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

[M&JfromSDL]

Dinner was excellent. The seafood seemed fresh and nicely flavored. The service was a little weird. Not bad, just somewhat disjointed. It lacked a fluidity or WOW factor like we were used to in the speciality restaurants on Royal.

 

For desert I ordered the chocolate coma on a plate and was too busy enjoying my mine to remember what the Mrs. ordered. But here's a photo I managed to snap.

 

 

 

After dinner we meandered around the ship until Norwegian Night out started in Spice H2O. There's really something about this space at night. It is an awesome party location and one we would visit through out the week during the evenings.

 

 

 

 

After dancing amongst the sea breeze and under the stars we retired to our state room. Time for a good long sleep.

[cmdchiefthom]

I just loved your review. Thanks for sharing your impressions and experiences aboard the Getaway. We loved our cruise aboard her last year and can't wait until we board her again in February. :)

[M&JfromSDL]

Here are the Dallies for the day at sea.

 

 

 

 

[hansolosmom]

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

[M&JfromSDL]

January 5, 2016

 

Woke up as we were docking in Ocho Rios and little hungover. Realized we hadn't eaten much of substance the day before. So off to the buffet I went in search of hydration and grease.

 

As I walked through the buffet I wondered why so many people were order seemingly boring things. Ham sandwiches, plain chicken, etc. Add this thought to the list I will come back to towards the end of the review.

 

We had no plans for this port so we decided to stay on board and enjoy an empty ship.

 

With some food in my belly I was ready to tackle the day. But first we would start by relaxing in the jacuzzi and various warm rooms.

 

 

We would later learn this is a dolphin pool.

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast we made our way to Vibe and lounged in the cabana for a while. It got a little hot and I was ready to go for a walk. So we strolled around the decks for a bit. No stroll around the ship is complete without a stop at the buffet so I enjoyed a nice plate of oxtail stew, jerk chicken and rice. Very good food for mass produced cruise ship buffet fare.

 

On our way back to Vibe we stopped by the regular pool bar for a strawberry daquiri and a drink of the day (Painkiller) for the Mrs. She was intrigued by the pineapple infused alcohol and we both agreed it was the better of the two drinks.

 

We enjoyed our drinks and watched people ride the water slides. We decided it was time to jump in and go for a ride.

 

The enclosed slide, "The Whip" was pretty scary at first. You move pretty fast and it gets dark. The drop slide requires you remove all jewelry including rings and all piercings. When I say all, I mean all. No matter where they are on you. ;-) At the point we agreed the purple open air slide was more our speed today and took turns with the 4-8 year old crowd.

 

There has been a lot of hate on the RCI forums towards the addition of waterslides on Royal Caribbean ships. But I have to say I had a blast and enjoyed it far more than the flowrider or zipline.

 

After our waterslide fun was over we headed back to the room for a little downtime and a shower. We had Moderno reservations for tonight but neither of us was in the mood for it. So we decided to wing it.

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

We walked the shops for a bit and noticed the attractive duty free alcohol prices when compared to our home state of Virginia. We made a mental note to come back later in the week for a purchase.

 

As we strolled around looking for dinner we discovered the downside to "Freestyle Dining." It wasn't very freestyle since everything was booked up. Our first choice was Teppanyaki. Completely full and unable to accommodate. 2nd choice was the Shanghai's, the noodle bar. They could seat us in "at the very earliest, 45 minutes."

 

We took a walk over to the interactive TV and found our only choice to really be the Tropicana Room or the buffet. The menu seemed somewhat appealing and since we missed our reservation there earlier in the week we figured we would take our opportunity for dinner and dancing while we had it.

 

The Tropicana Room is an excellent concept. It feels like a sexy supper club.

 

 

However the band playing this night was horrific. We witnessed them the night before. I can only describe it as bad karaoke one might find in Spain. Singers with heavy spanish accents trying to belt out American classics. We were disappointed to learn the AWESOME Latin Express played here the night after.

 

The food here was okay. And once again, we were treated to awkward service. We love the main dining experience on RCI cruises. The camaraderie of the same dinner mates or at least familiar faces. The service was impersonal and somewhat chaotic. Like attending a wedding where the servers can't wait for dinner service to end.

 

I started out with the shrimp ceviche which was very nice.

 

 

Mrs. J started out with a fairly boring but good greens salad.

 

Our main course consisted of a pedestrian Pasta Carbonara for her and a properly cooked but also pedestrian striploin for me.

 

 

 

Our wine was decent though. I enjoyed a nice glass of Pinot Noir and the Mrs. had the standard rose.

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[marciemi]

Really enjoying the review and especially the pics & dailies since we leave on Sunday. Do you know if the bar between Moderno & Cagneys is open during the day or only in the evening? Thanks!

