1st time on NCL. Got inside gty was upgraded through their bid program to Balcony. Probably one of the nicest Balcony cabins we've had. Bathroom nice size. cabin attendant excellent. Food in Buffet was so/so very repetitive. Service in other eateries seemed lackluster. Down side to cruise was the ship board illness was very bad lots of sick people, We are bothered by 2nd hand smoke, This had to be worse ship of 16 cruises for this problem. Having big casino that spans deck 7 atrium it stunk up deck 6 and deck 8 areas around the atriums. Also, though they have a smoking area on deck 15 mid ship. This caused foul smell on said side of ship. Smoking smell permeated from almost all the bars making them non usable to us. Even on our balcony we had to flee inside our cabin because of poor fellow passengers choices to smoke on there balconies against rules.
We would definitely sail NCL again.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
I had never been through such a mad house on embarkation. we were told to be be there from 1230 to 1pm. got there at 1237 it was a zoo. It took us over 2 hours to move through the various cattle lines for security then to check in. Talked with a nice couple that sail NCL a lot. They even said it was worst embarkation they had seen before. Ship was depart at 4pm in our paper work says everyone had to be on 2 hours before departure. Ha ha half the passengers were still in line to process in by that time. Ship departed over an hour late.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Food in Buffet so so. Same menu over and over even though each night had different theme. usually only one station would serve featured food item. Pretty hard to enjoy your meals when NCL pulls all condiments from table because illness is rampant on ship.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Entertainment
2 out of 5
having to make reservations for programs is joke, long lines people without reservations allowed in ahead of us with them.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
As reported smoking throughout the ship caused us to avoid venues and areas. Don't know if it was Noro or something else. But a few days into cruise noticed all the salt and pepper shakers gone. Thought funny why refill them during breakfast. Then day later ketchup and mustard go missing. Also other things are disappearing. Once there is an illness outbreak. The cruise line starts removing all common items that people could share. Even lost games and cards in game room, ping pong paddles and such. You could ask for something and they would get it for you if it could be sanitized. When the cruise director and staff spend 45 minuets making PA announcement in Jamaica about washing hands sanitize those hands. The staff uses spray bottles of extra strong cleaner to get passengers to clean their hands you know there are problems.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Ship tip
if you are bothered by smoking pick a different ship!!!!!
Huge beach area with lots of seating. Nice big pool area. But everything else on island cost money. even the restaurant unlike other cruise lines private islands. But you could go back to ship to eat so not real downer.
even though we left Grand Cayman way earlier we didn't get into here early got the poor dock. Not sure if this is because Breakaway to large for other pier.
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