Getaway Specialty Dining

[cusematt4]

Hi,

 

We are going to be sailing on the Getaway over Christmas and may try 3 of the 5 nights at specialty restaurants with the dining package.  We're leaning Ocean Blue, Le Bistro and Cagney's with the other nights for the Christmas menu and maybe boarding night.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for specialty dining?

[cheryl525]

Not sure who you are cruising with but we have sailed 5 times on NCL (Breakaway, Getaway, Escape) with our now 16 year old son and my now 81 year old mom. We LOVE Teppanyaki - never a disappointment! Several of our cruises we have done with friends with younger kids - Teppanyaki was our joint family dinner - everyone loved it. We will be on the Getaway in February and we only have two dining credits - Teppanyaki is one of our choices. Ocean Blue is ALWAYS the other option for our family - our very picky eater of a son:) LOVES the steak as do I(I don't eat seafood) - and it always features the very best service of our cruise! 

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, cusematt4 said:

Hi, We are going to be sailing on the Getaway over Christmas and may try 3 of the 5 nights at specialty restaurants with the dining package.  We're leaning Ocean Blue, Le Bistro and Cagney's with the other nights for the Christmas menu and maybe boarding night. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for specialty dining?

We have sailed on the Getaway 4 times with a total of a dozen+ voyages on her sister ships (Breakaway, Escape, Bliss, Joy, Encore).

 

While everyone wants to eat at Cagney's steakhouse, it has fallen to the bottom of our list. Service and food quality (even post-pandemic shutdown) is still not good. We would substitute Teppanyaki for Cagney's... but that is just us. Bistro and Ocean Blue are excellent choices. 

[Melody7]

While it's not specialty dining (it's free!), I love that the Getaway has Shanghai's Noodle Bar! It's a great option for something different when it's open for lunch or dinner.

[KarlChilders]

We skipped Cagneys this last cruise as well, after a dissapointing meal on our previous cruise. We both had to send our steaks back, which we litteraly never do.  I had one of the best steaks I've ever had this cruise in LaCuchina of all places. The filet with bleu cheese ravioli was outstanding!

[Yinster]

Food is subjective.

 

My partner and I have different views on food. She loves Cagney's whilst I think it's so so and I love steak. The Italian is also the same.  So we always compromise. One choice is her's which is always La Cucina. I always chose teppenkani. 

 

So work our what kind of food you like and go for that. Le Bistro was nice on Breakaway but it meant dressing up for dinner. We are going to try Ocean Blue on Getaway in March. 

[mking8288]

Shanghai Noodles (on the BA) has a limited comfort food menu, nothing fancy but we like the open kitchen concept, sit on the tall stools behind the counter & wash them stir fried, cook to order, spin around & serve steaming hot ...  Never open for lunch, not even on sea days, just dinner services (previously, as late as 10:30 to 11 pm on the BA) behind the casino.  If anyone is going to sail soon, please post/upload the "current" menu afterward, not in a rush ... TIA.  

 

FYI to all - MDR and Specialty Dining online reservations are now open & available on the Getaway for us (next March) - good availabilities from what I checked earlier, book up to 8 people, etc. etc. 

Edited December 15, 2021 by mking8288

[ricksurf]

We just got off Getaway last month and visited Cagney's twice.  It did not disappoint.  We loved Ocean Blue and it has got to be at the top of Specialty Dining for Getaway.  We, also loved Teppanyaki and LeBistro(Cauliflower and Scallop soup=amazing).

[CptBoatface]

Teppanyaki and la cucina for the win!

[UKstages]

i’m on the breakaway now and ate in cagney’s a couple of nights ago. it was industrial food at best… what you might find at a good catered wedding. almost everything prepared in advance and waiting to be picked up. so the hot things, such as the crab cake, are served at room temperature and the cold things, such as a slice of cake or a caesar salad, are also served at room temperature. the filet was good, the lobster tail was rubbery, the crab cake had a lot of shell in it. (If you’re going to charge a supplement for a signature item, at least prepare it properly.) the cheesecake was quite good. service was spotty, but i’m beginning to think that is more a reflection on how they treat solo diners than the waitstaff itself. (on this cruise, i’ve tended to get the worst tables and had the most inattentive service… in some venues. and there are only 1700 people on the ship!) in any event, I had another reservation for cagney’s on the last night of the cruise and I’ve canceled it.
 

i ate at shanghai noodle house last night. first time. i, too, sat at the counter and watched them prepare the food… i wouldn’t actually say this stuff is made to order… because of the volume, they just always have their basic items being prepared… it’s not for a specific customer or a specific order. It is - essentially - cafeteria food. and the cooks are constantly doling out portions (small by american chinese restaurant standards) onto plates, where they stand ready, waiting to be picked up. the spring rolls and the  dumplings are all prepared in advance and are held in dim sum baskets or in a heated warming tray… the “cooks” don’t seem to even touch these… I saw my server go and pick up my spring roll and bring it directly to me, without passing GO. And the woks are sort of assembly and heating devices… there is no real high heat wok cooking going on… just a lot of stirring of previously prepared ingredients.

 

that being said, the food is decent and better than most of the asian cuisine at the buffet (with the exception of the indian food). the buffet had a particularly bad general tso’s chicken a few days ago… it was prepared in an oyster sauce for some reason. shanghai serves decent asian influenced cuisine, but if you’ve eaten at chinese restaurants in any major american city, you’ll be disappointed.

