Far too many people booked on this cruise. We tried to make dinner reservations for the steakhouse and were told, on the first night, that it was booked for the ENTIRE week. We were only able to see one show as they too were booked for the entire cruise. The showroom on this ship is very small therefore reservations are REQUIRED. There was only one POOL area for adults and it was always filled, shoulder-to-shoulder. Hot tubs were not quite as crowded as there were several. The doorway area in our cabin was so narrow that you had to back up when opening the door to let someone in. Apparently, our stateroom was UNDER the showroom area/backstage?, as we could hear either dancers practicing or props for the shows being moved. This happened several times each day. Our toilet NEVER flushed properly even though maintenance was called several times to attempt fixing it. We were NEVER addressed by name by our room steward. We are platinum level on NCL and were treated like first-time cruisers. I called one time to attempt to change my dinner reservation at La Cocina from 2 to 4 and was told rather rudely it was completely booked. We took the other couple with us and we were all seated. There were even empty tables! On the positive side, ZAC, the cruise director, was very energetic. We were provided with fresh towels and extra towels whenever we asked. Le Bistro hostess was very attentive as she had seen my husband previously at the buffet and she recognized him. Disembarkation was VERY easy and quick. The ship left on time from each port. Read Less

I can't lie, but I do sort of regret booking my cruise with Norwegian cruise lines. I thought I had done plenty of research before deciding to book my cruise with Norwegian. I had watched plenty of vlogs on Youtube of those who really hyped up how wonderful NCL was, but I guess I was wrong. I've been on quite a few different cruise lines. (Royal Carribean, Celebrity, Holland America, Disney, and Regent!) But I have to say I was pretty let down with my vacation. First of all, let's start off with Embarkation. When my mother and I walked up to the ship, there was no music playing, and a man holding out a spray bottle to sanitize our hands. He gave us a very weak and underwhelmingly, "Welcome aboard," barely mutter coherently. We got on board by 1:30 PM, and were met with a humid condition in the ship. It was almost as if they were trying to conserve using the air conditioner until they sailed away. Weird--anywho, we went to Savor to eat some lunch since there were no seats in the Garden Cafe. My first impression with the lunch served in the main complimentary dining room was mediocre. I figured I needed to give it a shot. Perhaps, this was just a miss of the food I ordered on the menu, but turns out I was wrong! Cabins: Rooms were finally available by 2:30 PM, we got to our room and it was fine. I've definitely had better rooms, but I must say the balconies are poorly designed. You can't even sit in a seat on the balcony without having to turn it sideways! There isn't much legroom either! The beds were not very comfortable, and I don't know if it was just our cabin but I never got substantial sleep due to the air condition. In the day, it was freezing in our room, however, at night, I'd wake up absolutely ROASTING from how hot it'd get. I tried fiddling with the AC controls, but could not figure out why it'd get so hot in the dead of the night. I had my AC at the coldest setting all night/day and only in the dead of night would it decide, "Time to hot!" Food: Food on the ship was lackluster. I am a foodie at heart. I'm that type of person that will be thinking about/looking forward to what they're going to eat, while currently eating a meal. So, based on this knowledge, I was heavily looking forward to all the types of meals I'd get to experience. However, I was greatly disappointed. In the main dining room, I never had a meal, that left a great impression on me. Most of them were just processed, rushed, no love-made meals. There were many items that were just straight up, vile, tasteless, or average. Although, I will mention the only time I ever enjoyed food on this ship was when I attended the specialty dining restaurants. My mother and I went to Le Bistro, Teppenyaki, and La Cucina. The food there was very, very good, and actually was very tasty. The service was fantastic as well. Garden Cafe & O'Sheehans: The Garden cafe served the same breakfast and lunch basically every day. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and on this boat I dreaded breakfast. Expect to eat undercooked bacon, bland wet scrambled eggs, stale pastries and bread, or choose cereal and yogurt. This same breakfast was pretty much served in the main dining rooms as well, but it was just placed on fancy plates. Yuck. O'Sheehans: The only things I thought were decent at O'Shehans were the chicken wings. Everything else was just pretty much, "Meh!" Entertainment & Activities: Actually, this is the one thing I'll give NCL praise to. They really do a fantastic job with mixing up the tradition activities you find on most cruise ships. I loved the Lip Sync Battle, Celebrity Dancing, Trivia, and other gameshow ideas they utilized on the ship. It really mixed it up and made it very entertaining. However, I really wish they could use the theater for these activities, where more people could find seats to watch. Most activities were hosted in the Atrium, which had limited seats and awkward seating positions. Note; If you want to attend an event, get there almost 45 mins to an hour early if you want a good seat. I liked most of the Activity crew, except for Ash. Ash definitely thought he was the gift of comedy and would drag out Bingo with his cheesy jokes. He'd also push the envelope a bit with sexual innuendos around children. My favorite Activity Crew members were: Zach, Ro-Ro, Sandra, and Fiona. Service: For room service, I was really annoyed. I've been on boats where practically the moment the sun rises, cleaning stewards are banging on your door, pretty much forcing you out of your room so they can clean. However, here on the Getaway, things seemed to be a lot more laid back. On average, our room would be cleaned and made up by 3 PM in the afternoon, even if that means we left the room by 7:30 AM! Beds would not be put down until 8-9 PM! It was ridiculous. Service in the Main dining rooms was hit or miss too. I had one waiter who never filled up my glass until the time I had finished eating and was getting dessert ordered. We had a few waiters who seemed to absolutely despise their life and acted like they hated their job. Ports & Excursions: I actually really liked three of the ports we visited. I loved Costa Maya, Harvest Cay, Belize, and Roatan Honduras. (I did not get off the ship for Cozumel, been there, done that.) I didn't go on any excursions to save money, but I enjoyed my time at their beaches or pool resorts. All of them were very beautiful ports and had some nice touristy shops. In conclusion, would I go on another NCL cruise? Probably not if I'm honest. I'm more interested in pursuing other cruise lines like MSC, or Princess Cruise lines. I've experienced NCL, I enjoyed their entertainment, but not enough to travel with them again. Read Less

