~*COME “GETAWAY” w/ us!*~ ***LIVE REVIEW***

[drumexpert510]

1 hour ago, JoeMammy said:

Enjoying your posts. How does the surf and turf at OB compare to the Haven's everyday menu surf and turf?

It is similar but lobster was definitely bigger 

[www3traveler]

Who are the Captains of The Getway?  One of the former Captain's is now the Captain of The Prima.

 

Thank you

[drumexpert510]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:55 AM, Trappedontheboat said:

 

OMG. Janet is absolutely amazing. Hope to see her again the next time I am at Haven.

She is indeed here and yes she is amazing!!!

[runnerandme]

After your wonderful Silver Cove photos…I booked a villa for our day there ! Thanks so much.

 

Connie

[drumexpert510]

1 hour ago, runnerandme said:

After your wonderful Silver Cove photos…I booked a villa for our day there ! Thanks so much.

 

Connie

Awesome! I am glad to have been able to help and to provide a first hand prospective. :)

[jimbri]

Thanks for your review!

[cruiseny4life]

13 hours ago, drumexpert510 said:

She is indeed here and yes she is amazing!!!

Awwww, yipeeeee!! Thanks so much for confirming. Can't wait until we see her in a few days! 

[rbxlady]

14 hours ago, runnerandme said:

After your wonderful Silver Cove photos…I booked a villa for our day there ! Thanks so much.

 

Connie

 

I saw those photos and thought, "Ooh, I want that!" But I paid to upgrade us to the Haven last week, and just yesterday I called NCL because the fare dropped $600. I was hoping they'd allow me to put that towards a villa so I could tell my husband it was that or nothing 😆 but instead they are giving me FCC. I'm more than happy with that, especially since it wasn't free money, but admittedly part of me was a little bummed that I didn't have an excuse to book the villa. I will miss the quiet lagoon, though.

 

Though technically it will be our anniversary month, so maybe I'll book it on the sly...

[rbxlady]

You goaded me. You are goaders. For shame!

 

I closed my eyes and booked a lagoon villa as an anniversary surprise for my husband. Mind you, this will be our first vacation in two years.

 

He saw Silver Cove and thought it sounded great but was also a lot of money for what it is. I don't disagree, but we are low-key people who like calm and quiet, and I think staying on GSC in a villa means we'll actually spend all day there. I can see us actually swimming in the water with our kids. If we didn't book a villa, the crowds and overall hubbub would probably get to us, and we'd probably return to the ship after a couple of hours.

 

Despite living near some beautiful beaches, we don't go all that often. This is the perfect opportunity to have a great beach day, so I'm going to make it the best that it can be for us. (The 1BR is nice but unnecessary for us, as our kids are long past napping stages. The chaises will do just fine for anyone wanting to nap.)

 

Now I have to keep a secret for 59 days 🤫 and hope the weather allows us to get to GSC.

Edited August 25, 2022 by rbxlady

[Cruisegirl92x]

Thanks very much for this 🙂

 

Random question but are the bottles of Moët set up in the silver cove villa included? Or is that wishful thinking 🤣🙄

[drumexpert510]

4 hours ago, Cruisegirl92x said:

Thanks very much for this 🙂

 

Random question but are the bottles of Moët set up in the silver cove villa included? Or is that wishful thinking 🤣🙄

That is indeed wishful thinking lol. After everything is around $100 (local tax, gratuity, etc)

[drumexpert510]

Alright every, I am first off SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF POSTS & PHOTOS. We have had 3 days of ports in a row where we basically are OFF THE SHIP at 7am, back on board at 3pm, shower, get ready for dinner, then show and bed to rinse and repeat. 
 

With that said, I fully intend on getting caught up this evening with the 3 port of calls (St. Thomas, San Juan & Dominican Republic). 
 

Tomorrow the plan is to upload a bunch of menus, ropes course review, Haven review and maybe some other venues if I can get to them. I am also working on a full video review as well! 
 

Starting to write the recap for St. Thomas….. now! (Standby)

[drumexpert510]

St. Thomas

 

 We arrived into St. Thomas to beautiful weather and clear skies. Once docked we were some of the first people off the ship. We rented a 4-door Jeep Wrangler which we rented from 2C car rentals. They reserved the vehicle via text, was very responsive, did not require any money to hold the unit and allowed us to pay on site upon delivery. They met us right outside the port gates with a new model bright blue Wrangler. The total cost for the day was $160 out the door and no additional deposit. Once the paperwork and inspection was completed, we were on our way. 
 

The first destination was “The World Famous Mountain Top”. The drive was fun and scary at the same time as it was filled with amazing views as well as hairpin turns… but we made it and once there had the BEST BANANA DAIQUIRI I have ever had and would bet it won’t be beat in the near future. They have a large souvenir shop on site and the views are out of this world. After splitting a drink we were on our way down the mountain to the next stop.

 

We headed to Coral World and Coki Beach. This stop made me sad because I had been here before and it had really gone downhill. I don’t think they faired well during the pandemic and hopefully the increased ship traffic now might pick things up. Maybe think about visiting them in hopes of building revenue stream there. They really seem to be trying to do good things there.  Hopefully things will get back up to speed. Coki Beach though was super crowded and rocky (which I don’t remember it being in the past) BUT the views are amazing, the water is clear and there are no waves because it is in a sheltered Cove. Do note that parking is horrible here if you come in a car but you do get free parking (no additional charge) if you visit Coral World. 
 

After the beach we headed back towards the port and had lunch at Cravin’ Crab. It was alright, but was super quick and that was what we were looking for. After lunch we stopped by Leatherback Brewing right outside the Port gates. I HIGHLY recommend visiting here as they have some great beers and handcrafted spirits. They have a 6-spirit flight for $25 were you can mix and match some small batch tequila, rums and vodkas made on site (My favorite was the Passion fruit rum). 
 

