hippie7love

I'll try almost anything so long as they don't put ketchup on it!!!!!!!! ;) I even tried Poutine while in Quebec, now that would be an acquired taste!!!! ;)

 

I was horrified, in le Bistro I think, to be offered ketchup with a very rare fillet steak. :mad:

 

Mike

Haha... The ketchup and mayo is optional. The mayo is usually housemade depending to which restaurant you go to. Best mayo ever lol

In Chile, make sure to try the food!

Completos (hot dog with tomatoes, avocado, mayo, and ketchup)

El Guaton ( A restaurant you can find in Vina Del Mar, 15 minute car ride from Valparaiso. Make sure to order the huge burger. Recommended for 2 or 3 people to finish ;0 )

Chorillana (Originated in Valparaiso- mix of french fries, meat cuts, hot dog cuts, egg, onions. Meant to be shared)

Drinks? Try Pisco Sour! Made with Pisco from Chile. Also, try a Fantashop (beer and orange soda) Taste much better than it sounds.

From a fellow Chilean ;)

Hi there! We've been on the Sky a ton. It cannot even come close to comparing. Don't get me wrong, the Sky is a great little ship and super fun, but the Escape is so much better!!!

 

I'll just answer the questions I know.

 

2. Kid's club. My son is 3, so he can go to Splash Academy. Do they do a meet and greet to get the kids more comfortable going there? My son is halfway potty trained. How does that work?

Go on the first day as soon as you can to check in and see the room, etc.. They will explain how it all works. My kids always loved the kids' club. Now they are in the teen club.

 

3. No diapers in the pool. Cool. Can he slide down WITH me or daddy on the slower slides? Is there a minimum and maximum weight limit on these awesome slides?

I know there is a maximum, but not sure about a minimum. There is a cool area for kids his age with age-appropriate slides, water features, etc..

 

4. Do I really have to book dinner and show reservations NOW??? Doesn't that take away from Freestyle cruising as much as I think it does, or doesn't really matter once you get on the ship?

Only if you absolutely need to eat at a certain time at a certain restaurant should you book. Otherwise just wing it when you get onboard. I've never not been able to get in somewhere, I just had to go a little early or a little late. The prime times of 6:30-8 are the only times that are ever booked.

 

5. I loved longboards on the Sky. Please tell me I can get my chicken tender and chicken wing fix somewhere on this ship. Point me in the right direction!

O'Sheehan's is basically the same place. :) You can't miss it.

 

6. Spa. Can you get a spa pass for just one day? Or do you have to purchase it for the entire duration. I just want one kid free afternoon.

Yes you can do one day. I want to say it is $55 or $59 or something like that.

 

7. This will be my son's third cruise. I pretty much know we have to eat early, and some must have items to make this go smoothly, but are there any age specific things I should bring that I possibly haven't thought of?

It has been a long time since my kids were that little but check the dailies. There are plenty of things to do all day long.

 

Have fun!

Thanks so much!

Thank you everyone, this definitely calmed my nerves a bit!

Hello all! This will be our first cruise we will be using the kids club. My son turns 3 next month and we will be sailing in April. My son is not completely potty trained. I'm not sure how that works.

Right now, he goes to the potty, but has trouble putting his clothes back on. But going #2 is a different issue. He won't sit. I know they can let us know if he needs a change. Anyone know how the bathrooms are set up? He doesn't know how to open doors yet, and I'm worried he will be scared of being in a closed room.

Basically I have 3 months to get all the kinks out before our cruise. I just want to make sure he is ready.

Also, do they have a time the first day where you can go in with them to make them feel a little more comfortable?

Oh my. We always wing our days, but have a few things we do every cruise.

1. Lunch in the dining room on embarkation day.

2. In room "breakfast" as our wake up call. This consists of coffee, crossaints, and fruit platter to wake us up before we get dressed and go to the dining room to eat breakfast.

3. Mimosas for breakfast to start our day

4. Art auction. We love going to at least one of the art auctions throughout the cruise.

5. Arcade. We become kids and go play a few games in the arcade.

6. People watch during the end of the parties.

7. Have a second dinner at one of the late night eating areas (pub food) before heading to the cabin to knock out.

8. Once a day I tell a bartender to make me their favorite drink. Cool way to learn new favorites!

Hello! We have had 9 cruises on the NCL Sky, so we call it a home away from home. We decided to switch things up and booked a 7 day cruise on the Escape for April. It will be 4 of us in an inside stateroom. Cozy. At least one of us will be 3 years old and won't take up THAT much room. I do have a few questions after stalking the forums. We have been on big ships before, but with other cruise lines, years ago.

