7/5 Getaway Review w/ Pictures

[Terpsince74]

Soon after the comedy show, we decided to make it an early night. We were exhausted. On the way back to the room, we spotted this model of the Getaway which was really cool and detailed.

 

 

 

There you can see our balcony!

 

 

When we got back to the room, we thought Wynan might have forgotten to do towel animal that evening. Later on, I looked up and spotted this little guy hanging from the curtain.

 

[Chesneygirl]

"Paradise Point

To get up to Paradise Point, you have to take a Cable Car up the side of the mountain. It was a 5 minute walk to the entrance of the cable cars. The entrance fee was surprisingly pricey at about $20 per person for a 10 min ride but I still thought it was worth it for the views. We had to wait in line for about 10-15 minutes as they only had 3 cars. Soon enough we were on our way up to the top of the mountain. I immediately started snapping pics as the view looked like a post card."

 

 

I'm really enjoying your review with pictures...thank you so much for taking the time to put it all together!!

 

When you say it was a 5 minute walk to the entrance, is that from where the ship is docked?

[Terpsince74]

"Paradise Point

To get up to Paradise Point, you have to take a Cable Car up the side of the mountain. It was a 5 minute walk to the entrance of the cable cars. The entrance fee was surprisingly pricey at about $20 per person for a 10 min ride but I still thought it was worth it for the views. We had to wait in line for about 10-15 minutes as they only had 3 cars. Soon enough we were on our way up to the top of the mountain. I immediately started snapping pics as the view looked like a post card."

 

 

I'm really enjoying your review with pictures...thank you so much for taking the time to put it all together!!

 

When you say it was a 5 minute walk to the entrance, is that from where the ship is docked?

 

Glad you are enjoying the review! It probably takes 5 minutes to walk off the boat and exit the port. From there it is probably another 5 minute walk to the cable car place. No more than 10 minutes in total.

[Terpsince74]

Getaway Day 6 (Thursday July 10th)- Sea Day

We slept in quite late on our final sea day of the cruise. That is another great thing about sea days. We paid for it later as most of the good chairs were taken up at Vibe but I would still not have done it any other way.

 

As we finally got our butts out of bed and moving we decided to try a different breakfast spot. We had not realized it but it was 10:30 am by the time we were up and moving. We went by Taste and Savor and found out that they closed for breakfast at 10am. Once again, we ate breakfast up in the Garden Café. Thankfully, by then, the crowd had thinned out.

 

Spa- Day Pass purchase

On our way over to Vibe we decided to stop by the Spa to see if there were any day passes available for the Thermal Spa. I was surprised that I was able to buy a day pass to the Thermal Spa on the final sea day. They actually had a promo that offered a 2-day pass for the sea day and Bahamas day at port, for $79. Originally I had thought I would have to buy a spa service in order to then buy a day pass for the Thermal Spa. Not the case. Maybe the spa passes were slow that week due to great weather but I surely was pleasantly surprised. We got a day spa pass for My GF for $45 as she does not enjoy the Spa as much as I do. We decided to head over to Vibe for a while and stop by the spa later.

 

Vibe

By the time we got to Vibe it was packed. Most of the padded loungers were taken so we decided to just lay out on the flat beds. It was brutally hot that day with no trace of wind. I sat out for a while and after an hour decided I could not take it any longer. I was dripping with sweat and I was starting to get sick of being out in the sun. I decided it was time to grab some lunch, than go enjoy the Spa for a while. My GF and I planned to meet in 90 minutes at the Spa.

 

I decided to grab a quick lunch at the Noodle Bar. By the time I got there they had already sat their last groups. I told them I already new what I wanted and would be very quick. The hostess said, no problem and thankfully sat me. I ordered the Singapore Noodles. Ten minutes later I got my lunch. I could tell immediately that they were not as fresh as I would have liked. I chalked it up as I was too late for the lunch time seating but the dish was not very good. It was a bit bland and dry. I also wish I had tried the lo mein dish that was my other option. Oh well!

