7/5 Getaway Review w/ Pictures

[Terpsince74]

Thank you so much for your wonderful review with photos!!

 

You have given my husband and I some great tips/ideas on what to do in each port especially in Nassua. Our plan was to not even get off the ship while in Nassau but now I think that has changed. The Melia Resort looks like the perfect way to spend a day in the Bahamas. :)

 

You are welcome! Melia was a bit of a pain to get to but well worth it IMHO! Enjoy!

[Terpsince74]

Hi all- sorry for the delay in putting the finishing touches on this review. Work has been quite hectic this past week. Take a look below for the rest of the review! :)

[Terpsince74]

Disembarkation Day (Saturday July 12th)- Miami

We arrived back in Miami just before the sun was coming up. By the time we were docked, the sun was just starting to peak out. The Miami skyline with the moon in the background was really beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to head up to the buffet first and then come back down to shower and finish packing. Usually we are packed and ready to go the day before but we were not in a rush since we did not fly out until 1:30pm.

 

We took one last picture from our balcony and away we went.

 

 

I needed to stop by Guest Services to make sure our La Cucina dinner was taken off our bill. For some reason it looked like we were charged for it. I later found out that they had in fact given me the proper credit.

 

By then the boat was pretty empty and I would bet we were some of the last people to exit the ship. We left the ship at 10 am and walked off with no problem. Once we got to the customs building, we ran into a HUGE line. We sat around forever with the line not moving an inch. I was not worried about the delay but eventually I started to fear that we might be cutting it close if this wait continued for too much longer. It took 45 minutes to get through Customs which was not super fun. I guess that’s what we get for taking so long to get off the ship. Once we got through Customs we were quickly in a cab and at the airport by 11:15 am. We still had a good hour to kill at the airport so we started making notes for our review.

 

As usual, the second we left the ship, the cruise blues started to kick in. It really does help to plan your next cruise once the cruise blues kick in. We are already planning our Norwegian Sky cruise that we got for free with our BOGO cruise offer! We just booked it for January 26th and are thrilled that we did not have any trouble with the booking. My travel agent really is awesome. We even got another aft facing balcony which I was not sure we would get.

[Terpsince74]

Closing Thoughts

We had an awesome vacation. Miami was perfect, and really allowed us to get some of the beach time we did not get a lot of on the cruise. This was the smoothest sailing for me to date. There were times when you forgot you were even on a ship. I usually get really bad land sickness for 3-4 days when I get off the ship. There was a little bit of that but it was gone by our second day back. I really enjoyed the aft facing balcony and felt that we really did put it to good use. It was very hot at times though. I think I would choose to do a winter sailing with the aft facing balcony and maybe go for a regular balcony the next time we sail in the summer.

Service

 

This was my 3rd cruise so I still don’t have a lot of cruises to compare this to. With that being said, I think this might have been the best service I have received on a cruise to date. I remember following the complaints about the Breakaway very closely before that cruise last July. I saw that some of the complaints had validation and others were just overblown. With that said, it did seem like NCL made note of those complaints and corrected them on the Getaway. For example, we did not have any trouble getting a table in the MDR. People were complaining that they had to wait endlessly on the Breakaway.

 

Cruise Director

Joel was the best Cruise Director I have cruised with so far. I would rate him higher than Julie from the Breakaway and surely higher than the one from our Princess Cruise. That particular CD was never present whatsoever. As a matter of fact, my GF did not even know that position existed until the Getaway cruise.

 

Food

The food on the Getaway was overall good, but we did have a few meals that were not spectacular. The best meal was Le Bistro. Every single course was fantastic. The worst meal was probably Illusionarium due to the chewy steak that was not good. Moderno was a close second due to most of the meat being too undercooked for our liking (and we like our meat medium to medium rare). The sushi was very good. Out of the 4 dinners (between the 2 of us) we had in the Tropicana Room (MDR), 3 were very good. Only my swordfish entre was disappointing. We were surprised at how good the MDR was. Compared to Princess, we really enjoyed the fact that there was never a line to get seated at the MDR. On Princess we had to wait as long as 20 min, and on NCL we could always go right in both times we tried out the Tropicana Room.

The garden Café breakfast was pretty good. The lunches/snacks we had at the Garden Cafe were actually very good. La Cucina was actually pretty darn good as well. We were very happy with our meal there. Nothing beats eating outside on the Waterfront. NCL has everyone beat with this concept as I see it. I am sure you will see many cruise lines start to copy it as it is such an awesome idea.

