1st Time NCL Cruiser Mini Review of Getaway 5/1 - 5/8

[BrytEydBelle]

Just got back yesterday from a fabulous cruise on the Getaway...wish I was still on it : ) I was apprehensive about this cruise and had strongly considered canceling and am so glad I did not. Lots of changes were made after my booking (eliminating Legally Blonde show after I had made my reservations, increase in gratuity - twice, and the no carry out rule). However, the changes really didn't make a different in my trip other than I would have really loved to see Legally Blonde as that was one of the deciding factors in picking the ship.

 

A little about my group: I traveled with my family - me (33), baby sister (26) and my parents. My husband and my sister's boyfriend did not come, so just family. We mostly wanted to relax this cruise...very stressful year thus far and we didn't want to overplan and do too much like I tend to do.

 

Stateroom: We all stayed in a mini suite with expanded balcony. I was very nervous about the space since we are all adults and have always gotten two rooms in the past, but my parents are very hard to keep track of when in separate staterooms and we spend a lot of time just trying to find each other. This room was awesome...for any former campers out there, we found it larger and more comfortable than the KOA Kabins (where we spent every summer). The bathroom and shower were very spacious and the balcony was huge. Would definitely book this arrangement again, loved it!!! We all loved the balcony, it cut down on the need to try to find a lounger on the pool deck and I like the privacy.

 

Entertainment: We saw the Burn the Floor show which was fantastic! We also saw two comedy shows and enjoyed them both, particularly Flip Schultz. The live music we saw was very good too - cannot remember their names, but the band that did the Bob Marley tribute was my favorite. Personally, I thought Howl at the Moon was just ok, but others in my group really liked it. We also saw the Captain America Winter Soldier movie at Spice H2O. There was a lot we never even made it to because we were swimming, laying out, etc.

 

We did a Caribbean line dance class followed by dancing at Spice H2O. So much fun! Very high intensity and the music was great. Honestly, probably the most fun I've had in years.

 

Pools/hot tubs/etc

 

Pool was always swamped but I was prepared and we did a lot of swimming at port. It did annoy me how so many people just sit at the edge, not swimming...seems kind of random and makes me feel like I'm on display. On the first day my sister and I swam in the pool with maybe four others in there, but the entire pool was surrounded by sitters. Oh well, at least we got to swim.

 

Hot tubs were usually ok to get into, no issues there. We liked the spice H20 water misters on the first sea day since it was quite hot. The second sea day was much cooler so we did not attempt. We did the purple slide which looked to be the tamest. I wish I would have tried before the last day of the cruise! I last did a water slid about 20 years ago and remember the plastic material as much rougher - I would always get scraped and cut up so I was afraid to try these. However, technology has improved a lot in water slide construction and this was very smooth.

 

 

Food:

 

My mother is in the process of getting dentures and having her teeth pulled to do so...that makes eating a huge challenge, she lost about 20 pounds in a month since she had such a hard time eating. She was supposed to have the dentures in by the cruise, but there were complications, so she only had her front teeth. We ate at the buffet almost every meal since it is easier for her to keep going back for tiny portions.

 

Garden Café - really good! I loved the breakfasts and lunches and could always find something tasty for dinner.

 

Flamingo grill - Everything we had from there was good...particularly liked the guava pastries.

 

Tropicana Room - We had dinner here once, the night they served turkey. We were seated right away and everything was hot, etc. Only challenge was getting the drinks, they didn't come until we were through the appetizers. Not a big deal. My dinner was shrimp wrapped in Pancetta which was decent and the coconut soufflé for dessert - very tasty.

 

Drink package - We had the UBP for my sister and I and the soda package for our parents. We had booked as a promo so we were able to do the two package types. It was nice not having to pay for drinks but we don't drink that much so would never pay out of pocket. Most days we had 1 drink with a few days of 2-3 drinks so we definitely would not get money's worth. I did use for soda but I carried a 12 pack of diet sprite onboard since I like diet soda with dinner but can't do the caffine after 6.

 

Staff - The staff members we encountered were great. Our room steward was fantastic - towel animals nightly, room always spotless. We gave him a big extra tip as I know it was tough to clean up after four people : ) Drink staff very good, we tipped and tended to frequent the same spots. I tried some different drinks, but really preferred my old standard the pina colada.

 

Will post on embarkation/debarkation and ports a little later.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report.

[Sand and Seas]

Really enjoyed your review! The Getaway is a great ship and we can't wait until our next cruise on her. Always nice to hear what another group thinks of their cruise. I might try their slides this next time:D

[klakrad]

Lots of changes were made after my booking (eliminating Legally Blonde show after I had made my reservations, increase in gratuity - twice, and the no carry out rule).

 

What's the "no carry out rule?

[Agentwho]

Lots of changes were made after my booking (eliminating Legally Blonde show after I had made my reservations, increase in gratuity - twice, and the no carry out rule).

