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Norwegian Getaway 9/19-9/26 Sorry, No Pictures...

Snapdad

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Snapdad

Snapdad

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Fantastic Trip!

 

Wife and I (37 & 39) with our Son (14)

 

Spent the night before in Miami at the National Hotel in South Beach. Right on the beach. Used Hotwire. I think it was $250 out the door. Hotel is amazing. Played in the ocean, hit the pool, had some great poolside service. We also took a drive down to the keys, and we HAD to go see Dexter’s apartment in Bay Harbor. We had a rental car, dropped it off at the port in the morning and were group 8 for boarding. Whole process took about 45 min. (Wife dropped us off at the port with the bags then went to gas up and return the rental car…DO THAT! Way easier than loading bags and people on a shuttle…I hate shuttles)

 

Grabbed a drink at the Sunset Bar then went right up to the Flamingo Grill for lunch (No crowds, that’s the place to go when you Embark) Rooms were ready at 1. We had 8126 large balcony mini-suite. GREAT LOCATION right where everything is. At the end of the long narrow hall, but no big deal. (Couple times it was fun to sort of sway with the ship…and the UBP…down the hall) Room is perfect. Nice big bathroom. That room sleeps 4 with the bed by the balcony door, so it was cool having the bunk bed pulled down for my son, which made the couch available. (He dug his bunk) big comfy bed for us. TV stations are minimal. Always a decent movie on though. Watched Remember the Titans…cried. Room steward wasn’t that great. I thought I’d be cool and give her $20 when I met her the afternoon of day 1, thinking she’d take care of us. She did a fair job. Nothing really special. Forgot a few things (menus, towels, ice). Nothing worth complaining about though.

 

The week is kind of a blur (Did I mention UBP?) so I’ll give a few highlights rather than a chronological review.

 

Food

 

Ate at Cagney’s (made a reservation the first night on the touch screen…iConcierge is wonky at best) Great steak, fine service, ate with The Boy-he and the wife loved their fillets. I thought the bone-in Rib-Eye (Which is THE best cut of steak) was perfect. Tropicana was great. No reservations. Just walked up. Took maybe 7 minutes to be seated at a table for 2 next to the aft window (very romantic, but couldn’t see the band…didn’t need to see the band) I had the Cordon Blue. It was fine. Not spectacular, but fine. Drink service was ON IT! I got the Romance Package as a surprise for my wife, DO THIS! Roses in the room when you arrive. Big healthy blooms that lasted all week and probably would have been looking great for at least a few more days. Kept them on the night stand. Very fragrant. Chocolate strawberries, bottle of champagne, tea service –you book the date and time for this-, an 8x10 from the photo gallery, and dinner for two at La Cucina –WITH a bottle of wine-. Great deal for (I think) $130! La Cucina was really good. We tried to make a reservation for Thursday on Tuesday and they were booked the rest of the week! We showed up around 9 on Thursday night (All our dinners were 8 or later…that’s how we roll) and they sat us right away. Outside (our choice) very nice view. I had the veal carbonara…AMAZING! One of my best friends is an Italian Chef, and this is his specialty. This could compete. Wife had the lobster (I think an extra $12) this was a little dry…but still very good. All the sides were great too. O’Sheehan’s…great wings! (you guys were right!) On the last night, they closed the buffet (WHY WOULD YOU THROW AWAY GOOD PIZZA!?!:D) so we went there and had a burger, wings, and mozzarella sticks it was perfect midnight food. Ate there I think 2 or 3 times. Didn’t go to Savor or Taste. We were all set to try them, but literally ON the reception desk they had a sign saying "Prime Rib at O’Sheehan’s" so we went there instead. (It’s as good as you guys say it is…thanks for that tip too!) The rest of the time we ate at the buffets (Garden or Flamingo) they’re both fine. Flamingo had pretty much the same stuff both times we went. Great cuban food. Garden had a ton of selections. We eat late lunches too, so there was only a crowd I think one time when we had just gotten back from a port. We always got a great table. One time we had the whole aft section to ourselves. They get major props for putting out all the good drunk food late night style. (Until around 11:30) We had room service a couple times. Really convenient for breakfast. Make sure you put numbers in the check boxes for how many of each selection. We had the same breakfast each time: Oatmeal for the wife and I (Well appointed, cinnamon, brown sugar, and either REALLY small raisins…or…currants maybe?) Cream of Wheat for The Boy, a plate of bacon (maybe sausage too if we were feeling…saucy) OJ and Coffee. The first night I just checked all these and they brought three heaping plates of bacon! I died a little inside when I had to leave it outside to be taken away. It’s $7.95, but that’s a steal for breakfast for 3. They teased us with the coffee. Sometimes it was two full carafes (yay!) sometimes 1 & ½ (Really? Can’t top that other one off?), the last morning it was only 1 (boo!) All in all, I felt well fed. It was hard not to eat EVERYTHING. We both worked hard to get into shape for this thing, but deep down inside there’s a little fat kid who’s down to eat everything fried, with ranch dressing and bacon on top. The fat kid was happy. They also had a bunch of salads to keep the dad-bod fairly in check.

