Norwegian Getaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is a beautiful ship.  We were impressed by the high efficiency the design  d technology affords.  That said, we decided that we prefer smaller ships - like NCL Star or Dawn which we have previously sailed on.  On the smaller ships, there was free entertainment in the theater every evening. On Geteaway, many of the shows cost extra or appeared in smaller venues. We thought this was probably due to having so many more passengers to entertain. It took a lot of advance planning to make sure of getting to see what you wanted to see.

As with the other NCL ships, crew and staff of the Geteaway were tremendous.  Freestyle cruising is the best way to go, especially for us retired folks who prefer a quieter time than the noise and partying that takes place in the pool and sundeck areas. We thought that the food at the Garden café was not quite as good as what we had enjoyed on Star and Dawn, but was still very good. Savor and Taste were comparable with the main dining rooms on Star and Dawn.

Cruise staff was very friendly - always smiled and made us feel welcome.  The food was very tasty and presented beautifully. 

Our cabin steward, Mauricio, was our "go-to person" (as my husband called him) and did a great job on our stateroom and helping us when necessary.

Last time we cruised (10 years ago), Norwegian was our choice and we loved it - especially the freestyle cruising!

Have already put a deposit down for a future cruise - hopefully the Panama Canal crossing.

Food and entertainment was excellent. This cruise was the most stress free one we've taken. The service and personnel were courteous, helpful and unobtrusive. Everyone on the Getaway was friendly and went the extra mile to make our trip aboard their ship a wonderful time.

On recommendations and efforts by our travel agent (Melissa Lemke of Vacation Outlet) the entire trip was a fun experience.

The only thing that we had a problem with was what they call a service charge assessed per person per day. We do our own tipping and unless you read the paperwork carefully you'd be charged for tips even if you tipped personally. It was removed without any issues but it was a surprise. We didn't read the fine print so it was our own fault. 

We would definitely go on another Norwegian cruise in the future.

I highly recommend Norwegian Cruise Line - excellent service, great entertainment and pleasant atmosphere! What an unforgettable experience!

I'm very satisfy with   representative KELSEY MEYERS - highly professional and nice person. Thank you!

I traveled with my 2 college sons (18 & 22) and fiance for 7 nights on the Getaway to St. Marteen, St. Thomas and Nassau.  The new boat was laid out well and offered a more youthful vibe that my sons enjoyed.  The decor was clean and easy to look at but nothing special that wowed you as on previous boats with Princess and Royal Caribbean. The ship was full but didn't seem overly crowded until days at sea with everyone hovering around the pools.  We found it best to escape to the back of the boat to the adult only zone.  The bar was convenient and the dip zone was nice to quickly cool off.  A big complaint would be the constant repetition on the big screen throughout the day. They showed the same 5 minute clip of Italy over an over all day. What a missed opportunity--music videos, location focused footage that aligns with our travels, anything but rock quarries in Italy over and over in your face would have been nice.  The pools are very small, as always, and folks are out early saving seats so get with the program or you will be below deck playing bingo.  The gym has separate cardio and weight rooms which makes it seem closed in.  A number of the cardio machines were out of service all week making wait lines very long.  The weight room was packed on at sea days.  The younger crowd on this boat really demands more fitness space.  The spa seemed very nice when I did the tour, but the prices were way to expensive to allow for the treat.

Evening entertainment was ok.  The booking system was rather frustrating in that they would only release a few days at a time and you could only book for those in your room.  Since my sons were in another cabin  we ended up not going to the shows together.  By the time they would try and book they were sold out.  Burn the Floor was really great and Legally Blonde was well done and worth seeing.  The comedy act was just okay.  Dueling pianos was fun for a quick stop and drink before bed.  The casino is smoky and it does travel to other areas which made that area tough for me with my smoke allergies.  Sadly many opportunities were missed with entertainment.  The grand piano by Taste and Savor (main dining) was never staffed.  The last night we were surprised to find a lady playing and sat to enjoy the music.  It turns out she was a guest on the boat and had been asking them all week if she could play.  She put their entertainers to shame.

 The dining was average in the main dining rooms and service was nice. There was a lot of repetition on the menus throughout the week. I found portions small and I'm a small women-especially desserts at dinner. Tropicana Room was very loud and rushed but the entertainment was nice...when they were playing, seemed to take long breaks between sets so most of your meal was w/o music..  We went to Cagneys one night--very nice and well worth the $30/person up charge.  We tried to have breakfast and lunch in the dining rooms most days as the buffet was so crowded and hard to navigate with little variety.  The Italian restaurant was not worth the upgrade.  The lasagna was just like the one in the main dining room. 