 

Entertainment

NCL does a fantastic job of keeping you busy throughout the day. For those of you worrying about getting bored on a sea day, trust me, you will find yourself wondering where the day went. I actually like to chill as much as possible on a cruise but my GF loves all of the entertainment so we usually pick 2-3 things to do per day/night as a nice compromise. There are often things we find ourselves wanting to do but so much is going on at the same time that you really have to choose your favorite activities and run with those choices. The Illusionarium was a fantastic show and made up for the bad meal. We were sitting right next to the stage and we still have no idea how they were doing those acts/tricks. We did not go to Burn the Floor or any other shows so can’t really rate those. The comedians were very good. The fireworks display is spectacular. The show is short but sweet. I still think it is amazing how good of a show they put on considering the fireworks are being launched off of a moving ship. The Dueling piano show is also very fun and highly recommended. We loved the Newlywed, not so Newlywed game. Joel made it funny but so did the guest participants. We loved the ropes course and the water slides. I wish we would have tried the mini-golf and the climbing wall. The mini-bowling alley and the darts were also fun.

In comparison to NCL, the one thing that really stood out from our Princess cruise that was awesome was their “Movies Under the Stars” that Princess has many nights of their cruises. They give you warm blankets, comfy lounge chair cushions, popcorn, and drink service. That is probably the only thing that Princess did better. I think NCL does movies in the atrium, which we didn’t see, and I think they also had a few running in Spice H2O. I wish NCL would incorporate this same concept. It’s really the only thing I find missing from NCL.

 

Nightlife

The bars are all fun. We had a good time at Spice H2O every time we went there. Some nights it was not busy, unless they had a special event such as fireworks. The mojito bar is a fun experience, especially with our favorite bartender, Bong, there. I thought the cigar lounge was a cool place to hang out to smoke a stogie and enjoy a scotch. You have to stop by the Ice Bar to say you did it. It really is no more than a 15-30 minute experience though. We really did not even think to go to Bliss, as every time we peaked in, it was never busy. I think the night club on Princess was better located as it was high up on the ship with windows overlooking the sea. We really were not up super late (we usually retired around midnight) on this cruise so we might not be as qualified to talk about nightlife.

 

Cabin

The rooms have a good amount of space on the Getaway. The standard balconies really are too small. Our aft facing balcony had more space than we really needed but they are also costly. In the end it was worth it as we spent a lot of time out there even though it was warmer than I would have liked. I was very happy with the cabin overall. Our steward was good and kept it clean.

 

Spa

I think the thermal spa on the Getaway is awesome. I am not sure what else you could do to make it better other than making the entrance free- LOL! I read that on the Epic the steam rooms look out to sea. I think that would be cool but if you gave me a choice of the heated tile chairs looking out over the front of the ship or steam rooms, I would choose the heated tile chairs in a heartbeat. On Princess, you felt like you were in some sort of dungeon without windows. It was awful in comparison to the Getaway.

 

The $200 per person thermal spa fee is a bit much for a couple ($400 in total). I was super glad to be able to get a 2 day pass which was exactly what I needed. I bought the week long pass on the Breakaway and found myself forcing myself to go enjoy it every day since I paid so much for it. Two days was the perfect amount of time at the Spa for me.

 

Vibe

If you read my Breakaway review, I stated that the $79 Vibe fee was the best money I spent. I would have to again agree with this. It is the best (bang for the buck) money you will spend on Getaway as well. The service is incredible, the views of the sea are great, and you usually have no trouble finding an incredibly comfortable padded chair, and an umbrella. The only time we had a problem with that was the last sea day and we did not show up until later in the day. Vibe had 2 huge covered hot tubs that were kept cool when it was hot out, a shower that would allow you to cool off, and there are always friendly people there to chat it up with. I did forget to add that there were some noisy younger guests on the first 2 sea days of the cruise which made it a bit less relaxing in Vibe at times. They were college kids that all seemed like good kids so we did not mind too much. We noticed towards the end of the trip that part of the noise issue was due to when people are in the hot tub with the jets running. You have to talk a little louder to hear each other. Maybe the acoustics of the space along with the shaded cover also adds to some echoing that makes it a bit louder. That is something that I did not encounter on the Breakaway. It probably just depends on your cruise.

 

What we would do again?

