santacap

Which sailing was this? Out of what port and to where?

July 8 out of NY to Bermuda

Was on this sailing, but didn't witness it myself just heard about it through other passengers.

In a nutshell from what I was told it was to do with a beach ball in the adult pool from what I was told, and was brewing for a while between the group and one person.

Great Review - Thanks for all the information and great pictures!

Thanks, glad I could help out any way I could. :)

Love your review and all the pictures. Makes me ready to go back on the Getaway. Looks like you all had a great time

I think it might have just been the 'imperfect storm' for GC. Time, bad weather day previous, 4 other ships etc. That's what Im going with anyways. But needs to be looked at if it is regular at that point, maybe have standby tenders.

Glad you enjoyed, we can't wait to get back on NCL. Going to try the Escape next, then maybe if Getaway is still overseas ;)

we were in 11848 a couple weeks ago.

Can couple decks above the life boats, lots of privacy.

Can walk to either the forward or after elevators. aft are defnitely faster and more convenient.

we loved the location, nice and quiet. above and below:)

I am new to cruise critic. I really enjoyed your review and learned a lot! Thank you!

Glad I could help out. If anything pops up you needed to know just ask.

Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks again for your report :)

My pleasure, thanks for reading along :)

totally family friendly.

The beach is big enough that should you encounter some rowdy neighbors you can move on down. We were there when there were 5 ships in port a few weeks back so there was all kinds of mixtures.

Sure people had a few too many, but there was lots of room.

With the pools, water toys, beach etc there's something for everybody and the grounds are kept very well maintained

enjoy, and don't worry IMO:)

we have a booking in CDN about a week ago.

Our OBC is at 1.33, must be a site error

Cruise itself was 1.28

NCL is getting back to me on the difference as I don't understand why the rate difference.

All things considered the rate is fair to todays rate and is going in the right direction and we are avoiding fees. :)

iConcierge App Screengrabs

Cruise Overview / Thoughts

I am a planner, and overly so per my wife. I tried this time to not be too familiar with the overall layout of the ship, and enjoy the experience of exploring with the family. I think I did pretty well with this, but I did read some reviews prior and paid attention to comments in the year or so leading up to the cruise since we put the deposit down. So the comments come from those for the most part.

I found the ship, very easy to navigate. If you were ever not sure, the ship had these great touch screen TV's that you can find the location you are looking for and map it and the screen will give you a dotted red line on where you are and where you are looking for is. Very nice feature.

Speaking of the TV screens, it was also an avenue to see how busy restaurants were, make reservations at restaurants and tenders etc.

With the layout the atrium / 678 area was very nice. Kind of gave an open view to the mainly inside public areas and broke up the walk nicely IMO.

I never had a problem waiting for a drink. Maybe I am just a bit more accepting that at a martini / mojito bar it will take some time to make these drinks to order and can stomach a few minutes to wait to be served. As I have mentioned in the review the service in the seating areas was also very prompt and friendly. Waterfront was very peaceful and relaxing.

We used the iConcierge app alot for the group and never had any connection issues, and it was a great way to stay in touch, well worth the 7.99 for the week. You can also book tenders, find restaurants, make reservations and everything you might need for the week. I took some screen shots which I will put up.

I can't really comment on the kids program. The night Josh went he had fun, but didn't want to go back. He just would rather be a part of the action we are experiencing and that is fine with us, it's our vacation, not just my wife and mine.

The ports were familiar to us, but with that said we will take a few years off from the western side as it's been a little too familiar to us. All were amazing times, and just what we wanted to do.

NCL service not from the bar area was always very helpful to us. We dealt with a couple issues / questions at guest services and were handled promptly. As well the shore excursions staff were very quick and knowledgeable. I did notice, as well as others in our group, the visibility of what seemed to be more senior officers walking the ship during the day time and night and engaging passengers which was very nice. I didn't have much interactions with the CD so not much to say, he didn't talk too much on the speakers which was nice. Each debarkation at ports was easy, and with the exception of Grand Cayman getting back on was easy as well.

We have already booked our next trip, on the Escape for next year and can't wait to plan and read more reviews.

That brings me to the end, unless I think of something else, but please do feel free to ask any questions.

How to tell you needed room cleaned / or quiet

how the stewards tell

TV screens

Guest services

Look for these

Late night room service pizza

the grounds and the pool area...

Hey... wait for us !!

Post Cruise - The Savoy

Thought I'd put up some real quick thoughts on our post cruise place. We have found this place for quite some time now and it continues to be our go to spot for a little unwinding after a cruise. The prices are fairly stable for South Beach, the location works for us and the grounds are nice.

