Getaway Review - June 7 - No Haven, No Vibe, 1 kid

;);)Whole review posted

This is a review of the June 7th sailing of the Getaway. We are a family of 3, myself and husband (early 40’s) and son 12. I noticed from reading these reviews that there are all types of preferences when it comes to cruising. I would describe us a casual and laid back and not high maintenance (although my husband may think I am sometimes :)). Our experience cruising was last year on the Pearl to Alaska. We have only cruised NCL and enjoy the Freestyle experience.

We arrived on Friday at FLL. I had made reservations to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn Airport (using Hilton reward points). The hotel provides airport transportation and I called HGI ahead of time to find out the procedure. When we got to baggage claim you use the courtesy phone and let them now you are ready. They directed us to make short walk to the hotel pickup area. We waited about 20 minutes. Quick ride to the hotel. Check in was easy and off to our room. No complaints about the hotel it served its purpose. McDonald, Burger King, Chipotle within walking distance and walked to Kmart for some last minute supplies. We arranged for SAS to pick us up and take us to cruise port. They arrived on time at 11:00 a.m. and we were at port of Miami within 30-40 minutes.

Embarkation

There was a short line at security. We probably waited about 5 minutes. I had an unopened bottle of water and they did take it out and turn the bottle upside down a couple of times (I guess they were checking that it wasn’t liquor). We had 2 bottles of wine and they showed us to the table where they gave us a receipt for the corkage fee ($15.00 each) and put stickers on each bottle. FYI – The charge on room charge shows up as The Tropicana Room restaurant. We then walked to the check-in line. I am a latitude member so I entered that line (no wait!). No problems at check in and was giving boarding group 5. They took the embarkation picture on the way to the lounge. Waited about 5 minutes and our group was called. On the ship we go! It is a little after 12:00 and rooms are not ready. We headed up to the pool deck to walk around and settled in at the pool bar. Close by they were selling the soda package which I purchased for my son and we got the 12 bottles of water that would be delivered to the room. We were introduced to painkillers which were very yummy! I think it was close to 1:30 before they announced rooms were ready, so we headed down to our room.

Room

Our room 8124, M6 Mini-Suite – Large Balcony, we loved our room and the location. I was concerned that since we were near the front we might feel the boat more. No concerns. We had a table, 2 chairs and 1 lounger on the balcony and still had room to move around. The only complaint is we did get trash, etc. from others above and if you are out by the railing people above can see you. There were also white bits that appeared over the course of the cruise. The people next to us were smoking cigars so I don’t know if that was it or not. As people have said before, plenty of storage available in the cabin. Bed was very comfortable no issues. Loved the size of the bathroom, did not feel cramped. Shower was large with multiple options for water spray. Warning the jets come out and you are can point to delicate areas of the body The jets spray direction can be adjusted. The sink is a great size especially if you want to rinse/wash clothes during the week.

Kids Program

We tried the kids program for our 12 year old. He went in the evenings on day 1 and day 2 but at on day 2 they had all the kids in 1 room with Sponge Bob and singing the songs. That was enough for him and he didn’t go back.

Activities

We are not pool people and didn't want to fight crowds on the pool deck so that is one of the reasons I booked the large balcony. The pools on the ship are small and since they separated the kids pool and adult pool we did spend much time there. There are so many other things to do. We were very close to the all the action at 678. We liked the convenience to O’Sheehans especially when husband and son found out they had ice cream sundaes. They would watch movies on the big screen eating ice cream. My son is 12 and loves his video games so he liked to frequent the arcade on deck 15 and they also had games in O’Sheehans. They asked upon check-in if we wanted him to have charging privileges and we said yes. We have all these charges for $1.50 to O’Sheehan’s Amusement and Video Arcade on our room charges!

We did the ropes course in port and at sea. Great fun especially at sea. Don’t forget to walk the plank and get your picture. You also get you picture on the zip line at the end of the ropes course. Remember you need to wear bottoms (not just a swim suit cover-up) and closed toe shoes. There was line both times but it did go fairly quickly. The slides were fun and very fast. You have to weigh 100 lbs to do the drop slide and they do have a scale. My son went up and was happy he did not meet the requirement. Hubby talked me into doing it. I was scared but it is not too bad and goes very fast. It takes your picture as you drop. While in port on St. Thomas day we managed take a dip in the adult pool. It is salt water and very easy to float. Most people were sitting on the sides. Hardly anybody floating.

