Norwegian Getaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

GETAWAY? THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED. NCL LET MANNERS, CRUISE PORTS AND CIVILITY GET AWAY. FIRST STOP, THE AZORES, WAS SKIPPED DUE TO ROUGH SEAS. O.K., NOT NCL FAULT. THE NEXT PORT, BREST, FRANCE, WAS A DISASTER. THE CAPTAIN FORGOT ABOUT TIDES! THE GANGPLANK COULDN'T BE USED FOR AN HOUR AND THEN REBOARDING TOOK OVER AN HOUR IN THE RAIN. THE SHIP'S ENGINES WERE PARTIALLY DISABLED SO WE CRAWLED INTO SOUTHAMPTON SEVERAL HOURS LATE. TO GET OFF THE SHIP ENTAILED A 4 HOUR LINE TO GET THROUGH IMMEGRATION CAUSING US TO MISS OUR PRIVATE TOUR TO STONEHEDGE. BECAUSE OF THE ENGINE PROBLEMS THE SHIP HAD TO SKIP BELGIUM. WHEW! THE FOOD, RESTAURANTS AND SPA WERE UP TO NCL STANDARDS. HOWEVER, THE STAFF WERE RUDE ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

We booked this  cruise primary to visit Bruges in Belgium.  This port was cancelled due to equipment problems as was Ponta Delgada due to the weather.  They credited us  with $4.00 per person  for Ponta  Delgada and  &14.00 per person  for Zeebrugge  which I though  was not right.  In Southamptom we had to go through immigration which started for us at 5:00pm.  Since this was late we did not have the opporturnity to leave the ship for sightseeing.   NCL thought getting an overnight  in Rotterdam   would be sufficient to satisfy us.  Missing three ports out of 5 was not acceptable.  

I truly loved the length of time on the ship and meeting folks from all over the world. Especially like the variety of entertainment oppourtunities and valued the hard working crew. I was sorely disappointed with a few issues I think are major considerations for the cruise line decisions makers. First is communication from staff to crew. The captain of the Getaway was available, visible and great with communication about the mishaps that occurred. The difficulty was from the those under him who are not skilled to handle direct and honest and timely communication when a delay occurs. By simply informing people of why we are standing in a long unmoving line, or why two lines converge in an area by a bank of elevators being used to escort wheelchair customers to the head of a customs and immigration line. Being asked to move to accommodate the persons in an area too small to accommodate the existing lines was evidence of very poor planning. Additionally, standing in long lines for customs or disembarkation without a person of leadership and skill to communicate effectively with upset cruisers, again shows poor planning. 

Secondly, I think the crew was wonderful and attempted to handle irate and woefully unkind privileged cruisers, yet again lack of training and consistent communication skills could have mitigated the situation.  A little timely information from supervisory level staff trained in deescalating conflict would have gone a long way to defuse the upset. Getting different information from crew only fuels the upset about why a port excursion was cut short or a port bypassed or why  customs takes 3 hours to process the first excursion tour groups, or why steep ramps for going on and off the ship could not have been prevented, these are were communicated poorly by staff in the middle of the situation. Finally my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the ship and feel that the Captain was exceptional with his leadership ,wit, style and being so visible to cruisers during stress times. The reasoning for the missteps are understandable as propulsion issues and weather condition are realities, but NCL needs to work harder at training staff in leadership roles and those interfacing with cruisers on communication skills and defusing upset. A little information, timely and accurate goes a long way to calming my upset. Somethings are avoidable , some not and NCL needs to plan more for the avoidable. 

The actual ship and on board staff were great.. The Captain made two safety related decisions to skip ports in the Azores and Belgium. Somewhere along the line contingency planning was neglected and chaos descended at the French and British ports. The single uncovered steep metal gangway used in Brest France could only accommodate a maximum of 20 able-bodied or a single mobility impaired individual. Hours of delay in locating and relocating this gangway were compounded by the slow disembarkation process, resulting in only an hour or two off the ship. Similar issues resulted in waits of up to five hours disembarking in Southampton.  

