Stay Away fro the Getaway!!

Item: Norwegian Getaway
Rating: 2.9
Author: dawn49

Norwegian Getaway Cruise Review

dawn49

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 32

Overall rating:

2.9 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 05, 2020

Ship: Norwegian Getaway

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

Not much more to add. Incredibly disappointing. I am saddened I have such a bad view of the ship and NCL, as a result of this trip. I feel we wasted our time and money and unfortunately still feel we need a vacation.

Embarkation

1 out of 5

Very slow and disorganized

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Good drinks but long wait at bars. Bar staff not your usual happy and fun bartenders. Felt like they were tired, overwhelmed and going through the motions. Specialty restaurants great but most complimentary venues subpar for both food and customer service. Buffet choices same daily and overly crowded.

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

5 out of 5

Delicious, especially the spicy seafood soup

Sugarcane Mojito Bar

5 out of 5

Great service and drinks here

Syd Norman's Pour House

5 out of 5

Great music and events. Doors open during day and becomes one of the few quiet places to gather.

Garden Café

1 out of 5

Mediocre food and same selections daily.

Waves Pool Bar

1 out of 5

Slow service and bar staff just walking through the motions. Many complaints overheard here.

O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar and Grille

4 out of 5

Good food and fun games

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Getaway Casino

1 out of 5

Payouts limited. Frequent announcements you may only smoke if actively playing. Some staff a bit rude in requesting you move over 2 feet to the "smoking side". Not your typical comps for free cruise vouchers as seen with competitor cruise lines.

Climbing Wall

3 out of 5

Very small, more kid friendly

Ropes Course

5 out of 5

great experience. Must wear completely enclosed shoes.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Cirque Dreams & Steam

5 out of 5

Great experience and most definitely worth it. Not to be missed. Meal was steak, shrimp and veggies with odd pairing of french fries. Lovely salad and dessert. The performance was exceptional!!

Burn the Floor

5 out of 5

Talented dancers

Spice H2O

5 out of 5

Nice adult area

Headliners Comedy Club

5 out of 5

Fun times with good comics. Limited seating so arrive early.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Very disappointed. Most cruises I have experienced, the staff is amazing and seek to make your time special. The majority did little to interact, be efficient, our appear like they enjoyed their jobs. Definitely a different experience.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

For being a larger ship, it was very closed in and thus felt crowded everywhere you went. Poor layout and design. Smoking area on 15 always filthy, empty glasses seen around deck tables all the time, deck railings with splintering varnish - be careful to not slide your hands.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Shower did not drain and overflowed to bathroom floor everyday.

Ship tip

Think twice. I know I sound like a complainer but I really want to save anyone else the dissatisfaction we experienced. We are avid, frequent cruisers and have never had a single bad experience with RC, Princess, or other NCL ships. This has sworn me off NCL completely. Such a shame as it was a trip we purchased for our family of eight. We will stick with RC for future travel.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

1 out of 5

Didn't stop due to wind. No other port of call arranged and no offer of credit to compensate.

Thumbs Up 0

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

George Town, Grand Cayman

5 out of 5

New Orleans, Louisiana

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

The worst. We signed up for a tender to shore in Grand Caymen and patiently waited for our group to be called. It took 3 hours to get to our group. I feel for those who were even later. Definitely interfering with our time in port. If you have a excursion booked through the ship, you will be tendered first. Book you tender ASAP or you will be waiting. Disembarkation at the end was ridiculous. Everyone who did ship walk off with luggage congregated in all areas causing congestion at every elevator and nowhere to go. Very disorganized for something that they do weekly.

9 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing

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JSAZ 4 years ago

This wasn’t a great cruise for me either. I will say that I only experienced happy and attentive staff. The drinks were great and my room always clean. I do think the ship was overcrowded. I came back needing a vacation.

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cruisinwrights 4 years ago

I was on the same cruise. Had a easy embarkation and debarkation. We were on and off with no problems 🤷🏻‍♀️ I never saw any splintered wood. As for hard to get a drink have to remember that there is 4000 people or so on the ship and that means a lot of thirsty people so make the best of it by understanding and get two drinks at a time. Yes there was dirty dishes people eat but I always saw staff cleaning. So I’m not sure why such a different experience

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bdw350 4 years ago

I agree with you that the disembarkation and embarkation were horribly slow. Worse I have experienced as well. Also, extremely disappointed that we bypassed NCL private island and had extra day in Nassau...terrible. Food we preferred NCL over RCL. But not good enough to get us to book with NCL ever again. We preferred RCL entertainment/cruise director(s), solarium, and staff. We did have a good time on NCL getaway, hey you’re on a cruise. However, I am team RCL and very much prefer embarkation/debarkation on RCL in NJ. I’ll skip NYC and the Getaway as well. Thanks for review

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Shh813 4 years ago

I don’t think I believe you had to wait 3 hours to tender over, so I don’t know what else of your review to believe either!!!!

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IzzyW 4 years ago

Thank you for the review.

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Cruiserike0322 4 years ago

Sorry for your disappointment in the ship

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CVCruiser 4 years ago

I agree with most of your review. I was on the Getaway for a 14 day transatlantic cruise. Only thing I disagree with is on our cruise the buffet was awesome every day.. and the least crowded of any ship weve been on. Of course, we didnt go during peak hrs.. usually ahead of the herd. Lol But definitely a horrible designed ship... always felt crowded, inward facing design... except Deck 8 waterfront area. By far the worst embarking and disembarking process and design Ive even experienced!!

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bobduck1993 4 years ago

I am glad that you were at least able to enjoy your ports of call!

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