mpcaruth

Am enjoying this review very much.

Thank you for your time and effort!

Oh- you could be my twin.

 

 

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Thanks! Uh oh, were you "blessed" with dark culy hair too.

Wow - those refugee pictures are just amazing!

Thank you!

Great Stirrup Cay Continued:

Coco Cay:

My daughter found quite a few hermit crabs during our walk.

After our walk, we met back with the guys and headed to the tender. We got to the tender at 3:15, and since there was no line we figured we would be back on the ship soon. WRONG! They let us board the tender, but it did not leave until 4:00 - the last one. I think it was inconsiderate of NCL to make everyone wait. Had we known, we could have at least waited in comfortable loungers on the beach.

Between that morning and the afternoon, we spent a total of 3-1/3 hours for the tendering process for less than 3 hours of time on the island. Lesson learned.

By the way. If you love Great Stirrup Cay, you should try Half Moon Cay (Carnival & Holland). In my opinion GSC in nice, but Half Moon Cay is Great.

Great Stirrup Cay Continued:

My daughter and I decided to walk the road/path located up above the Lagoon.

Along this road, we also saw this path. We attempted it, but it was just too overgrown, especially in flip flops.

We continued on the road. This picture was taken from the high point and we could see water on the other side. So, we kept walking.

Near the end:

At the end of the road we could see Royal Caribbean's private island, Coco Cay:

Great Stirrup Cay Continued:

The Lagoon area was very nice, but on the cold windy day, it was still a little too chilly for us to swim.

Great Stirrup Cay Continued:

Cabana along the way:

Restrooms and food along the way:

Small rocky beach area along the way:

And here's the Lagoon:

Great Stirrup Cay:

This was our first time at this port. GSC is a tender port. We had decided to sleep in a little and catch a tender around 10:00. The Freestyle Daily suggests you get a tender ticket for the time you want to disembark. However; when I went to get the ticket around 8:00, the crew told me I really wouldn’t need one, because by that time we would be able to go on through. So… we arrive at the meeting place (main theater) around 10:00 and were directed to seating. There must have been a few hundred folks ahead of us. The process took a long time, and everyone was instructed that the waves were very choppy and the tenders we going very slowly for safety purposes. We finally arrive on the Island a little after 12:30. The last tender back to the ship was scheduled for 4:00.

It was a little chilly, so we mostly explored, relaxed in loungers, and had a few drinks. My husband and I had the UBP and the kids had the free soda packages (we booked the cruise before they cut the soda perk). The bar on the way to the Lagoon is much less crowded and you can get drinks quickly. We grabbed our loungers near the lagoon.

Main beach area (picture taken at the end of day after everyone had already left):

Walking away from main beach area to the lagoon:

I booked a balcony gty on the Getaway 11 months out, and received our cabin assignment 1 month later.

Great review. When you looked down what deck where the big balcony on?

The longest balconies were on deck 8, then deck 9 is a little shorter than 8, and finally deck 10 had the standard size balcony as all the others going up.

The guy in red is on deck 9. You can see that his balcony is much larger than ours, as he has his elbow on a table.

The bottom balcony level is deck 8, and they had lounge chairs.

I found another picture of the kids pool area.

Main Pool area:

This area is the daytime party scene of the ship. We never utilized this area, as we are not sun worshipers and do not like getting into overly-crowded pools. Please note, the Getaway main pool area is no more busy than all cruise ship main pool areas on a sea day.

This area is even more crazy on port days just before sailaway. I think the first thing everyone did when they got back on the ship was grab 5 drinks with their UBP: they needed to make up lost time while in port! My teens commented frequently on all the drunks partying in the pools and hot tubs. It really was the worst I have ever seen on a ship (Although, I have never sailed spring break).

Main pool empty during the early morning:

Stage and one of the hottubs to the left:

Stairs to the hot tub:

I'm really enjoying your review and will count the minutes until you post another tidbit of gold ! And your photos are amazing, especially the pool photos.

 

Where you ever at the main pool early in the morning, like around 6 or 7 am ? I like to swim laps and I'm trying to figure out when and where to do that.

