We are booked on Getaway...Now 10 months to fuss over it. NCL vs RCL ??

We pulled the trigger and booked a Spa Balcony room on Getaway for Feb 2019. We are usually Royal Caribbean cruisers. This NCL cruise looks like fun though. I am quite the over planner, including laminated itineraries and cabin gifts for the gang we travel with, so I have a lot of time to over think things.

So those of you that have cruised both lines, and NCL loyalists as well, tell me what you think the best and worst of Getaway ism and the major RCL-NCL differences are. Already up to speed on the bottled water deal and have heard great things about the food. Some questions that come to mind are....

• Does the world run on your Seas Pass card (or equivalent) ?
  
• When and should you make show reservations ? (is the a cost for the Cirque show?)
  
• Your thoughts on what specialty dining is the best.
  
• Nooks and crannies on the ship to get away ?
  
• What is the NCL equivalent of the RCL Solarium? (We aren't pool people per se, just quiet sunshine places).
  

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts and opinions. You'll get me through the next 301 days. :D

Following this one. Have done Carnival and then moved on to RCI. We will be diamond on RCI after our Jan cruise and are looking into NCL for a change. Am also interested in comments from folks who have done both lines. Hopefully there will be lots of comments. :cool:

Been on both RCCL (HOS last July) and the Getaway a couple of years ago. Both great cruises.

Some answers....

1. Your room card on NCL is your ticket to everything, just like on RCCL. Room key, charges to your account, reservations....everything.

2. Show reservations....yeah, you probably should make reservations. But, just like with RCCL, a certain number of tix are made available at the door 10-15 minutes before showtime. And yes, the Cirque show is WELL WORTH IT. There is a charge, but they serve you dinner, too. The dinner isn't bad. But, I'm one of those people who just want to see the show and not be bothered by a wait staff. So, I may have a desert or drinks and just watch the show. Eat before or after it. The show is worth the charge without the dinner, IMHO!

3. Specialty dining.....as others say, totally depends on the person, but having eaten at Cagney's, Le Bistro, Teppenyaki, Moderno and La Cucina, they were all excellent.....very much worth the extra charge. I suspect being in a Spa Balcony, the SDP may be one of the "perks" you can choose from. That's even better. Favorite? Probably Le Bistro...but only because I rarely eat French inspired meals at home. No bad choices, though.

4. Where NCL and RCCL really differ is how they treat outdoor spaces (also includes "nooks and crannies"). RCCL has a lot of enclosed spaces like the Solarium. That's not a bad thing, just different from NCL who is just the opposite. NCL has a lot of "outward spaces". Getaway has the Waterfront, which is a series of little areas where you can eat, drink, and some areas where you can just sit and read, all while watching the water go by. We really enjoyed having dinner outdoors while at Moderno. So, there isn't just one big space like the Solarium. But, there are lots of smaller, comfy areas on the Waterfront on Getaway.

I spent a lot of time between activities at some of the 10-12 seat bar areas on the Getaway. That's where I could usually be found when someone was looking for me. Great areas for sunset watching, too.

Have fun. Getaway is a great ship.

We pulled the trigger and booked a Spa Balcony room on Getaway for Feb 2019. We are usually Royal Caribbean cruisers. This NCL cruise looks like fun though. I am quite the over planner, including laminated itineraries and cabin gifts for the gang we travel with, so I have a lot of time to over think things.

 

So those of you that have cruised both lines, and NCL loyalists as well, tell me what you think the best and worst of Getaway ism and the major RCL-NCL differences are. Already up to speed on the bottled water deal and have heard great things about the food. Some questions that come to mind are....

 

• Does the world run on your Seas Pass card (or equivalent) ?
  
• When and should you make show reservations ? (is the a cost for the Cirque show?)
  
• Your thoughts on what specialty dining is the best.
  
• Nooks and crannies on the ship to get away ?
  
• What is the NCL equivalent of the RCL Solarium? (We aren't pool people per se, just quiet sunshine places).
  

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts and opinions. You'll get me through the next 301 days. :D

 

 

 

 

Following. I asked a similar question on another thread so eager to see what answers are on this thread. I love that the NCL ships are more outside than inside. Having gone on the Allure and the Oasis, even though there's Central Park and the Boardwalk, those don't seem to be what I'm looking for as much in a cruise as the Waterfront appears to be. Taking our first NCL cruise this August on the Getaway! We are also not pool people but love lying on a chaise outside, preferably in the shade but somewhere we can see the ocean. We're "just" balcony folks so need to find public areas that are available to us peons. Eager to hear your tips.

I was a loyal Royal and have been cruising with several lines based on price and itinerary. I generally cruise with these things in mind: Itinerary, Great Food, ability to enjoy the ocean without having to be in a balcony. As a mom of 6 kids, when I cruise, I want the most bang for my buck.

Sailed Getway twice (once with kids and once without) and Thanksgiving weeks both times. It is my favorite ship across all lines that I have been on.

I LOVE the Waterfront. There are loungers and chairs everywhere and you can enjoy the view of the ocean. It never felt crowded to me there.

There is also a great area on deck 18 that is loungers and chairs. It seldom was crowded.

