santacap

Tenders arriving

Captain Josh

Some nice houses on the drive out to the ocean

Big John

Thanks for the info, my dd is 13, doesn't eat shrimp and won't eat the beef unless it's plain and as far as I can make out it's served with a sauce/gravy so hoping she can order from the kids menu :cool: But, we are in the mindset of it being a show rather than about the food so we'll make it work (we'll visit the buffet later if needed).

 

Thanks again, looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip :)

there was definitely a sauce on it. The food comes fast and furious so you don't get distracted from the real show which is very nice. That was our thought exactly, I think we might have ordered some room service pizza this night too:)

tampadee How early would you suggest arriving at Illusionarium?

we were there about 520 - 525, I would say about 510 - 515 would be a lot better. Depending on how long you wanted to sit. Service was good, so you could always order a drink etc and wait.

Joeghartman Exciting pictures!!!! 5 months exactly until our cruise

Thanks... let the countdown begin (or continue if you are like me :eek: )enjoy your cruise

Enjoying your updates & photos, thanks.

 

Can I ask about the Illusionarium menu, you mention pork, I thought it was a set menu of beef & shrimp? Any info on alternatives and/or kids menu?

so sorry... you are totally correct it was beef. Getting my meals mixed lol. I'll fix it in the main body :)

They wouldn't offer alternatives, but the full kids menu was available. Josh had the chicken fingers this night and loved them. His usual go to was the burger. Not your kids sized burger thats for sure lol

Day 4 Cont'd

Once we had started sail away, it was time to get ready for dinner. Tonight our group was separated for dinner with plans to meet for a couple cocktails at our usual spot at the Sugarcane Mojito Bar waterfront area. It would be a good time in the review to note the service at this bar, after our first night the waitress / bartender knew our orders and they were not of the mojito variety except for special nights :) This stood out because the drinks weren't your rum / coke but 4 different martinis each with different vodkas and combos of twists / neat / rocks etc. and Josh was always greeted with an OJ.

Tonight my half went to the early seating of Illusionarium, and the rest went to Teppanyaki. Prior to the cruise we reserved floor seating. Word to the wise, if you want to get good floor seating arrive early. I wish we had, not that our seats were bad, but for the upgrade cost they could have been better. We were in the last row to the right of the stage. Could still see everything but still a bit away. One blessing of this was that Josh got picked to go up on stage to start the show off.

Food at Illusionarium was exactly what we were expecting which was nothing earth shattering. The pork was cooked well and served nice and hot which suited us just fine. Tough when you have to serve that many people, but there was a bit of everything for all tastes. The desert was excellent.

As for the show, we are still scratching our heads at the mentalist, she literally pegged a guy from New Zealands drivers license number while blindfolded. All the other acts were well put together, and precise. We were all impressed with the whole show and how the acts tied into the overall story they were telling. Of course Josh loved it, and getting called up was the highlite... he is anything but shy :)

Of course with the show, we could not take pictures. I did try while Josh was on stage, but was told by a worker to put the phone down. :p

After the show we met up for a quick drink at howl at the moon, and did a little more exploring.

With another early morning and Grand Cayman up next we grabbed a night cap for the room and headed off to hit the hay.

As for Grand Cayman preps, if you want off the ship early book a tender via iConcierge or the TV system. I did this on the Monday and we were booked on the first tender off no problem for our entire group.

Back in a bit... as always, any questions let me know. :)

Couple more from Ocho Rios...

Day 4 - Ocho Rios

The last time we were in Ocho Rios we had one of our most favorite port tours with Knowjamaica and a private driver. Having heard stories from others in our group on this tour about the hassles in the city we decided to do the same thing, but with a different company and different stops along the way. Doing some research on other reviews, and trip advisor we settled on Marvyn Gayle and his paradise tours for the day. The process was incredibly simple. We met somebody within the secure gates at the terminal, and were taxid up to our meeting point for free to meet our driver for the day, Orlando. Orlando met us with a smile on his face and a bottle of water each, and we were off for the day.

Unfortunately today was the day we would get lots of rain, but that was fine we were going to spend some time in the rainforest at the Blue Hole, and then see where the day took us. The drive to the Blue Hole was up first, Orlando knowing that other tours from Falmouth, and Montego Bay would be arriving brought us there first to avoid some congestion. The drive took about 30-40 minutes and Orlando gave us some history lessons and was very happy to talk about his country. I will say the drive up was a bit treacherous with old roads and a steady stream of tour cars to the Blue Hole.

