Getting Away on the Getaway 5/22/16-5/29/16

[tropical83]

I am enjoying your review as well! It is fun to be able to see some of the adult areas that I didn't get a chance to visit. I hope your trip was as fantastic as ours was. We definitely want to get back on that ship!

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Thanks! And yes we really enjoyed the cruise! I would sail the Getaway again for sure. But I would love to try the Escape or Epic as well!

[Cruise-mom]

Thank you. We have 13270. I will keep following :D

 

We have that cabin next week, I'll keep it good for you :D

[reno3]

We have that cabin next week, I'll keep it good for you :D

 

:D, pictures of the cabin please when you return:)

[erocrobro]

I woke up early again, I don't know why. It's very unlike me to be up before the sun. Eventually, everyone else started moving and we headed to the buffet for breakfast. The day before, we had received a notice about signing up for tenders to Belize. I knew we didn't need to be some of the first people off of the ship, but fairly early, so I signed us up for the second tender which was at 8:00. You can just do it through the app, the interactive TV, or the touchscreens. In reality, no one was checking to see who had what time so it really didn't matter. You don't actually get a ticket with a time stamp on it, but it may be on your card when you scan it to get off the ship.

 

We had decided to try cave tubing and after a lot of research, I chose to go with cavetubing.bz. I reserved a spot online, but they do not require a deposit or anything. I was sent detailed instructions on meeting locations and what to expect. This company does not give you a set time, they just tell you to get there as quickly as you can after you dock. They did say in their information that if you had a reservation, they would wait for you until you got there. We quickly found the guides with the yellow shirts and they led us to the booth to check in. We were all lined up and a guide led us down the street to wait for our transportation. After about a 30 minute wait, we were finally loaded onto a bus.The ride was about an hour long, and there was a very informative guide telling us about the island and its history. Once we got to the main office, one person from each group was sent in to pay. Also, anyone who needed to rent water shoes was sent in to take care of that as well.

 

From the office, it was about a 10 minute drive to the park where we would start our journey. During our drive, we were told repeatedly about all of the safety measures in place. One of these was that there had to be one guide for every 8 people. We had three guides with us on the bus, but a lot more than 24 passengers. Probably closer to 50. Once we got to the park, we were given life jackets and helmets and put into groups of 8. We all walked up to the trail entrance and were stopped by the guards so they could count how many were in our group. Our guides were told that we could not go in until we had three more guides. So we waited. And waited. And it was hot.

 

Eventually we were told to walk on up to the start of the river (which is also where you end) to wait because there were some guides that were almost finished with tours and they would join us there. We were allowed to cool off in the river, but we had to wait some more. Then we were told to go across the river and wait on the other side. The whole time, groups were passing us. Honestly, hundreds of people went past us. The guides kept telling us there were more guides on the way, they were almost finished with their first tour, they would be there soon. In the end, I think we waited about an hour. People were starting to get cranky and I felt bad for our guides because I know it wasn't their fault, but it was unacceptable to be kept waiting that long.

 

Finally, more guides showed up and we were on our way. First you have about a 25 minute hike. It's a fairly easy walk and the reason I had chosen this company was because you don't have to carry your own tubes. All of the other groups I mentioned earlier were carrying theirs. Adults probably wouldn't have a lot of trouble doing this, but if you brought children with you (which I did) it could be tough. Our guide didn't give us a lot of information during the hike. I kind of felt like we were being hurried along, probably because we waited around so long earlier. After about 25 minutes, we got to the river where our tubes were waiting for us. The guides hooked each group together and we were off.

 

There were a lot of groups there and it was very crowded. You spend about 45 minutes in the caves, and it was very cool and relaxing. I know our guide was talking most of the way through, but there were so many groups going through at the same time I couldn't hear what she was saying. During some parts, the various guides were trying go yell over each other and you couldn't tell who was saying what. I really would have been fine with no guides talking and just letting us relax on the float.

 

After we exited the caves we floated a little more back towards where we started our hike. At this point our guide said we could remove our helmets and life jackets. Then, before we got back to the starting point, she told us all to jump out of our tubes and swim back. She didn't pose it as an option, we were pretty much told to get out. There were some people swimming in this part of the river, but most of the other groups around us stayed in their tubes. I really think she was just tired of pulling us and didn't want to pull us to the end. This section of the river was probably about 4 1/2 feet deep. An adult would have been fine, but it was definitely too deep for kids if they don't know how to swim and the current was fairly strong. The thing about this that really irritated me was that even though my kids are good swimmers and were doing fine, the river was so crowded with groups, they kept getting run over by people who got to stay in their tubes until the end. It could have been a dangerous situation.

 

After all of the groups were out, we walked back to turn in our life jackets and helmets and got back on the bus. We were taken back to the office for lunch. We were given chicken, rice, beans, and cole slaw. There was also Coca-cola and rum punch. It was all very good, but we didn't have a lot of time to enjoy it because there were people with us from another ship whose all aboard time was an hour before ours. We were only given about 20 minutes for lunch. We would have had more if we hadn't spent so much time waiting around earlier. I thought some of the people in that group looked worried about time.

 

I didn't take my camera with us this day because I knew I wouldn't be able to use it during the tubing and I didn't know what kind of storage would be provided for our belongings so I don't have any pictures from this day. In the end, it probably would have been OK. We left everything on the bus and the driver stayed with it all day.

 

After everyone was loaded back on the bus we headed back to the port. the line for tenders was very short and we walked on the one that was waiting. Re-boarding the ship was very quick, and we were back on by 3:15. We headed up to the pool deck to find the children's pool had been emptied (I don't even want to know why) but the slides were open and there were no waits. I did notice that there were some kids in the adult pool at this time. We didn't go over there because we just wanted to slide, so I don't know if an exception had been made due to the closure or if people just took it upon themselves to have their children swim over there.

 

At this point, I realized that I had not yet tried the mojito bar I read so much about. While my kids were still sliding, I decided to head down and try one. I went with the pineapple coconut and it was delicious! I told myself I needed to go back and try some other flavors later.

 

We were definitely tired from the excursion that day, so we went back to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner. We ended up laying around and watching a movie which is something we never do during daylight hours on a cruise! We decided to try another MDR for dinner so we could relax and be waited on.

 

We walked down and there were no waits at either one of the smaller rooms, so we went to Taste. I preferred the smaller MDRs over the Tropicana Room. They were much quieter and we were able to have conversations, I just felt much more comfortable in them. I ordered the prime rib and one of my sons ordered steak again. After our waiter brought out our food, he went to check on another table close to us. He looked over as I was getting my son's plate to help him cut his steak and came running over to us. He asked what I was doing and I told him. He said "No, no, ma'am. You are on vacation. I will take care of that for you!" This was a level of service that I have not seen since our cruise with Disney and I never expected to see on NCL. I was very impressed with that waiter and told the manager when he came by to check on us.

 

After dinner, we had our usual comedy show at 9:00. We followed that with our other usual, movie and bed. We didn't have any scheduled plans for the next day, we were just doing a beach day so I told myself I was going to sleep in!

 

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and photos.

[erocrobro]

We had no definite plans for this day, so we slept in a bit. Three port days in a row had worn us out. When we were all up and ready, we went to O'Sheehan's for breakfast. It was probably the best breakfast we had the entire trip, and there was no wait and service was very quick. We decided to try Paradise Beach. My two younger boys liked the idea of the inflatables, my oldest loved the idea of wifi, and I liked the idea of laying on the beach all day with someone bringing me drinks!

 

IMG_2779 by E R, on Flickr

 

We wandered through the port area and shopped for a few small things and then went to the taxi stand. There are many taxis waiting and the prices are listed on a board so you know exactly how much it will be. It cost $16 each way for four of us. I was a little bit worried because I could see that there were three other shops in port that day and we didn't jump off the ship as soon as we docked. All of the ships were fairly big, CCL Dream, and RCL Liberty of the Seas and another RCL ship I couldn't see the name of.

