A time to GETAWAY and see the SKY

[jsparents]

The cave we drove into

 

 

 

These are the type of puddles they took people through.

 

 

just a little muddy

 

 

We were pretty muddy on our legs and our shoes. The rest of our clothes had some mud on them, but not too much. They take photos of you which helps because it is hard to stop and take photos of your group. The price for our group of 4 was $40 and we got about 90 pictures on an USB drive.

 

We had a different driver back to the port, but the same vehicle. We asked how much it would cost for him to take us back to our pier and he said $8. It was nice to not have to stop and get out and find another taxi. On the way back we could see Carnival Breeze had arrived in port as well. We walked around the port mall and then decided we wanted to shower. We thought about eating at the port, but decided to spend the money and eat at Margaritaville.

 

After a quick shower, we were the only 4 in Margaritaville for quite awhile. Lunch was very good even though it was only a hamburger. We figured it was cheaper to eat there at $14.95 vs a place in the port.

 

After lunch, I did a couple rounds on the water slides since there was no line. Pretty fun and fast. Then we went to Vibe and really relaxed and napped.

[jsparents]

From Vibe you could see down into MSC Armonia pool area. They have a kids water play area and two pools that are the same size if not a little larger than Getaway's. Armonia holds about 2000 people vs 4000 people. I know Armonia is an older ship, but I am not sure why these large ships have such small pools.

 

 

 

We were able to watch some of the games they were playing on the Lido deck. They were playing a bean bag toss game where you knock down the pins. It was funny to watch some of these buff guys in speedos throw there shoulders out and miss all the pins by 5 feet vs the little kids that just tossed it and knocked some of the pins down.

 

A little nap in the shade after eating so much at Margaritaville and we were off to the Spa. The spa really is enjoyable when nobody is there.

 

One this I have to say I wish I did in Cozumel was get into the water. The water was so blue and looked so refreshing.

 

 

With that said, we talked to one of guest at Vibe and we were asking what they did in port. They said they wanted to go to the beach, but got up a little late. They said they walked off the ship and down a little bit and found a beach area to swim. They went into the water and stepped on a piece of coral that turned out to be some animal that stung him. He said his foot really hurt, but was starting to feel better. Just something to think about.

[jsparents]

We had reservations at Teppanyaki at 6:15pm. We were seated very quickly and the rest of our table came soon after. We were there for about 10 minutes before our chef came out. While waiting, you could hear the chef next to us as well as other chef's doing their presentation. I am not sure, but it appears they must have a minimal script they have to follow because for the most part the songs were the same and most of the jokes.

 

Our chef was Salvador. He introduced himself by saying "my name is Salvador. I am your Japanese chef from the Phillipines". He was very enjoyable and had some different jokes/tricks that I did not see the chef next to us do. DW ordered the Edo, shrimp and scallops and I ordered Kamakura, Filet and Chicken. All of the food was great. I was full and passed on dessert. Our friends tried the green tea plate and it did not look good. Everything on the plate was really green and the taste was different they said.

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went to the comedy show and then had reservations at for Million Dollar Quartet at 10:15pm. Both shows were good, but I thought the Million Dollar Quartet started to drag towards the end. It might have been just me after a long day, but I did enjoy the music. I would rather see Million $ again vs Burn the Floor. After the show, we called it a night.

[jsparents]

So I forgot to say. When we were in Cozumel, I knew there was free wifi in the port area, but I forgot to take my phone with me. I took my phone to lunch, but could not get a signal. Our friends who had the unlimited wifi told us we could just use their account. We used their login and were able to Facetime with the kids. While online, I cleared out some emails and had one from my credit card company asking if I made a $6500 charge at Nobu Hotels. What I found interesting was this hotel was in Spain and my credit card company knew where I was. How did they know this? Well a week or so before our trip, I got an email from them telling me that there was no need to contact them and let them know about my trip since I paid for my trip with the same credit card, they were aware. Cool.

 

So I freak out a little bit since you guessed it, my onboard account was being billed to the same credit card. I declined the charge and they requested I call them. Well that wasn't going to happen at $4.99 a minute. I was going to be back in Miami in two days and deal with it then. Learned later, the Nobu was in Spain.

 

Day 7- Freestyle Daily

 

 

 

 

[jsparents]

So our last sea day and last day of this cruise. But wait, we had another cruise so it was a weird, but good feeling. We did not have anything planned today except to go and see if we won the free cruise. The drawing was at the $5000 bingo event so we had most of the day to do nothing. Well we got stuck in the casino playing the game where you drop a quarter in it and the machine pushes the quarter. We played for over 2 hours and walked away pretty dead even. A word to the wise. They wrap a $5 or $10 or $20 bill up. You think it is something special since it is thick, but all they do is add a couple $1 bills in it. So the $5 is actually only $7. They also put a dice in and originally we thougth the dice was something special, but no it is just a dice. Eitheway, it was fun for a $20 investment.

