Our OK Getaway on the Getaway March 26th

[LadyG888]

This was our 4th cruise - 1st with Norwegian and probably our last. DD and I in our early 40's, just us cruising this time - going kid-less. We are easy going and pretty easy to please. While we had a nice vacation, it was not our favorite. This is our opinion, feel free to comment but not attack LOL.

 

Embarkation - We got to the port around 11:30 and had to wait about an hour to board (we had boarding group 24 and they were just calling 8 when we got there). We flew in and stayed overnight in Fort Lauderdale. Stayed at the Residence Inn Cruise Port on Anglers Drive. Great pre-cruise hotel. Had free shuttle from the airport and breakfast. They also has free shuttle for us to/from a choice of 5 nearby restaurants and a grocery stop (bought water and a few forgotten things for the cruise). We used an Uber from the hotel to POM the next morning - cost us about $30 and we tipped $5 cash.

 

Cabin - we were in an angled balcony on deck 11 - beautiful cabin. Our balcony was larger without the extra cost - do your research and book one of these if you can. Our bed was by the door, we rather have it by the balcony just for space reasons but not a deal breaker. Bed was comfortable and cabin steward was great.

 

Beverage package - worked great. Weird that some bars only needed one card when we were ordering drinks for 2 and some bars wanted both cards. Didn't matter; just not a consistent policy.

 

Food - We ate at the buffet (we like the convenience and the quality was good), room service was tasty - worth the delivery charge in our opinion for when we used it, O'Sheehan's was good (not what we expected for nacho's but still tasty - wings were good and the fish was surprisingly yummy); Moderno's was very good; enjoyed the options. We didn't do the other sit down free restaurants. Illusionarium food was pretty good (aside from the salad); better than we were expecting. We had a reservation at the Italian place one night but as the time got closer we were just not hungry. We went to the buffet later instead. We couldn't get back into the Italian restaurant when we tried to call in another reservation so we lost out on one of our "free" specialty meals (even though the restaurant was never even half full at any time). Not very "freestyle".

 

Entertainment - this is where we had issues. The "freestyle" concept to us didn't really work here. We had to reserve everything and sometimes you felt last minute that you wanted to do something - in what you would think is a "freestyle manner" - but without reservations good luck getting in or good luck finding a seat. They did a lot of games/show's/contests in the atrium which is a terrible set up. If you're not there super early then you were not getting a seat anywhere near. The theater would have been better for these. Same comedians all week (2 and a host) and they recycle jokes unfortunately. We caught 2 shows and half the second show we saw a couple of days later had the same jokes. We really liked the comedy set up and comedian switch mid week that Carnival does. No extra shows like a comedy hypnotist or comedy magician etc. in the theater. Only 2 show's in the theater over the week. Burn the floor and Million Dollar Quartet; didn't see either, not our thing. We found that the dailies didn't explain to us what some of the things were. We walked by several quiz games and smaller entertainment things that we had no idea were happening. If we knew what they were (not just the game titles) we would have probably joined in more. The Cruise Director was not engaging. Other than Bingo and draws where you had to buy tickets he didn't announce much. Overall entertainment choices for us were just so/so.

 

Ship layout - not a good point for us here either. Pool deck was the worst set up we have experienced. Smashed in like cattle around the 2 pools side by side then open areas with no one. Adults area had very little shade and music was only during "parties" on all outside decks - not even low volume back ground music for a festive atmosphere. We are smokers and found that the allowable smoking places were very small and not many of them. There were many smokers on this cruise and it was a fight for space. It they had a few more options then would would have been spread out more and not all congested in a cloud of smoke together. The casino has attendants to make sure smokers stayed in their section which was good - but I agree that the casino was smelling smokey in the other areas as well.

 

Excursions - We missed our pre-booked fishing charter in Roatan due to a detour of the ship for a medical emergency. While disappointing it's totally understandable - I hope the lady who had the heart attack is on the mend. Harvest Caye is beautiful. The pool (which was our plan) was stupidly packed. We walked around the complex, had 1 drink in the shade then headed back to the waterfall in Spice H20 which was a nice place to cool down. Costa Maya was a beautiful port area. Lots to see and do. We went to Maya Chan this day and were very disappointed. While we knew it was rustic and the owners did explain about a lot of sea grass - OMG it was way more than we were expecting. Having our own space in the shade was nice but my chair was broken and kept digging into me. People attempting to go into the water had to walk through several FEET of piled up sea grass. A lot of people coming out were saying how gross it was. We watched workers raking and shoveling it the entire time we were there and not making a dent. We counted them filling 6 bags of garbage out of the sea grass too.... one guy just walked through the pile waist deep and kept pulling out plastic bags, buckets, cans, dead fish etc and filling up bag after bag. This is not Maya Chan's fault, they are at least attempting to clean up the ocean; I just could not believe how much trash people put into the ocean. My husband said the men's room was broken and when he flushed, it came up between the boards at the bottom of the toilet. The drinks and staff were great though. We left on the first van back and decided that place is not for us. In Cozumel we went to Nachi Cocom; this place is much more our style. Beautiful beach and nice pool area. We will be back when we go to Cozumel again.

