cruisin07family

Ha! Much like you I am also checking in on "All Things Getaway" since my daughter is working on the ship :D. My mom (who lives in Holland) was able to sail from Rotterdam to Southampton and was really excited about just about everything! I am catching their first cruise out of Miami and I can't wait! :D

Maybe our kids know each other, lol. Where is your daughter working? My son is a techie and last I heard from him he will be behind the scenes in the Illusionarium. He was also learning how to run the fireworks and the main show, Legally Blonde. I guess he could be anywhere! Have a great trip!

It seems to me the desserts are missing SUGAR! I know sugar is expensive, but seriously, you cannot make any decent chocolate dessert without sugar!!!!!

It's so exciting to watch all the videos and look through all the pictures. Of course, I'm really just trying to catch a glimpse of my son, lol, but it looks like his "home" is beautiful! He has been onboard since mid-November and the cell service has been lacking so I've only been able to talk to him twice. I can only imagine the experience he is having and the upcoming Superbowl weekend sounds like it will be a grand old time. I am relieved that he will be based in Miami though so I can actually keep in better touch with him.

We don't have a trip booked yet, but I'm sure we'll cruise on the Getaway! Bon voyage to all of you lucky souls getting ready to board!

Dh and I packed 12 packs of Coke Zero in both of our checked luggage and sure enough we were called to the "naughty" room to pick up our bags. NCL didn't open the bags but we had to open them in front of the crew and verify it was just soda. Boo to NCL for having Pepsi products anyway!

Oh Wow!!! Good for him. What is his name? I will be on The Maiden Crossing from Southampton to New York City in January.

His name is Martin and he'll probably be in the theatre each night. He's glad to get to hear a new show. I cannot imagine 6 straight months of hearing the same shows several times per week. I don't know if you are familiar with the Pride but he says if he never has to hear Rock a Hula again, it wouldn't hurt his feelings at all. Have a great voyage!

We found out last week that our son, who is a Sound tech for NCL, is a new Getaway crewmember!!! His last rotation was on the Pride in Hawaii and now he's heading to Germany on Monday to join the Getaway! What an exciting life for a 24 yr old! I can't wait to get details about this beautiful ship. We were considering the Breakaway because we went on the Epic's Eastern Caribbean but now we're leaning toward the Getaway instead! :D

We had a B6 large balcony and it was awesome!! We estimated it was 9ft X 14ft.

Our balcony in 12241:

We're pretty loyal NCLers and are considering jumping over to Freedom in summer 2014 because NCL doesn't do Caribbean itineraries in the summers and the Breakaway is nearly $2000 more for two cabins than the Freedom will be. I agree that the Breakaway looks awesome but it is priced out of our range. I've been watching youtube videos of Freedom and I'm pretty excited about it. Our only hesitation is the whole dining thing. I'm not thrilled about either early or late seating times and from the posts I've been reading, Mytimedining isn't. Most still make a reservation, sit at the same table and have the same waitstaff all week. How is that different than early or late? I know I will miss all the dining on NCL but the other options on Freedom keep bringing me back.

We are back from our cruise in the wonderful NCL Epic B6 12241. We did our best to estimate the size of the balcony and we came up with 9ft across by 14 ft deep. We had two chairs, 1 small table and a full lounger.

We just returned from the Epic and, unfortunately, our Capt. Bob excursion was cancelled due to high winds and waves. Capt. Bob met us at the dock and explained that it just would not be safe in those types of conditions and we wouldn't be able to see anything snorkeling in it. I was beyond disappointed as we booked this months ago and I hadn't researched any other things to do in St. Maarten. Capt. Bob stated he would refund my paypal deposit and his email showing my paypal refund was there the next day when we signed in from St. Thomas.

Should we get to St. Maarten again, we will definitely give Capt. Bob another shot. For those cruising in the winter months (unpredictable weather times), please explore other options for a back-up plan. We ended up catching a cab to Maho just to watch a few planes land and then headed back to the ship. Maho is not a great beach for swimming or sunbathing (in my opinion) and it was wall-to-wall people!

Great review! I'm 46 and have traveled the world. I have never been on a cruise, except for a scuba diving cruise. I found the Epic online while searching for solo cruising. I know nothing about cruising so this has been very informative!

I booked a cruise in a solo stateroom for Jan 5! I'm looking forward to it. And this review makes me more anxious to go.

 

BTW, Lara, I know a little about South Beach. You will like it there. Thanks for the review!

Please feel free to join our roll call: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1574036

We have a pretty active roll call and several things planned along with an official NCL Meet & Greet.

Our trip is a few days away and we're doing this excursion so I will have more details after the 13th but as I understand it the ship's time is not the same as St. Maarten's time so yes, you should leave the ship as soon as you dock so you can meet by 8:30 ship time. When you return, it will be 3pm ship time so you should have plenty of time but most cruiselines say 30 minutes before sailaway anyway. I made a small deposit by paypal so not sure about that question but will pay the balance in cash the morning of. Maybe email Capt. Bob and ask him if you can reserve another way.

