Adventures on the Getaway, a post trip report

[maren91]

We’ll I’ve officially been home and back on the grind for five days now…. And well it sucks. I keep thinking about what the cruisers are doing in my floating home and how much fun they are having. So today to combat this sadness I’ve decided to help others in their Caribbean cruise planning and I also booked a cruise on Escape to give me something to think about while working so hard this year.

 

A little about me, I’m 32 and have been fortunate to have been on quite a few cruises since I got hooked on them around age 25. I’ve actually had an Eastern Caribbean cruise booked for two years but unfortunately I lost my mom in February 2015 after a long battle with Pancreatic Cancer. My mom once told me that she would never get on a cruise ship for fear of being bored and getting seasick. That was until I won a free cruise on the NCL star about five years ago and decided that we needed some mother/daughter bonding time. It was my first cruise on NCL and it will go down as one of the best ever. Our first meal on that cruise was at the Teppanyaki restaurant and the seas were as smooth as glass for our entire Mexican Rivera adventure and from that moment in that restaurant my mom was hooked. The smile on her face throughout those seven days and her amazement that room service was free (minus the tip of course) was priceless. I bought a cruise voucher hoping to take my mom again but unfortunately with her chemo treatments and declining health we were never able to take that next cruise adventure. I’ve continued to cruise and carry a picture of my mom with me along with the bracelet she bought me in Mazatlan to ever cruise since. I look out onto the waves and I know that she’s proud that I’ve started to learn that work is not life.

 

Shortly after my mom passed and I found myself not being able to concentrate on anything I found myself at a business meeting in NYC. To make a long story short, I skipped the return flight to Los Angeles and instead called up my TA used that cruise voucher I bought with my mom and ended up on the Breakaway escaping the cold New York winter and life in general. I spent a lot of time asleep and a lot of time just starring out on the water from my balcony. It was a good cruise (minus the worst seas I’ve ever experienced including broken things all over the ship). After that I was determined to get back to work and this cruise was my reward for a year of learning how to live in this new world I had suddenly found myself in. It also helped that apparently I gambled enough in the casino on Breakaway that I was offered this cruise “free” through Casino’s at Sea.

 

I started receiving the free cruise flyers shortly after that March trip but because of work I was not able to take advantage of any of the trips. I read on Cruise Critic that you can call and request a certain sale date and I did just that and just like that my good friend and I were departing on the NCL Getaway on January 3, 2015. There’s a lot of talk on these boards about how much you have to gamble in order to qualify for this and let me tell you that I typically only sit at the tables and maybe for 30-45 minutes a night. Work takes me back/forth to Vegas so frequently and I can tell you that I’d be lucky to be comped at Monte Carlo or Flamingo. I’m not a high roller by any standard. I paid to upgrade to a B1 Aft Cabin #12306. I have sailed Aft before to Alaska and on a short Princess cruise and love watching the wake. I know what people have said regarding noise and vibrations and privacy and have never up until now had any issues on any other ships.

 

I usually spend so much time on Cruise Critic and enjoy the Meet N’ Mingles and have made some great friends over the years but I just haven’t been able to find the time prior to this trip. I did however spend time on the boards figuring out what on earth I was going to do and as always in was invaluable to my planning and I’m happy to be able to pay it forward.

 

Day #1 – Friday, January 2nd, 2015

After working non-stop up until the morning of January 1st out of town I rushed home to do laundry, pack and finish up all my last minute business invoicing before we took off. Daddy’s airport car service volunteered to drive us down to LAX for our 12:05am non-stop flight to West Palm Beach. This flight was dirt cheap. I shopped around for awhile and read about how to get from there to Miami and decided that I wasn’t about to pass up this great deal.

 

We arrived at LAX around 10pm and were quickly through security having our first drink at one of the new fancy bars in the American terminal. We finally had made it to vacation!

 

The flight was on-time (after all this is American Airlines so we already had our first New Year’s miracle). The flight was uneventful and we made it into West Palm Beach around 8am. I had used Costco’s website to book a one-way rental car (some of the best prices I’ve ever seen). We picked up our car and made our way to Cracker Barrel. I’m not sure why I’m obsessed with the Cracker Barrel. It could be that it’s because we don’t have them in California or also because it’s amazing how much food one can get for so cheap and then when your done you can buy a cute pair of bedroom slippers.

 

From here it was off to find a Macy’s so my friend could get her new fancy watch sized as she was also so busy she didn’t have a chance to run any errands prior to leaving. We found an awesome outdoor shopping center that also had a Publix market nearby. We stopped in and bought two bottles of wine and a bottle of Prosecco for the trip ($15.00 for corkage each payable when you get on the ship), a package of Red Bull and a case of Fiji Water. We also took advantage of an amazing New Year’s sale at the Bath & Body Works while we were there.

