LuckyGuy1978

Because we were in the US, we had to briefly leave the ship in Miami. If we'd been in a different country/port, this might not have been the case.

 

What happens in Miami is that we we met in the bar closest to the gangway around 10 am. There were about a half dozen B2B passengers plus a couple of officer's family members and a few contractors staying on. After the last guests left the ship, we were then walked off to wait in a lounge area in the terminal. Once the last passengers cleared immigration, we were called down to immigration. They were clearing the departing crew members (leaving the ship that day) as we came down. They did a verbal count off of the manifest with the purser to check the numbers of passengers on/off, crew manifests on/off, and then came and manually did a face-to-face of each of our passports and checked each of us off a list of those staying onboard.

 

They then declared the ship "cleared" and closed immigration and escorted us back to the lounge to wait again.

 

They then "opened" the ship and we saw the arriving new crew members walk onto the ship. About five minutes later, they gave the clearance for us to come onboard. From there, the dock activity started with items being loaded onto the ship. All-in-all, we were maybe off the ship for 30-45 minutes at most.

 

 

We were allowed to go anywhere in the passenger areas *except* back to the cabin areas which were being serviced so my only advice is to take whatever you need to be comfortable for the day - we grabbed our laptops, sunglasses, and reading material. We saw our first passengers on the ship about 60-90 minutes later.

Thank you,

This sounds similar to other BTB experiences I've had, tomorrow we board the Sky for Bahamas and are staying on for Cuba on Monday. we made plans in Miami so will ask if we can disembark and re board later in the day rather than stay onboard for the afternoon.

I just found a saved bar menu from my Sky research, I can't find where I saved it from to link to and the file is too large to upload.

Aquifina 20 oz $3.25

Aquifina 1L $5.50

SoBe Life Water 20 oz $3.25

Acqua Pana 750 ml $5.50

Pellegrino 750 ml $5.50

Red Bull/Sugar Free/Asst Flavors $4.95

Hope this helps!

When do you sail? I go soon and can find out for you, we're doing a 3 day back to back with 4 day Cuba to make it a week so opted for the 12 bottles so we can take one with us each day and refill as needed.

Thank you both for the HOHO info!

I have bad knees, the walk from the ship through the terminal to the outside wasn't that bad. In the terminal itself there are people with booths selling objects. Once outside there is the hop on hop off bus that takes you around the city for 10 cucs. Across the street are a bunch of old cars that you can negotiate a price for a drive around the city. Also across the street is a square with a few things to see there.

Can you tell me more about this please? Is this a bus for tourists or the locals? I'll also do some Googling to see if there is anything I can find about what locations it visits. I've found in Europe and even US cities that these are the cheapest and easiest ways to have access to a new city. Maybe start with this on Day 1 and then decide what to look at more in depth on Day 2.

We're going in June, I'll be interested to hear your experience and feedback on tour providers.

Can someone let me know what the steam room and sauna facilities are like on the NCL Getaway?? I know I can buy a SPA pass for the week, but are the steam rooms and sauna coed? I hate wearing a bathing suit and wear a towel in them and I can't do that in coed.

 

Anyone able to answer??

Yes sorry to say they are coed and there are no facilities if you do not buy a pass. The locker room for the spa and fitness center are separated. I can't remember if the fitness center had showers but neither locker room has steam or dry saunas.

This thread is SO long now hard to locate a lot of details. Anyone recently off Oasis or Allure with feedback or current Spa Pass rates?

I'm sailing on a 3 day later this month just to experience the ship without committing to a full week.

Have seen all the details that it is a paid area, co-ed, and no natural light. Gym access is free as is a gym locker room (with a shower?) Sharing a cabin so at a minimum I like to use the spa/gym area to get ready in the AM and clean up after port before dinner.

Thanks in advance!

Carnival Paradise? Sailed May 2009 I think when she was on the West Coast doing 3/4 night Ensenada runs. Spa area was newer than the rest of the ship and had a nice size steam and dry sauna. Because of the short sailing didn't have a lot of time to check it out more than once or twice.

NCL Pride of America sailed Nov 2011, she just had a refurb in the last year but I don't believe the spa was touched. The steam and dry sauna were both somewhat small and underused on my sailing. Tended to be mostly crew and a few international guests. Both are inside the locker room and were free of charge, locker keys available from spa reception.

I missed my chance to see Royal Princess, from the deckplans the spa is not in it's usual location. Instead it is very low and far away from the gym facilities. Hopefully Princess doesn't follow the trend of other lines and deny access even to basic steam and sauna facilities in the locker room areas.

Just off the Diamond Princess -

 

Men's locker room was also a cool-down area, which was really nice. You don't need to leave your sea pass card to get a locker, as the lockers have combinations. No key.

 

The men's area is free of charge. The sauna was pretty decent and warm, dark with two levels. Holds about 6 to 7 guys comfortably. The steam room was very nice! Built in seats (fiberglass?) around the inside which would seat around 12 or 14 guys. The steam wasn't too intense but enough to get the job done. :) Three showers in the men's area and a water fountain. Lots of fresh towels and the service was good.

 

The Lotus Spa area was very nice, we enjoyed it. I think it was $190 for 15 days, but we were in a suite so it was complimentary. Heated tile loungers, 5 or 6 and they were never completely filled up. One large Turkish-style steam room, one aromatic (2-person) steam room, two rain showers and a pretty large dry sauna. Directly outside is an "adults only" pool with loungers (free). Directly adjacent to the free men's locker / steam area and only a few steps from the pay Lotus Spa. I think this was one of the best set ups. Enjoyed it!

Glad you enjoyed it. I've been very happy with most of the Princess setups. Diamond, Sapphire, and Caribbean all have the same setup. Don't remember what the Dawn had and just off a 3 day Golden Princess.

Golden was interesting because even though the sream and sauna are free they are located in the Lotus Spa adult pool area. Seperate for men/women on each side with a shower for each.

Dry sauna was hot and always on, steam sauna used an on demand switch outside that took some getting used to. Most people assumed it was broken because there wasn't really a way to know if it was on. If you hit the button more than once I think it canceled it out. It took at least one cycle (10-15 min) to get steamy and up to a decent temp.

Being outside next to the pool it's not really easy to go without a suit. Snag a deck chair if you can so you have a place to cool down in between. Saw a few times when women were on the men's side but not very often. Because it was such a short cruise many people didn't seem to be using the area much.

Locker room was very small with bathroom, combo lockers, two small showers (smaller than those in cabin), and changing area.

Looking forward to my next cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.

Thanks for sharing that information! I hope the Diamond Princess is as nice as the Caribbean Princess...I know they have a steam and dry sauna in the men's locker area. :)

If you haven't left yet the Diamond is the same setup as the Caribbean. If I remember right the only difference is the steam sauna door is on a different side so you don't look out into the shower/water fountain area.

Created a new profile to keep my "work" separate from my "play".

Going on a quick 3 Night Princess Cruises Golden Princess next month, anyone have details on the setup? From what I can tell they have steam/sauna and while not co-ed are not in the locker rooms?

In December will be on the Celebrity Reflection, will be working on this trip so not worth it to get the AquaSpa pass. Do they have anything free of charge in the locker room?

Now that I am back will try to keep up on ship spa reviews as I get opportunities to tour or sail.