Getaway 6/27....Mediocre at best....

Just back from the Getaway 6/27 sailing, second time on the this ship, will be the last. NCL gets one more chance since we have Cruise credits to use up and all other ships/cruises have been great. I will be doing a full review over the next week, but NCL has completely screwed up the freestyle concept especially now that half or more of the ship has "free" dining packages. Our room steward was a highlight, and all the officers we interacted with were very gracious and accommodating, the other staff - servers, cashiers etc were ambivalent at best, down right rude at worst. We have never experienced this on other NCL ships but have twice now on the Getaway, not as bad last summer but this year they flat didn't care. Enjoyed the ports, enjoyed the slides & ropes course, did not enjoy "NothingsFreeEverythingIsScheduled Style" :cool:

Just back from the Getaway 6/27 sailing, second time on the this ship, will be the last. NCL gets one more chance since we have Cruise credits to use up and all other ships/cruises have been great. I will be doing a full review over the next week, but NCL has completely screwed up the freestyle concept especially now that half or more of the ship has "free" dining packages. Our room steward was a highlight, and all the officers we interacted with were very gracious and accommodating, the other staff - servers, cashiers etc were ambivalent at best, down right rude at worst. We have never experienced this on other NCL ships but have twice now on the Getaway, not as bad last summer but this year they flat didn't care. Enjoyed the ports, enjoyed the slides & ropes course, did not enjoy "NothingsFreeEverythingIsScheduled Style" :cool:

If your that disgruntled you can always sell your cruise certificates here on cc for what they are worth.

It sounds to me that you won't be happy on the next NCL cruise because you'll be looking for the negatives, so sell while you have the chance.

but NCL has completely screwed up the freestyle concept especially now that half or more of the ship has "free" dining packages.

Could you elaborate more on this, please? I will be sailing on her in a few months, would like to know ahead of time what the issues were so perhaps I can try to avoid them. TIA.

I was on the same cruise and could not disagree more. While I did make reservations ahead of time for 2 specialty restaurants (Le Bistro and Moderno, which are both well worth it) I simply walked into the main dining rooms without a problem. I noticed that many of the specialty restaurants were pretty full each night - so make a reservation! There's no harm in that. I can't see how people complain there's no freestyle just because the restaurant is booked up. You're freestyle at home and you go to a local restaurant and it has a wait - same thing!

As far as the wait staff, all of the bartenders and restaurant waiters couldn't do enough for my party. Really went above and beyond what I was used to lately on Royal Caribbean. They accurately took the orders, the speed of service and food was perfect, and they engaged us in conversation. Couldn't have been more pleased. I have to say again, all around, that the service was much, much better than my recent cruises on Royal Caribbean ships. Although I have the Oasis booked later this year, I am very excited about more Norwegian next year!

I was on the same cruise and could not disagree more. While I did make reservations ahead of time for 2 specialty restaurants (Le Bistro and Moderno, which are both well worth it) I simply walked into the main dining rooms without a problem. I noticed that many of the specialty restaurants were pretty full each night - so make a reservation! There's no harm in that. I can't see how people complain there's no freestyle just because the restaurant is booked up. You're freestyle at home and you go to a local restaurant and it has a wait - same thing!

 

As far as the wait staff, all of the bartenders and restaurant waiters couldn't do enough for my party. Really went above and beyond what I was used to lately on Royal Caribbean. They accurately took the orders, the speed of service and food was perfect, and they engaged us in conversation. Couldn't have been more pleased. I have to say again, all around, that the service was much, much better than my recent cruises on Royal Caribbean ships. Although I have the Oasis booked later this year, I am very excited about more Norwegian next year!

Do you make the reservation ahead of time (i.e. Interwebz or when you board the ship)?

Do you make the reservation ahead of time (i.e. Interwebz or when you board the ship)?

Ahead on time online. I am a planner so I enjoy looking at the itinerary as well as the "week in advance" thing and plan from there. I don't think it's that hard to schedule a few if you know which restaurants you want to dine in.

However, the only thing that was odd was when I booked the two specialties at the same time, they only charged me for one and the other I paid onboard after dining. And to top it off I was confused as to which one I paid for because on my sheet I printed off, it had Moderno as $0 and Le Bistro as $47.20. Therefore I assumed I paid for Le Bistro and Moderno I needed to pay but it was the other way around...how strange.

Do you make the reservation ahead of time (i.e. Interwebz or when you board the ship)?

Not the OP, but I did both on a sailing two weeks prior to thread OP. I booked Le Bistro online ahead of time, and I booked La Cucina the day of, about midway through the cruise. Granted, La Cucina isn't a high-demand venue, but I saw plenty of other 'green' showing on the boards at guest services and it didn't seem difficult to just do a walk-up to the MDRs. I saw another complaint like this on a cruise app that includes reviews (only this was for my exact sailing), and I have to conclude that some people are attempting to make very last-minute reservations at peak dining times, or are mad that the specific venue/time they wanted wasn't available at the last minute.

(Most people I saw on my sailing seemed very happy, but the few meltdowns I witnessed personally (usually in the guest services area) had to do with restaurant reservations. I ... am not sure I can say the food I had on the ship was worth any amount of meltdown, other than Flamingo Grill.)

Ahead on time online. I am a planner so I enjoy looking at the itinerary as well as the "week in advance" thing and plan from there. I don't think it's that hard to schedule a few if you know which restaurants you want to dine in.

 

However, the only thing that was odd was when I booked the two specialties at the same time, they only charged me for one and the other I paid onboard after dining. And to top it off I was confused as to which one I paid for because on my sheet I printed off, it had Moderno as $0 and Le Bistro as $47.20. Therefore I assumed I paid for Le Bistro and Moderno I needed to pay but it was the other way around...how strange.

We have UDP, so I imagine that aspect would be easier to deal with, since technically none should be charged. As soon as I can, I will make reservations. We're more of a "go-with-the-flow" type, but when it comes to din-din time for us and the kids, we rather not be stressed out about finding a resto w/o wait.

We were on the same cruise and had a fabulous time. Rude staff? They are over 1600 staff members on board. I doubt any cooperation on the planet would hire rude staff. Nor would the officers and managers tolerate it.

On every cruise line message board people complain about rude staff. There are 2 sides to every story. Could it be that passengers have unreasonable requests and expectations?

It also happens that one issue early on can certainly effect the rest of the cruise. Who are we to say that the OP is wrong in their assessment? We have always had great service on the Getaway, however, that's not to say there haven't been any issues at all. Of course there has. I think one key thing to remember is give them a chance to make right whatever has gone wrong. If they don't know you're unhappy (and why), then they have no chance to correct the situation. And a lot of times a simple "having a busy/bad day?" said with a sympathetic smile can go a long way to changing the other person's attitude.

That being said, we only know a rather vague 'everyone below a certain rank didn't care' statement and we have no idea exactly what might have happened to the OP. Let's give him a chance to put it all out there before we say "nope, you're dead wrong".

If your that disgruntled you can always sell your cruise certificates here on cc for what they are worth.

 

It sounds to me that you won't be happy on the next NCL cruise because you'll be looking for the negatives, so sell while you have the chance.

Did not say we are disgruntled, we have always been please with NCL, read the title, MEDIOCRE. Nice time was had on balance but the "Freestyle" that made us NCL loyalists simply isn't there on this ship.

Did not say we are disgruntled, we have always been please with NCL, read the title, MEDIOCRE. Nice time was had on balance but the "Freestyle" they made NCL loyalists simply isn't there on this ship.

Is there any chance at all you will give us even one example of what you're talking about?

(I was on the ship the week before.)

Could you elaborate more on this, please? I will be sailing on her in a few months, would like to know ahead of time what the issues were so perhaps I can try to avoid them. TIA.

So many people now have the Ultimate Dining Package due to the promotions NCL has ran all year, that the specialty restaurants are fully booked and the staff is stretched thin. We chatted one morning with a wonderful lady that is a matre d at one of the specialty rooms and she said they are too full because everyone has the dining package and it is becoming difficult to give the service she feels they should.

To those who question if we tried to wait till last second, no we prebooked all nights/dinners via the website 2 weeks out. But now the entire trip is scheduled....so much for freestyle. The first evening using I Concierge I looked at all the specialty rooms, there was virtually no availability in any room any night. Each day I would look at the restaurant availability on the monitors we passed, and it was all red.

Sounds like what most cruise lines are doing.....giving you so many options that you MUST pre-book/schedule. Yes...on vacation, who wants to be checking a schedule or spreadsheet all the time?

So many people now have the Ultimate Dining Package due to the promotions NCL has ran all year, that the specialty restaurants are fully booked and the staff is stretched thin. We chatted one morning with a wonderful lady that is a matre d at one of the specialty rooms and she said they are too full because everyone has the dining package and it is becoming difficult to give the service she feels they should.

 

To those who question if we tried to wait till last second, no we prebooked all nights/dinners via the website 2 weeks out. But now the entire trip is scheduled....so much for freestyle. The first evening using I Concierge I looked at all the specialty rooms, there was virtually no availability in any room any night. Each day I would look at the restaurant availability on the monitors we passed, and it was all red.