The Norwegian App they encourage you to purchase for $8 per phone was not worth the money.  Most of the time it was over run with activity and not working.  It was a lot easier to book reservations on the tv in your room and free.  As for communicating with others, messages were very delayed and some never made it...definitely skip the charge and plan other ways to connect.

Getting on the boat was a breeze.  We arrived around 11:30 and were on the boat by 12.  Getting off wasn't quite so organized and locating your bags was a mess.

We had a balcony room on Deck 8.  It was convenient to all the dining and nightlife.  The boardwalk below did bring some late night and early noise with shuffleboard and walkers.  Biggest complaint was the noise in our room.  Rough nights at sea meant for very loud creaking that sounded like the boat was separating. It made it impossible to sleep even with ear plugs.   My sons were midship on Deck 5 and slept like babies.

Overall it was fun but I'd look for another boat next time.

Where shall I begin......I will start by saying that this was our celebration of our 50th anniversary.  There were 14 of our family travelling and that was a concern for me as I wanted to make sure that everyone enjoyed there cruise as I knew I would.  I have cruised on other Norwegian ships but not on one as elaborate as the Getaway.  I was concerned about getting into the port....and that was a bit tricky.....but once we actually got into the Miami terminal I was pleasantly surprised to see how spacious and easy it was...and everyone was very helpful.  We decided to book a room in The Haven as this was a very special occasion and I am sooooo glad we did.  Pampered. - pampered - pampered.  There was something to do for everyone - young and old.  We celebrated our anniversary at the Illusionarium which was great.  My only complaint was the seating.  We purchased the premium seating and had to turn sideways to see the performance while we were trying to eat.  My suggestion to NCL would be to use curved banquet tables around the stage rather than the long banquet tables.  That being said, the food was great there.  I was not impressed with the food in the other complimentary dining rooms though.  NCL needs to work on that - 25 years ago when I first started cruising with Norwegian their food and presentation was excellent.  The bar anThumd grills' food was better than the main dining room.  I must say though that when they served Prime Rib - in any of the restaurants - it was excellent.  Thumbs up on that.  All the staff we met were great!  For me, that is very important.  So, with only a few minor complaints I would like to say thank you, Norwegian, for making our 50th Anniversary so memorable that I am currently in the process of booking another cruise on the new Escape.

My family booked a last minute cruise during the New Years week and we were pleasantly surprised with NCL Free Style package and will have a hard time going back to other cruise lines.  The Getaway was a great ship - very clean, great activities, never felt crowded, wonderful dining and entertainment options.  We were apprehensive about the open dinning option having cruised several time with the traditional assigned seating but quickly grew to love the options and flexibility this new style offered.  The staff was great and although my children are older, the programs for younger kids looked terrific.  I couldn't recommend this highly enough.

This was my 7th cruise, 3rd with NCL. There were plenty of activities for all ages. The ropes course and water slides are great for teens and preteens, and there was one slide for younger children. The layout of the pools was not good. The adults only pools did not have enough unshaded areas. The kids pool area only had about 30 unshaded lounges. If you like the sun, but want to be near the pool, you better go to the deck by 8:30AM to get a lounge chairs. The main (free) dining menus and food quality are decent but not amazing. The specialty restaurants (pay extra) are excellent. Shows - legally blond was excellent, the comedian was mediocre at best, and the illusionarium (pay extra) show was great, especially if you have kids ranging from 6 to 15. The regular balconies are very very small, much smaller than on any other ship that I have sailed. Overall, I would recommend this ship, but it is one notch below RCL allure and oasis. 

