Thoughts on my Getaway experience - June 7-14

[mayesq]

This was our first experience on NCL. In the past we have sailed Carnival (years ago for our honeymoon) and Disney. When friends of ours found a good deal on the Getaway for the week that school let out, we figured we would take the plunge. We were not disappointed, but I do think that NCL has a few things to work on.

 

Embarkation - We got to Port of Miami around 1pm. There was a bit of a line, but it moved pretty quickly and we were on board by 1:30. Since we were already on deck 7, we decided to give O'sheehans a try. We all loved it (including the kids). Perfect for a quick lunch. My husband and sons practically lived on the mozzarella sticks for the remainder of the cruise. We also, at that time, went ahead and registered our three phones on iconcierge. The calling didn't work well at all for us but the texting was nice and guest services ended up crediting us since the calling didn't work. They were very nice about this.

 

Once we were done eating, we went up to our room, a balcony room, 13868. It was a little small, and there wasn't as much storage as we would have liked, but it was fine and clean. We unpacked for a bit and decided to explore a bit before sail away. We went to waterfront and hubby and the boys got gelato. They seemed to like it. Back up to the room and we still haven't left yet. We ended up not leaving Port of Miami until 7:30, which was really annoying. We always find that the ships air conditioning doesn't really kick in until you are on your way.

 

In the meantime, in order to finish unpacking, I had called three times over a 2 hour period to have somebody empty out the minibar. This is where NCL fails for me. They give excuses instead of results when you have a problem. If I have called and called about something, don't tell me that my cabin steward is busy - just fix the problem. It was incredibly frustrating. Somebody finally came and emptied out the fridge. The fridge kept our drinks cool for the remainder of the cruise. It was very nice to have.

 

After more exploring and dinner at the buffet, we were exhausted and went back to the room. The cabin steward had not made up the drop down bed for my 9 year old son, who was exhausted. I call and get a message that my cabin steward is busy and to call back. I call again and get somebody who says it will be taken care of. At this point it has been 40 minutes and it is almost 11pm. So I call again. Again, with the excuses. They tell me that she is busy. I just don't care at this point. When I explain the problem, if she is busy, feel free to send somebody else. Don't just leave me hanging. I didn't create the problem, right? After another 30 minutes I go down to guest services. They call housekeeping who tells her that it has been handled. I text hubby at that point and he confirms that nobody has been to our room to make up the bed. I'm fuming at this point. She promises me that she is sending the supervisor to our room right now. I wait until hubby texts me to confirm that somebody is there and make my way back up. They make up the bed, with no apologies for what we have been through. I was annoyed.

 

But I have to say that, after that, we had no issues. And, when we finally met Fatima, our cabin steward, the next day, she apologized and explained that she didn't get her complete manifest until very late in the day so she didn't know that we had 4 people in our room. She was very sweet about it and never let us down again. However, in my book, this whole situation was a huge fail for NCL. Not just the mistake - which happens - but the way it was handled. It is like NCL has this attitude that you need to suck it up and wait for them to correct their mistakes. It rubbed me the wrong way and I didn't like it at all.

 

Kids Clubs - My oldest was 3 weeks from his 13th birthday and traveling with his best friend who is already 13. As predicted by the boards, they wouldn't let them be in the same club together. Neither wanted to go without the other, so they we just gave them free time to roam the ship together. I've checked all of the other major cruise lines and NCL is the only one with these ridiculous age groups. All others have a tween group (11-13 or 14) and a teen group (14 or 15-17). I don't know many parents of 8th graders that really want them hanging out with seniors in high school. They should really rethink the age groups.

 

My youngest, who is 9, had no interest in the kids clubs either after checking it out. The group is 6-9. 1st graders with 4th graders. He felt it was a bit babyish for him. Last year, on Disney, the groups were a bit more fluid. I think it was 4-6 and 7-9. It made a little more sense.

 

So, for us and our kids ages, the clubs were out. But I will compliment them in that the staff seemed pretty incredible. They did a bunch of open activities in the atrium, including making balloon animals and the family circus and the staff were great. If we ever sail NCL again I'm hoping the kids will be at better ages to enjoy the clubs. It just didn't work out this time around.

 

Food - We enjoyed the food. We ate at Savor, Taste, O'Sheehans, Illusionarium and the buffet. All were good. The buffet was great. Custom omlettes, crepes, an asian section, fresh fruit, amazing salads. It had something for everybody. We were very surprised after the bad reviews we had read.

 

Activities - this is where Getaway really shines. There was always something to do. Between the ropes, the water slides, the bouncer, rock climbing and all of the scheduled movies and activities, the staff did a great job of keeping people busy. Also, even though our cruise was pretty full, there weren't bad lines for anything after the first day. The longest I waited for ropes was 10 minutes.

 

Will we sail NCL again? I'm not sure. But we are open to it. We ended up having a great time on a beautiful ship. I just hope their customer service steps it up a bit. They need to stop making excuses.

 

We are considering the Epic for spring break. But it is one of many that we are considering. I'll be reading the reviews closely to make my decision.

[PatriotsHeat]

Good review.....shows you the differences in opinions or service between cruises. We had no issues with the service the whole week, but found the food really bad. The activities were great, but the ship layout made for feeling cramped at all times. Probably won't cruise on NCL again, just found Princess and RC to be overall better.

[SissasMomE]

Embarkation day is crazy for the stewards. You cannot expect them to just drop everything and run. Most of them are very good at their jobs, but this is the one day you need to cut them some slack.

 

We were in a large balcony cabin on deck 9. The large minisuites below us had cigarette ashes on their balcony floor (2 of them - 1 below us and 1 below my parents cabin next door). After taking care of that, the supervisor came up to our cabin and my parents cabin and wanted to know if we had any issues. We did not. My husband, being the most gracious person I know, assured the guy that everything was great, and thanked him for checking. About 10 minutes later, both cabins had chocolate covered strawberries delivered, followed by canapes. Sometimes attitude is everything. No one likes being yelled at or spoken down to. Not saying you did, but by the tone of the paragraphs, I'm thinking you may have been a little nasty. Just for whatever it's worth .... I'm certainly not accusing you ... but a little honey goes a long way when dealing with people.

[One Eye Open]

Embarkation day is crazy for the stewards. You cannot expect them to just drop everything and run. Most of them are very good at their jobs, but this is the one day you need to cut them some slack.

Well said...

[LrgPizza]

I wonder if cabin stewards get delayed in making up beds because they are so busy responding to demanding, impatient passengers who will die if their mini fridges aren't immediately emptied.

[thistimeplease]

I wonder if cabin stewards get delayed in making up beds because they are so busy responding to demanding, impatient passengers who will die if their mini fridges aren't immediately emptied.

 

It was a 11pm and the family wanted to go to bed. I guess they were expected to wait all night because it was embarkation day. Stop with the excuses the steward made a mistake, admitted it and according to the OP it was smooth sailing after that. This is a review of the cruise not the OP.

 

Thanks for the review.

[mugtech]

I wonder if cabin stewards get delayed in making up beds because they are so busy responding to demanding, impatient passengers who will die if their mini fridges aren't immediately emptied.

 

More than likely.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[mayesq]

Embarkation day is crazy for the stewards. You cannot expect them to just drop everything and run. Most of them are very good at their jobs, but this is the one day you need to cut them some slack.

 

 

 

We were in a large balcony cabin on deck 9. The large minisuites below us had cigarette ashes on their balcony floor (2 of them - 1 below us and 1 below my parents cabin next door). After taking care of that, the supervisor came up to our cabin and my parents cabin and wanted to know if we had any issues. We did not. My husband, being the most gracious person I know, assured the guy that everything was great, and thanked him for checking. About 10 minutes later, both cabins had chocolate covered strawberries delivered, followed by canapes. Sometimes attitude is everything. No one likes being yelled at or spoken down to. Not saying you did, but by the tone of the paragraphs, I'm thinking you may have been a little nasty. Just for whatever it's worth .... I'm certainly not accusing you ... but a little honey goes a long way when dealing with people.

 

 

I didn't get nasty at all actually about the mini suite situation. Just venting about the situation and the way customer service works on the ship. But thanks for assuming.

 

And regarding the bed the only time I got visibly pissed is when housekeeping lied to first services while I was standing there saying the situation was handled when it wasn't. It was late and my kid wanted to go to sleep and you all are saying that I was unreasonable to expect that the bed be made up for him? Okay. I guess that is how I should expect service to be on the NCL ships then. Point taken. Or made......

