NCL GETAWAY review from April 23rd....

MiamiSpartan · April 30, 2017

Just got off the Getaway....Had a great time as always....

A few thoughts--

*Our 2nd time on the ship

*Sailed with my cousin and her husband. Their first cruise. Down from Michigan...

*The stops were Roatan, Harvest Quay Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel

*My 34th cruise in total--11th with NCL

Embarkation was pretty smooth...A bit of a wait in the terminal, but it went pretty quickly....TONS of rain all day....can be pretty common in Miami depending on the time of year...

Room--Inside cabin....had gotten the upgrade e-mail, but they didn't accept our offer....no biggie....we don't spend much time in the room anyway....It was actually bigger than usual....good amount of storage.

Room attendant wasn't very good unfortunately.....only negative.....

The room didn't have any tissue. Couldn't get ahold of anyone to get the ice bucket filled for two days.....Hard to get ahold of Guest Services. Room was usually not made up until sometime after noon each day. Only got Turn down service 3 times, and one time we had to call for it....Finally met our room attendant on day 2,,,,not sure if she had too many rooms or was just missing some training....

Wasn't enough to get me to not sail with NCL again or "ruin my vacation" like some people might post, but it was just annoying....

We had purchased the 3 night Premium Dining package. Very glad we did. Had amazing dinners at Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and Le Bistro. Also ate at The Tropicana Room, and ended up doing the Garden Cafe the other nights.

I'll post more later.....

cruisersunsetbrat · April 30, 2017

We were on the same ship (14th deck aft balcony cabin). Our room steward (male) also came late afternoon everyday, including embarkation...almost 5 p.m. before our room was ready and then he showed up 3 p.m. or later for cleaning every day thereafter. Since he only showed up once per day, we had to ask for ice for all but 2 days. Thank goodness we were close to buffet so we could get our own ice.

There were other issues I won't go into (including a lot of door banging from our neighbors and Guest Services not addressing this ongoing issue.) This is our 4th NCL cruise and was not our favorite. Having said that, the shows and food were good.

Edited April 30, 2017 by cruisersunsetbrat
adding to response

BuckeyeFan03 · May 1, 2017

We were also on this sailing and had a different experience. We were in a mini suite on 9 and were fortunate to have a wonderful cabin steward, Frank. He would always greet us by name anytime he saw us with a friendly, outgoing attitude. Our ice bucket was always filled and any glasses I brought to the room were promptly removed at the next service. We were quite pleased.

susar · May 1, 2017

Our room steward(s) were great, always had ice and the room was made up right after we'd leave. We had a balcony on 13 and it was the smallest we've ever seen after many cruises, but did not spend any time out there...Good storage, little niches all over the room and a great bathroom. It was a great location for the Cafe and the Spice H2O deck. Loved our bartender in the Chill bar and when he moved over to the inside Sunset bar at night. Great Margaritas at Chill!

I was not happy with the food selection in the complimentary dining rooms and would book different evening dining next time if we do Norwegian. I wish they would have an outdoor fresh grill for lunch as I've had on every other cruise. The dining staff in Savor was great, very personable and quick, not so much the other two which were very slow. Of course we love Isaac (morning "Banana Man") and he was the manager in Savor and that may have made a difference.

Loved Silas, the cruise director!! Sad that our Roll Call Meet and Mingle only had about 15 people between the CC group and another 35 on my other group. We got VIP daily appetizers and desserts in our room and complimentary Ice Bar entry on Saturday (not that exciting, but we went).

Not impressed getting on and off the ship-longest lines we've ever had to go through, including customs line. Loved that we didn't have to fill out the form or declare anything. Boarding was a bit confusing as my son had to board in a different terminal after being in line with us for 20 minutes, but got on way ahead of us after changing from b to c terminal. Since we hadn't cruised NCL since the 80s we didn't know the regular restaurants were open and went to the Mosh pit in the cafe and wandered around trying to find a table and was very frustrated and starving.

MiamiSpartan · May 2, 2017

Was disappointed that The Illusionarium was closed. Changing over to some Cirque dinner show like the Epic I think...Was open for Wine Lovers-The Musical. We had done that on our previous trip.

Nice that Shanghai is now a part of the regular dining package instead of the extra charge on our first trip. My only comment is the location next to the Casino...Although it seemed to be busy throughout the sailing, it seemed like it was crazy smoky over there. I do not remember it being that smoky a couple of years ago...We did skip it this time.

Enjoyed all the ports:

Had not been to Roatan previously....Great for diving and Zip-lining....Since this was a more relaxing trip for us, we did not do those, but did go into the shopping area there...they could probably add a couple of more dining options there, but we did enjoy ourselves....

I know some people have not liked it, but we really liked Harvest Quay...! I think it is one of the better private islands that we have ever been to....

Yes, there is no free bbq over there, but frankly, I've never been all that impressed with them on the other islands....

We did rent a yellow clam shell for $39 for the day...money well spent. It was HAWT there....even for us Miami boys! :cool: They also have more lux cabanas available for around $350 I think....HUGE pool area with a swim tip bar serviced by the Landshark Cafe. There are a couple of more dining options there as well. water sports and zip lines are also there.

Also very impressed with what they have done with Costa Maya, since we were last there 4 years back. Shopping and dining area has been increased by 4-5 times. Another large swimming pool with swim-up options. Can get crowded with 3 ships in port, but was still fun...

We've been to Cozumel many times, so we usually stop at a couple of stores and then head to Palmeras for civiche and rita's......the owner recognized us from so many previous visits and quietly took 15% off our bill.,..I learned my lesson there several years back, when I had cocktails there and then went shopping....I bought a sink. ;p Ended up costing me several thousand to have by bathroom re-modled around that damn sink!!:')

Always shop first. #TheMoreYouKnow

Back on the ship, The Sunset Bar was our favorite spot for cocktails. Staff over there was great....! Did a mojito tasting in Sugarcane, and a Margarita tasting at Sunset Bar. They will be switching that one to a martini tasting in Europe. Did not do the Ice Bar this time, but always fun. Not usually for our northern friends who cannot understand why someone would want to be cold on a cruise ship.....:p

Ships' app worked great. Since we didn't always have our room turned down at night, it was great to have the Freestyle Daily at my fingertips. did not do any internet package. Was here to chill. Weird though, that two days later, I keep getting messages that I am back on the ship's wi-fi....And I have access to iConcierge......:confused::confused:

We enjoyed all the activities around the ship: Live music and games in the Atrium Lounge, music in Sugarcane and Fat Cats, Howl at the Moon, etc....Good coffee there and in O'Sheehans...The sell Tea Forte teas in the Atrium.

MiamiSpartan · May 2, 2017

Us before the ship sailed.