My Getaway review - Feb 28 - Mar 7. Focus on VIBE, UBP and cabin 8176

[MrBrando]

Hello Everyone! This was my 3rd cruise, my first being with Princess, second Carnival, and now on the fabulous Norwegian Getaway. I traveled with my wife, we are in our early 30s and we LOVE to travel! There are so many great reviews in this forum about this ship, lots with great photos of pretty much everything you would need to see. That being said, I felt that it wouldn't be necessary for me to re-post a bunch of the same style of photos, so this review will be photo-free, but if I can elaborate on anything, please feel free to ask me! I am going to focus a bit more on the Vibe Beach Club, our cabin 8176, and the UBP ( Unlimited Beverage Package ) since these were the 3 main things that I wanted to know about before we booked our cruise. I will briefly touch on my personal experience with the food and ports of call, and any other smaller details that I came across. If you are foodie, there are some great reviews elsewhere on Cruise Critic that will most definitely be of more assistance to you in that department. I hope you find my review helpful!

 

GETTING TO MIAMI

 

Aside from the random snow storm at Dallas/Ft. Worth the day before, which caused absolute CHAOS there, we made it to our hotel, the Days Inn Miami North, around 330am on the day of Embarkation. I am glad we decided to leave home a full day before we sailed away. Had we decided to take a red eye out of Vancouver, we would have missed the cruise as a lot of flights leaving Dallas were cancelled the following day. The hotel was pretty much a place to sleep for a few hours, and it did the job. Nothing fancy, average rooms. If all you are looking for is a place to get some sleep before heading to port the next morning, than this hotel is perfect. Efficient and free shuttle service from airport to hotel, and hotel to port. No problems at all.

 

EMBARKATION DAY

 

Our shuttle got us to the port by 10am. A quick 20 min drive. NCL asks that you don't show up to port earlier than 1 hour before embarkation time ( 12 noon ), however I read a lot of people saying that if you wanted VIBE passes, to get to the port by 10am in hopes that you would be in an early boarding group to purchases the passes ( limited availability ). I'll speak on VIBE a bit later, but for now, we made it into Boarding group 7, which was great. We had no problem getting our VIBE passes ( go to guest services on deck 6 mid-ship ). There was only 1 lady in front of me purchasing her VIBE pass. Security was a breeze at port, staff was pleasant. The port of Miami, in my opinion, is very well organized and makes getting on your ship a very pleasant way to start your vacation.

 

Once we got on board, my wife and I decided to tour the ship a little while the herds of people rushed to get food at O'Sheehans and the Garden Cafe. We made sure to have a light breakfast beforehand so we wouldn't be starving once we boarded the ship. I strongly recommend doing this, any ship I have been on is always madness in the restaurants during the first couple hours of boarding. Take this opportunity to familiarize yourself with the ship while it is relatively quiet. I felt like a pro navigating my way around the ship after 30-45 mins of exploring. By the time we made it to O'Sheehans for a snack, the crowds had settled down a bit, lots of people were now wandering the decks while waiting for the cabins to become available. My plan worked perfectly!! :)

 

CABIN 8176 - PORT SIDE ( Left )

 

Rooms were ready around 130pm, and our room was in a perfect location. Deck 8 mid-ship balcony room, super close to elevators, easy access to the waterfront which is also on deck 8, and 90% of all the restaurants and bars. Ocean view was great. No life boats or anything obstructing the views. A lot of people were commenting on the size of the balconies for the regular balcony rooms, saying they were super small. It all depends on what you want your balcony for. If you are like us, and just wanted a balcony to stand on or sit down on while you enjoy a light snack and/or a glass of wine or coffee while watching sunrises/sunsets, than the balcony size was perfect. 2 chairs, a little table, and enough leg room for 2 average sized people. If you want a balcony for lounging on, sun tanning, having dinner on, then I would go for one of the larger balcony rooms. For us, the balcony wasn't going to be a place where we would spend a ton of time. There are plenty of areas on this ship for you to really enjoy the outdoor spaces. This cabin had the bed closest to the balcony, which made the room feel quite large actually. There was tons of storage space, lots of hangers, the bathroom was very functional and provided more than enough room for 1 person at a time to get ready, while the other person could use the main cabin area for getting ready. As for cabin noise, aside from the neighbors slamming their doors and a bit of noise bleeding in from the hallways, it wasn't bad at all and was quiet at night which was most important at that time anyway! All in all, this cabin was great and provided everything we needed. I would stay in this cabin again! Our room steward Agnelo was friendly and kept our room clean and always stocked with what we needed. We aren't very demanding guests, and he definitely picked up on that and kept things simple and efficient for us.

