Let's Getaway to Bermuda - my first CC review!

[tomservo]

Hello CC. For the last 6 months or so since I booked my first NCL cruise, I've read so many great reviews on here, and now I finally have the chance to return the favor! Behold, my first ever CC review of the NCL Getway 4 day to Bermuda!

 

Background: My wife and I are fairly new to cruising. We've only been on one other cruise, which was on DCL when she was pregnant with our first. We are in our late 30's with 2 young and very rambunctious boys. Wrangling them was probably the hardest part of the trip (I genuinely was ready to cancel the 2 other cruises I have booked), but they did eventually settle in and we were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise.

 

Room: I booked the Haven Aft Penthouse suite (H6) since when I booked it, it wasn't considerably much more than the mini-suite I had originally booked (certainly not double which seems to often be the case). I wanted to start off our family cruising with a bang. I also tried to keep it a surprise from my wife, which was difficult since the Haven signs are everywhere, but since she's new to NCL and cruising in general, I was able to keep it a secret until we got to the room (priority boarding? my travel credit card gives us that! the Haven lounge, that's just a random priority embarkation lounge!) Plus we had our hands full with the boys so that was a good distraction as well.

[tomservo]

Day 1 - Embarkation

 

Our embarkation time kept changing wildly since the ship was coming up empty from Florida. Originally it was set for noon, then changed several times and finally settled on 3pm, even though the edocs were saying not to get there until 5pm. Sail away was 7pm, and the ship was scheduled to get there around 2pm. A few of us on the roll call tracked the progress and it did get there early (around 11am or so), but we still didn't know when the on-shore support staff was going to get there. I think they did end up letting people on around noon, so we headed out and got into the city around 1:30.

 

Finally here!

 

Haven embarkation lounge

 

Snacks

 

Drinks

[tomservo]

Day 1 - Embarkation (continued)

 

[tomservo]

Day 1 - Suite 11908

We finally arrived in the room. My wife noted that the room number had the word "Suite" above it. I think it started to dawn on her but I played dumb. She was very surprised we when walked in. I was very surprised that I was able to kept it a secret until we got to the room.

 

In-room table and chairs

 

Welcome champagne and bottle of water

 

Living room

 

Tea and coffee

 

Mini-fridge (requested it to be emptied)

 

Plates, napkins, and utensils

 

Contents of the mini-fridge (presumably)

 

Outer (guest?) bathroom

 

Bedroom

 

Master bathroom

 

Toilet room

 

Shower

 

Balcony

 

Edited April 14, 2019 by tomservo

[RHilla619]

Great start! Loving the pictures. I am sailing on the getaway next saturday so I am looking forward to the rest!

[tomservo]

Day 1 - Suite (continued)

Found these lying around in the room

 

Canapes

 

Woo hoo! Captain's cocktail party!

 

Some fun cardholders for the anti-lanyarders

 

Day 1 - Dailies and other info

 

[tomservo]

Day 1 Lunch - Margaritaville

 

I was really hoping to get the embarkation day lunch at Margaritaville, and we did. It was colder than we were expecting, but there were a few other tables there getting lunch as well. I followed suit with one of our fellow tables and ran back to the room to grab the pool towels to use as blankets. Lunch was hit and miss. Most of the food came out cold with the exception of the conch fritters which came straight out of the fryer. The kitchen is out in the open, I think they need a better way to keep the food warm in colder temperatures.

 

Menu

 

Watermelon Margarita and Feelin' Hot

 

Pretzel Sticks

 

Conch Fritters

 

Chips, Queso, Salsa

 

Volcano Nachos

 

Veggie Burger

 

Volcano Burger

 

The pretzel sticks, chips and queso, and volcano nachos were all cold, so that detracted from our enjoyment of them somewhat, but they were ok. Probably would have been much better hot. The conch fritters were good, but I've never had them before so I don't really have anything to compare them to. The drinks were good (the watermelon was my wife's favorite drink all cruise), and the veggie burger was decent. My volcano burger apparently erupted and baked to a crisp under the heat lamp, so I ended up eating it with a knife and fork. It was alright, again probably would have been better fresh.

 

Oddly enough, the fries were the best we had all cruise, much better than the fries in the Haven. Shouldn't the Haven have the best fries on the ship?

 

Finally we both tried the cheesecake and the key lime pie. The cheesecake was good but we both really liked the key lime pie. It ended up being one of our favorite desserts on the cruise.

