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My week on the Getaway (March 25-April 1)


ljrfrm
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I’m just home from my latest cruise and in the midst of post-cruise depression. There is a pile of dirty laundry upstairs, I still haven’t shopped so there’s no food in the house and I have a slew of work emails to catch up on. So what better time than now to procrastinate catching up on life and begin my latest review. For anyone interested, I have several previous offerings chronicling my time on the Escape and Sun. I try to include lots of details that others may find helpful (like what to do when you get stuck on the drop slide and how to find your way out the secret trap door, gulp!) but I have to admit, this is also a great way for me to document my week for myself, which I enjoy looking back on down the road when I’m dreaming of my next trip. As I tend to write a lot, it takes some time – but I will do my best to keep up on this and also answer any questions.

 

My husband (53) and I (51) brought all three of our boys(25, 22 and 17) on this trip. Our two older boys haven’t sailed since 2010, and our youngest is the lucky one who now that he is an “only child” gets to enjoy more trips and has taken several cruises with us recently. I booked this cruise almost two full years prior to sailing, and was so ready to finally sail.

 

I always fly in the day before departure. The one and only time I couldn’t, I stressed and panicked and swore I would never do that again. I booked our flights last July, and had one heck of a time doing so. We were all flying in from different locations, with my two boys now living in different states, my husband coming from a business trip and my youngest son and I coming from home. Four different itineraries over spring break meant a ton of money, and many chances for travel problems. I always try to find direct flights, and like to travel early in the day so that if there is a problem, there are plenty of other options to get us there that day. We usually fly into Miami but this trip Fort Lauderdale was much more affordable.Also, to save money we each had layovers (short ones too – ugh), weren’t arriving until later in the evening, and there were just so many chances for doom. My youngest son and I were flying Southwest through Atlanta, and my middle son was meeting up with us in Atlanta for the leg to Fort Lauderdale. We had a 50-minute layover, and he had just a quick 35 minutes. What was I thinking????? Surely, Southwest knew what they were doing, right? Why would they offer that combo if it wasn’t going to work? I tried to have faith……

 

I woke up Saturday morning to a text from my middle son. His flight was already delayed – hetexted he was doomed to miss the cruise. I told him not to worry – there were two other flights going to Fort Lauderdale that night (through Orlando) and they’d get him there if he missed his connection. It’s Southwest, right?They know what they are doing. The next 4 hours texts were flying with him worrying and trying to come up with backup plans. He finally took off 35 minutes late. Ugh. We headed out to the airport in the midst of these texts, checked our bags (oh, please arrive in Fort Lauderdale with me!!!)bought food and found our gate. We arrived in Atlanta right on time and easily made the short walk to our connection. My stressed-out-traveler son’s plane made up 20 minutes in the air and he arrived at our gate in Atlanta right as we were boarding. See? I told you Southwest knew what they were doing. The three of us arrived into Fort Lauderdale around 7:30 pm. My oldest son had arrived at 6 pm (changing planes in Houston) and my husband arrived earlier in the day. We did it. We were all there on time (phew)AND we all had our luggage. This was a good day!

 

We stayed the night at the Holiday Inn – Ft Lauderdale Airport. The hotel was perfect for us –close to the airport, clean, friendly staff and a big comfortable room. The boys stayed in another room and were given a rollaway bed within 5 minutes of requesting it. My poor youngest son always gets banished to the rollaway – even though he is bigger than the middle son. The perils of being the youngest. After getting settled, we headed to Miller’s Ale House for dinner and to watch some NCAA basketball. After a huge plate of delicious nachos (ordered to satisfy my nachos craving – since Margaritaville is no longer a la carte and I won’t be visiting), a margarita, and a basketball game, we headed back to the hotel for our last sleep before boarding. After 600 and some odd days of counting down,cruise day was finally here!!!

