***LIVE*** Norwegian Getaway June 3 - 10

My buddy and I are going on the Getaway on June 3 (tomorrow) - June 10. We are going to try to post info, pics, etc while on the cruise so ask us questions and we will try to do our best to answer or find the answers. This may also turn into a semi-review so hopefully many of you find it interesting.

I drove from Indiana to Jacksonville, Florida to drop off the kids at my dads and pick up an old cruising friend of mine. We left Jacksonville Saturday morning about 5 and headed toward Miami.

We are staying in the Embassy Suites by Hilton and tomorrow morning we will be parking at the Cruise Safe Parking (or something like that).

The Embassy Suites has nice rooms and a nice lobby, but there's just something about it. Just doesn't feel all "Hilton Exclusive" that I thought it would. No worries, though. I'm not a complainer.

They have a happy hour with free chex mix, celery and carrots (with ranch), animal crackers and a soda machine. They also have free alcohol (looked like an open bar with select drinks). We also get a free made to order breakfast in the morning, but not sure if we will partake in that or not, yet.

I'm going to leave this here now. If you have any questions about our trip so far or this hotel, I'll answer the best I can now. If you have questions about the port or the Getaway, we will answer as we can!

Is the parking you mentioned the parking at the Port of Miami or an off site location? Could you please report back on your experience with the parking after your cruise. We’re driving the day of our sailing in November from Ft Myers and some of the reviews about parking at off site locations have me nervous/ anxious.

Is the parking you mentioned the parking at the Port of Miami or an off site location? Could you please report back on your experience with the parking after your cruise. We’re driving the day of our sailing in November from Ft Myers and some of the reviews about parking at off site locations have me nervous/ anxious.

We drove by it today to make sure we knew where it was. It is not at the port. It's behind a locked gate and very large wall. Will report back tomorrow (hopefully with pics) and again after the cruise.

We drove by it today to make sure we knew where it was. It is not at the port. It's behind a locked gate and very large wall. Will report back tomorrow (hopefully with pics) and again after the cruise.

Thanks. If you’re able to get an address that would be so helpful. I know there are many off site lots down there. Wouldn’t want to pick the wrong one. Enjoy your trip!! 🎉🛳

Denise

Thanks for doing this. I will be interested in your experience with embarkation.

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We sail right after you. Excited to hear about your experiences. If you could post menu pics and free style Dailies... that would be awesome!

Excited to read all about your cruise. We are currently thinking about a Getaway cruise and I’m doing my research. Lol We’ve been in the Breakaway twice. I know Getaway is very similar but themeing, shows, and itinerary are different so I’m happy I found this thread!!

Bon voyage!!

Looking forward to your posts. We are still 14 weeks out from our cruise on the Getaway, but getting excited already.

Looking forward to your review. I hope you took advantage of the breakfast this morning. That is definitely one of the best parts of an Embassy Suites.

Following

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going end of month look forward to reading more

Following we don’t leave till August 26th but I can’t wait.

Excited to hear your feedback! We have a group of 25 friends and family sailing out on June 17th! Will you be using the iConcierge app to text and communicate while onboard? I’ve read so many mixed reviews on it and with 25 people on the cruise, I’m wondering if it will work properly. If so, please let me know how it worked. Enjoy your cruise!

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Looking forward to your live review!

It is 5:50 and we went back to the room to get unpacked. I'll do details later, but let me start by saying I'm thoroughly impressed. I'm not a complainer and there was something I was disappointed in at lunch, but I'll get into that later. NCL, you have my full attention now! I'm hoping this week continues to impress me.

have a great time. Can I ask if you purchased an internet package and if it works ok?

have a great time. Can I ask if you purchased an internet package and if it works ok?

Yes we did. So far, so good compared to Carnival. We are out at sea and the speed test I'm running right this second shows the following:

Ping: 544ms

Download: 3.97mb/s

Upload: 0.73mb/s

Day 1 6:14pm

Thanks for taking us along! We sail in July. This will be our second time on the Getaway. Very excited! Looking forward to seeing pictures and hearing all about your week. Have a fabulous time!!

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000}p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #000000; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000; min-height: 12.0px}span.s1 {font-kerning: none}Ok, so let me remember as much as I can. I’ll ask my buddy to chime in as a reply with his thoughts or anything that he may have forgotten.

ABOUT US

We are 2 old friends that have similar interests. I am from Indiana. He lives in Jacksonville, Florida where I lived for years. We met in 2013 through a mutual friend and become really good friends. We TRY to cruise once a year to get away from every day life. He got married last year and luckily, his wife still let’s him get away with his buddy.

I have only cruised on Carnival and he has cruised on Carnival and Royal.

