Getaway- July 12-19 Good and Bad Review

[JP4GA]

We are just back home from our Getaway Cruise. I start this by saying this was not our best cruise ever, and it was not the worst one ever either. We were disappointed in some aspects of this trip. I guess maybe we had expectations that were set too high. We did however have some great experiences. So over all the cruise was good just not excellent.

 

Embarkation: Smoothest one ever. We decided not to rush to the pier to be the 1st on for this trip. Normally we are one of the first families aboard. This time however, we decided to wait and sleep in a little since we were coming off of a week in Vero Beach. This trip was leg two of a two week vacation. We were at the pier around noon and onboard before 1:00. All in all the port was easy to use. Delivering luggage to the porters and parking went very well. Security line moved quickly and check in was the same.

 

Boarding: We were able to walk on with no waiting as soon as we checked in. We were advised that our rooms were ready so we headed there to drop off our carry-on bags and to get a few pictures of the rooms prior to messing them up. We had connecting balcony rooms on Deck 11 forward (11110 and 11112). The rooms were as expected and as pictured on many of the websites that discuss this ship. We liked that the bathroom had a shower that was bigger than the other ships that we had been on.

 

1st Meal: We wanted to avoid the buffet on the 1st day due to crowding. So we made our way to the Flamingo Grill. It was an excellent choice. There were about 6 other people up there. We had a nice view and a quiet place to eat lunch and plan our day.

 

Afternoon 1 Our daughter had her swim suit on under her dress so she was ready to swim. I will be honest and say like many others have said the pool area for kids is NOT WELL PLANNED. They have a little kid area and a pool and slides. But they have a glass wall between the "Family Pool" and the kids play area. Also, I never saw a minimum age/height for the SpongeBob play area. It was taken over by older kids all of the time. They would run and then slide onto the ground. It is amazing that no one was hurt. Our DD spent a little time in the Sponge Bob area and then went to the pool area. She is a "new" swimmer so DH got in with her. The pool was not over crowded during this time.

 

Sail Away: Miami is a great port to leave from. So many neat buildings to view as you are leaving. We watched sail away from our balconies. It was fun seeing all of the people on the shore and at the beach waving us off.

 

Balcony Note: Many have reported that the balconies are too small. We found it to be small but no smaller than the NCL Star or the Carnival ships we had sailed. We did ask for the balcony divider to be opened but our room stewart Geoffrey said that NCL no longer allows these dividers to be opened due to safety reasons.

 

The balconies a few floors down were much bigger, but they had no privacy from the people standing or sitting above them. We did note that not many used their balconies during the course of this trip.

 

Splash Academy: After we were on our way it was time to sign up for Splash Academy. The staff was very friendly. It only took a few minutes to sign up and get the schedule for the week. The area looked nice, clean and secure.

 

Dinner: So we are not big foodies so we did not pay for any of the speciality restaurants. We ate most of our meals in the Savor and found the food and service to be very good. The rack of lamb served later in the week was the best meal on the ship.

 

That about wraps up Day 1.

[JP4GA]

So instead of going day by day I will do the rest of this by topic.

 

The shows were GREAT. Some of the best shows we have seen while cruising. Burn the Floor was excellent. Those dancers move fast and get a workout. Some of the dancers from this show also do dance classes and exercises classes throughout the week.

 

Legally Blonde was also a very good show. My DH and DS did not like it as much. My DD did not attend, she chose instead to go to Splash Academy.

 

The Levity Comedians were very funny. We saw them 3 times. Each time all of the comics had new material so we did not see the same show 3 times. There is only one show each week in which all 3 comics appear together. I believe it was the Tuesday Night show in the theatre.

 

The Headliners Club is strangely designed with pillars in the middle of the floor so if you don't get their early you won't be able to see the stage because your view will be blocked. Also the chairs are HARD. Most comedy clubs on ships have a relaxed feel with comfy chairs not so on the Getaway. These were hard straight back chairs. We always arrived early and got a table in the back. This allowed us to have a place for our drinks.

