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

[david_sobe]

After taking the boat back to St Thomas we took a cab into downtown. We looked around but did not buy anything although we were offered some good weed :eek: All aboard time was 3:30. Here are some chickens grazing in downtown :)

[bambione]

Thanks for posting all these pics. I'm enjoying all the ice cream pics which do remind me of Friendly's, which some other poster commented on.

Karen

[SissasMomE]

David - the sailboat excursion - do you have to do anything? My parents will be with us, and I'd think they enjoy this, but I want to make sure it's not one of those "working" excursions.

[Mirrasi]

we looked around but did not buy anything although we were offered some good weed

 

lol!

[david_sobe]

David - the sailboat excursion - do you have to do anything? My parents will be with us, and I'd think they enjoy this, but I want to make sure it's not one of those "working" excursions.

No. They will ask you if you want a hard job, easy job, or no job. Most want to be active and are primary gunners (or something) that control the sails during the hard turns. They have easy jobs like yelling the countdown, keeping time, or being team captain. Its funny because most people don't have knowledge of sailing so when they ask the captain what to do, the crew will override the captain if he/she made the wrong decision. Its funny. The crew steer the sailboat but the passengers work the sail to change with the wind. Long story short.... no your parents don't have to do anything or they can have an easy job like bartender...handing out beer, water, or soda. They make it fun. Looking for the balloons in the water and really paying attention was too much for me since I was on vacation. I did the primary for a bit but then chose to relax. Sailing is really a lot of fun. I would be happy not even racing but just sailing away with a small group ;)

[david_sobe]

Service

We found the service on the ship to be very good. The Haven restaurant they like to greet you by name. But even in the MDR, someone will greet you, seat you and put the napkin in your lap. We found the waiters/waitresses to give good service in all the restaurants. O'Sheehans can be a little slow though. As I mentioned earlier there are comment cards on lots of restaurant tables you can fill out and turn in. During the behind the scenes tour lots of these cards are posted all over the bulletin board with things highlighted. Some comments highlighted would be praises of waiters while they were busy or critiquing the food like "philly cheesesteak was too bubbly" (whatever that means but that was one of the comments). One night at dinner we were approached by an entertainment manager and laundry manager asking how things were and any suggestions for improvments. NCL is really listening to their customers. When producing mass amounts of food sometimes the dishes are not that hot. I have heard that complaint before. But I noticed the food was hot. Even the plates were hot. NCL appears to be listening. We had an outstanding room steward Mauricio. So friendly and so good and his job. We would see him many times in one day in the hall. We would see him first thing in the morning working and then late at night working again while we were returning to the cabin for sleep. He was always happy saying hello but late at night you could see how tired he looked sometimes. These people really work their butt's off! We tipped him well and filled out a hero card for him.

 

Concierge

I have been reading about Adrian for years on Cruise Critic. I don't think I have ever read a bad word. He is the gold standard and too bad NCL cannot clone him for other ships. He will be on Getaway until Escape comes out and then he will transfer there. Lucky you Haven Escape passengers! He is leaving soon for a 2 week vacation and not sure who will be taking over for him. This trip we had nothing planned....no shows, no restaurants. Everytime you called him to make a reservation...he would just say "consider it done." He was amazing and it is true, he will acknowledge you out of the corner of his eye even if he is busy with someone else. His assistants Neomi and someone else are not up to par. When we boarded I had asked one of them where in the Haven we could get our spa passes and she looked at me like I had 2 heads and said.... spa pass? Then I asked Adrian and he pointed just 10 feet away to the staff that were selling spa passes. Another time we made a reservation for a restaurant with one of his assistants and we requested to sit outside on the waterfront. She was not like Adrian with "consider it done" and said she would request it. When we got to the restaurant that night, the request was not there. But it was not a big deal since there were many tables available outside. If you can avoid the concierge assistants and only deal with Adrian you will be better off ;)

 

Pre-concierge

I made the mistake last cruise with making many requests through the pre-concierge and things got so screwed up that I said I would never use their service again and just deal with things on board. This time I just requested for the fridge to be emptied. They responded that it would be done. Then I asked who the concierge was and they gave me another name other than Adrian. They were obviously wrong since Adrian was the concierge but the fridge was not emptied. We had lots of water so I called Adrian and just asked at their leisure to empty the fridge. Within 10 minutes Mauricio came to empty the fridge. Another lesson learned. Don't over plan. Take care of small things once you get on board ;)

 

Some random shots

Bliss Nightclub Not that big... did not go there

 

 

 

Le Bistro we did not eat there

Edited March 2, 2015 by david_sobe

[david_sobe]

 

 

[david_sobe]

Of course we had to try Carlos Bakeshop. I got the carrot cupcake. It was good but the cream cheese icing was a bit too rich for me. The texture of the cake was very dense so it sort of was like a carrot bread. My wife got the chocolate mousse cake. This thing was delicious. Its big enough for 2 to share. I highly recommend one of these mini cakes. LOVE THEM. The gelato was alright. I don't want to sound like a lecture but it is hard to find good gelato. My wife used to work at a gelato store so I have been schooled on good gelato. I laugh when people make the comparison to ice cream. Ice cream is full of hydrogenated oils, preservatives and articical everything. It never has an expiration date either and is kept frozen rock solid. Gelato is made from all natural sources with no hydrogenated oils. Its much healthier and is smooth and rich. Its served at a warmer temperature than ice cream. It has an expiration date. A good gelato store makes gelato daily. It should be discarded daily but you can freeze it for a few days. But if you do freeze it, it needs stirred aka finessed, turned and turned to prevent any ice crystals from forming. Few stores do this when they freeze their gelato thus you will rarely find good gelato. We asked about the gelato and the staff said they made it daily. That is the company line but the gelato we had clearly was not made daily. It was rock solid and full of ice crystals. They are not trained to finesse the gelato. It still was still a nice treat. But if you ever go to St Maarten, there is a real gelato stand downtown on the main beach. Try it..... it will blow your socks off. Then you can really taste the difference between gelato and ice cream ;)

 

The carrot cupcake

 

The mini chocolate mousse pie You must get this!

 

 

Ok coming back for closing and final thoughts. As promised, I told you I would post everything in 24 hours!!! As you can see, I ate like a pig this cruise :eek:

Edited March 2, 2015 by david_sobe

[david_sobe]

Another great sunset. This time off the balcony in St Thomas

 

 

Flavored water at the buffet The tropical mango is out of this world!

 

Flamingo Grill. Never ate there but they have latin dishes and flan for dessert

 

 

 

[cage keeper]

Your review is awesome. Love the food photos.

[david_sobe]

FINAL THOUGHTS

It was a great time. We wanted to relax and boy did we relax. We watched 2 movies in bed and lots of shows on TV. I forgot how sleepy you get on a rocking ship with sea air. We ate very well. I booked something like 15 months before the cruise. With taxes and port fees the suite was about 5000. I got 300 OBC and a free dinner at Cagneys. With being a latitudes member, I got 50 free internet minutes for buying a package of 250 minutes. I am glad I never bought the UDP because the new menus are very good. I would not want the pressure to need to eat at a specialty restaurant every night. There are tons of food options. The Getaway handled the crowds better than any ship I have been on. There were times I was like....where is everyone at. One morning after breakfast around 900 we went to the pool deck to see if the rope course was open (it opens at 10) but I saw empty chairs on the pool deck. They were not too far from the pool either. We spent over 1300 on board. Getaway is definitely a money maker for NCL. There are lots of upcharges here and there. The entertainment is a bit weak IMHO for a new ship. But I think because I was spoiled with Epic's blockbuster entertainment. It still was all fun and enjoyed the smaller shows at the atrium the best. I don't think we needed a suite to enjoy this cruise. If I book Escape I will probably book a spa balcony. But when I got off the Epic I said I would book a studio and I still ended up booking another suite :eek:

 

My must do list:

Calamari or raw fish at Ocean Blue/Raw Bar

Hot fudge sundae at O'Sheehans

Lunch at the Noodle Bar

The Perfect Couple game at the Atrium

Chicken Pot Pie at O'Sheehans

Sliders at Cagneys

Wild Mushroom Ravioli if you stay in the Haven

The pineapple coconut mojito at the Sugarcane Mojito Bar

At least one water slide

Sugar Blue at Grammy experience

 

I don't know what I will do with myself with no cruises booked :eek:

Thanks for taking the time to read my review :)

 

Edited March 2, 2015 by david_sobe

[mkclayton]

Thanks a lot.....your responsible for keeping me reading your extremely thorough review for most of tonight. We will be in cabin 11106 April 4th and looking forward to it. You did an excellent job on your review.

[sweetiekk]

Thank you for the review! I can't wait till I cruise on the Getaway on October 31st. You gave me a lot of great tips. Thanks again!

[Stacy-b]

Great review! We took the same cruise Jan 3 - 10, and stayed in the Haven. We came back, and within 2 weeks, booked the Getaway for the same week next year. The itinerary is changing, so not the same old ports.

 

Maybe you should book again for next year!! ;)

[pcreek]

Awesome review, David!! Thanks for all the great tips - I will certainly make note of a few of them! :-)

We booked the Haven Spa Suite..so we'll have an 'all-access pass' to the ship, like we did on Epic. It is a fun way to explore the entire place!

Edited March 2, 2015 by pcreek

[wanderlust81]

thanks for the great review! Love all the food pics/recommendations :)

[dlynn0366]

Awesome review :) It was based on your & Mike's reviews four years ago that first made me decide on the Epic.

[TSUmom]

Thank you for an awesome review and pictures. We will be in a FWD PH too, #12706 so I was thrilled to see your cabin pictures.

[david_sobe]

Thanks for the nice comments folks. But there is no comparison to sdmike and my reviews. That's like comparing Peyton Manning and Bubby Brister in the quarterback position.

 

One thing I forgot to mention and wanted to touch base on is the cigarette smoke. This complaint also hit Epic with the casino being open to multiple decks, etc. I sailed Epic twice and the smoke smell was not that bad. On Getaway it was very true on my cruise. Even on embarkation day with the casino empty there was a strong cigarette stench like someone holding a butt under your nose. There was not much smoke but definitely was a strong stench. It did not bother me but just wanted to point that out. Different cruises may have different effects. I heard one woman say that the smoke was burning her eyes. The only bad part is the smoke does linger into areas it should not like Shanghais restaurant and other areas. But when you make the casino a major central point of your ship, I am not sure what you can do.

 

Another point I hear is many will say Epic or Getaway does not have a WOW factor. True story that was funny at the time and promised myself to tell it here when I got back. I was standing in Ocean Place looking down at the chandelier and a woman walked over towards me and looked at the chandelier and down at Ocean Place and said WOW. So for some there is a wow factor LOL ;)

Edited March 2, 2015 by david_sobe

[NLH Arizona]

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[sinclaj]

Thanks so much for your review. I get to try it in a few weeks. Can't wait.

[david_sobe]

Just back from my first day back to work after the cruise :(

I don't want to cook for myself. I want to go back to the restaurants.

My wife picked up fast food on the way home from work and I brought chicken back from the supermarket. Its hard adjusting back to the real world :eek:

Edited March 2, 2015 by david_sobe

[Still Dreaming]

Glad you had a great cruise! Loved your review!

[meatball_nyc]

Thanks for the review. Loved the food and island pix.

Don't you hate it waking up the first morning at home and there is no balcony ????

[david_sobe]

Thanks for the review. Loved the food and island pix.

Don't you hate it waking up the first morning at home and there is no balcony ????

Balcony not so much but not cooking and not doing the dishes, or not making the bed I miss the most :eek: