Review - Getaway NYC to NYC 12 day Jan 20 to the Caribbean

[Lakesregion]

Background:

 I sailed as an almost 84 year-old solo passenger, that years ago vowed never ever to sail NCL. My last time with NCL was in 2006 when they were headed seriously down scale and it was not at all fun for solo males. Over the past several years, they have made an effort to provide a better experience but----. The cruise was the olny one out of NYC at the time I needed one soooo knowing my trepidations going in I booked. So die hard NCL fans (I would estimate about 75% of the consist) read this as you will.

 

Ship: Pristine clean all around inside and out. Attractive décor but with 4,000 passengers pawing all over it, one does not get to really appreciate that aspect of the voyage. As to stability, we had very calm seas most all of the time and the ship still rocks and rolls. Pity the passengers that get into a real ride of over 8 foot seas. 

 

Staff: Excellent level of enthusiasm and they did their best at service. Difficult in the complimentary restaurants as the kitchen appeared woefully unprepared to handle the number of diners at most and hour. But as one was not going anywhere, the 15 - 20 minute gap between courses was not an issue for me. My cabin steward was the best I have ever had on any line. Always attentive, Cleaned like a wizard and made a sincere effort to find disposable bags for an incontinence issue. He told me NCL has eliminated those disposal bags from their inventory. That will pose serious health risks to the cabin staff if they have to deal with more personal fluids from passengers or the passengers may take to using the toilet to dispose of the items. Either way Foolish on NCL's part.

 

Staff language difficulty was a bit of an obstacle as I never was able to understand what they said on first try. Many times they had to repeat the statement three times before I got what they were saying. And their understanding did not seem to go much beyond words used in what ever position they had. ie: The dining room staff was ok with menu words but could not carry on a conversation based on even the weather of the day.

 

Food: I did not go to any of the pay to dine places, so I have zero idea if they were good or bad. The one comment I would make is that by allowing nasty smoking in the casino, the stale smoke drifts down the stairs into the for pay Bistro and people dining in the so called patio (read right in the traffic aisle to the complimentary restaurant and the fake art gallery had to breath that stale air for their entire pricey meal. I had planned to play some Blackjack while on board but could not deal with the smokers so never did win from or leave money with the casino folks Evidently NCL believes that smokers gamble more than non-smokers or gamblers like to smoke.

 

Tropicana: Looking over the free places before sailing I thought the large main dining room would be the place to dine every evening so I made a reservation for 7:30 pm the first night. Major error. The room is large but with a low ceiling and very load out of tune band music, and rushing staff and load large tables of passengers, it was not a comfortable experience and I never went back thee. The service stations for the waiters are tiny and three or four waiters are expected to use each station which is the size of half a deuce table. So chaos was the norm. Also, the section I sat in vibrated from engines deep in the ship throughout the entire meal of two plus hours. Food was good.

 

Taste: Found this delightful small restaurant with breakfast the first morning and remained with the place for all of my meals except when it was closed on post days. Being a solo passenger that wore a blazer every evening and became known for a better than average level attire at all times, I was provided with instant seating though others who would also be using a two top had to wait. Most every morning and other meals I had a coveted window table.

 

Did have one minor experience when I bit into a stuffed mushroom and felt a large hard object in my mouth that was not supposed to be there. Not wishing to cause a scene by inspecting it at the table, I wrapped it in a piece of the bear basket paper and placed it in my posket for a look later. Back in my cabin I washed it off and it was not a part of a tooth but was a small screw. Obviously fell out of a mixer some where in the food preparation area. So the next day, I went to the Guest Service desk to report the issue and asked to speak to the head chef of the Taste. After some language issues, the clerk understood my concern and tried to reach the chef. Unable to locate this person by phone he did get in touch with the head dining room supervisor. She was very apologetic and promised to take up the issue with the chef. I never heard another word from any one but service took on a new high after that issue and over the 12 days I was "comped" at least 6 glasses of house Merlot wine.

 

The only other issue was the waiters in two instances running my card for the $18 a glass special wine VS the House at $10.50 and not providing me with a receipt to sign. Found this out when I got home to read my e-mailed final invoice against my credit card. Rather than make a big issue with NCL of a few dollars I factored the free glasses and the knowledge that NCL and I are done forever this time, I decided not push the matter via e-mail or credit card company.

 

Finally as to the menu, the preparer of menu descriptions takes great license and a number of items bore little resemblance to the description. However, only one dish failed and that was the badly prepared Gnoce (sp?)

 

O'Sheenanshies (sp?) Irish pub: During port days I had four lunches there. Pleasant place with an American sports bar décor. Nothing remotely Irish about it and horrors of all horrors, zero ale available, draft or bottle, so NCL lost out on a beverage with each lunch. 

 

The Zoo - Better know as the Garden Café: I will state that this feeding place was loaded with lots of fresh appearing food, excellent service and more than enough seating during off hours. I never frequented when I assume the vast majority of the passengers on board went there for their meals. So I can not comment on how crowed it might be at those times. I fully enjoyed a prepared to order Linguini with shrimp in a cream sauce. Just the right seasonings and more than ample size. The ice cream was always good.

 

The Library: This was a joke. open one hour in the am and one hour in the pm. Really just a bunch a shelves holding about 100 books located in the tiny card room Three tables. However given the passenger consist as observed, this offering was way to generous. They were not on board to read other than menus and maybe the daily activity sheets.

 

Activites: Geared 100% to NCL's market and from observation well appreciated. Not so much for those of an older generation where lots of noise from out of tune musicians and loudspeakers in every seating area (Except out on the Waterside deck). There really is no space allocated for a quiet cocktail before of after dinner. Just bar after bar after bar that got loader with each passing hour. Did not even try to get into a show so no comment on those offerings.

 

The pool area was well used during the few hours the ship was in warm waters and not docked. And these did not seem to be an issue with finding a lounge chair.

 

Attire: I arrived fully expecting from prior postings about dress codes to find a full consist of welding overalls and gardening clothes. I was pleasantly surprised that most every one made the effort to appear nicely attired and clean. I previously stated, I wore a Blazer,  wool or linen slacks, dress shoes and dress shirt plus a scarf for all my evening meals. I would say that in Taste the following attire percentages were observed. Male attire befitting the décor, linen table clothes and napkins and a uniformed staff - 2%. Totally rude attire 1% the balance ranged from the majority in Target level casual to a few in obviously better casual clothes. Female attire befitting the level of elegance etc. 85%, Rude - two people over 12 nights. The balance in more casual clothing. It is sad in these times that men can not dress to compliment their significant others desire to dress up for an evening meal. Either they were not raised to do so or simply do not care enough about their wives desires.

 

Passenger consist. A vast mix of cultures, ethnicities but from the number of folks I spoke with almost all from blue collar backgrounds. Comfortably well off and no dust ups at the bars nor anywhere else that were observed. Just 4,000 people having fun at an inexpensive price. NCL has found their niche market and has about a generation to enjoy it. The next one coming along does not enjoy crowds, nor loud music so what the will do with all these mega barges one has no idea. But they will have a good ten year run if one does not capsize in a high sea.

 

Three Notes: Across many of NCL's ships where there have been many comments about the ship running out of certain staples. This is fully understandable if one looks at the consist of passenger, Each culture has different wants as to food and beverage, brands and items and as the consist changes with each cruise in percentage of each culture. Stocking correctly is almost impossible.

 

I tried to speak with as many older passengers as possible and did not find a single one who found the voyage enjoyable. Too many passengers, too loud, no comfortable lounges just bars and without a middle set of elevators and stairs as in most large ships, way too far to walk to every thing.

 

And a final note: I was amused by the number of older gentlemen cruising with their "daughters" or even their "grand daughters"

 

. 

[DaisyGoldberg]

Was on the same sailing. I think a lot of your issues are with the Breakaway/Getaway level ship design. I wouldn't sail on either outside of the Haven, because the combination of using the Atrium for all games/events and the smoke from the casino renders the middle of the ship and its facilities extremely hostile to anybody who doesn't like crowds/smoke/noise. And you're not wrong about the bands being off-key. I assume it's a sound mixing issue, but they really need to see about it. The music in the Tropicana was PAINFUL the one night we ate there. Noticed an issue one night walking through the atrium as well. I know a lot of talented people compete for these jobs, which means it's the sound folks that are falling down on the job. 

 

I understand your not wanting to try NCL again, but should you see a good itinerary/deal on a Jewel class ship, I imagine your experience would be much better in terms of ambience of public areas. They hold game shows and other loud activities in the theatre and smaller show rooms and the casino is separate (though still smoky).

 

We just resign ourselves to not participating/watching any of the activities on the big ships. When it's quieter in the casino than in O'Sheehan's you know something's wrong. 

[PistolPete13]

Thanks for the review as I will be doing this same itinerary at the end of this month.  Also thanks for the info about the library and the laugh about it.

Guess I will pull the trigger on a few Kindle books for my iPad.  A cruise is about the only time I can have any extended reading time nowadays. 

[nmuller328]

7 hours ago, DaisyGoldberg said:

I understand your not wanting to try NCL again, but should you see a good itinerary/deal on a Jewel class ship, I imagine your experience would be much better in terms of ambience of public areas. They hold game shows and other loud activities in the theatre and smaller show rooms and the casino is separate (though still smoky).

I agree- you may want to try one of the Jewel Ship- ie Pearl, Gem. We have sailed on both the Getaway & the Pearl- each has their strong parts- we decided to sail again on the Getaway as we like the shows & their thermal spa whereas the Pearl's thermal spa was lacking & they didn't have the Broadway show like Getaway.  I can see us traveling again on the Jewel Class ship depending on the itinerary.  

 

[mking8288]

@Lakesregion  Hi, fellow M&G roll call member that sailed solo ... you weren't the only "older" cruisers on the Getaway, I didn't find out until the morning of Day 5, an old friend of mine going back 40+ years, retired colleague was also solo on the Getaway in an oceanview ... in his mid/late 70's (his brother living in the Mid West couldn't join him this time)   He has a little different take on the cruise and generally felt positive - we had a morning breakfast with him in O'Sheehan's and lunch in Taste on another sea day, he was otherwise busy with the solo group activities organized onboard.  I haven't spoken with him about his post-cruise impression, yet.  

 

Did you come to the Meet & Greet at Cagney's - attendance overall was pretty good, the senior officers showed up & stayed much longer than I usually expected them to be, and, actually took some questions ... they normally just march out after the first 5 minutes.  But, the M&G was not one of the better ones that I've attended, the "organizer" never got up to introduce himself & thank the rest for coming, nor made any efforts to get the group to socialize, chat and mingle, and pretty much disappeared ... that wasn't me, I was there & that was it.  I had cleared with the casino host about doing the Slot Pull following the gathering, around 11:45 a.m. but ... after seeing how "crowded" and fully "packed" the ship was, and the situation with the smoky casino - said to myself, just let it go & not push or go ahead with the slot pull.  We had about 20 people that expressed signed out but I got the feeling that nobody was gung ho about it..  

 

You raised a number of good points and some very, very valid observations and comments about the ship, activities and what was and wasn't - especially after your last NCL cruise was more than a decade & a half ago, a lot - I mean, seriously, a lot has changed over the years ... in fact, just the last 3 to 5, maybe 6 years.  It was a very diverse group onboard, including groups on special diets with prepared boxed meals, eating both in the buffet and in the MDR, and far more children & teens than "usual" for a mid-winter cruise with longer # of days away.  

 

No question about the size of the library and card room, the craziness of using the atrium for almost 1/3 of the ship's gatherings and events - it's like NY's Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal, the "hub" for everything - aside from the zoo, ooops - the buffet upstairs and the packed pool area with all the chair hogs ... as you said, the list go on and on..  One of our friends did not want to check out Spice H20 so we ended up not going there at all - but did used the fitness center, which also got busy by late morning, by folks trying to get rid of some of their excess calories from eating so much.  

 

The singing duo in Tropicana was just horrible and off-key, I don't believe it's the mixer or audio tech's errors to fix, she just picked the wrong songs to entertain a loud & noisy audience in a busy MDR, with maybe 3 or 4 couples on that small dance floor at times.  Yes, nightly dinner was an exercise in patience and tolerance - they're under-staffed by about 200 and it can be seen & felt just about everywhere.  

 

As far as the ship running low on certain things, that, to me, is the job of the corporate VP for hotel and F&B operations in not planning ahead for provisions and contingencies ... things like sliced butter in a bowl here and there, wrapped butter as it should - in between ports, perhaps the inventory was buried deep in one of their giant walk-in freezer.  With sky-high prices on eggs and Avian (chicken) flu - I was surprised that NCL didn't ration or limit orders at breakfast time for them, lol (just kidding ... gotta have a good sense of humor) 

 

We didn't find any serious language issues talking or communicating with the staff, including those working at Guest Services, given our limited interactions with them as I hate hanging out in that "hotel lobby" with the crowds hanging out, let alone to stand in line for anything unless we needed to.  On that last sea day evening returning to NY, perhaps you're around and heard someone (crew member, surely) declaring "Code Alpha ... something, Deck 8, La Cucina ...." but otherwise, rest of it unclear & barely able to figure out Code Alpha with a very, very heavy "foreign" accent.  That was bad, if they're using that to overhead page the nursing team and others with EMS or first responders duties to report & run toward the troubled location, STAT.  If that was indeed at La Cucina, there's got be another crew with a better command of the English language to get on the ship-wide paging system to request immediate help.  

 

I refrained about making these comments above in the Semi-Live review, because I like to and wanted to hear or read about other's observations, feedbacks and critical comments first - using your "review" to add to it, understand that intent here is not to hijack or disagree.  

 

Agreed with others above, the experience of sailing on one of the smaller, rather "mid-sized" NCL ships will and should be different, perhaps better to your liking.  This sailing wasn't even at full capacity with "just" 3,900 passengers - we've sailed these NCL ships with higher numbers pre-Covid ... things certainly were not ideal last month.  This month, they are sailing with 4,500+ onboard with winter break for schools - imagine that for a moment.  We've done the homework & would choose to never book a cruise for those days and weeks.  NCL needs to fill the ships and boost their revenue to balance their bottomline and we all missed the half empty ships that sailed in 2022.  The grass aren't really much greener elsewhere.  

[Joesantos]

Celebrity or Holland America are good choices for folks who want service and good quality food and a quiet cruise! We’re in our mid 60’s and love to dance so this last NCL Getaway was wonderful for us! We often had over 20,000 steps a day. Morning stretching class followed by abs class breakfast then Zumba type class in bliss lounge 11 am dance class in atrium lunch and 1 pm dance by pool and evening dance at sugarcane mojitos bar plus atrium and spice H20 we loved it. Been on enough celebrity to be elite loyal so we are going back on celebrity later in life. There are cruises for everyone. Just pick the best one for you at your stage of life 

[cruiseny4life]

On 2/5/2023 at 11:31 AM, Lakesregion said:

Totally rude attire 1%

I imagine I'm part of this 1%. 🤡