 

i have noticed a lack of attention to culinary detail on this cruise at most venues… and many items that are exactly the same, regardless of where you order them. the caesar salad in o’sheehan’s is identical to the one in the manhattan room and the one in taste. (oddly enough, the caesar at cagney’s was a different animal altogether and decidedly underdressed.) the shrimp ravioli starter from the manhattan room was on the buffet the next day. quite a few of the items on the buffet seem to be repurposed from the previous day’s main dining room menu. 

 

for what it’s worth, the raspberry swirl cheesecake I had at o’sheehan’s may be the single best bite i’ve had on the ship.

Edited December 16, 2021 by UKstages

[numberguy]

I got off the Getaway earlier this month.  We're Platinum and had a four-meal dining package, so we had six nights to use in specialty restaurants.  We went to

 

Cagney's--it was fine

La Cucina--it was better than it has been in the past, much better

Le Bistro--they've made it even better than before!  (Although the Ile Flottant dessert was disappointing)

Moderno--the salad bar was wonderful as usual, but it was being served to you by staff, so one might feel a little self-conscious getting everything you want.  The meat was fine, except the chicken (even wrapped in bacon) was awfully dry.

Ocean Blue--this was my first time here, but it was really disappointing.  The tuna and avodaco appetizer was great, but I got the grilled seafood plate.  It wasn't anything exciting and the grilled calimari was rather rubbery and not good at all.  Overall this was my biggest disappointment, because I was hoping for great food.  I might go back, but I'll definitely order something else.

And then we went back to Le Bistro and tried other dishes.  It didn't disappoint in anyway.

 

I would rank them

 

Le Bistro

La Cucina

Cagney's

Moderno

Ocean Blue

 

--Michael

[BigRedFan]

On 12/13/2021 at 6:44 PM, cusematt4 said:

Hi,

 

We are going to be sailing on the Getaway over Christmas and may try 3 of the 5 nights at specialty restaurants with the dining package.  We're leaning Ocean Blue, Le Bistro and Cagney's with the other nights for the Christmas menu and maybe boarding night.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for specialty dining?

Ocean Blue is exceptional!  LeBistro is also one of our favorites.  Cagney's does not have the wow factor it had in the past but we enjoyed the grilled seafood platter there.

[Middleager]

We're currently on Getaway TA Dec. 5-22, Rome to Miami.  On day 14 or the 17d sailing.  The restaurants we tried were:

 

Ocean Blue: Disappointing.  French Onion soup was meh, only warm and not much cheese.  Fish was ok.  Filet Mignon was dry, well done (asked medium well), and meat is "loose" like overcooked stew meat.  The ($19 extra) lobster tail was good.  We won't go back.

 

Moderno: Excellent.  Salad bar was great, lots of good selections. Next time wee need to take less, to leave belly room for the great meat selection.  We tried filet mignon, flank steak, lamb, rib steak, etc.  All good.  We like to go back.

 

Le Bistro: Good, but it felt a little cramped. Tables much closer together than other dining rooms, and there were many wait staff/supervisors walking all over.  Just felt too busy.  The food was good.  Escargo was great.  French onion soup was hot, and lots of cheese.  Beef Tenderloin was good (best steak on ship so far).  I was looking forward to good steak in Cagney after this.

 

Cagney: Half disappointed.  Oyster was good.  French Onion soup was hot but not much cheese (Le Bistro was much better).  Lobster Bisque was luke warm (or should it be just warm?)   Seafood platter was good.  But the filet mignon was dry and well done (asked medium well).  If we were in the Keg restaurant in Canada we'd send the steak back, but here we didn't bother.  It didn't feel that busy, but service was a bit slow.  The ship has 2249 guests (60%) and 1600 crew, so I guess they are still slowly ramping up.

 

Shanghai Noodle:  Excellent spring roll.  Other dishes were mostly good, but the Singapore noodle was using very thin noodles and overcooked, and not much curry.   They had social distancing for a few days (not to have people in same group sit together or face to face), but from the 2nd sea day they decided to forego all that, and were sitting people together in closing seating.  Smoking was also allowed, and it's side by side with Casino with bad cigaret smells.  We won't go back.

 

Tropicana: Dining was fine.  But if you go between 8pm, the live band is quite noisy, with drums.  (Much more noisy than Carnival MDR for comparison).  After 8pm the band switch to more softer music.  

 

Taste and Savor (many more times at Taste than Savor): Enjoyable.  We also got window seats for breakfast and dinner.  Wait staff try hard and there were some misses, but overall good.  There were 4 times Taste ran out of Earl Grey tea (I like to have at end of meal).  At that 4th time, I told the manager they need to re-stock prompty because a couple of times is ok, not 4 times.

Oh, at night time, they seem to have a team of 3 staff to clear/set the tables and it was very quick.  It was interesting to see.

[The Traveling Man]

On 12/17/2021 at 8:33 AM, BigRedFan said:

Ocean Blue is exceptional!  LeBistro is also one of our favorites.  Cagney's does not have the wow factor it had in the past but we enjoyed the grilled seafood platter there.

I agree.  We usually order the grilled seafood platter in Cagney's and wait until we visit Le Bistro or La Cucina to order a steak.  The steak in La Cucina on the Epic in October was the best I've ever had.