 

It was about a 20 minute drive to the beach, and the driver assured me that there would be plenty of cabs waiting when we decided to leave. As soon as we entered, I could see that there was nothing to be worried about as far as crowding goes. We got there at about 11:00 with all of those ships in port and there were probably more empty spaces than full. We immediately found four loungers under umbrellas in a row and set up camp for the day. Within just a few minutes a waiter came along to sell us our wristbands. It was $3 entrance plus $18 for anyone who wanted to use the inflatables. I got the boys the full package and just the entrance fee for myself. I had read on some websites that they expect you to spend $10 each on food or drinks, but it was never mentioned to us. The boys were off to the water and I was looking over the menu choosing my first drink, plus I knew everyone would be getting hungry eventually.

 

I was a little concerned that the inflatables looked like they were out too far for my kids to use. I watched them for a while and they seemed to be doing OK. They told me that it really wasn't that deep out there, in most places they could stand on their tiptoes and reach the bottom. I saw a lot of younger kids with floaties and life jackets as well.

 

IMG_2766 by E R, on Flickr

 

IMG_9883 by E R, on Flickr

 

This place was very nice. There was also an extremely large pool to use if you don't care to be in the ocean. We didn't use it, but it looked very clean and nice. I ordered all of us drinks, and got settled in. I decided to check in with everyone back home since this was the first time I had any wifi. It worked very well, and I was able to quickly make a few calls home and check my e-mail. Then I thought I could maybe catch up with the one thing I had been wondering about since the day we boarded, but...

 

IMG_2767 by E R, on Flickr

AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!

 

So I opted instead to get comfy with my book. Our drinks finally arrived, and since it had taken so long to get them I went ahead and ordered some nachos for us just in case they also took a long time. That is really the only negative thing I can say about this place is that the day we were there, the service was slow. Everything else was fantastic. When the nachos finally came I ordered some more drinks and the boys came out of the water to eat. I don't know if I was just really hungry that day or if they really were the best nachos I have ever had. At any rate, they were amazing and one order was plenty for us to share.

 

One thing I liked about this beach was that there were no vendors walking around trying to sell me something. Since we had only been to one other beach on this trip and it was a private resort, I don't know if that is an issue here but on our last two cruises it was. Yes, it's very easy to just say no thank you but they are still interrupting my peace and I don't like it. There were places to get your hair braided, rent jet skis, buy tickets for the banana boat, or get a picture with a lizard if you wanted to, but they were all in one area and you went to them if you were interested in their services.

 

It was interesting to sit and listen to all of the conversations going on around us. People from various ships were comparing notes, and from what I could hear people saying, the Getaway was the clear winner of the four in port that day. It isn't hard for me to believe that, we were loving that ship!

 

At a little after 2:00, we decided to head back to the ship. Our previous driver was right, there were taxis lined up at the taxi stand out front. We shopped a bit on the way back to the ship since we had plenty of time. We were back on the ship by 3:00, and again found the pools and slides to be fairly quiet.

 

One word of caution, Cozumel is another port that has a very long pier if anyone has mobility issues. There were a lot of pedicabs for hire, but it could be a long walk for some people. We were watching the pier from the pool deck at around 4:30 to see if we would have any pier runners. We had seen one on our last cruise while stopped at Grand Turk, and my kids thought it was one of the funniest things they had ever seen. I used it to teach them a lesson in timeliness, I hope it sticks! Even though all aboard was 4:30, people were still meandering out of the mall area all the way up until almost 5:00. The dockside workers were still out welcoming the latecomers up until at least 4:50. I made sure to clarify to my kids that this was not always the case, and they always needed to be on time. This picture was taken very close to 5:00, you can see all of the people still wandering about on the pier.

 

IMG_2778 by E R, on Flickr

 

We checked out the menus that night for the MDRs and nothing sounded appealing to my kids, so we opted for O'Sheehans again. There really aren't a lot of choices on the menu, but what they have is pretty good and you can just get a burger and fries if that's what you want. After dinner, we went to Headliners for the 9:00 show. The host told us when he scanned our cards that it would be a repeat performance of what we saw the night before, but my kids didn't care. They wanted to go anyway. It ended up being very similar but there were a few variances on the act, and it was still funny.

