Getaway Review 5/24-31 (Our first NCL Cruise)

[notthatpaulyd]

You are AMAZING, I can't believe you have these, thank you soooo much!

 

 

Glad to help!

 

 

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[boaterette]

Loved your review. Was that drink you had in the pool with the beach ball a real glass? It sure looks like it. Just surprised that you can't have glass bottles but they may allow glass for drinks.

[notthatpaulyd]

Loved your review. Was that drink you had in the pool with the beach ball a real glass? It sure looks like it. Just surprised that you can't have glass bottles but they may allow glass for drinks.

 

 

Thank you!

 

It was actually plastic!

 

 

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[pmnb29]

I have really enjoyed reading your review! Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this. We will be on the Getaway in October and can't wait! This will be our 6th NCL cruise, and our first on one of the huge ships.

Just wondering, with so many passengers, how was getting off and on the ships while in port?

 

 

 

Pat & Tom

[novanoto]

Notthatpaulyd, as everyone has already said, great review. It's even more special since we were on the same sailing, and probably drinking next to each other at various points as well lol.

 

My wife and I agree with your sentiments that we're leaning NCL again for next time. We just really loved the ship and the little touches, like the "welcome home" banner too. So much so that it's looking like we'll be on the Escape on 12/5/15, a day after my birthday.

 

Thanks again for letting me relive that awesome week through your review!

[novanoto]

I have really enjoyed reading your review! Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this. We will be on the Getaway in October and can't wait! This will be our 6th NCL cruise, and our first on one of the huge ships.

Just wondering, with so many passengers, how was getting off and on the ships while in port?

 

 

 

Pat & Tom

 

Hey Pat and Tom, my wife and I never experienced any delay, wait, or problem in getting on or off the ship in any port. We went early and in "prime time" if you will, and never experienced any issues!

[notthatpaulyd]

I have really enjoyed reading your review! Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this. We will be on the Getaway in October and can't wait! This will be our 6th NCL cruise, and our first on one of the huge ships.

Just wondering, with so many passengers, how was getting off and on the ships while in port?

 

 

 

Pat & Tom

 

 

Not a single issue at all.

 

 

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[cruisingbajan]

Nice review and pics. We are considering NCL and this review certainly has helped.:)

[Highboy90]

Great review. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.

[notthatpaulyd]

Thanks Bajan Keith and highboy90!

 

 

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[wendi0731]

Disembarkation

 

Not much to add here... as I'm now depressed again writing about the last days of our wonderful vacation haha.

 

We disembarked around the exact time expected, though there was a moment were they suspended entry to the gangway to prevent long queues in customs. We got off the ship, and quickly located our luggage. We mad sour way through customs and were back in the real world.

 

While onboard, we heard NCL advertising a $25pp shuttle to FLL, where we needed to go, but we missed the deadline to sign up for this (10am Friday). We were pleasantly surprised when we saw they were still selling seats on the bus for the same $25pp when we got through customs at Port of Miami. We bought the tickets and boarded the bus. It was a 60 minute, or so, ride up to FLL from there.

 

Overall Impression

 

I've obviously spoken at length about how much we loved this ship, but if I had to put it in a sentence, I would say that I would, not only sail on the NCL Getaway again, but I would also strongly recommend my friends and family members to do the same. This was a strong, strong rival to Allure, and I think Lindsay and I would actually lean towards NCL for our next cruise.

 

We already have our eye on the Escape :)!

 

Any questions at all, please let me know!!!

 

 

GREAT review!! Thank you so much for sharing your story and your pictures! My boyfriend and I are sailing on the Getaway on November 15th. My first cruise in 10 years, and his first one EVER! We're so excited.

 

I'm curious about the photo packages, and how much they are? Do you know if they have an unlimited one? Can you get the prints and the digital ones on a thumb drive? Are their photographers taking candid photos too throughout the cruise?

 

We're also seriously reconsidering getting the bev package after reading this....having to get up every time we ant a beer is going to be annoying. And I like the idea of being able to take the unopened ones back to the stateroom. Do all the servers let you do that? Or Jane just awesome? Do you know if you have the beverage package, if one person can get 2 beers if they have 2 cards?

 

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks again for your great review! SUPER informative, and has me on pins and needles for November to get here!!

[PathfinderEss]

Nice report and great photo's.

[notthatpaulyd]

GREAT review!! Thank you so much for sharing your story and your pictures! My boyfriend and I are sailing on the Getaway on November 15th. My first cruise in 10 years, and his first one EVER! We're so excited.

 

 

 

I'm curious about the photo packages, and how much they are? Do you know if they have an unlimited one? Can you get the prints and the digital ones on a thumb drive? Are their photographers taking candid photos too throughout the cruise?

 

 

 

We're also seriously reconsidering getting the bev package after reading this....having to get up every time we ant a beer is going to be annoying. And I like the idea of being able to take the unopened ones back to the stateroom. Do all the servers let you do that? Or Jane just awesome? Do you know if you have the beverage package, if one person can get 2 beers if they have 2 cards?

 

 

 

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks again for your great review! SUPER informative, and has me on pins and needles for November to get here!!

