NCL Getaway Dec 1st to 8th - Review (in parts)

[QuadraCatLady]

Before my review, I’d like to thank all the forum members here who gave me such good advice! As a novice cruiser, you all saved me a lot of headaches and made the good stuff just that much better. High fives all around!!

 

For reference, my husband and I were first time cruisers. We have been together for 21 years and almost all our travel has been adventure/self-guided/off the beaten path. We chose to book on the NCL Getaway because of the annual poker challenge as my husband is an avid Texas Hold ’Em player (I chose to go because I wanted to relax, relax, relax!). We are both in our 50’s, no kids, fairly fit, and outgoing. We decided to make this cruise our long-overdue honeymoon, lol.

 

I’ll start with the “good” first and break the review into multiple parts for easier reading.

 

THE GOOD!

Part 1 

 

DINNERS – Holy cumuli, the dinners on our cruise were so good! After reading all the negative reviews on this site, I was prepared for the worst but we did not have one bad dinner all week. I’m not sure whether other folks just had bad luck or really, really high standards but our dinner experiences were fabulous across the board (with one minor exception I’ll note later).

 

Cagney’s – We ate here the first night and both ordered the tenderloin. Each of our steaks was cooked to perfection—we eat a LOT of steak and we’re pretty picky about how they’re cooked—and were delicious! We also ordered appys (tuna tartare and crab cake), which were wonderful. Every dish was great, service was fast and friendly. I almost didn’t book this restaurant based on how many bad things I read about it here. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to those reviews!

 

Savor – Again, another place I read lots of bad reviews about, but the meal was perfectly fine. Not as good as Cagney’s, sure, but still really tasty and great service.

 

Wasabi – OMG!! AMAZING!!!! We love sushi, we’ve eaten a LOT of sushi, I grew up outside of Vancouver and lived in Japan, we make our own sushi with our own freshly-caught seafood, and this was GREAT sushi! You won’t find the selection of a big city sushi place but I’ll take quality over quantity any day. The Rock and Roll roll was heavenly and even the seaweed salad was to die for. Five thumbs up!

 

Teppanaki – This place was fun! I’ve never eaten at one of these kinds of restaurants before. Sure, the humor was hokey and I don’t think it’s a place you eat at more than once unless the staff was beyond five star, but for a fun night out with tasty food it was a great choice.

 

Cirque Dreams & Steam – I didn’t know what to expect from a dinner show menu but everything was super good, especially the steak! And the desserts…*drools*. The woman next to me at our table didn’t eat her dessert and I was sorely tempted to steal it! Service was a little slow and the drink service was super disorganized but not enough to ruin the experience.

 

Moderno – Another restaurant I *almost* didn’t book because of the many bad reviews—so glad I didn’t listen to those either! The salad bar was so different! Don’t go in expecting the traditional salad bar with lots of lettuce and veggies. This was olives and cheeses and meats and breads for the most part. I especially loved the smoked salmon and fried provolone! The various meats were really tasty but the grilled pineapple stole the show! We ate in moderation so that we could enjoy desert. Chocolate Coconut Tres Leche Cake…wow!

 

Overall, five stars for our dinners! Every server started by asking if we had any special dietary considerations, which was really nice to see. And what a treat to eat out every night. That is definitely not something we do when we travel our usual way.

 

 

[QuadraCatLady]

THE GOOD!

Part 2

 

Stateroom – We were in 14818, a midship, balcony stateroom. I’m so very glad we booked a balcony stateroom! We live right on the ocean and almost all our travel is to ocean locations. I would have been disappointed if I couldn’t see the ocean whenever I wanted. Loved having a quiet place to sit and drink our tea, coffee, or cocktails, watch the water, and enjoy the warm breezes.  The layout was great, comfy, lots of storage, etc. Hubs had a few minor quibbles (he’s big into streamlining and organization) but otherwise no complaints. Bed was comfy and we enjoyed the free movies and being able to make our own coffee and tea.