 

We went to the Spa, Vibe and just hung out today. It was relaxing after 4 days of ports. We made it to the $5000 bingo event. We were sitting there waiting for the free cruise drawing when I asked DW if she wanted to play bingo. She decided to play and her and our friend went to buy bingo cards. My wife was in front of our friend and went to buy hers, but told me her ship card was locked. I gave her my card and it was declined. Our friend said she would buy her card and my DW said it was fine she would not play. Our friend bought a card and they sat down. They called the free cruise winner (surprisingly it wasn't me) and I decided to go to guest services and figure out my credit card situation now vs later.

 

The line at guest services was short and we were helped pretty quickly. I knew this line would only get longer as the day went on so that is why I wanted to deal with it then. I explained that my credit card had a fraudulent charge and I assumed my credit card company canceled my card. We gave them a new card and everything was taken care of.

 

So here is where I was exposed to another thing I did not like about this ship. Guest Services is on Deck 6 about 50 feet from the atrium. Most of you know that a lot of events occur in 678. When these events happen which is all day and night, the noise is so loud you have to yell at people at guest services. I joked with the guy about how annoying the noise must be. He said the big bosses have no clue how to design the ships. He said it was like this on all the new ships. I felt sorry for the employees that have to deal with this everyday.

 

We had previously ate one day at O'Sheehans and they were playing Deal or No Deal. We were in the back part of the restaurant and the noise was still loud from 678.

 

So with the on board account situation fixed we walked back to the theater to find our friends. We found them getting off the elevator and learned they won the last bingo game and won $851. Wait, that would have been our bingo card since she got the one DW would have bought. Just my luck.

 

We talked about what to do for dinner. We talked our friends to go to the Haven Restaurant and they invited us. We were welcomed with no problem, but told us there was a $42 or $44 charge pp. I thought that was a little pricey as I could go to Cagney's for less. We passed and went to the Tropicana Room. I liked the live music during the meal. Service was a little better, but still slow. Dinner was better than our first night, but still lacking flavor and temperature.

 

After dinner we just hung out since there was not a lot of things going on we wanted to do. Sea Days are relaxing, but tiring for us as we are used to going going going. We had to pack and get ready to leave the ship.

 

One thing I really like about NCL was the choice to leave the ship when you wanted to. None of this assigning you a time. We were in no hurry to get of the ship so we picked 9:30am figuring they would be a head of schedule.

 

We woke up and were told to go to the Haven to disembarkation. We ate breakfast at the buffet which was crowded. It was nice not to be rushed because all we were doing was going to a hotel to do laundry to get ready for the next cruise. We ate and went to Haven about 9:00am. We waited as they escorted others off the ship and then headed down about 9:15am. We were off the ship and through customs in 15 minutes or less. Pretty easy.

 

Outside was another story. Wow, there were people everywhere. It was a maze just to cross the street to get to the center island so I could request my Uber. We made it and our Uber was there is 3 minutes. We were picked up in a Chevrolet Tahoe at 9:30am. We were staying at the Hampton Inn which I have read on CC has great reviews. Plus, I am a Hilton Honors members so I have a few perks.

 

We arrived at the hotel at 9:42am per my Uber receipt for a cost of $21.72. Our friends were not with us as they have family in Miami.

 

I chose the Hampton Inn for a couple reasons. As stated above, it has great reviews on CC. Reasonable rates, and guest laundry. I would have gone back to the Conrad, but no guest laundry that I could find.

 

We had packed our suitcases with one with dirty laundry and one clean that way we could have the hotel hold the clean suitcase. We figured we would just do laundry and then hang out by the pool.

 

Check in is on the 6th floor. We were greeted and the breakfast area was pretty busy. I could see people with cruise tags on their luggage getting ready to leave for the port. We found out they had our room ready which was so AWESOME. We went to our room and then decided to start the couple loads of laundry we had. We were staying on 12th floor and the laundry was below us (do not remember which floor). They have three washers and three dryers. We found two empty washers which was great as we only had two loads. The issue was the machines took quarters. Most places now it is all credit cards.

 

I made my way up to my room to get cash and then down to lobby to get quarters (oh ya, no change machine in the laundry room). The employee was super nice and said they did not have change currently until the manager came in about 30 minutes. She said she only had $2.50 in quarters. I asked for $1 as I had a couple quarters. So we were able to get one load started.

