Norwegian Getaway is enormous. It would have to be – it holds almost 4,000 passengers, plus 1,600 crew. It has 21 restaurants and bars, 2 pools, a water park, a fitness suite, a spa, 4 hot tubs, a ropes course, a climbing wall, a bowling alley, theatre, casino, shops… you get the picture.
Our stateroom was room 10126 (which, appropriately for Star Trek fans, is located in the Ten Forward area) and it was lovely. A lot like a floating Premier Inn room, including a mini bar and coffee tray (which we had taken away so that we could have more desk space). The best bit was the balcony. It was small - just room for a couple of chairs - but we spent a lot of time on it just looking out at the sea.
Despite being a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship it was very American. Around two-thirds of the guests seemed to be American, and the onboard currency was dollars. Typical of America, everything costs extra. The restaurants where you have to pay (most of them are included, but not all) add a mandatory 20% tip to your bill, and many of the additional activities have a cost attached. (Everything free in America, for a small fee in America.)
There was a lot of onboard entertainment, but that's really not our scene. Shows, dance classes, parties, family gameshows, art auctions... we didn't do any of it. In fact, we very carefully avoided public areas when these things were going on. The only thing I was remotely interested in was the behind the scenes tour, and that turned out to cost $79 per person (!)
There's a large casino in the middle of the ship. The reviews I checked out before we booked said that people are allowed to smoke in the casino and since it's open to above and below the smoke drifts and makes the whole ship stink. But maybe that rule had changed, or maybe we avoided it at the worst times, because I didn't notice any smoky smell. I also did my best to avoid the casino, though. I've never been comfortable around that sort of thing.
Where I am comfortable is in the pool, and the pool was wonderful. At least, the adults only one was - I didn't test the other pool. It wasn't that big (maybe 15 metres) but it was deep and warm! That quite surprised me, but it was only a degree or two cooler than the hot tubs. The water park was also pretty good, with five flumes at varying levels of speed and terror.
There's a pretty good gym (although the first treadmill I tried had a slipping belt) and a spa but, you guessed it, that costs extra, and $259 for a little over a week didn't seem like very good value to me.
The Food
The food also had a distinctly American slant, with pancakes, waffles, bacon and syrup always available at breakfast, as well as porridge (labelled oatmeal) and grits. At lunch and dinner desserts were all served with caramel sauce. Now, I like caramel sauce as much as the next person, but not on apple cobbler (crumble). Needless to say we had to open a tin of custard the minute we arrived home.
There are five complimentary restaurants on Norwegian Getaway:
The Garden is a buffet-style restaurant on deck 15 so with great sea views. The food is good, varied and plentiful and caters to everyone. There is always pizza, burgers, "Asian" (Chinese, Thai and Indian) and a carvery. We went here when we first got on board, and struggled to find a table. It gets very busy so it's best to go at quieter times. The downside with a buffet is that you don't get to talk much, as one of you is always off getting food while the other looks after the table.
I noticed early on that the vegetarian options were pretty limited, and also really badly labelled. The food labels were on coloured card, with brown for "not vegetarian" and green for "vegetarian", however they often got the colours wrong and I learned not to trust them. They also really didn't bother catering for vegetarians except as an afterthought. For example, there were always three soups available, but about half the time none of them were vegetarian.
Thank goodness for Indian food. There was a large Indian contingent on board, and since half of India is vegetarian, I was always able to get a vegetable curry and dahl. Including at breakfast time. It seems that in India they eat curry for every meal. (Yes, I did. Roti with creamed coconut and mango chutney one morning, if you must know.)
The Tropicana Room is a smart restaurant with silver-service-trained wait staff, and there were two vegetarian options among the starters and appetisers, but it isn't a big menu. There was also a live band playing as we ate.
Taste and Savor (sic)are pretty identical. A step down from The Tropicana Room, but still very elegant and usually with a vegetarian option, although I was very disappointed to note that on one occasion both the vegetarian starter and main options contained parmesan cheese. Parmesan is not vegetarian (it contains calf rennet) and I would really expect someone involved in catering on Norwegian Getaway to know that.
O'Sheehan's is the Irish Pub. Roderic told me that every city in the world has an Irish pub, and we did indeed see one everywhere we went, but O'Sheehan's is Getaway's. It did food 24/7, but is distinctive only in being the first restaurant I have been to anywhere that did not have a single vegetarian dish on the menu. I've been vegetarian for a little over a year and have never had a problem finding lovely things to eat in restaurants until this cruise.
There were also some speciality restaurants, where you had to pay extra to eat there. With these five free eateries to choose from, I didn't see the logic in going there, but the package we'd booked included the chance to eat at three of them for free, so we did. We chose Le Bistro (French, very nice), La Cucina (Italian, best vegetarian selection on the ship) and Cagney's Steakhouse.
So, Cagney's Steakhouse. I get that the clue is in the name, but again there was NOTHING vegetarian on the menu. My husband happens to love steak, and I didn't want him to miss out, which is why we decided to go there. (Another restaurant which didn't make the cut, La Churrascaria, also had nothing vegetarian on the menu.) I explained my plight to our "server" (like I said, American) but they had nothing to offer. No alternatives, not even a veggie burger. I ended up having onion rings, chips, mushrooms and corn. In other words, just the sides. Hubby dearest enjoyed his steak, but I think he felt guilty that we went to a lovely restaurant and there was nothing for me.
I wrote to Customer Services on my return about the lack of vegetarian options. I received a long reply which was somehow at the same time surprised (they'd never heard this complaint before), concerned (they will speak to the staff on the ship about appropriate labelling), and dismissive (I should have mentioned my particular dietary requirements during the booking process.) But I have also picked up a couple of brochures from British cruise companies since we got home, and noted that both make mention of their extensive vegetarian and vegan menus. I think my mistake was in choosing an American cruise line.
In the UK 8% of the population is vegetarian, and almost 2% is fully vegan. Every restaurant I have ever been to here includes a choice of three or four (and often many more) interesting and delicious vegetarian and vegan options, and these are often dishes which tempt carnivores too. On Getaway the vegetarian options, if they were present at all, were uninspired and generally heavily based on cheese. But it's an American ship and apparently only 3.2% of Americans are vegetarian and less than 1% are vegan. In America vegetarianism is still considered a "special dietary requirement" apparently, not a common and compassionate choice.
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