Just off the Getaway (19 March -- 26 March) Good, Bad and the Ugly!

Hi Everyone,

Back home now after a great cruise on the Getaway. My wife and I have been cruising together for the past 24 years (60 total, with over 500 days onboard). We usually cruise Celebrity, but rediscovered NCL a couple of years ago and have enjoyed their product. In fact we have five cruises coming up -- one with Celebrity, three with NCL, and our first MSC (Yacht Club). Here is our basic take on the last week: (The "Mac-O-Meter" is on)

GOOD:

--Embarkation -- Once we found the correct entrance door (your express pass has different entrances), we were first in line for past cruisers and on the ship in 15 minutes. 9.5

--Cabin -- We always plan to get to the ship around 1:00pm so we can go right to our cabin. Great mini-suite with loads of space, but very small balconies:o. Our cabin steward did a great job, but never really matched our routines. He seemed to have loads of cabins to look after. Still, a great guy, and the room was spotless. Nice shower head with great pressure and hot water. The double sinks were a nice touch. 9.1

--UBP -- Multiple bars all over the ship. Drinks were excellent and service was never a problem. 9.8

--UDP -- We ate six of our seven evening meals in the alternative restaurants. On the Jade and Jewel we ate all evening meals in the alternatives, so on this cruise we wanted to give the regular dining room a try. We did the Tropicana one evening and should have stayed with the alternatives. They did have the professional dancers that night doing a "swing" routine that was excellent. Neat venue for dinner; too bad the food quality didn't match.

9.4

--Buffet -- We usually avoid this area, but did a few breakfasts and enjoyed the waffle station, the omelet station, and I did find some British Back Bacon (which I love:p). 8.6

--Restaurants -- Ocean Blue -- great seafood items; excellent salads. Service was outstanding. 9.8

-- Le Bistro -- good soups; excellent salads; beef tender, but lacked flavor. Great service. 9.2

-- Cagneys -- nice selection of meats/beef. Excellent service 9.5

-- Moderno -- much improved since our last two visits. Not a salad bar person, but this one was

superior. Great lobster bisque - Yum! 9.6

-- La Cucina -- they dropped pasta Carbonara, which was a disappointment. Nice selection

otherwise. Great service. 9.0

-- O' Sheehan's -- open 24 hours with basic selections. Better than the buffet. 8.1

-- Tropicana -- nice venue and basic cuisine. 7.6

-- Savor and Taste -- we only did lunch/breakfast in these restaurants. Good selection; better than

the buffet, but slow service. 8.1

--Entertainment -- "Burn the Floor" must be the best dancers at sea! Fun, professional and full of energy. 9.8

-- "Million Dollar Quartet"; professional timepiece about the early days of Rock-n-Roll. Target

audience for older folks (60+). Unique for a cruise ship, so I give it high marks. Excellent

musicians! 9.6

-- Headliners -- comedians Andrew Sleighter and Tom Simmons were very good. Wish we could

have caught their late night adult show. 9.2

--Getaway -- Large ship with multiple spaces and a variety of things going on. In great shape and well cared for.

Officers, CD and his staff, and entire crew seemed to work hard to make the ship a place to be.

9.0

BAD:

-- small balconies. 6.8

-- bathtub in the mini-suite makes it difficult for tall persons to shower. I'm 6'1" and my head touched the ceiling;

taller than that, watch out. Most mini-suites have shower stalls and I wish we had one. 7.0

-- smoking at too many locations. The Casino is the middle floor of the three story atrium, and smoke drifts into

several non-smoking areas. Even Le Bistro reeked of a back-ground smell covering up the smoke. 2.2

-- all week you could feel the crowds; too many people onboard. 6.8

-- very small theater on one level. 4.9

UGLY:

-- In 60 cruises this had to be the worst disembarkation we have experienced. We did "Early Walk-off" and left our cabin at 7:40am. It was so crowded that you couldn't catch an elevator on any floor and the staff would not allow you to take the stairs down past deck eight (the exit was on deck 7). After 15 minutes of watching people start to rebel, we took a up elevator all the way to the top floor and headed back down to deck 7 on the return trip. We joined the walk off line and spent two hours and ten minutes winding around the ship, outside and back inside, before reaching the security exit point. From that point on it was a piece of cake; it only took 15 minutes to leave the ship and get through the customs' booths. Customs was not the problem. Felt bad for the people with flights before noon. Not sure how NCL could drop the ball so bad in this area? 0.0

Any questions, let me know.

Enjoy!

Kel:D

Thanks for sharing! Any feedback on the ports? Any excursions you booked?

Thanks for sharing! Any feedback on the ports? Any excursions you booked?

Hi tb,

We did the Jolly Roger Catamaran in Roatan (excellent); In Costa Maya we spent the day at Maya Chan (our fourth visit; always a relaxing beach day; wonderful hosts with food and drinks all inclusive; great price); In Harvest Caye we were scheduled to do a new snorkel excursion, but it was cancelled because of mechanical issues with the boat; we roamed the area; nice set up and a beautiful day. In Cozumel, we spent most of the day onboard the ship and did lunch at our favorite restaurant (La Mission) which is walkable from the pier.

Enjoy!

Kel

Hi. Thank you for your review of the Getaway. We will be on next week's cruise. Can you please tell me what the Express Pass is? We are Platinum Plus. Thanks, Ron

I leave in 12 days on the Getaway!!! Yay! Several reviews has said how bad the disembarkation have been on this ship. Do you know if the main dining room was open that day for breakfast? We live in Ft. Lauderdale so we are in no rush to get off the ship and go back to "real life." I was just thinking if we had a sit down breakfast and waited til later to get off the ship maybe we could avoid the lines? But I don't know if that is possible?

Hi. Thank you for your review of the Getaway. We will be on next week's cruise. Can you please tell me what the Express Pass is? We are Platinum Plus. Thanks, Ron

Hi Ron,

Same as the eDocs.

I leave in 12 days on the Getaway!!! Yay! Several reviews has said how bad the disembarkation have been on this ship. Do you know if the main dining room was open that day for breakfast? We live in Ft. Lauderdale so we are in no rush to get off the ship and go back to "real life." I was just thinking if we had a sit down breakfast and waited til later to get off the ship maybe we could avoid the lines? But I don't know if that is possible?

Hi j,

The Garden Cafe (buffet) was open from 6:00am to 9:00am; Savor MDR 6:30am to 8:30am; O'Sheehans 5:30am to 9:00am. If you want to get off early, I would get down to deck 7 around 7:15am before the rush hits. They advertise walk off starting at 7:45 (ignore that).

Enjoy!

Kel:D

we sailed the Getaway twice last year and our observations were very close to yours. we had the same aft facing balcony (9920) both times so we had tons of balcony space. Both times we did the walk off disembarkation and both times were in our car by 8:30 so I would have to think there was a problem on your cruise. Thanks for the nice report.

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If you thought Burn the Floor was great, wait until you see the AMAZING dancers and the Broadway caliber singers on MSC! They are so well choreographed - it is just amazing! AND a different show every single night!

We had an awful disembarkation from Getaway as well. We were in The Haven and did early disembarkation. Somehow our elevator stopped on the wrong floor (Concierge was not with us but told us to follow him down in the elevator. Elevator stopped on 8 and non-Haven ship employees forced us out of the elevator even though I kept telling them we were Haven guests and we needed to meet the concierge and they were trying to force us through the huge line that ran all the way through one of the main dining rooms. Others with us from the Haven had their 90+ year old father on a cane with them. It was absolutely ridiculous expecting that he could walk that far. I stopped all of us in the dining room and told the ship employees to bring a chair so their father could sit down and insisted they call the concierge to help us! The concierge came to us immediately and took us down the back way apologizing the whole time. I had been telling all the regular NCL employees we were Haven guests and asking them to direct us as to where to go but none of them knew how Haven guests debark or understood that we needed to be on 7 or had enough sense to call The Haven Concierge to find out what we should do. What a screwed up mess! We did get off the ship quickly after that. Other than that, it was a very nice cruise and we liked the restaurants and entertainment and the spa most of all.

Thanks for the scoop on the good, bad and ugly. We're on the Breakaway in a few weeks. We hope to avoid the ugly.

Crowds and smoking, not good. What a shame.

I was on the Getaway a little over a month ago and completely agree with everything. Wonderful ship, lovely crew, charming service that was occasionally slow but OH MY GOD the disembarkation. It tested our patience.

It is a 4000+ person ship...

For your balcony, you book what you get. The aft balcony we had was huge!

Maybe you'll enjoy a smaller ship.

Happy cruising!

I leave in 12 days on the Getaway!!! Yay! Several reviews has said how bad the disembarkation have been on this ship. Do you know if the main dining room was open that day for breakfast? We live in Ft. Lauderdale so we are in no rush to get off the ship and go back to "real life." I was just thinking if we had a sit down breakfast and waited til later to get off the ship maybe we could avoid the lines? But I don't know if that is possible?

We were on the Getaway in January. When we left our cabin to go to breakfast in the morning we saw huge lines of people wanting to get off the ship. We just had a leisurely breakfast and waited for our color to be called. Choose the last color and you will be fine.

