Getaway: May 16-23 Review

[GateGuardian]

Hi everyone,

 

Just got back into Toronto early this morning and had a great time on the Norwegian Getaway. This is the biggest ship I've been on so I was definitely overwhelmed when I first boarded as it was VERY crowded, especially the first sea day. However, as the days went on, I begin to appreciated it more and more.

 

Going to upload a few pictures. Hope you enjoy and sorry, they are not the greatest quality as I got lazy and wanted to save space, so all the pictures are taken from my cell phone.

 

Going to upload my pictures in the follow batches:

1. Pre-Cruise

2. Balcony Stateroom

3. Around the Ship

4. Food P0rn

5. Ports

6. Post Cruise

 

 

This is the new ship card, which I found to be much better looking than the ugly yellow ones:

Edited May 24, 2015 by GateGuardian

[GateGuardian]

1. Pre-Cruise

 

Since the cruise leaves on a Saturday, I didn't want to take a day off on Friday, so booked an evening flight from YYZ-MIA on AA. American Airlines leaves from Terminal 3 US Transborder. There's only like 1 or 2 restaurants in this small area, so I wouldn't recommend going there early. We didn't arrive until after 11pm and stayed at the Marriott Miami Airport. I highly recommend this hotel if you're a Gold or Platinum member. The breakfast buffet here is pretty good. As a gold/platinum member, I was given free lounge access. The lounge has a second door once you go in that connects to the buffet. So it was pretty much free breakfast! In addition, they had many bottle water and drinks stocked up, so I didn't have to go to Walgreens/CVS to stock up on drinks for the cruise.

 

The "BBQ Spare Ribs" meal on AA.

 

Night Shot of Miami:

Edited May 24, 2015 by GateGuardian

[MandyMommyof2]

Can't wait to read and see more!! We sail in 41 days!! :D Excitement has set in already!! Looks like you are off to a great start.

[GateGuardian]

2. Stateroom

 

My partner and I were in had reserve a balcony stateroom on the 11th deck. Like the airlines, I was expecting newer ships to have smaller stateroom, but the stateroom felt very roomy and we had tons of rooms to put all our belongings. Yes, the balcony is indeed small. I wasn't really keen on the large balconies because I feel like everyone on top can long down into it. Our stateroom attendant was okay, nothing to rave about. She did the job, but if we had to rank all the ones we had in the past cruises, she would definitely be in the bottom 3.

 

 

 

 

The glassdoor for the shower was definitely a step up from the curtains on the other ships.

 

 

The tiny, but useable balcony. We never really lounge outside in the balcony on past ship, so the small balcony was not that big of a deal.

Edited May 24, 2015 by GateGuardian

[GateGuardian]

3.A - Around the Ship - 6-7-8

 

The Chandelier at the 6-7-8 changes color often. Pretty sure I didn't get all of them.

Deck 6 - La Bistro, Headliners

Deck 7 - Casino

Deck 8 - Wasabi, Ocean Blue, Ice Bar

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2015 by GateGuardian

[Disneycruisers]

Thanks for the pictures. This will be our first time on NCL and the Getaway,looking forward to our cruise in 5 days.

[GateGuardian]

3.B Around The Ship - Sports Complex

I had the chance to try out the rope course and mini golf at the Sports Complex.

 

I tried out the rope course on the first sea day. The line up was pretty long, but I was on the obstacle course within 15mins. Don't let the line up discourage you from going on. On port days, it is completely empty, but the rope course was closed on Day 7 in Nassau. So I would recommend going trying out the rope course ASAP!

 

On a sea day, there were no clubs left, so I didn't bother with the mini golf. On a port day, the sports complex is completely empty, so I highly recommend going to the sports complex before going or coming back from shore.

 

[GateGuardian]

3.C Around the Ship - Aqua Park

 

The main pool was a bit disappointing. It was pretty small and jammed packed on sea days. Also, people had drinks and were dropping things into the pool. If you look to the bottom of the pool, it is pretty gross. I didn't eve attempt to go into the hot tub. Saw some guy picking skin off his feet in the hot tub and I did NOT want to go in there.