 

 

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[mayesq]

And I don't know if I didn't explain properly but this was the drop down bed that you need a key to open. I would have just taken care of it myself if I could have.

 

 

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[LrgPizza]

nevermind

Edited June 21, 2014 by LrgPizza

[SissasMomE]

nevermind

 

x 2.

[jackson bernard]

I didn't get nasty at all actually about the mini suite situation. Just venting about the situation and the way customer service works on the ship. But thanks for assuming.

 

And regarding the bed the only time I got visibly pissed is when housekeeping lied to first services while I was standing there saying the situation was handled when it wasn't. It was late and my kid wanted to go to sleep and you all are saying that I was unreasonable to expect that the bed be made up for him? Okay. I guess that is how I should expect service to be on the NCL ships then. Point taken. Or made......

 

 

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You paid for 4 people, clearly they should have made arrangements to have the beds sorted out at a reasonable hour. If they are too busy for this most basic request then msybe they need to hire more people or sell fewer cabins. I don’t blame you for being upset.

 

Before considering the epic you better make sure you are okay with the toilet booths in the room.

 

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[snow bunny]

I usually just remove the items from the "fridge" myself and leave it on the counter. If the room steward wants to put it elsewhere then fine.

 

snow bunny

[mugtech]

I usually just remove the items from the "fridge" myself and leave it on the counter. If the room steward wants to put it elsewhere then fine.

 

snow bunny

 

Of course!!

[mayesq]

I was nervous about moving the stuff myself. I've seen reports of people being charged when they don that because they are accused of having missing items. And it isn't like I called every five minutes. I waited over two hours. I guess I was expecting too much from what you are all telling me. It's too bad the rest of the trip went so well. Maybe NCL isn't the line for me since I have high expectations. Didn't have one issue on Disney. *shrug*

 

 

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[DrNora]

I was nervous about moving the stuff myself. I've seen reports of people being charged when they don that because they are accused of having missing items. And it isn't like I called every five minutes. I waited over two hours. I guess I was expecting too much from what you are all telling me. It's too bad the rest of the trip went so well. Maybe NCL isn't the line for me since I have high expectations. Didn't have one issue on Disney. *shrug*

 

 

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No no no. If you liked the treatment on Disney and thought that the rest of the trip went well,you TOTALLY need to at least give NCL another try and in the Haven. You will never look back. You are already in Florida so you get to save $$ on airfare...it is a great experience

 

Nora

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your report.

 

Keith

[esp13]

Thanks for the review. Personally, I think the mini-fridge issue is probably something to give the steward a little slack on, given the craziness of embarkation day. But you were right to be upset about the bed - particularly the failure to fix the problem promptly when notified.

 

If you liked the rest of your cruise, I would encourage you to try NCL again. Even the very best can have an off day. However, if you do encounter any similar types of issues (particularly the lack of response and/dishonesty about correcting it) you should contact the hotel director. If you attend the CC meet and greet, you will get a list of main officers (for the hotel part) and their numbers. They have repeatedly said they would much rather hear about an issue on board and have a chance to fix it, then read about it later here.

 

So, give NCL another chance. We've had excellent service on all of our cruises and have been able to get any minor problems dealt with quickly. I don't think my experience is out of the norm, even though there are certainly occasional service issues on every ship. Hopefully, and in all likelihood, things will be much smoother next time. I just hate to see somebody give up on a cruise line after admittedly enjoying the cruise except for a couple of issues. And I would say the same about any cruise line. Everybody deserves a second chance.

[Sam.Seattle]

I always try to give the room stewards some slack on day 1. They had do deal with turning over the entire ship and welcoming a new group of passengers.... but, then there is the "first impression" that could be hard to overcome.

 

Glad to read the rest of the trip was good!

[Quincella]

I, too, am in the "give the room stewards some slack on the first day" category, but it seemed to me as if it's Housekeeping in general, and not her specific room steward, and then Guest Services, that she's really ticked off about.

 

I do think the mini-bar issue is a bit overblown, but not having someplace for your kid to sleep, well into the time when it's reasonable for people to be sleeping, is ridiculous. I would have been seriously pissed off.

 

That said if everything else went ok, it wouldn't have been the thing I focused on most in my review. But, to each his own.