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Wow, so disembark is still "broken". Ugh.

we sailed the Getaway twice last year and our observations were very close to yours. we had the same aft facing balcony (9920) both times so we had tons of balcony space. Both times we did the walk off disembarkation and both times were in our car by 8:30 so I would have to think there was a problem on your cruise. Thanks for the nice report.Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

We disembarked on March 5th and had exactly the same problem getting off the ship. We waited near the forward elevators in a mob of people for quite awhile before the line started moving. It was the worst self assist walk off experience we've ever had. Still can't figure out what the delay was.....

I leave in 12 days on the Getaway!!! Yay! Several reviews has said how bad the disembarkation have been on this ship. Do you know if the main dining room was open that day for breakfast? We live in Ft. Lauderdale so we are in no rush to get off the ship and go back to "real life." I was just thinking if we had a sit down breakfast and waited til later to get off the ship maybe we could avoid the lines? But I don't know if that is possible?

We were in no hurry to leave the ship in Dec. as we were going on another cruise (different cruise line) We ate a leisurely breakfast and waited until the last minute--I think it was around 10--until an announcement came that everyone had to disembark. It maybe took 30 minutes total; finding luggage very easy, since not too much was left, immigration line was not bad either.

If you don't need to leave quickly, this is a good option.

We always do early walk off, and would never think to leave our cabin at 7:40am!! Way too late. You need to leave by 6:30 or 6:45 at the latest.

It is a 4000+ person ship...

 

For your balcony, you book what you get. The aft balcony we had was huge!

 

Maybe you'll enjoy a smaller ship.

 

Happy cruising!

The large balcony cabins at the front are fantastic. We booked them again!

I was on the same sailing as the OP. I have never seen such a mess upon disembarkation. It did not appear to be any problem on the port side. The size of the ship should be no excuse either. My disembarkation from the Epic at the same port was smooth as silk.

The ridiculous line that wound around the outside decks would be interesting in rainy weather.

I really can't figure out if the problem is the layout of the ship or some other issue.

Hi Everyone,

 

Back home now after a great cruise on the Getaway. My wife and I have been cruising together for the past 24 years (60 total, with over 500 days onboard). We usually cruise Celebrity, but rediscovered NCL a couple of years ago and have enjoyed their product. In fact we have five cruises coming up -- one with Celebrity, three with NCL, and our first MSC (Yacht Club). Here is our basic take on the last week: (The "Mac-O-Meter" is on)

 

GOOD:

 

--Embarkation -- Once we found the correct entrance door (your express pass has different entrances), we were first in line for past cruisers and on the ship in 15 minutes. 9.5

 

--Cabin -- We always plan to get to the ship around 1:00pm so we can go right to our cabin. Great mini-suite with loads of space, but very small balconies:o. Our cabin steward did a great job, but never really matched our routines. He seemed to have loads of cabins to look after. Still, a great guy, and the room was spotless. Nice shower head with great pressure and hot water. The double sinks were a nice touch. 9.1

 

--UBP -- Multiple bars all over the ship. Drinks were excellent and service was never a problem. 9.8

 

--UDP -- We ate six of our seven evening meals in the alternative restaurants. On the Jade and Jewel we ate all evening meals in the alternatives, so on this cruise we wanted to give the regular dining room a try. We did the Tropicana one evening and should have stayed with the alternatives. They did have the professional dancers that night doing a "swing" routine that was excellent. Neat venue for dinner; too bad the food quality didn't match.

9.4

 

--Buffet -- We usually avoid this area, but did a few breakfasts and enjoyed the waffle station, the omelet station, and I did find some British Back Bacon (which I love:p). 8.6

 

--Restaurants -- Ocean Blue -- great seafood items; excellent salads. Service was outstanding. 9.8

-- Le Bistro -- good soups; excellent salads; beef tender, but lacked flavor. Great service. 9.2

-- Cagneys -- nice selection of meats/beef. Excellent service 9.5

-- Moderno -- much improved since our last two visits. Not a salad bar person, but this one was

superior. Great lobster bisque - Yum! 9.6

-- La Cucina -- they dropped pasta Carbonara, which was a disappointment. Nice selection

otherwise. Great service. 9.0

-- O' Sheehan's -- open 24 hours with basic selections. Better than the buffet. 8.1

-- Tropicana -- nice venue and basic cuisine. 7.6

-- Savor and Taste -- we only did lunch/breakfast in these restaurants. Good selection; better than

the buffet, but slow service. 8.1

 

--Entertainment -- "Burn the Floor" must be the best dancers at sea! Fun, professional and full of energy. 9.8

-- "Million Dollar Quartet"; professional timepiece about the early days of Rock-n-Roll. Target

audience for older folks (60+). Unique for a cruise ship, so I give it high marks. Excellent

musicians! 9.6

-- Headliners -- comedians Andrew Sleighter and Tom Simmons were very good. Wish we could

have caught their late night adult show. 9.2

 

--Getaway -- Large ship with multiple spaces and a variety of things going on. In great shape and well cared for.