 

From there it was a quick 45 minute ride to Miami airport where we dropped the rental car and hopped into a taxi heading for Downtown Miami. Prior to reading the cruise I had read a trip report from someone who just raved about the Hotel Beaux Arts in Miami and after doing a ton of research decided that I deserved a one nights stay in this horrifically expensive (BUT AMAZING!!!!!!!) hotel. I booked this a few months prior to leaving on an advanced purchased rate and then made the mistake of checking again prior to leaving and found the rate was $200 lower. Note to self, wait to book next time if I’m not confident I’m getting the best deal.

 

The bellman carefully unloaded all of our new items and luggage and escorted us to the check in area on the 38th floor of the JW Marriott. Oh my. The view. There are no words. We were offered free drinks and told about our free breakfast and complimentary happy hour but by this point it was all mumbled and all I wanted to do was take a nap as we had some big plans tonight! We were quickly escorted to our room with floor to ceiling windows that looked out over the bay. The room was a tech geeks dream and I wish that I wasn’t half asleep when the nice woman was telling us how to use everything as it made for some television adventures around 12am that night. The bellman unloaded everything and put my beautiful new sweater in the closest (which of course I would forget as we left).

 

Since we only had one night to see Miami and my friend and never been I wanted to have an epic first nights vacation. I spent some time looking into unique things to do and found the Miami Art Deco Cocktail Tour that not only gave you a walking tour and discussed the architecture and history of South Beach but made four different stops sampling the specialty drinks of some famous bars. Upon booking we were told to allow up to 40 minutes to get from Downtown over the bridge and into South Beach but unfortunately we both overslept and the traffic was horrific getting over the bridge as said. We easily caught an Uber and only paid $22 to make it into South Beach. Our tour guide was understanding and we quickly started the tour. The highlight of the tour by far was having Pina Colada’s on the rooftop lounge of the Clevelander Hotel on Ocean Drive. Now let me tell you that I’ve had a lot of Pina Colada’s in my life and hands down this one was the best ever. Please if you love Pina Colada’s (and hopefully aren’t caught in the rain) check them out.

 

After our last stop (and feeling wonderful of course) we caught another Uber to the Fountainbleau Hotel where we had dinner at one of the most anticipated dinners of the trip, Hakkasahn. I made reservations about two months prior on Open Table and could only get an 8pm reservation but this ended up working out great. We had another drink while we were waiting for the table in the lobby bar (oh so beautiful there!). In hindsight it would have been great to stay in South Beach since all our activities were focused here but am still happy with our hotel decision. The meal was amazing (and expensive) but I loved it so much I would definitely go back. It was definitely a trendy and fancy place with great ambiance, lighting and music. It felt like a dinner club. A quick Uber ride back to Hotel Beaux Arts, one fight with the television, an amazing long bath in our jetted tub and I was officially ready to be cruise bound.

 

Next up the NCL Getaway and a post cruise Key West adventure….

[Erwende]

Following..... Love the start!

 

 

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[MandyMommyof2]

I am joining in!! Loving what I am hearing so far!!! :)

[maren91]

Day #2 – Saturday, January 3rd, 2015

Next up the NCL Getaway and a post cruise Key West adventure….

 

12 Hours later we woke up. We missed breakfast and also any chance of getting a Vibe pass (though I wasn’t entirely sure I would get enough use out of it anyways). The one thing we needed to do was get to the spa to buy passes for the Thermal Suite ($199/Week). On our NCL Breakaway trip I practically lived there. It’s the most relaxing thing I’ve ever done on a cruise ship and completely worth the money to me.

 

We packed up all our things, took a look out of our huge windows one last time (couldn’t see our cruise ship but did see other ships from there) and headed downstairs. We quickly caught a taxi and were to the port in under 15 minutes. I had no time to print luggage tags prior to arrival and quickly found a porter who took all our stuff, gave us some luggage tags and a pen and helped us secure them. A smile, thank you and $5.00 tip and we were on our way into the cruise terminal. It was about 11:30am at this time and it wasn’t too crowded surprisingly. We went through the security checkpoint where we were quickly escorted to a table to pay our $15/bottle corkage fees (charged to the room) and then quickly found the Casino’s at Sea check in line, our photos were taken and we were walking onto the ship ten minutes later. It was really that easy, amazing.

 

Having been on the Breakaway we were somewhat familiar with the layout and quickly made our way to the spa. No issues getting Thermal Suite passes and got a pretty heavy sell on booking massages for that day, I didn’t cave but my friend did and said it was a good massage but it was a very high pressure sales effort at the end to buy products. I typically always get massages on ships but I’ve had enough of the sales and annoyed looks when you don’t purchase and decided that I wasn’t going to do it on this trip. I was however in desperate need of a pedicure and should have booked it immediately but I ended up waiting until the second sea day and was told that they were booked solid all the way until the end of the cruise

 

With our spa business taken care of we headed to Taste to have our first meal. We were quickly sat down next to the window and were able to watch all the luggage being loaded onto the ship and all the eager passengers making their way to their new home. I ordered two glasses of Prosecco and we had a cheers to our upcoming trip.