My family (2 adults and 1 child who tuned 13 on the trip) had an awesome time aboard the Norwegian Getaway.  We sailed over the New Years holiday and I would say this was our best cruise yet.  We have sailed over the past 18 years on multiple cruise lines.  The first was Carnival on the Carnival Destiny and the last was on the Disney Magic.  We have also cruised on Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.  The Getaway was very clean and just a beautiful ship.  Tons of places to eat and all food venues had very good food, including the buffet.  I really never had a bad meal.  We did eat at both the free/included dining options such as the buffet, Irish Pub and the Tropicana Room as well as eating at the dining options which charged a fee.  We dined at Cagney's, Ocean Blue, Tapanykai, Sushi, and La Cuchina.  All of the food was very good and I found the options to be different at each place.  Some cruises just serve the same food in different rooms and there isn't much variety.  On this food the food was always different and very good.  We purchased the all you can drink package which came in handy since drinks are very expensive as on all cruises.  Our daughter participated in the kids club.  She turned 13 on the cruise and was able to switch clubs however she wanted to stay with the original group since they were so much fun.  I believe the teen club started at age 13.  She had a spectacular time and spent more time with the kids club than with us.  She barely got a tan.  The kids club staff was excellent and they put on a circus variety show at the end of the cruise.  Simply awesome experience.  My only request would be for a phone system as on the Disney ships to help coordinate meeting up on the ship.  I think they did have an application that could be downloaded on a smartphone for such issues however we didn't know about this till day 4 of the trip.  I would still prefer a phone system such as the Disney.

The waterpark area on the boat was really cool with fun slides and near this area they had a ropes course and mini golf area.  Really fun for families and small kids.

My husband and I also joined the Vibe Beach Club which provided  a separate area for adults only with 2 hot tubs and lounge chairs.  I will say the 2 main pools on the ship seemed very crowded during peak tanning times.  I was very happy we purchased the Vibe option so we could easily get a seat and lay out.

We previously sailed on NCL on a Hawaiian trip and I was less than impressed.  I was hesitant to sail again on NCL however this boat looked fantastic and reviews were good. I was not disappointed and will sail again with NCL.

Enjoyed all of the features on the cruise from the gym to the dinning.  The kids had a great time with all of the amenities on the ship and had fun filled days.  Would definitely recommend this cruise to any family. Two tumbs up.

Norwegian Cruise Line

January 5, 2015

 My wife and I were on the Getaway sailing 12/27/14 our reservation number was xxxxxxxxxx.

After having one of the best vacations of our lives on the Pride of America last year we wanted to return to Norwegian for our vacation this year.

I was afraid that during this time there would be a lot of families with young children traveling. I was assured that the boat is large and there were an adequate amount of adult only places including an adult only pool. I immediately, upon boarding attempted to sign up for the Vibe Beach Club only to be told it was not available to us. At the adult pool, there are 4 hot tubs only 2 are marked adult only. Kids took over not only these but often were in the adult pool. The only real adult only place in the sun was at Spice H20 but without a pool.

I purchased the ultimate dining package when I booked the cruise, this included the magic show and dinner on the first night. I went to guest services as soon as I boarded and I was surprised that the only spaces left were for the 5:30 PM show. As for the dining options, all of the better restaurants were booked solid for Thursday and Friday nights and we could not get reservations even though we paid for the dining package in advance.

My wife has a food allergy that we notified you in advance and received a letter stating that fact. However, there was very limited choice for her to eat. Again this was not the case last year.

The internet connection was very important to me. I was assured that I would have access from the ship. I paid $100 for the best plan on day one of the cruise. I could not access the internet. The attendant at the internet café told me that due to the heavy volume access to the internet would be hit and miss. This was not what I was told when I booked.

After one of the best vacations on Norwegian last year this year was the worst.

You may contact me by e-mail at xxxx or by phone at xxxxx to discuss these issues.

