Just off the Getaway in the Baltics

Just wanted to note some quick impressions of our trip while they are fresh in my mind.

Embarkation was a breeze...arrived at the port about 11:30 am was sitting in Taste by 12:20, drink in hand. That probably was the last easy thing about the ship.

The Getaway is not the ship to have in the Baltics! I cannot stress how overcrowded every single venue was. The buffet in the morning for a quick breakfast before our early tours was a nightmare. No tables to be found, eat outdoors? Oh sure, it was about 55 degrees, dh caught a terrible cold and I'm sure that had something to do with it. All of the other restaurants were terribly crowded, poor staff running around, apologizing for slow service. I heard a lot of people on tours complain that they went to o Sheehans prior to a tour, their food took so long they had to leave and not eat.

This morning, breakfast before we left, no seats, no cups, no plates!

Too many people, not enough indoor space to be had.

Events in the atrium ...couldnt see, couldn't hear, crazy busy all the time.

Huge lines for guest services all day, every day.

Crew members still smiling, don't know how they have the patience. Saw woman from another country browbeat a sweet girl in the buffet who couldnt understand what she was saying..which brings me to...

Pushiest, rudest guests I have ever seen on a cruise! They would step right in front of you if you allowed it. Happened to me once or twice, then my attitude changed to step in front of me in a line, no I don't think so!

I got so fed up with people walking into me that I was about to lose my mind!

Our tours were great, tj travel did a wonderful job! Talinn, Estonia is beautiful, Berlin was absolutely worth the trip.

After Berlin, the port we were most looking forward to was Stockholm..well, we never got there, the weather was bad, and the Swedish port officials refused us a pilot and so we couldn't dock. Very disappointing.

So, a fun sea day...not so much.

Too cold to go out on the top decks. Not much going on inside. Movie in the atrium? Well, no chairs available, so go to room and watch a movie on tv.

Disembarked today, no cabs because of

some sort of holiday..took a shuttle to the airport, then had to get a cab to our hotel for one night.

Sorry this is so disjointed, typing on my phone...

This was our least favorite ncl cruise, I looked forward to going for almost a year, we spent a lot of money, and I felt that we didn't get our usual great vacation. It's making me sad to be going home tomorrow, but I wasn't sad like I always am to leave a ship. Definitely, wouldn't go on the Getaway again, un less it was a warm destination.

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Sorry, me again...wanted to add midnight quartet was fantastic! Absolutely stellar musicians. Howl at the moon was also very good. The magician/comic was funny and mystifying and burn the floor was ....ok.

Nice to see Beau tahana onboard from the escape, but imo he isn't suited to the venue they have him performing in on the Getaway.

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Sorry, me again...wanted to add midnight quartet was fantastic! Absolutely stellar musicians. Howl at the moon was also very good. The magician/comic was funny and mystifying and burn the floor was ....ok.

 

Nice to see Beau tahana onboard from the escape, but imo he isn't suited to the venue they have him performing in on the Getaway.

 

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So glad that you liked Million Dollar Quartet!

Sorry to hear about the experience.... you know what you have to do now.... book another cruise on a smaller ship and go back next year ;) Hope you can do a more thorough report later

So glad that you liked Million Dollar Quartet!

Your son was fantastic!

Sorry to hear about the experience.... you know what you have to do now.... book another cruise on a smaller ship and go back next year ;) Hope you can do a more thorough report later

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Oh wow - sorry you did not have a great time on the ship - and missing Stockholm is a bummer.

I personally hated the buffet - we only went when we had no other choices. As a PSA for others reading this - for the early morning tours we ate at the express breakfasts in Moderno. Not a huge selection of items (and only 4 or 5 hot items), but way less crowds.

But glad to hear you mention a few silver linings - you had some great memories in the ports and some of the great entertainment like MDQ!

Did you enjoy staying at Hotel Nebo?

Hotel nebo was really convenient, we enjoyed our stay there, Copenhagen is a very expensive city and it was nice to find a somewhat reasonable hotel

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When we did the Baltic cruise before, guests were also rushing for time to get off the ship in port. Being port intensive, it happened almost every day. Just glad our port excursions were great to enjoy the cruise like you did.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

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I'm so sorry you had a not so great experience! Were you supposed to dock in Stockholm or Nynasham?I'm so sorry you missed it! I wish it was feasible to change from Stockholm to Nynasham so at least you'd see the city a little bit.

My cruise is in just a few weeks, I'm looking forward to Stockholm as well. I'm wondering, have you taken excursions in St Peterburg with TJ Travel also? Did you have any issues getting off the ship? I've read in the recent threads that sometimes they don't allow people with independent excursions off the ship until ship's excursions have left so I'm a little nervous that it will take us hours to disembark.

I'm so sorry you had a not so great experience! Were you supposed to dock in Stockholm or Nynasham?I'm so sorry you missed it! I wish it was feasible to change from Stockholm to Nynasham so at least you'd see the city a little bit.

 

My cruise is in just a few weeks, I'm looking forward to Stockholm as well. I'm wondering, have you taken excursions in St Peterburg with TJ Travel also? Did you have any issues getting off the ship? I've read in the recent threads that sometimes they don't allow people with independent excursions off the ship until ship's excursions have left so I'm a little nervous that it will take us hours to disembark.