 

I think this is a good point to talk about beverage packages. I really wanted to get one just for the idea that I wouldn’t have a bill at the end of the cruise and that I could try any drinks I’d like. After analyzing our Breakaway bill (and we were never thirsty) it really didn’t make financial sense for us. In the end we spent a total of $536 on alcohol so we definitely did the right thing by not purchasing the package. That being said there were a ton of people I saw with the package and they looked like they were having a blast (some maybe a bit too much but that’s a story for later).

Before leaving home I paid our gratuities, purchased the Ultimate Dining Package and one of the flower arrangements through the gift shop on NCL.com. I figured at least these were some expenses I could leave off of our final cruise bill.

 

Back to lunch, I stuck with soup and salad and had a piece of cake for dessert and thoroughly enjoyed walking out not paying any other bill other than our Prosecco. By this time it was about 1:30pm so we heading to Deck 12 to see our new home, our B1 Aft Balcony 12306.

 

There was much debate on getting this cabin as I heard a lot about the noise from Spice H20. Knowing we would most likely be at the party I didn’t think this was too much of a concern and will now go on record as saying it really wasn’t that bad. I could barely hear the music if the door was shut. Yes, if the door was open and you were trying to listen to the wake then it wasn’t about to happen most nights.

 

Armed with Lysol wipes we happily opened the door to our floating home. It was a nice space and oh man that balcony was huge! There were two lounge chairs, one table that you could barely fit a single plate on and one chair. It was mostly covered and if you went up to the edge you can easily see into both neighbors balconies. We proceeded to go into deep clean mode and honestly we removed a fair amount of dust and some other sticky spots. I was happy to see the bed by the balcony door, the room did feel much more spacious because of that (versus our cabin on the Breakaway). After unpacking our carryon’s we headed out to explore the ship. Before we left I attempted to call our cabin steward to get the refrigerator cleared out and request some wine glasses but got no answer.

 

Deck 6,7,8 (Ocean Place) was where all the action was and man oh man was the cigarette smell terrible in there. I wondered if there had been a smoker’s convention on-board prior to us arriving. That was the worst I had smelled it over the week and spent plenty of time in the casino and never really had any issues. Maybe the ventilation was turned off in that area at the time. We walked along the waterfront and had the first of many “boat drinks.” We were charged tax because we were still in port.

 

Soon enough it was time for the muster drill and to the Tropicana Room we went. It was quick and painless and it was hear that I came to the realization of two things. One, not many of our fellow passengers seemed to speak English and two, wow there were a lot of kids. I was pretty worried that the kids would make for an interesting week but honestly, we hit the kid lottery because 99% of them were extremely polite and never caused any issues whatsoever. In fact, I thought the kids were better behaved than some of the adults we encountered. One night a woman holding have a wine bottle with no shoes came cussing out of an elevator right into a group of kids and their parents. I was so shocked I stopped all the kids and told them that I hope they understood that not all adults are like that and apologized on behalf of our village idiot.

 

We watched sail away form deck 15 or 16? And wow what a beautiful sail away it was! I sailed out of Miami about ten years ago but never remembered it being this beautiful. I must have taken 100 pictures of South Beach and the slowly sinking sun. After Miami was in the distance we headed back to the room to unpack. I opened our balcony door and got to meet our neighbors the chainsmokers. Our neighbors to the right of us (in the suite) were having an extremely loud balcony party. It was at about this time that I saw a Celebrity ship in the not too far distance and was wondering if we made the wrong decision. I closed the balcony door and proceeded to unpack while my friend went to her massage.

 

It is frustrating that there are no drawers in the room and I regretted not getting any of those small folding cubes to put socks and underwear in. All in all though there is plenty of space for two peoples things for the week. In fact there was an entire cabinet that we didn’t touch. I have a small travel clock that I bring everywhere with me that was of course out of batteries so I knew where my first mission would be to and quickly found some in the photo shop. Back at the room I opened the balcony and the neighbors were still smoking away. I politely met the husband at the railing and said that I believed there was no smoking allowed on the balcony and you could be subjected to a fine if you were caught. He was polite and said he wasn’t aware. An hour later and he was back smoking again. I headed to guest services and reported it. Over the course of the week they did seem to stop, I suspect the cabin steward saw all the cigarette butts and they were informed. I did periodically smell it again but was determined to not let it ruin our vacation. However the loud suite parties continued most days but they were quiet at night. If I was able to afford to have all my friends on a ship and had that beautiful balcony I would probably want to have a party too. What I will touch on though is the soot, it was really bad. Black stuff everywhere and our balcony steward did hose it off every few days but it was back by the morning. There was also water on the balcony every morning I suspect from cleaning up above. The other thing I wanted to address was the vibration. It was terrible. Imagine having a vibrating bed, not just any vibrating bed but THEY vibrating bed. One night it was so bad that I literally couldn’t sleep and ended up taking some Advil PM. The motion as also pretty rough back there. Of the seven nights on the cruise only two of them were calm back there.

