Live from the Getaway August 5-12th (Haven)

Day 4: Roatán

No, you are not missing anything, I decided to skip around and post about today, today and then go back and fill in the other days so bear with me. Today is day four, Thursday, we are in Roatán. Today is our actual anniversary (32 years) so I booked us a nice day at Infinity Bay. I did post on the Roatán board about infinity Bay, so I will just summarize a little bit here. Are they started, as always, with breakfast in the Haven. They are so many good choices, and everything is very good.

I had communicated with someone on our Roll Call who said they were also going to infinity day, and we thought we would meet up as a meet and greet to confirm times, etc. Through emailing back-and-forth with the activities director at Infiniti Bay, we confirmed that they would be two of us, and four of them. Infiniti Bay arrange transportation, and forwarded various prices, depending on how many of us were actually going to be taking the taxi at the time. First, they misunderstood me and give me a quote for nine passengers, but I clarified we were coming in on the ninth, not with nine passengers for two. Then the group of four decided to join us, so we got another price for six people. When we did not see them at the meet and greet, I emailed Infiniti Bay, and got yet another price just for the two of us. We then got an email from infinity Bay that the other group was going to meet at the transportation kiosk at 8:30. That was earlier than we wanted to go, so I emailed back and said that we would be there around 9:30. It ended up costing $20 for both of us round-trip.

We have no trouble finding the kiosk, and were told that they were at another group of people, we could wait in the air-conditioned van. We waited about 15 minutes or so, and started to get anxious, because other vans were starting to block the van that we were were sitting in. Finally, another van totally locked us in, and DH got out to ask what was going on. Another driver, wearing an Infiniti Bay polo shirt came up to us and said he was going to take us along with one other couple that had just walked up to the kiosk. He later told us that the other driver did not want to drive us because it was only two of us. The guy that did drive us told us he was driving the car belonging to the girlfriend of the guy that ran the kiosk. So that was good that they realized there was a problem and did get us there.

The other couple told us that they had just walked up to the kiosk, without reservations, looking for someplace to go. They charged them $25 per person to our $20 total for the round trip. This is why it is important to do your research ahead of time and make reservations in advance.

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Roatán continued

Infinity Bay is absolutely gorgeous. The ocean is crystal clear. The sand is very sandy, not rocky at all. They offer snorkeling, but not much else. For us, all he, we wanted to do was sit on the beach and look at the ocean, and that was perfect. They have lounge chairs and umbrellas, but we actually just laid on the lounge under a tree. The pool is magnificent, but we did not go in.

Roatan was an early day, we had to be back on board at 330, so we left around 2 o’clock. The drive only takes 20 minutes. We always like to give ourselves a cushion just in case, plus we wanted to be able to look around at the shops near the ship. Taking a tip from cruise critic, I got a nice drink from the bar in the lounge before we left the ship. I had him put it in one of those yeti type cups and it stayed frozen the whole time we were gone. I did the same thing yesterday at Harvest Cay.

We returned to the ship around 315, and had lunch in the courtyard of the Haven. It was our first time having lunch there. It was really windy, so that presented quite a challenge, especially because the wind knocking over my husband’s beer. We got back to the room, and asked our power to bring us to the place, which are fabulous. I am now sitting on our balcony writing this up. It is pretty windy and I think it’s starting to rain.

Dinner at Le Bistro tonight. More later!

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Enjoying your report, will be on Getaway in September.

Will do but I must warn you I looked at the dailies someone posted just a few weeks ago and there was so much that was different! I had planned around a couple of things that weren’t the same as the ones from a few weeks ago. For some reason, the wi fin-on board and in our ports is not allowing me to upload and post pictures so I’ll do it when we get home.

Ok Thank You!

Enjoying reading your live report. Thank you for taking the time to post it.

Great review- how much is the day pass for infinity bay and how far is it from the ship?

Great review- how much is the day pass for infinity bay and how far is it from the ship?

$19 not inclusive. They said they were bringing us a welcome cocktail, but they didn’t, and I didn’t remember that we were supposed to get one until we got back to the ship, but oh well. They did have food and drinks available to purchase. I didn’t look at the menu, so I don’t know what the prices are. I brought a drink off the ship and it stayed cold in my yeti type cup all day, and since we were only there until two, I didn’t get anything else.

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Roatan continued

We had a lovely anniversary dinner at Le Bistro last night. We told them it was our anniversary when we made our trip reservations and they gave us a card when we boarded to give to the maitre d at the restaurant we were eating at. They gave us a bottle of champagne, a rose and a little anniversary cake. It was lovely.

Contrary to what someone posted on this board, the table we were seated at was no where near any other table. We were seated near the window looking at the inside walkway so we watched people getting their pictures taken. I don’t know if they had any tables by the windows overlooking the ocean but I’m glad we were not seated there, if they did, because it was a little rough last night.

I had the escargot which was different than the escargot I had at Savor but honestly not as good as the ones they had in the RCL ships we were on. Those were so good there were some nights that’s all I had for dinner!

