Norwegian Day 1- By Jennifer

Once we arrived in Miami, we found our baggage claim which was right across the aisle from the Norwegian kiosk. We pre-tagged our bags for Norwegian, so once we found our bags, we brought them to the kiosk and they gave us a boarding class and had us bring our bags to an area in the parking lot to turn around and go back in the airport with our carryons. The lack of communication was pretty obvious, we almost missed our bus because they never called our group or called it while they had a group of us lug our bags to the parking lot to be loaded onto a bus to the port. Once on the bus, it was about a 20 minute drive to the port to go back through security to enter a large line to check in. They take everyone’s photo and issue them a room key card. This card is used to charge everything from drinks, excursions, picking up your child from kids club and more. No cash is used on the ship, so it is easy to go over budget, if you participate in some of the extra things. Once you are issued this card, they require you to have it out as you are now ushered through yet another long hallway with some escalators to line up to board the boat. As we are 5 feet from boarding, I notice that it is raining. Every time I have been to Miami, it has rained, which is no big deal because it rains for 5 minutes and then it is over. We were only uncovered by the overhang for about 50 feet and the line was moving quickly. We went to our room and dropped off our carryons and lightened our load and headed to the buffet. My son was starving as it was 2pm and we ate breakfast at the airport at about 7am. At this time, there was limited dining options, but the buffet with kids is great because they can try new items and there is always pizza and pasta to fall back on. They had great vegetarian options with a salad bar, ratatouille, vegetable gazpacho among other items. I banned pasta for my daughter because she mostly eats her pasta as a main meal, everyday. She easily found food that she would eat and enjoyed it. My son filled his plate with many options and then he hit the self serve ice cream. We barely finished eating when the kids were ready to check out the pool, so we went back down to our room to change and then it was time to learn the safety of the vessel. There is a 30 minute talk on what to do should you hear the international noise of emergency. Other boats we have been on take you to the emergency boats and show you how to use the lifejackets and talk about how they board the emergency vessels. Norwegian brought us to a designated meeting area based on your room assignment and we were taught in 3 languages how to put on a lifejacket and showed us that there is a tether so you can connect your children to you to keep you altogether. They spoke to us about where we would meet after the sound is made, but not too much else.

This talk lasted about 30 minutes, where everything on the ship closes so everyone attends this talk. Once this talk was over, we went to the pool. Did I mention that it was still raining on and off? Not a heavy rain, just a light drizzle , but enough to form puddles on the ship. I was wearing flip flops and ended up falling on the ship, leaving a large bruise on my leg. I watches the kids play in the kiddie area for a bit and the kids in the pool. I was not impressed with the lifeguard, as he was chatting with his fellow worker and occasionally blowing his whistle at kids jumping in, as it was quite shallow. As we had barely left port and it was raining, not too many of the activities were open, so no rock wall, no water slides. We proceeded back to our room to prepare for dinner and the deck is wet and I fall again on my right side this time. There were plenty of witnesses including staff, which did not come to check on me. I had to yell at someone to clean up the water in order for anyone to do anything….not impressed. 

We decided to try one of the included fine dining restaurants for dinner, there are a few elite restaurants that you have to pay an additional fee for. We chose a place called Taste, we were seated quickly and issued 4 adult menus. Three had the same items, but there was one that was apparently yesterday’s meal. Attention to these things is sort of important when kids are involved, over hungry, etc. Thankfully, we noticed right away before decisions were made and a meltdown happened. We were seated one table in from the windows, so we could watch the water as we waited for our food. My daughter ordered baked ziti for dinner, but they brought her a ravioli for dinner which was quickly resolved sans meltdown. The staff was very friendly and quick to refill beverages. Drinks other than water are charged to your room, so yes there is a fee for soda. The buffet offers a few juice and lemonade options for free. They do have beer and wine packages that are $550 plus gratuity per person. There is also a soda package, which I don’t know how much it goes for, as we aren’t soda drinkers. 

 

 Once dinner was done, the kids went to the kids club,  called Splash academy we could explore some of the adult entertainment. They offer a variety of activities for the kids based on age group. They have to be picked up by 10:30pm, or they charge you a fee. They can stay there until 1am for $6/hour for one or $10 for the two kids. 

We wandered the ship and discovered the duty free was having a liquor sampling. He was very inexperienced, so I had to show him how it was done, he just poured samples of Diagio brand liquors without educating the people.  

We went to the Welcome Aboard Show and it was slighty  disappointing.  It premiered the Rock of Ages which was super exciting, but they also made a cameo of Velvet, which left my husband and I looking at each other with a look of huh…. We stayed to the end of show and then went to Syd Norman’s Pour House and the band was outstandingly amazing! They were very engaging, full of life and simply amazing! At 10:30pm, we have to pick up the kids from the club and the counselors made my oversensitive daughter feel like she lost her key card and made her cry. They were unapologetic and made her feel awful when they took the keycard from her so she wouldn’t lose it, earlier in the night. Other than that, the kids which were in different groups, which was great because they have been getting on each other’s nerves, they had a great time. We ended our day, after it being an 18 hour day. 

I am excited to end the day and also that we are entering an earlier time zone in the morning, leaving me an extra hour to rest!

I am hoping day #2 is better, as I wasn’t too impressed with #1. The food was great at the buffet, but things to remember is you are on a boat with people from other countries not originally formed by the British. The British sure can queue and understand space, not every culture does. In the US, we read left to right, so attacking the buffet from left and and moving to the right would seem logical, but not to all. It was like trying to make a turn in Times Square in rush hour navigating the buffet. 

I need to stop typing and close my eyes. Before I sleep, did I mention there is a daily fee for wifi? We have skipped out on this option to keep the kids off of their devices and engaged in all the activities the boat offers.