nutocruzing

Can you book the complimentary dinner at the supper club before your cruise (90 days out)?

Thanks

Nope. You have to book at the box office when you first board.

Just a quick apology: I pre-wrote some of this out in word and for some reason it seems to be merging words when it posts despite the fact that they don't appear merged in the original post draft! So sorry, I hope it isn't too hard to read. I'll try to start writing from scratch in here from now on.

After dropping off our purses/ backpacks, we decided to headup to Vibe to explore. The views of Miami were nice, though not as nice as theview from our port side balcony, and mom and my aunt were very excited to havesnagged a pass. We also checked out deck 20 and the waterfront on our way toour muster drill station at the Escape Theatre. Muster Drill was… well, musterdrill. Mom fell asleep during the presentation and she was not alone, I sawnumerous people dozing. I’m going to give them all the benefit of the doubt andassume they were tired from travelling!

Jess and I booked Escape the Big Top at the Box Office. Inthe end there was plenty of room for standbys on the day of (it was offered onthe first sea day at noon and at 10:15 and 7:00 pm on the Nassau day), but ifit’s something you really want to do, you definitely shouldn’t risk that.

Note: I sawdifferent dailies prior to our departure and was confused about supper clubofferings before getting on the ship. Our week was Company Men for thecomplimentary dinner supper club option. A few weeks before had been Oh What aNight. The shows did not take place at the same times and this caused enoughconfusion with our pre-scheduled itinerary that I wasn’t able to book thesupper club show right away (I had left our itinerary in the room) and when Itried to book the next day it was sold out. Furthermore, there were no reservationspermitted for the MDRs once on board! More on this later.

We went back to our room and we were already sailing away!Miami is a beautiful port but man it goes by quickly! After getting changed, mysister and I decided to try the ropes course while it was open. It was alreadyquite windy so the planks and the upper floor were closed but we had a goodtime anyways. We planned to try going back later in the week. We then checkedout Spice H2O before hitting Vibe. It was blustery up there as well, and I wasfeeling a little short on patience after a long day of executing my carefullycrafted plans. I was not responding well to my hair getting stuck in my lipgloss and my drink coming precariously close to getting knocked over, so Idecided to go back to the room to get ready for dinner and unpack.

We headed to the Manhattan Room around 7:30 and got walkedright in, no wait at all. This was our overwhelming experience despite the lackof ability to make reservations. I don’t know if this is a new thing, but I wasvery much under the impression that you were encouraged to make reservations,even for the MDRs. However this was simply not an option for us. It worked outfine so I can’t really complain.

That night I ended up having a delicious clam chowder andpappardelle with duck for dinner and the lava cake for dessert (sorry NCL, Ilove you but that cake has nothing on Carnival’s!). We happened to run into thesame officer from O’Sheehan’s and he was very attentive to my sister’s diningneeds ensuring that the meal she pre-ordered that afternoon met herexpectations.

After dinner, we wanted to check out Howl at the Moon but itwas absolutely packed and as it had been a long day, we opted to grab somenightcap drinks and head back to the room to finish unpacking. I believe I gotan Eastern Legacy from Tobacco Road that night (and more than a couple timeslater as well). As a gin lover, I really enjoyed that drink! Off our balcony wespotted a number of cruise ships in the distance, including the Vista (webelieve)!

Coming up: Day 2

April 29, 2017 – Day 1

Our alarms went off shortly after 7 am in our hotel roomnear the Miami airport. We were all pretty groggy as we hadn’t settled down tosleep until after 1 am and Mom and I were still on Mountain Time, and it wasonly 5 am our time. To make matters worse, my sister’s flights fromNewfoundland had taken almost 24 hours (the downside to last minute cheapflight booking) and my mother had worked a volunteer night shift the nightbefore our flight so neither of them had much sleep the night before. Neverthelesswe managed to crawl out of bed, re-pack and get ready for the day ahead.

Here’s something I’m super proud of: my homemade baggagetags!

You can find self-adhesive luggage tags online if you havethe foresight to order them, or even more expensive custom cruise baggage tags,but I made these using strong string and packing tape. They were durable andweather-proof and they looked pretty legit! I had brought our colour coded tagswith me and I passed them out. We had decided that as we wanted to try for Vibepasses we would have to be at port early and we knew we wouldn’t want to dragour luggage around all day, so we would be checking our carry on at the port.

We had a quick continental breakfast (with quite a selectionof foods available) at the hotel. We then grabbed some sunscreen from a nearbystore before grabbing a cab to port. The hotel may or may not have hadcomplimentary transportation to port, but we knew we wanted to get there asearly as possible so taxi it was.

Note: yes, I knowof Uber, no it isn’t worth paying international data fees to use it whileacross the border.

We were already running late. I had wanted to be at the portbefore 9 am and it was already after 9:30 when our cab pulled up. And it waschaos by the taxi drop off. Retrospectively, many of the people out there weredisembarking from the previous cruise. We grabbed our things, threw a quick tipto a porter and ran to get in line at Terminal B. To our surprise, the linewasn’t moving. They weren’t doing security yet. I anxiously surveyed the crowdand assessed that we were probably among the first 100 in line at this terminalbut who knew what Terminal C looked like! There was nothing to be done at thispoint so we waited.