Overall a good experience. We are so blessed to be able to cruise with our family and enjoy visiting different islands. We totally have the mentally that if you don't have a good time, then that's your fault. You choose your attitude! But I feel compelled to leave an honest review for people like me that thoroughly research every aspect about a future cruise because I want to make the best choice. I have only sailed on Carnival previously so I can't compare Norwegian with any other line. We were expecting a huge difference from the two lines, but that wasn't our experience. Both lines have many great things about them and both have a few things that we didn't love. But that's true for everything in life. So, here are some of my thoughts about our recent cruise of the Norwegian Getaway: Pros: *Embarkation and debarkation were fantastic for us. This seems to be a hit or miss type of situation and we seemed to hit it just right both times. We arrived to the boat around 11:30 and were probably eating at the buffet around 12:15. Regarding getting off the boat, I think we were in our taxi by 8:00 (self-assist debarkation of course). *The food was good overall. We only ate in the complimentary restaurants. Lots of choices on the buffet. Other reviewers have complained about the monotony of the breakfast buffet, but I don't know what else they could offer. We went to the Tropicana most nights. The kids liked the entertainment. Always music and some guests would dance. The ship's dancers entertained us a few nights. *Water slides and ropes course - awesome! *The Million Dollar Quartet was great! *Howl at the Moon was so fun! Very relaxed atmosphere and everyone feels free to sing along. *We enjoyed the comedy shows. It might be a good idea to make a 9:00 reservation instead of the 7:00 because sometimes dinner takes awhile and you need to be there about 15 minutes early or else you will lose your reservation. *The Escape Room Challenge was a fun family experience, but it was really hard. No one in our session solved the puzzle. I don't think there were enough directions, but I'm not a puzzle wiz, so perhaps I'm not the best judge for the activity. Make sure to go to the box office as soon as you get on the boat to reserve this event, as well as the comedy shows. *The staff was friendly. *The boat is in good shape and decorated nicely. *We didn't experience any issues with crowds or lines too often. *Getting off the boat on the islands was a dream! *We liked that this seemed to be a quieter ship. There wasn't music blaring in our faces all day. *On that same note, it didn't seem like a party boat. People were drinking all day (lots of people must have bought the drink package), but we didn't witness any "drunk off their butts" people. Cons: *I agree with other reviewers that Norwegian nickles and dimes you to death! Examples: You're no longer allowed to bring your own beverages (other lines still do). But a 6 pack of bottled water is $15. Also regarding the Internet, Carnival charged $5 a day for unlimited use. Norwegian was something like $30 a day. *We're not huge TV people, but one thing we enjoy during our annual cruises is to watch a little TV/movies mid-day because that is something we don't get to do at home. Previously there were 2-3 local channels where we could see Miami news stations, prime time TV shows, etc. Norwegian offered one movie channel, one TV channel (but played the same few episodes of Chopped, Say Yes to the Dress, The Goldbergs, and a few other episodes of shows I didn't recognize), a sports channel, 2 CNN type of channels, and several Norwegian channels (shopping, port excursions, etc.). *There isn't a lot of outside space on this boat. Pool area is super small. The railings on most of the floors were too high for my liking. Level 8 has a nice walkway where the railings are at comfortable height. *I utilize the walking track throughout the day, especially during sea days. The Getaway's walking track was fine very early in the morning. But once people come out to lay in the sun, because there is not a lot of outside room, there were chairs everywhere and it was impossible to use the track. Also the track was super slippery in the morning either because of rain the previous night or from the cleaning crew. I witnessed a few runners wiping out so be careful! *Rooms - I referenced it below in the cabin review section. *Typically we see and can communicate with the room steward all throughout the week, but we only had one quick interaction with him the first day. Not a big deal, but we had to search for someone to help us with exchanging towels and had to call to the desk for a working TV remote. Again, not a big deal, just not our typical experience. We had a wonderful family cruise but I'm not sure the increased cost for Norwegian is worth it to us. Hope this was helpful! Read Less

Restaurants are great. Didn't have any problems with service described by so many in previous reviews. The Tropicana met expectations. The food was pretty good which is all you can really expect from the main dining rooms anymore. The Brazilian steakhouse turned out to be our favorite which was a surprise. We were also very pleased with Teppanyaki and Cagney's. Buffet was also decent but somewhat lacking in variety compared to other cruises we've been on. Cirque de Soleil show was extremely good. The biggest downside to the ship is the pool deck(s) layout. One pool which is difficult to access for such a large number of people. Thankfully our teenagers aren't big being at the pool so we spent our time in Spice H2O which is nice but also lacking in water for the size of the space. Overall we paid about the same price for Oasis of the Seas which I would absolutely choose over the Getaway if I had to do it again. Read Less

No more big ships for us,tried the Escape last year and the Getway this year having activities in the Atrium is terrible to many people and no where to sit so frustrating! We had Vibe passes which was a life savor as the pool area was over congested,so many people very difficult to find a place to eat in the buffet,we will stay with the smaller ships,we loved the jewel and the gem......In general this cruise was the worst in reference to service,room was dirty,balcony door was broken and never fixed I am platinum level so I have been on many NCL ships and now considering changing cruise lines even though the latitudes program is very good and all the benefits of being platinum but when you experience poor service it leaves a bad impression. We ate in 5 of the special restaurants which had great service and good food Read Less

Room with balcony had king bed, plenty of room and storage.We did feel hounded to buy stuff a lot on and off the ship. Entertainment great but Atrium way to small a space. Staff were great. Getting on and off ship very organized and smooth. Wasn’t very pleased with ports. Someone suggested we wonder through shop area to back of shops to get ride into actual town of Cal Maya, Mexico. Great beach and you could grab a beer and then get a $20 massage on the beach so be sure to wear your swim suit. I got tired of diamonds direct and felt like the shops they directed you too got kick backs since they really didn’t share all of the options. In Roatan, Honduras paid $55 for cab that drove us all over the island. Desserts were pretty but not as tasty as the ice cream. Cagney’s was as good as we had heard. Drink package really expensive unless you drink 10 or more drinks a day. Bartenders were surprised when I had a drink charged to my room. Read Less