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My husband rented a minivan from Dollar Rental Car when he arrived into FLL earlier on Saturday. I had planned for us to take Lyft to the Port of Miami on Sunday morning. With research, my husband discovered he could rent the van and return it to the Miami Airport the next morning for the same price of the Lyft ride. This would allow him to pick my oldest son up from the airport at 6 pm, pick us up at 7:30 and let us drive to dinner and breakfast the next morning. Dollar will then drive us to the port after we drop off the van. The rental plus gas (we really didn’t use very much at all) came to $80 total. I was in a hurry to get to the port and wasn’t very excited about going to the Miami Airport first. But, I have to say this worked out perfectly for us. I loved that I didn’t have to Uber or Lyft to the hotel, or wait for who knows how long for their airport shuttle. I loved that we weren’t stuck eating at the hotel restaurant, and it was nice to leave the next morning when we were ready – and not have to wait for a hired shuttle or call the Lyft. Shhhh, don’t tell my husband but I think he had a good idea.

 

We checked out of the hotel at 9 am and drove down the road to Starbucks for breakfast. After a quick bite to eat and the all-important Cup of Joe, we took the quick drive to the Miami Airport. We quickly dropped off the car and they pointed us down to airport transportation to catch the shuttle. There was a driver waiting for us and as soon as we boarded the shuttle, he whisked us off to the port. Ah, that first sighting of the ship is always an exciting time. I looked forward to seeing the boys’ reaction when they saw her……but they played it cool and didn’t seem as crazed as I was. But, I know they were jumping up and down on the inside.

 

Our shuttle driver pulled up, helped us with our luggage, and after we tipped him he drove off. The porter was there to take our bags, we tipped him also and headed to check in. Now, I am one that likes to arrive early. I just can’t wait to get my vacation started. We are usually at the port by 9:30 at the latest. We previously made the decision to skip Vibe this time (our second time on the Escape was a Vibe week and it was amazing!). We knew our boys wouldn’t be interested in it and we see them so seldom that it didn’t make sense to spend the money this time when we really wanted to spend time with them. So, without the Vibe in our sight, there was no reason to arrive too early. By the time we went to Starbucks, dropped the car off at the airport and shuttled to port, it was 10:20 when we arrived. Oh my…..the line!!! We were at Terminal B and it seemed the line went out the door and down towards Terminal C, then back around again. I shot my husband an evil eye, as this was all his fault. We would never make it on……..or maybe at least not soon enough for my liking. But wait…..this line moved quickly.

 

I was impressed that by 10:40 we were inside, through security and filling out our health form swearing we had no communicable diseases that would terrorize others on board. Although we are only Gold Latitudes members, the nice NCL man pointed us into the Platinum line. That line was very short and I think he thought it would help the flow since the other line was getting long. I’d like to think of it though that NCL was just so happy I was back. I’m sure they’ve missed me!!! After lecturing my boys excessively for days to remember their passports (thankfully, they listened to mom!), we were checked in quickly and handed Boarding Group 3. We went upstairs to wait – and soon enough it was time to board!! Soon enough, I was back in my happy place!!

 

 

https://pix.sfly.com/gQMU3-

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Now, I must admit that when they called Boarding Group #1, I got Vibe envy for a moment. We had such an amazing time there and I knew exactly what we were missing. And I knew how crowded this cruise would be. I am not one to wake up at the crack of dawn to run up and get a lounger. I'm also not a chair hog. I'll admit, the temptation is there, but I just would never do it. I once left my towel on a lounger when I went to a Meet and Greet. I was only gone 45 minutes but I was just so sure I was going to be arrested. Or made to walk the plank. Or at least given dirty looks by 4000 other passengers. None of that happened (thankfully) but chair hogging is not for me. I held steady with my decision of no Vibe, and was consoled with my knowledge that loungers should be available on the sun deck which would make it all ok.

 

Group #3 was called and we headed on board. It was washy washy time, then we stepped in. My family stopped and looked at me. Where to? We didn't need to race to Guest Services for Vibe passes, but that habit somehow remained. Down we went to Deck 6, and we were welcomed into the Atrium. I immediately went to the bar and put my UBP to use. Last cruise, my first drink was a Mango Meltdown. I hadn't thought about what to order and the pressure was on. I wanted to come up with a great first drink and before I knew it, I heard myself ordering a Pina Colada? What's with that? How boring.......but it did hit the spot. The rest of the family ordered their drinks including my 17 y.o who ordered a Virgin something. We then headed up to the pool area and found some chairs to enjoy our drinks.

