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Just off the Getaway-Haven-Baltic

karenj4546

By karenj4546,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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karenj4546

karenj4546

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It's going to take awhile to post a review, but I figured that I could try to answer specific questions about the Baltic, the Haven (H4), embarkation, ports and tours, etc in the meantime. I will say that I LOVED the Haven and will likely not book a mega-ship unless we've got that refuge! And, though the youngsters (23y/o and 26y/o) called their inside a "walk-in closet", I think that our room was PERFECT for what we needed.

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hawkeyetlse

hawkeyetlse

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I think these are the questions you will get the most:

 

  1. How long did it take you to get off the ship in St Petersburg?
  2. Did you sail through the Stockholm Archipelago and dock in Stockholm?
  3. How did you manage all the different currencies?

Last year on the Star they had performers board the ship to do a folkloric show on the evening of first day in St Petersburg. Do they do this on the Getaway?

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dixieagle

dixieagle

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We sail on this itinerary in an H5 on the Getaway one week from today!

 

I'm particularly interested in the menus in The Haven restaurant, and in the speed/quality of the WiFi on the ship.

 

Thanks!!!

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karenj4546

karenj4546

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I can only answer what I know. We saw HUGE lines in Russia from our balcony for those who had to be off the ship early. The advice was to plan for at least an extra 1/2 hour.

I think these are the questions you will get the most:

 

  1. How long did it take you to get off the ship in St Petersburg? We didn't get off first-thing, instead, we got off around 1pm. So, it probably took us 15 minutes from the Concierge desk to clearing.
  2. Did you sail through the Stockholm Archipelago and dock in Stockholm? No. We docked in Nynashamn and missed Stockholm, though some folks made it there. Saw a small part of the Archipelago.
  3. How did you manage all the different currencies? In a word, ATM's. Most folks accepted credit cards, but we found an ATM at every port so that we had a small amount of local currancy (remember that this is Europe, so get coin change ASAP, if you anticipate needing a WC!)

Last year on the Star they had performers board the ship to do a folkloric show on the evening of first day in St Petersburg. Do they do this on the Getaway? Yes. However, we got to the theater 15 minutes early and all seats were gone. Even those reserved for the Haven.

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karenj4546

karenj4546

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I didn't take any pics of the menus....with the exception of lobster, they seemed exactly what I'd seen by googling "NCL Haven menu's" prior to going on the trip. WiFi....oh boy....We had 250 minutes for a perk and both DH and I had 30 minutes for latitudes perk. We had to go to the internet desk to get the 30 minutes added and they wouldn't put them on the same account. So DH had 30 minutes while I had 280. Getting on and off Wifi was probably harder on this trip than it was 2 years ago, and the speed/connectivity didn't seem any better this time. If you use a phone or tablet, do keep your login page in the background, as logging off if it was a REALLY hard-to-do thing! (Both my experience and that of another couple we met.)

 

We sail on this itinerary in an H5 on the Getaway one week from today!

 

I'm particularly interested in the menus in The Haven restaurant, and in the speed/quality of the WiFi on the ship.

 

Thanks!!!

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karenj4546

karenj4546

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My husband is reading my review, right now. Hope to get it posted in a few minutes and it will answer a lot of questions. There is NO LOBSTER on this ship. It's the subject of a lot of threads, here. I agree that a second showing of the Russian folklore show is in order. However, the ship is nearly deserted while in port in Russia. We did "through the eyes of the Russians" and loved it. The "kids" did the Russian Ballet (currently Swan Lake). YES, we looked for Wi-Fi. It was spotty in a lot of places. In Tallinn proper, wi-fi is everywhere. Hop on Hop off buses all had it. In St. Petersburg, it's available in all restaurants (according to our guide). Folks will laugh, but DH and I play Pokemon Go, and were able to catch region-specific Pokemon when we had Wi-Fi. Also were able to download email in lots of spots, and check-in on Facebook. In a few ports, I was able to get free wifi from our balcony, but had to keep looking for connections, so it ate up a lot of battery. BRING A POWER STRIP and a "pocket-power" device on the trip, so that you don't lose all of your battery while in port!

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karenj4546

karenj4546

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Karen, I am considering that same shore excursion (Through the Eyes of Russian People)...can you please give me some details about that? What places you visited and any info would be appreciated! :-)

 

It starts at 1:15 (or so). I'd suggest that you get off the ship no later than 12:30. There are shops to poke around in, while you wait.

We boarded a bus and were driven in to the city. Our guide pointed out places along the way. Got to the metro station and descended a VERY long escalator followed by a shorter one. I think it could be very hectic, on a weekday, but we were there on Saturday. Still busy, but okay. We had a couple of folks with canes on our tour, and it involved a lot of stairs and walking. I would NOT recommend this tour to anyone who has mobility issues! We did two separate trains and landed at a market for about 15 minutes. It's indoors and has a lot of fruit/veggies, meats, and breads. Two small stalls with spices at one and souvenirs at the other. They have toilets and our guide gave desperate folks the change to use them, but the next stop was a restaurant for vodka tasting/snacks which had both free WC's and free wi-fi. After that, we headed back to the ship. I highly recommend this excursion, if you want to avoid LONG days. If you're interested in museums and such, you could do a 1 day tour of those while doing an afternoon on this tour (some folks on our tour did both a morning tour and this one)....Most folks were exhausted after Russia.

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karenj4546

karenj4546

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Is that the one through the ship? It seems they used to take you to someones apartment or house for lunch IIRC (not sure how they would handle a large group).

 

Yes. All organized tours were through NCL.

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