Unfortunately, this just turned out to be a trip where lots of things went wrong. With Norwegian's review, I prepared a lenghty response noting the issues. After entering my comments, a comment came up saying something to the effect "please note: the comments are not reviewed. If you wish to leave a comment that will be reviewed, go to this site." My original draft with my comments was over 4000 characters (had 10 issues). Norwegian limited my response to 3000 characters. Hopefully you will have a better experience. I will note that our last Alaska Cruise was with Royal Caribbean and we had a wonderful time.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Felt we had a new employee assisting us. Turns out we did not receive all of the required information from her.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
That said, if dining at LeBistro, during our experience there was a lot of vibration coming from the engines. Our silverware was actually moving around as a result of the vibration. The food and service was awesome.
We had a wonderful time dining at Teppanyaki. Food and entertainment made for a fun evening!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We did walk out on the Jersey boys as the language was very crewd. The newsletter indicated that we should expect some bad language. However, it was excessive. We actually walked out on the show - along with many other passengers.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
We had a couple of issues with guest services (received some incorrect advice) and a server at Manhattan who lost one of our key cards.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Room and our steward were wonderful. We did have a problem on last full day of cruise as toilet did not flush. Issue was also ocurring with other rooms on our floor. Was corrected in a couple of hours. In addition, we frequently were unable to enjoy our balcony due to smokers in other rooms not being respectful of the no smoking rules. Also, we did receive an upgraded room. However, the room was above a bar called "The Cavern." Music was quite loud and went late into the night (midnight - and one night I woke up at 2 am and still was hearing/feeling the loud music). While we had ear plugs, we could feel the vibrations from the music.
Ship tip
We have sailed to Alaska in past and the sights are amazing! Our preference is for the trips that embark and disembark at different locations (i.e., embark in Vancouver and disembark at Seward (Anchorage). This cruise was a round trip which originated in Seattle. The difference being - with a one way trip you have more time at the different ports of call. With a round trip, you spend more time at sea.
Excursion was the "Jet-Cat Wildlife Quest & Beach Explore." With the "Jet-Cat" description we were expecting a fast boat. Instead it was a fairly large boat which moved at average speeds. The island we visited was a small - very small island (Star Fish Island). The crew did a great job narrating the trip and assisting passengers. Unfortunately, we did not see any whales. The only animals we saw on shore were some deer and otters. Certainly there is never a guarantee you will see wildlife. Still, the views are well worth the trip.
Excellent only because we did the Whale and marine Mammals Cruise. This was awesome! We saw many whales with one doing a full breach less than 100 yards from the boat. The ride out to where the whales are was approximately 45 minutes. The staff did an excellent job.
The Lumberjack show is a must see! We have seen it before and it is a great time. We did have an issue in that we booked an 11am show noting that our ship was departing at 1:15pm. The show is 1 hour long and in past our ship docked in town - so a walk of 15 minutes or so. Norwegian docks outside of town which requires a 15-20 minute shuttle bus ride. AND, we were informed on the day before we arrived in port that the last shuttle was scheduled to leave town at 11:20 am (even with a 1:15 departure!). As a result, we had to book an earlier performance and our tickets for the 11am show were nonrefundable. Norwegian was unwilling to refund us for the cost of the tickets.
We arrived at 8 pm and had to be back by 11 pm. We just walked to the downtown area, took a few pictures and walked back. Not much time for excursions.
Note: We received the disembarkation package / instructions for another passenger. The information was placed in the wrong cabin. We returned the other passenger's instruction package and were told that our disembarkation package would not be available until the next day. The actual disembarkation process was great. We had a shuttle to the airport. Note: while we arrived at the airport 2.5 hours before our flight, our luggage did not make the direct flight. We were told it would arrive on the next flight (which arrived at around 11pm). However, it was not on that flight. The luggage did arrive the next day.
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