We, again, would not do the UBP

I did the math and we still were better off not doing the UBP. This is mainly due to my GF not being much of a drinker. Even when we added up the wine we bought on top of the corkage fee it was still the right choice. Next time we may purchase the onboard wine package but again you are at the mercy of the wines NCL offers. They are OK, but not great.

 

Purchase the Vibe pas- (see above)

 

Melia Resort- Bahamas

Going to Melia was a good call. It was a pain to get to, but definitely worth it. The more I think about it, if we had just headed off the ship and right to the number 10 bus stop, the journey there probably would not have seemed so bad. The bus was a bit questionable, but the people were so polite and friendly that you were immediately put at ease. Do not try to catch a cab as you will not have any luck. I have a feeling Atlantis will have to lower their prices once the Baha Mar opens up as it will offer some good competition. The prices at Atlantis are ridiculous even though it is an incredible resort. They basically have a monopoly right now but I doubt that will last too much longer.

 

 

What we would do differently

Arrive later for embarkation

We would arrive closer to 11 am for embarkation day to avoid having to stand in line watching the clock as they don’t start boarding before the scheduled time.

 

Book the specialty restaurants earlier in the trip

We missed out on Cagneys as we waited too late in the week to schedule our specialty dining. Now that I think about it, even with Le Bistro, the hostess said we were lucky we got the reservation that we did get (which we did not book until the 3rd day I think). I think you should probably book your specialty dining on the first day (or even pre-cruise) if you can help it. We don’t like having too many planned dinners as we like to see what is going on in the Dailies before making dinner arrangements but we should have booked a few specialty dining meals on the first day of the cruise.

 

Burn the Floor in MDR

We wish we had caught the Burn the Floor dancers in the MDR which was on Thursday night on our cruise. We heard the show was fantastic.

 

Orient Beach- St. Maarten

We wish we would have ventured over to the nudist beach earlier before the weather turned bad. We were both curious and it would have been another thing to check off the “been there, done that” list.

 

Maho Beach- St. Maarten

Next time we would like to see the flights takeoff at Maho (if time permitted). Maybe next time there we will try to go to Orient Beach first and swing by Maho on the way back to the port. Trust me, you should definitely got to Maho Beach while in St. Maarten.

 

St. John’s Snorkeling vs. St. Thomas

If we ever return the St. Thomas on NCL, we would do the St John’s Catamaran snorkeling excursion. I have heard that excursion is incredible. We really enjoyed the Captain Nautica excursion and wanted to stay in St. Thomas for this first time there. If we did it again we would definitely try the St Johns excursion though.

 

Big Cruise in Winter

I have now done 2 expensive cruises in the summer. Both Bermuda and the Eastern Caribbean were at times, oppressively hot during the summer. I think moving forward, we are going to make our big blow out cruises in the winter when the weather is not so hot. I think that beautiful aft facing balcony would have been even more enjoyable if it had not been quite so hot. Last year when docked in Bermuda, I could not go on the balcony when the sun was out. It was unbearable. I was surprised that there was little to no breeze being on a small island. I would love to hear people’s thoughts on this philosophy.

 

Try a forward facing balcony

On a ship, I love to see where we are going from our room or balcony. I think it would be fun to have a forward facing balcony some day. I would love it for sailaways but even more for arriving in port. I hear they can get very windy. That would have been welcome on this trip since it was so warm on the balcony.

 

Breakfast variety

In hindsight, it would have been nice to have eaten breakfast and lunch at some of the other restaurants versus every morning in Garden Café. We often found ourselves in a hurry, so the buffet was great for that. The first 2 sea days (or last) would have been good for that. I also want to try room service to eat on the balcony. I hear this is a good option during port days. We might have to try that sometime.

 

Mini golf

We really wish we had tried the mini golf. I never played it on the Breakaway. It looked like a fun thing to do before dinner when the sun was starting to go down. Oh well, maybe next time!

 

There are some other cruise lines and ships we would like to check out in the future (Disney Dream and Allure/Oasis of the Seas), but I think NCL has won us over as customers for the foreseeable future. It just appears to be the perfect fit for us. They have the right mix of entertainment, nightlife, and the freestyle dining definitely fits us perfectly. The Getaway is a fantastic ship with great service, entertainment, nightlife, and dining options. The Eastern Caribbean itinerary was a great one that we both enjoyed immensely (even Nassau). We would definitely do the identical itinerary again.