My favorite part of the cruise : the cruise over to Europe.  The ship sailed smoothly and the trip was lovely.  As we neared land. everything started to "go to Hell" in a hand basket.  An appropriate phrase here.  There is too much to write about.  One disappointment, we probably could have dealt with, but this was an expensive "anniversary' cruise for us.  First of all, if you want an in-depth letter from me, you will get one.  However, my husband and I are both sick.  He has a respiratory problem.  It started two days from the end of our cruise.  I had another issue, I won't address here.

The Azores were cancelled, long lines to get off the ship in Brest, France and even longer lines to get back on.  Only one ramp that held twenty people at a time for 3,800 passengers.  Many of these people had mobility problems and had to be virtually carried up the ramp.  Next day, England, oops, not so fast.  I was in line, for 3 hours (no exaggeration) to disembark in England.  There were I think maybe 3-4 immigration people to stamp the books for 3,800 people.  Many of us had tours of England planned.  Mine were cancelled.  Ended up walking around Southhampton, had to say we visited England.  Our tour in Brussels were cancelled, seems the ship could only limp along to Copenhagen.  Last day was a good one.  By this time, if you were in line for an hour, you considered it a blessing.  Food was great, service for the room was excellent (shout out to Mark our room steward).  I'm not usually a negative person, this was not pleasant to write about.

Without a doubt, staying in the Haven Suites made our trip superb.  The service was impeccable and the food served in the private dining room was five star quality at every meal.  We ventured out into the other eating venues a few times, but always returned to the Haven. Unfortunately the weather did not permit use of the pool.  This was my first Norwegian experience and I have to say that there were many bumps in the road. Not getting into two main ports without real explanations was disappointing, to say the least. In the port of Brest France, people were lined up for city blocks waiting to get back on the ship.  Only one plank/platform was down and there was an incredible amount of hostile passengers who were yelling at the passengers getting off tour busses telling them to go to the back of the line.  I saw the worst behavior ever from passengers and it was very disturbing. We chose to shop at the amazing tents set up on the pier and enjoyed the best bottle of French wine we have ever had. The shore excursions were very good and we were fortunate to have excellent guides on each one.  The Norwegian Getaway was the largest ship I have ever been on and I think that without the Haven experience, we would be giving a different review. 

too many issues to cover but missed ports weather and ship problems caused cancellation of a port and a delayed arrival into a second port. Lines everywhere on the ship. Poorly designed to house 4000 passengers

We had a wonderful balcony stateroom, with a glass-enclosed shower (not found on our previous cruises). While the entertainment was fantastic and the food in the buffet (café) exceeded that of any previous cruise, NCL failed to deliver on one of the salient points of this cruise - excursions.  Of the five ports listed in route to Copenhagen,  we actually only made three ports and two excursions.  The problems started at the first port of call, Porto Delgado, Azores, when we were told the winds were too high to allow our ship to pass the breakwater and dock safely (at this port, we were supposed bring onboard British immigration to pre-clear passengers and crew for debarkation in the UK. More on that later). Departing the Azores, the ship scrambled to create activities to fill the day in route to Brest, France.  At Brest, the weather was cool and rainy, but the excursions went as planned. Unfortunately, only one gangway was provided for those entering and exiting the ship, which created waits of over an hour for passengers standing in the rain to reboard. Upon departure, we were advised that the ship had a technical problem that delayed our arrival in Southampton. That plus the repairs necessitated cancelling the trip to Zeebrugges, Belgium.  Upon arrival in Southampton, British immigration boarded the ship and began processing, which took several hours. We were delayed over three hours before being allowed to go to our excursion bus. After sitting on the bus for 30+ minutes, we were informed that our excursion had been cancelled by the ship because there wasn't sufficient time to reach the excursion before the facility closed for the day.  We got off the bus, got back on the ship, finding a number of passengers were still heading to the buses - they had not been advised that the tour was cancelled.  The port facilities at Southampton were excellent and we experienced no delays boarding the ship.  Upon arrival in Rotterdam, we exited the ship via a short, very steeply-pitched ramp, which created serious problems for those with mobility issues. A different ramp was provided to reboard the ship, thank goodness.  The weather in Rotterdam was beautiful and we enjoyed our excursion to Amsterdam greatly.  Losing two ports out of five and three excursions out of five, put a definite damper on this 16-niight cruise. During our cruise, we only dined in their formal dining room (Taste) once, primarily because the buffet had such excellent choices. Since we were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary  on this cruise, we provided the staff with a gift certificate we had received for a celebratory cake, understanding that it would be delivered at the end of the meal.  The wait staff was scarce during the meal, and nothing else was said of the cake.  Once we finished our meal, we had to leave for entertainment reservations, so we never received the gift and could not find a wait staff member before we had to leave.  We chose not to return to the formal dining venue. For our future cruises, we will most likely consider other cruise lines before NCL due to our disappointment with these ports/excursions.