 

After the show, we decided to finally try the ice cream sodas at O'Sheehan's. I stopped along the way to try a raspberry guava mojito and I was so glad I did. Between it and the Mango Meltdown, I really didn't want to get off the ship. After we finished our desserts, the waitress brought me keycard back to me, and said there was something wrong and it wouldn't scan. She said not to worry about the charges, but I did need to get my card checked out. We headed down to guest services, where I explained the problem. The woman at guest services said she could not see a problem with our account. She was even on the phone with someone having them check and no problems were found. In the end, she made me a new card and all was fine.

 

After that, we stopped by the photo gallery so the boys could show me any pictures that they wanted me to be sure to buy. I noticed there was a special that night of buy a 10 photo package and get 1 photo free, buy a 20 pack and get 2, etc. It was late and I didn't want to have to make any decisions that night so I passed it up thinking there would be another special the next night. We headed back upstairs to get ready for bed. Again, I told myself I was going to sleep in. Also, at some point during this day, our laundry arrived back in our room. It was waiting for us along with what was possibly the cutest towel animal we have ever had.

 

IMG_2782 by E R, on Flickr

Edited June 8, 2016 by erocrobro

[Cancruizer]

Really nice review :-). By chance, would you have an opinion if the cave tubing is something you would do again? We will be in Belize and I just need something to do... beach, cave tubing hmmm...?

[erocrobro]

We would absolutely go cave tubing again, but I would probably research some other companies. We just spent too much of our time waiting around with this company. Trip advisor has several companies with a lot of reviews that you can check.

 

 

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[Sauer-kraut]

possibly the cutest towel animal we have ever had.

 

IMG_2782 by E R, on Flickr[/size]

 

OMG this is too cute!!

[erocrobro]

The best advice I can give you for your final sea day is to figure out everything that you want to do on the ship and get it done before this day comes. We slept in, and then went to the buffet for breakfast. It wasn't too crowded, but we didn't get there until around 10:00. I wanted to go to one of the MDRs this morning because they were having the pound cake french toast, but we slept too late. Oh, well. Something for next time!

 

We hadn't bought any souvenirs on the ship, so we went down to the shops but they were jam packed. We didn't see anything that we really needed anyway. After that we played some mini golf. The boys wanted to do the ropes course and the rock wall, but the lines were very long. They swam for a little while, but there were no chairs open so I wandered around the ship to see if there was anything that we had missed.

 

Later, the boys joined me and they found the pay games on the side of O'Sheehan's. I let them play a few since they hadn't used any money at the arcade. We did the buffet for lunch and it wasn't too crowded again, but it was later. I think we went around 2:30. This was the first time I noticed there was a bar in there. I don't know what hours it is open. I'm sure I would have noticed it earlier if it had been open, but I never saw it until this day.

 

After lunch, we noticed the lines for the ropes course had died down so we all went up. One of my sons never did get his picture on the plank so he wanted to do that. When we got up there, the plank was closed because it was so windy. The zipline was open, so he did that a few times so he could have a picture.

 

We really didn't do a lot this last day, there were lots of lines and crowds so we just hung out and roamed around. When I made all of our reservations for the comedy shows, I made them for every night at 9:00. There wasn't a 9:00 show for this day, so I didn't make one. By the time I realized I should have made reservations for the 7:00 show, they were all gone. My kids didn't want to wait in the line because it was really long, so we skipped it that night. We went to the Tropicana Room for dinner, and we were again seated up close to the stage and it was cold. That's when I remembered why I didn't want to go there anymore. The service was great again, and the steak was very good.

 

I knew we needed to have our bags packed and set out by 11:00, so we went back to the room to take care of that. I also wanted to go to Guest Services to get a printout of my final bill and swing by the Photo Gallery one more time. Guest Services was very quick, but the Photo Gallery was packed. I grabbed our folder and found a space to start sorting through to make my final decision. I was hoping to just get a 10 photo package, but I narrowed it down to 11 and couldn't decide which one to cut. I should have gone with the special the day before because there was no special this day. I searched through and found some more to make it a 20 package. Up until this point I had a super small account balance. I took my photos and headed up to bed.

