First Time Cruisers on Norwegian Getaway
Are you thinking about booking a cruise? Then read this post about First Time Cruisers on Norwegian Getaway to get all the information you need to make the right decisions.
I don’t even know anymore how this topic came up in our family, but somehow we decided that a cruise would be fun. We never considered a cruise before, because we thought this is for ‘old’ people only, who can’t organize their own vacations anymore! Boy we were so wrong about this, we absolutely loved it.
We really had the time of our lives on that cruise and even our teenage son enjoyed this vacation with us. So let’s get into some details:
Because we had absolutely no experience, we had to do a lot of research.
- Where to go,
- when to go,
- which cruise line and so on.
We decided we wanted to go after Christmas and come back after New Year’s Day, to eliminate the stress on deciding what to do on New Year’s Eve. Not a lot of cruises are out on the ocean over New Year’s, most of them come back on the 30th or 31st of December. Also, we decided to leave from Miami Port, Florida.
As it was our first cruise, we decided on a maximum of one week cruise duration because what if somebody got seasick or we didn’t like it?
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I started reading thru a lot of reviews and comparing prices. We narrowed our search down to TWO cruise lines:
Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line
We read a lot about the Royal Caribbean and how fantastic this cruise line is. But it had no sailing dates over New Year’s and was much more expensive than the Norwegian.
Therefore we decided to book the Norwegian Getaway Cruise. We didn’t know what we had to expect.
What we booked:
Customer service and booking was pretty easy, we asked a lot of questions and received answers immediately.
1 Room for 3 with a balcony (totally worth it) on deck 14 for a 7 day Caribbean Cruise
cost for 3 people $ 4,845.20.
Included in this price were 4 free packages:
1. Bottle of Wine in the room,
2. Shore Excursion Credit 50 $,
3. On Board Credit Certificate 100 $.
4. Adult Beverage Package for 2 (and we used it)
Cruise Schedule
We left on December 26 at 4 p.m. from Miami and arrived at the Bahamas the next morning.
- stop Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay – 1 day on the beach. This island actually belongs to the cruise line and you can enjoy a day on the beach with your fellow cruisers.
- stop Jamaica, Ocho Rios – after 1 day on sea we arrived the next morning. We had the whole day to go to the waterfalls and do some shopping.
- stop Cayman Islands, George Town – 1 day in George Town, we headed to some beautiful beaches and did a nice island excursion on our own.
- stop Mexico, Cozumel – 1 day was worth renting a car and exploring some beautiful beaches, bars and shops.
- 1 day on sea relaxing in the hot tubs or the pool and then
- back to Miami arriving at 8 in the morning.
Don’t book excursion packages
We did not book any excursion packages with Norwegian. We wanted to do our own trips and it was worth doing so. First of all we were much faster getting a taxi and driving wherever we wanted to on our own and second it was much cheaper, especially when you are 3 people. Cost for an excursion booked on the ship was between 100 $ and 150 $ per person. We didn’t spent more than $ 100 for all three of us by booking the trips on our own.
New Year’s Party
We had the best New Year’s Party you could think of. A fantastic DJ on the outside deck made everybody dance, even my husband!
A life viewing screen from the Apple with the countdown was an attraction. They had various inside shows to attend to, but we danced the night away under the sky. They offered free champagne at midnight for everybody. Because we had the drinking package we could drink as much as we wanted anyhow. The New Year’s Dinner was exceptional.
What to do on the Getaway
On the Getaway are a lot of different kind of restaurants. Some are included in your package and some you have to pay for> Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, American. Included in our cruise was a buffet self service and 2 restaurants with service, but we had to make reservations before 5 pm if you wanted a table for the same night. No matter where we ate, it was always delicious. No complaints whatsoever.
Night Entertainment was very good. Stand up comedians, music bars, karaoke, shows, gambling… Every night we watched something else and had fun. Separate entertainment is available for children and for teenagers. First our son didn’t wanted to join the teenager lounge but after a day of being bored he decided to check it out. From this day he was gone and we saw him only at the dinner table.
There is also a spa, a hairdresser, fitness center, different pools with amazing slides, walk the plank fun and an adult section (no kids allowed). If you want to spend a lot of money and be separated from the rest of the people on the ship you have to book “The Heaven”. There you will have your own little secluded paradise.
What you should NOT do:
The only thing we absolutely screwed up and let ourselves talk into was a nutrition package (Elemis Detox) for my husband and myself which cost over 1,000 $ and was completely worthless. The fitness director explained it to us as a “Natural detoxification program to balance the body’s PH level’. We took the capsules when we were at home for 3 months but we found it completely worthless and a total waste of money.
The drinking package is worth its money and that’s actually it. Hop in a taxi when you get off the boat and do your own excursions. It is so much more cheaper and better to get around on the islands by taxi than on a bus.
So you better stay away from buying anything as a promotion, as most of the offers are overpriced. Luckily we stayed away from buying jewels, handbags, cigars and a lot of other ‘great offers’. I guess the vacation spirit and the ocean air makes you light headed and unrealistic. We spent way too much money on the boat.
Summary of ‘First-Time Cruisers on Norwegian Getaway’:
We loved the Norwegian Getaway. The room was nice and well designed (of course pretty small for 3 people but you are on a boat) and the balcony was worth the extra cost. The boat was very clean, the waiters, service people, stewards did a really good job.
The food was exceptional and a lot of eating choices were given. The same applied for entertainment, it was really good and so many things to do and watch or participate for everybody. Even our teenager was happy. There is also a great kids place for smaller children.
The free time on each island was enough for getting a first impression but of course not enough for seeing a lot or going far away from the harbor. Normally you had about 6 to 8 hours time on each stop.
If you do it right you don’t need any more money on the cruise ship. Of course our teenager spent about 100 $ in the video arcade and I spent over 1,100 $ in the hospital. But this is another story.
Make the right decisions and enjoy your cruise,
see you next week
Conny
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