 

Spa

The short hour in the sun up at Vibe already had me exhausted. The sun was just so intense that day. It seemed like we could never get that perfect blend of a breeze and sun. I was ready to get some relaxing in at the spa and it like clockwork, it did the trick. The spa was setup the same exact way as it was on the Breakaway so it was nothing new to me, but it still hit the spot. I spent some time in the thermal pool, relaxing with the high powered jets working some of the kinks out of my back and neck. I then went and spent 10 or so minutes in the steam room. I made sure to load up on water as I had been in the sun earlier and the steam room really gets your pores opened up quickly. I don’t know what it is about the steam room but I always feel super refreshed after spending a little time in there. I also tried the sauna and salt room, but the steam room and the pool were my favorite parts about the spa. There were also hot stone beds and regular loungers looking out over the front of the ship. I sat down on one of the hot stone beds (inclined chairs) and read for a good 45 minutes until my GF showed up. As soon as she got there, I started showing her around. After trying out the pool and salt room (she hates the steam room) we got ourselves some hot tea/water, and went back to relaxing on the hot stone beds for a while longer. I think I spent a good 2-2.5 hours in there that day. I was pleasantly surprised that it was not too crowded.

 

 

We went back up to Vibe after that for a little bit longer and shortly after headed back to our room. On our way there, we decided to pickup some snacks to enjoy on the balcony with some of our leftover wine. Surprisingly, we still had a decent amount of wine left to kill lol!

 

Once back in the room, we called around trying to find availability in the specialty restaurants. We were hoping to get into Cagneys but they were sold out for the rest of the cruise. We settled for Moderno.

 

As we left the room, I brought my last remaining wine bottle down with us for dinner at Moderno. I also decided tonight would be a good night for a cigar after dinner so brought that along as well. Before getting to Moderno, we spotted a beautiful sunset so took some pictures.

 

 

Dinner- Moderno

Moderno is a Brazilian churrascaria that offers all you can eat salad bar, assorted meats, along with other side items. Make sure you bring a full appetite to Moderno as you will get LOTS of food. I really enjoyed Moderno on the Breakaway and thought my GF would enjoy it as well, especially the fully stocked salad bar. First, they let you go enjoy the salad bar, and when you are ready to start getting meats brought to your table, you turn your coaster from the red side over so that the green side is showing. The meats come out on metal spits that come fresh out of their rotisserie style ovens. There are bacon wrapped chicken breasts (my favorite), chicken legs, sausages, 5 plus different types of steak, lamb, etc. This place is a cardiologist’s worst nightmare but can be very good. Many of our red meats were served very rare, which was a bit of a surprise to us. I like a good juicy steak but you could almost hear the cows mooing they were so rare. The chicken was cooked well, but I also noticed this with the lamb as well. Just a little too rare for my liking. I felt so ashamed wasting as much food as I did but I was a bit disappointed with the meats that night. It could have had something to do with the time we chose. We had a late dinner that night so maybe that contributed to the undercooked meats. On the Breakaway I did not experience any of that so I am sure it was just a one-time thing. We still enjoyed our meal and had 2 fantastic deserts before we left.

 

Cigar Lounge

We were stuffed when we left and we thought this would be the perfect time to go smoke the cigar I bought in St. Maarten. We walked over to the cigar lounge and tried to look into the option of smoking it outside. My GF did not want to go into a smoke filled room if she could help it. Unfortunately the lounge was the only place they would let you smoke cigars so we headed in. I ordered a scotch as those 2 need to go hand in hand if you ask me. The scotch hit the spot and the cigar ended up being fantastic. It was a very small cigar that looked more like a long cigarette. It was very mild which made me happy. My GF even had a few puffs and thought it was pretty mild too. I wish I had gotten more of those cigars in St. Maarten.

 

At some point that night we took this pic...

 

 

After the cigar lounge, we headed up to Spice H2O for a short while and soon after headed back to the room. We were greeted by this little guy…

 

[Windy56]

I have been really enjoying your review. Nice pics and lots of detail. We will be on the Getaway in seven months and so we are eager to read anything about this beautiful ship!

[Terpsince74]

I have been really enjoying your review. Nice pics and lots of detail. We will be on the Getaway in seven months and so we are eager to read anything about this beautiful ship!

 

Glad you are enjoying it Windy! You will have a great time on the Getaway. It's an awesome ship!

[meatball_nyc]

Nice photos. Thanks for sharing :)

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[meltingmoments]

Super review and amazing pictures! Thank you so much for sharing! :)

 

I'm not excited in any way, shape or form that I will be on that gorgeous ship in 8 MORE DAYS!!!!

 

 

Even though my signature says 7 days, Friday is not yet over here in the UK! ;)

Edited August 1, 2014 by meltingmoments

[Sundiego]

I am loving this review. Thanks so much! We sail in September and this review has us really excited for our vacation to start :)

[MPH711]

Any more to the review?

[OKLandShark]

Thanks for the Review, the pictures and details are a great help for our upcoming Getaway in September!

 

Thanks, again!

[kerryincork]

Loving the detailed review. I'm doing this cruise in Feb 2015 :D and you have given me great ideas how to get about the place. Do you know if the taxis in St. Thomas are as organised as they were in St. Maartean?

 

Kerry

[Projunior]

Projunior- I looked up in my Dailes (I have every day except for Sat and Wed) and to my surprise, it looks like they offer "Dine & Dance with Latin Express" every night in the Tropicana Room except for Saturday and Thursday. I know this as we went to dinner there Saturday and the band was not there. The night that the Burn the Floor dancers are in Tropicana Room was Thursday night and was labeled as "Burn the Floor- Things that Swing." Hope that helps. Enjoy your trip!

 

Thanks for looking this up. I have read many reviews on CC over the years and yours is one of the best.

[Terpsince74]

Thanks for looking this up. I have read many reviews on CC over the years and yours is one of the best.

 

Thanks so much Projunior!

[Terpsince74]

Loving the detailed review. I'm doing this cruise in Feb 2015 :D and you have given me great ideas how to get about the place. Do you know if the taxis in St. Thomas are as organised as they were in St. Maartean?

 

Kerry

 

Hi Kerry- I seem to recall there being a ton of taxis/busses much like St. Maarten available as the ship docked. It did not look quite as organized as St. Maarten but I am sure you will be just fine in grabbing a cab to where you want to go. I honestly did not take one so can't speak to it. )We did the snorkeling excursion in the morning and than did the cable car ride in the afternoon so we did not have to take a cab from the port). Maybe someone else reading this review can offer some more info on the taxi situation at the port in St. Thomas. Enjoy your trip!

[Terpsince74]

Any more to the review?

 

Yes- sorry, we area almost done writing the final day and conclusion. We were hoping to have it posted over the weekend but were crazy busy. Keep an eye out tonight or tomorrow for our final day and final thoughts. Thanks so much for following along!

[Terpsince74]

Getaway Day 7 (Friday July 11th)- Nassau, Bahamas

As soon as we woke up I went to the spa for a few hours while my GF went to the gym. It was a great relaxing way to bring in our final day of the cruise. We knew we were not getting into Nassau until Noon so the plan was to meet around 11 for breakfast. I spent a few hours enjoying the pool, steam room, and reading a lot.

 

By 11:30 the pink towers of Atlantis could be seen far in the distance.

 

 

Breakfast

For the first time on the cruise, we decided to eat breakfast at a place not named the Garden Café. We decided to do breakfast that morning at the Flamingo Grill. They had a nice assortment of breakfast sandwiches. I got an egg & cheese sandwich on an English muffin and also got a Peach turnover. The sandwich was pretty plain but good enough. The turnover was outstanding. My GF got a fruit & yogurt parfait which she did not like too much. She also got some rice pudding for us to share which was delicious. By the time we were done eating, we were getting pretty close to our final stop so we headed back to the room to get our stuff ready for a day in Nassau.

 

 

 

As we got close to the port our ship started making a complete turn so that we could back into port. It made for some great pictures for us from our balcony.

 

 

You could see Atlantis on the left and the port on the right. The beautiful Disney Dream was already docked as were two other Carnival ships. Our ship took the last spot on the pier.

 

 

We tied up in Nassau at 11:50 am. We had been told by the CD, Joel, that we would not be able to disembark right away so he begged everyone to not walk down to the 5th floor where the gangway was until he announced they were ready. We chilled out on the balcony for a while longer and then headed down to the atrium to get some coffee at Carlo’s Bakery while we waited to disembark.

 

The plan for the day was to go to a resort called the Melia Resort that was located on Cable Beach out near the Baha Mar (a new hotel they are working on). While in the Vibe the day before, we met a very friendly couple that told us about Melia. It sounded like a good deal compared to Atlantis. Access to the Atlantis waterpark/beach was $169 per person for a half day. We decided we would go to Atlantis for a full day when we come back on the Sky this winter. Melia offers a day pass for $30 per person which includes pool and beach access, free wi-fi, beach chairs, access to non motorized equipment, such as kayak, stand up paddle board, and noodles.

