as there are so few of them, you can have a tough time finding availability. That's why our next one isn't until Feb '24 on the Apex! 😂

Just off the Getaway, and because no one ever throws any love their way, I'll mention La Cucina again. We ate there twice during the week and both meals were terrific. We had our usual Shrimp Ravioli in Lobster Sauce and the beef tenderloin, and all I can say is "scrumptious"! The food going out to other tables also looked tempting, but we love these choices. Also, did Ocean Blue for the first time ... food excellent (tiger shrimp and scallop starters fantastic ), but found the venue itself a little cramped. Will definitely return on our next cruise in November. We were going to use one of our Platinum meal vouchers in Cagney's about midweek, but time availability left was not suitable for us. We didn't mind too much as we find Cagney's can be a hit or a miss , but if you really want in, we def recommend either reserving in advance using the FAS dining, or if you choose to use a Platinum voucher, see them early on in the cruise to book.

Hey there, So, we didn't have a need to open up the balconies, so we can't tell you 100%, but we did find these two photos which can tell you a little. On the left side of the balcony (as you face the water), there is a definite bulkhead wall, so it's obvious that those 2 balconies wouldn't be able to connect. But, on the balcony wall connecting with cabin 10273, it's a different set up. If you enlarge the photo, think you can make out a small lock, which would be used to open up and connect those two cabins. Again, won't claim this as 100%, but the photos seem to show it leans that way.

🙄🙃🙄🙄😂😂

Aaah, I see. Your original post said you were 36 hours to sailing, so I thought you were boarding this weekend. Never mind. 🙃

Could you have your ship wrong? Believe the Getaway is doing 7 nighters right now... with the next one leaving from Port Canaveral this Saturday. We're on the next one after. Don't believe there have been any 9 nights???