Getaway May 16th-23rd and I have dailies but can't get them to download!

[grancayman]

Hi Everyone!

Just back from the Getaway! Nineteen people, one year in planning, and now it's over....Just fabulous memories!

First the background

This was a family celebration for my Dad's 85th Birthday...his first cruise and we had to talk long and hard to get him to agree to this. Ages ranged from 19-85, no little ones on this trip.

This is not going to be a day by day thing as such and I've never written a review before, so bare with me!

Embarkation was a breeze...We arrived at the pier at 11:30 and we were in our room by 12:15. Disclaimer that we were CAS check in.

Ship is beautiful...been on the Breakaway also, but Getaway just seemed to have something a little extra!

First sea day participated in the the Meet and Greet which was expertly done by Gene and Kim. Kudos to both as they must have put a lot of work into this! I think there were about 50 people. Ships officeres showed up and they served coffee, cookies and banana smoothies. As a special favor, I showed the group a pic of my Dad and asked that if they saw him around to say Happy Birthday, Bob. Many thanks to everyone who did, as he keep telling us strangers kept coming up to him and saying Happy Birthday and how the heck did they know it was him (Bob) and his birthday. Priceless!!! Kim also did the cabin crawl the next day, and boy is she an organizer, it went on perfectly. We did show our cabin and everyone was very respectful as far as coming in to "our" space...Got to see a Haven Cabin and ok, yes I want to book!!! thanks Lilibird for that!:-)

 

I know there have been lots of questions on the food, room service, etc.

so I tried to pay attention to things that I might not have normally looked at.

The continental room service menu has been reduced to a list of pastries, breads, juice, milk and coffee. That is the free breakfast on room service.

There is no longer yogurt, fruit, cereals. We ordered the 7.95 room service breakfast. There was no limit and it was served quickly and warmer than what you find on the buffet. There was not an 18% gratituity and we did tip.

Food being taken out of the buffet was happening and I never saw anything being said to anyone.

We ate at Cagney's one night and my Dad was too full for dessert, so I asked the hostess if his could be sent to his room and was told that they no longer did that. Fast forward to Le Bistro two nights later and we asked if dessert could be sent to the cabin as we were running late for a show (there was an issue with the meal being sent back) and they said of course! And it was there when we got back to the room. Now I don't know if they made an exception because of the problem.

The only time I tried to personally take something out of a dining area was at Flamingos. I had had 3 teenagers that were running late for a catamaran cruise that we had chartered and I needed to grab and go.

They have breakfast sandwiches that look as though that is what they are intened for (paper wrap and a fast food paper container) so I thought perfect. I was there early enough that they were just putting them out and the attendent came and asked if I was taking them out and that that wasn't allowed. I politely told her I was going to take them and if she needed to report me, she could. I guess she said her "corporate" line and then she helped me to gather for the kids and we made it to the charter on time! Interestingly enough, my Sister had gotten some sandwiches for the boys a couple of days earlier and no one said anything! So the best I can say it's a policy that is not consistently enforced.

 

Just a quick observation on this...I saw more dishes in the hallway on the boat than I have ever seen on any of the 6 NCL cruises I've taken in the last two years. However, it could be because I noticed because of all the uproar about it.

 

We did have the UBP and our experience was we didn't have to wait that long. I would say tops 10 mins. One of the bartenders told me that on a regular cruise that they have 200 to 300 on the UBP and on this cruise they had 1500! They definitely had streamlined the process for this cruise.

We did tip each time even though the 18% was covered by NCL. The bartenders worked their butts off and deserved it in my opinion. All gave excellent service.

And about service....

Getaway had an outstanding crew from management, to our food servers, to our steward, to housekeeping. I would like to give special props to Rashida, Sean's assistant and to the manager of Sheehan's who helped to make our dinner on embarkation night especially festive and fun!!!

 

Two kind of random things...Grammy Experience with Shannon Mcnally was excellent. She's a blues/country singer and just fantastic. Her backup band was one of the best I've heard anywhere. The room itself was small, intimate, good acoustics and put's you in a whole different mindset than a typical cruise entertainment venue.

Second random thing...The guys went deep sea fishing in Nassau and we went down to see them off. Four of us went with Cobby on a private boat tour of the Bahamas, with snorkeling and then he took us to an area that is very local. You park your boat and order up conch salad and conch fritters and the guys cooks it right in front of you. Delicious!!!! The total of the tour was 55 each and then I think we paid 15 for the food (12 fritters and two huge conch salads) Cobby doesn't have a website and he's an independent and the boat isn't fancy, but it will be one of the most memorable excursions I've ever taken. I have his phone number if anyone is interested!

 

For Fellow CAS Members

Cristina on the Getaway is the best Host of any I have dealt with, bar none, on land and sea.

I was Golden last year (last cruise November) but am now Hot and according to new rules will be Hot all year, you can no longer tier up during the year) I had about 7500 points on this cruise which will go into the kitty to determine what I am next April 1. I think this is silly that you can't tier up but what are you going to do!

 

To give you a final reaction of this entire cruise....My Dad said as we were leaving yesterday....I think I want to do this again and he is about as critical as they come!

I will try to answer any questions, if you've gotten this far and if anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong as far as posting the dailies!

[mysandyfeet]

Sounds like a fabulous time! We will be on her in a month again from last summer. But now we have Tortola and wanted to get the Daily atleast for that day and for St Thomas. Is there a way to send you my email and you can take a pic of the pages and attach to the email??

[grancayman]

Hi there

It was a fantastic time!

I don't have the Daily from day 5 which was Tortola... Have the rest and the synopsis of the week one. Tortola was back on board at 3:30 and I know

Legally Blonde was the show.

If you want to send me your email, I'll take pics but I'm hoping someone on

Here can tell me why they aren't downloading!

[SliceOfLife]

I scan my Dailies one page at a time at 200 dpi otherwise the scans are too large to upload. Each PDF has to be under 976.6 kb.

[grancayman]

Hi,

Ok, I don't know how to reduce the size? I've scanned them and taken pics with my iphone, but according to max sizes they are both too big to send!

If someone knows how to do it and sends me their email, I will send to them or if you just want them or if you can explain to me how to do it.

[triptolemus]

Hi,

Ok, I don't know how to reduce the size? I've scanned them and taken pics with my iphone, but according to max sizes they are both too big to send!

If someone knows how to do it and sends me their email, I will send to them or if you just want them or if you can explain to me how to do it.

 

Send them to me... my username @gmail.com

 

I will post them for you.

[grancayman]

Hi Triptolemus,

Thanks so much for doing...I know there are people that want them....

[triptolemus]

Norwegian Getaway - Dailies - May 16 - May 22, 2015

 

A Look at Your Week: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/week-ahead.pdf

 

Day 1: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/day1.pdf

 

Day 2: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/day2.pdf

 

Day 3: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/day3.pdf

 

Day 4: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/day4.pdf

 

Day 5: missing :(

 

Day 6: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/day6.pdf

 

Day 7: http://mrose.org/cc/grancayman/day7.pdf

Edited May 24, 2015 by triptolemus

[Suzyrn89]

I have dailies saved in 2 files but the 2nd one is too big to post but you can email me and I will forward it all to you in one email. These are the dailies for tortola, I begged on a roll call 2 weeks ago for someone to bring them back and a very kind cc member did. my email is suzyrn89@yahoo.com if you want to email me I can reply with them.