 

Drinks!

 

Our mission was to make Norwegian re-think their UBP idea. We probably failed, but we put a hurt on it for sure. They’re pretty lax about letting you order multiple drinks with one card. It’s hard to find a drink over $11 to be honest. Service was fine. Kind of a process each time for some of the fancy drinks, then having to sign and everything. Seems like they could just scan your card and call it a day (But then they wouldn’t get an extra tip now would they, so that wouldn’t work…I dunno, I’ll come up with a better plan and get back to you) All the bartenders were cool except the guy with the puss on his face in the Garden Café. I’m sure he deals with the drudge of the passengers, so I get it. My favorites were Prime Meridian (Very cool classy bar) and the one by the cigar lounge with all the whiskey (Is that Sunset?) Wife loved the Sugar Cane Bar. I can’t complain about that one either. Sunset Outside was great as well. Met a lot of really interesting and fun people there. Didn’t do the Ice Bar. My one regret. We rarely had actual shoes on, and when we did, I think my wife (she’s originally from Arizona) was afraid it would be TOO cold. Cocktail service was great. We had a cigar a few nights and they took care of us in there (and once we had one outside by Sunset in the smoker’s lounge, we took a poll…no one cared that we had a cigar…that’s probably because my wife looks even hotter with a cigar) The best service we had was by the pool from MY pal, and one of YOUR favorite Mario Brothers…LUIGI! Which brings me to…

 

The Pool!

 

The pool is fine guys. Really. It’s a little small, but it’s 6’8” in the middle so you can sort of tread water or hang onto the side. Not a ton of people standing around in there. There are precious few seats along the area where it spills out on the sides, but who wants to sit in a chair with their shirt off? (dad-bod…remember?) We only had trouble finding a lounger in the sun ONCE and even then it was still in the sun, just under the overhang. We had great spots every time we went there. Didn’t really see any of these “Chair-hogs” you guys talk about. And honestly, if I saw someone leaving their stuff on a lounger I wanted and more than an hour went by…I’d just move it. I didn’t see that though. Most people posted up, and then hit the slide, or went for a dip and came back. One couple had a great spot and got up to leave, I asked if they were leaving and they gave us their spots! Then when they came back a couple hours later, the loungers right next to us were open. Everyone wins! PLENTY of loungers above the pool deck…like a lot. Too bad they don’t have another pool, but again it was fine. So back to Luigi. He’s amazing. Granted, I gave him $5 with every order, but he was on it for us! We’d get down to the last few sips of our drink and he’d be there ready to take the next order. He knew what our “go to” was…even SUGGESTED we go Grey Goose with our soda and lime, but he also suggested some fun blendy drinks (Tropical times, call for tropical drinks…try the Miami Vice!) We did a couple slides, they were fun. The red and the orange one. RIGHT when you’re thinking “Okay enough of this round-and-round stuff”, it’s over. Not really a line. Spice H2O was cool. The first night we had a hot tub all to ourselves while Edge of Tomorrow was playing on the big screen (Couldn’t hear it very well with the jets on…FYI…) cocktail in hand, pretty girl by my side, LIGHTENING off the side of the ship (Far away, but close enough to see). This was a moment in time I won’t soon forget. Talk about a day you want to live over and over again…much better than getting killed by aliens. Kiddie pool looked like a blast for the kids. Didn’t get a Vibe pass (we had a huge balcony and our son was with us) All in all, the vibe (not like…ya know…”VIBE”...as in “Vibe Pass”…but ya know…like…”the vibe”) at the main pool was great. Yes, we swam with our 14 year old in there a couple of times. Why? Because they decided he needed to pay the adult fare for the shore excursions. So WE decided he could use the adult pool! (He’s a really mellow kid too, so not a problem) They always had a band playing or a DJ, people dancing, having a great time. It was probably one of my favorite spots on the ship. Drink, dip in the pool, rinse in the shower, repeat.

