MITSUGIRLYS GRADUATION GETAWAY CRUISE review and pictorial
Day 1: Ship Pictures
Now I'm going to take the time to show you around the ship with what pictures I did get of it. Like I said, this was not my "normal" cruise experience. I forgot a lot of things and didn't take as many pictures as I normally do. I forgot to wonder into certain areas for pictures and sometimes I would be somewhere and tell myself that I needed to come back there to get pictures when it's less crowded...then never returned. Loser status I tell ya.
Also, there will be more pictures of around the ship during the review (but since they have us doing activities in them, I figured I would just save them for the daily review itself).
Some where walking shot and may not be that clear. It was one of those things that you couldn't remember if you had a picture of that so "snap" as you walked by=blurry and not so good.
I think one of the main problems with this cruise was that we had a port day on the last day of the cruise. I'm not use to this. Usually the last day of the cruise is a sea day for us and that's the day I usually wonder around taking pictures. I will start on the lowest deck and walk from end to end getting pictures of everything. Since we were in Nassau, and the times we were there were until 7pm!!! that pretty much messed up my normal picture taking plans for the day.
Amazing how an itinerary change can mess up your entire photography skills for reviews.
So here we are...the beautiful Norwegian Getaway. The newest ship of the NCL fleet in all her glory.
Build in Meyer Werft Germany and entered service in January 2014.
She is 146,600 gross tons and 1062 feet long.
Capacity says 4,028 at double occupancy...HOWEVER, we were told that there were 4,400 on board this cruise. YIKES. I'm wondering if this was because, like us, a lot of people booked the 3rd person and up for free and had multiple people in their room this time around?
Here's a few odds & ends.
You will find these touch screens all over the ship (usually close to the elevators or around the corner from them). You can look up any information on them and also book dining from them. They came in handy a few times.
When they are not being used, they have a ripple water look like a computer drawing you in to touch it. (Kinda like Windows with the bubbles screen saver...you just gotta wiggle the mouse every time you walk by just because)
This was a really beautiful "picture" that was 3D of butterflies. All the elevators had this pretty and bright color at the back of them.
We will start on Deck 6.
Here's the Art Gallery area.
The Atrium Cafe. Here you can gets drinks, specialty coffee and they have a display of items from Carlos Bake Shop that you can purchase here.
Here is Headliners Comedy Club for the stand-up comedy shows (Levity Entertainment Group). It is also used for the dueling pianos for Howl at the Moon.
Of course the Illusionarium is located on this deck (which I have already showed you around there since we did this on the first night)
Now for the centerpiece of the ship. It probably holds a record for the most pictures ever taken of item on the ship. The beautiful chandelier that hangs in the middle of deck 6, 7, & 8 at 678 Ocean Place (haha, I just figured out why they named this 678 Ocean Place)...I'm a little slow this cruise. It changes colors during the day and evening and you know everyone on the ship will stop to take a picture a few times a day. It's just that beautiful. I will be no different and take tons of pictures as it changes colors and now I will share them with you.
Just a side note...the pictures like above are so vibrant in color because they were shot during the evening and without the flash I believe. It really made the colors pop. However, I'm still unsure if I like them that bright. The pictures I took during the day or with the flash looked much more natural, but yet somewhat dull.
Here we have Le Bistro. I remember seeing pictures of this area, which is located still on Deck 6 and in the chandelier atrium and was thinking to myself that this looked a little like what RCL did with the inner portion of the Oasis/Allure. I absolutely loved the way it looked there. However, once onboard, I guess I didn't realize it was sort of a focus point to the restaurant with inside or "outside" atrium dining and was a little disappointed that this area really had no place to sit and "hang out" in.
Here we have the library, which is located right off the other main atrium and down the hall:
The hallway where you find the library and the game room
I thought this was interesting...in the "Library" hall, they had this picture...THE SEAWARD. This was the very first cruise that I ever took back in 1989.
