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Glad to get away from the Getaway


FredZiffle
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We just completed the 19 day TA on the Getaway.  We had this cruise booked almost a year and a half in advance and were really looking forward to it.  Sadly, it will be our last cruise on NCL for the foreseeable future.  We've already cancelled an upcoming cruise on Norwegian and booked a different cruise line.  We are experienced cruisers with Platinum status and have sailed with NCL more than any other line.

 

 So, what went wrong?  It would easier to talk about what was right.  The ship was immaculate.  The bed was comfortable.  The European ports were fantastic.  Embarkation was fast and efficient.  The restaurant staff were friendly.  The good points pretty much end there.

 

The low point was probably the food.  I know food opinions are subjective, but I find it impossible to believe that anyone would have found the food served on this cruise to be even close to good.  We began rating individual dishes as barely passable, pretty bad, and inedible.  75% of the dishes fell into the latter two categories.  I did have a dessert soufflé and a wings appetizer that I thought were actually good, but every other dish fell into these three categories.  My wife loves fish and usually orders whatever fish entrees that are offered in the MDR, but she gave up after several days of poorly executed meals.  I'm more of a meat and potatoes guy, so I'm used to ordering whatever red meat entrée is available.  Many were left half finished on my plate.  I don't know if it was the lack of skill of the chefs, the recipes themselves, or just poor, low-quality ingredients, but this food was just plain bad.  Our best meal was in Cagney's, but in no way did that restaurant equate to a high-end steakhouse.  It was okay, but more like an Outback Steakhouse in terms of quality, and I would not have been happy if I'd had to pay their premium prices for what I received.  We also tried O'Sheehans once again, the fourth ship we've had the dubious pleasure of eating in this establishment.  I used to equate it to eating at a Chili's or Applebees, but I think that may be too high of a bar.  

 

The ship apparently ran out of coffee creamer a couple of days into the cruise.  No problem, they still had half and half in the buffet.  Then, that disappeared,  Then one day, even the milk disappeared, and some of us resorted to using the juice box servings of milk to squeeze into our coffee.  Half and half would randomly reappear on the buffet one day, then be gone the next.  The creamers didn't reappear until the last two days of the cruise.  Lettuce and tomatoes also disappeared for extended periods.  It was clear that restocking and inventory management were not this crew's strong points.

 

Our cabin steward was the most unfriendly, unhelpful steward we've ever experienced.  He never introduced himself at all, and I gave up greeting him with a friendly "good morning" toward the end since I almost never got a reply.  It's not like we're demanding passengers.  We asked for an extra towel one day.  I asked for an iron once and left laundry a couple of times to be washed.  The first time I asked for an iron as I passed him in the hallway, and his replay was you have to be in your room and call.  Okay, I tried that later and got a recording telling me he was unavailable (7 straight times over two days).  Finally, someone picked up (not him) and delivered the iron.  The first time I needed laundry done, I wrote PLATINUM across the bag, and it was picked up and returned in less that a day (no complaints there).  The second time a week later, I did the same thing, but the bag was still sitting where I left it with a laundry order form placed on top.  So, I filled in my name and cabin number on it (which I did not do the first time), but it was still not picked up.  I finally found the steward the next day and asked why the laundry was not being picked up, only to discover that we needed to actually fill in the order form with specific counts of items.  I told him I was happy to do that, but asked why I hadn't needed to do it the first time.  His response:  if you hadn't filled it out, I would not have picked it up.  He actually argued with me that I must have filled it out.  

 

Then there was our port stop in Miami.  We were scheduled to be in port from 7 until 2.  The day before, we received a letter telling us that we'd be going through Customs since this was our first US port.  Each deck was assigned a specific time period to go off the ship, and we would not be able to return to the ship until everyone had gotten off.  The people who had to get off at 7:30 AM could not return to the ship until after 2:00 PM.  Fortunately, our time wasn't until noon, so we at least got to eat lunch on board before spending 2 1/2 hours standing in the terminal.  When we got off, we could see the terminal overflowing with passengers, many sitting on the floor or standing since there weren't anywhere close to enough seats.  NCL's only assistance, despite this being a dedicated NCL terminal, was to dispense paper cups of water to the waiting passengers.  Then, that evening, aware that virtually everyone on board was angry, the captain apologized over the announcements and blamed everything on Immigration.  Pure BS.  I was aware that we'd need to go through immigration in this port, so that part wasn't a surprise.  NCL even knew how long it was going to take and what the process would be well ahead of time since they put it in our letter.  They had no business even advertising this as a port stop since the random staggered debarkation times precluded making any arrangements in port.  Most people with private excursions or plans had to cancel  Only the NCL excursions were permitted to debark early and go on their way.  Secondly, knowing how bad this process was going to be, NCL could have done a far better job making sure there was enough seating in the terminal; maybe providing some basic snacks and drink; maybe providing a shuttle to transport passengers across the bridge to where there are several restaurants. Heck, doing anything other than stacking us like cattle in the terminal.