Neither of us are complainers and enjoy a vacation. We are both jokers and playful. I tend to lean a little more towards planning or figuring things out in advance and finding stuff to do. He is a little more free willed and would be content just hanging out on the balcony.

EMBARKATION

At the “Cruise Safe Parking”, we arrived around 8am. They told us then that they would not allow us to check in before 10am. We called yesterday evening and they told us as early as 7. Well, we waited until about 8:50 and asked if we could park the car since we paid and reserved a space and catch an Uber. We ordered the Uber and just a minute or two later one of the shuttle drivers said he would take us. I cancelled the Uber and had to pay $6. Still saved money.

We arrived at the port around 9:30 or so. We got in line and at 11am they started running us through security. It’s funny because there doesn’t seem to be any new technology or earth shattering techniques, but we got in, got our picture taken and key card and up in the waiting area to board within maybe 10 or 20 minutes. There was probably only a couple hundred people in front of us so that may be why it was so quick.

We were given a card that said Group 2. Once our group was called, we were on the ship within maybe 5 or 10 minutes. It was a super quick process.

ONCE ON BOARD

Before boarding, they told us that our room would not be ready until 2pm. So, we decided to head down to floor 6 and went to Savor. We figured this would eat up more time and we wouldn’t have to fight for a table or wrestle with our bags and a tray.

Here comes my complaint. I ordered Roasted Tomato Soup and the Spanish Frittata. This is basically eggs made into a patty with onions, peppers and potatoes. I specifically asked her not to put in potatoes. She repeated it back to me twice. The soup had an amazing flavor. After several bites I decided to look online to see if it was Keto friendly, as I am enjoying a Keto lifestyle (diet). I noticed that it was NOT, so I didn’t eat any more. My egg patty came and after the first bite I was surprised at how great it was! Honestly, you MUST try it. After a few bites I noticed potato’s. I wasn’t even going to say anything to our server because again, I’m not a complainer. She asked what was wrong since I hadn’t finished it (only a couple bites). I told her there were potatoes in it and I can’t have them. Her response was something like “Yes, it takes the cook too long to do that so we just gave you the normal one”. WHAT!?!? I’m thinking what If I had been allergic to them? This is just not good.

After lunch we went to see if the rooms were ready and they were not. We headed up to Deck 15 to just sit and wait for our rooms. After walking all the way around the deck, we finally found a table. While working we looked at all of the food at the buffet. It looked many times better than Carnival’s buffet. We filled our cups with ice and water and headed back down to our rooms around 2:15.

Got to our room. Our double beds were as one. NOPE! Neither of us feel like cuddling another grown man so we asked housekeeping to separate the beds. We also asked them to take out all of the drinks from the fridge. Let me say this about the room. The size felt similar to a Carnival balcony room. The balcony feels smaller. The carpet, walls, decor, outlets, lights and everything looks fabulous, not generic, not cheesy and not worn out. The room was another great first impression.

We left at 3:15 for the Muster Drill. First time ever for me doing one inside. It was in the Tropicana. Easy, laid back and it was not bad at all. After they released us we headed back to the room.

Upon our arrival to our room, THERE WERE OUR BAGS! I did not expect our luggage to arrive that early. We go into the room and we notice we are moving. WHAT!?!? We had no idea we had left port. CRAP! I hurried to hook up my GoPro Fusion (360 degree camera) to the balcony to start my timelapse. Then we enjoyed the balcony until we got a few miles from Miami. It was nice.

We unpacked, organized, tested the Internet and just ralexed until we went to dinner around 7pm. Dinner was great at Tropicana. We both had the New York Strip. I had the salad and cheese plate. I took a cool 360 pic at dinner, but not sure how it turned out yet. We also photo bombed a few tables. We want everyone to remember us years from now!

We proceeded to the shopping area, checked out the shops, checked out the atrium and then headed to Deck 15 to get ice and water in our cups. We also wanted some cheese and a couple of pieces of turkey as a snack later. We put them in a coffee cup so we didn’t have to use a giant plate for that small amount. As we are heading back to our room, one lady yells at my buddy and says “You have turkey in your cup???”. Hahaha that was great. She was beyond confused and couldn’t figure out our thought process.

We are now back in our room. He has to work from the ship so he will probably be going to bed soon and I’ll probably do some work on practicing editing these 360 pics or something.

Sounds like a great start to your trip. Thanks for taking us along!

Great start. Thanks for taking us all along!

Hope you have a great cruise!

Ok I just realized that it will only let me post 6 images per post so I will have to redo this a bit.

Looking forward to your review. I hope you took advantage of the breakfast this morning. That is definitely one of the best parts of an Embassy Suites.

That was actually our plan, but unfortunately, we had to get going so we had to miss it.