gottogetaway2

I'm in 5154, so it will be the same. Crazy roomy, great for families. it's a bit tight between the end of the bed and the wall, but otherwise tons of space. No real issues with noise, once and a while there is a sound of an AC unit starting up, or vaccum maybe, but it's all mostly white noise. There are lots of creaks and cracks right now, still swaying a lot, so that's the reason, but nothing to keep me awake and I'm an incredibly light sleeper.

 

You're going to love it :) Epic has always been my favourite ship, but I think I've found my new favourite.

Thank you so much!! My family loves to cruise, we were on the Getaway last fall and are excited for the Escape. We had a family ocean view on the Getaway but had to switch to two inside connecting after two nights, there was a pillar in the room and for some reason it was making really loud popping/cracking sounds constantly. They had someone come check it out, nobody could figure out what was causing it. The hotel manager said it was too loud and didn't want us to have to endure that for 7 days so they moved us.

I am also happy to hear the noise from deck 6 hasn't been a issue, it is hard to tell what is directly above those cabins, but it looks like public atrium space.

I hope the movement of the ship calms as you get closer to land!

Day 1

We went to have a drink at Tobacco road and wait for Judy's friend Gavin to arrive. He arrived with no issue, Mindi took my carryon to her room and afterwards, we went to check out her balcony cabin and grab my bag. Her suitcase was already in her room, and this was around 2:30. Back down to 5 and my oceanview cabin and keycard worked, and there was the biggest cabin I've ever seen outside of a suite. Probably 40 ft from the door to the window, same width as a balcony cabin, couch area with it's own TV, curtain to separate the areas, desk, huge bathroom with a bathtub :) It's a family oceanview, and right near the kids club, but there are hardly any kids onboard, so that's not an issue. 3 closets, and another TV near the bed. I'm very pleased with it.

May I ask which Family Ocean View cabin you are in? We are sailing on Nov. 28th and have 5144. I would love to know if this is one of the larger ones, and if noise is an issue from deck 6.

Love your review, thanks!

The drop off service is new and only available on the Escape. It is $10 per hour per kid during normal hours. Late night is $12 per hour.

You do have to make reservations and if I read the info correct you are only allowed to reserve two Block of time in a row, I think it said the blocks are 1 hour 50 minutes each.

Hope this helps!! I will be on the Escape in 3 weeks, but my kiddo's are 7 and 9.

Hi, let us know how handicap cabin is on Getaway, husband and l will be traveling on May 2. 2015, we are booked on balcony but curious on handicap size. Have a wonderful trip.

Azdad3

 

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The size of the Handicap cabin was awesome, 545 sq. feet, tons of storage for clothes and a big bathroom/shower. The only issue with the layout was there is no counter space or shelves to put stuff on in the bathroom, just a sink and a large mirror.

We actually only spent one night in 5138 (ocean view) because there is a HUGE noise issue with this cabin. 1st, there is a crew galley right above you that they use for the Illusionarium so from 10 pm-12:30 am every night there is tons of banging, and really loud noises. Then there is a pillar in this room and when the ship is moving it makes a LOT of creaking/popping sounds. It was way too loud to sleep even with ear plugs.

I called to inquire about where the noises where coming from and without even asking, they said they would move us into two inside connecting cabins on deck 12. Even though we had to give up our ocean view and tons of space we did it so we could get some sleep the next 6 nights! It was a good move as the cabins on deck 12 were so quite and our kids got their own cabin/bathroom.

We are 8 days out from our Getaway cruise and finally got our assignment. We have 5 people in our family, 3 young kids and we wanted to do this cruise on a budget so we booked one of our 3 kids in a family members cabin.

Well, we just got our cabin assignment and we have a family ocean view on deck 5, so all 5 of us will be in one cabin after all :) Not only did we get a ocean view that holds 5 but it is the Handicap accessible cabin and from what I have read it is over 500 sq feet, so I am a happy camper, our gamble paid off :)

We are now 16 days out from our Getaway cruise and we are still waiting for our Ocean View GTY, one cabin out of three was assigned two weeks ago. The rest of us are patiently waiting...still!!

We have young kids, and we cruise without them at least 2 times a year. I usually call right before the ship leaves, I also let grandma know what days we will be in port and have internet so she knows when to check in with us. When we get into port there is an email waiting for me, to which I respond to while in port. We also use google voice so I can usually make a call home while connected to the internet in ports with out occurring charges. This seems to work well for us!

Other than our DCS, we don't ever have a balance on our on-board account. We don't drink or gamble and we don't ever eat at the specialty restaurants, unless we have on board credit to use :) I book all of our excursions privately ahead of time. So as far as our on board spending, nothing more than the cruise fare and gratuities.

