Dorhead1230

I said to DH last night that I will be packing Ziplocs (which I usually do anyway just to use for this and that) and maybe a few small plastic containers because of this. I thought he’d look at me like I’m nuts but when I said no more later buffet snacks available he was like yup. We’re casino folk and tend to be up late. Sometimes we’ll do a late O’Sheehan’s visit but we don’t always feel like sitting down like that later at night. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@RadioPeri thanks! Deck 9 is awesome! I can’t remember when it was, but we definitely had one of those on either BA or Escape several years ago…it’s like a dance floor lol. Our cruise is the NY mid-winter break week (no choice…teacher here 👩🏻‍🏫), so we got the aft leftovers by the time we booked haha. Hope you’re having a nice (albeit quick) stop in Puerto Rico!

Thanks so much for this info and the photo @cruiseny4life! We’re in 13304 which is the regular balcony next to the suite like yours on the port side. A little sad that it’s so small, but I’m not going to complain…DH got a really good CAS offer for two cabins, a balcony for him and an additional inside. So, we paid reasonable upgrades from a balcony to an aft-facing for us and from an inside to a balcony for my mom and our little man. All in for the 2 cabins (taxes and fees, FAS gratuities, pre-paid service charges and insurance) we still paid less per person than an inside would have cost per person for cruise fare alone. And we didn’t book until December so we’re lucky we got 13304 and then the regular balcony right on the other side of the suite next to us. I’ll see how it looks when we get on and then decide if we want just a lounger instead of the chairs—may be worth it because we have the use of 2 balconies, so maybe one will be for sittin’ and the other for loungin’ 😎. I just dig sitting on an aft-facing with no wind, watching the wake, so it’s all good. Thanks again!

@RadioPeri what deck are you on? We’ll be in an aft-facing on 13 in a few weeks, which I know are the smallest 😐, but we booked in December and were lucky to get one at all. I’ve been wondering if a lounge chair fits on the deck 13 aft balconies. We’ve had others in the past that were huge, but people make the deck 13 ones sound so small! Hope you’re having a great time!

@mking8288 thanks so much for the reply and the helpful screenshots! Great to know we can share the minutes, as I don’t think my mom will be using too many, either—maybe just to check email a couple times and iMessage a friend or two at home. You and your predecessors who did the other recent lives from the Getaway have been so wonderful that you’re inspiring me to maybe devote most of my Internet minutes to trying to keep the Getaway live review train rollin’. Although without buying the unlimited it would probably be less extensive than all of you have provided, and I’ll also be chasing after my son—there’s 3 adults on him but he’s about as feisty and energetic as 3 kids rolled into one so it should be interesting! Thanks again!

Hi @mking8288! You are so knowledgeable about all things tech-related on the ships, I thought I’d ask you this. When we sail next month, we have 2 cabins—one for DH and me and one for my mom and our 4-year-old DS. DS is a full-fledged passenger #2 in his cabin with all included promos, so I was wondering earlier if once I use my 150 included minutes, will I then be able to connect from my phone for his minutes? Would my device be barred from connecting to another cabin’s/passenger’s minutes? Would there be any possibility of the Internet desk people transferring his minutes to me or to DH? I mean DS is a full-fare, full gratuities passenger, but he’s 4 so he doesn’t have email to keep up with 😂 so it stands to reason we should be able to use his minutes somehow I’d think. Anyway, I’d appreciate any thoughts you have on this! Glad to see you’re enjoying yourself so far!

Does this list include every variety of hard liquor available on board? DH and I aren’t big drinkers, but we’ll have some drinks on vacation and I know he’ll be very disappointed if Jack Daniels Honey is no longer stocked on board. Thanks in advance if anyone can answer!

Thanks for your wonderful review, @mking8288! We’ll be on a different itinerary in a few weeks, but I’m enjoying all the info you’re providing immensely. So, among all of these wonderful details you’re providing, leave it to me to zero in on…lava cake 🫣🤣. Is it only on the lunch menu now, rather than dinner? We always do a MDR lunch on embarkation day, but if lunch is the only time for lava cake, I see a few more MDR lunches in my future lol.

In the MDRs and other complimentary venues you can still order whatever you want. It now says in the terms and conditions for the specialties included with the FAS that you may order one app, one soup OR salad, one entree, and one dessert. Not sure what people’s actual experiences have been with asking for any deviation from that.

