A Getaway Review: A week in Paradise (with photos) [April 26-May 3]

[cruisinsly]

We booked a private excursion through Island Marketing - an ATV tour of the island. We had some difficulty finding out where we were supposed to meet, and with no way to call, we started to panic. We finally found the meeting point, and our director, Junior (a very friendly and veryyy laid back fellow), took us to the four wheelers, and we were on our way!

 

 

 

We stopped at this lookout point for great pictures!

 

Another Panoramic

 

 

 

 

It looks like you had a great time doing the ATV tour. We have been looking at it, but I read bad reviews of the equipment being old and faulty.

[Schasz]

Thanks so much for your review, and I am glad you had such a good time on your cruise. We will be on the Getaway in October and it will be or 1st NCL cruise.

 

Shari & John

[PathfinderEss]

Great review and wonderful photo's.

[kpms]

What beatific pictures. May I ask what type of Camera do you have, they are stunning. We are booked for the getaway in Jan....

 

 

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[TNcruiser829]

Just read your review today and it's excellent!! Great pics and great writing. Thank you for going thru the time and effort for all of us. We're now considering the Getaway.

[jerray07]

What beatific pictures. May I ask what type of Camera do you have, they are stunning. We are booked for the getaway in Jan....

 

 

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We used the cameras on our phones. We both have a Samsung Galaxy s5

[debenson0723]

Great trip report. Just booked the Getaway for July and am so looking forward to it. Nice to know if I don't get a Vibe pass that I won't miss too much (I don't land in Miami until noon on cruise day).

 

You mentioned having your mini-bar items removed for your water. Were you able to bring a case of water on board or is there a package you can buy with just water? I don't drink much alcohol and no soda so a water only package would be great for me. Thanks!:)

 

P.S. I have a Samsung phone too and am happy to see I can get some great photos!

[jerray07]

Great trip report. Just booked the Getaway for July and am so looking forward to it. Nice to know if I don't get a Vibe pass that I won't miss too much (I don't land in Miami until noon on cruise day).

 

You mentioned having your mini-bar items removed for your water. Were you able to bring a case of water on board or is there a package you can buy with just water? I don't drink much alcohol and no soda so a water only package would be great for me. Thanks!:)

 

P.S. I have a Samsung phone too and am happy to see I can get some great photos!

 

You are allowed to bring soda and water on board. I'm like you in that I never drink soda, so the package was a waste on me. They do sell a water package, but I can't remember how much it was or the logistics of that - but it was available on our cruise (but it will be more expensive than carrying water on board with you). I believe the water package consisted of buying a pack of water on board, just like what you would bring on with you (again, more expensive).

[bazbaz65]

What a great job you have done with this review. I went on the Getaway in March but am now ashamed of the review I did, :o - compared to yours, mine seems so lazy!

 

Seriously great job and glad you enjoyed it! We are not Norwegian fans but have been convinced to go again with some friends of ours. We're going in with an open mind (again) and just looking to have fun!

[DrNora]

Hi! I love your review and your dresses!

 

Re: your helmet dive in St Thomas

 

On the shore excursion description at NCL.com it states that on the return trip you may be dropped off in town to do some shopping and then get a taxi back to the ship on your own. With such an abbreviated stop in St Thomas, do you feel that there would be adequate time for several hours downtown, or would that be too risky? And this is not for the teenage girl or my mom, my dad LOVES to shop in Charlotte Amalie. We will be there on his birthday and my brothers and I would rather give up going on an excursion than have him miss his favorite port shopping. I am not even sure that he ever even buys much!

Thanks

[drp@the beach]

We had 7:30pm appointments for the Ice Bar (more on that in a second) so to kill time, I grabbed a pineapple mojito from the Sugarcane Mojito bar and we walked around for some aft views.

 

 

We found this cool ledge thingy. A see-through window you can stand on and see the raging sea below.

 

 

Time to put on our parkas to try out the Svdeka Ice Bar ($20pp). Seventeen degrees inside this ice box - it was very small. They gave us gloves and a parka and two drink tickets and we walked inside.

 

On the ice throne - I'm like Queen Elsa! (Frozen Reference)[/QUO

 

Going on the Getaway in Aug. Can't wait. How do you get to the ledge thingy??

[Annmeat]

We found this cool ledge thingy. A see-through window you can stand on and see the raging sea below.

 

 

MITSUGIRLY describes where these cool see thru things are in her most recent review

"Mitsugirly's Graduation Cruise ...' She shows several different pictures.

If you put her review and Jerrays together, you won't miss a THING on this ship!!

[jerray07]

 

Going on the Getaway in Aug. Can't wait. How do you get to the ledge thingy??

 

Deck 8 aft, just past the waterfront patios!

 

Sorry for the delayed reply, wasn't around the computer this weekend!

[bbabessp]

Chris turned in for the night, while I went up to the photo gallery and redeemed my photos from the Deal or No Deal game. Here's what I purchased (some of these you may have seen before):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing this post!!! I got so many useful tips! I love this button up shirt in your plank picture Do you remember where you got it? Thank you!

