This was our first cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines. We took a 7 day cruise on The Getaway from February 21 through February 28, 2015. The employees were all very nice and helpful. I reserved an aft penthouse at a significant price and regretted it almost from the first day. The first thing I noticed was a strong odor of mold in the two showers. I thought it might go away after a shower but it did not. I called guest services and the deck supervisor came in and poured some biogel down the drains. This worked for a couple of hours but the smell came back. By the third day my wife and I both were experiencing sneezes, sniffles, and runny eyes. The crew worked on the issue frequently and timely but the smell was never fully removed. If you have allergies, aft penthouse 11908 is not the one for you.

Having a balcony that is on the aft of the ship also is a problem. The smoke from the smoke stacks leaves soot daily on the balcony deck, lounge chairs, seats and tables. This is a flaw in the Breakaway Class ships. I suggest that cruisers not reserve aft penthouse suites or balcony cabins if you are concerned about soot on your clothing.

The food was pretty good but the buffet in the Garden Café was disorganized compared to my experiences on Carnival. On The Getaway, the buffet line was split into various sections. Each section had plates on each section end. Consequently, people were running into each other, cutting in front, and reaching over. This was a constant issue whenever in the buffet. Read more