I usually budget $50 or less per person, per excursion at the ports, but that being said we usually do our own thing at most of the ports. So, I would say I spend about $200 total on excursions.

Souvenirs, I am NOT a fan of buying stuff, so we usually come home with a $3-4 t-shirt for our kids :)

We do have to fly, as we live in a land locked state, but we have tons of miles points from our credit card so that takes care of that!

Hotels, we budget about $60-80 per night for these.

Cruising for us is SO much more affordable than any land based 7 night vacation!! We are going to Universal Studio's for 3 days before our upcoming cruise and it WILL costs us more, for our family of 5 to do that than the 7 night cruise on the Getaway :)

Spending less while on the cruise allows us to cruise multiple times a year!!

We are now 23 days away from our cruise on the Getaway and only have one GTY assignment out of 3 cabins booked. We booked Ocean View GTY and as of yesterday there aren't any Ocean View Categories left on this sailing...crossing my fingers for an upgrade, but I am sure someone that has a OV booked with take an upgrade offer and I will get the ocean view I paid for :)

Quick question...does the Getaway have hot chocolate machines in the buffet? My kids, loved the hot chocolate on other lines we have sailed and have asked me if there will be hot chocolate on our up coming Getaway cruise. :)

We are 35 days out, booked a OX-GTY on the Getaway 10/11 sailing, still waiting for our cabin assignments :)

We did Belize last year on the Carnival Dream, our kids where 4,6,6 and we ended up deciding they would have more fun staying on board with the kids club for this one stop. The adults did cave tubing, after doing this I am glad we made the decision to have them stay aboard, while we had a great time tubing it wasn't a excursion I would have wanted to deal with 3 young kids on.

I have sailed in the Family Ocean View on the Dream, we had five people but three of ours were kids 6 and 4. It was bigger than the average cabin, with two bathrooms, the second bath had a shower/small tub combo and a sink (no toilet). The configuration for us was a king with two beds from the ceiling and the fifth person had the couch that they made into a bed every night. I thought it was plenty of room. I would save the money and go for the Family Ocean View :)

FYI: Southwest has multiple options from Little Rock to New Orleans in March for $292 round trip :)

Don't drink or gamble :) The only thing I usually have on my account balance at the end is gratuities!

We took our exchange student from Norway on a cruise a couple years ago. We didn't have any issues, make sure he takes all of is paperwork with him and make sure he has a multi-entry visa, meaning he is allowed in and out of the US.

I would also check with your exchange organization, they deal with this all the time and can reassure that you have all the necessary documents. We are hosting again this year and our current organization does not allow their students to travel to Mexico. We went on a cruise earlier this year and she was not allowed to go with us because two of the stops were Cozumel and Costa Maya. We did get an exception to the rule, if she promised to stay on the ship at those two stops but by that time it was too late to make arrangements.

My MIL has Celiac and is gluten free, we cruised on the Dream in September.

Is there gluten free pasta at the pasta bar? No, not that we found

Can you get a gluten free pizzas or sandwiches? Yes, she had plenty of pizza and sandwiches :)

Is there gluten free bread in the MDR? The hostess would come by and take her dinner order every night for the next day and yes they brought gluten free bread to her table.

I have heard something about gluten free deserts? Yes, a lot of the desserts can be made gluten free, but again it has to be ordered the night before. She loved the warm chocolate melting cake :)

Is there any gluten free options at the food places that are only open on sea days? Again, when they came to take her daily order she could order breakfast and lunch in the MDR also.

Stayed twice, once $72 and once $64. Shop around at various booking sites for the best rates...don't book direct that is about $100

Did the cruise port shuttle cost? If not did you book a special cruise rate or just he normal internet rate? Thanks!

...When you see your neighbors after few days of being busy/sick/working etc and they automatically think you were on yet another CRUISE :)

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St Thomas last December, on the Victory, best cruise EVER!

Thanks for the great review! We are taking this cruise in 16 days and I am so excited! I think I will get the suitcases out tonight and start packing:)

Did you get this on Priceline? I know you said you bid and all, just wanted to be sure. I'm looking for 11/10 but don't want to end up at Rio only because we are doing the bio bay that night and El Con is right next door. Rio would be fine for the next night.

 

I am kicking myself because it came up on Hotwire 2 weeks ago as one of those "if you want to know the place" options for $106. Ever since the option has been the 5* for $250 plus. I was in a hurry and figured I would try it the next day and nope, deal has not appeared since then.

 

Maybe I will go for it anyway.

 

Sheal

It was on Priceline. I am glad you got it!

I got the El Conquistador for two night pre-cruise 11/23-25 for $75/night plus $23 total taxes. I got this on my first bid, just a couple of hours ago.:)