October 14, 2015 (by Angela)

Once packed and ready to go on our trip, Jim, Chewie, and I drove to Nashville. Chewie has stayed with Stephanie and her dog Possum while we’ve traveled the last two or three years. Her dogvacay is excellent and affordable; it lets Chewie have a home care experience, and Stephanie sends daily photos of him and the other pups there with him. The extra benefit is that her home is only about 5 minutes from the Nashville Airport, so it was quite easy to get him to his vacay spot and then go to the airport.

Chewie is excited to go on his vacation.

Once parked and into the terminal, Jim and I were thrilled to find that both of us (not just him) were TSA pre-check: What a dream! We had time to relax and chill since most of the time budgeted for getting through security was (thankfully) not needed. Finally, our American Eagle flight (the roller skate of commercial flying, in my opinion) to Miami was ready to board.

Our plane for the trip to Miami

Once into Miami, we got on our shuttle to the hotel, and then we had dinner and settled in until our shuttle ride to the cruise port the next morning.

Dinner with Jim at Embassy Suites in Miami

Saturday morning, it was an easy ride to the Miami cruise port, and before we knew it, Jim and I were aboard NCL’s Getaway, a newer ship (went into service last year) that holds almost 4,000 passengers. Jim and I ate at O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill while waiting for the staterooms to be opened. We really liked our room; it is one of the most spacious cabins we’ve stayed in, which says quite a bit since we don’t spring for the suites.

As we enter our stateroom

We had to open the curtains to see our view.

Storage, storage, storage – Jim and I did not need all of the available storage. I didn’t include the pictures of all of the storage available in our cabin.

Closet

Shelves next to the closet

Shelves under the TV

The bathroom with storage room under the sink, too

After getting acclimated to our room and enduring one of the worst pre-sail emergency drills I’ve ever experienced on a ship, Jim and I went out on one of the upper decks for the sail away celebration. I was so stressed by the lack of respect by many of the passengers for the crew and the instructions they gave that I actually asked for a Bahama Mama as a calming sail away drink. The drink and the view of the beautiful water as we slowly left port and moved out into the open sea quickly had me calm and ready for the week of downtime.

Jim drinking his sail away frozen margarita

Miami (seen through the glass on deck) as we leave

Open water awaits

We drove to Nashville, flew to Miami, rode shuttles from airport to hotel and then to the cruise port, and then finally, we boarded the ship. Our experiences cruising on the Getaway began!