 

Great Stirrup Cay was only marginally better.  NCL had two ships in port because they had rerouted the Sun from another port (poor things, they actually had two separate port stops there), so they only allocated one tender to the Getaway.  That meant that 400 passengers were being tendered every 45 minutes.  Some passengers didn't get off until 1:30,  3 1/2 hours  after we arrived and got there 15 minutes before the main food service on the island was scheduled to end.  They only got off that early because NCL finally allocated a second tender to our ship at that point.  The food on the island was comparable to what we had on the ship.  As just one example, they were serving baked beans with the BBQ lunch buffet.  How can someone mess up such a simple dish?  You can start by making it from scratch, but forgetting to actually presoak or cook the beans.  Think putting a forkful of rocks in your mouth, and you have some idea of what this was like.  Obviously, not one cook actually tasted the dish prior to serving because it was truly inedible.

 

There were many other smaller problems on board like numerous drinks not being prepared correctly by bartenders (I actually had three separate margaritas on different days and in different bars where they "forgot" to add alcohol).  There were one hour waits to be seated in the MDRs, and the only way to avoid them and make a 7:30 show was to show up for dinner by 5:15 PM.  Surprisingly, the waits disappeared after the first week, so either the staff improved, or enough people got sick of the food and stuck to the specialty restaurants.  We also noticed staff reductions like the absence of assistant waiters most of the time.  That appeared to be one reason service was slower than we've experienced on other cruises.  Finally, it appeared to us that fewer crew members had any sort of command of the English language.  It was like they had received a crash course in the phrases they would need for their position.  If you asked a question like "do you have any half and half?", the crew member would have no idea how to respond.  I also can't count the number of times I was told that they would go and check on something, yet never return.  None of these by themselves would be a big deal, but lumped in with all the other issues, and they just served to add fuel to the fire.

 

So, after pretty much sticking with NCL over the past ten years, it's time for us to go back and give Princess and HAL and Royal Caribbean another try.  Maybe they are just as bad these days, but I find it hard to believe that they could be worse.

 

 

 

 

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 Certainly sounds like a “meh” cruise to me as well. I’m not a picky food guy as I can eat from a roach coach wagon at the curb of a street but when food on a ship is bad that’s.......well ...... bad. Leave them poor ratings and let them know never again. You can’t do much more than that ..... Any and all lines need to be told when they do a crappy job and you won’t be back ....Too many options out there.

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Thanks for posting your review of the Getaway.

 

Sadly, in my opinion, the NCL cruise experience has been going down hill the past number of years.  I have an upcoming cruise on the Epic in January and even though I'm Platinum it will probably be our last cruise with NCL.

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LOL! I will be on the Getaway in Jan 5th. Please complain loudly to NCL so they can fix this for me. 

 

Good to hear your review. 

 

Do they have an indian section in the buffet? I need my fix of indian food. 

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6 minutes ago, DrSea said:

LOL! I will be on the Getaway in Jan 5th. Please complain loudly to NCL so they can fix this for me. 

 

Good to hear your review. 

 

Do they have an indian section in the buffet? I need my fix of indian food. 

 

Yes, they have an Indian section on the buffet.  I can't comment on the quality because I never tried it, but it was always available.

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17 minutes ago, FredZiffle said:

 

Yes, they have an Indian section on the buffet.  I can't comment on the quality because I never tried it, but it was always available.

Thanks. The indian food was REALLY good when I was on the Joy. Hoping it's a winner here too.  

 

It also seems like others had issues with the getaway on this cruise here on cruise critic. 

 

I guess that I'll have to adjust my expectations. Not a problem for me. Lol....one of my guest will not be happy. 

 

It's stuff like this that makes me think 2, 3, 4 x when buying those cruise next vouchers. My sail mates and I were contemplating buying another voucher on this next cruise. But based on your experience and I think it will rub my sail mate the wrong way, it is a solid no for me. Thanks for your feedback, and please do complain to NCL so that they can change stuff. 

 

Stories like this (and my own past experiences) erase any brand loyalty I have with companies.  Thanks again. Lots of competition out there for me to stay with a company for no reason. 

Edited by DrSea
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14 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

Today we got off our 19 day cruise on the Getaway and without a shadow of a doubt it was the worst cruise i have been on in all my years being a loyal NCL customer. The MDR service was atrocious, the ship running out of supplies ( food) was palpable. I want to go on with more detail but too tired to do so. I can say that i would not be surprised that others will come forward and say negative stuff about this horrible 19 day  cruise, I think NCL can do better. Every time we go on a new NCl cruise we see our latitude perks diminish, the quality of the food in specialty restaurants diminish, I can say that once we run out of our 4 NCL cruise next certificate we will be looking elsewhere for our cruise vacation. We are hearing great things about Celebrity we may give them a try. I am one who says that peoples comments and opinions should be taken with a grain of salt, but in my experience with NCL they are really going down hill. Is a shame really. I understand prices go up, but i always thought quality should improve with it.

 

 

@spanishguy1970

also had a bad time on the same cruise. 

 

edit: I just wanted to say I still will sail with NCL, but I will not buy these cruise next vouchers so I am not locked into NCL. I like the ability to pick and choose w/o having a timetable to spend the voucher. 

