Mirrasi

I have no experience with Oasis but I have been on the Getaway twice with a 10 year old who hates the kid clubs. The Getaway has been his favorite ship of all (including Disney).

The family pool on the Getaway is not bad at all, ironically it's the adult pool that is noisy. The family pool was fairly quiet. The slides are fun. The upper deck with the ropes course, mini golf, spider climb, trampoline, and basketball are all super fun. The arcade has a mini bowling and pool, darts and games (that area for an extra fee). The shows were good though did not impress him much. The magic show dinner was amazing and great for kids. There is a ton of food options which he loved.

The Getaway is a gorgeous ship with plenty to do for kids who hate the kids club. The staff are wonderful (especially Isaac the rooster guy).

I imagine the Oasis is just as good though so I'd say pick whatever suits you best or is cheaper.

DCL and NCL have free Bonine at the medical station on a jar for grabs. I'm assuming RCCL would as well. Anyone know?

I booked an oceanview studio on Harmony for the May 2017 sailing with a RCCL vacation planner (30% off and single special). I also received $25 off the total price. I'm waiting to hear from the online agent that booked my family. Since I'm not sharing my cabin, I thought $4500 for an oceanview balcony cabin was a bit pricey. :eek:

I want to go on Harmoney SO BAD! No matter how I look it up its just crazy expensive and out of my range. I hope you enjoy, I'm jealous!

I would love if this were available from day 1

If you are looking for somewhere that is shaded and is quiet and a great spot to sit and relax? Also great for sail away!

Head to deck 5 and go all the way to the aft of the ship. You will find chairs that have a great view of the ocean and are usually not crowded.

TY! I love discovering neat little areas on the ship like this.

Cruise ships have been pretty amazing for us. My kid has far fancier taste than I do. :D When we went on our first cruise, he wanted to order something fancy off of the adult menu in the MDR. I was like, SURE, we can always stop by the buffet after if you don't like it. He's never looked back since and won't be caught dead eating kid meals. I think cruise ships are a great way for them to try new things. If he could actually do the chef table I think I'd pay just so he could experience. He's so quiet and calm and never disturbs anyone.

That's not the same as 150 right? I'm thinking of taking him there. He would LOVE to do a chef's table but I don't think I have seen any of them allow kids.

I vary. I prefer to book directly through the cruise. However, sometimes it's cheaper with travel agents and diff OBCs.

My last cruise with NCL I got the cruise about 40% cheaper through a TA! My upcoming RCCL in March was a couple hundred cheaper. But also, which I found interesting...I'm on the Oasis and wanted a Boardwalk balcony. On RCCL, all they offered was a couple rooms far away near towards the front or one balcony near the aft that was several hundred higher. I checked with the TA just to see what they had. She got me one right next to that room and it was a couple hundred cheaper than RCCL offered, plus she had an OBC so I went with that.

If the deal isn't better with TAs then I go through the main site. I don't know if all TAs are the same, but I just have two online ones that I use. I can still make my reservations to shows and restaurants myself. Any changes to the actual cruise, they have to do.

Is there an age restriction on any of the restaurants? My 11 year old is a foodie and loves anything upscale and fancy. I was thinking about 150 for him.

Every ship I have been on, the upscale Italian restaurants have not been great. What's good about Giovanni's? You have me curious to try it now. I will be going for the first time in March

I usually being a power strip extension cord so I can have my device in bed. So far lucky enough not to confiscate. I tend to bring a pharmacy with me. Last time I needed Benadryl and had to buy in ship and it was double cost. I don't do the over the door thing either but it's just me and my kid.

I bring markets to highlight activities. I try to know the ship before I get on so I know what things I want to do. My kid likes to play board games so I try and find the library.

Other than medicine I don't go too crazy on the packing either.

I will have to check that out. Tulim looks interesting and obviously very popular. I keep thinking it would be too hot. We are gonna stick with Xplor I think and maybe try Tulim next time. Xplor, Xcaret, and Xel Ha all look amazing. I picked Xplor because it looks for adventurous and I have a 10 year old who I think would love it.

I almost want to do the Secret River again 😘

Well, I was desperate to try the Secret River excursion. I didn't do it my first trip because the reviews scared me for the ferry. It was rough but we didn't feel ill at all. Kind of enjoyed it actually. Although I did prep with a Dramamine.

When we arrived I immediately noticed how pretty the water and that resort area was. The Secret River excursion was amazing and I highly recommend. This time I'm going to try Xplor park which looks neat.

The first time at Cozumel we did Nachi Cocum. I found it just okay.

Question, Tulum has a beach?? I've put that off thinking it would be too hot.

I doing DRF to be a little strenuous. You do need to be able to go up stairs so if you have bad knees it can be harder. I did fine but some of the steps are steeper. People always help though so it wasn't really an issue. The photo posted above really shows you. If you can handle stairs then I would suggest doing it. It was really neat and beautiful.

The ferry is indeed rough but we weren't bothered by it. The kids thought it was fun. But we did take pills as a precaution lol.

I prefer that side to Cozumel any day.

I'm confused. I'm looking at a Princess March 8th sailing. It says full transit yet it starts at ends in Florida. Would that be a typo then?

We just got off the Getaway. The issue is that the hot tubs are ADULT ONLY. They have the sign posted and are at the adult pool. The family pool and slide area does not have a hot tub.

But people do not care. There is no way you could tell them to go away because they were packed with kids every time I looked. NCL does not enforce the sign whatsoever. I can see why this would perturb people wanting to be in an adult only area.

I traveled just myself and my 10 year old. We did not use the adult pool or hot tubs. But I saw it all and thought it was wrong it wasn't enforced. They should at least take the adult only signs off so people will know what to expect.

I don't think they have daily spa passes. When I was on I tried to buy one and was told I had to buy it for the whole week.

Aside from crowded pool areas I read some really bad reviews about slides and other activities on Getaway. Some say they had to wait in line for an hour to get on a slide or trampoline, etc. Wondering if this is the typical experience on Getaway?

Never had a problem with slides. The trampoline definitely backs up but we found sometimes when there was little wait.

I don't have small children anymore, but we'd love to take a cruise with the kids and grandkids. I'm wondering how they know the ages of the kids. Can you say your kids are 6 and 7 so they can be together? This might determine our future cruise with the grandkids :)

No. They have to have birth certificates or passports to get on. Unfortunately you can't get around be the age.

I found a small pic of the family pool online. Like I said, it's small but wasn't too crowded at all. But you can see the sort of bench things and that there are no chairs near by. Across from that splash area are chairs and you can see the splash area very well from them. But the pool is not visible unless you are right over top of it.

My son only spent a short time in the kid's club. He liked it but there was just so much more for him to do. We are leaving again on Sunday and this time he has a friend on board (he is 10 and is friend is 9, so they are split). It will be interesting to see what they do.

Most of the shows (expect Illusionarium) bored him last time. Again, they weren't bad, he just wanted to be doing other things.

The pool deck and slides were number one. But he equally loved the upper decks with the trampoline, spider climb, ropes course (okay actually that one scared him but I loved it, lol), mini golf, and then up to the basketball courts. They also have ping pong and in other areas they have giant chess. We did all of that.

The arcade costs money and was lame so we just looked. The O'Shehann's area has mini bowling, arcade basketball, darts, and pool tables. All for a rather steep fee. But he loved these so I was glad I budgeted a bit for it. I think bowling was $5 per person.

We watched and did a few atrium shows and trivia's.

One thing I rarely see mentioned, kinda hidden but near the atrium is a library with all kinds of board games and it's VERY quiet. While playing board games was not my cup of tea, they made my 9 year old so happy that I enjoyed spending that quiet time with him.

My son loved the ship more the Disney. The family crowd on this is not as crowded as the adult pool it is the opposite of Disney. For the actual pool, just like Disney you cannot see it from a chair because it's down lower so you have to sit on the bench. You can see the splash area from the lounger chairs though.

The adult area was significantly more crowded than the family pool. The total opposite of Disney.

There are no chairs nearvthe family pool that let you see. There is a bench area and I sat on that. Wasn't the most comfortable lol but we had fun

It's one thing if NCL wants to change its pricing or terms, etc.

 

But yikes! STOP changing the terms AFTER passengers have already booked, and *especially* after final payment (meaning penalties apply to cancel).

IF they are going to do that, then grandfather in *everyone* who has already made a deposit so the terms they PAID for still exist.

 

Better yet, just make any changes for *FUTURE* cruises, and have those apply to everyone.

How easy is that??

It's just common sense.

 

They are free to charge whatever they want, and make whatever terms they wish. But customers need to be able to know what they are "buying".

 

Oh, and make any changes/terms easy to understand.

Then everyone who does make a reservation will know what they are getting, and everyone should benefit, including NCL with fewer complaints.

Agree 100%!!!!