fandssullivan

Where and when did you buy the cabana passes

Guest services upon boarding the ship

HI

 

How much are the private cabana passes?

It was $329 for the cabana which includes 2 passes to the vibe, the cabana and $100 credit that you can use in the vibe for food and drink. You have to ask for a food menu (we didnt) and the drink credit can be used if you want any drinks that are more than the $15 UBP (if you have the UBP)

Hi FandS,

Thanks for the review. :)

 

Question: our last 2 cruises were on the big Royal ships (Allure & Oasis) and we found the quiet sundeck all the way up front on deck 14. No bar, music, etc but peaceful when we were in the 'reading/sleeping' mode. We loved it.

Does a sun deck area like this truly exist on the Getaway?

Yes! You have options. So... The "Sundeck" on I believe 17 or 18 forward is just a sun area and NOTHING else. There are loungers always available there. The only music is music you would hear from the pool a couple of decks down and a bit more forward. Then 1 deck down there is an area outside of the Vibe Beach club where you have loungers and in no way a party atmosphere but there is the use of a bar (the other half of the vibe bar). Then you could try to purchase Vibe passes, but that doesn't necessarily sound like it is what you are looking for. That is a private adults only area which you have to purchase passes for and has a bar and a couple of jacuzzis and plenty of loungers etc... in the far forward corner of that there is absolute tranquility! We bought ourselves cabana passes for the vibe and therefore got a private cabana way in front and could use that anytime we wanted our own space to read, nap etc :)

It is really interesting to read the different experience on the exact same cruise... but that is what makes this all so much fun :)

Hey ForSSullivan,

Thank you so much for the review. In Roatan you said the snorkeling wasn't the greatest. Were you at West Bay? Was the water clarity good? I've heard wonderful things about the snorkeling in West Bay on CC.

Thks,

We were out at the reef by Little French Keys on a guided tour. The water was clear enough yes but just not much marine life. We saw about 8 fish all the same, 1 lobster and 2 conch. Lots and lots of grass. We still loved just being in the water but I guess my expectations were just a lot higher than that :)

I was on this cruise as well. I know in H20 they had the languita IPAs and I think on Thursday they started serving goose island.

 

 

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This is the STRANGEST mystery to me because we went to both of the theme parties at H2O and DH asked if they had an IPA and was told no and served Coors! I am so confused as to how one gets this mystery beer :eek::confused:

Loved reading your review! We were also on this same sailing and I'm about to post our review. I love how everyone has varying experiences on the same voyage. We were in Cagney's Friday night as well and it was not a great experience, food or service, we definitely preferred Le Bistro on Monday evening. I will link to your review in mine so people can compare. It's incredibly subjective.

Yes please link it so I can see it :) and it really is amazing how two people can have completely different experiences! We were at Le Bistro on the Monday as well... I guess we had similar items booked :)

Great review. Thank you!

 

Outside of the casino, is it a heavy "in your face" smoke smell on decks 6,7,8, or just a stale contestant smokey smell?

Outside of the casino it is just stale smoke :) The mornings were the worst for me... when I'm freshly awake getting hit by that horrible smell is disgusting to me!

Thank you for the great review which adds to my excitement, as I'll be sailing on Getaway for the first time in two weeks. I had the same itinerary last Fall on Escape. I recall confirming my Le Bistro reservations in person and specifically requesting a table inside the restaurant to avoid the smoke in the atrium; it didn't seem that bad when just passing through the atrium, but I didn't want it to interfere with a nice dinner. I have read the reports about Getaway smoke in the atrium and will be curious to see if it's much worse compared to Escape.

 

As a tip for your next trip that includes Costa Maya, I'd suggest a $2pp taxi ride to Mahahual which has great public beaches, plenty of restaurant/bars and shops. There are palm trees for shade and plenty of loungers available that are provided by the various establishments that just expect you to imbibe. Oh, yes... and plenty of vendors. It would take some serious drinking to hit the $50 you said you spent at the pool in Belize. Also, there are plenty of places to get a massage on the beach: just shop the price a bit. I got a good 90 min massage for $45 and at that price didn't feel right tipping less than the $20 I gave her.

