Mitsugirlys graduation getaway cruise

[mg33626]

I

I would rather go on 2 cheaper western cruises a year than only 1 more expensive eastern or southern cruise. :(

 

I hear you. There are some great options on Valor out of San Juan. The ships in San Juan are never the newest, but they do go to great places. I hope you do get the chance to travel there sometime. There may be a great variety in Western stops, but really you only can do one or two things while in port for 8 hours. I've never had a better experience than the turtles in Barbados, waterfalls in Dominica, and the beauty of St Lucia.

[mitsugirly]

 

I hear you. There are some great options on Valor out of San Juan. The ships in San Juan are never the newest, but they do go to great places. I hope you do get the chance to travel there sometime. There may be a great variety in Western stops, but really you only can do one or two things while in port for 8 hours. I've never had a better experience than the turtles in Barbados, waterfalls in Dominica, and the beauty of St Lucia.

 

While it's true that you can only do a few things while in port, that's true any place you go to in port at any location. I guess that's another reason I keep doing Western, there are so many places I find that I want to try out and I have to keep going back there to do them. :D

 

I have heard so much about the places you listed and I definitely want to go there. Where is the place that the baths are located? I know that's one place on my to-do list.

 

Turtles in Barbados sounds awesome. That's the one thing we haven't come across yet while in any of the ports snorkeling. I'm really not into going to a turtle farm to see them, like they have in some of the ports. I'm only interested in seeing them in their natural habitat. Barbados sounds wonderful. :)

[mitsugirly]

Now we have hit deck 8. Time for some more exploring. Hopefully your feet aren't hurting yet because we have a lot more to cover.

 

Prime Meredian Bar. This is located in the center between Cagney's and Moderno.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cagneys Steakhouse. As I mentioned before, I don't like steak and I really don't do too much red meat. So, we have never ate here on any of the ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You also have the option to eat outside at Cagneys and enjoy the ocean on the Waterfront.

 

 

 

I have to admit, 90% of the time that we passed by here, there were just people sitting here playing cards or games. Maybe there weren't open during these times. We passed by both in the daylight hours and at night.

[mitsugirly]

Moderno Churrascaria, which is also another steakhouse is located on the opposite side. Again, not my kind of place, so we have never tried it.

 

 

 

 

They also had the option to eat outside on the Waterfront.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Located outside on the Waterfront is Dolce Gelato which offers Italian-style ice cream. We did try this place out and it will be in my review later.

 

After snapping this picture as we walked by, the lady yelled "Hey, why didn't you tell us you were taking a picture? We would have waved." LOL My thoughts (which I didn't say out loud) was that I would rather have a picture without anyone in it, maybe you can duck real quick? hehe

 

 

[Hey Wang]

Awesome pics so far.... Great job!

[mitsugirly]

Right inside of Dolce Gelato is Carlos Bake Shop.

 

 

 

 

I really wanted one of these cakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried not to stay in there too long otherwise I would have wanted to try one of everything. It all looked so yummy and I had already tried the Lobster Tail and knew it was good.

[mitsugirly]

Awesome pics so far.... Great job!

 

Thanks Hey Wang. :)

[SissasMomE]

Not for NCLEX review.....for contact hours! I've been on two!! One to Alaska on the Star and another one to the Caribbean on the Pearl! I'm at work....once I get hime I'll send you the link!! Best thing EVER invented for continuing nursing education!!!!:cool:

 

T

 

Same for CLE's. I can't think of a better way to get my credits :D

[mitsugirly]

This is an area in the hallway right outside The Grammy Experience. We would see people sitting here playing cards and games as well.

 

Side-note: I have never seen so many "card and game playing" people on a cruise before. I like to play games with the family, but on a cruise ship is just weird to me. There's way to many things to do and explore on a ship (especially on a new cruise ship) that I could never imagine playing a game and just sitting there. Did these people actually explore the ship? I wasn't even able to do it in 1 week. Maybe they are rich and have been on the ship once a month since it came out and there's nothing left to explore? :p

 

 

 

 

The ICE BAR...from the outside. This is the only picture I got since we never did make it there. I was a little upset because we loved the Ice Bar on the Epic and the drinks were awesome. The experience was pretty neat too. Kendra had been talking about wanting to go to the Ice Bar since our Epic cruise and was excited that the Getaway had one. Yet, we never made it around to going. Boo. I'm telling ya, I need a do-over.