 

Service – There were some service issues but I feel it’s important to note that those weren’t the fault of the individual employees. Almost every staff member we encountered was friendly, helpful, and hardworking. Our stateroom steward, Armel, was a gem! He was genuinely concerned whenever we left our “do not disturb” light on and he couldn’t clean our room. We explained that we didn’t need it cleaned every day but I think it still bothered him, lol. I was really impressed by all the staff. (Note: my husband and I have both worked in tourism and hospitality in the past).

 

The Thermal Suite – This cruise would not have been very enjoyable if we had not had access to the spa’s thermal suite every day. It was HEAVEN!! We especially loved port days when most guests were off the ship and we had the spa area pretty much to ourselves. If you like quiet and relaxation, spend the money and buy a pass!! We went every day, soaked in the various pools, sat in the steam room, stretched out on the ultra comfy loungers, read, napped, drank water and tea and nibbled on the snacks we brought with us. I know everyone rushes to get Vibe passes but, in my opinion, the Thermal Suite is a far, far better choice and you can buy the passes well ahead of time. There was only one day where some folks were noisy but as soon as anyone turns on the pool jets they drown out all the talking in a lovely white noise.

 

Entertainment – We only saw two shows because of the poker tournaments but, wow wow wow, were they terrific! Burn the Floor was just spectacular. I was in awe of all those dancers. That is an hour of crazy cardio—I’m tired just thinking about it. Fabulous music, dancing, singing. So good. Cirque Dreams & Steam was also fabulous! We’ve seen three different Cirque shows in Vegas and I was curious to see what they would do in such a small venue, and one that’s constantly moving, no less. We were not disappointed! It was basically a condensed Cirque show, with all the thrills and chills and eye-popping wardrobe you’d expect. (Note: My Hubs and I were professional stunt performers for film and TV for many years—17 for him and 10 for me—and anyone who isn’t in awe of the skill and showmanship of these performers needs to give their head a shake!)

 

Waterslides: We love waterslides. These waterslides were thrilling! YEE HAW! We rode the slides every day but one. It was often just us and a few kids in line, which was perfect. Sooooooo much fun!

 

Selection – While Hubs was on the ship for the poker and I was there pretty much just to read and relax, I was blown away by how many things there were to do on the list that arrived at our stateroom every night. It seemed like there was lots to keep most folks busy and entertained.

 

Meet & Greet – Thanks so much, again, to Lauri for organizing this event! We didn’t end up talking to many other guests, sorry, but it was nice to meet some of the crew and pick their brains. And we went home with two lovely shot glasses, (one customized with the name and date of the cruise!) and a beautiful card—thanks Heidi! To the folks who got our shot glass (the one with the starfish on it) sorry that it didn’t have the name of our location but Quadra Island is pretty small! It was made by a local artist and is hand-blown glass, if that makes you feel better.

 

The Good -- Summary: Overall, as a first time cruiser and as someone who has spent a lot of time on (small) boats there was much that impressed me about the design and operation of this ship. I don’t think cruising will ever be our “thing” but I can see why so many folks love it!

[QuadraCatLady]

THE BAD

Part 1

 

Bear in mind that the main reason we booked this cruise was for the poker tournament so that’s what we were most focused on. There were also things we didn’t like that weren’t necessarily bad, just not to our taste. YMMV.

 

Smoking – This is my number one complaint for multiple reasons. First…WTH? How is a business allowing their employees to be constantly exposed to secondhand smoke? There is absolutely NO safe level of exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke. If you’re a smoker, that’s fine, but forcing the rest of us to breath in your smoke is beyond thoughtless. I only booked this trip after I called Casinos at Sea and asked—twice, just to be certain—whether the poker tournament would be smoke-free. I was assured by the representative I spoke to that the tournament would not be held in the casino but in a separate, non-smoking, smoke-free room. When we arrived and my husband checked in, we learned that only half the players would be in this room and the rest would be in an area that was open to the casino and all the smoke and noise. And the entire casino area absolutely REEKED of smoke. We both felt ill. We both had headaches from it. I spoke with table dealers and players who complained and I noticed how at almost every table the vast majority of people were either non-smokers or would (considerately) go elsewhere to smoke (thank you). Same thing for the adult-only pool bar. Of course, the two places we wanted to be—the casino and the adult-only pool bar, were filled with smoke. It was gross. But as disgusted as we were, it’s the staff that are suffering. This is a serious health hazard and NCL should change their policy immediately OR create a fully enclosed area, with no staff, where the smoke will not reach other guests or staff. I cannot believe how backwards and thoughtless the owners and managers of this business must be to allow their employees to be harmed this way—clearly, they are just exploiting people who are powerless.

