What a wonderful video, Rick! I've never given much thought to sailing out of NO but you have introduced me to something new! You provided a very thorough, insightful video about your experience on NCL...I now look forward to booking with them. Thanks, and I love your channel...always great reviews and your editing skills are topnotch! 🙂
Just returned from this cruise. Interesting that he didn't mention the Haven, which is Norwegian's answer to the more upscale cruises like Viking. It has it's own sun deck, lounge, bar, restaurant and pool/hot tub section, while giving access to all other ship amenities. You even have a "butler" who caters to only those rooms in the Haven. We had an extraordinary Aft room (#10912) that had a huge deck overlooking the Gulf. One of the best I've ever had on a cruise line. The Haven restaurant is the best on the ship, and the bar is by far the best on the ship, all tropical drinks made from scratch (no blended ice machines) and best stock liquor and wines. You pay for this, but it's much less expensive than on cruises like Viking, and it was a lovely surprise and terrific find. Both my wife and I said we would return to this cruise for no other reason than to have this cabin. It was absolute heaven. That said, the balance of the getaway experience was pretty meh. The buffet was very average, and the specialty restaurants were ok at best. Both my wife and I had a meal at the Italian restaurant that was terrible. Le Bistro was OK, but pricey for the result. The lack of late night options was disappointing. I agree with his comment about the spa, it's very nice, and well worth the cost. However, the hard selling of spa services was relentless, perhaps the worst I've ever seen on a cruise line. An absolute turn-off. Go for the Spa, stay away from the Salon. We thought the Million Dollar Quartet show was very good, and the Newlywed Game and Wheel of Fortune shows were lots of fun. I agree with Road Warrior Rick that NCL does a very poor job communicating when events are scheduled. We missed a lot. The bars with entertainment were fun, but they're all relatively small, and you need to get to them early or have a long wait. The same with the comedy show and karaoke. I rate the ports as a 3 of 5. "Harvest Caye" is NCL's small "private island", which is lovely and has all the requisite water activities, a small wildlife park, and restaurants that are run by locals, but costly. (Eat on the ship first). Sadly, you could have been a mile off the coast of Florida. You wouldn't know it was Belize if it wasn't for the sign on the beach. Take an excursion to the mainland, at least you'll experience Belize. Cozumel is fine. We taxied downtown, walked around and had lunch and drinks. It's really the only port that has access to decent shopping, other than straw markets. Roatan is a lovely island, although the port area is not pretty. Again, we didn't take an excursion, but rented a taxi and went to the West End, which is adjacent to the best beaches and snorkeling, as well as shopping (look it up on an interactive map before you go). Eat at Creoles Rotisserie Chicken on West End Road. It's an absolute dive, but authentic, terrific, and better than anything you'll eat at one of those "beach" clubs that the cab drivers want to take you to. Finally, Costa Maya is a puzzler. We arrived at 7:00 a.m., stayed for 5 1/2 hours. Factor in travel time for excursions and it seemed like a totally useless stop. It seems as NCL threw it in so there were 4 ports. I spoke to two different staff members on the cruise, and they both told me that the crew has asked NCL a number of times to just eliminate it from the itinerary. A total waste of time. Stay on the ship and enjoy the pool, sun, spa, casino and restaurants. I'd rate the cruise a 2.5 of 5. But, damn, that Suite is enough for me to go back, just to chill on the ship.
Thanks so much for the well thought out review. I agree with you on most of these points! We were lucky to skip Costa Maya in exchange for a sea day. I didnt include Haven as I didnt get to experience it but I am sure it's a much better experience than the rest of the ship
@@RoadWarriorRick Having experienced NCL's Haven on the Escape, I can tell you that MSC Yacht Club blows NCL's Haven out of the water - price wise, and service wise. Next cruise for us is Feb. 2nd on NCL's Getaway in a club class because we have friends going with us. YC has variet menu every night, free water included, better butler service, and I could go on, and on. Oh, and it's less expensive. By far. 🙂
Great video. Planning a trip on the getaway and you definitely helped with some updated info. Liked and subbed from another vet (thanks for mentioning cause I definitely didn't think about that and you saved me money)
95% of this video was filmed with Galaxy S23 Ultra phone. I think about 5% was filmed with Sony Zv1 but I rarely use that camera anymore because stabilization is horrible
What a wonderful video, Rick! I've never given much thought to sailing out of NO but you have introduced me to something new! You provided a very thorough, insightful video about your experience on NCL...I now look forward to booking with them. Thanks, and I love your channel...always great reviews and your editing skills are topnotch! 🙂
@@rhondalyn100 hi Rhonda! Always appreciate your comments! Hope you give Norwegian a try!
