Getaway quick review 9/12-19/15

[tarps14]

**Okay, maybe not so "quick".

 

So we are home from the Getaway having disembarked this morning. This will be a not so short review based on our experience this past week. Just as a preface, we are 51 and 54 yrs old, have cruised 30+ times, 9 of which have been on NCL, 6 in the last two years. We have stayed in everything from an inside to the Haven. This cruise we were in an aft Haven PH suite on the 11th deck.

 

I will do this more as a paragraph style rather than day by day, etc.

 

Embarkation: Very smooth. We got to the port around 11:00a. Line for security was already building but only took maybe 20 min to get through. Straight to the suite boarding area from there (no wait) and then onto the ship. Maybe 35 min from arrival to ship doorstep and then straight to the Haven for lunch. I was thrilled to find out beforehand that John D'Souza would be the concierge and he seemed to recognize us on site, but, more on this later. The Haven lunch was good, although that lunch menu is getting rather old. Would be great if they instituted some changes soon. Food was as good as ever as was the service.

 

Ship: Getaway is aging very well. Did not see any wear and tear to speak of. Well maintained and constantly ongoing. As previously reported, we were late in leaving Miami due to maintenance. We left about 11:45p and while a little dissapointing, it was a beautiful sail out with all the city lights twinkling, not to mention the lightening way off in the distance. Just really picturesque. On a side note, divers were working on something below the surface hence the reason for the delay. Never knew what was going on and truly didn't care. The divers remained onboard throughout the cruise and were hard at work at each port. Other than the initial delay in leaving, whatever maintenance was being done in no way interfered with any of the ships systems or operation that we could tell. A reasonable speed was maintained while at sea and we arrived and left each port right on time.

 

Weather: This was not the best we've ever done for weather, but, it was in no way rained out. It was hot and humid in each port but we got all of our scheduled excursions in and most days there was sun in the early part of the day with passing rain in the late afternoon and evening. Tortola was pretty well clouded over for most of the day but not enough rain to even speak of. We did leave St Thomas in an absolute monsoon but it didn't really start until most everyone was already back on board. The DH played golf there and we had one 10 min shower to pass over the course and that was it. Nassau was very hot but once off the ship, there was a bit of sea breeze which helped. There were thundershowers all around the port area but it never rained directly over that area. Most of it was off shore or back towards the inner part of the island. Last night we woke up in the middle of the night to us sailing through a wicked little thunderstorm. Very heavy lightening and thunder. Not a lot of movement with the ship though as we have found to be the case with our previous cruises on the Getaway. In our opinion she really handles seas very well.

 

Cabin: As stated, we had an aft PH on deck 11. We really liked the bedroom by the balcony configuration even though it did make for an impossibly small shower in the master bath. We survived it and I would definitely book this cabin again so obviously it wasn't too bad. The balcony was very nice and more than enough room for us with a table and four chairs, two lounge chairs and a small side table. For some reason, this cruise, there was not a great deal of seabreeze blowing back there so some days it did make it rather sweaty being out there. Didn't stop us though. The cool thing was going out late at night and seeing the lightening way off in the distance almost every evening. We are weather nuts so this was perfection for us.

 

Staff: Most everyone we came across was very hospitable and eager to please. We heard from several different staff how they would be transferring to the Escape in two weeks and each one seemed very pleased and excited to be making the transition. Our butler was good, not the greatest we've ever had, but, very adequate and our requests were followed through on. We gave some suggestions for snacks each day and those were pretty much followed to the letter. And I state it this way as there was no wavering whatsoever from the rather vague suggestions we gave so not really any imagination used there. It was all good though and more than we could possibly eat. I am rather embarrassed by the amount of food that was actually wasted, but, it just didn't stop coming even after a comment in passing. Oh well, can't say we went hungry for sure. We had room service breakfast each morning, which is our preference and it was always right on time, well prepared and missing very little. Side note: be sure to remember to write in syrup if you order anything that you assume would normally come with it. Lesson learned first morning out.

