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Well I lived up to my user-name on our Getaway adventure! :)

meltingmoments

By meltingmoments,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Well the time had finally come to begin our much-awaited trip! We left England behind and arrived in Miami on the afternoon of Thursday 7th August after a VERY long journey! We were lucky enough to be staying with family and so had the comforts of home straight away. For me, that meant a snack, a glass of white and bed by 9:00pm Miami time....2:00am MY time! :D

 

The next day was spent chilling out and excitedly planning what we would do when we boarded the Getaway!

 

This was to be a very different trip for us as we are used to cruising just DH and I. This time we were cruising with extended family that included an almost 2 year old and a 12 year old!! We had balcony cabins next door to each other!! Would we all survive the week?? :eek:

 

Saturday finally arrived and we took an easy trip from home to the Port of Miami and caught our first glimpse of the beautiful Norwegian Getaway! I loved her immediately! :)

 

images.jpg.41146f732903cf3e3af97515d50daa7f.jpg

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Embarkation was quick and painless. We arrived around 11:30 am and were on the ship within half an hour. We lunched in O'Sheehans which was great, not too crowded at all. Then began our tour of the ship to familiarise ourselves with our home for the next week! :)

 

I actually found the Getaway to be easier to navigate than the Epic and I (usually) remembered where I was and how to get to where I needed to be....always a bonus! ;)

 

We checked out the kids club area so that we could register our two young travelling companions. The lines in this area were HUGE.......their mum and dad gave up and went back later that evening and had no problems.

 

We checked out Spice H2O.........destined to become mine and DH's *place to go* a LOT of the time!

 

 

 

It seemed no time at all till our cabins were ready and off we went to check them out. You'll hear no complaints from me about the cabin......nicely laid out, tons of storage space and enough space for 2 adults to move around......we don't need more than that! As for the balcony.......yes, it was small....well more narrow than I expected, but there were 2 chairs to sit on and a table that held two wine glasses........who can ask for more?

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Bars7816

Bars7816

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I actually found the Getaway to be easier to navigate than the Epic and I (usually) remembered where I was and how to get to where I needed to be....

 

Me too. The Breakaway was mysteriously less difficult to navigate than Epic. :cool:

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Muster Drill was painless as ever and so it was time to go back to our balcony for sailaway drinks! I had pre-ordered a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine which we shared with our next-door-neighbours ( not the young 'uns......they had juice! ;) )

 

By this time suitcases were arriving....well, ONE out of our two was!! The other was no=where to be seen! :eek:

 

Next door had all four of their suitcases and all 6 cases had been given to the same Porter.......I was getting worried! I unpacked what I could and continued with the wine drinking, but I was still anxious....time was moving on!

The case finally arrived around 7pm tagged *PRIORITY*.....We never found out why!!

 

Anyway......all was well. It was getting time for dinner. We had arranged to meet the family at Mixx, the bar that sat between the two main restaurants, Taste and Savor, so we could decide which one we wanted to eat in. When we arrived, both were busy. This was around 8:00pm. The wait was going to be about 30 minutes we were told, so as we had the young ones, we made our way to the Tropicana Room where we were seated immediately.

 

Service was good, as was the food. We all had something different and tried each others out. We also ordered a wine package here which was very painless!

 

We headed over to Sunset Bar for a drink and then it was time for bed for the young ones. DH and I went to Sugarcane, the Mojito bar and thoroughly enjoyed watching a crowd of people of various ages salsa dancing along to a great band! Such good fun! :)

 

We then went to The Grammy Experience to listen to Roddie Romero. We didn't know who he was, but we enjoyed him just the same!

 

After that it was O'Sheehans to play basketball, bowling and darts! Mmmm, you thought the kids had gone to bed, didn't you? Well we hadn't!! ;)

 

We even ended up in Bliss as I felt the need for a dance.......if only I had known any of the music!! :eek:

 

We then took a walk around the pool deck and just watched the ocean go by before heading to bed!

 

And so ended our first day on the Getaway.

 

Now if only Flickr would play nicely and let me share some photos, I would be a happy bunny!! :confused:

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Sunday morning came around very quickly....maybe that had something to do with the fact that it was 3:00am when we finally arrived back at our cabin! :o

 

Thank goodness today was a sea day!