Edited January 14, 2016 by marciemi

[M&JfromSDL]

We skipped dessert and opted for a trip through the casino. After discovering the epic game Recuerdos Doarados we enjoyed a pair of Grolsch at O'Sheehans while enjoying the ever amazing Groove International.

 

 

 

Soon enough I was tipsy enough to want to dance and we headed out to the Caribbean Dance Class and Caribbean party at Spice H2O.

 

 

We danced together a bit before running into some friends we met earlier in the cruise. We ended up back at O'Sheehans for a couple rounds of skiball and a Baileys and Kahlua before bed.

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

Thanks for all of your comments. My wife and I read through so many reviews ahead of our cruises so it is nice to contribute.

 

Really enjoying the review and especially the pics & dailies since we leave on Sunday. Do you know if the bar between Moderno & Cagneys is open during the day or only in the evening? Thanks!

 

To be honest, I am not completely sure. I highly doubt it since that area is pretty quiet during the day. Frankly, it's a dark area. Akin to a dark steakhouse. Not sure I'd want to hang out there during the day. You may get a better experience at the indoor section of the Sunset Bar.

[Mistizoom]

Thanks for you review, pics and dailies. Can't wait to hear about the rest of the cruise.

[niclan6]

Great review and pics so far, can't wait for the rest.

[jcathers1]

I have a strange question:

 

You mentioned the in-room coffee makers. My wife and I are pretty particular about our coffee. Ok, mostly my wife. :D

 

Do you remember the kind of machine it was (such as a Keurig, etc.), so that we could perhaps bring a particular brand she likes? Or was it just a simple drip-style? Thanks!

[M&JfromSDL]

I have a strange question:

 

You mentioned the in-room coffee makers. My wife and I are pretty particular about our coffee. Ok, mostly my wife. :D

 

Do you remember the kind of machine it was (such as a Keurig, etc.), so that we could perhaps bring a particular brand she likes? Or was it just a simple drip-style? Thanks!

 

Not a crazy question. The machine does not take the standard Keurig style cups but rather a plastic type dish. My wife said the machine was a european brand. Sorry.

[marciemi]

To be honest, I am not completely sure. I highly doubt it since that area is pretty quiet during the day. Frankly, it's a dark area. Akin to a dark steakhouse. Not sure I'd want to hang out there during the day. You may get a better experience at the indoor section of the Sunset Bar.

 

Thanks! That's kind of what we figured but we have an aft balcony right above it so thought it would be the closest bar to get to but were afraid that wouldn't work during the day to just grab a drink.

[M&JfromSDL]

January 6, 2015

 

I had been having trouble disconnecting and completely activating vacation mode. But I finally succeeded and slept in until 11:30am. Might have been the Baileys and Kahlua the night before. I looked at my wife, looked at the clock and said something along the lines of "Guess we're not going to Grand Cayman."

 

I must have been tired because I successfully fell back asleep each time Armen (Cruise Director) announced the tender availability over the PA. At one point he called passengers holding tickets A, B, C... all the ways to M.

 

We dressed and headed up to the Garden Cafe. It seemed we weren't the only folks skipping ports this cruise. We noticed the day before the pool area was pretty busy with folks who decided to forego Ocho Rios and stay onboard. Grand Cayman was much of the same.

 

Today, simple foods sounded best. I became one of those folks who passes the wide range of international offerings for a ham and cheese sandwich and some fries.

 

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Grand Cayman looked pretty busy. There appeared to be a total of 5 ships. The Island Princess, Carnival Paradise and us on one side and 2 larger Carnival ships moored on the other.

 

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After lunch we walked up to Vibe to relax. I was ready for a hair of the dog and one of Courtney's mojitos would fit the bill.

[M&JfromSDL]

Vibe was empty. Kind of funny considering the mad dash for cabana rentals and Vibe passes. We had the place virtually to ourselves.

 

Looking towards the bar and hot tubs from the cabana area.

 

Looking towards the cabana area from just outside of ours.

 

 

There are two whirlpools and a neat shower in the Vibe Beach Club.

 

 

A few minutes after we arrived Marian came over with a bucket full of ice for our ice chest. The neat thing about the cabana is there are two cubbies. On one side is a metal bin for ice, the other is a storage box. The bartenders and staff in the Vibe are very cognizant of who is coming and going. We left our personal items down there multiple times and never felt unsafe.

 

 

 

[BeachBecky]

Really enjoying the review and especially the pics & dailies since we leave on Sunday. Do you know if the bar between Moderno & Cagneys is open during the day or only in the evening? Thanks!

 

In the Dailies it is only open 5pm to 11pm,

[M&JfromSDL]

Being the aviation nerd I am, I enjoyed the view of the arriving airplanes.

