We have just recently returned from a cruise onboard the Norwegian Getaway sailing out of Miami. I have to be upfront right from the start about the fact that we are fans of Carnival. We had been on the Norwegian Sun in 2010 and didn’t enjoy the whole pay-more-for-everything way of doing things. However, as we had bought one of those “future cruise” vouchers, we had to give Norwegian a second chance. This schedule was perfect for Spring Break with the kids and was hitting one port we’d never been to which I really wanted to visit so we hoped for the best and booked.

First thing you need to know is that you will be doing A LOT of walking! Our cabin (9423) was "forward" – almost to the very end. I don’t know if this is because we specifically like inside rooms and I noted that as we hiked to our cabin, there didn’t appear to be inside cabins on the right as we saw all the oceanview and balcony cabins on the left. It’s not the worst thing in the world but I have to confess there was a time or two when I thought about going to my cabin to get something and opted not to because “it’s so far away!”

Back to my confession – we like Carnival and so you may hear me say (as I said way too many times during the cruise), “Well…on Carnival, they did x-y-z.” So, with that caveat, here’s how our cruise went. Read more