Norwegian Getaway Vs. Celebrity Eclipse

[Smiley7863]

Trying to decide between the Getaway, or the Eclipse. My final decision is down to the entertainment factor. I heard the the Getaway has some really good shows and entertainment. Does anybody have reviews on the entertainment/shows on the Eclipse?

 

I am 52, but do not want to be bored on the ship. I like a little quiet, but like fun also. :)

Edited April 19, 2015 by Smiley7863

[A Sixth?]

I would love to do the Getaway.

 

That said I would come back to the Eclipse any time.

 

Does that help?

[illiniwahoo]

I have been on Norwegian breakaway, and celebrity silhouette and equinox. So all the same classes that you are looking at. Breakaway wins hands down in entertainment!!! (I still prefer celebrity due to being better at pretty much everything else by my scorecard) but if your decision Is on entertainment, there is no contest. Ncl new ships win!

[cpj]

It's a no brainier as far as my opinion. NCL has the way better shows. Also if u get the ultimate dining package you can eat in a specialty restaurant every night for a fair price. celebrity specialty restaurants are way over priced. Also NCL has the comedy clubs anew howl at the moon piano shows. They also have the best casino program at sea.

[Smiley7863]

Thanks for all the help. I am still up in the air since there are a lot of pros and cons to each ship. I will make my mind up soon....lol

[Ruthk]

This year, at the end of Jan. we sailed the Getaway for a week and then immediately went on the eclipse for the whole month of Feb.

 

I must add that this was our first NCL cruise and didn't know what we were in for, but were expecting the worst. Boy, were we wrong. We had so much fun on the NCL ship, there was so much to do, we were like two kids in camp. We received a dining package of 3 restaurants and all three were very good. We found all the food good. Celebrity does have a better buffet and I like the celebrity food stations better for quicker traffic flow.

 

The regular balconies on the Getaway are very small but we spent so very little time on our balcony anyway. Getaway sucks for room service compared to Eclipse. Definitely a huge difference in dressing for dinner between both lines.

 

Getaway has wonderful fireworks every Tuesday evening which is their St. Maarten stop. They have lots of fun stuff to watch in their atrium which is the centre of the Getaway. They have dining and dancing also and a great show called Burn The Floor - very high energy salsa kind of dancing. They had the Broadway production Legally Blond - they had tons of things going on.

 

Then we arrived onto the Eclipse (which we sail every year) and a totally different sail. Celebrity, in my opinion, is poor on entertainment. They have really cut back. Can you imagine, a one man steel band! Also when Celebrity use to have a Caribbean Night out by the pool, it was all done up festive - some effort was put into making it a special evening - they would have ice sculptures, palm tree fronds, Caribbean food, and now there is nothing.

 

Much of Celebrity's activities as laid out in the dailies are not activities but a way to sell you something. They have 'restaurant tours' but they are actually only interested in selling you the restaurant packages. A seminar on watches is to sell you a watch.... And on and on.

 

Maybe this will wrap up what I am trying to say. When the Getaway was docked in Nassau, right next to it was docked my favourite ship, Celebrity's Constellation. I was on our balcony admiring and longing to be on the Constellation and there was music from the pool deck of the Getaway. So many people from the Connie were out on their balconies dancing to the Getaways music or swaying to the music. Yep, for entertainment: Getaway, hands down!

 

Whatever you decide - have fun!

[ECCruise]

Have to agree with the rest of the posters. If entertainment is your focus, NCL, and especially Getaway, will win hands down. No real comparison overall, and that is our comment after spending a total of over a month on Eclipse last year.

[gopro63]

Cosmetically or elegant .

[notsomadhatter]

Haven't done the Getaway but have chosen X three times in the last year for the overall experience. Other than Disney I haven't really found the entertainment to be that great on any line. Even Royal Caribbean which is touted as having fantastic production shows has been mediocre in my sailings. I have enjoyed the guest performers on Celebrity on all three of my sailings, more so than other lines, so that's a plus.

 

All of that to say it's simply a criteria that I wouldn't use as my number one determining factor.

 

I typically use these as mine:

 

Food quality

Service quality

Stateroom comfort/storage

Price

Itinerary

Ship design

 

Enjoy your cruise, whatever you choose!

[miched]

We have found that Celebrity is very weak in the entertainment department compare to other lines. Never sailed on NCL but from what I have read their entertainment is better.