We traveled on NCL Getaway Dec 20-27.  Was a fantastic Christmas vacation for a family from the cold Midwest!!!  A little background... We were a group of 7ppl - ages 5 to 59, I myself am a 34 year old female.  This was my 16th cruise, first on NCL for my whole family.  Previously tried Carnival, Disney, Princess and a diamond RCCL member.   I love food, I love good shows and I love good service.  This is why I/we cruise!   We flew into MIA on Dec 19th and pre cruise stay was at the Miami Biscayne Bay Marriott Hotel.  While waiting for taxis, we found a van to fit us all (and our load of luggage) to the hotel for $50.  He ended up being very friendly and offered to take us all to the Port of Miami for $40 the following day.  Perfect.     EMBARKATION DAY Our van driver picked us up at 11am from the hotel, only 15 minute ride to port.  We were greeted by porters immediately and were thru the terminal and check in quickly.  Waited for a short while in the holding area for our number to be called.  Total from drop off outside to onboard the Getaway about 40 minutes.    When you walk on the Getaway, there is not a grandiose promenade or atrium to awe you.  It's just like "oh we are on the ship now".  Pretty uneventful and unimpressive entrance compared to past cruises.  Lots of decorations for Christmas though, many lovely trees and some tacky red and green stuff around too.    We made our way up to the pool deck to walk around and grab lunch in the Garden Cafe (buffet).    The main pool is very small.  I'd be tempted to say tiny in fact.  While there are an abundance of pool chairs all over the deck above the pool, the space by the actual pool is either covered or wasted space.  It was disappointing for a ship that size.  Most of the typical "pool space" gets hogged up by the Haven (super suite members) or the ginormous water slides.  Yes my family thought the slides were fun but after the few minutes of fun on the slides, there was no space for them in the packed-in-like-sardines pool.  The kids area is nice, also small, with no chairs in the sun.  The Nickelodeon splash pool was packed all week. I did see several children in swim diapers in that pool, pretty sure that wasn't supposed to be allowed.     The Garden Cafe was very typical cruise ship buffet.  Go way to the back and it's less busy!!!  We never had a problem finding seating.  I will mention, the salad bar was always very fresh and my brother said the Indian food was fantastic.  Head chef is from India so that's why!!!  Morning omelet/egg station is great too.       Side note-- One of the first things I noticed was the hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE.  Crew has spray bottles and there are standing dispensers all over.  I appreciated that as I personally know people that have fallen to the masses of norovirus passengers on a cruise ship before.  The sanitizer continued to be everywhere the whole week also - kuddos NCL.     Cabins were ready by 1pm.  We had an interior cabin on deck 11 aft.  My parents had a standard balcony on deck 11 aft also so I will make mention of both.  Our interior cabin was the smallest cabin I have ever seen on any ship.  And it was equipped with 2 pull down beds to sleep up to 4ppl.  Wowza.  No drawers at all anywhere.  A few cubbies proved to be a space gold mine.  At first glance we thought "no way we can unpack for 3 people in this cabin".  Somehow, we did fully unpack 3 large suitcases and a carry on.  I'm still unsure how.  There were about 18" of space on either side of the bed, a nightstand on each side.  With the pull down beds above the side of bed, smacking your head as you try to wedge beside the bed is likely (speaking from experience, ow).  Bathroom was average size for our cabin category.  Shower is a tad larger than the rounded capsules on RCCL or Carnival.  And there is a little foot pedestal to help with shaving your legs, nice touch!  Dispensers are in shower with shampoo and body wash.  And a dispenser by sink with hand soap, no bar soap.  2 outlets by vanity only, none in the bathroom, I recommend bringing a small outlet plug in with additional spaces if you plug in multiple electronics to charge at night like we do.  Note about cabin electricity --- you have to place a key card or credit card, etc in the main light switch to power your cabin.  If you take that card out at night, your outlets go dead also and nothing will charge!  We saved our pre cruise hotel key card so that we could always have a card in that slot.  The room attendant didn't have a problem with us keeping our hotel key card in the slot, either. The one or two times we pulled our hotel key card before dinner, he put it back in so that the lights were on and the room was cool when we returned.   The balcony cabin was average sized, typical layout.  There was a couch in this room, unlike our interior cabin.  Same bathroom as interior.  Slightly larger closet.  A single cup coffee pot was a surprising and fun find!  The balcony was the smallest I've ever seen in our travels.  2 metal chairs and a small metal table.  But hardly any depth to the space at all...someone with long legs would probably bump their knees on the glass in front of them when sitting out there.     