Getaway 04/18/15 Review...Emphasis on Kids Stuff and Food

We just got off the Getaway and I wanted to do a little review. Usually I take a good camera but this time I only took a cell phone so just a few pics and they aren't great. This trip was just myself and my 9 year old son. We are from Orlando and have done a few other cruises, mostly Disney. So I will be comparing that a lot. I love Disney but they are pretty expensive and I wanted to try some other cruise lines. We really loved the Getaway.

There were some negatives so I will cover that now since everything else was great.

1. I prepaid my UDP in Feb. I was told at the time I could not purchase one for my son because he was half price. When I got on ship, they did not have my UDP listed as well. It took almost 2 days of research for them to tell me they had refunded me. After giving me internet access to look over my bank account, I found this to be true and I had missed it. I do not know why they did that, I certainly didn't ask to be refunded. I did upgrade my room and their guess was that they refunded me and I needed to start over. Not that it makes sense, but even if that is true, I'm not sure why I wasn't told. So of course I had to repurchase since I needed it. But then they charged me for my son so they charged me $280 I had not planned on. I was told the policy changed and children were no longer half price as of that cruise. After taking days to sort what had happened to my own UDP, I was really angry. I put my foot down and refused to take no for an answer. The excuse I was given was that "things are subject to change" to which I responded "not when it comes to my pocket book". In the end, they did charge me the half for my son which was what I had originally signed on for. But it took a lot of fighting over it and left a very bad taste in my mouth. Not to mention it caused confusion the rest of the cruise in every restaurant we went too. My issue is not with having to pay full price for the UDP for a child, I had originally tried to do that. My issue is with the NCL company making these kinds of changes without any communication. I am unclear as to whether I would sail with NCL again. I would like to. I LOVED the Getaway and her staff. But I don't trust this company. I am aware there is a new CEO so I will be watching these boards to see if things settle down in the future.

2. I knew from these boards they were testing out charging for room service and it was $4.95. But I guess the test is over because it was $7.95. Again, that is cheap compared to ordering room service at a hotel. But I have never encountered this on a cruise ship before. I do happen to like ordering room service so again, it's a reason for me to look elsewhere next time. I hope this is a temporary thing that they reverse.

3. I had an issue with the spa. I had wanted to do one of their $150 specials. So I went down and she took me room number and was going to get me right in but then said, "Oh, you want the special. The times available are early morning, evening, and port days." I shook my head no, told her I had a 9 year old and could not do it when the kid's club wasn't open and we had excursions and dinner plans. I told her never mind and then left. Two days later I had a call at 7:30am telling me I needed to be there for my appointment. I explained that in no way had I ever made the appointment or even indicated that would be okay. I guess she was wanting to charge me because I had to argue with her over the fact that I had never made an appointment and certainly never would have for 7:30. In the end, she apologized and cancelled it. Between this and the UDP issue, it just felt like no one had a clue what was going on.

Now with that out of the way, everything else was fantastic! I was surprised to find that my 9 year old loved this more than Disney and that is really saying something. So I will review each area and what we loved next.

I will start with food because that is my favorite thing on a cruise, lol. Of course food is always subjective. We really tried to eat just about everywhere we could. I will just separate by restaurant.

Garden Buffet

We did not eat at the buffet often. I am just not a buffet fan. I find the food to be mediocre and they are always crowded. We ate one breakfast there and one lunch. It was decent as far as a buffet goes I suppose. My son did enjoy "raiding the dessert bar" every night. They also had a crepe station which was nice and pretty good. We had quite a few ice cream cones too. I was pleased to see them forcing people to sanitize their hands. I noticed the sit down restaurants never enforced it and I saw very few people using them.

Flamingo Buffet

We only sampled a little bit here. I tried the potato ball and the chicken croquettes and didn't care for them. I don't think there was anything wrong with them, just not my style and my child didn't like them so we never went back.

Illusionarium

Since I had the UDP, we did this the first night. We really loved this show and found it worth the cost. We had floor seats and got there one hour early and still weren't first in line. We ended up pretty close in the second row after the Haven people. If you want to sit up close in the floor area, you really need to be there an hour early. Otherwise, get the banquet seating. They had nice cushy booths. The floor seats are REALLY close together. I had no elbow room at all. While it was nice to see the dome on the ceiling, I had expected this amazing thing based on reviews on these boards. It was a neat effect but didn't overly add anything. Plus they had smaller screens all over the place where you could still see. Next time, I would get banquet seating.