 

In the end, having this huge balcony was really something special but we really didn’t use it too much. The view was amazing but I think it will be back to the mid-ship balcony for me. That vibration, the soot and the noise were just a little too much for me.

 

Prior to leaving for the trip I made most of the dining reservations to insure we had no problems eating at our requested times so we could make the shows that we wanted to see. Since we had the UDP the first night at the Illusionarium was comped. I had booked the late show and received a letter in the room that it had been cancelled and I should go to the reservations desk to reserve it for another night. This left us with no dining plans for the night so we decided it would be an Italian night and we headed to La Cucina. On Breakaway this was one of our best meals so we were excited to try it again and were not disappointed. Their pizza is so delicious, especially the one with the chili marinated beef strips. I could eat that every day of my life if I wasn’t concerned about being able to fit through doorways. We brought the bottle of Prosecco that I had purchased at Publix with us and took our time with dinner. The pasta was cooked to perfection and the meal was capped off with their wonderful Tiramisu. After dinner we headed out on deck to walk the length of the Waterfront which became our nightly exercise after dinner. We stopped into Sugercane’s Mojito bar and shared a flight and enjoyed most of them. By this time exhaustion had set in or as I like to call it Cruise Ship Narcolepsy.” PS. The beds and linens were wonderful.

 

Up next, Our first day at sea, Teppanyaki and Burn The Floor.

[Erwende]

I was so excited to hear about the no smoking policy! I spent 12 nights on the Spirit next to THOSE copd chain smokers too. It's a shame NCL doesn't enforce it better! How is smoking on the waterfront?

 

 

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[Obiedawg]

I can't wait to hear more.

[maren91]

I was so excited to hear about the no smoking policy! I spent 12 nights on the Spirit next to THOSE copd chain smokers too. It's a shame NCL doesn't enforce it better! How is smoking on the waterfront?

 

 

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Smoking is allowed on one side of the Waterfront. I have complete respect for smokers as I have friends who smoke and never found the smoking to be an issue, even in the casino. Honestly the only time the smoke ever was bad in Ocean Place was when we boarded before the casino was even open.

 

Guest services did seem to get my frustration with the balcony situation and said they do add a $250 cleaning fee on to the room cost but I honestly think that certain smokers just see the $250 as the fee it will cost them to smoke on their balcony.

 

Taking a day trip to Santa Barbara tomorrow, I'm going stir crazy from not seeing the ocean. More to come on Tuesday.

[Phyllis Flipflop]

Looking forward to hearing more :)

[RuthlessBoss]

I was so excited to hear about the no smoking policy! I spent 12 nights on the Spirit next to THOSE copd chain smokers too. It's a shame NCL doesn't enforce it better! How is smoking on the waterfront?

 

 

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I don't know how well things are enforced on Getaway, but as soon as my steward saw my smoking things in my cabin, he informed me of the new smoking policy.

The only place I saw any volume of smokers on waterfront was at the bar near the cigar lounge.

Just for reader clarification, I read that your 12 day encounter was last June so it was prior to the ban so not much could have been done.

Edited January 19, 2015 by RuthlessBoss
spell check

[kydustbunny]

Listening in here in Cincinnati....

THANKS for taking the time to share with all of us! :)

[Kells3738]

Interesting about the soot and vibration from the aft cabin. We had an aft suite on the Jewel a couple of weeks ago, and it could not have been cleaner (no soot at all) or smoother (much less vibration than Haven, from what I could tell). Must be the design of the ship. Great review, BTW.

[maren91]

Day #3 - Cruise Day #2 (At Sea) – Sunday, January 4th, 2015

 

After losing money on the ‘Let’ Em Lose’ table for about an hour last night I was eager to fall asleep and have a good breakfast in the morning to start our first day at sea. Then I woke up at 11am and all hopes were out the door. That being said for the first time in about three weeks I had a great sleep. I know I had mentioned it before but the beds on Getaway are really that comfortable. The blackout shades also make it very difficult to know what time of day it is so from this day forward I vowed to leave them cracked open a bit so I would know when the sun was out.

 

Today would be a really rough day of eating and doing nothing. Since we missed breakfast we got up and headed towards the Flamingo Grill for lunch. Prior to leaving I had read great things about this free dining restaurant and was not left disappointed. Today would be the first of many Chorizo and Chimichurri sandwiches that I would eat over the course of the next six days. I always asked the chef for extra Chimichurri sauce and was always happily accommodated. The potato balls and cheese bread are also not to be missed items.

