Thoughts on Getaway 5/29-6/5 by a Carnival Cruiser

[bruadhin]

So, first off this is not a long, picture filled review. These are simply the opinions of my family. Also, we definitely enjoyed our cruise and will consider NCL the next time we book one.

 

1. There simply is a lack of attention to detail by the crew. Our room steward was the best of everyone we encountered, but even he lacked some attention to detail. The first day our shower was backing up, I called housekeeping and he came and cleaned the trap. Also, looking at the tray for the coffee service, I could tell he hadn't moved the coffee maker.

 

By far the worst was the MDR staff. Quite simply, most wouldn't last in even a chain restaurant ashore. Drinks empty, plates with smudges on them, and orders wrong (golden waffle for multi-grain, regular French toast for pound cake French toast). Compared to Carnival, the assistant maitre d's were everywhere, but they were worthless. We only saw one that did anything or interacted. The rest were moving pillars to be avoided by the guests and staff. Now, the MDR maitre d' was fantastic. We met him at the officer chat on the first sea day and he basically became our favorite uncle the rest of the trip. He greeted us every time and checked on us constantly.

 

2. Any reports of difficulty in getting a drink were greatly exaggerated. Now, the servers were not the best, the bartenders were excellent. We never had an issue. Sometimes you had to wait a minute or two but that was rare and generally at the pool bars.

 

3. The ship's officers and Captain were MIA. I only ever saw the Captain at the technical presentation. I saw the Chief Engineer with who I presume was his wife at MDR and then the technical presentation. On Carnival, the officers were everywhere, a visit to the coffee bar was a great spot to meet them. I did see a few electrical engineers getting food at the buffet, surprisingly they were in khaki's, something I never saw on Carnival.

 

4. The hotel officers were everywhere, the complete opposite of Carnival. The junior officers were literally standing over their crew at times. I saw one junior bar manager basically stand at the port side pool bar for hours at a a time.

 

5. The quality of the food ingredients was excellent, sadly the chefs didn't know what to do with it. We found the menus on Carnival, even American Table/Feast to be much more interesting. Also, other than prime rib, there really were no "can't miss" nights. The ribs at O'Sheehan's were basically inedible. The wings were fantastic as was the corn beef hash.

 

6. The buffet had a lot of variety compared to Carnival, also it wasn't basically the exact same food as the MDR was serving for dinner. That was nice that it gave you another option if the MDR menu wasn't to your liking. The flavored water as another complimentary beverage was also a nice addition.

 

7. Booking things is more difficult than it should be and it won't show you what you have already book. Regardless of whether you use the app, the tv or the screens near the elevators.

 

8. Embarkation was easy! I really liked checking in downstairs and waiting upstairs. Also, it seemed to start earlier than the Carnival Breeze in Miami last year.

 

9. Getting off was easy too. We were allowed to pick the color tag we wanted. And the luggage was arranged when we got there, no grabbing it off the belt.

 

10. Tendering in Belize was easy. I reserved the second group as I didn't want to rush to be first off. We were near the area but it wasn't time yet and the staff said to just go on down.

 

11. A cool, wet washcloth and towel exchange at the pier was a godsend! It felt great and it was fantastic to be able to get rid of your dirty towel, plus also having cool drinks.

 

I will add more as I recall it.

[bruadhin]

cont.

 

12. The cabins are definitely smaller than Carnival. We booked a balcony mid-ship. The cabin, balcony and bathroom were all smaller. The glass door for the shower was very nice as well as the cup holder in the bathroom. I particularly liked the cup-holder as it freed up counter space. Also the AC is fantastic, it kept the room very cool. A little tip, do no press the snowflake button. We said something to the steward about how the temperature kept resetting. He explained it is a quick cool button to quickly cool the room and then it resets to the middle. Just as on the Carnival Breeze, I stuck an old card in the slot so the electricity would stay on. We made sure to leave the lights off but I wanted the AC to run. I never did test if it controlled the AC, so it may not have been necessary.

 

13.

Captain Tommy Stensrud lacks a sense of humor, or at least does a very good job of acting as such. During the Technical Presentation the Chief Engineer made a few jokes which earned him a dirty look and the comment, "You're a funny guy today." Also, one of the comedians made a few jokes about his announcements and then said the last one would be the next morning with him in a dinghy as the captain said, "Everyone wave to the funny guy." My wife and son joined me at the end of the presentation and we got my son's picture with the captain. My wife asked our son if he wanted to ask a question and he didn't say anything, so I jokingly said, "Did you want to ask about the comedian?" The captain got very serious and said, "What did he say?" Both my wife and I realized the captain wouldn't get the humor and just said he told some jokes.

 

14. The senior leadership definitely wants you to enjoy your cruise and are very approachable. While I know that was the case with Carnival, on the Getaway they were everywhere. You would have had to hide in your cabin to avoid interaction with the senior staff, excluding the captain.

 

15. The pool deck sucks. Even the captain said it, although he also said it would be impossible to build a pool deck for 4,000 people.

 

16. Plenty, plenty, plenty of live music. There were both DJs and live music at the pool, plus the atrium, Sugarcane and Tropicana in the evenings.

[tropical83]

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I too just sailed the Getaway and am I past Carnival cruiser. I do agree with a lot of what you said when comparing Carnival to Norwegian.

 

I agree that the NCL buffet was better than Carnival, but the Carnival dining room menus were better. And I did think that maybe the rooms on NCL were a bit smaller, but now that you are saying it as well I really think they were.

 

Sorry you didn't have the best service from the MDR staff. My experience was opposite and I was very pleased with all the service!

[bruadhin]

Thanks for posting your thoughts. I too just sailed the Getaway and am I past Carnival cruiser. I do agree with a lot of what you said when comparing Carnival to Norwegian.

 

I agree that the NCL buffet was better than Carnival, but the Carnival dining room menus were better. And I did think that maybe the rooms on NCL were a bit smaller, but now that you are saying it as well I really think they were.

 

Sorry you didn't have the best service from the MDR staff. My experience was opposite and I was very pleased with all the service!

 

It is ok. We talked to other families and were hardly alone in feeling that way about the MDR staff. It didn't ruin our cruise by any stretch, but it certainly detracted from it.

 

I do agree that Carnival has better menus. I think NCL uses better quality ingredients. Their chefs simply aren't as creative with them.

 

The rooms are much smaller. Carnival puts the closet across from the bathroom on the typical balcony cabin. It is three closets and they put the life jackets in there. We always had plenty of room for 3 for a week. NCL put the life jackets under the bed and the closet was still too small.

 

I do like the closet being moved as it was very tight in the Carnival cabins in that spot, however you get a larger closet for it.

[tropical83]

It is ok. We talked to other families and were hardly alone in feeling that way about the MDR staff. It didn't ruin our cruise by any stretch, but it certainly detracted from it.

 

I do agree that Carnival has better menus. I think NCL uses better quality ingredients. Their chefs simply aren't as creative with them.

 

The rooms are much smaller. Carnival puts the closet across from the bathroom on the typical balcony cabin. It is three closets and they put the life jackets in there. We always had plenty of room for 3 for a week. NCL put the life jackets under the bed and the closet was still too small.

 

I do like the closet being moved as it was very tight in the Carnival cabins in that spot, however you get a larger closet for it.

 

Yes you are right about the closet. I did think the same thing as well!

[bruadhin]

I will also add, the NCL staff is very free with complimentary gifts. I received more bon bons and chocolate covered strawberries on this cruise than all Carnival cruises combined. We also got a bottle of wine, ice bar visit and dinner.

 

The only thing I ever asked for was help from the Guest Service Manager in making a reservation. The maitre d' insisted on dinner on the last night. I wasn't going to offer more than token resistance, but I do not think no would have been allowed. I fear he might have blocked our card at the MDR or O'Sheehan's. :D

Edited June 6, 2016 by bruadhin

[Kfamilycruise]

Thanks for the review. Was Flamingo grill still called that?

[bruadhin]

Thanks for the review. Was Flamingo grill still called that?

 

Yes, it is. I personally did not find it to be very impressive. The spinach empanada tasted and looked baked, not fried. The guava pastry was good as was the tres leches cake and chicken croquettes. I did not try the ropa veija or the chicken. I looked at the breakfast sandwiches one morning. I'm not much for breakfast sandwiches, particularly on vacation. They did look decent though.

 

While the Getaway does not need another pay venue, Flamingo Grill probably would not be missed by most guests. It was never very busy. The nearest equivalent for Carnival would be Guy's Burger or Blue Iguana. Good luck getting a burger or burrito for lunch.

[Kfamilycruise]

Thanks! My husband loved it for breakfast last time -- he is a breakfast sandwich eater. And I really wanted plantains.

 

Thanks!

[eselby]

Carnival has clearly changed since I last cruised with them (and swore I'd never take a ride on that Greyhound bus of a cruise line again).

 

I found the food on the Getaway to be surprisingly above average - so much so that that extra money spent for the specialty restaurants now seems like a waist of money.

