Dukemstr

We decided to take a cab to Honfleur and use the good weather and the Saturday market to visit this lovely town. Tons of restaurants and shops and little medieval streets A few pictures for your enjoyment. For people still on the ship. It’s a half hour drive from there. It’s still a good time to arrive.

10 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

This was my favorite show on the Prima by far…

 

 

 

Wow amazing 

looked outside my balcony and we didn’t see anything remotely like that. I assume you have special equipment or something?

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

Prima only offered the $34 Laundry Special once thus far.  We are sending our 2nd bag down to wash, dry & fold this morning.

 

Do you think we can get two complementary laundry bags, free as platinum latitude members because of the length of the cruise?

51 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

Standby only, sold out 😔 😕 😤

 

It was quite annoying to me to. 

Reservation for entertainment were never open before the beginning of the cruise and I never managed to find anywhere where I can actually make a booking for one. 
 

I am quite the person who like to book all dining and entertainment reservation in well before well before the start of the cruise

Just now, mking8288 said:

@Dukemstr  Well, hello CC'er sitting behind us at dinner on the Hudson earlier with 2 ship officers at that oval table - I guess you spotted my "not-trademarked" travel vest, LOL.  

 

Please feel free to post, share & add any comments or observations, cheerfully welcomed as it adds richness, color, views and subtle details that we often missed and overlooked.  I made our Semi or Live Report open & inclusive, fun & informative.  

 

Did any of the asst. managers or "supervisor" (non-servers or assistant servers) come by to visit & say hello at your dining table ??  Unless I blinked and we missed, none came around ... but did noticed some of the servers coming in & out of the gallery (kitchen) taking a peak at our table to see.  

 

I should note, we felt that the pace of our service was being rushed somewhat, not everybody finished their starter/soup/salad and the entrees began showing up, with other plates moved aside ... not the proper or best way to do a cruise ship dinner onboard NCL, given our 25 years of cruising the brand.

 

Alas, it is what it is - I call & tell it like it is, likes and dislikes - being a true critic, to be fair & balanced.  Thoughts ?? 

 

 

 

It was actually the first time we ate at the main dining room on discourse. we took a turn to eat at each of the specialty restaurants until now. 
We found the service timely and not too fast or too slow  we actually had one of the managers come and say hello and ask if everything was good

We arrived Around 8:30 PM and waited about 10-15 minutes until we were seated were given a pager when we checked in. 

Just now, mking8288 said:

DWO - 

Guess who else was at tonight's DWO table - Peter & Penny, on the cruise to celebrate her official retirement from teaching ... hosted by a 2 strips "Senior Fire Officer" and 3 strips "Safety Officer" Dwayne Rego, from UK, with aspirations to become a ship captain one day.  We also learn that Captain Kevin "O" is around 38-39 years old only, the youngest in the NCL fleet ... 3 other senior officers, including the Staff Captain are qualified and hold licenses to assume the duties of a captain should it become necessary.  

 

Saw the CruiseNext Manager (he was on the Getaway & Escape as we've spoken to him before on Latitudes matter) walking past us from/to the Hudson MDR and joked with Peter while waiting, wondered if he is hosting our table tonight or not ... There are about 300 Sapphire members onboard, among the 900+ Platinum.  DWO setup is usually a table of 10, hosted by 2 ship officers and 8 guests attending ... but just 6 for our table tonight, a pair from Germany and 4 of us, with 2 empty chairs (no-show or last minute cancellation) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We where seating right behind you and never imagined we will be that close. When you all got up and "outed" my DW and I laughed

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

We are almost pulling away from between the weather systems with the overnight modest sea state, white caps and waves of 4 to 5 meters, and wind/rain showers 

 

 

 

It's 9 AM onboard, clock moved ahead 1 hour overnight, 6 AM in New York.  Pearl is approaching Reykjavik, about 30 nm from the pier.  

 

 

 

Hey

What does station zebra has to say about the weather for the next few days? We wish to have a few rounds at the promenade at last 🤭🤭🤭

Security just started about 20 minutes ago and the line started moving quite nicely
be optimistic everyone!!!

Hi there, just a quick update

we are at the Cruise terminal and they haven’t started checking in yet so it’s pretty much clogged up and moving very slowly but we knew that coming in so we are taking our time and enjoying the music

I love your live report it's awesome and I follow with joy. Can you post photos of the studio lounge please?

Thanks in advance.

I have just arrived home from this cruise and I will agree with the OP - NCL really mishandled every single mishap on this cruise. The lack of officer presence, the appalling lack of safety in Brest, the endless shambolic organisation of getting people through immigration in UK - not an officer in sight and the calls for queuing by deck were ignored - quite frankly it was an appalling example of so called management.

I LOVED the Getaway - the ship - the staff - the bartenders, housekeeping, waiters, food = ten out of ten. The officers - wow - who else saw them on that final day - we really began to think they were just images on the NCL TV channel.. ...

This needs expanding on - but for sure there are thousands of people who will be putting in official complaints about the management of this cruise.

That gangway in Brest - my God - how no one was seriously injured beats me - It must have outlawed every health and safety aspect there is! I was petrified going up a "MAX 20 person" gangway which was soaking wet -bouncing like crazy with at least 50 people on it (trying to go up and down at the same time) and again, NOT ONE OFFICER present to control the situation! It was awful just awful!

Yes, we have done many TAs - more than most - and we expect port drops - it happens.

Its HOW it was handled that was the issue.

The football hooliganism in Rotterdam didn't come close to the riots on the lines on deck 7 - and NOT ONE OFFICER was present - they ALL HID!

And why on earth did France allow non EU citizens to come into the EU ??? That one beats me? I am actually going to raise this subject with our local MSP as to why France allows non EU citizens to come freely into Europe.. Immigration should have been done at the first port of entry into Europe - which was FRANCE!

Guest services actually told me that the UK is no longer a part of the EU - I died laughing...seriously??????????

 

Complaints were ignored - no follow ups by guest services. Hey - not even a plate of strawberries...

No phone call - no response - nada!

Unless you were there - you will never know how badly the events of this cruise were managed.

Fantastic food, ship and crew - The Captain and his sidekicks including guest services, staff captain and hotel director! - nil point!

Cruise director(s) Silas and Tahani = ten out of ten! Good job mateys - the ONLY ones who tried hard to hold it together!

I have never in our history of cruising seen so many people treated so appallingly, and that includes being on a broken down Costa ship -

More to follow on this one - I have no doubt!

NCL must be preparing themselves for the 3800 complaints they are about to receive! I have never heard so many people express such disgust at the same time - one after the other after the other....

If we didn't laugh we would have cried..

Fab ship - fab food - amongst the best in fact..

Officers - shame on you - how funny we all finally got to see some of you as we left the ship

Hey - best debarkation ever!!!! 45 minutes early mind you - but super organised for those with airport transfers - awesome job!

$100 pp does not compensate for the losses and sheer stress and anguish caused.

Lousy job Captain and the beards in Miami calling the shots!

Outcome will go on I am sure,.....

I honestly can't understand people. If you would have moved yourself to guest services at deck 6 when they announced the delays and cancellations you would have seen all of them!

The captain even made an impromptu q&a in the atrium and was there for almost an hour responding to passengers who were rather calm and understand that **** happens sometimes special with this kind of special itinerary were there is long distance and new one time ports of calls. As it's not its usual journey.

The proof is the debarkation was spot on as it was it's regular home port. Even better than Miami from what I heard.

I have seen the hotel director several times during the cruise with a pocket book in hand always ready to help

I personally requested some refund from guest services and was promptly dealt the next day To my satisfaction. And mind you I was in s studio not a fancysuite .

So I suggest you don't libel person for no reason.

I wonder why they still cancelled Zeebrugge if the ship was repaired in Southampton? It's nice to hear you're getting extra time in Rotterdam, though. An overnight is a rare treat!

 

Also good to hear about the compensation. But I heard that NCL actually saves money when they give away OBC, and that's why they do it. :D

Zeebrugge was cancelled because we leaved London 4 hours late and we would not arrive in time as the original arriving time was 10am

I am also on the TA.

True, things could be more optimal but none of the mishap were NCL daily fault.

The Azores were cancelled due to weather. Brest isn't equipped to handle cruise ship that's why everything you so long. But even with that I stilld managed to be out after about40 minutes and in after an hour.

It's not NCL fault that the UK required personal immigration passport checks and what should have been made during 2 full days was crammed into 4 hours. Still, every tour got out and everyone saw what they wanted including a nice day light sailing To Southampton. The delays was due to electric problems and not because we hit anything!!! And it was fixed at Southampton and we were back to full speed after that

Because of the delays and screw ups we got 100$ Inc per person (200$ max)! And they managed to have us overnight in Rotterdam with free movement from/to the ship during the night which we used to stroll the city at night. Very nice day light sailing also to the port if Rotterdam.