 

The daily says, "latecomers will not be permitted to enter." This is a LIE. They let people stream in and out of shows throughout the duration. It was a little annoying. One night we got end seats in the theater. We knew we would need to let people by us. We did happily. However, those people left, then a new group of four came, 2 of them left, and 2 more came. It was just annoying. They need to NOT ALLOW latecomers.

 

The daily also says that reservations will be released 15 minutes prior to the show. This is also not true. We were in standby one night and they started to let our line in at 5 minutes before show time. People came up that had reserved tickets they let them in after their reservations should have been released.

 

If you are cruising the Getaway it is well worth your time to pre-book the shows and go to see them. Great entertainment.

[hscruiser]

Looking forward to the rest of the review. Would you happen to have the Dailies from your sailing?

 

We have the 9pm comedy show reserved for Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday...even if we see the same comedian twice, is it completely different material each night?

 

Thank you so much!

[JP4GA]

The adult pool was almost always crowded. Chairs near the pool were always taken early. So if you want a chair by the pool you better be an early riser.

 

There are VERY FEW chairs in the Family Pool area and the Sponge Bob area. It was impossible to ever get a chair in these areas unless you staked it out around 7 in the morning. I got annoyed seeing chairs sit empty for HOURS. Finally one day after looking at towels on 2 chairs for 2.5 hours I moved the stuff and took over the space. We were there for 2 hours and the owners of the towels never came up and asked where their stuff was.

 

Spice H20 was very nice. We never had issues finding chairs in this area, no matter the time of day that we decided to stop in. One lady did try to bring her children in but an attendant immediately let her know that they were not permitted in the area at that time. I think some people get confused because the area does allow children for some movies and other night time events. The area is clearly marked as "Adults Only." The water feature is a nice way to cool off. The big screen always had something playing on it (movie or just scenery). It was usually quiet and we got a lot of reading done in that area.

 

The slides were fun for the entire family. The "purple" slide is great for all members of the family. I think you had to be 42 inches tall to ride. It is a nice not to fast or to slow ride. The lines for this were pretty short on most days.

 

The Red/Orange slides had the same height requirement as the purple slide. These are totally enclosed, so it took my daughter a little time to warm up to the idea of riding these slides, but when she did she had a blast. We had fun racing down the slides. These slides had a slightly longer wait time than the purple but overall the waits were not too bad.

 

Blue/Green the FREE FALL. What a ride. However, before you make the climb up make sure that you have nothing on except for your swim suit. They made us take off everything--rings, ear rings, nose rings, barrettes from hair. They also weigh you if you look like you weigh anything over 200 lbs. I think the weight limit was 300 lbs. (not sure).

 

Also Ladies your swim suits can not have any metal accents or you can not ride. Some people had to wear a back board to ride this ride. They asked me to wear one when I asked why, he said so that my top would not fly up over my head (I had a tank top swim suit). The ride was so fast but fun.

 

On several occasions this ride was closed down. Somehow people got stuck in the slide. They have a few trap doors that allow them to get you out pretty quickly. You have to be taller to ride on the blue and green. I am sorry but I don't remember the height requirement.

 

Port days are the best days to enjoy these areas. If you are not doing a shore excursion head on down to the pool and slide area and enjoy. We did this on one of the port days and had a blast.

 

As far as when is it the most crowded... I think it will depend on the others traveling with you. We found that if we went in the afternoons (kid nap time) until dinner it was not as crowded and lines were shorter. We found mornings to be very busy.

 

*****Slides opened at 10:00 and closed at 6:00 most days. One day (fireworks night) they did keep the slides and pools open later.

Edited July 21, 2014 by JP4GA

[JP4GA]

Looking forward to the rest of the review. Would you happen to have the Dailies from your sailing?

 

We have the 9pm comedy show reserved for Sunday, Wednesday, and Thursday...even if we see the same comedian twice, is it completely different material each night?

