justhappy

We had never had luggage go missing on us until last year when one suitcase traveled to Kansas City while we traveled to Pensacola. It seems it took a deviation in Dallas. Thanks American Airlines 🤷🏼‍♀️ Yes we eventually got it back, but since we like to know where our stuff goes so we can say we’ve never been to _____ but our stuff has, the answer to that was Apple air tags. I just have to remember to set the app to not remind me when I leave it behind as it never fails when walking our dog I get notified about 1/4 mile away my suitcases miss me. Awww, I didn’t know they cared. On a five day cruise I should be able to pack less but I’ve started giving out gift bags to random and not so random crew members, and all the contents take up space so two suitcases it will be for me. Other must haves are binoculars because we are nosy! Really we just love checking out the ships at sea and getting closer looks at the port activities. We love watching shows like Mighty Ships and find big machinery fascinating. One more must have on a cruise is reading material. I do have the Kindle app on my iPad and have plenty of books loaded up but I’m old fashioned and love reading from a real honest to goodness book too. I’m lucky to have a really great bricks and mortar book store that is locally owned so I like to support it and try to buy a few new books by my favorite authors for each cruise. This is my selection…

T minus 4 days… Packing Day! Yes, I’m one of those chronic over packers but I’m working on it I swear! Because it kills me to pay a lot for something I can get at home cheaper, I try to cover any contingencies. My best packing hack is the packing cubes I bought a few years ago on Amazon. We have two sets of 4 each (green for me, blue for my husband). We both like neat and tidy and having everything in its place and these do the trick. Our other must have are magnetic hooks to hang hats and lanyards, etc on the walls. Converter for the European outlet and a handy little outlet extender that rotates so it will fit in pretty much and outlet

Yay! Glad you’re back on CC and back to cruising!

Amy, so glad you will be on the cruise too! It sounds like there will be a lot of celebrations on our cruise, I hope your son has a great day today and that he gets spoiled on the ship too. I get what you are saying about the familiarity with the ship, I like that I can go on the Breakaway, and B+ ships and know where everything is. We have neighbors who sail mainly with MSC and they love the Yacht Club, but after seeing videos of the ship the decor is a bit too much for me, I have glaucoma and astigmatism as well as some issues due to cataract surgery and all that glass and chrome actually gives me headaches! I love NCL for the entertainment they offer and what I hear of MSCs offerings I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much. Amy, please feel free to add to this trip report, along with dolita22 and anyone else who will be cruising with us. The more the merrier!

Enjoy Disney, I know the kiddos will keep you busy there too!

Actually we will be on the other side of the ship, I’m guessing it’s just a flipped version of 13902. No way my live will be as entertaining as yours but I hope enjoyable all the same!

Hello all, in the spirit of pay back for all the great live trip reports that kept me entertained, I decided to continue the Getaway live trend. This being a short 5 day cruise starting on a Wednesday and ending on a Monday I’m not sure what to expect..but hopefully we will be well past the huge spring breaks crowds of the last two months. This cruise is round trip from Port Canaveral and only has two port calls, Great Stirrup Cay and Cozumel Mexico. I call this cruise the tie breaker as since 2015 I have cruised on the Getaway and Escape 5 times each. This cruise will put the Getaway ahead by 1. Until January of next year that is… On this cruise, along with my husband who is up for any trip anywhere, are our friends who haven’t cruised since December of 2019. That was also a 5 day cruise on the Getaway, from New Orleans. In 2016 we paid for our of friends to be upgraded to the Haven. Back in the days before bidding you could call a few weeks before the sail date and ask if an upgrade was available to purchase. There were two Haven cabins available and we paid $500 pp to upgrade them along with ourselves from balcony staterooms to Haven Courtyard Penthouse staterooms. To say they were smitten is an understatement. Now they want to sail in the Haven all the time, but I’m flexible and have cruised in everything from a studio to the glorious Aft facing balcony Haven stateroom on deck 9. Glory! That studio would fit into the bathroom on the aft Haven cabin! So this cruise we will be back in the Haven so we can hang with them. They are booked in a Courtyard Penthouse stateroom while we grabbed the last aft Haven suite. It is on deck 13, which is the most shallow of all the aft decks but I get that aft view so I’m good. We booked past final payment date after prices dropped so got decent prices imo. I will be posting some pre cruise travel as we will be driving on the 24th to Orlando where we pick up our friends at MCO and then stay for 2 nights at our WDW time share. Plans include dining at restaurants at Disney Springs and a visit to SeaWorld. I have already upgraded to the unlimited internet package so as long as the ships internet holds up I think I’ll be good!

