At Sea Day on the Norwegian Getaway

So for our Sea day we woke up and went to the buffet for breakfast. Lots of choice for everyone and no complaints. I love when I vacation in the states or American cruise lines as I get biscuits and gravy. I became quite fond of them on my Disney Adventures but oddly enough I never recreate them at home. Probably as I know they are really not the best for me.
After breakfast my mother decided to take that time to head to the Casino. While she did that the kids and I headed to the pool.

 The green and blue slides are drop slides (the only two they did not try)

 Katherine drying off

 Daniel had the drink package (pepsi was his thing all week)

Soaking up some Rays

When the kids had enough of the pool we headed back to the room and they got changed so they could go and give the rope course a try. Being a Sea Day we waited in line for a good 40 minutes. Poor Daniel got outfitted headed up to the course and head to go the bathroom so came right down. Katherine also came right back down as she did not like the height. Elizabeth lasted about 10 minutes and did 3 or four courses not even a quarter of the course and came back down.

 The trio ready to hit the course

Elizabeth on the course

On my facebook page I have posted a slide show of pictures that gives you a better look at the rope course. Beside the rope course their is The Rock Climbing Wall,  Mini Golf, Basketball/Dodge Ball Court, a bungee jump and spider slide. Not too mention the arcade.

Rock Climbing Wall

When we finally finished up with this it was getting late and we decided to head for lunch at O'Sheenans. There was a wait so we were given a lovely pager and had to wait for it to go off for our callback time. We headed to the atrium to hang out waiting for our turn.

 I was hoping to get a better close up of this picture as our last nae is prominent on it but no such luck

 Waiting patiently for fun

getting some mom love 

We had a great lunch despite the wait. Wings, Milkshakes, Fajitas, Fish tacos, Artichoke dip and much more. After lunch we went back to our cabins to chill for a bit. Watch some tv, nap hang out on our balconies. The down time was great for a change.

For supper we headed to the Buffet it was Seafood Night. Every night has a theme. We obviously missed night one which was prime rib night. Elizabeth was in her glory with the seafood. No matter what there was always something for everyone to eat including my pickiest eater Victoria and off course the soft ice cream and desserts were always a hot with the kids.

 Food art at the Buffet

More food art

After dinner my mother, Katherine and I headed to the Atrium to chill until 7:30 pm when we were going to see Burn the Floor in the Theater. Daniel, Victoria and Elizabeth decided to hang out in the cabin and then meet us. 

Theater

We sat at the back of the theater. The view was great. It made it easier my mom only had to go down and up two sets up stairs. No pictures of the show itself as it is not allowed. The dancing was amazing and the dancers male and female were hot. Yes I checked them out and I am sure many of the adults were. I was not the only naughty one.

Now when we got back to our cabin it was turned down and ready for the evening and we got our first towel animal. I love the towel animals and look forward to them. I was very excited that my kids also share my passion for towel animals. Yes they tried hiding it so out steward could not find it. They did not succeed.

Towel Animal # 1

Our next day was to be our first port Harvest Caye, Belize. We did not have an excursion planned and we were not set to arrive until 10:00 am so we did not have to get up super early. Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventure.

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

TICO 500212282

55 York Street, Suite 803

Toronto, On M5J 1R7

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area

Sail Away on NCL Getaway

Once we finished eating at the buffet for lunch we still had time to wait for our cabins to be ready. So we did a quick tour deck 15 as we walked to the forward elevators. They have the kids splash area, kids pool, adults pools and hot tubs and of course the slides. The Spa is also found on this deck. Sadly I once again did not get a chance to visit. I think I am definitely saving up my money for a visit on my September cruise no excuses no distractions. We then headed down to deck six and the Atrim with their huge screen tv. Lots was going on down there and we spent lots of time in the Atrim over the week.

We were tucked away in a back corner

Shortly after 1:30 pm in was announced that cabins were ready and so we decided to take this opportunity to check them out. Now when I originally booked this cruise in December 2016 my father and husband were coming. I had booked two inside cabins for my family and an ocean view for my parents. When the men backed out we decided to change the reservation to two cabins and upgraded them both to Balconies. This was a first for me as I have only sailed inside cabins before. The balcony does add to your overall space but really did not find the cabin much bigger than my insides. They were still lead in rates. We decided to chill in our cabin for a while and did sail away from our balcony's which was a nice treat.

 Our room two beds and the pull out couch

Bathroom. Pokey Toilet, Door is the Shower

So our rooms were not connecting but they were beside each other. My room had separate beds, I had one Elizabeth took the other and Daniel had the couch for the week. In the second room they left the bed as one. My mother slept in it all week and Victoria and Katherine took turns between the bed and the sofa bed.My biggest complaint about cruising in the lack of space for the toilet. It is wedged in between the shower stall and the counter. Not a whole lot of wiggle room. 

