U.S. - Pacific, Northwest Cruise Reviews

Although this was my first cruise EVER, and i had nothing to compare it to, i have nothing but good things to say about the beautiful "sun princess" and her awesome, friendly, and very conscientious staff.

New Caledonia and Vanuatu were  gorgeous places with amazing blue holes, snorkeling, markets and beaches.

I would like to share a very negative experience I had with Paul Gauguin a few months ago in the hopes that if you are considering vacationing with them you are well informed about their booking tricks.  Paul Gauguin marketed the cruise my wife and I spent our 25th anniversary on as a 7 day - 7 night cruise to the Society Islands.  We purchased their Air and Cruise package.  This was our first mistake.  If you purchase their Air with the Cruise they will make every effort to fly you in on the last available flight and you will not get on the ship until midnight or later.  They mislead you into believing you will arrive by 10pm but Customs and Baggage claim at the Papeete airport are long and crowded with all the late flights arriving at the same time.  You have no choice when you use their air package.  Even if things go smoothly you will not arrive on the ship until after midnight so the cruise is really a 6 day – 6 night cruise.  They purposely do this to minimize their cost because passengers who embark at 3pm (which is when they claim you can board but make it impossible to do so) start drinking and eating and using their services.  They tactically avoid this if you buy their air package with the cruise.  The only ones on the ship at 3pm are those that book their own airfare and arrive the day before.  Additionally, services on Day 1 (or really Day 2) are awful.  They are so busy pulling up lines and heading out to sea that you will not be able to find someone to get a beverage or snack.  Also, the pool is drained.  My room service phone didn’t even work so we went straight to bed very frustrated.  My wife and I saved for this very expensive 25th anniversary trip and it was a huge disappointment.  The service throughout the week was good at times but also lacking in customer service.  Not sure how they got the Travel Awards but clearly they have a long way to go in customer service.

I did reach out to Sandy Stevens, VP Sales and Guest Relations but this was after the trip and she already had our money so she was not interested in a resolution.  Again, when you are paying the extremely high prices they demand and they say it is a 7 day – 7 night cruise you expect them to honor that which they don’t if you use their airfare.  Sandy argued that it’s similar to a hotel if you arrive after midnight and you still count the day before.  Clearly she missed the point because with a hotel you choose to arrive when you do so if you choose to arrive after midnight you pay for the room.  What Sandy doesn’t understand and missed is Paul Gauguin does not let you choose when to arrive.  They choose for you and their choice is to force you to stay off the ship as long as possible.  If you decide to cruise with Paul Gauguin then prepare yourself for a big let-down which is how you will feel after spending a life savings to be treated poorly.

Crystal is a great experience but it is not quite the level of Seabourn, Regent or Silversea.  All my comments are relative.  The staff is extremely professional, responsive and accommodating.  The difference is that they are "reactive" versus "proactive".  Physically, the ship is bigger than the smaller ships of the luxury lines, but not too big where it is intimidating and its size allows for more.  My one poor experience is that the food in the main dining room was not great.  The specialty restaurants are a completely different experience. 

Your survey form is buggy. You may not be getting accurate readings. Had to do it again!

The trip itself was a wonderful experience.

Website could be more intuitive. 

Email for second boarding pass not received.

We should have been notified before we arrived that the cruise parking was going to be closed for a week following the ship's departure.  We had to pay a large fee to get our car back the next day.

 The cruise was comfortable and pleasurable.  We found the food lacking, especially on the lido deck.  Also, the staff that was in charge of our room was not as helpful as I like.  We had to ask everything and no information was voluntarily given to us by our service person. I didn't even know his name.  Not at all what I'm used to on a "luxury" cruise. Also, we could only get ice water in glasses sent to our room.  I would have liked a case of bottled water or at least a pitcher of water brought in.  I would have gladly paid for the case of water option. 

Nice cruise but we wish we had more days.  You really just get into the cruise mood and it is time to get off.  We normally do much longer cruises but this was nice to just get away for a couple of days.

Staff worked very hard, limited dining options

The crew did not handle the 5hr. delay in Seattle, Food and drink poor. Stores and shopping not available until 10:00 AM

The staff members were all pleasant, and accommodating. The facilities were clean. I enjoyed the cruise

The ship was in great shape and the staff was friendly and courteous

Ship was large and well appointed. Not overly luxurious, good for family vacations.

Ship is large but not overly luxurious. Great for families.

I have now been on two NCL cruises: my first and my last.  The best I can sayabout thecruise is that the waters were calm and it did not rain.  I sure wish I had read these reviews before I signed up.

We have not cruised in some time, but I cannot believe that cruising in general has degenerated to this extent.

The crew was generally pleasant and helpful. I guess we got lucky, only two rude servers all week, but you should not have any.

Historically dining was a highlight of the trip. With NCL, the food was the worst aspect of the cruise.

Repetitive menu with limited choices. In some respects this was a plus.  You knew what not to order the next night.  I ordered the veal marsala one night. What a joke, It was smothered with a salty, brown gravy.  Not Marsala.  The next night I had pot roast, served with the same gravey.  I ordered a lamb shank one night.  It was anything but falling off the bone.  The doner must have been 50 years old and had led a hard life.  Of course NCL offers upgraded dining rooms at additional cost which one is almost force to use  if you want a decent meal.

The line will nickel and dime you once you are aboard.  I think that charging for a soft drink at a meal is really poor.  We were encouraged to purchase an unlimited soft drink card for $44.00 per person.   I don't believe a soda out of a fountain costs the line more than $.15.  Certainly NCL could include soft drinks in the price of the cruise.

