Getaway NYE cruise

[bcaha]

I used Cruise Critic so much in my planning, that I want to give back now and offer a detailed review. We just returned from the Getaway New Year’s cruise – me, dh, dd 27, dd 24 and ds 21. We’ve been on 5 RCCL cruises and 2 Princess. Decided to try the Getaway based on the ports.

 

Cabins:

We had 2 balcony mini suites on deck 10. I was just reading another review that talked about noise at night. The first night I heard a lot of noise from the hallways, but after that it was quiet at night. The rooms were not as soundproof as the ones on other ships that we’ve been on.

 

There was plenty of storage space, even for our 3 adult kids in one room. We all liked the larger bathroom and shower. I found the mattress to be hard, but that was really the only negative in the room. I liked the high tech do not disturb and clean room lights over the door.

 

Motion:

I had read comments that made me nervous about the motion on the Getaway prior to our cruise. However, we felt less motion on this ship than on any other ship. We had great weather and calm seas. There was none of the rocking back and forth or the slapping up and down motion that we’ve had on other ships. Although as I type this at my desk, I do feel like I’m rocking!

 

The ship did have (perhaps) more vibration than other ships, but I only felt that when I was standing still. And I got used to it quickly.

 

Food:

Not as many vegetarian options in the main dining rooms as on other ships. We have one vegetarian in the family.

 

We liked Freestyle dining since we didn’t need to be locked into a time to eat. Never waited more than a minute or two for a table. We also liked not having to dress up for dinner. Our only specialty restaurant meal was in Cucina and it was my favorite of the week. I wasn’t impressed with the main dining rooms (food choices or service). Enjoyed the music in Tropicana.

 

The buffet was organized MUCH better than on other ships and I appreciated the handwashing stations. Food choices got boring very quickly. We were surprised that we were always able to find a table in the Garden Grill without a problem.

 

Tendering:

We had no problem tendering to and from Great Stirrup Cay except for waiting at the end of the day. However, the tender to Grand Cayman was a mess. We followed written instructions left in the cabin to take a tender prior to 9:30 am to avoid crowds. So at about 8:30 am we walked down to deck 7 where we were told to go to deck 4. Once we got there, we were told to go to deck 7 and get on the end of a line. Then we were told to go back to deck 4. Then we were told to go to deck 7 again and wait in the theater. We went back up to 7, along with a bunch of angry people. On deck 7 we just got in the elevator and went down to deck 4 and got off the ship onto a tender. I may be a little off in the details here, but essentially we were sent up and down a bunch of times unnecessarily. The return trip to the ship involved a really long wait.

 

Entertainment:

We loved Legally Blonde, the cast is very talented.

 

Enjoyed Howl at the Moon and the Comedy show.

 

We went to Illusionarium. I wish we had paid for the less expensive seats, there didn’t seem to be any advantage to sitting up close. The tricks were not impressive. And the mind reader clearly was just reading what people had written down prior to the show. The vegetarian option (eggplant parm) was very good, we requested it when they took our orders that evening. It could not be requested in advance.

 

Pool deck:

Probably my biggest complaint about the cruise is that the lounge chairs on deck 15 were right up against each other. The only way to get in and out of the chairs was to climb out. There wasn’t much personal space. Therefore, the sea days were my least favorite days of the trip. I couldn’t sit in some of the “preferred” areas since I need shade.

 

New Years Eve:

We went up to Spice H2O for the countdown and that was fun.

 

Casino:

This was our first time spending time in a ship’s casino since all of our kids are now old enough and the Getaway casino is in the middle of the ship. On a couple of nights the smoke really bothered me and the rest of the time it did not.

 

Bars:

The ice bar was fun, but a little insane, especially in flip-flops. Loved the mojito bar! Especially for sail away.

 

Happy to answer any questions, I’ll be checking back with cruise critic for the next couple of weeks. I’ll review the ports separately on the appropriate boards.

[evanAction]

Thanks for sharing!