Med Cruise - October 2021
NCL Getaway part 2
Here's some more photos from the ship. I'll start with a few food photos.
This was the first thing we ate when we got on board. Lobster rolls. They were lovely.
Most of the photos are from The Haven restaurant which we thought was the best on the ship.
One evening I was asked what I wanted for dessert. I replied 'nothing thank you'. This is what they brought. Very droll.
There was a sushi restaurant. I'm not an expert on sushi but the salmon was the best I've ever had.
Not strictly food but the butler brought us treats to the stateroom every afternoon, chocolate covered strawberries, small sandwiches - that sort of thing. Tam had read that they bring M&Ms. As the cruise went on none had arrived. Tam started to get twitchy and wanted to ring the butler and ask for some. She didn't and they eventually turned up a couple of days from the end. As I pointed out, we were on a cruise ship with a myriad of possibilites when it came to food and all she was worried about was a bowl of M&Ms that she could get for £1 in Tesco! Sometimes I despair.
Overall the food was very good, although we didn't eat in the main dining room - only The Haven and the speciality restaurants.
There was a dining/nightclub area called The Illusionarium. The inside was nice but the best part was the entrance area.
It reminded us of the much missed Adventurers Club in Walt Disney World.
It is with great shame that I have to tell you that there was a high stakes bingo game at the end of the voyage that the ladies wanted to go to. I can't remember the exact details but it was hellishly expensive. I think they bought the minimum (maybe $40?) but people were spending ridiculous amounts of money on multiple cards. Just before it started they announced they were doing a special deal of more cards for something like $60! There was a stampede of people rushing to take them up on this exceptionally generous offer. I can't understand it myself but I appreciate why cruise lines continue to push bingo - they must make an awful lot of money from it.
It is with even greater shame that I have to confess that they dragged me along as well! As you can see I tried my best to remain anonymous. I lasted for 15 minutes or so before losing all hope for humanity and retreating to the stateroom.
There was a rope course on the top deck and India and I gave it a go one afternoon.
Tam stayed below and took the photos.
This was the scariest part of it. What you don't see from the photo is that the little beam I'm balanced on is about 6 inches wide and sticks out over the side of the ship. When you walk out you are looking 17 storeys straight down to the sea, hence me hanging on for dear life.
This was our favourite bar on the ship.
Staying in The Haven really paid dividends here. It was quite a small bar anyway but with Covid restrictions it was limited to 85 people (I think). The band played twice nightly sets and there would be a queue outside up to an hour before each set. Because we were in The Haven we had the use of the concierge desk. We just had to inform them that we wanted to go to Syd Norman's and turn up at the desk 15 minutes before doors opened. They then took us down in the lift to a back entrance and we were happily seated before the doors opened to everyone else. A little elitist maybe but it saved us a lot of queueing time.
The band were really good. A lot of 80's American rock (Journey, Toto, Tom Petty etc.) and a couple of times they played the whole of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album.
So that's about it for this holiday. It came about in a strange way but I'm glad we got the chance to try Norwegian Cruise Lines again. I guess we were very spoiled by having The Haven upgrade and it made what would probably have been great anyway into an exceptional experience. I'm sure we'll never have a two bedroom suite on a cruise ship again unless the lottery comes up trumps so I'm grateful that we got to experience how the other half live just the once.