Gotaway on Getaway 8/29-9/5

[Nola26]

Headline we loved the Getaway!

 

First cruise for 13yo nephew, he was blown away using words like awesome beyond what I expected and beautiful. Those that know teens know those aren't words used everyday for things you select for them. :rolleyes:

 

His favorites were the teen club, ropes course, excursions, Illusionarium and the buffet. He had to be found past curfew on night one of cruise, but miraculously a couple of days glued to our side and he learned that he isn't an adult and learned to tell time. :rolleyes: Club privileges restored.

 

Grandma is pretty spry she liked the thermal spa, but I could have saved the money as she would have preferred the we both had access (two passes weren't in the budget). However, by mid week she was singing the praises of the showers there. She took the early AM exercise classes 3-4 days. This was her first balcony cabin and she's now spoiled says it is now a must have. All three of us used the balcony so that was money well spent. My mother loves music and dancing, Groove International was right up our alley as were the acts in Sugarcane.

 

This was also my first balcony experience and I loved having it, but would cruise in an oceanview or inside again to manage budget. This was a CAS offer cruise so I paid a significant upgrade for the balcony, but base cruise was complimentary. My favorite spot on the ship was the Waterfront, not to eat but to stroll and to relax or even nap. Slipped on my headphones, clicked on my Audiobook and sunk into one of the comfy loveseats.

 

Dining:

Our first and worst meal was at O'Sheehans. Fish and chips and mozzarella sticks. Nephew was fine with the cheese sticks, but grownups weren't. Fish was just not good overall small portion sizes, felt like fast food.

 

Buffet was the prime meal, location. Food was always fresh, delicious and the place is kept spotless. I enjoyed Flamingo Grill, short egg line, lime cinnamon roll and diced fruit cocktail were common for my morning meal.

 

Taste for first night dinner, late. Good service and food, I was solo. Had lasagna roll, good. Discovered the whole grain parkerhouse rolls, awesome but not a good thing to learn about.:o

 

Savor for my only sit down breakfast. Not a good meal. I expected freshly scrambled eggs, but received same type served on the buffet. Also ordered banana caramel waffles those were a little crunchy, probably due to the caramel drizzle. I left without eating much of the meal and decided to just hit Flamingo, no big deal. On the way out the Maître'd asked how was the meal. I shared my observations on the food and assured him the service was great. He asked for my cabin number. Later that day we received a bottle of wine, chocolate covered strawberries and I noticed a small OBC on the account. Way above and beyond especially because I wasn't really complaining, just answering a question and I had misplaced expectations, not really NCL error.

 

Tropicana room was our favorite, had dinner there three evenings and had different live entertainment each night. Duo, Burn the Floor swing show and a live male trio. It is an elegant space and we were seated close to stage twice and further back form the dance show, enjoyed each show and meal.

 

My mother had a cheesecake treat from Carlos' bakery. She ate some and had the other half packed to go, lol that was a wasted box.

 

I intended to purchase the soda package for my nephew but on day two he told me he didn't want it. Restaurants serve lemonade and the buffet always has fruit juice at breakfast, mango water or strawberry kiwi water in addition to water or iced tea and milk so we didn't need the package. In had a casino drink card and got soda, juice or bottled water there.

 

Excursions

St. Thomas- taxi to Marriott and enjoyed the beach($20 taxi each way for 3 and $20 for two beach chairs). Back to ship for showers and lunch. Strolled to Paradise Island Sky ride $20 tickets purchased onboard. Wonderful views of port and island great day. A little shopping on stroll back including a stop at US Post Office to mail, postcards. A great day with an awesome pace.

 

Tortola- NCL Virgin Gorda baths excursion $216 for three. Speedy boat right at end of pier, guided tours down path to Virgin Baths. Grandma spent her time there. Nephew used rented snorkel equipment there and I loved the water, cooler and calmer than St Thomas. Nephew and I took path to Devils beach, challenging don't be fooled. Barefoot, socks with grip and I used flip flops as I scaled a large boulder there's squatting and twisting as well. After reaching Devils beach the path back is more traditional packed path footing, but is a definite uphill climb. I'm 50 and athletic and this was a challenging trek. Another good day ashore.

 

Nassau - spent a couple of hours shopping on Bay St. I wanted something from Del Sol and looked for some jewelry and nephew got his bucket hat and cheap fancy watch. Back onboard for lunch and time to enjoy the ship activities, including a nap.

 

Shows

Illusionarium had salmon meal, nephew had kids mac & cheese, good food. Loved the show and his pose with cast was one of our favorites.