We missed the 80’s party because we were exhausted from our excursion earlier in the day. I did wake up to loud popping noises and was able to see the fireworks from the balcony.

The only party we attended was the glow party. We stayed for the about 20 minutes. We really enjoyed it while we were there but it is not really our thing.

On the Nassau, Bahamas day at 4:30 they showed the latest Thor movie in 3D in the theatre.

There is a large outside chess set on deck 8 that is open for play and we found the game room and library on deck 6 on the last day of the cruise.

If you are a Johnnie Walker drinker they had a tasting in the liquor shop on day 2 so sign up. They closed the door the public and offered some great pricing which my husband took advantage of.

Shows

I saw Burn the Floor by myself. Great show I really enjoyed it, especially if you love dancing. There were people sitting behind me that proceeded to talk through the 1st half of the show (SMH). Also saw the Burn the Floor show in the Tropicana on Wednesday evening. They performed for about 20 minutes.

Illusionarium was great. Show was at 5:30, arrived at 4:45 to get in line. They started seating people around 5:00. The whole family loved it. Food was good. The fried shrimp, I thought was perfect. We got great seats. Facing the stage directly. I didn’t realize it would be several different people performing in the show.

Casino

We were not successful at the casino. We tried. I did participate in one of the slot tournaments (3 minutes of hitting the spin button) and won my round. All the winners for that day played again for $500. I did not win but was given a bottle of wine for winning my round!! I see some complaints about smoke. If you sit next to somebody who is smoking yes it is bad but I did not notice any smoke smells/odors outside of the casino area.

Food

Overall was great.

Breakfast we did Savor or the buffet. I love smoked salmon so I always get my fill on the cruise ships. I also really like the hash browns with whatever spice they included.

Lunch was either the Noodle Bar or O’Sheehans. We ate at the noodle bar twice. Most items were $3.50 or $4.00. If you like the Thai soups or fried rice you will really like the Noodle Bar. It is next to the casino so you can watch some of the table action if they have any tournaments while you are there.

We only did one (1) specialty and that was Teppanyaki. The fried rice wasn’t good, too goopy. The meat however was great. Cooked perfectly. If you have done the show at your local Teppanyaki it is the same. Glad we tried it but would not do it again on the ship. We did have reservations for Cagney’s on Friday but decided that we enjoyed the food and atmosphere of The Tropicana Room and it conflicted with other activities we wanted to do that afternoon/evening so we cancelled. What I liked about The Tropicana that I did not expect was that the menu changed each night. Items we really enjoyed included the Bouillabaisse soup, black bean soup, lasagna rolls, prime rib and bread pudding. Service was great and it took us about an hour to eat each time. Men must wear long pants in the Tropicana Room. As we were checking in with the hostess a man walked by and she kept saying short pants, short pants, short pants until one of the attendants stopped the man and told him he could not enter with his short pants. I got a good chuckle out of it.

Excursions

We did not do any of the excursions offered through the ship. In St. Maarten we did the Capt. Bob snorkeling tour. We had 5 stops. Stop 1 snorkel for sea turtles, stop 2 a quick stop at some shops and beach, stop 3 lunch (food was delicious choice of fish, ribs or chicken)and beach, stop 4 fish snorkel, stop 5 watch planes. St. Thomas we had a lot of sun from the day before so not interested in visiting beaches. We took the open air taxi for $4 each to downtown. We found the 99 steps and walked up to Blackbeard’s. Did the Blackbeard tour ($10 each). We climbed the tour and got to tour a couple of plantation homes and walked back down the steps. We stopped to eat at Cuzzin’s for lunch (great food I would recommend). We tried buttered conch (our 1st time for Conch), stuffed lobster, chicken curry, and cheeseburger. We did some shopping before we headed back to the ship via open air taxi for another $4 each. Back on the ship by 1:30. Nassau, Bahamas we got off the ship and walked around for less than an hour then back on the ship. Nothing interested us at this location.

Spa

I made a spa appointment massage for 2:30 while we were in port in Nassau. I enjoyed my massage very much and saved about $20 due to scheduling the appointment while in port. They did try sell product at the end and I said no and there was no other push to purchase product.

Photos

Take advantage of the ships photographers. You only have to purchase those you really like. Give yourself options. Definitely go check your photo folder. There are plenty of times/places for pictures. We ended up purchasing 3 out of about 20 photos. It is very crowded the last evening in the photo area. I left and came back later that evening at about 10:30 and it wasn’t too bad.