 

As others have posted about the daily activities most are nothing more than a sales activity. On our last cruise I pointed this out my wife that by high lighting all of the activities that had a charge or were nothing more than some kind of sales event or promotion and there weren't many left that weren't high lighted.

 

happy cruisng 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[Tiggertastic]

We regularly swap between ncl and celebrity. We've not done the getaway but have done both the breakaway and the epic which are similar and we've been on eclipse 6times

 

Entertainment ncl wins hands down

 

Celebrity main dining room and buffet are better than ncl but the specialty restaurantson ncl are all great and much cheaper than celebrity charge

 

If it's the entertainment that's going to swing it for you, I'd go for getaway

[MrsT3030]

So happy to stumble on this thread. We are choosing between the Eclipse and the Norwegian Eacape so this has more or less made our minds up :)

[TifffanyD]

I haven't done Celebrity yet but NCL is my favorite and a large part of it is due to the entertainment! So much to do! We loved our Getaway sailing and for a special treat you can book a room in the haven and have a private pool, hot tubs sundeck, lounge, and restaurant. It is SO nice!

 

Now y'all are worrying me about celebrity though :/

[Kdamghani]

I haven't done Celebrity yet but NCL is my favorite and a large part of it is due to the entertainment! So much to do! We loved our Getaway sailing and for a special treat you can book a room in the haven and have a private pool, hot tubs sundeck, lounge, and restaurant. It is SO nice!

 

Now y'all are worrying me about celebrity though :/

 

 

I agree, slightly worried about choosing Celebrity... I love RCL, NCL is ok and decided to take my wife on Celebrity in December to try something new.

 

Where does Celebrity win other than the buffets?

[blueboro]

A couple of things are keeping me from trying Breakaway/Getaway. The smoke, from what I have read from passengers, can be overwhelming and seems to permeate a lot of the public areas around the casino. And, they have over 4,000 passengers (double occupancy) compared to 2,800 on Eclipse.

 

Yes, I understand that Getaway is a little larger but they also have a large number of children in the 3rd/4th berth which increases the passenger count significantly over the 4,000 mark. So, if I still had children at home or I could afford the Haven I would do NCL. But otherwise I prefer a more relaxing cruise and making my own entertainment.

[Tiggertastic]

I agree, slightly worried about choosing Celebrity... I love RCL, NCL is ok and decided to take my wife on Celebrity in December to try something new.

 

Where does Celebrity win other than the buffets?

 

 

The eclipse has a beautiful lawn are on the top with big whicker chairs and bar service. Hot glass blowing studio, indoor solarium adults only as well as the outdoor pool area for all ages. There are 3 specialty restaurants where the French does table side flambé. Jazz lounge, iced topped martini bar where they do the throwing off cocktails, great shows. Smoke free casino. Gastronar with fridges full of craft beers with a beer sommelier. Onboard wine sommeliers and wine bar called cellar masters. Cafe Al baccio coffee shop with big comfy chairs. They've got a great sports TV area in the casino with multiple screens, great for the sorts fans.

[Tiggertastic]

Won't let me edit my spelling

 

Gastrobar not gastronar

[tenmile]

I agree, slightly worried about choosing Celebrity... I love RCL, NCL is ok and decided to take my wife on Celebrity in December to try something new.

 

Where does Celebrity win other than the buffets?

 

We took our first cruise on Celebrity this past winter. We have sailed RCL, NCL, HAL, Princess, and Disney, and I have to say that we were really impressed with Celebrity. The entertainment was not as good on Princess and Disney, but the food in the main dining room, the personal service and attitude of the ship's crew, the size of the cabin and comfort of the bed, balcony size, and the layout of the ship were better than all but Disney and HAL, IMHO. We really like the solarium and the smoke free casino on Celebrity. We do not spend time in the casino, but it is nice to have all public areas smoke free. We were impressed enough to book two future cruises on Celebrity. The atmosphere is not as "sophisticated" as on HAL, but you are not "bombarded" with activity announcements all day long or constantly interrupted by pool servers wanting to sell you a drink as we have experienced on our two NCL cruises.

[junetraveler2014]

IMHO can't do NCL ever again...Celebrity all the way!

[Patrick IL.]

