4/17 Getaway review - random thoughts

[JIMESOPUS]

The 4/17 cruise was a return to pre Covid. Ship was booked over 100% capacity ( 4350 PAX ) while the crew was short handed ( 300 ). Many of those missing members where in the food side ( waiters, cooks and servers ). Above info provided by several officers. 

 

The Bermuda TA turned into the Bermuda triangle, lines went from inside pier 90 down to 92 just to check the Bermuda entry TA. Once you got thru that line then it's off to 88 for another line. Some folks took over 7 hrs to board. Don't know who to blame, NCL - did they communicate to the numbers to the terminal? Terminal - short handed because of Easter? PAX - many folks didn't come prepared which slowed down the process. Also did we really need to have the same stuff checked twice? If we got the Bermuda TA approved then NCL should have realized that a covid test was taken with negative results and that we have a vac. card.

 

NY terminal - about time to get rid of the escalators and put in ramps, similar to Port Canaveral, there was an incident where someone fell.  

 

The crew did a great job, from cabin stewards to bartenders.

 

Sid's Pour House was the place to go if you liked Rock and Roll, Ballroom dancing show in the Tropicana MDR ( certain hrs ) by the Rock the House cast.

 

Main shows great but the Off Broadway may have been the best.

Headliners / Howl at the moon great place to stop if you don't have anything else to do, some parents let there kids into +18 shows, guess since the Splash Academy was closed they had no one else to babysit  

 

Disappointed by the Haven courtyard, no roof !! ( Ship should stay in Miami ).

 

Food was typical NCL standard but some of the meals fell below that standard. Meals in Cagney's took over 2 hrs, shorthanded cooks was the excuse. Also they ran out of some cuts of meat on the last day.

 

Drunk Teenagers, roaming packs of kids during the night - we had the walk around a group of kids to get to our cabin, the following night we found the same group in a different hallway doing the same thing.

 

Internet useless, too many users - signal was strong but it took several minutes to down load pages, didn't attempt to upload.

 

Lines inside and outside pier #90

 

 

[gatorchinsky]

I hope you had a good time despite all that happened.

 

I know it was Easter and still Spring Break for a lot of people, but it seems to me that NCL should not have a full cruise ship going to Bermuda with all the restrictions still in place.

[oteixeira]

48 minutes ago, gatorchinsky said:

I hope you had a good time despite all that happened.

 

I know it was Easter and still Spring Break for a lot of people, but it seems to me that NCL should not have a full cruise ship going to Bermuda with all the restrictions still in place.

What restrictions are still in place???  The CDC has no restrictions on number of travelers, and the travel level for cruising is currently zero.  Maybe I am missing something.

Basically this is what a spring break cruise was pre-covid, but with the crew short handed (as reported by the OP).  We all have to realize this is normal, the last 9 or so months of cruising since the return were the anomaly, not the full ships we are currently seeing.

[BermudaBound2014]

22 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

.....not the full ships we are currently seeing.

 

... the good news for travelers is that numbers appear to have spiked only for the Easter/Spring Break trips. Based on last minute fire sales, it looks like passenger count will be significantly reduced again for upcoming sailings. 

 

 

[mking8288]

 

@JIMESOPUS  Wow, welcome back - Getaway's cruise week surely came & gone quick.  I had hope that the earlier forecast & reports helped with being prepared for the surge.  Sounds like the crew did the best they could with what was on hand.  Still, oh mine, ship full with 4,350+ souls sailing while short staffed, not a good way and the Bermuda TA requirements not helping.  

 

Satellite WiFi inTERnet was slow earlier, sluggish & barely usable for me.  I couldn't imagine anyone trying to do stream their unlimited WiFi onboard - let this serve as fair warning to anyone considering tossing money and/or OBC to upgrade their bundled package ... hasn't been as bad before on the Gem, Escape or Breakaway. 

 

Did some of the officers attend the M&G event for CC members ? 