 

Happy cruising all! Hope to see some of you on our Sky cruise this January!

[rochelle_s]

Thanks so much for your pictorial review. I really enjoyed it and was waiting for your conclusions. Sounds like you are my kind of cruiser, relax and go with the flow. Hope your cruise on the Sky is as good as the Getaway.

Thanks again.

 

 

Rochelle

[nan607]

In st thomas as soon as you get off the ship they have safari like jeeps that hold like 20 people that will take you any where you want costs like6$/person each way we went to Magen's bay that cost 4$ entry fee, we were on celebrity reflection in feb and looking forward to the getaway 1st time on ncl

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Irishfog]

Loved your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[SliceOfLife]

Fabulous review and great pictures!! Thank you for all your hard work you put into your review, I really appreciated it.

 

I am really looking forward to my Getaway cruise in October!

 

Do you know when the Baha Mar will be opening?

[Terpsince74]

Fabulous review and great pictures!! Thank you for all your hard work you put into your review, I really appreciated it.

 

I am really looking forward to my Getaway cruise in October!

 

Do you know when the Baha Mar will be opening?

 

 

Thanks so much SliceOfLife! Glad you enjoyed the review. I believe the Baha Mar is supposed to open this December. Our taxi driver was telling us that they have hit a few snags related to strikes. Apparently there were a large number of laborers that were from China and they had stopped paying them. Apparently this went on for months and these poor people decided they had enough and went on strike. Everything I read still says that it will open December of 2014. I wonder if they will also offer some sort of beach/pool day pass. It will definitively be something to keep an eye on. Here is a link to the website. Hope this helps! Enjoy your cruise!

 

http://www.bahamar.com/the-destination/the-resort/

[Hey Wang]

Awesome review.... Thanks :D

[Terpsince74]

Thanks Hey Wang! Glad you enjoyed it!

[dna529]

Thanks for your awesome review ! Do you think that it would be a problem getting a taxi for 4 to go to melia? Or should we take the bus? We have 2 kids with us.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

[billstpete]

Thanks for a great detailed review. Gave me some good info for my cruise.

[Terpsince74]

Thanks for your awesome review ! Do you think that it would be a problem getting a taxi for 4 to go to melia? Or should we take the bus? We have 2 kids with us.

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

 

Glad you enjoy the review. :) Honestly I seriously doubt you will be able to grab a cab with 4 people. At least not right when the ships are unloading passengers. They only seem interested in larger parties going to Atlantis and a few beaches like Cabbage Beach, Junkanoo, etc. Nobody wanted to go to Cable Beach. That is why I suggested you just head right for the number 10 bus stop. It is only like a 3-4 block walk from the port. Now, if you waited for like an hour after the Getaway started letting people onshore, maybe then you could find a taxi that would take you. But then you are losing valuable beach time and you already have a short day there since you don't get in Nassau until Noonish. Best bet is to beeline it right for the number 10 bus.

[Oldgoat61]

I really enjoyed your review. Your style of writing is easy to read, and I loved the photos.....more is always good!:)

 

Thanks for taking the time to write it.:D

[Terpsince74]

I really enjoyed your review. Your style of writing is easy to read, and I loved the photos.....more is always good!:)

 

Thanks for taking the time to write it.:D

 

Thanks so much OldGoat. I really enjoy going in depth on these as it brings back the great memories of my cruises. :)

[neptune18]

Looks like the Melia is the old Sheraton. We did a day pass there a couple years ago and loved it.

 

We just got back from the Breakaway in an aft balcony and it was so hot at times we couldn't stay out there. We also had soot out there the last two days. It looks like you did too in one of your pictures.

[Terpsince74]

Looks like the Melia is the old Sheraton. We did a day pass there a couple years ago and loved it.

 

We just got back from the Breakaway in an aft balcony and it was so hot at times we couldn't stay out there. We also had soot out there the last two days. It looks like you did too in one of your pictures.

 

Hi neptune- yes we had a little bit of soot as well but it mostly collected in the small crevice just under the railing so did not cause too much of a problem for us. We also noticed the exhaust one night in Spice H2O. Maybe it had something to do with the winds that evening.

[neptune18]

Our soot was pretty bad. It was all over everything and the floor as well. We couldn't walk out there without tracking it into the cabin. Had it not been the last day it would have been an issue.