 

Unfortunately, we could not disembark until 12:45pm. We were surprised it took so long. It’s a shame since we were in Nassau for a shorter time with the midday arrival. The Nassau port was a madhouse at that time and only 4 ships were in port. The port was completely disorganized lacking proper signage for busses, taxi’s, etc. They can have as many as 7 ships in port at one time so I cannot imagine how crazy it is on a day like that.

 

We figured it would be pretty easy to find a cab to take us from the port to Cable Beach but were we wrong. We tried to hail a taxi for 2 to Melia Resort at Cable Beach but many people warned us that it would be tough at that time of day for just one couple. Busses were gathering up people and heading to Atlantis. It seemed like the entire port was heading there. I have heard that some people waited an awful long time to get their NCL sponsored bus ride over to the Atlantis. My suggestion is you can walk out to the bus stands and easily find a bus heading there. You will be on your way in no time.

 

I had been to the Bahamas before and forgot just how friendly everyone is. We asked a few people that worked at the port for help in getting a ride to Cable Beach. A very nice lady tried to help us find one but was unsuccessful. She suggested we could also take a public bus to Cable Beach if worse came to worse.

 

Eventually, we decided to just venture out and take the public bus to Cable Beach. You have to walk a few blocks up and away from the port to where the number 10 bus stop is. It’s easy to find as it is right across the street from the police man that stands in the middle of the intersection in a small wooden cabin.

 

 

We stood and waited a good ten minutes for the bus. We were very close to walking back to the port to get a cab to the Atlantis when the number 10 bus came sputtering around the corner.

[Terpsince74]

Bus Ride to Cable Beach

The bus ride was quite the adventure. We were the only ones sitting next to the front door. We quickly realized why nobody was sitting there. The bus drove the entire time with the door wide open! Nice air conditioning. LOL. The bus was super old with ripped up seats covered in plastic. It barely got up some of the hills. It was fun seeing how the locals travel. Every local that gets on the bus says ”good day” or “good afternoon”. To ask the driver to stop they just shout out “bus stop” and the driver stops pretty much wherever. As we approached Cable Beach we saw the new Baha Mar Resort that is being built and then passed a Sandals resort. The Melia Resort stop was after the bus turns around and starts heading back to the port. A super friendly lady on the bus explained what we had to do to get back to the port later by taking the local bus again. We went to pay the fare for the 30 minute bus ride and it ended up being only $1.25 per person. We could not believe how cheap it was.

 

Melia Nassau Beach Resort

Once we got to Melia, we went in and purchased the $30 day passes. The hotel’s lobby was beautiful. I was able to get on wi-fi right away as it was not password protected. That was the first time I had gotten on the grid in almost a week. As we headed out to the pool and beach area, we quickly lost our wi-fi connection. We decided we would have a drink at the bar before we left to catch up on a few emails, etc later.

 

 

 

 

As we mentioned, the $30 per person fee, included pool access, free wi-fi, beach chairs, access to non motorized equipment, such as kayak, stand up paddle board, and noodles. For about $150/hr you can also rent a jet-ski, which we didn’t do.

 

The beach was great. Most of the umbrellas on the beach looked like tiki-bar huts but there wasn’t enough of them for each of the loungers. To find some shade we had to put our stuff under a palm tree.

 

 

There was a good size bar and a restaurant on the beach, a swim-up bar at the pool, and a small lazy river on the other side of the pool.

 

 

We layed out for a while and then went for a relaxing swim. After a about an hour, I picked up a burger for lunch along with some fries which was around $20. When I got back, I noticed my GF was on a paddle board, having a blast. She had a fun time paddling around the calm waters just off the beach. It was a nice relaxing day but we were not able to spend too much time there as we had early evening dinner reservations back on the ship. We were probably there for 2.5 hours. We also wanted to get some wi-fi time in so headed back inside to the hotel lobby bar before we left. We ordered a round of drinks and caught up on the Internet.

 

[Terpsince74]

Our dinner reservation on the ship was for 5:30 as we wanted to watch the sailaway from our balcony one last time. As we left Melia, there were a bunch of cabs outside the hotel. Traffic was really bad due to it being Friday and their Independence Day weekend. Thankfully we had an awesome driver that took us on a bunch of short cuts and was able to get us to the port within 30 minutes. She did warn us that most cab drivers would have just stood in traffic taking close to an hour to get back. Here is a quick pic of the dreadful traffic...

