My Getaway review....diverted by Gonzalo

[funredhead]

Back to reality from a wonderful vacation! I thought I would share some of our trip.

 

We loved the Getaway! Even more than the Breakaway. We stayed in our first minisuite and , we were diverted because of a hurricane. There were crazy people demanding to be taken to St. Martin in a cat. 4 hurricane, but I'll get to that later on...

 

Our background, we are a family of 4, our kids are 10 & 12. We are platinum lattitudes members. We cruise frequently with NCL. We love the freestyle concept. On this trip we were joined by my Gram (86) and uncle (76).

 

We stayed at the Miami Hilton pre cruise. We used their park and cruise package. The shuttle picked us up promptly at 11 and we were on the ship before 12:30. The only hiccup was getting a wheel chair once we reached the pier. I arranged to have a wheelchair delivered to my grams room with special needs at sea. They charge $75 for the week. But, as I said the chair was in her cabin. At the pier, I was told to find an NCL employee and they would help thru check in. The delay was finding someone to help. In any event, once we found someone and they located a wheelchair, we were checked in and on the ship quickly.

 

We were in Cabin 13220. It was a mid ship minisuite. What a great cabin. I know, I know the balcony is small. 32 sq ft. But, it was honestly perfect. It's big enough for 2 chairs and a small table. I worried so much when we got this upgrade about the small balcony. I kept reading on here how small it was. But, unless you are planning on exchanging vows or having a cocktail party for 10 the balcony is great!

The cabin itself is well appointed. I loved the king size bed. The bed was near the balcony door which does make the room feel larger. There is plenty of storage. The 3/4 passenger sleeping arrangement was very nice for our kids. The couch converts to a bed. And the bunk lowers from the ceiling. When it's not a bunk , it's folded flush to the ceiling. It's a great design.

The bathroom is spacious in the minisuite. There is a double sink and jets in the shower.

Our cabin steward was Barrington. He was very friendly. He came to meet us on the first day and was always smiling and happy to see us.

I want to say that this was a noticeable difference from the Breakaway. The staff on this ship is happy! They are positive and friendly, and it's infectious.

 

One of our favorite things about having a veranda was room service. (I guess I should point out that we normally stay in outside or inside cabins. On the Breakaway, we had 2 adjoining outsides, which was very nice). In any event, we used room service as our wake up call. I would leave the ticket on the door the night before and in the morning, when there was a knock on the door I would jump up and answer. I tried hard not to frighten the waiter with my fresh out of bed look. I think the tip helped.

Right now, I wish I was on the balcony sipping coffe and nibbling on chocolate croissants. But, I'm home freezing instead.

 

I'll be back a bit later....

[TSUmom]

Enjoying and waiting for more. Thank you for taking the time to do a review!!

[jdurant1981]

Really enjoy the review so far, cant wait to read on

[dobiemom]

Subscribed! ;) Thank you for taking the time to do this. :)

[Shellbelle28]

I love reading reviews and traveling vicariously!

[barnacle_boy]

There were crazy people demanding to be taken to St. Martin in a cat. 4 hurricane, but I'll get to that later on...

 

The crazy people wasted their energy in vain. It would have been impossible to dock in St. Maarten under those conditions, even if the Captain decided to maintain the scheduled itinerary. However, I have to admit, I'd rather spend a day at sea than visit Falmouth, Jamaica again. It's easily amongst the worse ports in the Caribbean.

[sue402001]

Eagerly awaiting more of your review funredhead!

[funredhead]

Ok, Back to dreaming about calm seas and warm weather!

 

First day lunch, we enjoyed O'Sheehans. The service was slow. I think they forgot about us in the booths. But the food was very good. The chicken pot pies are really good. After ordering, I ran down to the main desk to get a daily. They were not handing them out at the pier. There was one waiting in the cabin once they were ready at about 1:30.

 

We did have the UDP. I would highly recommend. It was so fun to try all the restaurants and compare. Because we pre-purchased, we received the Illusionarium free on the first night. We went to the 5:30 show. Dinner was very nice. I know people complain about the food, but after eating it, I think some people just need something to complain about. I thought the food was delicious. And, I thought the presentation (particularly the tomato salad) was really artistic.