 

VIBE BEACH CLUB

 

Ok, so I was skeptical about purchasing the VIBE week pass. I had read some reviews that it wasn't worth the extra $79pp for the week, that it gets too windy, cabanas get too hot.....Let me set the record straight for all to see! GET THE VIBE WEEK PASS! It is worth every penny. I will list some reasons that you may want to consider purchasing this pass for. Chairs on the main deck around the main pool will fill up by 9am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later. The adults only area Spice H20 on deck 16 aft will also fill by around 9-10am. Spice is a great place to hang out for sure, and it has a great waterfall feature for cooling off in ( no pool at Spice ). No matter what people say on here, there are chair hogs on this ship as there are on any ship. So, if you are an early riser and are ok with the crowds and loud music while you get your tan on, than VIBE isn't for you. If you want the luxury of choice, sleeping in a bit, not rushing to find a nice spot by a certain time of day, if you want to know that you will always have a great place to go to relax, with your own private bar, with lounge chairs with comfy padding, giant padded beds for tanning on, 2 hot tubs that are NEVER full......than you need VIBE. I am so glad we decided to purchase the week pass. We spent one day at Spice H20 which was great, but the rest of our time with the sun was spent in VIBE. Always chairs available, and the hot tubs were great, especially at night for watching sunsets, as they are located right on the edge of the deck, nothing but clear views of the water and sky. ( you wont get the same views from the EXTREMELY crowded hot tubs around the main pool ). Cabanas were available for 299/week. Personally, I would say forget about the cabanas. Too much money in my opinion. Everything else VIBE offers is more than enough. ***VIBE TIP** There is a lady on the Getaway, I can't remember her name, but she has been on the ship since November as a guest. Must be very rich!! An older lady, very in shape, with a killer tan, very friendly. She is always in VIBE, and said she will be on the ship until April. She has some great advice for places to eat and things to do at the ports, so make sure you look for her! Also, contrary to what people may tell you, they will offer day passes for the VIBE beach club, but you would have to check with guest services on a day to day basis to see availability. They obviously want you to purchase the week pass, but if you are thinking maybe only a day or 2 at VIBE is up your alley, just check with guest services nice and early in the morning. This also goes for the Thermal Spa pass. I did not use the spa but I inquired about day passes, as we weren't interested in the weekly pass to the spa.

 

UBP ( Unlimited Beverage Package ) and some of my favorite drinking spots.

 

Plain and simple. Do you like to drink? Get the package. Worth every penny. 95% of premium alcohol is included in this package. I only found a handful of drinks ( aside from some wine ) that were above the $11 per drink allowance. 15% gratuity is included as well. You will get a bill for every drink you purchase but they will all be removed at the end of the cruise. If you tip on top of the 15%, than obviously that amount will stay charged to your personal account.

 

FAV DRINKING SPOTS - Sugarcane Mojito Bar, especially the waterfront side. Damond the bartender is great. Met lots of nice people while sitting at this bar.

 

Sunset bar, also has a waterfront side. Great views, great conversations.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

We only did a couple things that were offered for entertainment, so my review isn't the most complete in this department.

 

Headliners is where they have the Howl at the Moon Dueling Piano guys.......in my opinion, the best entertainment on the ship. Super funny guys who will play 95% of your requests and sometimes put a funny twist on them. After 11pm is not recommended for minors!

 

Illusionarium was, to my surprise, very good! Some really cool magic tricks and illusions. I even got pulled up on stage to have my "head chopped off!" This would be a really good thing to bring kids to.

 

Grammy Experience. Top notch musicianship. I am also a seasoned touring musician ( retired from the road now! ) All the players were fantastic, especially the lady on the 6 string bass. Sick groove!

 

DINING

 

We ate mostly at the Garden Cafe, Cagneys, and La Cucina, so I will only comment on these 3 areas.

 

Garden Cafe - loved the buffet, no matter what time of day. Huge selection, great flavors in a majority of the dishes. I honestly could have been happy eating here the entire week.

 

Cagneys Steak House ( cover charge applies ) - Fantastic. I had the 18oz bone in Rib Eye, wife had the Filet Mignon. Perfectly cooked, delicious bernaisse on the side. Awesomeness in my mouth. :) Oreo cheesecake for dessert to top it off. Enter the food coma.