 

Thank you again for sharing your great cruise experience.

We did take the $2 taxi to Krazy Lobster beach on Mahahual and perhaps there were just so many ships in port that day and that is the reason it was so crazy there :) It didn't put a damper on our great trip at all, but that was just our experience from that port.

We were on the same cruise, Getaway 2/25-3/4, same age bracket and we were at Cagneys on Friday as well!! Loved Cagneys. George was our waiter and he was awesome!!! Food was amazing!! Only thing I have to disagree with is Le Bistro. The service there was by far the worst I’ve had on any cruise and the food was just ok. We really enjoyed O’Sheehans!! I thought the buffalo wings were the best I’ve ever had, and they streamed the Caps game so that was a plus for us lol. We are headed back to the Getaway in September, same itinerary. We didn’t get to see Million Dollar Quartet this time, but hope to get to it in September! I did miss the White Party, we packed our outfits lol. I totally agree about the smoke. I enjoy playing slots, but it was really bothering me. Thanks for the review. I’m glad you had a good time!!

 

 

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That's interesting to hear about the service you received at Le Bistro... so it is obviously hit or miss there! We received excellent service there (actually tipped our server an additional $20 because we loved him!) but the food apart from the Sole was just OK. The Sole was really great though :)

Enjoyed your review!! Glad you had a good time. We leave in 19 days for our 2nd time on the Getaway. The only thing I worry about is the smoke smell. From what I remember from our 1st trip the smell didn’t seem that bad but we also were on the 7th Caribbean sailing and she was brand spankin new.

 

 

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The "live" smoke was only in the smokers area but there was stale smoky smell all over on those 3 decks around the opening between the decks. I hate the smell of smoke so perhaps it won't be as bad for some, but I really hated it.

“The beer selection was very poor and no IPA available. I don't drink beer but DH was not impressed at all.”

 

 

I thought they were serving the Lagunitas IPA on this ship?

Only in the Haven. We tipped our bartenders VERY well ($2-3 for every drink) so one of the bartenders was able to get her hands on a couple of 6 packs throughout the cruise and DH got 2 out of those...

Entertainment:

In our opinion by far the best entertainment of any ship we have been on. Paquito the CD was on point and really fun and interactive. The shows were really amazing and there really was something for everyone on there! We went to see Burn The Floor which is a dance show with AMAZING dancers and great percussion. Million Dollar Quartet is not to be missed - a broadway style show but really is for everyone. Wine Lovers the Musical (for fee lunch show) was good... they serve you lunch as you watch the show and get to taste 6 different wines (the dessert there was my favorite on the entire cruise!). Cirque Dreams and Steam was fantastic as well (for fee dinner show). We also went to Karaoke and Howl at The Moon and nothing disappointed! The two theme parties (80s and Glow) were reasonably well attended but don't worry if you don't bring a costume since about 70% of people didn't. We did and enjoyed dressing up... but it is absolutely a personal preference!

Tip: When selecting a seat in the theater try a seat to the side of the theater instead of the middle section. We had originally picked a middle seat for Burn the Floor and it was the most uncomfortable seat I had ever sat in... we moved to a few middle seats and they were all like that (a bar in the back just sticking up you bottom)... however for Million Dollar Quartet we came a bit later and got a seat to the side and it did not have this same problem! To me a much more enjoyable experience.

Ship Layout:

In general I feel like the ship is laid out very well for its size. After a few days the size is not so overwhelming anymore and you get to know where everything is. Decks 6, 7 & 8 are the primary decks for food, drink and entertainment while 15 & 16 are your outside enjoyment decks. HOWEVER I will unfortunately have to agree with every review I have read about this ship... the smoke is terrible from the Casino. I TRULY hope that when she goes into Dry Dock they fix this because it did take away from my enjoyment a few times having to walk through the terrible smell on 6, 7 & 8.

