ThirstyFrog203

Thanks, my wife thought it could be that.

Can't for the life me find any info on this.

The cold towels Norwegian greets you back to the ship with. What's in it? It's more than just towels soaked in ice water. Is it aloe infused?

It's so refreshing i want to recreate it for the hot sweltering days of summer at home.

Who was the Cruise Director? What did you think of him/her?

Cruise director's name was Scott. He was always "on" and did a good job. He gets the glow party started with an epic presentation.

also, one thing to tack onto my review.

The NCL pool police crack down quickly on kids in the main pool or adults only hot tubs.... I liked that

I must say I find this highly disturbing and disappointing. We sail in less than two weeks on Getaway. Our first NCL cruise, and for this sole reason, possibly our only one.

to clarify - The main pool is approx 7'5" deep. Not considered appropriate for small children. Surrounding the main pool are four hot tubs. Two of them on one side of the pool are adults only and the two on the other side are used by children and adults.

There are two bars there. Right on the other side of them is a small pool for kids and small water park and all the waterslides. You can choose deck chairs in the middle so you can keep an eye on things.

How much was tour bus? Where did you book it?

It's considered an excursion. You should be able to book it from the ncl page or with a quick call. Price i can't remember off hand

I must say I find this highly disturbing and disappointing. We sail in less than two weeks on Getaway. Our first NCL cruise, and for this sole reason, possibly our only one.

The kids pool area is not far. Just on the other side of the bar

I may be going on the Getaway 10/30/16 what time did the ship port in Miami and did they have a self debarkation ?

 

Thanks

 

Gary

we were back in Miami by 6am at the latest. We were fully docked when i woke up at 6:30. We had a later flight so instead of sitting in an airport all day we did a "hop on, hop off" bus tour of Miami. So we got off the boat around 8. Self Debarkation is an option but let them know ahead of time you want to do that.

ThirstyFrog203, thank you for your very informative posts.

 

Quick comment and question: One of our group of travelers :rolleyes: is concerned about the Zika virus.

 

Did you notice many mosquitoes in your ports? (We are going to Costa Maya, too.) Would you think it's too blazing hot + humid to wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants? I cannot imagine how warm/humid it is down in Mexico right now, but it would seem too hot for anything but shorts/t-shirts.

 

Thanks!

dress for the weather and try not to concern yourself with Zika... odds of getting are slim. didn't notice many mosquitoes as we alsways stayed close to shore and the ocean breeze keeps them away

We saw Burn The Floor... very well done. Ropes course is a lot of fun. The waterslides are great! I was like a big giant kid with those things. The comdian we saw in Headliners was very funny. The Ice Bar (not included in beverage package) was a cool unique experience.

We ate in the Tropicana Room one night. All 3 MDR's had the same menu. Food was good and service was quick. We both had the Beef Wellington and was very flavorful

Thanks for your review! I also have only sailed Carnival. Next month I sail my first NCL cruise on the Getaway. Can't wait! I don't have any issues with Carnival. NCL offering the free beverage package is what got me to book a cruise with them.

The beverage package is what got us in as well. This and all the options available to you, whether it be food or entertainment really outnumber Carnival by a wide margin. So much to do on this ship that you may not get everything in. We were never bored.

I'm so glad to hear about the main pool being adults only ! The pools are my 'happy place' on a cruise ship.

 

Did you see "Burn the Floor" or "Howl at the Moon" ? Did you eat in the MDR at all ? Did you do the ropes course or any other activity ? Is there any "don't miss" experience or any tips you'd like to suggest ?

 

It will be my first cruise with NCL on the Getaway in February. I'm a little nervous and a lot excited.

 

Thanks,

Kristine

We saw Burn The Floor... very well done. Ropes course is a lot of fun. The waterslides are great! I was like a big giant kid with those things. The comdian we saw in Headliners was very funny. The Ice Bar (not included in beverage package) was a cool unique experience.

Did you met any outstanding staff?

I'm bad with names, but this one guy up in the breakfast buffet would come by singing this blueberry muffin song, that had me laughing.

Our first cruise with NCL was on the Getaway! Not our first cruise by any means, but our first NCL. We absolutely LOVED both Getaway (The Waterfront!) and the NCL concept in general! Welcome to the club!

Thanks! I left out the Waterfront.. Great area. we sat out there and had hot delicious lobster rolls from Ocean Blue

Also, we had one of those slightly extended balconies on deck 10. Great room, quiet and tons of storage. We always did inside rooms to save money but i don't think i can ever go back now

I'm not one for long drawn out reviews, so this will be short and sweet.

I'm sold. This was our 4th cruise overall. First with Norwegian. Previous 3 were all with Carnival. It was night and day. We were extremely disappointed with our last Carnival cruise and wanted to try something new. We were not disappointed.