 

La Cucina. I dined alone that night as my wife had a bit of sea sickness ( don't worry, the boat isn't very rocky, she has always been prone to motion sickness ). I had the Lasagna and then I melted into pool of delicious bliss. It was phenomenal. I brought a plate of the gnocchi and pork back to the room for my wife, and it was equally as good.

 

PORTS

 

St. Maarten - we are beach lovers, so no excursions for us here. Easily found a cab to take us to Orient Beach, I think it was $6 per person. Super cheap. Rented a couple chairs and umbrella at Kontiki for $20. There was free wifi to use on the beach which was great, I could catch up on some work emails with a beer in hand. Found a cool little beach bar with some fellow Canadians working at. Its called the Aloha Beach Bar. Best bartender I have ever seen, her name is Natalie. They have some interesting decorations there, since this is a family friendly site I will just say you have to go there to see it for yourself!

 

St. Thomas - again, we didn't do any organized excursions here. A friend of mine works on Royal Caribbean as a dancer, and she told me about Morning Star beach, which is where a lot of crew go on port days. Not crowded like Maegan Bay, but just as gorgeous! Some good surf to play in, cool little restaurant with wifi, beautiful sand. Only $3pp in a cab, 10-15 mins from port so nice and close. Bring your own towelsfrom the ship, and you can rent chairs for $10.

 

Nassau - This was our first time here, so of course we went to Atlantis, which I'm glad we did. It was super fun, felt like little kids again going on all the waterslides. Lots of walking involved here, which was probably a good thing for helping shed some extra cruise weight gained throughout the week! Everyone we spoke to said to do Atlantis at least once. I would do it again!

 

SUMMARY

 

I would do this cruise again in a heart beat. It had a perfect balance of activity, relaxation, excellent food, great ports, and great entertainment. The term "Freestyle Cruising" is exactly that, and we loved it. I would recommend this cruise for first time cruisers who are usually accustomed to all inclusive land based vacations, who are looking to try something different. Another thing I should touch base on is the cleanliness of this ship. Immaculate. Staff were always cleaning something. The eating areas were kept extremely clean. They really take pride in keeping this ship looking brand new and providing their guests with a safe and clean environment.

 

The most important thing, I feel, with any vacation, but especially with cruising, is to do your research. Plan your cruise ahead of time, book your excursions ahead of time, so when you get on the boat you can get right to relaxing. A lot of cruisers don't do this and stress out with trying to book things last minute, then get upset when they aren't available. I hope this review has helped answer some of your questions, and as I said before, please feel free to ask me anything else on your mind and I will do my best to help. Cheers!

Edited March 10, 2015 by MrBrando

[Sxxacy]

Thanks for the review! We are an early 30's couple as well about to board that ship in a few weeks with the UBP as well! :)

[MrBrando]

Thanks for the review! We are an early 30's couple as well about to board that ship in a few weeks with the UBP as well! :)

 

You will have a blast. Its such a fun ship! Enjoy your vacation!

[rudy436]

Great review!! We are leaving in about a month and couldn't be more excited to experience our first NCL cruise on Getaway. I've noticed a lot of feedback on wait times at bars for drinks, did you happen to have a similar experience?

[Niquein99]

Thank you for this review. It was very helpful! I was on the fence about getting a Vibe pass, but now you've convinced me to try it out. :D As per my countdown clock, we leave for the Getaway in 80 days; our first NCL cruise. Can't wait!!

[rochelle_s]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time. I was on the Getaway last September with my 20 something daughter and we both had a wonderful time. It is a ship that is great for all ages.

 

 

Rochelle

[MrBrando]

Great review!! We are leaving in about a month and couldn't be more excited to experience our first NCL cruise on Getaway. I've noticed a lot of feedback on wait times at bars for drinks, did you happen to have a similar experience?

 

The bars were busy, yes, but I never experienced extremely long wait times. I always find a couple bartenders that I like on the first day, tip them well right away, not at the end of the cruise, and they remember you and usually prioritize your drinks when they see you. The bar in the VIBE area is rarely busy and I always got drinks right away when I was in the VIBE.

[legion3]

Didn't I read somewhere that while vibe cabanas were 299 they gave you 100 obc in return?