Once there, Orlando set us up with a guide after paying the entry fee of 15 dollar per adult, and 10 per child and we were off. The Blue Hole even on a rainy day is a great place. I would say it is 'organized chaos' with multiple guides, in different groups taking you up to the top and a steady stream of jumps down to a rope swing. Josh wanted to do them all, and once our guide was comfortable that he could handle it let him do them all while keeping a watchful eye at all times. The guides were great, and safety was their main priority especially on a rainy slippery day. If you are going to stop at the Blue Hole, water shoes are a must. you can rent or buy outside, but just pack them away, well worth the investment.

We definitey beat the rush, thanks to Orlando, as when we left the area the buses were lined up, and parked at the bottom of a long hill. Definitely go hear first if it is a part of your day.

Once back in Orlando's car it was decided that we would go to a look out point to grab a drink and a quick snack (can't resist a local beef patty). We spotted Keith Richard's house way up top of the hill and got some great pics of the ship. The clouds opened back up again soon after letting the sun shine a bit rain was upon us and put a damper on the beach plans. With the beach put on the back burner we headed to Scotchies for some jerk chicken and rice / beans. If I was a food critic I would say they were a but overcooked, but I'm not and I am in Jamaica and totally enjoyed the hot sauce / spice combo. It was quite busy, but I am sure the rain had alot to do with that. Once finished we made the call to say goodbye to Orlando at the terminal and go back on board and meet up with our group.

It was a great day, and well worth the money if you are looking for something to do in Ocho Rios, would highly recommend. Heck over 1500 reviews on trip advisor with a 5 star rating can't be wrong, can it?

We did a little shopping with some of the vendors inside the secure area, and I can't stand being sold to (im in sales, and just get frustrated with the hard sell they give) so got frustrated early, got our little guy a painting and we headed back on board to see my step brothers aft balcony and grab a drink while sailing away.

Picture doesn't quite do it justice, the waters were fast

organized chaos

Our guide kept Josh safe the entire time

taking a break

Rain rain go away

Thanks for a great day Orlando

I'm in the same situation as many of the others here. I've been on several Carnival cruises and have my first Norweigan cruise booked on the Getaway this coming January. Partly because I want to try something new and partly because I'm also Canadian and there was a pretty good deal when I booked a few months ago.

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

seems we are certainly not in the minority. Enjoy your cruise :)

I'm thrilled to find your review! We too switched from Carnival. After 3 cruises with them and one with Princess, everything just seemed the same. The same shows, the same events during the day etc. It just felt like all the cruise directors use the same jokes and nothing is that different from cruise to cruise.

Although we have had a good cruise, we are just bored with Carnival, So, this January we are going on NCL!

I can't wait to see more about how your cruise went!

Totally feel the same. While we never had a bad time on a Carnival cruise,w e found we were always having the 'same time' if that makes sense. The variety of dinners left something for everybody in our large group.

Hipefully can get some more up on the week tonight. Life is getting in the way... have to pay for our next cruise in 2017 on the Escape (booked today ):D

Day 3 - Day At Sea

Before the cruise we had bought tickets to Wine Lover the Musical, but unfortunately this was pushed back / cancelled to the last sea day which didn't work for us and our other plans so we were refunded the money and no hassle at guest services. Just another thing to try on the next cruise

This was our first true day to explore the ship and enjoy the pools which brought about one issue I did have with the Getaway. Being a family it seemed as if the kids / family area was an afterthought for seating etc. I am confident in my sons swimming abilities but still like to be in the general area. For this on the Getaway the only available spots were along a small hallway like area and seating was a regular chair. Nothing we couldn't handle but again seemed like the Adults only sections were more prominent. I don't have a problem, but I would have liked to swim as a family in the main pool, but being adults only we couldn't. Which is a shame because every time at the adults only pool it seemed to only be used ad a foot refresher and lounge area.

Lounge chairs were not to be found especially for our larger group, but that's the same on every ship / cruise we have ever done. There's really just no way around it. What i did find nice was there lots of shaded areas and you didn't have to bake in the sun to be on the deck.

After a few hours in the pool I was getting a bit antsy and headed to the gym to burn off some energy. This was a great layout with ample ellipticals, treadmills bikes in one room overlooking the waters, and the weights etc were in the room across the hall. unfortunately I didn't get any pictures but it was very roomy, and clean. One other note along the same line of exercise etc. Not sure who thought the placement of the walking / running track on the deck would be good to go through main seating / rock wall lines etc but it was pretty silly to see IMO.

