Stinkybaby

I live in Florida and often go to the beach or other outdoor activities. I would say in general don't get spray on. I see people doing spray on and I can literally see the sunscreen being taken away by the wind and not going on people's actual skin. I have also seen people with white lines on the skin with red blotches in between from not rubbing it in properly

What happened

hi all,

My husband and I decided to rebook our feb 2018 cruise to a balcony rather than inside cabin. We chose the "BF" category but since apparently there wer less than 8 cabins left it was considered "guarantee status" but not BX category. We still got UBP, UDP, and no port fees/taxes so we got a good deal. The next category up would be like 100 extra pp and now the tax free promotion is over. anyway, we don't really care WHERE our cabin is but we recently discovered the "hull" balconies which seems like more of an ocean view. Are there pictures of the hull balcony anywhere? I found one lengthy post about it that included pictures however the pictures have been taken down. Also, are there any other "problem" balconies we should be aware of? I heard of one that is uncovered and apparently everyone above you would be able to see you? Not sure how I feel about that either.

I was having this same conundrum. We live in Orlando so obviously port canaveral is closer. Based on research, I feel like the Escape is newer, bigger, has cool features. HOWEVER, we really do not like Nassau. I have been there many times and literally the only thing to do is go to Atlantis. So if you want to go to Atlantis/do something else in Nassau do the escape. We are specifically not going on the Escape because we don't like Nassau.

We are going in February next year. How is the water at that time of year? Warm enough to swim? Also, what would be the best beach for amenities such as snacks and drinks? Is there a particular area with a more "party" atmosphere

I just booked the Holiday Inn Port of Miami it seems to be the closest hotel to the port, got good reviews for the most part and was reasonable priced. Has food across the street. We get in last and plan to leave early to board ship so only needed a place to sleep and shower. I think it will do the trick.

Second this, we always stay here!

I'm not sure why everyone says you "need" to make a reservation to the shows. We have been on the Getaway twice and never made a reservation for any show (Comedy, burn the floor, million dollar quartet, or legally blonde). Usually walked up 5 minutes bedore it was to start and sat down.

The robes are one size fits most - so the equivalent of men's XL usually. My swimsuits have maxi dress type coverups and I usually wear that over my swimsuit to the spa and then lock it and my flip flops in the locker and just wear my swimsuit in the thermal suite. Have never gotten anything from walking barefoot on the floor in there through many weeks of cruising. If you watch, the spa personnel are constantly cleaning the floor in there. Bringing alcohol into the spa would be inappropriate as it can be dangerous and lead to dehydration and other bad effects, especially if you are spending a lot of time in the sauna or hot tub or getting a spa service such as a massage. There is chilled fruit water and tea available.

 

http://afterglospa.com/2013/06/drinking-alcohol-before-your-massage/

On the Getaway we constantly brought drinks in as did everyone else. Wouldn't bring glass though obviously

Your pictures of Maya Chan look better than ours. We were there 2 weeks before you and the sea grass/weed was piled 3 feet high - so gross (this is not an exaggeration). We (any many others) didn't make it into the water that day; climb over the sea weed and wade through several feet of the stuff just to get to the water - yuck. We won't go back there. Too bad because they had the best key lime drink lol.

We love Maya Chan. They had warned us ahead of time it had been bad lately but we didn't care. We were told to "shuffle" once we got in the water. We didn't really swim though just did stand up paddle boarding

Did you find the spa to be crowded? We are headed for a 3rd time on the Getaway in 2018 and have a spa balcony booked! :)

Not at all! I LOVE that spa. Make sure you go at least once at night, the way they light it up is so pretty

We never got ours!!!

• Maya Chan:
  

• View of Roatan from Thermal Spa
  

Bike tour in Cozumel:

Stone crab claws.. DO NOT MISS THESE

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If anyone wants pictures of anything specific please feel free to ask. I got annoyed with photobucket :o

About us - We are Tyler and Molly from Orlando. This is our 4th NCL cruise together. Our first cruise was the Sky (4 night bahamas cruise), our 2nd was the Star which did Western Caribbean, and April 2016 we went on the Getaway for our honeymoon (I believe that was eastern Caribbean). We decided a couple months ago we needed to go on another cruise and we liked the Getaway so much we decided to sail on her again. We had been on this itinerary before (On the Star) but it had been several years and we hadn't been to NCL's private island in Belize yet. I hope you like our review! It is mostly written by me but Tyler did add a few things himself.

Sunday -

Embarkation was a breeze. Our "Arrival time" was 10. Security went by fast, then we waited in the waiting room where coffee and water was provided. We were probably on the ship by 12. We immediately signed up for the escape room for Saturday (first ones to sign up) then I got drinks from the atrium bar (lol) while Tyler re-arranged some of our dining reservations. Lunch in MDR. I got some shrimp pasta dish and Tyler got fish n chips. Appetizers were popcorn shrimp and crab stuffed potato skin. Food was good! Then we went to the thermal spa and signed up for spa passes. We LOVE the spa. We tried to upgrade to the spa haven suite but unfortunately were outbid. Dinner- went to tepanaki. I had filet and scallop and tyler had shrimp and scallops. Yummy but we definitely ate too much and were uncomfortably full. We then went to the spa (open til 10) and then to bed.

Our room was 13888. Great location. We often felt the boat "vibrating" which wasn't a big deal other than this rattling noise which seemed to be occurring in the wall. Seem to mostly happen while we were going at high speeds

Monday (sea day)

Margaritaville for breakfast. Kind of the same food as buffet but smaller selection and less crowded.

Lunch - buffet. We really like the Indian food there.

Dinner- ocean blue was LEGIT. On cruise critic we have heard you can get "unlimited appetizers and one entree." Our waiter told us we could only get one app. We told him we had been there before and were allowed to get multiple previously. He asked his manager and told us they would "make an exception" for us. We each got stone crab (one of our favs), tyler got oyster Rockefeller and I got mussels. All was great. Then for entrees I got Dover Sole and Tyler got a Lobster. We were extremely full after that and went to bed shortly after.

Tuesday

Woke up to the captain informing us they weren't able to maintain enough speed to get us to Roatan in time. Instead of 10 we would now be arriving at 10:30. To make up for it we departed at 7 rather than 6. We went to little French key which was cool! Kind of a rough, hot bus ride there but once we got there it was nice. The water was beautiful with a swim up bar with swings. There was a 18 year old kid from the Carnival Dream which was also in Honduras that day and he was WASTED. people were talking bets on how long it would take him to puke. It was pretty funny. The water was the perfect temperature and was clear. Drinks were good. The food was GREAT. lobster, shrimp and rice and beans. Seriously Delicious. We loved the two local Honduran beers we tried. There was also a place you could swing off into the ocean which was really fun. Tyler lost his Apple Watch in the water when using the swing (it's very high). He went to grab snorkel gear to look for it, but before he even put his flippers on an employee had found it. I guess my only reservation about going back to LFK is the animals in the "sanctuary". In general I am against zoos, and I didn't think the Pumas or young lions should be in such small enclosures. It made me very sad. But everyone has different ideas about that so make up your own minds. We both held little "johnny" the monkey who was in a fiesty mood and was biting us a little after trying to run away haha. After we got back we relaxed in the spa and I accidentally fell asleep for a while. Then we went to O'Sheehans and had wings and drinks/watched the bob Marley tribute while we waited for dinner in the noodle bar. Dinner was great. Then went to comedy which was hilarious and caught the tail end of battle of the sexes. Not much more going on so we went to bed.

Wednesday- woke up to captain saying the Belize pier was damaged by a storm and that we couldn't dock until they inspected it. So he decided we would have another sea day. We had our balcony door open and one of our neighbors was IRATE because "he only came on this cruise to see Belize." Many f-bombs were dropped. We were going to explore the island but mostly we had been planning on enjoying a less crowded ship, so it wasn't a huge deal from us. We both got a $30 refund that day on our account. The pool crowd was WILD that day! DJ and band playing good music. Also spent time in the thermal spa (my fav place on the ship). Had dinner at Tropicana and watched the mini burn the floor performance which was really neat. We went to the "full length" burn the floor last year and we did like it, it was just too long for our taste, so we didn't think we'd need to go again. I think this is also the day we did the theater comedy show (hilarious, I highly recommend and different material than in Headliners).

