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First time cruiser--Norwegian Getaway review 2/5/17 thru 2/12/17

alyssazoll

By alyssazoll,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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alyssazoll

alyssazoll

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Friday: Cozumel, Mexico

I was very excited to return to Cozumel. My parents took me when I was a kid and I loved it. I woke up refreshed as we did not stay up too late the night before. We booked Fury Catamaran, snorkel, & beach excursion. Our meeting time was 8:20 am, so we went to Margaritaville for breakfast again. Our catamaran was docked very close to the ship, so not a long walk today.

We got onto the catamaran and they gave us our snorkelling gear. The staff passed out water and was very friendly. We got a briefing on where we were headed and the plan for the rest of the day. It was about a 30 minute ride out to the reef where we were going to snorkel. We saw a lot of cruise ships and the water was gorgeous. Lots of people out on boats. We were nervous about snorkelling because we didn't really have a good time when we did it earlier in the week in Honduras. When we got there you could either take the ladder down into the water or just jump off the boat. I jumped in- because why not. As soon as I put my head underwater I could tell that this was going to be a much better experience. The reef was amazing, there were so many fish!

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I had such a great time, this was probably my favorite part of the trip honestly. I love being in the water and this was so amazing to see. I probably could have done it all day! The fish will swim right up to you. Ugh so cool.

We got back on the boat and a short ride to their beach. Beer and margaritas are included and served at the beach, there is a price for food. The beach was really nice. They had lots of chairs and hammocks, and a ton of things to do in the water. Inflatables, kayaks, I think they had jetski rentals even. You spend an hour and a half at the beach. Being a water lover, I swam out and tried one of the inflatable slides. It was pretty fun! Everyone seemed to be having a good time.

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I would highly recommend this excursion. Loved the boat ride, loved the snorkelling, loved the beach. We got back on the boat to go back to port and the crew started handing out beer and margaritas and playing dance music. It turned into a party. I must have drank 5 or 6 margaritas on the way back....lol not super proud, BUT our liquid courage led to us to make friends with another younger couple who we hung out with the rest of the trip back.

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We stumbled our way off the boat and went back to the ship to change and got ready to walk around Cozumel. As usual we found our magnets and t-shirts. We tried to go to Senor Frogs but it was packed as there were around 4-5 ships in at the port that day. We went to Tacos & Tequila instead. I had another margarita and ordered steak tacos for lunch. I am not sure I have ever came across a taco I did not like, and this was no exception. So delicious. We walked around a little more, checked out some Mexican pharmacies. I work in health care so I thought it was so crazy you could buy things like Tramadol and Flexeril! I wanted to buy some z-packs to bring home, but I did not bring enough cash with me and there was no way I was going to use my credit card after hearing about the fraud that could happen. We stopped and took pictures with some macaws. Loved the one that laid down in our hands!

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Back to the ship! I was exhausted, and was not feeling the greatest (dang margaritas....). I meant to take a short nap so that we could watch as we were leaving Cozumel, but I woke up at about 6:00 pm instead. We had 9:45 dinner reservations at Cagney's because we had enjoyed it so much the first night. I did not feel good at all, but did not want to waste a specialty dining meal, and they were booked for the last night. We decided to still go and I ordered the pork chop rather than steak. It was good, but wish I would have went with the steak.

This night was the roughest waters we experienced all trip. I took some dramamine and went to bed in hopes that I could enjoy our last day at sea. I was sad it was our last port, the reality of vacation ending was coming so fast! :(

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big al

big al

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Great review, especially for a newbie...both cruise agent & cruise lover here ( 35 cruises)..my wife & I & her sister & hubby are going on the Getaway in November, so we are very excited...FYI about the age of passengers on the ship ( Tip: it's a ship, not a boat- boats don't have Captains & bars..the Captain of the Oasis told me to remind everyone that cruise vessels are "ships", not "boats")..the average age on NCL is about 43, which is 3rd youngest in the mainstream ( there are NINE mainstream lines) cruise lines behind Disney & Carnival..remember very few 22 & 25 year olds can afford a week's cruise in a balcony on a beautiful new ship, I know because most of my cruise bookings are people 35+, so 1) congrats on doing so well so young, and 2) it's great to hear a young couple enjoying their first cruise as much as you did...