 

IMG_2843 by E R, on Flickr

[erocrobro]

There isn't a lot to say about the last day. It was probably the easiest disembarkment we have had on a cruise. I had picked up luggage tags the day before at Guest Services. You choose what time you want to leave and take the color for that time. We were in no hurry, so I chose the latest which was 9:40. I knew we wouldn't be up in time to make it to the MDR, so we just planned on going to the buffet. That was a good choice . We went around 9:00 and just took our bags with us so our room attendant could get started on the room.

 

The buffet wasn't too crowded that morning, it always seems like people are in a hurry to get off the ship. I'm never ready to get back to the real world so I like to stay on as long as I can. The food options that morning were fewer than had normally been offered, but there were plenty for us. I would warn you that if you do go late like we did, make sure you fill your plate the first time through because they do start tearing down at about 9:30. As we were eating, we listened as they called colors to start disembarking. Then a few minutes later, they would ask people to wait. It seemed like there were long waits in between colors. This went on all morning, but I don't know why.

 

By the time our color was finally called it was 10:10. We headed down for the final keycard scan out the door, but when we got back to the terminal we had to wait some more. We probably waited another 20 minutes before we headed down the escalator to get our luggage. I was glad I had chosen the late time because there wasn't much luggage left and ours was very easy to find. Going through customs only took a few minutes and we were out.

 

I decided to try Uber for the first time on this trip. I requested a ride as soon as we walked out the doors and he was there in 3 minutes. He drove us to the InterContinental where we would spend the next couple of days to extend the vacation a bit. I won't add that part of the trip onto this review since it is focused on the cruise and the ship, but if anyone has questions about it I will try to answer.

 

Tomorrow I will try to write one more post about what we liked and disliked on this ship and maybe some brief comparisons to the other lines we have sailed. All in all, it was a fantastic vacation and I'm sure we will cruise NCL again.

 

IMG_2851 by E R, on Flickr

 

[erocrobro]

Overall, we loved this ship. There were many, many things we enjoyed both on the ship and with NCL in general.

 

1. There were so many physical activities available, we were never just sitting around. The ropes course, the rock wall, bungee trampoline, and slides never got old. My kids were on them every day, and were still having fun on them the last day.

 

2. The ease of making reservations for things. You can do it many different ways, use the app, your interactive TV, touch screens in the halls, go to guest services or the box office.

 

3. The more casual feel of the cruise. I know some people enjoy dressing up, and that is great. We don't. I make sure my kids are always dressed appropriately for the situation, but I loved not having to make them get dressed up for dinner. In every dining room, we saw the entire gamut of dress. From people in nice dresses and men in jackets and ties to families wearing shorts and tee shirts. And we never felt out of place with what we were wearing.

 

4. Going along with #3, I was so thankful to not be tied to one dining room and one time for dinner every night. It was so nice to be able to eat when we wanted to and to be able to choose from several complementary dining rooms.

 

5. Having the UBP as a perk really made my cruise! It was nice to be able to order whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and not have to worry about budgeting for it, and having it as a perk with booking meant I didn't feel as if I needed to have as many drinks as I could just to get my money's worth.

 

6. The ship itself is beautiful. It was very clean and workers were constantly present keeping it that way.

 

7. The staff was incredibly friendly. I read several times on this board about people having negative impressions of the staff, but we did not once encounter anyone who was less than professional and courteous. I really felt that some of them went out of their way to be helpful.

 

8. I liked the fact that there were family comedy shows offered. We love comedy and I was glad that my kids could go to the shows with me.

 

9. Our room was a pretty standard size compared to the other staterooms we have stayed in. The layout was also about the same. The difference was that there was so much storage room, there was plenty of room for all four of us to unpack. I also like having the glass door on the shower. We have always had a curtain before and there was always a mess of water on the floor.

