desirod

Norwegian Getaway Review: Baltic Cruise.

This is my third NCL Cruise starting with the SS Norway in 2001, the Gem last year. NCL is not the same line it was in 2001, on a converted ocean liner SSNorway. Dave started cruising in the post liner era. I have been on 20 cruises since a young boy, Dave 7 in 12 years.

The ship:

The Getaway and her sister the Breakaway are as large as the Queen Mary 2, but carry 50% more passengers; 4000 on our voyage, and up to 5000. She has been criticized as a livestock carrier with an amusement park atop. Décor is tasteful and appropriate with an occasional nod to shopping mall kitsch.

The public deck plan is 3 decks with central corridor 1/3 the length of the ship with elevators at each end, and rarely a wait. In the center is a circular atrium with a 2 storey crystal chandelier to give a sense of place with spiral stair case. Theater is at the bow, dining rooms at the stern, so a ship this big, nothing is too far a walk. Upper decks are typical cruise ship, but no solarium or magradome pool. Ship has a bowling alley, miniature golf course, full basketball court, rock climbing wall, waterslides, rope climbing apparatus: Plenty of youth activity.

The Good :

Embarkation is quick, transparent, and effortless.

The ship is immaculately clean and no sign of wear and tear. Food is excellent if not adventurous. The ship rides beautifully, noise and vibration free from our Deck 5 cabin. You have to look out the window to see if you are moving. One day we had 50 knot winds, 20’ waves and the ship had an occasional jiggle. The wake is calm denoting an excellent hull design. My hat is off to Meyer Werft who built the ship to an excellent work of marine engineering and naval architecture. She is the best riding ship I ever sailed, better than any classic liner and up there with the Queen Mary 2. CAD made this possible. A ship of this tall box form could not have worked with a 100 guys using slide rules. Our cabin was large and well laid out if a bit bland compared to the Norwegian Gem of last year.

The crew is friendly and had working. There was an occasional slip up with kitchen orders, but nothing to annoy me.

NCL entertainment is excellent, among the best I have experienced. The acting, singing, set, lighting, and sound design is Broadway West End quality. It makes me forgive the ship inconveniences.

The not so good:

Ship is always crowded and noisy; I was stepped on once, and knocked into regularly. It is the ship that never sleeps. There are lines and crowds everywhere. The aft buffet room: Garden Café is wall to wall people all the time. The library and service desks are located next to the atrium, and always a noisy activity. Conversation is hard to hear, and the noise permeates the small library even with 2 closing doors. There is no rhyme or reason the public room arrangement, hard to memorize, especially watching out not to get stepped on with the hoards of people. The gymnasium is too small, smaller than the Gem or 600 passenger Regatta, and always a wait for the machines. There is no forward facing lounge either.

The ship seems designed to disconnect one from the sea. Many of the public rooms had no fenestration on the bulkheads facing the water. The upper decks were hogged by the Haven, Water slides, rope apparatus, golf course, and basketball court. Forget an aura of intimacy.

We were on a northerly voyage and the outside decks were cold and windy most of the time. The Boat deck promenade; my favorite place to relax on a lounger and take in the sea has lifeboats blocking any view, and the unobstructed parts have no deck chairs. The boardwalk above, with restaurants has their smoking sections and not a whole lot of comfortable chairs to watch the ocean in quiet. On warm voyages I would shudder at the noise levels. The Spice H2O quiet refuge at the stern has a smoker bar, a jumbotron blocking the stern view, and always playing NCL commercials defeating the purpose.

People:

It was very diverse with many Asians; about 50% of the passengers, Latin Americans, British, Germans, and Americans. Everybody we met was friendly and cosmopolitan. We shared dinner tables in the main dining room, and have lovely table mates each time. There was little of Pete Party Animal, and Heather High Hair. There were 4000 passengers.

When to take the Getaway?: If you are a family with active kids, and like a high activity energy vacation.

When not to take it: If you want an intimate quiet cruise experience. You will not getaway from the crowds.

The ports:

Copenhagen as the start and end:

I have a special affection for Denmark, since I spent 3 months there as a student. This is my second revisit. It was wonderful to have dinner with friend Dariuscz Janecki previously from Bryn Mawr, and Morten Knudsen, whom I spent a summer with and his family as a student. Copenhagen has a wonderful energy, and old city with walking streets to the west, and a 1790’s new city to the east with large boulevard’s and beveled corner buildings for the fire trucks. Denmark is socially ahead of the USA by 20 years on social issues. Food is excellent, and the local Smorrebrod is an open face sandwich. Sites to see are Slot Rosenborg, The Free City of Christiania, Royal Botanical Garden, Stroget, and many museums. We stayed at the barebones Hotel Jorgensen, the only Americans there, a great cold buffet breakfast, and perfectly located next to a major transit stop in a great neighborhood.

