Overall great cruise. Food was awesome! St. Thomas and Tortola were great.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Embarkation was smooth. We got on around 11AM, and our room was ready by 1PM.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Great. We did the specialty dining package for three nights and ate in the Manhattan Dining Room on the other four, and enjoyed them all. Our whole party (5) ate at Teppanyaki first. This was our favorite. The food was awesome and the service was great. Second, we ate at Los Lobos. We really enjoyed this as well. The guacamole made at the table was especially good. Next, part of our party ate at La Cucina, and the rest ate at Cagney's Steak House. Both were good, but not our favorites. The food in the main dining room was all great. The service in all of the restaurants was all great. I had read some reviews about the service in the main dining rooms being slow, but we experienced quite the opposite. It was fairly quick every night. This might be because we always ate fairly early (between 5:30 and 7:00 PM). Be sure you book all specialty dining as far in advance as possible. Some of them fill up pretty quick.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
The go cart tracks, and laser tag were favorites of our kids, and were fun, but I thought that they were a little pricey considering what we had already paid for the cruise. Also, these were a pain to book. If you intend participate in these, be sure you book them all the first day you're on the ship as they fill up fast. We had to wait in line a while to book them. The water slides were great (and no extra cost) but the pools were small. We didn't use the fitness center, but it looked nice. The pools were nice, but a little small for such a big ship.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We saw the Beetles show, Jersey Boys, Havana, two of the three comedians, and a hypnotist act that was on board. Havana was just so so, but all the rest were very good. Especially Jersey Boys. Even my 14 yr old liked it! Additionally we did some of the trivia and game shows in the atrium they were all fun. The Beetles show was really authentic, so if you're a Bettles fan, definitely book this. All the bands we heard on the ship were fairly good as well.
We also did the escape room and enjoyed that too. This one, however, is a little difficult to book. It wasn't really advertised, but we found out that we could go to the box office on the first day when it opened and book it. Our kids really enjoyed this and we won! NCL gave us some cool T-shirts!
Children's Programs
4 out of 5
The word that I got from my kids (10, and 14) was that the kid's clubs and programs were "good, but not as good as the ones on Royal Caribbean". My 14 yr old did get some free laser tag out of it, which was cool.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Restaurant staff were outstanding across the board! They all went above and beyond to provide great service and were fast and helpful. We do, however have mixed reviews on the room stewards. We had two rooms booked on different floors. The steward for my Mother-in-laws room was very nice and personable, and did a great job taking care of the room. My wife and I never met the steward for our room. He kept the room clean, but forgot a few things now and then (like floor towels in the bathroom, ice, and he moved things out to make the bed a couple of times and forgot to put them back and a few other little things here and there). We attempted to talk to him a couple of times and he didn't seem too personable or interested. I know these folks work hard, and maybe he was just having a bad week or something, but the service was a little less satisfactory than in the other room we booked.
The rest of the staff and crew were all friendly and helpful. They did get one of our reservations wrong, but we brought the issue up to customer service, and they corrected the problem.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The staff really work hard to keep the ship clean. Everywhere you go, you see people cleaning and preserving the ship. We really liked the design of the ship, and the observation lounge was a nice quiet place to go to enjoy the view, get a snack and relax.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Overall the cabin was very nice. It was just a tad smaller than similar rooms we had on other cruise lines, but the bathroom and shower were much nicer. We always enjoy the balcony rooms. The weather was so nice that we left the door open every night and slept to the sound of the waves. It was great!
Ship tip
Just like everyone else says, book everything as far in advance as you can. A lot of things can't be booked until you're actually on the ship. It's a hassle on the first day, but take the time to reserve everything you want, and the rest of your cruise will be much more relaxing. Several times we saw upset cruisers who tried to book things three or four days into the cruise and couldn't get what they wanted. The racetrack and laser tag fill up fast -- book them as soon as you get on board!
Awesome port. Our favorite of the cruise. The beaches are great, and be sure to check out the mountain top...beautiful! We booked privately through Sunny Liston tours and did a beach/mountain top/shopping tour and had a great time. The ride up and down the mountain is crazy!
We've visited Nassau before, and it's alright, but it isn't our favorite. We decided to stay on the ship this time as there were five large cruise ships in port as well as spring breakers all over the place. I really wish they wouldn't book so many ships in port at the same time. You literally don't have any room to move on the pier or any of the areas close to the ships. Plus you really get hassled by vendors when getting off the ship in Nassau.
We did privately booked excursions in St. Thomas and Tortola. Stayed on the ship in the Bahamas because Nassau is way too crowded when there are 5 or 6 ships in port. See my full review for more details on what we did.
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