Just back from the Getaway - mini review and any questions?

[Schmoopy]

Hi All,

 

Everyone was so helpful to me leading up to my cruise (Aug. 9-16) that I wanted to stop back in and offer answers, if I can, to any questions you might have about the Getaway.

 

My personal experience was mixed--the good and the bad was about equally split for me. Our party included three of us: my husband, my 5-year-old son and me.

 

My abridged "review" is as follows:

 

The Aqua Park

We spent a LOT of time here. Slides were really cool. You forgot you were on a ship. Sometimes the lines were long and other times they were really short. When they were long (sea days, middle of the day), wait times were about 15-20 minutes. Management of the lines was really bad to just OK, depending on who was handling it. Forget about getting a chair or lounger during any part of the "day." People get there early and "save" them with towels. No one seems to be using them, though.

 

The Main Pool

Yes, it's small. Teeny-tiny to be exact. But we always found room and had a good time. Earlier in the day and on port days, it was less crowded.

 

Food

MDR - My favorite dish on our entire cruise was the first thing I had in the MDR, crab cakes. They were really good! We only ate there once, and the rest of the meal was certainly satisfying. Food service was adequate, bar service was awful. I eventually got up and got my own drinks.

 

Teppenyaki ($) - Super fun, super tasty, entertaining and well-worth the extra cost. That said, as soon as the waiter set the first course (a bowl of edamame) in front of me, there was a giant black hair on top. Not sure how he didn't see it. I stopped him before he took his hand off the plate and he realized the problem. He immediately replaced it.

 

Le Bistro ($) - Very very good food start to finish. They even have a kid's French food menu to order from for the little ones. Service was great as well. Restaurant itself is very dark. If you're tired, you'll get even sleepier!

 

La Cucina ($) - Good food. Good service. My dish was overly salty, but I'm sensitive to too much salt, so it may have been perfectly fine for another's palate.

 

Taste and Savor - Service was faster than I expected considering they were both busy both times we dined here. Food was decent--nothing to complain about. Portion sizes very large!

 

O'Sheehan's - Mozzarella sticks: YUM! Burger was good. The Chopped Salad was tiny and more meat and cheese than lettuce or other vegetables. If you want a "big salad," order two and ask them to put it in a "big bowl."

 

Buffet - Always extremely crowded. Closed or partially closed when you wouldn't expect it to be. The morning we stopped in Nassau, it was so crowded, there were no tables left (this was the only time I saw that there were no seats) and you had to elbow and complain your way to the actual food. We abandoned our mission and decided to starve (because, at this point, Taste and Savor had closed for breakfast. What kind of "restaurant" closes for breakfast at 9:30?)

 

Despite NCL's best efforts to keep everyone's hands clean as they enter the buffet, with SO MANY people using it, it's nearly impossible. On Day 3 of our cruise, I ended up getting the classic "cruise ship" sickness (so did my husband; kid was fine) and my best guess is we picked up something from the thousands of people congregated and touching stuff in the buffet. Not sure, but it's my best guess.

 

Activities

We loved the movies in the Atrium, Spice H2O and theater (the theater is freezing, bring a sweater) and the Happy Family Deck Party. The 60s and 70s party was a blast, and I assume the Fireworks and 80s party was fun but I was too sick to attend. These parties were held in Spice H2O on the back of the ship, which is a nice open space with a big screen. Very nice atmosphere. The Glow Party was awful, in my opinion. The music was WAY too loud and it sucked (imo). Also, I was still sick but trying to enjoy the cruise a bit, so that affected my attitude. But others appeared to enjoy it. We left when they turned the volume up to 11.

 

Ports

We were too sick to really do anything in the ports. Needed to stay close to our room at all times.

 

Bars and UBP

There is no dearth of bars on the Getaway. The Sunset Bar was our favorite -- outside in the breeze, great bartenders and fellow cruisers. We were only able to hang out there the first few days before we got sick, but it was a lot of fun when we did.

 

As for the UBP, I still recommend it. We didn't even come close to getting our value out of it, which is a crying shame. But we couldn't predict we would get so sick. We were unable to really drink anything but water or soda after Day 3 but for drinkers who don't get sick, it's like "gold" as one fellow cruiser said.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation

They were a breeze--the debarkation especially so as we didn't have to wait in any lines for anything.

 

Splash Academy

My son hated it. He was with the 3-5 group and the activities were just too "young" for him. He went twice--only to play the Nintendo Wii for 1 hour each time, then swore it off forever. He would probably have done better with the 6-9s, but that wasn't an option.

 

iConcierge App

Worked great with not a single problem. Not only could I text or call my husband, it allowed the Splash Academy to reach us when our son wanted to leave (they only offer pagers to parents with special needs children) and I was able to text with other cruisers I met who had the app ("sorry, can't come out tonight. Got a tummy bug. :("). Always worked while on the ship. Never "went down." Also, you can closely monitor your acct at all times with this app.

 

Overall

Despite getting sick, there were plenty of high points and thankfully my son stayed well the whole time and had a blast in the Aqua Park.

 

The cruise was EXTREMELY crowded and felt like it. As big as this ship was, unless it was docked, there were always crowds of people around--the pool (no chairs to be found unless it was "off" hours), the buffet, the elevators, the hallways, the casino (although I didn't go there so I didn't care). I think this cruise must have been sold out. If it wasn't, I can't even imagine what it would have been like otherwise.

 

NCL's management of our account was an issue. We had prepaid for Teppenyaki and they charged us a second time when we dined (double charged? Whaa?). La Cucina was a "gift" from NCL, yet they charged us for it anyway when we ate there. That took time to go to Guest Services to sort out on different days.

 

I wish things had gone a bit differently, but it wasn't horrible. Like I said, it was 50% good, 50% bad. When you cruise, you take a chance. And, in all honesty, it could have been worse.

[hscruiser]

Thanks for the review. At what time did embarkation begin in Miami?

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Schmoopy]

We got there at 12:30 and it was well underway. The line was long, but we were on the ship in 45 minutes.

 

 

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[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for posting.:)