I also like the area on Deck 16 which is now Margaritaville and Spice H20.

The staff on that ship is amazing.

If you like cocktails, you can have drinks at the bar at Cagneys and it is usually quiet. Mojito Bar on the Waterfront was the winning choice for me most of the cruise.

Have lowered expectations and you'll find you will enjoy the cruise. It's not Harmony or even close to it. Embrace the differences like the really cool Waterfront and if you do specialty dining, then DEFINITELY try waterfront dining (lunch, too!). There is no solarium, the pool areas are undersized and overcrowded, hard to get a lounger, etc. Just be ready for that. Waterfront usually had plenty of spots to grab a spot and relax but it's no solarium.

• Does the world run on your Seas Pass card (or equivalent) ?
  
• When and should you make show reservations ? (is the a cost for the Cirque show?)
  
• Your thoughts on what specialty dining is the best.
  
• Nooks and crannies on the ship to get away ?
  
• What is the NCL equivalent of the RCL Solarium? (We aren't pool people per se, just quiet sunshine places).
  

All NCL dining is MyTime Dining. Eat what you want, where you want, when you want for complimentary dining rooms. Reservations are required for specialty restaurants.

No formal nights. NCL embraces “dress up or not”. Gentlemen have to wear long pants in Le Bistro and Ocean Blue specialty restaurants. Shorts can be worn in all other specialty and complimentary restaurants.

~~~~~~~~~<

Everything runs on your sea pass card.

You should make reservations for shows. The Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor can be booked 120 days to sailing along with meal reservations. On the ship, you can also book one comedy show. And other activities like the complimentary Eacape the Big Too Escape Room.

Cagneys steak house and Teppanyaki are the most popular.

The Waterfront runs the length of Deck 8 with restaurants and bars. Lots of sitting space during the day.

Spice H20 is an adults only sun deck at the rear of the ship. Not exactly the same (no pools) but a great space to relax in the sun. The best space to relax is the Thermal Suite Spa,,, about $200 per week. Dry sauna, wet sauna, steam room, salt bath, large hydrotherapy pool, hot stone loungers and padded regular loungers.

If you want to get an idea of a similar ship, I have been live posting from the Getaway’s sister ship the Escape. You can see what kind of things NCL offers in its daily programs. Some menus. And food pictures. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2624246

The Getaway is a Quantum class ship

:confused:

Spice H20 is the equivalent to solarium in that it is adults only until around 7. I usually find it a bit more lively then the solarium and a lot harder to find shade if you want it.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

The Getaway is a Quantum class ship

:confused:

I believe that BT was trying to give someone (who is used to Royal Caribbean) a size comparison to Getaway (Escape is closer to Quantum class, however). The 2 classes are close enough in size and capacity so the OP will have an idea of what to expect. It's like if someone is a Mercedes-Benz fan and was trying a BMW 5 series for the first time, you would tell the Mercedes fan that the 5 series is "like an E class".

My family and I did the Holiday cruise this past Christmas on the Getaway- it's our favorite ship of the NCL big ships. I did a very extensive write up from our trip, including pictures, video, even photos of menus and the spa offerings if you're interested. I believe all your logistical questions are answered above; plus I've included an overview of the Latitudes program that you can compare with RCL offering. Enjoy! https://gotravellife.com/2018/01/03/about-us/

I just got back from a cruise on the NCL Getaway this past Sunday, and while it was still an enjoyable cruise, I'm still leaning towards RCL over NCL.

The ship was fine, it ticked off all of the boxes of what you'd expect from a cruise ship, but I was kind of disappointed in some things in comparison to what I've experienced on RCL.

Embarkation: It took a little while to get on the ship, longer than I expected. I didn't realize that once you got through check-in, you'd be taken to another room in the back where you'd have to wait for your group number to be called in order to get on board. The room was already so full at that point that there was nowhere to sit in the general boarding area, so I ended up standing around for the most part until our group was called. And then once you got on the ship, you still had to wait for the staterooms to open up at approximately 1:30pm. I'm more accustomed to how they do it on RCL which is basically you get on board, you get to your room and then you can do whatever you please. Or you can do it the other way around if you like, it's your cruise! (Although the last RCL cruise I was on, our staterooms were delayed a bit only because they had a mandatory inspection beforehand which slowed them down. But it was fine because it was on the HOTS so there was plenty to do while waiting.) If I had known that I was going to be waiting around for a while to get on, I would have stayed at my hotel for an extra hour.

Our room: As we made the way to our room, I noticed that the hallways were a lot narrower than on RCL ships. If you ran into someone going the other way, you basically had to play chicken to see who could pass first. (Not really, but that's what it felt like.) My husband and I booked a junior suite, but in hindsight we could have just stuck with a regular balcony room. The bigger bathroom was nice, with a glass-door shower that had a rainfall shower head and extra jets, along with a large sink with double faucets, but the balcony was so small, and it was the same size as a basic balcony room.It basically had room for two small chairs chairs and a tiny table and that was it. The last time I had a junior suite was on the RCL Freedom of the Seas and it felt like it was a junior suite. The balcony had room for two lounger chairs, two regular chairs and a table. I was really disappointed in the balcony, which is where I like to spend a lot of time on my cruise. And I didn't even get to spend as much time out there as I wanted, because even though smoking is prohibited on the balconies, there were enough people breaking that rule to chase me back into the room because of cigarette smoke. We've been on five RCL cruises and I've been lucky enough to not run into that problem on any of them yet. Sure we had a little extra space where the sofa was, and a longer hallway from door to bed, but I really don't think the extra money we spent for the junior suite was worth it. But we did have liquid soap in the bathroom which was was a plus. I dislike the bars of soap you typically get on a cruise, and I wash my hands a lot, so liquid soap was nice. (I'm maybe even a bit OCD about how much I wash my hands, haha.)