Unfortunately I didn't have a good experience. On the 12th day of my

trip, I was severely ill and had to be medevac to a local hospital in South

Hampton, UK. I had to undergo emergency surgery due to an apendicitis 

attack. I suspect it was something I ate on board. There was a significant

amount of people sick on board and a significant amount of medical alerts.

Most of the people on the ship were seniors and there were people coughing 

everywhere. I even saw a lady with an oxygen tank that was barely able to move.

I believe that Norwegian should make an effort to have more strenuous medical

screenings.  Although I left the ship early and had already paid for various

transportation services as of yet, I have not received any calls or compensation

I will never take such a long cruise again. I really hope that they enforce more

stricts medical screening.  

Sincerely,

Mrs Marta Lopez

My wife and I are seasoned cruisers, Platinum Latitude on NCL and Diamond on RCI and 5 other lines and this cruise stands out.  Let me first point out two positives.  The food at the specialty restaurants and O'Sheehans was very good as were the entertainers. 

This ship is poorly designed for 4000 cruisers.  The main meeting area, The Atrium, is toooooo small for it's uses.  Besides being used for a majority of the ship's activities, it is also the site for guest services, future bookings, restaurant reservations, computers for onboard use, bar, and tour reservations.  With all these and the fact that it is very noisy the area is chaotic.  If you ate at O'Sheehans the noise drifted up to the area.  Often standing room only.  This ship is designed for cruising with daily stops so people can get off the ship.  We on this cruise had 11 days at sea because of very high winds at Ponte Delgada, Azores stop prevented out landing. 

At Brest, France almost every passenger got off the ship but there was only one gangway in place, there is almost always two to handle so many people.  There was a large crane on the dock near where the aft gangway should be placed and this is the only reasonable cause for not deploying it that morning,  At 12 noon when many of the passengers started to come back to the ship, the one gangway could not handle the load.  The average age of passengers was 62 plus years.  Many of these people were overweight  and/or disabled.  The ramp was steep and many crew members were called upon to help these passengers back on board.  This process meant that most passengers had to wait for up to two hours to board in 50 degree damp weather. It took us 1 1/2 hours and I was angry.  This was a situation that was totally preventable. 

One of our ship's Azipod's was not working properly and we were told that our progress to Southampton would be slowed and we would get there at 12 noon and be able to stay until midnight.  This was making it possible to fix the propulsion azipod.  We had to go through UK customs prior to leaving the ship.

This was to happen after stopping in the Azores as the officials were to come on board there.  My wife and I did not get off until 4:30 PM.... meaning no Stonehenge; no Salisbury Cathedral and certainly no London.  Another disappointment, but wait there is more;  we were told by the Captain at night that we would by- pass Zeebrugge  meaning we would not get to Brugge a World Heritage Site!  We were given $100 per passenger for missing this port plus the port taxes refunded for the two ports we did not go to. How generous?? We would be staying over night in Rotterdam as a reward but the championship soccer match was being played there so the city was on Maximum Security to prevent any rioting... the cruise from Hades!  We could not have been more disappointed in what we had hoped was to be a great cruise.  A number of the cruise staff were outstanding including Joao Gigante, Hotel Director, Alberto, cruise entertainment staff for Trivia and many others very hard working staff!  The most disappointing staff member was the Cruise Director,  Sisal.  He did not introduce most acts in the theater, and was not too visiable.  Stay away from this ship unless you are going to Island Hop!

The purpose was to be with family which we enjoyed.  Unfortunately, many things interfered with certain aspects of the trip - some were unavoidable and some could have been handled better.  The real complaint we had was the noise level in the dining rooms and the atrium area which affected a number of venues.  I believe the design of the ship is flawed with low ceilings in the dining areas and little or no acousticcal absorption material which caused all of the noise to be magnified.  The activities in the Atrium were so noisy that it was almost impossible to hear at customer service and in O'Sheehans.  The Splash Academy was outstanding, the food above average, and the Million Dollar Quartet program is the best presentation on a ship's stage we have every heard.  Missing Punta Delgado was not the ship's fault but the way people were let off the ship at Brest was horrible - one narrow plank and people wanting the get off had to wait for those who were returning.  On our return from Brest, they had a double walkway which would have made a tremendous difference in walking off.  Southampton was ridiculous with only four immigration agents to process over 3000 guests causing many guests to either miss their planned activities completely or miss pieces.  We did appreciate receiving some shipboard credit back on these two ports but that refund would not have been necessary if there had been better planning.  We understood the reason we had to go slower and thus missed Bruges/Brussels but it was just one more disappointment.  Overall the staff tried very hard to make this a successful trip but it was the worst transatlantic crossing we had had (out of five).  

Last day in copenhagen.  Osheeans bar and grill.  Wait staff great.  Everything else average or below.  Pots of call not up to par.  Disinterested officer staff.  Wait and service staff very good.  Poor cominications to passengers.

visit to Stonenge in UK.

disappointing to have missed two ports, Portugal & Belgium

took too long for U.K. Immigration

long lines in dining rooms

terrible internet connection

We were fed like gladiators: macaroni and cheese, pasta, pasta pasta, bean soups and 500 varieties of chicken. We missed two ports (it's not my fault) continuously was announcing the captain. In one port -Brest- it took three hours to disembark and then another two to embark. We had only three hours in the city. One could not get a place in the only two good speciality restaurants. Anyway, my friends and we doubt that we'll ever set foot on a NCL vessel.

Even though the ship was nice, I would add some elevator at the middle of the ship. I should include entertainment more diverse, no only trivia. I would try to follow the itinerary announced by the time of reservation. I would informed appropriately the changes in the itinerary, even though must of the guests probably speak English, announcements in different languages could be a good way to show respect for the diversity. It is a good idea consider the limitations of some guest during the embarkation and disembarkation in the different ports.  

Missed half our ports of call due to varying reasons, worst and most unforgivable of the reasons, Silas the cruise director could not coordinate disembarkation and embarkation in each port. He is incompetent and should not have a position with such great responsibility. So disappointed since we had been planning this for at least 10 years for my wife's 50th birthday.

The over all cruise was very disappointing, from missing Ponta Delgada because

of winds.  After nine days at sea we finally were able to go ashore at Brest which 

turned into a one to one and half hour standing in line to reboard the ship.  Then 

they had engine trouble so we were six hours late getting into Southhampton and then four more hours going through customs.  It was so late we didn't even leave the ship.  Then they skipped Belgium and went straight to Rotterdam.  We had planned a nice side trip in Belgium.  Rotterdam was fine, but over all I was very dissatisfied with NCL. We basically missed 3 of 6 ports. I think their should be substantial compensation made for this trip.  Kent Nelson.

The million dollar quartet, December 63, and burn the floor evening programs were wonderful. As always the food was divine. Most of the other musical entertainment  was worth staying up late to hear.

With 4000 passengers we thought that we might have to wait in long lines but that was not the case.  You were well organized and no waits were experienced.

Thanks again for a wonderful vacation. 

I would not recommend this cruise to anyone or recommend using jet blue as you travel agency. These two together was a joke they made my whole trip awful. NW cruises go to worst ports ever and then try to charge you when you get off. They nickel and dime you every chance they get. The food on the ship was awful as well especially the fine dinning they serve the same menu every night. I'm sticking with carnival good luck.

Since we sailed before on the Getaway, we knew what we could expect.

The cruise was indeed  as expected and more. We had a fantastic time on board this wonderful ship.

The stateroom was very comfortable and clean.

The staff was very helpful and friendly

The food was of good quality and abundant at the buffet.

We found it a pity that most specialty restaurants changed their fixed prices to A la Carte which raised the cost of dining in these restaurants.

The concept in general with this "free cruising' is a very nice experience.

We already made a cruise next deposit on board.

We surely recommend the NCL in general to everyone who want to listen to our experiences.

NCL, keep up the very good  quality of services.

Thanks again for having given us this great vacation.