 

After lunch we headed out on our usual deck #8 walk. It’s so nice to feel the warm ocean breeze and it was never ever crowded. From here it was off to the Thermal spa. The one thing that I did notice was the Thermal spa pool was extremely warm compared to the one on Breakaway. Today it was so warm you really couldn’t tell the difference between the spa and the pool which was disappointing. It was actually so hot I didn’t stay in very long. The Thermal spa is meant to be a quiet area but as stated earlier at least 60% of our fellow ship guests didn’t seem to speak any English so maybe they didn’t understand the quiet signs? We were moving quite a bit this afternoon and they had two poor cleaning folks trying to get the water that was constantly sloshing out of the pool and off of the floor so nobody slipped. At a certain point after a lot of yelling I looked at one of them wondering if they were going to say anything to the loud group but I just started laughing with the two workers. What a horrible job to be assigned. There was no physical way to keep the water from not sloshing out of the pool unless the ship were to slow down or the waves were to calm down. I whispered I’m sorry and we all had a good laugh. One of the ladies doing the cleaning just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. After my few minutes lounging in the warm pool I headed to the sauna for a few and then had a nice shower. I laid on one of the padded lounge chairs overlooking the ocean, opened by book, read the first paragraph and promptly had sudden onset cruise ship narcolepsy. One hour later it was back to the room to change and watch the sunset. We walked all the way forward to Deck 17 (Near Vibe Beach Club) where they had a nice quiet area (and a very under utilized bar) and watched Mother put on a truly beautiful show (with pina coladas in hand of course).

 

Tonight dinner was at Teppanyaki. I had made a 7pm reservation almost as soon as bookings were made available on-line and after I had purchased the UDP. We were promptly seated with a party of four and another couple and we had a nice conversation which turned slightly strange when one of the gentleman who was I’m pretty sure was extremely flamboyantly gay started kissing another woman in the party right at the table between courses. My friend had to kick me under the table as I was about to burst out laughing (and I’m pretty sure the other party of two couldn’t believe what they were seeing either).

 

Anyways, back to the review. I’m a big fan of Teppanyaki and this trip on the Getaway I had been looking forward to. I’m especially a fan of the fried rice and love the fact that they usually make plenty extra for the “my diet fell out the window” folks like me. Our chef was very funny and talented, only one problem. She came with an entire urn of soy sauce and used almost the entire jar on our meal. Seriously. Everything was drenched to the point of almost being inedible. The food was well cooked but I’m pretty sure I drank about six glasses of water trying to cope with all the salt. The meal was disappointing because of that and I did leave that note on the comment card that they left after the meal. The only bill we received was for the two drinks that we ordered and left a little extra on there for tip.

 

My friend and I both had a goal to make it to every single bar on the ship we headed for our deck 8 walk to combat our soy sauce overload and headed to the Sunset Bar for martini’s. What a gorgeous bar!!!! The chairs were so comfortable and the bar staff was amazing. I had an apple and my friend had a chocolate and we were in heaven.

 

From here we headed to the theater for the much anticipated show Burn The Floor. We had both attempted to see Burn The Floor on two different occasions on the Breakaway but that along with most of the other activities were cancelled due to the insane motion of the ship on that trip. Burn The Floor did not disappoint and wow those folks are talented! I briefly considered heading to the gym the morning inspired to have bodies like them but chose sleep and breakfast over that. I had also booked tickets for Burn The Floor prior to leaving home but the theater was not completely full so you shouldn’t have an issue just showing up before the show.

 

We had some fun afterwards taking photos with the cast and headed up to the casino for a second beating on ‘Let Em’ Lose. The saving grace was the amazing dealer Kyrn from Nassau who seemed to make losing not seem so bad. It was funny to talk to her and hear her experiences of life onboard a cruise ship. Most people don’t get to see their families for 8-9 months but Kyrn is home every single week! She provided some interesting insight on Nassau and on Atlantis. When the beating got to be too much I promptly walked away (after having consumed about four Angry Orchard’s compliments of the caisno) and headed to O’Sheehans for some bowling. It was $5.00 per person and it was really fun! Then it was a few games of Skee-Ball (sp?) because…. Why not?

 

We slept with the balcony door open tonight and listened to the waves. It was pretty warm out and of course the air conditioning won’t run with the balcony door open so I ended up closing it when the sun came up. It was definitely a rough ride through the night but nothing unbearable.

 

Up next another day at sea, another trip to La Cucina and a dessert adventure at Cagney’s.

[MandyMommyof2]

Sounds like a great day! I can't wait to hear about tomorrow.

[nvlav8r]

I was on this sailing as well (flew out of LAX too). And I second the notion that a majority of the passengers were not native english speakers. I heard many french, spanish, and russian conversations while riding in the elevators.

[maren91]

Day #4 - Cruise Day #3 (At Sea) – Monday, January 5th, 2015

 

Some things I forgot to add to yesterday’s adventures was that we attended the Newlywed Not So Newlywed Game Show. If you want a good seat make sure you get there early. The crew did a good job of brining in extra folding chairs to accommodate the large crowd. The new NCL shifts do suffer in a lack of public space to hold these events as this show could have easily filled or almost filled the theater. In regards to the show, it was good but I’ve seen better. I won’t spoil it for everyone but if you’re of legal age and around when this show is coming on I wouldn’t pass it up. It’s definitely 45 minutes of entertainment for sure.

