Overall I had a great time on the cruise minus the following: limited foot options for vegans, constant smell of smoke coming from the casino that overtook other areas of the ship.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Took a shuttle from the hotel and was dropped off right at the terminal. Once in the terminal and through the check in and security process, I was on the ship in less than 40 minutes! Port Canaveral embarkation process moved smoothly and made this first time cruiser very happy to start my vacation off right.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
As a vegan I can say that options were definitely lacking. I did have a difficult time in the dining rooms for most dinners. The worst part of my dining experience was the Manhattan Room for Christmas dinner (we sailed over the holiday). The only option I had was a beet salad that wasn’t every appetizing so I had to resort to other means of food on the ship.
Overall they have a large selection of foods. If I could, I would definitely try specialty dining hoping I would have a better dining experience.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
There’s a lot to do! Study your freestyle daily and plan out activities that you would like to do. Wish I had more time to experience all the activities NCL had to offer. Great experience for a first time cruiser.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Six and Burn the Floor were excellent productions. Highly recommend you make reservations for both shows.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Our room steward Mervin was awesome!!! Wish I could have him again. Also Ms. Baptise at Syd’s pour house definitely took care of us and gave us a good time. Overall service was great and the wait staff was top notch. Only one incident where it wasn’t so great but other wait staff stepped up to the plate and we hardly noticed it.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
The cigarette smoke was awful!!! It really put a damper on the ability to experience the entire ship. The casino (while sailing) was filled with smoke that seem to wafted into other area of the ship. Since the casino is mid ship where the decks are exposed, the smoke with over take other areas. We would find ourselves trying to find other ways to maneuver around the ship just to avoid the cigarette smoke which almost seemed impossible. I also did not spend much time at the pool deck as there was a smoking area just adjacent to the pool. After a while I got tired of smelling smoke. One of my family members had a hard time and was forced to use their nebulizer
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Loved the large balcony. Made watching sunsets and sunrises very enjoyable. Room was clean and large enough to accommodate but wish it had a little more storage space. Bathroom was spacious and I loved the shower with the jet sprays.
Ship tip
If you’re asthmatic and have trouble with cigarette smoke, beware of the casino and surrounding areas.
Cozumel was sooooo much fun!! We went to Mr. Sanchos and it did not disappoint. Our waiter Misael was awesome and even brought our drinks down to the water. We took our group over to the pool and had a great time where Julio the bartender make sure to keep the drinks flowing. The food was great as well as the drinks. We had so much fun that we didn’t want to leave. Thank you Shipmate community for suggesting Mr. Sanchos. I plan to go back next year!
Did the Rive Tubing excursion and had an excellent time! Moni and the other crew treated us like family and really took care of us. Even though we were with a sizeable group, it felt intimate and one on one. I definitely recommend if you want a relaxing day with a little bit of thrill. If I ever do back to Jamaica 🇯🇲 I most definitely will do this again!!!!
Grand Cayman is beautiful! We arrived on Christmas Day and to my surprise excursions were still available. We went to Stingray City Sandbar which was a really cool experience. Since it was crowded we didn’t get to interact much with the actual stingrays but got some awesome GoPro footage of those swimming around us. Would recommend but with a smaller crowd.
We disembarked on deck 7 which was one deck below our cabin which turned our to be very convenient. We decided to self disembark by taking our own bags off the ship. We were routed to the line that allowed us to exit the ship. The only issue I had is that they shuttled us through the casino which was smoked filled. Traveling with family that suffers from asthma and cigarette smoke being a trigger, this was a major concern. Once we made our way, our key cards were scanned as well as photos for facial recognition with Customs. Overall a pretty easy disembarkation process. Compared to the horror stories I’ve read in the reviews, our process was smooth.
Great review. NCL must want guests to be affected by the smoking in the casino. Maybe they are trying to get ex-smokers to want to come hang out in the casino. All they are doing is pissing off their customers. If the wanted to vent the smoke out if the area they could easily do it. Instead the let it fill or actually pipe it into non-smoking areas of ship. NCL, 90% of your guests don't appreciate it!
Next time you cruise, ask for the vegan menu in the main dining room. The he'd will be only too pleased to cook for you. You wouldn't know this as a first timer though. Smoking is an issue for us also. Some ships have small out of sight & smell places for the smokers whereas other ships have huge spaces for them, which we find horrible to pass through too. Glad you enjoyed your cruise overall. Welcome to the cruise family 😉👍🚢⚓🏝
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