 

Thank you so much!

 

I would say that the shows are about 90% different. They seemed to try hard to have new material for each show.

 

Sorry I don't have the dallies.... my sweet little girl was helping me clean up and tossed them. Which is why I am not doing a "day by day review." I can't remember the days.

[brookie848]

Thanks for doing the review. Looking forward to reading it as part of my research on an upcoming cruise choice!

[JP4GA]

We always love our room stewart. Not so much this time. He was adequate (barely).

 

He did make sure we had ice buckets filled each morning and evening. He learned our schedule pretty quickly and our rooms were always cleaned while we were at breakfast and while we were at dinner.

 

One thing we did not like about him was that he NEVER vacuumed our room. Our daughter brought in a lot of sand/shells after our shore excursion on day 3 and the floor of our second room was covered in this stuff. The bathroom floor also had sand on it. You would have thought he would have vacuumed but he did not. We finally had to TELL him to do it and even then he did not do a good job.

 

We needed a laundry bag and called him for one and his tone of voice was as if we were bothering him. We told him to just drop it by when he made up the room that night, that we were not in a hurry and no special trip was needed, but he still acted as if it were a bother.

 

The coffee and tea bar was never replenished. So I just took tea, sugar from the buffet and brought it back to our room for later use. I drink hot tea every morning and before bed.

 

We only had towel animals 3 nights out of the entire cruise. Other rooms had them nightly. This was a real disappointment to my 6 year old daughter who loves those silly creations.

 

Last day.... NOW this really disturbs me........We were packed and ready to go. We emptied one room so he could clean it and get started for the next group of people but kept our stuff in the other room. We did not want to drag it all to breakfast. We then went to breakfast. When we came back both rooms had been made up. I know that they are in a rush to get stuff done, but it was only 8:00 they had not called anyone off of the ship, and they had already made the bed in the room we still had stuff in. I told my kids not to touch anything. But I hate to think that someone may had been wallowing in my bed before I boarded the ship. I just think that they should wait until the room is VACANT before making them up for the next guest.

 

We had to use the restroom before we left, and the towels had already been changed out. We used one and left it on the sink.

 

This is the 1st cruise that we did not leave an additional tip for our room steward.

[JP4GA]

The sports deck is so much fun on this ship. Our problem with it is the HOURS and LACK of hours. They were open from 10-12 each morning and 4 to 6 (some afternoons).

 

We really felt like these items were a big selling point for this cruise and to have them open an average of 4 hours a day is NOT acceptable. It is also our belief that one reason many pool chairs are cluttered with stuff and not people is the pool and these items open at the same time. So people claim a chair then go up a few decks to do these activities and are gone longer than they expect to be.

 

Ropes course is excellent. You do have to to have closed toe shoes to participate. You also have to have DRY clothing and something more than a swim suit bottom (ladies). You and they do not want the harness rubbing your thighs the wrong way. So dry shorts are the best option. THere is a lot of open space for family members to take your picture. So have fun and enjoy.

 

The Spider Web is interesting. However make sure that your children can do it before you walk away. Some mom left her 5-6 year old there after he got started. The child became frustrated half way through and it ended up being a disaster. Basically this is a tower that you climb through, you go up about 8 levels about 24 foot tall, by pushing yourself through elastic strips. It is a little hard for younger kids. There was NEVER a line at this activity.

 

The Trampoline was so much fun for my daughter. This is a restricted activity meaning you have to weigh between 30 and 100 lbs in order to participate. So this is mostly enjoyed by children. You must also wear socks and dry clothing. Swim suit bottoms are not encouraged because of the harness. They prefer that kids wear shorts or pants in order to participate. However, I did see a few kids in dry swim suits enjoying themselves.

 

Once strapped in you jump and they rise you a little higher in the air. You continue jumping and then you can try to do tricks like back flips. Ride time really depends on the line. One time DD got to go about 10 minutes straight because there was no line.

