Mitsugirlys graduation getaway cruise

Did I miss someone breaking a toe? :(

You caught me. I wondered when I posted that picture if anyone would catch on and notice. Yep, that's ONE of the things that happened to me this cruise. I broke my pinky toe. :( My odds are up now for big ships. My right hand on the Epic and right toe on the Getaway. I wonder what's in store for me if I sail on the Breakaway?

I had read about that family pool being enclosed before and your picture proves it. How on earth can you lay out by the pool and watch your kid in an area like that? I'm really confused about where my kids will be playing and how I will be able to relax and watch them too. Maybe they will just be interested in the water-slides the whole time. Is there somewhere for adults to sit in the water slide area?

Yes, it's situated right under the water slide area and the steps leading up to them and also right beside the kids splash area. You could sit on the pools edge or the wall that went around the outside of the area. Also at the end of it (toward the market place) there were a few chairs you could sit at, but they weren't lounge chairs. Honestly, most of the chairs on the pool deck are in a covered area under the deck above it. You can relax, just not in much sun and not by the pool. Upstairs on the deck above it, they had plenty of lounge chairs for sunning, but of course no pool and not close to run for the pool if you have little ones. :(

Whoa.......note to self....*stay away from this area*...LOL.

Here in my home town, we have a Hotel in the centre of town that is one of the tallest buildings in the North West of England. It has a bar on level 23 called the Cloud Bar and that has a large glass opening looking down. Now THAT (obviously!) is stationary and I've yet to conquer my fear and walk across it.........no chance of me doing it at sea!!! :eek:

Loving hearing about your adventures. Thanks for sharing, you're making me excited for ours! :)

Hee hee, at first it didn't seem like much walking across it. Then after staring down at the ocean going by, that's when it kinda kicked in that you were standing over the ocean. However, it's not right below you, it's kinda a few floors down (the ocean :D). Plus another thing is the glass is like a crinkle cut glass, so it's not too clear to directly view it. You might just be able to do this. ;) :eek:

DECK 17...where all the action happens for both kids and adults, well if you're active and like climbing that is.

Here's the ropes course. I will have more pictures of everything else that's up there on my daily report when we do these activities.

You are looking up at the ropes course and the zip lining.

Now to throw in some random pics

There was a really neat cut out area (maybe between the Box Office? I can't remember) and you walked up a few steps and they had a replica Getaway ship in glass there. They also had information about the ship in this area hanging on the walls. In the middle of it was a huge black round chair with no back. I wanted to get pictures there, but every time we passed by others were in the area or kids on the chair. So, once again, no pictures of it. I also noticed several nights the photographer used this area for pictures as well.

Ok, so this completes my ship tour. These are all the pictures I believe I have for the areas. I'm sure I really missed a lot or don't have pictures for things someone might be looking for.

I will need to take some time and download and host my daily pictures of our trip. So, I might not be back on to continue to the review until later tonight.

I hope everyone is enjoying what little bit I did get of the ship and are not too disappointed. :(

You are obviously really organized and a big planner. Sometimes I find that when I plan things and things don't go as planned I am way more disappointed and less flexible then when I wing it and am thrown some curve balls. Do you think that you will change your pre cruise preparation at all due to your experience on this trip?

BTW congrats on your graduation. Well done!

You are obviously really organized and a big planner. Sometimes I find that when I plan things and things don't go as planned I am way more disappointed and less flexible then when I wing it and am thrown some curve balls. Do you think that you will change your pre cruise preparation at all due to your experience on this trip?

 

BTW congrats on your graduation. Well done!

Yep, I'm a super big planner. I hate to just wing it. I'm not very good at winging it and when we have tried (obviously times we have traveled with Kendra) it turned out a complete mess.

I also do my research (especially the ports) and know what to expect. I also go there knowing that my observations and likes/dislikes might not jive with others. So, I go there with an open mind and no matter if I like the place or not, I try to have a good time and take the best from it. I do speak my thoughts on it though, whether others agree or not. It's my opinion.

As far as changes...I can tell you that I will probably never book another cruise that I haven't researched prior to booking. :p Planning is the only way I function properly and I think that part of that contributed to the failure of this cruise. Even if I don't have a cruise planned, I will continue to research different places and know that when I do book a cruise there, I will know exactly what I'm doing. :D

Thanks so much for the congrats. Also thanks so much for all the Mullet Bay/Maho info. Your help was priceless and made it a wonderful day there.

