We were warned by all the nice folks who have previously written accurate reviews. We thought our experience would surely be better. This cruise experience on the Jan 31st NCL Getaway would have totally turned me off to cruising if I didn’t have about ten cruises under my belt. This was a last minute experience which also meant that we didn’t receive any of the promotions. Pay attention to this new policy if booking less than thirty days out!

The ship is more modern in design and some things are underwhelming. The atrium is overused and crowded and the theatre is relatively small and plain. You don’t have a different show each night: Welcome Aboard Show, 2 nights of Burn the Floor and 2 nights of Legally Blonde (same shows), Comedy night and then the Goodbye Show.

There were about 4,600 passengers on this ship. It seems that to add the extra 2,000, NCL added decks for cabins but didn’t add much public space. This is most obvious on the pool deck. The exercise rooms were smaller with fewer machines than the Jewel class ships. The pools are very small and the space appeared to be very tight. Most ships have a place where people can dance with the band on the pool deck, but not on the Getaway. The kid’s pool is very small with most of the water space given for landing from the slides/tubes. The little kid’s pool is adorable. Then you have the Garden Café. All of this scrunches the pool deck. Read more