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MiamiSpartan

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    New Frost Museum of Science has just opened near PortMiami...!

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    Just went yesterday....! Great time! Good for families...great 3D Planetarium show. Very interactive....

    Nice to see Miami getting its act together with things to do downtown...

    It sits next door to the Perez Art Museum and across the street from the Arsht Center (performing arts and opera house)

    Marlins Park is a short cab/Uber ride away...Jungle Island is also close by, and the new Brickell City Center Mall is on the south part of downtown....

     

     

    Sent from my iPad using Forums

    Sawgrass mall

    in Florida Departures

    Posted

    What I find sad and "desgusting" is the huge amount of ignorance you can find on CC.

     

    Those " out of country folks" are keeping "in country folks" i.e. Americans employed... as well as mall operators happy and state and county tax men smiling.

     

    If the "out of country folks" find our American junk a bargain and fill a Samsonite factory with our stuff.. who cares?

     

    It's their money and our economy. It's not sad, it's fantastic!

     

     

    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

     

     

    This. We love our International guests. They bring a lot of money to the local economy.

     

     

    Sent from my iPad using Forums

    NCL GETAWAY review from April 23rd....

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    "They also have more lux cabanas available for around $350 I think"

    They were $499 and worth every penny that day. The cabanas have A/C, couches, chairs and tables as well as a private bathroom with indoor shower. Outdoors there are 4 loungers on a shaded deck, 4 more in the sand with an umbrella, a hammock and out door shower. They are situated on the beach with great water access.

    When we arrived we were greeted by a concierge who showed us around and gave us the lay of the land. It included 6 bottles of water in the refrigerator and a plate of fresh fruit. This was a nice surprise because I hadn't read anywhere else that that was included.

    A waiter came by frequently and kept us in ala carte priced food and beverages.

    IMHO this was the best port on the trip.

     

    Ah...thanks for clarifying.....

    We were pleasantly surprised by the stop. I had read a lot of grumbling about it, but we thought it was great and has raised the bar on Private Islands....

    NCL GETAWAY review from April 23rd....

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Was disappointed that The Illusionarium was closed. Changing over to some Cirque dinner show like the Epic I think...Was open for Wine Lovers-The Musical. We had done that on our previous trip.

    Nice that Shanghai is now a part of the regular dining package instead of the extra charge on our first trip. My only comment is the location next to the Casino...Although it seemed to be busy throughout the sailing, it seemed like it was crazy smoky over there. I do not remember it being that smoky a couple of years ago...We did skip it this time.

     

    Enjoyed all the ports:

    Had not been to Roatan previously....Great for diving and Zip-lining....Since this was a more relaxing trip for us, we did not do those, but did go into the shopping area there...they could probably add a couple of more dining options there, but we did enjoy ourselves....

    I know some people have not liked it, but we really liked Harvest Quay...! I think it is one of the better private islands that we have ever been to....

    Yes, there is no free bbq over there, but frankly, I've never been all that impressed with them on the other islands....

    We did rent a yellow clam shell for $39 for the day...money well spent. It was HAWT there....even for us Miami boys! :cool: They also have more lux cabanas available for around $350 I think....HUGE pool area with a swim tip bar serviced by the Landshark Cafe. There are a couple of more dining options there as well. water sports and zip lines are also there.

     

    Also very impressed with what they have done with Costa Maya, since we were last there 4 years back. Shopping and dining area has been increased by 4-5 times. Another large swimming pool with swim-up options. Can get crowded with 3 ships in port, but was still fun...

    We've been to Cozumel many times, so we usually stop at a couple of stores and then head to Palmeras for civiche and rita's......the owner recognized us from so many previous visits and quietly took 15% off our bill.,..I learned my lesson there several years back, when I had cocktails there and then went shopping....I bought a sink. ;p Ended up costing me several thousand to have by bathroom re-modled around that damn sink!!:')

    Always shop first. #TheMoreYouKnow

     

    Back on the ship, The Sunset Bar was our favorite spot for cocktails. Staff over there was great....! Did a mojito tasting in Sugarcane, and a Margarita tasting at Sunset Bar. They will be switching that one to a martini tasting in Europe. Did not do the Ice Bar this time, but always fun. Not usually for our northern friends who cannot understand why someone would want to be cold on a cruise ship.....:p

     

    Ships' app worked great. Since we didn't always have our room turned down at night, it was great to have the Freestyle Daily at my fingertips. did not do any internet package. Was here to chill. Weird though, that two days later, I keep getting messages that I am back on the ship's wi-fi....And I have access to iConcierge......:confused::confused:

     

    We enjoyed all the activities around the ship: Live music and games in the Atrium Lounge, music in Sugarcane and Fat Cats, Howl at the Moon, etc....Good coffee there and in O'Sheehans...The sell Tea Forte teas in the Atrium.

    NCL GETAWAY review from April 23rd....

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    Just got off the Getaway....Had a great time as always....

    A few thoughts--

    *Our 2nd time on the ship

    *Sailed with my cousin and her husband. Their first cruise. Down from Michigan...

    *The stops were Roatan, Harvest Quay Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel

    *My 34th cruise in total--11th with NCL

     

    Embarkation was pretty smooth...A bit of a wait in the terminal, but it went pretty quickly....TONS of rain all day....can be pretty common in Miami depending on the time of year...

     

    Room--Inside cabin....had gotten the upgrade e-mail, but they didn't accept our offer....no biggie....we don't spend much time in the room anyway....It was actually bigger than usual....good amount of storage.

    Room attendant wasn't very good unfortunately.....only negative.....

    The room didn't have any tissue. Couldn't get ahold of anyone to get the ice bucket filled for two days.....Hard to get ahold of Guest Services. Room was usually not made up until sometime after noon each day. Only got Turn down service 3 times, and one time we had to call for it....Finally met our room attendant on day 2,,,,not sure if she had too many rooms or was just missing some training....

    Wasn't enough to get me to not sail with NCL again or "ruin my vacation" like some people might post, but it was just annoying....

     

    We had purchased the 3 night Premium Dining package. Very glad we did. Had amazing dinners at Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and Le Bistro. Also ate at The Tropicana Room, and ended up doing the Garden Cafe the other nights.

     

    I'll post more later.....

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