Norwegian Getaway Review with 107 photos & 9 videos!

[Spaniel Lover]

We had a FANTASTIC experience on the Norwegian Getaway during the first week of September, and it's my pleasure to present you with this review of our cruise... featuring 107 high-quality photos and nine HD videos.

 

Before I get going, though, I'd like to just briefly introduce myself... so you know who this review is coming from.

 

 

I'm Jim Zimmerlin (everyone calls me Jim Zim) and I always cruise with my wife, Kellyn. (Pronunciation tip: it rhymes with Helen.) We're from Grover Beach, California... a little beach town on the California coast about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. We've been cruising since 1996, and this was our 26th cruise overall... but only our second with Norwegian Cruise Line.

 

Most of our previous cruises have been with Carnival Cruise Lines. We did over 20 Carnival cruises, and we were quite happy with them. Back in 2008, after our first couple of Carnival cruises, we decided to give Norwegian Cruise Lines a try... just to see how it compared. We did a cruise to Acapulco on the Norwegian Star... and it just didn't measure up well to the Carnival experience. So, we stuck with Carnival for years and years after that. But earlier this year, I got an offer from Princess Cruise Lines that I couldn't refuse (it was an almost-free cruise) and so we found ourselves on our first non-Carnival cruise in a quite a while... and it really opened our eyes! We discovered some things about Princess that we really liked better than Carnival... and it got us to thinking that maybe we should try some of the other big cruise lines (including giving NCL a second chance) and see if anyone else could give us a better cruise experience than what we were used to with Carnival.

 

 

I have to start by saying that the Norwegian Getaway has got some amazing features that make it stand out as one of the best cruise ships in the world, in my opinion.

 

We were impressed with the huge variety of dining options onboard, some of the best entertainment we've ever seen on a cruise ship, and the best spa facilities we've seen, too. We were very excited to be able to sail on her during her inaugural season.

 

I'm going to get in to a whole lot of details about our cruise... but before I do, I want to give you a little overview. The easiest way for me to do that is to have you watch this 4-minute video of highlights from our cruise:

 

[YOUTUBE]9xuDCNmHj7g[/YOUTUBE]

 

Here are a few tips about watching the videos included with this review...

 

All of the videos have sound, so be sure you have your speakers turned on or headphones plugged in. To get the video to start playing, click on the little triangle in the center of the picture.

 

All of the videos are available in HD. Cruise Critic defaults to playing them in a fairly low resolution format. If there's one you want to see a little more clearly, you can bring up the HD version by clicking in the lower right where it says YOU TUBE. This will open it up on YouTube, rather than within Cruise Critic. One you're watching it on YouTube, you can switch the resolution over to 720p by clicking on the "settings" adjustment in the lower right hand corner... and you can also expand the video to full screen by clicking on the full screen icon in the lower right corner.

[Spaniel Lover]

The Haven

 

We've been on many great cruises before. For you to understand what took this cruise totally over-the-top for us, I have to tell you about The Haven.

 

There are about 4300 passengers on the Norwegian Getaway, but only about 250 of them have access to a special V.I.P. section of the ship known as The Haven. It's a private, hidden, quiet area of the ship... with it's own swimming pool, Jacuzzis, outdoor sundeck, sauna, restaurant, bar, and lounge. The Haven is all walled off from the rest of the ship... with access by way of a special platinum-colored key card. Everyone staying within The Haven has a butler and a concierge, in addition to the traditional room steward that all cruise ship guests have.

 

The focal point of The Haven is known as "the courtyard". It's a private sundeck with a swimming pool, two Jacuzzis, and lots of comfortable loungers and day beds.

 

Before the cruise, I thought those brown loungers in one inch of water seemed like a dumb idea.

Once I actually sat down in one, I "got it". The surrounding water keeps the temperature cooler,

and to cool down even more you can dip your hands or toes in. It's a nice place to sit and read.

 

 

 



Notice the big umbrellas hanging over the Jacuzzis, to help prevent sunburn

 

The Haven made its debut with Norwegian Cruise Lines back in 2005 on the Norwegian Jewel... but the roots of the Haven actually go back even further than that. The Norwegian Star, built in 2001, featured a couple of amazing courtyard suites featuring a huge private outdoor area and the ability to have your meals delivered so that you didn't have to eat in the busy restaurants with all the other regular passengers. You know, the folks in "steerage"!

 

NCL refined and improved that idea with the introduction of The Haven on the Jewel-class ships. The whole concept was to offer a private area within the ship where the folks from the most expensive cabins could spend some quiet time in the sun without having to put up with all the noise and commotion that typically exists around the main pool area of a cruise ship.

 

In 2010, with the introduction of the Norwegian Epic, they took the concept a step further by offering a private restaurant within The Haven and also by offering a much larger Haven courtyard.

 

Kevin Sheehan became Chief Executive Officer of NCL in 2008, and at that point they started designing the company's next generation of ships. Perhaps you remember Kevin from a very interesting episode of the TV show Undercover Boss... where Kevin disguised himself so that he could see what was really happening on his ships without his employees realizing that they were talking to the CEO. The first ship that was completely designed and built during the Sheehan era at NCL was the Norwegian Breakaway, which debuted in 2013. It was really interesting to see the improvements that they made to The Haven on the Norwegian Breakaway. The biggest improvement was adding a second deck above the courtyard, featuring lots more loungers and daybeds... so that there would never be a shortage of places to lay out in the sun even if most of The Haven guests all decided to do so at the same time.

 

From this angle, you can see how The Haven courtyard is set down below the upper deck

to provide privacy and wind protection. Unfortunately, this also blocks any view of the ocean.

 

 

 



Norwegian Getaway (and the Breakaway) offer a solution to the view problem from within The Haven...

a large area of loungers and daybeds up on the second level which all look out over the ocean.

[Spaniel Lover]

Here's a look at The Haven courtyard at night.