 

The Poker – I’ve written a separate, detailed review of the tournament but long story short it was disorganized, unprofessional, loud, cramped, and smoke-filled. A tournament of this size, with big name pros attached to it, should have been much, MUCH better. I’m livid that we wasted our time and money on this event, not to mention that we were lied to about the smoking.

 

Breakfast and Lunch – While we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the dinners on this cruise, the other meals were mediocre at best. I ordered room service the first morning as a treat and never bothered again because the food quality was so lacking. I would have paid extra if there was even one restaurant where I knew we could have gotten a really high-quality breakfast (my husband’s favourite meal) with great service. Disappointing.

 

Drunks – Okay, I don’t begrudge anyone a good time on their holiday and I expect some people to overindulge (myself and Hubs included) now and then, but NCL needs to have a better policy/training/enforcement when it comes to overserving guests. Our first night’s dinner was at Cagney’s. As I mentioned in my intro, this cruise was our very long overdue honeymoon and I planned for us to have a lovely romantic dinner to start the trip. Our meal was first rate and our server was excellent but we were seated right next to a family group (Gramma, Grandpa, two adult kids with their spouses, and their young kids). The three men at that table got drunker and louder as the meal went on, and yet the staff continued to serve them. Everyone around them was visibly annoyed, the Gramma tried a few times to quiet them down, and we finally asked our server to move us—yes, we waited too long but we didn’t expect it to get so bad. What would have been a perfect first dinner was ruined. I spoke with another guest who’d had a drunk at her poker table at the tournament who ruined the play for everyone and yet staff continued to serve him. NCL needs to address this.

 

Waste – I’ve been to Vegas enough and I had enough pre-warnings about cruises and their buffets that I expected to see people waste food but it still makes me angry. Seeing full plates of buffet food left behind, to be cleaned up by people who come from countries where so many people go hungry, will always bother me. One night I watched a woman who couldn’t figure out the soft serve ice cream machine. Instead of walking away or asking for help, she just let ice cream fall out of the machine over and over. We avoided the buffet as much as possible.

 

Service – To be clear, I do not blame the staff for any of the bad service we had. The bars were understaffed for the number of guests and the pool bars were pure chaos. I should not have to bribe a bartender to get served before people who arrive five minutes after I do. It’s not rocket science. Put more staff on duty and/or mark areas where people who aren’t sitting and drinking at the bar need to line up to order. I blame all our bad service (and we had some looooooong waits in bars and restaurants) on the folks on high who design the systems and decide on staffing levels. At the poker tournament, it took my husband three hours to get a server to order from. That’s bullsh*t.

[QuadraCatLady]

THE BAD 

Part 2

 

MISC.

 

• I did not like the feeling of constantly being upsold in some fashion on the ship. As an example: at the spa, after leaving the thermal suite and waiting for my husband in the lobby I was approached more than once and nudged to book services. No. Just don’t. I’ve paid my money in advance so that I can relax while onboard. Leave me alone!
•  Water. The ship’s tap water was great! I come from the west cost of Canada, I know good water. Bring a water bottle. No one should be buying bottled water and putting even more plastic into the environment!
• Theater manners! At the two performances we attended, I wanted to scream at all the people with bad/no theater manners. The number of people walking up and down the aisles and in and out of their seats during the performance was unbelievable. The shows were barely an hour long! Plan ahead. Stop ruining the illusion and disturbing everyone around you. Has no one been taught basic manners? Super disrespectful to the other guests and to the hardworking performers. During one show, I had a couple behind me talk through the entire show.
• Items for sale. How is it that the ship sells 8000 watches and not one cell phone charger? There were some pretty basic and necessary items that we simply could not find for sale. My husband forgot his headphones and wanted to buy a cheap set to wear during the poker tournament. The only set he could find were for kids, with the NCL logo on them. Seriously? These are the kinds of items you’ll see in any airport for good reason.
• Straws. Yes, I want to do away with plastic straws as much as anyone else but the paper straws that were available were crap and fell apart before we’d finished our drinks. Maybe offer silicone or metal straws for sale? We would have bought them.
• Internet. I knew going in that the internet would be bad but it was completely and utterly unusable. I didn’t get on even once. And, fair enough, I enjoyed being offline for a week, but offering 250MB of free internet as a “perk”? Don’t spit on my cupcake and call it icing.