 

 

As far as the photos go, I don't recall whether there was an unlimited package or not. There were definitely packages and promos that they advertised, but I didn't pay much attention to the specifics. There was a USB thumb drive option, but I understood it to require physical purchases as well. The drive was a $20 surcharge I believe, and would give you digital copies of the photos you purchased. I didn't notice any candid photographers, all photos were in front of a back drop or were in the dining areas / action areas / gangways.

 

For the drinks...

 

While Jane was awesome, I don't think she was doing anything out of the ordinary. Especially because most of the time the servers just gave us 6 sealed bottles in a bucket. We could do whatever we wanted from that point.

 

I can't speak for NCLs policy on bringing up two cards, but I can say it did work on Carnival.

 

Hope his helps! Let me know if you have other questions.

 

 

 

 

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[Susie51]

Thank you for your review and pics. Glad you enjoy NCL

[notthatpaulyd]

Thank you for your review and pics. Glad you enjoy NCL

 

 

No problem Susie. Thanks for reading!

 

 

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[stevenq99]

Great review cant wait until the 13th of September

[ictcruiser]

Great review and thanks for taking time to post it!!!

 

 

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[mjsbhc]

Hi really enjoyed your Trip Report and the Day by Day diary style you wrote it in. We don't cruise until the end of February but I am passing the time by collecting all the info I can. I was disappointed I couldn't see any of your pictures. Any suggestions as to how I could view them. Thanks again for taking the time to write such a great report

 

Marla (mjsbhc)

[tray98]

I loved your review. I am curious, how much do you think you saved by not purchasing the UDP? Did you also generally order drinks with your meals?

[Siora7777]

Wonderful review. It was a fun read. Can't wait to get on the Getaway!

[nyc2theworld]

Thanks for this, it really helped me out planning out my trip which starts in 18 days!

Edited July 28, 2014 by nyc2theworld

[sonntags]

Day 5: Wednesday, May 28 - St Thomas

 

After our wonderful day in St Maarten, we were really excited to get to St Thomas, as like St Maarten, we had never been there before. We woke up nice and early today, and realized it was raining a bit. No big deal, we just took a little more time getting ready and eating breakfast in the Garden Cafe. Once we got off the ship, we travelled through the port shopping area (which IMO was much nicer than the one in St Maarten) and found the taxis in the back left (there are signs everywhere).

 

Everything and everyone before the cruise told us to go to Magen's Bay, so we asked for a cab there. We were then loaded into a pretty nice minivan with another couple a bit older than us, and two grandparents with their twin grandchildren. All of them but us had been to Magen's Bay, and our cab driver instead suggested we go to Coki Beach, suggesting it was much nicer. Everyone in the cab seemed agreeable, so Lindsay and I just went with it. We drove about 20 minutes or so, on the wrong side of the road, to Coki Beach. I forget how much it was, but it was definitely under $20 for the two of us.

 

We arrived and our cab driver waved over one of the guys from one of the chair / umbrella rental companies. It seemed a bit "set up," and it felt as though we were brought to Coki because our cab driver (who played her own Gospel music CD during the ride, and then offered to sell us a copy) had a little skin in the game. We rented two chairs, no umbrella, and it was $10.

 

Having not been to Magen's Bay, I can't compare the two, but I can say Coki was very small. It was beautiful, clear water surrounded by mountains... it was quite cool. But end to end, it was maybe the size of one resort area at St Maarten.

 

 

We arrived quite early, so were able to get another set of "front row" chairs, and it was empty, so the size didn't matter much... for a while. The food/drink areas seemed a bit more sketchy than something I'd be comfortable with, so while we had a waiter, we did not oder anything here. There were far fewer "aloe foot massage" vendors here, which was nice, but there was one very intoxicated man trying to sell us coconuts. He took a few more "no thank yous," than the ladies at St Maarten.

 

The water was beautiful and we loved the beach. Apparently there was great snorkeling all the way at the right end of the beach (and I think it was $15 for a day's rental of equipment), but we had a snorkeling excursion booked in Nassau, so we skipped it.

 

An hour or so in, a Carnival shipped must have arrived, and the beach started getting packed. At first, it was just a normal crowded beach, but after a while it was way too packed and the chair people were frantically trying to figure out where to find empty chairs and then where to put them. We also had a bit of rain, nothing for more than 5 minutes or so, but enough to make us wish we had paid the extra $5 for an umbrella!

 

The guy who got us the chairs, told us to tell him when we were leaving so he could call our Gospel singing, CD slinging cab driver, but we instead just left on our own terms. There were plenty of those open air bench seat busses going back and forth from port. We paid $9 each I believe for this ride back.

 

We spent some time shopping when we got back, and found a Harley Davidson store. My father, who is a huge Harley enthusiast and lifetime mortocycle rider, collects pins from Harley stores around the world. The real Harley stores all have a unique pin, or a few, for the location. I've become accustomed to looking for these stores when I travel. We picked up a pin, and checked out some of the other stores. Lindsay bought some inexpensive jewelry from a nice boutique and found a beer coozie with the Caribbean islands printed on it. We walked down the port to Señor Frogs, but by the time we got there, it was packed, so we poked around a bit, and headed back to the ship.