 

Pics from the restaurant

 

Restaurant

 

Bar

 

Open kitchen

Edited April 14, 2019 by tomservo

[graphicguy]

Looking forward to this.  Virginia is an outstanding concierge.  

[CruisinMama2003]

Great review so far 👍

[rustyroo]

Very excited to see this! We leave on the getaway next week.  Can you post the splash academy dailies if you have them?

[tomservo]

22 minutes ago, rustyroo said:

Very excited to see this! We leave on the getaway next week.  Can you post the splash academy dailies if you have them?

 

I did think of you and grabbed what I could, which was only Guppies and Turtles.

 

Fine print

 

[outbackpaul]

Watching closely.  I'm leaving on the 28th.

[worktocruise610]

loving your review so far!

[tomservo]

Day 1 Dinner - La Cucina

 

We wanted to eat as early as possible so we could try to enjoy sailaway on our balcony (spoiler alert - we didn't), but fate conspired against us. Our waiter took a long time to show up, our kids were overstimulated so were acting nuts and we weren't all that hungry due to the late lunch due to the late embarkation. Otherwise dinner was good. My original plan was to order about twice as much food as I actually did, but I was too full to go through with it. I really wanted to try the Osso Buco, but I couldn't eat much more so I got the Sea Bass. 

 

On the way to La Cucina

 

La Cucina Menu

 

Standard NCL Wine menu

 

Bread with olive oil and balsamic

 

Calamari

 

Arugula Salad

 

Pear, Candied Walnut and Gorgonzola Salad (with balsamic vinaigrette)

 

Kid's PB&J

 

Kids Mac & Cheese

 

Shrimp Ravioli

 

Basil Pesto Gnocchi

 

Sea Bass

 

Tiramisu

 

The "bill" at the end with everything zeroed out

 

The food was good for the most part, we enjoyed everything we ate. I would rate it as pretty close to on par with a premium casual land-based restaurant. The sea bass was good, the skin was crispy under the tomato sauce (too much sauce though, I scraped most of it off), and the dish itself was too salty. The salads and pastas were good, and the desserts were decent as well. I would definitely eat there again. We did get back in time to the room to see some of NY and NJ sail by.

 

Blurry Statue of Liberty

 

Elizabeth NJ?

 

Sailing under the Verrazzano

 

Panorama

 

Couch turned into bed

 

The room steward made up the 2nd bed and I modified the couch cushions as a makeshift bed rail. Our younger son slept with us since he's too big for the ship's pack and play. With that, Day 1 is concluded. Next post - Day 2!

[Von & John]

Great job on keeping the Haven a Surprise!!!

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review.  Can’t wait for more.

[tomservo]

Day 2

 

I woke up feeling like I was going to get seasick, so I didn't eat much for breakfast. The last time I cruised I was fine the whole cruise even though I get motion sickness very easily. I threw in the towel around 10am and put on a patch. We explored the ship, had breakfast, and then I attended the CC M&G which was well-organized and well-attended. I thought there would be more mingling with the staff and crew that was there, but they did their introductions and quickly skedaddled.

 

Breakfast

 

Pancakes

 

Avocado Toast (new to the Haven menu!)

 

French Toast

 

 

The boys were still overstimulated and acting nuts, so we dropped the oldest off at the kids club to burn off some energy (the younger isn't old enough). We missed lunch at the Haven so we ended up at O'Sheehan's, which we enjoyed more than I thought I would. I ordered the Buffalo wings with the sauce on the side. The sauce never came, so I waited 5-10 minutes to track someone down and finally got it. It didn't taste like regular buffalo sauce though, more like a thin ketchup. The spinach dip was good and not watery, the chopped salad was good although my wife got salsa instead of the Italian dressing she requested. The Sheppard's pie was better than expected as well.

 

Lunch

 

Blue Moon and Moscow Mule

 

Chopped Salad and Spinach Dip

 

Wings (no sauce)

 

Sheppard's Pie

 

 

We decided to grab a few drinks in the Haven Courtyard and try to relax. Our boys (like all brothers/siblings ever) like to rile each other up so some temporary separation did everyone some good. I also decided to sample the wares of the Haven Courtyard menu.