We all had the same room steward - Oliver.  He made us 5 different animal towels over the week and was very kind to our 5 year old daughter.  He didn't always bring ice or remember wash cloths but hey, whatever.  If we asked, he was on it right away.   He clearly had a lot of rooms, we couldn't quite figure out if he got a break from 8am-10pm because we could always find him.  He became our daughters buddy by the end of our cruise.  He even left her a note and tiny towel sting ray the last night.     SEA DAYS (3 of them) I'm going to lump sea days together as we tend to do the same things.  Eat/drink, sun bathe/swim, nap, eat/drink....      The towels-on-chairs pool hogs were rampant on this cruise.  We were on the prowl for sun chairs by 9:00am each day.  On the pool deck they were all "held with towels" by that time.  We always went up a deck to find 3 chairs.     Drink of the day was quite good, we tried them on sea days.  Usually $6.95 so affordable.  The NCL mini fish bowl was a cute favorite.  Lots of servers walking around often.  Deals on buckets of beer or bottled water daily.     Shopping on this ship is horrid.  Selection is virtually nothing.  NCL Getaway tees, etc very limited or gaudy.  Didn't buy anything onboard, except for 1 family photo we had taken.  $25 for one 8x10.  Photographers are everywhere as usual, however I felt they were slightly less annoying/pushy as I've experienced in the past.  We did a group photo on day 6 and the photographer worked great with our group of 7 ppl and the pic was wonderful of everyone.     FOOD  I will admit to being a crazy food lover.   I'm not picky, I like most types of food and can pick apart a crappy meal when I receive one.  I will not say I am a "foodie" as I don't necessarily like the assumptions that some associate with that word.  :)  Anyway, we all agreed the food on this cruise was as good as our other cruises.   We ate in the "free" dining rooms 5x, the Illusionarium and LaCucina.   My brother and SIL had dinner at Ocean Blue one evening also and being Geoffery Zacharian fans were not disappointed- said it was innovative and scrumptious.  Now to the "free dining" evenings- all but 1 night, service was prompt and took approx 90 min start.  Servers were chatty and friendly.  Drinks always took a bit coming from the bar.   We enjoyed the selections available each day.   Food was plentiful and flavorful.  Almost always nice and hot, which can be a cruise food complaint sometimes.  Beef was cooked perfectly medium or medium rare each time. The chocolate volcano molten cake is available daily and was a great dessert.  The plain ol coffee you get anywhere on the ship is DARK roast, which is our fav so a big hit with our group, especially at dessert time.      Illusionarium food was a set menu.  App was a procuttio caprese salad, dinner a surf and turf with steak fries and a mini dessert trio.   The app was my favorite of the week and the surf and turf was very good and piping hot also.  Kids get chicken fingers and fries.  I heard some other passengers requesting a fish only option and received a garden greens salad and salmon main dish.     La Cucina is a casual Italian specialty restaurant.   Cost was $15 for adults and $7.50 for kids under 12.  Starts out with fresh warm italian bread and 4 dipping oils.  Calamari app was great, as was the Caesar salad with lots of fresh shaved Parmesan.  My mom and I shared main entrees - a creamy lobster pasta and a shrimp garlicky risotto.  Both great.  I was too full for dessert but my the tiramisu looked wonderful.     We did lunch at OSheehans one sea day.  Burgers, sandwiches, buffalo wings, etc.  Good fast service, my daughter loved having an order of mozz sticks to herself.  Standard sports bar quality.  We liked it for lunch, did not try for dinner although were tempted by their all-you-can eat prime rib which was offered 2 different evenings.     Being Geoffery Zacharian fans, we had to try the lobster roll and crab tostada at the Ocean Blue Oceanfront another sea day.  $9.75 and $2.50 respectively.  Both were delicious.  Not a hearty lunch at all, but perfect when doing an earlier dinner.     Ordered room service 1 time for breakfast, just for fun.  For breakfast, you put a little card outside your door by 4am with requested delivery time and food choices.   The breakfast room service menu was VERY limited basic cold continental breakfast only. No hot food items at all, not even toast.   I chose 8:30-9:00am as my delivery time.  At 8:12 there was a knock at the door from room service.   My 8:15 alarm hadn't even gone off yet, how embarrassing to fly out of bed with crazy wild hair to get your breakfast at the door.   It was presented well however and my daughter thought it was cool to eat breakfast in bed.   ABOUT THE SHIP Getaway is clean and new looking still, coming upon her 1st anniversary sailing.  Public areas are well appointed and each area unique.  Savor and Taste are the 2 main dining areas, nearly identical, one blue tones, the other red.   Tropicana is the third dining room, nicely adorned with the addition of a dance floor.  