 

Just like the day before, there was a great welcoming crew with cold towels, and party music playing. I absolutely love this.

 

We went to the Garden Cafe and I got some asian noodles for lunch, then we headed back to the room. Lindsay was feeling tired, so she napped, and I headed to the casino to play Blackjack. Since we hadn't left port yet, I had to do some laps around the ship and explore a bit. Once we were "legal," I sat down for a little while and turned my $100 into a whopping $113. Pretty exciting, huh?

 

Lindsay finished getting ready and came and found me at the Blackjack table and then we walked over to the Svedka Ice Bar. We did not have a reservation, but it seemed like we should have. They got us in within 5 minutes or so, but the impression I got was that they would have preferred advanced notice. Turned out we were the only ones in there once we got in. They gave us some gloves and a parka type thing (it was like a snuggie with a hood).

 

 

It was $20 each to get in, and came with two Svedka martini style drinks served in ice glasses. It was really fun. The bartender told me they normally keep it between -6 and -8 degrees celsius (About 20º F). I foolishly wore shorts... bad decision, it was so cold! We took some pics, we took turns sitting in the ice throne, and we drank our drinks as fast as we could so we could get back to warmth!

 

We had a reservation at Cagney's tonight, and made our way over around 7pm. Cagney's was delicious. We had a table that was near a window overlooking the Tropicana Room, which was pretty cool. I got the Shrimp Cocktail with Jack Daniels Cocktail Sauce for my appetizer, Filet Mignon for my entree, and garlic mash and broccoli as my sides.Lindsay got the Iceberg Salad, Filet Mignon, Garlic Mash, and Green Beans. Unlike the other restaurants, there was a separate dessert menu that was given to us after we ate (I forgot what we got).

 

The food was all delicious and I would certainly recommend you go to Cagney's. Service was spot on, and we even had a few officers come check in to see how our cruise and the dinner was going. Nice touch.

 

After dinner we made it to our usual evening entertainment spot, O'Sheehan's. The horseshoe bar was empty, as we made it quite a bit before the first big show of the night. We played some arcade games and duck pin bowling to kill some time and it was a good time. I found out Lindsay can actually shoot a basketball pretty well!

 

Once we got settled at the horseshoe and ordered our bucket, we got ready to watch the first show of the night, "Sing It If You Know It." It was a fun competition of name that tune where you had to get your side of the crowd to sing along. I don't remember who hosted this, but I think it was Jessy. In our opinion, Jessy was the best of the staff. I don't think I mentioned him yet, but it's probably because I just forgot who hosted what. He was a lot of fun, and was seen all over the ship throughout the week. We loved when he came to the mic and played along welcoming him with "Hola Jessy!"

 

After the name that tune game, they set up for, and started the "Dancing with the Getaway Stars." They asked for male and female volunteers to throw their names in a bucket. Joel then came out as the host, and introduced the "Getaway Stars," who were from the CD staff. There were 10-12 in total, half male and half female. They each picked a name from the hat, and were paired up with cruisers. It was hilarious to watch some of these people to dance (not like I would have been any better at all!). They had three judges, who were two of the comedians from Levity Live and a dancer from the Burn the Floor show. They all added their commentary round by round as they eliminated pairs. One of the funniest parts was that they filmed a loser's lounge after they eliminated each group. The CD staff members and cruisers all put on little exit interview skits with the ACD Omar. They were really funny as they played on the big screen. Ultimately, the game ended in a tie. Jessy was one of the Getaway Stars who tied for the win with his female cruiser, and I forget who the female CD staff member was.... what I don't forget, is that the cruiser that she was paired with did a split and ripped his pants. It was quite hilarious.

 

We wrapped up the night after this show, and made our way back to the stateroom. We intentionally skipped Howl at the Moon tonight, since we wanted to go back again on Friday, and didn't want to burn it out.

 

Day 6 (last sea day :mad:) and Day 7 (Nassau) coming soon!

 

 

Loved your review! And what a cute picture of you guys :)

[MrsKChicago]

I really enjoyed the review - I'm getting excited for our Getaway trip in October!

 

And from one Lindsay to another, thanks for all the girl tips! I'm perpetually cold, it's good to know in advance I'll need to keep a sweater at hand.

[Casino Comp Chick]

Hello Cruise Critic Community,

 

 

. We booked her in January, through Expedia, and NCL provided us $100 OBC and a free Balcony Upgrade. Expedia gave me an additional $150 OBC for paying with a MasterCard. (for reference, NCL's was applied immediately and viewable on myNCL on day 1... the Expedia $150 was a "gift" that was left in the stateroom and applied to our account).

 

 

Thank you for that info, 1st time booked through Expedia (They offered better deal then CAS), Looking forward to the $550.00 waiting for me in my cabin

[Cruiser1128]

Thank you for such a great review of your trip. We went on our first cruise last spring break. We did RCI Independence of the Sea and loved it. I am in the process of looking for next spring break and making the decision between RCI and Getaway. Your review has definitely helped me in my decision making. A huge thank you!