Norwegian Getaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,271 reviews

Family booze cruise, confrontational staff, disappointing food...

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Getaway
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wiitigo
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2018
Cabin: Balcony Stateroom
Traveled with children

This is our 2nd cruise with Norwegian this year, we went as a family of 7 spanning 3 generations. My parents let the kids pick the cruises now that they are going and they pick the ones that have all the kids stuff like watersides, climbing wall, and ropes courses. My daughters also wanted to visit Miami so we ended up choosing the Getaway and spending a couple nights at Margaritaville Resort (fantastic place, definitely recommended) before disembarkation.

Disembarkation was a mixed bag, arrival and getting checked in was easy and fast, but then we were jammed in a room for an hour waiting before group 1 even got called, we were group 6. Once on the ship we had to wait a couple of hours, in limited spaces (given that everyone had to be in those spaces), with some of our luggage before able to go to our rooms. I understand there is a process to it all, but why have us show up so early if you are going to shuffle us from one sardine can to another. There was food and drink available, but many people managed to get hammered before they even let us in the staterooms... sigh, I knew from that point this wasn't as family friendly as the last cruise I was on despite having great draws for kids.

The ship was setup with the main deck bars right between the kid’s pool and the adult pool/stage with lots of seating around the whole area between the front of the ship and the aft. This sounds good until you realize that the bartenders are just feeding people drinks with no concern how hammered they already are making the whole area just littered with people who are having a hard time walking.

Cabin Review

Balcony Stateroom

Cabin BX

Walk in, bathroom on one side as you walk into the room where the counter and couch/bed are across from each other. Bunk bed over the couch, then one big bed takes up most of the rest of the room to the balcony. Balcony had 2 chairs and a little table. Safe in room wasn't bolted in, it worked, but some could have walked off with it. Fridge was locked, we didn't bother getting it unlocked, you had to pay for anything you used and we could get it all free elsewhere on the ship. Pretty much what you expect from a cabin, we were only really there when we slept.

Port Reviews

Miami

We came in a couple days early and stayed at Margaritaville a couple of nights, great place to kick of a vacation.

Cozumel

Mixed bag, great experience, but if you want pictures, you better bring some plastic, $30 to have 1 pic emailed to you, $40 to have 1 printed, with no group buying options.

Cozumel

My father who is big into diving took my youngest daughter to see if she'd like it, we finished the cruise with this being the highlight of the trip for both of them.

Harvest Caye

I'm going to give a comparative review to the Norwegian private island we docked at when I was on the Epic (Great Stirrup Cay) earlier in the year. On Great Stirrup, they had a huge buffet, a lot of bars, and various specialty food stands all included (private island, only people there are their passengers, makes sense right?), but on Harvest Cay, it was completely opposite, if you wanted any food or drink on their private island, you had to pay for it. To top it off, the ships internet didn't work for anyone that whole day, when I called to complain they said it doesn't work very well in this port, it will work about half hour after we leave. I'll let you draw your own conclusion there, but I will tell you the debit and credit machines on the island worked lightning fast...

We spent a couple hours on the beach and then went back to the boat to eat.

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