Getaway review 02/21/15 to 02/28/15

[MandyMommyof2]

Great review so far! We are sailing in July. I love pictures of the food. Making a menu in my head of what I plan on eating :D can't wait to read all about the rest of your trip! Thanks for writing such a great review!

[david_sobe]

Haven restaurant:

We really enjoyed this place for breakfast. And they still had my favorite... wild mushroom ravioli for dinner. I saw huge improvements in the waffle area. Here is a photo of a breakfast waffle in the Epic Club 2013

 

 

2 years later here is the waffle at the Haven restaurant (same as Epic Club)

BTW... the syrup was not too bad

 

Shrimp cocktail Haven restaurant

 

French toast Haven

 

One of my favorites......... Wild mushroom ravioli

 

Shrimp alfredo

[david_sobe]

Lets head over to Savor for the chef special turkey dinner tonight including cranberry sauce. Lets just pretend its Thanksgiving and eat all you want :eek:

 

Lets start out with French onion soup

 

Baby back ribs are on the entre list tonight but ask the waiter to bring them as an appetizer. Yes David cannot say no to ribs or bbq :eek:

 

Turkey dinner with all the fixings. The stuffing and cranberry sauce was unusually good!

 

For dessert.....head over to O'Sheehans for one of those mammoth sundaes :eek:

[WildcatRock]

Loving the review David. We're on the Getaway in 274 days and can't wait. Your review is awesome.

[david_sobe]

Next up: The Raw Bar

 

I don't eat fish (unless its fried ha ha). My wife loves sushi and fish. We did not eat at Ocean Blue but did eat at the Raw Bar which is connected to Ocean Blue. I had to try the calamari everyone was raving about. And YES it is delicious! So fresh and tasty. But as we sat at the bar my wife pointed out to me the amazing dedication it takes them to prepare a dish. My wife got salmon and some other raw fish. I don't have photos of the sushi she loved a few nights earlier. But they actually took out tweezers to prepare the fish adding some sort of spice or something. It looked like they were piecing together a model aircraft. Highly recommend the friend calamari. They also sell it sea days on the waterfront for 5.95. Worth it! One thing we learned at the behind the scenes is the beef at Ocean Blue is the only thing delivered to the ship not frozen. More on that later.

 

Calamari at the Raw Bar/Ocean Blue

 

Salmon

 

Some sort of raw fish. Each one of those things on top added by tweezers :eek:

Edited March 1, 2015 by david_sobe

[david_sobe]

Scratch La Cucina off the list

 

I have eaten at La Cucina the last 3 cruises and never had a good meal. 2 years ago I got the rigatoni and you could get better pasta at the buffet. I don't like the new menu and I agree the pizza is tasteless. We decided to try it again. We both got the gnocchi. The beef carpaccio was a good appetizer. I got the calamari and it was the standard frozen calamari you get anywhere. When the gnocchi arrived it was over cooked and was like a shell it was hard outside. It was so bad we sent it back. We felt bad and our waiter felt bad trying to bring us dishes we did not want. Gnocchi is delicate and I understand it is not home made but keep it soft by keeping it in sauce or something. I just don't get La Cucina. Boiled noodles and sauce should not be so hard to mess up. I don't understand the cover charge of $15 either. There is nothing Italian about La Cucina. It should be a free restaurant. If you just boil store pasta and use jar sauce then why $15 cover charge. I laugh when people say La Cucina is like the Olive Garden. IF ONLY!!!!!! While Olive Garden is not real Italian food, at least it has some taste. I would LOVE for La Cucina to be like Olive Garden. I will never eat at another La Cucina on any NCL ship. Each time, I was like.....well get something else. Unfortunately I did not get any photos because we did not want to eat something halfway and send it back. We took two bites and sent it back and left. Bad food. I know many will say... you love it or get lobster dish or steak. I never had those items at La Cucina. Here is the total irony. They had gnocchi at Taste the last night of the cruise and it was GOOD. It was so much better than La Cucina and I commented that on the comment cards. Speaking of Taste, I had the prime rib the last night and it was excellent.

 

This was the only photo I got from La Cucina unfortunately. The underwhelming calamari

 

The gnocchi at Taste.... they can teach La Cucina about cooking

 

The prime rib at Taste. Huge portion!

 

The beef carpaccio was the same at Taste but smaller portion that La Cucina

[david_sobe]

Have we had enough food? Lets switch gears to entertainment. The first night we did the Grammy experience. Sugar Blue was there. He is a harmonica player that has won 2 Grammys. You may think how a harmonica player can be exciting to hear until you hear Sugar Blue. He plays so fast and good sometimes that you could think he is faking it or it is keyboards playing. His band is great too with a definitely blues background. We really enjoyed the Grammy experience and Sugar Blue is pure talent. The Grammy experience also has costumes of various performers inside cases.