 

My two younger sons went to the buffet to grab lunch. I always like to go to the dining room for my first lunch. To me, that proves that I'm really there......ordering appetizers, desserts, drinks, and someone bringing me anything I want. That's a cruise. So - time to get it started. My husband, oldest son and I went to Taste. It never fails - every time I sail, there is someone posted in front of the bar between Taste and Savor trying to send people to the buffet. Why? My guess is most people who find themselves there are actually there because they want to eat there. We were told "They're serving lunch in the buffet" and I nicely told her "No thanks, we'd like to eat here". We went in and were seated immediately. I ordered the hummus appetizer, meatloaf wrapped in bacon and had peanut butter cheesecake for dessert. I had a nice glass of Pinot Grigio to wash it all down.

 

By the time we were finished with lunch, we heard the announcement that the rooms were ready. We found my two other boys and headed to check out our cabins. We were in balcony cabin 13126 and the boys were around the corner in 13421 which was an inside cabin. I was a little disappointed that their cabin was further than I thought from us - I'm not sure why I thought they were right across from us. But, having booked the cruise almost two years ago - I suspect there was a reason that my old brain cells just don't remember. I very much enjoyed being on deck 13 - I had cabins both above and below us, and we were a quick trip up to the pool deck (which helped for UBP refills).

 

Cabin 13126 is pretty much your typical balcony cabin on the port side. The bed is by the balcony, which is new to us. On previous cruises our bed was scrunched up against the closet. There are pros and cons to each set up, but I kind of liked it this way. I feel like there was less shelving space than on the Escape but there was still plenty of room. There were big storage drawers in the sofa, shelves all around and enough closet space for two. There were 20 hangers (I counted so I would save half for my husband when I was unpacking - then I proceeded to take two extra!!!) in the closet and even though I way overpacked, I had plenty of room for all my clothes and shoes. We had the same view from our room that we had on our last Escape trip. In fact, I saw the same yacht that I was drooling on the last time. Just sitting there waiting for me.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/6-zs7m

 

After unpacking, we went to our boys cabin to check it out. They've never seen the bunk come from the ceiling as their last cruise they had a balcony and the sofa opened to the third bed. My youngest (as usual - last pick so the bunk was his) asked me if the bunk gets put away each day, and there's no sofa, where does he sit during the day? Hmmmm - good question. Sit on your brothers bed! My middle son (second pick) would get the bed below the bunk. He wanted to know how low the bunk would go and if he would die when it crashes down onto him. And the oldest son (first pick) already seemed very comfortable in his awesome bed. The room worked out great - and the only issue we had was getting them up each morning with it so dark. Luckily - the middle son listens to his alarm - unlike his brothers that can sleep through 15 snooze buttons. The boys unpacked and soon it was time for the Muster Drill.

 

The boys had been joking ever since I told them about the drill. Mustard Drill? What's that? I told them that they weren't very original as many people have made that joke previously. Imagine their enjoyment when we found out that we were to muster at O'Sheehans. And when we got there we sat down at the table for the drill right next to a bit bottle of mustard. "See mom, there is mustard at the mustard drill". The drill was surprisingly quick, and it's so nice to do it sitting down, as opposed to when we used to be lined up standing outside for 30 minutes or more. I just wish they would have served us wings during the drill. Now that would have been a great drill.

 

Following the drill I had to reschedule our Million Dollar Quartet reservation. As we went into the cabin and checked out all our welcome letters, etc waiting for us, we had one stating that our reservation for Thursday was changed from Million Dollar Quartet to Burn the Floor "due to technical difficulties". Hmmmm, I didn't want to see Burn the Floor, I wanted to see Million Dollar Quartet. I was so excited to see it on the Escape and had it reserved but it was cancelled when the show moved to the Getaway. I made a phone call and luckily was able to reschedule it for Monday night. While going through the other welcome information, I saw that we had a $100 on board credit with a message stating Bon Voyage. I was so excited. Who sent it to me? I read it more carefully and realized that it was placed in my room by mistake - and was for someone else. Boo.

