Wedgie Wedgie

Thank you for posting these. We went on the Getaway in April and going again this Sat.

Who is playing in Grammy's these days?

Did the Flamingo Grill have pressed Cuban sandwiches?

My cousin just returned from a trip to Cuba. I asked her how the Cuban sandwiches were- she said they've never even heard of them! :D

Getting back to the chef's table. It looks scrumptious but my only problem is the little word "or" on that menu. I love the looks of both apps and both the soup AND the salad. Also, the fish and the steak looks like a perfect surf and turf. I really am not a glutton but I am a mandible chomping foodie...

I can live with either dessert.

My wife would probably order opposites for each course and may share a 10% mini-bite but a full 50/50 split will probably be pushing it.

NCL's chef table has more courses and similar wine pairings. We've done 3 of them. This is our first X cruise, coming up soon. We may have to opt for the 5 Senses instead.

Thank you for sharing!

I bribe my way to overservice. I watch others around me wear cloaks of invisibility. To each his own.

We went on the Getaway in late April. Loved it. So much so we just booked another sailing for July 4. Quick drinks at the bars, great entertainment and very good food.

It was our 6th NCL cruise and first time on the new large 4000 pax class. I worried about crowds etc...no problem at all. We did have Haven access but we are not feeling the need for the Haven and have a mini-suite coming up for less than half the cost of the last one with the same itinerary.

Our first Celebrity cruise is approaching. We have 6 previous sailings on other cruise lines, our last few have been on NCL. While on NCL we have always been able to book a "chef's table" dinner that is limited to the first 12 that sign up. It is a wondrous 9 course meal with very generous fine wine pairings.

I have seen mention of it here but cannot find any info on Celebrity's website. I saw a mention on an Eclipse thread where there was a pic of a private dining area within Murano but it was a table for 6 and he said the chef's table menu was actually regular Murano menu items.

Can anyone elaborate further?

I saw someone else post a similar question in another thread that was never answered.

We have a 14 day regular 2B veranda cabin booked on the Eclipse near Thanksgiving. We are considering purchasing the 3 for $99 offer on the X website. This concerns me:

When booking your package, you will select a time for your dinner the first night in a specialty restaurant we've selected for you.

So in essence you really are put into the first one (probably with the least amount of reservations) and then you can choose the last two over the 14 days.

Would you do it? And what are your fav specialty dining restaurants?

We did this on the Getaway a few weeks ago. You board the ferry directly from the ship after gathering in the theatre. About a 45 minute ride and then you will board minivans to get to the park for another short ride which was interesting in itself.

The beach is stunning- think Dicaprio in the movie "The Beach". We thought we would lose the crowd by taking the Devils Bay path which is to the left. We were the only ones going down this way. The problem we faced as we continued is the other 100 or so beach goers took the regular path to the right. It is essentially a loop. We had to go against the traffic as we continued and some of the cave areas are tight fits and you must stoop. So we would have to wait for a break in the stream of people coming down to continue.

Also, we didn't get back to the ship until around 2:30 and we were told to be back on board by 3:30 so we didn't get a chance to see Tortola. But I would urge anyone who has never been to check out this unbelievable beach on Virgin Gorda.

For BA/GA, H6 balcony (largest to smallest) 9, 12, 11, 10, 14, 13.

 

9 and 12 have a support pole while the rest do not.

 

 

 

11 and 14 have the master bed by the balcony (with extra door to the outside).

9, 10, 12, and 13 have the master bath by the balcony.

Support pole? Ha, I beg to differ...we had 9916 for 4/25. That is the best balcony I've sailed on yet!

Sounds like a wonderful week. Glad to hear you enjoyed this ship. Did you enjoy the entertainment? Who was playing in the Grammy experience?

Sugar Blue ripped it on harmonica with a very progressive jazz band in Grammys. As I mentioned I thought the Illusionarium show was superb. Burn the Floor was great. Comedians were LOL funny.

I was really impressed with the new ship, food, entertainment and overall service. Our previous 4 NCL experiences were ships half the size and I worried that the Getaway would seem like a floating sardine can with 4000 passengers- not the case. It never seemed too crowded and I believe the ship was totally booked. We did have Haven embark and disembark privileges and it was a breeze.

We are looking at The Escape next. We spoke with many supervisors onboard the Getaway that are leaping over to The Escape. The new ships all begin with the A-Team staff. The Getaway just took on it's second wave of staff members but they were all great.

Synopsis:

Our fifth NCL cruise. We booked about 6 weeks ago and received the UBP, UD, daily tips of $14.95 pp paid and $300 OBC.

We had our most comfortable cabin yet- #9916 Haven aft suite. This is a fantastic cabin w/2 full baths, ginormous balcony and 880sf. Yes the Haven is nice but the true comfort laid within our own balcony. The Haven had quite a few young families that let their kids run amuck, no thanks.