As the day went on, the lines for the slides, ropes course, rock wall got longer so we made note for the last sea day. Josh was dying to try the rock wall so we made pinky swears to try it after dinner, which we did.

Today was the day for Mr Sexy Legs, which was on the adult only pool, but all in all pretty funny and a nice change from the hairy chest, even if it was the same type of show all things being equal.

Some more observations in comparison, the live music was very prominent which we enjoyed. Carnival kind of did away with this in lieu of DJ music over the years.

Tonight was dinner at Cagneys, man oh man was this a great steak and the service was excellent. My camera batter died so I didn't get many pictures of the dinner. A nice touch was the bar area between Cagneys and Moderno as a gathering / meeting spot before dinner for a cocktail.

After dinner we tried, and learned our lesson that you can't just walk up to the comedy show. So with that lesson learned we hopped on the iConcierge app and made reservations for the Friday evening family show. With that said we were all looking forward to our stop in Ocho Rios and tour with Marvyn Gayle and his group so we grabbed a night cap and headed to the rooms to relax and enjoy the balcony.

By far my favorite couple pictures from the cruise, can just see his thought process at the rock wall.

Kids pool

no more sponge bob

Your son is adorable. Thanks for the review.

Seminole- we are on the same cruise as you

Thanks, he gets it from his Mom :) have a great trip

Thanks for the pics from Le Bistro! We have reservations there the first night we cruise. So excited!

Will be our first place to go on the next cruise. Enjoy

Can you please tell me if you were allowed to simply put a luggage tag on your case of water? I was told no when I tried to do this at Port Everglades. Thanks!

Most definitely, that's all we did. Nothing fancy, just stapled it to the top of the case and made it as stable as possible. Made it to the room no problems.

great review, love all the pictures, nice to hear about the ice bar as daugher and partner are really looking forward to it on our june 26 cruise.

keep it coming cant wait for the next installment.

It was a great time. Wife loved it after getting a bit of a burn lol. Have a great cruise.

What a cutie you have there. I bet he had a blast. I am enjoying your review, waiting for more. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

He had a great time. He has never been one for the kids club, would rather be on the deck with us, which is fine by us too. He says he wants to only do Norwegian now lol.

The staff were amazing with him, from the senior officers right down the line.

I love the piano bar on Carnival! I had so much fun there every single night on my last cruise. I am going to miss that on my Getaway cruise. However, I have been to Howl at the Moon in Chicago and it was a blast so I am really looking forward to going on the cruise!

Definitely a great time, would have liked to have them play a bit more but sharing with the comedy show venue makes them flip flop. Different setting as I mentioned but worthwhile all the same.

Day 2 Cont'd

Tonight we once again had earlyish dinner reservations for Le Bistro. This was one of my favorite meals. What I found at all the specialty restaurants was the portions were just right, not too small, but just the right amount of food to feel full and not stuffed. I had ordered the lobster (cold water which was again a nice touch from the Carnival lobster) it was phenomenal. Followed up by the cheese platter and port wine (when in Rome, or France in this case):D. Service was prompt, friendly and knowledgeable (suggesting sides, paired wines etc)

After dinner with the Headlines / Howl at the Moon across from us we decided to check it out. The group on board playing the pianos were very talented and knew most songs. Wasn't your typical Howl at the Moon set up where they are playing for solely tips but more like a band (drums etc) where they would play requests and the tips would go to the front. Personally I would prefer the piano bar on a Carnival ship due to its atmosphere rather than stadium / club type seating at the Headlines room but it was still quite entertaining.

Tonight was the night the clocks went back an hour, and a card was given in your dailies that night letting you know. I thought this was a nice idea as we were due in 3 straight ports with what equals CST, and we were due a sea day so it gave a day to get accustomed to the difference.

Up next our first day at Sea and chance to really explore

Stairs down from Cabana 1

Where the tenders enter

Down to the beach

Home for the day

Day 2 - Great Stirrup Cay

This day was filled with much anticipation as most of the reviews I had read leading up to our departure this stop was missed due to winds / weather. Once available we booked a large cabana for our group of 7. This booking came with a 50 dollar credit in food delivered to the cabana, 2 float mats, chips / dips, fruits. The cabana was equipped with a fresh water shower, fridge, open air deck, hammock, ceiling fan, loungers and most important plenty of shade.

