Very delayed Getaway March 5-12, 2017 review

Thanks go to all that post on the NCL board, your participation has made my cruising experiences better.

My husband and I cruised on the Getaway March 5th out of Miami. We drove to the port from Jupiter, FL and used port parking $140 for the week. Easy and convenient and well worth the money.

We were at the port at 9:30 am and about 40 back in line for security which did not open until 10am. Once security did open at 10am it took less than 10 minutes to clear and we went to check in. We booked through CAS and we were the first guests they received at their counter. We followed the crowds and received boarding pass #2.

We waited in very comfy chairs, they offered water/coffee/juice, until 11:20 or so and they started calling boarding numbers.

Once we boarded we went straight to guest services and got Vibe passes $99. each. The guest services rep said there were only 17 left after ours because of back to back cruisers and Haven guests getting a big chunk of the passes this cruise. We loved Vibe - very peaceful and relaxing and if cruising with my husband I would purchase again. We enjoyed the hot tubs, the relaxing and reading under an umbrella and the staff was quite nice.

We booked balcony cabin 8168, the bed is near the balcony in this cabin. The room was beautifully appointed and there is ample storage for everything but no drawers except the ones under the sofa. We took Cruiseguys2009 advice and got fold-able cubes for our smaller items and it worked perfectly.

We had lunch in the main dining room and then went to check out Vibe and have a drink. We got the announcement that the cabins were ready so we went down to check out our home for the next 7 nights.

The room did look ready and two of our three bags was there so we decided to stow a few items. To my dismay the previous cruiser had stowed their breakfast in the cabinets under the TV along with their Freestyle dailies and our room steward Eustaquio must have missed looking in the cabinet. I called his number but it went to a machine so I called the main housekeeping line to ask they remove the half eaten food from the cabinet. Less than an hour passed and the manager for that area of the ship arrived and took the food and apologized and said our steward was busy but he would take care of everything, no problem for us we started getting in to our suits to go to Vibe and he returned and disinfected the cabinet and left. Problem was solved, no worries or so we thought. Everyday guest services called leaving a message for us to call back to discus our issue, on the third day I returned the call told them the issue was resolved and to please stop calling. I think we met our room steward day 4, he was nice and he did his job and we did not see him much after that.

More to come... and as soon as I figure out how to get jpg files to load I have pictures of all the dailys and specialty restaurant menus.

Was also on this cruise 10184. following. Thought it was a great cruise.

I was on that cruise also. Had a good time even though the first day weather was a little rough and not stopping in Belize due to currents and wind. I had a nice room(Spa Balcony) and Vibe. I only a few issues, one being that excursion tickets were not sent to my cabin so I had to go to the desk each time to get them and also they forgot or deleted by meal package for the week. I had chosen a 5 meal package and when I went to use it I was charged, went to guest services and they had no record so I basically did main dining rooms the entire week. Once I returned back home I call NCL and once they investigated they credited the cost back to me. I will now double check everything before boarding in case anything has been left out.

Following along :)

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Thanks for the info :cool:

Thank you so much for the info. I was just assigned that cabin (8168) as a GTY assignment for the 4/2/17 sailing. This makes me happy. - Jeff

Sorry for the delay getting back to the review.

We booked this cruise for relaxation and not the destinations so we had only booked one excursion for Roatan. We snorkeled with dolphins at Anthonys Key Resort, it was nice and I now I can say I did it but it was not an experience I yearn to repeat. We missed seeing Harvest Key due to the wind, the Captain could not get the ship to the pier, he tried for an hour and called it quits. We had an extra sea day which was fine with us and the shipped made a new daily since they needed to occupy a whole ship full of people that were not not going to shore.

Food is subjective so I will say this, we put on a few pounds and never left the table saying it was a bad meal. We only ate at the main dining rooms, O'Sheehans, the Noodle bar or the Sushi bar which is an a la carte experience. We had tried the specialty dining on other ships and it did not knock are socks off enough to want to pay to try them again. The main dining menus no longer has the a la carte pricing for premium meals.

The service level and positive attitude of the staff in every venue we tried on this ship was top notch. And cruising out of Miami had us sailing with some fantastic fellow cruisers, the atmosphere was uplifting and everyone seemed happy.

More to come and I am now trying to resize pictures to post. Anybody with experience please chime in on the easiest way to share pictures. thanks

My wife and I and some friends were on this cruise also. Was a great time! The crew was excellent and other than a bit of wind, the weather was perfect. The Vibe is the only way to go if you can't afford the Haven. Longest I waited for a drink was about 30 seconds. Bartender Desiral (sp) and waiter Hector are the best!

Funny story:

When I got to my home airport I got recognized by someone that was also on the cruise, as I was on the cruise ship TV most of the week having been on one of the game shows. Glad my 15 minutes of "fame" are over. Time to plan the next one!

Following

Thank you for your review. I am leaving May 13th on the Norwegian Escape.It has the same ports of call so I hope when (or if) you post the freestyle dailies the activities match up just so we know what to expect.

Sorry for the delay getting back to the review.

 

We booked this cruise for relaxation and not the destinations so we had only booked one excursion for Roatan. We snorkeled with dolphins at Anthonys Key Resort, it was nice and I now I can say I did it but it was not an experience I yearn to repeat. We missed seeing Harvest Key due to the wind, the Captain could not get the ship to the pier, he tried for an hour and called it quits. We had an extra sea day which was fine with us and the shipped made a new daily since they needed to occupy a whole ship full of people that were not not going to shore.

 

 

 

That is amazing they were able to whip up a whole day of stuff to do.

I was on that cruise also. Had a good time even though the first day weather was a little rough and not stopping in Belize due to currents and wind. I had a nice room(Spa Balcony) and Vibe. I only a few issues, one being that excursion tickets were not sent to my cabin so I had to go to the desk each time to get them and also they forgot or deleted by meal package for the week. I had chosen a 5 meal package and when I went to use it I was charged, went to guest services and they had no record so I basically did main dining rooms the entire week. Once I returned back home I call NCL and once they investigated they credited the cost back to me. I will now double check everything before boarding in case anything has been left out.

Sorry that happened to you, that is one reason I always print out everything and take it with us to prove what we booked with

We are leaving Sunday on a TA with Friends, first time for us on the Gateway but not first time with NCL

Marion