Norwegian Getaway Review
Cruise was fun but Harvest Caye was extremly disappointing.
Rating by category
Additional details
This was my second cruise on the Getaway in as many years. The two cruises were taken almost a year apart exactly. I have a MUCH more comprehensive review of the ship in general from last January’s cruise, so if that is what you are looking for you can find it there (if interested). That said, on this cruise we had a great experience and would probably still do it again, but there are some things that I think should be reviewed.
Embarkation: On our first cruise this went great. They had an attendant in the large waiting room who kept everyone in order. On this cruise there was none of that. We had arrived early to meet up with our entire party and be some of the first on the ship, but as could be expected, with no attendant, all we keep seeing were people who showed up hours after us who thought there would be no problem to just slide up to the front of the “line.” Seriously, Norwegian needs to handle this better. I have read reviews from others that talked about how unorganized this process could be and now I have witnessed it. It would not shock me if there is (or has been) a fight up there. There are always the jerks that think they can just jump to the front whenever they want and there are often people that will not tolerate it. If Norwegian does not have someone there keeping those jerks back it could get ugly at some point.
Room: This year we upgraded to a Mini-Suite (I think it is called). There absolutely no difference between this room and a normal balcony room except for the bathroom. The bathroom in these rooms was significantly larger. They had a double sink and a MUCH larger shower. The room was nice but I would not pay for this upgrade- I would just ask for it as a bonus if the price of your cruise falls after you book it. That said, the room was nice. Our room attendant did a fine job of keeping it clean. I have heard people complain about the size of the balcony but this was never an issue for us. It is big enough for two people to sit out there and relax.
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Mini-Suite with Balcony
Room: This year we upgraded to a Mini-Suite (I think it is called). There absolutely no difference between this room and a normal balcony room except for the bathroom. The bathroom in these rooms was significantly larger. They had a double sink and a MUCH larger shower. The room was nice but I would not pay for this upgrade- I would just ask for it as a bonus if the price of your cruise falls after you book it. That said, the room was nice. Our room attendant did a fine job of keeping it clean. I have heard people complain about the size of the balcony but this was never an issue for us. It is big enough for two people to sit out there and relax.
Port Reviews
Roatan
This place is a dump. Perhaps if you do an excursion you will see a different part of the island and have a different opinion, but if you just get a cab (like we did) and drive around you will notice that there is virtually nothing to see but pothole filled roads and trash filled countryside. Some people in our group went to see the comedy show on board the ship and he was even making fun of what a joke this port was. We did end up at a monkey zoo/ sanctuary which was pretty cool. We got to hold a few different monkeys and see many others and it was only $10 a person. I would imagine this place has some beautiful spots to it, but you probably have to pay for an excursion to see them. There is not a whole lot in the port that Norwegian stops at.
Harvest Caye
Ok, here’s the deal with the new Harvest Caye. Harvest Caye COULD have been the spot we all raved about the most. As it turns out, it was the place we all liked the least because of the way it is being ran.
The Island is smaller than I expected and is rather beautiful. It has a nice large beach that is perfect for warm beach days and has a few awesome looking bars and a nice pool. Besides that (and a very short nature walk) it has NOTHING to offer. There are no volleyball pits or other outside games (like Great Stirrup Caye), no culture, no cheap shopping, no sight seeing and no interesting dining (just Margaritaville). The people in our group found ourselves heading back to the boat about 2 hours after we got off because it wasn’t the best beach day, there was nothing to do (we did not pay for an excursion) and we had the beverage package which ONLY works on the ship. It does not feel like you are in another country, so there is also no real sightseeing to do either. Had the beverage package worked on the island (and had they had even simple food stations with just burgers or something). This would have been our favorite port. It would have been an all day party on a beautiful island at new open air bars. As it turns out, we all were much happier laying on the sun deck with free drinks than we were laying on the beach with nothing to drink. NCL needs to change things up a bit and find a way to make money off this island while allowing the beverage package to at least partly work on the island. The bars looked so cool but they were only at about 20% capacity because people did not want to pay for beer when it was free on the boat. As it is, despite Harvest Caye being much nicer than Great Stirrup Caye, I would have much rather been at Great Stirrup Caye. This “island” is more or less a sandbar on steroids where you can lay out and get sun, but do nothing else unless you want to fork over more money.
Cozumel
We had been here before and we enjoy this port. It has some nice shopping, some in mini malls and some in shacks where you can really bargain. A little tip, if you like cigars, nearly all of the Cubans on the street are fakes. If you want to know how to tell the real Cubans from fakes, go to the Duty Free store (right at the end of the pier) and ask them. They will show you all you need to know.