RCL to NCL - Our Jan 3-10 Getaway Review incl. Vibe Cabana & Spa

[MoyCoy]

Thanks for the review. I'm also a long time Royal cruiser who is trying Breakaway in March so I love hearing/seeing other people's opinions

 

I am a long time RCL cruiser too who is trying the Breakaway in Oct. Would LOVE to read your review upon your return. Where are you going in March?

[MoyCoy]

The Escape Dec 2015 was my first NCL cruise. We too had the UDP and we also were not fond of Le Bistro. We enjoyed La Cucina immensely !

[hansolosmom]

I am a long time RCL cruiser too who is trying the Breakaway in Oct. Would LOVE to read your review upon your return. Where are you going in March?

 

I am going to try and do a review when we get back. We are doing the Bahamas run -Port Canaveral, Nassau and the private island

[samiam0403]

What a great review! Thank you for posting this - I'm heading out on the Getaway this weekend and I'm loving the pictures and dailies. Quick question: was the Veuve Clicquot by the glass in Le Bistro included with the UBP? I've heard it wasn't since it's a special promotion, but have been hoping it was. Also, kudos to your wife for keeping her cool with the waitress in Le Bistro. I don't know that I could have! :eek:

[Cruiser Bruiser]

Loving the review, thanks. I'm glad you had a mostly excellent time on Getaway. I'm sailing her in September for the first time, and I'm excited.

 

Sorry you had a poor experience at Le Bistro. It's typically my favorite restaurant on NCL, but that greeting would have ruined by dinner, too. And the food quality sounds disappointing, too. Bummer.

[M&JfromSDL]

What a great review! Thank you for posting this - I'm heading out on the Getaway this weekend and I'm loving the pictures and dailies. Quick question: was the Veuve Clicquot by the glass in Le Bistro included with the UBP? I've heard it wasn't since it's a special promotion, but have been hoping it was. Also, kudos to your wife for keeping her cool with the waitress in Le Bistro. I don't know that I could have! :eek:

 

The Veuve was not included in the UBP. It is a $9 upcharge. The staff are pretty good about warning you about items not included in the package at various restaurants.

[samiam0403]

The Veuve was not included in the UBP. It is a $9 upcharge. The staff are pretty good about warning you about items not included in the package at various restaurants.

 

Thanks for the quick response. I kind of figured it wasn't included. But $9 a glass isn't bad at all for a decent glass of fizz. :)

[PaulMCO]

Thanks for posting the review. We were on the same cruise and had similar experience in Le Bisro.

 

The CD's announcement in 70db PA speakers certainly made for a romantic dinner. The Mushroom soup was outstanding. My duck was similar -- the leg and thigh was great -- rest was dry. You should be glad you did not try the Swordfish -- totally inedible according to my DW.

 

Regarding the obnoxious drunk. With so many UBP given away -- I should have expected more such incidents.

 

The best food was the Cuban food -- although we did enjoy the food at Ocean Blu (but not the service).

Edited January 15, 2016 by PaulMCO

[allaboardwhosgoingaboard]

Aside from a great review(thank you), GO PACK GO!! :D (loved little Stuffed Porter ... as well as the too funny OMG! Kittens lol)

[Cruise-mom]

Loving this review, thank you!

[tawaik]

Great review. Looking forward to the more.

 

 

Thank You for sharing :)

[Lorey2007]

Great review thanks!!

[M&JfromSDL]

January 7th

 

The Getaway docks at Punta Langosta around 11am. That was perfect since it allowed us to sleep in a bit and not get out into the hot sun too early.

 

I woke up feeling a little weird from dinner and wanted to enjoy the day in Cozumel so we took a quick stroll up to the Garden Cafe for a banana and a light breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

Punta Langosta is best thought of as an outdoor shopping mall with pier. There's a duty free shop, pharmacies, tons of t-shirt shops and the signature Diamonds International. There's also a Hooters and a Senor Frogs there as well.

 

I was still flying without sunglasses so luckily there was a schlock shop where I picked up a pair of disposables for USD$10.

 

My wife wanted to research antibiotics at the pharmacies but our search turned up unsuccessful. The one medication was significantly more expensive in Mexico and we needed a prescription for another.

