Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East) Cruise Reviews

This cruise was one of the most incredible trips I have taken in my life. The Norwegian Star is a wonderful ship, but what really made it memorable was the crew. Our itinerary was changed, such that we did not go to Paradise Bay in Antarctica - we were informed of this, due to "operational reasons" at check-in. This resulted in discontent amongst quite a few of the passengers onboard which is unfortunate. Whilst I do think NCL (the company, not the crew onboard) could have handled this better, I still had a great time. What I saw in Antarctica was spectacular, and I feel really privileged to have been able to travel there. I don't think seeing the mainland compared to islands on the peninsula would really have made a huge difference. We were also extremely lucky with the weather throughout our voyage, and all the ports in South America were beautiful and interesting. I leave this cruise very happy and with amazing memories. I will not hesitate to sail with NCL again!

If I could award ZERO stars to NCL as a company I would do so. We cruised from Feb 4-18 on Norwegian Star on what was sold to us 2 YEARS AGO as Bucket List Antarctica and South America. Whilst the ship itself was fine (cabins, food, activities) and the staff/crew excellent in most instances (junior not senior) ...the company itself gives absolutely no care or concern to its passengers and only to its bottom line. Nothing to do with the annoying sales pitches on board (Ugghhh) but all to do with what I and hundreds of others aboard consider to be a classic bait and switch tactic. Promise a lot and then switch it up at the last minute when it's too late for cancel/refund and deliver far less than what was promised and paid for. NCL's underhanded method of saving money (fuel costs) by cutting the itinerary to remove the day cruising in mainland Antarctica - which was the SOLE reason most of us paid BIG $ for this cruise - and then treating us all like complete idiots who wouldnt notice the switcheroo....sorry NCLbut we are not that stupid and refuse to accept your mean spirited and cheap methods just lying down. Hundreds of disgruntled and angry passengers and not just on board our ship or our cruise it seems. A global issue that NCL are treating their customers with disdain, contempt and disrespect. Even if they possibly have a watertight contract on their side, their morality and ethics are lacking entirely and they spent the cruise being shady and dishonest, and since the cruise being dismissive and lacking in any compassion. I would NEVER cruise NCL again (and we love cruising) and would recommend that no one books with NCL. Spend your cruising dollars with an above board company that value your custom and respect you enough to not take your money and then switch things up with no defensible or real reason. Note this is 100% NOT to do with weather conditions which were ideal and quite rare for the region. Sunny skies, calm waters (even in the notorious Drakes Passage) and no mechanical issues with the ship. NCL do not deserve your business and my opinion is that they are a company not to be trusted.

This was a trip of a lifetime and well worth it. We’ve been on seven cruises in the last year and this will be the most memorable. Celebrity went above and beyond our expectations making this a fantastic voyage.

See above. Upside - we got to Antarctica and enjoyed our 7th continent. down side - LOTS!!! this package is not what Silversea advertises. There are all kinds of variables. One couple had been trying to get on two previous cruises and both got cancelled - and they sat in Punta Arenas. Silversea needs to work on the "package" here. from poor provisioning as we were at the end of nearly 40 days away from port to being WAY OVERPRICED for our room. we thought of this as a trip of a lifetime and for what we spent we could have done a private yacht charter with friend. gave Silversea a chance to reach out when we got home and got an auto response from their guest relations team. no contact. this is the old Carvinal "once you are off the ship please go home" attitude. no interest once they have you off and got your $$$$ also of the 200 people on our cruise I would estimate 80 to 100 were extremely unhappy. wish I would have seen more reviews when I booked this almost 2 years ago. do your homework, don't spend too much and beware . . ..

The day before we were to go to the Falkland Islands the captain announced we could not go due to weather. Looking at nthe ships navigation the decision was actually made the day before. Port Authority said weather was fine on scheduled day of landing with two othe cruise ships there that day. Norwegian lied to save fuel cost. Avoid at all costs.

Will never use NCL or sister brands Regent and Oceania

Ship clean, food very good ship entertainment overall good, spoilt by embarking, disembarkingand some port stops.

Our concern is post cruise. Our visit to Punta Arenas, Chile was cancelled. Totally understand due to severe weather. An ethical company would have automatically refunded the port taxes to all. Instead we had to wait in line and get a form. Their agent said that we were entitled to refund of taxes. We have sent form in twice and had numerous follow ups. They either get ignored. Say they never received or repeatedly send boilerplate responses that they don’t compensate for missed private tours. We never asked for this - just port taxes. They won’t even acknowledge our actual claim. Hearing from travel agents that they are hearing this from many NCL passengers. Sounds like a class action suit in the making. Sad because we actually liked the cruise and booked two others which we now regret!

I will be going back in 2025 to cruise Antartica again and then i hope to fly to South Africa and cruise the NCL Dawn a couple of cruises and then reposition to Barcelona for 22 days. I hope the prices drop a couple months before like it did last year.