The Illusionarium was fantastic! My son was brought up on stage to help with a trick. So, naturally we loved that. And he hasn't stopped talking about it. We were seated right next to the stage. We arrived to the show at 5.

 

The rest of our night was spent enjoying the entertainment. We saw Shannon McNally in the Grammy experience. She's very talented. She reminded me a little of June Cash. She's very soft spoken, but can she sing. Wow! It was her first night in the ship. I'm not sure how long her contract lasts, but if she's on board check her out. The first night seemed a little disconcerting for her. People breeze in and out. And i don't think she's used to people walking out of her show. I would imagine for a performer its a weird situation. I want to note that there is only 1 door out to the inside of the ship and you walk in front of the stage to use it.

 

We also spent some time in the casino. Gram and uncle a lot of time in the casino. My husband less than them. He's a poker player. This was the first time the poker table was rated. Now don't get too excited. He earned 10 points for every hour. So not a great rate especially since it's the the only sure thing for the casino. They take a 10% rake from every pot.

 

My kids spent the rest of their evening in the kids club. I'm only slightly embarrassed to say that my kids have been on enough cruises that they recognize kids crew staff from other ships. On this cruise Rollo remembered my daughter from the Breakaway.

There were only 600 kids on the ship this week. Yes, I said only. Apparently, that's a light number. When we were on the Breakaway last year, there were 1250 kids. When we were on the Dawn 2 years ago there were 125 kids.

Check in and pick up are so well organized. There is a line, but it moves quickly. The staff was fantastic. They do wonderful things all week with the kids. And, as usual my kids wanted to be in the kids club constantly.

 

I have to actually get some work done, so my daydream has to stop for now...

[funredhead]

The crazy people wasted their energy in vain. It would have been impossible to dock in St. Maarten under those conditions, even if the Captain decided to maintain the scheduled itinerary. However, I have to admit, I'd rather spend a day at sea than visit Falmouth, Jamaica again. It's easily amongst the worse ports in the Caribbean.

 

 

 

I don't disagree that Jamaica is no St. Maarten. We did not love it. But, one tremendous thing about cruising is that if there's a hurricane the ship goes somewhere else. On a land vacation, you are out of luck. Even though Jamaica was not ideal,the weather was perfect!

 

In terms of the crazy element, well it seems to me after watching it first hand that there is a distinct segment of the population who is always looking to be compensated for something. And there were many many demands for financial compensation because the inierary changed.

 

As an onlooker, the sheer silliness of wanting to be compensated because the captain was thoughtful enough not to steer the ship into a hurricane was incredible. But, it did make for fun people watching. I did feel badly for the front desk staff. Those poor people took quite a beating.

[az-cruiser]

Ok, Back to dreaming about calm seas and warm weather!

 

First day lunch, we enjoyed O'Sheehans. The service was slow. I think they forgot about us in the booths. But the food was very good. The chicken pot pies are really good. After ordering, I ran down to the main desk to get a daily. They were not handing them out at the pier. There was one waiting in the cabin once they were ready at about 1:30.

 

We did have the UDP. I would highly recommend. It was so fun to try all the restaurants and compare. Because we pre-purchased, we received the Illusionarium free on the first night. We went to the 5:30 show. Dinner was very nice. I know people complain about the food, but after eating it, I think some people just need something to complain about. I thought the food was delicious. And, I thought the presentation (particularly the tomato salad) was really artistic.

The Illusionarium was fantastic! My son was brought up on stage to help with a trick. So, naturally we loved that. And he hasn't stopped talking about it. We were seated right next to the stage. We arrived to the show at 5.

 

The rest of our night was spent enjoying the entertainment. We saw Shannon McNally in the Grammy experience. She's very talented. She reminded me a little of June Cash. She's very soft spoken, but can she sing. Wow! It was her first night in the ship. I'm not sure how long her contract lasts, but if she's on board check her out. The first night seemed a little disconcerting for her. People breeze in and out. And i don't think she's used to people walking out of her show. I would imagine for a performer its a weird situation. I want to note that there is only 1 door out to the inside of the ship and you walk in front of the stage to use it.