We had the Beverage package and 4 nights of the Dining package. I highly recommend the beverage package. Drinks on board can be pricey. Our bar tab would have easily been $500 or $600+ without it and we are not heavy drinkers, but did drink steadily throughout without getting drunk or hungover.

This cruise line is most definitely geared towards adults. The main pool was adults only.. the MAIN pool. It was fantastic. 4,000+ on board and never felt crowded. Always got in the hot tub when we wanted. Never had to wait. Always found a deck chair. Although it did get a little tough on sea days.

The lunch buffet at Flamingo is pretty solid. They have this coconut pastry that i could not get enough of.

Spice H2O was a pretty laid back and quiet place during the day. Got wild at night, especially the great and famous "Glow Party". Bring all white clothing for this event. They really go all out.

4 nights of the dining package - First was the French Bistro. Very good, although i would prefer the duck to not be minced. It was pleasant though. Second was italian at La Cucina... This was the worst IMO. Not bad, but not very good. My wife's filet was cooked medium rare to perfection was flavorless. My pasta dish was just ok. Third was Teppanyaki, the Hibachi place. Our cook was a lot of fun and the food was very good. Just wish we had more energetic table mates. Two of them looked like they were at a funeral. We nicknamed them Donnie & Donnie Downer. Fourth was the Brazilian Steak House "Moderno". Did not realize how a Brazilian steak house works. They just keep coming by with different meats and you have you have a card on your table that you flip to green if you want more or red to stop... Once we figured it out, it was great. You got to try several things.

Ports

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

Unless you have an excursion here, i'd recommend staying on the ship. Once you get off the pier you get relentlessly hounded. I was offered pot twice, cabs about 157 times and had to deal will highly aggressive con men selling you stuff. I got suckered into buying this wooden aztec heads because he jumped in front of me and said he had something free for me. He carved my name into it, then grabbed another carved my wife's name and said it would be $20. I talked him down to $10 but felt i deserved that. I should have known better. If you do get off here. JUST KEEP WALKING. Don't stop to talk to anyone. Find a bar and go there. They don't hassle you inside. I had a "Blended Bob Marley" at a local bar and it was quiet and nice... Brutally humid day, but sunny.

Grand Cayman

Our second time here. First time was a bit rainy. This day was beautiful. We had a snorkel excursion here at a wreck site and a beautiful reef area. Saw some very large fish including 3 tuna swimming under our boat. Another great weather day.

Cozumel

Did the Play Mia Deluxe Beach day here. Very nice beach area. Lots of palm trees if you wanted a shady spot. Open bar, Nice pool area. Water at this beach was a bit murky and very rocky. Bring your water shoes if you do this. We ended up spending most of our time around the pool. Another great weather day but very hot... Those cold towels that Norwegian welcomes you back with is a little piece of heaven. They also had a DJ on the dock blasting music and we had to dance the red carpet back on the ship. I'm a shy dancer because i'm so bad at it, lol. But i had fun with it.

Great Stirrup Cay

Great beach area. We did the Jet Ski excursion. Never rode a jet ski before. Let's just say, I am hooked. Once you get the hang of it, it is adrenaline pumping fun. I want one. Water is nice. Some rocks in the water but mostly nice sand. You'll enjoy yourself here... Again, perfect weather.

As a side note, before getting to GSC, we had a sea day. We were stopped for about 4 hours because we came across are small raft carrying 8 cubans trying to flee to Florida. We needed to sit until the coast guard arrived to pick them up... It was something else to witness all this. I felt bad on two accounts. I felt bad for the Cubans on the raft but i also felt bad because i seemed more concerned about the delay possibly eliminating our stop in GSC and missing out on the jet ski's. They were successfully picked up by the coast guard and we were on our way at full speed. I believe we only lost an hour at GSC.

We also saw "Burn The Floor". This type of thing is not for me. That being said, i was impressed with the skill and choreography of the dancers. I was entertained. You should check it out. The theater offers great leg room but not much arm room. I started getting uncomfortable about 45 minutes in.

Embarkation/Debarkation was really smooth. They are very good with santitation. Hand santizer stations everywhere and people make sure you do it before eating. They carry spray bottles for your hands if you skip the stations.

I didn't cover everything here. If anyone has questions, let me know and i'll do my best to answer.

How many are there? We were thinking of bringing a small surge protector so we can charge multiple devices at the same time. If there are at least two outlets per room, we should be able to make that work. I have a balcony room on either deck 10 or 12... drawing a blank right now

1) Why does this shock you? Prices on everything go up.

 

2) Who cares? It is the freaking internet. This is a cruise! No one on facebook is going to die if you do not check in every day with some lame picture of the drink you just ordered, the cute boy (or maybe girl, I don't know) you just saw, or the free cigarettes that the casino just gave you. Truthfully they ought to charge more than that to weed out the people who don't really need to be on line and leave the limited bandwidth to those who actually actually have a need and not just a want.

