Live from Norwegian Getaway - September 27, 2014

[funNJfamily]

Subscribed here as well. Been on Royal and been on Celebrity and very interested in following along. Enjoy your cruise.

[dacsmom]

Looking forward to your review. It will help pass the time until next weekend, have a great cruise.

[brentlym]

Good morning everyone! It's early, about 7 AM, but it's an important day... Boarding Day! :D

 

We're now getting ready for the morning and will soon be having breakfast in the restaurant downstairs.

 

..

 

Marc…I'm totally jealous. My cruise buddies and I got off the Getaway week ago today, and I'm still in withdrawal. You're going to have an amazing time. The ship is beautiful, as I'm sure you've already discovered, and you'll definitely be entertained. Reflecting back, it was like a week long Salsa dance! Since you're a wine lover, be sure to check out "Wine Lovers: The Musical" held in the Illusionarium. It was really really good.

 

Enjoy the cruise. I'll be watching for your posts.

[Freespir8]

Looking forward to reading more! The "live from" posts are always fun. Enjoy your cruise!

[McDebbie]

We're on in 3 weeks, can't wait to hear how it went for you.

[Schasz]

We are one week away from our Getaway cruise. Hope you have a great time on your cruise and looking forward to reading what you think about this ship.

 

Shari & John

[7leagueboots]

Looking forward to more.

[Siora7777]

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[Daghis]

Good morning, my friends on land!

 

We're finally getting ourselves up and ready for breakfast and then on to the Meet & Mingle at 11.

 

Yesterday was a fun day, exploring a new ship that was quite different than that to which we've become accustomed on Royal Caribbean. Much of the day was spent identifying those things that are different or the same and talking about our preferences.

 

I'll start with the cabin. It's small compared to what we've had on Royal Caribbean, except for Majesty of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas. The cabin feels noticeably shorter in length and has less storage spots than we're used to. Still, we did manage to unpack everything, so it'll work just fine for the week.

 

I'm not a fan of the pool deck area. It seems too cluttered with loungers everywhere, including in some spaces where the loungers are spread out too close to walkways, making it slightly difficult to traverse the walkways. On the other hand, I love the sports deck area. The ropes course looks like a lot of fun, and the slides look really neat, too. Even the mini-golf course looks more fun than I'd see on a Royal Caribbean ship.

 

On the inside of the ship, I like that decks 6, 7, and 8 hold most of the public venues. It's generally easy to get around from place to place, although sometimes you have to navigate around the people.

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with Norwegian Getaway over the next several days and reporting back on what I find.

 

By the way, tonight's dinner is at Le Bistro. I'm really looking forward to that!

[cruisegal40]

We just got off her yesterday. Loved most of it, but the pool area does get very jammed up. We actually used the showers on the upper decks to cool off because it was so bad. We are looking to go on Oasis or Allure next year so I can't wait for the second leg of your journey. We had great weather and good times.

[Schasz]

Good morning, my friends on land!

 

We're finally getting ourselves up and ready for breakfast and then on to the Meet & Mingle at 11.

 

Yesterday was a fun day, exploring a new ship that was quite different than that to which we've become accustomed on Royal Caribbean. Much of the day was spent identifying those things that are different or the same and talking about our preferences.

 

I'll start with the cabin. It's small compared to what we've had on Royal Caribbean, except for Majesty of the Seas and Monarch of the Seas. The cabin feels noticeably shorter in length and has less storage spots than we're used to. Still, we did manage to unpack everything, so it'll work just fine for the week.

 

I'm not a fan of the pool deck area. It seems too cluttered with loungers everywhere, including in some spaces where the loungers are spread out too close to walkways, making it slightly difficult to traverse the walkways. On the other hand, I love the sports deck area. The ropes course looks like a lot of fun, and the slides look really neat, too. Even the mini-golf course looks more fun than I'd see on a Royal Caribbean ship.

 

On the inside of the ship, I like that decks 6, 7, and 8 hold most of the public venues. It's generally easy to get around from place to place, although sometimes you have to navigate around the people.

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with Norwegian Getaway over the next several days and reporting back on what I find.

 

By the way, tonight's dinner is at Le Bistro. I'm really looking forward to that!

Did you enjoy the Illusionarium Show last night? We also have Unlimited Dining and are going to that show the first evening.

[SissasMomE]

The Getaway is a cluttered ship - no about about that. Many people have complained of the same thing. Hopefully, they take that in to consideration with the Escape - especially the pool deck area. The pool deck is much better on the Epic ....

[Daghis]

By the way, I neglected to mention that we are in an inside cabin (category IA). Other cabin categories are likely to be more spacious.

 

Did you enjoy the Illusionarium Show last night? We also have Unlimited Dining and are going to that show the first evening.

 

 

The show was good, and even quite impressive for some parts, but the food disappointed me. I didn't care for the main course nor dessert, so I indulged a bit in the Garden Café after the show with a burger and some cake. :) I had suspected that I might not like the food at the Illusionarium, but that's okay... there's plenty of food onboard. :D

[G&Gcruisers]

Following and thanks for taking us along....another fellow cruiser on your Allure cruise.

 

Just curious, what type of food did they serve last night that you did not enjoy? :confused:

Margie

[Bunnynme]

I will be following all week, thanks for sharing your live thoughts on everything.

[Daghis]

[quote name='G&Gcruisers']
Just curious, what type of food did they serve last night that you did not enjoy? :confused:[/QUOTE]

The main course was a steak with peppercorn sauce (I'm not a sauce person on my steak) and fried shrimp.