Food/Drinks: I found that the complimentary food on the ship was just okay. We usually had breakfast at O'Sheehan's just because we usually didn't get up early enough for the MDR breakfast. The omelettes there are pretty good, same with the french toast. Lunch was also usually O'Sheehan's or MDR, and dinner was either MDR or specialty dining. I found that the MDR fare was better on RCL than NCL. Some of the appetizers in the MDR on the Getaway were confusing. Like there was one where they put shrimp, watermelon, cheese and some sort of vinaigrette together and the flavors just didn't work. It felt like they were just trying to use up certain ingredients in any way possible and threw it on the menu. I didn't try the buffet at all because my parents (and several other people on the cruise that I had asked about it) had said that the buffet wasn't worth it. So I took their word for it. We did Shanghai's one night (free noodle bar) and it was all right. The egg rolls were really tasty and crispy, but everything else was kind of meh. I will say that the specialty dining on NCL has an edge over RCL though. We went to Teppenyaki one night, and the food and service was fantastic. Compared to RCL's Izumi, it's way better. The food was better and the entertainment was better. We also went to La Cucina another night and the food and service was absolutely fantastic. I also heard that Cagney's (steakhouse) and La Bistro (French food) are great, but we didn't book in time to get to either of those, so they were already full by the time we thought about booking places. We also went to Margaritaville for lunch on our last day, and found that their margaritas are pretty good, and the food was good too. I had a really good cheeseburger and husband had a delicious shrimp and Caesar salad. And the giant nachos I saw the waiters/waitresses carrying around looked really good. One other thing that did kind of bug me was that there weren't really any places to get much for snacks on the ship, other than the Market Cafe, but that was only from 3pm-5pm. You could get gelato (for a charge during certain hours) or cupcakes and macarons (for a charge during certain hours) but there really wasn't anyplace on the Getaway that I saw that compared to Park Cafe or Sorrento's or Cafe Promenade on RCL.

Drinks though, I found were a little lacking. They weren't as strong as I've had them on RCL, the glasses were smaller, and in so many places they used plastic cups instead of glasses or reusable plastic cups. Why so much plastic, it's so wasteful. That didn't stop people from getting blazing drunk though, as I saw a couple of times. But they had Pepsi on board, which was a plus for my husband. And having the UDP, I thought it was kind of lame that they didn't offer bottled water like they do on RCL with the UDP, and instead pushed you to buy a water bottle package instead. Not that I'm usually tossing back water bottles, but it's nice to grab a couple before going onto shore. If I do choose to book another NCL cruise, I'll make sure to bring an empty water bottle with me.

Service: Overall, service wasn't bad, most crew members were friendly or would say hello to you in the hall. But there were times where I'd catch a bartender looking visibly frustrated because the bar was busy, and even our stateroom attendant you could tell was frustrated because he was busy. (He even told us so a couple of times that he was 'too busy.') The room was sometimes not cleaned on a regular schedule (I'm assuming because of how busy he was) and we'd often find ourselves having to go find something to do in order to give our attendant time to clean it. And I'm talking where we'd put on the 'Make Up Room' light, we'd be gone for at least a couple of hours, and the room still wasn't cleaned. It's not like we ever left our room to where it looked like a hurricane hit it, but it seemed like the indicator to make up the room was pretty useless. But I'd put this on NCL themselves, it seems like maybe they're not providing enough workers for the work that needs to be done and causing them to feel overworked. But when we had an issue where a low battery indicator came up on our safe, the attendant made sure that it was taken care of quickly. So service was good, I just feel that some of the workers were overworked. One other little thing that bothered me, was that when we were in the ship's gift shop, there was a huge display in the middle of the floor near the cash register. You could barely walk around it, and it got in the way of any register lines. it was a really bad place for it. You had to basically keep an eye out for anyone coming through and get around when the coast was clear. Really bad placement. I get that they want to sell stuff, but falling over a display isn't going to get me to buy more. I did buy an NCL thermos/travel bottle though. But mostly because I love the color blue that's on it.