 

Mini-Golf They had all white balls, and 1 blue and 1 gold ball. So if you are playing with a group it can get confusing. I wonder if they had a lot of other colors and they got lost or something. They have a variety of sizes of clubs.

 

I liked that mini golf is alway open. You also do not check out balls and clubs. They are always out. On some ships you have to sign them in and out not on this ship. A few of the features are already damaged. I am sure this is due to misuse (people standing on them or hitting them with clubs). Its just sad that it is already starting to show damage.

 

THere are lots of chairs scattered around this deck, so that you can watch your kids and other family members.

[JP4GA]

So DD is too short for the ropes course, she had her heart set on the rock climbing wall.

 

It was NEVER open. We checked each and every time it was scheduled to be open and no one was ever there to man the station. :mad:

 

The least they could have done was put up a sign stating it was closed.

 

It is very frustrating to have a child that wants to do something and then the thing they want to do is never open.

[JP4GA]

Fireworks night was fun. Most of the outdoor activities (ropes course, slides etc) are open later that night.

 

Also they have a rocking party on Spice H2O.

 

If you have a port side balcony room you can watch from their and see everything clearly. After having some fun on deck we decided to watch from our balcony since the show did not start until around 10:45. We did not know if DD could handle to action out on deck or if she would be a grouch. We did not want her to ruin the fun for others. So we let her watch a movie in our room, and then let her watch the show.

 

We all enjoyed it very much.

[JP4GA]

One of the things I dreaded most about sailing a big ship was getting off the ship for excursions.

 

All I can say is "WOW, WELL DONE GETAWAY." No line to get off the ship. It went so smooth.

 

Day 3- Saint Maarten-- We did a ship sponsored excursion to Anguilla for a dolphin encounter. Our tickets said to meet in the Getaway Theater which we did. We were then escorted off the ship and to our transportation to Anguilla.

 

We boarded a smallish vessel and headed out for a 45 minute ride. This was not a leisure ride. It was bumpy, rough and WET for those of us sitting up top. I did not mind the wet part so much since we were going to get wet anyways.

 

The people at our excursion site were so nice. We had about 45 minutes of beach time, and 45 minutes of time with the dolphins. The beach was so pretty. We were able to borrow goggles so we could do a little bit of viewing of the coral. So if you do this excursion bring your snorkel gear. It is not provided but is useful.

 

The dolphin encounter was very cool. THey also do a dolphin swim. We could not do that because our DD is not old enough. We had a fantastic time with our encounter.

 

The boat ride back to the ship was about miserable. It was bumpy, we were among the last to board so we did not get seats up top, we ended up down below. I thought this is air conditioned it won't be so bad. It was so bumpy. Many people got sick, to the point of throwing up. We could not wait to get off that boat.

 

Day 4- Saint Thomas. We did another ship sponsored excursion, but we split the family up. DD and I went to Coral World and DH and DS went to Coral World Snuba. Our DD once again was too young.

 

Our tickets said to meet on the pier. We left our rooms early because we expected long lines to get off the ship, since we did not have an escort off the ship. However, when we got to deck four their was no line of people waiting to get off of the ship. Once again we were impressed with how fast the crew got people through the lines and off to the fun.

 

Coral World is great if you have young kids or mixed aged kids. So my son and husband had a blast doing Snuba. They also have a sea lion encounter, sea turtle encounter, swim with the sharks. So if you have young kids and older kids this might be something you can do.

 

I will say that if my son only got to do Coral World he would not have liked it. It is very small but interesting if your kids like to see and do new things. When done at Coral World you can walk to the connected beach for a swim.

 

Day 6 Nassau We have been here several times so we decided to make it a stay on the ship day. We had the slides, ropes course and other fun stuff mostly to ourselves.

[hscruiser]

I would say that the shows are about 90% different. They seemed to try hard to have new material for each show.

