Just off the Getaway, my comparison to other cruise lines

[NCteacherlovescruising]

This was our first NCL cruise. We have sailed with Carnival 6 times, Royal Caribbean once, and Princess once. I must say I was impressed with the Getaway and we didn't care for Princess at all, so I won't say much about them. My husband and I were traveling with our 19 year old son.

 

Embarkation went smoothly, although I felt RC did an excellent job getting so many people on the Oasis of the Seas. We wanted Vibe passes so we arrived at the port about 9:30-9:45. We were zone 9. I hurried to customer service once onboard and my husband and son got there just as he was asking for all our cards. We were thrilled we actually got them! We truly loved the whole Vibe experience. The bartender, Jeffrey, and waiter, Ricky, were both terrific. Jeffrey made it so fun for all of us up there and Ricky really pampered us. We met a fun group of people up there, which made our cruise even better. I honestly didn't miss having a pool, although I thought I might. The shower was refreshing, we had the hot tubs, a nice breeze and Ricky spraying us with water. We had the UBP so we also had plenty of frozen cocktails to keep us cool. There was rarely more than 15-20 people up there at once. NCL gets the points for the adult area!

 

Speaking of the UBP, my husband and I are mostly wine drinkers. The selection of wines available by the glass was quite poor on the Getaway. We had the alcohol package on RC (premium I think) and we quite enjoyed hanging out in Vintages Wine Bar. They had an excellent selection of wines by the glass and we could just pay the difference. It was perfect for us! They also include bottled water in their package and we are Diet Coke drinkers. We have never purchased anything besides a soda card on Carnival because we wouldn't drink enough to even come out even. We got the UBP free on this cruise and were aware of Vintages on the Oasis, which is why we purchased it for that cruise. While we enjoyed our free beverage package, RC wins the points here based on wine selection and including bottled water.

 

We had lunch at O'Sheehans. We had buffalo wings for an app and the were quite good. I had a Caesar salad and the open face roast beef. I enjoyed them both. We ate here a few times over the week. We found their food quite good for a free restaurant. We also enjoyed the food at the buffet (especially the waffles, pulled pork panini and the peach cobbler...that cobbler was my favorite dessert of the week!) and the dining rooms. Our favorite dining room was Tropicana. We loved the music, dancing and overall atmosphere. Free food goes to NCL, the prime rib was delicious and was the grouper sandwich at lunch. We had dinner at Cagneys one night. Our appetizers were delicious! I had the baked potato soup and the guys had the lobster bisque. They said it was one of the best they had ever had! However, none of us enjoyed our entrees. I had the 8 oz filet and it had no flavor. I've seriously had much better steaks at Texas Roadhouse and Outback. My husband had the surf and turf and wasn't impressed either. Our son had a fried seafood platter and again, he was disappointed. Both Royal Caribbean's and Carnival's steakhouses are much better. They tie for steakhouse points. We also dined at Le Bistro, which was wonderful! I had the peppercorn beef tenderloin, my husband the veal and our son bouillabaisse. We loved them all! My son had the mushroom soup for his appetizer and said it was amazing. My steak did come out rare though and I had ordered it medium. By the time someone came to check on us, my guys were finished eating. They apologized and cooked it to perfection. They ended up giving me my meal for free, as well as our apps. I would rate this slightly better than 150 Central Park on the Oasis. Carnival doesn't have an equivalent so points to NCL. I also preferred the NCL buffet over any other cruise we've been on.

 

The muster drill was held in a restaurant. Awesome! We could sit and relax during this. The Oasis had us equally as comfortable sitting in a lounge, while Carnival had us standing out in the heat, packed in like sardines. Points go to RC and NCL.

 

Our room, a standard balcony, was quite small but nice. I would say our room on the Oasis was slightly nicer. I liked the shower on the Getaway though. Our cabin steward was not the least bit friendly, although he kept our room clean and our ice bucket full. I love how friendly the stewards on Carnival are though. Overall I would give service points to NCL as their wait staff was on point.

 

Royal Caribbean had the best entertainment by far and the Oasis is the prettiest ship we have ever been on. To be fair though, we have never sailed on Carnivals newer ships.

 

As you can see, my favorite cruise lines so far are RC and NCL. We booked another Oasis cruise while we were on it over spring break but the date isn't going to work so we need to change it. We are going to stick with either the Oasis, Allure or Harmony of the Seas. We will probably decide by itinerary. We also bought $500 in cruise certificates while on the Getaway. How often do the allow us to use two ($250) certificates at once? I can't help but wonder if the freebies will go away when the do. [emoji52] We are looking at possibly trying our first Bermuda cruise on the Breakaway or trying the Escape. We also want to try the Carnival Vista.