 

 

The waterslides were very fun! I highly recommend it. I guess I grew up going on really crappy water slides, because these are really fast. There's no lineups on a port day, so you can go unlimited times. Only thing I don't like is the stairs to the the water slide is on Deck 17 and the pool is on Deck 16. To get to it you have to go up the far stairs to 17, then walk back to the where the entrance to the slides are. Make sure you where slippers or water shoes because the deck is VERY hot! However, they are not allowed on the slide.

 

 

Kids pool. Didn't try it out, so can't comment on it.

 

[GateGuardian]

3.D Around the Ship - Eateries

 

Besides Ocean Blue (a la carte), I did not do any pay restaurant. I tried them on the other ship and found the MDR food was suffice.

 

O'Sheehan's - Great pub and grill place to sit down and/or watch the show down in the Atrium. Also has darts, pool table, Deal or No Deal machine, "Chuck E Cheese" games, and bowling. O'Sheehan's is split into two sides: one is a sit down, the other has more of a pub feel.

 

 

 

Garden Cafe - This is the main buffet on Deck 15. There is also an outdoor buffet on Deck 16 (Flamingo Grill). The first sea day, this place was completely packed. I found it impossible to find a seat before 10am. I would recommend going to Savors or O'Sheehan's for breakfast if you don't like the crowd. The stations each have plates at the end of each stations. However, they are at opposite ends of every two stations, which means a line starts to form at the far end of each of the two stations and when they meet, it becomes chaos!

 

 

Dolce and Carlo's Bakery. Did not go, so can't comment.

 

 

La Cacina inside seating. Did not go, so can't comment. This is also where the $10 sale happens on Day 7 (or Day 6?)

 

 

Entrance to La Bistro:

 

 

Entrance to Wasabi and Ocean Blue on Deck 8. To the right of Ocean Blue is also the Raw Bar.

[GateGuardian]

So based on the FAQ, it looks like I can't edit my posts after 20min... weird..... going to add more batches of pictures than originally anticipated. Hopefully, I can get them all on here tonight or else it will have to be next week as I'm on the road working for the rest of the week.

[GateGuardian]

3.E Around the Ship - The Waterfront

 

The waterfront is my favorite place on the ship. It is like the quiet zone of the ship. There are many chairs to relax, bars on both sides, and wraps around 3/4 of the ship.

 

 

I hardly see anyone using this:

 

The aft of the ship has these windows where you can look down into the water. Think there is a design flaw somewhere as you can barely see out of it anymore.

 

Night shot of the Waterfront:

[GateGuardian]

3.F Around the Ship - Night Shots

 

I never got the chance to visit the forward top deck until the last night of the cruise as I thought the entire deck was used for Vibe. However, it looks like there are tons of space to lay in the sun.

 

Edited May 25, 2015 by GateGuardian

[GateGuardian]

4. Food P0rn

 

Ok, time for some sexy food porn shots! I didn't take any pictures of the menus so don't exactly remember what I ordered, but will try and describe them as much as I can.

 

Restaurant: Taste

Meal: Lunch

This is the salmon burger with pretzel bun I ordered at Taste during Day 1 embarkation:

 

Restaurant: Tropicana Room

Meal: Dinner

 

Some crab and shrimp mixture cake for appetizer.

 

Meatballs for main course.

 

Some cake or cheesecake, Hawaiian themed, with pineapple on top.

Edited May 25, 2015 by GateGuardian

[GateGuardian]

4. Food P0rn (Continued)

 

Location: Garden Cafe

Meal: Breakfast

 

Various items:

 

 

Location: Garden Cafe

Meal: Lunch

 

 

The shrimp burger at the Garden Cafe was really good. Unfortunately, I only saw it for one day.

 

Location: Ocean Blue (Waterfront)

Meal: Lunch

 

The outdoor a la carte menu is only open during sea days from Noon-2pm. I ordered the Lobster Roll and Calamari. $10 for half of a lobster roll is a bit pricey IMO. Also, if you live by the water and eat seafood all the time, you would definitely have had better lobster rolls. I would not really recommend this place.

