weisla

I believe the minimum to drive is 48”, my son (then an average height 9yo) had to ride last year while Dad drove. He is REALLY hoping he’s grown enough this year to drive. I’ve been meaning to measure him for our June 9th departure on the Joy. Your 7yo will definitely be able to ride with Dad!

They also had a smaller breakfast buffet in the American Diner on Getaway. It was half empty in March out of NY since it was still pretty cold for breakfast outdoors. A really nice alternative to fighting the crowds downstairs at the full buffet.

After ID.me sent me an email confirmation, I had to go back to NCL.com/teachers and click through the link to ID.me and sign in there again. It then prompted with a request to approve sharing/sending the verification status with NCL. I assumed it was finalized with the email but once I logged in again on ID.me approved sharing the status it showed up as activated on NCL:

30 minutes ago, bookbabe said:

What two countries?  I have only seen id.me work for teachers from the US…

T&C says “legal residents of Canada or the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico).”

2 hours ago, Andy0215 said:

Verified quickly through ID.me. Now I just need to see if it can apply to a cruise for Europe we just booked a few weeks ago. 5% is a decent amount on that reservation.

I tried to get NCL to apply it to a cruise booked on 5/4. My TA called and NCL said no, the code can only be applied to bookings made on 5/6 or later. If anyone has success otherwise please report in and I’ll try again. 🤞

3 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

No. You should be able to use them with the discount. I have had success using them to make deposits with the military discount. 

In a discussion a few month back about the military discount it was noted that the 10% was stackable and applied after other discounts. 

14 minutes ago, Seas2mountains said:

Thank you so much for sharing this information! Wonderful news! 

 

I just submitted my info in ID.me and it asked if I had a license number that could be verified by my state which I do so that is what I used to submit my info in ID.me along with my school name and school district.  I'm waiting to see if that worked or not. I am not a teacher but I do work at a high school and am licensed by the state.

 

Being a military veteran, I do get 10% off cruises with that discount and assume this can't be combined with the teacher/school employee discount of 5% plus $50 OBC. We will see.

I just checked the T&C and neither program says not combinable with other discounts. It would be amazing if you can stack them! Even if they won’t allow the additional 5% hopefully they’ll still grant the $50 OBC.

NCL just announced a new year-round Teacher Cruise Discount, with 5% off cruise fare and $50 OBC.

www.ncl.com/teachers

TEACHERS CRUISE DISCOUNT
Booking Window: May 6, 2024 - Capacity Controlled
Applicable sailings: Fleetwide - 1+ night sailings - May 6, 2024 and beyond
 

Offer valid for active Classroom teachers (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12), Principals (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12), Assistant Principals (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12), School Employees (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12) and College/University Professors who are 18+ and legal residents of Canada or the 50 United States (including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico). After verifying your eligibility with ID.me, you will receive 5% off your Norwegian Cruise Line cruise fare and $50 onboard credit for eligible sailings. Discount taken at checkout. Excludes taxes, service charges and previous purchases. Norwegian Cruise Line reserves the right to cancel, terminate, or modify this offer at any time. Void where taxed, restricted, or otherwise prohibited. Providing fictitious, incorrect, or false information may result in termination of your account. All decisions concerning eligibility or interpretation of whether someone is entitled to participate in this program or receive a discount or benefit shall be subject to Norwegian Cruise Line’s sole discretion.

I qualify and submitted for verification through ID.me. Verification came through by email within 45 minutes. I did not have to use my work email, there are several other types of documentation you can choose from depending on your work status. In my case they accepted a screen shot of my public work web profile. Fingers crossed they will allow me to apply this for the June Bermuda cruise on Joy I just booked on Saturday 🤞

I’d estimate the standard robes are about a women’s size XL. I wore the thermal spa robe back to my cabin on Getaway over a wet swimsuit and no one at the spa front desk objected. The lockers have a built in digital lock similar to the in-room safe.

On 4/6/2024 at 5:25 PM, zqvol said:

It is roughly $100 per day or $300 per week. If you want 3 days it is probably less expensive to pay for the week. 

On the Getaway 10 day in March I paid $329 for a pass. 

Just off Getaway and can confirm there were no cookies out at the buffet during afternoon tea/snack time, nor at any other time. We received 1 plate of 4 cookies delivered once to our Club Balcony. There are also oatmeal raisin cookies offered as dessert option on the updated kids menu. These were nice and soft, much better and fresher than the rock hard ones delivered to our stateroom. They serve 2-3 at a time, and my understanding is that the kids menu is not limited to kids.
 

I don’t see why anyone couldn’t ask for the oatmeal cookies when dining anywhere the kids menu is available. They might say no, but if you really want those cookies order a kids option - they all come with dessert! A cup of roasted tomato soup is offered as a kids meal - I’d bet you could order that and ask for the oatmeal cookies with it.

I researched this before my recent cruise on the Getaway since my son had shifted to a vegetarian diet

(sometimes pescatarian) since our last cruise on NCL. 

Here is some info I found helpful:
Check out this blog post from profcruise:

https://profcruise.com/complete-guide-to-eating-vegan-or-vegetarian-on-ncl/

And this CC thread:

Since my son is 10 and a rather picky vegetarian (i.e., will try new things, but doesn’t actually like a lot of complex vegetarian cuisine) we didn’t arrange anything special with the dining staff. However at every single served meal the wait staff begin by asking about food allergies and requirements, and were very open to adapting dishes as much as possible - I pretty much got a yes to every request to hold this, sub that, etc.
 

We really enjoyed the vegetarian Indian offerings from the buffet. There was also a small section of the lunch & dinner buffet labeled as vegetarian. They offered rotating vegetarian spreads (hummus - very good!, baba ganoush, muhammara, etc). There were also grilled veggie salads with varying dressings, some grain salads - I really enjoyed one with barley and dried cranberries, it didn’t look like much but was really delicious. We also tried a roasted tomato soup that was really tasty. It was on the MDR menu occasionally, but can also be ordered for lunch & dinner from the kids menu. There is also a vegetarian grilled avocado taco on the kids menu. My son liked the soup but not the tacos. But the tacos are already vegan or can easily be adapted as vegan without the cilantro lime sauce (which may already be vegan, I didn’t ask). Adults can order from the kids menu, it is not limited, just featured for kids.
 

While the fast casual burger offerings do not include a standard veggie burger option, I’m pretty sure you can pre-order one through the dining manager. They’ll also make you one to order at “the grill” section of the buffet - only takes a couple of minutes. It is a veggie & grain patty rather than a faux meat version. I thought it was tasty, my son wasn’t a huge fan. But he’d be happy to “eat vegetarian” by attempting to eat his weight in French fries, so not a reliable arbiter!
 

See this thread:

I’m so disappointed NCL doesn’t include any Baltimore departures on the 2025 schedule!

30 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Good luck to you and the rest of the passengers!

The crew of the Getaway handled the delay seamlessly and all of the passengers I saw were calm, orderly and in fairly good spirits. I’ve seen much worse during regular disembarkations! I’m not sure if this is the norm, but NCL had a fleet of buses waiting for on the spot airport transfers at $25 per passenger. We were off and cleared customs before 2pm and planned to get a cab. We caught a bus instead for a seamless and pleasant transfer to Newark. It seemed the old luck of the Irish ☘️ was with us all day, especially since we were able to make fairly painless alternate travel plans. I feel for people whose return home was more negatively impacted. I hope decent luck holds out for the embarking passengers and this next voyage isn’t interrupted any further.

19 hours ago, PATRLR said:

As for fair skinned and not wanting the sun, I know Viva's Vibe had shade either by umbrella or some permanent structures.  I assume Prima is the same.  We also don't like to be in the sun and we had no problem being comfortable in Viva's Vibe. 

 

How is the shade situation in the various Vibe’s across the fleet? I booked the thermal suite instead of Vibe on Getaway in March since several days coming & going from NYC would be cold (which, side note, was SO worth it, the thalassotherapy pool is amazing). I did get a quick tour of the Vibe and loved it, except that there were hardly any umbrellas. I was kind of surprised and wondered if that was by design or demand. Do they have additional umbrellas available by request?

14 minutes ago, UKstages said:

wow.

 

if it's anything like a standard arrival day, all restaurants and bars will be closed after breakfast... as will most of the public venues. there's not going to be many places for 4000 people to hang out on the ship. the good news for those embarking is it sounds like rooms will be ready by the time they'll be onboard, or soon thereafter. and the ship may leave close to scheduled departure time, depending on how long it takes to load new passengers, goods and freight.

 

speaking of which, i walked by the west side highway in manhattan earlier this evening. there are already a bunch of trucks in queue waiting to unload... it's going to be a very long night for them.