Did the Illusionarium on first nite, free for UD'ers. Haven concierge took us all down to the front row seating, we did not book in advance- simply upon arrival. Great show, probably the best magic I've seen on land or sea. Food was only so-so and the only time during the week I had that impression.

The bar service was fine and snappy. We had many, many drinks all over the ship. Sugarcane mojito was our fav for daytime drinking. Nighttime we would have a martini before dinner at the Prime Meridian bar which was right between Cagneys and Moderno. Great bartender Haidi (sp?) took care of us before and after dinner at the bar. The only time I ordered something above the free $11 was Remy XO cognacs listed for $16, we were charged $5. Normally we have a bottle of wine with dinner but since we had the UBP we just ordered by the glass for free. Plenty of very nice selections.

Chef's table was Tues nite. It was our second chef table experience and has been the highlight of our last two cruises. Menu has not changed since our Jewel cruise last year. I asked the chef about a new menu and he said all of the chefs are currently collaborating on a new menu. Food was superb, service could not have been better and the very good vino flowed to your heart's content!

We were invited for a private galley tour by the chef for thur. We were the only ones out of the 12 diners that showed up. I find it fascinating to witness the cleanliness and efficiency to feed over 6000 people daily. Also, he showed us the crew's dining room- The Gator Grill. I had alot of fun with this later. I asked our concierge if she could make us a special reservation, she said "of course, which restaurant would you like?" When I said the Gator Grill, she paused quizzically and then roared with laughter. After that every crew member I chatted with I told them I just ate at the Gator Grill and they loved it!

St. Thomas we did the gondola ride up to the top of the mountain right by the dock. It was ok for photo ops. We then took a $4 pp cab ride downtown and did a little shopping and then hoofed it back to the ship for free cocktails and food.

Tortola we booked the ship's Baths excursion. This is a spectacular beach and great walk through the caves. Think Leonardo Dicaprio in his movie "The Beach", it was that beautiful. While we did dock directly it might as well have been a tender as you take a 45 minute ferry ride directly off the ship to Virgin Gorda. By the time you get back to the main dock you only have about an hour before you must be back on board. Next time we go to Tortola I will just hop a cab and explore that island.

Nassau was ok for a little shopping, we bought some carvings and fake Oakley sunglasses.

The Getaway is a beautiful ship and we will probably sail her again. NCL showed their best stuff on this cruise!

This is probably the best review thread I've ever read here. Thank you so much for the effort. We sail in a few weeks on the Getaway in a Haven Aft Suite and I feel I've already combed every inch of the vessel.

Curious if this is the fleet wide wine list? They misspelled Schramsberg under the sparklers! C'mon NCL!

Thanks for the review. We are in 10166 (same deck) in a month. Two questions.

 

1) How was the butler?

 

2) When was the Chef's table held?

 

Thanks.

1. Butler was fine, we don't use them much. I did email the concierge ahead of time to order the bday package in the cabin for arrival day for my wife ($35). It was executed flawlessly. I'm not sure if the steward or the butler does the decorations of balloons and streamers, cake etc.

2. Chef's table was Wed nite, we departed on a Sun. I also emailed a reservation request to the concierge ahead of time but the reply was they could not book it in advance- the good news is that when Elvina initially greeted us before boarding she already had us down with the reservation. They did walk around Cagneys during the first lunch and try to fill the last 4 spots.

Would you mind sharing what you paid for the Blue Mountain Coffee. We love it!

It was a burlap bag of JABLUM Blue Mountain beans. I happened to have the receipt handy, this is how it rang up-

JABLUM ROASTED BEANS 34OG./12OZ $1538.49 + 16.5% GCT

I believe the exchange rate on 12/18/13 was $1 = J$104

including tax it percolates down to about $1.07 per oz...

...so we only drink it on Sunday mornings!

NFL junkie here. We just left the Jewel yesterday (12-22-13). During the regular season they only show one game in each time slot. A couple of years ago someone told me on the Spirit that the feed the cruise line picks up is the same one that goes to London...

When we boarded on 12/15/13 I eagerly checked out the dailey to see which game they had in the early slot (noon). To my delight it was the Fins/Pats, I'm originally from Miami. We gobbled down lunch in Cagneys and I went in search of the game. We arrived at Maltings at about 1:30. No NFL game, only soccer on an ESPN feed, every crew member I asked said "they are working on getting the game."

At about the end of the third quarter the feed finally came on all of the tvs. There were plenty of fans of both teams watching the game and all were thankful that it had finally came on. With 1:05 remaining in the fourth quarter Miami took the lead 24-20, but as any NFL fan knows - leaving Brady with a minute left is too much if you are rooting against him. Of course he begins marching them right down the field and with 25 seconds remaining in the game suddenly the screen goes blank to a chorus of "AAAAARRGGGGHHHSSS" from us fans. Guess what? It is time for the Muster Drill and the tvs are all turned off....