Officers, CD and his staff, and entire crew seemed to work hard to make the ship a place to be.

9.0

 

BAD:

 

-- small balconies. 6.8

-- bathtub in the mini-suite makes it difficult for tall persons to shower. I'm 6'1" and my head touched the ceiling;

taller than that, watch out. Most mini-suites have shower stalls and I wish we had one. 7.0

-- smoking at too many locations. The Casino is the middle floor of the three story atrium, and smoke drifts into

several non-smoking areas. Even Le Bistro reeked of a back-ground smell covering up the smoke. 2.2

-- all week you could feel the crowds; too many people onboard. 6.8

-- very small theater on one level. 4.9

 

UGLY:

 

-- In 60 cruises this had to be the worst disembarkation we have experienced. We did "Early Walk-off" and left our cabin at 7:40am. It was so crowded that you couldn't catch an elevator on any floor and the staff would not allow you to take the stairs down past deck eight (the exit was on deck 7). After 15 minutes of watching people start to rebel, we took a up elevator all the way to the top floor and headed back down to deck 7 on the return trip. We joined the walk off line and spent two hours and ten minutes winding around the ship, outside and back inside, before reaching the security exit point. From that point on it was a piece of cake; it only took 15 minutes to leave the ship and get through the customs' booths. Customs was not the problem. Felt bad for the people with flights before noon. Not sure how NCL could drop the ball so bad in this area? 0.0

 

Any questions, let me know.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:D

Thanks for sharing: sounds like you had many more positives than negatives: we too found walk off debarkation on the Epic last Nov. a nightmare. We are just going to stick with regular debarkation from now on. thanks agaiin.

I was on the same sailing as the OP. I have never seen such a mess upon disembarkation. It did not appear to be any problem on the port side. The size of the ship should be no excuse either. My disembarkation from the Epic at the same port was smooth as silk.

 

The ridiculous line that wound around the outside decks would be interesting in rainy weather.

 

I really can't figure out if the problem is the layout of the ship or some other issue.

It can't be the ship or the port, because I self-disembarked from the GA in summer of 2015 at around 7:30a, and I was on the sidewalk before 8. There WAS no line on the ship itself. My first encounter with a line was the GA in 2016, and then it was even worse on the Escape in October.

So either procedures have changed, or passengers have. Has everyone decided self-disembark is the way to go?

It can't be the ship or the port, because I self-disembarked from the GA in summer of 2015 at around 7:30a, and I was on the sidewalk before 8. There WAS no line on the ship itself. My first encounter with a line was the GA in 2016, and then it was even worse on the Escape in October.

 

So either procedures have changed, or passengers have. Has everyone decided self-disembark is the way to go?

BTW, we did not do walkoff. We were on an NCL transfer back to airport. It was called 50 minutes past the scheduled time, and then we started in the endless circuitous line inside and outside and back inside and finally past the NCL security on ship

From there on it was smooth sailing.

It is a 4000+ person ship...

I've cruised the Allure with 5,400 passengers; the QM 2 with 3,100 passengers; the Anthem of the Seas with 4,900 passengers; and several of Celebrity's S-class ships with 3,000 passengers and have never waited more than 30 minutes to get off a ship. Less time doing "walk off".

 

For your balcony, you book what you get. The aft balcony we had was huge!

I was upgraded from OV to Mini-suite three days before the cruise. No choice in cabin. Got mid-ship family mini-suite.

 

Maybe you'll enjoy a smaller ship.

I've cruised 60 ships from 14,500 tons to 220,000 tons. I know ship size!:D

Happy cruising!

Maybe you should try another company besides NCL?:)

We were in no hurry to leave the ship in Dec. as we were going on another cruise (different cruise line) We ate a leisurely breakfast and waited until the last minute--I think it was around 10--until an announcement came that everyone had to disembark. It maybe took 30 minutes total; finding luggage very easy, since not too much was left, immigration line was not bad either.

 

If you don't need to leave quickly, this is a good option.

Nc,

Excellent idea -- I think this is what we would do if we cruise the Getaway again. By the way, has anyone been on the Escape, and do they have the same problem? We will cruise her in June.

Thanks,

Kel:D