I took this cruise on the Getaway in May/June and used TJ Travel in SPB. They did a fantastic job and I highly recommend them.

As far as disembarking in SPB, I don't know how they could stop you from getting off once the ship has been cleared. One tip...be ready to go around 7am. We weren't supposed to have been able to get off until about 8-8:30 but we got the all clear at 7:15. I was dressed and finished with breakfast so I grabbed my stuff and got in line. No one questioned whether I had an independent excursion or not. Was one of the first ones off and still took about 35 minutes to get thru passport control...quite a few people didn't have their documents out and ready to review, which held up the line.

OP, sorry you didn't have a great cruise. I will admit our ship was not full so we never had problems finding a table in the buffet (and the atrium always seems to be full, no matter what is going on...probably my only complaint about the Getaway but I always find something else to do). We weren't scheduled to go to Stockholm, but Gothenburg, which was an enjoyable city. Would love to get a chance to go to Stockholm but think I would do it via land so I could explore on my own time.

OP, sorry you had a disappointing experience on Getaway in the Baltic. I was booked on the same itinerary and ended up sailing on P&O, the British version of Princess. With a glass enclosed pool and less than half the passengers, everything was easier. Yes, I had to wear a tux four times during the cruise, but it was worth it.

Two things: when will NCL add enclosed pools in their ship design? I will never sail NCL in cold weather ever again. And I bet you five cents that Leonardo class will be used for this itinerary in the future.

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I was on the same cruise and can confirm the crowds at the buffet and other restaurants. With that said, although I did have problems finding a table inside, I did eat outside many times and was not cold at all since the wind was blocked in the immediate sections outside the garden cafe. If you go further down to the middle, then yes, it would be cold.

There was were some rude guests but I didn't let it bother me. In the buffet line, if I'm grabbing something, I personally wouldn't mind if someone cut in front of me to get something to my left or right as I don't see the need for them to wait until I'm done to grab something that is currently open.

Yes, there were HUGE lines for the taxis outside Copenhagen when I got out at 9AM but there are plenty of other options to get where you need to go.

OP, sorry you had a disappointing experience on Getaway in the Baltic. I was booked on the same itinerary and ended up sailing on P&O, the British version of Princess. With a glass enclosed pool and less than half the passengers, everything was easier. Yes, I had to wear a tux four times during the cruise, but it was worth it.

 

Two things: when will NCL add enclosed pools in their ship design? I will never sail NCL in cold weather ever again. And I bet you five cents that Leonardo class will be used for this itinerary in the future.

 

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Sounds like a better experience, we have a short trip bookef on carnival, just because it goes to Turks and caicos. Ncl gets another chance on the sun for the panama canal

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OP-If I missed it I am sorry, but were you actually scheduled to dock in Stockholm? We are going in a few weeks and are scheduled to dock in Nynashamn. (we have a tour to Stockholm-a one hour drive) I wonder if it is foggy can we can get into Nynashamn? I would have been so disappointed to have missed this port too. Thank you for your review (and your kind words about my son-he works hard at his craft-can't wait to see him!!)

OP-If I missed it I am sorry, but were you actually scheduled to dock in Stockholm? We are going in a few weeks and are scheduled to dock in Nynashamn. (we have a tour to Stockholm-a one hour drive) I wonder if it is foggy can we can get into Nynashamn? I would have been so disappointed to have missed this port too. Thank you for your review (and your kind words about my son-he works hard at his craft-can't wait to see him!!)

The ship was scheduled to dock in Stockholm. We were already delayed to arrive at 10 am and early to leave by 3:30 or so. The weather was so bad, the port could not get us a pilot until 1pm if at all. Around 7AM, we made a U turn and headed for 2 sea days.

Thanks for the review.

I'm so sorry you had a not so great experience! Were you supposed to dock in Stockholm or Nynasham?I'm so sorry you missed it! I wish it was feasible to change from Stockholm to Nynasham so at least you'd see the city a little bit.

 

My cruise is in just a few weeks, I'm looking forward to Stockholm as well. I'm wondering, have you taken excursions in St Peterburg with TJ Travel also? Did you have any issues getting off the ship? I've read in the recent threads that sometimes they don't allow people with independent excursions off the ship until ship's excursions have left so I'm a little nervous that it will take us hours to disembark.

The new rules for allowing only the ship's tours to disembark first go into effect in 2018. However, they did conduct at least one "test" last month (August). You will most likely not to be affected by it during your cruise.

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Your experience sounds like mine on the Breakaway in the Caribbean. I don't like the layout of the ship and the flow of people makes it difficult.

So, after close to 10 NCL cruises, we are staying away from the "Away" ships! We loved the Epic and hope to try the Escape soon.

How was the disembarking?

I have to agree with a lot of the OP's experience on the GA Baltic cruise. We were on the July 18th one. It was our least favorite cruise so far. The worst for us were the number of foreign passengers who kept us up most of the night yelling in their cabins or in the hallways, hogging chairs in the atrium most of the day, kids hanging out in the stairwells blocking access, etc. Next summer we are going back to a mid-size ship...and back to Princess.

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"Foreign Passengers" ha ha.... sounds kind of funny when you are talking about a ship in Europe that visits six countries.

By foreign I mean from various countries...I didn't want to single out any particular one. And that they weren't from the United States (so "foreign" to me).

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