 

What's the "no carry out rule?

 

 

I was wondering the same thing?

[danp2482]

Lots of changes were made after my booking (eliminating Legally Blonde show after I had made my reservations, increase in gratuity - twice, and the no carry out rule).

 

What's the "no carry out rule?

 

I have to ask as well! I searched and can't seem to find anything.

[blackwing]

I assume by "no carryout rule" you mean that you aren't allowed to take food out of the buffet? I heard this was the rule on some ships a little bit ago but I thought it got rescinded due to complaints?

 

We were on Getaway in March 2014 and this was definitely not the rule. Was on Escape two months ago and there was no such rule. If this is indeed a rule, frankly, I think it's terrible. I have young children and it is difficult to get them up early in the morning. It's so much easier for early risers like me to go to the buffet, get them a plate of food, and bring breakfast to them.

 

If this rule is really in place and is done to encourage people to pay for room service... well, that stinks. The free breakfast room service is only toast and pastries, and stuff like that. Anything hot like eggs or bacon or sausage would seem to incur the charge.

 

What I would like to know is that if there is indeed a "no carry out rule", how exactly do they enforce it? Physically remove a plate of food from someone's hands? That'd be horrible treatment.

[brookie848]

The "no carry out" rule only lasted for a couple of weeks before it was rescinded. No one has mentioned it in several months, so no need to worry about it.

Edited May 10, 2016 by brookie848

[Sand and Seas]

Another change we are hearing about (see other threads) is that the Flamingo Grill will change to Margaritaville. A recent cruiser heard this may be as early as June 1st. If this is happening we will be so sad to lose our favorite complimentary Getaway venue. Love that Cuban food....we will miss it. Without the Flamingo Grill, we will just look to book the Escape as Food Republic is so much better than Margaritaville for food. Prices at FR are very reasonable for the unique small plates of food.

[Cruise-mom]

Nice report, thank you. Looking froward to reading about the ports as we are on the Getaway next month.

[BrytEydBelle]

Ok, just lost a long post so I will break up the rest of this : )

 

Ports:

 

Roatan - 1st time in Roatan. We originally looked at booking the Maya Key excursion with the ship, but did not want to get locked into a beach day if the weather was bad. Luckily it was a beautiful clear day and we caught a cab with Victor Bodden to go to West Bay Beach - they took us to the Henry Morgan Resort. $15 pp for cab fare and we picked a $15 pp package with the resort which included using the bathrooms, beach chairs and pool. It was a huge saltwater pool that was pretty much empty (nice after how crowded the ships pool was). The beach was gorgeous. I would love to return here! The ride was through narrow, twisting roads that made my sister a little nauseous but I thought it gave great views of how green and lush the land was.

[BrytEydBelle]

Port 2: Belize

 

This was the port I was least looking forward to I hate to say. Originally this was to be Harvest Caye, but as the port is not complete, it was changed to Belize city. We booked a ship excursion to the Altun Ha Ruins. A note about the excursions for the tender ports that I hadn't realized - get to the meeting time early! We got there about 2 minutes early and they were already filing out and we had to ask people in line what excursion it was for.

 

I hate to say this, but my main impression of Belize was of intense heat. I have never been so hot in my life. I lived in Florida without air conditioning in the summer and that was nothing compared to this. I really couldn't appreciate the coolness of the ruins because I was so uncomfortable. My dad climbed the ruins and totally showed up my sister and I...we are fairly young, athletic and hit the gym religiously but we both slipped trying to climb and decided not to risk it. Rather not break an ankle midway through our cruise. We did a little shopping at the port but mostly wanted to get back to the air conditioned ship.

[BrytEydBelle]

Third port: Costa Maya

 

The original plan was to take a cab to Tropicante. However we got a pretty late start and everyone wanted to shop first. We hit the port shops and then discovered the pool so just made a day of it. The pool was fine, but I do regret not getting to the beach.

[BrytEydBelle]

Last port: Cozumel

 

This is my favorite in the Western Caribbean. Upon getting back to the US I actually looked into Cozumel real estate as I would love to move there or even just get a small condo. We took a cab to Paradise Beach as we have found it to be the perfect beach day every time.

 

This time was no exception. It is very clean, the water was great and food and drinks were good and reasonably priced. We spent much of the port time here then reluctantly headed back to do some shopping before we had to be back onboard. I found the prices at the Margaritaville to be better here than any other I have been to. I buy souvenir items on cruises, nothing fancy.

[BrytEydBelle]

Embarkation:

 

Check in at Miami was easy and fast. We had a 10:30 port arrival time. We then went through to the sitting area and it was quite crowded and kept getting even worse as more people checked in but no one was boarded. After a while they made an announcement that there was a delay due to a random full inspection by the coast guard. We had been there a while when they started to disembark the prior passengers. Not NCLs fault but definitely a later start to the cruise then we'd hoped for.