 

I came back 20 minutes later as I had found some more quarters, but was short $.50. She said the manager was in, but they only had one roll of quarters for the whole place. I told her I only needed $3 which she was happy to give me. I joked with her about only 1 roll. She said they would be going to get more.

 

Laundry was uneventful, but it was nice to just relax in our room for most of the day. The dryers didn't fully dry our clothes so we had to hang a few items around the room to fully dry.

 

World Cup Soccer was in full swing and we watched a couple games. Columbia was playing and wow, there are a lot of Columbians in Miami. We went out to Publix and Walgreens and it seemed like everybody was wearing a Columbian jersey.

 

Lobby

 

 

Breakfast area

 

 

 

 

 

[trician24]

Thanks for your awesome report! We sail on the Getaway in November and will be staying in the Haven. I had forgotten how excited I was about this trip until I read your postings. Now I can't wait!!! We had Hanno as our concierge on the Epic back in Feb. and he was really nice and helpful.

[jsparents]

Thanks for your awesome report! We sail on the Getaway in November and will be staying in the Haven. I had forgotten how excited I was about this trip until I read your postings. Now I can't wait!!! We had Hanno as our concierge on the Epic back in Feb. and he was really nice and helpful.

 

For the little bit of dealings I had with him he was very competent where as Roland was not in my opinion.

[jsparents]

Our view

 

 

 

 

We were stumped for what to do for dinner. We had eaten all different types of food over the last week and nothing sounded really good. My wife said she was hungry for Italian and since I did not get my Chicken Parm that I was hoping for a Cucina, I was game. When I looked at the menu prior to going it was listed and when I got on ship it was not listed on the menu. Utlizing Yelp, we found Spaghettino which was a couple blocks away. Decent reviews so we tried it. We wondered if they were opened as there was only 2 people there, but it was early about 5:15pm. We were told to sit where we wanted and then helped. I ordered Chicken Parm and my wife ordered Spaghetti Bolognese as well as a caesar salad.

 

The salad arrived and wow, it was huge. More than enough for two and we shared it and had plenty. Our food arrived and also large portions. Food was fresh and good. Too much food to finish and no room for dessert.

 

Walking back we could see the sky changing. We lived in the Miami/Ft Lauderdale area for a couple years and know what this means. I was excited because I enjoy a good thunderstorm and we had not had one while on this trip yet. We got back to the hotel and it started to rain. Just in time. We watched a movie and called it a night. Tomorrow was time to board another ship.

[jsparents]

Day 1- June 24 Norwegian Sky

 

Day 1 Freestyle Daily

 

 

 

 

 

Ship Facts

 

 

 

 

We woke up about 8 am and got ready. We were scheduled to arrive at the port between 10:00 am and 10:30 am so we weren't really in a hurry. It was kind of a weird feeling as this trip was booked solely to go to Cuba and other than an excursion in Cuba we had no plans. This is really different as normally I do a ton of research on the ship and what I have to see on the ship as well as the ports. This time, not so much. I knew that this was going to be the smallest ship I had sailed on and was also one of the oldest. I read it showed its age, but was clean. That was my expectations.

 

Breakfast was good and the variety a little different in a good way. They had cheese and lunch style meat along with the usual. It was crowded, but flowed nice. We were done by 9:15 am and went to finish packing everything. We checked out and I requested the Uber as I stepped out of hotel. I mention this as I had requested an Uber when we were leaving the Conrad, but I did it on the elevator ride down which I guess threw my location off. The Uber driver called me to confirm I was at the Conrad.

 

As I was walking out I saw an Uber drive by and confirmed my request. I saw him turn around and it was our Uber driver. We were picked up at 9:42 am in a GMC Acadia. Our driver was very chatty, probably the most chatty of any Uber driver I have had. This was not a bad thing. At 10:00am we arrived at the port and were dropped off. Our ride cost $23.84.

 

When we arrived, I was shocked. No traffic. Where were all the people? They had cones out closing half of the pick up area. Oh that's right, this ship holds 2000 people not 4000.

[jsparents]

First View

 

 

So there were people outside the terminal, but not many. We walked to security and saw 20 people. No wait to get through security until I got up to the metal detector and had to wait for the person that had no clue you have to take metal off and things out of your pockets. In line for 5 minutes and up to the counter. Our cards and visas in hand and we were upstairs with our Boarding Group 1 card. The terminal was hot again, but not as hot as with the Getaway. The gross bathroom my DW used was closed and you had to use the bathrooms by the escalator. These were clean. When we arrived there were less than 30 people waiting.