Here you will find 1 of the 3 main dining rooms. This is the largest of the 3 and is located at the end of the ship. It has a two deck high central area that includes a dance floor. I tried to go in here several times (not only to eat, but to take pictures) and it was closed each time. They had the blinds drawn and once people were in there either practicing for a show or doing a class. So I never did get to take a picture of it with the blinds open.
Taste is one of the other MDR's located on Deck 6 and to the side.
We never did get to eat in any of the MDR's. Our timing was just off this cruise. Every time we showed up, they were not open. :(
Savor is the other MDR that is located right across the hall and is basically decorated the same, but in different colors.
Moving up to Deck 7 we have the theater. As you enter on one side, you have the Box Office. At this place, you can get information to the shows they have in the theater (Burn the Floor and Legally Blonde) and also book the shows. This is one thing that I DIDN'T research and had no clue that you had to reserve a seat to see the show. Needless to say, we didn't get to see many shows due to this. I have to say, this didn't work out too well for us and we are use to just going to the theater every night for a different show. No bookings needed and no "sold out" free shows. I did not like this style at all. I thought it should be like any other show on previous cruises...you show up, find a seat, watch the show. Sigh
I really didn't get the point of going to the Box Office to reserve a seat either. It could be done from your iConceirge phone, from the touch screens in the hallways around the ship or using your TV in the cabin.
A few really crappy blurry pictures of me walking in the casino. Another one of those "I forgot to go back and take pictures of this area" moment. I really thought (and expected) the casino to be something like that on the Epic...2 stories tall, but it wasn't. I kept thinking "Where's the rest of it?" The casino was completely different than what we are used to on any of te other cruise ships. They didn't have ANY of the popular games that the other ships had like Gold Fish, Penguins, my favorite: Cave King and so on. It was really weird to not see any of those on board. Everything was different than what I usually play and love. It took me awhile to really find anything that "interest" me with the slots. It seem like they had a lot of the really high colored, seizure making, slots on this ship (which I admit I do like), but I still missed my Gold Fish and Cave King.
The casino was really spread out too. You would find slots in different areas and even along the walkways leading from one area to the atrium. I always felt like I was missing something.
Here is the Bliss Lounge. On the Epic, this was one of our favorite spots. But this place seemed really small. If you want to provoke a seizure, this is the place to go and get started. The lights were so bright. However, every time we went in here, the place just wasn't hopping. Even when we went to the Glow Party out on the deck, at 11:30pm, the dailies said that they would move it into the Bliss to continue the party. We went in there around midnight and there wasn't anyone on the dance floor and very little people in there. We absolutely loved the Epic's Bliss area. They had a stage you could dance on and even an area on the side of the stage that was a mini-stage with bars (which I hear it has been removed now), but it was a lot of fun. To me, this area was just disappointing and very very small.
If you turn to the right as you walk in to Bliss, there's an area (that I have no idea what it is supposed to be for) with chairs to sit in. It's part of Bliss, but yet feels detached from the club itself. They had some black see-through curtains around it. It was just weird.
If you are in the main Atrium and around O'Sheehans, if you go over to the side and around the corner you will find their pin bowling. They have 2 lanes. We always seen people using it and it seemed like fun (yes we tried it out and will be in the review later). Across from that you will find games such as basketball, skeetball, and air hockey.
Moving along down the side and toward O'Sheehans are dart boards and a pool table.
O'Sheehans...another place that I also forgot to take pictures of other than once when we were sitting down eating. I looked to the right to snap a picture and to the left for another. Loser status again.
Wasabi (it's really weird that I hardly ever seen anyone here)
This will conclude Deck 7 and the pictures I did manage to get. I'm sure I'm probably missing a lot of things. :(
Now we have hit deck 8. Time for some more exploring. Hopefully your feet aren't hurting yet because we have a lot more to cover.
Prime Meredian Bar. This is located in the center between Cagney's and Moderno.
Cagneys Steakhouse. As I mentioned before, I don't like steak and I really don't do too much red meat. So, we have never ate here on any of the ships.