Embarkation was ultimately painless. Security was swift, aswas check-in. We had an official check-in time of 10:30 and by the time we gotthere is was more or less the scheduled time. We grabbed our cards and rushedup the escalator where we were greeted with … Boarding Group Number 2! Would itbe good enough?? The gentleman handing out boarding cards informed us boardingwould likely start around 12:30. That sounded late to me, but we grabbed a seatand waited, as the terminal began to fill up around us. I began to worry thatwe might miss any announcement about boarding, but it was unnecessary. Shortlybefore noon they announced boarding for priority over the loudspeaker. Severalminutes later they announced boarding group number 1. To my surprise, no oneseemed to be running, pushing or shoving as I had read in some reviews. Maybethere was a chance for Vibe after all?

When Boarding Group 2 was called we moved quickly withoutrunning or shoving anyone. We made our way down to deck 6 and over toHeadliners where the restaurant reservations, beverage packages, beveragewaivers and the sacrosanct Vibe passes were held. As we came down the stairsunder the stunning chandelier, my face dropped as I saw a substantial line butwe got into the line nevertheless.

There was a staff member dressed in a suitstanding at the end of the line. He asked if he could help us. I wouldn’t havesaid anything, but my sister asked if this was where we were to line up forVibe. He quickly handed us 4 white laminated cards with number 55 through 58 onthem. We made it! Barely, but we made it!

This line took forever! Please, I beg of you futurecruisers, don’t go to make dinner reservations without knowing where you wantto eat and when. It was honestly ridiculously unfair for those who were waitingin line, wasting their vacation because some people wanted to peruse every menuand ask a million questions about each venue before booking. Something seemedto be taking an unreasonable amount of time at the Vibe check-in too. All inall, the Vibe check-in and sorting out my sister’s dietary restrictions withthe restaurant manager (same location) took over an hour.

Around 1 we headed to O’Sheehan’s for lunch. My sister hadread that they had decent gluten free options available there and wanted to tryit. As we stood in line, an Officer approached us and tried to discourage usfrom waiting there for a free table. After we explained my sister’s GF status,he recommended the MDRs rather than O’Sheehan’s, but we insisted we wanted totry it as I had read that the staff can be a bit pushy about lunch afterembarkation. The officer (who turned out to be Assistant Maitre D’) quicklychanged his tone and confirmed with my sister which items on the menu weregluten free. We ordered lunch (wings and salads for my mom and aunt, a burgerfor my sister (watch out – apparently the fries are not gluten free!) andfajitas for me) and our order arrived quickly. We all agreed that the food wasquite satisfactory.

After lunch we were feeling a little wiped so we decided tohead to our room to see if it was ready yet. It was, although my key carddidn’t work and I would ultimately have to get it replaced. Another smallproblem we quickly noticed was that the barrier between our balcony and 9162had been left open and it was flapping around quite violently in the strongwinds. I called our steward, Paul, and he came promptly to lock it back inplace. Problem solved!

Note: Apparentlythe housekeeping number goes direct to your steward!

Here are some pictures of our room.

A quick room review. We were in room 9160. As you can see from the photos, this room, and from what Ican tell, all others sleeping four guests, have the configuration with the bedby the balcony. The beds, including the sofa bed, were all quite comfortable.There was plenty of storage space even with all four of us in there, thoughthey could use more drawers. The bathroom was very well designed with plenty ofstorage space and a nice sized shower. The balcony was more than satisfactoryand all four of us fit out there quite comfortably.

Four adult women in oneroom was a lot to ask, but it really did work. More than anything it requiresorganization to make sure everyone has the time and space to get ready everymorning or before dinner. We generally dealt with this by staggering showers,and also by my sister and I getting up earlier every morning than my mom andaunt. I wouldn’t hesitate to put four people in the same room again. And in ourcase, because of the 3rd and 4th sail free, it was actuallycheaper with the balcony than having two inside rooms (I do think you’d becrazy to try four adult women in an inside room!). Oh, and one other thing incase it matters to you, our room overlooked deck 7’s shuffleboard area ratherthan having a direct downward ocean view. It didn’t bother us at all, but it issomething to note about the surroundings of the room.

Note: We broughtfolding storage boxes which nicely replaced the missing drawers in terms oforganizing our storage. We will definitely be bringing them with us on our nextcruise as well!

Hello Cruise Critic! I just got back this weekend from aweek long cruise on the Norwegian Escape with my sister as well as my mom andher sister (my aunt). Our "sisters" trip was fabulous! I wanted to take the timeto write out a report giving me the opportunity to relive my cruise as well asgiving back to this forum by providing the most updated information I possiblycould.

A bit about me. I love cruising. I love it! At this point, Ican’t imagine going the rest of my life without cruising a minimum of once ortwice a year. I went on my first cruise ever back in February of 2015. I nevergrew up cruising for a few reasons. My mother suffers from terrible seasickness on small boats and due to inexperience, we assumed cruising would bean awful scenario for her. My family also tends to avoid all-inclusive typesituations. I was so, so fortunate to grow up travelling with my parents, buttypically when we traveled, we would stay with local friends, whether it wasas far away as the South Pacific, or simply elsewhere within Canada. When wedid vacation, we were far more likely to stay at a cheap cabin and fend forourselves, than to pay for a luxury hotel experience. So, cruising had simply neveroccurred to me.