 

 

 

I'm liking this

 

 

Our friends arrived about 5 minutes after us as we say them in line while we were checking in. They came up to the boarding area about 10 minutes after us, but got boarding group 2. They were now with the peasants (No Haven) and had to wait with us.

[jsparents]

About 11:15 am they announced we would be boarding in about 15 minutes.

 

This lady came out and asked if we wanted to play a game. I knew about this from CC and knew she would ask for some items and if you brought them to her first you would get priority boarding. I told my wife to get some hand sanitizer out as I knew that was one of the items she had asked for in the past. Well it was the second item she asked for and I took off. I was fast and everybody was clapping when someone would bring the item up. Sometimes there were multiple people, but the first one there was the winner.

 

 

 

So we grabbed our stuff and told our friends we were now priority not them. Instead of giving them our boarding card and taking theirs we turned our card in. Our mistake.

 

This is the view as we are waiting for the game to end. Not too many people and plenty of empty seats for boarding.

 

 

This was where you boarded for the Sky. We were escorted to the red couches in the distance and waited a couple more minutes before we started boarding.

 

 

 

We boarded with two other couples than won the game. We got in line behind the suite guests and then were on board. I would say we were about the 25th person on board. Pretty cool because the boat was empty.

 

View from Gangway

 

 

 

They were playing latin music and there was a lot of energy right when you walked on.

[jsparents]

We entered on Deck 6 and sat down in Dazzles Nightclub while we waited for our friends. We called our kids and about 10 minutes later our friends were on board.

 

Dazzles

 

 

We were then off to explore the ship.

 

Atrium

 

 

Guest Services and Excursion Desk

 

 

One thing I noticed immediately was how much smaller the ship felt (and I know it is). It was cozy.

 

We decided that we wanted to eat at Cagney's and went to make reservations at Guest Services as they have a restaurant reservations area.

 

One of the dining rooms

 

 

 

A map of the ship at every elevator

 

[jsparents]

We continued our way up to the lido deck.

 

Adult pool. It is 7 feet deep

 

 

This pool has a walk in area with stairs and then is about 3 feet deep. It then drops off and is 7 feet deep again.

 

 

So those are the two main pools that I would say are equal in size to the Getaway's pools. There is also one more family pool at the front of the ship. It has a small pool with a waterfall and a spa. The waterfall was not on when I took the photo. I never went back there to see how busy it was.

 

 

 

 

We went to Il Adagio for lunch as they have pizza. This is the only thing they serve. It was okay and better than the pizza on the Getaway. After the pizza, it was time for my daily ice cream. I forgot to mention earlier that I enjoyed a soft serve ice cream cone everyday on the Getaway. I would say that the ice cream on the Getaway was better than Carnival. Carnival's was more icy and the Getaway seemed more creamy.

 

One thing I liked about the Sky was the buffet had outdoor seating in the aft. Usually, I like to eat outside in the fresh air. On the Getaway the outdoor seating area is dark and there is no breeze. I also liked that the buffet in the aft was the grille. This is where you would find hamburgers and hot dogs. They had breakfast in a smaller fashion in the morning. It broke up the flow of people by having the buffet in two locations.

 

I could not find the ice cream machine in the buffet area and walked back outside to the pool area and found this.

 

 

What is this? Someone who makes my ice cream cone. Yep. This was staffed all the time. The ice cream was great. Very creamy and better than Getaway.

[jsparents]

Longboard Bar

 

 

 

 

View from aft buffet seating

 

 

 

[jsparents]

Aft buffet seating

 

 

Aft Grille

 

 

We went to the spa to see what it looked like. I knew they did not have any thermal suites, but saw they did have saunas. We found they had a sauna and a steam room. The problem was they were in the men's and women's locker rooms. This ment that I could not enjoy them with my DW. We were told there was no charge to use them though.

 

 

We continued to explore the front of the ship and then found this little gem down this long hall.

 

 

 

 

This was the Outrigger Lounge. It was used very sparingly, but was open all the time. It had a front deck outside which was great for sail away. The air conditioning was always working very good and it was a great place to relax. There were large windows on both sides that gave you great views. The bar was open here and there which was even more of a plus.

[jsparents]

We spent a lot of time in the Outrigger Lounge. There was hardly anybody in it everytime we went.

 

Casino. Small, but it took our money.

 

 

Atrium Bar- served mojitos and had live music

 

 

Plantation Club

 

 

Coffee Bar. They made really good Cuban coffee

 

 

About 1:30 pm, they announced that our rooms were ready. We were staying in room 9212. This was the first balcony on the starboard side. It was the only balcony left when we booked on deck 9. There were plenty of rooms available on deck 10, but I like to have rooms above and below me and not the pool deck above me.

