My week on the Getaway (March 25-April 1)

[ljrfrm]

All five of us went to Cagney's. The service was great and while I enjoyed my food, my oldest son reported his steak was just so-so due to too much fat on the cut. I ordered the Pork Belly as my appetizer, Baked Potato Soup, NY Strip (with loaded baked potato and brussel sprouts) and Raspberry Creme Brulee. I was very happy with all of it and the service was very good. We had a few glasses of wine each as well.

 

After we finished our meal we hit the Atrium again - this time for the Newlywed/Not So Newlywed Game. This is often one of my favorite game shows. If you get the right CD hosting with the right contestants, it can be downright hilarious. When you are on the bigger ships that have the shows in the Atrium, you need to arrive early for the prime seating. We took our time at Cagney's and didn't finish in time for the early arrival and scoping of seats (just to add, we normally don't mind arriving early for seats - there's usually a band or piano player or something to keep us occupied while we relax and wait) and ended up sitting off to the side. While we were sitting and comfortable, it was a little hard to hear. Couple that with not the funniest mix of contestants, and this Newlywed Game wasn't so great. Not bad, but not great. We watched the first half of the show but then decided to leave to get to Million Dollar Quartet early for good seats. We had initially planned to run there at the last minute but changed our minds with a not-so-great Newlywed Game coupled with difficulty hearing.

 

We went to the Getaway Theater, grabbed some great seats and sat back and enjoyed an amazing show. I wasn't sure what my sons would think of the show - but they all enjoyed it. I will admit that about 1/3 of the way into the show, I started nodding off. It had nothing to do with the show quality and everything to do with the copious amounts of beverages I consumed all afternoon and at dinner. But, the show was so good I soon snapped out of it and managed to stay awake to enjoy every minute of it.

 

Following the show, we went for a walk around and enjoyed the beautiful night. We then headed back up to the cabin. I walked in to our first towel animal pet, a reminder for another time change, and the Day 3 Freestyle Daily. I spent time reading up on the next day, making plans, and waiting for my youngest son to get back to the cabin. I waited, and I waited for a text. Finally I called the cabin. "Mom, I've been back for an hour". Hello, you needed to tell me that!! Soon we were off to bed, with visions of Roatan dancing in our heads.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/ijWJZ0

[ljrfrm]

Ahhhhh, Muesli! I am getting Muesli next week, too!

 

I think we talked about Muesli last time too haha. I thought the Muesli on the Escape was better. You'll have to let me know what you think.

[cleanandsober88]

ljrfrm you are a natural story teller. Did Groove International do a Bob Marley tribute? Saw them January 2015 on the Getaway and they were awesome! Thank you for sharing your experience, you are quite entertaining!

[ljrfrm]

ljrfrm you are a natural story teller. Did Groove International do a Bob Marley tribute? Saw them January 2015 on the Getaway and they were awesome! Thank you for sharing your experience, you are quite entertaining!

 

Great question - I didn't see it but might have missed it. I'll check my Dailies after work today. They were definitely fun!!

 

And thanks for the kind words!

[fsa1155]

We are going to be cruising on this ship in September for the first time. Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

 

Karen

[MaryBethV]

Fabulous review! We will be on the Getaway in about a month with our 4 kids - two in their early 20's and two teenagers. Thank you for the fun and helpful review.

[Cruise_Anne]

....you had me at hello...

 

We will be on this ship next month, so I am very excited to hear more!

[melis]

Love your review so far! You are such a positive person!

[ljrfrm]

Thanks everyone - you know how to make a girl feel good! :) I'm home from work and once I start a load of laundry (gulp, yes I'm going to get it started) and finish dinner, I'll be writing up Day 3.

[LeesaB]

Loving your review!

[ljrfrm]

Day 3 is Roatan. Oh Roatan, how I missed you. We owned a vacation home in Roatan until about 7 years ago, and enjoyed spending 2-3 weeks there each summer. It makes me sad when I see reviews from passengers who didn't leave the port/Coxen Hole area. Especially when they report that Roatan is dirty, ugly or boring. That makes me sad because it is such a wonderful island. We've played at beautiful beaches, swam with dolphins, petted iguanas, zipped our way through the trees and ate many amazing meals. There is some of the best snorkeling and scuba diving (disclaimer: I have never dived before, but it is on my bucket list) you can find. There are green lucious jungle areas and beautiful sunsets. There is so much to see if you can look past the poverty and get out and see the island. We were excited to return and took our time deciding where we wanted to go.