 

 

 

 

 

[david_sobe]

Its getting close to midnight and tired since I was up early this morning packing from the cruise. Will continue and finish tomorrow. Here are some random shots of the ship. It does look a lot like Epic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your report and your wonderful photo's.

[samiam0403]

Heading out on the Getaway next January! This is my first mega-ship, and I'm really looking forward to it thanks to reviews like this. Great review so far - if you don't mind, which cabin were you in? We're booked in 12106 - mainly so we can see the fireworks. Can't wait to read more!

[Disneycruisers]

Great review....we are sailing the Getaway the end of May this year.

[mrobstad]

I agree about La Cucina. I had UDP last week, and doubled up on Cagneys and Le Bistro, which u have not yet covered in your report. Oh, and the calamari was $5.95? Though I did not go to the raw bar, I looked at the menu and prices were very high, so I'm surprised at that price....nothing like fresh calamari[emoji106]

[david_sobe]

Heading out on the Getaway next January! This is my first mega-ship, and I'm really looking forward to it thanks to reviews like this. Great review so far - if you don't mind, which cabin were you in? We're booked in 12106 - mainly so we can see the fireworks. Can't wait to read more!

That is the cabin we were in. It was our first Haven suite not located in the Haven. You get more space but there is lots of walking to go anywhere. The amount of walking surprised me but quickly got used to it.

Yes you can see the fireworks from the balcony. I used to read you had to go to the ropes course or aft to see the fireworks. Not at all. The view from port forward is perfect.

[david_sobe]

I will go back to some food in a bit but since I started entertainment, I wanted to finish that area. We did not see Burn the Floor. I know that sounds crazy but we are not into dancing that much and don't care for latin music. I know the dancers are extremely talented and I saw the welcome aboard show on the TV channel and they did a dance show there. We just did not have the time and did not make it a priority as the other stuff on board. We did watch 3 movies. The ship offers free movies on your TV and we watched #42 The Jackie Robinson story and paid to see Annabelle (the horror movie). It was 9.95. Movies like everything else are more expensive on a ship. They also have movies at Spice H20 and have 3-D movies showing in the Getaway theater. One night they showed "Maleficent" in 3-D with free popcorn. I know nothing about that movie since I did not see it. It may be a kids movie. We did see the Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow at Spice H20 one night. I usually don't care for science fiction movies but the movie was excellent. It was cool to watch a movie on a big screen floating in the middle of the ocean.

 

Some of the best shows are at the Atrium. They had the Not so Newlywed game which was ok because 2 of the couples just were very boring. But the funniest game show ever was Perfect Couple. They put these couples through all these wild events to earn points. One of them had one person walk with a balloon between their legs and then pop the balloon in some sort of sexual position before going back to get another balloon and pop it in another position. It was so funny people were literally falling out of their chairs. Definitely check out this show. Unfortunately as reported by others, the Atrium is the worst place ever for a show. These kinds of shows are meant for a theater so lots of people can come see them. The Atrium has very limited seating. You can sit upstairs in O'Sheehans but that too has limited seating around the railing. People stand behind them and then block the views from other people sitting in O'Sheehans. Every time there would be almost fights breaking out because people could not see. The sound is horrible upstairs too since the speakers are downstairs. It was loud enough but many of the words were not clear. One night at dinner the entertainment manager was making the rounds at the restaurants and asking everyone if they were having a good time, etc. I did comment about the Atrium shows and he agreed but they have nowhere else to put the shows on since the Getaway theater is used for other purposes. As others say.....get there early. Some of these shows are very funny and very good! They have a show Dancing with the Getaway Stars where a passenger is paired with an NCL employee and dance. One couple fell into the judging table and knocked everything over. It was so funny.

 

Legally Blonde

I had no idea what to expect. I am hot a huge fan of Broadway shows but there are a few good ones. This is not a show I would see on my own or buy a ticket for. But me and the wife agreed it was better than we expected. I have not seen the movie but my wife has. Extremely professional cast with good singing, set changes, and constant costume changes. The show was not a big success on Broadway and I understand why. But for cruise ship entertainment, I thought it was good. I think the Epic has spoiled me because the entertainment on that ship was amazing. I think they really spent big bucks on Blue Man Group and Legends in Concert and Cirque Dreams. I don't think NCL will spend that kind of money on entertainment again. But we enjoyed Legally Blonde more than we thought we would. Cast is super talented!!! Its a genuine Broadway show. You have to get past the "Oh my gawd you guys" or maybe have a drinking game every time they say that phrase. You will be drunk by the end of the show and need about 5 drinks :eek:

 