Interesting. I was on the Getaway 6/20 sailing and had no problems booking day-of specialty. Admittedly it was La Cucina, but I also witnessed lots of green on the board every time I passed by Guest Services (Cagneys comes to mind, for example); and when I dined in Le Bistro at 6:30pm on Day 5, there were lots of empty tables. No one was even occupying the 'outdoor' area.

Granted, service at Le Bistro was pretty slow, but I have been given to understand that's normal on a cruise.

Honestly, from my two specialty dining experiences onboard (La Cucina was simply wretched), I'm dubious it's even worth this much stress to begin with ... but I also think the UDP Apocalypse is being vastly overstated.

OP, I am sorry you are feeling the abuse of Cruise Critic at the moment. For some reason the NCL board has turning into a place that does not at all support any less then glowing opinion of NCL. It is pathetic this attitude is growing and ruining what was once a very useful place to discuss issues.

You are 100% entitled to your opinion. I believe 100% that it was difficult to get reservations on board. I believe 100% that the staff is much more complacent then in the past because now gratuity is a guarantee and they dont have to put in any effort to receive it. I have a trip on the Escape booked for November and I am concerned for all the reasons you mentioned. The new management has done a lot to dissolve Freestyle as it used to be on NCL. When reservation are needed to get into any place to eat you might as well have a set dining time. No reservations IS Freestyle. When they now take reservations at all places including the MDR the system is broken. When the waiters know they will get $X no matter the level of service the service levels go down.

I am sorry you had a less then optimal time. You, like my family, will probably move on to a different line and will continue to enjoy cruising in the future. Why people on this board feel the need to try and minimize your feelings when they are all very valid complaints is beyond me....

Thanks for your feedback on the Getaway.

6&8

We were on the same cruise and had a fabulous time. Rude staff? They are over 1600 staff members on board. I doubt any cooperation on the planet would hire rude staff. Nor would the officers and managers tolerate it.

 

On every cruise line message board people complain about rude staff. There are 2 sides to every story. Could it be that passengers have unreasonable requests and expectations?

Some staff was great, some quite rude....I would say when we asked our waiter in the MDR if we could have ice tea (would that be unreasonable?) and he said briskly "didn't someone already ask you about drinks" and then walked off-I'd call that rude.

Fast forward 10 minutes, after I was bashed in the head with a food tray, and officers freaked out, and apologized profusely-I was just laughing, but did ask for tea since we never had gotten a drink 30 minutes into the meal, well same officers had a chat with the waiter, who then brought tea and angrily informed us " I was taking care of it!" Yes...I call that very rude.

A lot of the staff was just luke warm, the waiters in O'Shehans were just weathered, did they bring the food and the drinks-yes. Rude-no. Glad to see us-no not really. Just going through the motions.

We experienced this to a lesser degree July of 2014 on the Getaway, but all other ships in the fleet we have marveled at how gracious and welcoming 99% of the staff/crew have been.

As for having too high of expectations, well if we do it is because NCL has given us those expectations on the Sky, Spirit, Star, Jewel. 1st trip on Getaway our confidence in NCL was shaken, but we gave her a second chance, she won't get a third.

Just back from the Getaway 6/27 sailing, second time on the this ship, will be the last. NCL gets one more chance since we have Cruise credits to use up and all other ships/cruises have been great. I will be doing a full review over the next week, but NCL has completely screwed up the freestyle concept especially now that half or more of the ship has "free" dining packages. Our room steward was a highlight, and all the officers we interacted with were very gracious and accommodating, the other staff - servers, cashiers etc were ambivalent at best, down right rude at worst. We have never experienced this on other NCL ships but have twice now on the Getaway, not as bad last summer but this year they flat didn't care. Enjoyed the ports, enjoyed the slides & ropes course, did not enjoy "NothingsFreeEverythingIsScheduled Style" :cool:

It's a shame it wasn't a great cruise for you. I am glad it wasn't a total disaster though.

Hopefully NCL will win you over with your next cruise :D

We just sailed the Getaway the end of May and couldn't get over how wonderful the staff was. We are going again in a week to share this warmth with family and friends before the staff transfers to the Escape. Although I have no real special memories of dining room staff, our experiences were with management and officers being so warm and friendly. We did not have the dining package and did not eat in any specialty restaurant. I stopped sailing NCL when they went to "freestyle" thinking that would not be for us. We found that it was extremely convenient to go when you choose. Most times it was early and had absolutely no trouble getting into the restaurant we had chosen to dine in that evening. Maybe having the same menu in several of them made for less crowding in any one venue.