 

Breakfast was braved for the first.....and last.....time in the Garden Café!

Nothing wrong with the food at all....just way too busy for our liking.

We spent the rest of the week having breakfast in the Flamingo bar and Grill......much easier and quieter. We also found that there was enough choice for us as well, so didn't feel we were missing out!

 

We managed to find some beds on deck 15 and lay out for a while.

Now here is where my user-name begins to come into it's own!!!

We often travel Europe, which can be hot, but I have NEVER been as hot as I was on this holiday! Maybe some of it was my age ;)....but the humidity really got to me! The pictures of me are priceless.....a red face is NOT an attractive look.......and NO, you're NOT seeing them!! :D

 

We met up with the family and braved the splash area with the youngest......we all had a ball. :) Although it WAS busy and did get quite slippy with youngsters sliding about all over the place.

 

We had lunch in the Garden Café.....it seemed less frantic at lunch times somehow.

We went back to the sunbeds for an hour then to the cabin to chill.

 

Tonight was The Illusionarium and it lived up to our expectations....it was amazing! Our youngest family member slept through the whole thing but the teenager was mesmerised the whole way through....a joy to watch! :)

The meal was fine, but as with Cirque Dreams on the Epic, I actually found it a bit distracting and could have done without it! But that's just me!

 

We hit O'Sheehans again afterwards and watched a super singer/band called New Season playing in the Atrium. I loved that you could be in O'Sheehans and catch what was going on down in the Atrium.

And that was another day done!

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Monday.....another sea day.

 

Today we headed for breakfast in the Flamingo Bar and then decided to try out Spice H2O This definitely was our favourite daytime hang-out.......I just loved that waterfall. I spent more time in there than on a sunbed.......no chair-hogging from ME!! ;)

We also got chatting to some really nice people in this cooling off area.

I must say we found the atmosphere and the vibe on this ship so different to the Epic and the Jade. Without meaning to be disrespectful in any way, we just found American people were more willing to chat and were less reserved........we loved that! :D

 

Tonight the other adults in our party had decided they wanted to try Le Bistro. This was one venue that DH and I had never tried on any of the other ships, not sure why, just never really appealed. We have always been happy with the Main Dining Rooms and the occasional foray into Moderno or Cagneys, so this was a new experience! All I will say is........I will never repeat it! :(

Now I am most certainly NOT a complainer and I consider myself fairly patient and tolerant but this was not a good experience. In brief......we had a reservation for 9:00pm. We arrived early...5 minutes early. No-one came to us for about 10 minutes........the place wasn't full. We were finally seated at about 9:10pm Starters were ordered and arrived fast. All were fine. Onion soup was lovely. Main course orders were taken. We had our own wine. We had to ask for a cooler for the white wine and it was placed away from the table. No-one had their wine re-filled! We got lots of water from the waiter who was on water duty, but we didn't see our waitress after she took our orders! Eventually my DH got up and re-filled the ladies white wine from the cooler and served himself some red from the table. Our main course arrived at 10:15pm....an hour after we'd ordered! Myself and the teenager had Coq au vin.....tiniest I've ever seen. DH's beef tenderloin was undercooked...it went back! I think the waitress sensed all was not well...she finally made an appearance! She began chatting to my DH and his brother and began to question them about their age and jobs....I felt it was un-professional. Then when she realised they were brothers, she turned to me and asked if I was their MOTHER!!! I was mortified!! Well that just put the lid on things. We downed cutlery and asked for the bill. The waitress tried to persuade us to have dessert and kept questioning why not?? I was just glad to leave!

 

I've just realised I said I'd be brief.....and I wasn't!! Sorry, but that was our ONLY less that stellar service on the ship, but it stuck with me, I'm afraid! :(

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Okay, I'm either still jet-lagged.....we only got back yesterday.......or I've become totally computer illiterate!! :(

 

I can't seem to attach photo's in a decent size, so I'm just going to add the link to my Flickr account and hopefully if people want to take a look they will do! Sorry about that folks, I've always found it easy previously but Flickr appears to have changed recently!