 

Maybe because we just didn't need staff interaction, but I never felt neglected or forgotten by the staff. Our cabin steward did a fine job. The beds and linens were comfortable. The bath and shower were acceptable (and I'm not a small person).

 

The coffee sucked, but then I'm a coffee snob - most coffee sucks to me.

[blackwing]

I will also add, the NCL staff is very free with complimentary gifts. I received more bon bons and chocolate covered strawberries on this cruise than all Carnival cruises combined. We also got a bottle of wine, ice bar visit and dinner.

 

The only thing I ever asked for was help from the Guest Service Manager in making a reservation. The maitre d' insisted on dinner on the last night. I wasn't going to offer more than token resistance, but I do not think no would have been allowed. I fear he might have blocked our card at the MDR or O'Sheehan's. :D

You got good service... I've done two NCL cruises and never got anything from NCL, only from my travel agent. That's very nice of NCL to give you these things, maybe they knew you were a first time NCL passenger and wanted to impress you.

 

From your comments, it does sound like you prefer Carnival over NCL, and it appears that you think Carnival food and cabin size is superior. I see you've been on the older Carnival ships... I think those are all Conquest class ships? How did you think those ships compared in terms of entertainment to Carnival? I haven't been on Carnival in a long time, but I think the shows and entertainment on Getaway were far better than those on Carnival. (Escape I can't really compare since we were on a week were shows were transitioning.)

 

What about activities? It's hard to top the Getaway's rope course, except by Escape's. And the water slides on NCL seem to be the best on the seas. Not sure if there are any other lines offering the drop slides.

[bruadhin]

You got good service... I've done two NCL cruises and never got anything from NCL, only from my travel agent. That's very nice of NCL to give you these things, maybe they knew you were a first time NCL passenger and wanted to impress you.

 

From your comments, it does sound like you prefer Carnival over NCL, and it appears that you think Carnival food and cabin size is superior. I see you've been on the older Carnival ships... I think those are all Conquest class ships? How did you think those ships compared in terms of entertainment to Carnival? I haven't been on Carnival in a long time, but I think the shows and entertainment on Getaway were far better than those on Carnival. (Escape I can't really compare since we were on a week were shows were transitioning.)

 

What about activities? It's hard to top the Getaway's rope course, except by Escape's. And the water slides on NCL seem to be the best on the seas. Not sure if there are any other lines offering the drop slides.

 

I'm not sure which I prefer. Quite honestly, I would cruise either at this point. I like Carnival's service and their creativity with the menus. I think NCL spent more on their food and it shows in the quality. The chefs just don't know what to do with it. Also, I think the Getaway had a lot of cool things as a ship compared to the Breeze, the most recent until the Vista starts sailing. The only thing I truly missed from a Carnival ship, besides bigger cabins, are the "secret decks". There are open deck areas at the front of most cabin decks. So you can step outside and feel the wind and very little light at night so you can see the stars very well.

 

As far as entertainment, due to the age of our son we generally did not do shows until last year on the Breeze. I do not recall any "shows". Instead they had a series of guest entertainers which were very good. However, you can't really compare that to Burn the Floor or MDQ. These were generally one guy shows. They were good, but not the same. I really liked Burn the Floor and MDQ. We had to leave Burn the Floor early due to our son getting tired and we missed the very end of MDQ where they come out and apparently rock out.

 

We did see two comedians on the Getaway and we all enjoyed them. We went to the family shows so our son could attend and he had a blast.

 

I did both ropes courses, the one on the Getaway was almost always open while the one on the Breeze was usually closed due to wind. I'm not sure if that is ship design, their comfort level of safety or itinerary. The Breeze was Eastern versus Western for the Getaway. I never did get around to the rock wall.

 

The water slides definitely were fun. I along with a lot of people in line didn't care for the count down, just drop us and be done with it. The Breeze had one of the bowl slides and that is pretty fun too. Also, no getting stuck on it and it didn't have the lower weight restriction. I saw a lot of kids with the backslides so they didn't get stuck on the drop slides.

 

As far as the compliementaries, yes they definitely knew we were first time cruisers on NCL. Perhaps that was it, perhaps it was because we went to the meet and greet, perhaps because my wife is Filipina. Although the last doesn't account for the maitre d' as he was Indian. In the end, I think they just liked us. My son and I met the Guest Services Manager first. My wife didn't meet her until the last sea day when she had invited us to the Ice Bar. Based on what she told my wife, I think they liked us and liked giving something to someone who appreciated it versus making demands. Every time we say the maitre d' or the GSM, their face would just light up, or maybe I just have too high an opinion of us.

Edited June 7, 2016 by bruadhin
Grammar

[Sissaaaaaa]

Thanks for the review!