[QuadraCatLady]

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

I was hoping that this cruise would convince us that cruising wasn’t as “not us” as we’d imagined. Sadly, the good things we experienced were ruined or overshadowed by the bad. Looks like cruising isn’t for us, after all. Glad we tried it, but we’ll never do it again. Or, if we do, it will be on a much smaller ship with a much better staff-to-guest ratio and on a vessel that is entirely non-smoking. I actually had to wrestle with my guilt to book this trip because I know how environmentally hostile cruise ships are and how much damage they can do to the spirit of the people who live in their ports (we had a stopover on Grand Cayman Island once and saw that there were seven giant cruise ships in port, the look in the eyes of the servers where we had lunch was just dead and hopeless). We only planned to get off on Roatan for this cruise. We rented scooters from Capt. Van’s (really lovely folks) and explored the island ourselves. On the ride back, we talked with our host about the island and the cruise ships and the crowds. He said, melancholy, “I miss the way our island was seven of eight years ago.” That just depressed me and I too wish he could have his old island back.

 

I wish everyone happy cruising and thanks to all who offered advice and suggestions and answered my many questions. Fair winds and calm seas.

[david_sobe]

Thank you for sharing your experience.  Good for you for standing up to the drunks and requesting a table change. Until customers start fighting back, I fear no changes will occur.  I could not agree with you more about theater manners and I don't go to shows that much and actually don't care for Broadway shows.  However, these people trained and worked for months to perform for you.  I cant understand how rude people are.  There is a drag queen that did a perfect segment on theater manners these days.  Sadly, its not just bad manners on cruise ships but even in the nicest of theaters.

 

Bad manners in theaters

 

[fastpitchdad]

We were on the Getaway a couple of months ago and I agree with your Thermal Spa assessment...we will get it every time. It really does make the cruise. I am also sorry to hear about the poker but am not surprised. I played in a regular tournament and with their blinds and round times it was more like Poker Slots (and the share that NCL takes is tourneys and the rake they take in regular games is freaking criminal...only their Bingo is worse). 

 

Totally random question...how do you get to the ship from Quadra Island? Ferry to Vancouver Island and drive down to Victoria and then ferry to Seattle or Vancouver? 

[QuadraCatLady]

25 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Thank you for sharing your experience.  Good for you for standing up to the drunks and requesting a table change. Until customers start fighting back, I fear no changes will occur.  I could not agree with you more about theater manners and I don't go to shows that much and actually don't care for Broadway shows.  However, these people trained and worked for months to perform for you.  I cant understand how rude people are.  There is a drag queen that did a perfect segment on theater manners these days.  Sadly, its not just bad manners on cruise ships but even in the nicest of theaters.

 

Hi David. Thanks for the reply! Regarding the drunks, I worry that they will hurt someone else. Will NCL be liable when that happens? I know where I come from that servers are legally responsible if they over-serve a customer who then harms themselves or someone else. 

 

Thanks for the video! Good gravy. Where did everyone's manners go??

[QuadraCatLady]

19 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

We were on the Getaway a couple of months ago and I agree with your Thermal Spa assessment...we will get it every time. It really does make the cruise. I am also sorry to hear about the poker but am not surprised. I played in a regular tournament and with their blinds and round times it was more like Poker Slots (and the share that NCL takes is tourneys and the rake they take in regular games is freaking criminal...only their Bingo is worse). 

 

Totally random question...how do you get to the ship from Quadra Island? Ferry to Vancouver Island and drive down to Victoria and then ferry to Seattle or Vancouver? 

Yeah, Hubs said the rake was ridiculous. 