 

I am now falling asleep on my feet so I'll continue tomorrow and hope people are finding it useful and informative! Good night all :)

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/80194400@N03/with/14854608107/

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maywell

maywell

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Monday.....another sea day.

 

Today we headed for breakfast in the Flamingo Bar and then decided to try out Spice H2O This definitely was our favourite daytime hang-out.......I just loved that waterfall. I spent more time in there than on a sunbed.......no chair-hogging from ME!! ;)

We also got chatting to some really nice people in this cooling off area.

I must say we found the atmosphere and the vibe on this ship so different to the Epic and the Jade. Without meaning to be disrespectful in any way, we just found American people were more willing to chat and were less reserved........we loved that! :D

 

Tonight the other adults in our party had decided they wanted to try Le Bistro. This was one venue that DH and I had never tried on any of the other ships, not sure why, just never really appealed. We have always been happy with the Main Dining Rooms and the occasional foray into Moderno or Cagneys, so this was a new experience! All I will say is........I will never repeat it! :(

Now I am most certainly NOT a complainer and I consider myself fairly patient and tolerant but this was not a good experience. In brief......we had a reservation for 9:00pm. We arrived early...5 minutes early. No-one came to us for about 10 minutes........the place wasn't full. We were finally seated at about 9:10pm Starters were ordered and arrived fast. All were fine. Onion soup was lovely. Main course orders were taken. We had our own wine. We had to ask for a cooler for the white wine and it was placed away from the table. No-one had their wine re-filled! We got lots of water from the waiter who was on water duty, but we didn't see our waitress after she took our orders! Eventually my DH got up and re-filled the ladies white wine from the cooler and served himself some red from the table. Our main course arrived at 10:15pm....an hour after we'd ordered! Myself and the teenager had Coq au vin.....tiniest I've ever seen. DH's beef tenderloin was undercooked...it went back! I think the waitress sensed all was not well...she finally made an appearance! She began chatting to my DH and his brother and began to question them about their age and jobs....I felt it was un-professional. Then when she realised they were brothers, she turned to me and asked if I was their MOTHER!!! I was mortified!! Well that just put the lid on things. We downed cutlery and asked for the bill. The waitress tried to persuade us to have dessert and kept questioning why not?? I was just glad to leave!

 

I've just realised I said I'd be brief.....and I wasn't!! Sorry, but that was our ONLY less that stellar service on the ship, but it stuck with me, I'm afraid! :(

 

 

Good gracious!! I hope you complain to the customer service desk or the maitre'd regarding the waitress - That was completely out of line!!!

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Hikini

Hikini

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Enjoying your review. Sorry your experience in Le Bistro wasn't a good one. We have always loved the food and the service in Le Bistro. You must have had the misfortune of an 'off' night in there.

 

Glad your cruise was good, though.

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Loving your review!!

How much did the wine pkg cost and how much wine?

 

Glad you're enjoying it....thank-you! :)

 

The wine package has 3 levels and 3 prices.....The Enthusiast is $88 for 4 bottles, $132 for 6 bottles and $176 for 8 bottles.

 

The Aficionado ( which can include bottles from The Enthusiast) is $98 for 4 bottles, $146 for 6 bottles and $196 for 8 bottles.

 

The Connoisseur ( which can include bottles from both other levels) is $110 for 4 bottles, $162 for 6 bottles and $216 for 8 bottles.

All have 15% gratuity added.

 

Hope this helps. If I can manage it later, I will try and upload the actual Viva Vino list with all the wine choices on it

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Great Review We were also on the Getaway at the same time. Hot weather but glad it didn't rain to much in St Marten. We also loved H2O

 

Ooo if you loved H20 we probably sat near each other and didn't even know it!! ;)

 

I was VERY grateful for that rain in St Maarten, I'll have you know! ;)

 

I was truly living up to my user-name!! :o

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meltingmoments

meltingmoments

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Good gracious!! I hope you complain to the customer service desk or the maitre'd regarding the waitress - That was completely out of line!!!

 

Oh I hope I didn't come across as too negative as that was truly the ONLY bad experience we had! But yes, let's just say that the issue was resolved to our complete satisfaction with the help of the Hotel Director.

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