The Illusionarium

Unique setting. Suite guests get in first and take everything in the front row. Here is where I disagree with most of the reviews I have read so far. I hear people say get under the dome because its part of the show. Not really. The dome is a cool effect in the show showing stars, etc. But it has NOTHING to do with any magic or performance. Its used for effects as if the magicians and coming and going from space. I LOVE magic. My uncle was a magician and me and my cousin would play with the magic tricks and props all the time. Lets talk about the food first. Its a beef filet with peppercorn dressing, 3 shrimp and some small potatoes. They start with a salad and end with the worst dessert ever. The food was not too bad. It seemed to be an improvement from the Cirque Dreams show on Epic 2 years ago. The show has a theme and they use a (former) Second City performer as sort of the host. We saw him on Epic in Second City doing skits and performed in the Presumed Murdered sketch in 2010. The show starts with the host stating his grandfather was a great magician and he was auctioning off some of his props. Well the magicians come to live and show everyone how amazing magic is and the auction is cancelled. That is the story line in a nut shell but it is done through comedy. Most of the magic acts are pretty basic. One older magician did the disappearing birds act several times. But I felt good to see this magician still performing and being paid to perform. I was not overwhelmed at many of the acts but I love magic so much it made me happy to see these guys. The part of the show that fascinates everyone is the mentalist and his assistant. She is blindfolded on stage and he goes to random people in the audience looking at photos in wallets, credit card numbers in wallets and she tells exactly what he sees. Even crazier on person writes a name on a mini chalkboard and puts it face down on the table and she could read it. I have no idea how they do it but it truly was amazing. The audience is involved in the show which is neat especially for the kids that are picked. In the end, the dome comes back on and the magicians are in space waving goodbye. Pretty cool act. The act could be a free show on a cruise ship since everything that was done there has been done on cruise ships for years. I am guessing NCL is charging for the food? Or a combination of both? Its a good show and I would suggest seeing it.

 

They had some good comedians. There was 3 of them. My wife liked them more than me but I thought they were above average. You wont get big named comedians on ships but we went to Headliners one night. We thought that show was much better than the big show at the theater.

 

We did not attend the Glow Party or the 80's party at Spice. We get up too early and are used to being in bed by 930 and sleeping. We did watch the fireworks from the balcony and they were very good!

 

We are not gamblers at all. But we did go out with $100 one night for the slots. We played 1 cent slots, 1 dollar slots, and 5 dollar slots. We lost all the money and never gained anything. Each spin lost and it was quick and over with. We still had time before our dinner or show so my wife wanted to play the roulette table. She had $20. I was partly watching and then I see her being slid a big stack of chips. This caught my interest and was like ....wow she won something. A few minutes later, I see another big stack of chips being slid her way..... I say...You won again? There was one cranky woman at the table that got mad at this. So she cashed in and was in shock we won $152. We still don't understand how $20 can turn into $152 on a roulette table in 15 minutes. I tell the story because its funny and unbelievable. We tried that table again 2 nights later and lost $40 instantly. Sometimes you can get dumb luck. I felt so sorry for one guy. The entire night he kept stacking huge piles of chips on number 17 and it was never coming up. It was scary.

 

Movie at Spice H20

 

 

Illusionarium dome

 

 

[david_sobe]

 

We did the behind the scenes tour and enjoyed it. Its expensive $79 but we thought it was worth it. What I did not know and probably accounts for $40 of the price is that everyone gets a professional photo working in the kitchen wearing a chef's hat. Its enclosed in one of those hard cover frames with photos of the Getaway. So if you plan to buy the embarkation photo you could skip that and get this one instead if you plan to do the tour. And everyone gets one. If you have 5 members in your family, each person will get the photo and frame. Good deal!

 

The day of the tour, I was hung over from finishing some Scottish whiskey drink my wife ordered but did not like. I was drinking Long Island Teas and the mixture hung me over. Plus my back was aching before we got the egg crate on the bed and I was tired from not sleeping well 2 nights in a row...... the back and the rocking ship. So the tour seemed very long to me that day. I still enjoyed it but those factors made it a challenge for me. They take you backstage at the Illusionarium and explain how the performers have 5 month contracts and some performers do multiple shows like Legally Blonde and Burn the Floor, etc. Then you go to the food stations where there is no mixing meats. One room is for chicken, one for beef, one for pork, etc. The waste part was interesting because you can imagine the amount of garbage and waste that comes from the ship. You should see the giant containers of used cooking oil. NCL sells it to some guy who uses it to make diesel fuel. They have people separate all the garbage, glass, metal, plastic, cigarette lighters, paper, etc and then crush it all down to size. The laundry room made me crazy to see stacks of sheets to the ceiling and how they mass wash and fold sheets and towels. Its really a nonstop working job. The tour ends in the bridge which was cool. We also saw the restaurant where the crew eat.

