March Break for students in February, who knew! The Getaway is definitely geared towards children with its water slides, rope challenge course, video arcade, bowling alley, kiddie pools and "guppy" babysitting services. This was never mentioned before we booked the ship. Had we known, we would have presumably booked another ship.

We paid for an upgrade from a stateroom with no window to one with a window. Unfortunately, our "ocean view" consisted of literally looking at the bow of the ship, with no water visible. This featured upgrade cost us an additional $180. It was also above a dance bar where we could hear the music and voices well into the wee hours of the night. Since people were able to actually look into our room through this window, we basically had to keep the shades closed the majority of the time. Our room was also above the anchor chain locker, as every time we landed at a port, we could hear the anchor chain being pulled up through the locker. It felt like our bed was being ripped out from under us. Some upgrade !

We spoke to several first or second time NCL cruisers who told us that they got free drink packages and 4 or 5 specialty dinner packages. This was our third NCL cruise and all we got was a $50 food credit. When we tried to use it on drinks or dinner, we were denied. I finally mentioned this on our last night to one of the Managers, and he couldn’t explain why we were denied drinks and specialty meals. He offered us a free bottle of wine, but since we only travelled with carry-ons, we weren’t able to take it with us. So they gave us each a free glass of wine. Read more