How can a ship with great food and outstanding entertainment rate so poorly? The answer is a badly flawed design. As platinum latitude members with 20 NCL cruises we were eager to sail on it's newest ship. We were greatly disappointed and NCL is our favorite line. The Getaway is noisy, overcrowded, and understaffed. Cabins are not made up until late in the day and often after 9 pm evenings, making them unusable for much of each day. The atrium with very loud music is next to the library and guest services. There is no quiet area on the entire ship. Also lacking is even one forward facing lounge to enjoy the view. The Getaway is a large ship but has no center elevators. A single spiral glass stairway at mid ship is often blocked by the ship's photographers, preventing access to even this narrow passage between decks 6 & 8 which are the ship's activity, entertainment and dining centers. The many restaurants and entertainment centers can be difficult to access because of overcrowding and blocked walkways. The main Getaway theater is too small to accommodate the large number of passengers and reservations are required for most shows (often sold out, even with many passengers standing in the rear). This is sad because the dance, comedy and other entertainment is top notch. On a more positive note there is usually only short waits for seating in the dining room and specialty restaurants and the food choices and quality are very good, though service is inconsistant. The staff tries hard to be helpful, but cannot overcome the built in design limitations. The ship has been sailing for 6 months but sill is filled with inconvenient "glitches" . Your freestyle charge and cabin key card must be left in a switch panel to use lights and TV. Housekeeping and the telephone operator are usually unreachable by phone and you receive a "call back later" message. Since many of these faults are structural, they are impossible to correct. Finally most cabins have no drawers for clothing, only shelves. We have always enjoyed sailing on NCL cruises, but the Getaway misses the mark. There is no area on board capable of hosting parties and even the Officers reception for Gold and Platinum latitudes members is held on a forward outside deck.