Norwegian Getaway Review

4.5 / 5.0
3,271 reviews

Not a great first time experience with NCL

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Getaway
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Wonka13
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2019
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony Stateroom

We are experienced cruisers but this was a first time with NCL. We had issues with their web site and App from the beginning, as they reversed the scheduled itinerary, the day final payment was due. Excursions were posted for our ports of call sporadically and kept showing up and disappearing. I logged on at midnight, the day Specialty Restaurant Dining reservations were available, and within minutes they were all taken (note that while onboard, there were plenty of empty tables). The only excellent online process was the check-in.

Next was the 1.5 mile drive from our hotel in New Orleans to the terminal. We left the hotel at 9:45 for our scheduled 10:30 check-in. Arriving at the port, traffic was at a standstill, it took 1:30 to get to the terminal, only to be turned away by police. Luggage was being left at the curb on Julia St. instead of at the terminal and it was every man for himself to find a place to park. The shuttle from the parking garage followed the same route and traffic to the terminal that we had experienced and after arriving at the terminal, we weren't allowed to be dropped off. Onto Julia St. again to unload and drop off our luggage, but the handlers were overwhelmed and told us to haul 4 heave suitcases ourselves (two 70+ travelers) several hundred yards to the terminal. It's a good thing, a compassionate baggage handler let us leave them in their care, because there were several thousand passengers in the terminal, no one to take the bags if we had them and no guidance on where to go. We trekked approximately 500 yds past of queue of passengers, to the end of the line, just to get to the first security checkpoint. Eventually we made it onboard, at 2:40 PM, a full 4:40 from the time we arrived at the port. We were to depart at 4 PM but got under way after 6 PM in order to get all of the luggage aboard ship.

The rest of the cruise had issues as well. The pre-departure muster was chaotic, with passengers providing more info on where to go and what to do, than the crew. It also seemed that the crew had never been to ports where passengers had to be tendered ashore. Lines were long getting ashore and even worse getting back onboard. At one port we were on line for over an hour to get onto a tender and we heard horror stories of passengers in line over 2 hours.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony Stateroom

Clean, roomy, plenty of storage and fairly large bathroom and shower. Only negative was no electrical outlets next to the bed to plug in a CPAP machine, had to get an extension cord and route it around the room.

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