 

I'm traveling on Getaway February 2017 in a studio cabin. It's a first with NCL and a first solo trip in 30+ years.

 

If you really want to see a balcony that's truly amazing, the forward facing balconies on Princess take the cake ! We were in L103, had 15 people from our role call on it for sail away and had room for another 4 or 5 without crowding. In fact, even after the sail away, people from the role call would stop by and 'visit' the balcony LOL ! It was wonderful ! I'm a social creature who enjoyed every minute. Even if you don't share it, the balcony is awesome. They call them obstructed DZs but there's nothing obstructed about them.

 

I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as we are enjoying hearing about it !

Kristine

Thanks!!! Someday, after we put the kids through braces and college, I will splurge and get a great, big, magnificent suite with an aft balcony. Until then, I will have to be content with low end cabins.

Yes, I did walk by the main pool early in the morning, and you should have no trouble swimming laps (albeit short laps). I love exploring and walking around the ships early in the morning before the masses take over. I will go ahead a post my pics on the main pool next.

I wish I could just whip out this review in a single setting; however, it takes a lot of time, and it will definitely be a week before I can complete it (or sadly, maybe 2 weeks).

Where is the closest area to the kids pool to sit? Hoping the wrangle a spot close by for those sea days.

 

 

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Sorry, I don't recall any lounge chairs within sight of the area. There are covered outdoor dining chairs and tables next to the splash park. This area is really just an outdoor overflow area for the Garden Cafe.

In looking at the photos, it looks like you may be able to get a lounger on Deck 16 overlooking the family pool area.

What an eventful cruise! I remember reading about this but your photos really tell a story. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to reading more about your trip.

Yes, it is a cruise my family will never forget. It was such a humbling experience and I feel fortunate that my children have learned many important life lessons from the experience.

We sailed the Getaway this past January and got a great deal. I just checked the price for the Getaway for next January and the price has literally increased over 60%. The "value" of the free perks for both cruises are about a wash.

Honestly, we did not drink much under the UBP, and would say that we would probably not even drink enough to pay for the mandatory upfront 18% gratuity charge. We booked our last cruise prior to NCL adding pre-paid gratuity fee the UBP. I would much prefer a cruise discount for not taking these "free perks"

The pics are great thanks! Glad to see the children's pool, just wish there were some chairs. And that homemade refugee raft! Unbelievable, my heart goes out to them.

 

 

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Thanks. I tend to take more photos on areas that I had unanswered questions about before we cruised. Glad you liked the kids pool photos. At the time I was at the pool, I thought they should really have chairs too. But as an after-thought, it keeps the area less crowded and less inviting to the non-family adults. The main pool is just CRAZY during the day, and I suspect if the family pool were more inviting, they main pool guests would spill over into the family pool.

Absolutely! We always have a few hundred dollars in OBC (from TA, promos, and reward cards) and typically have enough to cover my family of 4's gratuities.

I'm looking forward to your review of the Getaway....hopefully you're planning on doing one :)

Yesterday I finally started my Getaway cruise review. It was a very good cruise and we got to witness the rescue of 17 Cubans on a homemade raft who had been floating out at sea for 21 days. Unbelievable!

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2331862

Also yesterday, I booked our next cruise: The Sunshine again, except this time from my homestate: Norfolk Virginia.

The pirate theme was installed the during the first day of our cruise to replace the Spongebob theme.

The location and setup of the family pool area is the best I have seen on any ship. The pool was sort of hidden beside the splash park and under the slides. For the first time in years, my kids could actually play and swim in a pool on a ship without elbow to elbow to other passengers. Others may complain that the pool is shaded by the sun and that there are no chairs to lounge in when your kids are swimming. But I think it is great. There were no drunks (and let me tell you, with the free UBPs, there are plenty of drunks) hanging out, and the pool was truly only used by children. The absence of lounge chairs encourages parents to sit on the bench surrounding the pool and be closer to watching their kids.

The Ship:

The ship is beautiful, and still looks new and shiny! Our cabin was on the 10th deck, which is two decks above the indoor activities and the Waterfront. This is a very convenient location. We used the elevators less on this ship than ever before. Our cabin was far forward and the hallway from the stairs/elevators was the longest and narrowest I think I have ever seen. It worked for me, as I used this long walk (repeated throughout the day) as my exercise. The others in the family didn’t complain about the long walks, so it was all good.

The endless hallway:

The Getaway has an adults only retreat called Spice H2O. During the day it allows for adult sunbathing with music, a bar, hot tubs, and a cool refreshing fountain area. At night, movies are played for the family, and there are also deck parties. We did not really utilize this space. It was loud and overly-crowded during the day, and the evening activities did not work with are other scheduled activities. (There is sooo much to do on this ship!). I will add that I stopped here a few mornings during my morning walk and relaxed with a cup of coffee. I love looking at the wake at the aft of the ship.

A blown up view of a previous photo so you can somewhat see the faces:

I managed to take a photo of the ship's location from the TV screen. OMG! If they were heading from Cuba to Florida, how did they get all the way over here??? The small circled yellow arrow is the where we picked up their raft.

It appeared that the ship's rudders pulled the raft over toward the ship’s gangway door. As the raft got closer the leader yelled with gratitude his thanks, and said repeatedly “Happy New Year”. He said they had been on the raft since December 24th (21 days). I think the all the ships passengers were on te port side of the ship watching the rescue by now. The cruise passenger cheered for the people on the raft. Then every refugee boarded the Getaway, and the lights were turned off. One of the crew members informed us at breakfast the next morning in Cozumel that all the refugees were to get off the ship in Cozumel and be sent immediately back to Cuba. She also said that the women on the raft was pregnant. When we got off the ship in Cozumel, we saw an ambulance on the dock. I hope all were well.

Refugee rescue:

One night around 11:30 we all in our cabin when we heard a loud vibrating noise that sounded like an anchor being dropped. We stepped out onto the balcony and could see a spot light shining from out of the bridge into the distant water. We kept staring out in to the sea where the light was shining, and finally say an occasional light or beacon. My husband then says, “it’s flashing in threes, it looks like an SOS signal”.

Our balcony was right under the bridge:

As the ship got closer to the light we could hear human voices shouting “help”. It was literally an unbelievable surreal experience. Once the SOS raft was a few hundred feet, we could make out some of the details. It must have taken over 20 minute of the ship keeping the raft at a distance with the spot light on them. They allowed for a very educational conversation with my kids regarding safety, refugees, and how blessed our family is. I almost felt ashamed to be sitting there on a “luxury” cruise ship, while these poor folks had risked their life and left everything they owned to be on a handmade raft to a better life. WOW! What a reality check for my family.

During the nearly 1 hour rescue, I had plenty of time to switch camera setting to try and get a picture. Our Samsung and iPhones could not focus in the dark. I did manage to get my DSLR camera settings adjusted to get a little light in the picture.

One last balcony shot looking forward:

Our traditional sail away photo: Happy, Happy, Happy!!!

Cabin:

As previously stated, we had our first balcony cabin. The cabin interior was a decent size and the balcony was very small. It really was not comfortable enough to lounge out on the balcony. As much as I had heard everyone say that once you go balcony, you can never go back, I have to disagree. We used the balcony a few times a day for a few minutes, but it was just not a priority.

We were in Cabin 10110, forward, port side. I had booked a balcony guarantee because it was actually cheaper than the Large OV. I booked the cruise 11 months in advance, and received our cabin assignment a month later. There is no privacy on this balcony. The two decks below had extended balconies and we could see and hear everything. A few of the neighbors enjoyed playing their music on the balcony very loudly and yelled back and forth over the dividers between their balconies. Not only did the size of the balcony deter us, but seeing and hearing everyone did also. Actually, at certain times of the day it was much more peaceful to grab a spot on the Water Front.

The quad room had a queen size bed (other cruise lines have king beds), a convertible couch, and a pull-down bed over the couch. This set up works well for my family. I do not like cabins where the bunks are above the queen/king bed. The bathroom was a nice size. There was plenty of storage, and we utilized the storage drawers under the couch. We kept the empty suit cases and snorkeling equipment under the queen bed. The cabin has a fridge.

Nice spacious cabin:

Small cozy balcony:

Looking at our neighbors below: