Crossing the Atlantic - an NCL Getaway Review

It’s quarter to eleven on Wednesday. At least I think it’s Wednesday. We’re three days into a transatlantic cruise and the days are starting to blend together. My wife and I are perusing the NCL Getaway Daily and trying to decide between the art auction and the towel folding class.

Perhaps thebest thing about a transatlantic cruise is that there’ll be plenty of time todo both on one of the ten sea days between Copenhagen and Miami. On mostcruises, sea days are a chance to catch a breath between ports and intensive excursions where you try to see an entire city in eight hours or less. On a transatlantic itinerary, sea days are the cruise.

We wander down to deck eight, and look for a comfortable couch on the Waterfront; the covered promenade deck that would be the ideal spot to enjoy a Pina Colada and a warm breeze… except that we’re somewhere off the coast of Ireland in October and the breeze is more like a moderate gale. Never-the-less, a few dozen of our fellow passengers can be found curled up with their e-books passing the time between breakfast and the next meal time.

When the ship is providing all the entertainment, it helps to have a myriad of dining options. The Getaway boasts three different dining rooms apart from the buffet; the pub-style O’Sheehan’s and the Asian-oriented Shanghai Noodle Bar. And with another eight specialty restaurants (a la carte or flat fee pricing) you could just about dine in a different place every night during the two-week crossing.

Not counting the buffet and O'Sheehan's, there are three main free dining rooms aboard the Getaway. The identical "Savor" and "Taste" are smaller, more intimate venues. The "Tropicana Room", while having the same menu as the other two, is a more formal, traditional cruise dining room with a dance floor and live entertainment.

Some complain about the loudness of the music in Tropicana but we found the supper club atmosphere to be a nice alternative to the smaller venues. Service is friendly and efficient at all three but we found some inconsistencies in service at both Taste and Savor... things like missing salt shakers, or used cream containers left amid the full ones.

This is a pet peeve of mine but since this review is all about the "small stuff" I would have preferred to be able to pour cream into my coffee from a small pitcher rather than use the plastic containers provided. And while each table has a butter dish, when you lift the cover you find more plastic packets instead of a nicely chilled and molded pat of butter. Maybe it's just me but I find it diminishes the dining experience ever so slightly.

A bigger issue was the apparent inability to synchronize the food with the wine service. As we were cruising with a beverage package (one of NCL's greatest selling points is the beverage and specialty dining perks so frequently offered), we tended to enjoy a glass of wine with dinner. Service was prompt when we first sat down but trying to order a second glass to go with a main course was problematic early in the cruise as it invariably arrived just as I was finishing the main course. In fairness, this did improve as the cruise wore on.

Strangely, this problem never occurred in The Tropicana Room. Later, I discovered that both Taste and Savor relyon just one bar to meet both dining rooms' demands while also serving peoplewho are waiting for a table. The Tropicana Room has two dedicated bars and twoadditional wine stations.

Food in all three dining venues was good with some dishes rising to very good. Another plus compared to someother lines is that tables are well spaced and not too close together.

The buffet restaurant always appeared to be busy, even chaotic during breakfast on a port day. Tables are very close together making it an obstacle course to navigate back to your spot with a plate of food or bowl of soup. It would have been nice to have stewards to provide drink service (or even coffee as we have seen on other lines) but they all seemed completely occupied trying to keep up with clearing tables forthe ever flowing arrival of new diners.

Food was average in both selection and quality with much of it bland and under seasoned.

O'Sheehan's - This free dining venue overlooks the atrium and so adds to the general hubbub of the area.Nevertheless there are spots tucked away in the corners and, as a pub, the atmosphere works. The wings are very good; the nachos and burgers less so.

There's a few decent beers both on tap and in bottles (Sam Adams, Newcastle Brown and Grolsch) but don't expect anything more exotic or artisanal.

As befitting a pub, dart boards are available but there's a charge for using the automatic scoreboard which seems a little petty.

Shanghai Noodle Bar – There was almost always a line up at this free dining spot located at one end of the casino. It offered several dumpling and pot sticker appetizers as well as noodles (good) or rice bowls (okay). It made for a very social dining experience since you’re seated immediately next to other patrons.

Specialty Restaurants

We dined at Cagney’s, Le Bistro, La Cucina and Ocean Blue (which added a $15 surcharge on top of the dining package). Cagney’s was fine if unexceptional. My rib steak had too much gristle and my wife’s NY strip was tough. The dessert, an overly sweet raspberry crème bruleewas not at all creamy and the caramelized sugar on top was soggy as if the dessert had been made several days ago and refrigerated. Cagney’s uses an iPad for their wine list which is a nice gimmick but clearly designed to tempt youto order a pricy bottle of wine rather than by the glass if you are using abeverage package.

Le Bistro was all about theatmosphere: elegant and quiet. The food was good although the escargot wereextremely small.

La Cucina epitomized an Italian trattoria with good food and friendly service. I was pleased to note thebuffalo mozzarella was appropriately soft and the pasta was excellent. We were told the spaghetti and linguine were made on board although tortellini and ravioli were pre-made.

The standout meal of the trip was in Ocean Blue. Both food and service outshone every other venue. Even thecocktails from the bar were unique to the restaurant. In fact, the next day we appealed to the hostess to allow us to order a couple of drinks even though we were not dining there. Appetizers included Florida Stone Crabs and while lobster was available in several forms, the snapper was the star of my plate.

Pro Tip - Moderno offered an express breakfast (coffee, cereal, fruits and a couple of hot items) for those wishing to fuel up quickly before a port day while avoiding the chaos of the buffet. They also served a very nice Indian buffet lunch in Moderno once during the voyage.

Pro Tip - Freestyle sounds great as a marketing concept, but in reality if you board without making any advance reservations you will find some shows fully booked or dining times at certain restaurants unavailable. We made reservations online 90 days in advance for even the free sit-down dining rooms and while it reduced our ability to eat spontaneously; we never had to wait for a table for two and always found we got a good table.

While lacking the grandeur of the Princess ships, the atrium on NCL Getaway is a model of efficiency, handling all onboard service inquiries including shore excursions, credit questions, future cruise bookings, etc.

With a lounge/bar, cafe and nearby library, games room and meeting rooms, the atrium is a hub of activity. It's also the site for various onboard activities and demonstrations from towel folding to dance lessons to "Deal or No Deal" games. This is definitely not the place for a quiet pre or post dinner drink. Sometimes there are even movies playing here (usually of the family variety) so if watching "Beauty and the Beast" while nearby passengers dispute the bar charges on their account appeals to you then this is the perfect place to hang out. We tried to spend as little time as possible in the atrium.

While not all the public spaces on board the Getaway are as busy as the atrium, the ship is not really designed with quiet lounges in mind. Virtually all the main bars are adjacent to thoroughfares. Nice if you want to watch your fellow passengers walk past as you enjoy a drink, however, it adds to the general feeling of communal space.The exceptions are Headliners and Fat Cats--which feature performing acts, some of which must be reserved in advance.

We found service at all bars to be prompt and courteous. Even with so many of the passengers on beverage packages, getting the attention of a bartender or waiter was never a problem.

Pro Tip - The Prime Meridian is a Chicago-themed bar in between the specialty restaurants Cagney's and Moderno which are located at the aft of the ship on deck 8 and so avoid being part of the back and forth traffic. It's a great spot for a cocktail even if you're not dining at either restaurant.

The big shows on board are:

Burn the Floor - a dance focused performance with a Latin flavour. Offered on two nights with two performances each night, you should reserve in advance for this one hour show. Note that even with reservations you will need to arrive 20 to 30 minutes before showtime to get the best seats.

Million Dollar Quartet - based on the true story about the jam session involving Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis,Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash. A must see and a must reserve in advance. This was easily the best show we have ever seen on board a cruise ship.

Cirque Dreams and Steam - A steam-punk blend of acrobatics and magic. This is a dinner show with a surcharge. You can pay for VIP seating near the stage or a lower price for seats a little further away. In either case you still need to arrive early to get seats within the two tiers.

Other entertainment ran the gamut from comics to magicians to singers and even a Hungarian violinist. Shows alternated between the main theatre and Fat Cats and Headliners. The latter featured “Howling at the Moon” with dueling piano players which made for a fun and more raucous evening.

We had a balcony cabin close to the aft elevator. While not overly large its layout was good except that the placement of the TV between the bed and the couch made it a compromise to watch from either position. Channels are limited: BBC World News, CNBC, Fox and channels in French,German and Spanish. The European sports channel seemed to focus almost exclusively on soccer and we never saw a baseball score despite cruising during the playoffs. Similarly, while TV's are plentiful in several bars (O'Sheehan's and in the casino) the only sports we ever saw were soccer and golf until we got closer to North America and NFL football became available.

There is one movie channel available in your stateroom and you can order more recently released films on demand for $9.95. However, there was no guide for the free movie channel so whenever weturned on the TV we were always in the middle of something.

As mentioned, movies were shown in the atrium and occasionally in the main theatre but the latter was under-utilized considering the number of people who did show up when something was showing.

There is adequate but not generous storage space in the cabin and plenty of hangers.

Robes are not automatically supplied but can be requested from the stateroom attendant.

The bathroom was a pleasure.The shower is the largest we have had in a non-suite cabin and there was plenty of shelf space to lay out all of my and my wife's toiletries, medicines, makeup,etc. I also appreciated the decent-sized bar of soap as I've never been a bodywash kind of guy.

The balcony is quite small. It's fine for sitting with a drink but even if the weather had been suitable it would be impossible for two to enjoy a meal outside (like Princess' Ultimate Balcony Dining).

NCL now charges a ($7.95) delivery fee for room service. However, a continental breakfast can still be ordered for free. The earliest delivery available is 6:30 am making it a good option for a port day when everybody is trying to get off the ship as early aspossible. Be warned though that on the day we ordered it the coffer came without cups.

Despite its 4000+ passengers, the Getaway utilizes only two banks of eight elevators each -- one forward and one aft. This system works surprisingly well. Most of the time we found ourselves doing a "loop" from our cabin down to one of the three floors where the main amenities are located, up (or down) one flight of stairs to another main floor and then back to the aft elevator to be able to return to our cabin.

Outside of your stateroom, most of your days at sea will she spent on decks 6, 7 and 8... especially on an itinerary where the weather is less favourable for enjoying the largely outdoor spaces on deck 15, 16 and 17. These latter decks include the pools, hot tubs, water slides, mini golf, ropes course and Spice H2O area. We were surprised to find not a single indoor bar/lounge on the upper decks of the ship where you can see the ocean... a feature we have enjoyed on every other ship on which we've sailed.

Pro Tip – when the weather was cool, the hot tubs provided a tranquil spot to relax, especially in the Spice H2O area at the aft of the ship. Since the clocks were constantly being adjusted forward during our westward transatlantic crossing, we were up early most days and had the chance to enjoy the sun rise from the comfort of the hot tub on several occasions.

Disembarkation in Miami proved a bit of a challenge. The detour to Bermuda instead of hurricane-ravaged St. Thomas meant we would have to go through U.S. immigration in Miami. Thecaptain planned to dock very early so the crew would be fully screened well before the passengers awoke but a tropical depression delayed the early docking. As we began lining up to get off the ship, NCL was able to reschedule to allow passengers to go before the crew otherwise it would have meant hours in line. More communication from the bridge during this operation would have helped.

One thing I can’t stress enough is the friendliness of the staff of the NCL Getaway. Servers seemed genuinely interested in having a conversation with passengers and the ship’s officers were often around soliciting opinions on how the cruise was going. We were approached one evening while having a drink and spent 15minutes providing feedback—good and bad—while the two crew members took notes.The next day we found a bottle wine in our stateroom as a thank you.

Despite some of the minor issues, the staff made the cruise exceptional and we wouldn't hesitate to sail with NCL again.

What a terrific review and I am glad that you would sail with NCL again.

Keith

Great review. We were on the same cruise and pretty much agree with your observations.