You also have the option to eat outside at Cagneys and enjoy the ocean on the Waterfront. I have to admit, 90% of the time that we passed by here, there were just people sitting here playing cards or games. Maybe there weren't open during these times. We passed by both in the daylight hours and at night.
Moderno Churrascaria, which is also another steakhouse is located on the opposite side. Again, not my kind of place, so we have never tried it. They also had the option to eat outside on the Waterfront.
Located outside on the Waterfront is Dolce Gelato which offers Italian-style ice cream. We did try this place out and it will be in my review later.
After snapping this picture as we walked by, the lady yelled "Hey, why didn't you tell us you were taking a picture? We would have waved." LOL My thoughts (which I didn't say out loud) was that I would rather have a picture without anyone in it, maybe you can duck real quick? hehe
I tried not to stay in there too long otherwise I would have wanted to try one of everything. It all looked so yummy and I had already tried the Lobster Tail and knew it was good.
This is an area in the hallway right outside The Grammy Experience. We would see people sitting here playing cards and games as well.
Side-note: I have never seen so many "card and game playing" people on a cruise before. I like to play games with the family, but on a cruise ship is just weird to me. There's way to many things to do and explore on a ship (especially on a new cruise ship) that I could never imagine playing a game and just sitting there. Did these people actually explore the ship? I wasn't even able to do it in 1 week. Maybe they are rich and have been on the ship once a month since it came out and there's nothing left to explore? :p
The ICE BAR...from the outside. This is the only picture I got since we never did make it there. I was a little upset because we loved the Ice Bar on the Epic and the drinks were awesome. The experience was pretty neat too. Kendra had been talking about wanting to go to the Ice Bar since our Epic cruise and was excited that the Getaway had one. Yet, we never made it around to going. Boo. I'm telling ya, I need a do-over.
La Cucina, which is an Italian Restaurant. I love Italian so we did try this out one night as part of our Specialty Dining Package. We have only been to La Cucina on 1 other ship (Epic). I pretty much will do a specialty restaurant once, just to experience it, then not go there again on any of the other cruises just because it's an added expense that I don't like to encounter. Plus with so many free food options, why bother (for us).
Now I'll give you some pictures from around the outside of the ship. They are just some various pictures I snapped while walking around. That "Miami" theme.
So lets head out to the Waterfront and take a look around.
I loved that they installed these binocular thingys on the outside of the ship. I loved even more that you didn't have to pay to use them.
We spied on a Disney ship one night that was sailing with us and watched people on the Aqua Duck water slides. The ship was all lit up so pretty.
A lot of people utilized the outside areas. I think NCL's move to have the waterfront area is a big hit with cruisers. It's a great place to hang out and just enjoy the ocean.
These glass openings to the ocean below were another neat and new concept. They looked nice along the Waterfront and when you stand on them, it gave you a really weird feeling even though you knew you weren't going to fall.
Sakari was daring as always and tried it out too. At first she wasn't so sure about it. LOL
One thing about NCL that I have always noticed...they are always cleaning and redoing things to keep things in tip-top shape. Every cruise we have been on we find them painting, cleaning, staining and varnishing. This brand new ship was no different. I caught this guy in action varnishing one day.
Here are the shops at Tradewinds, Tides Boutique and the photo gallery.
I'm glad they decided to put in this system for locating your photos while on board. It makes things so much easier. If I remember correctly, the Epic is the only other ship that has something like this, but I think they had face recognition to identify what pictures went where. This system is a step above (and since it's been since 2010 when I was on the Epic, they might have changed their system now as well) and they have phones attached to their cameras so that when they take a picture of you, you tell them your room number and they type it in and it automatically goes to your file. They print off pictures and stick them in your "folder", which you can find out your folder number by looking at your key room card. You can also use multiple screens around the photo shop and swipe your key card and it will bring up you account. Here you have the option to view all of your pictures attached to your account and you can save them as favorites or not so favorite pics. You have options to order prints or put them on the NCL memory stick.