 

Sorry I didn't include any photos. We are still on our way home from Miami. I may add some later.

[Cruisin'Christine]

Thanks for your review. I am travelling on the Getaway in October. Did they have a crepe station in the buffet on the Getaway? Also, any news on when the Margarittaville will be installed onboard? Thanks.

[boatseller]

Getaway is s fantastic ship but if you prefer wine or beer for your poison, book your next cruise on Escape.

[Nola26]

You can only use one CruiseNext per cabin. So two cruises or two cabins on the same cruise to use both certifies you purchased.

 

You don't lose any access to promotions when you use those certificates, they are just a form of payment. A huge perk with the certificates is they serve as the full deposit for your non Haven cabin. That can be a nice way to book and conserve upfront cash.

[mcd2745]

Appreciate the review. We are going on out first NCL cruise on the Getaway in February. We have done a few cruises on RCCL & DCL. So trying to get a handle on as many similarities and differences as we can.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Thanks for your review. I am travelling on the Getaway in October. Did they have a crepe station in the buffet on the Getaway? Also' date=' any news on when the Margarittaville will be installed onboard? Thanks.[/quote']

 

 

I only found crepes on the buffet once, but we didn't eat there very much.

 

I'm sorry, I don't know when they are putting in Margaritaville.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Getaway is s fantastic ship but if you prefer wine or beer for your poison, book your next cruise on Escape.

 

 

Yes, we loved the Getaway! I did read about their wine bar on the Escape. If we have the UBP can we pay the difference and try good wines by the glass there? We had wine with dinner on the Getaway, but stuck with cocktails the rest of the day since their wine selection was so poor.

 

I found an itinerary going to Tortola on the Escape. Tortola is our favorite port so far! [emoji4]

[NCteacherlovescruising]

You can only use one CruiseNext per cabin. So two cruises or two cabins on the same cruise to use both certifies you purchased.

 

 

 

You don't lose any access to promotions when you use those certificates, they are just a form of payment. A huge perk with the certificates is they serve as the full deposit for your non Haven cabin. That can be a nice way to book and conserve upfront cash.

 

 

When we purchased our CruiseNext certificates, we were told they occasionally run specials where you can use two. I'm not sure if we will wait for that or not though. I'd like to book something sooner rather than later. Booking another cruise always makes me feel a bit better. Anyway, I figured if we did wait until we could use two at once, the free extras would go away. I don't mind having a reason to have to book two NCL cruises over the next 4 years. We loved NCL!

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Appreciate the review. We are going on out first NCL cruise on the Getaway in February. We have done a few cruises on RCCL & DCL. So trying to get a handle on as many similarities and differences as we can.

 

 

You will love it! The Getaway is a beautiful ship! I would say there are more similarities than differences between the two. Both are way better than Carnival and Princess, in my opinion. Princess just seemed a bit stuffy to us, with older passengers. We've never been on Disney.

[Annmeat]

Welcome Home!

 

 

Glad that you had a great cruise.

Did you use the internet at all? Wondering if it is still as slow as molasses.

 

Thanks!

 

AM

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Welcome Home!

 

 

 

 

 

Glad that you had a great cruise.

 

Did you use the internet at all? Wondering if it is still as slow as molasses.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

AM

 

 

We didn't use it on the ship. It was really expensive so we just connected for free in a couple of ports.

[Sand and Seas]

Enjoyed your review! We had been wondering about Princess, but think we will stick with NCL. And yes, they do run specials some times that allow you to use two certificates at once. Suggest you sign up for NCL promo emails. If you enjoyed the Getaway I would suggest you try Escape next. These are our two favorite ships.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Enjoyed your review! We had been wondering about Princess, but think we will stick with NCL. And yes, they do run specials some times that allow you to use two certificates at once. Suggest you sign up for NCL promo emails. If you enjoyed the Getaway I would suggest you try Escape next. These are our two favorite ships.

 

 

Thank you! I signed up for the emails today. We are looking at the Escape, but are undecided at this time. We need to reschedule our RC cruise and book an NCL cruise.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the comparison.:)

[SheehanDJ]

This was our first NCL cruise. We have sailed with Carnival 6 times, Royal Caribbean once, and Princess once. I must say I was impressed with the Getaway and we didn't care for Princess at all...

 

We were planning on booking Princess next year for a Mexican Riviera, I know NCL does this same route, why wouldn't you do Princess?

[Sauer-kraut]

We were planning on booking Princess next year for a Mexican Riviera, I know NCL does this same route, why wouldn't you do Princess?