 

We also spent some time in the casino. Gram and uncle a lot of time in the casino. My husband less than them. He's a poker player. This was the first time the poker table was rated. Now don't get too excited. He earned 10 points for every hour. So not a great rate especially since it's the the only sure thing for the casino. They take a 10% rake from every pot.

 

My kids spent the rest of their evening in the kids club. I'm only slightly embarrassed to say that my kids have been on enough cruises that they recognize kids crew staff from other ships. On this cruise Rollo remembered my daughter from the Breakaway.

There were only 600 kids on the ship this week. Yes, I said only. Apparently, that's a light number. When we were on the Breakaway last year, there were 1250 kids. When we were on the Dawn 2 years ago there were 125 kids.

Check in and pick up are so well organized. There is a line, but it moves quickly. The staff was fantastic. They do wonderful things all week with the kids. And, as usual my kids wanted to be in the kids club constantly.

 

I have to actually get some work done, so my daydream has to stop for now...

 

I cannot wait to hear more, we have 10 & 11 year olds and I'm glad to hear they liked the kids club!

[Urban trekker]

"the sheer silliness of wanting to be compensated because the captain was thoughtful enough not to steer the ship into a hurricane was incredible.'

 

And those same people would be first in line with a lawsuit if something happened and would blame the Captain and NCL for being at fault.

 

Cheers!

 

Dennis

[funNJfamily]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Is 600 kids a lot for this time of year? I would think so. I will never understand how people can complain when the Captain was keeping them away from potential harm.

[NayRN]

Can't wait the read more!! I'm sailing on the GA in only 332 days!! :rolleyes:

[quillwercruisers]

Soaking up everything I can awaiting sailing away on the Getaway in 81 days!! :D

 

Thanks for taking the time for doing a review!!

[funredhead]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Is 600 kids a lot for this time of year? I would think so. I will never understand how people can complain when the Captain was keeping them away from potential harm.

 

 

 

I was told that 600 was light. The girls in the kids club told me the average is about 900 this time of year. Remember that this includes kids ages 3-12. And, at least on our sailing there were quite a few little ones.

[funredhead]

Back to the review...

 

Did I mention how smooth our sailing was? I had to keep looking to see that we were actually moving.

 

On Sunday, we started the day with breakfast in the Cuban outdoor restaurant above the buffet. The food was very good. And, the cooks were very friendly.

 

This morning, we went on all of the normal water slides. We did not do the ones that drop you. That is a show the rest of the ship did not need to see. They look very fun if you are into being terrified.

 

It was great to have all of the slides open. On the breakaway, there was always at least one not working. And my kids loved the racing slides.

 

We also did the ropes course. It's amazing. The plank was so fun. And the pull rope to take photos is a much better system. We walked the plank in the afternoon around 4 and the pictures were dark. It must have been the position of the sun. So, keep that in mind if you want pics. Also, there is another pic taken when you zip line. This is new from the breakaway. It's a great idea.

 

I have long thick curly hair. And I always bring my own hair dryer. This time, I tripped the breaker. Our very sweet room steward had no idea what I was talking about when I explained the situation. I was very apprehensive about trying the cabin hair dryer. I never have any luck in hotels. And I usually end up with frizzy hair pulled back. Not exactly the look I'm looking for.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that they hair dryer is a 1900 watt! It actually does a good job. So, ladies leave your hair dryer at home.

 

Tonight we ate at Teppenyaki. It was fun and fine if you have the dining package. We've had better experiences at home. But, I would find it hard to complain about any of the food or service we received In any of the restaurants. I really feel that this is where NCL exceeds.

 

Tonight, we sat outside on the waterfront and enjoyed a drink. What a fantastic way to enjoy an evening.

 

Our kids really wanted to stay for late night in the kids club tonight. There is an extra charge. $10/hr for 2 kids. Totally worth it. When I picked them up at 11:30

And they wanted to stay later. I however was exhausted.

Another note on the kids club, they have you sign a slip for the extra charge and give you the option to add a tip. I think this is fantastic. So many people complain about the kids crew and tips. Here is such an easy way to thank them for being so great to your kids. And, I think it's a much smarter process.

 

Well tonight we went to sleep heading to St. Marteen. My husband was in the casino late. When he came back to the cabin, he said we were heading toward a storm. There was tons of lightening. And apparently it was quite rocky. I was in a coma so I can't say for sure. What I will say is there is nothing like sleeping on a ship!