Could things been better, maybe, they can always be, but I still have an awesome cruise and will be sad to debark on Tuesday.

Hi everyone!

Do any of you know if the Thalassotherapy pool is heated or the water is cold?

Dukemstr

your review is awesome and I cannot stop reading it!

I have only one complaint: they can't seem to come fast enough!!! I can't wait for the next part of the review.

Dukemstr

Are they doing laundry promotion of 20$ laundry per bag? If so when do they do it?

Thanks allot for taking the time to answer our questions !

Are the specialty restaurant menus still the same or have they changed to a la carte?

Please advise your current location. Different ships positioning software show the BA just off the coast. Is this correct? When is the anticipated arrival in Bermuda now? Inquiring minds wish to know and thanks.

The pick up was made about 300nm from Virginia nc borders. We are steaming at 21 knots to Bermuda

What does suck is that all the pools are closed including the thermal suit for 2 days will ask for a refund.

Dukemstr

A few "news" gathered from various sources: worst is over for those on the islands, tropical storm warning in effect now - Joaquin is 120 miles north of the island heading east out away from US mainland.

 

Dockyard's livecam is offline, it was knocked off its post on the roof last night - according to local utilties, about 1 out of 4 residents are without power (15,000+ people) and recovery crew should be in action shortly. Gov't Emergency Broacast Station has been experiencing off-and-on technical problems. Latest forecast for sea conditions out to 25 miles from the island is rough, 20 to 25 ft. waves & higher, improving on Tuesday & calming down later in the week.

 

Search for (lesser known) Cooper Island's live webcam - Port of Ireland Island, Bermuda - up & running (surprise, it is also at Dockyard but ship coverage) - for a live view of the island. According to FB blogs, some of smaller vessels were in danger overnight with the storm hammering - apparently, all was fine.

 

BA was last tracked on maritime sites at 5 AM heading straight for Bermuda (was thinking that it might track south, hug closer to the Jersey coast before turning toward the Atlantic ... but, that's the ship Captain's skills & tasks with the latest weather & radar tracking data, and, it's a mega ship - all systems going) Ship's webcam has satellite coverage & showing light "chops" and wavelets for now, it will soon run into rougher seas - going from 10' to 15' seas and then 20 to 25 and even 30+ seas coming across the bow at angles, port side to starboard - sideway movements are going to be felt, the stabilizers can only do so much.

 

CCL's Splendor is heading toward Boston in the north Atlantic around the Cape Cod waters and it is running into rougher seas, wind & rain - look that up on ship's live webcam.

 

Those on the Breakaway - have a SAFE sailing and enjoy the indoors for the next day or two, holding on to the railings. Room Service will be a "little" slower and take longer. Under adverse weather conditions, satellite coverage for internet access might be "challenged" or difficult.

 

Anyone onboard her now, with unlimited internet - loved to read about updates ... Tapatalk is the best for doing it.

Well are you a forecaster.

I am on board and we had no worse the 15 foot waves and much calmer now as we and Joaquin going in opposite direction so I don't get where you're 30 foot wave are coming from. the pools were closed but everyone I saw were in good spirit and all restaurants booked up .

Don't go on forecasting nonsense if you don't understand.

We do have a medical emergency and so we are steaming to shore for a helicopter pickup afterwards we will be back on course.

We will have a new arrival time though.

Dukemstr

Good Morning Cruise Critics, welcome to day 7 booohoooo of our Bermuda Cruise, that has become a cruise to NY :(

 

Internet is once again horrible. It was amazing in port but sailing it is the worst I have ever experienced on any ship. Oh well first world problems lol.

 

Someone asked for studio lounge pics, I finally found it and was lucky that the door was open as I believe you need to be in a studio cabin to access it.

 

The two level studio lounge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome!!! Thank you so much for the trouble! Much appreciated.

Thanks Seadog for the Awesome Live report. I have never seen so beautifull TR even from people after they cruise let alone live during it... it's like we are there with you!

Can You do a quick photo op of the Studio lounge if it's no trouble?

Thanks!

Dukemstr

can anyone say if the Breakaway still offer Per MB internet plan or they are also by the minute?

thank you for the very in depth review and awesome photos!

Dukemstr

Here are a few more. . .

 

 

Radio

 

 

 

I need to try out the Svedka Ice Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On my 4th NCL Cruise, I was finally able to dine at Teppanyaki.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chef was very entertaining at Teppanyaki

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I walked back through 678 Ocean Place on the way back to my cabin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is our current position

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the live report

From where do you get the position and speed pics?