tropical83

Myself taking in the view

Hubby and I

After this we went back to the room to just relax a bit and enjoy the balcony. I really love having a balcony. I have had one on all 3 of my cruises and I would have a hard time booking a room without one in the future.

After lunch we walked around the ship and took a stroll along the waterfront. You are able to walk all the way around to the back of the ship which I found to be pretty neat. The waterfront was a nice area. A quiet place to just relax. I never really sat out there because I had my own balcony if I wanted a quiet spot to sit and just enjoy the water. But If you don't have a balcony this would be a good spot for you!

After breakfast I headed to Spice H20 at 10:30. There were plenty of loungers available so I picked a nice spot for myself. My husband and our friends knew to meet there. It wasn't long before they all met me there. The girls got some sun while the guys hung around the bar area and explored the ship.

After a few hours we went to O'Sheehans for lunch. It was quite packed and they had a deal or no deal game going on in the atrium below. I ordered the chicken fajitas and we shared some nachos. Honestly the food was ok, but not great. The nachos could be a lot better. They are just chips, processed melted cheese, bacon and jalepenos. The guys had the chicken wings and said they were pretty good.

Day 2 – Sea Day

I woke up before my husband so I decided to sit out on the balcony for a bit. Looked like a beautiful sea day ahead!

When he finally woke up he did not want to go to breakfast yet, so I decided to go by myself. I went to the Flamingo Grill. I did peak in at the Garden Café and it was just crazy busy so I didn't bother. I mentioned earlier all the different options they had at Flamingo. I had an english muffin egg sandwich and some hash browns and it was very good. Again I was so glad they had this option for breakfast! I have read that the Flamingo Grill will be turning into Margaritaville eventually. I didn't see any signs of this happening while I was on the ship. I do like Margaritaville but the fact that there would be no more Flamingo Grill would really be a shame.

A few pictures of Flamingo Grill. Great views!

Thank you for the info. Glad to hear we don't have to pay! Where is the adult pool located?

No problem. The adult pool is on deck 15 mid ship. It's close to the kids pool area too.

And yes there is an adults only pool but you do not have to pay for that either.

It is ok. We talked to other families and were hardly alone in feeling that way about the MDR staff. It didn't ruin our cruise by any stretch, but it certainly detracted from it.

 

I do agree that Carnival has better menus. I think NCL uses better quality ingredients. Their chefs simply aren't as creative with them.

 

The rooms are much smaller. Carnival puts the closet across from the bathroom on the typical balcony cabin. It is three closets and they put the life jackets in there. We always had plenty of room for 3 for a week. NCL put the life jackets under the bed and the closet was still too small.

 

I do like the closet being moved as it was very tight in the Carnival cabins in that spot, however you get a larger closet for it.

Yes you are right about the closet. I did think the same thing as well!

Loving the pics!! I cannot wait for my Getaway cruise in January!! I especially like the Sail Away Party! Our last 2 cruise were on RCCL--the Indy and Oasis--and there was no special sail away party! I was used to all the fun sail always on Carnival, so I didn't like that about Royal. Glad to see that NCL has a sail away party! Also--what is the adult area on the Getaway? Is it true that you have to pay a fee to use the adult only pool area? Can't wait for more of your review! 😊

Thanks! Hope you have a great cruise in January.

Spice H20 is adults only on the Getaway during the day. There is no pool, just a bar, loungers and the waterfall feature. You do not have to pay to go to Spice H20. You are probably thinking of Vibe. You have to pay for Vibe passes. Honestly I didn't even see where it was on the ship lol. I don't think there is a pool in Vibe. I believe it has more comfortable loungers and some hot tubs.

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I too just sailed the Getaway and am I past Carnival cruiser. I do agree with a lot of what you said when comparing Carnival to Norwegian.

I agree that the NCL buffet was better than Carnival, but the Carnival dining room menus were better. And I did think that maybe the rooms on NCL were a bit smaller, but now that you are saying it as well I really think they were.

Sorry you didn't have the best service from the MDR staff. My experience was opposite and I was very pleased with all the service!

Headliners was packed for Howl at the Moon. We somehow got lucky and snagged 4 seats right at the bar. I don't think there was another empty spot in there at that time. We have been to Howl at the Moon in Chicago and loved it so we were looking forward to going on the cruise. Also, on my last cruise on the Carnival Breeze, we had a great time at the Piano Bar just about every night. Howl at the moon was fun, great songs and the players get the audience involved and they play your requests. It was a good time for sure!