 

The day began at 7:45 when we woke up. I had hoped to sleep later but with the additional time change, my body did not agree to that plan. Once awake, I went into the bathroom and discovered our toilet was kaput. It wouldn't flush, it wouldn't even make a noise. I called my husband into the bathroom to try - thinking maybe it was only on strike with me. But no, it was a goner. I went and called housekeeping (I debated between them and Guest Services) but nobody answered. It just rang and rang. I was trying to figure out which number to try next when I had an idea. The day before we received some chocolate covered strawberries from Errol Bailey, the Hotel Director. The card said not to hesitate to contact him if we needed anything. I did hesitate - do I bother him? At 8 am? I decided that quickest way to a working toilet may be through Errol Bailey so I went for it. I called, told him we were toiletless at that moment, and he told me he'd get right on it (not that he was actually going to get on my toilet!). I immediately got dressed in case someone was coming to the room.

 

I made my morning coffee and went out onto the balcony to enjoy the peace and look to see if we were closing in on the island. About 30 minutes later our toilet flushed. All by itself. Nobody came to the room, but my guess was someone did something somewhere. I have no idea who my vacation hero was - but thanks for fixing the john. I try to roll with the punches when I travel. Sometimes things go wrong. I can't promise how long I would have kept that attitude without a toilet, but I handled the 30 minutes without one like a champ!

 

We arranged for the boys to come to our room at 9 am for our morning meal. We went to Savor for breakfast and got our table by the window. This was great as we were able to watch us sail by parts of the island and pull into port. My Day 3 breakfast of champion consisted of Creme of Wheat, French Toast and crispy bacon. As in each morning, the service was great, and we enjoyed the meal. My husband made a comment that the coffee was actually much better than he expected. That says a lot!

 

We soon realized that we needed to finish up and get back to the cabin to pack up and get ready for our day. When we got back, I went onto the balcony to check out our view. I love it when my balcony faces port. I enjoy seeing the views, watching passengers (especially those all so fun pier runners) and watching sailaway. I was glad to see that I had a great view of the port.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/-W_ktj

 

When I cruise, I have a specific beach bag I bring each time. It's a big beach bag. I mean gigantic beach bag. I bought it at LL Bean and it holds everything, you probably could even shove a coat rack into it. I packed up the bag with 5 NCL beach towels, multiple suntan lotions of every strength you could think of, changes of clothes, hats, tablets, and the kitchen sink. Somehow, I always become the pack mule of the family and lug the 60 pound bag around all day. I swore this trip that each family member will take a turn carrying the baggage.

 

Once the jumbo bag was packed and we were all ready to go, we took the elevator down to Deck 4 to disembark. It was 10:30 at this point and there were no lines and we were quickly off the ship. We dodged the photographer and headed off on our way.

[mmpgoodtogo]

Ahhhhh, Muesli! I am getting Muesli next week, too!

 

 

 

I love muesli too!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[ljrfrm]

I love muesli too!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Someone posted a Muesli recipe on here once. I always meant to try it, but somehow saving it for my special cruise tradition seemed fun too.

[Flyers15]

Thank you so much for your report! We will be on this ship in May. What are your kids ages? We have three boys who are 4,9 and 11 and I am hoping that they will have a blast. Would you have time to post the dailies from your trip?

[Carnac767]

Excellent review. Really enjoying it. Thanks.

[ljrfrm]

We've seen a lot on the island but have never been to Little French Key. After researching and reading all that I could, I went ahead and reserved our spot. I had high expectations from everything that I read, and hoped it would live up to them. Once off the ship, the first challenge was finding our contact in the Frenchy's 44 green shirt. We knew we needed to walk through port, ignore everyone trying to sell us an excursion, and go outside the exit gate. Once out, several folks asked us if we were looking for someone and pointed out exactly where we needed to go. For anyone looking for Larry, in the Frenchy's 44 shirt, we found him outside of the Crusty Crab Saloon. And the bonus is the saloon has $2 margaritas!!!