 

Other Stuff

 

We did Deal or No Deal ($20 p/p for 2 games) and a couple of trivia things (Free, you win like a pen...I think one time it was "Dinner for 2 at the Garden Cafe"). They were fun somethingtodo’s. Hit the gym a few times. Very nice and clean. Not huge, but had everything you needed. Probably crowded in the mornings…didn’t go in the mornings. A lot more people there on day 1 than on day 6! Haha! Pictures are crazy expensive. Shopping is pretty minimal on the ship. They need like a various and sundry store. They had some stuff in the store with the booze and tobacco, but not much. (We did bring home a couple bottles of whiskey…get this, the guy even talked us DOWN from buying a $286 bottle to getting one for $99...that’s a new one!) Would have bought a pair of shades for The Boy if they had any for less than $200 and the wife forgot proper sandals for the baths (didn’t need them anyway…more on that later) but they didn’t have any options there. Didn’t do any shows really. We’re not “show” people. We did go see Tom Simmons’ 18+ show at Headliners. The host was pretty dated, very Juan Rivers, she was okay. Tom was funny. Pretty cerebral. He got kind of liberal-politicy and there were a few times where my wife and I were the only ones laughing (Which made us laugh harder) I was surprised they approved that set for such a cross-section of the country. We’re from the Bay Area, he would absolutely kill here. In fact, I’m a comic and a comedy producer, I’ll probably reach out to him. Didn’t get to see the other guy Frank (Reservations fill up fast and we weren’t going to wait standby) We went to the Glow Party…for about 10 minutes. Not into the fist pump music. Looked like people were having fun though. Wife went to the Disney/Dali thing. She really liked the short film they showed. Couldn’t spring for the only-one-in-the-world original artwork…I don’t even want to know how much. I think that’s about it for “activities” are we boring for just sort of strolling around the ship snacking, drinking, and talking to people? Maybe. Everyone we met was super nice and friendly, fun to talk to. That’s a good sign. The fact that everyone had a smile and a “How ya doin’?” for you when you walked by means they were having a good time. This is a testament to the ship and its staff.

 

Where was The Boy this whole time?

 

They have a cool teen club called Entourage. It has a ton of Xbox’s, movies, air hockey, etc. The Boy checked it out the first night and didn’t come home until curfew. He loved it. Made a lot of friends, and met people from all over the place. He ate at O’Sheehan’s and the noodle place like a million times. Really cool for teens. Our son isn’t super social…he’s 14…he’s awkward, what do you want? He absolutely made the most of it, and had an amazing time. He had dinner with us I think 4 times (turned out he had dinner with his friends too!) he also went on all the excursions with us. Hey, speaking of those…

 

Excursions.

 

We did the “Twice as Nice” in St Thomas. Catamaran! Very cool. Never been to the Caribbean before. It’s been on my bucket list for a long time. It didn’t disappoint. Crystal clear water! Sea Turtles! Rum Punch! Life is good. Then they were like “Now we’re going to go see a ship wreck!” A SHIP WRECK! I’m thinking the Black Pearl…buuuut…it kinda looked like someone sunk a dumpster. Still, cool fish to see, and deep water. The crew of the Dolphin were great! Lots of fun and took care of all of us. I guess the only turnoff was they kept telling us how tips were the only way the super nice crew gets paid. That makes me sad. I don’t know what kind of deal they had with Norwegian, but I wish they would just charge enough so these guys get paid. A lot of people didn’t have cash with them (probably figured the standard 18% gratuity was included) the other two excursions didn’t do this, so maybe the Dolphin needs to re-work their deal. They probably got $3,000 between all the passengers for the 3 hour tour, that should be enough to whack up between the captain, the 2 person crew, and the mighty NCL. I had cash, gave them $25, didn’t cry about it. My son had never snorkeled before. He loved it once he got over his fear of…ya know…dying…he’s a little anxious that one. When we got back we still had some time so we walked over to the butterfly garden. It’s $12 a person, and kinda like someone with a big back yard threw a net over it, but totally worth it. SO MANY butterflies. Very colorful. There’s a room where you can see them being born in the window. Really cool. So much color!