Notice that on Norwegian Getaway, based in Miami, The Haven courtyard is open to the air.

On the Norwegian Breakaway, based in New York, there is a retractable roof over the courtyard.

 

 

 



Notice that towards the windows in back there are some tables for outdoor dining,

which are shaded under a white overhang.

More about outdoor dining within The Haven... in a moment.

First, let's take a look at The Haven restaurant.

[Spaniel Lover]

 

With 4300 passengers onboard, dining in one of the large public dining rooms onboard can seem a little noisy and hectic at times. Guests of The Haven have the option of eating in the much quieter, more refined setting of The Haven Restaurant.

 

 

On embarkation day, boarding doesn't begin until 11:30 AM. People are always very excited to get their vacation started, and lots of them arrive at the terminal way before boarding begins. Usually, by the time 11:30 rolls around, there are at least a few hundred people waiting in the terminal to board the ship. One of the perks of being a guest of The Haven is that there's a private lounge in the terminal for check-in of Haven guests, and then when boarding begins you can be among the first to walk on to the ship. But Haven guests don't just walk on to the ship on their own... there's an employee who personally escorts you on to the ship and who takes you all the way up to The Haven. It was pretty cool.

 

The Haven restaurant doesn't open for lunch on embarkation day until 12:30, so after boarding and until the restaurant opens, you are invited to wait in The Haven lounge and bar area. They served complimentary mojitos and rum punch... and they also brought out sliders as appetizers.

 

At 12:30, the restaurant opened for business and we were seated at a table by the window. There's not a whole lot of window space within The Haven restaurant, so the tables are crammed a bit too-close together in that area. The lesson we learned, since we like our privacy at meal times and don't like being seated so close to other people that they end up hearing every word we say to each other, is to ask for a table in the interior of the restaurant rather than by the windows. Away from the windows, the tables have a comfortable amount of space between them... as you can see in the previous photo.

 

Feeling like a real V.I.P. during my first meal in The Haven restaurant,

I ordered a steak for lunch. It was very good.

 

 

 



I snapped this photo of Kellyn during our embarkation-day lunch in The Haven restaurant.

[Spaniel Lover]

One really great thing about The Haven restaurant is that you can choose to have your meals outside, in the courtyard. FYI, if you want to sit outside in the courtyard and have your meal served to you out there... check in at the entrance to the restaurant just like you wanted to be seated inside, and then tell them you want to be seated outside in the courtyard. If you don't do that, they won't know you're out there... and won't send a waiter or waitress out to take your order.

 

We found that we totally loved having breakfast outside in the courtyard of The Haven. It was always nice and warm outside at breakfast time... but not too warm. Breakfast always feels like it should be a very casual meal... and outdoor seating in the courtyard seemed just right for us. Back at home, thinking back on our vacation on the Norwegian Getaway, breakfasts outdoors in The Haven courtyard are among my favorite memories of the cruise.

 

At breakfast time, there's fresh fruit in The Haven courtyard, too...

 

 

 

Here's a typical breakfast we enjoyed outdoors in the courtyard...

 



Kellyn had a very sensible breakfast of yogurt with mixed fruit, and two gluten-free muffins.

I totally pigged-out with an omelet, potatoes, and pancakes.

A trick I've learned after so many cruises is to always bring along a small shaker of Lawry's seasoning salt.

 

One odd thing about breakfast in The Haven...

They had no idea what a Denver Omelet was! Their breakfast menu offers an omelet with your choice of several listed ingredients. Rather than tell my waitress that I wanted "an omelet with ham, onions, green bell peppers, and cheese" I thought it would be easier to just tell her that I wanted a Denver omelet. She had no idea what that was! That surprised me. Was I really the first person to ever ask for a Denver omelet in The Haven restaurant?!?

[Spaniel Lover]

Our Cabin

 

We stayed in cabin 14136. Hopefully, people who are booked in this cabin in the future will Google it and find this page... so they can see how wonderful it is! We totally LOVED it. The big selling point is the Jacuzzi bathtub, right next to the bed...

 

The bed was extremely comfortable... the best I've ever had on a cruise ship.

It's not two twins pushed together to make a king, either... so there's nothing goofy in the middle.

 

 

 



I'm including this photo of the cabin door sign

just to make this page even more "search engine friendly"

for anyone who might be staying in 14136 in the future.

 

 

 



Notice the blue glow light effect on the front of the tub

 

 

 



There's a window, so you can look out to the ocean while you're relaxing in the tub

 

A few things to know about the Jacuzzi tub...

 

It takes about twenty minutes to fill. When you're all done using it, drain it... just like you would a bath tub. Don't leave it full of water like you would an outdoor Jacuzzi. In the (very unlikely) event the ship hits some rough seas, you don't want water sloshing out of the tub and in to your cabin.

 

Make sure you don't turn on the jets until the tub is almost full. If you turn on the jets before all the jet nozzles are under at least an inch or two of water, the jets may spray water out in to your room and make a big mess! I did NOT learn this lesson the hard way... but my sister did, on a vacation many years ago! Her story has stuck with me all these years.

[Spaniel Lover]

While you're away in the evening, the cabin steward turns down the bed,

closes the curtains, and sets the lighting down low to set a mood for bed time

 

I'm sure that you can tell from the still photos that it was a nice cabin, but I bet you still don't fully get it. For you to really see what's so great about this cabin, I need to take you on a video tour...

 

[YOUTUBE]WOjvMcJTBvI[/YOUTUBE]

 

This category of cabin (H9) is known as a "Haven Spa Suite".

Haven... because it comes with full access to The Haven.

Spa... because it comes with full access to the spa facilities.

Suite... I don't know why!

 

Usually the word "suite" means there will be a bedroom separate from the living room.

But this was not the case with this cabin.

 

I don't mean to imply anything negative about this cabin. We LOVED it.