[Daghis]

Welcome back to the next installment of cruising like a Norwegian.

Breakfast this morning was at the Flamingo Grill. It was nice to avoid the crowds and see some different menu options from typical American breakfast fare.

The Meet & Mingle was fantastic and very well attended. I had a great time there and I was very impressed by the ship's officers' representation at the gathering.

Dinner at Le Bistro was very good. We dropped off a bottle of wine before we went there, but it didn't get a chance to chill sufficiently. We'll make sure to drop off our other bottles at the other specialty restaurants tomorrow to ensure that they're well chilled for when we're there. Anyway, we had good appetizers (onion and mushroom soup), excellent main courses (the seafood/puff pastry dinner and the pork tenderloin dish), and completed our meal with a variety of desserts in a make-our-own sampler including the chocolate fondue with fruit, Napoleon, and creme brulee.

After dinner, we wandered around a bit looking for a nice bar or lounge to hang out in before we went off to see Burn the Floor. Unfortunately, we didn't find anything that suited us. We compared our experience on Royal Caribbean and I noted that Royal Caribbean's ships tend to have more venues that are separated from the general foot traffic and are more intimate. For example, on a Freedom class ship (the most apt comparison to Norwegian Getaway), the Champagne Bar is wonderfully quiet, Vintages is very intimate, and the Viking Crown Lounge is a wonderful place to go to relax and enjoy the views. We couldn't really find places like that on this ship.

Speaking of lounges, I also noted that there is a bit less live music onboard. Burn the Floor only had live percussion with the rest of the music track having been recorded. Music out on the pool deck is DJ'd. There was live music in the Grammy Experience and a couple of lounges at particular times, but after we left Burn the Floor, much of the music we heard was recorded.

Oh, another lack we noticed. I've really come to appreciate the art on Royal Caribbean ships, especially in the stairwells. Here on Norwegian Getaway, you get very large mirrors instead. They make the space look more open, but it's not as eye-catching as some of the art we've seen on Royal Caribbean ships, especially like Allure of the Seas.

Well, it's time to turn in for the night. We don't have anything planned for tomorrow, so it'll just be an excellent "at sea" day to relax.

[Ctrinh225]

To Daghis......I've read on other venues u stated about the cruise certificate from CAS. I'll be going in February 2015. Did u get drink cards? Was there a place u have to meet to get it? Thanks


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Daghis]

Yes, we both got drink cards good for "house" drinks (house wines, basic cocktails, bottled water, etc.). The cards, along with our player's cards, were in our cabin waiting for us.

I must say that bar service in the casino has been excellent. There was no shortage of drinks available through their program in my experience (hic!).

[Daghis]

Happy Monday!

It was a relaxingly simply morning today. We had a late breakfast at O'Sheehan's. There were a few mistakes with our order, but the food, once properly made, was hot and good.

Lunch was at Wasabi. The sushi was good there, although I think I prefer Izumi on Royal Caribbean more since Izumi has a more comprehensive menu.

Tonight's dinner is at Teppanyaki. I'm sure that's going to be lots of fun.

We discovered an interesting difference between NCL and Royal Caribbean in terms of bar service when not seated at the bar. On Royal Caribbean, the servers will go into the back to get your drink from a nearby, out-of-sight bar. On NCL, the servers get your drink from the same bar as where people are sitting. It doesn't appear to make much of a difference in terms of service, but I thought that it was interesting to note.

[sue402001]

I'm enjoying your review Dahgis, I can't wait to read more! :)

[Schasz]

I am really enjoying your blog since we get on Getaway when you are getting off. We like Royal Caribbean too and have never cruised on NCL.We are on this cruise at the recommendation of a friend who has been on both Oasis and Allure of the Seas and liked Getaway better. We have not been on either of Royal Carribbean's largest ships but do want to experience them. As to music we want to go to Howl at the Moon.

I do have a question...did you notice any of the bars showing any football games on either Saturday or Sunday? We have a game of special interest that we hope to find on Saturday after we get on the Getaway. Thanks for taking time in doing this blog.

Shari & John

[Still Dreaming]

enjoying your review!

[Daghis]

[quote name='Schasz']I do have a question...did you notice any of the bars showing any football games on either Saturday or Sunday? We have a game of special interest that we hope to find on Saturday after we get on the Getaway. Thanks for taking time in doing this blog.[/QUOTE]
You're very welcome.

The Freestyle Daily papers list that NFL games are aired in O'Sheehans, but it's selected games, so it might not be the games you're looking for.

After we boarded, they were showing cricket (go figure!), but they did have football games on Sunday and Monday.

[Daghis]

Welcome to St. Maarten!

Yesterday we tried Dolce Gelato. It was very good, but very soft and it melted quickly. Still, it was quite enjoyable.

Teppanyaki was good, but the garlic was a bit overwhelming for me. Our table didn't seem to get the same level of excitement that we heard from other tables while we were there. Perhaps we were all just a bit subdued. Still, it was entertaining and the food was good (albeit quite garlicky).

Late last night, we played some mini-golf. That was fun. It was nice that it wasn't busy, and the course is really interesting compared with what we've seen on Royal Caribbean ships.

We just docked a little while ago. We weren't planning on getting off the ship, but then Bryan reminded me that they have that welcome back party on the pier, and I want to see that in person, so we'll be checking that out later!

Meanwhile, we're thinking of checking out the slides and ropes course while they're not so busy.

We're off to breakfast at Garden Café shortly. More later.

Thanks to all of you for following along!