If all you want is a cheap place to stay with endless food while visiting ports this is the ship for you. Do not judge though cruiseship experiences by this one, however, quality of food, service etc.
If you want a cruise ship experience that you pampered a bit don't go to the Haven which is the section of the ship where you can get a classic cruise experience, room service, quiet private areas etc. and about the same prices as the high end ships mentioned at the end of this sentence just go for a better ship, Holland, Celebrity, Cunard not quite as expensive as the high end Seaboune, Azmara, Regent 7 Seas, but more have more traditional high end tour.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Too many people show up too early, unless you are in the Haven, where they have a separate room with drinks and snacks, other cruise lines at least have drinks if there is a long wait. but not NCL, you are lucky to have a place to sit, NCL won't let you board until the cabins ready, others will let you board if they are not ready but so you can eat.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The food was overly salty, often dried out under the heat lamps and same dishes repeated every night in the buffet, did not spend much time in the formal dining rooms. What was a little disconcerting, is that on the Epic they let you use a specialty restaurant coupon as a discount to an event in the Spiegel tent but not here. When I brought this up to the cruise consultant said it was wrong for them to do that as customers would complain about it not being offered on another ship instead of saying it was a good idea and he would bring it up to corporate to include that, it made me feel bad as I would be the cause he would do something to take it away from another ship.
The Manhattan Room Restaurant
4 out of 5
I went here for breakfast and lunch, sometimes at lunch they have pleasant live music performances and at dinner, you see dances by their Burn The Floor dancers. Food is good for breakfast with special dishes you might not get in dining room Eggs Benedict and the juices prune, tomato, grapefruit (found on the last day of the cruise you can get there in buffet if you ask, they hide it), the food was better than anywhere else.
Savor Restaurant
2 out of 5
One of things I noticed on all NCL ships in the main dining room, is that the food seems luke warm, the scallops were weird, I got six and my tablemate got only three and then they forgot my soup but did not make an issue of it as had ordered a lot of food and I only ate three because a couple of them tasted kind of raw.
Garden Café
2 out of 5
Food overly salted, dinner (which unlike many cruise ships quite crowded) may have a few dishes for their "theme" night but disappointingly repeats many items every night.
O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar and Grille
1 out of 5
This was based on going there late at night since it was only venue open at those hours except for the pay room service. The Ruben sandwich as well as fries was probably under the heat lamp for hours, bread was hard, fries only lukewarm. Told them, since food late at night does not turn over quickly, food should be cooked to order, after two they said there is no cooked food, before it was 24/7 then on other ships they had sandwiches. Around 4 AM, they not only did not have that but only pastries. One woman who went there at 5:30 for breakfast was told that it wasn't set up even though the program said breakfast was to be served at 5 AM. She told them that and said she said she was hungry and told them to make it.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Because of the weather, pools and outdoor activities were usually closed during most of the cruise till the very end when you could walk around outside, roomie was very frustrated about that, when I mentioned that they gym was very crowded, he said, "what else is there to do?" Most of the onboard activities were cheap things with trivia games and stuff like that, with equally cheap prizes, few arts and crafts which even Carnival has except for Origami which costs them nothing. With so many sea days with no outdoor outlet they should have shown more movies (and the movies they showed, they showed more than once) and although they show movies on only ONE channel, there is no schedule and for all the good movies on TV, there is a $10 per movie surcharge.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
I liked most of the shows and the fact that you did not have to make reservations like you did on the other "Away" ships which repeated shows, it was more like the traditional shows with two seatings. Did not go to the musical venues that much.
The Library
1 out of 5
Although a vast improvement over the "Away" ship which had a few paperbacks in the Malting bar, they seem to have a decent amount of books but the major flaw is that the books are only accessible two hours a day unlike many other cruise ships who have a honor system and the day I was in the library at the allotted time and it was still closed, a woman told me that no one showed up at the other time, fortunately a worker came by and I told him that they needed to open it up and he came back with the key. Carnival to it's credit has more staff for longer library hours by using their underused dancers (who seem to resent it-LOL) What's also frustrating was that there was a shelf with old magazines and paperbacks that people left behind and THAT was locked up.
The Atrium
2 out of 5
This rating is based on how they use it. This should only be used for the game shows and singers, when they had lectures or movies there it is awful as there is too much noise (in the case of the lecture) or light (in the case of the movie.)
Children's Programs
No children
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
Black people from the Caribbean seem to have a different attitude towards room servicing than the Asian room stewards I have had in the past. When I didn't see the extra towels or night shirt I left in the bed I just asked for him to call me to ask him but they wanted to know why and when he came back he was very upset and was rather rude, saying that I had complained about him. I have a feeling he did not enjoy the job (and he was the ONLY one that I have had that I tipped at the beginning of the cruise!) and towards the end of the cruise he didn't seem to service the cabin in the evening, he came by one time to see if everything was o.k, the other times he just didn't come in.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
The ship was clean but there were very few places to sit down and read in a quiet place. On RC and Celebrity they have this huge lounge where in the evening they have dances and game shows but you can just sit there during the day, look where the ship is going and just rest and fall asleep.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
It was hard to get it as I was told it was a room for 3-4 people but it was just the two of us but since we wanted a balcony there was only two left so we got it. I like the fact it had a loft bed, my roommate until he moved out stayed there so we seem to have more privacy.
Been there before as was miserable wet weather did not sight see there but good little museum at train service and great wifi I could get it on cabin balcony.
Do NOT take the walking tour here, was boring and a rip off. There is a bee Bus Tour that gives you highlights of town, take THAT. The town itself is very modern and not picturesque.
We cleared customs in Ireland so disembarkation was done quickly but waited till the last minute to disembark, there was no actual deadline to do so as the ship was going into drydock and all the crew was getting off the ship for a few days although I think were getting back on.
Evagoblog, we are staying in this cabin for our June cruise. We have four in our group. Our teen boys are 6 feet tall so we’ve been a little curious about the sleeping arrangements. Can you elaborate how the four of us will fit? Thanks!
You're spot on. Celebrity is probably the best value out there for a "traditional cruise." Holland America is great, too, but a little more pricey than Celebrity.
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