Although we had cruised with NCL in the Baltics before, we were excited to try out the new Getaway, and were also looking forward to experiencing the new kosher dining which is being touted (at least in Israel) on its splash page. Please note that we had taken a kosher cruise the previous time, meaning that we had our own dining room with a kosher chef. We have also cruised previously without a kosher program, and were aware of the challenges of having warmed-up frozen items. We typically take precautions, bringing our own pots and some essentials (cheese, meat, challah) just in case there are issues. We had a beautiful suite in the Haven, and ate all of our meals in the Haven dining room

We were severely disappointed to discover that when we boarded, the luggage carrying the food-related items was confiscated, and they threw away all of the food and the pots. Note that while they were supposed to return them to us at the end of the cruise, one of them was actually lost, and we had to be reimbursed. The real challenge was that the kosher options that were initially offered to us on our first day quickly began to run out. By the end of the cruise, there were no burgers left (tough when you have two young children who live off them), chicken fingers had run out, and worst of all, the challah that is promised in the FAQ page in NCL ran out on the first day, so we had no challah for Shabbat, ours having been thrown away. The catering staff kept promising that new food would be loaded on in subsequent ports, but having been in this situation before, I explained to them that they were incorrect, as in my experience (see below) there is no kosher food loaded once the boat has come from N. America. We also had several dishes served to us that proved to be moldy or had clearly gone "off".

While I love NCL (this was our 6th cruise with them), the handling of the kosher food was simply deplorable. I would caution anyone kosher cruising with them outside of N. America to ensure that you aren't the last cruise of the season, or you are likely to be very disappointed or very hungry.