LadyCruising

Sorry for the delay on posting the rest of the cruise. Came back to a major crisis at work so I've been swamped but should be posting more soon and will answer any questions too.

Monday 17th-Sea Day Woke up very slowly today since we had no real plans. We first made our way to Starbucks because pumpkin season is here. We caught the morning show on how to run a cruise ship presentation but the sushi demo prior ran long so the presentation was crunched for time. I could have spent a lot more time hearing about it. I hope they are able to do behind the scenes tours again sometime in the future. After the presentation we grabbed some lunch at Savor and I had the spinach Caesar salad (very good) and the BLT (bread was kind of stale so not so good). Pool deck was crowded as expected and even though this was a planned sea day there wasn't a lot going on. We tried to participate in a whiskey tasting but they were already full so we went to a few different bars and tried a few drinks. We also tried out the bake shop. The macarons were good but the cupcake wasn't that great. This was the day when I realized our room steward might not be as excellent as our previous stewards. He had clearly been in the room but had only left us with one towel. I figured at the time that it must be an oversight and he forgot to bring fresh ones in but this continued all week. Several times the floor mat got soaked due to the jets in the shower spraying everywhere and he would take the wet mat but wouldn't leave a new one. When my husband called about getting new towels he said our room steward came and just handed them over and didn't seem overly concerned that we were missing them so maybe he just wasn't up for the job? Im not really sure what was going on there but it didn't make any real dent in our enjoyment. The rest of the day wasn't very exciting. We had dinner at Savor and I had a dish with chicken and risotto that wasn't to my liking. Too much tomato flavor that just didn't taste right with whatever other flavors they used. I'm sure we had some dessert and probably evening drinks but I nothing specifically stands out for evening activities. We were looking forward to having a day in port so I'm assuming we didn't stay up too late. It wasn't a bad day, just not that memorable.

Sunday 16th-No Great Stirrup Cay Woke up to a beautiful day and although tired, we were excited to get over to the beach. We quickly found out that this was not to be. Apparently the tenders were unable to get to the ship so we would not be able to get to the island. It didn't look like rough seas but I am not the expert on that department and I've heard this is a common problem so we found ourselves with a sea day. Since there was no rush to go anywhere we took a long time to get up and out of the cabin that morning. Breakfast was Starbucks lattes (we just had the regular drink package so they did cost extra) and we watched some of the atrium entertainment while figuring out what we wanted to do with this unexpected sea day. All in all I am not quite sure what we did the whole day. I know we did some shopping onboard and that I bought some cruise nexts certificates for a cruise we have planned next year. We also had lunch at taste and I remember I had the spinach salad and chicken flautas which were good and the lava cake which was super delicious. I'm sure we also had a few drinks but otherwise the day is a little fuzzy...maybe we had more drinks than I recall. Anyways we got a little more dressed up for the evening activities which started with dinner at Cagney's. I had the crab cake, filet, scalloped potatoes, grilled zucchini, and chocolate cake and all of it was amazing. I also had a couple of glasses of Veuve which cost about $19 in addition to the beverage package but worth it. We were also served an anniversary cake which we could not even imagine eating at that point so they wrapped it up for us to take to our room. After dinner we had the million dollar quartet performance which was fantastic. Very talented performers and we really enjoyed it. I don't believe we managed to squeeze anything else out of this day; especially after all that food and drink. But this was one of our favorite days on this trip.