We were a family of 8 and this was (for most) our first cruise ever so we have nothing to compare it to. We were a multi generational group with different lifestylesWe arrived 2 days prior and stayed at Embassy Suites Miami Intl. Airport-because of the free food, free alcohol and port shuttle package. Not the most scenic of locations, but it suited our needs. Embarkation was fairly smooth. We arrived by hotel shuttle at 12pm and were on board by 1pm. Deck 15 was packed with sunbathers and those just walking around. The Garden Cafe buffet area was insane! We hung out in the pool, went on the water slides and spent some $ in the arcade. I believe it was about 3pm when they announced that the cabins were ready, so we assumed our luggage was there also. WRONG. Luggage didnt arrive in our cabins for almost 2 more hours. We had cabin 9712, 9714, 9718 and 9720 which are all large balcony (B6) cabins. We then met Rodrigo, our cabin steward and he attended to 3 of 4 of our rooms for the trip. I dont think I saw him more than 3 or 4 times the entire stay. But everday, twice a day our cabins were freshened up, a new pot of ice, daily planner and a new towel animal was waiting for us. We prepaid for the service charges/tips, but still left him $3-5 a night extra. We all had the UDP and had it not been "included" in our promo, I dont think most of us would do that again. I myself only had at most 5 drinks per day and even none one day. For dinners we used our 3 night dining option and ate at Teppanyaki, Moderno, Tropicana Room, Le Bistro, Taste and ended our last night celebrating a birthday and an early Father's Day at Cagney's. That ribeye and the prime rib with au jus was outstanding! All but Tropicana Room was outstanding. Our waiter at Tropicana was cold and unwelcoming for the entire meal. At one point even arguing with my brother over what a steak knife was. I wish I wrote his name down to report him. He was that rude. To top that night off the photographer kept snapping photos of us along with others nearby and with his strobe flashing, it induced intense migraines in my oldest son-causing him to cry and we had to send the photographer away. We did eat lunch at the buffet once and also breakfast and late night snack once also. Was not a big fan of the food though. O'Sheehans was where we mostly ate our casual lunches or breakfasts when time allowed. Also tried the room service twice. A $7.95 service fee was added-which we were well aware of already. We hung out at the Atrium Bar, Sunset Bar and Sugarcane's Mojito Bar mostly. We attended Burn the Floor and thought that was ok. Costa Maya was nice. We went to Chacchoben for a Mayan history tour, then spent the remainder of the afternoon at the port village until the rains came pouring down. Harvest Caye was just a madhouse. All the photos and videos Id ever seen did not show the amount of people that were there Wednesday. Every cabana was rented ($300+/each) and the beach and pool was packed. 5 in our group did the zipline-that wasted 2+ hours while they waited their turns. But they all agreed they had fun. 4 of the 5 never did it before. Roatan was nice. We went to Tabyana Beach for the day and were catered to. Did some snorkeling and sunbathing, then went shopping in port. Cozumel was horrible. Rained almost all day and intense at times. Had to cancel our excursions due to weather, luckily I just found my deposits were refunded today! The port in Cozumel was packed with Carnival and an MSC ships in port also. The vendors in Cozumel were some of the most friendly that i had ever dealt with. The security in the port was something i never expected though. There were areas flooded inland so part of our group was in a taxi and were turned around and driven back to the port area for safety. Friday night we attended the GLOW PARTY in the Tropicana Room due to the rain storm that wouldn't leave us. After about 45 minutes we decided to leave when all the teenagers showed up. It was still fun though. We attended the final art auction on Saturday and are now expecting delivery of 3 new pieces we won. OUCH, thank you Jared for the upsell! At disembarkation, I left a piece of luggage in the baggage claim area, only to realize this after clearing customs. So I sent my other 7 family members off on the shuttle I set up for us and waited over 2 more hours for every passenger and crew member to leave the ship and customs area. Boy will I never make that mistake again. So yes, we had fun. Yes, we have memories to share forever. This was not the itinerary we originally booked for and we purchased non-refundable plane tickets ourselves we were already massively disappointed having to see these places, but we made the most of it. None in our party said they would ever go back to these ports again. All 8 of us did agree that NCL and their "freestyle" cruising method worked to our advantage. The weather was bad most days and the ship tossed abit, We were told the pool area and upper structures were closed alot due to weather issues most afternoons/evenings. The ship has too many options while onboard and we found ourselves missing out on so much like comedy shows, ropes course, climbing wall, bingo, karaoke, Newlywed Game, arts and crafts and other exhibitions they do, We never made it to the Vodka Bar, nor to The Million $ Quartet that we pre booked. As we disembarked our entire group gawked at the indoor bowling lane they had set up. No one even knew it was there, along with the other games besides O'Sheehan's bar area that surrounded the upper atrium area. We all did agree on one thing. You definitely know some parents just "let go" with their kids onboard. We saw so many groups of 10-15 year olds just running the hallways, screaming and yelling, making a mess in the buffet area and pools. No adults in sight. Security was always walking around trying to keep kids from congregating in areas, but the rude kids paid no attention to them. We offered to send our 11 yo son to the youth groups, but he noticed the behaviors immediately and said no. So we gave this cruise a "very good" rating based only on the fact that my parents who are long time cruisers and have been on all the big 4 cruise lines seemed to have enjoyed themselves and always commented on how NCL did this better or how Carnival or RC or Princess would have been like... Read Less

