Getaway July 29 - August 5th Review

My family of 4 just returned from a great week on the Getaway. Overall it was a great cruise. We had 2 cabins on deck 11, a balcony (#11108) and an inside (11401). The rooms were great and right across from each other. The balcony room was larger than expected and both rooms had larger bathrooms with a nice size shower. Our rooms were always clean and we got towel animals each night.

The food was good. We ate in the main dining rooms 4 nights and we also ate at Ocean Blue, Cagneys, and Le Bistro. Cagney's was very good. Ocean Blue was ok, it was not worth the upcharge. We had the crab leg appetizer and it was 1 1/2 legs. My kids enjoyed the lobster they had there. The best meal of the cruise was at Le Bistro. I had beef tenderloin and it was delicious, best I have ever had. Food in the main dining room was good but nothing special. All three dining rooms serve the same menu each night. They have their 4-5 dishes they have each night and they also 4-5 different items each night. The selection wasn't huge and we didn't care for the appetizers or the desserts that much. On a cruise ship, I would think the desserts were better.

The ports were great with the exception of Belize. We opted to take the ferry over from Harvest Caye to Plecencia. I had heard this town had great restaurants, shops and beaches. The town was very run down and the beaches were covered in garbage. We didn't let the kids in the water because of all the trash floating in the water and on the beach. I don't know if we should have went somewhere else in Belize, but this was not a nice place. We went back over to Harvest Caye and swam in the very busy swimming pool. The beach at Harvest Caye was not very nice either, the water was very murky and the beach was crushed shells (I think it was man made).

I can only think of a few negative things about the ship/cruise. First off and this is probably petty, it was extremely difficult to find a trash can on the deck anywhere other than the buffets and pool area. You really had to search to find a trash can. The thing that was a major downfall for us and would cause we to not cruise this specific ship again was the pool situation. My kids are 11 and 15. The main pool on the Getaway is adults only. The kid pool is over by the slides and is very small and crowded. My husband and I did go to the adult pool one day and there was not one person swimming in it, they were all sitting around it drinking with their feet in the pool. They should let the kids in the big pool to swim and make the adults soak their feet in the little pool. There are places on the ship that they could easily put in another pool and make it adult only. It was frustrating for us because we enjoy lounging at the pool while the kids swim and we could not do that. This also made the 2 at sea days extremely long and boring for us. There are activities, but nothing to keep you busy all day and night.

If anyone has any questions, fire away.

Did your kids use the youth clubs if so did they like it. How about the ropes course or walk the plank our 11 year old is really interested in those features.

We did not use the kids clubs. My 11 year old did the ropes course and walked the plank a few times. If it gets too windy they shut it down. During the first day at sea they had photographers up on the course taking photos of them on the plank and on the zip line.