Saturday 15th-Embarkation Arrived at Port Canaveral around 10am. It was my first time cruising from there and although I saw a sign for Carnival's Mardi Gras ship, I didn't see anything for NCL so it took a few minutes to figure out terminal 10 was the correct location. Thankfully our Uber driver had patience with us while we figured it out. Once dropped off it was again a little confusing as to where to go and where to drop off bags. Not a huge deal but we found ourselves backtracking a little to get the right spots. (I think signage could be better but everyone is helpful) After dropping the bags we checked in with very little wait and then sat down until called. We had boarding group 31 and we were onboard right after 11am. One thing I liked was that they had the welcome aboard photo area setup so you could take that picture while waiting instead of stopping during your trek onto the ship. Once onboard we made show reservations at the box office and also fixed some dining reservations (you could do this at either Le Bistro which is their French restaurant or they also had it setup in the headliners comedy club). It was then time for our first drink! We went to Mixx so we could grab lunch after the drinks. I checked the app and this is when I noticed that the Dominican Republic was no longer listed on our cruise and after inquiring we found out it had been replaced with Nassau Bahamas (more on this later). We finished our first drink and I ordered a glass of wine with lunch at Savor and it was nice to sit down and enjoy a meal rather than fight the buffet crowds. I know I had a quesadilla for this first lunch and that was good but I don't remember all of the food/drinks so I will only mention those I recall. If there is anything that wasn't good or was really notable I will mention that too. After lunch we did a little exploring and ended up at spice H2O for more drinks and to wait for our room to be ready. I don't remember the exact time but I believe the room was done around 2pm. I was happy the room was open because after lunch and those initial drinks I was tired so we immediately went and took a nap. Our bags arrived while we were napping so we unpacked and got cleaned up and then went to Spice for sailaway. Side note, as we left the room for sailaway we met Junior our room steward. He seemed nice, very laid back and told us he would take care of everything. (Since we don't have any special requests and just really expect the basics of fresh towels and to replenish the tissue/TP we figured this would be an easy ask but we can get more into that later) Once sailaway was done we headed to Teppanyaki for dinner. Dinner was a good start to the cruise. Service was excellent, and the chef put on a good show. I had the steak and shrimp for my entree and fruit for dessert. Food was good...typical Teppanyaki quality which in my opinion is good but not usually great.I also tried the wasabi cocktail offered. It was really good and not at all spicy like the name implies. The rest of the evening we spent exploring the ship and watching some of the entertainment in the atrium. We did try to get into Syd Norman's but even after getting there early it was still packed so we didn't stay. I know we didn't do much on this evening and we didn't stay up super late as we planned to get up early to enjoy Great Stirrup Cay. All in all it was a great start.

Pre cruise We flew into Orlando a couple days before the cruise to visit family we have in Florida near Port Canaveral. We used Uber instead of renting a car and even though it is a little bit of a hike from Orlando to the east side of Florida I think it was a cheaper option overall. (It was around $80)

My husband and I just got back from the NCL Getaway Oct 15-22 Cruise to Great Stirrup Cay, St Thomas, San Juan, and the Dominican Republic. (Spoiler, we did not go to Great Stirrup Cay or the Dominican Republic but still managed to have a great cruise). I am going to attempt to do a short review of each day and will sum up the good/bad at the end. To answer a few questions up front: I don't have copies of the dailies, we used the app although paper copies were available. I didn't take very many pictures but will post some if I find any that seem useful. We are in our 40's, silver status with NCL (so really not much status), stayed in a mini suite (not a true suite but just a balcony room with a bigger/nicer bathroom) and this is our 3rd cruise with NCL (previously sailed Epic and Bliss) and our 5th cruise overall. We had the regular drink package, 2 specialty dinners (we chose Teppanyaki and Cagney's), $50 shore excursion, and 150 minutes of wifi (which I forgot about until the last day of the cruise). It may take me a couple days to get everything posted but if you have questions let me know and I will answer if I can!

This is such a great review. Thank you for doing it! My husband and I are doing this same itinerary on the Getaway in Oct and my husband LOVES rum so your PR experience sounds amazing for him. About how far is the tasting location from the port?

Hello fellow cruisers. When looking at cabins on the Bliss, the spa club balcony lists a queen bed when other cabins have the description list two beds that convert to a queen. Does anyone know if the spa cabin bed is only a queen? (I'm traveling with my son and would rather have the option to convert to two beds if possible!) Thanks for any info!