I am a planner from hell so I had printed out deck layouts, maps and lists of what is located on each floor prior to boarding. That definitely helped to get acclimated faster.

Food and beverage:

In general we really enjoyed the F&B on board. We had the UBP & UDP so we were able to enjoy pretty much everything. We had dinner at Tropicana, Le Bistro, Ocean Blue, Cagney's, O'Sheehans, Shanghai's and Cirque. We had breakfast at Taste and the buffet.

The main dining rooms were fine - very similar to other MDRs on other ships we've been. We were quite happy we had other options as well although we would have been fine eating there every night.

O'Sheehans is probably really good if you're drunk... but really just so/so when sober lol

Shanghai noodle bar was good. You sit in a really tight space and there is smoke smell from the casino but the food is decent. We liked the dumplings and the noodles, the fried rice was just ok.

Cirque and Wine Lovers had very similar foods... a salad, steak and shrimp and then desert. We enjoyed it well enough and would do both of the shows again for the food and entertainment.

Le Bistro was very good. We both did a seafood app and entre and my sole was so good! Also a much better wine list than at most of the other places. Highly recommend going here.

Ocean Blue was also very good. I did crab legs and DH had mussels for apps. We both did mixed entres (DH: surf and turf, me: trio). We were very happy with this experience.

Cagneys was excellent. This was BY FAR the best food experience on the ship. I would go so far as saying this was the best steakhouse experience we have had. The steaks were so great and all the apps were fantastic. We didn't go there until the Friday but had we gone earlier I'm sure we would have gone again during our cruise. Next time we will be sure to go early :)

The cocktails were pretty weak. We were getting extra shots or floaters on the cocktails after the first couple of days just to get some alcohol in there. This was not a problem at all and it did ensure that we were not getting wasted by noon!

The beer selection was very poor and no IPA available. I don't drink beer but DH was not impressed at all. He was having to drink Whiskey most of the time because the beer was so bad, which was not very helpful. I really hope NCL gets an IPA onto their regular beer menu and not just in the Haven.

Staff:

All the staff we encountered were fabulous. We had read reviews about staff not being too friendly or being in a bad mood etc but we found none of that. In general everyone was happy and helpful and really made our trip fantastic!

Summary:

We really liked our NCL experience and are looking forward to our next cruise (which we have yet to find and book!). We are not just suffering from the post vaca blues and can't wait to get back to the sun (we are expecting 12-15 inches of snow here tomorrow... boooo!!!)

We are a couple in our late 30s - new to NCL but not to cruising - just got off the Getaway and here is our take:

We loved all the information we were able to gather from here and other boards prior to getting on. We believe it made our trip a lot more enjoyable than if we had just been winging it the whole time.

Embarkation/Debarkation:

This to us was probably the biggest low of the trip and one area that I can see NCL has a good opportunity to improve on. We got to the port early on embarkation day (and fully understood that we would not be able to embark for a couple of hours) however there are no ropes or lines to be formed, so it is really just survival of the fittest. If you know which door they will be letting people in then you can go ahead and stand there... however be prepared for a stampede of people and then running towards the ship. If this was more organized and I hate to mention other cruise lines here however in our opinion this is an area that Carnival has mastered much better. On debarkation day of course it is not easy to get 4000 people off a ship, however they called the colors so close to each other that we were wrapped all around the ship and outside on the deck and therefore stood in line for over an hour. If they would space out the colors a little more people could be in line for a shorter amount of time yet they could get everyone off on time. On the islands it was the same type of mess like every other cruise line - around the first hour or so after getting to an island it is chaos and then it evens out a bit as the day goes on - so just normal.

Cabin:

We were in a B6 Large Balcony cabin on Deck 9. This was by far the smallest cabin we have stayed in. We always book balconies but gosh this was tiny. However... we got used to it VERY quickly. Storage space was fine (at least enough for all of our stuff and we had 2 big suitcases and a carry on) so no complaints there :) The bathroom was a reasonable size for a balcony stateroom and the shower was a nice surprise. The water pressure was low but to be expected. The balcony was a really nice size with 2 loungers and 2 chairs and a table. I booked it expecting to use the loungers however we did not once sit out there, so it was kind of a waste for us. If you like to use your balcony a fair amount while on a cruise then I would HIGHLY recommend this cabin type. They are all located on deck 9 forward and are sandwiched between cabins above and below so no noise yet a very short walk to all the activities.

Itinerary:

This cruise was to the Western Caribbean and we chose it because we had never been to 3 out of 4 of the stops before. I love trying out new places so pressured my DH to agree to this one (our other option was the Escape)... however I wish I had listened to him (yes I said it!).

Roatan was OK. We went to the Monkey and Sloth sanctuary, snorkeled on the reef and went to a beach. The beach was GORGEOUS but we didn't have much time there. The snorkeling was quite disappointing compared to other snorkeling we have done in the past... not that much to see. The monkeys and sloths were as we had expected.

Harvest Caye was nothing special. Since we were planning on doing activities on all the other stops we did not leave the island. The beach is not good at all, the sand is terrible and the ocean very murky. The pool is really big and has a nice swim up bar. We paid $50 for 2 drinks each there and called it a day early. I will have to add that the sun is SUPER strong there and my husband who is mixed race and has never burned in his life before got scorched there and peeled. We used SPF 50 so can't blame no sunscreen on this burn. I burned as well but that is normal for me!

Costa Maya was probably the most disappointing stop. Our plan had been to go jet skiing but due to the choppy waters they cancelled the jet skis for the day. We went to Krazy Lobster beach which was truly Krazy and we would never go there again nor recommend. The area that the ship docks at was an absolute Zoo and took a long time to get through. They force you to go through the whole shopping plaza before getting out. We did get some decent tacos just as we came back through the gates... however my DH payed for that dearly the next day!!!

Cozumel: We had been here several times before so we felt very comfortable renting a Jeep ourselves and doing our own tour. This was our best port day on the cruise! We rented online in advance through Sol-Y-Mar for $65 for the day including insurance. It is right by the port (3-5 min walk) so we just strolled over after we got off and off we went. We drove once around the island first thing in the morning since we picked up the car around 9am. After that we went to Antonios (a day "resort") and rented jet ski's. They cost $65 each for half an hour. We had actually never rented jet ski's before just to play around... had always done jet ski tours where we head to a specific location and either snorkel or swim with dolphins, sting ray city etc. Therefore we thought 30 min would be WAYYY too little (given that our past tours have been 2-3hrs). We were VERY wrong lol. 30 min would have been plenty for us. But we stayed on there the full hour since we had payed for it! After Jet skiing we got back on the road and went back to the remote part of the island. That is our favorite part. We stopped at a few bars and huts and had a drink and a taco at each. It is such an amazing experience and we love interacting with the locals there, seeing the iguanas and the parrots and just enjoying the remoteness of it all!

To be continued...

Im On the same Cruise in M3 (Family Mini Suite) and I also bid H2 H3 H4 H6 H7 @ $1350 & $1450 per person and was Not Accepted on any... :0(

I'm really sorry that your bids were not accepted since I would have thought they were strong bids!! They had 5 2bd suites available yesterday so I wonder how much people had to bid to get in there!! We will have an amazing time anyway :D:D:D

So we didn't get upgraded. We are sailing this Sunday 2/25/18 on the Getaway and bid the following from a B6 (large balcony):

H5 - $750/pp - Fair range

H6 - $1500/pp - High Fair range

H7 - $900/pp - Fair range

H9 - $750/pp - Fair range

We are actually super happy with our large balcony, so nothing to complain about... although it would have been nice to be spoiled a little bit extra :) I am logging off and going home to pack for my wonderful upcoming cruise which I leave for tomorrow!! Good luck everyone!

Great review, can't wait to read the "weird" :) I'm heading on her this coming Sunday... so good to be prepared!