 

The other notable item from yesterday was that it was the Norwegians Night Out Dance Party. There were many people on the ship, especially families who took the opportunity to dress up for the night. I however decided to forgo that along with about 50% of the other guests. Formally pictures were everywhere though and I know many families got some amazing pictures that they will cherish forever. While we didn’t make it up to the party you could certainly hear it when we opened our balcony door but all was well when it was closed. Yes you could hear it but it didn’t prevent me from sleeping by any means.

 

Onto Day #3! Another day at sea, AKA my personal heaven. Unfortunately again we over slept (not as bad as yesterday though). I decided to try our hand at room service for some coffee and snacks while we got ready for the day and we received prompt delivery service about 20 minutes later. I do want to touch on the NCL Getaway coffee situation. Basically there’s two levels. Level #1: The coffee is so bad that it’s literally undrinkable and the Level #2: The coffee is pretty bad but not as bad as it could be so I’ll add extra milk and sugar and try to mask the flavor. Level #1 seemed to play out most of the time. The ship serves Lavazza coffee in some of the specialty restaurants and you can always pay for it in the Atrium café. After having a few bites of a fruit plate (which said it came with yogurt but that part never showed up) I headed down for some real coffee which was wonderful. There is a coffee maker in the room so perhaps bringing your own coffee would be an option for some people.

 

The afternoon was spent in the spa. Thankfully the pool wasn’t as hot as yesterday and I was able to take a bit of a swim and enjoy the water features. I became lost in my books and the calm (thankfully the screamers had found another place to relax for the day) and the afternoon slowly chugged by. After we had our spa fill we made our way to the buffet for some afternoon snacks. I really enjoyed the buffet on this trip. Everything seemed very fresh and I really had trouble deciding what choices would end up on my plate. Since we were eating dinner in a few hours I opted for some wonderful scones with clotted cream.

 

My last cruise experience was on Princess and the afternoon tea that they have is wonderful and something I hope NCL will adopt on at least one of the sea days.

 

Back to the room where cruise ship narcolepsy crept in and then headed down for our scheduled dinner at La Cucina. It was never my intention to eat here twice but after our amazing meal here the other night I was very excited.

 

I requested to be seated outside and there was definitely some hesitation to my request. I also requested to be seated outside on our first night here and was told no because of the wind (please note that I went outside afterwards and didn’t at all see wind as an issue). In fact, most of the restaurants that had outdoor seating never had anyone seated out there. For whatever reason I don’t think that they like people being seated out there, perhaps its spreading their wait staff to thin? In the end we ended up getting a table outside and originally were the only ones seated out there but we quickly started a trend and by the time we left all the tables out there were full.

 

I had brought another bottle of wine in for dinner, which started off a conversation with a couple behind us while we were waiting in line for a table. She was a fan of the wine I had bought and had tried it in a restaurant years earlier. Once seated I promptly sent them both a glass.

 

I decided on the chicken parmesan and requested that they put it on a bed of the pasta oglio’ olio that they have on their menu. It has a little kick to it and was once again cooked to perfection.

 

Once done with dinner we started to make our exit which really confused the wait staff as they thought something was wrong since we didn’t want dessert. I really think they thought we didn’t like the food.

 

We both took a nice deck 8 walk and then headed to Cagney’s for drinks and dessert. Since we had the UDP we had read that you could eat at multiple restaurants each day so we promptly tried out the theory with no issues. We were quickly sat and brought drink and dessert menus. We had two wonderful chocolate martini’s and a slice of the wonderful Oreo Cheesecake as well as the amazing raspberry crème brulee. I topped that off with decaf coffee (or so I requested and was told was decaf) that came in a french press. The coffee tasted like heaven in a cup. We sat enjoying the night for awhile and then caught the late night comedian who unfortunately unlike my meal was forgettable.

 

Tonight I gave the ‘Let Em’ Lose’ table a rest and put a $20 bill in the $1.00 Wheel of Fortune machine and won $300 on the first play. Cash out, to bed I went. Tomorrow was a big day, we would finally see land and partake in an excursion that had been almost two years in the making.

 

Up Next: St. Maarten with Souliga Destinations, dinner at Moderno and finally, Fireworks!!

[jackg962]

Sounds great keep going!!!

[Still Dreaming]

Great review!! We leave in 1 1/2 weeks!!

[maren91]

Day #5 - Cruise Day #4 – Tuesday, January 6th – St Maarten (8am-6pm – All Aboard 5:30pm)

 

After some pretty consistent rocking for three days now it was really nice to wake up with no movement! Actually, it was almost strange. The ship was so quiet and peaceful. It was a balmy and warm day in St. Maarten when I opened up the balcony doors. The night before I had placed a room service order with the tag on the door and woke up to knocking on the door at precisely the start time of when the order would be ready. I believe I selected 7:30am-8am and the food arrived at promptly 7:30am. I do enjoy on other cruise lines when someone calls and gives you a three minute warning that food is on the way. It’s fun trying to run out of bed, turn on some lights, clear some table space, find the tip money, get the door and not act like a fool to the nice man/woman who’s delivering you breakfast! I also wish there was some sort of an option for hot food from room service (other than the horrific coffee). Oh well, it’s still delivered to the room and I don’t have to do the dishes!

