My week on the Getaway (March 25-April 1)

[starfishee]

Now, I must admit that when they called Boarding Group #1, I got Vibe envy for a moment. We had such an amazing time there and I knew exactly what we were missing. And I knew how crowded this cruise would be. I am not one to wake up at the crack of dawn to run up and get a lounger. I'm also not a chair hog. I'll admit, the temptation is there, but I just would never do it. I once left my towel on a lounger when I went to a Meet and Greet. I was only gone 45 minutes but I was just so sure I was going to be arrested. Or made to walk the plank. Or at least given dirty looks by 4000 other passengers. None of that happened (thankfully) but chair hogging is not for me. I held steady with my decision of no Vibe, and was consoled with my knowledge that loungers should be available on the sun deck which would make it all ok.

 

Group #3 was called and we headed on board. It was washy washy time, then we stepped in. My family stopped and looked at me. Where to? We didn't need to race to Guest Services for Vibe passes, but that habit somehow remained. Down we went to Deck 6, and we were welcomed into the Atrium. I immediately went to the bar and put my UBP to use. Last cruise, my first drink was a Mango Meltdown. I hadn't thought about what to order and the pressure was on. I wanted to come up with a great first drink and before I knew it, I heard myself ordering a Pina Colada? What's with that? How boring.......but it did hit the spot. The rest of the family ordered their drinks including my 17 y.o who ordered a Virgin something. We then headed up to the pool area and found some chairs to enjoy our drinks.

 

My two younger sons went to the buffet to grab lunch. I always like to go to the dining room for my first lunch. To me, that proves that I'm really there......ordering appetizers, desserts, drinks, and someone bringing me anything I want. That's a cruise. So - time to get it started. My husband, oldest son and I went to Taste. It never fails - every time I sail, there is someone posted in front of the bar between Taste and Savor trying to send people to the buffet. Why? My guess is most people who find themselves there are actually there because they want to eat there. We were told "They're serving lunch in the buffet" and I nicely told her "No thanks, we'd like to eat here". We went in and were seated immediately. I ordered the hummus appetizer, meatloaf wrapped in bacon and had peanut butter cheesecake for dessert. I had a nice glass of Pinot Grigio to wash it all down.

 

By the time we were finished with lunch, we heard the announcement that the rooms were ready. We found my two other boys and headed to check out our cabins. We were in balcony cabin 13126 and the boys were around the corner in 13421 which was an inside cabin. I was a little disappointed that their cabin was further than I thought from us - I'm not sure why I thought they were right across from us. But, having booked the cruise almost two years ago - I suspect there was a reason that my old brain cells just don't remember. I very much enjoyed being on deck 13 - I had cabins both above and below us, and we were a quick trip up to the pool deck (which helped for UBP refills).

 

Cabin 13126 is pretty much your typical balcony cabin on the port side. The bed is by the balcony, which is new to us. On previous cruises our bed was scrunched up against the closet. There are pros and cons to each set up, but I kind of liked it this way. I feel like there was less shelving space than on the Escape but there was still plenty of room. There were big storage drawers in the sofa, shelves all around and enough closet space for two. There were 20 hangers (I counted so I would save half for my husband when I was unpacking - then I proceeded to take two extra!!!) in the closet and even though I way overpacked, I had plenty of room for all my clothes and shoes. We had the same view from our room that we had on our last Escape trip. In fact, I saw the same yacht that I was drooling on the last time. Just sitting there waiting for me.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/6-zs7m

 

After unpacking, we went to our boys cabin to check it out. They've never seen the bunk come from the ceiling as their last cruise they had a balcony and the sofa opened to the third bed. My youngest (as usual - last pick so the bunk was his) asked me if the bunk gets put away each day, and there's no sofa, where does he sit during the day? Hmmmm - good question. Sit on your brothers bed! My middle son (second pick) would get the bed below the bunk. He wanted to know how low the bunk would go and if he would die when it crashes down onto him. And the oldest son (first pick) already seemed very comfortable in his awesome bed. The room worked out great - and the only issue we had was getting them up each morning with it so dark. Luckily - the middle son listens to his alarm - unlike his brothers that can sleep through 15 snooze buttons. The boys unpacked and soon it was time for the Muster Drill.

 

The boys had been joking ever since I told them about the drill. Mustard Drill? What's that? I told them that they weren't very original as many people have made that joke previously. Imagine their enjoyment when we found out that we were to muster at O'Sheehans. And when we got there we sat down at the table for the drill right next to a bit bottle of mustard. "See mom, there is mustard at the mustard drill". The drill was surprisingly quick, and it's so nice to do it sitting down, as opposed to when we used to be lined up standing outside for 30 minutes or more. I just wish they would have served us wings during the drill. Now that would have been a great drill.

 

Following the drill I had to reschedule our Million Dollar Quartet reservation. As we went into the cabin and checked out all our welcome letters, etc waiting for us, we had one stating that our reservation for Thursday was changed from Million Dollar Quartet to Burn the Floor "due to technical difficulties". Hmmmm, I didn't want to see Burn the Floor, I wanted to see Million Dollar Quartet. I was so excited to see it on the Escape and had it reserved but it was cancelled when the show moved to the Getaway. I made a phone call and luckily was able to reschedule it for Monday night. While going through the other welcome information, I saw that we had a $100 on board credit with a message stating Bon Voyage. I was so excited. Who sent it to me? I read it more carefully and realized that it was placed in my room by mistake - and was for someone else. Boo.

 

Soon it was time for sailway. We decided to stay on our balcony and made sure we each had drink in hand. My oldest son made a great time-lapse video of the whole thing. I'll have to make sure he sends it to me, so I can watch it during this whole post-cruise depression. For now, this photo will have to suffice:

 

https://pix.sfly.com/Adxs0J

 

Just curious what time you actually boarded arriving that late and getting lucky enough to get boarding group #3?

[ljrfrm]

Just curious what time you actually boarded arriving that late and getting lucky enough to get boarding group #3?

 

Great question - I honestly don't remember when they started boarding this time. It was later than our last cruise which was 11:30 - so maybe 11:45 or so - first with Haven guests and then on to boarding group one. It was actually only a very short time between Haven guests and when they called group #3. I would say about 10-15 minutes. It was all surprisingly quick. Sorry I don't remember specifics - it's sad that this cruise seems so far away and a distant memory. I might need to go back and read this review to tide me over until the next trip! :)