Norwegian Getaway Live Updates 3/20-3/27

[adidreh1234]

Sitting in the boarding area waiting to board the Getaway for a 7 night western Caribbean cruise out of Miami. I hope to help others as this forum has helped me so much in planning this trip. I will update everyday and post menus and dailies.

 

A little background about my family. This is our fourth cruise, first with DD who is 4 years old. DH and I have previously cruised with Carnival and RCL. We arrive in Miami last night 3/19 because we didn't want to rush or chance any airline cancellations.

 

Miami - we stayed at Double Tree By Hilton near thr airport. Most hotels in the area didn't have a suite available. We usually get a one bedroom suite because DD goes to bed around 7, so we can hang out in the living room without disturbing her. This is a cruise review so I won't go into too much detail about the Double Tree. It was an okay experience, nothing memorable.

 

Day 1 (embarkation day)- because of our young DD, we opted for a car service instead of Uber or shuttle. We felt more comfortable if she were in a car seat. We booked with Ground Link through NCL's website. It was expensive ($100), however, service was top notch! Driver was professional and dropped us off right at terminal C.

I had picked arrival time during online check-in for 9:30-10:00, we waited for a bit before allowed to check in because we arrived super early around 9. Security was a breeze once it opened at 9:30, took no more than 15 minutes to get our cards and such. We then went upstairs and was handed a pass for Group 2. Waiting area is super clean and spacious. Coffee and water are also provided. I was slightly annoyed that we are still waiting to board since other threads have said people boarded as early as 10:30. However, I see that people are still disembarking so it must have been a full ship. We are sitting patiently waiting as of right now. It worked out because DD was so excited this morning and woke up at 5am, she is currently napping!

 

Will post more once aboard the ship!

[Cruise-mom]

Have a fantastic cruise, looking forward to your updates.

[tammynordan01]

Enjoy! Looking forward to your review

[puglover13]

Have a great trip!! Looking forward to your review! :)

[Keith1010]

Bon Voyage.

 

Keith

[Stinkybaby]

I'm going on the getaway April 10th, could you tell me what time you get to Cozumel? I think it's 11 am but not sure if that's also local time. Thank you so much!!!

[Stinkybaby]

I'm going on the getaway April 10th, could you tell me what time you get to Cozumel? I think it's 11 am but not sure if that's also local time. Thank you so much!!!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the update.

[retire2cruise55]

Following. Have a great cruise!

[Mistizoom]

I'm going on the getaway April 10th, could you tell me what time you get to Cozumel? I think it's 11 am but not sure if that's also local time. Thank you so much!!!

Just back from Getaway myself and we switched to local time for all ports including Cozumel

[Mistizoom]

Have a great trip!

[adidreh1234]

I'm going on the getaway April 10th, could you tell me what time you get to Cozumel? I think it's 11 am but not sure if that's also local time. Thank you so much!!!

 

Absolutely! I believe it's 11am as well. Will confirm once we get next Friday.

[DocMomma13]

We leave Sunday on the same cruise. Looking forward to your updates. Thank you!

[adidreh1234]

Day 1 continued - we just got back from dinner at Savor, one of the complimentary restaurants. We did make reservation even thought I don't think we would have needed it at 5:30. More on Savor later with a menu. I forgot my phone so had to use DH's, can't transfer picture using this slow wi-fi. Food and service were both great though. Children's menu was excellent. DD was exited for PB&J and ice cream.

So anyway back to where I left off earlier. We finally started boarding at 11:30. Being in group 2, we were the first ones on board. They were playing music and had balloons lines up along the walkway, we felt very welcomed. From reading other people's reviews, we headed to The Flamingo grill immediately. The food was amazing. if someone can tell me how to post a picture I can post the menu! I also saw a hand washing station by the buffet which I loved! I thought that was a nice touch in addition to all the hand sanitizer stations around.

We went to explore the ship, and got DD soft serve ice cream from the Garden Buffet and ourselves some alcoholic drinks. My favorite by far was the raspberry guava mojito at sugar cane bar. Definitely try it.

We got the announcement staterooms were ready around 1:30. We went to the room and relaxed a bit on the balcony. DD was fussy so we went out exploring again. We walked around to familiarize ourselves with the ship when announcement came on about muster drill. I hate muster drills. The previous ones with carnival and RCL were long and painful processes. I went back to the room to get DH and we headed to our muster station. It was the only time today that I felt crowded as everyone was going to the stations at the same time. We got to the muster station and first of all, I was glad that the drill was totally inside so we didn't have to stand in the heat. Secondly, the drill was over in 10 minutes! We were pleasantly surprised! Everyone clapped and cheered at how quickly the drill was over.

We went up to the sun deck on deck 16 to watch the sail away. It was overcast, but very humid. We went inside after a short while to get ready for dinner.

I had bought the unlimited Internet package beforehand. If anyone had specific questions about that let me know. DH and I both downloaded the I concierge app, DD is Signed up for splash academy. I will update on how that's all going soon. Tomorrow is Great Stirrup Cay, and we signed up for the swimming with stingrays excursion. Can not wait!

Edited March 20, 2016 by adidreh1234
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[Kfamilycruise]

Thanks so much for live posting! So excited to cruise with you!

[santacap]

if you have time, since your DD is in splash academy if you could post the schedule I would love to see that.

 

Going with our son who is 6 in 2 weeks exactly

 

enjoy your cruise:)

[Queendiva64]

Bon voyage. Can't wait to hear more, we sail April 10th.

[Clarea]

Looking forward to reading more, thanks!