 

It was a fruit plate, bad coffee, orange juice (which was wonderful) and Raisin Bran for me and just some random pastries for my friend. We attempted to eat outside on the balcony but that darn table is so small (especially in relative size to the huge balcony we had) but we made it work.

 

About two years ago when I had originally planned a similar trip I obsessed about what to do in each of the ports. After exploring different options I had settled on Soualiga Destinations after watching a few YouTube videos and reading the stellar Trip Advisor reviews. They do require a small per person deposit via PayPal to reserve your spot and then the rest you pay in cash upon arrival. They sent very easy to understand instructions about how to find them at the dock (it was about a ten minute walk from the ship).

 

Once arriving on-site and paying our balance we were joined by about eight other people from the various other cruise ships in port and we were off in a like new speed boat (which was so beautiful!!). Prior to leaving we were warned that the snorkeling conditions weren’t the best today because of the wind and were offered a chance to receive a full refund if we chose not to go but I was up for the adventure! It was a really fun group of people who were on the boat and everyone was given a bottle of water and instructed on the very important boat information like where the life jackets are and where the free unlimited beer is located. As a side note we were also asked to sign a waiver regarding your information that there are no emergency services available in the middle of the ocean and if we got drunk and needed medical attention than we were in trouble. I can only imagine what happened to cause them to have to have a waiver.

 

Our captain for the day was the owners awesome son and his fiancé was his first mate. They quickly made sure that our every need was taken care of and that we were comfortable. It was such a beautiful day and I was so happy to feel the ocean breeze and also the power of this boat! We stopped frequently for historical information about the island and to point out any wildlife that we came across. We were all given snorkeling gear looked fairly new and fit well and we were off to our first snorkel spot. The water felt amazing and I was very happy to just swim around and enjoy the sea and sun but as suspected the snorkeling conditions were just not good. After about thirty minutes we headed off to find a better spot and sure enough our trusty captain found one. We were able to see many fish (a lot with very pointy spear like things on the front) and lots of sea urchins which we were warned not to touch or step on. I had purchased a cheap underwater camera during a trip to the Maui Costco earlier in the year and I was excited to put it to use! After about 40 minutes there it was back on the boat for a trip further around the island into the French side for lunch. We dropped anchor and it was a quick swim to the beach for the included lunch at one of the restaurants on the island. Lunch was great and the pina coladas (I did have to pay for them but they were cheap and didn’t mind the wet money whatsoever). After lunch I quickly found a lounge chair and just watched the waves until it was time to leave for our next destination. I walked back into the water and then a quick swim in the calm waves back to the boat where the captain stood by and assisted everyone back in. This tour does usually take you to a place frequented by turtles but because of the sea conditions on the other side of the island we weren’t able to make it there on this trip (oh well just another excuse to return). For our next stop, we jetted off to one of the best resorts on the island and had a swim in front of their hotel. Oh my, so beautiful!! They handed out “ocean noodles” and I just floated there while a member of the group dove down and found a star fish for everyone to see. Back onto the boat and the beer was flowing and the Jimmy Buffet music was the soundtrack to an amazing afternoon.

 

From here we headed to the one destination I was most looking forward to, the airport! We dropped anchor close to shore and watched some huge jets fly right over us to the runway. We also watched a jet take off and about 50 ____ (insert idiot phrase here) people get knocked off a fence at the runway and down into the water from the jet blast. You can see the signage from the boat that clearly says don’t hang on the fence but I guess some people just can’t resist.

 

We stopped one more time for a quick swim and then it was back to the dock. I am a fan of taking tours with locals and try to do so whenever feasible when I’m in port and this is hands down one of the best trips I have ever taken! We were back at the dock at 4pm and debated going into town for some shopping but we were both pretty beat and had a lot of sun today (don’t forget your sunscreen and to re-apply every single time you get out of the water). We headed back towards the ship and were greeted with cool towels, water and friendly crew faces. They even exchanged our beach towels right then and there for fresh ones! We were parked next to an unbelievable gorgeous Disney cruise ship and not a single crew member was outside welcoming their guests home.

 

We both enjoyed a quick shower and were happy to get out of our bathing suits. We headed all the way forward again near the Vibe Beach Club to our “secret” sail away spot with our “private” bar. I obsessively took pictures of the Disney ship and really hope to sail on her one day. There were quite a few ships in port today and I was so hoping that I would get to hear a horn battle or at the very least Disney’s horns which I’ve seen in some YouTube videos but unfortunately they were still in port that night when all the other ships headed out.

 

Tonight was our much anticipated dinner at Moderno booked for 7:00pm. We also ate here on Breakaway and the food was wonderful and their roasted pineapple with cinnamon was the stuff of dreams. In fact since we got back on that trip I’ve tried to re-create that recipe at least five times but it still doesn’t even come close to the pineapple that’s served in Moderno.

