Getaway on the Getaway 9/12

[Briitini]

Our first time on NCL! This cruise was meant to be a really relaxing cruise. My BF doesn't like sitting out in the sun for hours, so we didn't go to the pool or any of the adult decks at all on this cruise. We honestly slept a lot, enjoyed our room, watched tv and did a lot of indoor ship activities. I am 30 and he is 29.

 

Embarkation:

We live not far from Miami. The ride down was smooth and jumping in the express lanes was worth it because the traffic was a HOT mess going both directions. We arrived at the port at 9:45am and received a boarding zone #1 tag. Upon checking in there was a letter that our ship would not be leaving until 12 midnight due to scheduled repairs. However, there was never an explanation. I felt this was unprofessional and unacceptable. We loved that there were beverages waiting in the terminal. They offered coffee, lemonade and cold water. We started heading onto the ship at about 11:30am.

 

Embarkation lunch:

We picked O'Sheehans. I had the mozzarella sticks/ spinach dip and my boyfriend had the burger and wings. Food was average and nothing to actually write home about. My bf did say it had that "grilled" outdoors taste.

 

Cabin:

We booked a guarantee balcony and received cabin #13750. The cabin size was great, the storage was great and I loved that there was a SHOWER DOOR!!! I am so over Carnival's shower curtain. The balcony was tiny, but I was thankful I wasn't over the life boats!!! Just an FYI- If you are "wide" your rear end will not fit in these chairs. Thankfully my boyfriend and I fit, but there wasn't much extra room :p My boyfriend RAVED about the in room coffee!! Hello, spoiled!!!! Our room steward was good. The only "issue" we had was that he came to our room one evening saying, "there is no smoking on the balconies.. I found your cigar in the balcony. No smoking!" We kindly explained to him that no one was smoking out there and that it was being kept there because I didn't want to smell it in the room (not lit they still put off a nasty smell). FYI- there is NO smoking allowed on the balconies, but that didn't stop the lady next to us from smoking a pack a day. The only place I saw this notice was on the back of the freestyle papers in size 8 font. Did I miss it in the rooms or on the balcony? Our NCL room was much nosier. We use a small fan as well as an iphone noisemaker app and could still hear the bonehead next to us slamming the door shut. We had a connecting room, so maybe that was the issue?

 

TIP- If you like your room COLD- leave the curtains shut, DO NOT touch the snowflake button and keep a credit card in the light switch to keep everything on. We keep our home at about 70 degrees at night and are often "hot" when we travel because the rooms don't get cold enough. However, with this room it was often FREEZING COLD.

 

Dining Package

We purchased what we thought was the Ultimate Dining Package (NOT Specialty Dining Package) back in July. No where in the terms and conditions does it say you are limited to the speciality meals you can purchase. We decided to have an appetizer at La Cucina and then meal in Moderno. Well, the moment we got to Moderno the hostess started questioning us and eventually sat us. After seating us she went to the Manager and our waiter and pointed at us and was blatantly talking about us. We were in Moderno the night before and had a bad experience (more on that later), so we decided to give it another shot. To be honest if I want to be a fatty and eat 5 meals on vacation, I am going to do it!!! :rolleyes: I just found it rude and not acceptable. Again, horrible experience at the same place. I took the UDP VS SDP up with Guest Services and all they did was try to argue with me and basically tell me I was wrong.

 

TIP- Even though your key card says UDP you more than likely have the SDP and don't think you are going to go to multiple specialty restaurants each night.

 

Illusionarium

People on this cruise were seriously line and seat vultures. I heard people saying they lined up an hour and a half before. With our UDP that we purchased and the first night discount.. I purchased these "premium" tickets online before the cruise for $32.50 total. Again, I am not sure how I would have been able to purchase these tickets if I didn't purchase the UDP which gives a 25% discount off other non UDP covered dining venues. The show was good. The food was average at best. We ate in Teppanyaki before going to this show and just snacked on the food. Thank god because it was not that great. Also, being seated with a group of 8 allows the people in front of you to stop at the end of the table and sit leaving you to crawl over a bunch of people because they couldn't sit in the order of the line. RUDE.

 

TIP- Floor seats are not worth it IMO. Save yourself the money if you are thinking about buying these tickets. The room is not really THAT big.

 

Bars

The only bar I would spend time talking about is Sugarcane Mojito Bar. OH-MY-GOSH!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!! The chairs and seating area was my favorite spot on the whole ship! Damon and his team at this bar are outstanding!! TIP THEM WELL!! :) We honestly spent so much time at this bar. If there are any events going on get there early because the seats will fill up and the vultures will be on the prowl!

 

TIP- Try the dirty mojito- dark rum, brown sugar, and ginger beer. Best drink on the whole boat! Damon makes it best!

 

O'Sheehans

Unless you are diehard sports fan you won't understand this part. NCL- if you are reading this please add a disclaimer when printing broadcasting of sports games. A huge part of your clientele are Americans that love USA football and are cruising during NFL season... that being said when you are not able to deliver a football game that your freestyle paper said would be available cover your butts and put a disclaimer. There were at least 50 people in O'Sheehans for the Giants vs Cowboys game and they didn't turn it on until the last 2 minutes of the game.