However, sitting up close, my son did get picked to go on stage so that was really cool and he absolutely loved it. The food was far better than I expected. I had read some reviews on here that said it was "just edible". But I thought it was really good. The beef tenderloin, while cooked medium-well and I prefer more pink, it was still very tender and really good. The shrimp was great too. I had read the desserts were not good, and I agree. I didn't like any of them. I found NCL overall to be lacking in desserts. But the meal was great. With the exception of Cagney's, it was the best steak on the ship. I would gladly see this again and the host was hilarious.

Savor and Taste

When we got on the ship, we went to Savor to avoid the buffet rush. It's so much better to do a sit down. We both weren't too hungry and got chicken nachos. They were just okay. But everything else we got from the MDRs was really good. Every single day we ate breakfast at one of them. I would like to note that on the daily schedules, it only lists Savor as being open for breakfast, but both were open.

Everyday we got the same things, lol. My son got the banana caramel Belgian waffle and I got eggs benedict. We did not have any drink packages. Options for breakfast here were juices, milk, tea, coffee. The orange juice tasted fresh squeezed. I was surprised to not have a charge for the juice.

There was also a really funny guy in Savor that would go around making rooster noises. My son loved him. And he always made time to come talk to my son. In fact, a lot of the staff made time to speak with him. He got a LOT of attention on this ship, both from staff and random passengers. I think this is one of the reasons he liked the Getaway better.

My eggs benedict....yum!

Random pic inside Savor

Taste

We ate here one night because the schedule said Burn the Floor dancers would be there, but they never showed so that was a little disappointing. But I got to see the show that night so no big deal. The restaurant is really pretty! I couldn't decide what to order so the server recommended the salmon and it was completely delicious. My son got the Szechuan chicken which was pretty good. I had the mushroom soup and he had the French onion. Both were good. The desserts were lacking again.

As much as I enjoyed the specialty restaurants, I felt the MDR's were just as good, if not better than a lot of them. The next time I would not get the UDP and just pay for a couple of specialty ones by themselves. I'm just not sure the specialties were worth an upgraded cost (except Cagney's and Le Bistro).

The Bakeries

We tried the lobster tail pastry (so good!!) and a cannoli as well as a white mousse ganache cake. All were good snacks. But they are over priced and why are we charged an 18% service fee for this?? It just attributed to the nickel and dime feel of things.

Then again....it's chocolate!

O' Shehans

We ate lunch here twice and it was pretty good. The burgers are huge. The mozzarella sticks were nice.

And the chicken pot pie was awesome.

Unfortunately I never got to try Shanghai's for the rice and noodles. I wanted that for lunch every single day but for some reason they are only open for dinner. Weird. We never got to try Wasabi, the Raw Bar, and didn't do Ocean Blue either. Next up, the specialty restaurants.

Thanks for the review so far. Sorry about the troubles you had, but glad to hear you had some good experiences too.

Le Bistro

This was really great and worth the cost. The service was impeccable and the food so good. Even the desserts! Our table was very close to another and we met some really nice ladies. We met a lot of nice people on the ship. Everyone was having a great time.

My son had the mussels, lamb, and chocolate fondue for dessert. The mussels are the best I have ever had, not rubbery at all and the cream sauce was good. The lamb was disappointing. It was very tough and hard to cut through. The fondue was great.

I had the mushroom soup, fruits de mer, and profiteroles. The mushroom soup is best I've ever had, but watch out because it's really filling. The fruits de mer is just sinful. I finally had a great dessert and could only manage a bite. I was SO full!

Moderno

This was the most disappointing restaurant and not worth the upgrade, imo. The salad bar is fantastic and very upscale with a great selection of cheese like brie and stilton, meats like prosciutto, vegetables like roasted peppers and beets. Everything very fresh and tasty. But the meats were terrible quality, most were too tough to even cut through. It was very weird to have such an upscale salad bar with low quality meat. They were cooked and seasoned fine, they were just not good. The chicken breast and shrimp were both really good and the only meats we liked. We couldn't chew through they "specialty" steak or the lamb. The filet mignon was actually pretty tender and edible, but bland. The cod was really over done. I didn't try the sausages. Now the pineapple.....THAT was really good! The service was really good and we didn't complain. There was still plenty to eat and we left full. But I would not go back.

Cagney's

Our favorite by far. Without a doubt the best steaks on the ship. I had heard the sea bass was really good so I asked if I could get the 5 oz filet and the sea bass. It was not a problem at all. Score! They also had great desserts. This place was so good we tried to cancel our La Cucina res to come back here but they were full. :( We enjoyed everything.

My son wasn't hungry so only ate the filet and oreo cheesecake, but he devoured it. I had the short rib confit, filet, sea bass, and raspberry crème brulee....yeah, I was stuffed!

Teppanyaki

I only got video so no photos to post. In Orlando we go to a lot of hibachi grills and this was pretty typical. The food was good but really under seasoned and everyone at the table was asking for soy sauce. They should keep jars on the table. I did not find the garlic over-powering in the rice. They were very accommodating too, I asked if I could get the filet with lobster and my son wanted filet with noodles. They said yes to both and it was not a problem. All the restaurants were very accommodating in this manner. The lobster was cooked perfectly and not rubbery. I also found the chef's to be....better trained? more talented? than local restaurants. They had a lot more tricks up their sleeve. We enjoyed it a lot.

Thanks for the review so far. Sorry about the troubles you had, but glad to hear you had some good experiences too.

Thanks! It far more good than bad. We enjoyed ourselves very much!

.............................................................

La CucinaIt was better than I expected though I am not sure it's any better than the MDRs. My son got calamri (nice) and pizza which was not good at all, so I would recommend steering clear of that. I had caprese salad (just okay, it was better at Illusionarium) and couldn't decide so got the shrimp risotto, it was good but clumpy and too thick. I also got the osso bucco which was really good. The desserts here were really good too. I had a lemon ricotta cheese cake and my son had a chocolate tart. It might be worth going here just for the desserts!

That covers the food. Next up....our room and entertainments.

On our past cruises, we have cruised all styles. With Disney I have been in an inside room, then a balcony, and the last cruise was in the royal suite-the biggest on the ship. This cruise we were on a budget and just booked an inside room. Originally we were on floor 5 but I was concerned it being under a restaurant so upgraded to an inside on a higher floor. I had hoped to upgrade but it just stayed too expensive with spring break season and the cruisers coming over from the panama canal cancellation, so we never got the chance. This was the smallest square feet we had ever been in so I was worried it would feel claustrophobic.

It did not at all. We were very comfortable. We didn't have a couch, but this bed was so darned comfy that we didn't need it. As tight as the space was, we had more storage than we needed. The tv was nice though Disney's programming is far superior. There was only one movie channel and one tv channel. The rest was news, sports, and NCL promos...unless you wanted to pay $10 for a movie. But we did get to see quite a few nice shows including Mockingjay and Maleficent.

Our room steward was awesome and always remembered our names and we saw him often. We loved him. We got towel animals every night except the first. He really took care of us and kept us well stocked with towels, ice, and toilet paper (hey, I have a kid :D). The room was so great and considering it was half the cost of a window or balcony, I wouldn't hesitate to book it again. It was very quiet too. It was room 11419

We brought our own soda (first time I have ever done that) and it worked out well for us so we saved money on the drink plans. I bought a few sodas here and there which came to $2.66 with the tip. I only bought one alcoholic drink (the rebellious fish which was great). I do like to drink occasional drinks but alcohol tends to give me migraines so I general stay clear.

The bathroom was nice and roomy and the shower was great. Water pressure was lacking but it was a pull down arm which helps with a 9 year old and it has a little stand for shaving your legs.

My son and I generally run early hours with my work and his school. So we tended to get up very early and were so tired after dinner from all the day's activities we missed a lot of the night's entertainment. We still found tons to do though. There is more to do on this ship that can be done in one sailing!

That's all for today, tomorrow I will post on all the fun stuff we did.

Good review....when you get a chance can you describe the kids club and pool areas? Thanks!

Thanks for your review. Looking forward to more. The food pics are making me hungry! :D

Sorry about the problems you had during the cruise. I'm glad to hear that you and your son still had a good time.

Excellent & thank you for sharing the GA. DW & I took an inside last year on the Breakaway and it was great - last month, we got a free upgrade from OV to a Balcony, so that was nice. But, we would sail Insides again in a heartbeat - as long as I keep a bright LED nightnight on as we sleep for DW.

Going to keep reading - Shanghai Noodles - IMO - have been great, and I'm very, very unforgiving when it comes to Asian cooking. Oh well - try it next time if you sail again.

Food reviews are always subjective as I maintained ... looked at your photos of that roast rack of lamb at LeBistro, looked almost exactly the same as mine at LeBistro, very tough cut of meat with lots of fat (lamp are supposed to be lean & trim, no ??) I wondered if it's the same vendor/supplier loading the ship in Florida - it wasn't like that last time but fortunately, I didn't starve either. MDR food is, like you wrote, good & really almost as good as specialty (the difference is the finer but still somewhat slow service at times)

NCL used to be excellent with dessert but this time, both of us were disappointed - I counted Chocolate Volcano 3x in the MDR for 7 nights, and it was like chocolate feast otherwise everynight for dinner - it's pretty bad when none of the choices were appealing & we ended up with plain ice cream & coffee.

Much obliged - waiting to read the next installment.

Love this review! I think it's so great you and your son could enjoy this beautiful ship together. Can't wait to read more:D

Thanks for the review following

I'm from the Orlando area and we will be on the Getaway in June. Did you drive down the Morning of the cruise or the night before? How long did it take to get to the port and did you park at the port? We are still trying to decide.

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for all the food details!

Sorry your UDP got messed up. From what I've read here, this is not unusual when there has been an upgrade/room change. TAs and/or PCCs don't always do a good job walking people through the implications of amenities when room changes are made and the onus is on the purchaser to confirm everything is still in place prior to sailing.

Thanks to Cruise Critic, I'm a stickler about immediately asking for amenity confirmations when I make the reservation, then again if anything changes.

I'm from the Orlando area and we will be on the Getaway in June. Did you drive down the Morning of the cruise or the night before? How long did it take to get to the port and did you park at the port? We are still trying to decide.

Thanks for your help!

I am curious about this too. We are thinking of staying in Orlando before our cruise.

THis is a great review - looking forward to seeing what you did for fun. We are on the Getaway in January with our three kids - all close in age to your son.

I'm from the Orlando area and we will be on the Getaway in June. Did you drive down the Morning of the cruise or the night before? How long did it take to get to the port and did you park at the port? We are still trying to decide.

Thanks for your help!

I am curious about this too. We are thinking of staying in Orlando before our cruise.

 

THis is a great review - looking forward to seeing what you did for fun. We are on the Getaway in January with our three kids - all close in age to your son.

I have sailed out of Miami a couple of times. This time I stayed the night on Friday and we sailed on Wed. I prefer this whenever my work allows because it's just too stressful driving down the morning of. Traffic in Miami is nuts and you never know what will happen.

For example, when I went home, the Turnpike got closed down and I had to reroute to I95. It took me 5 hours to get home.

So if you are able, I would recommend staying over. But sometimes you have to do what you have to do.

I generally priceline something in the downtown area. But fees can be higher there and generally it costs a ton to park. But I like to make a day of things and downtown is really close to the port and you can see the ships. Last time I stayed at the JW Marriot Marquis. This time we stayed at the Intercontinental. Both were nice but it was $40 a day to park. We usually walk over to Bayside which is really touristy.....but I'm a tourist so I like it, lol.

Here is the view from the room.

We also rode the Twister speed boat out of Bayside and we both loved it! I'll see if I can upload a video. Not sure is it will work but

Ship stuff next.

There are so many fun things to do on this ship, you really can't do it all in one sailing.

Pool

This was my son's favorite area. And the pools are the polar opposite of Disney cruises. On a Disney cruise, the adult area is serene and relaxed. On the Getaway it is a crazy, loud, party area. It just depends on what you're into. For me, I prefer a quiet surrounding and the pool deck isn't that. But everyone was sure having a good time.

A Disney family/kid's pool is what I call "people soup". Super crowded. The family pool on this ship was not crowded at all. It always had people in it, but it was comfortable. There are no lounge chairs next to the pool, but there is a bench all around it and plenty of shade. Most of the loungers on any sun deck were filled anyway.

It never got more crowded than this.

Stuff to Do on the Upper Decks

We spent a lot of time in this area. He loved the spider climb. It's right next to the bungee trampoline and he did both. The first time he went halfway up the spider climb, after that he made it all the way up. They are both pretty high.

