Norwegian Getaway Review

An overall positive experience, but definitely not the best cruise we've had.

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Getaway
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mowery25
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
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Additional details

Sail Date: May 2016
Cabin: Balcony Stateroom
Traveled with children

After a 3 night cruise on the Disney Magic and 4 nights on RC's Enchantment of the Seas, we decided to try one of the "mega" ships with Norwegian. Many of the things that I am rating lower are mostly because of the comparisons to our previous cruise experiences. Had this been our first cruise, I'm guessing I would have rated things much more favorably. It was an overall positive experience, but there were some things that just weren't quite what we've come to expect or what we prefer in a cruise experience. Some are merely the product of going from cruises with 2000 passengers to one with 4000, some were definitely a result of what could only be described as poor customer service by individuals we encountered along the way. We booked two guaranteed balcony staterooms for our group of seven which included my wife and me, our 10 year old daughter, 8 and 3 year old sons, and my wife's 67 year old partially-handicapped father and 66 year old mother.

Dining - I thought the food was ok but my wife and in-laws felt it wasn't as good as on our RC Cruise last year. There didn't seem to be nearly the variety in the buffet for lunches that we'd experienced in other cruises and that got old fast on a 7 day cruise. We very much enjoyed O'Sheehan's.

Embarkation - perhaps it was normal for a 4000 passenger ship, but compared to our Disney and RC experiences at Port Canaveral, this was chaos. People everywhere, long lines, very unfriendly staff herding us like cattle.

Cabin Review

Balcony Stateroom

Cabin BX

The cabin itself was excellent. A good amount of room compared to some staterooms we've had. Other complaints about the size of the balcony seemed unfounded to me. We weren't expecting a ton of space, but it wasn't as tiny as some made it sound. Bathroom was by far the nicest we've seen on a ship.

That said, definitely our poorest experience by cabin steward standards. After the first night, the bunk bed and couch were never put "away" in the morning/afternoon like on other cruises. Kids were disappointed we only had towel "animals" maybe twice. the final night of the cruise we put some milk in the fridge to use for cereal in the morning rather than fight the breakfast crowds on disembarkation day, and the steward removed the milk and placed it on the counter, then locked the fridge. In my in-laws' room, a deck above our own, her milk was still in the fridge and accessible. It just felt like very poor cabin service all week compared to what we'd experience on other cruises.

Port Reviews

Belize City

Just went shopping. Prices very cheap here, but not as cheap as in Cozumel.

Costa Maya

Be prepared for the most expensive shopping of any of the ports on this cruise.

Cozumel

Cheapest shopping of any stop.

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