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

[mayesq]

I've been meaning to ask if bringing my magnetic dry erase would work. I guess they will seeing that you are able to put magnets on the walls. Good to know. Thanks.

[JAHP921]

I'll be back with the rest tomorrow everyone! This girl needs some sleep!

 

good night!

 

Your review is amazing! I leave Saturday so it's giving me a lot of ideas - thank you for spending your time giving us info! Also, I'm a maxi dress afficianado - and I LOVE yours - I have to know where you find them :) LOL.

[weltek]

I love your review. You are covering everything that is important to me!

[conandrob240]

Great review. Thanks so much. Were you going to talk about H2O also?

[jerray07]

Your review is amazing! I leave Saturday so it's giving me a lot of ideas - thank you for spending your time giving us info! Also, I'm a maxi dress afficianado - and I LOVE yours - I have to know where you find them :) LOL.

 

Forever 21! ;) Cheap, gorgeous, and extremely comfortable!

[#1TravelMom]

Do you remember if adult dodgeball was offered? My husband is 45(thinks he's 15) and just loves showing the "younsters" what he can do on the dodgeball court. I'm so proud.:D A few months ago on the Epic, a woman was put on his team - you'd think he was playing for a winning superbowl team - not happy to have a woman "who got out first every time". My sister and I threatened to join the next game, but were scared to get hit.

[jerray07]

Thursday, May 1, 2014 - Day 6: Sea Day

 

Sleep, sleep, sleep! It seems all we did this day was, you guessed it, sleep! I woke up with bad burns on my shoulders and back, and it was difficult to get dressed or move. We woke up around 10:30am, and I went to the Casino for the 11am Blackjack tournament. I didn’t win - I didn’t even qualify for the final, but it was a lot of fun all the same, and only $15 to play. After that, I wasted time playing a slot machine and won $12.

 

I also learned that there are some hard-core people that hang out around the casino. On several occasions I witnessed passengers being just unnecessarily outwardly rude to the staff there. I tried to be extra-friendly while I was there, just to lighten the mood some. To me, you're on vacation, there's no reason to be that upset at anything. The purpose is to have a good time and relaxxxx.

 

Chris and I met at O’Sheehans and had lunch, not realizing that the menu doesn’t change there. So once again I had the chef’s salad and a side of fries. Then I headed to the spa and canceled my hot stone massage for the next day. The thought of hot stones on top of my burnt back made me cringe. When I told them this, they referred me to a specialist who would give me a milk bath in the spa later that day to help the sunburn.

 

Chris and I went to the photo gallery and looked at all our photos. We were getting quite the collection of ropes course, slide, and portrait photos, and decided to come back tomorrow to redeem our two free photos from deal or no deal.

 

At 2:45pm, I headed to the spa to find out what a milk bath was. They had accidentally canceled my appointment, but was able to get me back in right away. I went to a treatment room where my specialist brushed me in a thick, scented cream. Not exactly the thin consistency of milk (but not as thick as lotion, either) - but the coolness of the cream was refreshing. She rubbed it all over my burns and then wrapped me in a foil blanket (like those that come in emergency kits or after marathons), and placed warm towels on top that - essentially baking me like a turkey. Then she gave me a scalp and foot massage, and I rested like that for about 30 minutes.

 

It may sound uncomfortable, but I was nearly falling asleep. It was actually pretty comfortable, and my shoulders were not stinging. After, she removed the towels and blanket and gave me a robe (and snuck some more of the “milk” into a cup for me to take back to the room) and I headed back. She said not to shower right away, giving the lotion or whatever time to sink in, and that was difficult since I felt icky, sticky, and my hair was now oily from the scalp massage.

 

Chris and I were hungry but I wasn’t going to leave the room looking like the swamp monster, so we ordered room service. They said 45 minutes, but it was more like 20 - much better than our experience on Carnival, and the food was better too. We ordered a cheeseburger, a cheese pizza ($5), and a PB&J.

 

After that, we napped. And we napped hard. I finally woke up around 8:20pm, and started getting ready for our late reservation for Le Bistro. If you cruise on NCL, and plan on eating at Le Bistro, I suggest making your reservations the first day. Every other specialty restaurant, you will be okay to make reservations the day before, some even the day of, but Le Bistro is always busy. So many claim it is the best of all the restaurants, and I guess word gets around. We tried to reserve on day 3, but all the remaining cruise days (even the day at port) had spots left only after 9:30pm.

 

Because I wanted to try it so badly, we made our reservation for 9:45pm. Chris was turned away at first, because he was wearing light shorts in preparation for the Glow party, and Le Bistro has a strict dress code (one of only two restaurants that does - the other is a main dining room, the Tropicana room).

 

Le Bistro Menu

 

I was seated and Chris returned in jeans. They brought out a salmon dip and bread, and made suggestions based on guest favorite selections. My only option was grilled asparagus and the Napoleon de Legumes entree, which was a tomato, pepper, goat cheese, portabella mushroom dish. For a starter, I ordered the salad without duck, and our fabulous waiter, Sebayang, also brought out the grilled asparagus for me.

 

When we arrived at Le Bistro, I handed Sebayang a card. When you book, you can tell NCL if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary. We told NCL we were celebrating our anniversary - not a stretch, since it’s likely the last vacation we will have before June 12. A month-early celebration, whatever. So when we arrived to our cabin, there was a happy anniversary card waiting for us with instructions to hand it over to the waiter on the day we chose to celebrate.

 

So we handed Sebayang our card, and a few minutes later, he brought out dinner. The Napoleon dish was amazing - the best I had experienced on the cruise thus far. Chris had a beef dish, which he found unimpressive after having a wonderful meat selection the night before at the Brazilian steakhouse.