 

How was Dockyard, Hamilton in general, assumed that the NCL exclusive ferry was running to St. George again - feedback or comments about the island's transport (public buses) as I think they aren't out of their winter schedule yet.  I only see vastly over-priced shorex as offered by NCL so we are going to just wing it next month after hopping off the Joy (and, we are supposed to have a stopover in Norfolk/Virginia Beach en route out to the island).  

 

Thanks for taking the time to write up a quick summary, much appreciated.  

Edited April 25, 2022 by mking8288

[Montanagirlalways]

We were on RCCL over easter. Packed with families and extended families. Ship at full capacity. Took 45 minutes to get breakfast served. Windjammer cafeteria always crazy packed and self serve. Dinners took a long time too. Elevators were always packed. Just FYI. 

[winemaker1]

The food and service were the worse I have experienced in my cruise life. The workers were great as always but terribly understaffed and inexperienced.  Embarkation was a nightmare. Some folks spent 7 hours online, the average seemed to be 5 hours. Skipped Virginia which was a blessing and probably pre-planned because anyone who got off the ship would have had to have another covid test, per Bermuda requirement. Weather was terrible but that is my fault for going to Bermuda in April. The kids were kids and should be expected on a spring break cruise. Getting off the ship took another two plus hours after we docked before we could start the process. I will never go to Bermuda again and I am having second thoughts about future NCL cruises. 

[UKstages]

similar story on the gem last week... ship at capacity, roaming bands of teenagers... and when they weren't roaming, they would sit four and five abreast in the stairwells, in groups of fifteen or twenty, blocking the stairs for anybody who wished to pass. they also left their plates and glasses in the stairwells, as well as leftover food and spilled drinks and, well, vomit. and it would stay there for hours on end.

 

crew was wonderful, but there weren't enough of them.

 

internet was barely usable. three or four minutes for a web page to load... and that's on the premium wifi. two minutes for a text to send, only to get an error message. long periods of unavailability, especially overnight, especially in staterooms.

 

pier 90 - same story as above... 45 minutes for security and then another 90 minutes to two hours to check vax status and negative test results. bermuda wasn't on the itinerary, so there was no TA, and yet it still took most people two hours or more to get through before they could actually get in a check in line.

 

 

[JIMESOPUS]

@mking8288Spirt of St George was operational, had 3 or 4 runs the first day, nothing on the second day ( bad weather / waves ) and 1 run on the last day. 

 

No Orange route yet, too early but the ferry to Hamilton was running every 90 minutes, need to wear a mask on this ferry and all buses. This could change.

Still $5 dollars to get aboard or take your chances in a very long line on the first day to buy your pass or tokens at the dockyard. We have in the past use the $5 to get to Hamilton and then buy the passes over there, no lines.

 

CC M&G was well attended, senior officers did attend - Mario Markovic highest ranking. Dinner with officers was available, nothing else - they gave us $50 NOBC 

 

Dockyard appearance seemed little worn down, maybe too early in the season. Glass works gone, building empty. Several stores in the clocktower gone, one converted over to a covid testing site. I thought there was two bus stops, found only one in front of the clocktower. You can see the bus stop in the above photo. The trolley was running and you can still rent that scooter. Pirate ship MIA. 

 

Hamilton, some bars and stores were closed but there was areas of rebuilding. Some places required masks while other didn't. I just think we got there at the wrong time.

 

Didn't use a bus this time but was told they limited the amount of passengers.

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

12 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Didn't use a bus this time but was told they limited the amount of passengers.

We did use the public bus on the island. There weren't any signs limiting passengers and the driver didn't seem concerned when the bus did get crowded. I will warn you that we tried riding the bus twice - waited 20 minutes for one and nearly an hour for another. At no time did the bus show up so we had to take alternate transportation. Don't rely on the bus if you're trying to get back to the ship before departure and plan for another way to get to your destination if the bus doesn't show up.

 

I totally forgot to put my mask on and the driver didn't say anything. I realized midway through the ride I wasn't wearing a mask and quickly put it on.

 

The locals on the bus were amazing! They offered suggestions on where to go, what to do. I'd highly recommend the bus if you have the time.

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by aaroncstrong
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