I’m so glad you brought this up! I was going to tag you to ask about the deck 13 aft. I know there’s more space on the suite balconies, but did you happen to notice if your neighbors in the regular aft balconies could fit a lounger out there? We booked later than usual for our upcoming cruise and were really quite lucky to get an aft-facing two doors away from another regular balcony for my mom and son, so I’m not complaining but I would love to have a lounger out there like I have in previous aft-facing balconies on other decks.

This is exactly why it would be nice if they are accommodating as long as a person isn’t asking for anything they’re not already entitled to within reason. Heck, you guys aren’t even eating everything you are entitled to, so it would be nice if you could take your dessert to eat when you want. I mean, diners where I live will wrap up dessert that’s included with your dinner to go when you’re too full for it; you’d think the “fine dining” on NCL could work with you 🙄. I am not personally bothered by the 1-1-1-1, because I have never ordered more than that anyway (combination of I just couldn’t eat more than that and I really try to avoid food waste, even on vacation). But the rigidity is what irks me—like what if someone wanted to use one of their FAS meals and order 3 apps and nothing else, or something like that? It certainly isn’t costing NCL more money that way, so why not let people have a little flexibility? I mean, first-world problems, right? But it just seems like a foolish issue for NCL to choose to get people annoyed about.

I know! You’re so right. I have never understood that—it’s a buffet; you’re allowed to go back. It’s nice to be able to try new dishes from a buffet, but if I do that I take the smallest amount possible figuring if I like it and have room I’ll go get more. Also, I just don’t get piling it up until the food all mingles into one combined indistinguishable mass anyway 🤢😂

You know, I’ve been trying so hard to avoid knee-jerk complaints about all these new penny-pinching measures and changes being implemented, and I remind myself how lucky I am to be able to go on nice vacations at all. But this really does irritate me a bit. I know you are joking about the food going in the ocean lol, but by not allowing people to take dessert to go, I do think more will be wasted. If I could take my dessert to my cabin for later on, I’d wait until I was snackish again and probably eat the whole thing on my balcony. If not, I’ll order something because I don’t want to miss out entirely on a dessert I like, but I may only be able to eat a few bites and that’s it. I’d imagine I’m not the only one who may not have room for a whole dessert right at the end of a meal. Given their recent claims that the primary reasons for a lot of these changes is sustainability, it seems silly to enact practices that will increase food waste. Unless, like you said, the smaller portions and limits on ordering give everyone room for dessert anyway…then this is moot lol! @Laszlo and @cruiseinfoseeker thanks for this wonderful live review! This is not my Getaway itinerary next month, but the info you’re providing about the ship is still super useful!

Thank you @Mike C! I hope you’re having a great cruise!

@Uff da thank you for the info! Even with the little man, we’re not super-early dining people. So, I think what I’ll do is maybe stop at the dining reservations to try to make a few at times we’d like, or otherwise someone will just wait with the buzzer near Taste and Savor while someone else amuses my son elsewhere 🙂

@www3traveler @BirdTravels thank you both!

I will soon be cruising for the first time since 2019, and I know some procedures have changed. We booked later than we normally would, so I wasn’t able to make reservations 120 days out. On the Getaway: 1. I already have a reservation for one evening at Cagney’s at 8 PM. If I would like to try for an earlier time, where do I do that? If I try to do it on a kiosk, will my existing reservation be cancelled in order to try to secure a different time? Where can I try to change the reservation time in person upon boarding? At Cagney’s, or is there a central location where they do the dining reservations? 2. I know MDR reservations aren’t required, but my son is 4 and I know our sailing will be full, so I’d rather not wait an hour to be seated at Taste or Savor on the nights when we want a MDR dinner. By the time we booked the cruise, only really lousy times were left for MDR reservations. Are these like the SDR in that more times are available once on board? And again, where do I do that—on a kiosk? Thanks in advance!

Thanks so much for this info! We will be in the two balconies that are on either side of the same suite you had, but on the port side. I feel better knowing that the balcony doors insulate from sounds pretty well. Have a safe trip home!

@cruiseny4life thanks so much for your informative and engaging review. I noticed in the Dailies that at night it didn’t look as though there were parties listed in Spice H2O. Did I miss something? Did they stop having those parties? I’m asking because it would make me happy if they weren’t doing them 🤭. We’re aft on deck 13 in Feb. My husband and I are generally in the casino pretty late, but I’m hoping it won’t be crazy loud at night for my mom and our 4-year-old son who will be 2 cabins away. By the time we booked, our only option for an aft-facing with a regular balcony as close as possible was deck 13, so we took it, but I did have some concerns about noise from Spice parties just a couple decks up. Thanks again for the great review!