Truth! Last year on the Encore we were 5 cabins down from the Observation lounge and we would often get up and get a coffee or pastry to bring back to the room at 6am and always there were people sleeping in the prime spots at that time. We were told that people get there at 3am on Glacier Bay day.

Not sure but think my daughter prefers to think it’s for the iguanas sake 😉 And that comment about being mean when they want goes both ways 😉

My daughter is a first grade teacher at a school near Ft Lauderdale Florida, and big iguanas are everywhere, only they are an invasive species that aren’t wanted. Part of her school duties are clearing the playground of iguanas before the kids come outside (they can be mean when they want). However she is well equipped for the job as she worked for years in a few zoos and worked with reptiles and raptors, along with primates and big cats. The previous two she said equipped her well for dealing with first graders 😂😂😂😂😂

So glad as it sounds like Deepak will be back onboard for our August cruise. Regarding the cruise director, lots of folks on that other page of faces are complaining about the lack of quality too. Hope she improves before then. Thanks for your wonderfully written trip report Bird.

I’m like you, I need everything neat and orderly, so I guess I need help too! So looking forward to your review, I’ll be reading it from aboard the Getaway, as I have an Encore cruise booked for August. We’ll be in a club balcony suite so will have 3 free laundry tickets between the two of us. Just got to watch out for the hidden laundry tags of pain😉

I loved the bridge viewing room on the Pearl during my first cruise to Alaska, but then I love seeing how things work. If my husband and I hadn’t gone to Victoria via ferry from Vancouver on a day trip before our cruise to Alaska, we would have been sadly disappointed by the short evening hours that we had there. But we enjoyed seeing it at night all lit up. It’s a full day trip from Seattle to Victoria with a transit time of 2:45 minutes each way but a great way to see it if you arrive in Seattle a few days before your cruise.

Well then I guess I’ll have to do a trip report, I owe you😉

Thanks for your honest and helpful review. I am curious how things will go for my upcoming cruise on the Getaway. I’ve sailed in the Haven 4 times before, but I’m not one of those who say it has to be in the Haven. This will be my 15th cruise on NCL but only the fifth in the Haven. My last cruise was in late January before the once a day room cleaning started. We could already tell the shortage of crew vs passengers was a problem. The ship was at 100% occupancy. But I’ll have to say the crew was lovely. I do agree that the Haven bar service is slow and the bar hogs make it impossible at times to get a drink. I’m with you that they should remove the bar stools. I’m actually glad you are still posting about the cruise. I’m either bored or I just want to escape the news and I love living vicariously through the live and not so live trip reports. Actually hoping you’ll be cruising again soon so we have something to look forward to.

Ever have a stabbing pain in your neck or waistline? Congratulations you missed removing that little yellow tape of pain on your clean laundry 😂

Thanks for the quick reply and also the wonderful photos and review. Alaska in August will be my 4th time on the Encore. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Question for the Bird or anyone else who might know, my better half and I will have two more specialty dining meals than the friends we will be traveling with, and since we all love sushi, can the 2 of using 1 sp meal per person order 8 menu items and share with our friends?

One can only hope if she tried to bring the poor thing home in a suitcase she had to throw away all her stuff due to the stench. 🤬

Great photos as always, along with the descriptions. A cruise to the ABC islands is on my bucket list!

I know that NCL has the free shuttles but in the tour description it says time on the A Ballad is 3 hours, time on transportation is 1 and a half hours. I don’t want assume this means that the tour has a bus just for the tour participants. The tight arrival and departure times are giving me pause. I’ve heard about long waits for the Ward Cove shuttle back to the ship.

I’ve cruised in early December and the ships were decorated already but Christmas Day has to have a great vibe. You are right that Aruba looks like Arizona and New Mexico! Does Aruba have a “wet side”? Kind of like your Washington State, I know west of the Cascades is so tropical compared to the east. I’ve been on a trip from Port Angeles to Wenatchee and it’s amazing how different one state can be.

It was cool to see how Christmas is celebrated on the ship, it looked like fun🎄

Beau Tahana on the piano ❤️ I loved him when I was on the Encore in March 2020.

Agree with you on the smoking issue as well as sometimes I just want the buffet. I’ll be in the Haven soon on the Getaway and I’m already looking forward to the Indian food and crepes I’m going to get at the buffet.