 

One of my favorite quotes from the trip was in St Thomas. We stopped at a store on the way back to get The Boy his shades, ($15 thankyouverymuch!) and the guy goes “Grab a couple beers, you can carry them around here” I said “So there’s no open container law?” and he goes “There aren’t really any laws at all here.” very piratey-cool. Nice little area by the port. We saw a huge iguana. He didn’t like the lady trying to pick him up. We just took pictures of him, he liked us better.

 

Virgin Gorda/Baths This was amazing. We were a little stressed because my wife only had flip-flops and they make a BIG DEAL about how crazy the boulders are, and uneven terrain is. I think they sent us some notice saying “People with trouble walking and climbing should not go” then we get there and they kinda go “Welll….if you don’t wanna climb the boulders we’ll just take you around and drop you off at Devil’s Beach” So that’s the thing. You get there and walk down to the first beach, which is gorgeous. There’s a little hut there that has food, makes drinks, and rents snorkel gear ($10 with a $30 deposit). Not a super friendly lady running the place, but I was glad it was there (bring cash). Ice cold Carib was perfect on the beach. We swam around for a while and then did the walk to Devil’s beach. Not a big deal at all really. There’s a little ducking and wading they told us about the boulder with the rope and I’m picturing half-dome…it’s only like 10 feet and my son did it without the rope (The Wife did it barefoot). It’s not a walk in the park by any means, but really if you are reasonably mobile, don’t be intimidated by the warnings, do it! Why? Because Devil’s beach is breathtakingly beautiful. Again, I’ve never been to the Caribbean before, but wow this was impressive. So clean and clear. I did get a snorkel and a mask (I told them I didn’t need fins…didn’t want to carry them, and I wear a 13 so I kinda have my own flippers) glad I did because there were a ton of cool fish even with all the people around. Not shy at all. I’d dive down and scratch the sand and they would all swim over to check out what I was doing. Really neat. Then you walk up a nice little trail surrounded by foliage, big lizards and BUTTERFLIES, wow tons of them. Although, they could really take a page from the St John’s butterfly playbook…these guys were all just plain white. It made for a really surreal walk back along the trail. When we got to the top, I still had my mask and snorkel, and I wanted my $30 so I had to jam back down to the Baths beach and turn them in. Protip: There’s a pool at the top by the parking lot where they drop you off. A freshwater pool. By this freshwater pool they have FREE DRINKS! How did we hear about this?…from the other passengers who looked all awesome with their free frozen drinks on the way back. Yeah, we missed that one, but I want to share with you so you don’t…I’m a giver.

 

Atlantis Yes we spent the $141 each to go with the ship. We looked at the Comfort Suites, and I think it would have saved us like $40 to do it that way. But we would have paid $12 each way for a cab. Worth going with the ship to not have to worry about missing it, or any kind of hassle. We had about 5 & ½ hours at the park. It was fine. I think we will go back to Nassau, fly in and stay at the Comfort Suites to see the rest of the park. (Anyone want to tell me the cheapest way to get to Nassau from the Bay Area?) We hit pretty much all the slides, did the lazy river/rapids thing, got a snack and a drink, and still had time for about 30 min at the beach (We went back like an hour early to try and shop) the beach there is really cool. Not as groomed as I thought it would be, but so nice. Perfect water. The slides there are really fun. We did the “Leap of Faith” first. Name says it all. It feels like a free fall. You can’t really see the slide, or feel the slide for that matter. You end up going through a tube in the shark tank. You don’t see the sharks. All you see are like…memories…choices you made in your life, maybe regrets…you know stuff you see when you think you’re going to die. Then they take a picture of you while you’re all dazed and thinking about life choices as you get out of the water. Nice. Didn’t go look at that one. They have another slide that goes through the shark tank. You’re on a tube, it goes pretty slowly through there. That is a trip. Can’t wait to see the video from that. We got back to the port, and all the shops were closed. They close at like 5. They had some shopping inside the actual port. I think we got hot sauce and a magnet. We’re not big shoppers. Bummed we missed the Bacardi place though.