But I don't get why they call it a suite!

I guess they are using the term to simply indicate that it is better than a standard cabin.

 

 

Unless you're on a super-tight budget, don't ever consider booking an "inside" or even an "ocean-view" cabin. For the full experience, you have to get a balcony cabin. There's SO much to see! Here's a picture I snapped from our balcony as the ship sailed out of the port of Miami...

 

 

 

And here's a beautiful Caribbean sunset that I shot from our balcony...

 

 

A few final thoughts about our Haven Spa Suite cabin...

 

Because we had access to the Spa Thermal Suite, which had a gigantic thermal pool plus a large Jacuzzi, we only used the in-room Jacuzzi tub three times during the week. But it was really wonderful to have it those three times. The pool and Jacuzzi in the spa are larger and more comfortable... but there are times when it's nice to have the privacy of a no-suit-required Jacuzzi right there in your own room. It especially came in handy on the last night of the cruise. We wanted to spend some time soaking and relaxing on the last night of our vacation... but we didn't want to get our swim suits all wet before we had to pack them in our suitcases for the flight home. By having a private Jacuzzi in our own room, we were able to relax in a warm Jacuzzi without having to get our swim suits wet.

 

With all that said, when I think back about our cruise and the wonderful cabin we had, the Jacuzzi isn't actually the cabin feature I enjoyed the most. You might be surprised to hear what was. It was actually the modern, spacious bathroom. Having been on 25 previous cruises, I'm used to cruise ship cabin bathrooms being fairly tight. In fact, the biggest negative thing about both of the Princess cruises we've been on was the horribly uncomfortable tiny shower. This bathroom wasn't tight at all, though. In fact, it may have been larger than the one we have at home! It was certainly more comfortable and luxurious. (Not to mention that someone comes in twice a day and cleans it up!) If you skipped past the cabin tour video I shared a few moments ago, go back and play it and pay special attention to the tour of the bathroom. It was such a comfortable bathroom!

[Spaniel Lover]

The Thermal Suite in the Spa

 

Our "Haven Spa Suite" cabin entitled us to full access to the ship's spa facilities... and I was a little surprised to find that this was one of my favorite aspects of the cruise. We ended up spending a LOT of time in the "thermal suite" within the spa... which is what they call the area you see in the following pictures...

 

Daytime shot of the thermal pool

 

The best part of the thermal suite is the big indoor pool area you see in the first picture. I had seen pictures of it before our cruise and I assumed that the Jacuzzi with the white border, over on the left side, would be warm and that the main pool itself, in the back, would be the temperature of a regular swimming pool. Wrong! The water in the whole thing is like what you would expect in a Jacuzzi. It was wonderfully warm! It was so luxurious to have such a large pool filled with such warm water. I've never been in such a large warm pool before. Normally, no homeowner or hotel owner would want to pay the heating bills involved in keeping such a large pool that warm. But normal rules don't necessarily apply on cruise ships!

 

Before the cruise, in viewing pictures of this area of the ship, I also couldn't really figure out what that area on the lower right was. A second Jacuzzi? Or what? It turns out that it's a little like a regular Jacuzzi, but a little different. Instead of the force of the water coming horizontally out the sides of it, there are tremendously powerful bubbles coming up vertically from the floor. It's really turbulent in there! It's kind of fun to sit in there and fight the force of the bubbles for a while... but you probably won't want to fight it for long. After a few minutes in there, you'll find just relaxing in the main section of the pool is a lot more comfortable. All the whirlpool jets are on a timer... so after a while they all shut off... and they only come back on if someone pushes the button there along the side of the pool.

 

Night time shot of the spa's thermal suite

 

Just outside of the big warm indoor pool is the row of tile loungers that you see in the photo above. What you can't tell from the photo is that those tile loungers are heated! It feels nice to have the heat from the tiles against your skin as you stretch out and relax there. See those windows to the right of the photo? They have a spectacular view! This entire area sits directly above the ship's bridge... and those windows look out forward in front of the ship... basically the same view the Captain and navigation crew have. It's a great view during the day.

 

 

In addition to those heated tile loungers, there's also a bunch of these soft padded loungers in this area. Those tile loungers take a little getting used to... the heat is great, but the tile makes it very rigid. Depending on your body size, you may or may not fit the contour of the tile lounger well. What would happen with me after getting on to one of those tile loungers is that I would spend the first minute thinking how uncomfortable the stiff tile and rigid shape made it... but then after a minute or two the heat would work its magic and my body would relax and somehow mold itself in to the contour of the lounger. But if you can do without the heat... you can avoid that uncomfortable first minute by just using these soft loungers instead.

 

Note the towels on each lounger. At first glance you might tend to think that a "chair hog" was trying to reserve these loungers and that they were "taken". Not so. The staff puts a rolled-up towel on each one. If you see a towel that's not neatly rolled up... THAT'S a chair hog in action.

 

Now I'd like to offer a few words to future guests of the Norwegian Getaway who may be reading this now... a few words which, I hope, will help promote considerate behavior when spending time in the spa:

 

<rant>

There are a very limited number of those heated tile loungers, and everyone that gets out of the pool, Jacuzzi, or sauna wants to use one. Don't be a tile lounger hog. There aren't enough of them to allow you to reserve one for when you eventually get out of the sauna or the pool... so don't stash your bath robe, beach bag, sunglasses, or towels here. If you need a place to stash your stuff while you're in the pool... look around... there are other places you can put them. The heated tile loungers are there to be used... not to be used as a table for your stuff while you're in the sauna or the pool.

</rant>

[Spaniel Lover]

Sauna

 

A sauna is a fairly standard feature in a cruise ship spa. One unusual thing the Norwegian Getaway's spa has is a salt room. They say that the salty air in the room is good for your skin.

