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

Family Vacation Day One Continued!!

So I left off my last post with us headed to pick up our rental vehicle. So I had a prepaid car rental. Thankfully Alamo was not busy because you still have to stand in line with everything else. This is the same with all rental car companies. I wish they would develop lines for those who have pre paid and just want to pick up. Now I decided I did not need the GPS option. Why do you ask would I do that driving from one city to another. Well I am not so silly, I have my phone and use google maps all the time. It provides awesome navigation. On a trip to Toronto it took me off the 401 due to an accident and saved me long delays so why would I not rely on it for this. We were given a lovely Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid to drive. We were six people, six suitcases and 6 carry on bags. Yes I got everything and everybody in and we were comfortable.

 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrd

 Front Seat

Middle Row

So we picked up this lovely car headed out of the Fort Lauderdale airport starving and needing to get to Miami to the Embassy Suites Hotel and it was pouring cats and dogs. So my car just as a reference is a 2004 Hyundai Sonata (no real technology) our family car is a 2012 Chevy Orlando (has hands free calling and that is it). So you can imagine that I may have been a bit wowed and maybe a little confused by this lovely rental vehicle. So I have seen the new display screen back up camera's etc I have friends who have newer vehicles than I do. Heck I have even see the no push start that I had to use and just carry the key fob with me. My parents drive a hybrid so I was even familiar that when you are stopped at a light your car sounds like it is not running while it is charging. No my problem was with the gear shifter. I could not find one. Looked on the steering wheel, looked on the dash, looked between the seats etc.. Took me a few to find it because here is a picture of what it looked like.

(picture courtesy of consumer reports.com)

You got it it was a dial on the dash that you move around to park, drive reverse etc.. Not easy to reverse and then drive I will admit I found this very awkward and wonder who came up with this concept. Who knows maybe after driving the car more than once or twice I would become used to using it but I did not like it and while I enjoyed the van itself I would probably not get it for my family with this shifter (and we have been looking for a van).

So back to my trip first thing I do is set up my planned route on my cellphone and try and connect it to the Bluetooth in the vehicle so I can see the GPS on the screen and be safer. Well the rental people fixed that they lock you out of connecting to the Bluetooth. I assume this is so you will bite the bullet and rent the GPS. Yes next time I will. Of course I also did not realize that my phone was set up to avoid tolls so instead of nice relaxing drive on the I 95 my GPS took me through every back alley, industrial area and side street from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. My mother is not technologically inclined and was no help and the two oldest did the best they could to help me out.  Let me tell you something else about the way the streets run.  They are mostly numbered streets. Normally you would see first east and west, second east and est etc... But here it may be First runs east and west, second is east only and third is west only. So I am counting streets on my west for turns etc and then the gps is telling me I am missing turns not realizing this system as  we are four lanes across for traffic in both directions. Once I catch on less re routing and our ride was less complicated but still long. With a stop at Popeye's for lunch it took us almost two hours and we were really tired by the time we got to the hotel.

Popeye's has been in Ottawa for about a year or so now. I have tired it once but no one else in my family had. It was much better in the States than it was hear that is for sure. We enjoyed it for a quick fast food lunch and we would definitely do it again. We went for Chicken tenders, breaded shrimp and Cajun fries.
Stay tuned for my next post as I will review the hotel we chose to stay out for or evening in Miami...

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

NCL Escape 2

So I left off my last blog with me sailing away from Miami aboard the NCL Esacpe. For those of you wondering the buffet and a few restaurants open for food so if you wanted an early lunch it was available.
I finally got into my cabin and my luggage had arrived and I hate to say this but I seemed to have not taken any pictures of my inside cabin. Not quite sure how that happened. The bathroom is small. Toilet and shower stall beside each other and a counter with a full length mirror and sink. Outside the bathroom their is a vanity with a few drawers and another mirror, plug in's and a mini fridge/bar. There were two separate twin beds and a night table between the two of them. Also a closet and a flat screen television on the wall. Honestly for the amount of time we actually spent in our cabin (pretty much sleeping and changing)  it was adequate for two people to stay in. I did hate the fact that it was always dark but I had a no problems sleeping because of that and sleeping on a working cruise is important.
Sitting on my bed was my Freestyle Daily (Day 1) this will show up every day of your cruise. It lists everything going on for the day as well on this day it has important information on some of things you need and want to know for a first cruise.

This was great pamphlet that came in daily. Granted on sea days I was in class until 4:00 pm everyday so I missed out on a lot of the activities going on. But I can honestly say their is something for everyone and every age to keep you happy when you are at Sea or if you decide to stay on board during a port day as well.

Norwegian has a beverage packages available with or without alcohol. I do not drink pop and because it was a work event we had cocktail parties scheduled and wine with dinner so I figured I did not need the ultimate beverage package. I do highly recommend the package especially if you are taking it as free at sea promotion (you do have to pay the 18% gratuity when you purchase the package). You can also pre-purchase 1l bottles of water before your board or on boarding day. I ordered 6 to have one for everyday and they were perfect. I probably should have drank more water than I did because I was quite swollen when I got home from my vacation.

We had dinner every night in a sit down restaurant so I did get to check out Taste, Savor and the Manhattan Room which are the complimentary restaurants. I also got to try La Cucina (Italian) and Le Bistro (French) where charges apply.  They were both a la carte. The food was amazing and plentiful. My only problem was that we were a large group broken into smaller groups to eat but our dinner times were fairly late which made it difficult to see the entertainment on board.

The Garden Buffet was great for breakfast and especially for lunch as it was quick to get back to class on time. They also have snack times so the buffet is constantly changing all day long.

First Nights dinner awesome crab cake at Taste

 All dinners at the French restaurant are served this way and the waiters take them all of at the same time

 Awesome Scallops

Almost all of my desserts were chocolate (a given)

If you really want interesting experiences I do recommend specialty dinning with Free at Sea (again you pay an 18% gratuity) I was sorry I did not get a chance to try Moderno (Churracaria) and Teppanyaki (Japanese). I am hoping to try at least one of these when I am on the Getaway.

Another important feature of a cruise in your internet availability. With Norwegian it is only available to purchase until 10pm of your second day. 250 minutes of internet is available as a Free at Sea option. I chose the unlimited Social Chat which was $5.00 USD per day. It allows app to app chat such as Facebook messenger. I used this to keep in touch with family and friends. I knew when I was in ports I would have access to my phone's 3G plan and could check emails etc then. I am with Rogers and Roam like home was $5.00 per day in the US and $10.00 per day in the Islands. The second option was Unlimited basic internet which allowed the following: app to app chat, send/receive attachments via chat or Facebook, check email and general web surfing. This cost $27.00 USD per day. The third option is Premium internet which allowed the following: app to app chat, send/receive attachments via chat or Facebook, check email and general web surfing, video streaming (netflix, youtube, hulu) and VPN. This cost $35.00 USD per day.

Check me out at www.exclusivetoyoutravel.ca or www.exclusivetoyoutravel.com

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