What do I love about cruising? The Caribbean for starters! Ilove the views; the colour of the water, the sea life, the sunsets, themountainous islands… it’s always breathtaking. I also love the idea of gettingto stop at multiple locations, with the convenience of only having to unpackonce! Your transportation is also infinitely more comfortable than other modes(no sitting still for hours on end!). I also, ironically, really enjoy the(almost) all-inclusive nature of cruising. I like having formal sit downdinners, live theatre and bands for entertainment. Point is, I love it. Sincethat first cruise just over two years ago, I have now been on 5 cruises! I evenmanaged to convince my entire family to go on a cruise for our family Christmasgathering this past December! Only my sister and I had ever cruised, the other11 members were newbies (side note: I know, my choice of username on here wasshort-sighted; when I first signed up, I had no idea I would end up obsessedwith cruising!). Turns out, my momdidn’t get sick at all (other than a little bit one morning, but even sheadmits that is more likely attributable to the margaritas she’d had theevening before, sorry mom! ;p)!!

Pre-Cruise Planning

As I was anticipating finding a summer job soon that wouldprevent me taking a vacation during the summer months, I approached my momabout going away together some-time in late spring. Obviously my first thoughtwas, CRUISE! After discussing it with my father, he suggested we invite alongboth of our sisters (that is to say, my sister (i.e. my mother’s daughter) andmy mom’s sister (i.e. my aunt). We jumped on the phone and of course they wereon board! (I’m sorry, you’ll have to excuse the puns, I can’t help it there arejust too many good ones when it comes to cruising!).

I had already done some research and determined that in thetime frame we were considering, the Escape was among the cheapest options. Ihad also thoroughly enjoyed my time on the Getaway last summer. The cruise wetook as a family for Christmas was on the Carnival Imagination which is one ofthe oldest Carnival ships and I knew that the Escape would be an exciting newexperience for my family. After briefly describing the features on Escape mymom told me she was sold! Realizing that the week we were looking at includedthe 3rd and 4th guest sail free option, we knew that abalcony room would be more reasonably priced. When we sailed at Christmas wehad a Suite on the Imagination and I don’t think my family is interested incruising without a balcony anymore.

Note: having thesuite for our family vacation was amazing. All four adults in my immediatefamily shared it incredibly comfortably, and we often had the rest of ourentire family over as well. It was so much fun to be able to be on our balconywaving to our family members as they came up the gangway! My dad had next to nopart in planning the vacation and the look on his face when he got into theroom was priceless. He told me I’ve ruined him for cruising, and that he’llnever be able to sail sans-balcony. Oh darn! I guess he’ll have to bring mewith him to justify the expense ;)

And so, after just a few days of discussion, we’d booked theApril 29th sailing out of Miami on the Escape. We were all soooexcited! Other than our family Christmas cruise which was planned ten months inadvance, I’ve pretty much always signed up for cruises at the last minute. Idon’t know how people survive waiting so long for their vacation to come! Weselected the 3rd and 4th guest sail free and the UBPpackage. We knew that having four adults in one room might be a little tight,but being on a ship that is twice as busy as the last ship we had been on meantthat it would be important to have our own outdoor space.

I was thrilled with my selection for our balcony stateroom,9th deck, nearly mid-ship, staterooms above and below. Only one deckup from the waterfront and all the entertainment venues seemed a convenientplace to be. I knew that being more forward and slightly higher up on theGetaway the year before I had never felt any movement on the ship and washoping that experience would be repeated for my family.

Note: For thoseof you out there considering booking on the Escape or the other Breakaway classships, look up angled balconies on these forums for some more information abouthow to save money and get a larger balcony at the same time!

I don’t want to spend very much time talking about the dayleading up to the cruise. I’ll be honest in saying that it bores the heck outof me to read that section on other reviews. For your information I’ll let youknow that we booked at the Clarion Inn and Suites at the Miami Airport. Theprice was right and there was complimentary transportation and breakfast.That’s all I care about! To me, the only point of the hotel the night beforethe cruise is to have a place to sleep when you responsibly fly in the nightbefore the cruise rather than day of. If it was some sort of freak disaster,I’d let you know, otherwise rest assured that it was… a cheap but satisfactoryhotel. In terms of flights, we were coming from all across Canada, and most ofus had connecting flights to get down there. I have flown in day of for my owncruises, but prefer not to risk it when going with a group (who wants to leavebehind your friends!).

Note: If youreally want to avoid paying for a hotel the night before your cruise, Irecommend considering a red-eye flight arriving first thing in the morning, aswell as considering a cruise that departs closer to 7 at night rather than 4 togive you lots of wiggle time.

And another word… packing. Ugh. I have to say this is onelevel on which I just don’t get cruisers. What is with all of the gigantic 30”plus bags outside of people’s rooms? What are you bringing? I actually have noidea. We always cruise with carry-on sized bags. Firstly, I know too many whohave lost their luggage before a cruise and had to mad shop last minute forclothes for the cruise. Frankly, beyond the expense and inconvenience that isjust generally a bummer. I don’t know about you, but I carefully plan myoutfits and it would suck not to get to wear something I was really excitedabout. I also realize that a) no one cares what you’re wearing and they areneither going to notice nor care if you repeat an outfit and b) you’re going tobe spending so much time in a bathing suit, you won’t even wear most outfitsfor more than a few hours a day. I made a video summarizing some tips for packing light but it won't cooperate with me right now so I'll try to upload it later.

