Getaway Review Jan 14-21 2018 - Western Caribbean

I've posted this in another thread but it is buried in a thread with a title that could make it difficult to locate. So I thought it would be valuable to create this new thread with a more appropriate title.

Have cruised many times (40-something) on most of the linesout there, from luxury like Silversea and Seabourn all the way “down” toCarnival. None of the cruises reallydisappointed when you consider value for the price paid. Same goes for my very first time last week onNCL (in a Haven Spa Cabin on the Getaway) on their Western Caribbean run.

The Haven was absolutely wonderful with very little to nitpick about. Yes, it was a bummer thatthe Haven menus were the same all week for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner.Changing them up a bit would be my biggest suggestion for improvement. The food quality, service (bar &restaurant), and ambience were all outstanding! Spa suite cabin was also wonderful with a large, comfortable space allaround. And it was exceptionally wellmaintained by our room steward, Bradley, on Deck 14.

Speaking of exceptional maintenance, for a ship that is 4years old (and I believe before any major dry dock has occurred) – I was amazedat how everything looked so pristine. Usually after a year or two, you start to see scrapes, scratches, andnormal wear and tear all around. Not onthe Getaway! I will consider travelingagain on NCL purely because of the superlative cleanliness of the ship and thedetailed focus on staff and passenger hygiene throughout. I just LOVED the fact that you were alwaysgreeted at a restaurant’s entrance with hand sanitizer (either from anautomatic dispenser or in many cases, by a live crew member with a spraybottle). There were real sinks with soapand auto-dispensing paper towels near the buffet spaces we visited. You could get your food and then easily washyour hands and clean up properly before eating vs. MAYBE using the handsanitizer for a second time.

We dined at 5 of the specialty restaurants for dinner – andI would rank them in this order from best to very good: Cagney’s, Le Bistro, Moderno, La Cuccina, andTeppanyaki. Never had anything thatwasn’t at least very, very good. On theexcellent end was the Veal Chop in Cagney’s, Filet Mignon at Le Bistro, and thesalad bar at Moderno.

Also tried the main Buffet for lunch a few times and it wasenjoyable with nothing to complain about (remember it’s a buffet on a ship with4,500+ passengers – and set your expectations based on that!). O’Sheehans was good too for lunch with ahappening bar crowd overlooking the various entertainment options in theAtrium. Haven guests are permitted todine at Margaritaville for “free” on embarkation day – it was good but this wasperhaps the least favorite meal of the trip. Finally, I would highly recommend the once-per-cruise Indian buffet forlunch at Moderno on the final sea day. Yummy and so well presented, complete with Indian greetings at the doorand some wonderful Indian music to set the mood.

We did not book any excursions, as this was a trip to enjoyThe Haven amenities and escape the brutal cold in the mid-Atlantic region ofthe US this year. If you don’t bookexcursions to get out and see the sights, the ports are more or less a bust IMHO. Cozumel was fun with lots of shopping asusual – been there before, done that. Did not get off in Costa Maya because of steady rain all day. Roatan was, in a word, crappy, at least inthe immediate environs of the ship/dock. Harvest Caye was VERY well done, and is the only stop on this itinerarythat I would look forward to a return visit to.

On the entertainment side – we loved Burn the Floor andMillion Dollar Quartet and highly recommend both. Didn’t attend anything else, other than itwas always nice to hear live music at different venues around the ship atdifferent times of the day.

The Mandara Spa/Thermal Suite was “free” to use as a perk ofstaying in a Spa Suite. It was very niceand clean with a large bubbly pool, hot tub, and various warm rooms (like asauna, salt etc.). It was only reallycrowded on the first sea day. If you’reinto these sorts of amenities – I really can’t recall a nicer and larger spaceon any ship that I’ve sailed on. As forthe Spa Treatments – well, they just didn’t have their act together. I booked an appointment for 10am one day andwhen I showed up, they told me the technician was “tied up in training” so wehad to re-schedule. Booked 3pm for thenext day – and guess what, the technician was again a now-show. This has never happened on any of the othercruises I’ve been on. Not sure whathappened, but hopefully it was just a one-off (or two-off) experience. I did end up getting the treatment (hourslater) – and they did NOT charge me for it. A nice gesture I suppose, but didn’tmake up for the hours of wasted time that I reserved in my daily schedule overthe course of two days. Chalk it up tobad Spa Management.

Finally – a word about embarkation and disembarkation. Embarkation was not well done in Miami. No organization with people loaded into avery small, warm room, seemingly called in random order to approach the 2(sometimes 1) attendant dealing with check in details. The “priority escort” to the ship was also amess – with a large group of us being rushed from point A to point B to point Cand then squeezing by the large line of other folks to approach **********. The entire process took atleast 75 minutes – not horrible, but I was expecting a more organized andrefined Haven embarkation process. Onthe flip side, disembarkation was a breeze. We did self-assist with our own luggage. After arriving at The Haven lounge around 8:00am, we were whisked to aprivate elevator straight to the front of the line at the gangway, in a cab by8:15, and at the airport by 8:40. Trulythe fastest and most efficient exit from a large vessel EVER!

So there are my thoughts and short review. Happy to answer any other questions and ifyou’re considering traveling on the Getaway in The Haven – it gets an A gradefrom me! We’ll be back on NCL for sure!

Great review! Thanks! We will be on her for the March 4th sailing.

Thank you for your review. We will be on the Getaway for our 2nd time in April. I myself love the ship!

Glad your NCL experience is worth a repeat. Thanks for sharing.

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Excellent report.

Thank you.

Keith

Thanks for the report.

Thank you for the review!

We are doing the same itinerary on 1/28 and are staying in Haven. Glad you had a good experience.

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Thank you for the review. I'm interested in hearing more about the Indian buffet for lunch. Is that considered a specialty meal since it's in Moderno, or is it complimentary and just uses that space. You mentioned it was only offered once?

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Thank you for the review. I'm interested in hearing more about the Indian buffet for lunch. Is that considered a specialty meal since it's in Moderno, or is it complimentary and just uses that space. You mentioned it was only offered once?

 

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Complimentary - they just chose Moderno as the location for it. Enjoy.