 

Salt Room

 

They recommend that you spend about 20 minutes in the salt room. I tried it out, and found it to be a comfortable place to relax and cool down after getting quite hot in the sauna, Jacuzzi, and thermal pool. The salt room was kept at what seemed like a fairly normal temperature and humidity... so it was a nice change from the heat and humidity of the other rooms within the thermal suite. However, I can't say that I noticed any benefit to my skin condition. It just seemed like another one of those unsubstantiated claims that you tend to hear a lot in a cruise ship spa. Luckily, this one did not come with a sales pitch or a price to be paid!

 

This photo shows where the entrance to the salt room is

in relation to the loungers and the windows at the front of the ship.

The entrance to the salt room has those big glowing gold-colored panels on either side.

 

The big thermal pool has a very powerful waterfall feature in the center. I enjoyed getting under the waterfall and letting the pressure of the water massage my shoulder and back. Just be careful if you're in the pool and you see someone else head to the waterfall like they're going to get under it. It splashes water around when they're under it... so back off and leave a little buffer zone between you and them so you don't get splashed.

 

 

[Spaniel Lover]

The thermal suite within the spa has limited access. Only people staying in spa cabins, and a limited number of people who purchase a spa pass, will have access to this area. So, it tends to be pretty calm and peaceful in there. With that said, though, there are certain times when it's busier than others. On sea days, of course, it's far busier in the thermal suite than on a port day. We came in for a relaxing soak in the pool on the evening that the ship had been in St Maarten. I guess everybody was so tired from having fun in St Maarten that they just crashed in their rooms that night. Or perhaps the entertainment was so good, that they had better things to do that evening. In any case, the thermal suite was empty that evening and Kellyn and I felt like super-rich snobs with our own private thermal suite. It was great.

 

Kellyn hides in the shadowy corners of the big thermal pool while I snap a picture of the waterfall feature

 

 

 



Kellyn relaxes on one of the heated tile loungers (far right)

while I shoot yet another photo of our practically private spa

 

 

The changing facilities and locker rooms within the Norwegian Getaway's spa are really nice.

It made me think about some of the more cramped locker rooms I had seen on Carnival.

By comparison, these facilities were really spacious and comfortable.

The lockers were very easy to use, too... you just punch in a 4-digit code of your own choosing.

 



Men's Locker Room

 

 

 



Notice that they provide hair dryers in the changing facilities

[Spaniel Lover]

The Free-Fall Water Slide

 

As someone who's done a lot of cruises with Carnival, it was really interesting to see the many ways that NCL has surpassed Carnival with the Norwegian Getaway... and how, in some respects, Carnival's ships seem a little out of date to me now. One example is in comparing waterslides. The Norwegian Getaway offers, by a wide margin, the best array of water slides at sea.

 

Sure, Carnival was the first to offer a vertical-drop water slide on a cruise ship... and at the time, it was amazing and impressive. But not only does the Norwegian Getaway now have one of its own... it has TWO... plus three other curvy slides, too. So, that's FIVE waterslides on one ship... which I believe is two more than any Carnival ship has, and four more than most.

 

The other strange thing about Carnival, as far as waterslides are concerned, is how they took one of only two ships with a vertical-drop slide and sent it to Australia. So, as far as us Americans are concerned, there's only one remaining Carnival ship with a decent waterslide on it. For the bread-and-butter of Carnival's fleet... the Conquest-class and most of the Spirit-class ships... you've just got one very pokey little waterslide on the ship. Not impressive when compared to the five waterslides on Getaway, five on Breakaway, and who-knows-what coming up on the Norwegian Escape next year. So, consider me a fan of what NCL is doing in this area.

 

It's kind of ironic for me to be poking fun at Carnival over waterslides, since several of my Carnival cruises were paid for by ad revenue generated by

! The video went viral on YouTube, with over 30,000,000 views so far, and the ad revenue from monetizing that video has definitely contributed to my ability to cruise so often. Always hoping to create yet another viral YouTube video, I spent some time one afternoon shooting video of people going down the Norwegian Getaway's Free-Fall slide. It was funny to hear them scream when the floor dropped out from under them... and I really laughed when the ride attendant told me that he often dreams of people screaming! Take a look at the video, and do be sure to have your sound turned on...

 

[YOUTUBE]v5uC2hbsKpo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Spaniel Lover]

Entertainment

 

Now let's take a look at some of the entertainment available on the Norwegian Getaway. I guess one way to illustrate the vast number of entertainment options is to admit that during my 7-day cruise there was simply not enough time to experience it all. I never made it to Burn The Floor, Legally Blonde - The Musical, or Howl At The Moon. There were just not enough hours in the day to experience it all... and that's a good problem to have on a cruise ship.

 

But let's cover some of the things I did have time for... and I'll start with what I'd say was flat-out the best entertainment I ever experienced on a cruise ship: it's something totally unique to the Norwegian Getaway called "The Illusionarium".

 

I've seen magic & illusion shows on Carnival and they've always been good... but what happens in the Illusionarium on the Norwegian Getaway is in a totally different league. It starts with the fact that the Illusionarium, and by that I mean the theater itself, was built specifically for this show and this show only. Nothing else ever takes place in the Illusionarium... it's not a multi-purpose room. It exists solely for this particular show.

 

Photography and videography are not allowed during the show, so I was only able to take a couple of pictures before the show began. A careful look at the following photo will reveal a few special aspects of the Illusionarium and the show that takes place there.

 

 

In the lower portion of the photo you can see the circular-shaped stage where the show takes place. Notice that wrapping around the stage are people seated at tables. The Illusionarium is a dinner theater. They serve a pretty decent surf-and-turf dinner along with the show. I think the fact that they built a theater just for this show, and that they went to the trouble of making it a dinner theater and not just a straight magic show, illustrates how NCL wanted to really make this something special. I think they've succeeded!

