Norwegian Getaway Review
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This is the third time We've chosen this itinerary, we've loved these ports in the past, but have previously gone out of New Orleans on smaller ships. Last year we cruised on the Escape twice and loved it, the ship, the service, the entire experience. This cruise was a family trip, there were six of us, and I thought we would enjoy the larger ship with more restaurants and more things to do, when I was told the Gateway was the "sister" ship of the Escape I chose to cruise out of Miami instead of New Orleans. Nothing was out right terrible, but nothing was fabulous either. Bar service was extremely slow, I have never had to wait in a line at the bar before, and never been told while sitting at the bar that I needed to get up and get in line. Not having the fun deck parties, with all the fun food that is served at the pool area, is disappointing. The pool entertainment was also lacking, when the band played, which was only about 15 minutes and hour, they repeated the same songs over and over again, sometimes within the same set.
I'm a casino player, most of my cruises are partially comped by the the cruise department or my local casino, which I enjoy very much, but I am not a fan of the way the points reset. I cruised in June of this year, when I asked what happened to my points from June, I was told they would have to email the Escape to find out how many points I had. Why is that not done prior to me coming on the ship? To the best of my knowledge, I never received the credit for those points. In addition, I typically cruise twice a year, they always seem to reset before I get on the next ship. Perhaps there should be a window of two or three years, this way, the rewards from all of the gaming would appear to be beneficial.
This was our first time to Harvest Caye, Belize has always been my favorite port of this itinerary. This was the port I was most excited to take my family to. We were disappointed, by the fact that there was nothing to do there except go to the beach, and pay for extremely expensive food and drinks, which made for a very boring and expensive day . In the past we have gone cave tubing and zip lining. It was late in the afternoon before we realized we could have taken the ferry to the mainland and actually explored Belize. I understand, there are many cruisers that don't do excursions, but I think NCL is doing a disservice to their cruisers by not giving them information about the ferry.
Cabin Review
Mini-Suite with Balcony
The cabin was clean, but we went three days without even meeting steward, there was no plastic guard for the bed so we could unpack our bags without laying them on the bedspread, There were no robes in my cabin, when I asked, a steward in the hall, I was told to wait there, he returned with one, the other never showed up. Several days my towel service was missing either face or hand towels. On the final morning, shortly after 8:00 am my steward (who never cleaned our room before 12:00) was knocking on the door asking when we were going to get out. If the cruise line is going to advertise an 8 day cruise, and give me the option of getting off the ship after 9:00 (our tags were for 9:30) I should at least be able to sleep until 8:00 last day of my vacation.
Port Reviews
Harvest Caye
Get off the ISLAND, go directly to the ferry and go to the mainland! I am a sun lover, one of my favorite things to do is sit in front of the ocean, even better if the water is the breathtaking blue it is in Belize. But this Island that NCL is now forcing on their cruisers is terrible. The beach is beautiful with plenty of chairs and umbrellas for everyone and pool area is very nice too. But you better bring lots of money! Food, drinks and activities are outrageously expensive. We are the type of cruisers who get back on the ship at the very last moment, however, not that day.When food and drinks are mostly free on the ship, and you have to pay $12 for a watered down drink, its easy to see why we went back to the ship hours before the all aboard. it wasn't until too late in the day that we realized the island does have a ferry dock for a price you can take a 15 minute ride to the mainland. If you go early enough there is plenty of time for adventures.