 

We waited for about 5 minutes and once we were joined by 2 other couples we walked a short 5 minutes to their van. I will be honest - the next hour was extremely frustrating. The traffic in Coxen Hole was horrendous. I mean, it was really bad. We sat in the van over 30 minutes before we even moved at all. It took us forever, and I mean forever to get out of that parking lot, through Coxen Hole and onto the main road. Luckily, the van had air conditioning. We were finally moving and drove past the airport, Mahogany Bay cruise port and Palmetto Bay where our rental home was. We finally got to Frenchy's 44, paid our money (we got the full island package which was $88 and included lunch and two drinks). My youngest son was also dying to swim with the jaguar so I bought him a ticket for that also ($50). Once paid up, we got our wristbands and got on the boat for the short ride across to the island.

 

We finally arrived at Little French Key after 12 pm. We were all a bit flustered from the long van trip (I had planned on 30 min - not 1 hour and 30 min) and honestly, I was worried about finding a lounger, having time to enjoy the island and feeling like we would be rushed. Our boat was met by an employee of the island and we received a quick tour. I was relieved to see that there were plenty of loungers left. A few ideal spots were full but the great thing about the island is there are so many places to go. The boys found some shade where there was a wonderful breeze, my husband went to the bar for wifi (we couldn't get decent coverage where we were) and I found the perfect spot in the sun in front of the jaguar swim. There was a small amount of seaweed and they had a worker picking it all up. The beach was clean and the lounger was comfortable.

 

https://pix.sfly.com/rnXko0

https://pix.sfly.com/YC6UdO

https://pix.sfly.com/qRWW-V

 

I waited for a waiter to come which took awhile. I wasn't that far from the bar so was a bit surprised it took that long. My son gave up and went to the bar himself. He was back in about 3 minutes with a drink. But I was being lazy. We had two drink coupons with our package, and once I finally had a visit from our waiter, I ordered a drink. 20 minutes later I was still waiting for that drink. I walked over to the bar thinking they forgot about me and as I was approaching, I saw the waiter heading to grab my drink. I returned back to my lounger and let him bring it to me (I didn't want him to think I was too anxious - haha).

 

I spent some time reading on my Kindle and watching the jaguar swims and horses come by, then met the rest of the family for lunch. Now, remember I told you that I am not a picky eater. I usually love island food. The menu of chicken, beef, plantain, rice and beans sounded perfect. But, I was very disappointed with the food. I've read great reviews so I'm hoping this was just an off day. The plantains were so stale I couldn't bite into them and while the chicken was good, it was such a small piece there was barely any meat on it. It really was ok for me because I was still full from breakfast, and dinner the night before, and my 20,000 beverages. But, if I had to do it all over again, I wish I bought the smaller package that didn't come with food and beverage.

 

Once lunch was done, my son went to swim with the jaguar. I had really wanted to pet her, and have a photo, but I didn't feel I needed all that time and didn't want to spend $50. The man was wonderful though and let me join my son that last few minutes and we have some great photos.

 

After the swim I spent some more time laying out but I started worrying about getting back to the ship. We were in port until 6:00 and All Aboard was 5:30 - but I always ensure we're back on board an hour before sailaway. So, my goal was to be back at 5:00. In order for that to happen, I felt like we needed to leave by 4:00. So - for us with 8 hours in port, we had less than 4 hours at Little French Key. I'm really glad we went, and it was beautiful, but I think we had a different experience than many people.

 

Before we left for the ship, my middle son and I went to see the monkeys and other animals. The monkeys were all in cages but I had read that it was possible to interact them. We found a worker and asked and he told us "sure". He took us to see "Luna". She was gorgeous - and she immediately hopped on my son's shoulder. We spent time playing with her, and I didn't want to let her go.

 

When it was time, we packed up and took the boat back to Frenchy's 44. The trip back to the port (this time on a shuttle bus) was quick and pain free. Once back on board the ship, we grabbed a drink and watched sailway from our balcony.