 

Another thing to point out in that photo is the thing that looks like a dome over the stage. Those are actually video screens, and what happens up there on those screens will change to match things throughout the show. It's pretty cool. At this point, before the show had actually started, it was just made to look like a glass dome over the stage.

 

What happens in the Illusionarium is far from just an ordinary magic show. The show involves four magicians, plus a cast of several other actors and actresses who assist. I don't want to give it away... there's a storyline that forms the basis for all the illusions during the show... and all I'm going to say about it is that if you ever cruise on Norwegian Getaway, do yourself a big favor and go see this show!

 

One thing I am willing to give away about the show is that if you arrive early enough to be seated during the first 5 or 10 minutes that the theater is open, you'll see an unusual sight. For the first five minutes or so, every visible waiter and actor pretends to be frozen in place! In this next photo, you can see one of the actresses up on stage... and she stood dead still like that for a good five minutes or so. Frozen in place! Throughout the room, there were waiters and waitresses that all appeared to be frozen in place while in the middle of doing their normal routine. And then, after five minutes or so, all together to some silent cue that I couldn't detect, everyone came back to life! It was quirky and whimsical... and just a taste of the fun that would unfold during the show ahead.

 

 

I was totally delighted by both the show itself and the food they served. I had read some negative comments here on Cruise Critic about the food... and that surprised me, given how much I enjoyed it. I was also fortunate to have the best seat in the house! One of the perks of being a guest of The Haven is that you get priority seating at many of the shows onboard... including in the Illusionarium. Rather than standing in line outside the Illusionarium like the other passengers did before the show, Haven guests were asked to meet at the concierge desk in The Haven. Then, the concierge walked us (there were about 10 of us) over to a special crew-only elevator and we went down to the Illusionarium and entered via a special entrance which bypassed the line outside the theater. From there we were escorted to the best seats right next to the stage. Once we were seated, the other guests were allowed to enter.

 

Later that evening, perhaps an hour or so after the show, something very unexpected and totally delightful happened to us! We decided to head to the buffet at the Garden Café on Lido deck to have some dessert. Much to my surprise, two of the actors from the Illusionarium show were sitting at a table having some dinner... and one of them was the lead character from the show, who plays the part of "Geoffrey" and who acts as the host and master of ceremonies. I later found out that his real name is Bruce Gold.

 

Comedian/Magician Bruce Gold

If you're of a certain age, you may remember

 

On the one hand, I didn't want to mess up Bruce's dinner... especially since the actress he was dining with was drop-dead gorgeous and if I had been dining with her I certainly wouldn't have wanted anyone butting in! But on the other hand, I just HAD to let him know that he had made a big impression on us and that we had been completely delighted with the show. So, I politely interrupted and told them how much we had both enjoyed the show that evening. Bruce is a super-friendly guy, and it was easy to tell from his body language that he didn't mind the interruption at all. In fact, he seemed to encourage the conversation. So, Bruce and I chatted for a few minutes. It was really a fun chat. Both of our lovely companions were content to just observe and listen, though! If it had been up to me, I would have sat down and chatted with Bruce for 15 or 20 minutes... but I knew that would have been rude... so after a few minutes, we left Bruce and his companion to have their dinner.

 

I spent much of the rest of the evening thinking about all the things I would have loved to have asked Bruce if I had been able to have more time with him. So, imagine my delight when, later in the week, I noticed an item in the Freestyle Daily newsletter about a question-and-answer session with the Illusionarium cast, to be held in the atrium. There was no way I was going to miss that!

 

A Q&A session in the atrium, with some of the cast members from the Illusionarium

 

The cast made a few opening remarks and then they opened it up to questions from the audience. I was bursting at the seams, and got the opportunity to ask the first question. Bruce indicated that he recognized me from the other night, and then the cast took my question (about how often things go wrong during the show) and ran with it. It was fun. I could have easily asked ten other questions... but that would have been rude, so I shut up for the rest of the Q&A so everyone else could have a chance to get their question in. When the audience finally ran out of questions, several of the magicians did a few illusions. I included one of my favorites... where Bruce impersonates one of the other magician's making a bird appear from nowhere, and then reveals how the trick works by showing that the very real-looking bird was actually a fake... in

I showed you at the top of this page.

 

One thing I learned during the Q&A session was that NCL will not be putting an Illusionarium on their upcoming new ship, the Norwegian Escape... nor do they plan to add an Illusionarium to any other ship in the fleet. They want it to remain a unique feature of the Norwegian Getaway. I can't wait to see what kind of interesting improvements the Norwegian Escape does have! I definitely plan to sail on her.

[cmdchiefthom]

:DGreat start, you have my attention, and the pictures are absolutely fantastic

[Spaniel Lover]

That Q&A session in the atrium was just one of many interesting things that happened there in the atrium throughout the day. It's an interesting space that they put to good use... far better than Carnival gets out of their big atriums. In this next picture, of pianist Chris Wade entertaining a small group of folks in the atrium, you can see how the atrium curves around and how there's seating up on the next level that provides a good view of what's happening below.

 

Chris Wade entertains at the piano in the atrium

 

They also use the atrium for some things like trivia contests, dance classes, and game shows. I thought this was an interesting use of the space, rather than tying up the main theater with things like that, and it has the added benefit of catching the attention of people just walking by who might not have had any intention of catching the show or activity.

 

One of the things we enjoyed seeing in the atrium was the "Newlywed Not-So-Newlywed" game... a concept we've seen used on just about every one of the 26 cruises we've been on. It's always good for a laugh or two, and I was curious to see how NCL did it compared to the format I was used to on Carnival. Turns out that it was pretty similar.

 

 

Now I have to go on a little rant here for a minute, because the picture of the Newlywed game brings up one aspect of our cruise that was less than perfect.

 

<rant>

See the guy in the hat, hosting the show? That's JC Sanchez, Cruise Director of the Norwegian Getaway.

