Review: Norwegian Getaway Aug 22 – 29, 2015

[t2limar]

We, a group of 11 people, had a fantastic time @ Getaway despite the change of itinerary to Jamaica and Cozumel. It’s my 4th cruise and have cruised at Disney, Carnival and NCL before.

 

Some thoughts:

 

1. We were informed of the itinerary change when we boarded. Just hope that we could be told earlier so that we could plan for our excursion and inform Coral World about the cancellation of the pre-booked Snuba diving activities.

 

2. We flew to FLL, landed at 10:30 am, and got picked up by SAS transportation at around 11:15 am. Excellent service and the big van was comfortable. We arrived at the port of Miami at around 11:45 and at around noon we were on the Ship. Amazing!

 

3. We booked 4 inside cabins at deck 14 near the aft elevators. Perfect location: quiet and convenient. The rooms were spacious with a plenty of space for storage.

 

4. Le Bistro was the only specialty restaurant we visited. Surprised to find that each of us could only order up to 2 appetizers, 1 main course and 2 desserts. I was hoping to get all the appetizers and skip the main course.

 

5. We did not partake at the UDP or UBP. We bought a few bottles of red wine on board and for each bottle we were charged $ 15 corkage fee as expected.

 

6. We loved having breakfast at Taste and dinner at Tropicana. We did try Savor two times though. Highly recommend: salmon bagel and egg benedict for breakfast, and lava cake for dessert. Prime ribs and spare ribs at O Sheehan should not be missed. Garden Café was always busy but we could always find a very nice area right above our cabins at the aft of deck

15 facing the ocean. Never had a problem to get 2 large tables for us.

 

7. Enjoyed the rope course and the H2O area. Never had to line up for too long and H2O was never full. The swimming pool area was far too crowded.

 

8. We liked both Burn the Floor and Legally Blonde. Legally Blonde did exceed my expectations as I thought it could be boring. The farewell show was also well done. Our children enjoyed the comedy shows and we love HOWL at the Moon, which should be done at the Theatre instead of Headliners. We found the Grammy Experience just so so.

 

9. The atrium was always crowded. NCL should have moved some game shows to the theatre.

 

10. The towel exchange system was a joke.

 

11. What was the most disappointing was the iconcierge app! It did not work most of the time. We gave it up at Day 3.

 

12. Service in general was excellent. We did not even meet our room steward but were satisfied with her/his service. We sometimes left him/her a note and our requests were always well taken care of.

 

13. It’s such a nice touch of NCL to provide cold water and towels when we returned to the shop from excursion.

 

14. We visited the Dunns Forest Falls and Dophlin Cove at Jamaica (through NCL). If I were told ahead of time of the itinerary change, I could have done more research and gone there on our own. At Cozumel, we took a taxi to the Chankannah park; HIGHLY recommend. Admission fee was $ 21 ppl and it was WELL worth it. At Bahamas, we took Bus #10 to Melia resort and spent 4 hours there. It was just OK. Cost: $ 35 ppl

 

15. We took over 1000 pictures ourselves and purchased 100 portraits and shared by the 3 families. There were professional photographers everywhere.

 

We feel thankful for good weather and a great time @ Getaway.

[bradleyk]

Thanks for sharing!

[NLH Arizona]

4. Le Bistro was the only specialty restaurant we visited. Surprised to find that each of us could only order up to 2 appetizers, 1 main course and 2 desserts. I was hoping to get all the appetizers and skip the main course.

 

Thanks for your review.

 

Were you also able to order 1 side, like a potato or vegetable or both?

 

I really think they should have accommodated you, since you weren't having a main course. Possibly, when they go a la carte, it will be cost effective to just order appetizers without a main course. It looks like they are trying to control those that order everything on the menu.

[t2limar]

The main course came back some veggies.

 

It's in fact OK to have a limit. I was disappointed only because I did not expect that. The manager told us that the new policy was implemented two months ago.

 

The size of the appetizers was smaller than what I saw on some of the posts. Eg: I got 2 scallops instead of 3.

 

Guess they are cutting the cost.

[Cruise-mom]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, glad you had a great trip.

[lwrandall]

Welcome back... So why was the towel exchange a joke? Don't' tease us with that bomb and not sharing why[emoji3].

[luvtovaca]

Welcome back... So why was the towel exchange a joke? Don't' tease us with that bomb and not sharing why[emoji3].

 

I am wondering this also. We were on Getaway in July and never had any towel exchange problems.:confused:

[t2limar]

Towel exchange system:

 

I really don't like the way that you have to bring your dirty towels from your stateroom all the way to the pool area to exchange it for a clean one.

 

I would like to wrap myself with a clean towel on the way to the pool.

But you don't get a clean one until you get there.