I know people are saying that you only have the option of bidding two categories up but I'm booked in a balcony (BD) and my options to bid went all the way up to a Haven 3 Bedroom Garden Villa (H1).

That is 2 "categories" up. Mini Suite is 1 category and "Haven" is another category. Within Haven there are several suites to bid on... so anyone from Balcony up gets to bid on all the different suites.

Silly question, but I haven't been on a cruise in over 10 years so forgive my ignorance.

 

For those of you who were successful in your bids with previous trips, what impact does this have on all of your documentation if you are going from a non-Haven room to now a Haven room? I would imagine your boarding documents will need to be changed and updated as well as possibly luggage tags.

 

Since I'm arriving in Rome several days prior to my departure sailing, I'm just concerned about being in a foreign country with limited (if any) access to a computer and printer to redo my paperwork if I'm suddenly upgraded into Haven.

 

Any insight into the logistics of this upgrade with so little notice before sailing?

Your old documents are fine for boarding with and you can get new luggage tags from the porters :) dont stress about it, just enjoy Rome and hope you are one of the lucky ones to get upgraded:-)

I definitely agree with the prices being higher and going up, but as many have said Supply and Demand.

That being said I priced Carnival at the same time as I priced my cruise. Although their base price was A LOT cheaper, once I factored in the UBP and the UDP they came out within $50 of each other. Therefore I couldn't be disappointed in the price of NCL (although... and don't shoot me... I do prefer the food on Carnival!)

They just dropped the price on the Haven Spa that I had bid on by $700pp and are offering OBC. Granted they did have 11 cabins available last week and 4 weeks to sail date so I can see their motive to do that but my current bid is only $200 under list price with 5 cabins left...

So here comes the dilemma... should I keep my bid where it is or lower it... or should I just bite the bullet and call and see if I can purchase the cabin at current list price?! Does anyone know what benefits there are from buying it outright other than I can choose my cabin number since I got all 4 perks at booking? Are there any added benefits that I don't know about?

Just remember that the 'current' price on the web has all the 4 perks built into it that dont flow with the bid upgrade for Haven. Discount those costs and pare it down to just the cost of the cabin without what you don't already have in perks.

 

Everytime I do that I retract my bid.

Well I already got all 4 perks when I booked ;p and I am still well under the listed price. I wouldn't ever go all the way to the listed price on the web... especially since right now they are offering OBC as well ;)

Does anyone else suffer from terrible impatience and increase their bids periodically? I actually love the cabin I already have booked (Large Balcony - B6) but would REALLY love to get the Haven upgrade. I started pretty low (in the poor range) since there were SO many available (around 36 overall Haven cabins when I started bidding) but as they have been selling I have increased my bid. I am 30 days out from our sail date on the Getaway and have increased our bid already 3 times and am now in the mid fair range for 3 categories and high poor for 1 category. As of today there are only 20 Haven cabins available (of which 11 are in the categories I am bidding on) so I figured I needed to increase my bid. I either need to lose internet for the next 30 days or find some super fun project to take my mind off of this bidding process LOL!

Thanks everyone! I actually went ahead and booked the steakhouse on the last night. Only reason I did that was because I am not too fussy about food, but my DH is... and I'm afraid that if he gets the best meal on the first day that the rest of the dinners will be a disappointment ;)

Now we just need to decide if we want to do the Italian as well... I find that to be an excellent value!!

I used to work at a hotel, where they do the same thing, put holds on cards... and although not in my job description as my primary job... it kind of ended up being my primary job to talk to past guests about their hold and call their banks to request these holds to be taken away since we no longer needed them (and fax over the pertinent information). It is absolutely not upto the merchant how long the hold stays and always upto the bank. The hold is automatically "released" when the card is charged (the charge meaning 'we don't need the hold anymore') however different banks systems handle these differently.

Debit cards are THE WORST things to travel with. I always travel with a minimum of 4 credit cards after that hotel job and use them for different purposes (rental cars companies are awful in this aspect as well... so one for the rental, one for the hotel, one for shopping and dining and one for emergencies!).