Pools/Hot Tubs: This is probably my major beef with NCL and it may affect you as well. But they don't have an area similar to the Solarium on the RCL ships. There is an area in the back called Spice H2O which is an adults-only area, but it pales in comparison to all of the Solariums we've experienced. It has two hot tubs, a bar, and a waterfall/pool area and that's it. There's barely any shade, neither of the hot tubs have shade over it, and it just feels like a place for you to go out and fry yourself. Which is great if you're a real sun worshiper. But I'm super pale and I will burn quickly in direct sunlight. (Which is why I coat myself in 50 SPF sunscreen before going out for the day.) So how about the regular sun/pool deck? Well, on a sea day, good luck getting a spot in the shade or even getting a chair, without claiming your place early. The sun/pool deck is packed to the gills on sea days, and basically whenever the ship has set sail again. Your best chance is on port days when people have left the ship to go do other things. What about the Vibe Beach Club? First, you have to buy passes to get access to it, but the passes sell out really quickly on embarkment day. Basically you have to be the first to board the ship in order to even get a chance to get to those passes. So if you board the ship at 10:00am and then you get the passes? Great. But then you're on the ship with no stateroom available for a few hours. After being so accustomed to having the Solarium, I think the whole Vibe Beach Club thing with having to pay and rush on board to get tickets is a load of garbage.

Shows: We didn't book as many shows as we usually do on other cruises, but the shows we saw were pretty good. We caught two of the comedy shows, which were decent. At least the Headliners venue is bigger than the comedy clubs on OOTS and AOTS. And then we saw the Cirque Dreams and Steam show which was pretty good too. The dinner that came with the Cirque show was okay, but I think it was pretty much of the same quality that you could get from the MDR. You may want to eat something before or after. My one complaint is that we were in the Banquette area and that there was a giant beam/pole that sometimes blocked the view of what was going on stage. Pay the extra to get the better seating if you can. I've heard that some of the other shows are pretty good too, but we didn't check them out. Although we did see some of the dancers from Burn the Floor one night in the Tropicana dining room, and they were entertaining.

Disembarkment: It was kind of a mess. Our stateroom attendant didn't bring us our tags, we had to go down to guest services and pick them up. But the attendant for my parents' room did give them their tags. So I'm not sure what the usual routine is for that. We were set to disembark at 8:30am, although I would have liked to leave a little later. But seeing as I have a foreign passport with a green card, that was the time I was given to go. Going through the disembarkment process, it seemed like it really didn't matter though. Our color was called a little earlier, but we got in line at 8:30am like we planned. And what a line it was. It went through O'Sheehans into the casino and wrapped around to double back. So it took a while to get off of the ship. Which I understand when some 4200 people or so are getting off the ship, but I've disembarked from all of those Oasis class ships without having to stand in a line that long. Once we got off of the ship, it was kind of confusion and a free-for all when grabbing your bags. Even though our color was green, we didn't see our bags anywhere. After asking one of the port employees, we were led a long way around to the other side of the terminal to get our bags, which weren't even properly marked. Other sets of luggage had signs (Red, Brown, etc.) but ours was kind of set off to the wayside along with some other bags and no indicator as to what group they were part of. (At least we got our bags I guess.) Once we got our luggage, we headed towards the line for customs, but then we were cut off by port employees and directed to walk back where we came throughout the maze that was the port, to another customs line. It was kind of a cluster****. Which I realize isn't NCL's fault, but it is their port and terminal. Eventually we got through customs, and that part was super quick. On the ship they said that I'd be subject to an 'intense' screening, but the officer basically asked where we were going, if we were going there that day and gave us our passports/my green card back. So the whole 'separating disembarkation' by foreign passports' thing wasn't... really a thing at all.

Overall for me, it was a cruise. I enjoyed myself, got some sun and drinks and food, saw a couple of ports I hadn't seen before, but I'm thankful that my next cruise booked is going to be a RCL cruise.

As for your questions:

• Does the world run on your Seas Pass card (or equivalent) ?
  

Yes, it's pretty much exactly as you're accustomed to on RCL. Your 'Sea Card' or 'Freestyle Card' does everything you'd expect it to.

• When and should you make show reservations ? (is the a cost for the Cirque show?)
  

You should make them when the window is open, which is what, 90 days away I think? The sooner the better. But there are some shows that don't require reservations. And yes, there is a cost for the Cirque Show, it varies on where you want to sit. Like I said earlier, foot for the more expensive seating, that way you'll have a good view.

• Your thoughts on what specialty dining is the best.
  

I only did Teppenyaki, La Cucina and Margaritaville, but I enjoyed them all. It's hard to choose between Teppenyaki and La Cucina, they were both great dining experiences.

• Nooks and crannies on the ship to get away ?
  

Not so much on the Getaway. My husband said it best I think, when he noted that the Getaway seems to value more stateroom space rather than space for groups of people to hang out. But on the Waterfront where there are the comfy chairs, those are some good little nooks and crannies to get away. Granted if they're not all filled up already by the time you get there. I also found that sometimes going through places like the Atrium or O'Sheehans when they had events going on in the Atrium could be challenging. There were some major crowds to navigate.

• What is the NCL equivalent of the RCL Solarium? (We aren't pool people per se, just quiet sunshine places).
  