Just a note, when you do activities like the plank or ziplining, it will not be able to find who you are to attach them to your account. They print off a lot of the pictures and you will need to do the old system and go on a private investigation hunt for your pictures. Or...you can go onto the screen and look up an activity and then the date and it will only give you the pictures from those activities for that day. We did not learn this until the last day of the cruise, so I missed out on my ziplining and plank pictures. Boo
A few random pictures from Deck 8:
Here's a little area of glass you walk across and on the other side of it was open to the floor below. You could see people playing the slot machines. I know Epic had an area something like this but it was a lot bigger. This was a small opening and was a nice added touch.
Mojito Bar on the inside: (I swear every time I looked up, I thought the black things on the ceilings were a fan)
Sunset Bar
Now we move up a few decks to Deck 12. This would be a deck that we came to daily since the Splash Academy kids club was located here.
Like I said, this cruise was a complete mess! I didn't get to sign Sakari up for the kids club until later in the day and the sign ups were not even at Splash, they were out on the pool deck. So, I never got to see the inside of the Splash Academy and I'm kicking myself for it.
It was also compromised of 2 decks (Deck 12 and Deck 13). They had the 6-9? year olds on deck 12, so I was able to see into the room where Sakari was most of the time, but I'm sure there's probably more to that area and additional rooms. Deck 13 was for the 3-5 year olds (where my grandson was since Sakari just turned 6 and Brayden will turn 6 in July, they were split up). We only got to go up to that Deck on the night we signed Sakari up for sitting services. That is where they had the kids at and we were allowed to go up there to sign them out.
So here is it...my one and only picture of the outside of Splash. (I will have additional pictures of the sign in area later in my review. They changed and decorated the area depending on what the theme was that night).
Moving on up to Deck 15 and the buffet area.
This area was HUGE and on both sides of the ship and the entire back of the ship. There were places to sit on either side and you could also sit outside in this little dining area, which we did several times and I thought it was nice. They did have a bar out there, but I never seen it open. Then of course you had the option to go on out and sit along the pool.
This was also a neat little area that you could eat in right as soon as you walked in the round sliding glass doors (which I meant to get a picture of and completely forgot). The were high tables and chairs and decorated pretty. It really didn't feel like you were in a buffet area here.
Moving on out to the Kids Sponge Bob and splash area. I have pictures from both night and day (and will have additional during the review because Sakari felt the need to pose by each character and demanded I take a picture).
The wonderful waterslides at night.
This is the family pool
The adults pool
The adult pool had the ledge with water like you find on most of the other older ships. People would line their chairs in this area to lay out. I have to say this is the first time I ever seen people do this in this area. Maybe I just never noticed it or they didn't do it the day we were in the pool on other ships.
So much for the hard plastic fake looking ugly palm trees they have on the ships like Jewel, Pearl and so on.
On to the new and improved classier looking lights around the pool. They looked like flowers and I actually really liked them.
This is also where you will find the other shopping area, located between the pools and separating the starboard and port side. It was only open during certain times of the day.
This is also where you will find the other shopping area, located between the pools and separating the starboard and port side. It was only open during certain times of the day.
For the smokers...this is the area they have designed for you to sit out at the pool deck. Honestly, I had to laugh at it. It was enclosed, but yet the glass walls had sections in it that allowed the smoke to go out. Also, you could smoke out in the open right at the bar in front of the pool and outside this area. So honestly, it really made no sense to me. The glass in the surrounding wall and you can see in the background the bar right outside of it.
Now it's time to head up to Deck 16.
You will find an Arcade there, which I never seen anyone in. I always wonder why they continue to put arcade on cruise ships. I mean I know some kids will use it here and there, but to me, arcades were popular in the 80's and everyone hung out there. Now, there's just too much other things to do on a cruise ship...especially a ship like this with the ropes course and such. Of course the adults are going to hang out in the casino and play the games there or at O'Sheehans where they can actually win something.
The one thing we did seem to go in here for was the vending machines to get soda or candy.
Soda was $2.50 from the machine and the candybars were $1.50. For $2.00 you got a cup full of M&M's.