[ljrfrm]

Thank you so much for your report! We will be on this ship in May. What are your kids ages? We have three boys who are 4,9 and 11 and I am hoping that they will have a blast. Would you have time to post the dailies from your trip?

 

My boys are older - 17, 22 and 25 (just about 26). I bet your boys will love it. So much to do for kids of all ages.

 

I have all my dailies and will try to get them posted. Our scanner isn't working right now but I can try to take pictures and post them soon.

[ljrfrm]

I think in a way Day 3 was just an "off day" for us. Was it a bad day? Never. Just off. I still thoroughly enjoyed myself most of the day - but it seems Day 3 just had some highs and lows. A broken toilet. Traffic and more traffic. A not-so-good waiter. Stale plantains Those are the "lows" but that "highs" make it all worthwhile. That said - the "off" day continued once we were back on the ship.

 

I like to think of myself as organized. I make an envelope with each day of the trip. Inside the envelope is any money, directions, information, etc. that I need for the excursion. I also put on the outside of the envelope any other details, restaurant reservation times, show times, etc. In addition, I have a 7 day quickie schedule that I type out also. Kind of like a week at a glance. This also has an overview of excursion and reservation times. I brought a magnet and had the 7 day quickie overview hanging on the wall by the door. It just takes a quick glance in the morning or evening to see where we need to be when. Tonight was Teppanyaki. This is actually one of the few specialty restaurants we've never been to. We have a similar restaurant close to our home, and as went frequently for birthday when the boys were younger, we just never felt like we needed to go there. But, it sounded like we were missing a fun time and good food. So, we thought we would try it.

 

We showered and got ready for dinner and the boys were to meet us at our cabin at 6:20 for the 6:30 reservation. It seems that 3 boys sharing a bathroom takes time - and it was all they could do to make it to us by 6:30. We raced down to Teppanyaki's and made it there by 6:35. I peeked in and it looked full -but I knew I had a reservation so all was well. I handed my card to the hostess and she ran it through the machine. She looked confused. She ran it through again, looked at me and said "Oh, your reservation is at 7:15". Duh. I knew that. Every night we had a 6:30 reservation except for Teppanyaki. Not only did I know that, but it was written on the Roatan envelope plus it was hanging right by our door. I'm such a dweeb. We rushed the showers, raced down, and now we have 45 minutes to wait. Oh well, it's just an off day. We took the walk of shame away from the restaurant and went to the Atrium to grab a drink while waiting. We then returned to Teppanyaki at 7:15.

 

We arrived at the same time as 4 other families. They were all seated before us which at the time didn't seem like a big deal. They all filled up a table and because their table was full, their "cook" came out pretty quickly and started the fun. There was singing, clapping, laughing and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Meanwhile, we were seated at the next table over, and we just sat. We sat, and sat.....waiting for everyone else to show up. Whether they came late or had later reservations, I don't know. But, we sat for 40 minutes waiting. They didn't even come to take drink orders and when we asked, they said everyone at the table will order drinks together. Finally we had our table full and they started.

 

Our guy was nice but there wasn't any singing, not so much fun and I had chef envy after seeing the show that was put on next door. That said, oh my gosh the food was good. I ordered the filet mignon and chicken and it was so tender and delicious. It's not that we didn't like dinner, we just didn't have the fun we hoped for. And with all the fun all around us, we saw what we were missing. I think the experience very much depends on who you are sitting with and the chef's personality. We had a good meal - but I doubt we'll go back again. There are too many other good places to eat.

[luvcruzing]

We’ll be on the Getaway in a couple of weeks and always enjoyed NCL’s excursion to Maya Key in Routan, but it’s not offered on our cruise. Would you happen to know why?

[ljrfrm]

We had initially planned to go back to the Atrium for the 8:15 Lip Sync War Gameshow. Given that dinner was actually at 7:15 and not 6:30, we didn't even try to make it. However, I really wanted to go to the Getaway Celebrity Dance Off at 9:15. I always enjoy that show - that dancing is usually pretty hilarious (and some is actually very good) and the Losers Lounge is a hoot. Once we finished out Green Tea Cake dessert at Teppanyaki, we headed over to the Atrium to find chairs. My youngest son went to meet up with his posse and the oldest went back to the cabin to study - so that left my husband, middle son and I. 3 chairs is much easier to find than 5. We lucked out and snagged three comfortable chairs in a pretty good location. The show was fun and we had some laughs. It's funny because often when we sail, the NCL dance partners are good dancers. Sometimes they are from the shows, other times maybe not but they all dance well. This time, several of them were just bad. But so bad it was good. Paquito did a nice job of announcing and the Losers Lounge was, as always, funny. My disclaimer here is that it had been a long day and I might have been punchy.....maybe it wasn't that funny. Although yes, I think it was!