...but who won the game? One of the fans started giving all interested the final play by play from his I-phone - right down to the game deciding interception with no time remaining on the clock!!! YaY Fins!

Our Jewel sailing last week exceeded expectations in both the culinary experiences and the service throughout the ship. This was our fifth NCL sailing so we knew what to expect coming in- and the Jewel excelled!

We were in an aft corner suite on the 10th deck. The room was large and the balcony was terrific. The bed was extremely comfy and the bathroom with full tub was dandy.

Dining- we enjoyed the chef's table and bonded with the other attending guests- there were 13 guests at the private table setup in LeBistro. We also had very good dinners in Cagneys (rack of lamb), LaCucina (veal ossobucco) and the remaining evenings in Tsars (lobster, lamb shank twice and prime rib) as you can see I blazed a carnivorous trail while my wife had mostly seafood and she was likewise very pleased. Also, on the first sailing night we had the most scrumptious, tender lobster tail we had ever had on a

cruise ship. Also, despite the poor reviews of Mamas (LaCucina) our meal there was exceptional from start to finish. A bonus was an invite to the captains cocktail party in the Haven where we consumed Manhattans and Appletinis with many fine hors d'oeuvres.

Ports- we have visited all three islands previously and opted for our own adventures instead of any planned excursions:

Montego Bay- the ship docks at a commercial pier that is close to the main dock and is a 2 minute mandatory shuttle ride. I wanted to find a private taxi and just cruise around to areas where we could avoid seeing any tourists. We were very lucky to meet Sheryl McIntosh (1-876-855-5002) who was happy to drive us around while reciting interesting historical facts about Jamaica. She also can be found on Facebook. We told her we wanted to find the least expensive Blue Mountain Coffee and some Jerk Seasoning to bring home - she took us to the locals grocery which was the size of a Walmart and very busy with locals doing their everyday shopping- she brought us right to

the coffee aisle and found the seasonings quickly and helped direct us through the speed checkout line which which is almost an oxymoron as the "speed line" was obviously still moving on island time. We actually found the simple experience of grocery shopping entertaining with Sheryl's expertise.

Grand Cayman- we are both experienced divers but decided to just do a snorkel on this trip so had brought our own gear. We are huge fans of public transportation when we travel and GC proved to have an exceptional system. Only 1-2 blocks away from where we tendered in is the bus depot. The "buses" are actually new air-conditioned minivans and a one way trip was only $2.50. Locals hop on and off on their way to work or to run errands. We took about a 15 minute ride to "Cemetery Beach" which is part of 7 mile beach. There is a sandy trail leading directly to a gorgeous beach that adjoins a sunny oceanfront cemetery. Large sea-grape trees provide shade and there is plenty of beach to spread out on. We snorkeled directly out from the beach about 100 yards to the reef which was loaded with elkhorn and brain corals, sponges, sea fans and an abundance of tropical fish as well as some large snapper and jacks. The visibility was excellent and we enjoyed a very nice 2 hour snorkel. There are no facilities to rinse after so we did our best to dry out our gear on a tree and laid out on our towels. Bring water and any snacks as there is nothing available- just a pristine, beautiful beach. We hopped the bus back into town- there is a shaded bus stand right across the street from the cemetery.

Cozumel- We have traveled all over this island previously and decided to just hoof it to a very cool tiki bar we had previously stumbled upon - Wet Wendys - I believe it is about 3-4 blocks away from the pier area off of 8th avenue but google can help you locate this fine restaurant/bar- it is owned by Americans. The house margaritas are made from scratch and are ginormous, fish tacos were authentic Mexican fare - much better than the ones I experience in our home town beach restaurants. I anchored myself at the open air bar while my wife would wander off to shop.

The service on the ship was very good. Our SuperHeros were:

Rommell, waiter in Cagneys who always had a smile and displayed a wry sense of humor. When I had dinner in Cagneys I opted for the wedge salad- when he served the salad he sang, "Wedgie-wedgie" to the same cadence as the "washy washy" song.

Kumar, bartender in the Star Bar and sometimes poolside. He explained to us that his specialties were "tantalizing martinis" so

we soon renamed him "Kumartini Rocks!" He was alot of fun.

Ernesto, bartender poolside. He is an obvious veteran and leader of the bar staff. His service was quick and efficient and he serves some very strong drinks.

Elvina, #1 concierge. She never missed a beat on any of our requests or dinner reservations. She is a pro.

Chef Angelito Santos, he put on a great chef's table with his course descriptions and also provided a fantastic behind the scenes private galley tour. He has a great sense of humor and laughed when I caught him fixing the model train that was running in the lobby at the large Christmas Gingerbread display.

My only Jewel neg is that while I enjoy playing blackjack in the casino, the cigarette smoke proved intolerable.

Thanks to all of the Jewel staff- you succeeded in exceeding our expectations. Fire away with any questions, I'll do my best to answer.