Edited by DrSea
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15 minutes ago, DrSea said:

 

 

@spanishguy1970

also had a bad time on the same cruise. 

 

edit: I just wanted to say I still will sail with NCL, but I will not buy these cruise next vouchers so I am not locked into NCL. I like the ability to pick and choose w/o having a timetable to spend the voucher. 

Our vouchers were bought almost 4 years ago, they had a special buy 4 and get 3 free or something like that. They expire in 2021. I just remember our first cruise with NCL 2009, and as an NCL cruiser we definitely see the changes and not for the better. We like NCL because of the prices and the freestyle. We have never been on any other cruise line so we can't compare but when it comes to our NCL cruise experience this has definitely been the worst one. On a good note, our cabin was great, we had an ocean view, and our steward was the best we have had in all our cruises. We have been on the Epic many times and we always enjoyed it so it was a shame to have the experience we had on this one. Good luck everyone.

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2 hours ago, FredZiffle said:

We just completed the 19 day TA on the Getaway.  We had this cruise booked almost a year and a half in advance and were really looking forward to it.  Sadly, it will be our last cruise on NCL for the foreseeable future.  We've already cancelled an upcoming cruise on Norwegian and booked a different cruise line.  We are experienced cruisers with Platinum status and have sailed with NCL more than any other line.

 

 So, what went wrong?  It would easier to talk about what was right.  The ship was immaculate.  The bed was comfortable.  The European ports were fantastic.  Embarkation was fast and efficient.  The restaurant staff were friendly.  The good points pretty much end there.

 

The low point was probably the food.  I know food opinions are subjective, but I find it impossible to believe that anyone would have found the food served on this cruise to be even close to good.  We began rating individual dishes as barely passable, pretty bad, and inedible.  75% of the dishes fell into the latter two categories.  I did have a dessert soufflé and a wings appetizer that I thought were actually good, but every other dish fell into these three categories.  My wife loves fish and usually orders whatever fish entrees that are offered in the MDR, but she gave up after several days of poorly executed meals.  I'm more of a meat and potatoes guy, so I'm used to ordering whatever red meat entrée is available.  Many were left half finished on my plate.  I don't know if it was the lack of skill of the chefs, the recipes themselves, or just poor, low-quality ingredients, but this food was just plain bad.  Our best meal was in Cagney's, but in no way did that restaurant equate to a high-end steakhouse.  It was okay, but more like an Outback Steakhouse in terms of quality, and I would not have been happy if I'd had to pay their premium prices for what I received.  We also tried O'Sheehans once again, the fourth ship we've had the dubious pleasure of eating in this establishment.  I used to equate it to eating at a Chili's or Applebees, but I think that may be too high of a bar.  

 

The ship apparently ran out of coffee creamer a couple of days into the cruise.  No problem, they still had half and half in the buffet.  Then, that disappeared,  Then one day, even the milk disappeared, and some of us resorted to using the juice box servings of milk to squeeze into our coffee.  Half and half would randomly reappear on the buffet one day, then be gone the next.  The creamers didn't reappear until the last two days of the cruise.  Lettuce and tomatoes also disappeared for extended periods.  It was clear that restocking and inventory management were not this crew's strong points.

 

Our cabin steward was the most unfriendly, unhelpful steward we've ever experienced.  He never introduced himself at all, and I gave up greeting him with a friendly "good morning" toward the end since I almost never got a reply.  It's not like we're demanding passengers.  We asked for an extra towel one day.  I asked for an iron once and left laundry a couple of times to be washed.  The first time I asked for an iron as I passed him in the hallway, and his replay was you have to be in your room and call.  Okay, I tried that later and got a recording telling me he was unavailable (7 straight times over two days).  Finally, someone picked up (not him) and delivered the iron.  The first time I needed laundry done, I wrote PLATINUM across the bag, and it was picked up and returned in less that a day (no complaints there).  The second time a week later, I did the same thing, but the bag was still sitting where I left it with a laundry order form placed on top.  So, I filled in my name and cabin number on it (which I did not do the first time), but it was still not picked up.  I finally found the steward the next day and asked why the laundry was not being picked up, only to discover that we needed to actually fill in the order form with specific counts of items.  I told him I was happy to do that, but asked why I hadn't needed to do it the first time.  His response:  if you hadn't filled it out, I would not have picked it up.  He actually argued with me that I must have filled it out.  

