This was our first time on the Getaway but we have been on the Pearl and Jewel before. This was a trip for me and my husband and two of our friends, who ware also married. Getting on the boat is always a little frustrating since they have to board almost 4900 people and everybody wants to get on quickly. They have this down to a science as it was pretty painless and did not take long at all to get on the boat. Once we were on we were surprised to find that our rooms were already prepared so we unpacked quickly and started to explore our new "home" for the next 7 nights. The lunch was all ready to go so we grabbed a bite to eat in the Garden Café. The food was pretty good and there were plenty of tables to sit at although it was extremely crowded which is to be expected on the first day. The Garden Café was very good and there was a good selection of food throughout the week. It must be noted that the French Onion soup was outstanding and I have craved it ever since disembarking! During the next 7 nights we went to Cagney's Steakhouse (extra charge of $30 per person), Teppanyaki (also a $30 charge per person), O'Sheenhan's, Savor (twice) and Shanghai's. I was very disappointed that so many restaurants were charging to eat there since we paid quite a lot of money in the first place. That being said that restaurants were delicious and the atmosphere was outstanding. We had no complaints about the food at all other than the excessive charge to eat at some places. All 4 of us purchased the Ultimate Beverage Package and it was the best decision that we made other than going on an NCL cruise! The service was friendly and probably as quick as it could be considering that they still have to ring each drink up. I would be remiss if I did not say that Agus (who worked outside and at the casino) and Roberto (who works at the pool bar) were outstanding!!! Agus knew all of our names and would look for us to get us drinks. They couldn't have been nicer and they truly made our trip memorable. We also need to give Amar (who works in the liquor store) a huge shout out! There was one disappointing aspect of this ship that will cause us to look for a different NCL boat the next time we cruise and it is this: the pool is tiny. Whoever did the lay out of this ship obviously does not like to swim. The pool was extremely crowded every single day and was impossible to get in as there were so many people hanging onto the sides (have you guys ever thought of putting a sports pool in so that people can walk around in 4 feet of water instead of hanging onto the side of the pool because it's too deep to touch the bottom??) Seriously, please consider that in future ships. It seemed as though this ship was more geared towards children instead of the adults. I do not have children and do not particularly enjoy being around children but they seemed to be everywhere, even at the bars and casino. The adult only part of the ship was great except that there is no pool. Thank god for the waterfall or it would have been unbearably hot. We did not go to the Illusionarium because, quite frankly, we were tired of having to pay extra for what should be included in the price of the cruise. We did go to see Legally Blonde (which was actually free!) and it was very good and certainly entertaining. We as a group felt that the nighttime entertainment was lacking. We loved the dueling pianos in Headliners but there did not seem to be enough to do at night. One night our whole group just went to our rooms because we could not find anything that seemed fun. I know that entertaining 4900 people is challenging but I do not remember having this problem on the Pearl or Jewel. There wasn't even a pub crawl! It seemed that children were invited to just about everything and as a childless adult more entertainment that would be inappropriate for children would have been nice.

The excursions were great except for one HUGE problem. Our last stop was in the Bahamas. We got off of the ship and went into town to shop until we had to be back for our excursion. As soon as we walked through the fence onto the other side we were bombarded by merchants yelling and trying to get us to buy stuff from them. The merchants were so aggressive, demanding and pushy that I felt my mood shift from very happy to frustrated to pissed off. It seems to me that the cruise ships would warn the passengers of the feeding frenzy that they were about to encounter. The rest of the excursions were great and we brought home wonderful memories. This trip overall was very good and we had and excellent time with our friends! We will continue to cruise with NCL but will look for a ship with a larger pool and we will go later in the year when many of the kids are in school.