You are obviously really organized and a big planner. Sometimes I find that when I plan things and things don't go as planned I am way more disappointed and less flexible then when I wing it and am thrown some curve balls. Do you think that you will change your pre cruise preparation at all due to your experience on this trip?

 

BTW congrats on your graduation. Well done!

Yep, I'm a super big planner. I hate to just wing it. I'm not very good at winging it and when we have tried (obviously times we have traveled with Kendra) it turned out a complete mess.

 

I also do my research (especially the ports) and know what to expect. I also go there knowing that my observations and likes/dislikes might not jive with others. So, I go there with an open mind and no matter if I like the place or not, I try to have a good time and take the best from it. I do speak my thoughts on it though, whether others agree or not. It's my opinion.

 

As far as changes...I can tell you that I will probably never book another cruise that I haven't researched prior to booking. :p Planning is the only way I function properly and I think that part of that contributed to the failure of this cruise. Even if I don't have a cruise planned, I will continue to research different places and know that when I do book a cruise there, I will know exactly what I'm doing. :D

 

Thanks so much for the congrats. Also thanks so much for all the Mullet Bay/Maho info. Your help was priceless and made it a wonderful day there.

I was wondering the same thing. I am a big one for planning ahead. The one time that I didn't really plan ahead was our Breakaway cruise and it was the only somewhat disappointing cruise we have been on. Although we loved Bermuda and can't wait to go back! We have two more booked and I am planning away!

Wow Kim, just popped in to get a quick glance at how your cruise went. Now I'm riveted and waiting for the next chapter. ;)

First congrats on graduation.

I have a relationship like yours with my daughter as well, so I can relate. So close and love her to bits, but she is the source of my gray hair. Although I think if she ever made me miss a flight, she may have to pick herself off of the ground LOL I would have been so totally stressed by that situation.

Glad hubby got his luggage. Sorry to hear about your toe.

And I will agree with all ahead of me, we have loved watching Sakari grow up. She is so adorable.

All comfy and waiting for more, although I'm almost afraid of what will come next :)

Yep, I'm a super big planner. I hate to just wing it. I'm not very good at winging it and when we have tried (obviously times we have traveled with Kendra) it turned out a complete mess.

 

I also do my research (especially the ports) and know what to expect. I also go there knowing that my observations and likes/dislikes might not jive with others. So, I go there with an open mind and no matter if I like the place or not, I try to have a good time and take the best from it. I do speak my thoughts on it though, whether others agree or not. It's my opinion.

 

As far as changes...I can tell you that I will probably never book another cruise that I haven't researched prior to booking. :p Planning is the only way I function properly and I think that part of that contributed to the failure of this cruise. Even if I don't have a cruise planned, I will continue to research different places and know that when I do book a cruise there, I will know exactly what I'm doing. :D

 

Thanks so much for the congrats. Also thanks so much for all the Mullet Bay/Maho info. Your help was priceless and made it a wonderful day there.

Thanks for the candid answer and you are most welcome for the info.:)

At this time I wanted to take a minute to discuss iConceirge. I believe they only have this on the new ships (correct me if I'm wrong). I will show you screen shots of it and tell you what it does (and what we used it for).

I personally think it was a wonderful system to have for the week (especially if you are traveling with a group). It would also come in handy if you are split up with a spouse, children or whomever you might be traveling with.

The cost is $7.95 for the entire week and well worth it to us to be able to just text each other to find a location to meet or whatever. But, it does much more than that.

I have to start by saying that you must FIRST DOWNLOAD THE APP PRIOR TO CRUISING!! After you are already on your way, you're out of luck. I downloaded mine about a month prior to our cruise so that I wouldn't forget to do it. We did test once we left the port of Miami and were out to sea to see if you could download it while on the cruise...nope. No can do.

So the main page shows you a list of things that the app will do and it's like your homepage.

Any of these links will take you to another page.

For instance if you chose the Dining category, it would take you to a page that listed every dining option on the ship:

Then once you pick a dining place, you go to the next page which will give you a description of the place and what they serve, what deck it is located on, your dress code, and if there's a price then it will list a price as well.

At the bottom you can see that you are able to view the menu and also make reservations. I had to try it out and it worked perfect. You pick the day and time, then how many people. Once you have scheduled your reservation, you can go back in and check it.

Go to any area, like Shopping, and it will list the individual places and you can click on any of them for the info.

