Great Cruise

Item: Norwegian Getaway
Rating: 4.3
Author: JerryLindstrom

Norwegian Getaway Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

JerryLindstrom

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 72

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

Verified Review

9 Night Baltic Capitals (Copenhagen Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 30, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Getaway

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 16700

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

Staying in the Haven made this cruise great. Otherwise, would have been horrible fighting the lines for meals and entertainment options. Gratuity policy needs work. We prepaid the gratuities which are higher in the Haven, thinking it was done, but then there are add on gratuities for specialty restaurants, wine, and some service staff that are not included in the prepaid gratuities. This is wrong. Gratuities should not be mandatory, and when they are, there should not be more on top of it.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Pretty easy. Expected a special line for the Haven, but it was long too.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Cagney's - Excellent service and food. Ocean Blue - Disappointed. Ordered king crab, got snow crab, and it was dry and fishy. Le Bistro - Excellent service and food. Haven restaurant - Excellent service, food was too repetitive, but very good.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Rock climbing wall - line too long (30 min) Miniature golf - Chaos Ropes course - Chaos, and line too long. Fitness center - very nice except on sea days, when there was a 30 min wait. Bingo - fun, but too expensive for the payout.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

I have learned to expect little. Got my expectation.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

The crew was fabulous.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Getting a little worn.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Room was overall excellent. Couch was in need of replacement.

Ports of call

Copenhagen, Denmark

5 out of 5

No excursion, but rode the hop on hop off boat. Highly recommended.

Thumbs Up 1

Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany Did not visit port

Tallinn, Estonia

4 out of 5

Walked around on our own. Very nice old town area.

Thumbs Up 2

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

4 out of 5

Way too crowded. Otherwise excellent.

Thumbs Up 0

Helsinki, Finland

4 out of 5

Nynashamn (Stockholm), Sweden

5 out of 5

Rode train into Stockholm (about an hour). Visited Vasa Museum, a must see.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Easy and well organized. Used the Norwegian bus to the airport without any issues.

9 Comments

leeshannon 7 years ago

sorry I tried to edit that it's supposed to be dining in the wherever specialty restaurant your dining in during the time you're there

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leeshannon 7 years ago

that the way it is and it always has been so actually at the end of the cruise if you dying in the wherever you dying during the time you're there they have what you can actually tip the cook you can tip your Stewart extra if you want I'm of course you have to pay for your tips so actually at the end of the cruise if you dying in the wherever you dying during the time you're there they have what you can actually tip the cook you can tip your Stewart extra if you want I'm of course you have to pay for your tips at the specialty restaurant it's specialty restaurant so you're going to pay a tip it's just like if you lived anywhere and went to your restaurant and paid good money for something

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grandmarnnurse 7 years ago

ScottieC---I can't speak for the debarkation in the Baltic itineraries, but I do know the self assist when in the Caribbean sailings was a disaster! Long, crazy lines that did not get off as early as they thought they would!

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ScottieC 7 years ago

Jerry, My family is doing this cruise in a couple of weeks. We are tight on our flight after the cruise. Did you do self-assist disembarkation? If we put in the effort to get off of the ship as soon as possible, do you thing we could get off by 8:00 (assuming all goes normally and recognizing that unforeseen events occur). Thank you!

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mlgrill 7 years ago

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grandmarnnurse 7 years ago

KarenSeq--but the gratuities paid in advance are for the service with MDR and Room Steward. You still have to pay a gratuity on any other service you have.

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jacmac 7 years ago

You are confusing stateroom gratuities (which NCL calls service charges) with gratuities for extra amenities on board (specialty restaurants, spa, wine, etc). The service charges go to the housekeeping staff and main dining staff.

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KarenSeq 7 years ago

I actually understand what op is stating concerning the add on gratuities, you have to pay extra gratuities to the specialty restaurants and others on top of the prepaid ones. this is new as I had cruise before and that was not part of the deal with gratuities.

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grandmarnnurse 7 years ago

I've sailed the Getaway and never had any lines to deal with. I was seated fairly quick for meals, and since all entertainment was reserved ahead online, I breezed right in. Gratuities are for your service, not for extra items purchased while onboard. And they are charged to your bill because too many people skipped out without tipping all these hard working staff. Personally, I prefer it this way. I hated carrying all that cash and filling envelopes at end of cruise like we did years ago. We still leave extra for our room steward every single day.

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