 Sail away from Miami

 Sail Away from Miami

 Miami Sail away

Gorgeous sunset view

The sail away gave us some gorgeous views of Miami and South Beach and of the lovely Sunset. My oldest got a few gorgeous Sunset pictures. I stole them as they were better than mine. I guess she may just be a keeper after all.

The deck is not super big it fits two chairs and a table. Daniel is sitting on our little table so we all could fit out there. It was great to sit out there and enjoy the fresh air and quite.  Now before we could sail away we did have to do our mandatory life boat drill. The only thing I found bizarre about this is that we were one family two rooms with linked reservations but we had our stations separated. My mom and two girls were on deck six in Savor restaurant and myself and the other two kids were on deck seven in the Tropicana restaurant. Based on some of the conversations I overheard we were not the only family this happened too. The Mandatory Life Boat Drill must be attended by everyone on the ship and has to be done before the ship can sail away. They scan your cards so if you try and miss it they will find you and do your own individual presentation. It is really easier to go and get it down as quickly as possible.

The first evening we decided to try out the main dinning room The Tropicana for supper. I wanted everyone to give it a try I did not want to be stuck in the buffet all week for every meal and I knew we were not going to do any specialty restaurants on this cruise. I have a few picky eaters including my oldest who is the worst of our group. We started off our meals with appetizers. I only got two pictures from the whole group. My oldest actually had the first she only would not touch the blue cheese.

 Appetizer: Artisanal Cheese Plate

 yummy crab cakes

After the appetizers we moved on to the main dishes. 3 of the kids did the kids menu (including the oldest) my second oldest decided to try jambalaya she did not like it so got a kids main. I had a nice Scampi main course. It was so yummy.

 my artichoke and scampi pasta

Victoria's hot dog and fries (after the cheese plate)

So only three of us had dessert. The other three did end up having you guessed it soft ice cream at the buffet later on. We had hoped my heading to eat early we would make the early Welcome aboard show in the theater but it did not happen and we were too tired that first day to even consider the second show.

 Creme Brulee

 Chocolate lava cake with strawberries

Salted caramel chocolate tart with meringue

The desserts did not fail. The whole meal was great we loved our sever her was so friendly and inviting and I wish we had gotten his name as I really would have liked to have left positive feedback with our experience with him. I will be more proactive with this in the future for sure.

I am getting slightly better at selfies and at least I am trying to include myself in my pictures so the kids will remember that I did exist and was present. Thinking I will definitely invest in a dreaded selfie stick. Now before we headed to bed the three youngest had to hit the pool for an hour before it closed at 8:00 pm for the night. There were only four other kids in the pool so it was nice and quite. Once they were done. We headed to our cabins watched a movie and went to bed. Sorry you will not find any party animals on this cruise with this crew.  Day two we will be at Sea so stay tuned for our next adventure

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

TICO 500212282

55 York Street, Suite 803

Toronto, On M5J 1R7

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area

Day 2 Headed to Norwegian Getaway

Finally Day two has arrived on our family vacation. We wake up have a great breakfast at the Embassy Suites and get ready to return our rental car and head to the ship. But you know us there has to be a few snags along the way right?
When we got to the hotel and unpacked to go to bed for the evening it came to our attention that my second oldest and had packed almost nothing for this trip. Apparently she has no clothes. Yes she left half her clothes at home but she did have her swim suit that was important right. So before returning the rental car and heading to the cruise we had to make a trip for some clothes. Thank goodness for Walmart Supercentres. So we managed to get her some pants, tops a hoodie. flip flops for everyone and some snacks for the cruise or the plane ride home. Now as you can imagine I was worried about how long all of this would take especially with all the complications getting to Miami the day before.
We manage to get in and out of Walmart in under 45 minutes. Not bad if I do say so myself. We definitely can never manage that feat at home. Now when I rented the car I was supposed to be able to return the car to the port and get a shuttle to the port. Well lets just say that is not true at all. The van had to be returned to the Miami Airport. So we had to head back to where we started in the morning.

Yes my youngest took a selfie at Walmart

Let me just say the phone gps once again had problems trying to get us to turn where we could not do to one way streets. So after going around the "block" twice I finally was able to figure out my own how to get into the rental car return centre at the airport. Returning the car to Alamo was swift and efficient you pull up. Leave the key in the car leave the door open and take everything out you brought with you. Yes I had to take the kids I could not leave them there. I am always trying to sell them and give them away but no one will take them. I just do not understand.