 

10. The drinks and cold towels offered when you return to the ship in port. We visited some very hot areas and those were very much appreciated.

 

11. Embarkation and debarkation were a breeze.

 

There were, however, a few things that I wasn't crazy about. Nothing major, and nothing that would keep me away in the future.

 

1. I didn't like having to walk through the casino to get from one end of the deck 7 to the other. Also, the Noodle Bar is open to the casino. Since the casino is a smoking area, I wish it was separate from everything else. That being said, the smell was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It was there, but not overwhelming.

 

2. I wish they would set up drink stations on a couple of the main decks so that when kids want a soda they do not have to go to a bar to get it.

 

3. The MDR menus could use some work. We were always able to find something, but I felt like they were trying too hard. A couple of nights, we wanted to go to a dining room, but there was nothing appealing on the menu. It is easy to check, though. They have them posted in the main entrance of the dining room before you enter and they post the breakfast menu the night before.

 

Going along with #3 - the desserts. I did not have one dessert all week that I can remember as being outstanding. In the MDRs, the specialty restaurants, or in the buffet the desserts always looked delicious, but in reality were not good at all.

 

4. One thing my kids really missed on this cruise was ordering room service. They had always enjoyed ordering snacks to go with our bed time movies, but I wouldn't do it on NCL because of the charges. A few times we made some snack plates from the buffet and took them back to our room. They usually had a decent selection of cheese and some dried fruit for me and my kids grabbed some pizza and fries.

 

5. Aside from the comedy shows, the entertainment was lacking. I think on a different ship we would have gone to the shows, but Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor just didn't interest us at all. I think we would enjoy the Brat Pack show and Rock of Ages.

 

6. I would probably not sail this particular itinerary again. We had fun in all of the ports, but with the exception of Cozumel, I have no burning desire to go back to any of them. I wouldn't mind trying a Southern Caribbean next time, or my dream cruise - Panama Canal. I also enjoy sea days, so a cruise with four port days and only two sea days is not my ideal.

 

 

In the end, we had a fabulous time on this cruise. I think compared to our other cruises on Disney and Carnival, NCL and Freestyle cruising fits our family to a T. We would like to try another of the Away ships or the Escape next. I have been trying to price some similar cruises on Royal Caribbean, but their prices are nearing what I paid for Disney and I can't justify that when NCL's ships have so much to offer at a much better price.

 

I hope my review helps someone who may be looking at this ship or itinerary. I used these boards to plan our last two cruises, so I'm hoping that I have been able to repay the favor.

 

[Steff79]

thank you for your review. i liked your writing and pictures.

i loved the escape, so i think you will have fun there too.

[erocrobro]

thank you for your review. i liked your writing and pictures.

i loved the escape, so i think you will have fun there too.

 

 

Thank you for reading. Sadly our next cruise may not be until 2018. We only do one vacation a year and my kids are really wanting to either visit Chicago or New York. They want to experience a big city for once.

 

Hopefully that will mean I have a lot of time to watch for specials and maybe prices will go down a little more!

[ChrisNY2]

Thanks for the review - I enjoyed reading it!

[MichMom06]

Overall, we loved this ship. There were many, many things we enjoyed both on the ship and with NCL in general.

 

1. There were so many physical activities available, we were never just sitting around. The ropes course, the rock wall, bungee trampoline, and slides never got old. My kids were on them every day, and were still having fun on them the last day.

 

2. The ease of making reservations for things. You can do it many different ways, use the app, your interactive TV, touch screens in the halls, go to guest services or the box office.

 

3. The more casual feel of the cruise. I know some people enjoy dressing up, and that is great. We don't. I make sure my kids are always dressed appropriately for the situation, but I loved not having to make them get dressed up for dinner. In every dining room, we saw the entire gamut of dress. From people in nice dresses and men in jackets and ties to families wearing shorts and tee shirts. And we never felt out of place with what we were wearing.

 

4. Going along with #3, I was so thankful to not be tied to one dining room and one time for dinner every night. It was so nice to be able to eat when we wanted to and to be able to choose from several complementary dining rooms.