I was surprised at the menu in Le Bistro, it was not what I expected. I’ll post a picture when we get home. But the food we ordered was very good.

Dinner was leisurely. We had a 7:30 reservation and was done around 9:14.

After dinner we had reservations for Million Dollar Quartet. Oh. My. Gosh. So excellent!!! Especially the Jerry Lee Lewis guy!! Wow. One of the best shows we’ve seen and we’ve seen Chicago, Hairspray, and some others I don’t remember.

It was a 10:15 show and was long so it ended almost at midnight so we called it a (very lovely) day.

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Just realized I said Roatan was day 4. Oops. Day 5 not Day 4. Sorry. Harvest Caye was 4.

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Cozumel Day 6

Started out the day with our usual breakfast in the Haven. The MSC docked right next to us, I had never seen that ship, very interesting to look at. Tons of suitcases coming off. I asked the concierge if he knew why and he said half the pax disembark in Cozumel. Who knew?

We were headed to Nachi Cocum after breakfast. We had gone there a few years ago and really liked it. As we disembarked and walked through the port, nothing looked familiar and we’ve been to Cozumel twice before. We thought maybe they had built a new port building since we were here last a few years ago, but on the taxi ride out we passed another port and realized since we had been here with RCL we probably had docked at the other port.

Nachi Cocum said it would be $17-18 and ten minutes to get there. I guess that would’ve been from the other port. It was $20 and twenty minutes, so that wasn’t too bad. When you get to Nachi Cocum, you check in, they give you a wristband and set you up with a lounge on the beach if that’s where you prefer. You are assigned a waiter who brings you all the drinks you want. There is a menu to order an appetizer, salad or soup, entree and dessert, all inclusive. We had put down a deposit, i think it was $20 or $22 and paid the balance of $88 with a credit card when we got there.

The water was not as nice as in Roatan, some seaweed but you could go in. There was no smell. They rent floats, snorkel equipment, etc. They rent towels for $5.00 but we took them from the ship so we didn’t need any. They have a lovely pool with a swim up bar that I took advantage of.

We just hung out under a palapa umbrella, had drinks brought to us, ate lunch, I swam in the pool and we both dunked in the ocean. I also had a wonderful massage. The prices that they had written up were $40 for a half hour for either shoulder and neck, arms and back? Or lower body, but the guy selling them offered me a 45 full body massage for $50 which seemed like a good deal to me. More expensive than on Maya Chan, but about the same as on Harvest Caye I think.

We stayed till around 3, then taxi’d back, looked around at the shops all selling the same mass marketed trinkets at the pier, and came back to the ship. Moderno’s tonight!

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Thanks for sharing.

Thanks so much for all the info! Our trip mirrors yours exactly, so was nice to see what to expect. We are also in the Haven and very much looking forward to a lazy and relaxing trip!

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Thanks for your review and taking the time. We go on the Getaway in November and have a Haven suite booked. This has been helpful.

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Great review! We loved loved loved Million Dollar Quartet too! In my opinion, NCL really shines when it comes to entertainment. I’d much rather see one or two really wow shows while on board rather than 5 tacky 30-45 minute ones. It’s the main reason I won’t book MSC. Glad you had such a nice anniversary!

following as well as we are in a courtyard suite for my fiance's 50th birthday next month! so to confirm, Margaritaville lunch on the first day was anything on the menu and free to Haven guests, correct?

That’s correct.

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Picking up where I left off, then will backtrack. Moderno's. Oh. My. Gosh. So. Much. Meat. It was really good!! I warned DH not to fill up on the salad bar, so he only had a little bit, including the salmon, which he's managed to eat every single day and night. He loves salmon! They come by with skewers and skewers of meat! They also brought pork and chicken and chorizo, but we just had the meat. I think there were four different kinds of lamb alone! The mashed potatoes were really good and the mushrooms were so good, too. Moderno's was actually an afterthought for us, it was an add-on after I already did my three specialty restaurants, and I'm so glad I did! It was probably our favorite restaurant.

After dinner, we saw another comedy show. The comedians on the ship this week were so good! I believe they are leaving so you'll have different ones next week.

"They also brought pork and chicken and chorizo, but we just had the meat."

haha, pork, chicken and chorizo are meat. :-)

Stephanie, it was great meeting you and Mitch!

Maryann and David

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following as well as we are in a courtyard suite for my fiance's 50th birthday next month! so to confirm, Margaritaville lunch on the first day was anything on the menu and free to Haven guests, correct?

As others have said, this is correct (was on the Aug 12 sailing). The Haven concierge encouraged everyone to go to Margaritaville for lunch. Watch out though, we were charged for our meal but the concierge took it off the next day when I asked about it.

Margaritaville is just OK. I would eat here if it were free, but wouldn't pay extra for this place. Probably why it sits dormant most of the time.

Regards,

Chris

Thanks for posting! I’m a serial rationalizer myself, so we will be in the Haven on the Getaway Nov 25! Following with interest.

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Cruisegal415,

What were your thoughts on Nachi Cocum - were the food and drinks good? Debating between there and Mr. Sancho's for upcoming Getaway sailing.