 

Sorry I don't have the dallies.... my sweet little girl was helping me clean up and tossed them. Which is why I am not doing a "day by day review." I can't remember the days.

Thanks. I'm surprised you had three comedians - this must be something new, because all I've heard in the past is that there were two. Nice!

[JP4GA]

Pray if you travel that you do not have to see this ships doctor. He was very rude and acted like he did not want to see anyone.

 

So after the Snuba trip my DH felt discomfort in his ear and could not hear. He thought maybe it was a case of swimmers ear. After checking with the ships store for drops and asking at the desk if any could be found on the ship he went to see the ships doctor.

 

The doctor was not in. However the lady at the desk told him to come back in 1 hours and to bring his excursion receipt. She informed him that since the issue happened on a NCL excursion that he would not be charged the $100 (+) to see the doctor. She told him that the ship would file against the excursion provider.

 

So an hour later he goes back and the doctor acts like he does not want to see him. The lady at the desk is gone and a nurse/assistant is there. She tells my husband about the charges that will be incurred and asks if he still wants treatment. DH tells her what the other lady told him and produces his NCL excursion receipt.

 

The doctor got mad picked up the phone and called the lady my DH had talked to earlier. After a long angry sounding conversation (in french) the doctor hung up and said ok I will see you no charge, but you will have to pay for drops if needed.

 

The doctor looks in ears and says you have a "hemorrhage" see an ENT when you return home. He gave him some medication and left the room. He did not give DH a chance to ask any questions or even tell him how often to use the medications.

 

Poor DH spent the rest of our trip not being able to hear everyone properly. He said everyone sound like they were talking in a tunnel or something.

 

We are pretty much dissatisfied with the doctor and his attitude. He was angry that the lady told him that because it was on an NCL Excursion that there would be no charge. Its like he wanted us to pay, and to file a claim. The thing is we would have paid if we needed to, his attitude about us knowing we did not have to pay is what made us mad. Makes me wonder if they don't tell people about this so that they can make more money. Who knows.

[JP4GA]

The Getaway has a ton of bars, and each one is different. We liked the Sunset bar the most. Just outside on deck there were nice wicker chairs to sit in in order to enjoy your drinks. They also had lots of nice oversized chairs for inside seating.

 

Our second most favorite bar was The Sugarcane Mojito Bar. The severs and bartenders here were so super nice. They also had a special of try 6 for 15. Which was good since they had so many yummy drinks to choose from.

 

We did not go to the Ice Bar. It was COLD just walking by that place. The people that did try it all seemed to be having a great time

 

Most of the bars always had comfortable seating available. They have so many seating areas on this ship it was never really difficult to find a place to hang out.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[**maria**]

How was the Splash Academy? Did your daughter enjoy it?

[Windy56]

I love well organized and detailed reviews like the one you've written. Thank you so much for taking the time to post it.

[JP4GA]

Our daughter loves going to the kid clubs on ships. This time was no different. On a few occasions she was very upset with us for picking her up too early, but we wanted to spend time with her on this vacation.

 

On the first day during registration you will receive the schedule for the week. The schedule is basically the same everyday. We varied our times so I do not remember the exact schedule.

 

Each day they have a theme- Cowboy vs. ALiens, Princess and Prince, The Circus, Survivor, Pirate Night-- I can not remember the rest of them. During the week the kids practice for a Circus that they present to parents on Thursday. They do the performance in the Getaway Theatre. All of the kids on board seemed to have fun practicing and performing for this show.

 

The kids had fun playing group games, meeting the characters, story times, dance parties, face painting and so much more. They have a few times where they go up to the sports deck and play some outdoor games (tennis shoes are required for these times). One night they go and look for treasure around the ship. It sounds a little scary but it was so cute seeing all the pirates with face paint looking for treasure. They found some bracelets and other little trinkets.

 

Splash Academy is open during port times. We did not utilize this service however many parents did. They have a charge of $6 for meals that they serve while in port. Meals are not served to kids on sea days or dinner. Some ships have meal times for kids but NCL does not do that.