When are you looking to cruise? Hubby & I are in 12241 next week (1/5/13) so I will be sure to take many pics as I haven't had much luck finding any pics. Both of the two you mentioned have the bed by the door whereas ours has the bed near the balcony so the layout will be a bit different. If the deck plans are pretty accurate, it appears that our cabin has just about the largest balcony on board and we are very excited.

dis2cruise, when is your cruise? We will be with Captain Bob on Jan 8 and can post a timeframe when we return. It is my understanding that the excursion is very near port so there shouldn't be much time needed to return to your ship. The email I received from Captain Bob said it is about a 15 minute walk from ship to excursion spot.

Does anyone know what my choices will be for the free bottle of wine with specialty dinner on embarkation night?

I did the missing form on the ncl site and I honestly cannot remember ever getting either an acknowledgement or a completed email. I think one day I just happened to notice that my lattitudes level was corrected. It did take much longer than the 2 wk notice that they list. Maybe 6-8 wks? I remember thinking I was going to have to inquire again and it was just there....

Can you please post either the web-site or e-mail address for Capt. Bob. The reviews are so good that I would like to book for this January.

 

Thank you.

bcass1111@gmail.com

We're booked in January too. January 8, 2013 to be exact.

We are going on RCI Vision of the Seas/ St Maartens on Jan 8(Tues)2013. With about 5-6 other ships!:eek: I'm glad we are booked.Thanks again. Pam

Hey, I just booked the same trip. I guess we'll meet onboard, lol. We're coming in from the Norwegian Epic. In the confirmation email Capt. Bob states that drinks with lunch and gratuities are not included. Do you know if that means drinks & gratuities or drinks, lunch, and gratuities are not included? I'm trying to figure out how much cash I should bring. Also, I'd love to know if the ship will be on the same time as St. Maarten but we're in port 8-6 so I'm sure we'll be fine either way.

Cool, we'll be in 12241 and it appears by deck plan that our cabin is in exactly the same spot as 10253 just two decks higher. That is a nice big balcony but I didn't realize so much of it would be covered. I was hoping to get some sunning out there. Do you happen to know if you can request a lounger?

Thanks for the info. If we decide to book, how early is necessary to reserve 2 slots? Our cruise (as indicated below) is still several months away.

Is this entire tour by boat? I kinda want to see the island since we've never been but we're also cruising to celebrate dh's 50th birthday and he is a snorkeling nut so I'm having trouble deciding which way to go...

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

This is the exact trip I will be taking in one year. Can you tell me the average temps you encountered along the way - Miami, St. Martin, St.Thomas, etc.? I am hoping it is warm enough for swimming/snorkeling for dh. This cruise is for his 50th birthday and I am happy to sit on the beach and observe, lol.

We ate mostly at the buffet...one night we had pizza one night because we were not terribly hungry and there was not much on the buffett that we wanted to try, and another day we had burgers from the grill.

 

We actually had a reservation for the steakhouse for Friday night, but by Friday we were "fooded out," we called and cancelled because we just were not feeling up to a heavy meal. I think we had overdone it at breakfast in the morning to be honest, lol.

 

Where does the Miracle sail from?

 

I have to say the port of Baltimore is so easy to get to, right off 95... and as I said my boyfrind lives 7 miles from port, we left his house by taxi at noon and we were crossing the gangway at 12:30. It was so nice to not have to worry about pre-stay, hotels, flights and all that.

It sails from New York City (Manhattan). Every cruise we've taken so far has been from NYC. We keep trying to get closer to home (MD) but it just is more bang for your buck to go to NYC or FL. Crazy, I know.

I'm considering either the Pride or Miracle in May for this itinerary. The pics of GT and HMC are always so gorgeous. The Pride would be mighty convenient as I'm less than an hour from port but the Miracle is one extra day and $400 less (per couple) so it's a decision yet to be made. We sailed the Miracle in '07 and loved it.

If you gave up on the dining room, did you eat only at the buffet then or did you try the steakhouse?

Glad to hear you had a wonderful day at Sapphire. Would love for you to share some pictures of your day. :)

 

 

 

 

Can't wait to see your pictures. I loved the wild life too. We are going to Cozumel (Chankanaab) in a few weeks and I hear there are TONS of different iguanas walking around everywhere. I love to see the wildlife out like this. They are so interesting. We are watching them and they are watching us. :D

Please, please, please post a review and pictures from your time at Coz and Chankanaab. I'm soooo ready to book a cruise or all-inclusive from the pics I've seen of Coz. Dh is a bit leery of Mexico but I reallly want to go. I booked Epic originally for the Western ports but they've since changed to Eastern so now we're considering the Carnival Legend that includes Coz next spring/summer.