Up next: Day 1

I've been on the Getaway but don't get on the Escape until next weekend. From what I've read it seems like the Breakaway class ships are more alike than not. I can give some more insight to this once I return though!

I have however been to these ports (other than Nassau). I think the Virgin Islands are among the most scenic of all Caribbean ports (at least in terms of views from the ship). So definitely don't miss sailing in or out of those two stops!

Jeans should be fine. It's cruise casual. Norwegian has one optional formal night called Norwegians Night Out usually on the second night. Like I said though, totally optional.

I've only been on Carnival and Norwegian so I can only compare the two. And even at that, I've been on smaller, older Carnival ships vs the Getaway, a pretty new mega-ship. I'll give this a try anyways!

Carnival:

* The "Fun" ships - Whether this is accurate or not is very much a matter of opinion. A good example is that at dinner in the MDR (Main Dining Room), the staff sing and dance most nights. I went with my family this past Christmas and to my surprise they all LOVED this and had a great time. But I can definitely see how others might find this tacky. Other examples include hairy chest contests on the pool deck. To be honest, I preferred the parties on Norwegian and found them to be more fun that anything I experienced on Carnival.

* Set dining times - This can be a pro or a con. Technically Carnival offers "anytime" dining but availability is limited. For most cruisers on a Carnival cruise you will have a set time to show up at the dining room or else have to eat at the buffet. If you're a small group of people, you're also likely to be sat with other diners. This is a great way to make friends, or an awful daily experience if you hate the people you're sat with. The set time is also potentially inconvenient for scheduling shows and activities.

*Service - Always with a smile. The staff are (in my experience) great at remembering your names and your preferences. For example, they've always dealt well with my sister's diet restrictions.

*Tacky Decor - The decor is a bit Vegas. I think of it as the "glitz" version of cruising. Norwegian on the other hand, at least on their newer ships, has a bit more contemporary style (i.e. less orange and neon lighting).

Norwegian:

*"Freestyle" - This has become more controversial lately because on the mega ships (such as the Escape), especially if you're part of a group, you are required to make reservations ahead of time in order to ensure you'll get to whatever show or restaurant you want to get to. However, it remains that you don't have a set required dining time each night allowing you to schedule shows and dining yourself from night to night based on your needs and interests. You have to balance the lack of lines on smaller ships with the greater amenities that larger ships provide.

*"Nickle and Diming" - There are also literally dozens of bar and restaurant options (some free of charge, some for an added fee). For me, the last cruise I took, I only ate in the complimentary restaurants and was very happy with the food. But it is kind of nice in my opinion to have other options. Some people complain though about these additional options as though they are mandatory and an inconvenience. It's up to you, pay or don't. You'll have a good experience either way in my opinion.

*Activities - The mega ships in particular have tons of things to do: multiple water slides, zip lines, ropes courses... the Vista (Carnival's newest ship) has some fun activities as well, but I haven't been on that ship so can't comment to the same extent.

*Entertainment - The entertainment on the Getaway blew the Carnival entertainment out of the water. Pretty much everything I saw I would happily have paid good money for, but it was free!

*Service - In my experience the staff are all still great, energetic and friendly. However I will admit I didn't see much of my room steward. This didn't bother me at all, and it may have been a freak experience, but some people seem to complain about this.

Overall, the food and service are comparable, and the amenities (activities and entertainment) vary depending on the age of the ship. One thing people seem to complain most about with Norwegian's mega-ships is the crowding. As far as I'm concerned these people are crazy. I sailed the Getaway with 4600 people on it (double occupancy capacity is 3900 or so), so it was way higher than average capacity and other than the muster drill (mandatory safety drill, sort of the more inconvenient version of the airplane safety video), I never found it to feel crowded. Overall I enjoy cruising itself more than one particular line and will take whatever cruise itinerary and price suits me before I consider the line.

My last piece of advice is to take everything everyone days on these boards with a grain of salt. The advice can be immensely helpful (like knowing that the booking option will show up on your online account about 90 days out from your cruise and you should book asap), but people also complain about petty things (like the fact that Carnival decided to reduce their daily laundry by limiting the number of nights with white table cloth dining - don't even look at the Carnival boards... this happened years ago and people still haven't gotten over it).

Hope this helps! Enjoy your cruise!

As for Vibe, it is $99 for the week and I believe you can get it at headliners. Keep in mind that if you want to get the pass you'll have to arrive early as they generally sell out fast.

Opinions vary as to whether it's worth it or not. I haven't had it so I can't comment myself, but it's going to come down to how much use you get out of it and whether you like the other passengers that happen to get it as well (could be a bunch of noisy frat boy types!).

Spice H2O is supposed to be nice, but there is also a public area on deck 19 with a bar, loungers and two hot tubs (port side). It's essentially the Vibe without free fruit and cushions on the deck chairs. Obviously it's more likely to be busy than the Vibe area as they only give out 75 passes total to Vibe, but the pool deck seems to be the most popular so hopefully there should still be loungers.

Hope that helps give you an idea of "worth"!

