crusinmama06

Down from Entourage we decided to check out the spa since I knew that I wouldn't be spending any time in it on this cruise. On Breakaway, I spent a good deal of time watching the world go by while laying in a heated tile lounger. This time - with a teen - I knew that the adult only venue would be out of my reach. So we decided to run in for a quick look around. Basically some drooling. Yes it IS possible to drool over a heated tile lounger. And those comfy padded chaise loungers! And the lemon ice water. And the salt room that makes the skin on your face as soft as a baby's butt! Oh yes - it IS possible to drool over a spa!

Yes - they are as comfy as they look.

Heated tile! Heated I tell you.

Press a button - instant massage - ahhhhh

The salt room makes skin magically soft. How it works - I don't know - but it does.

Awwww thanks 3D beach!

Bags dropped off and time to head off to meet our favorite crew members. I know you all have favorite Captains, Concierge, Hotel Directors - I adore the Splash Academy Crew and Entourage Crew :) They are the ones that can make or break a cruise for my girls. For this short cruise - my teen was going to spend most of her time with me. But we still wanted to check in.

For this sailing we would be joined by 18 other kids under the ages of 18. Yep - that's the lowest number we have ever encountered. We knew that because this again is a special sailing. I chose to bring my teen instead of my husband. We were allowed to bring one guest - she was my +1

My dear hubby was home with my youngest who was more upset at being at home than her dad. I promised her that there would be more cruises in her future. And of course - bought the biggest penguin I could find at Toys R Us Times Square. ;)

Splash Academy and Entourage is very similar to Breakaway. I will upload the pages for all of you heading out of Miami. The crew working there is an amazing and energetic bunch that I had the privilege to talk to at length over the course of the cruise because there weren't kids in the clubs at the time. Some of you will recognize them from Epic. Some have worked on Pearl. But they are the best of the best.

Entourage Teen Club:

Since I was no stranger to Breakaway - I already felt right at home on Getaway. It was only 11am and we were already heading to our cabin for this sailing - OV 5808

Norwegian has this wonderful trick of looking at the carpet for the "swimming fish swim to the front of the ship" - our cabin was aft - so no matter where we went - I knew to swim against the fish to get back to the cabin.

As a family, we always book balconies and above - but for this winter sailing, we were perfectly happy with our OV. The cabin came with a refrigerator too! Nice touch.

We woke up, got dressed and started to make our way to the terminal. Yes, the 1.2 miles became a heart stopping 30 minutes. But there she was. I know everyone debates which ship is more beautiful - Getaway or Breakaway - I love them both.

Since this was a special sailing and there were no passengers to debark that day - we were able to zip through check in very quickly.

Welcome to Getaway!

I finally have some time to collect my thoughts about the whirlwind that has been this past week. My 13 year old and I were guests onboard the 2 night CTN out of NYC that began on January 27th.

Since it would be Super Bowl week, we decided to come in a day early and spend the night in Times Square at the Crowne Plaza. We asked for "Times Square View" - we should have asked for ear plugs as the walls are paper thin. We could hear everything happening in the hallway. It is a very nice hotel - from the outside. Location is great. Parking is expensive (of course) - exactly what I expected ($50/night) but we got a package deal where parking was included. Someone had written in permanent marker against the wall of the bathroom and they simply hung a picture to cover it - we could see the exclamation points sticking out from behind the frame - odd.

But the view and location is what we were paying for. And we got EXACTLY what we wanted!

There is no one happier than a teen shopping in Times Square! For one day I was the WORLDS COOLEST MOM! ;)

I wonder if children are permitted at The Grammy Experience and Illusionarium. Does anyone know about kids at Howl at The Moon in Headliners? Trying to find out which activities we can spend with our 11 year old son who LOVES live music and shows of all kinds.

Yes, yes and yes - kids are permitted at all of the above.

My son and daughter-in-law are going to do the one-night float out from Southampton. I have a few questions....

 

Is the Illusionarium something that must be booked?

Is the Grammy area something that can just be visited at any time?

Does anyone have information on toddler childcare?

 

Thanks,

Maureen

I can answer one of these :)

There is no "toddler child care". Norwegian's splash academy "drop off" program starts at age 3 and up. For toddlers - it's a parent and child program - so no drop off or childcare available.

And actually - to answer the others - are they on the Jan 11th? There is an APP for IPhones/smart phones called "Getaway Lights Up Miami" - it has the entire schedule for all of the Festivities

Hi Nancy ;)

I had noooo idea what to do with mine! So when you figure it out after your cruise, you let me know. But I was told that I missed out on a whole bunch of things that I never thought of - like pretzel rolls delivered for an afternoon snack :) lol

OP wanted to know if there were free sauna and steam room facilities. A number of RCI ships (Radiance, Voyager, and Freedom Classes) do in addition to the spa. Many NCL ships have free steam rooms attached to the fitness centers, but they are usually very cramped and small.

