Getaway Review 1/10-1/17/16: Size DOES Matter

[BensonFan711]

I've always said that, before you go on a cruise, pack your good attitude. Those who know me know that I am the type of person who will rarely complain, but wow...the Getaway is not up to NCL's usual standards.

 

Having sailed on both the Dawn and the Gem prior to the Getaway, there seems to be a HUGE difference between the smaller ships and the mega ships. On the smaller ships, I got to know many members of the cruise director staff, bartenders, and waiters. The Getaway was just so impersonal. However, the highlight of my trip was being recognized by Shreta from the cruise director's staff. We sailed with her on the Gem in July, and she immediately recognized us on the Getaway.

 

Getaway Pros: Activities were more varied, and there was just more of them. This was wonderful because on other ships, when Bingo is in session, good luck finding something else to do onboard. The ropes course was a nice touch (I did it 5 times in a week), there was more pool space (actual kids pool instead of just a splash park), and the water slides were good. We saw Legally Blonde, which was leaps and bounds better than anything I've seen on the other two ships I've sailed. The spa thermal suite was a fantastic place to unwind away from the crowds on the pool deck (it came with the room, which I was upgraded to for next to nothing). LOVED Spice H20. Having the big parties outside on the top deck was so much better than inside the Spinakker Lounge or some other hot, crowded indoor space.

 

Getaway Cons: This ship really, truly needs a bigger crew compliment. Service at O'Sheehans was hit or miss. There were a few times we didn't even wait for the end of the meal because it was so slow. I said something to the Restaurant Manager, and we were treated to dinner at La Cucina in compensation. However, this just isn't Norwegian.

 

The second major issue I had was the Battle of the Clean Towels. My steward was excellent at taking away dirty towels, but he neglected to leave clean ones in their place every single freaking day, to the point where we almost didn't have enough towels on a port day.

 

Third thing was a sharps container. I always file a request with the cruise line to have one in my stateroom to corral my sharps (I'm a diabetic and carry needles for medication and blood testing). Never once has one been in my stateroom upon arrival. However, typically, I flag down a room steward on the afternoon of Embarkation, and I have one in my cabin around dinnertime. No big deal. On the Getaway, I had to ask FOUR TIMES, and it took over 24 hours to get one to my cabin. Unacceptable.

 

My last issue was with CruiseNext. My sister (in the same cabin) put down a deposit. It was charged to my credit card. Went to Guest Services, and they assured us it was corrected. Got the final bill in the morning, and the deposit was charged to her account, but her onboard credit was back on MY account. Back to Guest Services. Again. I'm still not convinced this is sorted out because on top of everything else, the deposit was in my mother's name, not my sister's....and my mother never even did a CruiseNext!!

 

I sincerely wanted to like this cruise, and there were many aspects of it I liked, but I felt this one was lacking the "Norwegian magic" that made our other cruises so wonderful. I was considering the Breakaway for a Bermuda cruise, but after this experience, I think I'll book the Dawn out of Boston. It's closer to home anyway. I'm done with megaships.

[Demonyte]

Thanks for the review, I was on the same cruise and having been on Getaway just months after her launch in 2014, the difference in atmosphere was really noticable – in my opinion the problem is not with the size of the ship itself, it's either the current officers onboard (they lost a lot of the best staff to Escape) or with NCL in general. Last time the overall vibe onboard was really different (and better) than this time so I have to agree with you on that completely, not up to what we'd expect from NCL – but then again, Getaway has been better before.

 

What comes to issues with room steward, unfortunately that is really much dependent on your steward, again not with the ship itself – on this cruise we had the best room steward we've had on all of our cruises. We are used to certain routines (read: have some special requests) and we never had to ask our guy anything twice and all of our requests (extra towels, two copies of Freestyle Daily, etc) were promptly handled.

 

I actually was positively surprised about the service in O'Sheehan's. We had few breakfasts and lunches, one dinner (spare ribs were great) and some late night snacks there (why, oh why doesn't NCL have the buffet open until 1am like Celebrity?).

 

Yes, we encountered some slow service but based on our experiences across the fleet in O'Sheehan's and Blue Lagoons that was expected, but never enough for us to walk away – usually the service was better than mediocre so we were content for not having to fight the crowds in the buffet or experience usually even longer waits in MDRs.

[BensonFan711]

This what I mean...two people on the same ship, vastly different experiences. I understand stewards vary based on who you get, but fundamentally, they should all be trained to do the job. Clean towels is really a no-brainer; I've gotten that in horrid hotels.

 

We didn't encounter crowds at Taste and Savor, which is where we mostly ate. I guess I just missed my NCL magic.

 

Oh, I forgot to add that our rooms were missing things (robes and slippers), that ought to have been there.

[bambione]

Thanks for your review, it's interesting to hear what someone else says about the same cruise that you went on. We never saw our room steward, but he seemed to do everything he was supposed to. My sister on another floor loved her guy (Fred). I think you just got a dud there. But I would have been annoyed as well, considering your issue of needing a needle container.

[elliotterae]

I read an interesting thought in regards to clean towels that really made sence.

The laundry manager may (probably) relies on tips. So, I can imagine if a certain steward has auto tips revoked on them a lot or doesn't grease the palms up the line like others do, they may be the last to get clean laundry.

I imagine there is a hierarchy and drama just like any other office job going on down there. He may have angered the wrong people and not had towels to give.

 

Now, it still sucks, but that might explain the difference.