 

We were quickly seated and enjoyed two of their specialty drinks to start and then headed to the wonderful salad bar. Everything was so fresh and so delicious I had to be careful to not fill up too much or I wouldn’t be hungry for the main event. On the table were cards for each of us. One side was red (for stop) and the other side was green (for go). Once we were ready for meat we flipped them to green and almost immediately the meats started coming our way. Most of the meats on their skewers were cooked to different temperatures. I like my meat Medium-Medium Well and my friend likes Medium Rare and we were both satisfied. I typically just asked for the end cuts and everything was cooked fine. My plate quickly filled to capacity and I quickly flipped to red then looked at my plate wondering how on earth I would consume all this meat and still have room for pineapple. The food was wonderful and yes some meats were better than others but I really enjoyed the food overall. The waitstaff was wonderful tonight and the manager came over and asked if there was anything else we wanted to try or wanted more of and I quickly screamed (well not exactly screamed) for the pineapple and was awarded with a several slices. I do have to say that I didn’t think it was as good as it was on Breakaway but it was still wonderful.

 

At this point I felt like someone needed to call a plow to pick me up and get me out of there….. and then they brought dessert. I could barely touch it, paid the drinks bill and waddled out heading for Deck 8 in hopes of walking it about 100 times around in hopes of not feeling like Santa Claus after eating everyone’s milk and cookies.

 

We did make a pit stop at the casino where I tried out that awesome $1 Wheel of Fortune machine and promptly got the “Wheel of Fortune” which landed on $500. I hit cash out again. I smiled and was secretly hoping it was my mom controlling the machine =) She did enjoy her Wheel of Fortune machines as well.

 

Tonight was fireworks night and the 80’s party and I was excited to get a good seat so we headed up to Spice H20 around 9:30pm over an hour before fireworks was scheduled to start. All the chairs were already taken! We found a good spot to stand though right at the railing and decided we would camp here for the rest of the night. Drink servers were everywhere and we decided to stick to some Angry Orchard’s. We were offered a bucket of them but declined which in hindsight made no sense at all. The 80’s music and music videos got started shortly thereafter and the place really started filling up. The music was wonderful and I was dancing in my own little railing space and enjoying the warm winters night. We missed the fireworks on Breakaway because of all the bad seas so I was very excited that I would finally get to see fireworks at sea! They started at about 10:45pm and were set a soundtrack of some great 80’s music and man was it a good time! It makes you thankful to be alive, thankful for the night, thankful for your health and thankful to be able to afford to have this journey. For all the work that I do all year helping other people (I work in the emergency services world) it made all the long hours worth it. We took off around 12am exhausted from this amazing day and looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure in St. Thomas.

 

Up Next: St. John Beach & Champagne Sail & a trip to the Illusionarium

[Ctrinh225]

Hi Maren91. I'll be on the Getaway end of Feb. I also booked Soulaiga Destinations. My sis is not a great swimmer.....when y'all had to swim to get lunch....was it deep? She won't be snorkeling in the deep waters but wanted to spend the day and watch from boat. Also did Moderno have lamb chops(my absolute fave). Thanks

 

 

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[Phyllis Flipflop]

Great update....we're on the Getaway in May - this is setting the mood :)

[deburn]

I was wondering you were able to make reservations online with your UDP I was told you had to make them when you got on the ship. I was hoping to do it online sure would be a lot easyer thanks.

[maren91]

Hi Maren91. I'll be on the Getaway end of Feb. I also booked Soulaiga Destinations. My sis is not a great swimmer.....when y'all had to swim to get lunch....was it deep? She won't be snorkeling in the deep waters but wanted to spend the day and watch from boat. Also did Moderno have lamb chops(my absolute fave). Thanks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

The water wasn't very deep but we were in the ocean and it was a good 3-5 minute swim to shore depending on your swimming abilities. They did have "ocean noodles" available but I would e-mail them in advance and make sure there is a life jacket available for her. Honestly, the trip was so much about swimming, snorkeling and being in the ocean that I'm not sure how much fun she would have on this trip. That being said, the boat is really nice and the ride is fun so it's really up to her.

 

Oh and yes, lamb chops were readily available! I didn't partake but they came around a few times offering and they looked very nicely cooked.

Edited January 21, 2015 by maren91
Lamb chops

[Obiedawg]

I am absolutely loving your adventure. I feel like I'm reading a novel. Thank you for taking us along on your adventure!

[maren91]

I was wondering you were able to make reservations online with your UDP I was told you had to make them when you got on the ship. I was hoping to do it online sure would be a lot easyer thanks.

 

Yes, I made all my reservations for both restaurants and shows about two months prior to leaving on the trip. Very easy to do, no charge after paying for my UDP. I didn't make reservations for two nights of the trip and was easily able to make those once I decided what I wanted to eat once on the ship.

[orangeglitter]

my husband and I were on the breakaway and the getaway with you!. we must have seen each other at the let it ride table. we were there some every day.