They’ve adjusted schedules. Garden Cafe is open 7-11, then 11:30-3:00 for lunch; O’Sheehan’s just for breakfast. Savor & Taste are open for breakfast and lunch. I’m guessing more passengers than might otherwise do so will use self-assist disembarkation to make rebooked connections. It’s going to be a madhouse!

Announcement onboard said we are sailing at reduced speed “due to a technical issue which has impacted the speed” of the ship. ETA now 12:30pm with self-assist disembarkation to begin at 1:30, though must vacate staterooms by 10:30. The final call to exit the ship is 3:30pm. They opened up free internet to rebook travel arrangements and will reimburse up to $300pp for any airline imposed fees not covered by travel insurance. I hope they will honor this for my Amtrak reservations. Arrival time was not certain when they made the announcement so I gave upon rebooking train tickets and booked a 1-way rental from EWR. Folks onboard seem to be taking it in stride.

18 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

You can bring luggage on Amtrak, if you need a red cap for assistance just ask (and tip).

Here is the Amtrak carry on baggage policy:

https://www.amtrak.com/onboard/baggage-policy/carry-on-baggage.html
For 3 of us we have 3 suitcases and 3 backpacks. We are on the Acela and there is plenty of room onboard, both in overhead bins and in a luggage storage area at the end of the car for larger suitcases. The baggage measurements are approximate, they don’t check size if you’re carrying on. Some trains have a baggage car and you can check luggage, but that is not the case between DC & NY.

(And to the original topic, we also had a security check with a sniffer dog when we drove & entered the terminal parking!)

59 minutes ago, Laszlo said:

Yea driving around in a circle is just crazy. Strange you have never been allowed to drop luggage off. Might be a time thing, we normally get there between 9-9:30 and pull over... see Red Oval on screen shot

 

 

When we cruised out of the Manhattan Terminal in June we parked on this upper deck as shown in Lazslo’s photo. As we approached the elevators to go down to the terminal, there were porters with large luggage carts accepting checked baggage. It couldn’t have been easier! We’re cruising from Manhattan again tomorrow on the Getaway, but taking the train up from Baltimore tomorrow morning instead of driving. The train tickets were less expensive than parking at the port this time and we’ll skip driving in morning rush hour (can’t leave the night before due to work). But if I had a more leisurely schedule I wouldn’t hesitate to drive and park again at the port. 

15 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

You need to check with the internet manager onboard. All minutes are not the same. Some have $$$ value like FAS. Some, like casino Internet minutes, have no value. 

Thank you!

I’ve read through other threads discussing applying credit for unused FAS minutes toward onboard upgrade to unlimited internet. On an upcoming 10 day on Getaway, I also have another 200 mins in a package from TA. Can I trade in credit for the 200 + 150 mins to upgrade onboard, or must I use the 200 mins first then apply 150 to upgrade? 

Maverick and the Munsters. My kid had never seen the Munsters and became fascinated with Munsters reruns last summer on the Joy. If I never have to see another episode of the Munsters again... Some recent movies as well, we watched Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, probably some random Marvel movies too.

17 minutes ago, UKstages said:

other than the "newlywed game" ripoff that NCL does (typically in the atrium), the NCL licensed game shows (such as "price" and "press" and "wheel") are about as tame and G-rated as they possibly could be. they are often high in swarm from a stepford-husband type of host, but risqué? hardly.

 

kids are far better off at any of those game shows than "donna" or "six" or "jersey boys" or "footloose" or "burn the floor" or MDQ, all of which feature adult themes and overt sexuality. even the kid-friendly "beetlejuice" features the same adult themes. so, i'm not sure why you would beleive that the game show trend means they are somehow walking away from family-friendly entertainment.

Fair enough, I was thinking of shows like the Newlywed game ripoff. I guess my point is that appealing to younger cruisers is not a legitimate excuse to cut higher quality production shows and substitute game shows. 

I love the big production shows and so does my 10yo son! My husband, not so much, he is not a fan of musical theater, but we all loved Elements on the Joy last year. This is not merely an aging demographic issue. So many more families with kids are cruising and won’t be partaking in adults only comedy shows or risqué game shows. I for one (of my demographic) was disappointed to hear that NCL is cutting even more production shows.

4 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Thanks so much!

We're sailing Getaway 4/19 with identical itinerary. And we're booked for Vibe too.

49 Days!!

I'm on this itinerary next week (with a stop in St. John instead of Tortola). I'll try to screenshot the dailies from the NCL app and share. 6 days and counting!! Fingers crossed we make Bermuda.