 

 

[jsparents]

 

 

Safe the same size as the Getaway

 

 

 

So the bathroom and shower were smaller than the Getaway.

 

 

Balcony. Larger than Getaway.

 

[jsparents]

First balcony on starboard side. I only had one issue with this room and it was on the first night. The wind was blowing and since it was the first balcony and the balconies sit over the side of the side instead of inside the hull, we had a lot of wind noise even with the door closed. It was not something that kept us up, but you could hear it.

 

 

 

We dropped our stuff off and went to continue to explore the ship. We found our luggage in a pile of other suitcases next to an employee door. We grabbed our suitcases and unpacked. Done. Since we were not leaving until 5pm we still had plenty of time.

 

Crossing Dining Room. This was the more busy of the two dining rooms. I heard someone say on the last night that the wait was over 30 minutes.

 

 

 

Art piece outside Crossing Dining Room

 

[jsparents]

 

 

 

This is the cigar lounge which is on the side of Captain Cook's bar.

 

 

We found the library and they had sign ups for painting. DW wanted to do this which she did with our friends. I am not an artist so I passed. I'm glad we signed up when we did because it filled up and on the day of the class people were showing up trying to get in.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2018 by jsparents
adding more info

[jsparents]

Our safety drill was held at 4:15pm and we were outside. At least we were in the shade and it was not too crowded. We were right next to the door to get back inside and once it ended we did exactly that. We went to Outrigger for sailaway. When we got there we realized Carnival had already pulled out.

 

 

Then we saw Royal was on the move.

 

 

And then we started to move. We got to watch Royal turn around.

 

 

South Beach was not too crowded.

 

 

 

And we were gone.

 

[jsparents]

By this time it was 5:30pm and we needed to think about dinner. We were not excited to try a dining room due to the service and food quality on the Getaway. We already knew we were going to Cagney's on Wednesday, but a steak sounded good. I recommended going to Cagney's and everybody agreed. I saw the dining package cost and thought it was better we purchase the 3 night specialty dining package. We decided we would eat at Cagney's twice and Il Adagio on our last night. I called the restaurant line to see if they had any openings and was given 8:30pm for the first available reservation. I asked about just showing up and was told I could.

 

We went at about 6:15 pm and the restaurant was half full. We were seated immediately and ordered our food. I ordered the same thing I got on the Getaway, shrimp cocktail, ribeye steak medium, au gratin potatoes, and cream corn. DW ordered a filet medium and some other things. Our starters were fine, but then the meal took a turn for the worse. My meal was fine, but when my wife cut into her steak it was rare. I mean rare. Not anywhere close to medium. The steak was sent back and returned 10 minutes later. DW cut into it again and still rare. Did not even look any different. We sent it back again and then the maitre d came over to apologize. A new steak and sides was delievered while the maitre d was present and my wife cut into her new steak and still rare. By this time, we were mostly done with our meal and my wife had already eaten most of her sides so she was getting full. DW was upset that after 4 attempts they could not get this right and told the maitre d that she was done and to just take it all way. Then it got really akward. The maitre d brought out the chef to address DW. Bad move as my DW had a field day with him wondering why a steakhouse can't get a steak correct. The chef said he had used a thermometer to check the temp and it said it was medium. DW said he needed to get a new thermometer. Our waitress was embarrased and so was the maitre d. I felt bad that the maitre d brought out the chef. We finished with desserts which were good. As we were leaving, the maitre d said she would take care of it. I wondered what she ment by this.

 

We went to the gift shop for the welcome aboard raffle and of course we did not win. Then we hit the casino and tried our luck at the quarter game. The Getaway had two of these machines and one of them was horrible. Well guess which one was on the Sky. The horrible one and it at $20 pretty quick.

 

We enjoyed a Cuban coffee at the coffee back while losing our money. We went to Captain Cook's to listen to some piano music. A couple of songs later we called it a night as we were excited for Cuba.

[jsparents]

Day 2- Havana Cuba

 

Freestyle Daily

 

 

 

 

[jsparents]

We got up about 7 am and could see Havana already.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinlibrarian]

Thanks for posting about your experience on the Sky and in Havana. Looking forward to learning more about the cruise. My daughter and I will be sailing on the Sky to Cuba in November and always looking for any information which will be helpful.

[QueenOfZoom]

Enjoying your post, Getaway was my first NCL cruise, going on Sky this Monday to Cuba!