Our family wanted to try a different cruise line to compare the "freestyle" cruising options. Our family has cruised previously with Disney, but our primary choice is Royal Caribbean (RC). For our freestyle cruise choice, we chose Norwegian (NLC) on the Getaway primarily for the itinerary, amenities, and pricing. Of course, this critique will compromise of comparing my experiences aboard several different RC cruises (freedom, voyager, and oasis class) and Disney Wonder versus NLC Getaway.

Waiting in line to check onto the ship was prompt, with only a 5-10 minute wait time. We were pleasantly surprised for the short wait time as it was general boarding and not a priority boarding. As with other cruise lines, we were immediately directed up to the lunch buffet and then allowed to roam to explore the ship.

The ship itself is relatively new and was in good, clean condition and appeared up to date. It was estimated around 4,200 passengers were on board which lead to some crowding in some of the areas including the buffet and poolside. All the public toilets seemed to have an unique smell (sewer, urine), tolerable but has not been the case on any other cruise. There were only 2 pools, one was dedicated to 18+ age group and on the small side. If you wanted a lounge chair in the sun near the pool, you had to awake early (7a-8a) to save one of the 15-20 otherwise, the only ones available were in the shade or on the next deck which was crowded and windy. Read more