 

So, from Quadra, we have to catch a short (10 minute) ferry to Campbell River, then drive to Nanaimo, then the ferry (1 hour & 40 min) to Vancouver, then fly out of Vancouver. Our flight left at 7am on the day before the cruise so we went to Vancouver a few days early and stayed with friends. We do have a good airport not far from Campbell River (in Comox) that we usually use as a quick connector to Vancouver flights but since our air was booked through NCL we had no control over the time of our flights. Just an excuse to visit friends. 🙂

[KarlChilders]

Enjoyed chatting with you and The Fred at the meet and greet (I'm Art).  Sorry your cruise wasn't as good as you hoped.  The smoke in the casino did seem worse than our previous trip on the Getaway.  

[QuadraCatLady]

16 minutes ago, KarlChilders said:

Enjoyed chatting with you and The Fred at the meet and greet (I'm Art).  Sorry your cruise wasn't as good as you hoped.  The smoke in the casino did seem worse than our previous trip on the Getaway.  

Thanks, Art! It was nice talking with you and your wife too! 🙂

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks for sharing your review with us!     We were on the Getaway about a month before you and we must have had less casino smokers on that cruise as we didn't notice much smoke.    Wish we had went to see the Cirque show.   We love the entertainment 'night-life' on NCL.  

 

If you decide to try a cruise again, would suggest you try the Bliss or Encore.  They have about 70% of the casino totally smoke-free.  The smoking area of the casino is glass enclosed.

[cksv]

6 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Thanks for sharing your review with us!     We were on the Getaway about a month before you and we must have had less casino smokers on that cruise as we didn't notice much smoke.    Wish we had went to see the Cirque show.   We love the entertainment 'night-life' on NCL.  

 

If you decide to try a cruise again, would suggest you try the Bliss or Encore.  They have about 70% of the casino totally smoke-free.  The smoking area of the casino is glass enclosed.

That’s a good suggestion. Could also try sailing Celebrity as their casino is completely smoke free.

[QuadraCatLady]

15 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Thanks for sharing your review with us!     We were on the Getaway about a month before you and we must have had less casino smokers on that cruise as we didn't notice much smoke.    Wish we had went to see the Cirque show.   We love the entertainment 'night-life' on NCL.  

 

If you decide to try a cruise again, would suggest you try the Bliss or Encore.  They have about 70% of the casino totally smoke-free.  The smoking area of the casino is glass enclosed.

Thanks. Yes, I'd choose a different ship or cruise line for sure. But there was more than the smoking that convinced us it's not our thing. Maybe we'll try again in another decade? 😁

[MrsKC08]

23 hours ago, QuadraCatLady said:

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

I was hoping that this cruise would convince us that cruising wasn’t as “not us” as we’d imagined. Sadly, the good things we experienced were ruined or overshadowed by the bad. Looks like cruising isn’t for us, after all. Glad we tried it, but we’ll never do it again. Or, if we do, it will be on a much smaller ship with a much better staff-to-guest ratio and on a vessel that is entirely non-smoking. I actually had to wrestle with my guilt to book this trip because I know how environmentally hostile cruise ships are and how much damage they can do to the spirit of the people who live in their ports (we had a stopover on Grand Cayman Island once and saw that there were seven giant cruise ships in port, the look in the eyes of the servers where we had lunch was just dead and hopeless). We only planned to get off on Roatan for this cruise. We rented scooters from Capt. Van’s (really lovely folks) and explored the island ourselves. On the ride back, we talked with our host about the island and the cruise ships and the crowds. He said, melancholy, “I miss the way our island was seven of eight years ago.” That just depressed me and I too wish he could have his old island back.

 

I wish everyone happy cruising and thanks to all who offered advice and suggestions and answered my many questions. Fair winds and calm seas.

Thanks for your review. I will say that before you change your mind about cruising, maybe you should look at a different line. Not all cruise lines are created equal. I would recommend you look into Royal Caribbean, maybe the Freedom class ships.

[Deeliteful]

Thanks for your review, I was on this cruise too.

The only thing I am puzzled at is your mention of the internet.I bought the package as needed for work and had access to it every day and night without any problems at all.