Curious to understand if there is a cost associated with the Escape Room? Reservations need in advance? Are they opened daily? Sounds like a fun activity!

I haven't been yet, but from my understanding, the escape room is free but you do need reservations in advance. As of the last few sailings I believe that the escape room was offered on day 2 around noon and day 7 in the morning, around 10. I think you make reservations at the box office.

It was offered Day 7, Nassau day, 10 AM and 10 PM.

 

 

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Thanks!

Thanks for this! Random question, but do you happen to know if Escape the Big Top was offered any time other than the first sea day? It seems strange to me that it only showed up once on the dailies. Or did I miss something?

Following. Great review so far!

I don't know for sure, but from what I've read it sounds like it's the night of the last sea day!

Hello everyone!

I've recently stepped up and agreed to organize the pub crawlfor our April 29th Escape Roll Call pub crawl. As I've never done this before,I was hoping some of you might be able to share some of your own insights/experiences.

Has anyone planned a pub crawl on board before?

Do you need to contact the cruise line in advance? (I assumenot, but just want to make sure I do this properly!)

Any thoughts on themes to make things interesting?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the video!

 

When you ate in Savor did they have tables for two? Epic looked like it only had tables for 4 in its equivalent.

They definitely have plenty of tables for two, in fact most of the ones near the windows are tables for two.

On the daily, I see a "solo traveler sign up" at noon that I didn't see on the Escape. What is that, exactly? I felt very well taken care of as a solo on the Escape - does this mean they do even more for solos on the Getaway?

I'm not sure to be honest. This was my first time sailing NCL so I don't know what it's like on other ships. Only two people signed up initially but plenty of others came off on and on to events throughout the week. The solo host wanted our information so he knew where to send updated schedules and things like that, or in case we wanted to change reservations for things, he needed our cabin number etc. Bottom line is, nearly no one actually signed up and those who showed for the singles meet and greet were always included as much as they chose to be.

TRAVEL

I flew Air Canada Rouge out of Toronto day of. I know, I know. And I now have a cautionary tale. I arrived at the airport around 6:30, almost two full hours ahead of my departure time, despite not having any luggage to check.

Problem 1: I didn't have a functioning printer and I needed to get a physical boarding pass because they didn't offer me an electronic one when I checked in online. The staff were completely unhelpful, in fairness it was an absolute zoo in there for some reason at 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday. I ended up standing in line for quite a while just to get a boarding pass printed.

Problem 2: security. In Toronto, for some reason, we go through customs before arriving in the US. For years the system has been customs first, then through security. Frankly, this makes a lot of sense to me as presumably individuals who are potential security risks would also be flagged at customs. However, Pearson Airport recently changed this so that you go through security first. It's an absolute disaster. The lines were sever times the width of the entire airport and ... they weren't moving. Because the computers at customs were down... I stood in those lines for over an hour and a half... I made my flight by 1 minute! A good reason to arrive three or four hours early if you're flying out day of! You have been warned! That said, there were dozens of others behind me stuck in customs and we waited for them so it wasn't the end of the world.

The flight was completely uneventful and we arrived just a few minutes late in Miami. Once I go through to baggage, I looked around for my NCL transfer. You have two options if you take their shuttle... walk allllll the way to the end of the terminal (there will be signs for carnival and royal too). Or, you can wait and someone will eventually walk by with a sign. I didn't know someone would walk by so I wandered until I found the check in booth. I would HIGHLY recommend the transfer, especially for those travelling alone. I waited mere minutes before we were on the air conditioned bus. The transfer was short and we were dropped off right in front of the correct terminal. I was there around 12:45 which was perfect as I had selected 12:30-1:00 as my check-in time.

EMBARKATION

Security was an absolute breeze. There was a substantial line to check-in but it moved very quickly. The staff person I dealt with was a delight and the process was very efficient. However... the actual boarding took quite a while. Retrospectively, it was because there were 4600 people trying to board the ship and two terminals coming together to one on-ramp. But by that time in the afternoon it was completely disorganized. No more numbers to be called. Just a very long, very slow moving line.

ON THE SHIP!

Nevertheless, I can't have waited more than half an hour or so before I was boarding the beautiful Getaway. I was completely blown away at first sight as this was the newest ship I have ever been on and everything was still shiny and in top condition. Given the hour I was confident that rooms would be ready, so I headed for the studios. Because the lines at the elevators were huge, this meant going up three flights of stairs with all my carry-on luggage which was less than ideal. But better than dragging it around with me while I got lunch!

First look at the Studio area!

I was really happy with the cabin. They are so smartly designed and organized and there was more than enough room for a single occupant. Here's a video tour of the cabin. It's pretty lengthy but I think it covers lots of details people might wonder about:

Next, I headed up to Savor for lunch. I had fish and chips and decided to indulge in some peanut butter cup cheesecake!

I then went back to my room and unpacked completely. As you will be able to tell from the video above, the storage space was more than sufficient. I would recommend bringing some of those foldable IKEA organization baskets if you happen to have some as they would have been helpful for socks and underwear organization.

After that I made sure I signed up for the singles meet and greet. By this time, it was time for the muster drill. My station was in the Getaway Theatre. This was relatively painless, and they have a channel on the television all about safety regardless which was kind of useful. After the drill it was pretty much time for sail away. I went up to Spice H20 and ordered a pina colada. TBH, I didn't enjoy NCL's drinks very much and they were absurdly overpriced, so I saved most of my alcohol consumption for on land.

