My wife and I did our 1st cruise 2 yrs. ago for our 25th anniversary and LOVED it. (Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Seas). Since I was scheduled to retire from my job of 34 years at the end of Oct, we decided to give ourselves a retirement present of a 7 night cruise. We chose the NCL Getaway. Although the ship was nice the service wasn't up to what we had experienced on Royal Caribbean. First off I attempted to book the unlimited Thermal Suite spa package for $179 advertised price. When the booking didn't take, I called NCL and was told not to worry, I could book it on the ship. When I went to book on the ship, I was told the price would be $200 per person.

One of the perks w/this cruise was unlimited drink package. We were told the package was valued at $79 per person per day and we would have to pay the 18 % gratuity on that price. I had no problem w/this but when we got on board the ship, they advertised the price of the drink package as $59..which of course would have lowered the amount of gratuity I should have paid.

There was no steam room or sauna to use unless you paid for spa packages however on Royal there was free use of a steam room and spa in the men's/women's locker rooms. Read more