Norwegian Getaway Cruise Reviews - Reviews

while we enjoyed the ship, our biggest complaint was the bar staff who, no matter the bar we went to, did not provide ANY level of service or even showed any interest in serving us.  It was by far the worst customer service I've ever had in any "service" industry setting. 

My daughter and I cruised together on the Getaway.  Beautiful ship, loved our balcony room.  Dined at Teppanyaki, La Cucina, Sushi Bar, Shanghai Noodle, and Savor.  All were good.  Had breakfast buffet one day and it was just okay.  Lunch buffet contained too many fried choices and not enough healthy choices.  Did not eat at dinner buffet at all.  Tortolla stop was beautiful.  However the Baths Tour was just so so.  Definitely in need of guide through the caves.  We had to follow another tour as we were basically lost in there.  St. Thomas, just beautiful.  Magen's Bay just breathtaking and it does have the most beautiful beach.  Shopping was good okay but we found the ship's pricing for jewelry just as good without all the pressure.  Nassau was good, very commercialized.  All the crew on the ship were excellent.  Room steward, cruise directors, front desk clerks, waiters, waitresses were just wonderful. Would sail with Norwegian again.

The Norwegian Getaway cruise is a good experience as it has an excellent itinerary with 3 full days at sea and 3 stops at some beautiful islands (Tortola, St. Thomas, Bahamas).

Starting with the Good - The food on the ship at the various restaurants is good...although at one particular French restaurant called Le Bistro, the food there is great (5 star personal rating). Lots of places to sit and hang out, plenty of excellent bars to have a delicious drink at, and even some fun arcade games, including bowling for those gamers out there. If you crave a delicious hot/cold coffee, there is an Italian-style coffee shop on deck 7 by the atrium which makes an excellent brew any time of day. Comedy shows are really good on the ship and the musical, "Burn the Floor" was fantastic along with the "Illusionarium" magic show. If you're tense, the spa has awesome massages available, including other cool services such as facials, a barber shop, nail/hair treatment, teeth whitening, and much more. Entering and leaving the ship was really easy and didn't take long at all, so that was a nice perk. The water slides on the top deck were incredibly fun and comparable to any nice water park's slides.

The Not-So-Good - The day we arrived, it took us a long time to have our luggage delivered to our room. This was a bit worrisome as we called the front desk at one point to check, and they had no idea where our luggage was, and the ship was about to take off. We eventually received our luggage after being on the ship several hours. Our aft room was noisy due to things shaking from the ship moving and being under a dancing/hip-hop music area above us. Some of the entertainment on the ship was boring, such as just showing a "Cake Boss" episode on the huge TV screen and carrying simple "Trivia" games in the morning that could put a screaming child to sleep. Room service was free...except there was an $8 convenience fee so it really wasn't free so we only ordered room service once. The room service that we did receive had stale coffee and grapefruit juice that tasted like it came from a chemistry lab. The ship carries 4,000+ people so everywhere you went, including the bathroom, was often packed. Due to having so many people on the ship, the cruise is understaffed leaving many sad employee faces passing you without any acknowledgement. Even many of the waiters/waitresses at the restaurants looked sad/depressed, which was particularly disappointing (Le Bistro was quite the opposite as the service there was perfect). Some of the live music on the ship was performed by pros, and sometimes the music was performed by what appeared to be amateur musicians who are taking lessons and being off-key on the musical/vocal notes (especially in the Tropicana restaurant).

The Bad - On Day One of our cruise, we had to go our muster stations for the mandatory emergency drill. Once we got to our stations, the crew on the ship was very stern with telling people to be quiet as we wait for the captain's announcements of the drill. This went on and on for several minutes of being told to stay quiet. At one point, some female crew member screamed at the top of her lungs, "Quiet!" Other cruise lines seem more organized and friendly during their emergency drills which makes for a pleasant start to the cruise. Not on the Norwegian Getaway. Our room steward was awful. Twice, he just walked in our room because he needed something (he knocked very softly and then came in right afterwards leaving no time for us to open the door). He didn't pick up cups and other trash left in the room, inconsistently replaced items in the fridge, didn't provide new toilet paper, moved the trash cans to various places in the room, and gave us new sheets on the bed maybe a couple times. We essentially had to ask for things to be done for our steward to actually do them. At many tables at the buffet restaurant on deck 15, there were no silverware likely due to being understaffed, even though they started the food service. Many machines were out of order, including the zip line on the ropes course outside which they advertised heavily for, but not working for many months. Like in the above Not-So-Good section, I'll reiterate in the Bad section here that at many of the good restaurants, the waiters/waitresses looked sad which is odd because there is a survey card on the tables where the 2nd question asks if our waiter/waitress made us feel special. When leaving the ship on the disembarkation day, one of the workers told me, "Sup" which is the shortened version of "what's up" and seemed like an odd way to say thanks for cruising with them. There is a smokey odor all over the casino deck which you eventually get used to, but is not very pleasant nonetheless. Overall, this cruise is expensive as they don't offer many complimentary services like on other cruise lines, such as room service, entertainment, etc. And finally, when looking at our bank account online to review our cruise charges, we see 17 pending charges of repetitive items which does equal what we spent on the ship, but confusing nonetheless. Anytime you have to whip out a calculator to verify the charges are correct, that's just odd.