 

 

As we got back to the port, we were able to do some quick shopping at the Straw market filled with hand-made knick knacks and souvenirs. Prices were all negotiable everywhere we went and we found that just about everything could be negotiated down 30%.

 

On the way to the Getaway, we strolled past the Disney Dream and took a few more pics of her. She is a beautiful ship that we would like to take my nieces and nephew on one day.

 

 

 

As we got to the Getaway, my GF was a trooper and waited out by the pier to take a few pics of our cabin balcony. I ran up to wave my Maryland flag out the balcony so you could tell which balcony cabin we had. The pics did not come out too well due to glare but you can see me way in the distance.

 

 

 

As we entered the Getaway after our last port of Nassau, the NCL folks put on a great show for the final welcome back.

 

[Terpsince74]

Dinner at La Cucina

We were given a free dinner at La Cucina along with a bottle of wine by our travel agent. For whatever reason, we chose that for our last dinner. We made it to dinner a bit late but the place was nearly empty. It was warm but we sat outside anyways. We ordered our food and soon after the Disney Dream started its sailaway. It was fun to hear all of the Disney horns go off as they pulled away.

 

We both had Caesar salads which were great and came with anchovies. Our appetizer, calamari, was good. We were surprised that they let us order a bunch of entre’s so I ordered the Lobster Linguini and a meatball pasta dish. My GF ordered a grilled shrimp entre. The lobster linguini was outstanding. The grilled shrimp and meatball dishes were not so great but still fine. We shared a tiramisu for desert which was decadent. The service at La Cucina was very good (albeit it was very slow at 6pm). The food was not bad at all. I was expecting a lot worse due to the many complaints I have seen on Cruise Critic.

 

Sailaway from Nassau

We headed back to the room to enjoy the sailaway from our balcony. We had a perfect view of the port, Atlantis, and we could even see Cable Beach in the distance. For as many complaints as cruisers have regarding Nassau, it might have been the prettiest sailaway.

 

 

There were a few larger boats that followed us out as we leaving including this awesome boat.

 

 

 

 

Here is a shot of the hotels on Cable Beach...

 

[Terpsince74]

Shopping

They had been making some announcements stating that there were some significant discounts at Tradewinds and Tides Boutique shops that evening. We headed down there and purchased a few things. There were some great deals so it definitely paid to wait until the last day if there was something nice you wanted. We also looked at the photos of us taken by the photographers. We debated if we should buy them, but we liked the photos that we took better than the professional ones so we decided not to purchase any.

 

Ice Bar

After shopping we headed over to the Ice Bar. We went up to the host and gave him Jose’s business card. We mentioned that Jose offered us a free entrance for coming to Meet and Greet. The host was quick to get us setup with parkas and gloves. To go inside the ice bar you absolutely have to wear a parka and gloves that they give everybody. We also got a few drink tickets. Despite the coats and gloves we were freezing after the first 3 minutes. It may be a good day to go there if you are sunburnt. LOL! We got a couple of drinks that were served in ice glasses, which made them taste even better. There was a chair made out of ice that you can sit on for a picture. We took a few photos and left the bar as my GF started getting really cold. We felt sorry for the bartender staying in there for hours as we couldn’t take the cold longer than 10 min. This bar is definitely worth checking out if you have never been to one.

 

 

 

After the Ice Bar we went to Headliners to listen to the dueling pianos before calling it a night. For some reason, the dueling piano guys were not as good that night. They were bringing on a bunch of guest piano players that were playing a lot of show tunes that we just could not get into. We left soon after as we needed to be up fairly early the next day for disembarkation. Another incredible cruise was coming to an end. Thankfully we had another cruise to start planning when we got home.

[mianmike]

Great review. Love the pictures. Thanks for taking the time to do this . . .

[gaiamother]

Really great review, thanks so much! Just booked our trip, just my husband and I, for October 25. Can't wait:)!

[MPH711]

Great review. Thanks so much for taking the time to post it.

[Chesneygirl]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review with photos!!

 

You have given my husband and I some great tips/ideas on what to do in each port especially in Nassua. Our plan was to not even get off the ship while in Nassau but now I think that has changed. The Melia Resort looks like the perfect way to spend a day in the Bahamas. :)