 

3) Some people will always find something to complain about. If cruising upsets someone this much maybe they ought to choose a different vacation option!

seriously, anyone who pays this ridiculous price is insanely over dependent on the internet. I thought about it. Saw the 29.99 as reasonable... for the ENTIRE cruise, not one day. That's crazy. It's not like a ship employee has to constantly pedal a bike to keep the internet going.... just disconnect and if you really need your social media, connect to wifi at ports.

Most arrivals back into port are fairly early. I'm not sure what the arrival in port for your specific cruise is, but if you let guest services know of your trains departure time, they will get you off the ship in plenty of time as people with early flights/trains get priority debarkation

I'd give them a call now so they can get you situated and then you won't have to concern yourself with it any further.

If you like craft beer, you might be disappointed.

I thought i read somewhere about a brewpub with 50 different bottles and 24 taps.... Maybe only the 2 newer ships??

After a horrendous experience with Carnival earlier this year, my wife and I were debating abandoning cruising altogether or at least taking a break from it. We have cruised 3 times, all on Carnival. One great, one good, one poor.

We recently received an email from NCL and it got us thinking, but i have some questions for experienced NCL cruisers. I realize i can probably find some answers with a search but i am at work and i need to do this quickly, so here goes...

1. NCL is offering an all-inclusive drinks package for no extra charge if we book before 7/31. It sounds great but it sounds too good to be true. Is there a catch?

2. Is the onboard entertainment superior to the garbage Carnival puts out?

3. Being a huge fan of craft beer, i hear NCL has an extensive offering. Can someone tell me about it?

4. In your opinion, if i try NCL, would i ever want to go back to Carnival?

Just to clarify on some comments above. I don't blame Carnival for this. It was deemed unsafe because of wind, but since i'm reading that it's frequently missed, maybe they should have a back up island in place instead of just staying out to sea.

I don't know how feasible that is, but take our cruise for example. Book it as Grand Turk, HMC/some other nearby island, Nassau.

You could book an excursion at both places and get refunded for the one you don't go to.... just a thought

So what this poster is saying is, you have no right to be upset. It's your fault things didn't go the way you expected them to. This poster knows the ins and outs of why you booked when you did and has drawn the conclusion that you need to book at a warmer time of year. Knows that there was no good reason for you to have cruised when you did. Also this poster knows that you received an email to inform you of changes to a policy involving a bottle of water. Knows that you didn't overlook it, didn't fail to receive it, and read every single email every day of your life.

 

Long story short, sorry you ruined your cruise.

Yeah, i just don't understand how people don't get upset. My wife and I are comfortable but by my no means are we well off. So when we spend money, i want what we pay for. I don't have the money or the time to do B2B's or mulitple cruises a year. We're lucky to get one vacation a year, so i want what i want.

We've been fortunate to take a cruise each of the past 3 years and the the first two were great, especially last year on Liberty.

I wish i could look at it as an "it is what it is" situation but that's BS. I booked for HMC specificly. Counted down the days for 8 months to just to get another sea day. Is it better than being at the office? Yes it is, but that's not the point to me.

Half Moon Cay is one of those ports that gets skipped a good bit, especially in certain times of year. I was on Liberty in January and we got the same wonderful message. We talked to a lot of frequent cruisers that went on that cruise specifically for HMC and they were not surprised. Just can't let it ruin your trip. Still beats being at home IMO.

 

CHOGS - so many times we hear about this. People drop their gear and reserve it all day and use it 30 minutes to 1 hour. Totally frustrating but there are ways around it. Approach an employee and have them enforce the guideline they set of 40 minutes or if you are patient or know it has been there at least that long move it yourself. I usually don't feel it is that big of deal, but if it is take appropriate measures..

 

Sorry you had some DOWNS, we all want our vacation to be perfect.. As I said earlier, still has to be better than being at home..

 

:)

To be honest, i'm feeling a little better now that i had a chance to vent. Still stings though

I would feel the exact same way. I know that everyone says not to count on/book for the ports, but that seems crazy. Who would book a vacation just for the hotel/ship. Where you're going has 100% to do with your vacation.

 

Sorry to hear that things went this way. Others said to book in less harsh winter months, honestly, weather is always a gamble. We've had wonderful weather in December and awful weather in August.

 

All that to say, it sounds like you at least had the one nice day. The ship sounds like a bummer, thanks for the heads up. As Carnival moves forward with it's renovations and new builds, it makes those that are the old style look even worse.

Thanks for seeing it my way! I look at the quality of the ship as an added bonus, i'm there for the ports! We were on the Liberty last February and had great weather and it's a great ship too, so win win there. Of course we went further west and south, so that ensured we see more tropical weather.

We chose February because with living in Connecticut, it's this time of year that you really start getting fed up with frigid snowy weather, especially this year, so it kind of breaks the winter up a bit.