Way back our first cruise was on X. The following year we tried NCL, hated it. Hated the freestyle dining most. Seemed if you did not get on the ship and make 7 ressies first thing, you were in for long waits. I feel they did not have enough staff to cover all the different restaurants. We would ask for a table, they would say maybe in an hour or so. We could look in and see it was 1/2 empty, staffing issues. Hated the constant announcements and hawking scratch offs. That being said, the entertainment was very good compared to X. I have read lately NCL has stepped up their game. I don't know if we can try them again. We are trying one of the quantum RCL ships in two years, stepping out of our comfort zone, but we are cruising with 30 friends and this is what they wanted.

[workstocruise]

We did NCL a long time ago so can't really compare them to X but our first cruise with Celebrity was shortly after we cruised on the Allure of the Seas. She is an amazing ship with wonderful entertainment and a big WOW factor. We booked the Constellation for a Baltics cruise and I was worried because she was an older and smaller ship and thought we would be bored. Well just the opposite for us, we fell in love with Celebrity and that ship. Her captain and crew are some of the best at sea, and so was the food. I know food is subjective, but I think entertainment is also. We thought the Constellation's shows were as good or better than the Allure. Celebrity is now our cruise line of choice. We just got off the Equinox and most of the entertainment on that cruise was very good as well. Good luck with your choice.

[SantaFeFan]

. Also if u get the ultimate dining package you can eat in a specialty restaurant every night for a fair price. celebrity specialty restaurants are way over priced.

 

A key difference is that if you want decent food on NCL you need to dine (and pay additional for it) in the specialty restaurants, where on Celebrity you can get decent food at no additional cost in the MDR.

[hcat]

We just browsed tbrough the NCL brochure but the size and layout of some of the ships does not seem to fit what we are looking for right now..The Haven area sounds great but seems it is not an adult only area although spa staterooms seem ok.. we will stick with AQ on Celebrity for now but .may check out Azamara in the future.

 

The shows which we hear are much better on NCL are not a deal breaker for us...a few good headliners are fine....but wish the live music was better on X....DJ with drum or sax, or one steel drummer not for us!

 

We like good food and service pleasant cruise companions, a few nice activities, good music ... most styles, and of course the sea!

Edited June 19, 2015 by hcat

[illiniwahoo]

I agree, slightly worried about choosing Celebrity... I love RCL, NCL is ok and decided to take my wife on Celebrity in December to try something new.

 

Where does Celebrity win other than the buffets?

Imho, celebrity wins at everything but entertainment! The ships are beautiful, the food is SO MUCH better than the ncl main dining room food, the service is great, the pool deck is much bigger than the breakaway (my only ncl ship), the break

I agree, slightly worried about choosing Celebrity... I love RCL, NCL is ok and decided to take my wife on Celebrity in December to try something new.

 

Where does Celebrity win other than the buffets?

Imho, celebrity wins at everything but entertainment! The ships are beautiful, the food is SO MUCH better than the ncl main dining room food, the service is great, the pool deck is much bigger than the breakaway (my only ncl ship), the break

 

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[sbt518]

We cruise pretty regularly on both NCL and X.

 

Our last two cruises were on the Breakaway in the Haven and Silhouette in Concierge class.

 

We really like being able to eat whenever we want so we always do Select Dining on Celebrity.

 

As far as comparing the two, even in the Haven dining room on NCL the food was not good. We ate once at Geoffrey Zakarian's restaurant on the Breakaway and it was excellent but pretty pricey, maybe $50 a person? or at least 40 I think. Totally worth it but still expensive.

 

The entertainment on NCL wins hands down and we didn't even make it to one of the shows! We loved the cirque du soliel dinner even though the food was just mediocre and our favorite was the dueling pianos show Howl at the Moon.

 

On X we never go to the shows, they are terrible in our opinion and the only ones we really like are the ones held in the main atrium where the dancers interact with the people.

 

But service is much better on X and the NCL Breakaway felt very crowded every time we left the Haven. Just mobs of people surrounding all the elevators and in the atriums. We went to the pub one night and it was packed and you could barely walk through the hall in front of it.

 

And, yes, much more smoke in the casino on NCL but we didn't notice it too many other places.

Also, it was poor weather when we went so maybe more people were inside than outside and that added to the crowds.

 

We had spa access on NCL and we loved the thelassotherapy pool and all the different sauna's and steam rooms and salt room. I've never been in a spa on X so I can't compare.