NCL Getaway Eastern Caribbean cruise 2/14
Norwegian Getaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 14, 2015
Ship: Norwegian Getaway
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 9 years ago
Review summary
We had a wonderful time on our NCL Getaway Eastern Caribbean Cruise last week. The ship was amazing with so many things for my 7 & 9 year old sons to do...ropes course, rock wall, bungee trampoline, spider slide, mini golf, sports court, etc). The LOVED Splash Academy where you can check your kids in and they have themed activities each day. It gave my husband plenty of alone time to explore the ship and catch some shows they would not have enjoyed. We saw Legally Blonde and Illusinarium and both were amazing! We had a mini suite with balcony and it was plenty roomy for the 4 of us in there...the bathroom was quite spacious with double vanity and spa like shower! Service was great throughout the ship. We got the Ultimate Dining Package free when we booked our cruise so we ate at the specialty restaurants each night. The food was good but the standout was Le Bistro...start to finish the BEST meal of the trip! We ate at Savor for lunch one day and the food was delicious! The menus for the "free" restaurants looked great so we might opt for the Ultimate Beverage Package over the dining package next time and splurge one night at Le Bistro because the Garden Cafe Buffet and the free dining rooms had great food! Teppanyaki was good but they put WAY too much garlic in the fried rice and it overpowered the rest of the meal...I could taste garlic for hours after :(. Cagney's was good but service a little slow, Maderno was good but waited longer than I would like for some of the meats I wanted to come around. The Italian restaurant was good but only a step above Olive Garden as my husband said. The Ports of Call were beautiful! We loved St. Maarten and St. Thomas but it was a cold & breezy 61 degrees in Nassau so we did not get to enjoy beaches there because it was too cold! We did not sign up for any ship sponsored excursions and did our own tours so I cannot speak to shore excursions and their value. If we got another good deal when we were looking to take another cruise, we would definitely consider NCL Getaway again or perhaps the sister ship the Breakaway for a different itinerary.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
go with the Ultimate Beverage Package over the Ultimate Dining Package...Most outstanding restaurant was Le Bistro and you can splurge one night for less than the cost of the dining plan...otherwise the "free" restaurants were very good and had great daily menus! Try the Ice Bar, but wear socks!
Ports of call
3 Comments
NeedSomeSun 9 years ago
Carnival is my "go to" cruise line. I've tried just about every other line but always come back to them.
I'm guessing you arranged for these excursions through the cruise lines. I've never booked a Carnival excursion, choosing to find one in port or strike out on my own and I've never been disappointed. I'd heard horror stories about Carnival approved excursions so I have never tried one. Pushing specific excursion providers smacks of impropriety to me, so I avoid it.
You pay more to book an excursion from the ship (I'm guessing Carnival gets a percentage of the booking fees, but I may be wrong), believing you'll avoid an unscrupulous provider- but as you and others have found out that's not always the case. Carnival is supposed to keep an eye on things like that so you have less worry and hassle. Sounds like they didn't live up to their promise.