After sail away I went to the singles meet and greet and after getting the low down from our host, Jose, we headed to O'Sheehan's for dinner. I got the steak fajita and although it was fine, I immediately regretted it because everyone else got Prime Rib and it looked amazing!

After dinner, a few of us headed to Howl at the Moon. This was an amazingly good time. Great comedy, great audience interaction, great music. Highly, highly recommend. By about 11:00 I had had enough. I'd been up since 5:30 and it was time for bed for me. I know, a bit lame not to go party, but that was one of the benefits of traveling solo, no one to party poop on!

Very interested in your solo cruise review. My son will be in a studio room next year. Did you visit the studio lounge? Did you find other solo folks to hang with?

I will be continuing with the review though it will likely be slow for the next few days as I am technically in the middle of moving! I did go to the studio lounge, though mostly for late night snacks. They have pastries there in the morning as well as orange juice and water. And in the afternoon/evening they have cookies and lemon bread. They also have a coffee maker so you can have free lattes (whereas they cost 2 or 3 dollars everywhere else on the ship). They play sports on the tvs in there and there is a bar open from 5-7 every night. I saw plenty of people in there because it seemed on this cruise that there were a lot of studio cabin occupants who were travelling together.

As for meeting other solos, I did make use of the solo host and I would recommend doing so. He made dinner reservations for us, show reservations... in many ways he was like a concierge but one who actually hung out with you. Honestly, it wasn't really my demographic on this cruise. I was for sure the youngest by close to 10 years and although people were very friendly with me, I didn't meet anyone that I ended up hanging out with long term. The solo host, Jose, was wonderful and worked hard to make sure we enjoyed our time. He made me get up and dance with him in the Tropicana room some nights and he was a spectacular dancer so that was a lot of fun. On the whole, I actually really enjoyed traveling solo. I thought multiple times about how nice it was that there was no drama, no fighting, no compromising. It was always what I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it.

Jose did mention that our week was abnormal in terms of how few people came to the solo events. We usually had 4 or 5 come out for events whereas he said closer to 10 or 15 was more normal. That may have changed the experience some, but on the whole, I would HIGHLY recommend the studio cabins to anyone!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Sara. I’m a 20-something (very) soon to be lawyer.

I know my username would suggest I am “new” to cruising, however this was actually the fourth cruise I’ve booked! I first started coming to Cruise Critic about a year and a half ago when a friend suggested a cruise for spring break. I didn’t end up going on the cruise the friend selected, but I did go on a great cruise on the Carnival Valor out of San Juan. I was hooked on cruising! I did a review on that cruise, but didn’t get all the way to the end of my anticipated report because life got in the way!

Although this was my fourth cruise booked, the third cruise is a scheduled extended family Christmas cruise on the Carnival Inspiration coming up in December. I completed my second cruise a few months ago in February with my sister on the Carnival Paradise out of Tampa … you may be starting to see a trend here! I really enjoy travelling with Carnival, as I find the value for price paid to be excellent.

Shortly after that first cruise, I was writing my licencing exams after completing law school. Now, just over a year later, I’ve completed my articling term and I wanted to celebrate with… you guessed it, another cruise!

Don’t get me wrong, I love reading everyone’s spectacular Haven reviews as much as the next person. That being said, I found there weren’t a ton of reviews about the studio cabins. I also find it difficult to find reviews where the writer was really cruising on a budget. I hope that this review will be useful for the next solo 20-something cruiser who wants to know where they can get away with saving some money. So, buckle up, and I hope you enjoy this ride with me as I re-live my Caribbean Getaway Celebration Cruise.

PLANNING AND PREPARATION

When the thought of a summer cruise first occurred to me, I headed to familiar territory and looked to see what Carnival had to offer. As with most (all?) cruise lines, the older ships are usually the cheaper ones. As I’m a recent graduate I am always fairly budget conscious so all of my cruises to date have been on decade + old ships. I really wanted to try a newer ship. But between the summer prices, and the fact that I knew literally no one that I was going to be able to talk into a cruise on this short of notice (ergo I was going to have to pay the dreaded “single supplement”), a new ship just didn’t look like it was in the books. Until, that is, I remembered hearing about the studio cabins on NCL ships!

I quickly googled which NCL ships had the studios and then looked up the corresponding itineraries. I originally looked at the Breakaway as I live very close to New York and it would be much cheaper to drive than to fly south. However, the Getaway on its new Western Caribbean itinerary quickly caught my eye. On my recent Paradise cruise we docked in Grand Cayman and Cozumel, so I would only be repeating one port of call. While I have never been to Bermuda, the idea of hitting up four different ports appealed to me and I quickly booked using the Canada at Par promotion.

Observations about customer service: I have to say that prior to embarkation, I was underwhelmed by the customer service I received from NCL. My PCC was confused on numerous occasions during my original booking (she kept assuming I wanted to book for two people, told me I couldn’t book a studio for two, then tried to sell me an additional cabin, then told me the studios were sold out when I knew they were not). I would have booked online, however I needed to call in to qualify for the Canada at Par promotion. Afterwards, I made calls a few times to try to sort out information I couldn’t find online. For example, I had seen much talk on the boards about “Bar Service” which sounded like a potentially good option for me since NCL has an auto corkage fee for any wine brought aboard. When I called, absolutely no one I spoke to (and I was transferred several times) knew anything about “Bar Service”. I just found this to be frustrating and unnecessary, so thus far I have to give the edge to Carnival for customer service.