 

 

 

 

La Cucina, which is an Italian Restaurant. I love Italian so we did try this out one night as part of our Specialty Dining Package. We have only been to La Cucina on 1 other ship (Epic). I pretty much will do a specialty restaurant once, just to experience it, then not go there again on any of the other cruises just because it's an added expense that I don't like to encounter. Plus with so many free food options, why bother (for us).

 

 

 

[NJ Johnny]

Beautiful photos. You certainly did a good job! Congrats on your success in your career also. Can't wait to hear more.

[mitsugirly]

Now I'll give you some pictures from around the outside of the ship. They are just some various pictures I snapped while walking around. That "Miami" theme.

 

So lets head out to the Waterfront and take a look around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I loved that they installed these binocular thingys on the outside of the ship. I loved even more that you didn't have to pay to use them.

 

We spied on a Disney ship one night that was sailing with us and watched people on the Aqua Duck water slides. The ship was all lit up so pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of people utilized the outside areas. I think NCL's move to have the waterfront area is a big hit with cruisers. It's a great place to hang out and just enjoy the ocean.

 

 

 

 

 

[OceanDreaming2]

Joining in on this adventure. :)

[mitsugirly]

These glass openings to the ocean below were another neat and new concept. They looked nice along the Waterfront and when you stand on them, it gave you a really weird feeling even though you knew you weren't going to fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari was daring as always and tried it out too. At first she wasn't so sure about it. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

One thing about NCL that I have always noticed...they are always cleaning and redoing things to keep things in tip-top shape. Every cruise we have been on we find them painting, cleaning, staining and varnishing. This brand new ship was no different. I caught this guy in action varnishing one day.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Here are the shops at Tradewinds, Tides Boutique and the photo gallery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm glad they decided to put in this system for locating your photos while on board. It makes things so much easier. If I remember correctly, the Epic is the only other ship that has something like this, but I think they had face recognition to identify what pictures went where. This system is a step above (and since it's been since 2010 when I was on the Epic, they might have changed their system now as well) and they have phones attached to their cameras so that when they take a picture of you, you tell them your room number and they type it in and it automatically goes to your file. They print off pictures and stick them in your "folder", which you can find out your folder number by looking at your key room card. You can also use multiple screens around the photo shop and swipe your key card and it will bring up you account. Here you have the option to view all of your pictures attached to your account and you can save them as favorites or not so favorite pics. You have options to order prints or put them on the NCL memory stick.

 

Just a note, when you do activities like the plank or ziplining, it will not be able to find who you are to attach them to your account. They print off a lot of the pictures and you will need to do the old system and go on a private investigation hunt for your pictures. Or...you can go onto the screen and look up an activity and then the date and it will only give you the pictures from those activities for that day. We did not learn this until the last day of the cruise, so I missed out on my ziplining and plank pictures. Boo

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

A few random pictures from Deck 8:

 

 

Here's a little area of glass you walk across and on the other side of it was open to the floor below. You could see people playing the slot machines. I know Epic had an area something like this but it was a lot bigger. This was a small opening and was a nice added touch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another random hallway

 

 

 

 

Mojito Bar on the inside: (I swear every time I looked up, I thought the black things on the ceilings were a fan)

 

 

 

 

 

Sunset Bar

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now we move up a few decks to Deck 12. This would be a deck that we came to daily since the Splash Academy kids club was located here.

 

Like I said, this cruise was a complete mess! I didn't get to sign Sakari up for the kids club until later in the day and the sign ups were not even at Splash, they were out on the pool deck. So, I never got to see the inside of the Splash Academy and I'm kicking myself for it.

 

It was also compromised of 2 decks (Deck 12 and Deck 13). They had the 6-9? year olds on deck 12, so I was able to see into the room where Sakari was most of the time, but I'm sure there's probably more to that area and additional rooms. Deck 13 was for the 3-5 year olds (where my grandson was since Sakari just turned 6 and Brayden will turn 6 in July, they were split up). We only got to go up to that Deck on the night we signed Sakari up for sitting services. That is where they had the kids at and we were allowed to go up there to sign them out.

 

 

So here is it...my one and only picture of the outside of Splash. (I will have additional pictures of the sign in area later in my review. They changed and decorated the area depending on what the theme was that night).

 

 

 

 

 

Moving on up to Deck 15 and the buffet area.