There are plenty of things to do up top. Swim in the pool, use the slides...... we didn't do the blue or green drop slides. You have to be at least 100 pounds which he wasn't. And while I, emm, more than qualified, I had done that on the Disney Magic and once was enough, lol. The red and orange slides are a fast spiral. My son loved it. But I was dumb and sat up, instead of lie down like you are supposed to. But I was too tall sitting up so spent the ride hunched over like a hunch back. It wasn't comfy. :o The purple slide is awesome and more my level.

There is the bungee jump, spider climb, mini golf, rock climb, jogging track (which my weirdo kid had fun running a mile at 10:00 at night :rolleyes:), basketball and soccer up top, and the rope course, all of which are free. (I'll get to the rope course in a few). There is a video arcade up there which is pricey too.

More pics...sorry to spam my kid, but what can I say, he's cute. ;)

The Kid's Club

He only went to the kid's club twice. He loved it there, it's just that there was so much to do on the ship he preferred to do other things. Had I been with another adult and done more adult things, he would have been just as happy to spend more time in there.

Compared to Disney, it was a lot more bare. There wasn't too much to it though they decorated it each night. But they spent all of the time playing games and doing activities. The Getaway club was more group oriented and Disney was more of a "do what you want". Personally, I think Disney is better for the real young group and Getaway better for my son's age group. But it's really almost a 50/50 toss up.

Every time I went by, the workers were always playing fun games and interacting with the kids. At one point we walked into the theater as the kids had finished putting on a circus show for the adults. When I offered, my son wanted to go swimming instead. But when he saw the show, he was bummed he didn't do it. It was really funny and cute.

More FunInside in O'Shehan's there is an area with all sorts of games to play for a fee. Beware, they are REALLY expensive. But very fun and I would suggest budgeting for a game night. I was surprised to not have to wait for anything. I'm not sure if it was the cost or random luck. Be he sure loved it.

There was bowling ($5 per person, per game...OUCH), basketball, darts (which I got the heck out of the way), and pool. We played them all.

Library/Card Room

Hidden off to the side of guest services near the atrium, is an exit door. Through that, there is both a library and a card room full of games. My son loves Percy Jackson and found a book in Spanish and had fun trying to read it.

The game room had all sorts of board games which he loves. We played Monopoly, Yahtzee, and Checkers (the little snot beat me without either of us taking an opponents piece. I couldn't move. That tells you how badly I suck.) I'm not a huge board game fan but he wanted to play so badly I couldn't say no. It's also a nice quiet area on the ship that is good to wind down after too much stimulation.

The Ropes Course

My son went up the stairs, peeked down at the ground and looked at me like hell no! And that was that, lol. I, on the other hand, felt like I discovered a hidden talent I never knew I had. I was practically running and skipping around this thing. Where did all this balance come from (I am not a small woman!)? And how can I be so brave about walking over the edge of the ship yet act like such a baby around water slides :confused:

There were all types of people up there, of all ages, with all fears. I don't think you know how you will react until you at least try. There were certainly a lot of scared people and others were completely comfortable. But it's worth at least trying. I tried a few times to get my son up there, but he wasn't having any of it. :p

Tomorrow I will post about on board entertainment and excusrions. Night all!

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences:). What great memories I am sure you have made with your son. Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you for taking the time to write such a lovely review! I travel solo with my children, so I really enjoy hearing your take on things!

Onboard Entertainment

I did not get to see a lot of night time entertainment. We were always so tired from all of the sun that we just passed out too early. I did see Burn the Floor which I loved. My son went to the kid's club at that time. I don't think he would have been into the show, but I really liked it.

I also watched parts of Sugar Blue Grammy Experience and Howl at the Moon. Both were great. I had reservations for Legally Blonde and Levity comedy club and never made it to either. I would have really liked to see them. If I go back, I will try and get a nap in so I can see them.

We did a few trivia's in the atrium, a Bingo in the theater, and a Q&A with the Illusionarium cast. One thing I found interesting on NCL Getaway is that the crew can be found around the ship in their off times. You would see crew members eating in the buffet. The host and guy with longer hair from Illusionarium I saw in the coffee line. I got to say hello to the long haired guy. I also saw the mentalist married couple in the Howl at the Moon show and told them how much I loved their show.

I think that is a big no no with Disney, maybe even RCCL too. I've never seen crew in their off time. But I love that NCL allows that! How great that they get to enjoy the ship and they are so friendly. I really think they like meeting the guests. There's another review here where someone met the older guy with the birds, and again, super friendly. I hope NCL never changes that and other cruise lines consider allowing crew to mingle.