TudorFan4Ever

I don't think I've ever had a perfect cruise, but I've come close, so while this one had a couple of glitches, overall it was a great time and if I had the opportunity again, I would sail on the Getaway. On the plus side, she's a beautiful ship. I had been upgraded from a studio to an inside room, and while I knew I'd be directly under the theater, I didn't care. In fact, I made it a game. If I was up late, I'd listen to the show for the second or third time and think "Well, I didn't even have to go to the theater for this." While other people might complain, I knew this was a chance to took in having the larger room - it was still worth it. My cabin steward was a delight and I can't thank him enough for the service I received in him keeping my cabin clean and welcoming. There was also Jackie, the GM's secretary who worked with me on various things as I arranged the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. There were others whose names I don't know who made the cruise such a pleasure, and while I realize the Getaway is not the Escape or the Bliss, I can see why she is such a favorite with many people. The Waterfront is wonderful and I'm happy that NCL has that feature on its' Breakaway-Plus. I'm not a huge "pool" person, but having that spot to escape too, even on the rainy cool evening returning to New Orleans as enjoyable. Now the things which lowered the overall experience from excellent to very good...I was disappointed by the channel selection on the TV. Sometimes you're just relaxing in your cabin at the end of the day and want to catch something. On my 15-day Bliss cruise in 2018, we not only had news channels but more than a half-dozen movie channels as well as nostalgia channels, etc and the usual ship's channels. So imagine my disappointment to find 1 movie channel for adults, a kiddie channel and one with a variety of entertainment, mainly TV shows such as The Goldbergs or Brooklyn 9-9, along with the news channels and ship's channels. I'm not sure why this was so, but I wish we'd had more variety. I had intended to dine at the noodle bar more than once because I love noodle bars and even make dishes at home. Once ended up being enough. The dumplings and spring rolls were quite good, but my noodles with BBQ pork, while not awful, was average with little flavor to it, especially on recalling what I've had at restaurants in the United State and abroad. I also disliked the table set up where the counters where we ate had a dip in them with no warning. When you put down your glass, if you didn't realize the dip was there, you were likely to have a spill. I noticed this happened not only to others but myself, which two rude guests across from a friend and I found hilarious. I didn't find it funny at all, but why the tables are designed as such is puzzling. The issue with the server at Cagney's was addressed while on-board. The food was very good, but the server made a comment I overheard about our choice of wine, and then afterward kept pressing me to take the steak although I had already said I would pay the upcharge for the lamb or veal. As I said, this was addressed and the restaurant manager sat down with me the next day to apologize, which I appreciated. It wasn't a major issue, but I don't want anyone else to feel as pressured or to overhear an employee being critical of their choice of drink. I mainly went to the Atrium Bar, and on a couple of occasions, Prime Meridian and Sugarcane. The Atrium Bar was in desperate need of more bartenders. On one occasion, after returning to the ship on a port day, there was one bartender and not only was every seat occupied, but there were people standing behind the seats trying to get attention. This was in addition to the servers who were obtaining orders from people in the Atrium. He was overwhelmed, and finally, another bartender as well as who I'm guessing was a bar manager arrived to help and even then they needed more help. At no time should there be less than 2 bartenders working the bar because it's difficult to know when a "peak" time might occur. I never want to see anyone that overworked. Syd Norman's was WAY too small a venue for a show as popular as The Eagles tribute. We tried several times to get in, but each time the place was already full and standing room only. If we tried to line up to get in, there was already a long line. Eventually, we gave up. I know the theater stays busy, but it would nice if, on one or two nights, they performed there in order for those unable to get inside Syd Norman's might have an opportunity. Although I am Platinum and earned the 30 minutes of the free Internet as a reward, I also had the social media package (which worked very well). Unfortunately, I could never switch over to the 30-minute plan as there were no instructions on how to do so. I went into the iCafe home page a few times, but I never saw any sort of menu or pull-down indicating how I could switch between the two plans. I didn't have a chance to go to the Internet Cafe for instructions so I lost my 30 free minutes. I'll try again on the Encore, but it would be nice if it was more self-explanatory. Finally, the Costa Maya experience as a port will rank as one of my least favorite ports of 11 cruises. Perhaps if I'd been able to go OUTSIDE the immediate area I would have been more impressed, but as it was such a short time there, a friend and I decided to stay in the vicinity within the port itself. With 3 other ships there at the same time, it became a claustrophobic nightmare, and I came close to having a panic attack for the first time in years. The only thing pleasant about the entire experience was returning to the ship and having the cruise directors staff perform a great show as we returned. I know it's difficult to gauge what will happen with that many ships in port - and I have no idea of what their departure times were - but I know there were likely several thousand pressed into that tiny area and I hated it. If I'm ever back in Costa Maya, I'll stay on board, especially if I see 3 decent-sized ships with possibly 3000-4000 passengers on each in port too.