[jamesjoe]

thanks for this review. i'll be sailing on the Getaway in a fw weeks and will be trying some of your tips (specially the spa pass).

[JC5240]

Thank you so much for your review! I will be going on this cruise in April of 2015 (like you, my third cruise, second NCL cruise -- my first cruise was the NCL Breakaway as well!). I am super excited about it.

 

Even though there are sister ships, if you don't mind, could you please let me know your opinion on the pros and cons of both ships in comparison?

 

We also have an aft facing balcony -- 12306, same deck as yours!

 

Thanks again -- your review was amazing.

[kenoqueen]

Thank you for the review. It was detailed and loved the pictures. We cruise in 53 days and after your review I am sooo looking forward to it. I'm hoping by our departure Oct. 11th Bong will be back. We have sailed previous ships where he was bartender and loved him.

[Terpsince74]

Thank you so much for your review! I will be going on this cruise in April of 2015 (like you, my third cruise, second NCL cruise -- my first cruise was the NCL Breakaway as well!). I am super excited about it.

 

Even though there are sister ships, if you don't mind, could you please let me know your opinion on the pros and cons of both ships in comparison?

 

We also have an aft facing balcony -- 12306, same deck as yours!

 

Thanks again -- your review was amazing.

 

Hey JC5 - I was amazed how identical the Getaway was to the Breakaway. As soon as I boarded I already knew where everything was located. It is almost too similar as I did not get that wow factor I got from the Breakaway. I will probably never experience that again though as that was my very first cruise ever.

 

There are a few slight differences that you probably already know about like the Maltings bar is now Sugarcane where you can enjoy various mojitos. The Illusionarium replaces the Cirque Dreams dinner show. Since the ship has the Miami theme, there are a lot of Cuban and latin cuisine options (which we love). There are also a lot of latin dance events like dancing lessons, and live music and dancing in the Tropicana (MDR) which we also loved. The Vibe layout was slightly different on Getaway. They had the flat beds lined up right next to the edge of the ship glass and the loungers were back behind them. I thought that was smart as you could not see over people sitting in loungers right along the glass on the Breakaway. Overall I think they got a lot of things right on this go around. The service was markedly improved on the Getaway. It really appears that they learned from some of their mistakes on the Breakaway. I really can't think of any other difference but will be sure to post if I anything else pops into my mind. Have a great cruise!

[quillwercruisers]

Your review was AWESOME!! Loved looking at the pictures, and it gets us even more excited for our cruise in January!! I'll have to go back and read your review on the BA also. :D

 

"By then the boat was pretty empty and I would bet we were some of the last people to exit the ship. We left the ship at 10 am and walked off with no problem. Once we got to the customs building, we ran into a HUGE line. We sat around forever with the line not moving an inch. I was not worried about the delay but eventually I started to fear that we might be cutting it close if this wait continued for too much longer. It took 45 minutes to get through Customs which was not super fun. I guess that’s what we get for taking so long to get off the ship. Once we got through Customs we were quickly in a cab and at the airport by 11:15 am. We still had a good hour to kill at the airport so we started making notes for our review."

 

Did you fly out of FLL? If so, how much was the taxi? And did it really only take you about 30 minutes to get there?

 

Thanks again!!

Edited August 22, 2014 by quillwercruisers
Adding question

[Terpsince74]

Your review was AWESOME!! Loved looking at the pictures, and it gets us even more excited for our cruise in January!! I'll have to go back and read your review on the BA also. :D

 

"By then the boat was pretty empty and I would bet we were some of the last people to exit the ship. We left the ship at 10 am and walked off with no problem. Once we got to the customs building, we ran into a HUGE line. We sat around forever with the line not moving an inch. I was not worried about the delay but eventually I started to fear that we might be cutting it close if this wait continued for too much longer. It took 45 minutes to get through Customs which was not super fun. I guess that’s what we get for taking so long to get off the ship. Once we got through Customs we were quickly in a cab and at the airport by 11:15 am. We still had a good hour to kill at the airport so we started making notes for our review."

 

Did you fly out of FLL? If so, how much was the taxi? And did it really only take you about 30 minutes to get there?

 

Thanks again!!

 

Glad you enjoyed the review! :) We flew into FLL before the cruise and took a taxi from there to our Miami hotel. The taxi cost was $90 with tip. We actually flew home from Miami and that cab ride was very cheap since it only took us like 10-15 mins to get there from the port.