 

Good night all!

[Siora7777]

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[funredhead]

On Monday morning we woke up to our room service wake up call. We were sitting out on the balcony and my husband remaked that the sun was in the wrong spot. And, he was sure we were close to land (although, no land could be seen from our port side cabin) because he saw birds. I of course thought he was crazy. And, happily went about getting ready for breakfast.

 

Not 10 minutes later the Captain came on the announcements to tell us that the ship was diverted because of a tropical storm Gonzalo that he was certain would be upgraded to a hurricane. He advised everyone that St. Maarten had closed its port and we were now headed to the Western Caribbean. We would embark in Jamaica and Cozumel. We were told that we would enjoy beautiful weather in both ports. And, we did. He also said that any excursions booked thru NCL would automatically be refunded.

 

We ate breakfast and then headed to the shore excursion desk. Having never been to Jamaica we wanted to see what tours were available. When we got downstairs there was a lot of craziness. The shore excursion people had no information. They would get something together by about 2. This, I understand. It takes time to arrange these things and when we were actually in Farmouth, we realized this is not a dock NCL uses. It must be mostly used by Royal and Celebrity as all the signage in the port had their logos.

 

Meanwhile, this change, which by the way saved our vacation brought out some of the worst behavior I have seen on a ship. Needless to say the children in the kids club are better able to handle disappointment. I was in line at the front desk (I had to have them issue another card for gram, she de-magnetized her original). There was quite a line of extremely disgruntled people. They had someone "triaging" the line. This poor guy must have drawn the short stick. Everyone yelled at him. I can't tell you how many people wanted to take their chances and go to St. Maarten. There was also a significant number of people demanding cash back for the excursions that they paid for.

 

One very loud, very angry man who was demanding cash back for his excursion caused quite a stir. He was getting no where with his demands to be taken to St. Maarten which he told them he contracted them to take him. Then he was demanding cash and he also wanted some restitution for his ruined vacation. At the end of his crazy rant he wanted the service charges removed. It was ugly. And, I walked away feeling very badly for those working the front desk.

 

I honestly think that NCL tried to do the best they could under the circumstances. I would have understood If we ended up at sea for the entire week. But reason was in short supply.

 

In the end, every one was credited $8.50 for the taxes which was very nice to have refunded. It must have been a difficult day for accounting, for a matter completely out of their control. And as I said we had beautiful weather.

 

My only criticism of the situation was the lack of information the shore excursion people had. 15 minutes on the Internet would have gone a long way with people. Most questions were met with "I don't know". How many ships in port?, what's nearby the port? How far to the beach? And so on and so forth. There was a lot of frustration that could have been easily illiminated. I did hear one frustrated man suggest the excursion people go on cruise critic and do a search. It made quite a few people laugh.

 

I'll be back a bit later.

[david_sobe]

Wow what horrible people. How is your vacation ruined when you are going to a place with great weather and not closed from a hurricane. I really feel for those front desk employees.

 

I suppose the excursion desk was disorientated is because Getaway has never done western before and obviously not prepared.

 

Great review so far. Cant wait to hear more.

Edited October 23, 2014 by david_sobe

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review.

[excitedtocruise]

We are booked in 13220 in January, just curious, were you able to see the fireworks from the balcony?

[Disney1992]

Yes, your Cabin is Port side, so you should be able to see the fireworks from your balcony.

[rajjohnson]

There are way too many people who want something given to them for any reason. Sadly. We chose the Getaway in January for its Eastern ports, and though I would be disappointed if we get changed to Western - I'd certainly be glad we weren't sailing into a hurricane. Everyone makes their own happiness - or the opposite. Love your review - thanks for taking the time.

[msboo18]

Funny how people react to having their vacation disrupted. We were on the Pearl and picked up refugees - there was chaos at the service desk - one woman was absolutely having a fit - saying she didn't want to see them in the buffet line - seriously???? Some people will complain about anything :confused:

[Cruiser Bruiser]

I am loving your review. Sorry people were acting like people, but it sounds like the captain and crew really did an excellent job of salvaging the week. I can't wait to sail Getaway. Folks just seem to really love her.