There's really not one. But Spice H2O is probably the closest you'll get to it. Honestly from what I've seen, the best thing to do is probably to book a room in The Haven. But I can't (and probably not my husband either) really justify spending that much money just on a room on a cruise. Eventually I'd like to book a suite or something close to it on a future sailing. But for now I'll just enjoy my balcony rooms and the occasional junior suite.

I realize that my opinions are exactly what they are: opinions. And everything is subjective. But I hope that I helped out somewhat. :)

I just got back from a cruise on the NCL Getaway this past Sunday, and while it was still an enjoyable cruise, I'm still leaning towards RCL over NCL.

 

The ship was fine, it ticked off all of the boxes of what you'd expect from a cruise ship, but I was kind of disappointed in some things in comparison to what I've experienced on RCL.

 

Embarkation: It took a little while to get on the ship, longer than I expected. I didn't realize that once you got through check-in, you'd be taken to another room in the back where you'd have to wait for your group number to be called in order to get on board. The room was already so full at that point that there was nowhere to sit in the general boarding area, so I ended up standing around for the most part until our group was called. And then once you got on the ship, you still had to wait for the staterooms to open up at approximately 1:30pm. I'm more accustomed to how they do it on RCL which is basically you get on board, you get to your room and then you can do whatever you please. Or you can do it the other way around if you like, it's your cruise! (Although the last RCL cruise I was on, our staterooms were delayed a bit only because they had a mandatory inspection beforehand which slowed them down. But it was fine because it was on the HOTS so there was plenty to do while waiting.) If I had known that I was going to be waiting around for a while to get on, I would have stayed at my hotel for an extra hour.

 

Our room: As we made the way to our room, I noticed that the hallways were a lot narrower than on RCL ships. If you ran into someone going the other way, you basically had to play chicken to see who could pass first. (Not really, but that's what it felt like.) My husband and I booked a junior suite, but in hindsight we could have just stuck with a regular balcony room. The bigger bathroom was nice, with a glass-door shower that had a rainfall shower head and extra jets, along with a large sink with double faucets, but the balcony was so small, and it was the same size as a basic balcony room.It basically had room for two small chairs chairs and a tiny table and that was it. The last time I had a junior suite was on the RCL Freedom of the Seas and it felt like it was a junior suite. The balcony had room for two lounger chairs, two regular chairs and a table. I was really disappointed in the balcony, which is where I like to spend a lot of time on my cruise. And I didn't even get to spend as much time out there as I wanted, because even though smoking is prohibited on the balconies, there were enough people breaking that rule to chase me back into the room because of cigarette smoke. We've been on five RCL cruises and I've been lucky enough to not run into that problem on any of them yet. Sure we had a little extra space where the sofa was, and a longer hallway from door to bed, but I really don't think the extra money we spent for the junior suite was worth it. But we did have liquid soap in the bathroom which was was a plus. I dislike the bars of soap you typically get on a cruise, and I wash my hands a lot, so liquid soap was nice. (I'm maybe even a bit OCD about how much I wash my hands, haha.)

 

Food/Drinks: I found that the complimentary food on the ship was just okay. We usually had breakfast at O'Sheehan's just because we usually didn't get up early enough for the MDR breakfast. The omelettes there are pretty good, same with the french toast. Lunch was also usually O'Sheehan's or MDR, and dinner was either MDR or specialty dining. I found that the MDR fare was better on RCL than NCL. Some of the appetizers in the MDR on the Getaway were confusing. Like there was one where they put shrimp, watermelon, cheese and some sort of vinaigrette together and the flavors just didn't work. It felt like they were just trying to use up certain ingredients in any way possible and threw it on the menu. I didn't try the buffet at all because my parents (and several other people on the cruise that I had asked about it) had said that the buffet wasn't worth it. So I took their word for it. We did Shanghai's one night (free noodle bar) and it was all right. The egg rolls were really tasty and crispy, but everything else was kind of meh. I will say that the specialty dining on NCL has an edge over RCL though. We went to Teppenyaki one night, and the food and service was fantastic. Compared to RCL's Izumi, it's way better. The food was better and the entertainment was better. We also went to La Cucina another night and the food and service was absolutely fantastic. I also heard that Cagney's (steakhouse) and La Bistro (French food) are great, but we didn't book in time to get to either of those, so they were already full by the time we thought about booking places. We also went to Margaritaville for lunch on our last day, and found that their margaritas are pretty good, and the food was good too. I had a really good cheeseburger and husband had a delicious shrimp and Caesar salad. And the giant nachos I saw the waiters/waitresses carrying around looked really good. One other thing that did kind of bug me was that there weren't really any places to get much for snacks on the ship, other than the Market Cafe, but that was only from 3pm-5pm. You could get gelato (for a charge during certain hours) or cupcakes and macarons (for a charge during certain hours) but there really wasn't anyplace on the Getaway that I saw that compared to Park Cafe or Sorrento's or Cafe Promenade on RCL.

 

