Impressions of our Getaway 10/3-10/10

[Poop_Deck]

Just got home after spending a week on the Getaway. This was a (40th) Birthday celebration for my husband. We traveled with our son (6) and 3 other family members. In summary, we had a fantastic time! I will break things down into sub-categories below. I am more than happy to answer any questions you may have!

 

The ship: The Getaway is beautiful- and one of the cleanest ships I have been on. Every day we saw crew shining, painting, staining, scrubbing, etc. I enjoyed the dark wood tones and color palate. After reading reviews about the layout of the ship, I was concerned it would feel closed in- especially having last sailed on a few RCI ships with the Promenade. This was not the case. While having to walk through the Casino with kids to get to a few places was not ideal, it wasn't a major problem (my 6 year old was like "Mom- look at those gigantic video games" Lol!). The only deck I really smelled the smoke was on 7.

 

 

The room:We were in an Aft-Facing Penthouse Suite (12304)-I highly recommend this room if you can get it! The layout is great...and that balcony was out of this world! Our other family members were in the connecting room, so able to share in the beautiful views off our giant balcony. :D Our room steward was Wilson Fernando, and he was probably the best we have encountered. We made him one of our Vacation Hero's.

 

 

The food: I will break this down into 3 sections: Haven, included dining & specialty dining.

 

Haven- We ate dinner here the first night of the cruise. Our meal was very good. I had duck and my husband the filet (which we heard came from Cagney's). As we were traveling with family who were not in the Haven, this is the only time we ate dinner here. We did have some early morning and mid-day snacks that were fine. The fruit infused water out by the pool was very refreshing.

 

MDR/other included dining:

The Tropicana room was our favorite of the MDR. Food was tasty and service was very good. We enjoyed the music, and the kids were able to get up and dance which was a nice distraction for them.

We had 1 breakfast & 1 dinner each in Savor and O'Sheehans. We found the breakfast service in both locations to be very slow. It took 45 minutes after ordering to get our food in Savor, and about 20 in O'Sheehans. When we did get our food in Savor, we were missing a few items- but were too hungry to make a fuss at that point. Dinner service in Savor was much better. The food itself was average- certainly not bad, but did not knock my socks off either. I did not care for the menu in O'Sheehans, but other's with us thought it was fine. I ordered the Chef Salad (which was listed as a meal), and while it tasted fine it was the size of a side salad. No worries, though. There were enough snacks in our room to keep me plenty full:) We also ate at the buffet (which I found to be better than other buffets I have encountered with regards to choices) and Flamingo Grill (delicious).

 

Specialty dining: We received 3 complimentary meals as part of our booking (we booked well before all the new promotions came out). We chose to eat at Le Bistro, Moderno & Cagney's and were not disappointed. I'm pretty sure my

husband still has the "meat sweats" from his Moderno birthday dinner, lol!

 

 

The Entertainment: This is where NCL excels! The entertainment on this ship was far better than the RCI & Carnival ships we have been on. Burn the Floor & Wine Lovers: The Musical were great shows. Howl at the Moon should not be missed! We, unfortuanately missed our reservation for Legally Blonde:eek:

 

Overall impression: We enjoyed our time on the Getaway! My husband commented more than once that for the number of people on the ship, he never felt it was over crowded. We never had to wait for a meal or a drink. We look forward to sailing the Escape next year!

 

Thanks for reading!

Tracy

[missintuitive]

Thanks for the review! Just one question, did Cagney's go al la carte on 10/3? Am I mixing getaways with another ship? If so, what was the pricing structure? Thanks again!

 

 

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[Poop_Deck]

Thanks for the review! Just one question, did Cagney's go al la carte on 10/3? Am I mixing getaways with another ship? If so, what was the pricing structure? Thanks again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm sorry I can't answer your question...we had a complimentary dinner at Cagney's we did not have to pay anything a la carte.

[Selluks]

Thanks for the review! Just one question, did Cagney's go al la carte on 10/3? Am I mixing getaways with another ship? If so, what was the pricing structure? Thanks again!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Cagney's is not supposed to go al a carte until January.

[marilynd]

Thanks for the review. My DH and I are on the Getaway on Halloween.

 

Who is the concierge on Getaway?

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise

[samiam0403]

Thanks for the review! Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. I'm sailing in a forward-facing penthouse on the Getaway in January and can't wait! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I got the impression that you didn't spend much time in the Haven? If/when you did, how was it having your cabin outside the Haven? This is my first time on a newer NCL ship with one, and I'm reading a lot of reviews from people who aren't fans of being outside the Haven. Not really worried about it, just curious. :)

[Poop_Deck]

Thanks for the review. My DH and I are on the Getaway on Halloween.

 

Who is the concierge on Getaway?

 

Thanks for your reply

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise

 

Hi There!

 

Our concierge was John D'Souza (not sure if that is spelled correctly). I know that there were many crew that were disembarking the Getaway after this week as they had completed their time...I am not sure if he is one of them, though!

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise:D

[Poop_Deck]

Thanks for the review! Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. I'm sailing in a forward-facing penthouse on the Getaway in January and can't wait! Correct me if I'm wrong, but I got the impression that you didn't spend much time in the Haven? If/when you did, how was it having your cabin outside the Haven? This is my first time on a newer NCL ship with one, and I'm reading a lot of reviews from people who aren't fans of being outside the Haven. Not really worried about it, just curious. :)

 

 

We did not spend too much time in the Haven- but it was not because of the location of our suite! We have a 6 yo son and were traveling with family outside of the Haven so most of our time was spent outside at the pools/slides/sports areas.

 

It was not a far walk to get to the Haven proper when we did go. It is a wonderful place to "hide" from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the ship! Very peaceful and relaxing. It did get pretty windy up on the pool deck, though, so be careful about leaving t-shirts/cover-ups etc out. I had to chase down my empty drink cup one afternoon:)

 

We only saw our Butler about 1x/day (unless we had called for something), which I assume is less than one would see them if the cabin was right in the Haven. Not an issue for us as there wasn't much we really asked for from him (we felt very awkward about that:eek:)

 

I'm happy to answer any other questions you may have! I hope you have a wonderful trip!

[mianmike]

Thanks for the review. We were on the same cruise; in fact we were your next door neighbors in cabin 12306. Our family had three aft cabins in a row. We also had Wilson as our room steward and thought he did a fine job. I didn’t realize the penthouse suites had connecting cabins . . . what a great perk for larger families. We loved the ship and the crew, our only gripe was we couldn’t get the iconcierge app to reliably work for text messaging. Too bad the firework show was discontinued by NCL as your balcony would have been the perfect venue to watch the show. Next Getaway cruise we’ll be in the Haven, we are really looking forward to it. Hope to see the butler more than you saw him.

[Jaco5NC]

Glad you had a great week! We were also on the same sailing and had an amazing time! We had a few concerns after reading reviews/complaints but found none of them to be true. We were not in a Haven cabin, we were in a large balcony (9130) and thought it was awesome. I can't wait to sail again!:D

[escentialssoycandles]

So with the UBP did you find that Wine Lovers Musical was worth the upcharge? My boyfriend and I love wine, but we were debating paying $60 to go see a show if our drinks are already free on board. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[Goldielocks222]

Hi,

 

Would you mind elaborating on your experience with your son? Our son will be 5 if we sail again and we just sailed on Disney Magic for the first time. He loved the twist and spout slide (kids under 48 in), the ice cream available any time of day and the kids club.

 

How did your son like it? What were his favorite things about the cruise? What things was he able to do (or not able to do) at his age/height? How about the slides, were there height requirements? Did you use the kids club, and if so were you comfortable with the counselors and were there enough activities for him to partake in? We only did it for 2 hours on Disney, but my son loved it, so we might let him go a little more on the next cruise. We are just a little apprehensive to leave him.

 

If you have been on another cruise with your son, can you compare the differences related to his experiences?

 

The Disney prices are getting so extreme now, we are looking into NCL and RC. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem like a lot my son can do on RC right now between age/height requirements. I hate to walk by attractions and say no, you're not big enough yet.

 

Also, if there's anything else I didn't ask that you can think of, I would appreciate it!

 

Thank you in advance!!

[Poop_Deck]

So with the UBP did you find that Wine Lovers Musical was worth the upcharge? My boyfriend and I love wine, but we were debating paying $60 to go see a show if our drinks are already free on board. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

We did not have the UBP (unfortunately). We had booked this cruise in June 2014 before all of the free promotions came out (and it would have cost us over $6,000 more to cancel & rebook with those "free" promotions:eek:).

 

You get 3 whites, 2 reds and a sparking wine- all with a pretty decent pour. The food was pretty good: arugula with duck salad, surf & turf for main meal and mocha cheesecake for dessert. For me the food/drink itself was worth the charge. The show was fun as well. It was very predictable, but a cute way to impart all of the wine "education" you would get at a regular tasting. My sister did have the UBP and did not complain at all re: the upcharge. Hope that helps:o

[Poop_Deck]

Hi,

 

Would you mind elaborating on your experience with your son? Our son will be 5 if we sail again and we just sailed on Disney Magic for the first time. He loved the twist and spout slide (kids under 48 in), the ice cream available any time of day and the kids club.