 

Now, let's go back to John D'Souza, the concierge. I really don't know any other way to state this than factually. As stated, he seemed to recognize us immediately in the Haven upon embarkation and even hugged me. That was pretty much our first and really only interaction with him. Yes, we are pretty self-sufficient having made all our dining reservations before boarding as well as our excursions. That being said, the night we ate in Le Bistro, he joined another Haven party already seated for dinner. That table was right next to us. He looked directly at us coming in and I nodded and....nothing. Apparently the party he was with did not like their table placement so he arranged with the maitre'd to move them all to another table and helped to set it up. He then passed us no less than three times (by himself, not in conversation with someone else) and basically ignored us. he even went so far as to speak to other Haven guests also dining that night, but, for some reason not us. Now we are not high maintenance in any shape or form. We don't expect to be doted on, get real. But, a "hi, how is your cruise going?" would have been nice. Also, this was day 5, Wednesday, so it wasn't like the first or second night out. While some of you wouldn't have given this a second thought, it really made for an awkward experience that night. Then, low and behold, the next day, we get a call in our cabin mid afternoon. It was John. "How is your cruise? I saw you last night and just wanted to check in". Wait....what? You saw us last night but didn't feel the need to speak? Okay. Remembering this is now Thursday, day 6. Very conflicted in my feelings on this looking back. Just not indicative of our past experiences. Take from it what you will.

 

Dining: We had the UDP, having received it as a booking bonus, and chose to dine in specialtys every night. We did Tepanyaki twice, Cagney's twice, and Le Bistro and La Cucina both once. The other night we dined in the Haven restaurant. Tepanyaki did not dissapoint either time this trip and we sat with some really great, entertaining folks both nights. Be sure to 'create your own' combo here. No request was refused. Cagney's was really, really good this trip. Very crowded, but we got great tables both nights. I had the small filet with an add on lobster tail the first night and there was no upcharge for this and it was specifically pointed out because we had the UDP. Would this be true with the SDP? I cannot answer to that. The second night I ordered the whole lobster, however, what was served was simply two lobster tails, not the whole split version as described. This was just fine with me, however, we did overhear a couple at another table complaining about this. I did not see much difference at all in the current menus compared to the old. I truly feel, at this point in time, it is a lot of ado about nothing. October 1st could be a completely different scenario. Also, while we did not do it, we did hear those around us ordering as many as three appetizers and multiple sides per person with not a single discouraging word said by the wait staff. Our food in Le Bistro was excellent so we did not let the other experience in any way affect our opinion in this regard. The extra charge options here have been discussed ad nauseam and we didn't order them so cannot comment as to whether we would have been charged additonally. La Cucina, in our opinion, has been adversely affected by the dining packages. It is no longer the quiet, rather subdued place we have experienced in the past. To us, it has really become nothing more than another extension of the main dining room, albeit with an Italian flare. The food was just okay this time. The way the food is brought brought out and presented is identical to the mdr. Covered with the plastic 'domes' and all brought out at one time to sit off to the side until you are ready to move on to the next course. Not what we would consider special by any stretch of the imagination. The bread was as good as ever but gone are the flavored oils, instead a bit of evoo and balsamic vinegar poured onto your bread plate. Again, we didn't order any of the upcharge items so do not know if they would have been included with the UDP or not.

 

I realize I have been very long winded regarding the dining, however, I wanted to be sure and cover all of the salient points. And now we shall move on.

 

Casino: All I can say was this was a massive disappointment compared to our past NCL cruises. I have never in my life experienced slots as tight as these were. We are strictly video poker players so our experience is based solely on this. The most I hit for all week was one $400 hit on Ultimate X video poker. Beyond that, my highest hits were for basic four of a kinds, nothing along the lines of aces or 2, 3 and 4's with the kicker. I believe I hit a total of five 4 of a kinds, all 5-K's. Ummmm, what? Are you kidding me? It was the single most frustrating casino experience ever, including both ship and land-based. Now we do not expect to come out a big winner every trip. Not even close. However, we do expect to at least be entertained. This was far from the case this trip. Also, the smoke was as bad as it has ever been in a ship casino. I am not sure what has happened, if they have in some way altered the air system or what the heck was going on, but, it was terrible. You would walk in and it would just be a haze, espcially over the low ceiling areas away from the chandelier atrium. Between the poor gambling and the smoke, we found ourselves back in our cabin by 11-11:30 each evening. Not at all typical for us. We are usually there until at least 1a.