 

Then there was our port stop in Miami.  We were scheduled to be in port from 7 until 2.  The day before, we received a letter telling us that we'd be going through Customs since this was our first US port.  Each deck was assigned a specific time period to go off the ship, and we would not be able to return to the ship until everyone had gotten off.  The people who had to get off at 7:30 AM could not return to the ship until after 2:00 PM.  Fortunately, our time wasn't until noon, so we at least got to eat lunch on board before spending 2 1/2 hours standing in the terminal.  When we got off, we could see the terminal overflowing with passengers, many sitting on the floor or standing since there weren't anywhere close to enough seats.  NCL's only assistance, despite this being a dedicated NCL terminal, was to dispense paper cups of water to the waiting passengers.  Then, that evening, aware that virtually everyone on board was angry, the captain apologized over the announcements and blamed everything on Immigration.  Pure BS.  I was aware that we'd need to go through immigration in this port, so that part wasn't a surprise.  NCL even knew how long it was going to take and what the process would be well ahead of time since they put it in our letter.  They had no business even advertising this as a port stop since the random staggered debarkation times precluded making any arrangements in port.  Most people with private excursions or plans had to cancel  Only the NCL excursions were permitted to debark early and go on their way.  Secondly, knowing how bad this process was going to be, NCL could have done a far better job making sure there was enough seating in the terminal; maybe providing some basic snacks and drink; maybe providing a shuttle to transport passengers across the bridge to where there are several restaurants. Heck, doing anything other than stacking us like cattle in the terminal.

 

Great Stirrup Cay was only marginally better.  NCL had two ships in port because they had rerouted the Sun from another port (poor things, they actually had two separate port stops there), so they only allocated one tender to the Getaway.  That meant that 400 passengers were being tendered every 45 minutes.  Some passengers didn't get off until 1:30,  3 1/2 hours  after we arrived and got there 15 minutes before the main food service on the island was scheduled to end.  They only got off that early because NCL finally allocated a second tender to our ship at that point.  The food on the island was comparable to what we had on the ship.  As just one example, they were serving baked beans with the BBQ lunch buffet.  How can someone mess up such a simple dish?  You can start by making it from scratch, but forgetting to actually presoak or cook the beans.  Think putting a forkful of rocks in your mouth, and you have some idea of what this was like.  Obviously, not one cook actually tasted the dish prior to serving because it was truly inedible.

 

There were many other smaller problems on board like numerous drinks not being prepared correctly by bartenders (I actually had three separate margaritas on different days and in different bars where they "forgot" to add alcohol).  There were one hour waits to be seated in the MDRs, and the only way to avoid them and make a 7:30 show was to show up for dinner by 5:15 PM.  Surprisingly, the waits disappeared after the first week, so either the staff improved, or enough people got sick of the food and stuck to the specialty restaurants.  We also noticed staff reductions like the absence of assistant waiters most of the time.  That appeared to be one reason service was slower than we've experienced on other cruises.  Finally, it appeared to us that fewer crew members had any sort of command of the English language.  It was like they had received a crash course in the phrases they would need for their position.  If you asked a question like "do you have any half and half?", the crew member would have no idea how to respond.  I also can't count the number of times I was told that they would go and check on something, yet never return.  None of these by themselves would be a big deal, but lumped in with all the other issues, and they just served to add fuel to the fire.

 

So, after pretty much sticking with NCL over the past ten years, it's time for us to go back and give Princess and HAL and Royal Caribbean another try.  Maybe they are just as bad these days, but I find it hard to believe that they could be worse.

 

 

 

 

Also, don't forget that they took us straight into a hurricane and tropical depression. Worse seas I have ever experienced. I don't know who's decision that was Miami or the captain but certainly not a great decision.

 

I agree with everything you said, however we preferred O'Sheehans over the dining room even with limited food options.

 

Our room steward left a lot to be desired also. he was friendly but he locked us out of our cabin 4 times because he didn't put the switch on the door in the right position when he finished our ADA cabin. 

Edited by SAS21
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I have been cruising exclusively with NCL for the past 5 years.  I had forgotten how special a cruise could be until we took an Alaskan Cruise with Holland America this past June.  To be sure the theater entertainment on Holland wasn't nearly as good as what NCL offers but everything else beat NCL by a mile.  The food on that Alaskan cruise was excellent and they even had a surf and turf night in the main dining.  When's the last time you can remember having a lobster tail and filet mignon in the MDR on NCL free of charge?  Oh yeah, our waiter took the lobster tail out of the shell for us too...just like the old days.  It was great that we also had free room service 24/7 on that cruise. It came in handy on the day we cruised Glacier Bay National Park.  Our room steward was so attentive it was almost like having a butler.  On embarkation day there was a free gift waiting for us in our cabin.  There were too many little things to list that made our cruise feel special.

 

I don't know if our one and only experience with Holland was a fluke or not so I have already booked another cruise with them in June of next year just too see.

 

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Sure hate to hear this. We have getaway booked for December 8,2019 and March 8,2020

yes, three months apart.  Was on Breakaway June 2 and it was top notch.

we are not big eaters but I still want my food to taste decent.

made reservations for both cruise for dining. Even main dining room, so if there is a huge wait I want be happy.

NCL may suck but take my word carnival is worse.

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irdWe were on this cruise as well.  My summation is Get Away Getaway!  Here are some of my observations.

 

Embarcation in Copenhagen went smoothly.  European shore excursions provided by Norwegian were good to excellent.  Our cabin steward (Anthony Fernandes) was the best that we have had with Norwegian in our last 15 cruises.  He was unobtrusive, anticipated our needs and always greeted us in a cheerful manner.  In regards to our cabin, we wanted for nothing.  Laundry service was very good.  But ... this is about the end our pros.