She also managed to snag a picture of a commuter train

With our luggage we head out of the parking garage and head to the shuttle area. You have to go from the first floor up to the fourth floor. We get up there and a nice man tells me that this area is only for pre-arranged shuttles which we obviously did not have or taxi's. Now I know you are thinking what I am thinking how much is a taxi going to sink us now and I had installed the Uber app on my phone to have but I am thinking how long will that take and will we make. So I say we will take a taxi. The man calls over a van we all pile in with our luggage and we had to the Port of Miami Terminal C for Norwegian cruise lines. We are there is less than 20 minutes the cost of the taxi for the 6 of us is $30 USD plus $1.90 USD for the toll. What a deal is all I can say a shuttle would have cost us $20 USD a person at least. We tip the taxi driver, the porters take our luggage and of course they too insist on a tip. They are actually quite competitive, loud and bossy to keep the traffic moving so they can get more tips. My mother was trying to pay the taxi driver and one of them was yelling at him to get moving.
As you can guess the kids were starting to get excited and were hungry. I really do not know why these kids expect to be fed all the time. It is such an interesting concept. LOL. So for those of you who have not cruised before you must go through security same as the airport. They x ray your stuff and you. Same liquid rules. Once you get through that you go stand in line for check in. Being as my mother and I are latitudes members we got to go through the priority line but at that time of morning the lines were very short. We chose an early check in time so we could get lunch on the ship. It is a long walk from the terminal to get on the ship. My mom is currently walking with a cane and was offered wheel chair assistance she refused. You will see this is a recurring thing in the week to come. She is very fierce about maintaining her mobility and walking when she can. We could walk our own place because the line was pretty much non existent which was great. We got the mandatory picture from the cruise photographers getting on board and the washy washy song so everyone knows to clean their hands. Rooms were not expected to be ready until 1:30 pm so we headed straight to the buffet on Deck 15.

Yes they found the self serve soft ice cream the first day and if I am not mistaken they had it every day after sometimes several a day. I will leave the blog post here and continue with the first day in the next installment I will discuss the cabins, sail away and first afternoon on board the ship

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

TICO 500212282

55 York Street, Suite 803

Toronto, On M5J 1R7

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area

Still day one but Finally at the Hotel!!

After twelve plus hours of travelling we finally made it to our hotel The Embassy Suites by Hilton Miami International. I am so used to taking shuttles to hotels that it never occurred to me to look at parking as I was driving the rental van. Needless to say it was not cheap at $20 USD overnight. Something to keep mind if I or clients ever drive somewhere.
The lobby area of this hotel is massive. They have many tables set up for people to eat at and mingle with built in chargers. There breakfast buffet in the morning was awesome and in the evening they had free cocktails, pop and hors d'oeuvres. They definitely take care of their guests.

 Eating/Meeting area

 3 glass elevators at the end of the lobby area

lovely water fountain feature

 Breakfast area (they had made to order eggs) plus a buffet with scrambled

plenty of room to eat both inside the room and out

We booked a 2 room suite. Which had 2 double beds and a pull out couch. The sitting room had table and chairs. The layout was quite nice. But of course kids being kids they did not want to co-operate for sleeping arrangements. My mother slept on the lounger chair in the sitting room, my oldest daughter on the couch not as a bed. My youngest slept with me and the second daughter slept on the floor and the third ended up with the second bed to herself. 

 Sitting room couch

 table and chairs and tv

Mini fridge, microwave, sink in sitting area

 2 double beds in bedroom

 another sink and mirror, tv, armoire in bedroom

very tiny balcony looks out towards the airport

Being so close to the airport and watching the planes flying right overhead I was worried sleep would be hard to come by especially as we were on the top floor. But honestly I did not hear the planes at all. Now that also could be because I was very tired once it was time for bed and slept like the dead but no one else complained either and the kids did nap while I was driving and on the plane as well. The bathroom was spacious. It had a tub, toilet and counter with sink and mirror. With 3 sinks and mirrors in the suite it does make it easier for six people to get ready in the morning.

 Bathroom counter top

 Toilet space

bathtub

The hotel also has an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub. Yes of course the kids wanted to check it. Luckily it had been raining and it just was not a good time. So we did not have to worry about wet bathing suits until we got on the cruise. Although  I did snap a picture from my balcony.

Being tired we took advantage of Uber Eats and ordered in Takeout from the Miami Grill. I enjoyed and loved the Uber Eats app. Living in a small town I have never had the opportunity to use it before. I will definitely use it again if the opportunity presents itself. 

 Food delivered to our door 

 Donair with cheesy fries

Kids enjoying their food

So one thing I did not mention when we checked in our room was not yet ready. They provide you with a pager so you can sit and relax in the enormous lobby until they page you. I don't think we even waited ten minutes. Also the hotel does provide shuttles to the port, airport and even local shopping. I did not check out the prices as I did not need the, I would like to assume they were reasonable. At the end of the day the rooms were a bit tired and could use a sprucing up, the lobby was amazing and I definitely would stay at the Embassy Suites again and recommend it to clients. Stay tuned for Day 2 and all the trouble we can get in...

Where you can find me:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/stephaniethetravelagentnextdoor

Website: http://www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

Email: slough@exclusivetoyoutravel.ca

TICO 500212282

55 York Street, Suite 803

Toronto, On M5J 1R7

Please keep in mind that while my head office is in Toronto. I am a home based travel agent and I live in South Dundas and I can service clients anywhere in Canada. But, I meet with clients in the SD&G area