 

TIP- If you want quicker service sit in the actual dining area of O'Sheehans. The service is S-L-O-W at the high top tables. The bartenders don't handle any food from what I saw.

 

Cagney's Steakhouse

The whole food part of them meal was great. The service wasn't friendly or much to be desired. Again, if you are "larger" you may not fit in the seats. My bf and I fit fine, but I could see where someone would be uncomfortable and not fit.

 

TIP- if you can't eat all your meal take your dessert to go and enjoy it later in your room

 

Le Bistro

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I could bathe in the mushroom soup. Ok maybe not, but it was THAT damn good!!!!! Both nights they under cooked my medium rare steak, but quickly made it better by re-grilling it.

 

TIP- Veuve Clicquot is served here by the glass (only place I saw by the glass on the entire boat) and is NOT included in the beverage package even though it is $9 a glass. This is the only time I ran into something that was not covered that I wanted.

 

Moderno

Pathetic. Waste of meal. We had 3 pieces of meat in 30 minutes the first night. We spoke up to the Manager and he made sure more went around. The second night we had the same issue and decided to leave. The food is GREAT, but the service sucks and is just not what we are used to at a Brazilian Steakhouse

 

Savor/Taste

Best breakfast on the entire ship!! We also had lunch here and i had the shrimp burger which was awesome. I wish they had later hours. I believe it's open from 7:00am- 9:30am?

 

TIP- Try the varieties of caramelized oatmeal if you are an oatmeal fan. Simply AMAZING!

 

 

La Cucina

Ok- not as bad as a lot of people report back.

 

Legally Blonde

Cute.

 

St Thomas

We took a radom taxi to Magen's Bay and had 2 slices of pizza each. Total was $80 to go to the beach. Magen's Bay was amazing. Very tranquil as there were only 2 ships in port today.

 

Tortola

I will never go back. First of all the weather was hazy and overcast all day. Forget about going to a beach and getting any sun. We got off the boat and found a taxi doing tours ($20) and did that with a group of random people. They dropped us off at some CRAZY busy beach. We went inside the gift shop and bought some honey for 1/2 of the price of what it was at the port. We had no idea this tour was going to a beach for an hour, so we hopped in a taxi with another couple looking to go back and spent another $20 to get back. Horrible stop and I heard many people complaining about this stop. Never again.

 

Nassau

Hot as hell outside. Sweating within 5 minutes of being off the boat. We went to a new Pirate Brewing bar and had a beer. We asked a local where to eat and it she suggested the fish fry area. We took a taxi because it was very hot outside and couldn't have made a better decision :) On the way back the taxi driver didn't have change for a 20$, so the crook got a $10 tip. :mad: We went to the Pandora store for me :D and went back to the ship. Nassau is getting worse and worse with all the people shouting at you to buy things. This was the worst I have EVER experienced and I was just there in July.

 

The ship is super clean and most everyone was very friendly. We had like 7 or 8 trays of chocolate strawberries delivered to our room and they were GROSS. You aren't missing those if you don't get any.

 

 

Ship Internet

NCL has horrible plans!!! The iconcierge worked well for us, but we refused to pay their crazy pricing. Carnival has great plans that I hope NCL will consider for smart phones.

 

Ship TV

Again, Carnival has a lot of channels compared to NCL. I hope NCL will expand their offerings in the future.

 

Debarkation

Customs didn't clear the boat until aprox 7:30.

 

TIP- If you are self debarking get in the line on 7 fwd no later than 7:00am if you want to be off quickly. There was a HUUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEEE line at one point.

 

I really enjoyed NCL because it was a nice refreshing cruise that was different than what we are used to on Carnival. The clientele was a lot different in a positive way and I am sick of the same Carnival ships. They can't keep up with bringing new ships out, so I will now take my business to NCL.

 

Hopefully this answers some questions.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Briitini

[cardbucfan]

Thanks for taking the time-I enjoyed it!

[Hpham1013]

Thanks for the review and helpful tips. I will be on the Getaway in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

[youngestof9]

Nice review! Quick question - did you research anything beforehand? The only reason I ask is Tortola is a great port to not only get to a few off-the-beaten path beaches, but to get to the baths at Virgin Gorda or to Jost Van Dyke. Try one of those places the next time you visit. Truthfully the Escape to Jost Van Dyke was an NCL excursion and it was the best excursion I've ever done off a ship, and I usually go off on my own. But that was a great excursion.

[Briitini]

Nice review! Quick question - did you research anything beforehand? The only reason I ask is Tortola is a great port to not only get to a few off-the-beaten path beaches, but to get to the baths at Virgin Gorda or to Jost Van Dyke. Try one of those places the next time you visit. Truthfully the Escape to Jost Van Dyke was an NCL excursion and it was the best excursion I've ever done off a ship, and I usually go off on my own. But that was a great excursion.

 

 

Thank you for this. I did research a little, but I would have hated to spend that money when it was an overcast and super hazy day :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Briitini]

Thank you for this. I did research a little, but I would have hated to spend that money when it was an overcast and super hazy day :(

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Obviously that wasn't anyone's fault lol, but yes I did look into those and was just unsure. If my travels take me back there ever I will check them out.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Briitini]

Thanks for taking the time-I enjoyed it!

 

 

You're welcome!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk