JKSWonder

I did a search, but couldn't find the answer.

When we cruised Getaway two years ago, husband and I had the free beverage package as a promo. This included the soda package for our two children.

We are cruising Escape in three weeks. Is it still policy to give the soda package to the children sailing in the same stateroom with the adults that have the free beverage package promo?

Hi, was this in a regular cabin? I have read about free movies in suites so I thought we wouldn't have them in our balcony cabin. Nice if we do!

We had a balcony cabin. The only channel on the tv other than news channels or the ship channel, was something called "Favorite Movies", that played back to back movies all day. A few different movies played - things like Cinderella, Fast and Furious 7, - movies that came out last year and are probably available on cable channels now.

It was a customs issue for sure and I can't blame the Getaway staff for that. However, I can blame them for the chaos of the lines inside the ship and for calling colors before it was realistic for the next group to actually join the line. At times, the lines looped around the 7th floor multiple times and then ended up going no where. They did not seem to have enough staff directing people to the right line. When it was our turn to join the line I asked two separate staff persons who were staffing the line where we should go, where was the end of the line and neither one could tell me.

We had an awesome cruise. The debarkation process was the only drawback for us.

They played Star Wars Episode 7 in 3D one night in the Getaway Theatre.

I know they played Big Hero 6 and E.T. at Spice H20.

In the Atrium during the day they played Moneyball and I think The Walk.

Those are the ones I remember.

Thank you for the review. April will be our first time with NCL and we are also staying in a Family Oceanview. There are five of us - me, my husband, our two kids, and my extremely tiny mother (she's shorter than my 10 year old). At this point, the plan is for Mom and my daughter to share the couch bed. If my kids and my mom weren't all so small, I might not attempt five in a room, but its nice to hear the balcony rooms aren't that much bigger really.

Harvest Caye excursions not appearing for the April 24th Getaway sailing either. There were three listed there last week and now nothing.

I guess I'm off to research excursions out of Belize City. Any ideas?

Great review with terrific pictures.

Sakari is such a brave little thing! I wish my kids had even just an ounce of her daring. My son is outgoing, but cautious. And my daughter is so shy she barely speaks. I have to cajole everyone into trying new stuff and dancing with me once in a while. Sakari's got one thing in common with my daughter though - the drawing. We can't go anywhere without sketchpads and pencils because Allison draws constantly.

I've been reading all your review for research since we've never sailed NCL before and our first cruise on the Getaway is coming up in April. So far I have flights booked to FLL, Hyatt Place at FLL, the MGS transportation to and from the port. Little French Key and Nachi Cocum. Still not sure about Belize, mostly because Harvest Caye construction finishing is still up in the air.

Such a great review with terrific pictures.

I now can say the following with absolute certainty:

1. My family will not starve on NCL

2. They will not be bored on NCL

3. They will be perfectly happy with the oceanview room I've booked us into (we've only had balconies on DCL).

4. I will have to try and figure out how to convince my Mom that despite all she has read and heard, there isn't actually a casino on NCL. I will never be able to get her out of there.

I've been slowly reading your reviews, one by one and I love them. Such great details and photos (Plus, freaking funny sometimes!)

We are sailing NCL for the first time in April 2016 on the Getaway. I'm definitely planning on going back to read your review of that more carefully, especially where you talk about where you stayed the night before the cruise and was transportation you used from Fort Lauderdale to get to the port in Miami. Flying into FLL would be much easier for us.

I thought I was a planner, but I'm nothing compared to you! I might use some of those organizational tips.

Thank you so much for this review. My son just turned 9. He is also on the spectrum, Asperger's. I was worried about how NCL kids cubs would compare to DCL, but it sounds like it worked out well for your son. Typically, my son does much, much better with structure so NCL activities might be well suited to him.

We booked the 5 person OV on the Getaway for April 24, 2016. However, when I went back sometime after to check and see if the price had gone down, it was showing no availability for these staterooms that fit five.

I assumed they might have been sold out. There didn't appear to be a great many of them and with the Friends and Family Free, the 3 through 5 passengers in the stateroom were free, making it a pretty great deal. Add to that the free choice promotion and it practically turned into a steal.

That week of April is spring break week for us. Normally here in NY spring break is always the week attached to Easter. With Easter being early next year, our district opted to move it to the last week of April. I'm wondering if other districts in the north east may have also done the same, increasing demand for that particular week.

We stayed on the Getaway in a family ocean view on deck 5. It was fantastic. I was a little worried also that it would be so far down. No problems at all.

 

The cabin was big and beautiful being a family one. That bathroom was bigger than any i've seen with a full sized bathtub.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to stay in one again on deck 5.

Thank you for this! We are booked on the Getaway, our first NCL cruise in a deck 5 family OV. You just made me feel much better about that choice.

The daily "DSC" (equal to gratuities on DCL) was raised from $12 per person per day to $12.95 for mini-suites and lower. The charge for suites was raised to $14.95 per person per day. This daily per-person fee replaces the array of tips for your stateroom steward, drink server, assistant waiter, waiter and matri'd on DCL. DCL recommends you pay $84 per person for these tips on a 7 day cruise, which works out to $12 per day. This is a change fleet-wide.

 

The auto-gratuity on alcoholic drinks was raised from 15% to 18%. DCL still has these at 15%. This is a change fleet-wide.

 

The specialty restaurants, similar to Palo on DCL, instituted a gratuity of 18% of the cover charge for eating there. They charge from $15 to $30 per person. I also tipped much more than 18% of the cover charge, basing my tip amount on what the meal would have cost on land, so this change benefits me. This change is fleet-wide.

 

NCL has a $5 fee for delivering pizza to the cabin (this has been in place quite a while.) NCL is testing a room service fee "up to" $7.95 per order for room service except for continental breakfast items (coffee, muffins, etc.) at breakfast time. Currently, this fee is being tested on two ships, the Getaway and the Breakaway, and has not been rolled out fleet-wide.

 

The fare you pay on NCL is likely to be hundreds of dollars less than DCL, so the increase in these fees are not likely to be significant for you. Except for the DSC increase, you can avoid all of them if you like. The 3 points extra on a drink means instead of paying an outrageous $10.15 for a drink that should cost $8 on land you will be paying $10.18.

Thanks for laying this out. I also have only cruised on Disney, 4 times, and wasn't quite sure if the additional fees being discussed were something vastly different then what I have already been used to.

We are booked for the Getaway for April 2016. The same or similiar itinerary on DCL would cost us about $4500 more than what we are paying on NCL (Free friends and family promo, so no charge for our kids!). Additionally, DCL never has anything like a UBP or UDP promotion offer. Our bar bill typically runs us a few hundred dollars by the end of each DCL cruise. So, the free UBP we received with our booking is extremely significant for us.

The room service fee, while annoying, would not be noticed by us. All we ever order is coffee and pastries anyway, which, so far at least, they aren't charging for. Yet.

I always upped the tips to the bartender, from 15% to 18% or 20% if the service was good, so an extra 3% on drinks would not be a problem. And since we have the free UBP, its really not going to be a problem since the 18% is included with the promo!

So, unless something outrageous is significantly increased, I can't see canceling our NCL 2016 cruise. I at least want to see what its all about first.

Great, thank you both!

And yes, I will warn her about the juice! :)

Sorry if this has been asked, but I've searched every UBP thread and I can't find the answer. We booked the Getaway for April 2016 with the friends and family free promotion and the freestyle choice of the UBP. In the cabin (which fits five) is me, my husband, my mother, and our two children, 15 and 10. My mother and both of my kids were free (except for taxes, port fees for each).

The UBP info however on NCL's site says first two guests in the stateroom have the UBP free, and the third and the fourth have the soda package free. My question is about the fifth passenger in the stateroom. Do they also have the soda package free? This doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere on NCL's site, perhaps because so few staterooms on board actually fit five people?

My mom does not drink alcohol at all, but she does drink a crazy amount of juice and soda. If I have to purchase a soda package for her, that's o.k., but I wouldn't want to have to purchase a useless UBP for her just because she is in the stateroom and over 21.

Thanks for any info.

Thank you for this amazing review. This has been extremely helpful for me. I just booked the Getaway for April 2016. We have only ever been on DCL, but my children will be older by then and I thought it was time to try out a new cruise line. Your review is definitely making me feel better about my choice. I think they will be happy with all of the available options for things to do and places to eat. Plus, it looks beautiful too.

Thank you so much for this review! We will be sailing on the Getaway, our first cruise with Norwegian, in April 2016. I just copied and pasted your tips into a word doc I'm compiling to help me with the planning. Very helpful stuff there.