escentialssoycandles

Looking forward to the whole review, I sail her in 10 days!

All is well that ends well. Hopefully the funds transfer accordingly but at least I have confirmations now on the new cabins

And here I thought that three was too many;)

We are a blended family. Mine are the older 3, his are the younger 3. 5 girls and 1 boy. Never a dull moment! :D

I understand. We used to live in St Thomas and we go back in March for our birthdays. Air is 200-400 more than it was last year.

 

An alternative: keep the getaway booking but build in a little extra budget for vibe and/or some specialties. This will keep the crowds down for a minimal increase in costs.

And now you live in Mexico? Rough life:p

When did you book? Right now the Getaway is doing 2 offers for 2016 on bookings. You might want to do a mock booking and see what you come up with. You can get UBP and Specialty dining for 4 nights even on interiors.

How old are the kids?

I am booked on a Balcony and adjoining Interior for Thanksgiving 2016 on the Getaway.

I have learned (the hard way!) to always remain online with the NCL rep until I receive my email confirmations (both the Amenity invoice and the booking confirmation.)

 

Hoping you are able to get your booking restored asap! :)

I am on hold now with a supervisor and this is a huge cluster. My original booking was through my PCC. The sailing was cancelled by NCL because of re positioning. I then did the reservation through NCL. So apparently they are different agencies and cannot transfer funds between the two? What am I missing?

My cabins are gone and there are only 2 more on the entire ship the same way. However they want me to put the $2000 deposit down and wait for my refund on the original. I don't have that kind of money to spare.

The last time I cancelled an NCL cruise, it took them 10 days to return the funds.

I am so flustered because this is our first blended family cruise and our planned surprise wedding. We decided to jump ship from Jade SC with UBP, UDP, Prepaid Gratuities and $300 on OBC to the Getaway for the kids options. Now I am regretting all of it.

Spring Break here in Florida is in March, so you won't have a lot of local Spring Breakers. I always sail during Thanksgiving or holiday sailings and have never felt too crowded. I will let you know specifically on the Getaway when I sail her in 10 days for Thanksgiving break.

Are they using the new menus or still sticking to the old in the MDR and Specialties?

Well I am on call #3 as I was hung up on again. The cabins are all booked and this was their error.

I asked for my original booking to be re-instated with the promos and I was told it cannot be done.

I am asking for a Supervisor. So frustrated for sure.

If you book Getaway for any sailing next year you can choose UBP and Specialty dining, even in interiors.

I am sailing her in 10 days and then taking our family of 8 (kids ages 8,10,12,12,15,19) at sailing.

So I am just needing to vent for a moment. Yesterday I called to change my November 2016 cruise.

I was originally on the Jade in an SC with all the perks booked in January. We were moving over to the Getaway into a Balcony and an Interior. I was told that the deposits would move over and I made an additional deposit on one room.

Just a little while ago I logged into my NCL.com to find all of my cruises missing.

Was on hold 15 minutes before the call was answered and I explained the situation and she went to talk to a supervisor. Have been on hold for 20 minutes and they cannot figure out what happened.

The cabins I booked are now gone and there are no other Balcony/Interior combos left on the sailing.

And then the call mysteriously ended. So here I go again waiting on hold to start all over.

You can book your specialties online for the Dining Plan 60 days before your cruise. The new menu's are supposed to roll out fleetwide in January, but as a previous posted suggested, you do not know which ones they will be using. I have attached the pdf of the menus that are being circulated.

You can always wait to book the specialties when you board after seeing the MDR menus for the week, but that means you may not get the times that you want. OR book the ones you want online and if when you sail, you want to switch them around that is also possible......but times may vary on availability.

New NCL MDR Menus.pdf

They are not supposed to be on the MDR menus until January, but I am sailing on the first Western 7 night sailing on Nov 21st and will be posting all of the menus when I return.

We are a family of 7, and always cruise in two connecting balcony cabins. On our last cruise, the 5 kids ranged in age from 10 - 17, and I can't imagine the 7 of us crammed into 2 interior cabins (and we are a close family, live in a small house, and except for one teenaged boy, are pretty small people).

We actually sailed in two interiors last December -be it for a 3 night cruise and it was a little tight, but it was still really fun. We only have two sea days and the others will be port intensive so really just showers and bed in the cabin. We may do the Family OV just for a little more space....but small quarters are not a biggie for us because we do live in a fairly large house and this forces the kids to bond!

I also thought about doing 2 balconies, but the Getaway balconies are really small.

These are the ones I had saved.

Plus here is another link I have: https://www.instagram.com/keith_jenner/

New NCL MDR Menus.pdf

I don't believe there is an exclusive whisky bar on Getaway.

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/getaway/whats-on-board/Bars-&-Lounges

I will be sailing Getaway in 12 days. I cannot comment on Getaway entertainment specifically yet, but when I sailed Epic in 2012 that was by far the best entertainment on any ship I have sailed.