One year we splurged for an oceanview suite and it was not worth the cost difference for us. To be honest, the room we had this year had a better view of the ocean believe it or not. The rooms have a little kitchenette, and a great bathroom with a couple beds for families.

Much like anything in the SB area the food / drinks are pricey but just up the street is a walgreens to grab some beers / wines and a liquor store attached.

Most important for us, the pools are clean, the ocean is right there with a lounger / umbrella included in the 'resort' fees and it's familiar to us and the staff is always friendly with us.

Some of the rooms in our group needed a little TLC, nothing outlandish or we haven't seen in other hotels just some frayed carpets. The rooms were always cleaned first thing, and quickly.

We spent 2 nights at The Savoy and for us it's the perfect time to just relax and sit by a quiet pool all day and watch Josh swim and play.

Hi

 

Thanks for the review....I have been tempted to try NCL out of NY soon so find your thoughts and observations very useful. I Also have a friend who is on the JADE now on a cruise to Barcelona out of Miami and she is having a wonderful time.

 

I am wondering how one goes about posting pictures on CC. Any help appreciated. Thank you.

 

PAtrick

apologies for the delay. I have been uploading them to a photo hosting site (I used photobucket) then you will have a direct link to use. Hit the image icon on the reply area then copy link into the box that pops up.

THanks, have a great cruise

Thank you for the great review and beautiful photos.

 

We will be cruising the Getaway in June!

 

:) Jazz

appreciate it. My pleasure.

Have a great trip:)

8 years ago wow .. I would think they would have more reviews them they do. But I think I'm going to go with them was just looking for some more reviews and info on them first. Thanks for your time

We've always had good luck with them as well. No problem.

Running into a few issues with the scanner but hopefully will be fixed soon .:confused:

For Cozumel u mentioned doing a private jeep tour before. Do you remember through who? W are looking at http://www.cozumeltoursexcursions.com but nobody on here has commented on them and they don't have a lot of reviews but the ones they do are great

as a matter of fact it was them... keep in mind it was 8 years ago, but most definitely one of our favorite island tours

Love the review. Thanks for doing this.

THanks, my pleasure :)

What a great cruise you all had :)

 

We are not rushing to get off the ship on debarkation morning, what time would you recommend going for breakfast? Did you go early & go back to your stateroom or bring all carry-on/off items with you? The video of the week sounds cool, if we are waiting we will go here to check it out.

 

Did you get a car service to the Savoy? We are going to South Beach after our cruise and wondering if we should just get a taxi or pre-book a car.

 

Thanks again for the great review & photos.

 

Tina

It definitely was the tops of our cruises (wedding cruise aside of course lol)

The restarants all have different hours, if memory serves me O'Sheehans was open until 9 AM for new tables. You have to be out of your rooms, and cleared by 9 as well.

I wouldn't worry about setting up a service, there are ample taxis waiting in the terminal and plenty of services trying to get you from the taxi's as well. Room for negotiation for sure.

glad you are enjoying it

Day 8 - Debarkation

As mentioned we put our bags out the night before with the blue tags with a debarkation of 10 AM. Not much to say about this process other than it went very smoothly.

We went for breakfast at Taste restaurant and it was just the same as any of the breakfasts. Service didn't drop because we were debarking, the food was just as good and served warm and promptly.

We were a little late getting started but the crew did a good job of getting things moving and caught up. We grabbed a seat in the atrium lobby and grabbed a coffee (charged to CC on account) and waited our turn for maybe 30 minutes. They had a video of the week playing on the big screen so it was nice to see the recap.

Once off the ship we found our bags layed out in a main hall by tag colour, and we were through customs in a matter of minutes and had a driver to the Savoy all set up. For the 7 of us it cost 60 bucks and we arranged to have them pick us up on Tuesday at the Savoy.

Getting some pictures loaded up of the ship, iCOncierge screen grabs and some dailies / guppies schedules now. Followed with some general thoughts not mentioned previously.

:)

Day 7 - Last Day at Sea

Today was our last full day on the ship, kind of a depressing day as it means the end is near to a great family vacation. We alleviate this by spending a couple extra days in Miami to have a vacation from vacation.

Today was no different than the first day at sea so I wont say much about the chair / pool situation. We were able to find a spot in the hallway area near the marketplace to swim / watch Josh swim after another nice breakfast at O'Sheehans. Suffice to say this was our favorite spot for breakfast and or lunch.

The lines for things like the ropes course and the rock wall were absolutely fine from opening until about lunch time. I think the day before in Cozumel had some people sleeping in.