Side note: there has been quite a bit of talk on here about whether the at-Par promotion was worth it since you lost the free at sea promotion. For me, it was. While unlimited alcohol would have been a nice bonus, between the gratuities and the exchange rate, it would have cost me an extra $500. If I had already planned on getting the UBP then it would have been worth it, but for me, keeping it down to a couple drinks a day was enough to keep my budget in line.

Next up, booking flights. I ended up finding a direct flight to Miami morning of June 5th, arriving before 11:30. I know, I know. Everyone has their thoughts on arriving day-of. But, this was going to be in June, not the middle of winter. I also knew from checking that there was at least one other flight on this airline that morning that would arrive before the departure time. Finally, I have travel insurance through my credit card which covers missed connections causing cancellations (among many other benefits). With that in mind, it wasn’t worth paying more for a flight the day before plus paying for a hotel.

I also needed to consider transport to and from the airports into my budget. I had done my research and observed that taking a cab to port would run me back close to $40 US after tip each way. Accordingly, I looked into shuttle transport. Assuming a private company would be cheaper, I investigated several, but none of them had shuttles leaving around the time of my arrival and so wanted me to pay private rates. Forget that! I gave in and looked into the cost of Norwegian’s transport. Even with the exchange rate, it was only $42 CAD total for guaranteed transportation to and from the ship. Check! Everything was falling into place, and on budget!

After booking all my transport I was faced with the daunting task of scheduling activities. On such a large ship, sometimes reservations are just necessary, and I get that. But, NCL also attempts to appeal to singles, and I wasn’t sure how to balance my desire to make sure I got to see everything on my wish-list with my desire to have the flexibility to be spontaneous with any new friends I might (hopefully!) meet.

For me, having just got off a 20 year old ship with a single water slide and some comedians (albeit pretty good ones) for entertainment, I was completely overwhelmed by the options for entertainment and activities on the Getaway. Rock-Climbing Wall, Rope Course, 5 water slides, comedians, magicians, theatre, music, game shows, 3-D movies… and 4 days in port?! There was clearly no way I was going to get to do everything!

I decided to schedule the Illusionarium as I love magic. I also booked evenings for Burn the Floor (former competitive dancer, and I couldn’t resist) and Million Dollar Quartet (I’d never heard of this musical, but I was in Memphis at the Sun Studios just a couple years ago so I was intrigued).

As for excursions, I had already paid a pretty penny for this cruise, even without the “single supplement”. I know that’s the nature of cruising in the summer months. But, regardless, especially given the fact that I was really cruising partially for the ship, I was hoping to be able to save some money on excursions.

Frankly, almost all of NCL’s excursions were way out of my budget range, and few interested me. I had just been to see Mayan ruins in February so I wasn’t in a huge rush to spend hundreds on that kind of an excursion. I was perfectly happy to spend a day (or every port day) on the beach. In the past I have almost always been able to find a worthwhile beach within walking distance of the port. It did not so much appear to be the case with this particular set of ports. Now came the (not so) fun part of planning solo travelling… facing the possibility of paying cab fare solo. After much time searching, here’s what I came up with:

Roatan – Victor Boddon Fun n Sun tour - $30 pp including island tour, shopping and scenery stops, the monkey and parrot package, and access to Bananarama for 2 hours. If I had taken public transit I might have been able to get to West Bay and entry to a resort for a conservative $15. But this way I figured I would see more of the island, and maybe be able to make some friends on the first stop of the cruise.

Belize – I initially had no plans at this port. However, I was able to get my hands on an excellent exchange rate for some more American cash and decided to go ahead and book a cave tubing tour. The deal with butts up! ended up being an even better price than expected at only $35 US so I was still coming in under budget on excursions.

Costa Maya – Blue Kay - $5 entry, and apx. $3 for trolley transport to and from. Cheap food and drink once there.

Cozumel – No plans. Just wanted to find a cheap bar.

I liked that the way things worked out I had two planned excursions early in the week and some more flexibility later in case I met some other solos I might want to tag along somewhere with.

I looked into Dining packages but they didn’t feel cost efficient to me. I figured if I met people who wanted to go to specialty dining I could tag along to one of the a la carte options and have control over my budget directly.

Before I knew it, June 5th was here and it was time to cruise! Next up, day one! In the meantime, my cheesy "Trailer" to keep you interested:

Thanks for your review! I too am a primarily CCL cruiser and will be taking my first NCL cruise on the getaway on June 5, 2016. Really pleased to hear about the food in the MDR being better than just edible. I wonder how much of the slow bar staff has to do with the UBP promo?

Hello!!

I totally understand where you're coming from. I too recently booked a trip for June 5 on the Getaway in a studio cabin. It will be my first solo cruise and my first cruise on NCL.

