Relaxing Pre-Christmas cruise
Norwegian Getaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 42
7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 16, 2018
Ship: Norwegian Getaway
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 9260
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
We had a great time. We spent lots of our time with our favorite bar tender Signey in the Chill bar (off of Margaritaville) and Sunset bar after 5. He was great. Made us our own signature drinks. You must try the “Peggy’s Special” a coconut & lime blended drink. Absolutely delicious or a drink he made for my husband with passion fruit- “The Sir Rodney Delight”. Loved the shows, comedians and piano bar!Embarkation
We arrived at the port at about 12 and were on boarding within 20 minutes
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Our party of 6 were happy with all our meals. We ate in the Tropicana 3 evenings. It is a fun dining room that surrounds a dance floor. One evening the dancers from “Burn the Floor” one of the headline shows performed and the other evenings there was a guy playing piano and a gal who sang. I read in a previous review that someone thought it was to noisy to visit with the performances on dance floor to visit with your tablemates. We didn’t have any problems with this. We ate at three of the specialty restaurants - Cagneys, Teppenyaki and Le Bistro. All were amazing
Onboard Activities
We did the water slides, the ropes course, ping pong and miniature golf. A few in our group tried to go to the fitness center...they found it crowed whenever they went.
Entertainment
The main shows in the theater were very good. We also enjoyed the comedians and the dualing pianos. We went to Headliners quite a few nights...to watch dualing pianos and the comedians. The chairs are wood and not very comfortable like we have had on piano bars on other cruises but it allowed for many more people to fit.
Children's Programs
This was an adult cruise
Service and Staff
Since it was anytime dining we had different wait staff so we didn’t get to know any of them which I enjoy when you do traditional dining. The dining room service was good but slow. You just need to allow plenty of time. The waiters at the specialty restaurants were more attentive.
Ship Quality
I felt that the ship was very clean and well maintained. The ships layout is a little hard to figure out. I missed the larger lounges with comfy seating...a lot of the bars were small and not separate venues....didn’t feel as intimate as the mojito bar & bliss bar on the jade.
Cabin / Stateroom
The size was great. The bathroom very roomy - especially the shower, lots of storage and a couch as well as the bed. We had plenty of room - the only extra small area was the balcony. Smallest balcony we have ever had. But enough room for 2 chairs and a tiny table. We did love having a balcony and spent a fair amount on it.
Ports of call
We did the hop on hop off tour in Miami. Wish we had more time to hop off and visit areas but we did both the beach loop and city loop. They store your luggage and then you claim it and it is loaded on a big bus which delivered us to the airport.
Thumbs Up
10
We loved this port. It was a relaxing day. We started out by renting stand up paddle boards and then we hung out on the beach. Absolutely beautiful.
We did not do an excursion. We took a cab to the downtown beach area. We explored. A couple gals in our party had massages on the beach. They were very reasonable. Lots of little shops and restaurants/bars in beach area. We ended up eating at an authentic Mexican restaurant a few blocks off the main road that ran by the beach. It was a thatched roof building. Nothing fancy. I don’t think they had very many tourist at their restaurant. The menu was all in Spanish and there was a language barrier but we were able to communicate by the pictures on the menu. The food was delicious. The tacos we out of this world and it was very reasonable.
Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
We booked a private tour with Daniel Johnson. It was an amazing day. We were picked up right outside of security at the port. Our first stop was Daniel Johnson’s sloth and monkey hangout. Check reviews on trip advisor. The animals they have are rescued..many pets to people who couldn’t take care of them. I got to hold a sloth named Olivia. It was an amazing experience. We also
Got to interact with moneys and birds. Our tour also included snorkeling off a boat. They snorkeling equipment wasn’t the greatest...next time we will bring our own snorkeling equipment. It was very fun but we didn’t see many fish or sea life. After snorkeling our tour guide was waiting for us. She gave us a tour of the whole Island and she took us the a chocolate factory before delivering us back to the ship. I would highly recommend booking through Daniel Johnson.
We did the tour to Tulum. We took a ferry right off the cruise ship pier which took us to the mainland - Playa de Carmen where we boarded big buses which were very comfortable. Our first stop was a place we tasted tequilas and then in to Tulum. We all wore wireless headphones which made it really easy to hear our tour guide during the tour. We then got some free time to explore on our own, take photos and shop. Once we got back to Playa de Carmen we had some free time for shopping before heading back to to ferry and to the ship. We had a sampling at a Mexican restaurant where we got some great authentic Mexican food. We had the best table side guacamole. The name of the restaurant was called something like - El Rancho.
Disembarkation
Since we booked the hop on & off tour from the ship we met in theater and got to exit the ship through a special exit...no waiting in those long lines. We found our luggage which was very organized. Went through customs where they asked a couple questions and then we checked our luggage in with the tour. It was an extremely smooth & fast disembarkation.