I hope your next experience is better for you and also that our upcoming cruise is as good as the last. We will have a great time regardless. We will be with family and friends. The entertainment was really good and what is not to like about the "drink package" (except now they make you pay the service charge up front instead of including in the freestyle choice package).

Kathryn

In terms of service complaints regarding rude/indifferent staff, I trends on all the mainstream cruise lines. At any time of year where're the ships are sailing at or near max capacity (more 3rd and 4th berths occupied) we tends to see more complaints. The staff numbers remain the same but the number of people they have to service are dramatically increased. I think a lot has to do with sheer exhaustion.

For example - if the Getway sails full in non-family vacation periods we can assume she will sail at 110-120% of her double occupancy as there will always be some rooms booked with 3rd or fourth guests - so let's say about 4200 passengers. If she sails at max occupancy that number goes up 5100 passengers. 900 more passengers to same number of crew equals a lot of extra work and more fatigue. I know when I'm over worked my fuse gets a lot shorter. The staff are only human and while I'm excusing rudeness we have to remember that most people WANT to provide a superior level of service, sometimes some people just don't handle the extra stress well.

We had a grouchy bartender onboard.

Our first drink on board

We walked up to the bar and said we will have the daily special.

He never acknowledged us

We looked at each other wondering if he heard us.

He walked away and came back,

Started making drinks but we didn't know if they were ours Til he put them on the bar.

Okaaaaay. Thanks.

Who knows what was going on with him and his life.

We did notice that he was like that the whole cruise.

Maybe he was ill.

OP, I am sorry you are feeling the abuse of Cruise Critic at the moment. For some reason the NCL board has turning into a place that does not at all support any less then glowing opinion of NCL. It is pathetic this attitude is growing and ruining what was once a very useful place to discuss issues.

 

6&8

This is happening on every board in every forum and on social media. If you dare to say anything negative (even constructively), you are flamed. Sad commentary on people. (This is not specific to anyone's post here - just a general comment.)

We're sailing as a family (11 of us) in a few weeks. I hope we won't be too much to handle. :D I can tolerate a lot but rude is inexcusable in a customer service job. And yes, I know how horrible and rude passengers can be. OP, I'm sorry that your cruise did not live up to your expectations. The upside for us is that we'll be eating in the MDR or buffet 4 of the 7 nights so I guess they'll be empty since everyone has the UDP (we don't)!

One thing I have to agree with is all of the reservations. It's not so much a pain to do it online but if you don't know what other shows are happening on a given night, how do you know what time to make dinner reservations? Oh wait....planning for 11 people online IS a hassle. Most reservations max out at 8 so....I had to do them in 2 separate reservations. Others had each person from each cabin listed so I had to do 4 separate reservations (1 for each cabin). I just don't think I should have to do SO much thinking and planning BEFORE my cruise. If I wanted to do that....I would have taken a land vacation. (And it's not just NCL - Royal has the same thing going on). We previously had an issue on the Breakaway with 8 of us. We waited for a table every single night. No fun with hungry kids.

We've never run into bad attitudes among the crew on NCL, but did on another line a few years back. So I know it happens. This is a second strike for you on Getaway so maybe there's something happening on that ship with management that is destroying the morale.

The only quibble I have is not specifically with the OP, but one in general, the idea that because you choose to reserve a specialty restaurant every night that it is no longer "Freestyle". Last time I checked you are not compelled to eat in a specialty, and no one is forcing you to make reservations. You do so because YOU want to make sure you get seated at a certain time on a certain night.

Maybe the complaint is that before the promos you could eat in a specialty restaurant every night without reserving beforehand because most passengers did not do that. I can see how that would make it seem less "Freestyle" because you don't have the flexibility to look at the reservations board and make a last minute decision to eat in one that isn't busy.

For the rest of us who might eat one or two nights in a specialty it makes the cruise MORE "Freestyle" ... we can walk into the MDR any time and be seated immediately, even in peak dinner times.

Long term, if the trend is toward more specialties, then NCL will add more venues. Supply and demand will take over. I suspect it's a short term problem because the new dining promotion is not as generous as the prior one.

Does anyone see as I do that NCL originated the concept of a "Specialty Restaurant" giving you a special evening for price

Then they added venues to it

Then they start handing it out as a freebee-not so special anymore

Then add venues such as Ocean Blue and Illusionarium that are above the specialty venues and cost even more.

So it was Regular meal or Special meal

Now they have shuffled the deck and you have

Regular venues becoming sub par

Specialty venues operating at par

Super Specialty venues, that with the Dining package, you pay about what a nice meal use to cost