Europe 2019: NCL Getaway - Dining & Entertainment

Europe 2019

NCL Getaway

Dining & Entertainment

The day after Berlin was a sea day so I thought I'd write up a quick post about our ship, and specifically the dining and entertainment on board. I used to dread sea days, but after a couple cruises I learned to actually appreciate them and now even look forward to them.

First, the food. If you're Samantha, this is pretty much the menu anywhere you went on the ship. She ate a few other things here and there, but she would give cruise cuisine a solid two thumbs up.

For the rest of us, I would have to say dining was somewhat of a disappointment. This was our first time on NCL and we've only ever cruised on Celebrity before, but I would say that food quality was the biggest drop off between the two. NCL has what they call "Freestyle Dining", which basically means you can eat wherever you want, whenever you want. We found that the buffet was actually okay, but the food in the included restaurants wasn't really any better. 

The only specialty restaurant we tried was Teppanyaki, and while the showmanship of our cook was fun, the food wasn't really all that great to me. We did discover about halfway through the cruise that O'Sheehan's, an Irish pub type place that was open 24 hours and free, was actually pretty good. 

  
We tried all of the free dining options, but they all have the exact same menu each night. With the caveat that we didn't try some of the specialty restaraunts (and there are a lot) like La Cucina or Maderno, I would say that the free food on Celebrity was like the specialty dining on NCL and the buffet on Celebrity was like the free dining on NCL. They're just a step behind.

The entertainment on board was fine. We tried all of the shows I believe, and found them to be fairly, well...entertaining. They also had the constant atrium games and shenanigans going on - also enjoyable. We didn't get as involved as we usually might have on this cruise because we had Sam with us and that meant turning in early. 

Nel taking advantage of the Premium Beverage Package!

I booked Branelle and Nana for a show called "Wine Lover's the Musical". I sat this one out as a non-drinker and just hung out with Sammy. They said it was really funny and I can attest to the fact that they certainly had plenty of wine.

Nel said one of the entertainers was a dead ringer for Derrick Hough. I kind of see it.

We also saw a few other entertainers including a magician that I thought was pretty good and they had the obligatory dance show. I'll say that the pianist on the cruise that bounced around from bar to bar was spectacular. He could play anything you yelled at him...well.

We also saw Cirque Dreams & Steam. It was a dinner show and didn't disappoint. 

We sat directly next to the stage and the intro was too much for Samantha. It was intense, so I get it. Nel ran her up to Splash Academy and came back and everyone probably had a better time. It's kind of a shame that she didn't stay though because she would have loved the rest of the show.   

 
A couple of final thoughts:

• Nel said the alcohol on board was pretty good. I'm not sure how you could screw up alcohol, but apparently NCL did not. Through some new friends she made she discovered Sugarcane's Mojito Bar and that became a real favorite.
• It's a Pepsi products line. As a Dr. Pepper and Coke guy I was disappointed in this, but I have to admit that they really got the mix right. You know how people say that soda tastes better at McDonald's for some reason (it does - they have the mix specially made for them and it's perfect usually)? Well NCL has the Pepsi mix down. I was fine with it.
• By the end of the cruise we actually started to prefer the buffet to the regular dining, and it shouldn't be that way.