 

Disembarkation - We had a 12:10 flight to Toronto and we read ahead of time about the long lines so we decided to do the self walk off. We didn't bother with the buffet that morning knowing it was going to be stupid busy so we just ate at the airport. Being Canadian we could go in either the US or "other" passport line. We chose US because it was right there. In hindsight I think the "other" passport line was shorter. Overall we were in line just after 8 and off the ship just before 9. The delay with walking off the ship is due to the escalator in the terminal. They stop the line every 20 people or so to allow for the escalator to clear. Customs was nothing; just flashed out passport and was waved through.

 

Overall the cruise was nice, not our favorite. We liked not having to pack a cocktail dress and suit for my DD. A nice skirt and blouse or sundress was fine for most restaurants an DD was good in a nice button down and jeans. I would not consider the rest of the cruise to be "freestyle". More "plan ahead style". The ships decor was very nice.

[JC5240]

I liked your honest review. I understand how a lot of first timers with NCL could feel that way about the freestyle. When I went on my first NCL cruise in 2013 (Breakaway), I also didn't plan anything ahead of time, and found it hard to get into any shows or restaurants. Knowing that now, I don't mind planning ahead of time for certain things. Once you have reservation for things, it's (usually) easy to switch things around (which I'm assuming wasn't the case for you guys regarding La Cucina).

 

I 100% agree about the atrium and the pool. It's just not enough space for that many people.

 

I thought your review was very honest. I LOVE NCL though, as their overall product for me is exactly what I'm looking for. I hope you try them again in the future, though!

[reaperman]

We got off on Apr 9th and I agree with you about the entertainment. Not our first ncl cruise, but the first with that entertainment setup. The female comedian had the most repeated routine of the three. The ship lacks a decent size lounge for just about any entertainment venue. The atrium is way too small, but centrally located so it draws attention to passerby's. I still say they need to eliminate some pay restaurants and make a decent size lounge. We missed having a different theater show nightly also.

[foxjim1]

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We are on the Getaway on Feb 04/18 and have a 12:40 am return flight from FLL to Toronto so we would appreciate a little more detail on the Disembarkation please. Where did you guys get in the line up to do the self walk off? Did the customer service desk advise you as to the location and best time? We feel *am is very reasonable as getting off the Celebrity summit in San Juan always required us to be at the exit at 7am!

 

Disembarkation - We had a 12:10 flight to Toronto and we read ahead of time about the long lines so we decided to do the self walk off. We didn't bother with the buffet that morning knowing it was going to be stupid busy so we just ate at the airport. Being Canadian we could go in either the US or "other" passport line. We chose US because it was right there. In hindsight I think the "other" passport line was shorter. Overall we were in line just after 8 and off the ship just before 9. The delay with walking off the ship is due to the escalator in the terminal. They stop the line every 20 people or so to allow for the escalator to clear. Customs was nothing; just flashed out passport and was waved through.

[ripjerry95]

Thanks for your review. I have sailed the sister Breakaway and going back in October. I understand your comments. That style of cruising isn't for everyone.

[SquishTheWhale]

Oh what a shame you didn't enjoy Maya Chan- we are booked for October so I read the tripadvisor reviews every now and then and it seems like the seagrass is especially bad at the moment. Others mentioned that the Maya Chan staff at the pier warned them about the seagrass and offered them a refund- did they not do this for you? I think you should contact them about the broken lounger and the bathroom as it really seems they care about the place and that people have a good time. I'm sure they would want to fix it.

[Shawnino]

Useful, even handed review. Thanks so much for taking the time to do it.

[lvcrzn]

Thank you for your review. Yes, I can agree that "free style" does not resonate well with many first time NCL cruisers if not aware of the many pre cruise reservations needed. (Ironically I just yesterday had this conversation with my DD). I've cruised many lines and multiple times with NCL, and have had to take quite a bit of jabs from my family for all the preparation I do for the cruise. While I've not seen Burn the Floor (but will on our next cruise), I did see Million Dollar Quartet on the Escape and thought it very entertaining. I wish you had. Sometimes these experiences can negate some of the less entertaining venues. I've recently cruised another line (with all the animated film characters). I could not pre reserve the entertainment venues and therefore waited in line for almost an hour in order to get seats in the theatre. As the ships (Oceanliners) are getting bigger and thousands more passengers per ship this has (in my experience) become the new norm. Cruisers don't seem to have this situation on the smaller ships I'm told however I love the the large ships with the many dinning and lounges choices, hence....I do my homework. Concierge bookings, Haven and also some Suites will often have special sailing amenities. Again, thank you for your straight forward review. I hope this did not discourage you from enjoying other cruises.