The final activity for the day was the “Evening Champagne Harbor Cruise” offered through the ship. It was amazing and relaxing and the crew kept the drinks flowing the whole trip. (Try a rum-osa, you won’t regret it). It was perfect timing for sunset and you got to see a lot on the cruise. Please note though that this is NOT an information cruise and is based solely on just hanging out in the boat and taking in the views.
 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will answer to the best of my ability. I have included around 30+ photos below of the day, I hope everyone enjoys… I know I enjoyed taking them and sharing them with you all! 🙂

[www3traveler]

It is being reported that as of today crew is NO longer required to wear masks.  True for The Getaway or not??

[ggTexasGal]

Loving your review and photos!  Many Thanks!!!

[drumexpert510]

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

It is being reported that as of today crew is NO longer required to wear masks.  True for The Getaway or not??

Yes. I can confirm as of today. The crew is NOT wearing masks. Today was the first day. 

[rbxlady]

How was Coral World? We are taking the kids there for our Getaway cruise in October.

[drumexpert510]

10 minutes ago, rbxlady said:

How was Coral World? We are taking the kids there for our Getaway cruise in October.

That’s difficult to answer. Over all yes it was disappointing but you can see the good they are trying to do. A lot of their attractions are closed or need some repairs or maintenance done to them. They are a non profit and rely on visitors coming to keep things going. I’m sure the pandemic hit them very hard…. I just don’t know if they will be able to recover without visitors but the visitors coming now aren’t seeing their best foot forward. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. 

[drumexpert510]

On 8/22/2022 at 5:21 PM, www3traveler said:

Who are the Captains of The Getway?  One of the former Captain's is now the Captain of The Prima.

 

Thank you

 

[www3traveler]

35 minutes ago, drumexpert510 said:

 

 

[drumexpert510]

Good morning everyone..

 

Let’s get today started with the review/recap for San Juan, Puerto Rico.

 

Starting off, we docked at 7am in Old San Juan and wow was that early. We had breakfast delivered to the room by 6:30am, at quickly and we were the FIRST guests off the ship after it was cleared. 
 

For today’s activities we had hired a private driver from Green Transportation, the drivers name was Billy. He was amazing, the 15 pax sprinter van was amazing and BRAND NEW… we were definitely starting the day off on a good foot. 
 

From 7am-10am we didn’t have any hard plans so Billy drove us around to several spots in Old San Juan. We went inside a cathedral, saw the old forts, their capital building and some other really cool spots. It was time well spent for sure as we were able to really get a feel for the city. 
 

At around 9:30am we loaded up and headed out of town to meet up for our main activity for the day. A Rum factory and tasting tour at Ron De Barillito. 
 

Upon arrival you are greeted and given a large wooden token and told to take that to the bar and exchange for a handcrafted drink. Let me pause here and mention that these drinks are ALL originals and from the ones we tasted (most of them lol) they are ALL amazing (scroll down to the photo of the menu board and you will see what I mean). After we all had drinks in hand we set off on the tour where we were told history about the founding family, the location, their connection to prohibition and so much more. Before we realized we were in the factory. We were taken into several large rooms filled with rum barrels that had been sitting there curing SINCE THE 1960S AND 1970S!!!!! The room smelled of oak and molasses (Yankee Candle… I’m looking at you here). Wow, it was amazing and such a sight to see (photos below). Towards the end of the tour we saw some bottling being done and were told one of the people on the line was a descendant of the founder. The tour ended in a tasting room where we got to try 2 star rum($30 a bottle), 3 star rum ($38 a bottle), 4 star rum ($350 a bottle) and 5 star rum ($750 a bottle). They were all amazing but obviously the 4 star and 5 star were breathtakingly good. The group I was with tasted the rums but did not finish them and I obviously could not let them go to wasted so let’s just say I was feeling good!

We were told the 5 star is aged for around 50 years or more! Before heading out we spent some more time at the bar on-site and grabbed a few more cocktails (try the pinacolda with the fire burnt cinnamon). We made some purchases of bottles and I even bought a working and cured mini barrel (so excited to get this home and set up). 

We were greeted by Billy and the van and were on the way back into town. For lunch we asked Billy what he suggests and he gave several recommendations. He ended up taking us to a place called Raicés. The food was good BUT we wasted a good part of our already short day waiting for that food. Once ordered it took about an hour and a half so please keep that in mind. Going back, we would have definitely done a quick and casual diner type place so we would of had time to shop. 
 

After lunch, was a VERY QUICK STOP at the place where piña coladas were invented ($9 a piece) and we started back to the ship. We arrived RIGHT at 2:30pm which was the All aboard time. Other then a couple really late pier runners we were some of the last back on board. It was definitely not enough time here and I would have like to see an all day 9+ hour stop here or even an over night like NCL had done in Cuba in the past. 
 

Once on board it was nap time to sleep off those rum shots!
 

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by drumexpert510

[rbxlady]

We don't have any excursions booked in San Juan. Do you mind sharing how much it cost to hire the driver? I wouldn't mind doing something like that, and I am looking forward to seeing the cathedral.

 

Thank you!

[graphicguy]

What a great review.  

 

Thanks for sharing!

[leumas]

Keep it up. Love the details. 

[mygreyhound66]

Thank you so much!  I am loving your review and preparing to board on Sept 3rd!  Yay!  May I ask, in the duty free shop on board is there Bombay sapphire gin?  We were hoping to stock up a bit!  Many thanks in advance!