Now here is one of my favorite places to eat and we did breakfast here several times. It was never crowded and no lines with plenty of seats since there wasn't a whole lot of people up here. I thought it was a nice added touch to the ship. The Flamingo Grill
Then there was the rock climbing wall. I did not try this, but the girls did one day when I wasn't there. So, I did not get pictures. They claimed they made it all the way to the top, which you could see head on if you were standing up on the ropes course deck. They had a bell that you could ring once you get up there. Courtney claimed she couldn't reach the bell because she's so short. I call her my McNugget munchkin.
DECK 17...where all the action happens for both kids and adults, well if you're active and like climbing that is.
Here's the ropes course. I will have more pictures of everything else that's up there on my daily report when we do these activities.
You are looking up at the ropes course and the zip lining.
Now to throw in some random pics
There was a really neat cut out area (maybe between the Box Office? I can't remember) and you walked up a few steps and they had a replica Getaway ship in glass there. They also had information about the ship in this area hanging on the walls. In the middle of it was a huge black round chair with no back. I wanted to get pictures there, but every time we passed by others were in the area or kids on the chair. So, once again, no pictures of it. I also noticed several nights the photographer used this area for pictures as well.
Ok, so this completes my ship tour. These are all the pictures I believe I have for the areas. I'm sure I really missed a lot or don't have pictures for things someone might be looking for.
At this time I wanted to take a minute to discuss iConceirge. I believe they only have this on the new ships (correct me if I'm wrong). I will show you screen shots of it and tell you what it does (and what we used it for).
I personally think it was a wonderful system to have for the week (especially if you are traveling with a group). It would also come in handy if you are split up with a spouse, children or whomever you might be traveling with.
The cost is $7.95 for the entire week and well worth it to us to be able to just text each other to find a location to meet or whatever. But, it does much more than that.
I have to start by saying that you must FIRST DOWNLOAD THE APP PRIOR TO CRUISING!! After you are already on your way, you're out of luck. I downloaded mine about a month prior to our cruise so that I wouldn't forget to do it. We did test once we left the port of Miami and were out to sea to see if you could download it while on the cruise...nope. No can do.
So the main page shows you a list of things that the app will do and it's like your homepage.
Any of these links will take you to another page.
For instance if you chose the Dining category, it would take you to a page that listed every dining option on the ship:
Then once you pick a dining place, you go to the next page which will give you a description of the place and what they serve, what deck it is located on, your dress code, and if there's a price then it will list a price as well.
At the bottom you can see that you are able to view the menu and also make reservations. I had to try it out and it worked perfect. You pick the day and time, then how many people. Once you have scheduled your reservation, you can go back in and check it.
At the bottom you can see that you are able to view the menu and also make reservations. I had to try it out and it worked perfect. You pick the day and time, then how many people. Once you have scheduled your reservation, you can go back in and check it.
At the bottom you can see that you are able to view the menu and also make reservations. I had to try it out and it worked perfect. You pick the day and time, then how many people. Once you have scheduled your reservation, you can go back in and check it.
There are pre-programmed Contact information for various services if you need to contact them.
You can hit the Contacts button and that would show you who you put in there for your contacts to be able to call or message them. We had one other cruiser in our family that had the app and it let us be able to contact them for breakfast or where to meet.
You do get your "own number", which isn't your phone number, but a number assigned to your app.
You are also able to call anywhere on the ship, rooms, or another cell phone with this app.
We used messaging the most. It was pretty awesome if I say so myself.
There are a few things that I wish they would improve with this program.
* I wish that when you clicked on a venue that instead of it telling you to check the dailies, it would tell you the actual times they are open.
Another thing was the "Account Review". This let you check your account for all of the charges occurred and gives you a balance. However, it will show everything under your name even though it has an option to chose another cruiser in your party. I'm not sure if they are just developing this part and it might change in the future or if it will stay this way.
Either way, if they had this on every ship, I'm sure I would use it. :D
Ok....on to Day 2