 

Soon it was time for sailway. We decided to stay on our balcony and made sure we each had drink in hand. My oldest son made a great time-lapse video of the whole thing. I'll have to make sure he sends it to me, so I can watch it during this whole post-cruise depression. For now, this photo will have to suffice:

 

https://pix.sfly.com/Adxs0J

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You had me hooked on your review after reading your first few sentences. Looking forward to reading more.

 

In June we will be on her with our two children--daughter 19 and son 18--along with other family members including young men ages 19, 21 and 23 so I am very interested on your sons' prospective. Everyone in our party are experienced cruises but have not been on the Getaway.

 

Also want to know if you regret not trying for Vibe. We had it on the Escape and my daughter wants us all to go for it.

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How cool to see your review - we just have similar cruise karma because the last time I was on Hetaway. I prepared by reading your review (the Slide Debacle Review, aka Branko is a Cool Bartender.) We will be on Getaway next week, so I am looking forward to reading your review while I finish my countdown!

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

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How cool to see your review - we just have similar cruise karma because the last time I was on Hetaway. I prepared by reading your review (the Slide Debacle Review, aka Branko is a Cool Bartender.) We will be on Getaway next week, so I am looking forward to reading your review while I finish my countdown!

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app

 

Ha, I totally remember you reading that and commenting!!! :) That means you are going to have to book the Jade next year because that's my next one!

 

Thanks everyone for the kind comments - I promise I haven't started my laundry yet. I just got home from work (I need a vacation!!!) and have to run my son to the library in a few minutes. Once we are home later, I'll be writing as much as I can tonight......I promise!!! I hate it when the real world gets in the way of my cruising!

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You had me hooked on your review after reading your first few sentences. Looking forward to reading more.

 

In June we will be on her with our two children--daughter 19 and son 18--along with other family members including young men ages 19, 21 and 23 so I am very interested on your sons' prospective. Everyone in our party are experienced cruises but have not been on the Getaway.

 

Also want to know if you regret not trying for Vibe. We had it on the Escape and my daughter wants us all to go for it.

 

No regrets!! :) I'll give more details throughout but for us, it was a good decision!!!

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Great start to the review. I hate to chime in early but one comment really made me laugh out loud. I like where you pointed out the absurdity of waiting in line for Taste and someone always tries to point you to the Garden Café. "They are serving lunch in the Garden Café" No thanks, we want to eat here. LOL

GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!

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There's just something about the sailaway. The culmination of months/years of planning, the excitement of what's to come, the feeling like you're right where you belong and the anticipation of way too much food and beverage. Ah, I love it!

 

Once we passed anything worth seeing, we ran up to Entourage to sign my youngest one up. On the Escape, he lived there. He met a fun group of boys and it made his week. I was glad he wanted to go back again. I signed on the dotted line that he could attend, was given the "rules" and what would happen if he broke them, and my son planned to return back at 8 pm. The first night is "the" night to attend. He didn't want to miss it- so he could find his posse.

 

I returned to the cabin to read on my balcony (ahhhhh) and watched a bit of NCAA basketball with the boys. They were so concerned they'd miss the games but I promised them they'd be on - and they were. Whew! Soon it was time for dinner. I made reservations for every night of the cruise - not just our specialty dining nights. For our non-specialty nights, we always ate at Tropicana, the main dining room. I never saw any long lines or anyone need to wait for any length of time to be seated, but I liked having the reservation so I could skip up to the front of the line knowing I was set. I think the reservations paid off though because we had great table locations each night - then again, maybe NCL just likes me, haha! We were ushered right to our table and met our waiter.

