Getaway Photo Review - Food Focus - Specialty Dining - Chef's Table - Viva Vino

Great Review

Thanks!

This review is just fabulous and your pictures are amazing! Keep it coming.:D

Many thanks,

Kind regards

megacruiser

Enjoying your review very much. Gorgeous photos. And I appreciate seeing the menus and the Daily. We haven't yet cruised NCL but are considering it' date=' so your review is very helpful. Thank you![/quote']

 

Many thanks for your feedback.

 

Regards

megacruiser

I am having a blast following along on your adventure. The pics and descriptions you give are making this very fun to read. Thank you for do this!

Delighted to hear this.

Many thanks

megacruiser

Quick question about chef's table. Being a non=drinker do you think that this dining experience alone would be worth the $99?

That's a very difficult question. Depends how much you love food. Is the food alone worth five times Le Bistro? No it isn't. However you feel as if you have been to a memorable occasion and treated as a VIP at a banquet. Having done it once I wouldn't pay $99 without wine. I will certainly do it again every time I can when able to enjoy the very generous wine offerings.

How much is an everlasting memory worth? Only you can decide...

Hope that helps.

Regards

megacruiser

I am very appreciative of your review and keep checking each day for more. It's been very helpful for this first time cruiser and it's making me more excited for our Getaway cruise in May.

It is always nice to know if someone finds my review interesting enough to follow along.

Many thanks

megacruiser

Funny, I heard such good things about Moderno, but it was a HUGE disappointment in Feb 2013 on Breakaway (well, except for the awesome salad bar). Debating whether to give it a second chance when we return to Breakaway in December. We're buying UDP, so we'll probably try it with an early reservation and then have a late Cagney's dinner as a backup in case it's bad again.

 

Thanks so much for all your work on this detailed review - really enjoying it :)

Good to hear your feedback.

Regards

megacruiser

I am thoroughly enjoying your review. We are sailing on the Getaway in April. Your comments are most helpful and certainly add to the anticipation of this cruise. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for letting me know.

Regards

megacruiser

Sorry if this question was asked an answered already, but what night of the cruise was the "Elegant" night or "Formal" night. This will be my first NCL cruise so I'm not familiar with everything.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post, I am throughly enjoying your review!!

Many thanks; and to Keith for answering...

Regards

megacruiser

Greetings, Megacruiser!!

 

Enjoying your review!! Read the one on the Epic as well--my sister and I are doing the TA in April on Epic--our first sailing on NCL!

 

I have a question for you, is the Viva Vino wine package available to purchase before boarding, or just on board?? I've been trying to find a link for it and keep coming up empty. It looks like it is a really good value!! I sailed on MSC Fantasia with their unlimited drinks package (at $32/day a REAL bargain!! And it included all you could drink espresso drinks and the like & all you could eat gelato!!)--I looked at the UBP and thought that it was just too much for an 11 night cruise. Also, is the Chef's Table also available on the Epic???

 

Thanks, and CRUISE ON!! Susan:D

Many thanks; as Keith said, Viva Vino only available on board. Chef's Table is on the Epic but I couldn't justify cost because I was on the UDP and UBP, and they make no adjustment to the $99 charge. That, and the fact that Ocean Blue is not included in the UDP, meant I chose to pay as I went along this time; it worked out less expensive to have six bottles of wine and the odd G&T. I don't drink during the day.

Regards

megacruiser

Loving your review. Few give such details and great photos. Looking forward to Breakaway.

So glad I found your delightful review and pictures ! I'll be on the Getaway next month, so I am really enjoying following along. Thanks for sharing!

I'm sending my Saturday reading your reviews. I just finished the epic and now I started getaway. I'm not on either as I'm not sure the large ships are for me. I am on the pearl in April out of Miami (10 day) and this will be my first solo. I'm really enjoying your review - you have a way of expressing things that I like.

Do you remember how the smoking was on the Getaway? I sailed on the Breakaway in 2013, and I remember the smoke from the casino was not well-contained. I could smell it on the far side of the art gallery on some nights, and the atrium where Le Bistro was frequently intolerable for me. Since the Getaway is basically identical to the Breakaway, that's been the only thing holding me back from booking a room, since I'm really sensitive to the smell.

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Melon (with Cottage Cheese by default)...

Yoghurt Parfait, rather a nice change but a tad too much as an extra...

Dill and Spinach Pancakes with Smoked Salmon; if pancakes had been lighter this would have been a pretty good combination...

Hi Megacruiser, loving your review especially as we did the Breakaway in 2013, loved it that much we had to do the Getaway last year when we had such a fantastic time that we're going back to repeat the experience this September. :o

Love the photos and it's always interesting to get a fellow British opinion which is comparatively rare on these boards.

Hate your photos. ;) I wish I could take photos like that. I'm jealous.

A lazy sea day passed with relaxation overload; my own little mini-cabana in the morning and an extended afternoon siesta in the Studio to sleep off the excess food that by now was making me rather lethargic and soporific.

As far as lunch goes, I normally prefer to be served in the dining room. That way I feel I have dined rather than just scoffed some food on the fly. However I needed a change, so I tried the buffet. I tend to stick with the Asian section; quite a good variety of Indian curries, Chinese stir-fries, interesting salad combinations and soups too. However, conspicuous by its absence, the Asian soup station that I so enjoyed on the Epic was missing.

Soup station on Epic, absent on Getaway...

I did get some photos of the buffet display but not this time, and will post them later in the review.

Before dinner I took in Sugar Blue’s early set in The Grammy Experience. This venue is intended to host artists who have been nominated for a Grammy award, which basically means they have been recognised as outstanding musicians. Sugar Blue is not just a nominee but an actual winner; and I am not surprised. Don’t be put off by the fact he plays harmonica, because his talent is beyond amazing. He plays in a way that I have never before heard; nor anyone that comes close. I don’t know anything about playing-technique but I just couldn’t believe the sounds he was producing. Sugar Blue’s unique style was superbly suited to the mix of funky jazz and blues predominantly played with his resident band; and all of them were exceptional instrumentalists. Don’t be put off by the blues tag either, because they feature a wide variety of styles and tempos within the jazz/blues genre. If you appreciate good musicianship this is one not to miss; and he performs twice most nights, so you will have plenty of opportunity...

---and sharing with all the members of the family going along on a social media site.

What makes harmonica a little different is you have to change harmonicas to change keys. Much like you have to retune a banjo.

Willie Nelson and Jimmy Buffett both use a harmonica player to good effect.

Dancing (ballroom) did you seen any??

Front cover of menu... the work of an expensive graphic artist; or a child in a kindergarten? :)

Note “one item per course”, so no appetizer in addition to soup... :(

When I give my opinion of Ocean Blue, much as I enjoyed it, I have to take account of the price and other specialty meals both on board and on other cruise lines; so any caveats are not to put it down but to explain how I felt it compared.

Whereas Le Bistro has a very safe classical French menu that has widespread appeal to those who like fine dining, Ocean Blue aims to be a much more contemporary restaurant with a modern menu aimed firstly at fish and seafood lovers, but also those who are more adventurous and are eager to try new combinations and preparation styles. I have never heard of the chef behind this venue but I believe he is a celebrity TV chef. His celebrity status means nothing to me, so it didn’t influence my enjoyment of the meal; but the higher price and exclusion from the UDP raised my expectations.

Light and tasty bread...

Beautiful light open-textured bread was brought to the table. There was a time when I would have gladly eaten it all. Nowadays I can only eat very little but I really savoured it; it was a delicious treat.

Conundrum White Blend...

Following your enjoyable review. Loved the Getaway last May, am going again this May, and feel as I am reliving my Getaway fun - plus seeing some new sights through your review. Nice to see the current dailies. Great job and Thank you! :D

Noting only one item was allowed, for starter I narrowed down the options to the Beet Salad or the Curry Bisque; ideally I would have liked both, but the atmosphere here is rather starchy; the customer is not made to feel that their desires will be fulfilled, unless it complies with how they choose to do things. I did overhear a nearby couple ask if they could share an extra entree; refused without a substantial extra charge, which they declined...

Beet Salad...

Anyway, I felt the beets had more scope to showcase culinary skills in terms of combination of flavours. No doubt about it, this dish is a picture on a plate. It worked well but the little component parts made it rather finicky and slightly awkward to eat. It was enjoyable but not an eye-opener; especially since I had a Beet Salad starter at 150 Central Park on Oasis that totally blew me away. Just to be clear though, this was a good dish...

I sought a recommendation for the main course and I was being steered towards the Dover Sole. Much as that is a wonderful fish, the preparation sounded very traditional and having had Dover Sole prepared that way a dozen times or more, I wanted something more ambitious in terms of marriage of ingredients to create something exciting. The dish that read best to me was the Red Snapper. Buttermilk with Horseradish and Leeks seemed to have the potential to really stimulate the taste buds.

Florida Red Snapper...

Again the presentation is quite beautiful. The very thinly-sliced potatoes were crisp and well browned. The leek and buttermilk combination was delicate but the fiery kick from horseradish was sadly slightly subdued. However the dish did work and I enjoyed it overall but there was one slight disappointment; the actual snapper itself seemed a little overcooked and had a very slight woody or musty flavour; not off, just not how it should be, I would say.

Cold Beans, actually it enhanced the flavour, but "cold" just seems odd...

Charred Broccoli... why? - absolutely vile, with a very strong burnt flavour...

Apple Strudel with Aged Cheddar...

For Dessert it was between the Chocolate Cake and the Apple Strudel. The server suggested the strudel was the more-different and interesting choice. I enjoyed it, perhaps a little heavy, but I really liked how well the strong flavour of the cheddar cheese melded with the strudel. Some petit fours followed and were a nice finish to what had been, with the exception of the strudel, quite a light meal with smaller than average portions, but much in line with land-based fine-dining restaurants. I couldn’t make up my mind whether this was potentially a great restaurant; perhaps I had not chosen well, but it was good enough for me to want to return on the last night for a different selection of dishes and a second chance to make up my mind...

I will be excited to read your final review on it. Every review I have seen on it suggests it is good but not really worth the upgraded price. Both side dishes sound gross. I'm very excited to try Le Bistro though.