 

From my experiences with Carnival, I knew that when Carnival rolls out a new ship, they fill it with their best crew members, including whoever they think is their best Cruise Director. I expected, when sailing on the newest ship in the NCL fleet, to be wowed by a great Cruise Director. It was one of just a few areas where they didn't meet or exceed my expectations!

 

I don't know if JC Sanchez was just filling in while their main guy was on vacation... or what... but he sure didn't seem like "best CD in the fleet" material to me. Surely, they must have better! Oh well, that's OK... if the Norwegian Getaway had to fall a little flat in one area... that's probably one of the better areas to fall flat in. (And one of the easiest to fix: NCL please send JC somewhere a little less visible... like the Norwegian Spirit!)

</rant>

 

Back to the Newlywed game show...

Perhaps you've seen the show before on another cruise. The idea is to pick three couples from the audience: one who have only been married for a few days, one who have been married for somewhere around 20-25 years, and one who have been married for upwards of 50. The youngest and oldest couples are fairly easy to pick... you just start asking the audience who's been married for the least amount of time and who's been married FOREVER. It's the middle couple that's a little trickier to pick. The host usually does some kind of audition to try to find a lively couple who seem like they'll be fun on stage. On the Norwegian Getaway, they used an imaginary scene from the movie "Tarzan" and had the couples act it out. The wife says something like "Tarzan, Tarzan... where ARE you?!?" and the husband replies with his best

. Whoever hams their part up the best, gets chosen to be in the show.

 

So, there we were, sitting in the audience of the Newlywed game show, watching people audition with the Tarzan & Jane bit... when we heard them introduce one couple as "Brian and Heidi". This rang a little bell in my head... as I had seen the names Brian & Heidi before. You know how on a cruise, some people will decorate the outside of their cabin door with artwork? Just down the hall from our cabin, I had seen a cabin door with a fake porthole and the names Brian & Heidi. So now here were Brian & Heidi up on stage, doing the Tarzan & Jane thing to try to get in to the Newlywed game. Figuring there probably weren't two couples by the names of Brian & Heidi on our ship, I assumed it was our neighbors. I just made a mental note of it, in case some day during the cruise I might see them popping in or out of their cabin... and I could do a little Tarzan yell to make them laugh and let them know I had seen them on stage.

 

After that, every time I walked by their cabin door and saw their names on the sign, I laughed and thought how the sign should really be modified to say Tarzan & Jane rather than Brian & Heidi. Not wanting to permanently deface their sign, I came up with a simple way to make my little joke, and hopefully give them a laugh:

 

 

So, Brian and Heidi, if someday you stumble across this page and read this story... you'll finally learn the answer to the mystery of who defaced your door sign! It was me, your neighbor from down the hall.

 

I guess they must have thought it was funny, because they left the post-it notes on the sign for the entire duration of the cruise!

[Spaniel Lover]

In a couple of the previous pictures, you saw the big video screen in the atrium. There were a couple of others on the ship, too. Here's one at the far aft end of the ship, in the outdoor area known as Spice H2O. By day, Spice H2O is a quiet adults-only area similar to Carnival's Serenity Deck. At night, it becomes party central... similar to how they have outdoor deck parties by the main pool at night on a Carnival ship.

 

 

They also use big video screens in their main theater, where they do the Welcome Aboard Show, Burn The Floor, and Legally Blonde - The Musical. It's similar to how they use big video screens on Carnival ships that are set up for the Playlist Productions shows.

 

 

[Spaniel Lover]

The Grammy Experience

 

Here's another example of where NCL has taken a simple Carnival concept like "let's create an intimate venue for musical acts" and taken it to a different level. The Grammy Experience is simply a small lounge with a stage and a bar, where a musical group plays to entertain guests who would like to listen to some good music. The NCL twist is that there's always one member of the band who has won a Grammy award for musical excellence... and the room is decorated with all sorts of interesting Grammy memorabilia.

 

 

The Grammy award winning musicians rotate in and out every few months. For our cruise, it was Grammy award winning blues harmonica player, Sugar Blue.

 

 

Kellyn and I are not really in to the blues, so we didn't stay around real long... but we listened to a few songs and got a taste of his act. It was interesting to imagine what it would have cost to see an act like that at somewhere like the House Of Blues outside of Disneyland.

 

I did get a kick out of looking at all the Grammy memorabilia on the walls of the room. The most interesting piece to me was this set of costumes worn by the Jackson Five back in 1977 for a TV sketch. A photo of the group in those outfits was used on the cover of a greatest hits album that was released in Japan.

 

 

[Spaniel Lover]

Comedy

 

One of the things I always truly enjoy during a cruise is having the opportunity to see several good stand-up comedy acts. At home, in my real life, I'm a total homebody and would never go out to a comedy show. But on a cruise, it's one of the things I really enjoy. In my 20+ Carnival cruises, I always appreciated their emphasis on comedy and the way they would have four different comedians perform during a two week cruise.

 

Comedian Scott Henry in a performance in the Headliner comedy club on Norwegian Getaway

 

Earlier this year, during two cruises on Princess, it was interesting to see the different philosophies that Carnival and Princess use regarding the best way to present a comedy show.

 

On Carnival, they think comedy is best presented in a small comedy club. I've seen John Heald, Carnival's Senior Cruise Director, discuss this subject in his blog. The small comedy clubs on Carnival always fill up and it becomes impossible to get a seat. Guests complain that the shows should be held in the main theater, so that there would be ample seating. But on Carnival, their philosophy is that a comedian gives a better performance in a small room that's literally standing room only. The comedian see's that standing room only crowd and it makes him feel like he's a hit. It puts him in the right frame of mind to give a great show. Put the same number of people in a big theater, with the comedian looking out at a hundred empty seats along the outside walls and in the back, and the comedian sees all those empty seats and feels like a flop. It affects his performance.