 

[GateGuardian]

4. Food P0rn (Continued)

 

Location: Shanghai's

Meal: Dinner

 

I went to Shanghai's twice for dinner. I really wish they would open this place for lunch. IMO, the portions are not big enough for dinner. I have tried the following.

 

Fried Pork Dumplings - Not a big fan of fried dumplings, so would not recommend. One order comes with 3 pieces

Steamed Port Dumpling - I really like this and would recommend trying it. One order comes with 3 pieces.

 

Note that that steamed and fried pork dumplings are under the same box, you have circle if you want steamed or fried, else you will get fried by default.

 

Steamed Shrimp Dumplings - Shrimp tasted weird, maybe it was just my plate, but I didn't like it as much as the pork dumplings.

 

Spring Rolls - Surprisingly good, it had more content than I expected so I liked it. One order comes with 1 piece of spring roll.

 

 

Singapore Noodles - It was pretty good. Small portion, so recommend ordering x2 if you want to make it a meal.

 

Spicy Seafood Udon Noodles - Mild spice which I like, had good amount of seafood. Recommend!

 

 

BBQ Pork with some noodle in broth - Definitely not what I expected. The BBQ pork was a bit tasteless and the broth was very bland. Not very good. 5/10

Edited May 25, 2015 by GateGuardian

[GateGuardian]

4. Food P0rn (Continued)

 

Location: O'Sheehan's

Meal: Lunch

 

The Mozzarella Cheese Sticks and Chicken Tenders were pretty awesome, especially the chicken tenders. Highly recommend.

 

 

Nothing special about the hot dog, wish they had bigger ones.

 

Chicken Pot Pie.

[Kenns10]

nice, keep the review going! curious to hear your review on the ports!

[Pizmama5]

Is the bowling in O'Sheehans free?

[GateGuardian]

Is the bowling in O'Sheehans free?

 

Bowling is $5/person/game and the skee-ball and basketball hoops are $1.50 each game

[ramidon1]

I need to arrange my transportation pick up time after disembarkation. We will likely do walk-off and will probably get breakfast before leaving the ship. Does 8:30 seem like a reasonable time for pick up? We will be in no particular rush but no need to hang around either. Is there a window of time or a set time limit for walk-offs? what about if we decide we want them to take the luggage....we are within driving distance...no flights, so anyone know the rough window of time if we use the luggage assistance..thanks!

[GateGuardian]

I need to arrange my transportation pick up time after disembarkation. We will likely do walk-off and will probably get breakfast before leaving the ship. Does 8:30 seem like a reasonable time for pick up? We will be in no particular rush but no need to hang around either. Is there a window of time or a set time limit for walk-offs? what about if we decide we want them to take the luggage....we are within driving distance...no flights, so anyone know the rough window of time if we use the luggage assistance..thanks!

 

For my cruise, disembarkation started at 7am. If you're carrying your own luggage, it should be more than enough time. I would allow another 20minutes for customs. I found that Port of Miami are ready for the megaships and have more than enough custom agents available.

[2ManyCruises]

Nice - thanks so much for the pictures and review.

[SuiteTraveler]

We were on Getaway May 2 - self-disembarkation was 7:15am for suite guests. Breakfast started at 6:30am. I think the rest of the ship starts at 7:30am - watch out for long lines. I would disembark as early as possible and get a cab unless there are a lot of people in your group and you need a van.

[GateGuardian]

4. Food P0rn (Continued)

 

Location: Tropicana Room, Taste, & Savor

Meal: Dinner

 

Some soup pictures! Most of them were okay, except for the Seafood Bisque (last picture). Stay away from it. It taste like dead fish left in a sewers for a few days, then thrown in a blender /barf.

 

[GateGuardian]

4. Food P0rn (Final)

 

Location: Tropicana Room, Taste, & Savor

Meal: Dinner

 

Some more random main courses and deserts!