 

All of the staff were very nice. They seemed to really like their jobs. The director of program is very out going and really interacted with the children.

 

Issues

The area was clean but seemed a little small for the number of children that were in attendance.

 

They have two computers to check in kids, but the line crosses over to where the kids enter so it gets a little crowded at some times.

 

Most of the time the kids go shoeless (playing on mats). They throw all the shoes in a pile so it takes kids a while to locate their shoes when it is time to go.

 

They have pagers but don't tell parents about being able to get one. So ASK and they will happily give you one. Its just nice to know that they can locate you quickly should your child need you.

 

They do not reopen for the evening until 7:00 pm. Many shows start at 7:00 they should open around 6:30 so that parents can get to the shows on time.

 

Overall we are satisfied with Splash Academy. Our child loved it she is 6.

[JP4GA]

I love well organized and detailed reviews like the one you've written. Thank you so much for taking the time to post it.

 

Thank you.

 

I like doing it by topic so that people can skip the things they are not interested in reading.

[**maria**]

Thank you for your detailed response. A pager would be excellent. I would be so much more relaxed with a pager so will definitely ask for one!

[JP4GA]

We ate all of our dinner meals in Taste and Savor. We are not big foodies, so we did not feel the need to pay extra for the speciality restaurants.

 

We really enjoyed our meals. Bread was always fresh. Appetizers were good, and entree meals were better than other ships we have been on. By far my favorite meal was the Rack of Lamb, it was perfect. I also enjoyed the prime rib.

 

Service in these resturants was always good with one exception....

 

THE ISSUE: On nights that they have big performances in the Tropicana they serve them first and orders for Taste and Savor get pushed back. One night after waiting over 30 minutes for our appetizers I asked our server if there was an issue. She said it would be 5 more minutes, because they stop serving in the Tropicana when the Burn the Floor act is on, and that the galley has to get their meals first.

 

It would have been nice to know since we had tickets to a 7:00 show. We let our server know and our food was promptly brought out. However, we did not have time for dessert that night.

 

They should really let dinners know about delays that are going to be caused that they know about. It is really hard to entertain a hungry child in a restaurant for that long of time.

 

Other than that one issue we enjoyed the Savor and Taste.

[Gelato13]

One of the things I dreaded most about sailing a big ship was getting off the ship for excursions.

 

All I can say is "WOW, WELL DONE GETAWAY." No line to get off the ship. It went so smooth.

 

Day 3- Saint Maarten-- We did a ship sponsored excursion to Anguilla for a dolphin encounter. Our tickets said to meet in the Getaway Theater which we did. We were then escorted off the ship and to our transportation to Anguilla.

 

We boarded a smallish vessel and headed out for a 45 minute ride. This was not a leisure ride. It was bumpy, rough and WET for those of us sitting up top. I did not mind the wet part so much since we were going to get wet anyways.

 

The people at our excursion site were so nice. We had about 45 minutes of beach time, and 45 minutes of time with the dolphins. The beach was so pretty. We were able to borrow goggles so we could do a little bit of viewing of the coral. So if you do this excursion bring your snorkel gear. It is not provided but is useful.

 

The dolphin encounter was very cool. THey also do a dolphin swim. We could not do that because our DD is not old enough. We had a fantastic time with our encounter.

 

The boat ride back to the ship was about miserable. It was bumpy, we were among the last to board so we did not get seats up top, we ended up down below. I thought this is air conditioned it won't be so bad. It was so bumpy. Many people got sick, to the point of throwing up. We could not wait to get off that boat.

 

Day 4- Saint Thomas. We did another ship sponsored excursion, but we split the family up. DD and I went to Coral World and DH and DS went to Coral World Snuba. Our DD once again was too young.

 

Our tickets said to meet on the pier. We left our rooms early because we expected long lines to get off the ship, since we did not have an escort off the ship. However, when we got to deck four their was no line of people waiting to get off of the ship. Once again we were impressed with how fast the crew got people through the lines and off to the fun.