 

Haven Courtyard Menu

 

Second Lunch

 

Onion Rings

 

Fish Sandwich

 

Fruit Parfait

 

Espresso Martini

 

The fish sandwich was pretty good, the fries were not, and the onion rings were surprisingly not good. They were heavily breaded and not crispy at all. Based on the description I was expecting something closer to the onion rings served at Red Robin. The parfait was good as well, although I don't think berries and melon are considered tropical fruit (there was pineapple). My wife said the espresso martini was the best she had ever had. The Haven bartender was good and very nice, I tried to chat him up to get some ideas for drinks, but he wasn't very chatty. We're not big cocktail drinkers, but we like trying craft cocktails when we can. The Haven bar menu had lots of interesting craft components for making craft cocktails, but no actual list of craft cocktails.

 

Haven Bar Menu

 

Ever wonder how much their Rémy Martin LOUIS XIII Cognac costs? Well now you know!

 

1/2 oz - $65

1 oz - $130

2 oz - $260

 

Roasted Striploin at O'Sheehan's (not sure if this is in addition to or instead of prime rib night)

 

Next post - dinner at Le Bistro. Stay tuned!

[cruiservictor]

Thanks for all the effort you are putting into posting these great pictures.  My wife and I will be on the Getaway transatlantic on April 27.  Generally at the meet and greet, they give out a card with the names and phone numbers of all the senior hotel department officers.  If you still have that and can post a picture of it, I would love to see it.  We are wondering if we will know any of the officers from earlier cruises on the Breakaway, Gem and Escape.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and photos!

[ColinIllinois]

I'm not a huge eater, but a lot of those portions look pretty small to me.

[northernrose]

Thanks for all the great pictures

[tomservo]

11 hours ago, cruiservictor said:

Thanks for all the effort you are putting into posting these great pictures.  My wife and I will be on the Getaway transatlantic on April 27.  Generally at the meet and greet, they give out a card with the names and phone numbers of all the senior hotel department officers.  If you still have that and can post a picture of it, I would love to see it.  We are wondering if we will know any of the officers from earlier cruises on the Breakaway, Gem and Escape.

 

No problem! It's actually taking me much longer to write this than I had expected (plus the photos take a while to upload), so it gives me more of an appreciation for those who do take the time to write these up. Here's the card you requested:

 

[tomservo]

5 hours ago, ColinIllinois said:

I'm not a huge eater, but a lot of those portions look pretty small to me.

You're right, they are small-ish, especially compared to a land based restaurant. I don't mind, because I like trying different things, this way I can try 2-3 small items rather than 1-2 medium/large items. I was surprised at how small the sheppard's pie was, but at least it didn't fill me up too much for dinner.

[tomservo]

Day 2 - Dinner

 

We spoke to the Concierge to move our Le Bistro reservations back so we could make the Captain's Cocktail Party. We did dress up for the party, which was nice, but I think it was the only time on the cruise that we did. They had passed hors d'oeuvres (many of the same ones we got from the butler on the first day), and passed cocktails and mocktails. We left the party, explored the ship some more, and went to dinner.

 

Le Bistro Menu

 

Frisee salad (no pancetta)

 

Seared Scallops

 

Mushroom Soup

 

Asparagus and Duck Salad

 

Filet

 

Vegetable Napoleon

 

Dessert Menu

 

Creme Brulee

 

Hazelnut Napoleon

 

In the last pic you can see the cookies that the butler left us for that day's snack (along with some chocolate covered strawberries). We ended up getting the dessert to go - they offered to have the butler bring it up but we were heading to the room so I told them I was fine taking it up myself. They said someone from the restaurant had to escort me from the restaurant to the elevator for some reason, so we did that. I forgot to mention the previous night we got a dessert to go at La Cucina and they just put a piece of plastic wrap over it and let me walk out with it.

 

Dinner was pretty good. The salads and scallops were good, the soup was ok, and the filet was well cooked and very good. The sauce it came with was really good as well. My wife's vegetable stack was ok, it was pretty messy and fell apart when she cut into it and devolved into a pile of vegetables and goat cheese. We thought it would have more puff pastry. Dessert was good as well, I saw real vanilla bean specks in the creme brulee, but couldn't find the flourless chocolate cake in the napoleon (maybe it's that really thin bottom layer?)

Edited April 16, 2019 by tomservo

[cruiservictor]

9 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

No problem! It's actually taking me much longer to write this than I had expected (plus the photos take a while to upload), so it gives me more of an appreciation for those who do take the time to write these up. Here's the card you requested:

 

 

Thanks for posting this.  I see several familiar names from the Breakaway - Evangelos, Mario, Chef Tyson and Dindo.  Looking forward to seeing them soon.