Drinks though, I found were a little lacking. They weren't as strong as I've had them on RCL, the glasses were smaller, and in so many places they used plastic cups instead of glasses or reusable plastic cups. Why so much plastic, it's so wasteful. That didn't stop people from getting blazing drunk though, as I saw a couple of times. But they had Pepsi on board, which was a plus for my husband. And having the UDP, I thought it was kind of lame that they didn't offer bottled water like they do on RCL with the UDP, and instead pushed you to buy a water bottle package instead. Not that I'm usually tossing back water bottles, but it's nice to grab a couple before going onto shore. If I do choose to book another NCL cruise, I'll make sure to bring an empty water bottle with me.

 

Service: Overall, service wasn't bad, most crew members were friendly or would say hello to you in the hall. But there were times where I'd catch a bartender looking visibly frustrated because the bar was busy, and even our stateroom attendant you could tell was frustrated because he was busy. (He even told us so a couple of times that he was 'too busy.') The room was sometimes not cleaned on a regular schedule (I'm assuming because of how busy he was) and we'd often find ourselves having to go find something to do in order to give our attendant time to clean it. And I'm talking where we'd put on the 'Make Up Room' light, we'd be gone for at least a couple of hours, and the room still wasn't cleaned. It's not like we ever left our room to where it looked like a hurricane hit it, but it seemed like the indicator to make up the room was pretty useless. But I'd put this on NCL themselves, it seems like maybe they're not providing enough workers for the work that needs to be done and causing them to feel overworked. But when we had an issue where a low battery indicator came up on our safe, the attendant made sure that it was taken care of quickly. So service was good, I just feel that some of the workers were overworked. One other little thing that bothered me, was that when we were in the ship's gift shop, there was a huge display in the middle of the floor near the cash register. You could barely walk around it, and it got in the way of any register lines. it was a really bad place for it. You had to basically keep an eye out for anyone coming through and get around when the coast was clear. Really bad placement. I get that they want to sell stuff, but falling over a display isn't going to get me to buy more. I did buy an NCL thermos/travel bottle though. But mostly because I love the color blue that's on it.

 

Pools/Hot Tubs: This is probably my major beef with NCL and it may affect you as well. But they don't have an area similar to the Solarium on the RCL ships. There is an area in the back called Spice H2O which is an adults-only area, but it pales in comparison to all of the Solariums we've experienced. It has two hot tubs, a bar, and a waterfall/pool area and that's it. There's barely any shade, neither of the hot tubs have shade over it, and it just feels like a place for you to go out and fry yourself. Which is great if you're a real sun worshiper. But I'm super pale and I will burn quickly in direct sunlight. (Which is why I coat myself in 50 SPF sunscreen before going out for the day.) So how about the regular sun/pool deck? Well, on a sea day, good luck getting a spot in the shade or even getting a chair, without claiming your place early. The sun/pool deck is packed to the gills on sea days, and basically whenever the ship has set sail again. Your best chance is on port days when people have left the ship to go do other things. What about the Vibe Beach Club? First, you have to buy passes to get access to it, but the passes sell out really quickly on embarkment day. Basically you have to be the first to board the ship in order to even get a chance to get to those passes. So if you board the ship at 10:00am and then you get the passes? Great. But then you're on the ship with no stateroom available for a few hours. After being so accustomed to having the Solarium, I think the whole Vibe Beach Club thing with having to pay and rush on board to get tickets is a load of garbage.

 

Shows: We didn't book as many shows as we usually do on other cruises, but the shows we saw were pretty good. We caught two of the comedy shows, which were decent. At least the Headliners venue is bigger than the comedy clubs on OOTS and AOTS. And then we saw the Cirque Dreams and Steam show which was pretty good too. The dinner that came with the Cirque show was okay, but I think it was pretty much of the same quality that you could get from the MDR. You may want to eat something before or after. My one complaint is that we were in the Banquette area and that there was a giant beam/pole that sometimes blocked the view of what was going on stage. Pay the extra to get the better seating if you can. I've heard that some of the other shows are pretty good too, but we didn't check them out. Although we did see some of the dancers from Burn the Floor one night in the Tropicana dining room, and they were entertaining.

 

Disembarkment: It was kind of a mess. Our stateroom attendant didn't bring us our tags, we had to go down to guest services and pick them up. But the attendant for my parents' room did give them their tags. So I'm not sure what the usual routine is for that. We were set to disembark at 8:30am, although I would have liked to leave a little later. But seeing as I have a foreign passport with a green card, that was the time I was given to go. Going through the disembarkment process, it seemed like it really didn't matter though. Our color was called a little earlier, but we got in line at 8:30am like we planned. And what a line it was. It went through O'Sheehans into the casino and wrapped around to double back. So it took a while to get off of the ship. Which I understand when some 4200 people or so are getting off the ship, but I've disembarked from all of those Oasis class ships without having to stand in a line that long. Once we got off of the ship, it was kind of confusion and a free-for all when grabbing your bags. Even though our color was green, we didn't see our bags anywhere. After asking one of the port employees, we were led a long way around to the other side of the terminal to get our