Kierste

Pearl, Escape, Spirit, Dawn and Prima upcoming…. We are diverse!

Called because I am paid in full, they tried to “upgrade” me to the rooms on the Prima where the slide kinda runs through your balcony, I declined. So they are offering FCC, said I would get contacted tomorrow… what should I expect? It was a $900 price drop.

Called because I am paid in full, they tried to “upgrade” me to the rooms on the Prima where the slide kinda runs through your balcony, I declined. So they are offering FCC, said I would get contacted tomorrow… what should I expect? It was a $900 price drop.

Shocked, just got an upgrade email for our very full looking sailing in February on the Prima… went ahead and put a bid on a couple aft balconies, but am fine with what we have… direct upgrade is still a lot more than my bid. So we shall see.

Thank you for such a wonderful review! This is our first cruise (in February) just the two of us with no kiddos… hubby likes an early dinner, so all of our meals are booked at 6 or 6:30… 2 nights we have nothing booked… hoping to play it by ear.  How doable is playing it by ear? Can you go into Syds when there isn’t a show? Is the bar open? Is it easy enough to get a place to sit and chill by a bar off hours? Are there locations to just chat with each other and listen to ambient music? Breakfast… we got spoiled and were in the haven last summer, and now want to avoid the buffet for breakfast, is that doable?  TIA!

We saw Purple Sundaze on the Dawn this summer… that girl has got pipes! Hoping they will still be on the ship come February.

The butler will show you how to use it, it is very easy, but it only pours shots of espresso that you can then add cream to. It’s a fantastic perk though, we love having the nespresso machine in the room!

It was years ago now, but we booked a private tour, we’re picked up at the port, drove us all over, we snorkeled in an amazing cove, had a fantastic meal. Would do it again in a heartbeat. I found them on viator I believe.

9 minutes ago, Ine said:

How long is a long layover? If more then e.g. 8-10 hours it is doable. However be back 4 hours prior your departure. Your luggage will go all the way to Copenhagen, you can store hand luggage at lockers.  If less hours stay at the airport. Plenty of shops, restaurants and even a small Rijksmuseum.

thanks, we have 7 hours, only a backpack for hand luggage and are flying delta sky priority… I know we need to take a proper trip to Amsterdam, but was really looking forward to seeing a little bit of the city during that layover after a 10 hour flight… 

We are connecting in AMS coming from the US and continuing on to Copenhagen in a few days. Anyone connect thru AMS that can share recent experiences? We have a long layover and we’re hoping to go into city center, but that sounds like a bad idea?

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

I'm just happy to confirm that there's a hot tub in my room on deck 12 🙂

which room number is this… trying to figure it out, I might be next door 🙂

Depending on their age, they can eat off your plate, we also had our dd skip the appetizer and they brought her an entree from the main menu for her to start on while we were working on our apps…

You could book the prior night (for two nights) and then call to let the hotel know you won’t be arriving until morning. Otherwise, worst case most will hold your bags and you can go find a restaurant to relax in while waiting for your room.

Towel clips for deck chairs

Gdansk looks lovely! I was hoping there would be a shuttle provided into town? Did you see anything for those that don’t want a formal tour?

On 6/12/2022 at 9:56 AM, bmwman said:

Disagree the ship is good for adults and kids alike 

sorry… not hijaking… but just comparing any of the smaller NCL ships with the big ones… the Pearl had a climbing wall and bowling which does attract families. But when we were on the spirit there were obviously less teens and kiddos because a port intensive European cruise on a ship without “things to do” even during school break means an older crowd. If the getaway didn’t attract many families with kids with lots of amenities, I am likely correct the dawn will have even less kids. That was why I asked my question. Families tend to seek out ships with sea days, fun amenities like water slides, climbing walls, ropes courses etc (the kids clubs are barely open again post Covid), and less intensive cruises. I’m just managing my expectations that there likely won’t be many teens my daughter’s age on board the dawn in a few weeks.

Hi! I know the Getaway is a more “kid friendly” ship. But, any idea of how many kiddos were on board for this cruise? We are sailing on the Dawn next month in the Baltic region, and I am guessing the age of passengers on board will trend higher, just not much for kids to do and maybe a less kid-friendly cruise in general? We have an older teen, but I was reading some speculation about higher Covid numbers when the kids get out of school and start cruising. TIA!

Is there a recommendation for a test we can receive at home in the US but take in Stockholm proctored? I was thinking we would just have to find a Covid testing place near our pre-cruise stay.

I think what is actually happening is NCL cancelled this summer’s Getaway Baltic cruises, figured everyone would hop on the Dawn, did a bunch of sales and thought more people would hop on the Dawn… but they aren’t. A least our cruise mid July is still looking pretty empty. So they have decided that thinking ahead if they can’t do SPB, which is a huge draw, instead of having one half full ship running next summer, they will pull all their ships out of the Baltic in order to hopefully sell out the cruises by repositioning them. So the letter isn’t misleading, this is due to the issues over there. But it’s because for a lot of people they wouldn’t go to the Baltic area without going to SPB, so without that port the cruise is a harder sell.

Getaway Baltic cruises have been cancelled, first this summer’s were cancelled and repositioned and then it was extended.  There has been no news on the Dawn as far as I know, and I am booked on it this summer.

I was able to book too for July… but it wants me to prepay for moderno? Is that normal?

I know some people with toddlers bring a small wading pool for the balcony and put some water in it (using the ice bucket), if that would satisfy your kiddo. Otherwise, I would consider a beach stop… if your cruise is to beach locations, if that is possible to get some water time. Also, it may be possible if you talk to the kids program folks to have some time you can be with her and attending to her, but use their facilities?  Have fun!

Thank you so much for sharing… I am glad it turned out okay! Your post showed it helps to keep your self of humor in these situations… you will tell this story for years!

So this is interesting… the 7/11 getaway cruise has been removed from my NCL app… but I can still see it in my big box TA app (I got the notification it was cancelled, they just haven’t taken it off yet)… but now the “title” of the cruise has changed to Europe and the Mediterranean… wondering if we will see the getaway pop back up in a few days with all new routes.

I think they are getting ready to update the itineraries… the sailing right before ours (Getaway in July) got their updated itinerary, but we haven’t heard anything and it looks like our cruise was pulled off the booking site too… as always, patience with NCL is needed, as they are slow to update things.