We stayed until the end and then walked around a bit.

This was the chandelier at that time

It was pretty late so we decided it was time for bed. The clocks went back 1 hour at 2am. Oh, we didn't get a towel animal the first night, but our friends did. Not a big deal but I like my towel animals lol.

That is all for day 1!

After the sail away party we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner.

We met our friends at the Tropicana Room for 7 pm, and we didn't have to wait for a table. I ordered the chicken consomme soup and the shrimp rigatoni. It was good. Everyone was pleased with their meals. For dessert I had the warm chocolate lava cake. It also comes with ice cream and strawberries. SO GOOD!

I don't really have any pictures of the dining rooms. But the Tropicana Room was beautiful!

After dinner we made our way to Headliners for Howl at the Moon.

Here is a picture of the chandelier. It changes colours. It was so pretty!

Headliners and the pretty staircase

When we dropped off our carry on items, we changed into our swimsuits and went back to meet our friends at Spice H20. We grabbed a drink and decided to relax in the hot tub. No one was in the hot tubs so we had the hot tub to ourselves. We went back to our rooms a bit before the muster drill and our bags were outside our room. We unpacked and went to muster in the Savor dining room. It went by pretty quick and then we headed back to Spice H20 for the Sail away party.

I had read a few times on these boards that people thought the music was too loud at Spice H20. I didn't think it was. The music sounded pretty good to me!

Sail away party was fun. People were dancing and having a good time. We sat at the bar, had a few drinks, people watched and took in the views of the sail away from Miami! At one point we asked the bartender to make us a shot of something tasty and not too strong. She made us a "woo woo" lol. I don't know what was in it. It was pink and pretty good! We had them on a few occasions throughout the cruise. So if you are cruising the Getaway soon, ask for one if you remember!

Our view from the bar

I also want to mention that noise was not a problem in my cabin. You could hear a bit of noise from above, but nothing too crazy or nothing that would actually wake me up. Overall I was very happy with the location I ended up with after booking a guarantee cabin! It was nice having the Garden Cafe just 1 deck above, and Spice H20 2 decks above.

They announced that the rooms were ready at 1:30 pm. So we went to check out our rooms and drop off our carry on items.

We were in cabin 14816 Starboard side

The balcony room was very similar to the rooms on Carnival. I think the Carnival rooms may of been a bit bigger? I think the actual balcony was a bit smaller on the Getaway than on Carnival as well.

Balcony

The 14th deck is the highest deck of cabins. I enjoyed being up that high. However you can see the overhang in the last pictures from deck 15 above. I had read about that before and wasn't sure if it would bother me or not. I will say that it did not bother me. It did block the sun a bit. Some may like that and some may not. However during the afternoon I was out at Spice H20 or at port, not on my balcony. I usually spend time on the balcony for a bit in the morning, before dinner and before bed.

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!

After we ate we found ourselves at Spice H20 and hung out there for a bit. The weather was great, hot and sunny.

View of Miami

Spice H20

The open area is usually filled with loungers during the day, but is used a dance floor for all the parties.

Here is the water fall feature. Great spot to cool down!

After we finished our drinks we went to the buffet for some lunch. It was pretty crowded already at that time but it didn't take too long to grab some food and we were able to find a spot no problem. I had some mac and cheese and a few types of salads and everything was good! There is so much to chose from, its hard to decide what you want. My tip is to walk around and take a look before you start putting food on your plate!

A few random pictures of the Garden Cafe. Not the best pictures so sorry about that.

Thanks for posting! I was on the same sailing as you and I am also currently doing a review :)

As you can see there isn't really any room for loungers around the pool. The loungers are either on the deck above or back along the windows in the shade.

Also, the pool is deep and adults only. You can't just go in the pool and stand in it. People would just sit/lay in the shallow part around the edge. Some people would be in the pool but just hanging around on the edge. I also feel like the pool area could of used more colour.

When comparing to Carnival, I'd say Carnivals pool area is better and has a more tropical feel. On the newer and renovated ships anyways.

There is a kids pool and splash area, but I don't believe I took any pictures of that.

Since our friends boarded at the other terminal, we made plans to meet them at the waves pool bar. So we headed there right away and they were already there waiting for us. They got on the ship just a few minutes before us. We decided to order a drink and chill there for a bit. We all ordered a Miami Vice.

Alright lets get back to the review.

I do want to mention that I do not have the dailies or menus, and I did not take pictures of the food. But if you have any questions about anything like that I'll do my best to answer!