Before swimming Josh and I played a quick round of mini golf. Nothing much to 'review' here other than it was a 9 hole course that was in good shape.

With regards to the water slides for the whole week the two free falls were very fast and always open. They are very strict about any items in your pockets / clasps on your bathing suits etc which limits the people who can actually do it. There is a weight maximum that is different on each slide as an FYI, it is not 300 for both. One is 300 the other is 280. If you are close, they will weight you. I took this as an opportunity to see how the week was going and was pleasantly surprised that I was even steven for the week.

The other 3 slides were fairly long but moved very fast with 2 at once. In comparison to Carnival and say the Breeze the Breeze wins the water park area, but on the other classes NCL Getaway has them. The nice thing is you don't scald your feet getting up / waiting in line for the slides. As the day went on things got longer in line but Josh and I were able to hammer out 10-15 various slides.

Speaking of scalding feet, I wondered around the H20 zone in mid afternoon without anything on my feet and that lasted all of 15 seconds. The area is baking in the sun all day, leading it to be incredibly hot on the ground. The area was very busy but seemed like a good time. I just wanted to see what it was all about during the day.

After an afternoon of swimming and playing I headed down to pick up our luggage tag for the next day. With no flights to catch we picked blue, or off at 10 AM so we could enjoy a nice breakfast with no rush on Sunday. Back in the room we did a little packing before heading out to meet at the waterfront and have a drink for the last time this week at Sugarcane.

This night we had reservations at Teppanyaki and what a show they put on. I have been to a few places like this, and they have been hit or miss. I've found it depends on what your group is like, we are all fun people and our chef Harmi was fantastic. Did the usual gimmicks but talked to us the whole time. Couple notes, bring breath mints... they love garlic. Also, bring your appetite, there was a tonne of food left over (mostly rice) but the meats / proteins were cooked to perfection.

After our bellies were full we headed back to the last performance at Howl at the Moon. I had spoken with one of the artists the night before and he promised Josh his son, Uptown Funk. We walked in and not a song later he dedicated it to Josh and the little guy could not have been happier. I think it's still the highlite of his week.

Josh spent the night with Grandma tonight so my wife and I headed to the casino for a few ours of blackjack. This was really my first time walking around the casino. At first I thought it was small,but once I actually explored I was surprised at the layout. I did not notice any smoke at all.

Even with a late debarkation we still had to get up early to meet for breakfast.

Loving your review!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post.:)

Much appreciated. My pleasure:)

i have been on the getaway twice in the last 6 months and never saw anything like this line in grand cayman. Wonder why it was different. Your photos are great!!

I think it might have been the perfect storm, talking to a few people in line they said it was like this before, but I always take things people say with a grain of salt... especially in line on a cruise ;)

Thinking back, we were there at an inopportune time before last tender, and there was probably alot more people getting every last minute of sun with a rainy day in Ocho Rios.

Who knows, but I will probably go check out the line next time a little earlier and decide on what to do from there.

Thanks:)

Welcome back

After boarding we were obviously full from eating and drinking all day and just had a light dinner at O'Sheehans. We had made reservations for the comedy club family show via the app and or TV for the group. We were seated to the back no problem.

Quick review of the comedy show, it was funny to start off with, but an hour of just talking with the crowd and the same jokes about kids sucking, parents not knowing where their kids are, and grandparents being awesome for that grew unfunny pretty quick. I don;t have his name but it was definitely repetitive.

More from Mr Sanchos

Day 6 - Cozumel

We have been to Cozumel a few times and continues to be one of our favorite stops. There is such a variety of things to do for all types. When we were on our honeymoon on the Carnival Valor we did a great private tour by jeep and saw the entire island. Since we have had Josh with us we have tried a variety of different all inclusive beaches. For the most part we have stuck with Nachi Cocum and had a great time each visit.

With Josh turning 6 last July and getting old enough for the water toys we set up a a visit at Mr Sanchos after reading reviews in this forum and the Ports of Call. It was a little more money with the water toys included, but for Josh it was well worth it. On the next visit I wouldn't get it for Diane and I... I tried the large iceberg once and made it a few steps, not sure how the kids do it lol.

Due in at 11 AM Josh was up early for a breakfast at O'Sheehans. Once again it did not disappoint and our server was excellent. We were seated promptly, and orders taken right away.

We had some time to spare after breakfast and Josh really wanted to try the ropes course, figuring tomorrow (last sea day) would be busy we said sure and headed up to the ropes course to get set up with our harnesses and off we went. Very proud of him for making it all the way around, he didn't want to do the plank and I promised if he wasn't comfortable I wouldn't either. The line was non existent when we got there, and we were one of a few on the course. The attendant was great with Josh showing him how to use the harness on the lower portion and certainly helped his confidence up top.