 

On Princess, they look at it a different way. The philosophy is that the comedian is a pro, and he can give a good show whether there's 50 people in the audience or 500. What they totally want to avoid is making their guests mad... and I can tell you for sure that when you're on a Carnival cruise and you go to the comedy club a half hour early just to find any empty seat and there isn't a single one... it's going to make you mad! So, to avoid this, Princess puts their comedy shows on in their main theater. There are always plenty of seats. That's great for the audience, but the Carnival folks would tell you that it can mess with the mind of the performers. I'm pretty sure they're right about that, too... as I did notice at one of the comedy shows I saw in the main theater of the Sapphire Princess that the comedian made several comments about how badly he was bombing... and he really wasn't! I think those empty seats were indeed messing with his head.

 

So, that brings us to Norwegian. How does NCL do it? I was surprised and amused to find that they employ a hybrid approach to the problem. In other words, they do it both ways! They have some comedy shows in the small "Headliners Comedy Club" on deck six... and they also do a few shows in the big Getaway Theater. I never would have predicted that... but I think it's a great idea!

 

Comedian Flip Schultz in a performance in the Getaway Theater

 

There's one other thing about the comedy shows on Norwegian Getaway that I found particularly interesting compared to what I had seen on Princess and Carnival. On both of those lines, someone from the entertainment staff will host the comedy show. On Princess, I think it was the Cruise Director... who just opens the show with a few welcoming remarks and then introduces the comedian and gets off the stage. On Carnival, it's just some guy from the entertainment staff who gets designated as "the comedy club manager" and who starts the show off by reciting a few rules ("keep your table talk to a minimum!") and then gets off the stage after quickly introducing the comedian. On a couple of Carnival cruises, there have been super gung-ho comedy club managers who have padded their parts a little bit by telling a quick joke to warm up the crowd.

 

On the Norwegian Getaway, they once again went a step above what I was used to. The crew member assigned to open up the comedy show and introduce the main act was himself a professional comedian. And instead of doing a one-minute introduction and then getting off the stage, he did a good 10 minute comedy routine to open up the show and warm up the crowd. At the first comedy show we attended, I thought he was the main act! Imagine my surprise after ten minutes or so when he introduced the main act and headed off the stage. I thought it was a really great way to get the show started.

 

Comedy show host, James Ervin Berry

 

So, every comedy show that we attended on Norwegian Getaway began with James Ervin Berry. The shows in the Headliner Comedy Club featured James and one other act... the shows in the big Getaway Theater featured James and two other acts.

 

Just for the record... all of the comedians on NCL are provided by the Levity Entertainment Group.

[Spaniel Lover]

Crew Talent Show

 

I spotted a little blurb in the Freestyle Daily newsletter one day about a crew talent show in the Getaway Theater. I took my camera with me and shot some video of the show... and then edited down the video to just two minutes of highlights, to give you a little taste of what the crew talent show is like. It gives you an interesting look in to the diversity and cultures of some the ship's crew. Take a look...

 

[YOUTUBE]H_zozkGdjps[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Spaniel Lover]

Restaurants... Count 'Em Down!

 

NCL is fond of saying that there are 28 dining options on the Norwegian Getaway, so I thought it would be fun to see if I could come up with them all. I'm afraid that I could only name 24:

 

1. The Garden Café (buffet restaurant on Lido deck)
   
2. Taste (main dining room on deck six)
   
3. Savor (another main dining room on deck six)
   
4. The Tropicana Room (old Miami-style main dining room, including a dance floor and a live band)
   
5. O'Sheehan's (Irish pub) I'm guessing the name is a joke based on NCL CEO Kevin Sheehan's name
   
6. Room service
   
7. Flamingo Bar & Grill (Cuban food)
   
8. Officer's dinner (A drawing is held on the second sea day to choose who gets to dine with the ship's officers)
   
9. The Haven Restaurant (For guests of The Haven, only)
   
10. Wasabi Sushi A la carte pricing
    
11. Raw Bar (Fresh seafood) A la carte pricing
    
12. Shanghai's (Noodle bar) A la carte pricing
    
13. Dolce Gelato A la carte pricing
    
14. Carlo's Bake Shop A la carte pricing
    
15. Atrium Café A la carte pricing
    
16. Pizza delivery $5 extra charge
    
17. La Cucina (Italian restaurant) $15 per person extra charge
    
18. Le Bistro (French gourmet restaurant) $20 per person extra charge
    
19. Moderno (Brazilian steakhouse) $20 per person extra charge
    
20. Teppanyaki (Japanese restaurant) $25 per person extra charge
    
21. Wine Lovers - The Musical $25 per person extra charge
    
22. Cagney's (American steakhouse) $30 per person extra charge
    
23. Illusionarium (dinner theater) $39 per person extra charge
    
24. Ocean Blue (Gourmet seafood restaurant) $39 per person extra charge
    

I have a feeling that the way they come up with the 28 number is to count the outdoor dining areas of the four restaurants which offer seating on "the Waterfront" as unique dining options. That would be Cagney's On The Waterfront, Ocean Blue On The Waterfront, Moderno On The Waterfront, and La Cucina On The Waterfront. I think that's cheating! Same restaurant, same menu... the only difference being indoor and outdoor seating.

 

Notwithstanding my quibble with NCL about the ethics of padding their numbers by double-counting those four restaurants... I do want to say that I think one of the best things about the Norwegian Getaway is the wide variety of food choices onboard. Whether or not you like the food on your cruise ship makes a HUGE difference on your overall cruise experience. I learned this the hard way on the Norwegian Star in 2008... which had some nice things going for it, but by the end of the week I disliked the food so much that I would dread dinner each night.

 

Everyone's taste in food is different... and no one restaurant is going to please everyone. The key to keeping everyone happy is to offer a wide array of restaurants that cater to all sorts of different food tastes. That's why I've come to like the newer, larger ships... they seem to offer the most food choices... and that gives me lots of options and ensures that I can always find something I like.