I am also not the best photographer and I just used my canon powershot and iPhone to take pictures :p

Day 1 Embarkation

I woke up pretty early, around 7 am while everyone else slept in a bit longer. I booked the cruise in January so I was just excited that the day was finally here! We went down to get some breakfast at about 9am and then had the front desk call us a taxi. It came pretty quickly and we left the hotel in South Beach at 9:45 am. Traffic was smooth and on the way we caught our first glimpse of the beautiful Norwegian Getaway :)

When we got to the port of Miami, we headed to Terminal C while our friends went to Terminal B. We went through security very quickly as there was only a few people ahead of us. We probably waited in the check in line for about 10 minutes. When we checked in we found out that the itinerary changed a bit. The Costa Maya and Belize days were swaped. They said it was to avoid congestion in Costa Maya. I found it a bit weird that they changed it at the last minute. Unless something happened where another ships itinerary changed and they ended up in Costa Maya they day we were supposed to be, so they switched us? Who knows.

Anyways, like I said we left our hotel at 9:45 am, and we went through security, checked in and were sitting in the terminal waiting at 10:30am. Pretty quick! I'm trying to remember what boarding group we got. I think it was 10 or 12. But remember, its every other number. So our terminal was 2,4,6,8,10,12 etc, while the other terminal was 1,3,5,7,9 etc.

I think we waited about an hour and boarding began. We were on the ship by 11:50am :)

My husband and I are booked on the Getaway in January, so I am enjoying your review and can't wait for more! It is our first time sailing NCL. I am disappointed to hear that there is no 24 hour pizza place! We have sailed Carnival many times, and loved their pizza! And on the two RCCL we sailed, we loved their pizza place, Sorrentos.

As for your ankle swelling---did you sit with legs down a lot? Sounds like dependent edema, and keeping legs elevated will help. Whenever you feel swollen, put those legs up. I have known several people that have this issue when traveling---especially with long car and plane rides. The risk with those are blood clots---DVTs---and anti-embolism stockings worn with travel can help prevent that, along with edema.

 

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Thanks! And yes the pizza situation was a bit disappointing lol. It didn't ruin my cruise by any means, but it just seems like something so simple that they could implement!

As for sitting..well I would lay on the loungers during the day on the ship. But I did feel I would walk around a decent amount, especially during our excursions. But a few times at night when sitting at the bar, I would start to feel worse so I would get up and just stand/walk around. When I went to bed I put pillows from the couch under my legs.

Enjoying your review. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks and you're welcome.

Thanks for the review.

Thank you for starting this thread and for sharing this with us.

 

Keith

No problem and thanks for reading

My ankles and fingers will swell sometime but I think it has to do with heat. Even though we live in a very humid area (SC) we always go in the spring before it gets humid. I usually try to drink a lot of water weeks before going on my cruise because I know that I will be eating more food than I do at home and the heat and humidity is different. I usually wind up having to take my rings off and put in the safe during my cruises.

 

I also think it can be salt related. When I get home and get back on my normal schedule especially with eating the swelling goes down and I am back to normal.

Hmm I never thought before that it could have to do with the heat. Again maybe its just a mix of everything and my body can't handle it as well as others can. At least my fingers didn't swell lol.

It has happened to me....I was also on this cruise and the swelling wasn't that bad at all for me this time..in the past it has been bad...I just go to my Doctor beforehand and get a water pill ...once I start to feel swollen I take it..it really works...I think it is the salt in the food and the heat possibly....

 

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I'm glad it wasn't that bad for you this time. I will try and be more prepared next time and look into some type of water pills. And I guess just try and eat healthier. As much as all the yummy food I don't usually eat at home will be tempting, I'd rather not swell like I did on this cruise ever again!

My hubby and I will be sailing out of Miami in September to go on the ESCAPE and we were thinking of going to a Marlins game also. We figure it will be easy to get a taxi from the hotel, but did you have any trouble getting a taxi for the ride back? Are there taxis parked there?

Yes it was pretty easy getting a taxi from the hotel. The front desk will call for you or you can try and wave one down yourself.

We found a taxi pretty quickly after the game. Actually we left a bit before the game was over. I did not see any lined up outside, but I think it could of been the exit we took and we started walking down a street away from the park. But we hailed a taxi down pretty quickly.

I am loving your review!! :)The Getaway is such a great ship! We hope to spend more time in Miami next year when we cruise again next year. Can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you!