Warnemunde, Germany:

It is a lovely beach resort town that is a combination of Rehoboth Beach, Carmel, CA, and Volendam, Holland. There are well tended residential neighborhoods, with fine plantings, and brick homes. 19th century spas, and a few beach modern hotels make up this charming resort town.

Tallinn, Estonia:

The historic medieval city is quite colorful, recall 9 months of cloudiness, and like a fairy tale with the labyrinth of walking streets, castles, gates, turrets, and has a wonderful energy. Outside the walls, is a vibrant tech center, unleashed by Glasnost. Locals we met are friendly, and tried out some local tomato soup unlike anything I have had here. It is easy to get lost, so get a good map.

St. Petersburg –Leningrad Russia:

This is why we took a cruise instead of a land trip. Getting into Russia on your own require a time consuming, expensive, byzantine process to get a visa. Cruise ships are a breeze.

It was very surreal seeing it for the first time. Going though passport control is KGB like with surly pit-bull like guards. You do not look them in the eye or smile at them. If you lose your passport, you cannot exit the country. Signage is in Cyrillic, English is not spoken, and tourist facilities are limited. The city is neoclassic architecture with colors, mostly ochre’s, terra cotta, pink, aqua green, and baby blue.

The tower blocks where most people live are elephantine Soviet structures that kill individuality. 4 families share one small galley kitchen, and one bath. HGTV, phuck off on ripping out 5yo stuff.

The Royal palaces are paved with gold, some over 1000’ long. Donald Trump gets his taste here. No wonder the Romanovs met the firing squad. On the other hand, the Danish Royal Palace is tiny and minimal compared, and their royal family is around in a ceremonial and diplomatic role.

The city has a bit of grime, traffic is not too bad, but drivers are more aggressive than LA, or New York. We had very good Borscht, and Beef Stroganoff for lunch. Vodka pronounced Wodka is considered medicine, not alcohol. Russia was the highlight of the trip.

Helsinki, Finland:

It is a fun town with colorful quirky architecture from the pre WW1 and the modern efforts ranging from early Art Deco to theoretical Bauhaus. Finns tend to be outwardly friendly people, and this trip confirmed it. The inner old city is very walkable and about a square mile, with a large surrounding metropolis. The city has gentle rolling hills, a great opera house, and museums. We did see a wonderful exhibit on Alvar Aalto.

Stockholm Sweden:

There is a joke about if a boat of Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes get shipwrecked: The Danes start to party, Norwegians: build another boat, and the Swedes stand around waiting to be introduced to each other.

I had visited Stockholm as a student and totally forgot about it. It is a nice city with a walking street district, grand boulevards, and neoclassic architecture. Food we ate there, just a sandwich was very good, people polite and all speak English. It is fun to watch the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace, a city of islands, and easy for the tourist. The Getaway was so big, we had to dock in the suburbs, so we took the commuter train in for an hour ride, and navigated the Central Station with all of the commuter and intercity trains. Yellow vested information guides were friendly and helpful . The trains are clean and silent, saw the outer city and suburbs on the way in, and terminated on the last stop Nynashamn. One buys a ticket from a machine, and the conductor scans the bar code onboard.

Overall, northern Europe remains one of my favorite travel destinations: A cruise gives you a taste of the cities, but one absorbs the culture by finding one’s way around, own meals and hotels.

The Norwegian Getaway is the ship that never sleeps.

just a month away

We are 61 days away from the sailing :D

David and Dave are crossing. This will be my 3rd time on Mary2, although first crossing. I have sailed her before on 2 cruises. 10 years earlier, crossed on QE2. :)

We are hoping to meet friends of Dorothy.

David

Question:

We are looking into a 14 to 24 day Mediterranean cruise in 2011....any suggestions for cruise lines that are gay-friendly but not exclusively gay?

How have folks experience Holland America or NCL? Both have departures that are appealing for us.

Pied Piper and Aquafest would be the first places to look.

They run partial ship gay charters anywhere from 20-900 people on a particular cruise. It is the best of both worlds of an all gay cruise and a mainstream cruise.

I have never taken an all gay cruise and do not plan to. Something about the shtetl-ghetto mentality.

The Queen Mary 2 has a large gay following, everywhere you turn there are gay people.

On the mainstream cruises we take there are the friends of Dorothy parties where all the gay people meet. If one runs into a European gay person/couple they do not know the code. Please tell them, and then they attend. We befriended a few on our last Galaxy and Summit cruises. Oceania is also very gay friendly.

On a mainstream cruise ask the CD for a Friends of Dorothy party and the oblige. My first Oceania cruise 25 attended out of 350 passengers including 3 supportive heteros.

We are taking the Oceania Regatta Jan 12 2010 Mayan Mystique cruise