1. What should I expect from a full on NCL cruise that I haven't experienced on the Sky? Latitudes party?

2. Kid's club. My son is 3, so he can go to Splash Academy. Do they do a meet and greet to get the kids more comfortable going there? My son is halfway potty trained. How does that work?

3. No diapers in the pool. Cool. Can he slide down WITH me or daddy on the slower slides? Is there a minimum and maximum weight limit on these awesome slides?

4. Do I really have to book dinner and show reservations NOW??? Doesn't that take away from Freestyle cruising as much as I think it does, or doesn't really matter once you get on the ship?

5. I loved longboards on the Sky. Please tell me I can get my chicken tender and chicken wing fix somewhere on this ship. Point me in the right direction!

6. Spa. Can you get a spa pass for just one day? Or do you have to purchase it for the entire duration. I just want one kid free afternoon.

7. This will be my son's third cruise. I pretty much know we have to eat early, and some must have items to make this go smoothly, but are there any age specific things I should bring that I possibly haven't thought of?

Thank you for any and all answers ;)

Just want to say that my hubby, who doesnt know how to swim, loved this excursion as much as I did. They floated him across the deep areas quite easily. We did end up with a few scratches on our knees. Afterwards we lounged on the hammocks. It was beautiful. It is a long cab ride along with the ferry, but after you get there, you wont remember it! It was truly awesome! My hubby wants to do it again lol

This is the review I recently posted. Just back from Getaway last Saturday.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2017945

Ty :)

Hope this helps

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2003668

Thank you!!

Thank you 52marv!

Ive been searching for reviews with pictures of the getaway, or thread with tips, but I cant seem to find many. If u know one or have one, would u mind pointing me to it?

Hubby, our son (who will be 22 months then) and I are going on the getaway in december.

(Before anyone says it, se have cruised with our son before when he was under a year old)

hubby wants to check out the illusinarium and I want to get the spa passs

i just cruised with my 9 month old. Its do able!!

If bottle feeding, bring extra cans and divide the cans throughout all your luggage in case any of them dont get to the room on time.

We bought cheap new bottles, brush, and dishwashing liquid to bring on board so we only washed bottles a couple times the whole vacation.

Some cruise lines dont allow babies in pools, so we bought an inflatable tub and put pool water for him in there to play

we used a carrier, as it is easier to get in and out of elevators, get food at the buffet, he could sleep when he wanted to

If on solids, buy disposable bibs (dont forget baby spoon if not blw)

We brought some pedialite just in case he got dehydrated.

EXTRA diapers just in case ;) and wipes

bring something from home, like a familiar blankie, so bub doesnt feel too out of place

also, this was our choice, but we brought extra tipping money for dining room staff (as our son eats on his own and food goes everywhere)

Any questions feel free to ask :)

they also replaced the tent over the great outdoors buffet

so these angled ones i see are bigger? i wasnt sure

We have had a 50% chance of making the island. Had to miss it twice and made it the last two times.

I have to say, if the port is cancelled, Do not be bumbed. you do not want to be on those tenders with bad weather!

Most people have a hard time on those tenders in GOOD weather. My hubby himself has said he is not going back unless they build a dock.

I would still go on the tender to the island, it is beautiful. But if it is cancelled, i wouldnt think twice and head to the hot tub!

Oh, and just because it is sunny, does not mean it is good weather for the tenders.

thank you everyone.

Right now we are in the middle of planning our next cruise. We will be taking my little brother along.

We are stuck between the pearl, getaway, and the epic

Delightful review! :D

Thank you there Sauer-Kraut

I headed to the buffet to get a crepe since i hadn't had one the whole cruise... Then hubby and i found our way to the Showdown show. (The show was just Ok- nothing stood out)

We left the show early and headed to check out Aiden's picture and chose our cruise momento... We could not decide which picture to buy so we just chose one at random. Aiden had so many cute ones in his little HEAT outfit!

I do not understand why they don't allow you to buy these after the cruise. For example, on a website you can go check them out and buy a jpg version. I'm sure they have their reasons. We just would buy more this way.

We then hurried to the Adult Comedy Show. Best comedy show i have seen on any cruise so far. It takes skill to use the audience in your show the way he did.

We then headed to Longboards to order some wings and chicken tenders and took it to the room. We ate as we packed.

This is usually the saddest part of the cruise. But this is also the first cruise where we already have the next cruise in plans....

We were very about cruising with a baby. But compared to all our other cruises, this has been by far the best! We cannot imagine vacationing with kids any other way.

Tips:

overpack! Yes hubby hates that i do, but you never know when you can get into an emergency.

Split all you overpack between all the bags. You never know what u will need and if your bags will be late to the room.

We use the carrier on a regular basis at home but it was extra helpful on the cruise. he could nap whenever he wanted to.

Bring something from home that they will recognize.

