CaptClubMembr

The ship is beautiful and there are plenty of things to do.  I did not find that the service was anywhere close to what I had received on my previous Celebrity Cruises.  The people working at Guest Services did not understand English very well and were of no help.  The "Head Waiter", no longer called Maitre D, was rude and arrogant.  We had reservations for a show and got to the door a few minutes before it started after taking formal night pictures and were rudely turned away because we should have been there 10-15 minutes early.  My friend was badly injured during one of the relay games (two broken fingers, sprained ankle and bruised hip) and not one crew member came over to see if he was ok.  I had to call the nurse from the bar.  The hosts of the game continued on with the game while making fun of my friend.  He spent that final four days in a wheel chair.  I know it isn't fair to compare but there were no food displays, ice sculptures or any special presentations.  My husband and I drink wine with dinner and are used to having a sommelier come to the table on all our Celebrity Cruises.  Royal Caribbean did not offer that at all.  We did purchase the beverage package and found that the crew at the Champage/Martini Bar were wonderful.  The frozen drinks by the pool were very watery though.  Our cabin steward LIto was wonderful.  He kept the room spotless and was very accomodating.  Our servers were good, especially Angel.  The air conditioning on the ship was not consistant.  The elevators were extremely hot and people packed in like sardines.  I always felt rushed while eating.  Several announcements were made at breakfast to get up when finished so others can eat.  We had late dinner (8:30) in the main dining room and always felt like we were being rushed out when finished eating.  We never received coffee with dessert the first night.  Overall the cruise was fun, ship was beautiful but the service did not meet my expectations at all.

This was our first Norwegian cruise and I have to say that we all enjoyed the more relaxed atmosphere.  Overall, the service was very good.  We ate dinner in the Manhattan Room every night and did notice a difference in service depending on the side of the room we were seated.  The only complaint I would have to say was the size of the pool being small and not being able to get a lounge chair at the pool/hot tub areas.