Unless you are into Drunken Battery Avoid the Getaway

[djpeteski]

The wife and I along with our four adult children sailed on the Getaway on 16 Dec - 23 Dec 2018.

 

We normally sail Carnival with Royal Caribbean as a back up.  However, we chose this cruise as it was going to save us 1500-2K, and would take us to some ports the kids have not seen before.  The wife and I are veterans of about a dozen cruises each, and it was her first time sailing with NCL.  I sailed with them many years ago.  We have also done some of the shorter "booze cruises" on both Carnival and RC; however, none were as bad as this one.  

 

This turned out to be a 7 day booze cruise for middle aged adults that could not handle their alcohol and acted like the stereotypical entitled millennial.  Most millennials are hard working decent young people trying to figure out their lives, not what is portrayed in the media.  

 

So it seemed most people selected the free drink perk with their state room, and they behaved worse then a bunch of college kids.  Highlights included a women punching and cursing out a hand sanitizer station.  A man urinating in the halls of ship.  A man punching a bartender and then his wife.  It was crazy how drunk people were and security was totally absent.  The bartenders were clearly over serving.

 

I would avoid this ship and this will be my last time sailing with NCL. 

 

 

 

 

[Two Wheels Only]

With so many people having the ability to record video on their cruise, what you have described has been shown to happen on nearly every mainstream cruise line. I blame the individuals, not the cruise line. 

[PTC DAWG]

I’ve been on both The Getaway and Escape in the last year, saw no issues at all...obviously, opinions vary...

[vpearlkc]

We just got off the Breakaway Sunday and saw some slack jawed drunks but nothing like the OP posted. Of course we were in our cabin by 11:00 every night. 

[zqvol]

I was on board the week prior to this sailing and did not observe anything like what OP describes. Ii don't think that this behavior as so much to do with a particular ship as it does with passenger demographics.

[MrMike45]

Only other post by OP was 4 years ago claiming there were armed robberies on board a ship.  Something I also doubt actually happened 

[ClaireAndMike]

Ugh, people...  some don't even need alcohol to enhance their level of jerk-iness, but I do find adults who drink far beyond their limits to the point of acting out to be quite intolerable.  

[Budget Queen]

1 hour ago, djpeteski said:

The wife and I along with our four adult children sailed on the Getaway on 16 Dec - 23 Dec 2018.

 

We normally sail Carnival with Royal Caribbean as a back up.  However, we chose this cruise as it was going to save us 1500-2K, and would take us to some ports the kids have not seen before.  The wife and I are veterans of about a dozen cruises each, and it was her first time sailing with NCL.  I sailed with them many years ago.  We have also done some of the shorter "booze cruises" on both Carnival and RC; however, none were as bad as this one.  

 

This turned out to be a 7 day booze cruise for middle aged adults that could not handle their alcohol and acted like the stereotypical entitled millennial.  Most millennials are hard working decent young people trying to figure out their lives, not what is portrayed in the media.  

 

So it seemed most people selected the free drink perk with their state room, and they behaved worse then a bunch of college kids.  Highlights included a women punching and cursing out a hand sanitizer station.  A man urinating in the halls of ship.  A man punching a bartender and then his wife.  It was crazy how drunk people were and security was totally absent.  The bartenders were clearly over serving.

 

I would avoid this ship and this will be my last time sailing with NCL. 

 

 

 

 

You're shooting yourself in the foot with naive thinking,  that particular bunch of passengers-  is ALWAYS sailing the Getaway every week???      You do realize it was attributed to ONLY this group of passengers?   AND they don't automatically come with the ship?     

 

I find these,  "never again" claims,  very short sighted.    The reports are all hindsight and have NO predictability with the future.       It's a known -  that shorter,  booze cruises are more problematic,  and easy to avoid.    You take your chances with any Caribbean cruise frankly.     An NO guarantee strategy to 100%,  avoid it.     

[opshannon]

I was on this cruise with my family. First night in Savor there was a table of about 8 who came in drunk as hell and only got louder over the course of the meal. We asked the Maitre D' to ask them to quiet down (there table was right next to ours). He did not. 

 

Last night of the cruise witnessed a man trying to start a fight with another outside the aft bank of elevators. I'm guessing deck 7. Can't be sure. 

 

There was definitely some other people who were visibly hammered that we saw throughout the trip. I was a little surprised. It's not enough to swear off NCL, but I wanted to defend the OP by testifying to seeing some really drunken, rowdy behavior. 

[FPJC03]

Interesting that he prefers CARNIVAL and not NCL. My little brother loves Carnival because it is a party line and always have drink specials. If you prefer a quieter crowd, choose Celebrity or Holland, usually an older and calmer demographics. But every ship will have drunks and morons on them. When you have 4000 people on a ship, even if one percent are bad, that is still 40 drunks making noises. Happens on every ship and even all inclusive resorts too.

[kochleffel]

Other cruise lines, including Carnival and Royal Caribbean, have also had problems with passengers.

 

A notorious case earlier this year resulted in Carnival's disembarking 26 people, but only after three days of fighting that the ship's security force could not control: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/17/cruise-ship-on-which-big-brawl-broke-out-to-dock-in-melbourne.

 

And here is an equally bizarre report about Royal Caribbean: https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/passengers-horrified-as-company-conference-on-cruise-turns-into-wild-bender/news-story/01fdb1db7980812458dd0134c5e30ae4.

 

Both of these incidents involved Australia, but similar things can happen on any itinerary, on any cruise line. It is perhaps less likely on cruise lines with especially elderly passengers, not that old people can't get drunk and wild, but they are generally less able to engage in violent altercations.

[GUT2407]

Jst home from 7 nights NCL Jewel, Australian Cruise, don’t think I saw one drunk.

[xcell]

5 minutes ago, GUT2407 said:

Jst home from 7 nights NCL Jewel, Australian Cruise, don’t think I saw one drunk.

 

Maybe you were too drunk to see any - only joking.

[GUT2407]

41 minutes ago, xcell said:

 

Maybe you were too drunk to see any - only joking.

Aussies are renowned drinkers, but I think in all my cruises (bar my 2 nighter) I’ve seen about three drunks.

 

now on the two night booze cruise.....

[debnjoe1438]

I was on the Getaway the week before the original poster. Glad to say, I didn't see outrageous behavior. 

[kathy884]

We did the NCL Escape last March (early first week, before most spring breaks), and I didn't notice any drunk people.  Do note that I went to shows, Howl at the Moon, dinner, shuffle board, mini golf, ropes course, a few game things etc. but usually crashed out by midnight.  We also spent a lot of time on our own private balcony visiting with extended family.

 

I sincerely hope my experience with a 7 day Getaway cruise end of this month will be similar to my Escape experience (just fine) vs. what OP describes.  I admit that unlimited alcohol as a perk had me a little concerned last time, but there were not issues that I saw or anything that affected me and my group.

 

I have mostly heard about these negative experiences over the spring break time period, but I guess it's the luck of the draw.  I think if I did experience something like that, that would be the end of cruising for me on any line.  Do note, though, I'm not that huge a fan of cruising in the first place, but it is an easy way for a large group to travel together easily and great for wonderful relatives with more limited mobility too.

[BirdTravels]

We were on the Getaway in August (which was our 4th NCL cruise of the year) and did not witness anything like the OP. It is curious that the OP’s go-to cruise line is Carnival and they found the Getaway to be a “party ship”. Maybe other than the Sky, NCL are far from it. 

[newmexicoNita]

16 hours ago, djpeteski said:

The wife and I along with our four adult children sailed on the Getaway on 16 Dec - 23 Dec 2018.

 

We normally sail Carnival with Royal Caribbean as a back up.  However, we chose this cruise as it was going to save us 1500-2K, and would take us to some ports the kids have not seen before.  The wife and I are veterans of about a dozen cruises each, and it was her first time sailing with NCL.  I sailed with them many years ago.  We have also done some of the shorter "booze cruises" on both Carnival and RC; however, none were as bad as this one.  

 

This turned out to be a 7 day booze cruise for middle aged adults that could not handle their alcohol and acted like the stereotypical entitled millennial.  Most millennials are hard working decent young people trying to figure out their lives, not what is portrayed in the media.  

 

So it seemed most people selected the free drink perk with their state room, and they behaved worse then a bunch of college kids.  Highlights included a women punching and cursing out a hand sanitizer station.  A man urinating in the halls of ship.  A man punching a bartender and then his wife.  It was crazy how drunk people were and security was totally absent.  The bartenders were clearly over serving.

 

I would avoid this ship and this will be my last time sailing with NCL. 

 

 

 

 

That is too bad you had such a horrible experience. I have had a similar one on Carnival and once on a ship that is no longer even sailing. Luckily, after over 40 cruises I can honestly say, I have only seen a group of really drunk out of their minds a few times. Maybe the up coming holiday had something to do with your experience and yes, whenever you have an "all you can drink" policy people will take advantage of it. This isn't just NCL by any means. Read reviews from those who have cruised Carnival during college spring break for instance. Or what about the short booze cruises you say you have taken? There are many choices out there when it comes to sailing, I am sure you will be happy with the other lines you have chosen. I do think it is a little unfair to judge an entire line on one experience, but I know some people do this 

[newmexicoNita]

15 hours ago, MrMike45 said:

Only other post by OP was 4 years ago claiming there were armed robberies on board a ship.  Something I also doubt actually happened 

I just noticed something similar about his post. I too, wonder if there is a motive for the post about how drunk everyone was. Who knows, but this is why many of us take these reports with a grain of salt. Thanks for picking up on his past post.

[MrMike45]

Were there drunks on board a cruise (any cruise line) - yes definitely

Were a few of them maybe loud and obnoxious at times - very likely since most drunk people are

Was it happening at every single venue the OP was at daily - highly highly unlikely

Did a drunk passenger punch a bartender and then his wife - completely not, since there would be many more posts about this, and there would have been at least one arrest made

Were passengers being victims of "armed robbery" on board his Carnival cruise in 2014 - again completely untrue, because again there would have been more posts about this and arrests

 

So there were some drunks on board this cruise, a few might have offended the OP one night in one of the bars.  A few exaggerations later...and we get his post 

[Son of a son of a ...]

Definitely an uptick in the breadth of drunkenness on NCL with the promo.  Sure, there were always drunks sitting by the pool and late at night, but now it seems more common throughout the day, especially during sea days.  More people are drinking earlier and more often.  

 

[DMH15]

15 minutes ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

Definitely an uptick in the breadth of drunkenness on NCL with the promo.  Sure, there were always drunks sitting by the pool and late at night, but now it seems more common throughout the day, especially during sea days.  More people are drinking earlier and more often.  

 

Unfortunately, I am sure a lot of folks,  especially those that pay for their drink package, feel like they have to get their money's worth and over serve themselves.

[gjohnson75]

My wife and I were on the Dec 9 - 16 sailing of the Getaway. While there were definitely some very happy folks each night, we never saw anything that remotely looked like what was described. There are always a few people who go above and beyond but on our sailing, everyone was having a good time and moving forward. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

20 hours ago, djpeteski said:

The wife and I along with our four adult children sailed on the Getaway on 16 Dec - 23 Dec 2018.  

so did  we. Neither my husband, nor I saw any drunk, inebriated, under the influence, tipsy, etc., people. Must have gotten lucky not to see a single one during all 7 days.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

18 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

 It's a known -  that shorter,  booze cruises are more problematic,  and easy to avoid. 

it was a week long cruise with a ton of families with kids - not a 3-4 day booze cruise.