 

 

 

The heat was creeping up and with not much of a breeze the cabana was become uncomfortable. If only they had a ceiling fan or mister. ;-)

 

I grabbed a shaded bar stool along with my Mrs. and we enjoyed some time talking with Courtney, Joseph and Marian about cruising and life. Aside from the amenities in the Vibe, the staff here is top notch. Frankly the best we experienced the entire cruise.

 

By mid afternoon passengers were beginning to stream back on board and I was feeling a little hungry. We walked over to the Flamingo as I had a craving for a little Cuban food.

 

Regular French Fries and Yucca fries.

 

 

Papa Rellenas, Maduros and Croquetas and the always tasty Cilantro sauce.

 

 

I grabbed some black beans and rice along with pollo asado (roast chicken) and ropa vieja (shreadded beef). They also had chicharrones. I didn't think I was a fan and decided to confirm, which I did. They weren't bad. Just not my thing.

 

 

My wife couldn't resist either.

 

 

 

[M&JfromSDL]

After lunch and a little siesta, it was time for more water slide fun. As I said earlier in my review. They are a ton of fun. I felt like a kid again. And it was cool to see all of the smiles on the kids faces as they rode them with their parents.

 

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We alternated slides a couple of times before deciding to head down to Sunset bar for sailaway. But after having a beer we decided it was just too smoky to sit down there for long. We ended up heading up to the Vibe and taking a nap in the cabana now that we were moving and there was a breeze up there.

 

We had dinner plans at Le Bistro tonight and wanted to be sure we were ready!

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

After our quick nap we headed down to the spa for a bit. We relaxed in the therapy pool and steam room before returning to the cabin to get ready for dinner.

 

I think the most frustrating part of the Freestyle concept aside from the need for reservations for everything was the inability to manage them. The iPhone App allows you to reserve until your hearts content but not cancel. Or see what reservations you already made.

 

Back down to the room around 7pm and I tried loading the My Vacation Planner on the TV. This never worked. You could select it but it would never load.

 

 

We had a little time before our reservation so we grabbed 2 open seats at Mixx bar which sits inbetween Taste and Savor in the same way Prime Meridian 360 sits between Modernos and Cagneys.

 

The people watching here is pretty awesome. Interesting dinner attire, crazy cross of people, etc.

 

At some point we noticed a group of folks across the bar doing Fireball shots. I ordered a Hendricks and tonic and sat back and watched. I watched this already intoxicated passenger served shot after shot of Fireball. I made a comment to the bartender about how much the guy had drank and he pulled out the bottle and showed me it WAS a fresh bottle. Now just 1/2 full.

 

Instead of calling security and having this guy escorted back to his stateroom, he was admitted into the one of the dining rooms for dinner. He could barely walk. In fact he nearly knocked me and a couple of pieces of art down as he walked back to the dining room from the bathroom.

 

I was a pretty heated. I thought it was irresponsible of the bartenders to serve someone like that. The bartender took it upon himself to pour me a 2nd gin and tonic with so much gin in it, it was undrinkable. My wife complained her greyhound was similar. I ended up leaving the glass on the bar and walking over to Le Bistro for in hopes they could seat us a few minutes early.

 

Luckily they could. My wife loves french food and anything that reminds her of our trip to Paris this past summer. Tonight was her night and a dry run for her birthday dinner which we would celebrate later in the week. So she requested a table "outside" the restaurant on the atrium.

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

Le Bistro

 

Again we were incredibly excited for this restaurant. We walked by several times earlier in the week and were looking forward to the experience. Our expectations were pretty high.

 

The tables are set beautifully.

 

 

Until the lovely waitress asked my wife when she was expected to deliver.

 

We're used to terse service in Parisian restaurants but asking any woman wearing an A-line dress on a 7-day caribbean cruise with an open bar and buffet restaurant is just asking for trouble. My wife answered, "I'm not." And threw the waitress a death stare. She's a tough cookie but just to prove it to her, we'll have 2 glasses of one of our favorite champagnes.

 

 

 

Took me a bit to calm the wife down. The champagne helped. The waiter presented bread slices with a salmon spread. The spread was quite nice but was accompanied by bread slices with far too much garlic seasoning. It over powered the spread. We found the salmon was better suited for the standard french bread they presented in a second bread basket.

 

 

My wife began with the Mushroom Soup and I the French Onion Soup.

 

 

 

Both soups were pretty good. My wife raved about the mushroom soup and the french onion I felt was also pretty good. Nothing mind blowing but nothing to complain about either.

 

Our appetizer were presented quickly after finishing our soup.

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[MrsPhoenix91]

Until the lovely waitress asked my wife when she was expected to deliver.

 

 

Four Words: DAMN, that is bold:eek:

[M&JfromSDL]

My wife ordered the escargot. A favorite treat she looks forward to ordering on cruises. There were no complaints here.