Disembarkation

We ate breakfast at the buffet which was very crowded while we waited for the ok to disembark. We walked off with our own luggage. Since we were on deck 8 we just walked down 1 flight of stairs. Very easy. We had an 11:50 a.m. flight from FLL. Got off the ship at 8:00 a.m. No lines. I didn’t even have time to call the shuttle service I had reserved. We walked right to them. We waited about 30 minutes before we left the port and we were at the airport with 2 hours to go before our flight.

Overall

We loved the Getaway and would probably sail again with a different itinerary.

Thanks for the review! I love when they are all in one post. We are in our 40's with DS11, no Haven, no Vibe... Our experience was similar.

Fantastic review!, you covered everything.

Glad that you had a great time.

I can' t get enough smoked salmon when I cruise-

Thanks for sharing!

Nora

Thanks for posting your whole review at once!

Do you happen to remember the discounted price you paid for the massage while in port in Nassau?

Also, do you happen to remember if there were massage specials on the other port days and, if so, if they were the same prices as the Nassau price?

Thanks!!

Thanks for taking the time to write and post your nice review of the Getaway.:)

Juvesgirl. It was $99. Regular price $129. It was the special that day. It was advertised as neck and shoulder massage, scalp massage, reflexology. Basically got a full body. They had different specials. Just go up to spa desk and they will have a flyer. I walked to spa and made my 2:30 appointment at 9:30 that morning.

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Thanks for the report!

Funny - my breakfast is always the smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, and the hash browns LOL

Thanks for the review!

Funny - my breakfast is always the smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, and the hash browns LOL

 

So is mine!

Juvesgirl. It was $99. Regular price $129. It was the special that day. It was advertised as neck and shoulder massage, scalp massage, reflexology. Basically got a full body. They had different specials. Just go up to spa desk and they will have a flyer. I walked to spa and made my 2:30 appointment at 9:30 that morning.

 

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Thanks so much for this great information! Much appreciated!

Enjoyed your review.

Keith

Can you tell me if they made you pay for a soda package for everyone in the cabin or they let you buy it just for your son?

Just purchased for my son.

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If I purchased online prior to boarding the website would have made everyone in cabin purchase.

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Thanks to everybody for the feedback! I did forget to mention we did get the room service pepperoni pizza. It was ok nothing special. My son ordered the hot dog severel times and I also had the Greek salad and was pleasantly surprised.

Also, On day 3 at sea I was I the duty free shop in the beauty section and they were offering free makeup later that afternoon. I signed up and get make up done at no charge and they didn't push any product. I probably would have bought something.

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If I purchased online prior to boarding the website would have made everyone in cabin purchase.

 

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thanks! great tip to know. Sailing in Aug and have a 12 yo who we can sign up and a 6 yo who really doesn't drink soda and we are planning on the adult beverages ;):D

Thanks to everybody for the feedback! I did forget to mention we did get the room service pepperoni pizza. It was ok nothing special. My son ordered the hot dog severel times and I also had the Greek salad and was pleasantly surprised.

Also, On day 3 at sea I was I the duty free shop in the beauty section and they were offering free makeup later that afternoon. I signed up and get make up done at no charge and they didn't push any product. I probably would have bought something.

 

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Thanks, ill look for that!

Thanks for the great review! We are going in Feb and also booked with Capt. Bob and looking foreword to that! Any extra tips for our excursion with Capt. Bob you might suggest?

Joe (ICT Cruiser) going mobile from the CC iPhone app :-)

Tips for the capt bob excursion - apply sun screen and reapply at least once during the day. We had a waterproof camera and got some good pictures. Once you get on boat no shoes needed until you leave at end of day. Just enjoy and have fun!!

Tips for the capt bob excursion - apply sun screen and reapply at least once during the day. We had a waterproof camera and got some good pictures. Once you get on boat no shoes needed until you leave at end of day. Just enjoy and have fun!!

Than you! We are very excited...

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Great review. Can you tell me the car service you used for your trip from FLL to the port. Thank you

Yes we used SAN $15 per person each way.

SAS not SAN

We are flying into FLL too because we can get a direct flight. We have reserved a car for our group, but it sounds a lot more expensive than SAS. SAS Picks up more people along the way, correct?

Yes. We did SAS pick up at hotel and they pick up several groups to fill up van. Our pick up time was 11 am and they call you when they are close. Departing the ship there was 1 other couple in our van.