The night before you must pick your food choices, from a menu delivered to your room. Choices were diverse, and you could of course go over the allotted money charged to your account. With all of our group on the UBP we went with a meat platter, shrimps and some more fruits.

Having the cabana also gave us a priority tender, with the first one leaving at 7:45 we made our way across about 9 o'clock and we were the first of the group of large cabanas there. The tender process was seamless and well organized with no back ups in line. The walk took no more than 5 minutes to get there and were immediately greeted by our waiter for the day who took excellent care of us. As a note for anybody looking, we were given Cabana #1, and once on the island were greeted by a cabana specific representative from shore excursions and directed how to get there.

Unfortunately it was a fairly grey day, and the water was cool. That didn't stop our son from going in the water and never leaving. One comment with kids is that the distance to the beach is pretty lengthy so you would have to go down with them.

As a comparison to Carnival's Half Moon Cay I would say Carnival has this island beat for beach alone. I found the entry to the waters by the cabanas to be very rocky, and not as white. But hey, I will take a day on the beach over a great day at work any day and all day.

Lunch buffet was excellent, and located almost right beside our cabana. We waited a bit for the line to die down as we were in no rush after picking at our sides in the morning, so I can't comment on any peak times. We went about 1:30 and the food was still hot, fresh and very tasty.

My son was disappointed to hear that the hippo slide was broken, nobody seemed to know when it would be back, but that didn't dampen his spirits for his first true beach day of the cruise.

The tender process back was again seamless, and the lines moved very quickly. Up next dinner that night at Le Bistro and some other tidbits

Food going over

We'll be there soon!!

When not in the water, he's still having fun

The Getaway on the May 29 cruise will go to Roatan, Belize City, Costa Maya and Cozumel

awesome, one of my favorite ports is Roatan. We were looking at a Costa Maya stop next time too :)

Getting ready to sail the Getaway in June. Can't wait for the rest of the review.

Thanks, enjoy your cruise in June.

Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks, hopefully can keep it interesting throughout

:)

Great start, we are on the Getaway in June, can't wait to read more :)

Thanks, enjoy your cruise.

Enjoying your review

We leave May 29 on the Getaway. I am enjoying your review! We will go to different ports however, but it is still very interesting. Thank you!

 

I am so glad to see the review of the ice bar. I haven't seen any other report on it. I like the cold and love Vodka so I am looking forward to going in there.

Ice Bar Should fit you perfectly then :D. Which ports are you doing ?

Some more on the ice bar. If you needed to find anybody in our group you could find us at the Sugarcane Mojito Bar which is in perfect view of the Ice Bar so to me it seemed to me to be quiet at most times, if there was a wait it wouldn't last long. Each time we went we were the only ones there. Good idea for NCL as visits don't last too long, and there is a good turnover of customers.

The bartender luckily didn't have to wait inside but was told when somebody was going to go in. The drinks were pre made, and if memory serves me there was 5 drinks, or you could have ice wine. For the kids, there were non alcoholic drinks as well.

Let's try these pics.... I was dared to take the parka thing off

Miami Cont'd

After our meal at La Cucina we were able to see if the hostess about all other days reservations to see if we could change. Being a larger group we booked all our days before hand. Unfortunately, not many were able to be accomodated, which is fine but worth noting for future cruises with groups. We could only book online in groups of 2, and we had no problem only being a group of 7 for each dinner.

La Cucina was typically the most quiet every time we passed by, but was quite enjoyable. If I were to rank the restaurants we tried (cagneys, le bistro, illusionarium, la cucina and teppanyaki) I would say it would be 4th for food, 5th overall. Not that it was bad, it was just not as good as the rest for us.

My wife and I ventured over to Ice Bar as it was very quiet, and you know we were missing home in Toronto so much we needed to feel more ice:confused:. The 20 dollar charge and 3 drinks was fine by us. The drinks weren't the best, and fairly small, but it was the experience that made it great. My son would drag us on later in the week, which he loved sitting on the chairs and the overcoat.

Unfortunately in going through my pictures I didn't get many of our first night, but I got a few. Too much to see

Awesome! Can't wait to read more. Thanks for posting.

 

I sail May 22 on the Getaway, my first NCL cruise. I've only been on Carnival as well so I'm looking forward to your opinion on NCL

momtomany Looking forward to the review. We are also past Carnival cruisers and are sailing on the Getaway on May 1, also in a Balcony on the 11th floor.