The staff were excellent, friendly, efficient and helpful. The ship was amazing with so much to do and it did not seem to be crowded despite there being so many people on board. The shows were great. The food was very good in general.

For this cruise we flew into Singapore, stayed 4 days. Flew to Bali and stayed 4 more days- then boarded ship. This helped us adjust to time change and long flight from SFO. Really enjoyed the cruise and got a taste of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

Caring crew and medical personnel. Especially when one of us came up positive for Covid and quarantined

My husband and I were excited to celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary and my birthday on a celebrity cruise as my husband wanted to see more of Asia. We did not have an enjoyable experience unfortunately and will probably not cruise in future.

We chose this cruise for the itinerary. Before we booked, we already weren't impressed about Oceana but our "personal concierge" booking agent as they call it, reassured us that this ship was the finest quality of luxury, dining, etc. He was so friendly and “call me anytime attitude”, until we called and asked for a refund and wanted to cancel the cruise because they cut out half of our ports, then he was cold, indifferent and rude. It was a 10 day cruise. My husband and I chose this line, because it would have given us 4 more new countries. We were supposed to see UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. A week before the cruise, they told us they were cutting out the last two ports and used the excuse of the "Israeli war". Total excuse. They just wanted to save money. As soon as we boarded, we were met by a lady and her husband who said they were already on the ship for I think 20 days and quickly confirmed that they "baited and switched" her itinerary also. She was 9 days "at sea" because the captain refused to go to port. When concerned customers tried to talk with the manger about this, they were told the manager was too busy to speak to them. She also told us that another couple demanded to speak with the Captain to ask why their itinerary had been changed and when finally granted an audience with the Captain, he essentially said, shut up or get off my ship, so they got off. The lady also told me that the Captain had told her that he would remove her from the ship if she kept talking to guests about the “bait and switch”. Seriously. From our experience, I can confirm the management was impatient, rude and unhelpful when asked about anything. The staff was pleasant, but they were very annoying and wanted to “overserve” and were very “hovering”. I couldn’t get coffee by myself and walk to a quiet nook to sip it to wake up without being assaulted by at least 10 staff insisting they carry my coffee. The ship was NOT elegant. It was frumpy. Our AC in our room never worked properly so the room was stuffy and hot the entire time. The bed was saggy and uncomfortable. The food was DEFINITELY NOT “fine dining”. It was subpar, tasteless cafeteria food. I could barely find anything to eat that was edible. They even served “mashed potatoes” that were rehydrated flakes and overly watered down. Disgusting. Their “desserts” were inedible. Nasty quite frankly. I am 57 and my husband is 61 and we were almost the youngest people on the ship. Most of the cliental were in their 80s. The “activities” were crossword puzzles, shuffle board, mahjong. When I attempted to use the fitness room to stretch and do Pilates, I was rudely told that I had to leave because they were about to start a “seminar”. Two old ladies showed up because they were bored. The ship has been hawking antiaging pain management “seminars” to get them to buy their crap. One lady told me she had to pay $90 for a bottle of supplements. Can you imagine? You’ve got a captive audience that is 90 percent very elderly people and you try to rip them off by promising “anti aging benefits”. It was such a horrible cruise, that my husband and I decided to get off early and return home for Christmas.

The specialty restaurants were very nice with a wide selection of food, the ship was nicely decorated for Christmas which was nice for people spending it onboard, the computer assistant was very knowledgeable, They gave us the wrong departure time and we missed our flight and had to buy new tickets for $2800 that left us very unhappy ! Oceania owes us for those tickets. It resulted in 2 days to get home, an overnight in London at our own expense. Horrible!!

Choosing the excursions needs to be improved. We went through the process of picking excursions and times and they were all changed, or dropped, once we were on the ship. Instead of having guests go through the excurions process like on the ocean or river cruises, they should just check off a box on which type of excursions they would be interested in doing. Then the excursion people could go through the process of organizing the timing and assignments each day. I am sure someone can have a better way of doing it then I suggested, but what they had did not work well.

This was a cruise of a lifetime. Learned so much. Viking made the experience wonderful with their crew, staff, and attention to details.

Best vacation ever. Antarctica was a once in a lifetime experience and the trip with Hurtigruten was well worth it. We were sad to leave the ship when it ended. Fortunately, we spent a few days in Buenos Aires afterwards which made leaving the ship a less sad experience.

Loved this Itenerary, wish we had more time at some of the ports Like Hue with our excursion to Ban Na Hills. Loved spending time in Singapore before the cruise.

To summarize everything, the Norwegian Jewel Cruise Line failed to live up to its name. Instead of a jewel, it proved to be a fool's errand. We caution all prospective travelers to steer clear of this company unless they wish to endure a similar ordeal.