If you are lucky, you will be there a night the Burn the Floor dancers are performing!!!!   Atrium area has a large screen where movies are played and various entertainment activities are held.  I felt it to be kind of a strange space right by the guest services and shore excursion area.    Theater is beautiful although rather small for a ship this size.  No balcony seating at all in the theater.  Shows fill up early, be there 40 minutes early for the good seats.  Legally Blonde and Burn the Floor are both held in this theater.     Illusionarium is a unique mystical venue.  Perfect for the magic show performers that make up that performance.  Fee for Illusionarium was $___pp but worth the unique experience and really good meal.  Something different that other ships do not have.   Casino was decent size, yes it is smokey in spots.  We found a few favorite penny machines with the wacky loud bonus games and played there several times- was a hoot.  No one ever asked us about drinks once while we were playing, perhaps since we were on the cheap penny slots, who knows.     A side note about the casino-- on the last night, we were playing our usual machines, were done for the night and hit the button to cash out.  Nothing happened.  Long story short, right after we hit "cash out" all the machines went crazy and you couldn't cash out.  They kept saying on the intercom "Machines all have a glitch, we are working on a fix.  Please do not cash out.  Keep playing if you can."   Nice one NCL.  We got an eye roll from a casino staffer when we said we had cashed out before the announcement.  15 minutes later and 2 forms completed, we had our cash out.  My sister-in-law had another issue - she hit cash out approx 2 min before we did.  She took her little $7 ticket to an automatic payment machine, stuck it in and nadda.  A technician opened up the machine and said, "sorry there is not a $7 ticket stuck in here" and walked away.  So she got a manager.  He just gave her $15 of free slot play since he didn't know what else to do.  Problem was -- with the machines all in a glitch, she couldn't use the free slot play until things were fixed.  Pain in the rear.   So she went back an hour later, and machines still were down.  Being 10:30pm by now and the night before debarkation, she just said forget it.   Thumbs down for casino service.      There are many other little venues with treats for a fee or specialty restaurants that we never visited so I cannot comment on-- a coffee shop, gelato, bake shop, or Cagneys steakhouse, a Brazilian steakhouse, Le Bistro French restaurant, Teppaniyaki hibachi and more.  Even an ice bar- which to just step foot inside you pay a $20 fee (that does include 2 drinks).   Many offerings for that extra charge!!    ENTERTAINMENT  I highly recommend booking all entertainment and dining online as soon as booking becomes available so that you get what you want.   Although it's a pain you can't make changes online and have to call NCL to do so.      Burn the Floor - one word... AMAZING.  We all said it's one of the best shows, cruise or on Broadway, we have ever seen.   We would have tried to go again but it stops midweek to change the stage for Legally Blonde.      Legally Blonde - it was a good show with some good voices.  Not quite like the movie but very similar.   Really liked it but didn't love it like Burn the Floor.     Mentioned Illusionarium above   Grammy Experience this week was harmonica extraordinaire Sugar Blue.   He put on a great hour of jazz.  My hubby claims to be a jazz aficionado and thought it was unbelievable!  Felt bad for Sugar Blue as his little venue was quite empty.     Dueling pianos - maybe I am spoiled with a really great local dueling pianos because I thought this group was terrible.   They could really play the piano but could not sing well at all.   Fun for kids maybe early in the evening.   I'd check it out again if different performers.  Great concept and the little venue was packed!   Skipped the Comedy club... It seemed to be busy.      Splash Academy - the kids club!  We have a 5 year old so she was in the 3-5 year old turtles group.   She went daily and loved it, loaded with activities.  They had a strange schedule, closed for 2 hours sround mealtime, very different than our previous few cruises with the munchkin along.   They too sprayed kids hands with sanitizer coming and going and had safe check in check out procedures.  All in all a great time for our daughter.     Nickelodeon Pajama Jam - yes it's $20 per person for the same breakfast food you get in the Garden Cafe but it's a great way to see Spongbob, Patrick, Sandy, Dora, Diego and a few others and snap fun pix!  And dance in your pajamas!  Come on and be a kid again!!!!  It was cute and the little ones loved it.   Not sure where to put this so since it was in the theater, it goes here.   NCL asked for a volunteer to hold a Christmas service.  A pastor from Sweden and his family put on a short but nice ceremony on Christmas morning.    SERVICE ETC Freestyle dining took some adjustments as we are used to fixed dining times.  We had a good experience with Freestyle.  