 

Coral World is great if you have young kids or mixed aged kids. So my son and husband had a blast doing Snuba. They also have a sea lion encounter, sea turtle encounter, swim with the sharks. So if you have young kids and older kids this might be something you can do.

 

I will say that if my son only got to do Coral World he would not have liked it. It is very small but interesting if your kids like to see and do new things. When done at Coral World you can walk to the connected beach for a swim.

 

Day 6 Nassau We have been here several times so we decided to make it a stay on the ship day. We had the slides, ropes course and other fun stuff mostly to ourselves.

 

Thanks for the reviews. I am going in 40 days and was considering the Dolphin Excursion. Did it take the entire 6 hours they alot for this? And was there lunch?

 

Thanks in advance!

[JP4GA]

We are early risers so we normally beat the breakfast crowd.

 

We liked eating at Flamingo. They did have a made to order omelet bar. This was always less crowded than the one at the buffet. The Flamingo has limited offerings, but was always good and quiet in the mornings. They did have a coconut pastry that I did not find anywhere else on the ship and it was so good.

 

Savor- The menu was the same each day, but they have enough choices that you can have something different each day. Fresh fruit, pastry, juices, coffee, eggs, pancakes, waffles. It was all good. Service was generally pretty fast.

 

We tried to avoid the Buffet for meals as much as possible. However, on excursion days, and disembarkation day the buffet was the best option. They had anything you could want for breakfast. The buffet was always busy, and always had rude people. The lines for this buffet are strange as they are broken up into stations. So I would be standing in line and people would cut, thinking we were in another line. People also do not watch where they are going and cut you off when you have hot coffee or plates of food in your hands.

 

Overall the buffet food was good. Some food better than others, but it was not bad. Our experience would have been better if people would be AWARE of others and not be rushing so much that they run into you or cut you off when you are walking.

Edited July 21, 2014 by JP4GA

[JP4GA]

Thanks for the reviews. I am going in 40 days and was considering the Dolphin Excursion. Did it take the entire 6 hours they alot for this? And was there lunch?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes it did take the entire 6 hours. They start the time when you get off the boat. So about 45-60 minutes to load on the small boat (its a bit of a walk from the boat to the marina). 45-60 minute ride there, 45 minutes with dolphins, 45 minutes on the beach, 1 hour lunch and 1 hour ride back to port.

 

On the way back to port they will stop just off of airport beach in order to try to catch a plane landing. It was pretty neat to see the plane landing from the water.

 

The encounter was very fun. THe beach was nice and clear. I wish we would have had our snorkel gear, because there were a few small reefs really close by.

 

Lunch was a burger, chips, and pink lemonade. It was ok nothing to write home about.

 

They do NOT permit you to take photos, however they will take a lot of photos of you and for you. They charge for photos by the person. So ALL photos of 4 people was $169. They took about 60 photos of us in the water and then you can get photos of just the dolphins thrown in at no charge.

[Gelato13]

Yes it did take the entire 6 hours. They start the time when you get off the boat. So about 45-60 minutes to load on the small boat (its a bit of a walk from the boat to the marina). 45-60 minute ride there, 45 minutes with dolphins, 45 minutes on the beach, 1 hour lunch and 1 hour ride back to port.

 

On the way back to port they will stop just off of airport beach in order to try to catch a plane landing. It was pretty neat to see the plane landing from the water.

 

The encounter was very fun. THe beach was nice and clear. I wish we would have had our snorkel gear, because there were a few small reefs really close by.

 

Lunch was a burger, chips, and pink lemonade. It was ok nothing to write home about.

 

They do NOT permit you to take photos, however they will take a lot of photos of you and for you. They charge for photos by the person. So ALL photos of 4 people was $169. They took about 60 photos of us in the water and then you can get photos of just the dolphins thrown in at no charge.

 

Thanks so much for the insight!