I was a loyal Royal and now am an NCL fan through and through. I was never a big fan of the entertainment on Royal, however I have not sailed any of the Mega ships.

http://HTTPS://WWW.NCL.COM/PROMO/WAVE15

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Booking Window: 11/2/2015 - 12/31/2015 11:59 pm EST

Applicable Sailings: 3 - 16 day sailings booked greater than 30 days prior to sailing*

*Pride of America sailings are not eligible for the offer. Norwegian Sky sailings departing on or after 1/1/2016 are not eligible for the offer.

*Not valid 30 days or less from sailing, except Norwegian Sky. Only Norwegian Sky can be booked within 30 days of sailing.

Norwegian Escape & Norwegian Getaway bookings can pick two choices.

So you have some time to work out your choices :-)

For me so far though I think I will be doing Getaway just for the UBP/Specialty Dining Perk and the itinerary I like so much better. (However I will know more when I sail her)

I noticed that as well when I was booking but I think the difference may be in the Itinerary? Are you looking at Eastern vs Western and # of ports?

When are you looking at sailing?

Also on Getaway right now you can choose 2 promos for sailings next year......so if you want to do Spa Cabin, you can still get UBP and Specialty Dining for 4 nights included.

We are in between Epic and Getaway for our Thanksgiving 2016 cruise as I loved the entertainment on Epic more than any other ship. I am cruising Getaway in 12 days so I will have a better frame of reference then!

Hi all. I am currently booked on the Jade in Nov 2016 in an Interior and a 2 Bedroom Family Suite for our family of 8.

Our kids will be 8,10,12,12,15 and 19 at the time of that cruise.

We got an incredible deal on the Jade when we booked: $5600 for the Family Suite with UDP, UBP, Prepaid Gratuities, $300 OBC

The interior was $1600 with UBP for a total of $7200 for our family of 8

This is our first blended family vacation with all of the kids and we want to make it special. We thought that maybe we should do Getaway instead?

Both have the same itinerary which is the primary reason for taking the Jade. (We are planning a destination wedding that is a surprise for the kids)

Budget wise though we can get 2 Interiors on the Getaway for $5760 with UBP and Specialty Dining. The littles would eat off the kids menu so they are FREE.

OR $7000 for 2 Family Oceanview Rooms

Being a port intensive itinerary, I don't see the justification of paying $1240 for a window and a little larger room as we won't be in there very often. My thought is that the kids will be out busy on slides, rope courses, mini golf etc.

I hate to lose out on the Jade perks but in the end I want to make this about the kids. Am I making the right choice by moving over to Getaway?

I am seeing various reports on the forums. I am inquiring whether anyone knows if kids ages 3-12 still eat Free off the Kids Menu in the Specialty Restaurants?

New Wave15 promo allows for Specialty Dining package for pax 1-2. We are a family of 8 so booking 2 rooms. 4 kids are under the age of 12 so trying to determine if they would eat free or if we need to budget for specialties for them. They are pizza, mac n cheese and chicken finger kids. :D

The older two kids would be the second passenger in each room so they would be included in the Specialty price.

Looking at Getaway if it makes a difference.

Thanks in advance!

I have not sailed on an OV on the Getaway but I am on the Western Sailing Nov 22. This is a pretty port intensive cruise with only 2 sea days. I did book a balcony room (my first) and will let you know how much time I utilize it.

My first sea day is booked up with cruise Critic events, so I am thinking I will use it only on the last sea day and a little bit at night.

I reread my review and it's kind of boring. I really don't want to diss NCL but I was so bummed with the food. We had good service, some great service, our room steward, Bart, was awesome, but it couldn't make up for the food. Especially since we're not super picky. I wish I had paid more attention to what people liked in the dining rooms so that I would've ordered that food. Though I know people have different tastes, at least it might have helped. I have never had anything as bad as that crab and fish cake, honestly inedible.

 

The ports were great and we loved having 3 sea days.

Can you confirm if the MDR was using the new menus with the A la Carte add ons?

I'm a foodie and me and my best friend were told that the food is really good but based on the reviews, I have a feeling that I'll be disappointed. Your trip sounded like it was fun though.

I can only speak to my experience on the Epic a few years back. I did not enjoy the food in the least however I only ate in the Buffet and MDR.

I am told that the food in the specialties is much better, therefore I have booked 4 on my upcoming cruise. I will be writing a full review and posting all the Dailies, Menus etc when I return as we are on the first Western Caribbean 7 night sailing.

Can you confirm if the MDR and the Specialties are doing the new menus with the A la Carte pricing? Intent not to complain about it, just curious since we are seeing conflicting stories.

I thought the a-la-carte menus weren't coming until Jan 2016?

The line plans to roll out a la carte dining fleetwide on January 1, 2016, with the exception of entertainment dining like Cirque Dreams & Dinner or The Illusionarium. Ocean Blue on Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway will switch to a la carte pricing in October, as well.

I can report back once I sail on 11/22 if they have changed over on the Getaway since I keep seeing conflicting reports.

I cannot confirm with 100% certainty but the new menu on Escape does not include those items. The new Menus for Specialties and MDR are all supposed to roll out on the "Away" ships already.

This is the link to the O'Sheehans menu on Escape

and I do not see either one of those on there.