Sunday Blog for February 27, 2022

Good morning! As I write this, it is Sunday February 27 and we have just sailed into New York Harbor aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Getaway. This is the first cruise in nearly 3 years for Stacey And me. It wasn't meant to be that long, but due to Covid, here we are.

On February 18, we drove to a hotel near New York City to spend the night before the cruise. It would be my second time in the Getaway and Stacey's first time. This was the first sailing out of New York City for the Getaway since Covid. Indoor maskin requirements are in place and we had to take a Covid test at the pier before getting on the ship. We both tested negative. Stacy met a lot of people and in a Facebook group so she already knew who to look for once we were on board. One piece of fun is that many of the crew members had never seen snow before. It's very cold in New York and a snow squall passed through while the ship was still docked. Many crew members were excited to see snow for the first time and went outside to see it.


We were two hours late embarking, due to wind and river current conditions. It was dark as we sailed out the Hudson River, so that left us with a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline and Lady Liberty lit up at night. Our plan was to be on deck as we sailed under the Verrazano Narrows bridge, but it was too cold to stay out for very long.


Stacey really stood out with the entertainment crew as she wore her teacup pants and beads. We danced at the sailaway party, held in the Bliss ultra lounge, and she got on stage with the ship's band to do Sing it if You Know It. People from our Facebook group cheered her on.


The original itinerary was to have three ports in the Bahamas, but one was dropped and replaced with Norfolk, Virginia. We were supposed to get off the ship in Norfolk Virginia at 1 p.m. but arrived at 3 p.m. due to being late leaving New York. So our time in Port was cut from five and a half hours to three and a half hours. Stacey and I chose not to get off the ship.


It was about 40 degrees in Norfolk. We finally got some warm weather in Port Canaveral. We took a walk on Cocoa Beach and walked around some shops.


It was mid 70's at Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas. We relaxed on the beach, took a short dip in the cold water, danced to the DJ, and had lunch.


It was also mid 70's in Nassau, Bahamas, where we took a land and sea tour.


Our activities on board were the usual mix of fun, dancing, karaoke, participating in games, seeing shows, and hanging out with crazy new friends that we met!


We saw a show called Burn the Floor, and The Million Dollar Quartet. We saw a Fleetwood Mac tribute band, and the same group also did an 80's prom show.


The ship had a little over 2,000 guests on board, about 50% of capacity.


It was SO GOOD to be back on board again! Time to catch up; we have two more cruises booked this year