 

Below deck, this is where the crew eat. Did not take photos for respect to them.

 

The bread and pastry area

 

The meat room. The beef at Ocean Blue is the only meat brought to the ship not frozen. The Cagneys filets are already pre-packaged by themselves

 

The bridge

 

[david_sobe]

Went to Howl at the Moon the final night and surprisingly it was not too crowded. They had some good players keeping the crowd singing. Headliners is one area I think is better on Getaway then Epic. No more tall tables and tall chairs. All chairs and tables are low and everyone has a better view. They have comedy shows and Howl at the Moon there. I think it also has an art auction at some point.

 

We did not do the Ice Bar since we have done it twice on Epic. Everyone should do it once. Its in the same location as Epic.

Edited March 1, 2015 by david_sobe

[Cruisegirl6]

Wanting more lol I hope you got some photos of the lunch buffet lol

[sjnyc323]

awesome review thank you for sharing

[aquarianne11]

Really enjoyed reading your review. Looking forward for more! Thank you very much. :)

Edited March 1, 2015 by aquarianne11

[david_sobe]

Yes the waterslides are amazing. They do take up lots of deck space but the waterslides would be a big hit if on land. To have them at sea makes them even more amazing. No one can wear any jewelry on the free fall slides but the other ones you can wear rings, etc. The freefall slides sort of freak you out when they lock you in the tube and begin a countdown before the floor drops. Its fun but midway they have a big hose with water and so much water went up my nose :eek: The red and orange ones are built for speed and bank you round and round. Lot of fun. I did do the rope course but did not walk the plank. Its ok to call me chicken, coward, or even worse (I did). I just did not find the rope course fun. Its totally safe but I spent too much time worrying about my footing on ropes and also the harness to the top that has a track that gets stuck. Being occupied with both top and bottom took the fun out of it for me. Ok thats code language for being afraid :eek:

 

No big lines for the slides or rope course. 5 minutes at the most.

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2015 by david_sobe

[david_sobe]

What do you make of this? $100 for a bubble bath? The part that confuses me is the non-alcoholic part is $49. Does that mean the alcohol drink is $50? Or do they mean its $49 extra? Not sure but if I am going to take a $100 bubble bath, the tub should be full of champagne ;)

 

[SissasMomE]

For some reason, this ship does rock a lot more than any of the other ships I have been on, and definitely more than Epic. Not sure if it's a design flaw or what ...

 

Glad you had a nice cruise!

[david_sobe]

Lets now go some places. This is my third time going to St Maarten and St Thomas and fifth time to Nassau. We stayed on the ship (again) in Nassau. I saw on the Freestyle Daily the State Department warns any cruise ship passengers venturing outside the immediate tourist areas of the Bahamas as tourist robberies are way up there. I don't remember reading this before on previous trips. You must use caution everywhere. In St Maarten we did the America's Cup. It was great being on a sail boat and the people were nice but our boats were full which made things crowded. The maximum capacity was 25 and I think we had 22 plus 3 crew equals the maximum capacity. The race would be better with about 5 less people on the sail boat. Our boat won!!!! After the race, we went downtown, had lunch at Blue Bitch and then hung out on the beach. The food was good and reasonably priced. Renting 2 chairs was only $12. Very good price! The sun was out in full force and it was a good day.

 

 

 

 

 

Pizzas at Blue Bitch

 

[david_sobe]

The shrimp pizza at Blue Bitch

 

Sunset in St Maarten from our balcony

 

 

 

I wish I had a better camera but this was a quick shot. Just before sail away in St Maarten a giant sea turtle swam beside the ship.

[david_sobe]

Welcome to St Thomas. We always take the boat to St John. We have been to Honeymoon beach twice and decided to go to Trunk bay this time. Unfortunately you only get about 1 1/2 hours of beach time. Our room steward told us that when the Getaway starts going to Tortolla, the day will be longer in St Thomas. That will be great. If only one more hour, those St John Beach excursions will be nice. Trunk bay is beautiful and the pictures will do the talking. And my camera is old and cheap so you can imagine what a good camera would produce. Trunk bay is nicer than Honeymoon beach but because there is a coral reef near that beach they are constantly yelling at people on a loudspeaker to not stand up in the water because they will damage the reef. Its also more crowded than Honeymoon Beach. So it may be nicer but Honeymoon beach is more secluded, not as crowded and no one is yelling with a loud speaker :eek: Snorkel equipment was provided but I only did a little of it. Others say there was just a little bit of fish. The water is so clear and blue and the sand is soft white. No wonder it is ranked one of the best beaches in the world.

 

Trunk Bay, St John