I loved my first cruising experience on the Norwegian Getaway! Being a newbie, I was shocked at seeing such a large ship for the first time. It's definitely an impressive vessel and completely beautiful inside and out. My overall experience was just fantastic - I read some negative reviews before sailing that made me pretty apprehensive, as some more experienced cruisers had plenty of negative things to say! But whether it's just cruising in general that I loved or this ship in particular, I had an awesome time and loved (almost) every minute!

Embarkation went smoothly, though we did have to wait for awhile to board. Once onboard I think it took us the first three days or so to actually traverse the ship, it's that large! There are still several areas we never got to see. It amazed me that 7 nights felt not nearly long enough!

We ate at the buffet the first night (I shamelessly made a plate of prime rib and pizza) and enjoyed freestyle dining in the main dining room most other nights. I never felt the need to pay for a specialty restaurant as the included dining options were all so good. I got a chocolate lava cake dessert every night! I have a shellfish allergy and the wait staff were extremely accommodating. Having never cruised before, I don't have an experience with set dining times/seats to compare this to, but I truly appreciated the freedom and flexibility to eat when we wanted, and the staff had no trouble seating our rather large group of friends together each evening. Read more