Just returned from this cruise. Interesting that he didn't mention the Haven, which is Norwegian's answer to the more upscale cruises like Viking. It has it's own sun deck, lounge, bar, restaurant and pool/hot tub section, while giving access to all other ship amenities. You even have a "butler" who caters to only those rooms in the Haven. We had an extraordinary Aft room (#10912) that had a huge deck overlooking the Gulf. One of the best I've ever had on a cruise line. The Haven restaurant is the best on the ship, and the bar is by far the best on the ship, all tropical drinks made from scratch (no blended ice machines) and best stock liquor and wines. You pay for this, but it's much less expensive than on cruises like Viking, and it was a lovely surprise and terrific find. Both my wife and I said we would return to this cruise for no other reason than to have this cabin. It was absolute heaven.
That said, the balance of the getaway experience was pretty meh. The buffet was very average, and the specialty restaurants were ok at best. Both my wife and I had a meal at the Italian restaurant that was terrible. Le Bistro was OK, but pricey for the result. The lack of late night options was disappointing. I agree with his comment about the spa, it's very nice, and well worth the cost. However, the hard selling of spa services was relentless, perhaps the worst I've ever seen on a cruise line. An absolute turn-off. Go for the Spa, stay away from the Salon.
We thought the Million Dollar Quartet show was very good, and the Newlywed Game and Wheel of Fortune shows were lots of fun. I agree with Road Warrior Rick that NCL does a very poor job communicating when events are scheduled. We missed a lot. The bars with entertainment were fun, but they're all relatively small, and you need to get to them early or have a long wait. The same with the comedy show and karaoke.
I rate the ports as a 3 of 5. "Harvest Caye" is NCL's small "private island", which is lovely and has all the requisite water activities, a small wildlife park, and restaurants that are run by locals, but costly. (Eat on the ship first). Sadly, you could have been a mile off the coast of Florida. You wouldn't know it was Belize if it wasn't for the sign on the beach. Take an excursion to the mainland, at least you'll experience Belize. Cozumel is fine. We taxied downtown, walked around and had lunch and drinks. It's really the only port that has access to decent shopping, other than straw markets. Roatan is a lovely island, although the port area is not pretty. Again, we didn't take an excursion, but rented a taxi and went to the West End, which is adjacent to the best beaches and snorkeling, as well as shopping (look it up on an interactive map before you go). Eat at Creoles Rotisserie Chicken on West End Road. It's an absolute dive, but authentic, terrific, and better than anything you'll eat at one of those "beach" clubs that the cab drivers want to take you to. Finally, Costa Maya is a puzzler. We arrived at 7:00 a.m., stayed for 5 1/2 hours. Factor in travel time for excursions and it seemed like a totally useless stop. It seems as NCL threw it in so there were 4 ports. I spoke to two different staff members on the cruise, and they both told me that the crew has asked NCL a number of times to just eliminate it from the itinerary. A total waste of time. Stay on the ship and enjoy the pool, sun, spa, casino and restaurants.
I'd rate the cruise a 2.5 of 5. But, damn, that Suite is enough for me to go back, just to chill on the ship.
Thanks so much for the well thought out review. I agree with you on most of these points!
We were lucky to skip Costa Maya in exchange for a sea day.
I didnt include Haven as I didnt get to experience it but I am sure it's a much better experience than the rest of the ship
@@RoadWarriorRick Thanks. I appreciate your reviews. They're very balanced.
@@RoadWarriorRick Having experienced NCL's Haven on the Escape, I can tell you that MSC Yacht Club blows NCL's Haven out of the water - price wise, and service wise. Next cruise for us is Feb. 2nd on NCL's Getaway in a club class because we have friends going with us. YC has variet menu every night, free water included, better butler service, and I could go on, and on. Oh, and it's less expensive. By far. 🙂
@dianeyazzie we were just watching videos of Yacht Club on MSC Europa. I hope to experience it soon! Haven really has never interested me.
Blah blah blah
Great info...thanks.
Thanks!
Great video. Planning a trip on the getaway and you definitely helped with some updated info. Liked and subbed from another vet (thanks for mentioning cause I definitely didn't think about that and you saved me money)
@@freeagent53 thanks for your service. I hope you enjoy your cruise!
Good video! Thank you for the info Rick
@@marianaquintero5771 thanks!
Thanks for the clear, interesting information. I look forward to watching your video on the ports you visited 😊
@@jemadavies63 thanks so much! Will have them out as soon as possible. Leaving for a cruise tomorrow
Very helpful information going on this ship at the end of February
Hope you enjoy it!
Great video! We are going on Getaway next month and this was very informative and helpful. Also, thank you for your service!
Thanks! Hope you enjoy Getaway!
The food at American Diner was different when you had to pay. It was superior to what they have now.
@@Brandon-40 oh that's good to know. Thanks for sharing that!
I'm really looking forward to Costa Maya...what was the reason they cancelled?
@@donwooden6358 they canceled to save money on fuel. Literally
@@RoadWarriorRick, they can do that?
@dBsound100 yes. They do it often
@@RoadWarriorRick, sounds like false advertising to me.
@dBsound100 it's in the cruise contract. You aren't guaranteed any ports. What's shady is that they keep the port fees collected when they cancel.
What kind of camera are you using?
95% of this video was filmed with Galaxy S23 Ultra phone. I think about 5% was filmed with Sony Zv1 but I rarely use that camera anymore because stabilization is horrible