We were on this 19 day TA cruise as well. It wasn't the worst cruise we ever had, but it was close. We took the Getaway to the Baltic before the refit and had a wonderful time.
The Getaway is a beautiful ship with many fun things to do. We loved the fitness center and many outdoor areas where we could lie out in the sun. The ship was well-maintained and the rest rooms and dinning areas were kept clean. The only complaint I have about the physical aspect of the ship is the self-flushing toilets in the public restrooms. They were super annoying. Most of the time they flushed, but sometimes they didn't and there were no buttons on them to make them flush. I hated them.
A cruise from Hell is a cruise where I feel my life is in danger or where the power goes out and there isn't any air conditioning or heat or where there are bad smells from toilets that back up. None of those horrors happened, and for that I'm grateful. We made all of our ports except one, so it wasn't so terrible.
The ship was poorly run. My husband had many problems with the excursion desk. One clerk would tell him one thing and then another would tell my husband something completely different. One would tell him he was on the waiting list for an excursion and then we'd find out he was never put on the list. No one seemed to know what was going on. I think some of those cruise staff had no clue what was going on and made things up as they went.
The tendering experience on the Cay was the worst I ever saw. We were one of the lucky ones. I think we made the second boat over and at least got to the island in time to have lunch. The beach wasn't bad, but the food wasn't very exciting. The stuff in the shops was overpriced and none of the shops had anything particularly special.
The cruise staff wasn't good at organizing people for tendering or getting people on and off the ship. Whether we were waiting for tendering or waiting for an excursion, the attendants kept changing their story about where we were supposed to wait or when we were supposed to go. No one seemed to know what was going on.
I never saw a ship that ran out of food more than this one. They ran out of lettuce, bananas, half and half, iced tea, and yogurt. One morning it was so bad that the banana compote had no bananas in it. I pointed that fact out to the guy behind the counter and he just shrugged. I understand that they missed a port in the Azores and were out to sea seven days without coming to a port, but even after stopping in Miami, they weren't able to replenish the iced tea or the bananas.
If I had to sum up the problems with this cruise I would have to say first of all this was a 3600 passenger ship that wasn't able to properly accommodate anywhere that many passengers. There wasn't enough food, enough seating in the main theatre, or enough crew members. All the crew members seemed overwhelmed and were forced to deal with the poor management of their superiors. Most did so admirably.
By and large my husband and I had a good time. The European leg of the cruise was a lot of fun. I didn't mind the bad weather, but seven straight sea days on this ship was more of an endurance contest than a vacation. We did read lots of books and relaxed a great deal. I will probably take more NCL cruises, but I will definitely pick another cruise line if I ever again do another trans-Atlantic cruise.
Glad to get away from the Getaway
in Norwegian Cruise Line
Posted
We were on this 19 day TA cruise as well. It wasn't the worst cruise we ever had, but it was close. We took the Getaway to the Baltic before the refit and had a wonderful time.
The Getaway is a beautiful ship with many fun things to do. We loved the fitness center and many outdoor areas where we could lie out in the sun. The ship was well-maintained and the rest rooms and dinning areas were kept clean. The only complaint I have about the physical aspect of the ship is the self-flushing toilets in the public restrooms. They were super annoying. Most of the time they flushed, but sometimes they didn't and there were no buttons on them to make them flush. I hated them.
A cruise from Hell is a cruise where I feel my life is in danger or where the power goes out and there isn't any air conditioning or heat or where there are bad smells from toilets that back up. None of those horrors happened, and for that I'm grateful. We made all of our ports except one, so it wasn't so terrible.
The ship was poorly run. My husband had many problems with the excursion desk. One clerk would tell him one thing and then another would tell my husband something completely different. One would tell him he was on the waiting list for an excursion and then we'd find out he was never put on the list. No one seemed to know what was going on. I think some of those cruise staff had no clue what was going on and made things up as they went.
The tendering experience on the Cay was the worst I ever saw. We were one of the lucky ones. I think we made the second boat over and at least got to the island in time to have lunch. The beach wasn't bad, but the food wasn't very exciting. The stuff in the shops was overpriced and none of the shops had anything particularly special.
The cruise staff wasn't good at organizing people for tendering or getting people on and off the ship. Whether we were waiting for tendering or waiting for an excursion, the attendants kept changing their story about where we were supposed to wait or when we were supposed to go. No one seemed to know what was going on.
I never saw a ship that ran out of food more than this one. They ran out of lettuce, bananas, half and half, iced tea, and yogurt. One morning it was so bad that the banana compote had no bananas in it. I pointed that fact out to the guy behind the counter and he just shrugged. I understand that they missed a port in the Azores and were out to sea seven days without coming to a port, but even after stopping in Miami, they weren't able to replenish the iced tea or the bananas.
If I had to sum up the problems with this cruise I would have to say first of all this was a 3600 passenger ship that wasn't able to properly accommodate anywhere that many passengers. There wasn't enough food, enough seating in the main theatre, or enough crew members. All the crew members seemed overwhelmed and were forced to deal with the poor management of their superiors. Most did so admirably.
By and large my husband and I had a good time. The European leg of the cruise was a lot of fun. I didn't mind the bad weather, but seven straight sea days on this ship was more of an endurance contest than a vacation. We did read lots of books and relaxed a great deal. I will probably take more NCL cruises, but I will definitely pick another cruise line if I ever again do another trans-Atlantic cruise.