 

So here’s the thing about shore excursions. They’re really great and totally worth it. They’re also an exercise in patience. Now, if you like lines, shuttle busses, ferries, announcements, and more lines then this is the thing for you! Just go into it knowing you’re not going to like jump off the ship and be in the water, or at the baths, or at the water park. Also…and I don’t know why they do this, but they make you go to the theater, then they call you, then you go out to the pier and meet your guide (Not for Nassau, for the other two) they probably do that to regulate traffic off the ship, and I guess sitting in the air conditioned theater is better than standing around in the hot Caribbean sun, but you could probably wait a bit and just go right out to the pier. Also, the times are pretty approximate, don’t like stress out thinking you gotta get there 10 minutes early. We’re usually late, (California, remember?) but we were early for all of these which just meant more waiting around. It’s okay though, just be prepared for it. It’s probably easy to get irritated, but that blows the experience. On the ferry out to Virgin Gorda it was a big boat, we were outside in the shade (thank goodness!) and there was a woman and her mother who were across the aisle from each other. The aisle is 15 feet wide. Everyone is sort of just chilled out listening to the engine noise and checking out the sights, these two are having a full on conversation, but they’re yelling…because ya know, engine noise. Yelling about gossip, who has cancer, general chit chat stuff. They stop…”Yes!” I think. Then it starts right back up again. “Sh*t!” I mutter to myself…not loud…but I guess loud enough that the people around me heard and they all started laughing. Here I thought I was the only one being totally bugged by this. We all just sort of had a laugh about it so it was fun. I think that’s how you get through that part. Also, I hate shuttle busses. ;)

 

And…we’re out…

 

Disembarking was a little nuts. We wanted to just walk off with our stuff. They said 7-8am. We got there at 7:40 and it was kind of a mad house. They didn’t want us down to level 7 yet where you get off the ship. People were mad. (I’m sure they got there way before us) There was one guy who was so irritated, then he was telling people “All you have to do is just shout at one person and then they know you mean business and get what you want” So he starts shouting at this poor girl who is probably like 22 years old, she’s a counselor at the kids camp. Don’t be that guy. He didn’t get off any faster, and just bummed everyone out. Then he’s like bragging about it to the people around him. “All hail the king of complaining!” Turns out one of the exits couldn’t be opened (some Miami SNAFU about another ship or something) so 4,000+ people, and ONE exit. Patience.

 

Miami is fun. The beaches and ocean is SO much more accommodating than what we’re used to in the Bay. We stayed the Saturday we got off the ship too. Really glad we did. We were off the ship by 8:20 (Whole process took maybe 45 minutes) Took a cab to the airport grabbed another rental car, then drove around Miami. We went to a really cool coffee spot called Panther Coffee in some sort of art district near Overtown. (Overtown is a little scary, just keep going) Then we went to Little Havana and walked around a bit. Cool to see it. We drove through Little Haiti, saw the voodoo shops and the Cultural Center. We didn’t get out. Then we drove over to Star Island (You can’t drive into Star Island…Shaq gets mad) We checked into the Red Hotel. This place is great! It’s right across the street from the beach. We got it on Last Minute Travel for like $140. It’s right in South Beach. I can't say enough about how nice the staff was here! Really cool. They have a lovely little pool area and a bar/restaurant. They give you towels and chairs for the beach. We walked the boardwalk, relaxed on the beach, came back, hit the pool then our room was ready so it was naptime.

 

We ended our trip with a ballgame at Marlin’s Park. Gorgeous ballpark! This coming from a family that goes to AT&T Park like 10 times a year. Really clean and nice. Also, really empty. C’mon Miami! The Giants can sell out a Thursday afternoon game when they’re in last place! This was Saturday night! Tickets to the Marlins game were really reasonable, we had great seats, and I finally got my Cuban sandwich. The little fat kid went home happy.

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texasag

texasag

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Thank you for a great review and not complaining about standing in line. We are sailing 10/10 and our flight back home doesn't leave until 8:30 pm. I think we are going to rent a car for the day, where would you go? Unfortunately we aren't spending the night, wish we were. Best bar on the ship? We also elected the UDP, glad to know most aren't over $11.