bags, which weren't even properly marked. Other sets of luggage had signs (Red, Brown, etc.) but ours was kind of set off to the wayside along with some other bags and no indicator as to what group they were part of. (At least we got our bags I guess.) Once we got our luggage, we headed towards the line for customs, but then we were cut off by port employees and directed to walk back where we came throughout the maze that was the port, to another customs line. It was kind of a cluster****. Which I realize isn't NCL's fault, but it is their port and terminal. Eventually we got through customs, and that part was super quick. On the ship they said that I'd be subject to an 'intense' screening, but the officer basically asked where we were going, if we were going there that day and gave us our passports/my green card back. So the whole 'separating disembarkation' by foreign passports' thing wasn't... really a thing at all.

 

Overall for me, it was a cruise. I enjoyed myself, got some sun and drinks and food, saw a couple of ports I hadn't seen before, but I'm thankful that my next cruise booked is going to be a RCL cruise.

 

As for your questions:

 

 

 

 

• Does the world run on your Seas Pass card (or equivalent) ?
  

Yes, it's pretty much exactly as you're accustomed to on RCL. Your 'Sea Card' or 'Freestyle Card' does everything you'd expect it to.

 

 

• When and should you make show reservations ? (is the a cost for the Cirque show?)
  

You should make them when the window is open, which is what, 90 days away I think? The sooner the better. But there are some shows that don't require reservations. And yes, there is a cost for the Cirque Show, it varies on where you want to sit. Like I said earlier, foot for the more expensive seating, that way you'll have a good view.

 

 

• Your thoughts on what specialty dining is the best.
  

I only did Teppenyaki, La Cucina and Margaritaville, but I enjoyed them all. It's hard to choose between Teppenyaki and La Cucina, they were both great dining experiences.

 

 

• Nooks and crannies on the ship to get away ?
  

Not so much on the Getaway. My husband said it best I think, when he noted that the Getaway seems to value more stateroom space rather than space for groups of people to hang out. But on the Waterfront where there are the comfy chairs, those are some good little nooks and crannies to get away. Granted if they're not all filled up already by the time you get there. I also found that sometimes going through places like the Atrium or O'Sheehans when they had events going on in the Atrium could be challenging. There were some major crowds to navigate.

 

 

• What is the NCL equivalent of the RCL Solarium? (We aren't pool people per se, just quiet sunshine places).
  

There's really not one. But Spice H2O is probably the closest you'll get to it. Honestly from what I've seen, the best thing to do is probably to book a room in The Haven. But I can't (and probably not my husband either) really justify spending that much money just on a room on a cruise. Eventually I'd like to book a suite or something close to it on a future sailing. But for now I'll just enjoy my balcony rooms and the occasional junior suite.

 

I realize that my opinions are exactly what they are: opinions. And everything is subjective. But I hope that I helped out somewhat. :)

This post is enough to drive me to drink. :p:p

Cheers 🍻 LOL!

...but the balcony was so small, and it was the same size as a basic balcony room.It basically had room for two small chairs chairs and a tiny table and that was it.The last time I had a junior suite was on the RCL Freedom of the Seas and it felt like it was a junior suite. The balcony had room for two lounger chairs, two regular chairs and a table. I was really disappointed in the balcony, which is where I like to spend a lot of time on my cruise.

If balcony size is important on Breakaway/Getaway, I suggest an aft-facing balcony. They differ in size but a large one on deck 9 or 12 is impressive...(although, they only sleep 3)

Deck 9 ^^

Deck 12^^

There are also differences in width (as shown) so knowing which aft-facing balcony to book is important.

Sure we had a little extra space where the sofa was, and a longer hallway from door to bed, but I really don't think the extra money we spent for the junior suite was worth it.

You had a mini-suite, not a Junior Suite.

And having the UDP, I thought it was kind of lame that they didn't offer bottled water like they do on RCL with the UDP, and instead pushed you to buy a water bottle package instead.

For clarification, you had the UBP. The UDP (no longer offered) refers to a dining package. The current dining package is the SDP (NCL still uses the letters "UDP" as the item designation but it is not the true UDP).

What about the Vibe Beach Club? First, you have to buy passes to get access to it, but the passes sell out really quickly on embarkment day. Basically you have to be the first to board the ship in order to even get a chance to get to those passes. So if you board the ship at 10:00am and then you get the passes? Great. But then you're on the ship with no stateroom available for a few hours.

Not even priority guests board the ship at 10:00am.

After being so accustomed to having the Solarium, I think the whole Vibe Beach Club thing with having to pay and rush on board to get tickets is a load of garbage.

An alternative would have been to get a spa pass. They can be purchased online (no rushing to get a pass like with VIBE), there are a limited number of passes (not crowded), it is adult-only, and it is out of the sun (which you would probably prefer).

Our last two cruises were on Anthem of the Seas and Breakaway (same class as Getaway) (both NYC area). I will answer from that perspective

 

Does the world run on your Seas Pass card (or equivalent) ? - YES

• When and should you make show reservations ? (is the a cost for the Cirque show?)
  

The reservation systems are similar. Keep logging in. Reservations on both generally open sometime after final payment. There is a standby line on both lines. I recommend making reservations on both lines.

 

 