We had to cancel a family trip to visit my sister in Alaska, and searched everywhere for something else to do. Ended up on the Norwegian Getaway. We were going to book a Spa Mini Suite as it was one of the only rooms left that could sleep three with our daughter of 6 with us. She turned 7 on board. After reviewing this site, youtube, and other resources, went with a Forward Penthouse Haven Suite room 12706. I do not think I can ever go back without being in the Haven again. Private pool, hot tubs, restaurant, bar, etc. The good: - The Haven food was the best on board by far. - Bar Tenders in the Haven were amazing, friendly, and really knew there stuff. - The ship is very busy, so having the Haven pool and areas made a huge difference. - Ropes course was alot of fun, as was the great water slides. - The Haven concierge took care of basically everything including helping me with plans for Germany this fall. (Hanno, was German, and was increadable) - The inroom Lavazza coffee machine was possibly my favorite things. - Having a seperate room with a king bed is what sold us, and it did not disappoint. - Lots of room to unpack. - Private embarkation and debarkation for The Haven was really nice. - Priority access to most stuff on board. The Bad or Just not so great: - The rest of the resaurants were just OK compared to the Haven. - The menu stays pretty much static all week, so be aware of that. - If you are not on the Haven deck like us, then there is alot of walking, though I did not mind that personally. - The Butler for the non-Haven deck Haven suites is really busy, so although they are nice, they take a long time to do anything. - It has been 10 years since we cruise, and the changes surprised us, including that most stuff is a-la-cart instead of inclusive these days. - The ship is mostly rooms, so lacked the large atrium of previous ships. - Shows were fun, but nothing life changing. Read Less

Quite honestly, me and my husband booked our first cruise hoping for a great cruise and it could not be any better. It was fantastic. Every single staff member went out of their way to make our stay the best stay ever. We felt like we were eating in 5 star restaurants every night. The food was great and the entertainment wow!!! The Buffet was even good tho we only ate in there a few times. Please, do not miss any shows, if you booked a cruise on the Getaway. Burn the Floor was fantastic. We did several excursions at the Ports and these were very well organized as well. We stayed in room ll818. Very nice room with balcony. It had plenty of space and nice size bathroom. Our room steward Evie, I can't say enough about her. She cleaned our room twice a day. Always made sure we had everything we needed. We had the Alcohol package, my husband did say some drinks were weak, but he just had the bartender add an additional shot. We never had a problem getting a drink at any of the bars. We had no issues whatsoever on our cruise. We loved every moment so much that we will be back next year. Already planning our next! Read Less

Did not know that they had changed gratuity policy.Belize excursion was terrible very dirty beach area.Food was always cold in the buffet.Some of the staff weren’t very nice or helpful.I would not Cruise on again with Norwegian.Bought drink packages only to be changed for Red Bull. Plus our bag was left in Belize and Every piece of jewelry stolen.. besides for a cheaper piece.. TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE!! Went I went to the staff no-one seem to care but it was Norwegian private island.. at the end of the cruise we got no answers .. The specialty items in the restaurants where the .same is line they would switch the menus around..Couldn’t leave the ship on the last day without paying 18 dollars more.Very terrible experience for my first cruise.Should have been informed of the changes to your tipping policies since I had booked way before it changed. Never again with Norwegian Read Less