 

If you cruise again, and hopefully you will, keep in mind that right now, only Norwegian & Celebrity have UDP's..most other cruise lines have beverage packages that are around $45-58 A DAY PP, so if you like to drink, this can add up quickly ( so like $600-800 minimum for 2 people just for drinks), and also, very few cruise lines have a specialty dining package which include 3 restaurants...BTW, although Celebrity has great & gorgeous ships ( all 5 of their Solstice class ships are ranked in Cruise Critics Top 10 ships overall), their average age is close to 50, making them the 3rd oldest line for passenger age behind Holland American ( HAL) and Princess..TIP- you can tell if a ship/ cruise line will have younger passengers if they have slides, water parks, etc...you will NOT find this on HAL, Celebrity or Princess because they want to attract a more mature crowd, which is fine. Just some FYI for future cruise bookings & searching for cruises...I believe in trying different cruise lines because it's fun experiencing different cruise lines just like you try different restaurants..we have cruised NCL, Royal Caribbean ( Oasis class & Freedom class fantastic!) , Disney ( best service, best cabins, best shows, best private island, best MDR food IMO) , Carnival ( new ships like Vista & Breeze are nice & good deals on them..) , Celebrity, & Princess..not been on Costa or MSC, but will try the new MSC Seaside soon, looks super & friends LOVED the Divina...

 

Again thanks for all the time & effort you put into this, I really enjoyed reading your review, and hope to see another one in the future!!

 

Big Al :cool:

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Oakman58

Oakman58

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I'm enjoying your review. On my last cruise we visited Stingray City at Great Stirrup Cay, absolutely amazing. Since you love snorkeling so much you might want to keep that in mind. Great Stirrup Cay is an NCL private island so there aren't big crowds at Stingray City.

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margie1221

margie1221

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No irons allowed on any cruise ship..fire hazard...they all have dry cleaning..

 

 

 

Can I use a standard flat iron on the Getaway?

 

 

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Hmmm - On NCL you can request an iron & ironing board from your cabin steward. And, on Carnival, there are self serve laundromats with iron & ironing board - hope this helps [emoji846]

 

 

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alyssazoll

alyssazoll

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Saturday: At sea

I woke up feeling better than I had the night before. Ryan--not so much. He slept in while I went up to the Garden Buffet to get breakfast before it switched over to lunch. Four days of being on the go and trying to take in as much as we could really caught up to us, but I was already feeling sad that I would be back to reality soon. We had no game plan for our last day besides relaxing. After hanging out and packing most of our things we went for lunch at O'Sheehans. Ryan loved their hotdogs and got one basically every time we went. After we ate we went up to the pool deck to get loungers. We went to the forward of the ship, but it was so windy that it was almost cold. We tried to find chairs under the enclosure by the pools to block the wind, but there was none open. We went to Spice H2O and found chairs there. It was not as windy, but Ryan was still not feeling well, plus he was sunburnt so we did not stay for long. He went back to take a nap, I sat on the balcony and read.

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I finished packing, showered, and got ready for dinner.

We decided to go to Tropicana for dinner again. We got the steak frites (new york strip). You just cannot go wrong with steak and fries. We of course got dessert again, I got the lava cake this time, too. I would miss having my dinner served to me, I definitely did not miss cooking.

We decided to look at our photo album on the ship. I had posted a question on CC before I left about the photo package. Before we left, I was planning on buying the 11 photos for $149. I am so glad that I did not pre-book it. These packages are also available on the ship. We only had maybe 8 pictures taken of us. We bought two 8x10's that we liked. I'm not sure if we just avoided photographers or if we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We had taken plenty of our own pictures so I was no disappointed by this. I was happy I didn't have to spend another $100!