I'll add that you can also make dinner reservations on both lines pre cruise. This holds for both the specialty restaurants and standard dining rooms. (MDR reservations not allowed on Royal if you have assigned seatings. They can be made in advance if you choose MTD)

• Your thoughts on what specialty dining is the best.
  

This is subjective, of course. Wonderland on Anthem is a totally unique experience. Otherwise, they are similar. NCL does have more options. I did prefer LaCucina on Breakaway over Jamie's Italian on Anthem.

• Nooks and crannies on the ship to get away ?
  

During the day, the outdoor areas on deck 8 can be a nice quiet getaway area. The game room and library are also quiet areas, but can be full at times.

 

 

• What is the NCL equivalent of the RCL Solarium? (We aren't pool people per se, just quiet sunshine places).
  

Spice H20 is the adult only area, but it does not compare to the Solarium on Anthem.

 

 

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts and opinions. You'll get me through the next 301 days. :D

 

 

 

 

Just a few answers to your questions.

You have a spa balcony and the spa part is WELL WORTH IT! Seriously though the adults only spa area is great. The shower heads in your stateroom are rather nice. Really worth the money.

The adults only during the day area called Spice H2O is very relaxing with a water grotto and hot tubs.

The waterfront areas are great places to be out near the water. You can get drinks at the bars there or eat there.

Our favorite restaurants were Ocean Blue, Le Bistro and Shanghai. Cagney's is good too, except there aren't any vegetarian options.

I suggest making reservations when they open up online. The shows were great!

I forgot there's a quiet area at the front of the ship, outside of the vibe area.

If balcony size is important on Breakaway/Getaway, I suggest an aft-facing balcony. They differ in size but a large one on deck 9 or 12 is impressive...(although, they only sleep 3)

There are also the large balcony rooms on deck 9, and the mini suites with large balcony on deck 8. We always stay in a mini suite with large balcony on the Breakaway/Getaway as the balconies are huge and the price is often not much more than a standard mini.

These pics may help as they are from our Getaway Cruise in the Haven.....

DSC00170 by D J, on Flickr

Restaurant dining on the Waterfront

DSC00289 by D J, on Flickr

DSC00292 by D J, on Flickr

Haven Restaurant

DSC00183 by D J, on Flickr

Part of the Haven Lounge

DSC00180 by D J, on Flickr

Coffee maker in the cabin

DSC00177 by D J, on Flickr

Jacuzzi in the cabin...

DSC00176 by D J, on Flickr

Haven Sun Deck.....

DSC00196 by D J, on Flickr

Mimosas in the Haven outdoor area...

DSC00211 by D J, on Flickr

This is the stage for the "Cirque" show....this pic taken from our seats, where we were escorted to sit by our concierge.....

DSC00295 by D J, on Flickr

DSC00296 by D J, on Flickr

If balcony size is important on Breakaway/Getaway, I suggest an aft-facing balcony. They differ in size but a large one on deck 9 or 12 is impressive...(although, they only sleep 3)

Deck 9 ^^

 

Deck 12^^

 

There are also differences in width (as shown) so knowing which aft-facing balcony to book is important.

Thanks for the tip on that. I'll keep this in mind when booking any future cruise.

You had a mini-suite, not a Junior Suite.

Well, when one cruise line offers 'junior suite' rooms and the other offers 'mini suite' rooms, it's kind of assumed that they'd be somewhat similar in what they offer. To me, junior and mini should be interchangeable. (NCL doesn't offer junior suites on the Getaway, or judging by what I've seen on their website, on any of their ships.) But I guess that's on me because we know what happens when we assume.

For clarification, you had the UBP. The UDP (no longer offered) refers to a dining package. The current dining package is the SDP (NCL still uses the letters "UDP" as the item designation but it is not the true UDP).

Sorry, looks like I mis-typed there.

Not even priority guests board the ship at 10:00am.

Funny, because that was the check-in time my parents had selected. But it wasn't until we got into the terminal that we realized that there's a difference between check-in time and boarding time. I'm accustomed to checking in, and then making your way to the ship. That's how it's been on my experiences with both Carnival and RCL. Clearly that's not how they do it on NCL. Which is fine, but some information beforehand would have been nice. Which I put on NCL because there was nothing mentioned about it in our cruise documents or their website. Either way, it's still kind of garbage that if you want to get a pass to the Vibe Beach club, instead of having to rush to guest services once you get on the boat and then waiting around for a few hours for your stateroom (as I thought it was), you're actually waiting around in the terminal for a couple of hours to get on the ship and then still rushing to guest services, in hopes of getting a pass and still waiting around afterwards for your stateroom to open. Either way, it's just not a good system. I understand that Vibe is exclusive, but there are better ways they can handle it other than a mad dash to the guest services desk.

An alternative would have been to get a spa pass. They can be purchased online (no rushing to get a pass like with VIBE), there are a limited number of passes (not crowded), it is adult-only, and it is out of the sun (which you would probably prefer).

This is actually a good option. I wish I had known about it beforehand. Which is completely my fault because I didn't do enough research before the cruise. Had I known that, I might have enjoyed the cruise even more. I did enjoy the cruise, I know that the negativity probably makes it sound like I didn't, but I still stand by that I prefer RCL over NCL at this point.

So OP, considering that you have a spa room it seems that you'll have access to the spa and a nice quiet area to relax, although it doesn't sound like it'll be the 'quiet sunshine place' you'll be looking for. Just a quiet place at least.