Lastly, we were frequently bombarded by announcements announcing a new Bingo game ($40 to play) by a guy that should be selling slice and dice machines, telling us we could have "a life changing experience if we were to win the $3000 jackpot".  Everyone around me laughed. I would love to win $3000, but I suspect it would not be life changing for anyone on the ship.

There is much more to tell, but  I am not enjoying re-living this cruise and you should have sufficient info to make a decision.

Our cruise was a combination celebration of my husband's birthday and our 38th wedding anniversary.  We have sailed on Norwegian before so we knew about free style and we like the consept.  The only real problem was our room.  We would leave around 9am every morning with the "Please make up our room" on the door and return around 1pm to find the room was not done.  The same in the evening.  We eat early so we would leave at 6pm and return around 9pm and the room was either just being made up or not done at all.  Dishes would sit in the hall all day.  The food was of good variety and flavors.  The staff was friendly and helpful.  I will sail with Norwegian again and hope they improve on their room stewards situation 

We enjoyed the cruise except that we were not able to stop in Astoria.......which we were very disappointed.......we chose this cruise for the layovers in Astoria and Nanaimo......but we understand 

that the winds were high.......

but should we get at least the applicable port charges, and taxes back on that portion of the cruise......

there are port charges that we paid for each stop.......so we should get some sort of a refund....

PARTIAL   REFUND.

Ship was nice, but the food was the 2nd worst we have had. Meats were tough, selections too exotic. Food should include some simple, good, common foods without fancy French names which does not make the food taste any better. Only food on Costa Cruise in the Med was worse. Entertainment was below average, except for the crew stage production which was excellent. The hypnotist's subjects were terrible. I don't know if it was the hypnotist or passenger ADD. Comedian was great and told clean jokes! After dinner, there was very little life on board. Seems that everyone went to bed after dinner and the show. Very few people on the dance floors. This cruise attracted alot of very old and physically challenged people which probably contributed to the lack of participation. I called before the trip to request a bed pad ("egg crate"), but was told they were all already taken. So, we bought and brought our own. Found that we did not need them as all the beds have been replaced with nice, comfortable ones. Asked for robes, but it took cabin attendant two more reminders and three days to get them. Asked for the room's ice bucket to be filled daily...was filled once during seven day trip. Unlike RCL, Celebrity, and other cruise lines, the ice cream machine is not out for self-services; you had to stand in line and get it from a server. There was no milk dispenser in the restaurants. The warm milk in a Thermos that was for the coffee drinkers was served when milk was requested. General note: Why do most cruise lines in the U.S. (including Princess) have English announcers that speak with a hard-to-understand English accent instead of having an American with an American accent do all the announcements? I am certain we could find people here that could do the job!

Could not believe what has happened to Norwegian Cruise Lines - previously I had great experience with Norwegian, but this trip experienced bare bones cabin, not even a pencil or scrap of paper to write on. Had to go to Service Desk and stand in line everytime we wanted something that was missing.   Everyone was very pleasant but had to ask for everything - it was provided if requested, but without checking if correct item was given.  Poor cabin steward was obviously told to keep everything to just towel replacement.   Lights in bathroom and over vanity in cabin were out, had to call for replacement.  TV remote did not work, had to call for new one.  Menu was same every night with only 1 or 2 replacement items, food not cooked to order if steak was ordered,, every steak came out really well done, salmon was dry, lamb roast was grissly and had more fat than meat -- lamb shank was only good dish - 1st night order was good and squash was good - 2nd night ordered Ok but squash was really full of salt, tasted like they cooked it in seawater .  Breakfast in dining room was best meal of the day.  Given wrong "Early morning breakfast door hangers" from front desk - none in cabin.  Then kitchen did not deliver food -  phoned kitchen was told wrong door hanger - eggs were only served to Balcony Cabins -- other cabins did not get eggs or meat, otherwise the choices were the same -  so  we questioned why they did not deliver the coffee or fruit that were ordered or even call to tell us the door hangers were wrong.  No answer, just repeated wrong door hanger.  Thank goodness it was only a 5 day cruise and the cities visited were delightful so we could escape the ship.  Entertainment was very bad with the exception of 2 nights -- Aaron Shaw, vocalist, was excellent/wonderful and last evenings dancers were good.  Overall would not recommend this cruise unless you get an better than excellent bargain price, want to see San Francisco, Victoria and Vancouver or have children and want a babysitter so you can hide for 5 days - kids seemed to have a great time with cruise personnel.  Princess offers same cruise for less money and cabins and food are so much better - I'll stick with Princess from now on.  Oh, something good was the check in process, quick and smooth, better than previous Norwegian check-ins, but that is where excellence or even satisfactory ended.

ship was old but clean

The ports we visited made up a big percentage of our satisfaction although we would have also enjoyed a cruise to no where; just not as much. San Francisco and Victoria, BC were absolutely gorgeous. The excursions obtained through NCL were all they said they would be. We could not have seen all we did on our own. The food was very good and we did not eat in the specialty restaurants; I'm not paying for a cruise just to pay more to eat. That \"Nickel and diming\" along with having to pay for a soft drink package were about the only cons. We are anxiously awaiting our NCL cruise aboard the Dawn in September out of Quebec city to Boston.

Relaxing cruse or keep physically active if you want to. Most elementary school kids and up can manage the ship on their own with the clubs and minimal parental supervision.