 

Since I'm talking about the off day - it might be time to add one other issue into the mix. On the very first night of the cruise, we ate dinner at Tropicana. We each had two glasses of wine. We are always very careful to order wine that is included in the UBP. We are not big enough wine connoisseurs to care whether it is a $9 glass or a $20 glass. We care more that it's free. While we were eating dinner that first night, my husband was playing around on the iConcierge app (yeah, I know...why is he on his phone at dinner haha) and happened to notice a $70 charge from Tropicana. He immediately asked the waiter about it - and the waiter told him not to worry - there is no charge for the drinks and they will drop off. We hadn't ever noticed that before on previous cruises so we asked the waiter to ask someone else just to be sure. The host came over, assured us all was well, and that was it. Well......I'm sure you can imagine what I'm about to say. On our "off day" with everything else that's happened, we noticed that charge was still on. So, after the Celebrity Dance Off I went over to Guest Services. Luckily, there was no line.

 

The lady printed out our account balance and yes, the $70 is definitely there. She pulled the ticket and showed me the charge was for multiple glasses of wine at $19.50 , and several other drinks at $8.95 plus the gratuity. I told her that 1) The wine we ordered was less than $10, not $19.95, 2) We have the UBP and shouldn't have to pay for drinks or gratuities and 3) Let's just say there was a charge, they would bring us a slip to sign - like other times in the past when we ordered something over the UBP amount - AND, we would only pay the overage, not the whole thing. I assured her that the wine was within the plan, and both the waiter and host agreed that first night there is no charge. She promised me she'd follow up on it but that they can't do anything until overnight. I trusted her - she seemed to be on my side - and left Guest Services hoping for the best. Fortunately when I went by the next day to check, all $70 of charges were completely removed. Phew!

 

Once we finished at Guest Services, it was about 10:30. We were drained and although my brain didn't want to head back to the cabin, my body did. Once back at the cabin, we checked out our latest towel animal, I spent time reading the Freestyle Daily for Day 4 and read for a few minutes. I might have also played a few games of Candy Crush!! Here's hoping for a better Day 4. I have to stress though, Day 3 was not a bad day......it just had some not so good things happen. A day on a cruise ship can never be a bad day.

[ljrfrm]

We’ll be on the Getaway in a couple of weeks and always enjoyed NCL’s excursion to Maya Key in Routan, but it’s not offered on our cruise. Would you happen to know why?

 

I don't, sorry. It looks like a great place though. We've never been.

[Carnac767]

Bummer about your Little French Key excursion. We did the NCL snorkeling excursion there on Halloween and had a great experience. Food and service was good, and I guess we lucked out with the traffic. Our two snorkeling guides were terrific.

[ljrfrm]

Bummer about your Little French Key excursion. We did the NCL snorkeling excursion there on Halloween and had a great experience. Food and service was good, and I guess we lucked out with the traffic. Our two snorkeling guides were terrific.

 

I've seen so many good reviews that I really do think our experience was not typical. Despite everything, I would go back there. I think with more time, and possibly loungers in a more popular area (with a different waiter) we would have had a very different experience. Honestly, I enjoyed my time there - and what a beautiful place!

[thistimeplease]

Great review, we almost weren't going to get off the ship in Roatan but we decided on a excursion to Paradise Hotel Beach for the day. After reading your review so glad we didn't stick with our original plan.

[CruzinMel]

Someone posted a Muesli recipe on here once. I always meant to try it, but somehow saving it for my special cruise tradition seemed fun too.

That was me - it was part of our muesli discussion. I made it at home, and it was good, but not the same - I think it's just a good cruise tradition.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Forums mobile app