With the ropes course completed we went back to the room to change for our beach day at Mr Sanchos. We were due in port a 11 but think we arrived a bit early. A concern of ours with 5 ships in port this day was the amount of people at the beach when we arrived so we wanted to get on a taxi as soon as possible. I hadn't docked at Punta Lagosta since our first visit so it was nice to see this area again to walk around. The walk to the taxi from the ship would take about 15 minutes (up and down through a mall type set up). With our group of 7 the fare to Mr Sanchos cost 34 USD a very fair price.

We arrived at Mr Sanchos with little to no line having paid already, our reservations were in the computer system and and we received our wristbands for AI and water toys and were given a waiter for the day. With the package you get a table and beach chair. The tables seemed to be a little too an afterthought for us to see the water, which is what we were there for so we headed down to the beach and had front row seats for the day.

The nice thing about Mr Sanchos is that it is truly AI, I found at Nachi Cocum that once you got food that was it, but we were served variety's throughout the day and it seemed that once your drink was empty you were filled up right away or placing an order. The food and drinks were excellent for us.

The sun was always trying to make appearances throughout the day and while there was some clouds they always passed right over us, making it for a great day. Staying true to what we have experienced at other places in Cozumel there was places to rent water toys, jet skis, beach massages etc for an added charge and there was souvenir shops on the premises with fair prices.

The pool bar was a very nice place, some pretty hammered people trying to figure out ship time vs local time (RCL passengers so I couldnt help) but it's AI and vacation so have at it. We spend the late part of the afternoon on the hammocks biding our time before heading back to the ship as this was our last stop before Miami and the end of the cruise.

Picking up a cab was a breeze, we were pretty much leaving as Mr Sanchos was closing so they were waiting for the cruise passengers to head back to the ship. Another 34 dollars back and we were walking back to the ship and doing a little shopping in the mall.

This was wear NCL more than made up for the lines in GC. There was a great welcoming line and red carpet along the pier with employees dancing and clapping and having a great time (I don't think I can embed videos, but I do have one). There was cold towels, water etc waiting and it was a great way to get back on board to head to Miami.

This was another great day, and a great way to finish up our ports on the cruise. Couldn't have asked for more.

Great pictures :)

 

I have a question. How did you find the air conditioning to be throughout the ship? I get cold very easily so I'm hoping the AC isn't kept too cold. On my first cruise I found it to be way too cold, I had to wear pants and sweaters every night. 2nd cruise I found it to be pretty good and I was able to wear dresses and a light sweater.

Tough one for me, I typically like it cooler. I can say that when you were going from say the pool deck, to indoors there wasn't that blast of cold air that I did notice on some carnival ships.

The room to us seemed very responsive to the temperature settings on the thermostat.

Also, my wife who tends to be cold more often than not never complained about being cold and was regularly in light dresses, shirts in the evening inside and out.

Thanks:)

We went with Acquarius as well! Capt Mario is hilarious! His 1st Mate was Manny, a different guide then who you had.

 

Their prices are so cheap and you get all the photos for free. Can't beat that!

He was amazing, great with our little guy. Can't beat the value you get for 50 bucks. Would definitely recommend.

Are the lines to get back in the ship longer/shorter at certain times of the day? I'm thinking if there is a pattern we would try to time our arrival back at port to coincide.

The other people in our group said they went back about 130 and they were on the second tender. I would guess the line started forming a little after that. It's not a long stop in GC lining up that early (8 Am arrival on Getaway)

I would imagine they say 3 PM last tender with a 4 PM departure just to get everybody there in time, but it certainly created quite the bottleneck

Gorgeous photos! That line is a serious problem!

not sure what could be done, I can't confirm, but I did hear later that night that they only have one gangway on the ship for tenders.

Thanks, glad you like them.

That is just the line to get back on the Getaway?! Yipes! Who are they to tell you that some people in your party cannot wait in the shade?! Some folks, like myself have photosensitivity due to medication and cannot be in the direct sunlight very long without burning. I guess if I told them I had medical issues they would have let me. Or bring a long sleeved shirt and a giant hat!

I did see people in the shade so assume it's more of a 'if I let one person, I have to let everybody' kind of situation, but will allow for special circumstances. Bring a hat and UV shirt anyways, that carribean sun is crazy hot;)

no tongue

This line went behind me into the bus parking lot, down to the south terminal and back to the gate at north terminal.

Snorkel Stop

Cant beat these waters