The Baltics cruise needs to be everyones bucket list, there is so much to experience. Our cruiseship (NCL Getaway) was actually the last major cruise ship in the Baltics, this had a great benefit of small crowds everywhere we went. The penalty is the time of year, mid October.. The weather is cool and rainy... a cost I am willing to pay for this tremendous cruise.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation in Compenhagen was the smoothest we have experienced...
We stayed in the NCL arranged hotel (Scandic Copenhagen) and the bus took us right to the ship. Based on the deck you are assigned you are sent to one of 2 terminals.. teh tr=ermianl was sufficienlty large and we processed thru in minutes... the only delay was my wife had to wait behind a person with several liquid bottles and food try to process thru security...That was the only delay we were on board quickly... Copenhagen does it right, Manhatten could learn alot form the dutch.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
As we expected NCL's specialty restaurants are top notch.
In comparing Apples to Apples, the Getaway's perfromance in the specialty restaurants is superior to her sister ship, the Breakaway.
The Getaway has alot offer, however being a large ship it carries a large number of passengers... This causes the main dining rooms to have slower service than NCL's Jewel class ships. The Maitre' D's keep things flowing and are accomodating..
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Behind the scenes tour, this is a new (to us) perk. This tour can be had as an excursion for about $60 each, I would have been quite disappointed if I had laid out $120 for this tour. But since it is an added free "perk" for our lotalty to NCL it was pretty cool and informative... We intend to do this tour on each different NCL ship.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
NCL continues to have better entertainemnt that the other cruise lines we have taken.. The Getaway is no exception to this rule
Burn the floor is a staple on NCL's larger ships and a great show.
The comedians (Levity entertainment group) were terrific, however the comedic magician Bob Brizendine was the best... taliking with other passengers I am not alone in this assessment.
Children's Programs
Didn't bring kids (grandchildren)
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
In particular one Bartender (nickname "Happy" stands out above the rest, his nickname is accurate, and his influence spreads to all around him (co workers and passengers).
The Maitre D's keep things moving in the restaurants and truely work to ensure a great experience.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Design..
The 678 waterfron concept of teh breakaway class ships is a new level of cruiseing.
Even though we are empty nesters we see value in teh features "mostly' for the young (and young at heart).. Ropes course, putt putt golf, climbing wall, kiddie water play area & awesome water slides.
There are multiple entertainment venues, however the most popular shows require reservations thus the "freestyle cruising" theme we love so much is a mockery on this class ship.
The main focal point on this class ship is the "Atrium", seems like a good idea on paper, but in practice is undersized and crowded for most events... alot of passengers just hang out there all day and keep it crowded and noisy.
Cleanliness:
In 10 cruises to date on NCL we have never experienced an "outbreak" this ship is no exception, it is a testimony to the "washy washy" policy lacking on other cruiselines where we have seen "outbreaks"
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The layout of our room was optimized by locating the bed near the balcony with the couch between the bed and the closets, this made our room seem larger. The negative is the balconies on this class are small. and in our 4 cruises on this class ships the sound silencing in the rooms on this class lacks compared to the Jewel class of NCL ships. (We have observed similar noise level increase on other cruise lines large ships also.. it appears to be the way they build them now).
The couch is intended to be a foldout "extra" bed, and as a couch isn't very comfortable.
Ship tip
Know you have to reserve the most popular entertainment or wait in a standby line to attend..
The 678 Waterfront is a great new feature to cruising..
If you've not experienced the smaller NCL ships you will see nothing negative about this ship. Some of us prefer the smaller / less crowded ships
The added attractions (ropes course water slides etc.) are great for the young (and young at heart). for a great thrill "walk the plank"
Arrived early and stayed at the Scandic Copenhagen, took a day for our bodies to adjust to teh time change(s).. in hindsight come 3 days early to more thouroughly enjoy Copenhagen.
Sadly the weather was the "worst" of the cruise windy and rainy...took the hop on bus to the south end of the "old town"... walked north thru this amazing town until we diecide it was break timenspent an hour plus in a quant little cafe tryin the local danishes etc. The weather kept the crowds low so we didn't have to wait for anything. The local folks we met spoke English with little to no discernable accent... We asked one girl if she was from the US (no accent), she said she perfected her english from TV...
The crown Jewel of this cruise. We booked a 1 day tour with SPB tours (for this city and 3 others). SPB gets my personnal recommendation, for cost, ease of booking on teh internet (precruise) and the thoroughness of thier tours) These were all great tours and St Petersburg was fanastic. I'll leave it to other reviewers to give more details about the so much there is to experience here.
Again SPB tours, fantastic tour, the olympic stadium is under renovation and wasn't to be part of the tour, however the olympic champion distance runner Paavo Nirmi is special to our family, our gudie took us to experience his statue...
Add Helsinki and a visit to Parvoo to your bucket list
We actually stayed about and brought the Getaway across the Atlantic back to Miami to disembark. Disembarkation was merely adequate for this size ship..An upgradre in the terminal to handle these larger ships would be a benefit.
Thankfully Miami is not nearly as horrible as disembarking in Manhattan..
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