Earlier in the day we also booked shuttle tickets from the cruise ship terminal to MIA. It was $16 a person, worth it in our eyes. Our flight did not leave until 3:30 so we would be one of the last groups off the ship.

For our last night out, we went to the Atrium to watch one of the couple game shows they were doing. It was very entertaining! We also went to the Farewell show. We watched the video and realized how much we really missed out on...we did not go to the Sail Away, Glow, or 80's parties. It's not because we did not want to go, but I think we just had so much to take in with the ship that we didn't realize everything else that was going on.

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After the Farewell show, we went to the Sunset Bar for our last rounds of drinks. We enjoyed talking with Mark and loved picking his brain with all sorts of questions. I was so happy we were able to meet him. We hope to see him again one day. We tipped him $20 for taking such good care of us.

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Mark in the black, Chris in the white. You will love them if you get the chance to meet them!

Off to bed! :( Hard to believe when we woke up we would be back to Miami! :loudcry:

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alyssazoll

alyssazoll

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Sunday: Disembarkation

I woke up at 6:30 am and we were already docked. I turned my phone on to get caught up on Facebook ;) Our color (lime) was supposed to get off at 9:45, so we planned on hanging out and getting breakfast. Our room steward knocked on our door and said we had to be out of the room by 8:30. I understand they have to prepare for the next round of people getting on, but it was not explained to us that we needed to be out of our room so early. We went up to the Garden Cafe and got breakfast. It was packed obviously, everyone trying to get their last meal in before getting off. We were done with breakfast before 9:00, so we walked around some more and went up to the deck to sit in the sun before returning to Michigan. At 9:45, our color had not been called. They had announced that there had been a medical emergency at the terminal, so everything was at a standstill. I was in no rush so I did not mind. They ended up calling our color an hour later. When leaving you swipe your card, and then go get your luggage before going through the customs line. Luckily, we found our luggage pretty quick. We maybe waited in line another 15 minutes before getting to the customs desk. It was quick and easy. Ryan was so nervous since it was his first time re-entering the country, but everything was fine.

The biggest complaint I had about disembarkation was the disorganization with the shuttle to the airport. There was no sign for the pre-arranged shuttle. We asked someone working at the terminal and they said to go to the end of the terminal to wait. That was wrong. We eventually found where we needed to be, and the driver said he would have to "make room" for the 10 of us still waiting to get on the bus. Ummm this is why we made prior arrangements so we would have room! After getting on there was no hassle. We were to the airport before we knew it. Vacation was over. We were to the airport a little after noon, so we had plenty of time. We flew from Miami to Chicago to Lansing. At that point I was just ready to be home.

 

Just like that it was over! More thoughts and comments tomorrow :)

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SuchAVirgo

SuchAVirgo

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We just booked the getaway tonight for an April sailing. After reading this I am very excited 😬

 

Two years ago, we sailed on the Epic and loved it. Hoping we love the Getaway just as much.

 

Is HC a private island? The pool and beach looked nice. Is it available to all or through an excursion?

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alyssazoll

alyssazoll

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We just booked the getaway tonight for an April sailing. After reading this I am very excited 😬

 

Two years ago, we sailed on the Epic and loved it. Hoping we love the Getaway just as much.

 

Is HC a private island? The pool and beach looked nice. Is it available to all or through an excursion?

 

There is something for everyone on Getaway, you will love it! Harvest Caye is NCL's private island. The pool and beach and chairs are available for all passengers. They do have other excursions as well, but I would just recommend a beach day!

 

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alyssazoll

alyssazoll

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Great review, I was also on this cruise and had a great time, great weather and calm seas

I could not believe the weather we had! Not a drop of rain, or even clouds really. I was panicking checking the weather channel the two weeks before and it was showing rain. Can't wait to go again.

 

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