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Snapdad

Snapdad

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Thank you for a great review and not complaining about standing in line. We are sailing 10/10 and our flight back home doesn't leave until 8:30 pm. I think we are going to rent a car for the day, where would you go? Unfortunately we aren't spending the night, wish we were. Best bar on the ship? We also elected the UDP, glad to know most aren't over $11.

 

Hey thanks for reading! Key Largo is about a 75 min drive south from the cruise port. We drove into John Pennekamp State Park. it's $8 for your car. There's a small aquarium to check out, and lots of different places to walk around and see the sealife. It's really neat down there. I liked Little Havana, I wish we hadn't eaten before we went because the food smelled amazing! Just look for Domino Park, park on the street and walk around. Probably stay on the main drag though. We also kinda just cruised the A1A which is pretty cool. The islands accross the bay there have these amazing palatial estates that are worth seeing. You could walk it too. There are also city bike rentals everywhere.

 

I really liked Prime Meridian (By Cagney's Steakhouse) and the Sunset Bar. The outdoor one allows smoking though, so that may bug you. The Sugar Cane Bar has all the crazy mojitos. They are all good. There's also an outdoor version of that (non-smoking)

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Snapdad

Snapdad

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Thanks for the review. Glad you had a great time. My son is 13 and I hope he enjoys Entourage as much as your son did

 

Register him the first day and have him go to the 8pm thing. Seems like they did a good job with what they called "The Awkward Hour" where everyone sort of introduces themselves and talks about where they are from. They broke the ice really well.

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samiam0403

samiam0403

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It was hard not to eat EVERYTHING. We both worked hard to get into shape for this thing, but deep down inside there’s a little fat kid who’s down to eat everything fried, with ranch dressing and bacon on top. The fat kid was happy. They also had a bunch of salads to keep the dad-bod fairly in check.

 

This is me. Every. Single. Cruise.

 

Thanks for the great review! Even without pictures, you did a fantastic job!

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Jaco5NC

Jaco5NC

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Thank you for the great review! I love your writing style and your humor. I have a pretty awkward 13 year old who is hesitant about the Teen Club, I will make sure he attends first night. Hopefully he will have as much fun as yours...thanks for the tip. We leave this Saturday...SO EXCITED:D!

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dsnygrl

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We were on the trip with you and agree, it was a great week. This was our first time cruising with Norwegian.

 

A couple of things to add, we had the dining package not the drink package. Cagney's was the best meal we had on the ship and ended up going twice. I had the 16 oz bone in rib eye the first time and the whole lobster the second time and both were very good although the lobster was a little small. Eat outside on the waterfront if you can, it is a wonderful experience.

 

We did the comedy club with both comics and found Frank to be better than Tom, you missed out there. Tom was good but Frank was really good. Host was fair. Interesting thing about the comedy clubs on the ship vs Carnival which we have done numerous times is that the comics are have 6 shows each in the club and are only required to do 1 new set the whole time so even the adult show can be the same as the early show. This is kind of a bummer for those of us who like to do multiple shows. The opening comic did pretty much the same 15 minute set each time we went. One would think that if you were on Last Comic standing, you would have more than 15 minutes of material. Tom changed a line or 2 between the regular and the adult show, mainly to add curse words and Frank since he got to know us and other passengers, changed up his show each time. Also, the adult shows do say 18+ but that is a recommendation and kids are allowed in which my 14 year old was thrilled about. Frank even saw him at the first adult show and made him part of the set.

 

My son is also shy and geeky at 14 but had a different experience at Entourage. He has been going to kids clubs on ships since he was little so he knows how to fit in and make friends. The space is awesome and has lots of fun stuff to do but he found the kids to be clicky and had trouble finding anyone to hang with. He loves video games so he did spend time playing there but did not spend a huge amount of time there. He is very honest and there were groups of boys being jerks and cheating at air hockey and other things and were throwing pucks and stuff and that frustrated him.

 

As for deck chairs, we do not usually hang out in the pool area so as long as you left that part, there are available deck chairs everywhere. In fact in over 20 cruises, I have never seen so many open deck chairs. If you want a chair and do not care about being close to the pool, hit one of the higher sun decks even on sea days.

 

We also loved the slides. Ladies be aware that if you want to do the drop slides, you must remove all jewelry, including earrings and piercings.

 

The ropes course was amazing.