Cruise Comparisons:

Norwegian Getaway - Average service, overcrowded, noisy, good food, expensive, relatively fast leaving ship/some wait entering ship, very disorganized

Carnival - Good service, good food, free room service (with exception of gratuity which we understand), super fast entering/leaving ship by purchasing "Faster to the Fun" option.

Celebrity - Great service, room service food is bad, everywhere else is great food, expensive, long time to enter/leave ship.

Overall, we recommend the Norwegian Getaway if you want a decent vacation with fun places to see. Have low expectations coming onto the ship and you won't be disappointed.

All of the amenities a cruiser should expect are delivered by Norwegian.....great food,personal service,a variety of excellent entertainment, great ports of call,cleanliness,friendliness. It seems none of these things has been lost with the size of the ship as it has on other cruiselines. I do think some of the "intimacy" of the cruise experience is lost on the bigger ships however. Just too many people! Waiting in lines three deep at the buffet was not enjoyable. All in all, it was a fun and relaxing experience and would recommend it to others.

The ship Norwegian Getaway was beautiful.  Our room was so nice, the bed was very comfortable with the softest sheets, we enjoyed the balcony over looking the water too.  The staff was great and were happy to get you what you needed. Great selection of restaurants too, including a buffet that was fantastic. We did find the contests in the pool area fun and entertaining.  Loved the pool where you could sit in a chair and soak your feet and not have to get all wet.  Music and entertainment was great all day at the pool.  We enjoyed the 4 jacuzzi's after a fun filled day out snorkeling.  We really enjoyed the 70's dance party.  The Glow party was exciting, however, the music was to loud and it was so over crowded, that we had to leave.  The Cruise director Joel and his assistant did a great job keeping us entertained.  Dining was excellent and we especially enjoyed the Tropicana Supper Club, Music and entertainment while you dined, loved it.  It was truly a vacation of a life time and We would love go again.

Food OK, Customer service poor; they would not give me the on board credit that came with my cruise.  Room with balcony was very nice, size of ship just too big.  Pool and pool area too small.  I will try another cruise line before going back to NCL.  So far Disney is the best cruise.

I cruised as part of a small group for a relatives wedding. We enjoyed the free style dining and unlimited beverage package. The venues, food, and entertainment options waa great. The bartenders seems less than thrilled to be at work, but all other staff members were fantastic. Legally blonde musical was great, as well as the adults only section on the deck. Overall, everyone was very happy with this vacation.

The trip was very pleasant. The ship was beautiful and the staff was great. I would recommend trying the Oceania restaurant. It was well worth the additional fee. The Island were very lovely to see. I truly enjoyed my trip

Staff was excellent, friendly, efficient.  Food was very good.  Ultimate dining package was fun and of great variety.  Fun to eat in a different dining room, different menu, different format each evening.  Buffet was excellent--good quality and choices.  We have cruised about 30 times on 8 different lines--this was as good as any and better than most.  Criticisms by others about the buffet food, and food variety were certainly not the case with us.  My opinion of Norwegian C/L  has gone up a few knotches.  Very pleased!!!  Getaway needs more adult swimming pools and fitness center is only adequate.  Lots of activities on this ship.  Good for kids and adults.  Shows were excellent!!!

We couldn't wait to get away from the Getaway.  Our main goal of this vacation was to catch up on rest and relax; however, we had the neighbors from hell who played their television loudly EVERY night from 11:00 PM until 8 or 9:00 AM the next morning.  We complained every single night and the most that NCL did was knock on their door to remind them to turn down the volume- this never accomplished anything because the volume would remain loud and we would remain without sleep.  It was truly miserable.  The common areas of the ship were new, modern, and we enjoyed that part of the experience.  All crew members, except Guest Relations, were very friendly and helpful (stateroom attendant, dining staff, bar staff) and the Entertainment was exceptional.  It's a shame that NCL did not do a better job at sound proofing rooms or having TV's set to automatically lower in volume during specific times.