But we did miss the comrodere you build with your wait staff when you have the same servers a whole week.  Side note- We never waited more then 5 minutes to get a table for 7 in any venue.     Dress is by far the most casual we have ever experienced.   On "Norweigans night out" aka formal night, I seriously saw 1 other man wearing a jacket, outside the handsome suit or tux wearing men in our group.   Jeans are very normal and dressy shorts are common also.     My only real complaints with this cruise are service related.  And rather detailed I apologize.     #1 had an issue on day 2 with extremely loud metal on metal banging the entire afternoon.  It finally put our daughter in tears so we called the service desk.  Someone from maintenance was in our room within 10 minutes to check things out.  Of course the banging stopped then... But we never heard it again after that.  For the trouble, we received a bottle of wine and 4 chocolate covered strawberries.  A lovely gesture I thought, until I found out my brother had called the desk twice regarding the same issue and he got a $100 onboard credit.  Same issue, different perk.  I did go down to the guest services desk to ask why the discrepancy (hey... $100 is $100) and i was told it is manager discression and that extra phone call my brother made must have deemed theirs a worse issue.  Our cabins were side by side by the way....   #2 The NCL app.  They now have an app that you can use for $7.95 per cell phone for the week so you can text or call others in your party that also have the app.  Great concept!!!  Horrible in application.  The wifi that the app uses kicks you out of the app many times a day.  iPhone users can get back in if you totally shut down the app and reopen it.  Droid phones had to input their name and info every single time that happened.  It gets about a 5/10 tainting from me because of the constant loss of wifi to the app.     #3. My husband was walking by the pool one sea day and a lady fell out of the bathroom and landed on his feet.  She had passed out in the bathroom, hit her head, got up and tried to exit the bathroom and passed out again.  My husband stayed with her for 20 minutes while trying to summon help.  A couple of ship staff in white officer like uniforms came and called the onboard medic several times.  No one from the doctor  on board area ever came.   The lady did wake up and wasn't having pain so they found her a wheelchair and when they tracked down her husband, they got her down to the medical facility.  I have zero faith in the onboard health care after this.    #4 Not a complaint but worth the mention.  We came back to our cabin one evening to find 2 housekeeping staff in the hallway with a mattress and 2 full biohazard bags.  Also a housekeeping manager of some kind with a clipboard and checklist making sure all was handled properly.  Apparently they have strict cleaning regimens when someone gets ill.  I also noted many room service dishes outside that cabin for a few days so the sick person must have been quarantined for awhile.  NCL seems to really be on top of the spreading of germs!!!!  I already mentioned the hand sanitizer everywhere.  Kuddos!   PORTS St Maarten - we booked a 6 hour private van for our group thru Bernard Tours.  Our driver was David in a closed air conditioned van.  Very informative island tour.  Shopping, sightseeing with photo stops and airport beach fun watching the planes land.  The airport beach is packed and the waves are a little bit of a problem if you have small children.   During the tour, David talked the entire time, so we got a lot of info about the French side vs the Dutch side.  He had a huge cooler filled with drinks for us also.  Recommend Bernard Tours.    St Thomas - we booked Sunny Liston in a private van for 4 hours.  There are 2 gates leading directly off the Getaway (which we did not know) so we were late finding our driver.  We had Angela aka Gie Gie for the tour in an open air van.  She didn't say hardly anything on the sightseeing portion, stopped 2 places for photos and again to let us shop.  Then an hour at Maegans Bay which is beautiful and a calm bay but packed with people. Also had to pay an unexpected $4 each for entry to Maegans Bay.  So so on the recommendation here - probably would recommend a different guide if you want more island info in your tour.     Nassau, Bahamas  We booked a day pass at the Hilton British Colonial hotel. Very nice pool and beach to use within walking distance of ship port.  Very calm beach with chairs in the sand.  Not over crowded.   Service was very slow from the beach/pool bar and 1 server in particular was rude.   But we all agreed the nice beach and drink specials would bring us back there if we stop in Nassau again.     CONCLUSION Being a pretty seasoned cruiser, we know the things we like and don't like by now.  Would I sail NCL again, yes.   We did enjoy it.    And the ship was lovely.   Would NCL win over the other choices... It's a toss up and would come down to price for me.   Being a diamond member on RCCL, it's hard to give up the perks.      Another cruise in the books.   When can I go again?!