Thursday - Costa Maya

We once again went to Maya Chan (we went there maybe 5 years ago and loved it). We were walking down the pier and the wind was so strong I thought that we were going to be blown off the pier. We finally made it to the maya Chan meeting area outside of the main gate and took the about 20-30 min ride to maya Chan. They warn you ahead of time that the ride is bumpy and that "at least it's not your car getting damaged" which is a good point. At maya chan every group is brought to their own little area with nice chairs, an umbrella and a comfy bed. We had a "welcome back" sign since it was our second time there. We LOVE the food there too. It's basically a taco buffet with different meats and toppings. Super delicious. All you can eat chips, salsa, guacamole all day. We did stand up paddle boarding here too. Drinks were great and kept coming. Back on the ship we saw million quarter which was great!!!

Friday - Cozumel

Went on a "bike tour" with beach bum Cozumel. Last time we were in Cozumel we were told that we should see the east side of the island, so we did the "east side" tour. There is like a bike path which goes almost all the way around the island separate from the car lane which is really cool. The bikes were "motorized" so pedaling was optional (lol). I didn't pedal at all the whole time but my husband did a decent amount. It was just us on the tour. Those bikes can go pretty fast. Our tour guide Gabriel was very friendly and the driver David was nice too. Gabriel explained to us a lot about the Island and pointed out different birds, structures, and plants. The east side of the island is much less "developed" and is very beautiful. The tour also included lunch and he brought us to a tequila tasting where we ended up buying some tequila. Only "negative" thing was it did take a decent amount of time to get to the east side of the island (about 30 minutes). Basically they drive you and the bikes (bikes attached on a trailer) to a starting point and then you bike while David follows you in the car (but he is in the street, we are biking with Gabriel on the bike path). You can leave your stuff in there with him. Fajitas and beer for lunch, then back to beach bums. Beach bums is actually near the port with the carnival ships so be aware you will need to walk or take a cab. We were concerned for time so we cabbed there ($8) and walked back. The walk was along the water and took maybe 40 minutes. We came back to the ship and did the ropes course. While we were up there the wind started to blow very hard so we had to get down. We ate at Le Bistro this day which was great. The Glow (formerly White Hot) party was this night at 10:30 in the rear of the ship at spice h2o. They advise you wear neon or white this night. This was very fun and our cruise director started things off with an interesting dance. We found the music to be pretty repetitive (similar sounding edm over and over) so we didn't stay too long.

Saturday-

Spent most of the day by the pool or thermal spa. That night we ate in noodle bar again. Then went to the farewell show which we enjoyed. We drank quite a few mojitos after the show. They are amazing. The mojito bar is the best bar on the ship in my opinion and never very busy. We then went to howl at the moon which was so good that we ran up to our room to put our bags outside at 11pm then went back down. It was really crazy - lots of talent we had seen previous nights showed up and sang or played instruments. One of the burn the floor dancers apparently plays every instrument so played drums, piano and guitar. Another sang a few songs. The bubble magician showed up and sang a song! Johnny cash from the million dollar even showed up and played for a while. We didn't get the impression that this was typical. We stayed until 1am!

Miscellaneous notes:

• we did the Haven last time and saw our two favorite bartenders from the haven now work as managers in the bars around the ship. They both apparently got promotions which isn't surprising since they were both great
  
• We got lured in at the beginning buy trying to guess the weight of the Giraffe. We ended up going to the auction just because we wanted to see who guessed her weight correctly. The auction ended up being super annoying and made us feel uneasy. At one point they were handing out applications for a "syncrony loan" in order to get a free piece of art or something (so weird). Anyway, I did see a piece of art I liked but I wasn't going anywhere near that auction again and I had already mentally decided I would only pay $50 and the minimum bid was like $800 (I'm definitely not an art connoisseur) .
  
• We tried to upgrade to haven but our bids weren't high enough. We had so much fun on this cruise we actually decided that Haven isn't worth the extra money. I think it's worth upgrading if you can for a reasonable amount but we would never actually buy the Haven ticket at full price. We did a lot of random things throughout the ship that we didn't do before because of Haven. Don't get me wrong, it was nice, just not worth an extra 5 grand or whatever the cost is.
  

WHAT??? is this really true?:mad::mad::mad: :loudcry:

You can sneak it out

No problem with my attitude. Your example of how to talk to a child shows your lack of understanding. The problem is with people like yourself who expect children to never misbehave. If you are going on a kid-friendly line, you have to expect children. Noone is telling you to stay home but perhaps you should sail Celebrity or HAL. Your expectations via vi children are not reasonable. I have raised a fine young man. I have disciplined him and he turned out well. But I'd be lying to say that he never acted out and I remembering the second he did getting disapproving looks from intolerant people. That is the problem with society. Too many intolerant people.

So because I don't particularly want kids screaming and running in the hallways at night/crawling on the ground/poopy diaper in the pool I need to relegate myself to a cruiseline which caters to senior citizens? Cool

<p>I like how there are people saying all the "child free" folks should go on cruise lines catered to older folks. I like all the entertainment provided by NCL, that doesn't mean I want a bunch of bratty kids being loud and ruining my time. I also wouldn't enjoy a cruise line with limited entertainment options catered to folks who would rather be in bed by 8:45. If you want to bring your kids fine, but teach your kid how to act! Also please don't change their diaper on a table where people would reasonably expect to eat 🤢 </p><br>

I loved the Getaway! Will never sail on a smaller ship again

Are there really more kids on Easter cruises? Why would that be? I'm not a big fan of kids in general (SORRY!!!!) and we didn't even realize our cruise was on Easter til after we booked it.

I am a Summit casualty also and will be on the same ship. Where is your balcony at? We have an aft balcony on the 12th deck.

What is a "summit casualty"

we did it once on Breakaway, on a winter sailing. it was nice to have use of a pool when it was cold outside. also it was nice to watch sailaway from one of the heated loungers facing front. plenty of hot tub space, and salt room and sauna. was awesome to have a place with no kids (on a warm weather sailing we did Vibe). the only negative for us is no bar in the spa LOL.

On the getaway they had no problem with us bringing our drinks in from the bar lol

we are thinking of booking a Baltic cruise with ncl maybe in 2018. I've been reading a lot about St Petersburg. We aren't big "sightseeing" or artsy people. Would like to see some of the tourist stuff but would also very much enjoy eating in a restaurant where "locals" eat checking out a few local bars, maybe go to a show, etc. I know in order to do this we would need an official tour guide. We just aren't the type to go to a big museum and look at art all day. Any ideas? Would be more than happy to book a private tour or perhaps arranging a small group with the roll call. Thanks!

So I never did see beef Wellington on the MDR/Taste/Savor menus, and I just went through and checked every days menu. I can't pull up Cagney's menu on the iconcierge app so I'm not sure if they have it there or not

It's all good, thanks for trying :)

We're cruising on Epic for the first time February 2018 out of Port Canaveral, eastern Caribbean. Any tips, must do's, tips on the ship and ports (Tortola, St Thomas, Great Stirrup Cay). Can we use our Ultimate Beverage package on Stirrup Cay?

My husband and I are also going to be on the Epic in February 2018! Our first time also and same itinerary! Are you guys going the week of Valentine's Day?

:eek:CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT DAY BEEF WELLINGTON IS SERVED?? Thanks!!!!!

I'm the same - the chicken wings to go late night are the best! I was told no on carry out on Epic in January. I may or may not have just waited until the waitress went back in to the kitchen and walked out with my wings. Maybe. :')

I may have done the same thing on the getaway in April 2016.... whoops