 

If so that really makes it 199 and thus 41 more than 79 x 2

 

I could be wrong but thought i read that

Edited March 10, 2015 by legion3

[two-of-us]

Although we are beyond 30 really enjoyed your review. Don't think age makes any difference as we are all doing this for one reason and that is to have fun. Our first cruise ever is in Oct. on Getaway and we are very excited. Don't know if we can wait that long but guess we have to. We will continue to do our research. Thanks again.

[david_sobe]

Welcome back and thanks for the review. The head chopping part is funny.

[LeahH]

Awesome review! I didn't think I was missing out on Vibe but now you've got me reconsidering it! Thanks for sharing!

[Carnac767]

Thanks for the review. Enjoyed it.

[bradleyk]

Awesome review! I just added Morningstar Beach to my favorites so I remember it when we sail in October. Also I have been like you and going back and forth about the Vibe. Thanks for confirming my thoughts about it......

 

One question about Morningstar though..... I assume you got dropped ff by a cab at the Marriott, do they have a restaurant and bar close to the beach that we could have lunch and by drinks?

Edited March 11, 2015 by bradleyk

[MrBrando]

Awesome review! I just added Morningstar Beach to my favorites so I remember it when we sail in October. Also I have been like you and going back and forth about the Vibe. Thanks for confirming my thoughts about it......

 

One question about Morningstar though..... I assume you got dropped ff by a cab at the Marriott, do they have a restaurant and bar close to the beach that we could have lunch and by drinks?

 

Yes, there is a bar and restaurant right on the beach! its a bit pricey but its there for convenience at least!

[MrBrando]

Didn't I read somewhere that while vibe cabanas were 299 they gave you 100 obc in return?

 

If so that really makes it 199 and thus 41 more than 79 x 2

 

I could be wrong but thought i read that

 

You are correct with all of that, I just personally didn't think the cabana was worth it with everything else the VIBE already had to offer...and limited sun in the cabanas, but if staying out of the sun for the most part is something that is important to you, than I suppose the cabana may be worth it!

[kpms]

Great to hear of another Vancouveritte enjoying the Getaway.

[elizamar]

You are correct with all of that, I just personally didn't think the cabana was worth it with everything else the VIBE already had to offer...and limited sun in the cabanas, but if staying out of the sun for the most part is something that is important to you, than I suppose the cabana may be worth it!

 

 

Do you know if the cabanas were sold out when you bought your Vibe passes?

[olsens5]

Excellent review! Our family hops on board in 2 days, wooohoooo! I think I read somewhere that Vibe is only for 18 yo and up? Works for 4 of us but our daughter doesn't turn 18yo til May, ugh!

We have midship balcony starboard side 9872 over The Waterfront. Did you have any problems with overbearing smoke smell from casino? I don't mind some but some reviewers say its awful? Can't wait to sail away on the Getaway!

[rolyasmatt]

Awesome review! I just added Morningstar Beach to my favorites so I remember it when we sail in October. Also I have been like you and going back and forth about the Vibe. Thanks for confirming my thoughts about it......

 

One question about Morningstar though..... I assume you got dropped ff by a cab at the Marriott, do they have a restaurant and bar close to the beach that we could have lunch and by drinks?

 

 

Maegans bay trumps Morningstar at the Marriott. I stayed at that Marriott and been to both beaches. Yes maegans bay was busy when a cruise came in, but it's one of the most beautiful places I have been.

 

Morningstar is just a regular beach at a hotel in comparison.

[legion3]

You are correct with all of that, I just personally didn't think the cabana was worth it with everything else the VIBE already had to offer...and limited sun in the cabanas, but if staying out of the sun for the most part is something that is important to you, than I suppose the cabana may be worth it!

 

Sun isn't something I seek as I live in florida and get plenty of sun as it is. So a cabana might be interesting but we did book an m6 with large balcony so the cabana probably will be redundant.

[MrBrando]

Do you know if the cabanas were sold out when you bought your Vibe passes?

 

there were still 4 available when we bought our VIBE pass

[Kruizin'Kath]

Thanks for the review! We can't wait!

[MrBrando]

Excellent review! Our family hops on board in 2 days, wooohoooo! I think I read somewhere that Vibe is only for 18 yo and up? Works for 4 of us but our daughter doesn't turn 18yo til May, ugh!

We have midship balcony starboard side 9872 over The Waterfront. Did you have any problems with overbearing smoke smell from casino? I don't mind some but some reviewers say its awful? Can't wait to sail away on the Getaway!

 

the only time the smoke bothered me was while walking through the casino. Other than that it wasn't bad at all in my opinion.