There are pre-programmed Contact information for various services if you need to contact them.

You can hit the Contacts button and that would show you who you put in there for your contacts to be able to call or message them. We had one other cruiser in our family that had the app and it let us be able to contact them for breakfast or where to meet.

You do get your "own number", which isn't your phone number, but a number assigned to your app.

You are also able to call anywhere on the ship, rooms, or another cell phone with this app.

We used messaging the most. It was pretty awesome if I say so myself.

There are a few things that I wish they would improve with this program.

* I wish that when you clicked on a venue that instead of it telling you to check the dailies, it would tell you the actual times they are open.

Another thing was the "Account Review". This let you check your account for all of the charges occurred and gives you a balance. However, it will show everything under your name even though it has an option to chose another cruiser in your party. I'm not sure if they are just developing this part and it might change in the future or if it will stay this way.

Either way, if they had this on every ship, I'm sure I would use it. :D

At this time I wanted to take a minute to discuss iConceirge. I believe they only have this on the new ships (correct me if I'm wrong). I will show you screen shots of it and tell you what it does (and what we used it for).

 

I personally think it was a wonderful system to have for the week (especially if you are traveling with a group). It would also come in handy if you are split up with a spouse, children or whomever you might be traveling with.

 

The cost is $7.95 for the entire week and well worth it to us to be able to just text each other to find a location to meet or whatever. But, it does much more than that.

 

I have to start by saying that you must FIRST DOWNLOAD THE APP PRIOR TO CRUISING!! After you are already on your way, you're out of luck. I downloaded mine about a month prior to our cruise so that I wouldn't forget to do it. We did test once we left the port of Miami and were out to sea to see if you could download it while on the cruise...nope. No can do.

 

So the main page shows you a list of things that the app will do and it's like your homepage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any of these links will take you to another page.

 

For instance if you chose the Dining category, it would take you to a page that listed every dining option on the ship:

 

 

 

 

Then once you pick a dining place, you go to the next page which will give you a description of the place and what they serve, what deck it is located on, your dress code, and if there's a price then it will list a price as well.

 

 

 

 

At the bottom you can see that you are able to view the menu and also make reservations. I had to try it out and it worked perfect. You pick the day and time, then how many people. Once you have scheduled your reservation, you can go back in and check it.

 

 

 

 

Go to any area, like Shopping, and it will list the individual places and you can click on any of them for the info.

 

We tried to use this on the Breakaway but could never get it to work correctly..and said..screw it! lol

OMG Kim, how the family came home in one piece I don't know..lol

I know you Sam and Sakari will have a great time on the Sun!!!

At this time I wanted to take a minute to discuss iConceirge. I believe they only have this on the new ships (correct me if I'm wrong).

I believe NCL just recently announced that they are rolling it out for all ships throughout the year. I think the Jewel is getting it in time for our fall cruise.

Thanks for the fabulous review thus far. We sail on Saturday and I now have a better understanding of the ship, events, locations and so on. Congrats on your graduation!

I've read many of your posts, mostly those about ports of call versus ships or actual cruise reviews. I'm curious why I you don't appear to cruise Southern Caribbean or much on the Eastern side? My first several cruises were Western, but I really love islands like Barbados, St Kitts, and St Lucia much more. Of course, those require longer cruises or starting in San Juan.

 

Just curious?

For some people its not where you go but who you go with :D

Wow Kim, just popped in to get a quick glance at how your cruise went. Now I'm riveted and waiting for the next chapter. ;)

 

First congrats on graduation.

 

I have a relationship like yours with my daughter as well, so I can relate. So close and love her to bits, but she is the source of my gray hair. Although I think if she ever made me miss a flight, she may have to pick herself off of the ground LOL I would have been so totally stressed by that situation.

 

Glad hubby got his luggage. Sorry to hear about your toe.

 

And I will agree with all ahead of me, we have loved watching Sakari grow up. She is so adorable.

 

All comfy and waiting for more, although I'm almost afraid of what will come next :)

Thanks for coming in and joining me and all the comments.

Honestly I was ready to blow my stack when we missed our flight. My heart dropped as if I had just failed a Nursing test. :D But honestly, once I found out that they were going to be able to get us out on various flights (although not my ideal way to fly there, especially with 5 first time flyers) and they weren't going to charge us for additional tickets, it put my mind at ease. I mean after all, it was 6:30am and we did have all day to get to FLL and still be there in time for the cruise. (See, I try to make the best of anything). Now had I missed my cruise, that would have been a totally different story!!!!!!!!!!!!

