Food & DINK
We travel. We eat. And we travel to eat.
Day 3
Wherein our exclusive areas become even more exclusive
The first port stop was to be Roatan. We’d been there before, so we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy the nearly empty facilities. We started with a relaxing breakfast in our cabin, which was really nice thanks to the table and two chairs we could utilize, instead of holding room service plates on our laps. The food came from the Haven restaurant, which was also a huge plus. We both ordered custom omelets, hash browns, and toast. We also followed-up with Joseph about the gratin recipe we were promised, as it had not yet been delivered. He kind of acted as if we were insane, but he said he would take care of it.
On our last Getaway cruise, I loved the grotto area at the adults-only sun deck, Spice H20. It’s a delightful way to cool off, especially when your only other option is the always crowded main pool. With a nice empty ship, we decided to spend a little time in Spice H20 enjoying both the cooling grotto and warming hot tub, both of which were completely empty except for us.
We then checked out the spa, which was almost empty, as well. We had the thalassotherapy pool and hot tub to ourselves, and we began to feel as if we were on our own private ship!
Our bodies sufficiently pounded, we traversed the few decks back up to the Haven courtyard. This was the hottest day of the cruise, which meant that our favorite deck 17 lounging area was a little too hot for us to fully enjoy. However, it was warm enough to properly enjoy the ice bath (A.K.A. Haven pool).
An NCL must for us is an order of wings from O’Sheehan’s, so we made our way down to deck 7 for lunch. I also ordered the fish and chips, and Kathleen ordered a Chicago dog, and everything was fantastic. The O’Sheehan’s on the Escape constantly left something to be desired, but the one on the Getaway was firing on all cylinders this cruise. Everything was extremely hot and fresh, and it was well worth venturing outside of our Haven cocoon.
The empty ship also allowed us to play the mini bowling game near O’Sheehan’s, which is obscenely priced at $6 per game! We also couldn’t figure out how to add a second player, so Kathleen and I just took turns. We also played a couple games of air hockey, at which I lost spectacularly. Kathleen was even playing left-handed due to an injured shoulder and she still destroyed me. I’m very bad.
Like the star athletes we are, we needed to cool down after our strenuous games, so we went back for some more time in the thalassotherapy pool. After we limbered up, we went back to our cabin to find Joseph’s afternoon delight—this time a yummy selection of cheeses.
Rather than shower and change, we decided to head back to the Haven courtyard to enjoy some evening lounging while everyone else went to dinner. We enjoyed an empty hot tub, and we tried some uncomfortable wicker loungers which are placed in water—presumably for cooling off while sunbathing—but which are less enjoyable at night.
After some quality time on our balcony, we showered and changed and headed back to the Haven restaurant for a pre-dinner drink at the bar, followed by dinner in the Haven restaurant. Dinner that night was the surf and turf (this version was filet and shrimp). As always at the Haven restaurant, it was wonderful. My only complaint with the Haven restaurant, at least for dinner, is it would be nice if the menu changed from day-to-day. At the very least, it would be nice if there were some standard options that stayed the same, while having a few daily specials, as is the case down in the dining room. Not a major complaint, but hopefully something that will show up down the line.
Again suffering from relaxaustion, we made it another early night.
Up next: Day 4 – Seriously, we’re still doing nothing.
