This was our fourth Xmas week cruise in a row with the last three having been on Royal Caribbean. We have four teenagers and have also been on Cunard, Princess, Disney and Carnival over the years. We decided to try the new Getaway after seeing the prices demanded to go on the Allure and Oasis xmas week. The Getaway does not have as open a feel inside as the Royal Caribbean ships as there is not a large atrium with mall type area. Even after a week you had to look up what was on the main social decks 6-7-8. My daughter has become an expert on teen clubs and she stated that numerous times the crew members working there were rude and that she didnt like that when there was an activity going on they shut down the teen club to all other activities. That being said she found that the teen club had good activities and that the waterslides and rope courses on the ship were top notched. As there are lots of families on the ship Xmas week she had no problem finding a group of friends although that was also the case on Royal Caribbean.

We had a mini suite mid ship balcony on deck 11. The rooms are nice and the beds are comfortable. The balconies are very small but that did not inhibit us sitting on them virtually every night. The bathroom were the largest and nicest we have ever seen on a ship with sizable showers including body jets which was a real nice surprise. It is truehave to put your card in the power slot to have power in the room but it doesnt have to be your cruise card and can be any card. I had with me the hotel room card key from the night before the cruise. I left that in the power slot all week.

As an adult I would echo that there are not many pools due to the activities on deck and finding chairs can be challenging. The Vibe Club has 70 passes available on a ship of over 4000 passengers so they are basically unobtainable without a connection of some sort. We were on ship early and they were long gone. It is not even worth having them if they are going to be unreasonably unavailable. The track for jogging and walking is ridiculous because it meanders on the deck and you cannot effectively get around people simply standing in the middle. We found the food options good and had to adjust to the fact there wasnt a main dining room. However we never had a wait at any restaurant. The food was decent but not great. On par with other cruise lines. Be aware that they will upcharge virtually everything. Cupcakes, ice cream etc outside of buffet are all upcharged. Late night the only pizza available is delivery to room at upcharge of 5.00 and basically inedible. The first couple of days had us wishing we were on another cruise line however by the end of the week we were having a great time and would we put it on level with competing cruise lines. We are not complainers and try to have a very objective view of the ships. The entertainment was decent. Illusionarium was good as was Burn the Floor although it was long. Legally Blonde was lame without a ton of talent. Like a high school production but by time we got there we had lowered expectation so it met those. The cruise dierector was a lot of fun and the nightly parties on deck were a lot of fun. We did not really notice the problems with smoke others complained of in their reviews. We have been to Nassua St Thoma and St Martin many times. The cruise line would be wise to skip Nassau for their own island. Read more