 

How did your son like it? What were his favorite things about the cruise? What things was he able to do (or not able to do) at his age/height? How about the slides, were there height requirements? Did you use the kids club, and if so were you comfortable with the counselors and were there enough activities for him to partake in? We only did it for 2 hours on Disney, but my son loved it, so we might let him go a little more on the next cruise. We are just a little apprehensive to leave him.

 

If you have been on another cruise with your son, can you compare the

differences related to his experiences?

 

The Disney prices are getting so extreme now, we are looking into NCL and RC. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem like a lot my son can do on RC right now between age/height requirements. I hate to walk by attractions and say no, you're not big enough yet.

 

Also, if there's anything else I didn't ask that you can think of, I would appreciate

it!

 

Thank you in advance!!

 

Hi There!

 

I am happy to share any and all info! This was my sons first cruise, so I can't compare that way- but we have been to Disney World several times and he told us the cruise was "better than Disney":D

 

My son is small for his age (about 43 inches and 39 lbs at 6.5 years old). Because of this he could not do the ropes course or the trampoline. The rock wall was never open when we attempted to use it so I am not sure if there was a height restriction on that.

 

There were many things he liked about the ship- but his favorites were the water slide and the mini-golf course.

 

He only did the purple slide (which is not enclosed), but I saw kids his size doing the red/orange "whip" slides. The orange slide is slower than the red, so if he wants to try those out I recommend he start with that one. I did the red slide (and loved it) but it really whips you around the curves at the end. There was not a long wait for the purple slide, and my son would get off and go right back up in line to do it over and over again. He also swam in the main pool and used the splash pad quite a bit (we were traveling with a 2 year old cousin).

 

The mini-golf course is Pirate themed and is light up at night. He thought it was "way cool" to play in the dark. lol!

 

He did go to Splash Academy on sea days for a few hours in the afternoons (usually 2pm-4:45) so my husband and I could enjoy some free time. I recommend going as soon as you board to sign your son up. This gives you the opportunity to meet the staff and see the place. We found the staff to be wonderful and engaging with our son (one counselor even recognized him by name as we disembarked and have him a high-five). Their programming is set in advance and you will get a schedule for the week when you register. They also give the child a wrist band that must be worn all week. It has their name (on the underside of the band) along with their muster station, age, etc on top. We were very comfortable with their security measures-you need your card as well as your child's along with a password to sign in and out. They will always ask where you are going to be so that they can get ahold of you if necessary. Your son, at 5, will be on the older side of his age group (they group them 3-5, 6-9,etc).

 

There is a small arcade are in the back of O'Sheehan's that our son found on the last sea day. He enjoyed the air-hockey table and the skee-ball (you do have to pay for these games). There are other video games as well, but he is not allowed to use those (our rule, not NCL) so I can't speak to those.

 

All restaurants have kids menus with the exception of O'Sheehan's, which surprised me a bit. They do have chicken tenders but that's about it unless you have a kid with a varied palate (meatloaf, chicken pot pie, etc).

 

I will say that our son ate his body weight (not hard, lol) every day and was exhausted every night! He definitely went non-stop. I hope this helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

 

Edited to add: There are several soft-serv ice cream stations around the buffet as well as stations that serve hard packed ice cream with toppings. Your son will certainly be able to get his fix:)

Edited October 18, 2015 by Poop_Deck

[Poop_Deck]

Thanks for the review. We were on the same cruise; in fact we were your next door neighbors in cabin 12306. Our family had three aft cabins in a row. We also had Wilson as our room steward and thought he did a fine job. I didn’t realize the penthouse suites had connecting cabins . . . what a great perk for larger families. We loved the ship and the crew, our only gripe was we couldn’t get the iconcierge app to reliably work for text messaging. Too bad the firework show was discontinued by NCL as your balcony would have been the perfect venue to watch the show. Next Getaway cruise we’ll be in the Haven, we are really looking forward to it. Hope to see the butler more than you saw him.

 

I hope the kids squealing on the balcony was not bothersome to you all:eek:

The Haven is really a wonderful retreat- you will love it! We booked on Escape next year in a mini-suite and are trying to figure out how to get back into the Haven without breaking the bank:)

[Goldielocks222]

It sounds like your son had a great time! Why wasn't he allowed on the trampoline? I got the impression there wasn't restrictions for that one? Not exactly sure though, I can't seem to find an exact answer.

 

Thank you so much for getting back to me!

[mianmike]

I hope the kids squealing on the balcony was not bothersome to you all:eek:

The Haven is really a wonderful retreat- you will love it! We booked on Escape next year in a mini-suite and are trying to figure out how to get back into the Haven without breaking the bank:)

 

No, we never heard any squealing kids . . . LOL. We are looking forward to the Getaway's Haven and trying to figure out to cruise on the Escape. It looks to be fun.