 

This area was HUGE and on both sides of the ship and the entire back of the ship. There were places to sit on either side and you could also sit outside in this little dining area, which we did several times and I thought it was nice. They did have a bar out there, but I never seen it open. Then of course you had the option to go on out and sit along the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was also a neat little area that you could eat in right as soon as you walked in the round sliding glass doors (which I meant to get a picture of and completely forgot). The were high tables and chairs and decorated pretty. It really didn't feel like you were in a buffet area here.

 

[mitsugirly]

Moving on out to the Kids Sponge Bob and splash area. I have pictures from both night and day (and will have additional during the review because Sakari felt the need to pose by each character and demanded I take a picture).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

The wonderful waterslides at night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the family pool

 

 

 

 

 

The adults pool

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

The adult pool had the ledge with water like you find on most of the other older ships. People would line their chairs in this area to lay out. I have to say this is the first time I ever seen people do this in this area. Maybe I just never noticed it or they didn't do it the day we were in the pool on other ships.

 

 

 

 

So much for the hard plastic fake looking ugly palm trees they have on the ships like Jewel, Pearl and so on.

 

On to the new and improved classier looking lights around the pool. They looked like flowers and I actually really liked them.

 

 

 

 

 

This is also where you will find the other shopping area, located between the pools and separating the starboard and port side. It was only open during certain times of the day.

 

 

 

 

 

Signage just in case you get lost. I noticed the signs, but never really paid attention to what they said until I took this picture.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

For the smokers...this is the area they have designed for you to sit out at the pool deck. Honestly, I had to laugh at it. It was enclosed, but yet the glass walls had sections in it that allowed the smoke to go out. Also, you could smoke out in the open right at the bar in front of the pool and outside this area. So honestly, it really made no sense to me.

 

 

 

The glass in the surrounding wall and you can see in the background the bar right outside of it.

 

 

 

 

 

[OceanDreaming2]

These glass openings to the ocean below were another neat and new concept. They looked nice along the Waterfront and when you stand on them, it gave you a really weird feeling even though you knew you weren't going to fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari was daring as always and tried it out too. At first she wasn't so sure about it. LOL

 

 

 

 

 

One thing about NCL that I have always noticed...they are always cleaning and redoing things to keep things in tip-top shape. Every cruise we have been on we find them painting, cleaning, staining and varnishing. This brand new ship was no different. I caught this guy in action varnishing one day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did I miss someone breaking a toe? :(

[dna529]

I had read about that family pool being enclosed before and your picture proves it. How on earth can you lay out by the pool and watch your kid in an area like that? I'm really confused about where my kids will be playing and how I will be able to relax and watch them too. Maybe they will just be interested in the waterslides the whole time. Is there somewhere for adults to sit in the waterslide area?

[mitsugirly]

Now it's time to head up to Deck 16.

 

 

You will find an Arcade there, which I never seen anyone in. I always wonder why they continue to put arcade on cruise ships. I mean I know some kids will use it here and there, but to me, arcades were popular in the 80's and everyone hung out there. Now, there's just too much other things to do on a cruise ship...especially a ship like this with the ropes course and such. Of course the adults are going to hang out in the casino and play the games there or at O'Sheehans where they can actually win something.

 

 

 

The one thing we did seem to go in here for was the vending machines to get soda or candy.

 

 

Soda was $2.50 from the machine and the candybars were $1.50. For $2.00 you got a cup full of M&M's.

 

 

Now here is one of my favorite places to eat and we did breakfast here several times. It was never crowded and no lines with plenty of seats since there wasn't a whole lot of people up here. I thought it was a nice added touch to the ship. The Flamingo Grill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there was the rock climbing wall. I did not try this, but the girls did one day when I wasn't there. So, I did not get pictures. They claimed they made it all the way to the top, which you could see head on if you were standing up on the ropes course deck. They had a bell that you could ring once you get up there. Courtney claimed she couldn't reach the bell because she's so short. I call her my McNugget munchkin.

 

 

[meltingmoments]

These glass openings to the ocean below were another neat and new concept. They looked nice along the Waterfront and when you stand on them, it gave you a really weird feeling even though you knew you weren't going to fall.

 

 

 

Whoa.......note to self....*stay away from this area*...LOL.

Here in my home town, we have a Hotel in the centre of town that is one of the tallest buildings in the North West of England. It has a bar on level 23 called the Cloud Bar and that has a large glass opening looking down. Now THAT (obviously!) is stationary and I've yet to conquer my fear and walk across it.........no chance of me doing it at sea!!! :eek:

Loving hearing about your adventures. Thanks for sharing, you're making me excited for ours! :)