We traveled over Christmas and the crew was friendly as usual.  We were surprised at the lack of decorations for Christmas, just a few trees and some garland.  Some of the garland was paper and paper Santa Clauses were hung in some dining areas.....frankly we expected it to be more decorated and Christmasy.  Christmas day brought egg nog and some Christmas carols. Dinner was amazing with Turkey and Beef Wellington.

The desserts were really bad through out the trip with the upside of no weight gain on the trip.  

Not loving cruising the way I have in the past, very expensive and just didn't feel like a great value.

Beautiful ship and friendly crew, a few instances when we felt we had really good service.

Ship was too large, too many children, for the most part unfriendly staff, and sub par food.  All shows and restaurants were booked.  For a ship this size we thought there would be more to do, instead we found less to do and what was available was fully booked or was overrun by children.  We thought that Norwegian cruise line was more for adults and would cater to the adult crowd, instead we found it overrun children with no suprevision or respect for other around them.  I understand that it is not staff's responsiblity to watch over children, however there was no where that an adult could go to find piece and quiet.  Even when we went to things where they suggested adults only, people brought along small children who took all the seats and seemed to feel the need to participate and be heard.  I was truely dissappointed in this cruise.  If this had been my first cruise, I would probaly never go again.  At this point I will say that I will NEVER sail on a large ship and if for some reason I have the same poor service on a future cruise, I will probably never take another one.  On prior cruises there were less passengers, far less children, and the staff all over the ship was friendly and remembered who you were.  The dining options were outstanding as was the food.  On Norwegian Getaway you had the buffet and other free restaurant.  The buffet was terrible and the restaurant had a very limited selection of food.

Had a mini suite and it was very disappointing.  The room was quite small and the balcony even smaller.  The electrical outlets were not convenient.  We would not embark and disembark in Miami again.  Ft. Lauderdale is much better.  Food at buffet was usually lukewarm to cold and the salad bar was not what I had hoped for; not a very good selection.  We would not cruise with Norwegian again.

NEARLY 25 YEARS AGO MY WIFE AND I MADE OUR VERY FIRST CRUISE, IT WAS WONDERFUL. THROUGHOUT THOSE YEARS WE HAVE TRIED MANY CRUISE LINES AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN SATISFIED WITH OUR CRUISES. ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO WE DISCOVERED NCL AND FREESTYLE. WE HAVE MADE 9 CRUISES  SINCE THEN ON 8 DIFFERENT NCL SHIPS AND I MUST SAY WE HAVE NEVER BEEN DISAPPOINTED. LAST WEEK WE SAILED ABOARD THE NCL CRUISE SHIP GETAWAY AND IT WAS THE VERY BEST YET. WE SAILED TO ST. MARTEN AND ST THOMAS AND BACK TO NASSAU BAHAMAS. I WILL TRY TO BE BRIEF IN EXPLAINING THAT EVERYTHING, DINING, PORTS, STATEROOM, ENTERTAINMENT, CASINO, FOOD AND WARMTH AND CHARM OF THE STAFF WAS OVERWHELMINGLY WONDERFUL...OUTSIDE OF THE TERRIBLE SEATS WITH A HARD METAL BAR BRUISING YOUR BUTTOCKS IN THE THEATER, I GIVE THIS CRUISE SHIP A 10+...WE DEFINITELY WILL CRUISE ON THIS SHIP AGAIN IN THE FUTURE. 

We have been on several cruises and was very disappointed in the size of our mini-suite.  We have decided that we do not care for the free style dining.  We like a more structured dining and being able to meet new people.  The staff was friendly and have no complaints.  I do feel we will travel on other cruise lines in the future.

The ship is brand new, so all the fixtures work.  Cabins on lower decks are fairly well sound-proofed (we were on deck 5) so you can sleep through engine noise.  Main dining room is split into two halves, so service is faster because each venue is smaller (Savor and Taste).  St. Maarten and St. Thomas were hot and humid, while Nassau was cool, breezy and dry--perfect weather.  Excursions were well organized.  Ship docks each time--no tendering.  Food was absolutely fantastic--best of any NCL cruise (this was my ninth).  Movies shown in Atrium.  Rock climbing wall is great.  Lots of activities for kids.

The ships are getting bigger and the rooms with storage smaller.This is a new ship ,could get no hot water in sink.Formal or dress up nights gone.Most shows were only available with reservation.It seems to me that everything is aimed for the younger generation.Process to board and leave the ship was very good. The food both quality and selection were both extremely good. Not sure if this is a trend or the particular cruise line.

Well overall it was good experience. The ship itself was pretty amazing and the staff was fantastic. It was very clean, the food was good, our room was "roomier" that we expected. However, we were not prepared for a November cruise....apparently in November the wind and waves can be a little more intense than a spring cruise. I was very glad I brought my nausea medicine!