[jerray07]

Thank you for sharing this post!!! I got so many useful tips! I love this button up shirt in your plank picture Do you remember where you got it? Thank you!

 

Thanks! It's my favorite shirt, I get so many compliments on it. I purchased it at Deb about a year and a half ago!

[big al]

This has BEEN EXTREMELY HELPFUL! Your diary rocks! Leaving this Saturday. Wondering if the $20 per day/ per person for Vibe is worth it??? Please advise. It seems as if everything we want to do or partake in... costs!!! This "reasonable" cruise is adding up and costing about double from what we thought!

 

It all depends on how well you want to eat or what entertainment you want to see...I have a saying: if you want to eat, go to the buffet..if you want to eat better, go to the MDR...if you want to dine & enjoy your meal in more romantic settings, better quality food and not dine with hundreds of others, go to a specialty restaurant......I'm told the Illusionarium show is fabulous..When I cruise NCL, we always dine in Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, and maybe Cagney's...food is soooo subjective...I find 85% of MDR food is average, more like food at a wedding, but that's me..I'm not cheap & don't think $15-35 pp is a lot to spend for a really good meal..this is your vacation, my advice is DON'T SKIMP on things that are important to you..I know my wife loves to have a nice meal...she works very hard, so blowing a few bucks on our vacation is no big deal to me- I budget for it when I plan our cruises ( and the Oasis in Oct. will be # 30 for us..)...BTW, out of the Top 10 meals we've ever had on ships, all 10 have been in specialty venues, and 5 ALONE have been on NCL- Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and others...My friend cruised the Breakaway last June to Bermuda, and as a 1st time NCL cruiser absolutely LOVED all the restaurants & shows on the Breakaway including the $$ dinner shows - all were well worth it he told me ( his fav was Teppanyaki, then Cagney's)...different strokes for different folks...BTW, I have NEVER had a bad or even mediocre meal in any $$ venue on my 29 cruises so far - that's probably 40-50 meals...

 

Big Al

[balcap]

Bumping this great review up in case others missed it ( (many pages back).... Thank you so much to the poster..really enjoyed reading it ..got me excited as I m counting my days down to my GETAWAY departure ... plus the pictures were fabulous ( cant get over that they were done on a cell phone camera )

Edited September 11, 2014 by balcap

[Rutheth]

Bumping this great review up in case others missed it ( (many pages back).... Thank you so much to the poster..really enjoyed reading it ..got me excited as I m counting my days down to my GETAWAY departure ... plus the pictures were fabulous ( cant get over that they were done on a cell phone camera )

 

 

Thank you for bumping 😃

 

Great review. Thank you so much for writing and sharing it. I'm looking forward to booking now 👍👍

 

 

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[jerray07]

Thanks for the kind words/bump! I'm glad everyone enjoyed the review. I love looking back at it because we had such a great time. I definitely recommend the Getaway experience!

[quillwercruisers]

Loved your review and pictures. We are booked on the Getaway in January, and you answered so many of the questions I knew I had, and some that I didn't know I had. :o Thank you for taking the time for writing such a great review.

[ken85121]

Awesome review - thanks for taking the time. We can't wait for our cruise on the Getaway.

 

I loved your pictures also. The ones of Orient Beach were excellent. Random question - What filter did you use? I have been trying to get that look forever but can never seem to pick the right filter. :)

[jerray07]

Awesome review - thanks for taking the time. We can't wait for our cruise on the Getaway.

 

I loved your pictures also. The ones of Orient Beach were excellent. Random question - What filter did you use? I have been trying to get that look forever but can never seem to pick the right filter. :)

 

I'm not entirely sure I remember, but I believe I edited all my photos with Google plus features.

[ken85121]

I'm not entirely sure I remember, but I believe I edited all my photos with Google plus features.

 

Ok thanks. Thanks again for a great review.

[drewlin]

Just found and read the whole review as have just booked Getaway for our 10th wedding anniversary in October. We had actually been on it for an overnight pre her transatlantic from Southampton. Loved the ship but never really got a chance to sample much especially the outside areas due to our wonderful British rain! So thank you for a great, informative review and photos. As we have done a daily blog for a river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, we really appreciate how much time and effort is required to produce such a great daily blog - thanks again.

[MandyMommyof2]

First I want to say this is such a wonderful review!!! I felt like I was with y'all! Second y'all are such a cute couple!!! I know you mentioned you took pics with your Samsung Galaxy, but gosh you guys have such an eye for photography! :) Loved all of them! We have been to St. Thomas on a land based vacation so I was looking for any spots that looked familiar to me. The iguanas at first freaked me out. By the end of the week, I was more relaxed as they creeped by my chair. The food pics have me starving and realizing I have not had lunch yet. :roll eyes: Thanks for taking the time to write such a great review and answering questions!! We sail on the Getaway in July. It's our first cruise since breaking up with Disney :eek: Our kids are older now, so we thought why not! :D