 

About Day 3-4, we were told that in the Tropicana Dining Room there are no reservations.  When I asked why there were two lines, another "black coat" told me the other line was for reservations.  When I showed him my key card and he read Platinum Plus, he moved us to another line.  We learned that there really were not reservations but that if we showed up at 5:00 PM, we would be seated.  So, the choice was be in line at 5:00 PM, get in another line that was about 30 minutes long or eat at 7:30 PM.  We chose 5:00 PM even though the reservation line formed at 4:45 PM.  But then, another surprise.  Once we were seated, the table often did not have any bread, butter, candle, complete silver service, both salt and pepper.  Although the restaurant opened at 5:00 PM, there was often just one waiter to cover 35-45 guests.  Additional waiters showed up between 5:20 and 5:30.  Eventually, our order was taken.  Sometimes bread came, sometimes it did not come.  When we looked in the butter dish, there was one pat of butter.  We asked for butter and were given a second pat of fakbutter.  This was repeated for breakfast when there was one container of jelly in the holder to serve 4 persons.  When another teaspoon was requested, it was delivered after 5-10 minutes.  If you asked for a SINGLE muffin, they brought three Danish.  Some days the waiter would say there was no orange juice today, the machine is broken.  But if you looked up, tables all around you were getting orange juice.  It was not unusual to order an item from the menu and have the waiter return 10-15 minutes later to tell us it was not on the menu or they had run out by 5:45.  Most of our dining experiences in the Tropicana took two hours plus.

 

On Wednesday before the cruise ended on Friday, I called Room Service as I have on other ships to request that three ice packs be frozen so that I could keep insulin cool while flying home.  The person that answered said, "we don't do that" and hung up.  I went down to Guest Services (which has to be a misnomer on this ship).  I explained to the Guest Service agent that I was diabetic, took insulin and need three of my ice packs frozen.  I related that Room Service said they did not do that.  The Guest Service Agent said, "this is the first time I have ever heard of such a thing".  I thought OK, there is a first for everything but a guest needing to freeze an ice pack for medical reasons would not be one of them.  He said he would check.  He got on his cell phone, dialed a number and then disappeared so that I could not see him.  He returned about 7 minutes later and said, "OK, go to your cabin and I'll send someone to pick them up."  When I asked where they would be, he repeated "Go to your cabin".  After two hours of waiting, I went back to the Guest Services Desk and got another Agent.  She pulled up my file and yes, they had a record of what I needed and yes, no one had been sent to pick them up and yes, they would come now.   Back to the cabin where someone from House Keeping picked them up.   But, it doesn't end there.  I was told to call Guest Services (that name irritates me for some reason) on the last morning of the cruise and they would be delivered to me.  Embarcation Day came.  I phoned 00.  After the phone rang for 8-10 times, it automatically put me into an automated wait system ... which disconnected after 3 minutes.  No one ever came on the phone.  I did this three times.  On the fourth try, I got a live person who said she would have them delivered and they were.

 

The spa sinks were dirty.  The spa bathrooms ran out of toilet paper.  The spa floor was littered with paper debris and fruit squeers where they remained for FIVE days.  Popcorn was in the main swimming pool.  A shower in the pool put out scalding water, only scalding water.  When I reported this to a ships officer, he said "Let it run for 5 minutes."  I asked if he might put a sign on it warning people that the water was Very Hot, he said, "Let it run for 5 minutes".  The noise level was so high in the spa that I could not listen to an audio book no matter how high I turned up the volume.  Yes, there were spa attendants. Sometimes there were as many of three of them, standing in the corner, talking to each other for 20 minutes at a time.  You get to pay extra to experience this.  Yes, I did put a note in the Hotel Director's box in the atrium.  No, I never heard from him.

 

On the morning (Thursday) before the cruise ended, I decided to do something that I had never done before.  I had prepaid my service charges but I was going to dispute them.  At 8:30 in the morning, the line of people waiting for Guest Services extended out of the Atrium down the hall.  Eighty percent of those people had had ENOUGH and were attempting to do the same thing.  Although there were 5-6 Guest Service agents on duty, it took almost an hour to get to the counter, another 15 minutes to fill out the forms.  You had to fill out the form there, now and immediately turn it it.  I was told that it would be reviewed by the On Board Credit Officers and I could come back in two hours and they would pay me what they determined my immediate, stand up, don't thiink it over complaint was worth.  I returned at 3:30 PM (six hours later) and was told I'd have to come back later, my claim had not yet been reviewed.  They knew this without even checking.  I asked what "later" meant and was told I could get in line (third time today) "to see if it were done".  The On Board Credit people would be there between 5-8 PM.  I said I had been there for four hours of my last day on the cruise.  I noted how they would form another line which just happened to occur during the dinner hours and NO, this was unacceptable.  The agent said she would see if my claim had been processed.  She returned eight minutes later to tell me that yes, it had been processed and "if you will be so kind as to get in that line over there, we will pay you when you get to the counter."  She disappeard before others in the line could make a similar claim.  Four lines, five hours.

 

Others have talked about Customs and Immigration.  What a farce!  One thing I have not seen commented on which I think I'll remember for a very long time is seeing a woman coming down the winding gangway heading to customs try to help her husband to stand and move.  This man had severe spoinal deformities, his back at a right angle to his legs.  He was gasping for breath.  Other cruisers were trying to help.  A Norwegian officer came up to her and said the woman needed to keep the line moving.  They woman at her witts end said, "I asked for a wheel chair to be brought to Deck7 over 45 minutes ago and no one ever came.  I'm doing the best that I can.  He's doing the best that he can.  We can't go any faster."  The officer got on his phone and after 5-6 minutes, the wheelchair arrived.

 

And during the Lattitude Party for Ambassadors, Platinum Plus, Platinum members, we were told the "company line" of 'We're glad you are part of the Norwegian Family, that you have come back to experience us again.  You are our backbone.  Yada yada yada."  Me thinks NOT!

 

Get Away, Getaway.

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This is really disheartening to read. Our first NCL cruise was on the Getaway this past April and I thought it was a great ship. I wonder if they were severely understaffed, and that led to the slow/non-existent service? Not sure how to explain the poor attitudes you guys ran into onboard. 

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8 minutes ago, tomservo said:

This is really disheartening to read. Our first NCL cruise was on the Getaway this past April and I thought it was a great ship. I wonder if they were severely understaffed, and that led to the slow/non-existent service? Not sure how to explain the poor attitudes you guys ran into onboard. 

Yes, they were understaffed.  The staff looked exhausted.  We overheard one waiter tell a "black coat", "We don't have enough staff."  The black coat had no comment.  On the final morning of the cruise, we observed three officers chewing out  a crew member who was manning the yogurt/cereal display.  The crew member stood there saying nothing as the officers got louder and in his face.  We felt bad for the crew member that his superiors did not seemingly have any respect for him to be chewing him out in front of all the guests who could observe this.

 

The staff may have been tired but we saw again and again how the left hand did not know what the riight hand was doing and in many cases did not care to know.

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6 minutes ago, Toby459 said:

Yes, they were understaffed.  The staff looked exhausted

 

Makes sense, overextended staff can lead to bad attitudes. It’s a shame NCL put them in that position.

Edited by tomservo
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We were on this cruise as well.  I would agree with almost everything that everyone has said above.  (FWIW, we thought the food in the MDR was good and we had a great cabin steward.) But all the rest of it is true.  There was a pervasive lack of communication between the officers/managers and the staff.  We complained repeatedly and directly to the maitre'd in Taste and yet we faced the same problems day after day.  Tables with bread but no butter, or no candles, or no jam at breakfast.  Trying to get your water glass or coffee cup refilled most times involved at least two requests.  And don't even start with me about the coffee creamer situation.

 

Of course none of these things by itself makes for a "terrible" cruise or the "worst cruise ever."  But when the main topic in the elevators day in and day out is what a joke the service is onboard, then you know something is up.  I work in customer service.  I tried to make the point to the people running the dining room that I didn't think that they wanted the customers to be having this bad experience.  They would not even look me in the eye when I was talking to them.  That was on day 10 and things did not improve.  

 

The days in Miami and at GSC were wasted days for many people. The above accounts of the Miami terminal situation are completely accurate.  I will add that when they did call for boarding, there was no one to direct us to the right doorway.  We wasted ten minutes standing in front of the wrong door.  As for GSC, we never dreamed we would need to book a tender ticket. The Freestyle Daily suggested that you might want to book a ticket if you wanted to get off early.  We figured open tendering would start at 11:00 or 11:30.  WRONG!  Open tendering started at 2:30 pm with an all aboard time of 5:00.  This is completely unacceptable.  We ended up just staying on board.  When you add those days to the nine sea days already planned and the extra sea day we got for missing the Azores...well, you get the point.  

 

We also had bookkeeping issues.  Each time that money was owed back to us, we had to go to "Customer Service" and request it.  Why was this not done automatically?  Why did I have to stand in line?  

 

There WERE good things about this cruise.  The ship was very clean.  They opened up the specialty restaurants on sea days for people to read and play cards.  The ports in Europe were beautiful.  We had swift embarkation and disembarkation, but that may just be because we are Platinum.  That was about it.  We promised ourselves that we would laugh about this at some point in the future.  I sure hope so, because right now I am very disenchanted with NCL.

 

P.S. They did not have a Farewell Show with the officers and staff.  We guessed that they were afraid of getting booed off of the stage.

 

 

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35 minutes ago, Toby459 said:

 

 Once we were seated, the table often did not have any bread, butter, candle, complete silver service, both salt and pepper.  Although the restaurant opened at 5:00 PM, there was often just one waiter to cover 35-45 guests.  Additional waiters showed up between 5:20 and 5:30.  Eventually, our order was taken.  Sometimes bread came, sometimes it did not come.  When we looked in the butter dish, there was one pat of butter.  We asked for butter and were given a second pat of fakbutter.  This was repeated for breakfast when there was one container of jelly in the holder to serve 4 persons.  When another teaspoon was requested, it was delivered after 5-10 minutes.  If you asked for a SINGLE muffin, they brought three Danish.  Some days the waiter would say there was no orange juice today, the machine is broken.  But if you looked up, tables all around you were getting orange juice. 

 

I forgot about the lack of butter.  One meal, we asked for it, and the waiter rummaged around in the very back of a low cabinet for several minutes and came away with a couple of pats.  I wondered how long they had been stuffed back there.  Orange juice also disappeared a couple of days at the buffet.  And, the best part was when different waiters at different restaurants removed my dirty fork from a finished appetizer plate and placed it back on the table for me to use with my entrée.  One was actually coated with the remains of the appetizer.  I'm assuming they were either trained to do that or had no training at all.

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Yikes!! Thank you all for taking the time to share your experiences. Do you remember who the GM was on your ship? With things being so horrible all the way down the line, I think I’d want to avoid any ship he is overseeing.  I know how frustrated we’d be if we had to endure a WEEK of the poor service, etc. that you experienced — but 19 DAYS?!? OMG! Pure torture, and you even had trouble drinking to forget it! (“Forgetting” to put the alcohol in your margaritas??)  I’m glad we decided against purchasing CruiseNext on our recent cruise — they sure were pushing the purchase of them.  I hope NCL sends you a survey. I didn’t receive one for this last trip. 

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53 minutes ago, jasoneats said:

They did not have a Farewell Show with the officers and staff.  We guessed that they were afraid of getting booed off of the stage.

I noticed that during disembarcation they had an officer at the final gangway saying, "Thank you for coming.  Have a good trip home.  We'll see you soon."  NO ONE responded to her.  No Good Bye.  No Thank You.  Nothing.

 

And your use of "show" reminds me of the entertainment.  Early on, we went to see "The Knights" or "Three Guys who could harmonize together and were out of tune.  I will say that the Norwegian stage technicians handled their performance well by turning the volume on their mikes to 10/10.  Hey, it's not everyday that you can have the audience holding their ears after pne song.  People began to walk out after their opening number and it continued throughout the show.  During their encoe, people walked out.  Applause was minimal and I saw no one looking at their CD's or telling them how wonderful they were.  I heard they were getting off in Miami to see their agent.  

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22 minutes ago, newcruise12 said:

 I’m glad we decided against purchasing CruiseNext on our recent cruise — they sure were pushing the purchase of them.  I hope NCL sends you a survey. I didn’t receive one for this last trip. 

Cruise Next were offered on this cruise as well.  Sometimes people were in line for 30 minutes to see a Cruise Consultant.  They also sent out voicemail reminders.  On the next to last cruise day, while standing in line, I watched a couple telling the Cruise Consultant they no longer wanted their certificates.  How it ended, I'm not sure but the conversation was short and the guests left grousing to each other.

 

I find their cruise surveys to be useless.  I used to fill them out.  Since then, as I will do with this cruise, I will write the critique but send it to our Cruise Consultant who is proactive and not Norwegian.  Several times, she has forwarded them to Norwegian and followed up as to how they would respond.  We were surprised recently when she called and said she had finally gotten a response after following up for a year and a half. I think that Norwegian must have received thousands and thousands of comments on their Lattitude program.  No response.  At their second highest tier you get two bottles of Norwegian Water and an onboard conceirge to assist you.  Try and find the phone number of the onboard conceirge.

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7 hours ago, Toby459 said:

irdWe were on this cruise as well.  My summation is Get Away Getaway!  Here are some of my observations.

 

Embarcation in Copenhagen went smoothly.  European shore excursions provided by Norwegian were good to excellent.  Our cabin steward (Anthony Fernandes) was the best that we have had with Norwegian in our last 15 cruises.  He was unobtrusive, anticipated our needs and always greeted us in a cheerful manner.  In regards to our cabin, we wanted for nothing.  Laundry service was very good.  But ... this is about the end our pros.

 

About Day 3-4, we were told that in the Tropicana Dining Room there are no reservations.  When I asked why there were two lines, another "black coat" told me the other line was for reservations.  When I showed him my key card and he read Platinum Plus, he moved us to another line.  We learned that there really were not reservations but that if we showed up at 5:00 PM, we would be seated.  So, the choice was be in line at 5:00 PM, get in another line that was about 30 minutes long or eat at 7:30 PM.  We chose 5:00 PM even though the reservation line formed at 4:45 PM.  But then, another surprise.  Once we were seated, the table often did not have any bread, butter, candle, complete silver service, both salt and pepper.  Although the restaurant opened at 5:00 PM, there was often just one waiter to cover 35-45 guests.  Additional waiters showed up between 5:20 and 5:30.  Eventually, our order was taken.  Sometimes bread came, sometimes it did not come.  When we looked in the butter dish, there was one pat of butter.  We asked for butter and were given a second pat of fakbutter.  This was repeated for breakfast when there was one container of jelly in the holder to serve 4 persons.  When another teaspoon was requested, it was delivered after 5-10 minutes.  If you asked for a SINGLE muffin, they brought three Danish.  Some days the waiter would say there was no orange juice today, the machine is broken.  But if you looked up, tables all around you were getting orange juice.  It was not unusual to order an item from the menu and have the waiter return 10-15 minutes later to tell us it was not on the menu or they had run out by 5:45.  Most of our dining experiences in the Tropicana took two hours plus.

 

On Wednesday before the cruise ended on Friday, I called Room Service as I have on other ships to request that three ice packs be frozen so that I could keep insulin cool while flying home.  The person that answered said, "we don't do that" and hung up.  I went down to Guest Services (which has to be a misnomer on this ship).  I explained to the Guest Service agent that I was diabetic, took insulin and need three of my ice packs frozen.  I related that Room Service said they did not do that.  The Guest Service Agent said, "this is the first time I have ever heard of such a thing".  I thought OK, there is a first for everything but a guest needing to freeze an ice pack for medical reasons would not be one of them.  He said he would check.  He got on his cell phone, dialed a number and then disappeared so that I could not see him.  He returned about 7 minutes later and said, "OK, go to your cabin and I'll send someone to pick them up."  When I asked where they would be, he repeated "Go to your cabin".  After two hours of waiting, I went back to the Guest Services Desk and got another Agent.  She pulled up my file and yes, they had a record of what I needed and yes, no one had been sent to pick them up and yes, they would come now.   Back to the cabin where someone from House Keeping picked them up.   But, it doesn't end there.  I was told to call Guest Services (that name irritates me for some reason) on the last morning of the cruise and they would be delivered to me.  Embarcation Day came.  I phoned 00.  After the phone rang for 8-10 times, it automatically put me into an automated wait system ... which disconnected after 3 minutes.  No one ever came on the phone.  I did this three times.  On the fourth try, I got a live person who said she would have them delivered and they were.

 

The spa sinks were dirty.  The spa bathrooms ran out of toilet paper.  The spa floor was littered with paper debris and fruit squeers where they remained for FIVE days.  Popcorn was in the main swimming pool.  A shower in the pool put out scalding water, only scalding water.  When I reported this to a ships officer, he said "Let it run for 5 minutes."  I asked if he might put a sign on it warning people that the water was Very Hot, he said, "Let it run for 5 minutes".  The noise level was so high in the spa that I could not listen to an audio book no matter how high I turned up the volume.  Yes, there were spa attendants. Sometimes there were as many of three of them, standing in the corner, talking to each other for 20 minutes at a time.  You get to pay extra to experience this.  Yes, I did put a note in the Hotel Director's box in the atrium.  No, I never heard from him.

 

On the morning (Thursday) before the cruise ended, I decided to do something that I had never done before.  I had prepaid my service charges but I was going to dispute them.  At 8:30 in the morning, the line of people waiting for Guest Services extended out of the Atrium down the hall.  Eighty percent of those people had had ENOUGH and were attempting to do the same thing.  Although there were 5-6 Guest Service agents on duty, it took almost an hour to get to the counter, another 15 minutes to fill out the forms.  You had to fill out the form there, now and immediately turn it it.  I was told that it would be reviewed by the On Board Credit Officers and I could come back in two hours and they would pay me what they determined my immediate, stand up, don't thiink it over complaint was worth.  I returned at 3:30 PM (six hours later) and was told I'd have to come back later, my claim had not yet been reviewed.  They knew this without even checking.  I asked what "later" meant and was told I could get in line (third time today) "to see if it were done".  The On Board Credit people would be there between 5-8 PM.  I said I had been there for four hours of my last day on the cruise.  I noted how they would form another line which just happened to occur during the dinner hours and NO, this was unacceptable.  The agent said she would see if my claim had been processed.  She returned eight minutes later to tell me that yes, it had been processed and "if you will be so kind as to get in that line over there, we will pay you when you get to the counter."  She disappeard before others in the line could make a similar claim.  Four lines, five hours.

 

Others have talked about Customs and Immigration.  What a farce!  One thing I have not seen commented on which I think I'll remember for a very long time is seeing a woman coming down the winding gangway heading to customs try to help her husband to stand and move.  This man had severe spoinal deformities, his back at a right angle to his legs.  He was gasping for breath.  Other cruisers were trying to help.  A Norwegian officer came up to her and said the woman needed to keep the line moving.  They woman at her witts end said, "I asked for a wheel chair to be brought to Deck7 over 45 minutes ago and no one ever came.  I'm doing the best that I can.  He's doing the best that he can.  We can't go any faster."  The officer got on his phone and after 5-6 minutes, the wheelchair arrived.

 

And during the Lattitude Party for Ambassadors, Platinum Plus, Platinum members, we were told the "company line" of 'We're glad you are part of the Norwegian Family, that you have come back to experience us again.  You are our backbone.  Yada yada yada."  Me thinks NOT!

 

Get Away, Getaway.

 

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On Escape the MDR food was hit or miss. One very memorable meal in the Manhattan room, with great view live music and good food. Another meal in the same restaurant with no music, no view, and a shank my dog would not eat. It was so bad we just up and left after the main course.

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