 

 

I ordered the scallop appetizer.

 

 

Both appetizers were very good. But something just didn't seem right. The setting and placement of the restaurant was a little weird. For starters your romantic french dinner is interrupted by Armen inviting you to whatever is going on or something they want to sell you. The PA announcements on this ship are incredibly annoying.

 

Le Bistro is located on the bottom level of 678 Ocean Place. Across the way is the Headliners Club which was featuring a dueling piano show during our dinner. One floor up is the casino which lends a ton of background noise and an unfriendly stale, cigarette smell to the air. 2 levels up is the Sugarcane mojito bar with it's own musical performance.

 

Eventually dinner made its way to the table.

 

My wife selected the duck entree. It featured a breast and thigh. The thigh was very flavorful and cooked nicely. The breast however was extremely dry and tough. The temperature wasn't completely warm lending to the idea that it had been sitting for a while.

 

 

I ordered the Fruits de Mer. Normally a $10 upcharge if not on a UDP.

 

 

I started with the green beans and tomatoes which I think masked some of the seafood flavor. The shrimp seemed a little skimpy for a premium charge meal. Nothing like the fresh albeit over-grilled shrimp my wife received a few nights prior in Ocean Blue. These reminded me of the frozen shrimp you might be tempted to...but should never buy at Safeway and toss in a shrimp salad or at the very least find in a stir fry within a cruise ship buffet.

 

The scallops were okay but were different than the ones in my appetizer. I think because they coated the entire entree in a sauce they felt they could get away with lower quality seafood. I could not taste the actually scallop through the sauce but they definitely smelled a fishy.

 

By the time I gave up and moved onto the two tiniest pieces of lobster I've ever paid for, the damage was done. Between the junior varsity service, the cigarette smell and the obnoxious back ground noises I was pretty much checked out.

 

When I needed a steak knife to cut through the lobster I could not overcome the disappointment. It was tough and stringy. Which indicates it was not stored at the proper temperature and subsequently overcooked. It was just not good. My wife looked over at me and said, "You're disappointed." I was. And so was she.

 

 

 

I somewhat obnoxiously asked the waiter to clear our plates because by this point all I could smell and taste was bad seafood and cigarettes. He asked if we wanted dessert and my wife immediately asked for a cheese plate to go.

 

At this point the only good things to come out of dinner was the champagne, knowing we didn't waste her 30th birthday dinner at this restaurant and the cheese plate.

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL

[M&JfromSDL]

We headed over to the atrium trying to escape the disasterous dinner we just experienced. Our UDP was included in our cruise but so I sort of justified bit by saying I really hadn't paid for it. If I had shelled out the cover charge plus the upcharge for my dinner, I probably would have come unglued. It was a terrible experience.

 

Luckily Latin Express was playing in the atrium. These guys are awesome and know how to get the crowd growing. There were a ton of hispanic and latin people on the ship so whenever Latin Express was playing, you knew you could find a large crowd and lively surroundings.

 

Latin Express plays a wide variety of caribbean and hispanic music. But unfortunately I could not get the seafood taste out of my mouth. I even went back to the cabin and brushed my teeth when I dropped the cheese plate in the refrigerator. I found Stuffed Porter cuddled up with the towel animal.

 

 

I could tell tmy wife was still stewing over the waitress' comment so I suggest we change into something casual and wander the ship. My wife suggested an espresso which seemed like a good idea. Again, she was right.

 

 

[M&JfromSDL]

We worked the casino for a bit sticking mostly to slots and the occasional game of video poker.

 

The cigarette smoke got to me again so we took a nice long walk around the waterfront. It was a nice night out. We could see a ton of stars and a handful of cruise ships cruising around us.

 

My wife pointed out the little food section by the casino to keep gamblers going. We grabbed a little mini sandwich on pretzel bread to keep us going.

 

We played another round of OMG! Kittens

 

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Mainly because the tuxedo cat in the image reminds us of one the one we have at home.

 

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At some point we wandered up to the Teen Arcade for a couple games of ski ball and the motor cycle game which my wife surprisingly loved to play. She began to grow fond of a red bull beenie baby which she lovingly referred to as L Vache Quirit, or The Laughing Cow.

 

After another round of my favorite spanish slot machine and OMG Kittens we landed in O'Sheehans for an order of the wings that everyone seemed to be ordering.

 

We sat down at the bar that overlooks like atrium. There was a sappy movie playing and another round of playing "Find the Server" so we could order food. Just short of falling asleep at the bar a nice gentleman approached and took our food order. I have to say, for cruise ship food...the wings were pretty good. At 2:30am after a bad dinner and a couple drinks they were downright perfect.

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by M&JfromSDL