Sorry, I read the first part that said "Is there a spa/solarium?"

Which is actually two different things on royal.

We love to cruise solo. My hubby messes up our schedule ;) My girls and I have had the most wonderful cruises - alone.

I started taking them solo when they were toddlers. My youngest was 2. She is 9 now. It's great to look at a toddler and say "Wanna stay in the cabin and eat sandwiches in our PJs on the balcony?"

Yeah a child is much more flexible ;)

Have a great cruise!

Why not do the My Time FAMILY dining? The AO staff will come and meet you at the dining room and take her to AO? Her meal is accelerated and you get to finish yours. :)

Someone who is lucky enough to sail her early...please please please. Post menus. Wondering what they are serving in Flamingos and MDR.

 

Also what age groups are the kids club..... will my 10 and 12 YO be togther?...that would not be good :-)

 

Can not wait for some more info on her.

 

Not sailing until 5/31/14

The ages for Splash Academy are 3-5, 6-9, 10-12.

I will be on Getaway Pre-Inaugural 1/27 out of New York City with my 13 year old so we will confirm ages again and will be doing another Live from the ship like we did for Breakaway :)

Actually, you have to pay for the spa on Royal ships (I know I do). So this is the same thing. ;)

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I have to agree with the others about the waterfront - that really did it for me. I sailed Epic last year and then Breakaway this year. And although I loved both - the waterfront and the connection to the ocean (that and the fireworks) - we really liked the Breakaway.

I have the same kind of teen. We just pulled the curtain. With the curtain pulled across - then my teen was fine. And the rest of us could continue to get ready.

It's a different kind of set up but it worked.

It's not a fake - some of you are too quick to call troll.

Some of the Norwegian employees posted it to their Facebook pages today. I should go call them trolls - should go over real well ;p

Welcome back :)

I don't remember having to remove the kids from the stroller and sending it through the scanner. We were on Freedom and Indy for both of their Inaugural years and I am sure that people tried sneaking things on in the strollers and that's why they scan them now - such a shame :(

I was hoping that perhaps this policy had changed. I read in the NCL handouts that if a child gets into trouble his/her parent may be required to stay with him......so I hoped if a "bad" kids parent got to stay perhaps one who was just scared at first would also qualify.

Yeah I don't remember that part of the policy either. If the child is "naughty" then the child is released from the program.

And as for a scared child - show them pictures - get them excited in advance.

Most of the time my kids take their shoes off when they enter. They often wears crocs or flip-flops. A few times staff has said they are doing an activity that requires closed toe shoes.

 

Other than the first day sign up adults are not allowed on for security reasons.

Yes - this.

If they are doing an activity that requires closed toed shoe - then they cannot participate. My teen is standing here and she was a TWEEN on Epic - she says "basketball, rock wall and any sports court day required closed toed shoes - we couldn't participate"

No one can compare a Sky experience with a Disney ship. Sky is the oldest ship in the fleet.

Stick to the newer ships.

Come back and let us know how it went - we LOVED Indy!

Here is a pic of the Baby Splash Zone for your toddler :) This will be the area that you will be looking for.

Explorer does NOT have characters (well, I've seen some characters but not the kind you want to see - lol).

gerif is absolutely right - Explorer is not a ship with Dreamworks :)

Epic had Avatar, Dora, Diego, Patrick, Spongebob at the breakfast.

Fan boy and Chum Chum was at the pool.

Here is my review of the Epic. We were leaving for her on Thanksgiving last year so the kids are upset that we aren't going anywhere for this Thanksgiving. Real issues these kids have ;)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1743132

And with that being said - the other cruise line that we jump back and forth between is Royal. We want to do Allure - just waiting for them to work out the propulsion problems.

As the others had stated Royal and Norwegian seem to have (from what we have personally experienced too) the most Family activities.

Every day in the Royal compass and the Freestyle dailies there were multiple family events to choose from - so much so that on ships like Epic - we were RUNNING from event to event.

One would be a Nick Family Event - with Spongebob and Dora - then we would have to run to a cupcake decorating event. (This was on Epic)

On Royal - there was always Family Scavenger hunts and one day we did balloon animals. On the Freedom and Oasis class you would have the added benefit of all of the Dreamworks events.

We did Carnival 3 times and we were looking for things to do with the kids. We never have that problem on Norwegian or Royal.