We had no problems staying on the ship at the ports, but if you want to off, make sure it is do able with your kids.

We have been the first time cruisers, the cruising just for fun, the birthday people, the pregnant couple, the just engaged couple... Now we were the couple with the baby...

In the end every cruise is a great cruise... This by far has been our best.

I cannot think of one thing we should have done differently. The only thing i could think of that would have improved was having a family member to help us with Aiden to have some alone time... but even though we didn't, it was still our best cruise thus far.

Then came the guppies playroom. Spaghetti with edible paint....

Another BIG mess.... But he enjoyed it :)

We headed back to the room to change as we wanted Aiden to get some professional pictures done in his Miami Heat outfit...

The rest of the night consited of a dinner where Aiden had a tumy ache so we wrapped it up and headed to the room. They seated us in a dark area and i think that also played a part in Aidens grumpy mood. Hubby headed to the casino with aiden in the back carrie, and i headed to the internet hub to look at future cruises.

This day i woke up a little earlier than anticipated. :( It's alright though. Aiden had to wake daddy up instead of I

We went to the pool most of the morning. By this time i had a sunburn and any clothes i put on were hurting me :cool:

After the pool we went to eat.... At Crossings. And Aiden of course fell asleep yet again. This time in the high chair!!!

This was by far the best food we had in the dining rooms. The Calimari was too good!!!! I also had the shrimp ceaser salad. Aiden enjoyed the steak more than i did (after he woke up)

We rushed out of there as we wanted to talk to the cruise consultant before the 5pm guppies activities... Yup. This cruise with Aiden had gone so smoothly that we decided to do a longer one next time. (haven't decided which just yet)

But his sleep did not last long!!

We then changed into our Le Bistro clothes and took those professional pictures on the way there. Aiden and daddy looked so cute matching!

And of course, since Aiden's nap was short, he fell asleep as soon as we got to Le Bistro...

I have to say. The food was lacking in the Main dining rooms. Le Bistro is always worth the surcharge. The food there is spectacular! I had the muscles and beef tenderloin. Ended with creme brulee. Hubby had the mushroom soup and the beef tenderloin. Le bistro is our NCL tradition!

I think this is the night they had Dancing with the sky stars. This is my absolute favorite show!! Always histerical... During the show Aiden decided to try to learn to clap his hands!!

I do have to say that they cut this show down. A lot. There used to be more songs.

After the show we went to get some nibbles at Longboards <3 and then headed to the room to sleep.

We wanted to go to the buffet for breakfast and found a high chair hidden underneath a stairwell. Got aiden some fruit

We decided to stay on the ship at Nassau. We've been there three times and decided to take it easy today. We did arts and crafts. Went to the pool.

NOTE: I'm not sure about other NCL ships, but the Sky does not allow pool diapers in the pool. We knew this ahead of time so we brought an inflatable tub. The tub was used for its purpose and even floated in the kiddie pool with Aiden in it! (he is 20 pounds!)

We got some water out of the kiddie pool on Deck 12 forward. This is our spot. Its secluded and usually very empty. Quiet place to relax as no one really goes here... We dried up and went to Il idagio for lunch. Pizza and Pasta!!

Love the view from up here...

We took Aiden back to the guppie play room so he could play while we relaxed in there...

And Aiden took his first "steps." Not that he started walking! What i mean is, it is the first time he lifted up his feet and moved forward...

We then headed back to the room. Aiden was exhausted ;)

Then it was time to play with some Jell-o. He absolutely loved it! And got himself really messy :D

We headed back to the room to clean up and dress for dinner. Tonight we also went to Crossings.

The size of the menu compared to Aiden made me giggle :o

The staff took a little while to bring the high chair, so i let Aiden play with my phone for a bit. Shortly after they brought the highchair, Aiden fell asleep.

We then went to see a few shows. I do not recall what they were. I think i had one too many margaritas :rolleyes:

JK We went to a salsa dance class done by the cruise director Joel. Very good CD. We remembered him from our last cruise when he was Richard's assistant cruise director. I did not want to see the main show this night. It did not grab my attention. We did go to the comedy shows though.

We headed to the buffet area after the water got us hungry. Between the three of us, we got a burger, hot dog, corn, fruit, and some chicken. Aiden, favored the corn. Hubby and I found the food lacking.

We found a little shaded area with picnic tables and some lounge chairs. We decided to pick up our stuff from and park there.

Aiden heard the music from the beach next to us and started dancing. After a while we went back to the water. This time the waves were a little stronger and it scared him. We dried up and decided to head back to the ship. Aiden fell asleep as soon as i put him in the carrier.

We saw on the freestyle daily that there was an activity for Aiden's age group at 5pm, so we went to check out the room half hr early. Aiden made his first friend and enjoyed playing with all the new toys.