 

I believe the OP mentioned it is full of stuffy old fogies. :D

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We were planning on booking Princess next year for a Mexican Riviera, I know NCL does this same route, why wouldn't you do Princess?

 

 

We've only sailed on Princess once. It was an older ship, the Caribbean Princess. I did not care for the food at all. We are in our 40's and were seated with all senior citizens. They were nice but we didn't have anything in common with them and dinner always took forever. It seemed most of the passengers were older. They walked slow and seemed to take up the whole walkway, so we couldn't get around them without being rude so it would take a long time to get from point A to point B. It just wasn't much fun. We may try them again in another 20 years. Our friends, about the same age as us, love them so don't avoid them just because of one opinion.

 

 

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[SheehanDJ]

We've only sailed on Princess once. It was an older ship, the Caribbean Princess. I did not care for the food at all. We are in our 40's and were seated with all senior citizens. They were nice but we didn't have anything in common with them and dinner always took forever. It seemed most of the passengers were older. They walked slow and seemed to take up the whole walkway, so we couldn't get around them without being rude so it would take a long time to get from point A to point B. It just wasn't much fun. We may try them again in another 20 years. Our friends, about the same age as us, love them so don't avoid them just because of one opinion.

 

 

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Would never avoid them off one opinion, the problem is I'm seeing a lot of the same opinions. Great cruise, but pretty much ship seems empty after 8-9PM. Great cruise, but take the stairs everywhere because of the rascals, wheel chairs, and walkers in the elevators. Etc, etc.

 

Wish NCL would hurry up and release west coast October cruises.

[CruiseFun56]

When we purchased our CruiseNext certificates, we were told they occasionally run specials where you can use two. I'm not sure if we will wait for that or not though. I'd like to book something sooner rather than later. Booking another cruise always makes me feel a bit better. Anyway, I figured if we did wait until we could use two at once, the free extras would go away. I don't mind having a reason to have to book two NCL cruises over the next 4 years. We loved NCL!

 

We find the "use 2 at once" promo (sometimes) tends to be buried in the web site. Keep an eye out. For example, it is currently running for sailings through the end of next month! Simply use 2 certificates as your down payment for one cabin. Nice perk if you have 2 certificates available. Does not affect current promos in any way.

 

From NCL: Double Your Rewards

Guests can apply 2 Cruise Rewards or 2 CruiseNext Deposits to one stateroom. This is a limited time offer valid for sailings 6 days or longer booked and sailed by August 31st 2016.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

We find the "use 2 at once" promo (sometimes) tends to be buried in the web site. Keep an eye out. For example, it is currently running for sailings through the end of next month! Simply use 2 certificates as your down payment for one cabin. Nice perk if you have 2 certificates available. Does not affect current promos in any way.

 

 

 

From NCL: Double Your Rewards

 

Guests can apply 2 Cruise Rewards or 2 CruiseNext Deposits to one stateroom. This is a limited time offer valid for sailings 6 days or longer booked and sailed by August 31st 2016.

 

 

Thanks! We never book last minute. I think we're going to book the Escape for next summer. I hope we love it as much or more than we did the Getaway.

 

 

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[Captain Underpants]

We didn't use it on the ship. It was really expensive so we just connected for free in a couple of ports.

 

Which ports have free WiFi , thanks ?

[Cruisin'Christine]

I only found crepes on the buffet once, but we didn't eat there very much.

 

I'm sorry, I don't know when they are putting in Margaritaville.

 

Thanks! I appreciate that.

[NCteacherlovescruising]

Which ports have free WiFi , thanks ?

 

 

We went to Maya Chan in Costa Maya and Nachi Cocom in Cozumel, both were all inclusive and had free wifi.

[alibubba]

This was our first NCL cruise. We have sailed with Carnival 6 times, Royal Caribbean once, and Princess once. I must say I was impressed with the Getaway and we didn't care for Princess at all, so I won't say much about them. My husband and I were traveling with our 19 year old son.

 

Embarkation went smoothly, although I felt RC did an excellent job getting so many people on the Oasis of the Seas. We wanted Vibe passes so we arrived at the port about 9:30-9:45. We were zone 9. I hurried to customer service once onboard and my husband and son got there just as he was asking for all our cards. We were thrilled we actually got them! We truly loved the whole Vibe experience. The bartender, Jeffrey, and waiter, Ricky, were both terrific. Jeffrey made it so fun for all of us up there and Ricky really pampered us. We met a fun group of people up there, which made our cruise even better. I honestly didn't miss having a pool, although I thought I might. The shower was refreshing, we had the hot tubs, a nice breeze and Ricky spraying us with water. We had the UBP so we also had plenty of frozen cocktails to keep us cool. There was rarely more than 15-20 people up there at once. NCL gets the points for the adult area!