[jwlthief]

Thanks for all the detail of your personal experiences. My wife and I sail the Getaway on April 3-10 with her maid of honor, her husband and two teenage boys. Great to hear feedback so close to our sailing date! I hope to pass it on.

[CocoCandy]

Have a wonderful trip!

 

I was on Getaway 2 wks ago and had the best time and hope you do as well :)

[tropical83]

Thanks for posting, I'll be following along!

I sail the Getaway May 22!!

[SPB in da RVA]

Thanks for all the detail of your personal experiences. My wife and I sail the Getaway on April 3-10 with her maid of honor, her husband and two teenage boys. Great to hear feedback so close to our sailing date! I hope to pass it on.

 

Aren't YOU your wife's husband? :D

[adidreh1234]

if you have time, since your DD is in splash academy if you could post the schedule I would love to see that.

 

Going with our son who is 6 in 2 weeks exactly

 

enjoy your cruise:)

 

I sure will once I get to a place where the Internet is faster than molassess. The wi-fi is incredibly slow on the ship. We skipped port today due to high winds, we dropped DD off and she had a blast!!

[sailboat49]

Thanks for posting, I'll be following along!

I sail the Getaway May 22!!

 

which room did you book for the may 22 getaway?!

 

I am looking into booking but the prices have shot up to 700 for an inside when they used to be 550...

[adidreh1234]

Thank you everyone for following my review! Hope you are finding it helpful. I promise to post pictures once i get to a place where internet is faster

 

Day 2 - at sea (originally supposed to be Great Stirrup Cay) so, our room is a family suite 12226, mid ship. It is on the same deck as the Splash academy. There were some noises last night unfortunately. I am not sure what the noises were, sounded like people running, chairs being move around, pounding on the wall, or something else. I could not fall asleep. But whatever, we are on a cruise, people are going to make noise. DD and DH had no problems sleeping.

We woke up at 7:30 and I immediately had a feeling we skipped port. We were supposed to have docked early and we were still at sea. Sure enough, captain came on the PA and announced that due to weather and six feet waves, he decided to skip the port and head straight to Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I was ok with the decision since the weather looked terrible. There were dark clouds and was very windy. We took our time and got dressed to go to breakfast. We went to Savor. Again, I will post menus once Internet connection is better. I loved the huge selections on the menu. DH got eggs Benedict, and the eggs were poached perfectly. I just had simple eggs over easy with bacon. DD got the chocolate pancake and she was in heaven. Everything tasted amazing. Compare to RCL or Carnival, I think NCL has got the best food in complimentary restaurants.

After breakfast I went to sign up for shore excursions. We were on the fence about whether to do excursions in Ochos Rios, but since today was a sea day, we knew we would be going crazy after two sea days. I have say, I did not feel a bit crowded despite knowing there are 4000 passengers on board. I didn't wait for the shore excursion at all, and guest services lines looked pretty short too. I am pleased that NCL seemed to be super efficient in taking care of guests' needs.

DD was dying to go to the pool so we headed for the kids pool area. I agree with other people that chairs are hard to come by on sea days. We settled on a table in the garden buffet's outdoor seating area. It worked. We weren't going to sit anyway because DD wanted to be in the water nonstop. The kids park was awesome! Everything was made out of foam! I was glad that kids were throwing themselves around and parents didn't have to worry about them getting hurt. I did feel that some kids were way too old to be in that area. They were not playing nice and I had to stop a few of them from almost kicking DD in the head. DD and I had a wonderful time but the clouds were coming in, so we decided to go to lunch.

Lunch was at O'Sheehan's. I loved the fish and chips. It was well seasoned. DH had wings and shepher's pie. DD loved the fish and chips as well. The Beer selection there was great, DH was happy and had a Peroni.

After lunch, we went to Carlo's Bake Shop. The cupcake in my opinion was too dry which was a bummer :( plus it was a la carte so we paid $11 for two cupcakes. But whatever.

DH went to take a nap while DD and I went to the waterfront and walked around. I have to say again, I am pleasantly surprised that I did not feel crowded one bit. I never had to wait in line for a drink or bathroom. And at every bar there seemed to be plenty of seating.

I took DD to the Splash Academy, she wanted to go the crafts activity and puppet show. We had to wait in line for 10 minutes as parents were eager to drop their kids off for a while. DD did not have any separation anxiety what so ever, I felt they were well organized. DH and I then went to the casino. The casino was dead! No one was playing any games. We lost $80 quickly at Roulette, ugh! We went to the waterfront and sat next to the Sugarcane bar ( my favorite), and relaxed for about 30 minutes.

We picked DD up and headed to dinner. We stopped by O'Sheehan's for a quick game of air hockey. Dinner tonight was Teppanyaki. Overall, food was decent. Chefs put on a great show. I thought the dinner was a bit long. We are used to being in and out in about an hour back home, and today took two hours. DD was fading quickly, so we ate eally fast. I had the seafood dish with lobster, scallops and calamari. I thought the flavors were great. DH had filet mignon and chicken, he said chicken was dry but filet was excellent. Photographers came around to take pictures of your family with the chef. At the end of the dinner they gave you the picture and a bill for $20 if you want to buy it. I bought it because I wanted DD to have the picture to remember the trip by. I am a sucker for these kind of things.

After dinner, we came back to the cabin and now getting ready for bed. One of the things I love about the family mini suite is the bath tub!! DD can take bath. We also get a double sink! DH and I don't have to elbow each other while brushing our teeth.

Now it's winding down time, tomorrow is another sea day.

Edited March 22, 2016 by adidreh1234
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