 

We did some of the game shows and trivia as well. We won super heroes and villains trivia and got pens. Be aware most of these events are held in the atrium area and some do require running up to the front so sit up front or you will have to navigate through all the chairs which can be dangerous.

 

We had a regular balcony, mid ship and it was perfect. We did not have bunk beds so my son slept on the couch part which he said was fine. Our room steward was excellent.

 

We had issues with the technology on board so we could not use any of he touch screens or our cabin tv to book anything and all we got were error messages. We complained to the asst. hotel director who we met at the cruise critic meet and greet and he gave us his card and told us to call him anytime we needed to book anything and he took care of it for us right away.

 

I was very impressed by the amount of officers who are constantly out and about and it is even published in the daily places they will be on the ship at certain times to answer questions. They are also quick to pick up trash and things themselves and not wait or tell someone else to do it.

 

This was by far the cleanest ship I have ever been on.

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Snapdad

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My son is also shy and geeky at 14 but had a different experience at Entourage. He has been going to kids clubs on ships since he was little so he knows how to fit in and make friends. The space is awesome and has lots of fun stuff to do but he found the kids to be clicky and had trouble finding anyone to hang with. He loves video games so he did spend time playing there but did not spend a huge amount of time there. He is very honest and there were groups of boys being jerks and cheating at air hockey and other things and were throwing pucks and stuff and that frustrated him.

 

 

We did some of the game shows and trivia as well. We won super heroes and villains trivia and got pens. Be aware most of these events are held in the atrium area and some do require running up to the front so sit up front or you will have to navigate through all the chairs which can be dangerous.

 

 

That's so cool that you took the time to add to this! I'm so sorry your son had a poor experience. It sounds like our boys would have probably gotten along nicely. There was like a big group of older kids there that sounded like they were pretty exclusive. My son found a smaller group of 5 or 6 other kids, he said a couple kids from Australia sort of joined up with them on the 3rd or 4th day. I can't believe the puck throwing! I hope those kids were removed for at least the rest of the day.

 

We totally saw you win the heroes and villains! We were playing along from upstairs at O'Sheehan's. We just scored our own card, I think we missed two. (The wife talked me out of Kitty Pryde & went with Rogue...I KNEW I had that one!) :)

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dsnygrl

dsnygrl

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Posted (edited)
That's so cool that you took the time to add to this! I'm so sorry your son had a poor experience. It sounds like our boys would have probably gotten along nicely. There was like a big group of older kids there that sounded like they were pretty exclusive. My son found a smaller group of 5 or 6 other kids, he said a couple kids from Australia sort of joined up with them on the 3rd or 4th day. I can't believe the puck throwing! I hope those kids were removed for at least the rest of the day.

 

We totally saw you win the heroes and villains! We were playing along from upstairs at O'Sheehan's. We just scored our own card, I think we missed two. (The wife talked me out of Kitty Pryde & went with Rogue...I KNEW I had that one!) :)

 

He still managed to have a good time when he was there. He was just happy to be playing video games :)

 

It's too bad the kids did not get together. If my son had know you were a comic, you might not have gotten rid of him. He is a huge comedy fan and the clubs on the ships are his favorite thing to do.

 

He was also super excited to win the trivia. We got the older pictures for him but it was all him for the newer characters. The 2 Superman ones stumped all of us. The pens are actually pretty cool, for pens that is.

 

Edited by dsnygrl
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Traveltheworldtoday

Traveltheworldtoday

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My wife and I were on the Getaway same time as you. It was the best vacation we have taken as a couple. We were on deck 10 with a balcony. Awesome. Our stateroom steward was awesome. She learned our names the first evening. Every time we saw her she called us by name. I made sure at the end of the cruise I gave her an extra tip. We went to Legally Blonde and The Grammy Experience. Both were very good.

 

Sooo, can't wait until my next cruise.

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Snapdad

Snapdad

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great review, thanks!

 

How do you think a 3.5 year old would do in Baths? Regardless, we're going, I'm just not sure if I should bring a baby carrier as I'm packing light.

 

Thanks for reading! Oh I think a 3.5 year old would probably do better than the grownups! :) If they're good little climbers should not be a problem. You may have to pick Him/Her up once or twice for wading, but I don't think you'd need a carrier. There were a couple of times I was wishing I was shorter. Have fun! It's really something to see.

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