 

Speaking of the UBP, my husband and I are mostly wine drinkers. The selection of wines available by the glass was quite poor on the Getaway. We had the alcohol package on RC (premium I think) and we quite enjoyed hanging out in Vintages Wine Bar. They had an excellent selection of wines by the glass and we could just pay the difference. It was perfect for us! They also include bottled water in their package and we are Diet Coke drinkers. We have never purchased anything besides a soda card on Carnival because we wouldn't drink enough to even come out even. We got the UBP free on this cruise and were aware of Vintages on the Oasis, which is why we purchased it for that cruise. While we enjoyed our free beverage package, RC wins the points here based on wine selection and including bottled water.

 

We had lunch at O'Sheehans. We had buffalo wings for an app and the were quite good. I had a Caesar salad and the open face roast beef. I enjoyed them both. We ate here a few times over the week. We found their food quite good for a free restaurant. We also enjoyed the food at the buffet (especially the waffles, pulled pork panini and the peach cobbler...that cobbler was my favorite dessert of the week!) and the dining rooms. Our favorite dining room was Tropicana. We loved the music, dancing and overall atmosphere. Free food goes to NCL, the prime rib was delicious and was the grouper sandwich at lunch. We had dinner at Cagneys one night. Our appetizers were delicious! I had the baked potato soup and the guys had the lobster bisque. They said it was one of the best they had ever had! However, none of us enjoyed our entrees. I had the 8 oz filet and it had no flavor. I've seriously had much better steaks at Texas Roadhouse and Outback. My husband had the surf and turf and wasn't impressed either. Our son had a fried seafood platter and again, he was disappointed. Both Royal Caribbean's and Carnival's steakhouses are much better. They tie for steakhouse points. We also dined at Le Bistro, which was wonderful! I had the peppercorn beef tenderloin, my husband the veal and our son bouillabaisse. We loved them all! My son had the mushroom soup for his appetizer and said it was amazing. My steak did come out rare though and I had ordered it medium. By the time someone came to check on us, my guys were finished eating. They apologized and cooked it to perfection. They ended up giving me my meal for free, as well as our apps. I would rate this slightly better than 150 Central Park on the Oasis. Carnival doesn't have an equivalent so points to NCL. I also preferred the NCL buffet over any other cruise we've been on.

 

The muster drill was held in a restaurant. Awesome! We could sit and relax during this. The Oasis had us equally as comfortable sitting in a lounge, while Carnival had us standing out in the heat, packed in like sardines. Points go to RC and NCL.

 

Our room, a standard balcony, was quite small but nice. I would say our room on the Oasis was slightly nicer. I liked the shower on the Getaway though. Our cabin steward was not the least bit friendly, although he kept our room clean and our ice bucket full. I love how friendly the stewards on Carnival are though. Overall I would give service points to NCL as their wait staff was on point.

 

Royal Caribbean had the best entertainment by far and the Oasis is the prettiest ship we have ever been on. To be fair though, we have never sailed on Carnivals newer ships.

 

As you can see, my favorite cruise lines so far are RC and NCL. We booked another Oasis cruise while we were on it over spring break but the date isn't going to work so we need to change it. We are going to stick with either the Oasis, Allure or Harmony of the Seas. We will probably decide by itinerary. We also bought $500 in cruise certificates while on the Getaway. How often do the allow us to use two ($250) certificates at once? I can't help but wonder if the freebies will go away when the do. [emoji52] We are looking at possibly trying our first Bermuda cruise on the Breakaway or trying the Escape. We also want to try the Carnival Vista.

 

Sorry I didn't include any photos. We are still on our way home from Miami. I may add some later.

 

 

If you liked the Getaway, Breakaway is pretty identical. The cruise to Bermuda is wonderful . We would go back to Bermuda again. Lots of time to enjoy both the ship and the port. Don't think we have ever had a more relaxing cruise, except maybe our Panama Canal cruise.

[Travel R]

Thanks for the comparison, we have been on RCI a few times and Carnival once, and booked for Getaway next year. My review of our cruise last year on Carnival also compared it to RCI.

 

We have always enjoyed RCI, but last year's cruise on the Carnival Splendor was too cheap to pass up, and the itinerary for the Getaway during the time we are able to cruise for next year seemed the best choice compared to the other lines. And I am always willing to try something new. We were disappointed with the Carnival cruise itself, but very optimistic about NCL and the Getaway.

 

Coming from other lines, I do worry if we will enjoy the whole freestyle "thing" (although it should be something like MTD) or having to make reservations for every little thing.

Edited July 15, 2016 by Travel R