 

5. Having the UBP as a perk really made my cruise! It was nice to be able to order whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and not have to worry about budgeting for it, and having it as a perk with booking meant I didn't feel as if I needed to have as many drinks as I could just to get my money's worth.

 

6. The ship itself is beautiful. It was very clean and workers were constantly present keeping it that way.

 

7. The staff was incredibly friendly. I read several times on this board about people having negative impressions of the staff, but we did not once encounter anyone who was less than professional and courteous. I really felt that some of them went out of their way to be helpful.

 

8. I liked the fact that there were family comedy shows offered. We love comedy and I was glad that my kids could go to the shows with me.

 

9. Our room was a pretty standard size compared to the other staterooms we have stayed in. The layout was also about the same. The difference was that there was so much storage room, there was plenty of room for all four of us to unpack. I also like having the glass door on the shower. We have always had a curtain before and there was always a mess of water on the floor.

 

10. The drinks and cold towels offered when you return to the ship in port. We visited some very hot areas and those were very much appreciated.

 

11. Embarkation and debarkation were a breeze.

 

There were, however, a few things that I wasn't crazy about. Nothing major, and nothing that would keep me away in the future.

 

1. I didn't like having to walk through the casino to get from one end of the deck 7 to the other. Also, the Noodle Bar is open to the casino. Since the casino is a smoking area, I wish it was separate from everything else. That being said, the smell was not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. It was there, but not overwhelming.

 

2. I wish they would set up drink stations on a couple of the main decks so that when kids want a soda they do not have to go to a bar to get it.

 

3. The MDR menus could use some work. We were always able to find something, but I felt like they were trying too hard. A couple of nights, we wanted to go to a dining room, but there was nothing appealing on the menu. It is easy to check, though. They have them posted in the main entrance of the dining room before you enter and they post the breakfast menu the night before.

 

Going along with #3 - the desserts. I did not have one dessert all week that I can remember as being outstanding. In the MDRs, the specialty restaurants, or in the buffet the desserts always looked delicious, but in reality were not good at all.

 

4. One thing my kids really missed on this cruise was ordering room service. They had always enjoyed ordering snacks to go with our bed time movies, but I wouldn't do it on NCL because of the charges. A few times we made some snack plates from the buffet and took them back to our room. They usually had a decent selection of cheese and some dried fruit for me and my kids grabbed some pizza and fries.

 

5. Aside from the comedy shows, the entertainment was lacking. I think on a different ship we would have gone to the shows, but Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor just didn't interest us at all. I think we would enjoy the Brat Pack show and Rock of Ages.

 

6. I would probably not sail this particular itinerary again. We had fun in all of the ports, but with the exception of Cozumel, I have no burning desire to go back to any of them. I wouldn't mind trying a Southern Caribbean next time, or my dream cruise - Panama Canal. I also enjoy sea days, so a cruise with four port days and only two sea days is not my ideal.

 

 

In the end, we had a fabulous time on this cruise. I think compared to our other cruises on Disney and Carnival, NCL and Freestyle cruising fits our family to a T. We would like to try another of the Away ships or the Escape next. I have been trying to price some similar cruises on Royal Caribbean, but their prices are nearing what I paid for Disney and I can't justify that when NCL's ships have so much to offer at a much better price.

 

I hope my review helps someone who may be looking at this ship or itinerary. I used these boards to plan our last two cruises, so I'm hoping that I have been able to repay the favor.

 

 

I pretty much agree with everything you've just said! ;) We love NCL. Love the casual vibe, especially with kids. We love the variety of activities and shows offered and for us, a balcony is a must. We love spending sailaways on our balcony. In fact, we have your same cabin for our upcoming Getaway Cruise and are very excited!! We always do walk off disembarkation and take our own luggage and it's always been a pretty simple and fast process. And Uber is our friend....we can be off the ship and to the airport in under an hour. They drive right up to the port and pick you up. SO EASY. Thank you so much for your review.

[vacation44]

Great review and thank you for taking the time to post it.