 

I do understand that NCL would want to make sure everyone returns the towel. Yet, can't they allow the steward to give you a clean pool towel when they find the pool towel on the washroom floor (treating it the same way as the white towel) so that guests can use a clean pool towel?

 

Am I too picky? :confused:

[OneParticularHarbour 71]

We were on this cruise too!

 

I didn't like having to try to keep track of the towels either but both of our room stewards would replace them when they cleaned the cabins if I left them on the bathroom floor with the other towels. On a couple of occasions, one steward forgot to leave new ones when he took the dirty ones but when I asked them for them, he brought them right in. At the end of the cruise, we actually ended up with extra pool towels because he would leave new ones in the room when he cleaned, even if the towels weren't in the cabin when he came in because we had them with us at the pool.

 

I found it annoying having to keep track of them with the kids, etc. but it turned out we ended up with extras in the end.

 

Sounds like they are not consistent in how they are handled. :confused:

Edited September 6, 2015 by OneParticularHarbour 71

[Gregor4500]

We, a group of 11 people, had a fantastic time @ Getaway despite the change of itinerary to Jamaica and Cozumel. It’s my 4th cruise and have cruised at Disney, Carnival and NCL before.

 

Some thoughts:

 

 

4. Le Bistro was the only specialty restaurant we visited. Surprised to find that each of us could only order up to 2 appetizers, 1 main course and 2 desserts. I was hoping to get all the appetizers and skip the main course.

 

 

Wow, does soup count as an app? I like to get the mushroom soup, mussels and escargot . Sometimes scallops too.

[t2limar]

Soup was counted as one of the appetizers. Each of us ended up ordering two apps, 1 main course and 2 desserts.

 

[t2limar]

I just took a pic of all seven dallies with my cell phone.

Not sure how to attach them.

Hope it works.

 

Day 1 dallies a.pdf

 

Day 1 dallies b.pdf

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2015 by t2limar

[Gregor4500]

Soup was counted as one of the appetizers. Each of us ended up ordering two apps, 1 main course and 2 desserts.

 

 

That's really disappointing. I'm fine with just one entree. I guess they are also counting salad as an app? If so, that means you can no longer have a five course meal. Soup, salad, appetizer, main course and dessert.

[t2limar]

gregor4500, I highly recommend you consider Les Quartre Cornets for appetizer at Le Bristo. it's creative and quite yummy. I would have skipped the chocolate fondue for dessert as it's rather disappointing.

[Gregor4500]

gregor4500, I highly recommend you consider Les Quartre Cornets for appetizer at Le Bristo. it's creative and quite yummy. I would have skipped the chocolate fondue for dessert as it's rather disappointing.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. If I'm allowed, I will.

 

BTW, I started another thread on this quoting you. I was surprised I was the only one on this thread bothered by this.

[SwissLe]

Towel exchange system:

 

I really don't like the way that you have to bring your dirty towels from your stateroom all the way to the pool area to exchange it for a clean one.

 

I would like to wrap myself with a clean towel on the way to the pool.

But you don't get a clean one until you get there.

 

I do understand that NCL would want to make sure everyone returns the towel. Yet, can't they allow the steward to give you a clean pool towel when they find the pool towel on the washroom floor (treating it the same way as the white towel) so that guests can use a clean pool towel?

 

Am I too picky? :confused:

 

I always dry off and then swap my towel before leaving the pool deck, then carry a clean one back to the cabin. Is that me being a male and not understanding the strife of having damp kids?

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for your review.

 

Were you also able to order 1 side, like a potato or vegetable or both?

 

I really think they should have accommodated you, since you weren't having a main course. Possibly, when they go a la carte, it will be cost effective to just order appetizers without a main course. It looks like they are trying to control those that order everything on the menu.

 

Have I missed something? Have read about Cagney's going a la carte but not Le Bistro.

[skittl1321]

That's really disappointing. I'm fine with just one entree. I guess they are also counting salad as an app? If so, that means you can no longer have a five course meal. Soup, salad, appetizer, main course and dessert.

 

Based on their reports, it sounds like you can have a 5 course meal if you are willing to go with this plan:

 

Soup, salad, main course, dessert, and second dessert.

 

 

As someone who likes appetizers, but not dessert- this is kind of a sad change. I really need to get onto NCL before they go ala carte. I don't see myself enjoying that!

[TonyFred]

I just took a pic of all seven dallies with my cell phone.

Not sure how to attach them.

Hope it works.

 

[ATTACH]361740[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]361741[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]361743[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]361744[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]361745[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]361746[/ATTACH]

 

Would love to see the rest if you can attach the PDF files. The pics are too small to read but the PDFs are ok. Thanks for posting.

[t2limar]

day 2 a.pdf

 

day 2 b.pdf

 

Please find Day 2 attached.

I wish I knew how to attach large pictures without exceeding the size limits. Any clues please?