Getaway review 9/26-10/03

[lor74]

The DW (Ro) and I have not been on an NCL cruise in almost a decade. Princess is our line of choice, but for this last minute/low budget vacation our options were very limited. I had expected to book an all inclusive resort, but the price for a guaranteed inside cabin was cheap, so we made an apprehensive decision to try NCL again. On our 2006 cruise on the Dawn, we were not happy with the cabin, the food, and the service. The savings grace was great weather and entertainment. I figured at a minimum for this cruise on the Getaway, I would literally get my money's worth. An added bonus was the choice of a perk, and we took the dining package which was good for 4 specialty restaurants.

 

Here is my review broken down by sections:

 

Embarkation:

 

It was our first time cruising from the port of Miami. We Arrived around 10:20am. It Took 5-10 minutes to clear security and check in. We discovered at 11:30am that we should have received a boarding group number when we first walked in to the waiting room. We walked right by the kid handing them out and I looked right at him but he gave us nothing. I didn't know what they were so I thought nothing of it. I was upset when I realized, Ro and I both said in unison "we're going in with the first group!" When boarding for our area started, we tagged along with another couple who had been sitting with us the entire time. They told the guy collecting the tickets that we were with them. The situation gave me some unnecessary stress to start the cruise, but we were happily on board at 11:55am.

 

The ship:

 

The Getaway is in great shape and is easy to navigate. It was very stable, even while in the outer ring of hurricane Joaquin. It is tastefully decorated and modern. They make good use of the space, and it feels like there is something to do everywhere you look.

 

Inside cabin 12437:

 

I booked a last minute lowest category inside guarantee. The cabin is in the centre of one of the small hallways the connects port to starboard. It has 2 upper births which required us to be careful while getting in/out of bed. Thankfully we managed to avoid hitting our heads. There was enough storage space and everything was in working order. I signed up for the casino players club, and used that card to keep in the slot so that we could control the lights. It took a couple of days before discovering that we needed to not push on the snowflake if we wanted the a/c to stay on all the time. There is one major problem with this cabin, and is the reason why I would NOT recommend it. It sounds as though there is a bathtub directly over the ceiling. There is basically the constant sound of swooshing water, and frequent very loud noises of water being cycled. I should have made a complaint to guest services after the first night, but after having spent an hour already dealing with a billing/obc/internet issue, I didn't have it in me to go back and waste more time. The only time we spent in the cabin was to shower and sleep. Ro could sleep through anything, so the noise didn't bother her at all. Thankfully I travel with ear plugs, and with them I was able to sleep. This could have been a much bigger problem. I hope all of the inside cabins don't have this issue!

 

The crew:

 

In a word, amazing! Everyone we encountered was friendly and helpful. Our cabin steward "Pearl" did a great job and worked within our schedule. The CD team had a lot of energy and were very active throughout the entire day. We had great service in all dining venues. The captain kept us well informed, and made the decision on Wednesday to skip Nassau and avoid the Bahamas area as best he could (hurricane Joaquin). This worked out great for us, as we only had some rain Friday morning, but had hot sunny weather otherwise.

 

 

Food:

 

While most people had the alcohol package, we choose the dining as I would not even drink enough to cover the 18% charge on the package. We brought a bottle of wine with us and were charged a $15 corkage fee. I had pre-reserved the Taste dinning room for the first night, 2 nights in Cucina, and 2 nights in Cagneys. The other 2 nights were in the buffet. Breakfast and lunch were always at the buffet or grill. The buffet is what you would expect, hit or miss but with enough selection to satisfy your hunger. I ate a few times at the grill. The selection doesn't change there. I particularly liked the meat stuffed potato balls. We only tried 2 items at O'Sheehans, the spinach dip and the cheese sticks. Neither of these items were good. All of our reserved meals were very good. We did not try the other dining venues. Overall, a MUCH better experience than our previous NCL cruise. I made the right decision in choosing the dining package.

 

Entertainment:

 

From live music, to game shows, comedy, production shows, trivia, pool games, etc, there is no shortage of things to do on this ship. We spent all of our mornings/afternoons by the main pool which is adults only. Throughout the day different music acts would perform and there was also a DJ. We saw both production shows. I liked legally blond better, as I prefer when the shows have a story. I didn't realize that it was 90 minutes long, so we did not see any of the comedy as we missed our reservation on the same night.

 

Miscellaneous:

 

I pre-paid for the 100 minute Internet package. The speed was good enough for email and basic browsing. It was consistent for the most part. I had pre-purchased $1100 in obc at the great exchange rate of 11% (Canadian). Once on-board, only $600 was on my account. It took about an hour with guest services going through my account and paperwork, but the missing funds showed up the next day. During this process I had used up 19 minutes of the Internet plan. The guy in the Internet cafe gave me back 15 minutes without any hassle. One week was not enough time to experience everything that the ship has to offer. I am sure this will not be my last NCL cruise....at least for the ships from the Breakaway onward.

 

Any questions?

 

Random pictures including all the dailies and menus can be found on my Flickr page:

[Guindalf]

Glad to hear your comments. We booked a balcony guarantee last night and we sail next Saturday!

[Cruise-mom]

Great photos, thanks for sharing. Glad you had a good cruise.

[Vacationdreamer<><]

Thanks for the review. Glad so much worked out well for you.

I can't get the flickr to work, however. :(

[lor74]

Just copy and paste the link into your browser

[lor74]

Here it is again in case the other is giving you extra coding

[balcap]

Hi lor74

 

Thanks for posting your review.....just wondering if you can help a fellow Canadian out by telling me how I go about getting the onboard credit at 11 % Thanks so much:)

[lor74]

A few weeks ago the rate to book a cruise was 19%. Once booked you can login to your NCL account and pre pay for obc at a rate of 11%. These rates can change at any time. If you do pre pay for anything online be sure to bring print outs of everything in case you are missing items once on the ship

[lor74]

...also, to cash out while on the ship there will be a 3% fee. 14% is still a hell of a lot better than the bank rate!!!

[cherrypop]

Hi lor74

 

Thanks for posting your review.....just wondering if you can help a fellow Canadian out by telling me how I go about getting the onboard credit at 11 % Thanks so much:)

 

It all depends when you had booked. I originally had 11 percent for my Dawn cruise in 2016, but when I had to rebook a few months later due to the free UBP being offered when I rebooked they had put their exchange rate up to 1.19. NCL is at a good rate right now but I am sure they will be going up. A cruise line that begins with P is putting theirs up on Tuesday to 1.35😯

[balcap]

Lor24....I just called NCL and they told me because I booked my cruise with US dollars I pay what todays US rate is not what it was when I booked....that's too bad I didnt know that at the time I booked ...... With our dollar being so low this fall...the cruise is costing a lot more than I expected....Guess it just means I ll have less to spend in the casino LOL

Edited October 4, 2015 by balcap

[lor74]

Yeah, you need to have booked through Canada

[missintuitive]

Thanks for the review and the pictures! They were great!

 

 

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