We tried to use this on the Breakaway but could never get it to work correctly..and said..screw it! lol

OMG Kim, how the family came home in one piece I don't know..lol

I know you Sam and Sakari will have a great time on the Sun!!!

Meg, what was the problem? Did you have problems connecting or what exactly happened? The only time I seem to have an issue is if I was sitting out on the balcony sometimes it would not send the message (which it let me know that the message didn't work). So I just had to hit the Getaway wifi again and it was fine.

Did you fill out the survey about using it at the end of the cruise?

It's amazing that everyone made it back from the cruise at least all in 1 piece and all together. When we pulled up at home that evening, we all split like we were ants being chased by a huge RAID can. We were OUTTA THERE. Adios fam. :p

I believe NCL just recently announced that they are rolling it out for all ships throughout the year. I think the Jewel is getting it in time for our fall cruise.

Woo Hoo! So glad to hear this. Hopefully they will have it on the Sun by November. I will definitely use it again if so.

Thanks for the fabulous review thus far. We sail on Saturday and I now have a better understanding of the ship, events, locations and so on. Congrats on your graduation!

You are more than welcome. If you plan on seeing any of the shows (even if they are free), make sure you book them or you might not get to see them. That's my #1 advice for anyone going on this cruise. I wish I would have known myself.

I heard that as well. Already booked Illusionarium, Burn The Floor, Legally Blond, Levity and three specialty dining options. I too like to plan ahead. :D

Kim/Queen!

Congrats on your graduation! I followed that all on facebook and couldn't be happier for you. I know you have put a ton of work in over the last several years.

I hate how you started your vacation with such a panic. That kind of thing tends to hang with you for a while. I know she's your flesh and blood, but I might have thrown my kid overboard if they made me miss a flight. That's just total BS and inexcusable in my book.

While you might be unhappy with the number of pictures and how the review is going, the rest of us love it and are very thankful that you've posted so much information and so many beautiful pictures of this ship.

Hope things get better!

Any card would work to keep the electricity on. I used some old discount card which was some type of hard paper, not even plastic.

hee hee, at first it didn't seem like much walking across it. Then after staring down at the ocean going by, that's when it kinda kicked in that you were standing over the ocean. However, it's not right below you, it's kinda a few floors down (the ocean :d). Plus another thing is the glass is like a crinkle cut glass, so it's not too clear to directly view it. You might just be able to do this. ;) :eek:

i felt the same way on the breakaway, legs got a little weak each time i walked across them.lol

Thank you so much for this review, loved all the photos. So sorry for all your troubles on this trip. And congratulations on your graduation.

Kim, I started telling my DH about all the problems you encountered on your cruise this afternoon. I am sure if Kendra was travelling with him, he would have left her right at her house when she wasn't ready to go. :eek: Let's just say I think he will be having nightmares about it tonight! He will be relieved to know your DH finally got his luggage, but not so happy to hear about your broken toe.

Your pictures, as usual, are wonderful! I really enjoyed touring the ship with you. I know you are a bit disappointed by them, but really, the rest of us think you did a great job. I am totally looking forward to the rest of your review. :D

Nancy

Finally got caught up. We just got our internet back on after 24 hours of problems.

I am thinking the seating area outside of Bliss must have been for those who were recovering from seizures!

I have heard so much about the places you listed and I definitely want to go there. Where is the place that the baths are located? I know that's one place on my to-do list.

 

:)

The baths are on Tortola - Virgin Gorda Baths (right now 1/2 day stop on the Gem 9 day - to be expanded I believe to a whole day in 2015 - not sure what ship)

GREAT pictures - very much like the Breakaway. I did book all our shows ahead of time - FYI to others - they were easy to change/cancel once onboard.

Looking forward to the rest of your review - very entertaining :D

 

 

Meg, what was the problem? Did you have problems connecting or what exactly happened? The only time I seem to have an issue is if I was sitting out on the balcony sometimes it would not send the message (which it let me know that the message didn't work). So I just had to hit the Getaway wifi again and it was fine. :p

It would freeze and not respond...they said they were having issues with it bcs it was new at the time and hadn't been on the ship long.

I figured it was just the two of us so it didn't matter..

Next time we cruise on NCL we can try to use it again.

It is a really cool concept though and I think all cruise lines should follow suit...lol