I feel like I can relate to you as this will be a celebratory trip for me as well since I will have just finished my articling term in Ontario and I will return from the cruise just in time to get called to the bar (provided I remain of good character between now and then haha)! I'm not sure how it works in California, is that one of the states where there is no need to article? Or will you be starting articling soon? (not to get too off topic!)

On a more cruise related note, it looks like your itinerary will be similar to mine. Have you been planning your excursions yet? I'd be happy to give you some insight, especially once I've actually been on the cruise!

Wow! Sounds like you're just like me. I always plan in great detail. I have learned over the years to also "go with the flow" to avoid missing incredible opportunities and to avoid disappointment as well.

I haven't cruised in the med area but I have been to Barcelona. I know you said you're not planning Barcelona til you get there but I have to make one recommendation based on what you've said about yourself being in the medical field and your daughter being a history geek. Look up Hospital de Sant Pau or Sant Pau Recinte Modernista. It's a hospital complex built from the turn of the 20th century to the 1930's but which has a history going back to the 15th century. It's absolutely beautiful and if you go, get the guided tour. The history of medicine and the hospital is really fascinating on top of the amazing architecture.

I'm currently waiting on a cruise in June and I can't contain myself. Good luck with the continued planning!

Hello there!

I just booked a 7 day cruise on the Norwegian Getaway June 5-12/16 in a studio cabin. I am so excited because I’ve only ever been on 20+ year old ships and the Getaway is literally twice the size of the last ship I was on (Carnival Paradise)! This will be my first time cruising with NCL, and my first time cruising solo. I would love to get some opinions on the must-do/sees and tips for solo cruisers. I’d also love some feedback on my planned excursions to date.

A few specific questions:

• Does the “corkage fee” for bringing wine/champagne aboard NCL cruises get charged automatically as you board?

• Is the Ice Bar worth it? I’ve read that the $20 entrance fee gets you two drinks so that sounds like it’s more or less on par with what the drinks would be elsewhere on the ship regardless, am I missing something?

• Do I really have to make reservations for everything before I board? Firstly, I’d love to have the ability to get to know some people either groups in my age range or other solo travelers to do things together. Secondly, the Illusionarium ticket price seems pretty high and I thought I read that there is a price reduction for the first night once on board. Are there ever reductions for extra fee activities?

• Speaking of trying to meet other solo travelers, I’ve heard about the solo meet and greets and about “sign-up sheets” in the studio lounge. Can anyone who’s traveled in a studio cabin tell me a bit more about this process? Is it easy to meet people?

• What are some other must-do or highly recommended activities (for example atrium shows, trivia, dance classes etc.)?

As far as excursions, so far I’m looking at West End Beach in Roatan, Blue Kay in Costa Maya and Paradise Beach in Cozumel. I have my own snorkeling gear and from what I’ve seen it looks like some of these beaches have pretty decent snorkeling.

I haven’t decided what to do about Belize yet. I like to try to do the ports fairly cheaply. First of all, what more do you really need than sun and sand? Second of all, the excursions often seem to be way marked up for cruise ship tourists. Any recommendations for Belize? I’ve considered cave tubing but tbh it’s a bit more expensive from what I’ve seen than I’d like to pay. Is the cave tubing worth it, or would you recommend something else for someone on a budget? If I were to stay on board the ship, are the waterslides, rock climbing wall and ropes course open during port days?

Thanks so much in advance!

Welcome to cruising! If you're anything like me, you're going to be hooked! I haven't been on the Eastern Caribbean itinerary but I am sure that I can still weigh in accurately on most of your questions.

1) I have never packed my own beach towels. I pack only carry-on and towels would be a massive waste of space. Carnival's are available either on the lido deck by the main pool, or, generally, in your cabins. The blue towels are the ones you can remove from the ship. I believe you are charged for them if you misplace them but that seems a very unlikely possibility to me.

2) I've always brought a mini first aid kit with me. On the last trip I saved space by putting several gravol (bromine), benedryl, pepto, advil, tums etc in one container. I only used a few but it was nice to have those on hand as the medicine on the ship is expensive. I also usually bring band-aids and hydrocortizone. They don't take up much space and would save unnecessary expense.

3) Can't help with this, sorry.

4)

* Have fun! I know this gets repeated a lot but attitude weighs heavily in your enjoyment of a cruise.

* One very random recommendation I would make is that if you are bringing any alcohol on board (or purchasing it legitimately through the Fun Shops), an excellent mix for things like vodka and rum is the guava passion fruit juice offered ONLY at breakfast. I usually fill up a water bottle early in the day to save it for mix later on. I've literally had people ask me where I got the drink and what it was. It's very yummy.

* Don't forget that breakfast is also oferrerd in the MDR most of the time, not only on the sea day brunch.

* Take the stairs! Obviously assuming you don't have any mobility issues that would prevent this. Saves you waiting in line for elevators and gets in a bit of exercise to help work off those extra sandwhiches, slices of pizza and warm chocolate melting cakes ;)

* Speaking of dessert, don't miss out on the chocolate extravaganza! I believe this usually takes place in the lido restaurant on the final afternoon of the cruise but I could be wrong about that. IMHO the lido desserts are generally not worth the calories (not very flavourful, dry etc.). The chocolate extravaganza has always been worth it though and it isn't particularly highlighted so you could easily miss out if you didn't know about it.

Enjoy your trip (here's hoping it's the first of many cruises!)