[Spaniel Lover]

Food Porn

 

This is the part of my cruise review where I show you pictures of some of the things we ate during our cruise. Now, keep in mind that I'll be expressing some opinions based on my tastes in food... and that may be quite different than YOUR taste in food. So, enjoy the pictures and don't put too much credence on my opinions of the food... as my food tastes never evolved much past that of a 12-year-old boy.

 

Let's start with the kind of food that I absolutely HATE! This was my dinner in The Haven restaurant on the first night of the cruise. I really enjoyed my steak lunch in The Haven restaurant on the first afternoon... so I was excited to see what kind of a dinner they offered. It turns out that it's gourmet "foodie" food. Tiny little portions. Beautifully prepared. Art work on a plate. Worst meal I had on the entire cruise!

 

 

Neither of us liked the dinner menu in the Haven restaurant, so we never went back there for dinner after that first night. Now, if you're one of those "foodies"... you'd probably LOVE it. But we didn't!

 

So, The Haven restaurant wasn't our thing... but let me tell you what was. Oh my goodness... we had never been to a Brazilian steakhouse before! What a treat!

 

The appetizer...

Clam chowder and dinner rolls from

Moderno Churrascaria, the Brazilian steakhouse

 

 

 

The main course...



A plate full of all sorts of delicious meats from Moderno Churrascaria, the Brazilian steakhouse

 

 

 

There was also a gigantic salad bar.

This was just a small part of it...

 

So, Moderno Churrascaria, the Brazilian steakhouse, was a huge hit with us. We walked out of there totally satisfied and completely full. Too bad they don't have a Brazilian steakhouse back home... I'd be their best customer!

[Spaniel Lover]

Luckily for me, the Norwegian Getaway actually has a second steakhouse onboard. In addition to the Brazilian steakhouse, there's also Cagney's, a traditional American steakhouse. I totally enjoyed my meal at Cagney's, although I made a slight mistake when ordering. What I should have done was not order an appetizer... because it ended up being too much food! By the time I finished the sliders I ordered from the appetizer menu, I was well on my way to being full.

 

Sliders, from the appetizer menu at Cagney's steak house

 

 

 

Here's my entree from Cagney's...

 

For a steak lover like myself, you couldn't pick a better cruise ship than the Norwegian Getaway. Two onboard steakhouses, both of which offered a wonderful meal, perfectly prepared. Plus, I had also had a delicious steak for lunch on the first day in The Haven restaurant, and later in the week I had another steak in the Tropicana Room... although that one wasn't quite as good. All things considered, though, this carnivore was very satisfied. It was a far cry from a bad experience I had last year with a horrible steak in the steakhouse on the Carnival Sunshine.

[Spaniel Lover]

Now, let me tell you a little about the Tropicana Room... I have to say I really enjoyed myself there. I liked the menu and the food, and I totally loved the atmosphere of the place... with the huge vaulted ceiling and the live band and people dancing on the dance floor. Here are a few pictures...

 

 

 

So, the ambience of the Tropicana room was really nice, I liked the things they had on the menu and the food itself. We ate there twice... and if we had discovered it earlier in the week we might have ended up eating there three or four times. Of all the cruises we've been on, it was certainly one of my best main dining room experiences.

 

Lasagna, from the Tropicana room

 

 

Dessert...



Molten chocolate cake

The bad news is that it was not as good as Carnival's warm chocolate melting cake

and they also were slow in getting it to me, so the ice cream had melted.

The good news is that that's the only bad thing I can say about my Tropicana room experience!

 

I have to say, the Norwegian Getaway really impressed me as far as food and dining goes. We got off to a bit of a rocky start with that first dinner in The Haven restaurant, as I am not a "foodie" and don't like that gourmet style of cooking... but as the week went on and I got to know the other specialty restaurants onboard, I became more and more impressed. When I look back on the week and think about the dinners I had in the Tropicana room, the two steakhouses, plus the surf and turf at the Illusionarium... I just really enjoyed it. I'm a picky eater, and I've had trouble on cruises before. Norwegian Getaway definitely offered the best overall dinner experience I've had on a cruise. However... for lunch, I'd have to give the prize to Carnival, because I love those Guy Fieri burgers they serve and their pizza is pretty good, too.

 

There's one other aspect of the food and dining experience that we haven't talked about yet... and that's the dress code. It's so much more relaxed on Norwegian than on Carnival. I didn't really expect that... as I had always thought of Carnival as a pretty relaxed and casual cruise line. But NCL is even more so. On a 7-day Carnival cruise, there are two formal nights. Don't even think about wearing a pair of jeans to dinner anywhere but the buffet or the pizza place on those two nights. And if you go to the steakhouse, any night of the week, you better dress nice. That's Carnival. It turns out that NCL's freestyle concept is much more my style. Instead of having two mandatory formal nights, there's just one night... and you can dress up IF YOU WANT TO... or don't! It's up to you.

 

I prefer to dress very casually when I'm on vacation. So this quote, directly from the NCL dress code, makes me very happy:

 

We want you to be comfortable, so cruise casual attire is perfect for... most specialty restaurants.

For men, jeans, dress shorts, and casual shirts work nicely.

 

Read the full Norwegian Getaway dress code here

[Spaniel Lover]

All these food pictures have made me hungry!

 

My wife and I are going to head out and get some lunch. When we get back, in about an hour, I'll finish off this review.

 

This is your opportunity to make a few comments!

[youngestof9]

I'm absolutely loving the review. It's balanced and so well written and your pictures are great. I appreciate the Carnival comparison as well. Can't wait to read more - you have me very excited for next July!

[Bunnynme]

Great pictures and videos. We have a spa suite on the Getaway in December and cannot wait. We love the thermal suite on the Epic and are looking forward to the Getaway.