Pretty ship, great selection of food and things to do. My only issue was with Housekeeping. It was hard to get our rooms made up. We would leave in the morning and come back 6 hours later and it still wasn't cleaned. This happened several times. We also had to ask for our mini-bar to be restocked. I paid for express laundry to get back the same day, this did not happen. I received it the following day. This was our only issue with this cruise was housekeeping.

Like I said it has a great selection of food and things to do. I have been on several cruise liners, this was our first time sailing NCL, if their housekeeping could get inline with Royal Caribbean I will be back. Better cruise liner than Royal if Housekeepers are better.

Love the shows, especially The Illusarium - would encouraged everyone to watch this show!

The staff - they were awesome! We (my husband and I) felt so special. We had a problem with our room and when we reported this, guest services tried their best to find us another room.

Food - would rate this 4.0 (Garden Cafe and Taste) . No more lobster night :(

This is my first time on the Norwegian cruise line, service was great, food was great and I love the freestyle dining. My only downfall for my experience is the room. the stateroom was a little small not much room to move around, the bathroom is too small when taking a shower it is very hard to enjoy the shower, my husband keep hitting his hand on the side of the enclosure of the shower. for storing your clothes it's not very good. I would take this ship again but next time I will be more prepared, Also , if you want to go for some entertainment, most of the shows there was a charge, I have been on 4 different cruise line this is the first time I have to pay to go to a show on a cruise. Disappointed with that.

The trip was nothing short of being awesome! The crew, food, entertainment made it. Nothing to worry about other than your next drink and where to eat. I would highly recommend it.

What a ship! The Getaway exceeded our expectations. Even though this was our 8th cruise and had the largest passenger capacity we never felt crowded and the service was as fantastic as ever. The ship had incredible water slides, a rock climbing wall, and challenging ropes course. The activity schedule was full and varied - the best we've seen. We've noticed with all the cruise lines that the food selections are showing the effect of the economy and shrimp, lobster, and filet mignon are not standards on the menu but the food was still delicious. A bonus for us was soft serve and hard serve ice cream available all day and made-to-order crepes every evening. We have sailed everything but Carnival (and don't ever intend to) and this boat was the BEST. Also, we had never booked through but the service was really great and the price beat booking directly through the cruise line. We can't wait to book our next cruise with Jan from .

We had a good experience on the cruise and the entertainment was excellent. The flex dining hours was a really good experience but the quality of food was just ok. We had the UBP (Ultimate Beverage Package) and this was a terrible experience. We were over charged by several hundred dollars and didn't get resolved until final morning of cruise. This was frustrating and consumed most of 1 day with several discussions with guest services and others. I finally took a position that I wasn't leaving the ship until this was resolved. They finally put through credits but ruined the last day of our cruise. It's unfortunate this couldn't be resolved sooner because to this point the cruise was excellent.

Cruise was great. Pros - restaurants, shows, services, friendliness of staff.

But where are pictures I took on the cruise with photographers ?

I was not informed right that they would not be available after the cruise. :(

This was my first cruise, first vacation without my departed husband so it was bittersweet.  My grandson shared a room with me, inside room, which was fine. I wish I had a balcony room as I was alone much of the time and would have enjoyed sitting outside my room.  Food was fair, 5 or 6 specialty restaurants were $20-$40 more/person.  Pools were much too small and not enough lounge chairs for sea days - we wanted the shade and often chairs had towels on them all day and no people.  Needs to be monitored better.  Entertainment was fantastic, Grammy Experience with Sugar Blue was the best.  Comedians were funny and dueling pianos were great.  Band that played around, Cool Expressions I think, was also great.  Just seemed like there were too many people, but maybe that's just how it is.  Excursion we took was not as we were told, but they comped us after we complained.  Guest Services left a lot to be desired.  I had some on board credit that was not on my account.  I went to them 3 times with basically no answer.  I had a meltdown (missing my husband) and my daughter had to get loud before we were taken into an office and it was finally "taken care of".  Overall, it was a good experience.  Since I never cruised before, I don't really have anything to compare it to.

Getaway is a magnificent boat.  Looking forward to another cruise as the boat is changed to Western Caribbean route.  Food was outstanding with the exception of the undercooked scrambled eggs.  Amenities overall were very god.

This was our first cruise on NCL.  We have cruised Princess, Royal and Carnival

The Pool area for the adults was very small and there was only 1 pool

The food in the restaurants was lacking.  No Lobster or Crab Legs.  Some of the Fish portions were very small. The only place that served hot food was O'Sheehan's bar & grill.  The casino was small but ok.  The crew was nice.  We never knew our cabin stewards name.  On a positive note the entertainment was excellent