 

I will say right off that we had great service, food, abundant beverages and fun watching the dancers each night at Tropicana. There was a large table near us that enjoyed their time on the dance floor. We actually saw them each night we were there, and boy did they enjoy themselves. Several of them were fantastic dancers...and a few just thought they were. Regardless, they were our nightly entertainment. Dinner usually lasted between 1 - 1.5 hours, and we felt pampered and cared for most of that time. We all had wine each night, and our glasses never went empty. They would refill them before that could happen - without us asking. Sometimes they came with the glasses already measure out but other nights they actually came with the bottle and literally almost filled them to the rim. The wait was never too long for food and we all enjoyed our meals.

 

On this first night, I ordered French Onion Soup, Prime Rib and Chocolate Lava Cake. I thought the Prime Rib was great - and totally enjoyed it. Now - one disclaimer is I'm not a picky person. I'm a foodie in that I love food - but I tend to enjoy most everything. In addition, I had been dieting for several months before the cruise and I think just the thought of eating fattening food excited me! But, I do think the quality was good and I enjoyed the whole meal.

 

Following dinner we went to the Atrium and my youngest son headed off to Entourage. We were able to snag a set of comfy seats around a small table and ordered more drinks. The Atrium bar made a mean Cosmo for me tonight - tasty!! When we arrived, Groove International was playing a set called "Easy Listening". We enjoyed them the whole week - they played a mean Motown set later in the week as well as some other fun songs other nights. Once that finished, we stayed for the Ultimate Challenge Game Show (Part 1). It was one we had never seen and they explained that this was a new game for them (I don't know how new). It was kind of "eh", but not bad I guess. Later in the week they will have Part 2, and the two winners would then challenge each other the last night. After the game show ended, we moved on to Howl at the Moon.

 

I can do Howl at the Moon every night of my cruise. As I mentioned in my previous Escape reviews, this is my element. I know ever word to every song and I just LOVE singing. The only problem with this is that I can't carry a tune if my life depended on it. I am just a bad, bad singer. Really, I am! So, my singing stays in the car....by myself. If you ever see someone at a red light singing to themselves and enjoying every moment of it...it might be me!!! At Howl at the Moon, I can sign out loud. It's loud and between the pianos playing, microphones, and crowd singing, nobody can hear me. I can bellow out an off-key tune, and nobody cares. I love it. After 11 pm it became "adults only" and a heck of a lot more fun. We first saw "Tambourine Girl" tonight - someone in the front row taking the tambourine off the piano and playing it to the crowd, dancing around the room. The Howl at the Moon singers dubbed her Tambourine Girl and she was there every night we went. Always. If you are reading this Tambourine Girl, you were awesome. I want to be you when I grow up!!!

 

Sometime around 11:30 my youngest son checked in. "What time is my curfew? The ship curfew is 1 am. Can I stay out until then"? Well, that depends. What are you doing and who are you with? He told me he was "hanging" in the conference room with friends. Hmmmm. We settled on 12:30 and he's lucky I trust him. They actually spent a lot of time "hanging" outside of entourage - and I soon discovered he spent even more time in the Video Arcade. He had been warned that similar to his previous cruise, his first $100 is on me (this amount covers anything...gelato, video games, BINGO cards....yeah, I know - he would never play BINGO, but you get it). Anything over $100 he will cover - and I know where he lives so he will have to pay.

 

We left Howl at the Moon around midnight and headed back to the cabin. We had a fruit bowl waiting for us in the room. Awwww, they love me!! My husband munched on the fruit throughout the cruise but not me......it reminded me too much of my diet!! Son texted soon that he was back in his room. Both his brothers were already there and vouched for it! I spent time reading the Day 2 Freestyle Daily and once son was successfully back in his cabin I went to bed. What a successful first day!!! Somehow, I knew though that this week would go way too quick!!

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Great start to the review. I hate to chime in early but one comment really made me laugh out loud. I like where you pointed out the absurdity of waiting in line for Taste and someone always tries to point you to the Garden Café. "They are serving lunch in the Garden Café" No thanks, we want to eat here. LOL

GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!

 

I said "no thanks" with a smile!! :)

But seriously, do they think I didn't notice that Taste was open for business? Haha!

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One of the first things we did after boarding was make sure all the boys had the iConcierge App and purchase the texting. I definitely had a love/hate relationship with this app the whole cruise. As you noticed from my previous post, I relied on my son texting me with updates as to where he was, when he was back at the cabin, etc. This was the first time that he wasn't in our cabin with us and I felt a bit lost not knowing if he was back safe and sound. I'd say 75% of the time the texting worked great for us. The other 25% was downright frustrating. My husband has an Android but the rest of us have Iphones. I think he had the hardest time and I actually didn't get a text from him until the last day. Most of his texts just said "sending" the whole time. Also, as others have commented before, the wifi itself would go in and out continuously. But, usually when that happened, it would come right back again. There were frustrating times though when I would send a text and it would say "sent" but wouldn't show it as delivered. So, it left my phone, but the person on the other end didn't get it. Sometimes our phones would "ding" with a notification of a text and we could easily read it, but other times it wouldn't. So, we all just needed to check often. It was a huge help with communicating between us - not just for my youngest son but the other boys as well when they wanted to join us somewhere. If you are traveling with a family, or with anyone that you will not be with at all times, I would definitely recommend it. Just bring your patience and know it's not perfect - far from it - but so much better than the days that I used to carry a walkie talkie around.

 

When we returned to our cabin the first night, we saw the "Time Change Tomorrow" notice. I debated about how to handle the time change. I've done it both ways - sometimes changing my phone over and other times just calculating in my head. Between the UBP and my old brain cells, I decided that changing my phone would be better. This would prove to cause a minor issue later in the week (I'll get to that eventually) but for now, it made me happy as it gave me an extra hour of sleep.

 

I woke up the morning of Day 2 at 7 am or so. So much for sleep in. I made myself a cup of coffee in the room (the coffee pod made surprisingly decent coffee), threw on my cute NCL bathrobe (which BTW was waiting for me in my closet when we unpacked) and went onto my balcony to read. I have to say this balcony seemed to be the smallest I've had before, but maybe it just seems small compared to the one I had in June on the Sun. Regardless, I didn't care. I was on my balcony on a cruise, and not at work. All was good.

 

We arranged for our boys to come to our room at 9 am to head for breakfast. I am one that enjoys the dining room for breakfast - no buffet for me. I want my waiter, menu, someone putting my napkin on my lap (my 22 y.o asked if they don't trust that I'll do it. No, silly.....it's called "service"), and relaxing while looking out the window onto the sea. We lucked out each morning that we always were seated at the window. We asked - but felt lucky they had one available. The dining room actually never seemed busy for breakfast and service was always quick. We alternated between Taste and Savor depending on what side was land or what we wanted to see. I honestly don't know which restaurant we went to this morning - but I just know we had our window.

 

Once seated, we were immediately greeted by our waiter and offered coffee, juice and water. When I sail, I always order Muesli. It is my cruise thing. I've never had it off a cruise ship and probably never will. So of course, I started with Muesli. I also ordered bacon (crispy!!!), eggs, potatoes and toast. They also brought the basket of pastries which I had to try. So much for a light breakfast, ha. I was stuffed full and it was not even 10 am. Once we finished breakfast, we walked around the ship for awhile until it was time to attend the Meet and Greet.

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Let's talk about water. We are Gold Latitudes members so my husband and I are each eligible for a bottle of water. I don't know where I got this in my mind, but I really thought the water bottles were larger ones. Not tiny little baby 16 oz. water bottles. It really doesn't matter - just surprised me. Regardless, when we first went into our cabin we saw a paper advertising 6 large water bottles for $14.95. Our sons didn't have any water bottles to fill so we figured we'd go ahead and order. The bottles were in our room within a few hours. It actually worked out great and although expensive, we were glad we bought them. The charge was listed as "Atrium" and we ended up going to Guest Services to ask what the charge was as we didn't recognize it. It would have been much easier had the charge said "water". They also added a 20% gratuity to to bill so not only did we not recognize the "Atrium" charge but the amount was confusing as well. Now we know.......

 

https://pix.sfly.com/acJX_B

 

At 11 am we went to Cagney's for the Meet and Greet. It was well attended and we met several new friends and enjoyed talking to quite a few other CC members. As usual, NCL did a great job with bringing us muffins, coffee, smoothies and ship officers. Paquito our CD came, all the top officers and for my first time, the Captain came. I've been to 7 of these and it's the first time for me. When we were on the Escape, I was so impressed with the officers who all visited with us, made the rounds talking and chatting us up, and spent quite a bit of time with us. Recently on the Sun, we didn't have the small-talk, but following introductions, we had a really nice Q & A session. At this Meet and Greet, Paquito introduced all the officers and the Captain briefly spoke (he seems like such a nice, personable man) and then they all left. It was pretty quick and not a lot of interaction, but I did enjoy it. The Captain mentioned that they do read CC - so if any of you are looking at this review now.....thanks for coming!!!! The Meet and Greet lasted until noon which means it's almost time to eat again, haha.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/99tP8h

 

While at Cagney's for the Meet and Greet, we saw that they were doing a "Taste of Spain" lunch next door at Modernos. We asked the Group Events lady that was there about what it was. My husband is from Spain so obviously our ears perk up when we hear about Spanish food. She told us it's tapas - which made us think of Pinchos on the Escape. We got all excited, quickly texted the boys and told them to come meet us for lunch in "Spain". They came, we walked over and got a table and checked out the buffet. We didn't see any tapas, and the buffet just really didn't seem all that Spain-like. They did have cute centerpieces though. They had paella that my husband tried but I totally didn't want that. So, after my husband finished eating while we watched him, we all went to the buffet for lunch. Before we left though, we stopped by the bar for some margaritas.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/wuk-Hx

 

I wasn't hungry at all - which of course didn't stop me - and I got a burger and fries. It was good- then again, a burger's a burger. By this point it was 1 pm and I heard the sun calling my name. It was time to put the bathing suit on and go find a lounge chair. I was keeping my fingers crossed that waiting until 1 pm for this endeavor wouldn't lead to pain and suffering. After a quick change, my husband, middle son and I were heading up. My youngest son was off with friends - most likely at the video arcade - and the oldest was studying somewhere along the Waterfront. Soon we were off......time to soak up some rays.

 

We went straight to the top sun deck - not at the Vibe level but one flight up. It was lounger heaven. Chairs galore. We easily found three loungers next to each other and I got comfortable with my book. Here's a quick photo from my vantage point - it shows some of the empty loungers but there were many others on either side of me as well.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/OHxABG

 

We could hear the music from the pool but were away from the hustle and bustle. The only down side was that we didn't see any waiters up there - but it was an easy one flight down trip for drink orders. As we could order several at a time and service was oh so quick, it was not a big deal at all. After a few pina coladas, several chapters and a quick cat nap, we were ready to head back down.

 

Our next stop was the Deck 8 Waterfront. We found some comfortable chairs, ordered another drink (Coco Mojito - delish!) and sat and enjoyed the scenery. My middle son wanted to hit the mini golf course (he's a wannabe golfer!) so the four of us went up. My youngest son was MIA, although we did have a brief sighting of him earlier in the day. Mini Golf was packed and there were no golf balls or adult clubs available. We had only about a 5 minute wait and another family finished the course and we got clubs, balls and got on our way. We had to keep track of our score in our heads - which I was quite proud of the fact I did. Remember, old brain cells? Maybe all the UBP drinks counteracted that? We had fun on the course - yes it was basic, but it's always a good time playing mini golf. Wannabe golfer son won - but I came in second!!! I definitely bragged the rest of the night about that!

 

After mini golf we decided we needed a drink to take back to the cabin. I told my husband to surprise me, and he brought back a White Russian. Another hit - and definitely one I'll have to add to the drink list. Back at the cabin, we enjoyed our drinks on the balcony, showered and dressed for dinner, and then headed to our 6:30 reservation at Cagney's.

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