 

Excursions: We received the excursion credit as another booking bonus and took full advantage of it. As stated, in St Thomas the DH played golf at Mahogany Run and what a great time was had. Played with a very pleasant couple from Denver and just really hit it off. The golf course is as well run as any club in the states. Very professional. The effects of the drought are visible but did not interfere with play at all. In Tortola we did the land and sea adventure (or something like that) and had a blast. The boat tour mc was very knowledgeable and really made it enjoyable. The land portion was also really fun. The views were amazing and the roads are very steep and curvy which really added an excitement to it. Our fellow travelers also went a long ways towards that over all enjoyment. In Nassau we went parasailing. Hands down, one of the most incredible experiences ever for us (checked that sucker off the bucket list!). There were five couples on the boat and two crew members. Those two made all of us feel beyond safe and cared for. We had a 12 yo girl with her father on the boat that started getting exceptionally nervous (to the point of tears) about the time we pulled away from the dock. Those two crew were so suited to her personality and knew exactly how to coax her out and she ended up thoroughly enjoying it. The DH and I actually ended up going up twice on the parachute (which was offered for an additional $40 pp) and are so glad we did. The first time you're just so nervous and unsure while the second time was pure bliss. We were tandem (side-by-side) the first time while the second I was in front of my DH. This was so much more comfortable (and apparently necessary because the wind was lessening). He flew us close to the Sandals island and a little bit shallower water which was just spectacular. I cannot recommend this excursion highly enough. A++++++.

 

Just a few other random thoughts: We did definitely see a difference in the turn around time on the bars throughout the ship with the explosion of the UBP. While it was possible to simply move to the next bar, during the night, they all seemed to be exceptionally busy with way more 'sitters' than usual to where you could barely get to the bar to place an order. While certainly not true for all, some of the bartenders did seem to be giving it a half effort at best. This was espcially true of one particular one at the casino bar. He was there three of the seven nights and it really slugged things down. The other three nights it ran much better when he was not in attendance. The only reason we even noticed was because this was the bar we passed each evening going to and from the casino back to our cabin. Also, this was a rather, for lack of a better word, LOUD crowd on this cruise. Again, did the UBP have something to do with this? We feel yes. When you have a huge consumption of alcohol going on, this will naturally follow and boy did it.

 

So, after all of this (and I know, wwaaayyy past the 'short' review that was promised), we were left with, while enjoyable, it would not rank in our top five of all time, maybe not even top 10. I sincerely do not want anyone to second guess their decision to cruise on the Getaway as we do still love this ship and would cruise again on her without qualms. What we have come to realize though is we are simply burned out on cruising for the time being. We have gone hot and heavy the last couple of years and are ready for a change. Having come to that realization, we have cancelled our scheduled January cruises on the Escape and the Celebrity Reflection. We will still vacation during that time but feel we need a more land-based one at this point to possibly help to maybe re-find our love of cruising again. We do still highly recommend NCL, however, they are definitely going through something of an identity crisis at this time. Given time, though, we do feel they will find their way again and will come out the other side with a better, stronger product.

 

I will be around to answer any questions you might have, if possible. It may not be right away (I must climb that laundry mountain) , but, I will check back occasionally to see.

 

Thank you for your time and patience in reading what has turned into a diatribe.

Edited September 19, 2015 by tarps14

[cardbucfan]

Thanks for a well balanced review!

[Leavethekidswithmom]

Too bad about JD, he's known as a rock star, maybe he's close to vacation, personally never met him.

 

Also weird that they are listing lobster tail and whole lobster. Are they planing on having both. Where they going to store them?

[bradleyk]

thank you for sharing

[garnet115]

Thanks for your review.

 

I will be in a Haven aft suite on deck 11 in February, so was particularly pleased to see that you enjoyed it. Did you find that the distance from the Haven hindered you at all?

[Sand and Seas]

Can you tell us more about your Aft PH Suite? We haven't tried one yet but are looking to. How large was the deck? Does it have two bathrooms with showers or bathtubs?

 

We were on the Getaway in August and the casino was a little better to me. I'm a VP player too and hit some dealt 4s on Ultimate X with a handpay $1400. Was just playing 10cent instead of my usual quarter since the pay tables were not the best. Just lucked out this time. Sorry it was tighter for you.

[chloemonkey]

Too bad about JD, he's known as a rock star, maybe he's close to vacation, personally never met him.

 

Also weird that they are listing lobster tail and whole lobster. Are they planing on having both. Where they going to store them?

 

I too was surprised at the remarks regarding JD.......as we HAVE had the pleasure of sailing with him four times before and look forward to sailing with him again in October. And our experiences with him would definitely put him into the category of "rock star!"