Burn the Floor was energetic and earned a standing ovation. Legally Blonde was really good, way beyond my expectations.

Adult comedy was entertaining, funny.

Grammy artist was two country for our taste, but more acceptable when she sat in with Groove International.

Piano player, John Morris? should stick to playing and let his vocalist carry the tunes. She has a nice voice but his isn't as good and he drowned her out.

Ikebana is a duo, pleasant sounds.

 

Teen club was a hit, casino was fine and also used the game room and library.

 

Decided the photo book was our best deal and went with a second one for half price. Photos are ridiculously expensive. That said, we love our book.

 

Cruise Next - bought two certificates because I got $125 OBC per rather than $100 if I bought one. Thinking of the western on the Escape, but didn't book anything.

 

We are still on vacation, spending a couple of days on the Ft Lauderdale beach.

 

Happy to answer questions.

[LMaxwell]

great review. don't want to hijack but check out the FT Lauderdale Water Taxi or Jungle Queen for tours of Fort lauderdale homes/yachts/waterways. Something I always suggest to those from out of town. Glad you liked your cruise!

[Nola26]

Thanks and I agree, we took Jungle Queen a few years back. We are at the Harbor Beach and hoping tomorrow is dry for beach time.

[Sauer-kraut]

Nice review, sounds like you've created another cruiser within your family :D

[Sand and Seas]

Great review! Thanks for posting :D

[Cruise-mom]

Great review, glad your nephew enjoyed the teen club, hoping my dd's 13 & 16 will enjoy Entourage. Can I ask, what is the Photobook? I've never heard of this.

[NayRN]

Great review, glad your nephew enjoyed the teen club, hoping my dd's 13 & 16 will enjoy Entourage. Can I ask, what is the Photobook? I've never heard of this.

 

I'm curious about the photo book as well! Sailing shortly!!:D

[luvtovaca]

Curious about the "guided tour" down to the Baths. We were on this NCL excursion in July and were given a brief introduction and told to be back to the safari busses at a certain time...No "tour" or "guide". It was simple enough, and we didn't really need one, but it appeared some may have, so curious if we just missed this option or NCL changed the excursion.

[Nola26]

Guided tour just meant someone from tour company walked down with us.

 

Photo book was $149 and half price for a second copy. It is a thin hard cover book with stock photos so pages are laid out already. Using the kiosk you can drag and drop your photos over the stock photos everywhere except page one where the ship is shown. A total of 33 photos can be added. You're not buying individual prints, but a finished book. You can build anytime save and finish near the end of the cruise.

 

I have a photo book from a Disney park trip and we flip through it regularly as I keep it on the coffee table. That one is leather bound, NCL is hard cover, but attractive.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Nola26

[SeaWatcher65]

We are doing the NCL Baths excursion too. Did your nephew see many fish or anything else snorkeling? Is it mostly hiking around the beach and big boulders? Hoping for some time to just swim/snorkel too. Never been on a ship excursion before -- is someone leading the excursion group or are you on your own and just have to be back at the bus by a certain time?

 

Great review. Thanks.

Edited September 6, 2015 by SeaWatcher65

[Nola26]

We are doing the NCL Baths excursion too. Did your nephew see many fish or anything else snorkeling? Is it mostly hiking around the beach and big boulders? Hoping for some time to just swim/snorkel too. Never been on a ship excursion before -- is someone leading the excursion group or are you on your own and just have to be back at the bus by a certain time?

 

Great review. Thanks.

 

He just saw fish. The tour employees are around, but not quite acting as guides. For example as we did the Devils Beach portion a tour employee came from the opposite direction, I think just checking on the guests.

 

Once we were at the initial beach side we enjoyed the beach and water at our leisure. We headed out to Devils beach and left there in time to meet our return requirements.

 

Keep in mind, you don't have to do both sides, it's your vacation.:)

[plunker]

Did they show any movies and do you remember what they were?

[Cruise-mom]

Guided tour just meant someone from tour company walked down with us.

 

Photo book was $149 and half price for a second copy. It is a thin hard cover book with stock photos so pages are laid out already. Using the kiosk you can drag and drop your photos over the stock photos everywhere except page one where the ship is shown. A total of 33 photos can be added. You're not buying individual prints, but a finished book. You can build anytime save and finish near the end of the cruise.

 

I have a photo book from a Disney park trip and we flip through it regularly as I keep it on the coffee table. That one is leather bound, NCL is hard cover, but attractive.

 

Thanks for the info, it sounds good for 33 photos in a book.

[Nola26]

Did they show any movies and do you remember what they were?

 

Yes in Spice H2O, the Atrium and the theater too.

 

Despicable Me (sequel), Annie, The Theory of Everything, Indiana Jones-Lost Ark, 3D Guardians of the Galaxy, ET, Pitch Perfect, Big Eyes, Now You See Me, Jupiter Ascending, Back to The Future, Edge of Tomorrow.

 

They may also show movies at the kids/teen clubs.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Nola26

[Nola26]

I forgot to cover transportation and hotel:

 

We stayed at Springhill Suites in Dania. Nice room and great location with large shopping center and fast food within walking distance. Great airport shuttle service. Room AC not great and shower pressure low. Second stay here and would stay again, but open to other options.

 

QLS was over an hour late for our transfer to POM. I won't use them next time.

 

Picked up an Avis rental post cruise. Van service was easy, counter service was slow, location very close I-95 on ramp. Chevy Impala has worked well for us. We used it to drive from Miami to Fort Lauderdale where we've spent a few days post cruise before our flights out of FLL. I'd use again if we had another post cruise stay.

[Keith1010]

Nice review.

 

Keith

[Jaco5NC]

Thank you for sharing your experiences...sounds like a wonderful time:)!

[moesyk4]

Can you tell me how much time you had from when you got to the baths to when you had to leave? How many were on the excursion. And were you saying they picked you up right by the ship instead of walking to the ferry terminal? Thanks!

[Nola26]

Can you tell me how much time you had from when you got to the baths to when you had to leave? How many were on the excursion. And were you saying they picked you up right by the ship instead of walking to the ferry terminal? Thanks!

 

We exited the gangway made a right, walked to end of pier and were directed to the awaiting boat. Dropped off same place showed ID as we walked back onto main pier to the boat. I never saw a ferry terminal.

 

I was on vacation so not hawking a clock or wearing my watch. I would say we had about 2 hours, arrived near 11 and in taxi bus at 1pm, back onboard just after 2pm.

 

Just one boat so 3 taxi buses. We didn't feel crowded another group overlapped our arrival and it was fine then and better when they left.

 

Of course the NCL excursion is more expensive, but it was easy and with a 3pm departure I had no worries about missing the boat. Other than tickets to the sky ride which is at your leisure, we didn't buy any other excursions.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Nola26

[Nola26]

Nice review, sounds like you've created another cruiser within your family :D

 

Absolutely, he's indicated his preference for a Getaway redo, ports and all.

 

I mentioned that I have the Sky booked for Thanksgiving weekend. He volunteered to join me and reminded me he has Monday off so the schedule will work. Kids are a crack up.

 

Not sure I'll keep that trip, but funny to see he and my mother volunteer to join me.

[dsnygrl]

Great review, we leave in just 12 days.

 

I see you went to the comedy clubs so maybe you can answer this for me. Our son will turn 14 the first day of our trip and on Carnival, the comedy clubs are his favorite thing to do so will will try to get in to see as many as possible. Can you tell me how the schedule for them works? Do the comics try to do new shows each time or are there nights that are just repeats of the other shows?

[salesmansam]

Very nice review. We are sailing the Getaway in the middle of October. Also doing the Virgin Gordo excursion thru NCL. sounds great. Our grandkids aged 9, 14 and 17 will be with us, so was glad to hear about your nephew's experiences. thanks. ;)

[Nola26]

Great review, we leave in just 12 days.

 

I see you went to the comedy clubs so maybe you can answer this for me. Our son will turn 14 the first day of our trip and on Carnival, the comedy clubs are his favorite thing to do so will will try to get in to see as many as possible. Can you tell me how the schedule for them works? Do the comics try to do new shows each time or are there nights that are just repeats of the other shows?

 

Mix it up. Late show tends to be adult oriented so check daily for details. Multi comic family show in the Getaway theater midweek was standing room only.

[Nola26]

Very nice review. We are sailing the Getaway in the middle of October. Also doing the Virgin Gordo excursion thru NCL. sounds great. Our grandkids aged 9, 14 and 17 will be with us, so was glad to hear about your nephew's experiences. thanks. ;)

 

A great bonding experience for my nephew and I. We are already close, but that hike to Devils beach will be unforgettable for us.

[salesmansam]

Back to your info on the photo book. Were there instructions on how to end up with 33 photos. My info shows that you only get 10 or 11 photos, but you indicated that you replaced the stock photos with your own. Any issues? Sounds like a deal compared to cost for individual pics. Thanks again for helpful review. :)