Nice start, thank-you.:)

NCteacherlovescruising Three-fourths of our previous cruises were with Carnival. We are going on the Getaway this July, so I'm super excited to read your review!

Sand and Seas Nice start! Looking forward to the rest of your review:D

Cruisermom2nick We also transitioned from Carnival to NCL last year and so far we like it better! :) Curious to see what you thought..

kapcruiser We also switched this year from carnival to Norwegian. Anxious to hear more

Day 1 - Miami Embarkation

We were up in the morning and after a usual hotel breakfast we were off to the port to drop off family members and then to bring back our rental cars (2 rented via priceline for 18 bucks a night, cant beat that). The return process was painless and we were in a cab and back to the port in 30 minutes tops after dropping people off, at the security gate about 11:30

Screening at security was much like other check ins, through the metal detectors and xrays then onto the next step. Getting our ID cards :D. Once again this was a breeze, and we all had our bronze coloured cards (yes, we are Canadian) and were given zone 15. We were kind of bummed, but little did we know that they called zones in odd numbers and if we waited more than 15 minutes to get called I would be incredibly surprised.

As an observation, it seems that with each cruise we have done, check in has gotten easier and easier and the process is constantly improving.

Once on to the deck we were greeted by friendly faces, and some dancing to DJ music which was a nice touch. With our rooms not ready yet, we headed to O'Sheehans for lunch and this would become a daily meeting spot for our group. Service was fast, friendly and the food was very good. Think through the group this meal we had wings, caesars, and fajitas. All the portions were appropriate size for a lunch and very much hit the spot.

Rooms were ready about 1:30 and we went to check out our home for 7 days. First impressions were like most the balcony was smaller then used to, but little things made the difference for us. On Carnival the door swings out and can cause quite a wind tunnel on certain days, and door slamming. The sliding door on the Getaway was a very nice touch for us. We got used to the smaller side tables very fast and found the storage ample for 3 people.

Another nice touch we found was the glassed in shower door. Doesn't take much to please us :) I will say this, the mirrors are not designed for tall people as I was staring at the recessed lighting every day. Nothing a little bend couldn't fix, but worth noting all the same.

Muster was super easy, and quick. Again a process that has been improved each cruise we have done.

All luggage was at our room including a case of water by 5 PM. Plenty of time to make our 5:30 reservations at La Cucina. dinner was very good and the service was fast, and they took good care of my son, even if he wasn't having the dinner package.

Just finishing uploading some pictures to a site so will get those up next of our first day.

As always, any questions let me know.:)

OK... now that's a long title :)

First review posted in this forum but have written one for every cruise my family and I have done, so no reason to stop now right?

Like most, best to start with a little background. This cruise was a long time coming, we had decided after our last Carnival cruise to try something else out. Not that we had any bad experiences with Carnival, with one main exception the food had become status quo and we loved the idea of the specialty dining restaurants, and the choices that were available. With that said early summer last year we booked this week on the NCL Getaway.

Booked this week were myself, my wife and son who is 6. In the build up to the cruise we were joined with my mother, my step brother and his wife and kids. We are balcony lovers and went with a mid-ship balcony this week (11848 to be exact) while my step brother was in an Aft balcony and my mother was next door.

The itinerary for this week... Great Stirrup Cay, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Thankfully, with 2 ports that can be missed, all were made on time and with the exception of Ocho Rios, the weather co-operated.

I won't bore you with details of our pre cruise stay (unless anybody had questions) except to say we stayed at the Holiday Inn Kendall, which is about 30 minutes from Miami International Airport. We chose this as we had plans to visit friends and go deep sea fishing in Key Largo with those friends. Place was clean, friendly and typical of a HI, plus the price was right.

Post cruise we spent 2 nights at the Savoy on South Beach and was once again treated to a great post cruise vacation.

I will get plenty of pictures up through this review, so bare with me as laundry and other duties call

if you have time, since your DD is in splash academy if you could post the schedule I would love to see that.

Going with our son who is 6 in 2 weeks exactly

enjoy your cruise:)

has anybody tried the accupuncture on the ship?

Cozumel is on EST year round now, so they are the same.

perfect... all these changes since the last cruise lol

:)

I have a question along the same lines, so if the ship changes time the night before...

if the cruise itinerary says at 11:00 AM... does that mean local Cozumel time, or EST?