 

My entree - the best meal I had the entire trip.

 

Chris's entree

 

Sebayang brought out the dessert menu, recommending the creme brûlée. We ordered the fondue for two, and that sneaky waiter brought out both. I’m so glad he did, the creme brûlée was amazing. I had never had it before, but it was incredible. We thanked Sebayang for an incredible meal, and went up to Spice H20 to check out the GLOW party.

 

Dessert menu

 

Anniversary cake

 

Our desserts

[jerray07]

Great review. Thanks so much. Were you going to talk about H2O also?

 

Yes! ;)

[jerray07]

Do you remember if adult dodgeball was offered? My husband is 45(thinks he's 15) and just loves showing the "younsters" what he can do on the dodgeball court. I'm so proud.:D A few months ago on the Epic, a woman was put on his team - you'd think he was playing for a winning superbowl team - not happy to have a woman "who got out first every time". My sister and I threatened to join the next game, but were scared to get hit.

 

I don't remember reading about it anywhere and we read the dailies pretty thoroughly. I'm not sure where they would have them if it was offered. The only sports court is basketball. I could be wrong though! :/ Sorry!

[jerray07]

Previously the White Hot party, the Glow party is about what you’d expect from the name. Black lights, glowing souvenir glasses, incredible flailing inflatable men, and upbeat music. It was very crowded, and Chris is not at all a dancer, so we didn’t stay long, but it looked like a great time. I’d definitely return with friends who would enjoy it more (not Chris).

 

 

 

We thought, after snoozing the day away, that we would have a difficult time falling asleep, but we were asleep within a few minutes.

[SissasMomE]

Nope. One player (paid) and they gave us 10 frames like regular bowling. I would play frame one, then Chris would play frame 2, then me 3, and so on. We weren't playing competitively or anything, just getting a feel for the game. It's much harder (I think) than regular bowling! I consider myself a fair bowler, but I got a gutter ball nearly every time on these.

 

My kid put the bumpers up for me :rolleyes: LOL

[sdmike]

He passed on all of these things, just to have double and triple portions of filet mignon and picanah. It was quite hilarious to watch him unfold his master plan. :)

 

I sure hope this master plan included the grilled pineapple! :)

 

Great review. Thank you for doing this. I know how hard it is.

[McDebbie]

Great review, love all the pictures! We won't be getting Vibe passes because DH is not the type to sit around in the sun so curious about your thoughts on H20 also. Looks like your poor hubby got quite the sunburn too!

[jerray07]

I sure hope this master plan included the grilled pineapple! :)

 

Great review. Thank you for doing this. I know how hard it is.

 

He got the pineapple a few times, but only after he had a ton of red meats. They come by and say something like "grilled pineapple to cleanse your palette?" and he'd decline and say (to me) "just another one of their plots to fill you up before you can get the good stuff!" lol.

 

Eventually he did have some, and thought it was very good.

Edited May 5, 2014 by jerray07

[Cruiser Who Knows Nothing]

enjoying your review immensely Looking forward to the Vibe v H2O portion.

[Tcdmb36]

Was there blackjack by the pool? I was on the Jewel about 2 years ago and they had 2 blackjack tables by the pool...tho not always open.

[Jacy613]

Thank you so much for such a detailed and extremely entertaining review! I have enjoyed reading it very very much! You and Chris are simply adorable as a couple and your "friend" was totally spot on, you are quite beautiful!!

Glad you had such a great vacation, and so glad you decided to share it with us!!

 

Jacy

[Susie51]

Thank you for your review with great pics.

[barefootbob]

I can't wait until I board this Saturday, May 10 !!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[roger001]

Thanks for your great review. We have been hesitant to book one of the big ships, really liking the Pearl, Sun, etc. However, we did book the Getaway, a couple of rooms down from yours, in a few weeks. Your review has me really looking forward to that cruise now .

[Accessbowtie]

Jerray: What did Chris think of the food in the main dining rooms and buffet? Seems like he and I have similar tastes. Just wondering if food in these areas is better than say Golden Corral or Old County Buffet.

[sabrina1981]

Thanks for the amazing review and pics. I'll be headed to Miami for the 17th departure on the Getaway. I saw you said you bought your maxi dresses at Forever 21. They are very cute and I was wondering if they work for not so tall people. I can't tell how tall you are from the pics but I'm only 5'1 so finding maxi dresses/skirts is very hard. I don't want to spend a lot of money so finding them for cheap and cute without worrying about them dragging the ground would be great. :)

[jerray07]

Jerray: What did Chris think of the food in the main dining rooms and buffet? Seems like he and I have similar tastes. Just wondering if food in these areas is better than say Golden Corral or Old County Buffet.

 

Better than both of those, but not as good as most fine dining establishments. He was not a fan of Flamingo however, and the burgers there (he said) were very dry. Hope this helps!

[jerray07]

Thanks for the amazing review and pics. I'll be headed to Miami for the 17th departure on the Getaway. I saw you said you bought your maxi dresses at Forever 21. They are very cute and I was wondering if they work for not so tall people. I can't tell how tall you are from the pics but I'm only 5'1 so finding maxi dresses/skirts is very hard. I don't want to spend a lot of money so finding them for cheap and cute without worrying about them dragging the ground would be great. :)

 

I'm 5'7" and they were shorter than what I would like, especially after a wash and dry, so I would say they would be fine for you, but they'd definitely cover your toes. It'd probably be the perfect length if you wore wedges or heels, though.

[jerray07]

Was there blackjack by the pool? I was on the Jewel about 2 years ago and they had 2 blackjack tables by the pool...tho not always open.

 

I never saw anything like this by the pool - unless you count several couples who brought decks from home and played cards by the pool! ;) Sorry! I'd play with you by the pool if I were there!