 

I will suggest this. My wife is a nurse practitioner and more than once overheard someone saying they had a certain ailment and grabbed a medication that treated something completely different. Be sure you know the medical name of the medication you are looking for as opposed to the American brand name.

 

Moving on. Time to grab a cab.

 

We've been to Cozumel before and done the all-inclusive thing. This time we wanted something a little off the beaten path especially since there were a ton of ships in port. I decided we would head out to the other side of the island to a place called Mezcalito's.

 

We wanted a solid beach shack with good food and cheap beer. We weren't terribly concerned about a beach for swimming and this fit the bill perfectly.

 

[M&JfromSDL]

Finding a cab at Punta Langosta is pretty easy. USD$25 and 30 minutes later we arrived in paradise.

 

The taxi driver warned us the water is rocky and rough. He was correct.

 

View of Mezcalito's from the water

 

 

Mezcalito's does have a "Naked Beach." The crowd was pretty sparse the day we arrived and we only saw one couple take part in the nude area. Just a heads up if that type of thing offends you.

 

Looking north towards the "Naked Beach"

 

 

Beer in hand. Feet in the water.

 

 

[M&JfromSDL]

We ordered up a little lunch and explored the beach a bit. Found a couple of really large crabs.

 

 

 

The staff at Mezcalito's is super cool. With their rudimentary english and a little but of my spanish we were more than fine. Service was good without being invasive.

 

We started out with chips and guac. Of course. Chips were freshly made. Guac was delicious.

 

 

Then onto grilled garlic shrimp. I will admit the photo isn't completely appetizing but believe me they were delicious.

 

 

After lunch we ordered another round of beers, relaxed and took goofy (clothed) pictures next to the Naked Beach sign.

 

 

 

[M&JfromSDL]

 

 

 

We enjoyed the free tequila. Just kidding honey! Maybe next year...

 

The cab driver warned us it could be a little difficult to find a cab back to the ship from Mezcalito's. He offered to come back for us if we pre-paid but we weren't sure how long we would want to stay so we declined. One of the employees told us to give him 30 minutes warning and he would get us a cab back.

 

Around 2:30 we noticed the crowd had thinned out and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. My wife was getting anxious about getting back since sailaway was an entire 5 hours away. Soon enough a group showed up in a taxi and we jumped in and headed back.

 

Once back at Punta Langosta we grabbed a beer at this place called "The Beer"

so we could use their wifi. I checked in on work and the Mrs. checked on things back home. A quick Facebook update and we headed back to the ship.

 

I did breeze through the duty free shops but found the prices on the liquor I drink to be better on the Getaway.

 

Yours truly with the Getaway in the background.

[M&JfromSDL]

Some of the Getaway hull art.

 

 

 

 

We headed up to Vibe to enjoy the setting sun and sailaway. Courtney said it was dead up there all day. No surprise.

 

Another cool airport view.

 

 

Overview of Punta Langosta

[M&JfromSDL]

By now the snorkeling cruises were beginning to return.

 

 

Courtney brought over a round of mojitos while we enjoyed having the VBC to ourselves.

 

 

 

 

Carnival Glory sailing away.

 

 

 

We enjoyed our sailaway from the cabana and took a quick nap before heading down to our cabin to get ready for dinner.

 

 

 

[kenzie]

Hi,

Thanks for your review. We were on the getaway in December and also obtained Vibe passes, which were great for first half of cruise but second half unfortunately suffered bad weather so could not use the facilities.

I was just wondering about the OBC they give you for reserving the cabana, as they told us the $100 was to be used within the vibe only. How can you spend it in there if you have the UBP or was the OBC just used against your general onboard account, thereby guest services are misleading you on this?

[tampadee]

Really enjoying your review. Question: What is the price for Illusionarium?

[M&JfromSDL]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your review. We were on the getaway in December and also obtained Vibe passes, which were great for first half of cruise but second half unfortunately suffered bad weather so could not use the facilities.

 

I was just wondering about the OBC they give you for reserving the cabana, as they told us the $100 was to be used within the vibe only. How can you spend it in there if you have the UBP or was the OBC just used against your general onboard account, thereby guest services are misleading you on this?

 

 

The $100 was simply applied to our onboard account. There was never a mention about a restriction on how it was used. I think that might be Cruise Critic urban legend.

[kenzie]

The $100 was simply applied to our onboard account. There was never a mention about a restriction on how it was used. I think that might be Cruise Critic urban legend.

 

Hi, Thanks for the response -very interesting!, when we asked about the cabana at guest services they were very specific that you had to use the OBC in Vibe only, I had read that they could not actually make this happen but decided against the $349 per cabana and did not challenge them as were were a family (over 18 teens) of 6. But we loved the vibe when we could use it (weather).

[Ladypeartree]

To the point review, following!

[M&JfromSDL]

Earlier in the review I complained about not being able to see restaurant reservations on the TV or on the iPhone app. The only way to find out what you have reserved is to call. At the beginning of the day I was pretty sure I had either Cagney's or Teppanyaki reservations.

 

Upon returning to our cabin I made a quick call and learned I had none for tonight, but luckily 3 dinner reservations for tomorrow.

 

At 8:15pm, our chances of getting a reservation anywhere were nil. So we got ready for dinner and decided to take our chances.

 

We walked past Taste and Savor but nothing on the menu jumped out at us. We tried Teppanyaki but no dice their either. We walked past Shanghai and kicked it around for bit. The hostess told us there was a 45 minute wait (now 8:30pm). So we decided to grab it and grab a drink.

 

We barely made it to the Sugarcane Mojito bar and the pager went off.

 

One of the things we missed on this cruise when compared to others was dining with friendly people. We were seated at a 10-top table right at the entrance to Shanghai's next to a very nice family from Ohio. They had eaten their previously and guided us through the menu.

 

The portion sizes here are a little smaller so you can sample the menu. We started out with an order of the steamed dumplings; Singapore noodles; fried rice and a lo mein dish. The lo mein was a little boring but we ordered up seconds of the dumplings and one other dish.

 

We got lost in conversation with our dinner mates and I forgot to take photos of dinner. Here at home we live amongst some amazing Asian restaurants so we poo poo'd the idea of eating at Shanghai's initially. But the food was very good and the service was excellent.

 

The casino was so close and we could not resist its call after dinner. I threw a couple bucks in Recuerdos Dorados and won a few more back.

 

 

Thanks to our nap we had a ton of energy. My wife checked the NCL app and mentioned Latin Express was playing Spice H2O. I was feeling a little loose and in the mood to dance so we headed over to check out the scene.

 

Let's see if I can link to the video I took:

 

[/url]Untitled by Matt D, on Flickr

 

I have very few photos here because from the time we walked in to the time we left we danced our butts off.

 

 

Whether or not you know how to dance to latin music, I HIGHLY suggest you check out Latin Express when they play Spice H2O. There was a great crowd, lots of people dancing and enjoying themselves. It was an all around great time.

 

After Spice H2O we headed back to the casino and lost some more money.

 

We unfortunately reencountered the casino bar (Bar 21?) bartenders. I ordered a gin and tonic for myself. It was again overpoured. At some point we paused our gaming and went back for 2 Pina Coladas. I noticed the bar area smells bad. Either the drains are not clean, or the fruit is bad or something. It just has an unclean smell to it. Our pina coladas was so bad they were undrinkable. So heavily poured they tasted like paint thinner.

 

We played some more Deal or No Deal (SO ADDICTIVE!) then relocated to O'Sheehans for air hockey, ski ball and bowling fun. We caught the end of Groove International's show as well.

 

 

 

 

I suggest NCL come up with an Ultimate O'Sheehans Package since I think I spent more money here than I did in the casino, Vibe, and restaurants combined.

[M&JfromSDL]

Between dancing, gambling and kicking my wife's behind at bowling I burned off some calories. Just kidding, no I didn't. But I definitely needed some food.

 

When I saw a chili dog on the menu at O'Sheehans, I was sold. And so was my wife! I loved access to late night pizza on Royal. But O'Sheehans is pretty darn cool.

 

Time stamp on this photo: 2:37am. Oh well, tomorrow is a day at sea.

 

 

During our 2nd dinner we witnessed the downside to the UBP and over pouring. Lots of WAY TOO drunk people. Including one guy who decided to pick a girl up, spin her around and have her spill a beer all over a group of people and the carpet in O'Sheehans. Amateur hour.